#(now monsters can be stabbed to death apparently)

[iys-cloud]

hello to everyone in the void that is Tumblr, a single conversation with @arrowheadedbitch made me create a whole ass Mbav x Pjo Au and now it's everyone's problem

SO the Au starts with Ethan, Benny, Sarah, Erica and Rory going to new york for vacations and they tun into nico, leo, percy and will (nico is there bc will forced him to come along lol) in like, a remote part of a park or smt. and nico, being the son of hades and all low-key just... Senses smts wrong with the vampire trio And tells the others, leo, being as subtle as a bull with bells, points at them and says something along the lines of

"them? They're the 'dead feeling' guys??"

fast forward a lot of discussion and accusing later they're all fighting, Leo managed to stab Erica and, used to the monsters dissolving into gold powder, turns around. Erica being the petty bitch she is BITES him because that's SUCH a great idea cue everyone panicking bc at the moment the gang™ had been trying to be subtle about what they are (not that they accomplished it) and the demigods had only pulled a normal sized dagger that looked well, normal.

Rory, seeing the mess, fucking flies away, leaving the chb kids dumbfounded, sarah grabs erica and drags her away from leo, benny BOOKS IT and Ethan's on the floor wondering why can't anything go Right for them, the chb peps are wondering what new pantheon they just stumbled across and procced to get incredibly concerned because LEO IS QUITE LITERALLY DYING ON THE FLOOR.

Ethan seems to process the fact and panics but oh would you look at that, there's a bigger problem, Nico's there and since the mf can sense death he panics even harder because Leo is DYING and starts questioning them on "what the fuck is happening to him!?" And everything is kicked right back into a frenzy

Anyway long story short, the gang (minus rory and benny) ends up locked up in camp Half-blood for ✨ questioning ✨ and stay in a locked up room in the main house till Percy comes to drag Ethan and Erica out because Leo just woke up and apparently he's attacking people and making a mess out of everything???

Ethan SOMEHOW managed to convince Percy to take Sara with him instead ( "if you take Erica it'll just get worse, believe me" )

And oh boy the infermary looks like a war zone, Also are Leo's eyes glowing yellow??

He barely notices their entrance seeing as hes too busy trying to rip anyone who even comes clos eto shreds.The piper, who has been debriefed in the matter,nico, and will have sort of restrained him (pushed him into a corner with weapons).

And that sounds great and all but the thing is, Sara doesn't have the fake blood she usually drinks bc it's in her purse which the chb peps confiscated, so now they have no way to deal with the starving agitated fledgling

"well fuck" is the only thing she can think to say as she gets ready for a lot of struggling

They ( Sarah and Ethan) try to get the demigods to get Sarah's purse but they won't listen.

after a lot, and I mean A LOT of fighting, some (a hella lot of) begging from Ethans part and a little wake up call that ' hey somethings wrong!!!' (Leo throws Percy motherfucking Jackson into a wall with so much force it KNOCKS THE AIR OUT OF HIM) they do listen to them and from there it's a game of ' let's feed the starving fledgling without the other weird people finding just what we're giving him'

It somehow works because Sarah opens the container and Leo's head SNAPS towards the thing, they manage to get him into a 'safe' position while he rips into the (weirdly red) liquid with the desperation of a starving man.

everyone is trying to get air back into their lungs after the heart attack and proceed to glare daggers at Sara and Ethan

"okay what the actual fuck is happening!?!?"

[duhragonball]

Chainsaw Man ch.63-66

Last time... uh, wow. Holy shit.

Okay, so all these assassins were coming after Denji, but the only three who matter are Germany's Santa Claus and his army of humans-converted-into-doll-monsters, Quanxi and her fiend minions, and Tolka and his master. While everyone else was fighting, Tolka managed to kill Denji using the power of the Curse Devil, and now his master has appeared to congratulate him. He wants to collect Denji's corpse and withdraw to complete their mission, but she tells him there's no need. Then she explains to him that he's become part of the family and talks about all the steps to creating a perfect doll.

I'm not sure I get the exact idea here, but Tolka's master touches him and he starts robotically walking around in the department store the battle is in. And then Germany's Santa Clause steps inside the store, while Tolka's Master stands outside.

Clearly, these three are all on the same team, and I guess Tolka's master is the granddaughter of Santa? Or maybe she just thinks she is? My guess is that she's another one of his dolls, but more sophisticated than the others we've seen. And Tolka is a doll she made just to carry out this task. But to what end?

Well, Santa stabs himself and calls out to a devil, offering his own heart and children in exchange for something, but what?

Turns out he's talking to the "Hell Devil", which... okay, nice flex. And he's asking for the Hell Devil to take everyone in the department store to hell. Also, here's those four kids he got as payment for this job.

Look, they're eating spaghetti! And... OH NO!

Ohhhhhh no...

So I got to this part and the art just completely blew me away. This is the best part of the whole series so far. It's kind of thin on story, but the visuals are just amazing. All the characters we've seen fighting lately are now in this weird landscape with fingers crawling around like worms. Or maybe they're just laying there. I prefer the idea that Hell has severed fingers crawling around the ground. The sky is covered in doors.

All the fiends are freaking the fuck out, and Denji is alive-ish? But not quite. The Angel Devil recognizes the scent of hell, and that's really the only clue they get as to what just happened to all of them. Quanxi asks one of her fiends how they can get out of here, and she freaks the fuck out.

Okay, so as Angel Devil explained before, the devils in this story can't truly be killed. If you destroy one on Earth, it gets reincarnated in hell, and when it's killed in hell, it eventually reappears on Earth. So it's this endless cycle of death and rebirth. However, there are devils who represent primordial fears, transcendent devils who have never left hell, because they have never been killed, even once. And that's what makes this place so terrifying. Whatserbutt would rather kill herself than face these kinds of horrors, and as soon as they draw the attention of any of them, they'll be doomed.

And then here comes the Darkness Devil.

This rules. I don't understand the astronaut thing, but it's awesome.

This guy just sort of walks up to these idiots and their arms all fly off their bodies. They're completely helpless.

The only one who seems to know what's going on is Tolka, if this even is Tolka. He kneels before the Darkness Devil, and maybe he summoned the guy here? I dunno. Anyway, he identifies himself as the Doll Devil, so maybe that's who he was all along, or Santa created him to serve as a vessel for the Doll Devil. Anyway, Doll Devil had a contract with the Darkness Devil. In exchange for Chainsaw Man's heart, he asks for the power to kill Makima.

Wait, what?

So, remember last time, when Master Kishibe tried to form an alliance with Quanxi, and he used written messages to communicate, because apparently Makima could hear him? Well, the Germans who contacted Germany's Santa Claus did the same thing. While that guy was talking to the old man about how many kids he would take as payment for killing Denji, they were actually discussing a plot to kill Makima. Apparently Denji was just a means to an end. Trade his heart for a piece of the Darkness Devil's flesh, and feed it to Tolka's Master, who is apparently Santa's new body. Or maybe she was always Santa's original body, and the old man was a puppet. Or... whatever.

So what about all the guys stuck in hell? What about them? Darkness Devil decapitates Tolka/Doll Devil, and I don't even know why. Whatsisbutt tries to use his power to turn things to stone, but....

Darkness just grabs the Stone Devil who made that power possible in the first place. Looks like he destroys Stone and the guy contracted to him.

Beam tries to pull Chainsaw Man's rip cord, but Darkness dismembers him. I'm not sure this would have made any difference, since Chainsaw Man can't seem to transform all the way. But Beam greatly admires Chainsaw, so it's no surprise that he'd try this.

Darkness Devil takes out a few more of these guys and I'm not even sure how. At least he pointed at Beam. What makes this so eerie is how quiet this is. I mean, there's sound effects, but still. Something about this feels like it's happening in a profound silence.

Then the Violence Fiend tries to attack. We met him earlier in the story, and his deal is that the Violence Devil was insanely powerful, and normally when Devils become fiends that weakens them, but Violence Fiend is still incredibly powerful anyway. He wears this mask which I think is supposed to regulate his power, and so in this situation he asked Kobeni to remove it and run away. So this is Violence Fiend Unleashed, but it still doesn't accomplish anything. Dakrness Devil makes some.... sound... and....

I dunno, chunks of him are just gone now. As he falls, someone hops off his back to fight in his place...

I'm not sure what to make of this. Maybe Denji's Chainsaw power is enough to upset the Darkness Devil? This looks like a reaction of some sort. I can't really interpret it, but this is more than the other characters got when they tried to fight.

It still doesn't work, though. Darkness Devil does some sort of thing and Denji's arms and legs twist in all sorts of bone-crunching directions.

To his credit, Violence tries again, and a big-ass sword appears over Darkness Devil's head, and Violence Fiend gets impaled on it. A bell jingles, and he explodes.

Oh, and while this is going on, Aki is losing it, because he recently gained the power to see into the future. So I think that means he's getting to experience this horror in stereo. All this death reminds him of Himeno's death, and he's losing teammates again, and he can do nothing to stop it.

Angel drops dead next, and then Aki. Oh shit, I hadn't even noticed the hands coming out to get him. That's pretty spooky.

Suddenly the Spider-Fiend shows up! Oh, right. Makima ordeered her to stick close and pull Denji out of danger if things got bad. So she must have been in the department store too when this happened. But her ambush is no more successful than the others.

I really like the "ribbit" here. What makes Darkness Devil so effective is that he's so profound. He's not a bad guy dressed in black, or hidden in the shadows. He's the personification of darkness itself. Some caveman got lost at night and heard frogs croaking and it was absolutely fucking terrifying because he had no idea what those were or what was going to happen next. There's no rational explanation for anything Darkness Devil has done. Why does it care about Chainsaw Man's heart? Why is it even bothering to attack the others? Why is it using different powers on some of them? There's no way to know. We're in the dark.

Meanwhile, back on Earth, Makima is somehow aware of what's going on, and she's in contact with the Spider Fiend. She asks her to summon Makima to Hell, and Spider-Fiend obliges.

Oh come on! Makima can beat this thing too? This is insane?

I guess they kind of both hurt each other? It's not clear what Makima even did here, but okay.

This gives Makima time to... do something to the Doll Devil, which causes Tolka's body to offer itself to the Hell Devil, and thus send them all back to Earth.

The Darkness Devil impales Makima with her sword, which I suppose means that she could defeat Makima given enough time, but Makima was prepared for this and now that the Hell Devil is taking them all back, they can return to Earth back to the way they were before they left.

Meanwhile, Santa uses her newfound Darkness Devil power to assemble her dolls into a new doll body.

Makima returns close to where Santa Claus is, and she pulls the cord to reactivate Chainsaw Man. Apparently he's okay now that he's out of hell. She asks him to rescue her from Santa Claus and he replies "woof".

So yeah, this was a trip.

[snootlestheangel]

Just A Dude!Ghost Monster AU

Side note before this post gets rolling, I love that my post with the highest notes starts with "I don't know who else" and I think that's very reflective of what Tumblr is like XD

Anyways

We're doing it! We are writing a Monster AU featuring Ghost as the only human despite what everyone else thinks! As far as I am concerned, mostly gonna post it here on Tumblr, since I don't really have much right now for it, mostly just little blurbs but if needed for readability, I'll put it on AO3 (under my profile FeelzMaster)

I'm gonna go ahead and give y'all the rundown of what species are featured, kinda what this world's like, the stuffs, ya know? TW: talks of death (just how they can die, relax)

Soap

To be 100% honest, I really wanted to do the whole werewolf!Soap thing cause it's just so perfect for him, but I thought back to a post I made about him being lightning and thought HUH WHAT IF?

