#I gave him animu eyes

[johankasas]

I wanted to paint, and this is the most delicious looking apple I ever painted.

[who-is-this-weirdo]

Arctic, Foeslayer, Darkstalker and Whiteout

Some notes:

Arctic isn't old, just wasting away from stress and animus magic taking a toll on his body, being in the wrong environment also doesn't help

He is the reason Darkstalker and Whiteout have ridged spiral horns, Diamond also had them

Foeslayer is so cute shdhdjdnn, lots of battle scars from being a top ranking soldier

Gave her red eyes, it fits her well

Made Darkstalker to have no fur privilege, also I like the idea of him looking more like his father so he is blueish and more angular

Also red eyes because it looks cool

I like to think Whiteout superficially looks more like her mother, rounder shapes and body, greenish scales, same horn shape even if spiralling. Stonemover's stone scales and Sunny's darker patches also make them look like her

I accidentally made her look like a Seawing cause I had trouble making her fur curly, but I like that and I like the fact she could kind of look like Orca, weird opposite parallels

[a-little-buggy]

"Amore mio, we cannot keep doing this." Ezio paced across the wooden floor, running his hand through his hair. It was entirely dark out, and the room was lit by a single candle on the table. "You were gone two full days! I practically turned this city upside-down looking for you!"

"How was I supposed to know I was still seeing things!? I genuinely thought it would wear off before now!" Desmond was sitting in a common room chair; the dark circles under his eyes were accentuated by his washed out complexion. He had just come from a bath, otherwise he would still be coated in sweat and hay. "I thought after a few weeks everything would just go back to normal! Well. . ." Desmond gestured around at the Renaissance assassin's guild hall. "Normal being relative, and all."

Ezio pulled a chair over by Desmond and sat down, picking at the stray straws of hay still glued to Desmond's skin. "I know that you are just trying to keep active, but please. If I get another report of you passing out in an alley, or landing in the river, I swear to Christo I will go gray." He stopped and cupped his hands around Desmond's face. "Don't do this to me, Desmond. I'm too young for gray hair."

"Oh don't worry, it'll be just as popular with the chicks as ever." Desmond gave a *swish* of his imaginary long locks, but the motion made his head spin. He braced his arms against the table. "Though I personally have less interest in the grandpa-type."

"Molto bene, that means you should have a personal investment in not causing me any more stress!"

"You think it's stressful for you? You're not the one running an imaginary Boston Marathon every other weekday!" Desmond scoffed, and laid his head down on the table in such a way as to still be able to give Ezio the stink eye.

"You know that isn't how I meant it. I just wish I could convince you to stay safe." Ezio rocked his chair back, and set his heels on the corner of the table. "At the very least, until we have some kind of answer as to when these episodes occur, or why."

Desmond gave a deep, shuddering sigh. "What if we never get any such answer? What little I know about bleeds is that I originally got them from using the Animus. Except now, I've somehow traveled back through time, so who even knows what kind of effects that could cause."

Ezio pressed a finger to his forehead. "Wait a moment. What is the Animus?"

"Seriously? It's the device that showed me your memories. We talked about this a few days ago."

Ezio removed his feet from the table and sat upright, eyeing Desmond suspiciously. "And when was this again, exactly?"

"Why? I. . . I guess it was four days ago, now, so Thursday? I remember it was raining."

Ezio bit his lip and grimaced, then giving a deep exhale placed a gentle hand on Desmond's leg. "I had a contract in Forlì that day."

"No, no. You're kidding." Desmond pushed off of the table and sank down into the wooden chair, as if it could absorb the impact of this new revelation for him. Ezio couldn't have imagined Desmond getting any paler, but he had. "No. No no no no no Ezio I -"

"Hey, it's alright, you're alright, I just need you to breathe." Desmond was badly shaken by this point, and his legs had given out, leaving him sinking to the floor. Ezio grabbed hold of his shoulders, trying to ease his downward descent.

Desmond's voice cracked. "No, no, it's not alright!" He grabbed Ezio back, desperate for some kind of tether. "How can you stand there and tell me it's alright, just after telling me that you may not even be here!?!?"

"I am here, though. I'm here." Ezio wrapped his arms tightly around Desmond, holding him as close as he possibly could. What else could he do? "Just try to breathe."

And so the two sat there, as the candle burned down to a stump. Slowly, Desmond's shaking turned to shuddered breathing, which turned to deep breaths.

Ezio rubbed Desmond's shoulders. "It may not be much longer until daybreak. Do you think you are ready to try for some sleep?"

Desmond slumped forward, burying his face in Ezio's chest. "Honestly? I think I'm too exhausted to make it to bed. Here seems fine."

Ezio chuckled. "For you, perhaps, but I am a creature of comfort." With one of his arms still wrapped around Desmond's back, he slid the other one under Desmond's knees and stood up, carrying him off towards the bunks.

Desmond wrapped his arms around Ezio's neck. "My hero," he sleepily crooned.

"Don't sing my praises just yet, amò." Ezio shifted Desmond's weight, fumbling to turn the doorknob. "I may expect you to return the favor one day."

"What?!" Desmond gasped, playing up the dramatics. " 's not fair, you're much bigger than I am!"

"Is that meant as a compliment or an insult?"

"I dunno yet." Desmond yawned. "I'll decide later, when I need one or the other."

Soon enough, they both had clambered into bed, and were able to get some much needed sleep.

-----

Desmond spent the next few days occupying himself in the base. Besides helping sort through the dispatching of contracts, he got caught them caught up on some long overdue weapons orders and offered advice to whatever young assasin might come knocking. This was his favorite task. It was a reminder of a simpler time, of when he could stand behind a bar and just chat with people about whatever was ailing them. Except this was a little more murder-y. But having been a bartender in New York, it was not so much more murder-y as one might think.

But all the same, he was beginning to feel cooped up. And so he went to seek audience with the Mentorè, about perhaps being allowed on a group mission of some form.

There were two novices already in Ezio's office, a boy and a girl. They were likely discussing the details of an upcoming contract. Having already opened the door, Desmond knocked on the doorframe. Ezio waved him in.

"What can I do for you, Desmond?" Ezio propped his elbows up on the desk and clasped his hands, resting his chin on top of them.

"Oh, it can wait. Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt." Desmond glanced over at the novices, who in fairness, seemed unperturbed.

"So can this. Please, continue." Ezio leaned back in the chair, and the two young assassins stepped to the side.

Desmond cleared his throat. "With your permission, Mentorè," On this word he did a slight bow. Ezio rolled his eyes. "I would wish to be sent on a mission. As part of a group, of course," He hastened to add. "It's just. . . I don't do well feeling confined. And I'm about ready to go stir-crazy in here."

One of the novices smirked. "Is that different from the regular crazy somehow?" He asked. Desmond gave a dry, mocking laugh in response, but then turned back to Ezio and. . . Oh shit.

Desmond always knew that Ezio Auditore da Firenze was a dangerous man. He knew of all his great conquests, and had seen the fear in the eyes of his enemies. And yet somehow, to see the master assassin here and brimming with fury, it felt like the first time he really understood how terrifying such a man could be.

The other novice slapped the first upside the head, and then grabbed him by the wrist. "Thank you for the advice, Mentorè. We will send word as soon as we complete our task," She said, dragging him out the door, which closed firmly behind them.

Ezio took a deep breath, and settled back into his seat.

Desmond shuffled his feet. "Hey, so umm, you wouldn't have actually murdered that kid, right?"

"Fortunately, we will not have to find out." Ezio shot what he assumed was a comforting smile up at Desmond (it wasn't) and then rifled through some papers on his desk. "I actually have a mission that should suit you just fine. It should be straightforward, a matter of some scouting and interrogating a handful of people. There will be two others with you, and you will cover a fair bit of ground. Benè?" Ezio handed over a map with a few directions and way points marked on it.

Desmond nodded. "Yeah, benè. Thank you, Ezio."