So, partially inspired by @tactax-art and their depiction of Soap dealing with fire 'n shit, I have made Soap a unique type of "nymph". Technically, nymph isn't the right word, but neither is elemental, and the true name of these things is so old it's real translation has kinda lost meaning so they stick to describing themselves as "nymphs" or "elementals".

He is a Lightning Nymph, which is rare but that's apparently what happens when you cross an "atmospheric" air nymph (his mum) and a less traditional water nymph (his dad). He's often seeing consuming/messing with things that have electrical charge in order to keep up his own energy (Gaz once had to watch him literally lick an exposed outlet and maintain a straight face). Every time it storms, he's outside somewhere as high as he can get so he can soak up the natural static energy that comes with storms. He can and will shock people for the fun of it.

As for abilities, he's obviously highly conductive, can manipulate electrical energy but it's pretty exhausting so it's more of a life or death thing, he can glow in the dark if he wants to, and he's hyper aware of changes (due to ~energy~). His diet is batteries... Jk, but seriously he does not eat like a human would, he straight up eats things that will help with energy. Like I said earlier, he's licked an exposed outlet like it was an espresso shot. Downside is he can't see for shit in the dark so he's reliant on sensing energies, nightvision, or having one of his buddies that can see in the dark guide him. Can be killed if his brain stem is destroyed, but is also very weakened by the typical stuff (gunshots, stab wounds, severe bodily trauama, etc). but can be severely weakened by being trapped in insulated rooms/wrapped in insulators. If exposed to these things and not able to find a sustainable source of electrical energy, he will die. (rubber, steel, copper are some good insulators)

Gaz

I don't know why but I'm gonna make him a Siren. For some reason Siren!Gaz just melts my heart and I wanna hold him. I don't care if he can lure me to my death with his voice, I wanna hear him sing :'(

He's typically pretty human appearing, it's a natural instinct for Sirens, but when he's tired or distracted (like working out/doing paperwork), you can start to see some very fish-like qualities. Mostly very gorgeous iridescent scales around his ears, eyes, neck, shoulders, knees, top of his feet, and back of his hands.

Can breathe underwater, has the best vision in the dark, eats like a typical person but with more sea food cravings or cravings for fatty foods (like human), when in full Siren form he doesn't have a "mermaid's" tail, it's much more shark-like so he can accelerate really fast. Generally just more shark-like, except his scales are fish-like. His nose, like sharks, is super sensitive to certain changes, so booping his nose always throws him off if it's surprise, but he will also bump his nose into people/things without realizing it to get a better sense of it. Can be killed by things humans can, susceptible to parasites.

Price

Honestly, his has been the hardest but I'm gonna do changeling. I honestly don't know a lot about them, and quite frankly I've already got one homebrewed monster here, so why not another?

He's definitely the one everyone mistakes for being human cause he's so good at keeping up appearances. But there are always times where Price manipulates his appearance/body just enough that it's a little startling for those that believed him to be human to suddenly realize he's very much not.

He's got better eyesight in the dark than a human, but nowhere near close to what Gaz has. He's good at picking up on scents though, as his nose is a bit more attune to sniffing out humans than anything. He's not a bloodsucker, but changelings typically feed on weakened/ill/very old/very young humans, so he's able to tell when something is wrong with someone. Stifles the more violent urges of his species by eating a primarily meat heavy diet with a lot of raw veggies for the crunch. Most susceptible to things with iron or salt (obvi) but can still be fatally wounded by stab wounds/gunshots. Most other stuff won't kill him but it'll certainly hurt and he'll complain the entire time.

Alejandro and Rudy

These two are werewolves and Los Vaqueros is their pack :'). Most Vaqueros are also werewolves, but they do have a variety of other creatures commonly found in North America.

And finally, the whole point of this: we got our boy Ghost as a literal human being. Nothing more, just a dude. A dude with so much fucked up shit happening to him constantly it's just assumed he must be inhuman. NOPE! He's just a dude, a very very unlucky, and probably cursed, dude.

So yeah, that's what I have so far! Working title is "Cheers to the Unknown"

Taglist (if you want added let me know in the replies/reblogs): @tacticaltaxonomist @cthulhusstepmom

[propertyofwhitney67]

I just found your OC and despite my desperate attraction towards him, or maybe bc of it, I request Ryder angst for the prompt event!! I wanna know his backstory or whatever else you're willing to divulge. Thank you!!! ❤️

What were they like?

Ryder x F!Reader

Prompt Event: angst with a bit of fluff at the end

Words: 1,139

Tw: talk of past abuse & violence, mention of drugs, talk of attempted murder & stabbing, smoking

Note: It made the most sense to do Ryder's pov for this one, not sure how I feel about it though...

Today has been calm, work went well, the cats are doing ok, and my darling is happy. I laid with you on the couch, my back to your chest. You ran your fingers through my hair while I read a book, “You don’t talk about your family…What are they like?” You asked quietly, out of the blue. I stopped reading but didn’t put down my book, “I-I mean only if you feel comfortable about it…” You quickly backtracked, sensing my change in mood.

I kept quiet for a while as you ran your fingers through my hair, “It’s complicated.” I muttered, putting my book down and grabbing my nearby pack of cigarettes, pulling one out and lighting it. “We don’t get along, except for my granny. She’s the only one I still talk to.” I took a drag from my cigarette, I’m going to need all the nicotine I can get if I’m going to get through this conversation.

You genuinely wanted to know, “What made you guys not talk anymore?” I know you mean well, but I don’t like talking about it. It’s too painful.

I took a deep drag, collecting my thoughts. It’s been so long but the pain is still fresh, all the abuse and neglect has stayed with me after all these years. “Everything…” I grumbled, already tired of the conversation.

“Come on, you know everything about me. It’s only fair I get to know some things about you.” You demanded, fed up with me giving you the runaround. “I want to get to know you better, my love.”

Sighing deeply I sat up and ashed my cigarette, you know how to get your way. “Fine, but you have to deal with the aftermath.” I grumbled unhappily, not wanting to tell my story. 

You clasped your hands together happily before shouting, “Yes!” You crossed your legs and stared intently at me, ready to hear my story.You're lucky I love you, I thought angrily to myself.

I rested my head against the back of the couch, “You’re happy now, but you won't be by the end of this.” I took another drag, deciding to get on with it. “I guess I’ll start at the beginning…”

I sighed, finishing my cigarette and lighting another. “I never knew my mam, she died during childbirth.” You laid a hand on my shoulder for comfort, but I shrugged it off. “My father,” I refused to call him dad, “Blamed me for her death, saying I was the one that killed her.” I picked up the ashtray from the coffee table and put it on my lap. “He made sure to always remind me of that, beating it into me.”

“He married my stepmother when I was eight. She had four kids that became my step-siblings. Fucking monsters, the lot of ‘em.” I could feel your eyes on me, but I refused to meet your gaze. “The abuse got much worse, they all hated me. They enjoyed tormenting me.” I ashed my cigarette, “My granny was my only solace, I often hid away at her home. She tried her best to keep me safe but could only do so much.” My voice was raspy, thinking of my granny. I miss her deeply, one day I’ll go back and see her.

I pushed my long hair back, trying to ground myself. “On my tenth birthday, I woke up to packed boxes and told we were moving to the states. I begged to stay with my granny, but they refused. I would no longer have a safe place to hide away.” You scooted closer, placing your hand on my thigh and not saying a word. I placed a hand atop yours, silently accepting your comfort. “We moved to New York, apparently my stepmother knew people here.”

Gripping your hand, I took another drag of my cigarette. “Everything got so much worse when we got to the states. They started to punish and abuse me more often, I couldn't do anything right.” I steadied my breath, not wanting to cry. They didn’t deserve my tears.

“It’s ok, you can take a break.” You said, trying your best to make sure I was alright without angering me.

I waved you away your words, smoke swirling around me. “No, I’m fine.” I didn’t want to show how affected I was by recalling my past. “I ran away many times. Each time the police were called, I was always found within a week. Each punishment was enough to put me in the hospital, but I was never taken to get care. I suffered through the extreme pain every time. I learned not to run after the third time.” I snubbed out my cigarette and lit another one, taking a small second to collect myself. “As my step-siblings got older, they got more violent.” I sighed deeply and rubbed my leg where the deep scar was, “One tried to kill me when I was thirteen, got me pretty good too.” 

You traced the scar over my pants, knowing exactly where it was. “That’s how you got that?” I hummed, nodding my head. “I never knew…”

“I never told you…” I trailed off, thinking of how I had to tie off the wound and walk to the hospital. I passed out at some point and some good samaritan took me to the hospital. I wiped at my eyes, trying to keep the tears at bay. You were silent for the most part, taking it all in. “I started to act out as I got older. My grades plummeted, and I became friends with the wrong people. I started doing drugs and other crimes, mostly just breaking into places and stealing things.” 

Ashing my cigarette, I took a small moment to gather myself. “I got arrested at fifteen for breaking into the school with them, in the end I got three years.” I exhaled smoke, “I was a repeat offender. Small things, but they added up.” I shrugged my shoulders, “I was seventeen when I got out, I fell back into the same ways till I got to college. I was free there.”

Not wanting to go into my time at college, I decided it was best to end it there. I snubbed out the last of my cigarette and went to stand up, but you stopped me. “Wait.” You grabbed my arm and pulled me back down onto the couch. I tried shaking you off, wanting to be alone. “Please.”

I hunched over, covering my face. “You’re ready to deal with the aftermath?” I let out a small sob, my breath unsteady.

You nodded, pulling me into your arms. “I am.” You kissed the top of my head, lovingly. “I’ll always be there for you.” I wrapped my arms around your waist, resting my head on your chest.

𝘔𝘢𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵

𝘒𝘰-𝘍𝘪

[you-are-my-neverland]

writeblr introduction

this is my fifth-hundreth time doing this, but i wanted an easy introduction that i could update without many frills, so here goes.

introducing....me!

online, i go by star! (she/her)

college student majoring in foreign langauges, with a chinese (mandarin) concentration and a linguistics minor

i hope to go into literary translation of some sort, but we'll see how it goes

in my free time, i like to watch asian dramas, listen to music, and read; i also dabble in video editing

i talk about the above and more on my main @astarlightmonbebe, which i also follow from

when it comes to writing, i love reading/writing

character driven stories with lots of complicated relationship dynamics (give me more of we-used-to-be-close, estranged or otherwise multilayered found family/sibling relationships, fated to be but hate it, etc)

magical realism, especially coming-of-age

low or middle fantasy

lore/mythology/religion (love folklore, legend, especially ones that change, grow, and are more real than they seem)

what i'm working on (current as of august 2024)

wip: godhood

naying yue’s father has been missing for three years. after stabbing her bff/lover in the eye and getting expelled from college, she decides to celebrate her twenty first bday by killing herself. however, her plans are derailed when she is attacked by monsters, rescued/kidnapped, and told her father abducted her as a young child, and that her real identity is the heiress to a powerful family who is part of the mysterious Outsider World…

new adult low fantasy inspired by/incorporating wuxia elements

drafting book one right now; will likely be at least three books if i get there

comic sans ppt

other ideas bouncing around

a high school sports wip revolving around a sport called cyclone, where biking meets medieval jousting to create a very metal sport. gil reyes, once a cyclone prodigy and now on limited time, finds himself dumped and kicked out of his cyclone crew. a street tournament with a cash prize and a claim to fame leads to him starting his own crew, recruiting the scholarly sprinter, aadya; high school dropout and underground stunt rider/racer, yama; the duo of sprinter winnie and bruiser jade; a rural girl with brute strength and a boxer’s instincts, elle; and a brilliant time trialist who knows nothing about cyclone, pazu.

paper tigers

status: constantly rotating around in my head on a hot plate

when moonlil acang's father, the warlord of the north, dies in a violent explosion of which the only survivor is a mysterious girl he has apparently brought back from the mountains, moonlil is forced into a position he's never wanted. setting inspired by 1920s china/chinese history. featuring: grave robbery, complicated siblings, mythological elements, and a dose of revolutionary, imperial, and military politics.

the phosphene phenomenon

status: sketching out the details, potentially plotting

three years after witnessing a total solar eclipse and falling into a coma, diyu wakes up to find himself with New Eyes and a ghost attached to him. lalita's been dead for years, but she knows nothing but her own name. tasked by death to help other spirits move on before she, too, can find her afterlife, lalita and diyu have no choice but to team up, along with sunny, the one person diyu has never been able to stand. featuring: a super intense rivalry (swear), self discovery journeys, ghosts and mental illness, agents of death, and so on.

previously on here i’ve successfully completed the first drafts of two wips, fairbone and the metamorphosis of the lost (tmotl), which still occasionally pop up.

i’m not always the most active, especially during the school year, where my focus is on trying to write a few words a day if any at all, but i’m always excited to hear and interact with other’s work!