"You're welcome. You leave in an hour. And Desmond," He continued, once Desmond had turned to leave. "I know you are highly skilled, but do still be careful."

"I will." Desmond walked back over to Ezio, then kissed him on the cheek and winked. "I promise."

Ezio kicked his boots up on the desk. "Oh, you are such a flirt."

"Well, I come by it honestly." And with that, Desmond left to make preparations.

-----

Desmond was sitting atop a window dormer, watching the surrounding area as another assassin prepared to 'talk to' a gang member in the alleyway below. A third assassin was perched on another neighboring rooftop, similarly spying for any potential complications. This was the method they had all decided on, and it had been working quite well. One person would go to meet the target, and the other two would remain above: out of sight so as to not cause any alarm, but close enough to drop into the fray should anything go awry. This was the last one on their list, and then they could all go back and herald their mission as a success.

He scanned the skyline. Besides the other assassin (whose name he had learned was Achille), there was no one visible up here. He peered down into the street. Piera (visible in blue) had just cornered in on the gang member (visible in gold). One or two of their targets had been willing to part with their information before it came to blows, but such instances were few and far between. Piera gave a quick display of her hidden blade, just to make her intentions and alliances clear.

As was typical, the conversation started with an exchange of thinly-veiled threats. "Next will come the unveiled threats, and then the diet violence," Desmond mused to himself.

The target started shouting. Desmond thought he heard another voice. He scanned the rooftops again, and this time saw a pair of guards off in the distance behind him. He looked back at Achille, who did not seem to react. "This again," Desmond muttered under his breath. He shifted to the right, and the guards were gone from his line of sight. "Please let that fix it." He turned back to watching the alley.

"You belong down in the street with the rest of the filth!" The voice was still distant, but it was definitely louder this time.

Desmond sighed. He turned to look behind himself, and saw the two guards from before making their way over, and a third guard climbing up behind them. "Just ignore them, and they'll go away," He said to himself. He turned back to the alleyway.

"Get down off this roof, or I will throw you off myself!"

Desmond scoffed. "I'd like to see you try. I think I'm finished throwing myself off of rooftops because of figments of my twisted imagination."

He heard another shout. This one wasn't from the target, or the illusory guard, but from Achille. "Desmond, look out!"

Desmond spun around, but not quickly enough, because a boot impacted him squarely in the chest, and he fell from the roof.

He desperately reached out, trying to grab hold of something to hang from. His right hand caught the wooden paneling of the window he was sitting above, but the wooden beam was brittle and snapped off, splintering under his fingernails. He yelled, and was unable to grab hold anywhere else.

Desmond's ankle rolled as he hit the ground, and he fell prone. The guard peered from the rooftop above, and apparently for the first time put together the implications of there being three hooded figures together. "Assassinos! Get them!" Well, so much for subtlety.

Piera ran over to help Desmond to his feet, and the gang member bolted. Desmond shook his head, and pulled himself up. "Don't worry about me, I can handle a few guards. Don't let the target get away!" He turned to face the building he had fallen from. The guards were already descending. He shifted his weight, and winced. Running's not an option. He readied his blade.

Desmond lunged at the first guard to get his boots on the ground. He hadn't yet pulled his sword, so Desmond easily grabbed hold of him, sliding the hidden blade between his ribs. Unfortunately, the next two landed with their swords already drawn, and Desmond could hear more footsteps fast approaching. "Shit, how many of you are there?"

He heard a shriek from above, and looked up just in time to dodge a guard falling from the rooftop, an arrow lodged in his chest. He landed with a dull, wet thud. Desmond spared a glance up towards Achille, who was already nocking another arrow. "Oh, this should be a peace of cake, then."

Desmond crossed blades with the two guards closest to him, parrying and deflecting their attacks. One of them leaped forward with an arcing swing of their sword. Desmond dodged under and to the side of the swing, then came around behind the off-balance guard, slitting his throat.

Another shriek, another thud. Desmond easily dispatched his next opponent, sweeping him off his feet and then skewering him where he fell. But the next guards approached together, and Desmond had to shift his focus to defense again.