[thetombedspirit]

Dark Parables, the Hidden Object Games: Rant about the Stained Portrait

So, random fact about me; I like Hidden Object games, and my absolute favourite as a kid was the franchise Dark Parable, where you play as a detective going to different location, and meeting classic fairy tale characters with unique twists thrown into the universe.

Like, for example: Little Red Riding Hood? A badass sisterhood of monster hunters! Snow White? Became the Snow Queen after her son fell into an enchanted coma! Frog Prince? Trapped in a cycle of immortality and death while everyone he touches turns into frogs!

They were a fun series of games for me, and I recently got into playing them again, especially when I heard they weren't being made in recent years.

So I bought and played them all the way to the last one: the Portrait of the Stained Princess.

And I have to say, for the last game of the franchise to this day... what a let down.

SPOILERS if anyone wants to play the games for themselves, you have been warned.

Not gonna lie, it started off strong, but then, halfway through the middle it starts getting fuzzy, then the ending comes around and it's like they lost the script last minute and just threw something together.

To clarify; the princess makes friends with a prince of a dark kingdom whose cursed to not walk in sunlight, or something. They make a promise to find the Water of Life together. When they are forced to separate, the prince gives the princess his guardian animal (which has his heart, btw) a little duckling "The Ugly Duckling" and leaves. Apparently, prolonged time away from his heart will cause him to turn cold. Remember that, cause the games NEVER brings this little factoid up again.

And I guess the princess just forgot where they random duckling came from, because she just forgets all about him for no apparent reason. He eventually returns to ask for her hand in marriage, but because the king, her father, doesn't want her to marry a prince from a kingdom that's said to worship DEATH and all that, he attempts to trick the prince with a stained portrait of the princess, putting it off as her actual likeness.

Of course, the prince is not deterred as he fell in love with her kindness, not her beauty and returns disguised as a blind fiddler. The princess arrives, but still doesn't recognise him, again for no apparent reason! Naturally, because honestly, the guy gave his literal heart away and this chick doesn't remember her only childhood friend, and also because the king lied to him, he cursed the princess into the portrait, to become as stained and ugly as her broken promise.

Over the years, a family of knights are selected to take the princess place every blood moon so that she can find the Water of Life. One knight eventually betrayed his oath and tried to burn the portrait to spare his family, but was caught and condemned for it. Follow me here, because this matters for some reason!

Then we come in. A man, secretly a descendant of the knight, sets out to find the portrait and help the princess and neglects to tell us this when he proceeds to PUSH US OFF A CLIFF! After that, we're suddenly working together, even though he PUSHED US OFF A CLIFF and proceed to the islet that contains the Water of Life... that is then never brought up or even used as the Dark Prince shows up and is still pissed that the Princess doesn't remember him and just decided to swallow the world into darkness. A fight scene happens, prince gets stabbed, and then I guess??? the princess remembers him now, because she kisses and embraces him as he's dying??? and then the game just ends. Curse lifted, danger averted, what a wonderful day!

It... it was just a bizarre ending. Like, with all the talk of a broken promise and the princess just randomly forgetting, I thought the knight or at least the king was gonna have some hand in that, especially with the graffiti, "The King's Lie Ruined Us!" like, I was expecting a parable to tell me that the king wiped the girl's memory because he wanted to erase the Dark Prince entirely. I was expecting the Dark Prince to be a misunderstood good guy that seems evil but then helps us, especially when the Swan Knight PUSHED US OFF THE CLIFF and put the other guy in the portrait.

And with all the talk of swans and the whole Ugly Duckling bit, I thought this game would have some ties to the Swan Lake Kingdom, but I don't think it was even brought up as a clue or a Easter egg.

And then there was the Bonus Game, because of course I got the collector's edition, and it was just so random! Like, suddenly there's an impostor, and I think it was meant to be Julian from the Jack and the Sky Kingdom game, because the impostor was carrying a rose around. Anyway, the impostor impersonates the princess, for some reason, tricks the knight into cursing himself into a portrait, for some reason, and then kidnaps the princess and ties her up on the islet, FOR SOME REASON!!! and then THAT bonus game just.... ENDS! NO FOLLOW UP WHATSOEVER!!!

Sorry if this rant to getting tiresome, but this games meant a lot to me and the fact that it ends like this was so confusing and disappointing. It just... ends. Not with a dramatic bang, but with a cold whimper.

It makes me hope that if Dark Parables ever comes back, that knock us out the ball park.

Anyway, I just wanted to rant. Thank you guys!

[saffron0v0]

Future hashira au where tanjiro isn't a demon, I've been daydreaming about how the plot would go and I'm loving how it sounds in my head so hope someone enjoys it!

Explanation of the au→

So basically, muzan had made a plan C before the final battle, (he's a tinge bit less arrogant in this au) he wanted to make sure that even if he couldn't escape from the demon slayers in time, he could still live on, and conquer the sun. It was all planned from when he saw through hantengu the earrings and nezuko, he would get into tanjiro's body, add the property of sun immunity to his blood, and then transfer his soul telepathically to his 'daughter'. Apparently, muzan made her to be the perfect vessel for his blood, and placed some of it inside her, but didn't fully turn her into a demon, she does get nauseated at human food sometimes but she's still capable of eating. She doesn't have demonic powers, because all of the blood is stored in side a small part of her brain that muzan can control effortlessly (i.e not much power needed so even if Tamayo poisoned him, he could still do the blood manifestation, she did poison him by stabbing him early on with her poison and was taken away by one of the hashira, and sent to the farthest place she could get, far from the dk's reach), on a telepathic level. What happens when muzan proceeds with the blood manifestation is as the following >

1. The daughter becomes a demon

2. She is basically muzan but in a child body

3. His original body is rendered lifeless

4. Muzan's soul is transferred to the

daughter.

5. The daughter is now partiality immune to the sun and practically almost invincible, unless you cut up all of the atoms in her body, which is some yoriichi level stuff. Another option is the antidote, which is the option they'll most probably use.

In this au, he managed to get close enough to tanjiro and poured himself into tanjiro when he just barely joined the battle, so tanjiro isn't poisoned and didn't lose any limbs yet. So he does what he does, and fully transitions into his daughter, with his wife waiting expectantly. She's a powerful demon in this au, she got turned a while ago, muzan making her an experiment, and when he found her blood demon arts useful and rare, he suggested a marriage, she consented but muzan would have done it anyways. He told her of the plan and it all worked thanks to one of her blood demon arts that helped store the blood in the daughter's brain. She wasn't actually their daughter, she was an orphan they raised to keep the facade of a happy family.

The 'wife' was kibitsuji tamaki, she was a beautiful woman of mysterious background, no parents, no siblings, no relatives. She was the perfect spouse, she had no real friends and never stayed in the same place, so no one knows too much of her existence, she had no morals and pride, she played dirty just to survive, but was loyal to those she deemed worthy and powerful. She was power starved and a liar, and she knew that. She loved and mastered the art of manipulation, she always had a smile on her face, never feeling remorseful of her actions, she was almost as much of a monster as muzan.

What a match made in hell.

Back at the battle field, everyone is confused as quack and no one has an idea of what the heck just happened. They were still in the dead of the night, 2 hours away from dawn. Alot of the hashira were gravely injured, muzan wanted to wipe out the supposed strongest out of spite, and everyone was a lot more injured, especially Obanai, he was deflecting all attacks sent his way, AND any extra attacks on mitsuri.

The hashira that died are as follows >

1. Kocho, cause of death > douma being disgusting

2. Himejima, cause of death > blood loss and demon slayer mark

3. Tokito, cause of death > split in half like a mozzarella stick

4. Iguro, cause of death > grave injuries injuries and blood loss

Mitsuri survives because the amount of damage she got was big but treatable. She had broken arms and 3 broken ribs, a concussion, and a slash that just barely missed her chest, and several bruises and cuts across her body.

Iguro does confess, and she reciprocated, but he went limp after uttering his confession of love. Mitsuri screams for him to wake up and continues to ball her eyes out, loudly confessing her love and begging him to stay with her.

The kakushi weren't expecting to be called until at least an hour later, but they were able to appear as quickly as possible.

Tamayo hears of the news, and is pissed.

She screams and curses at kibitsuji for what seemed like forever. She had to eventually leave with yushiro and return back to the butterfly mansion.

Everyone is taken for treatment, tanjiro has all of his body parts intact, kanao didn't have to use the antidote, since muzan left his body almost instantly. Tanjiro's wounds were all healed, so he doesn't have any of his scars anymore.

Since zenitsu, inosuke and kanao didn't engage too much into battle, they're in condition where they can fight again, after getting rehab and a lot of rest to heal.

Aoi and senjuro would be picking up their blades and going into battle in this au, and they're besties in my au fight meh if you disagree.

This is the au main plot, the mini skits and drabbles will explain what happens later. Hope this is a good plot, I worked so hard on the idea, and I can't believe it came out well, it actually kinda makes sense! I'm so proud of this!

Link To other posts related to the lore ➜➜➜

Muzan leaving tanjiro out of context

The beginning of the therapy arc

Random drabble (platonic inoaoi)

Taisho secret

1st patient:Shinazugawa Sanemi

2nd patient:Agatsuma Zenitsu

Sanemi gives mitsuri 'good' advice

Mitsuri decided to cut her hair as one last goodbye

I wrapped up the entire therapy arc into one post

2-3 weeks after the battle

Shinobu's loss' affect on aoi, yes, I am biased.

Kanao's character development (I have no idea if this is development though)

Aoi's exposure therapy (first post on my new blog @saffron-rose

Sayaki's character info post (it's long overdue lol)

[that-genshin-sure-can-impact]

Insert clever title (2)

SAGAU | Imposter AU

Part 1

You’re pretty sure that if there was an award for the most braindead, incomprehensibly stupid plan ever, you’d earn at least third place, because what else could you possibly call sneaking into Albedo’s camp on Dragonspine with the intent of rifling through his correspondence.

The smart part of your brain (see: the negligibly small part of your brain) tells you that Albedo has a very sharp sword and knows how to use it, and also has magic rocks that obliterate monsters on the regular, and is probably ready and willing to turn you into a red splatter against the cave wall.

The rest of your brain tells you that you’ve got to know what the hell is going on, and clearly you can’t just go around asking people because somehow your face is notifying them that you are to be killed on sight, regardless of what region you’re in. You would know. You have done extensive research.