Shriek, thud. One of the guards tried to bring his sword down on Desmond's head, who used both blades to intersect it. In the sword's reflection, Desmond saw another guard coming from behind him. "I've got you now, assassino!" Desmond shoved his current attacker off and spun around, swinging his blade in a wide arc. But as soon as his blade hit the guard's chest, he disappeared into mid-air.

Desmond growled. "Are yOU KIDDING ME!?!?!"

Shriek, thud.

A low chuckle from one of the guardsmen. "Jumping at shadows, boy? Ready for someone to put you out of your misery?" Desmond turned on his heel and lunged for the unlucky dastard's face, plunging both of the hidden blades deep into his eyesockets.

What few guards remained turned tail and ran.

Shriek, thud. Desmond turned once again to Achille, who was now clambering down the building, bow in hand. "They were already running, y'know."

Achille landed on the street, and shrugged. "They picked the fight. The least they could do is have the decency to see it through."

Desmond chuckled, then rubbed his shoulder. "Well, whether Piera caught the target or not, by now, she'll be heading back to base. We should be, too." He looked down at his swelling ankle. "No crazy parkour shit though."

-----

Ezio was pacing back and forth across the wooden floor, combing his hand through his hair. Piera had gotten back with her report on the mission two hours ago. He had already sent ten otherwise idle assassins out searching for Desmond, and he was deliberating about sending more.

"He has returned!" Came a voice from the door.

Ezio raced to the door. His stomach lurched when he saw Desmond, covered in blood and limping, except. . . He was also smiling? There he was, covered head-to-toe in blood, and grinning ear-to-ear!

"Desmond? Are you. . ." He looked Desmond up and down. Bloody. Beaming. "Did you hit your head?"

"Ezio!" Desmond threw his arms up wide, flinging blood on the assassins unfortunate enough to be standing near him. "No, I'm just fine! Well, I wrecked my ankle, but not nearly so much as I wrecked all of the guards!"

Ezio laughed. "So, you determined that what you needed was catharsis, and that any guard would suffice?"

"Well no, actually," Desmond responded a bit sheepishly. "I let them get the drop on me, believing they weren't real."

Ezio very abruptly stopped laughing. "You WHAT -"

"Can we discuss it later? I know it's a problem, but I'm currently riding a high, and I would like to enjoy it."

Ezio started to object, but instead wrapped an arm over Desmond's shoulders. "Later then." He lifted his arm, and stared in horror at the gloopy mess now dripping from it. "Dio mio, someone needs to give you a bath."

Desmond smirked. "Are you volunteering?"

-----

I don't ever think of myself as a creative person, so I am ABSOLUTELY blaming @sulfies that I have done this again, lol. I hope you enjoyed though! Much less bleed effect whump this time around, and much less re-reading to check that it makes sense, lol. Hyperfixation + insomnia = I wrote another story, but now it's a quarter to six in the morning and I may low-key hate myself tomorrow (today?). Thanks for reading!

[teecupangel]

The whole Desmond/Vega situation with Altair in EoAhas made me think of a time travel au where Altair keeps having romcom meet-cutes with people but literally all of them are Desmond in disguise

So Altair is going from having very few crushes in his lifetime to having multiple at once (unaware that they're all actually the same person) while Desmond is stuck wishing he had a computer to make a spreadsheet about which identity knows what about Altair so he doesn't let something slip that Altair told a different identity or info he got from the animus/bleeds

Oh my god.

This is so cute.

I think Altaïr would know it’s Desmond sooner or later, which would make Desmond’s spreadsheet quite a lost cause at that point but…

If it starts with Altaïr being a child, we can prolong the meet cute situations XD

So, in this one, it starts of with Altaïr as a child getting lost while he was joining his father in some kind of safe mission.

His first love was a child who saw him and helped him get back to the bureau, wearing clothes that were a bit too big for him.

The child’s hand was warm and he would squeeze Altaïr’s hand while he held it whenever he says “It’s going to be alright.”

And Altaïr didn’t understand why but he believed him.

Altaïr’s second love was a girl whose face he didn’t even see. Clad from head to toe in black robes with a niqab covering her face. All he could see was her eyes, clear light brown eyes that seemed to shimmer during the day.

This time, Altaïr wasn’t lost. He had just been taking a walk while waiting for his father to finish his mission. He saw her steal a piece of pomegranate from one of the stalls in the marketplace and tried to catch her.

Instead, he ended up sitting on the edge of one of the buildings as they shared the pomegranate, listening to her talk about how the merchant had been an ass who bullied other poorer merchants.

It was Adha who told him that what he felt wasn’t love but infatuation. Maybe even greed. He fell in love easily for people he will never see again. Altaïr hated her immediately, shouting at his father that he would never marry a girl like her. Adha scoffed and told her own father that she didn’t want to marry a boy who would fall in love so easily. Altaïr stormed off after his father tried to pretend he wasn’t taking Adha’s side. He bumped into him. His third love. Or the next target of his infatuation. No. That was Adha talking, not him.

He was a young boy, wearing a dark brown shemagh that covered half of his face. Altaïr’s eyes were enchanted by his eyes that reminded him of honey. The boy asked him if he was alright and Altaïr didn’t really want to talk about it. So… the boy gave him a piece of bread and told him to cheer up. His eyes wrinkled in a way that let Altaïr know he was smiling behind that shemagh.

And just like that, the boy was gone. Leaving Altaïr with a piece of bread that was still warm to the touch.

His fourth love was a street urchin who looked like a wet rodent. He had been out of Masyaf with the other recruits to observe the older Assassins perform their tasks in a busy city. The Assassin that had been assigned to him was a kind man with an easy smile. Abbas thought he was nice. Malik was as polite as ever.

And Altaïr was bored.

And it was because he wasn’t truly paying attention that he was swept by the crowd before the Assassin or the two other recruits with him could notice.

He was on his way to the bureau when he heard a crash. A child no older than he was had crashed onto a nearby stall that had been selling wine.

He quickly ran and shouted at Altaïr to run as well, just as the guards were catching up to him. Altaïr ran even though he shouldn’t have.

He wasn’t part of whatever was happening.

But his body moved on its own.

Once they were on the other side of the city, the child began to laugh. He didn’t ask why Altaïr agreed to run. He didn’t ask how Altaïr was able to keep up with him as they traversed the city, using their surrounding to gain the upper hand over the large armored men chasing after them.

“Here.” Altaïr caught whatever the child had thrown at him before he even realized what it was, “Take that as my apology for getting you mixed up in all these.”

Altaïr opened his hand.

It was a necklace of some kind with a small yellow gem.

“It matches your eyes.” The child said and Altaïr wished he would take off the fabric around his face so Altaïr could see his face.

Could see his smile.

“Take care on your way back, Altaïr.” The boy waved before he jumped off the window.

And Altaïr tried to remember when he had told him his name.

[lesbian-in-leather]

Let's Talk About Alastor

Hazbin Hotel is rotting my brain so it's time for me to ramble about it to no one in particular!! Obviously this post will contain a whole multitude of spoilers, so please don't look under the cut unless you're fine with that/have seen the full season

As I mentioned in the tags of this post, I have SO MANY THOUGHTS about our beloved Radio Demon, especially in regards to the finale and how I think his plot could go next series, so buckle up folks, this'll be a long one

First off, let's talk about the way he fights. When he's fighting anyone, Alastor is big, and showy, and fucking deadly. We see it time and time again—he has fun when he fights, he enjoys the carnage and, most importantly, the terror he elicits from his foes. And that's why he was tasked with dealing with Adam—he's insanely powerful, and if anyone can take down the head of the exorcists, it would have to be Alastor (because obviously they didn't know Lucifer would show up to help, and Charlie hasn't fully come into her power yet, but that's another post). And he knows it! He knows he's powerful, he knows he's deadly, he knows everyone is shit-scared of him, and that's what he relies on.