(You couldn’t even make it past Mondstadt’s front gates. Covering the lower half of your face with a scarf didn’t work in Liyue, and you figured that covering your entire face would just make you more suspicious. You nearly lost your head, literally, when you teleported directly into Inazuma City, and the people of Sumeru weren't happy to see you, either. Even the smaller villages and towns, like Springvale or Konda Village, had guards who knew to try to apprehend you, and it was only your decision to stay within very close proximity to the teleport waypoints that kept your body blessedly free of stab wounds.)

Ergo, Albedo’s camp, which has a grand population of one (1) guy who probably would have to leave at some point. You’re pretty much banking on the possibility that Albedo would have received a letter or something that might explain what’s going on, because something has to be tipping everyone off about you and your apparently-very-killable face, right?

You… are also banking on the likelihood that Albedo is actually still on Dragonspine instead of stationed down in Mondstadt, but if that turns out to not be the case, then no harm, no foul, you can just figure out another plan.

So your current plan is to sneak into his camp while he’s not there and steal the contents of his mailbox, because you’re getting desperate and this is the only thing that you can think of.

It’s probably not your only option. It’s probably not even your best option; but it’s the only one you can think of, so.

Yeah.

You’re doing this.

…

Or, at least, you would be doing this if you hadn’t forgotten one teeny-tiny issue: the route from the nearest teleport waypoint to Albedo’s camp is interrupted by a broken bridge and a hundred-foot drop down the cliffside. The broken bridge that requires a wind glider to get across. That broken bridge.

Yeah.

You are so fucking mad.

So now, you’re crouching by the broken end of the bridge, staring at the wide gap and trying to figure out how steep the cliffside is (very) and whether or not you can kind of scramble across to the other side (definitely not), because there are no other waypoints on Dragonspine that you could feasibly get to the camp from without freezing to death in the meantime (you’ve checked the game map).

Maybe the waypoint by the exit to Starglow Cavern…? But it’s so far away, and you’re pretty sure that the path from there to the camp runs right past a Ruin Grader. Or was it a Frostarm Lawachurl?

You’re so focused on the map and the broken bridge and the increasingly tempting decision to just give up and try to break into the Favonius Headquarters instead that you don’t hear the footsteps coming up from behind you, near-silent under the whistling of the wind.

“Well, well, what do we have here?”

Alarm bells go off in your head, accompanied by all of the curse words in your vocabulary.

You’d been so anxious about being spotted all day that, as you whirl around to face whoever had snuck up on you, you expect to see ash-blond hair and a face belonging to the worst in-game model in Genshin Impact. Or, if you’re really unlucky (and you’re starting to consider yourself to be so), a nun.

Instead, you’re greeted by Kaeya and his fucking indecipherable smile, and you have to wonder if this is the worst case scenario.

You think he’s trying to look unthreatening; both of his hands are empty and in sight, held up like he’s placating a skittish animal, and he’s left a respectable ten feet of distance between you. Until now, you hadn’t realized how much you missed being greeted with a smile instead of a sword, but you did, so much that Kaeya’s was almost enough to get you to drop your guard.

You’ve read his character story, though, so it just makes you wary.

“You’re quite a ways from the nearest camp,” Kaeya comments, amiable as ever. His eye twinkles like a false star. “Without winter gear, too. You wouldn’t want to freeze out here, would you?”

That’s a fucking threat.

‘Yeah, it’s time to leave,’ you decide, before remembering that you need to be touching a waypoint to teleport and Kaeya is blocking the fucking way. In fact— you realize with rising panic— you’ve trapped yourself on the edge of the broken bridge, unless you want to drop a hundred meters into Wyrmrest Valley.

You’d bet that Kaeya knows it, too. He doesn’t even look cold. Bastard. Your hands are stiff and painful despite being tucked into your jacket, your entire face stings bitterly, and even breathing feels like you’re inhaling glass shards. You can’t feel your ears and you’re too afraid to check.

How long have you been away from the waypoint? Five minutes? Ten? Maybe Kaeya doesn’t even plan on doing anything more. Maybe he’ll just block you off from the waypoint until you freeze to death.

Shit. Shit shit shit.

You’re just fucking staring at each other, now, Kaeya with his knowing smile and you wondering if you can, like, trip him, or something. You don’t know. He has a sword and ice powers while you can’t feel your hands or feet. That’s what you get for being an isekai protagonist, you guess.

Christ. You’re going to die here.

Then-

Then-

Kaeya shifts his weight like he’s about to close the gap between you, and your fight or flight instincts kick in— and since you can’t run anywhere, you find yourself clutching an icy rock that’s probably hurting you more than it could possibly hurt him, frost-stiff fingers coming alive with pain. You don’t think that there’s enough strength in your arms to do much damage with it. You bare your teeth and think that they might suffice, if you can stomach the taste of blood.

“Get the fuck away from me, Kaeya,” you bite out, relieved when it comes out like a threat instead of a desperate plea. You scramble to follow up, wildly casting around for anything that’ll give you some leverage in this confrontation that doesn’t involve your usual go-to of threatening to have an intimate night with his father. You think that if you spill his secrets he will impulsively separate your head from your shoulders, so that’s out. “I literally have no fucking clue what’s going on.”

Well… that wasn’t going to gain you any leverage, but maybe it’ll score you some pity points?

And—

Kaeya laughs.

The sound is so jarring, so anticlimactic, that irrational rage sweeps over you. You want to punch his teeth in for having the audacity to laugh at you and giving you emotional whiplash. Instead, you hunker down against the cold and wait for him to stop.

He does, after a few seconds, wiping a fake tear from his eye (at least, you assume it’s fake. You aren’t that funny). “I must admit, you aren’t quite what I was expecting,” he muses. “I wonder… just what have you done to anger the gods?”

A laugh scrapes its way, unbidden, from your throat. Your everything hurts, you’re literally freezing to death, and honestly? You’re exhausted.

“Shit, man. I’d sure like to know, too.”

(Part 2/?)

(Prev | Next)

—

@zyzypretty @consumedbymoss @kokxm1 @asoulsreverie @bittersweetorpheus @iruiji @yuyuzi-ling @depressed-bitchy-demon @roger272

(Just FYI this is probably the last time I’m tagging people in the post because that was a bitch to figure out even with so few of you)

[failing-to-write-again]

(Part 1) Head-canon for Sakamaki & Yui: Human reader contains the Phoenix Force a cosmic entity who represents life, death, and rebirth including the forces of creation and destruction. The PF is an immortal, indestructible, and manifestation of the prime universal forces. Born of the void between states it is the nexus of all psionic energy of the past, present, and future in all realities of the Multiverse. Basically reader has powers to bring back the dead, true immortality (kill and than revived) healing powers that can cure Endzeit, reality warping, cosmic flames burning underwater and in space, teleport anywhere at anytime to any plane of existence… Jean Grey when corrupted into Dark Phoenix entered space and consumed a star, destroying an entire solar system - killing millions (sorry had to go there) Most importantly is well aware of the multiple timelines Karlheinz has created subsequently feeling his gaze even from afar. Karlheinz is watching. Always.

So you are a god lol, definitely make Karl uncomfortable but he can hardly do shit against the levels of your power!

Shu

While not as much of a control freak as Reiji we cannot ignore the fact that Shu is an heir apparent. He may seem generally apathetic to the crown but he has had his moments in the games where he steps up and shows responsibility, even if its to avoid Karl's wrath.

That being said Shu is a rather dominant character, while he generally looks to be in more submissive positions: sitting, laying down, beneath Yui. Calling these moments submissive is ignoring the context. Shu is subtle power, unlike Reiji he is not insecure about this position, he owns the situation and so controls Yui and his brothers from merely laying down. Now here you come making a mess. If the discomfort you bring is not bad enough you have cosmic flames.

Shu, the same as his brothers, have never had to submit to what they view as human, and as vampire royalty their only real risk is each other. Coming into the scene may be what finally unites them.

I could just see his face now when he tries to pull you into the bath only to get a very nasty surprise. It wouldn't shock me if he either ran or began attempting to organize an "unfortunate event."

Reiji

Fuck no, just all the way no. While in long term relationships I believe Reiji would generally be more open to submissiveness if you are very clearly more dominate from the open with him you end up dead or he'll die trying. Expect everything in your food, tea, clothing, gas attacks EVERYTHING.

He is fully aware you are plotting something, his father has no power over you so who sent you. Trust the moment you start discussing killing parts of the solar system he's one of the generals leading the army against you.

Ayato

Is there more to say then he would be crying in the corner? Ayato has no end to his toxic masculinity and the mommy issues, and the general insecurity.

I envision he tries to bite you and he gets force punched into the next dimension. He is too stupid to learn to fear you.

Laito

The general rule is don't fuck crazy, and if they're both crazy and is stronger than you, you run. He is normally down to clown with anything with two legs but MOMMY ISSUES.

He is however, smart enough to learn to steer clear and fear after Ayato. I suppose if you want affection he is your best bet, but trust if he ever feels he has a shot he'd be using your affections to stab you in the back.

Kanato

Speed running death ngl. He would charge immediately after you make your mood as the little psycho he is before being toyed with. If you were being particularly cruel you could have him join his doll collection. Before returning those dolls into what I can only assume is a fairly pissed off living form.

Its giving you tapped the class and now the fish is going bonkers but can do nothing to stop you.

Subaru

This is going to sound very dark, and it is, but I think he'd be almost glad that you are ready to and can kill him. Emo thinks he's a monster, best believe he will be arguing until you snap and snap his neck.

Fear must be a very new emotion for him in this form. Sure he may have been scared to hurt people, he has never had to fear someone truly other than in his childhood. Don't think you'll ever know he'll be tooo busy talking back and acting tuff.

[thebibliomancer]

Essential Avengers: Avengers #295: “... Beggars Would Ride!”

September, 1988

The DOMINATION of DRUID!

T. REX ROBOT??! =D

This issue continues the title from the previous Avengers issue making the whole thing the proverb “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride.”

Why the hell is that the title?

I’m not unused to Avengers slapping some Culture into the book, either in allegorical titles or just stealing some prose to use as narration.

But what, specifically, does the proverb have to do with this issue and the previous issue?

I’m not going to get overly negative. I’m not. This issue has a robot T. Rex that’s probably a transformers reference. I’m just going to enjoy that.

I’m not even going to let Dr Fucking Druid ruin this for me!

Last times on Avengers: Namor’s wife Marrina turned into a sea monster, caused a lot of property damage and death, and then got stabbed in the head by Namor. She’s dead. Team leader Captain Marvel Monica Rambeau has lost her powers in a wacky mishap when she lightning’d the entire ocean instead of Marrina.

This all works out pretty well for Dr Druid, an asshole. He’s been influenced by Nebula Kang with sex and power fantasy and has been undermining Monica for a while now. But with her out of commission, Druid psychically forces the Avengers to vote him in as new leader of the team. The only dissenter is Thor  who nevertheless abides with the majority. But he’s side-eyeing Druid.

Nebula Kang probably has a plan for the Avengers although its unclear what and why.

But if its Nebula, no wonder she wanted to get Monica out of the picture after the way Monica dunked on during her spaceventure.

Anyway, robot dinosaurs.

Despite Marvel making Transformers comics around this time, these are not the Dinobots.

It is a Bad Future where robot dinosaurs rule the Earth.

Some human rebels are fighting back with a futuristic looking tank but they get cut off by a Roboceratops and then worse yet, attacked by a Mechanisaurus Rex!

But just when the rebels are about to scatter, the Mechanisaurus Rex freezes in place and vanishes in a flash of light.

With the big gun Mechanisaurus Rex vanished, the rebels rally and attack the six remaining Dinodroids.