And then the finale happens. He's in that final battle, and he's actually put to the test. And in terms of sheer power, for once in his afterlife he isn't the strongest in the room. He's actually outmatched, or at least on an even footing. And if he'd fought like everyone else, then maybe he would have succeeded—if he'd taken Carmilla's advice, I have no doubt that he would have won, or at least held Adam off for long enough that the others could have come and helped him. But he never stood a chance. Because he fights like an angel, and that's why he loses to one. Look at Carmilla's conversation with Vaggie:

"You leave yourself open with every swing; you fight like someone unafraid of harm" "Angels wield no shield, little armour, and fight with reckless abandon"

Remind you of anyone? Rewatch Alastor's fight with Adam—he's fighting just like he always does. He has multiple opportunities to take him out, but, like always, he chooses to play with his food. He's enjoying himself, he's riling Adam up, dancing around him, taunting him. Because at no point does he consider that he could lose this fight—he has no armour, no shield, he didn't even bring an angelic weapon! He just has his trusty radio mic (the source of his power? Perhaps... but that's a discussion for another post) that Adam breaks. And the genuine fear in his eyes, in his voice when that happens? He has no idea what to do. He never even considered this could happen. Everyone else is fighting for their lives, but he was treating this war like simple sport... until suddenly he couldn't.

And speaking of motivation, once again we can look to Carmilla's song to see why he loses when the other, objectively less powerful souls (Husk, Angel, Cherri, hell, even Nifty) succeeded. Yes, they weren't against Adam, but they were still fighting exorcists—you know, the same angels that have been decimating hell's population unchallenged for literal centuries. But they didn't die. Because they were fighting for what they truly believed in, because they had a real reason to not only fight, but to live. I saw it mentioned in this post earlier, and they make such a good point! Charlie's fighting for her dream and for her people; Vaggie's fighting for Charlie; Lucifer for his daughter; Angel, Husk, Pentious and Cherri are all fighting for their friends (something Charlie gave them, btw, but again, that's a different post). But what's Alastor fighting for? Power? Fun? To prove a goddamn point? I think he loses because even he doesn't really know why he's fighting. I mean, listen to Out For Love and tell me it doesn't apply to Alastor just as much as Vaggie:

"I see you're driven by your detestation Your every step is stoked with animus You need a different type of motivation Or there's no way that you can handle this I know you're thirstin' for vengeance, Vaggie You're out for blood But you'll only stand a chance if you're out for love"

Which would bring me onto where I think his plot will go in future seasons (should we get them), but first we need to clear a couple of things up and try to understand his character as best we can. Now here's the thing, I know a lot of people are divided on the topic of Alastor's feelings. Some people say he genuinely cares about the others, while some say he's just putting up a façade and playing the game, and that all of the supposed evidence of his feelings are actually manufactured manipulations. But I think both readings are true, and also, neither of them are.

Because I think Alastor does care about the others, to an extent. But I also think he refuses to acknowledge it, to recognise that part of himself, that he's buried those feelings so deep he doesn't even know that they can exist within him anymore. I think whoever holds his leash (Lilith? The seven year gap is a little too convenient to ignore, but at the same time, now that we know where she is, what's her motivation? Anyway, another post) pushed him towards the hotel for their own purposes, but I also don't think they're particularly checking up on him. I think his mission is to do with Charlie, but I also think he's grown genuinely attached to her over the months they've known each other. Why do I think this? I'm glad you asked!

First off, let's examine his reactions in various key moments throughout the series so far:

This first shot is the most annoyed we see him for the entirety of the song Should Have Stayed Gone, despite singing with one of his (many?) self-proclaimed rivals, Vox. Now yes, he does look moderately peeved, but I would argue that it's much less to do with Vox, and much more to do with the focus on television and his constant fear of irrelevancy (more on that later in this post). Then look at his expressions later—

Now he's enjoying himself, he has that ever-present shit-eating grin we all know and love. And, most crucially, no one else can see his expressions during this song. No one's looking at him in the first pic, and for the rest of the song he's in his radio booth, so it's safe to assume that his expressions are far less guarded than when he knows he's being observed. Why is that important? Well, let's take a look at another Alastor-heavy episode, shall we? That's right, no Alastor analysis would be complete without a delve into Dead Beat Dad, so here we go!