What does this have to do with anything?

Not much.

This just happens to be the Bad Future Nebula Kang sourced an Avengers level threat from. She used Kang technology a stasis bridge to timeaport the Mechanisaurus Rex to modern day Earth-616 Washington DC.

The Mechanisaurus Rex has no idea what just happened but its robot sensors immediately tag everything around it as hostile and its robot mouth laser immediately starts dealing with hostiles.

Over at Hydrobase, the Avengers hold a meeting led by their new, ugh, leader, Dr Druid.

Dr Druid discusses that maybe they should reach out to some reserve members because they’re down to four people and one of them is Black Knight under a super curse.

While he does that, Thor wonders why the hell the other Avengers voted for Druid to be their leader.

Nebula Kang interrupts Dr Druid’s train of thought IN HIS MIND to tell him about the danger in Washington DC that she definitely didn’t cause.

Druid wonders what she’s doing on Earth and she reminds him that she said he would be the savior of Earth as well as her planet. So its fine. Definitely not suspicious.

Anyway, bad shit going down in Washington DC with a robot T. Rex. Shouldn’t Thor specifically go deal with it? Only Thor? Go deal with it? Doesn’t that sound like a good idea??

Apparently, from the outside of this mental conversation, Druid looks like he just kind of zoned out.

Dr Druid: “I have had a clairvoyant vision, and it will serve as a demonstration of why I am fit to lead the Avengers! There is something dangerous beyond belief rampaging through Washington DC! Thor! You must go there at once!”

She-Hulk asks why they don’t go as a team and Dr Druid says no that’s dumb, Thor can handle this danger beyond belief on his own.

He gives Thor a watch with a micro-transmitter in case he needs help and sends him on his way.

Thor does go but he’s still harboring his misgivings.

Thor: “But more and more do I sorely miss the steadfast company of my former teammates -- Captain America, Iron Man, and Hercules. They at least wore their hearts upon their sleeves, spoke their minds openly, and fought as warriors. Less and less do I trust Doctor Druid’s supposed psychic powers. They seem too unpredictable, too unaccountable.”

Meanwhile, for all that meanwhile means anything with Kangs, it’s Kangs.

Beard Kang offers Fred Kang full membership in the Council of Kross-Time Kangs in exchange for knowledge.

Fred Kang proposes trading knowledge for knowledge so Beard Kang admits that one of the purposes of the Council is to obtain the most powerful weapon in ALL THE OMNIVERSE.

An omniverse is obviously much cooler than a multiverse.

What’s more, that specific weapon is a part of the Earth-616 timeline - Fred Kang’s timeline - and that’s the reason why they wanted to recruit him. BUT: to obtain the weapon, they’ll also one day need the Avengers’ help.

So Fred Kang shares some information that the other Kangs don’t know. Nebula Kang has been messing with the contemporary Avengers of that Earth-616 timeline.

Beard Kang realizes that she must be trying to swipe the weapon out from under the Council’s noses and demands that she be found immediately. Meanwhile, several Kangs will go and root around in her room.

Speaking of Nebula Kang, she’s at a tricky part of her scheming. She set up a threat in Washington DC and got Dr Druid to send out only Thor to go fight it.

Now she needs to convince Dr Druid to leave Thor to die against the Mechanisaurus Rex.

Because Thor resisted her and Druid’s mental control and so he must be removed from the situation.

Dr Druid: “Does still more danger threaten?”

Blonde Nebula Kang: “Indeed, my love. But from an unexpected quarter. The danger, especially to you, is Thor. He failed to vote in your favor for chairmanship of the Avengers... he entertains doubts about you now... and what demigod would ever accept the leadership of any mortal? He is your greatest danger.”

Dr Druid: “Yes... yes... I see it clearly now. Thor will never make a good Avenger!”

YOU SURE WERE QUICK TO JUMP TO THAT.

Dr Druid seriously has no moral backbone to push back against Nebula Kang’s manipulations.

Thor arrives on the scene and decides that yes a robot T. Rex looks like a job for SuperThor!

Thor flies right at the Mechanisaurus Rex and hammers it in the neck.

Thor: “Back, machine of evil! Those whom you would destroy are under my protection. To attack them is to attack Thor!”

Mechanisaurus Rex: “PRIORITY TARGET ALERT! TARGET TRACK! TARGET LOCK! FIRE!”

And it blasts Thor out of the sky with a mouth laser.

Leading Thor to conclude

Thor: “By the eye of Odin, ‘tis more to this creature than meets the eye!”

Eyyyyy, I see what you did there!

Since hitting didn’t work, Thor tries his second move: all the lightning.

But it doesn’t leave a scratch.

Since the Mechanisaurus Rex is tough enough to tank Mjolnir and lightning and fast enough to tag Thor in reply... Thor decides that this is actually a job for the Avengers.

Not that he can’t fight this thing. But he’s worried about how much damage the Mechanisaurus Rex will do in the meantime.

Thor: “Whatever it is, yon beast of war has been cunningly wrought! Even now, it turns this way, seeking the son of Odin! Its destruction must be accomplished with utmost speed to minimize the damage to the city! And that may best be done by divers hands! The Avengers must be summoned!”

Back at Hydrobase, She-Hulk is pacing by the meeting table.

Dr Druid is off in one of his sex dream trances, Black Knight can barely move because of the turbo curse, and She-Hulk is antsy.

She’s antsy because Thor was sent off alone and she’s waiting to hear back about it. And she’s antsy because she’s second guessing voting Dr Druid for chairman. She doesn’t know what she was thinking!

(Because it wasn’t HER thinking.)

But the alarm goes off AOOUGAHH! AOOUGAHH! distracting her.

I love a good aoougahh! alarm.

But the alarm means Thor is calling for help.

She-Hulk runs to the Quinjet, calling for the others to assemble to help Thor!

... Except, eh. Why should they bother helping Thor? She-Hulk wonders. She’s-Hulk has never liked him anyway!

Except. These aren’t her thoughts. Dr Druid is putting words in her mouth.

And its so contrary to the spirit of being an Avenger that She(-Hulk) balks at them and decides to go help anyway! Because that’s what Avengers do!

So Druid has to get a little more forceful with her.

He’s forced to give the game away, basically.

Subtlety is out the window.

He mind whammies She-Hulk into sitting down so that the chair can restrain her.

Ummmm hey when the Avengers were building their new headquarters on Hydrobase, who signed off on BONDAGE CHAIRS?

Oh, right, I just remembered that Captain Marvel kept leaving Dr Druid alone to supervise construction.

A bad decision in hindsight. Oops!

Over at Thor, he’s having a tough time without backup and he’s kinda wondering where the hell the Avengers are.

The Mechanisaurus Rex’s blasts keep Thor at a distance so he can’t hit it with a decisive blow. But since its starting to threaten the people of Washington DC, Thor can’t wait for backup.

He summons a storm to distract the Mechanisaurus Rex and closes in so he can smash it in the head with Mjolnir. But it rams into a building to scrape him off. Then tries to use Tail Whip against him while he’s sprawled on the ground.

Thor flies up to the air to get some space but the Mechanisaurus Rex activates FEET JETS to chase.

Thor: “By the falcons of Freya! Yon beast hath the capability of flight! Truly, he is a formidable foe! But so is the son of Odin, god of thunder, enemy of frost giants! And no such construct shall match my speed!”

Thor hammer tosses himself into the Mechanisaurus Rex midair and deals a mighty KERWHACK!

The dinobot falls but suddenly regains flight. Thor was pretty sure he felt the dinobot’s mechanisms break during the mighty KERWHACK so now he knows it can self-repair. And pretty quickly too!

Thor: “No single blow will win the battle! My foe is like a great warrior! So deadly is he that only when he is reduced to atoms will his fighting spirit be stilled forever! So be it! To the death, mine enemy! TO THE DEATH!”

Thor has some rad battle boasts.

MEANWHILE... or whatever you say when its outside of time.

The Kangs search Nebula Kang’s Kang quarters and find a lot of other Kang technology, from Kang Ransom and Kang Kong. There’s some suspicion at first that they’re traitors working with her until Beard Kang finds a book recording all the technology Nebula Kang acquired and from who.

Beard Kang: “We Kangs of the Kross-Time Kang Korps have jealously guarded our respective technologies so that no one member would acquire an unfair advantage over the others. It seems that Kang Nebula has made the acquaintance of any number of our member Kangs... who apparently have made gifts to her of their respective technologies!”

One of the Kangs insists that Nebula Kang stole the technology from him, that he didn’t give it freely but Beard Kang just verbally rolls his eyes that yeah, sure, his guard was down. Really doesn’t matter now!

IN THE CURRENT MEANWHILE, at Hydrobase.

Dr Druid tells She-Hulk to settle down, clearly she can’t break the chair restraints. Because they’re strong. And because he’s using PSYCHIC POWERS to keep her from exerting herself.

She-Hulk asks why the hell Dr Druid is doing this and he answers that HE CAN SEE THE FUCHURE. Only Avengers can stop vague bad thing that’s going to happen.

Black Knight has apparently been paying attention because he decides Dr Druid is nuts and he’s gonna bail.

He worries that his cursed body is too slow to beat Dr Druid before he can psychic Black Knight. So he’s just going to sneak out while Dr Druid is monologuing at She-Hulk.

Unfortunately, cursed Black Knight is clumsy and his exoskeleton audibly scrapes against something, aggroing Dr Druid.

Dr Druid: “Oh, no, Dane! No one leaves without consulting the chairman! Come back! AT ONCE!”

Druid waves his hands and probably uses his PSYCHIC to prevent Black Knight from reaching the ignition switch.

Dr Druid: “We shall save the universe! Whether you want to or not! The Avengers are mine!”

I’m really surprised that Druid tipped his hat so quickly. Then again, I’m glad I don’t have to suffer through obviously evil Druid manipulating the Avengers for longer than I have to.

Then again again, heck, maybe there’s a good if aggravating story here if it was given time to play out.

Eh.

Anyway, She-Hulk kicks Dr Druid’s ass.

Ahhhh. Cathartic.

And it is known that its hard to psychic when your coccyx is shattered. So Dane is able to blast off in a Quinjet.

Nebula Kang appears in a great PLATHAAP! to berate Dr Druid for letting Black Knight get away.

Dr Druid is confused how his manic pixie sex dream girl can be here (and probably also why she swears “in the name of Thanos.”) She swiftly dials back, claims she’s “as real, as warm as you want me to be.”

Blonde Nebula Kang: “And I did promise that I would come to you in your world, didn’t I?”

Dr Druid: “Yes.”

Blonde Nebula Kang: “And that is what you wanted, wasn’t it?”

Dr Druid: “Yes.”

Blonde Nebula Kang: “And with my help, we are going to save the universe.”

Dr Druid: “yes.”

Blonde Nebula Kang: “Now, with the Black Knight gone, thinking all sorts of wrong thoughts... don’t you think you should locate him... and Thor?”

Dr Druid: “yes.”

She zaps him into a trance so he can go astral project or whatever.

She-Hulk puts two and two together and realizes that Blonde Nebula Kang is responsible for the trances Dr Druid has been going into.

Blonde Nebula Kang: “Mystics are always the easiest  ones to fool. So many dreams, so little reality. But you’re the one we have to worry about next.”

She-Hulk: “I’m a lawyer, sweetheart. They don’t get much realer than that.”

Blonde Nebula Kang: “You must be kidding, ‘honey.’ All lawyers ever do is split hairs; they wouldn’t know a real barber if they saw one!”

Nebula has a lot of opinions about lawyers apparently.

Anyway, Black Knight’s Quinjet homes in on the beacon in the little watch Dr Druid gave Thor.

(Why give him a real working one? Why not secretly turn off the radio so nobody heard his distress call? Why are you so bad at being the villain, Druid?)

Black Knight sees Thor and the Mechanisaurus Rex grappling in the air and switches the Quinjet to hover.

But he can’t open the hatch to jump out and help. His cursed fingers are too stiff!

Then an art error occurs!

Black Knight says his hand is cutting through the hatch but we see the Ebony Blade doing the cutting.

Anyway, he falls out of the Quinjet. Good decision making, Black Knight.

But he falls right toward the Mechanisaurus Rex.

Black Knight: “There’s no time to think! No time to save myself! For Thor! For England! And Good King Richard!”

Black Knight slices through the Mechanisaurus Rex’s head with the Ebony Blade... but where his body hits the giant robot dinosaur skull, it also cuts. Like his body is sharp like a blade now.

What a weird curse.

Dane plummets into the water below. Can’t tell how high he fell from but he doesn’t of it.

He might have drowned because cursed body too stiff to swim. But Thor swoops down and yanks him from the water pretty quickly.

Black Knight can barely speak after the ordeal but he whispers out that Dr Druid tried to prevent him from coming. And Thor is like ‘I FUCKIN KNEW HE WAS SKETCHY.’

Also, just touching Dane’s arm cuts Thor’s hand so he starts bleeding.

Thor: “Woe to him who wields the Ebony Sword. For I do fear that this is part of its deadly curse made flesh. Dane’s form hath begun to merge with his armor! And now see! He is dangerous to the very touch!”

Thor carries Black Knight to an ambulance but warns them not to touch him.

Don’t know how they’re going to do medicine on him but whatever.

Back at Hydrobase, Dr Druid comes out of his trance and reports what happened. He suspects that Thor will return to Hydrobase and probably demand that they have words.

She-Hulk: “Thor was always too arrogant for my tastes anyway! And too dangerous! We’ll just have to give him a welcome he won’t forget!”

Oh no! Jen, no! Your lawyer brain failed you!

Follow @essential-avengers​ because this going places. Bad places maybe. But maybe good. Like, reblog, and share your thoughts. I’m lonely down here in the italics.

[gust-jar-simulator]

Hmmm. I want to play with my Hot Girl Shit AU a bit.

Thing is, the Hero of Time is beset by visions.

Shadow gets clones, both because he can literally do that in game and as a Ganon reference, plus his hero. Nightmare gets transformations and immense magic reserves. But Dark? Dark is the Hero of Time’s fears and insecurities, and my god does he have a lot.

I think Time would be having a sustained identity crisis because his whole worldview got shattered when he was told he was Hylian, not Kokiri. The Kokiri don’t look kindly on adults, or the ability to age. It’s a death sentence, and also just a silly mortal thing. A reason to pity Hylians, if anything. Time’s already ostracized because he doesn’t have a fairy, and now he’s old too? He’s not Kokiri all the way down to his bones, not just through ostracization. It’s confirmation of everything every bully has ever told him, and this time it came from his dad.

The notable thing about Dark’s fight is that he becomes more real over the course of it. The flipping-off-your-sword thing is the closest we get to a hint of personality from him, especially because Time can’t do the same move. So what’s it mean? Why?

It feels mocking, obviously, but if Dark is meant to be Time conquering himself then I feel like it’s the equivalent of grabbing him by the collar and Making Him Look. Look at my age, look at my face, look at my abilities, look at what I am. Crucially this isn’t because he wants to be seen as a person, like Shadow. Shadow wants to be acknowledged as an individual. Dark doesn’t, or at least it’s not a priority. Dark wants Time to see himself and come to terms with it. He’s a reflection, the cruelty of the mirror.

Dark’s fight, in a way, is “get therapy or die”. Which is really tragic, actually, and could explain the whole Majora’s Mask adventure. Time literally has to go to a parallel world and go on a whole adventure to process his own regrets, dreams, and attachments. Dark wasn’t enough.

I’m going to have a lot of fun with the idea that Dark wasn’t enough. It would make sense for a kid to completely miss the abstract nuances and go straight for “ohmygod a monster stab it until it dies”. There’s a very real chance that Time may have won the duel and learned absolutely nothing.

Time has to confront the idea of his own mortality. He’s not Kokiri. He’ll age and die. Time itself will kill him, if the monsters don’t. He’s adopted. He’s part of a race he’s probably only met in the form of Stalfos. He thought he was alone before, until his quest punted him all across the country. He wants his dad. His dad’s dead. He wants to play and draw and be a kid, and the only person doing any of that with him is a mysterious Sheikah who’s teaching him songs to kill monsters with. People want things from him that he doesn’t understand, like engagement or pictures of women, and they never explain. He doesn’t understand So Much.

Dark, meanwhile, is Link as nothing but a Hero. The right age. The combat skills. The self-confidence, or at least apparently so (he’s just stoic). A weapon of the goddesses, silent and efficient and deadly. Like Sheik. Time is afraid of everything that he isn’t and should be, how he doesn’t match up, that he isn’t enough. But I think part of him is also afraid of what he’s becoming. The sword, the goddesses, forcibly made him the right age to kill Ganondorf. What else are they going to turn him into? He’s not Kokiri, and he’s not a kid, but he is culturally, he is mentally. Even when he switches ages though, it fits poorly. This is a kid absolutely riddled with multiple kinds of dysphoria.

There’s something about the idea that once you finally leave home, you can never go back. Not really. Sure you can go to the location, the people, but it’s never the same again. You’re not the person you were, and home isn’t what you remember anymore.

And Dark doesn’t have a home. He’s a weapon, a trial, a judgement. A tool. The sword and scales of the goddess of wisdom. He’s got a little island with a dead tree, and a couple of doorways, and endless water and sky. He’s not a person. Is he even really alive?

And then to wrap it all up, Time suffered the call to adventure via nightmares. Really encouraging formative experience, there. Other people have compared Dark’s arena to the Bodhi Tree before, and I like that imagery a lot, a tree that you have to meditate under to master yourself. Time is traumatized, and needs a chance to reflect on that, on his mind and his emotions and his sense of self. Of course the demon that comes for him is all of those things at once, something mimicking the identity that scares him the most: being the Hero.

Dark doesn’t have any fancy spells or blessings because he didn’t receive them, and he doesn’t need them. I don’t think Time at that age could comprehend the weight of the favor of the goddesses, what it means to have Nayru’s Love or Din’s Fury. It’s not the pressure of being a symbol that scares him. It’s being changed into something unrecognizable. He needs to become the perfect tool of destiny, he might even envy Sheik’s ease with the idea, but he’s just a scared little kid. But will he even be himself, if he isn’t scared anymore? What is he?

Dark’s answer is you’re me, and it’s hard to say if that’s a comfort or not.

But that’s why I want to keep him simple, in this AU. Dark is just… the hero. Because that’s the most terrifying thing he could be.

[incarnateirony]

bro just stop. admit you confused the akrida like you posted wholechested last night, stop trying mental gymnastics about this shit like afive year old gotcha, you're literally trying to white man WELL ACTUALLY a cultural thing from my backyard.

there's a reason it's pronounced lougarou you fucking mental inadequate.

the only reason you guys thought you had a dunk was your lack of education or culture. this is pathetic.

"they changed its name" brooooskdfjskdjf broooooooooooo its the same thing you fucking idiot i'm not gonna change a letter on the same critter from how i spelled it my whole life, get your white nonsense out of here catch a clue i didn't spell it rougarou either you fucking child

new orleans STILL apparently confuses these uncultured swine

you fucked up dude.

it's a rugaru with an accent, i'm not sure why you wanna die on a commonly known lingual hill -- oh, to bury your akrida fuckup, right.

this man would argue to the death that it's not soda, it's pop, if he thought he could finally score a point on me. it's all fuckin root beer dude. rugaru is loup garou sorry to embarass you so bad.

there was an australian wendigo and now there's a french-canadian rougarou and yall are acting confused as fuck, and yet arrogant at the same time, it's the wildest shit. you refuse to tap the brakes and figure out WHY they made two variants weak to heart stabbing silver, and why that was important, because you wanna argue until you pass out that it's not a variant, by ignoring [checks notes] the real world and history. hell the whole reason it's a cross now. you guys are so obsessed with white people self congratulatory pedantics that you won't let yourselves actually figure out what's going on.

this man deadass "There's not a rougarou, there's a french quarter rougarou."

this shit is like yelling at a mexican saying "ITS NOT GATO, ITS CAT" only dumber because there's only one letter difference in the phonetics

2p0 just now realizing that people who speak different languages and dialects CAN live in the same community and have slightly varied pronunciations of words for the same thing. Wow. Groundbreaking.

the only reason they tacked the L on front was so morons like you wouldn't whine about adding a silver weakness. same as AUSTRALIAN wendigo. it's a french rugaru dude please just cope

all one wild distraction from your hugeass akrida fail.

Remember what I said about idiots hearing things through idiot lenses then laughing to other idiots that nobody notices the idiot thing? This. This is that.

They SHOULD be stopping to wonder why they picked TWO monsters they needed variants for specifically weak to silver, AUSTRALIAN WENDIGO and FRENCH RUGARU. They both represent the same primitive issues that the show is breaking down on both sides of the fence, and that silver is an important SERIES-LONG METAPHOR. But pat isn't ready to wrap his head around that. he just wants real real bad to win a point and through idiot lenses this looks like a chance for him.

[batimcthulhu]

Season 1: TL;DR Recaps

Cliff notes versions of the Episode Summaries for Season 1!

(( ALL TL;DR RECAPS))

((✨ SEASON ONE MASTERPOST ✨ ))

—————————————————————

Season 1: Episode 1

Joey, Sammy, and Henry wake up in a military hospital in Haiti with no idea where they are or how they got there, the three of them blacking out simultaneously for no clear reason. Apparently they were attacked? The doctor seems reluctant to release them and the military commander seems convinced they’re involved in illegal gunrunning, but he lets them go, sending some guards to tail them back to the hotel room they don’t remember getting. The boys dig through their things to find out what they were doing here, apparently a research trip for a Halloween cartoon? Thomas Connor was here too but he’s missing? There’s a weird mirror in the things recovered from the attack, which Henry begins using to find hidden messages, pointing out clues through the room.

Season 1: Episode 2

The boys retrace their steps – getting a fortune, visiting a local expert in the occult – but the fortune they get is full of death and sacrifice and the expert has apparently been murdered, and the boys are barely able to convince the military men tailing them that they had nothing to do with this.

Getting back to their room, they find another clue that GENT is the one involved with illegal gun-runners, but as soon as they wander off to get drinks and smokes and ponder the new info, Sammy and Henry hallucinate that Sammy has transformed into an inky shadow that’s missing a finger and Joey thinks he’s being chased by a twisted malformed version of Bendy, before all three black out – and wake up the next morning.

Season 1: Episode 3

Henry thinks their hallucinations might be sort of real – he remembers a dream that suggested this has all happened before. After some panic over their situation and a pep talk from Joey, the boys press on to the library, where they learn a local legend about a cult that serves the Masked Messenger, and the dangers of handling this deity’s artefact, the Slick Stone. Supposedly it knocks you out and sends you to a Dream Realm if you cut your hand on it, letting the Messenger bargain with you to become his “host”. Digging through some of the materials he swiped from the murdered expert, Joey learns of a local priestess who might know more, and they set out to visit her. She claims someone has to cut their hand on the stone in order to even get close to the cult without being attacked by the monster they keep there, but she can give them a potion that will prevent them from being knocked unconscious by the Stone (just don’t fall asleep!), and promises to get them in touch with a rebel fighter who can lead them there.

Season 1: Episode 4

After some tense negotiations and light kidnapping from the rebel fighter, the boys get directions to the cult’s territory and instructions to stab the “host” in the eye, to kill it before it can host the Masked Messenger. Along the way, a local festival is starting where they meet the Priestess again (whom the mirror shows possessed by some other friendly spirit), and a strange, joyful man in a tophat and a warped Bendy mask. Trying to look at him in the mirror knocks Henry back and leaves Sammy babbling incoherently about having been “seen.” They eventually press on, but when they make it into the jungles surrounding the cult they begin to find evidence of…. their own deaths; Joey’s torn suit and Sammy’s banjo spattered with blood. They’re dead. They’ve been dead. That’s why they’ve been passing out – because there aren’t really three of them. One person had to do all three things, and so it felt like they were losing time. Henry’s the only one alive. He’s been imagining his friends are with him the whole time.

Season 1: Episode 5

The boys continue, not knowing what else to do, though they now understand they are three spirits in one body. Whatever’s left of Sammy has been turned into a weird ink-formed Prophet, and they do meet the monster, also – The Lurker of the Starpools, who looks sort of like a malformed Bendy, and claims his appearance is based on the nightmares of the current host. He also confirms they’re trapped in a time loop, and he’s getting kind of bored of it, and he thinks the thing that resets the loop is harm coming to Henry.

Wait. Is Joey the host? Did he make a bargain with the Masked Messenger to keep Henry safe?

After some shenanigans the boys sneak into the cult’s hideout and steal an amulet that lets the cult leader control the Lurker before finding the host body: It’s Joey, but overcome with the infection from the Slick Stone’s cut. Ignoring all of the eye-stabbing advice we were given, Henry punches the infection and accidentally absorbs it from Joey’s body and is instantly sent back in time… to before all of them died. There’s an alive Sammy and Joey along with the ghosts in Henry’s head, and the ghosts are able to avert the attack that would’ve killed them, saving this version of Sammy and Joey.

Season 1: Episode 6

The potion-maker priestess from before believes she can get these ghosts out of Henry’s head and into the living bodies of Sammy and Joey. The living bodies need some time to think this over, but in the meantime they’re ambushed by the cult, and a spell gone awry summons the Lurker. The cult leader tries to command him, while the boys ask for his help, and the Lurker tries his best to back up the boys.

Now that Henry’s the host, he’s able to influence the Lurker’s appearance to be less mind-rending – he and Joey work together and give up a little of their spirit to give the Lurker a new form, as a more on-model Bendy.

Joey and Sammy eventually agree to merge with their ghost selves, if only to spare Henry the extra company in his head. The Priestess calls on a spirit who can fuse them if they’re in perfect sync; the two Sammys compose a song together, and the two Joeys tell a story. It works!

Season 1: Episode 7

Next order of business is find and rescue the missing Thomas Connor from the cult. The boys have the Lurker on their side now, so it goes pretty well, but Joey does get a little bit stabbed in the leg and, flashing back to the half-corrupted host version of himself, fears that being unsymmetrical will infect him again and starts trying to stab himself in the other leg. But other than that it goes well, and the Lurker is surprisingly happy to help the boys and stick with them.

They’re able to get up with that expert again – since they went back in time, he hasn’t been murdered yet – and start a putting together a ritual to Summon The Masked Messenger to make a bargain with him to remove the corruption from Henry. But… what to trade? They don’t want to give up the Lurker anymore.

Season 1: Episode 8

There’s one thing the boys have been warned from the beginning: don’t let the Masked Messenger find out what you want. It’s how he traps people in his deals. So naturally… that’s what they’re going to bargain. The expert hands off his notes for the ritual and tells the boys they can use his backyard (but not his house) and Sammy and the Lurker go gather some starpool ink for the ritual, which they definitely set up in the expert’s house, Joey sets up a separate spell to let them all boost each other, and they summon The Masked Messenger; that man with the top hat and the warped Bendy mask appears.

They’re willing to trade this bit of information – the thing Henry wants most – for the Messenger removing his mark from Henry. If not, well, the boys know how to kill a host. The Messenger agrees, so Henry tells him: he’s a father. What he wants most is to see his family again. That’s the most important thing to him.

The eldritch deity doesn’t release him right away, instead trying to tempt the other boys, then tries to simply assert his will over them, but between Joey’s spell and the fact that Henry has drunk the willpower boosting potion EVERY SINGLE LOOP, they are powerful enough to resist.

The Messenger is so intrigued by these humans that have put up such resistance that he relents, and releases them.

Season 1: Epilogue

Everyone can finally go to sleep. They’re all very traumatised so lots of cuddling and reassurances all around. A few loose ends are tied up – Thomas is invited to work for JDS if he wants to get out of GENT, the expert and the priestess are updated that there’s no longer a host situation and… the boys talk to the Lurker. Does he want to stay Lurker of the Starpools, or stay with them? He actually kinda assumed they were just helping him because they needed his protection, but uh, he was kinda bummed about the idea of not having them around anymore… so yeah!! He’ll come back to New York with the JDS crew!

Thomas joins JDS and helps Joey build a machine that can produce the StarPool ink to make a habitat for the Lurker. Henry gets more time off to see his family because Joey doesn’t want to lose him, and both of them keep studying the occult in secret. Sammy represses all of these memories as much as he can.

S1 - S2 INTERLUDE

One terrifying evening after some problems with the pipes, Sammy goes rogue, talking like that “Prophet” version of him from the Starpools, kidnapping Joey and turning his office into an “altar” and trying to sacrifice him. Henry and Bendy grab Jack to try to help talk him down.

He passes out once they’re able to restrain him, and wakes up with no memory of the incident – the last thing he remembers is touching the ink. It resurfaced all those old memories. MAYBE LETS, TRY TO, AVOID LETTING SAMMY TOUCH THE INK.

The pump switch is installed in Sammy’s office to avoid this, but it can’t fully prevent a couple more Prophet Incidents that end in troubling prophecies about A Coming King scrawled all over the walls.

—————————————————————

((✨ SEASON ONE MASTERPOST ✨ ))

(( ALL TL;DR RECAPS))

[descentintosiblingcon]

Episode 11: The End Of The World

Ominous pre-finale title or endgame Kingdom Hearts world?

So the AI is fighting them. Shugo is ready to throw hands (or twin daggers) for his sister so the AI throws the entire group into a creepy mirror world with inverted colors and data-corrupted enemies. Given her powers over space, this may be the toughest battle humanity has taken against AI yet...

Reki is up to something...good? But fuck him, the group are being attacked by evil NPCs. Sanjuro fights them off and Shugo is ready to Data Drain the AI. Sanjuro stops him though, saying that defeating the AI now will cost them the only path to Rena forever. Reki talks to his ex Kamui about helping the group...and she stabs him. Break-ups...they used to be simple.

Back to the group, they're still fighting...but back to Reki and Kamui. Reki comes back because hey, it's just a game. Kamui points out the group may be in more trouble though...

As the AI absorbs the NPCs, Kamui points out that the AI is using the children in comas to understand how to make Full Death a thing. Apparently, games are about to get more real...whatever its goals, it's destroying the World in the process. Aura was holding her off this whole time and it's only recently that the AI has been running amok. That's why Shugo has the bracelet: to fight this thing.

Anyway, Kamui and Reki plans on attacking the AI with hundreds of viruses as Rena is taken from her area and held hostage right in front of Shugo. Yup, a lot happening...so everybody gets drained and the monster containing Rena fucks Shugo up something fierce. He's gonna die and everybody's gonna follow him. So it's Aura to the rescue as Balmung heals everyone. The monster then gets fought while the virus that got in everyone while they were drained weakens everyone. Shugo won't give up though: he's still fighting. Meanwhile, Reki and Kamui send the monster their viruses while putting their faith in Balmung (and Shugo, I guess...).

Their work is felt by...the group losing their weapons (Go team!). Shugo is tempted to use his Data Drain but Aura tells him if he does, Rena will be hit. So everyone is fucked. Kamui comes in to save the day for real this time and uses items against the monster, noting those can still hurt it. Bitch-slapped to god knows where, Shugo is confronted by a mysterious figure...

THOUGHTS

A lot of exposition that I had to sum up here. But at least it's ending...and Rena's back. To be rescued. Yay...

[theadventurerslog]

King's Quest VII: The Princeless Bride | Part 5

The Adventurer’s Log

King’s Quest VII: The Princeless Bride Part 5

Time to finish chapter 4 and dip into chapter 5. For now, Rosella and King Otar are trapped!

I showed him his pet dragon toad and he was able to revive him with a gem in his bracelet but that had to be pried loose with my hammer and chisel all while tree branches started stabbing into the coffin. I got it done though and the dragon toad dug its way out leaving us a hole to climb through as well.

Once out we were back in the graveyard area, and Otar sent the toad home to inform Mathilde of their situation and try to do what she can to keep Malicia at bay. I also found out Malicia had stolen an important device for the volcano so we needed to get that back. Meanwhile we then heard Malicia's scream of frustration and annoyance that we got out and it was time to hide.

Otar passed a sceptre to Rosella to use on him to turn him into a scarab.

A cloak happened to materialize nearby for Rosella to use to disguise herself and look like Lady Tsepish, the wife of the dead Count and the wraith who's been mourning and killed me earlier.

And here's Otar the scarab!

We needed a way out of Ooga Booga and back to the Vulcanix Underground but the tunnel is sealed, so we needed to take the gates to the swamp, which is where the shrub monster that ate Rosella before was. There's also a potential route from Falderal to get back to the underground.

I went back to Dr. Cadaver, scooping up a shovel from the gravedigger's place along the way, and I also passed by the kids' house and scared them to Rosella's great amusement. Rosella explained the situation to Dr. Cadaver and he gave me some defoliant to use on the shrub swamp monster. Now I was ready for the bush and this time it met its match.

Gave it a good spray that was also apparently very stinky and the critter melted away.

I then talked to the three flowered plant there which was a mix of flirty and trying to eat her and kind of dumb in two of the heads' cases. I got some info through their nonsense though--namely that the swamp heads into the were woods and that they'd eat her up if she didn't have some silver on her. Thankfully I did still have silver from the melted silver spoon.

I tried to get the flower at their base and got eaten.

They were quite proud of themselves and figured she must be a princess to be that delicious. Charmers all the way...

I left the flower for now and carried on to find Malicia's house. It was guarded by a gargoyle and trying to interact with it led to it roaring out an alarm until Malicia showed up and zapped Rosella into oblivion.

So instead I walked on by and found a route to the side of the house where there was a hole in the ground that would lead in. It was too small and needed to be dug out more with the shovel, then I was able to get in, leaving the cloak outside.

It led to a spot under a floorboard but then Malicia came back while cooing at her dog Cuddles. So much cooing... but Cuddles being a dog and all sniffed Rosella out and I took too long to do anything so Malicia found me again.

She called me a termite and once again, zapped Rosella to death.

Trying again, I used the stinky defoliant.

Squirted right on the nose. Cuddles whined a bunch and Malicia went to check on him and more cooing ensued.

"Would Cuddles feel better if we went out and found someone to bite? Wouldum?"

So she left with her darling darling Cuddles and I was able to safely explore around the house. She had a contraption that she was experimenting with after Otar oh so reluctantly told her the device was for turning lead into gold, which of course is a lie. Rosella was quite amused at imagining her trying to get that to work.

Ultimately I found the device in one of the drawers after making a mess of clothing.

A bit of an embarrassing moment here. I was looking at the mess of clothes, like Rosella, you're not even trying to be subtle about your search. You're leaving a mess! It's obvious someone's searched the place. Then I left and when I came out...Malicia popped up and blasted me again because, yeah, obvious the place had been searched.

So, yeah... on retrying I actually interacted with the clothing and lo and behold Rosella put it all back! Except a woollen sock which was kept for ourselves. Teach me to actually a carry the thought...

Then I was able to safely head out and continue into the werewoods where I was quickly attacked by a werewolf.

I attempted just throwing the silver at it, which Rosella made an effort at and it was futile... so she got killed. Again. Ahh, such is life, or death.

Instead you wanna combine the silver with the sock to make a sling and then hurl it at the werewolf which very much hurts it and sends it and its buddies still hiding in the trees skedaddling.

And sent Rosella running too, and one wolf managed to snag her cloak, so we're back to just her dress again.

And in a familiar place! From the forest I decided to go on to the desert to try trading my stuff with Eduardo roo rat. I couldn't trade anything and Otar was extremely offended when I tried to with him and Eduardo was willing to offer a carob bean. Is that all he's worth? Frustrated shriek and sob. Sorry buddy... bean of carob rhymed with scarab, you see. Surely that's worth something.

I went back to the forest and found my way back to Falderal. Good ol' Falderal. Rosella just laughed and snarked at the gate guard's attempts to scare her off with ridiculous threats. Inside I met Yipyap again who seemed cheery enough. Rosella learned Valanice was arrested but acquitted and now they like her, so that's good to know, though we haven't played through it yet. He also again mentioned taking the Faux shop with a grain of salt, would've been nice to have caught that the first time.

I talked to Bullworth in the China Shop and learned that there's some weird stuff in the town hall that could lead to the Vulcanix underground. I went back to the desert to get some salt and visited the faux shop as well to basically find out the same info. So it was off to the town hall and back through the wacky stairs until I found the room with mirrors again.

The mirror that led to Yipyap's office got all boarded up. Rosella also thinks the statue is tacky. I got a little stuck until I realized and remembered I could read the plague at the statue's base. It was still tarnished but the woollen sock could be used to wipe it down so I could read it. It was essentially a little poem that ultimately boiled down to the statue wanting fruit. I could then click on a bunch of grapes on one pillar and use the hammer and chisel to break one off and give it to the statue.

That got the basin to open but only part way before it got stuck and Rosella wasn't strong enough to get it further opened, so I changed Otar back.

He opened it the rest of way and down we went!

We landed in a tunnel with a big locked gate but Otar was able to open it and we came back to the control room where imposter Otar was left.

The two Otars started fighting, well the real Otar jumped on the imposter anyway, and the chapter ended.

Leading us to Chapter 5!

"Nightmare in Etheria."

And back to Valanice.

She's on trial!

On trial for the crimes of moon theft, impersonating a Falderalian, and party crashing without fur or feathers and they vote her guilty on all counts.

However, they're not so sure about the punishment. Yipyap starts with wanting to send her to the jelly bean mines of a place I'm not sure how to spell until Valanice calls him out on making that up. More ridiculous punishments are suggested until Chicken Petite pipes up with the suggestion of making her put the moon back in the sky.

Which leaves us free to wander again, but not allowed to leave town.

And, so for now, I leave Valanice in Falderal with some green cheese, er, moon. Until next time.

--

Deaths: 24 Time: 5:23

[joannechocolat]

On media storms, and transphobes, and free speech, and the establishment.

(Dated 22nd August, 2022.)

Unless you were asleep last week, you’ll have noticed I made the news. I made the news a lot. The Daily Mail (twice); the Times (twice); the Telegraph; the Observer, plus radio and any number of online and international outlets, including UnHerd, where stories go to die.

The story has taken many forms. That J.K. Rowling feels “betrayed” by my “lack of support” for her: that my views on trans rights makes me ineligible for any public role; that people are calling for my removal from the Board of the SOA; that I’m a monster because I replied to a post from a satirical Twitter account with - shock, horror - a smiley.

I haven’t talked to anyone in the Press, in spite of many journalists asking, so this “story”, was taken from Twitter, where stories evolve at such a rapid rate that by the time they make the broadsheets, no-one really knows what shape the story started out at all.

But this is what it has become. I’ve been repeatedly (and wrongly) accused of a number of things, which when you unpick them, boil down to one thing. That as Chair of the Society of Authors (the authors’ trade union), I’ve abused my position to discriminate against people who don’t agree with my support of the trans community.

Full disclosure: this isn’t new. Ever since I was elected Chair in 2019, I’ve been getting increasing amounts of abuse, pressure and demands for “debate” from people with gender-critical views. Some of them are colleagues; some women I once considered friends. Some of these women now have become single-agenda tweeters, railing night and day online about what defines a woman, and spreading misinformation and fear about the trans community. Many of these women claim to be afraid, and to have suffered cancellation for their views. Some of them feel that as Chair of the SOA, I should have taken their side in Twitter debates, signed petitions, joined hashtags to validate their beliefs.

But here’s the thing. The SOA represents everyone. It has over 12,000 members. It needs to stay neutral to represent all its members equally. And it has a strict policy of non-intervention in Twitter debates between members, even when they get nasty, because Twitter can be a nasty place, and the SOA can’t be everywhere. That’s why I tweet in my personal capacity unless I specify otherwise. 

The gender critical lobby has had real difficulty understanding this. Over the past two years, I’ve been under increasing pressure to “speak out” about individual cases (I can’t); ally myself with transphobes (I won’t) and “denounce” death threats to J.K. Rowling (which I do, but apparently not often enough.) Over the past two years I’ve received countless abusive tweets, urging me to kill myself, or resign from the SOA, or hoping that I would die of cancer, all from the gender-critical lobby.

The latest eruption began last week, with the stabbing of Salman Rushdie, a man whose life has been under threat since most of us can remember. Last Friday, an Islamist fanatic managed to get close enough to stab him, leaving him with terrible injuries. The literary world was shaken. Friends of Rushdie’s spoke out in horror. But those of us who only knew him for his books were also deeply shaken and upset. Because this wasn’t just a violent attack on an author, horrific though that may be. It was an attack on free speech, a principle all creators hold dear.

Free speech is a term that has been misused a lot recently, especially by people wanting their say, but denying it to others. In fact, free speech is like oxygen: you can’t remove it from someone else without also losing it yourself, which means that, if you believe in free speech, you can’t then go around deciding who deserves it and who doesn’t. Rushdie is a great writer. But even if the victim of the stabbing had been a minor writer, a bad writer, or a writer with problematic opinions, the same attack on free speech would have happened, threatening writers everywhere. The principle of free speech matters. And it matters to all of us.

I wrote about this a bit on Twitter, where many authors were still upset, struggling how best to respond to the horrific attack. Twitter being Twitter, there were also a number of angry Islamist accounts, crowing about the Rushdie attack and targeting anyone who expressed sympathy. Some were abusive, some even threatening. Several people I follow were sent messages on the lines of: Shut up or we’ll come for you next. I got one myself. So did J.K. Rowling. But on Twitter, size matters. What J.K. Rowling, with her 14 million followers, says is instant news. So when J.K. Rowling announced that she’d had a death threat from an Islamist account saying: You’re next, her name trended for two days, and Rushdie’s all-too-real attack was overshadowed by a Twitter threat.

Now, it isn’t up to me to decide whether the death threat was credible, or whether J.K. Rowling should be afraid. I don’t know how many threats she’s received, or how many she thinks are credible. Having had them myself, I know they can be upsetting and frightening. But a threat on Twitter is not the same as being stabbed in the eye, and I didn’t see the need to comment.

 Instead I put up a poll, asking fellow-authors if they’d ever received a death threat. I wanted to use it as a way of talking about author safety. As it happened, Chuck Wendig had been posting about his latest death threat the day before Salman Rushdie was stabbed (a weirdly specific death threat, in which his correspondent expressed the hope that Chuck would be, er - raped to death by a dolphin), and the tone of my first poll reflected the jokey nature of our interchange. In the light of the Rushdie stabbing, though, I realized that wasn’t appropriate. I deleted the poll almost at once and started again with a more neutral wording, but the folk on Twitter who watch me for any ammunition they can use had already screencapped it and passed it around. It made the papers, variously as: Harris  Mocks Rushdie or Harris Mocks Rowling, but I was doing neither.  Death threats – to anyone, including J.K. Rowling – are absolutely wrong. They’re also a crime. Crimes are for the police to sort out. Free speech, however, is a legitimate principle for a union to uphold.

But free speech isn’t always the speech that you agree with. Free speech can be confrontational. It can be unfair. It can even be upsetting. I’ve upset a lot of gender-critical people with my own use of free speech; my refusal to join their hashtags, sign their petitions, enter their debates. That doesn’t mean to say I don’t believe in theirs, or that I wouldn’t fight for their rights as fiercely as for anyone else. But that has never been enough for the people who want me gone.  

Since last week, the wave of people demanding my resignation – or just my removal – from the SOA has grown. Many of those who have joined the “debate” are not members. Many are not even authors. Nearly all are transphobes, though. Because that’s what all this is about. Not all gender critical people may be transphobes, but all transphobes are gender critical. Graham Linehan has been posting about me since 2020, calling for me to be dismissed. He doesn’t know what the SOA does. He doesn’t care. He’s just one of many prominent transphobes who believe that someone who believes in the rights of trans folk doesn’t deserve a voice of their own.

I have a trans son. He came out very recently, and I haven’t discussed it online. Last week, I discovered that some of my principal detractors had found out about this. After talking to my son, and with his permission, I went public. I love my son more than words can say, and I didn’t want anyone to think that I was ashamed of him. Kathleen Stock, among others, gloated that this was proof of my bias. She (rather chillingly) denounced me for having “undeclared trans-identified offspring,” and claimed that this was the “real” reason for my support of trans folk. Kathleen Stock finds it hard to believe that someone might uphold a principle without having a personal interest. Actually, I’ve been a supporter of trans rights for much longer than this. Like I said, I believe in supporting the rights of all marginalized groups.

So, just what are they saying now? That I’m jealous of JKR? I’m not. I love my life, and I love my son, and I wouldn’t change that for anything. That because of my pro-trans beliefs, I should be cancelled or lose my job? That would be ironic, wouldn’t it, coming from people who are claiming to have been cancelled for their gender-critical beliefs. And full disclosure; it isn’t a job. It’s an elected position, as part of a Board of twelve people. It’s voluntary, time-consuming, often thankless, and unpaid, and I do it because I care about authors’ rights. All authors’ rights; whether they’re famous of not; whether I agree with their politics or not.

But this assault isn’t going to stop. Given how many people pretend to be “fearful of speaking out”, they’re certainly doing a hell of a lot of it. I’ve had open attacks this week from a certain sector of the author community – all London-based, all cis, all white, all influential people (many of them men) with lots of friends in the right-wing media – saying that they are coming for me. One person compared it to the March of the Ents, going after Saruman. The literary establishment, is seems is desperately afraid of progress.

Here’s the thing, though. I’m stubborn. I’ve never fitted into the London literary scene, so the fact that it now feels the need to mobilize against me means very little to me. This week, I’ve had death threats, attacks in the media, and countless abusive messages. I don’t care. I’m not afraid. I was elected to this role to help protect authors’ rights. That means yours, whoever you are, and those of all other authors. If you’re a member of the SOA, then we have elections yearly. You too can stand for the Board, and be elected, and add your views to the diversity of views already expressed there. Till then, I’ll do what I’ve always done. Raise awareness of authors’ rights. 

They grow us tough in Yorkshire.