Right off the bat, we're shown his dislike of Lucifer. I know some people say it was all for show, but I disagree. Hear me out—Alastor's smart, no one's arguing otherwise, so why make an enemy of the literal devil just for sport? Now, let me be clear—I don't think he actually sees Charlie as a daughter-figure (at least, not consciously, and certainly not as strongly as he was making out). The thing is, he is good at reading people, and all it took was one look at Lucifer can't-wait-to-break-the-door-down Morningstar for him to realise that Charlie's affection was what mattered the most to him. However, his hatred of Lucifer was not all for show. So why did he hate him? The fact that he hadn't heard of him certainly won't have helped (again, Alastor definitely has a whole complex, we'll get to that), but his loathing started before Lucifer had even spoken to him. How do I know? Take a look at the moment when Lucifer has literally just opened the door

Look at that eye twitch. No one's looking at him. No one can see it. But the sheer, unbridled rage is so evident that he can't quite keep it from his face. And all Lucifer has done is hug his daughter. Now, assuming the two have never interacted before (Lucifer certainly doesn't seem to remember him, and Alastor doesn't act as though they've met) what reason does Alastor have to hate him? If Lilith is his master, perhaps it's on her behalf? But he doesn't seem particularly loyal to whoever holds his leash, far from it, so that leaves us with the two most logical options: either Lucifer is the one holding his leash (not impossible, but I wouldn't say it has much evidence thus far), or Alastor is genuinely opposed to him because of how he's treated Charlie. Because he does care about her, however little he'll admit it to himself.

Just to really hammer this point home, I'd like to show just some of the many other instances of Alastor being genuinely furious with Lucifer over the course of this episode—in fact, seeing as we've already talked about Should Have Stayed Gone, let's constrain ourselves to Hell's Greatest Dad for now, shall we?

All Lucifer has to do is laugh at the start of this song, and just look at Alastor's face! That's anger, or at the very least intense annoyance—with ever-smiling-Alastor, the proof is always in the eyebrows. Then we get this wonderful sequence of expressions while Lucifer begins insulting him:

Oh, and just in case you need a comparison, here's a shot of Lucifer insulting Alastor side-by-side with two different instance of Vox insulting Alastor. And some people still think Vox is his rival and he was just messing with Lucifer?

Now you may say, "Ah, but that's not a fair comparison! Alastor was clearly winning his argument with Vox, whereas he and Lucifer were on a much more even footing!" to which I would reply yes! Exactly! That's why Vox isn't anywhere close to being Alastor's rival, and also at least part of the reason Alastor cared so much when fighting with Lucifer. If winning against Lucifer was as easy as Vox, of course he'd pick that fight. But it wasn't. At the start of Hell's Greatest Dad, he's getting straight up humiliated (as those four waiter-esque pics demonstrate). And yet, he keeps fighting. Partially for pride, I'm sure, but some part of him absolutely cares about the argument he's making.

How do I know that? Well, you see, first of all we take a look at how Alastor acts when he first starts singing. As we all know, Alastor's power lies in his voice—his face was made for radio—and he's (almost) always so much more in control when he's talking, and always in control if his radio filter is in place. In fact, the stronger it is, the more he appears to be taking charge. So, when he first begins to fight back against Lucifer, he immediately puts that Cheshire-Cat-esque façade back into place, quite literally dancing around Lucifer as he does so:

And yet, his energy is so much higher than normal. He's leaping around, his usually calculated movements suddenly far more erratic and energetic than we've seen him. For example, in his first verse alone, he goes though all of this:

Not only is he using far more power, he's become so showy, his expressions are so much more unhinged than even he usually is, his pupils are near-constantly slitted, and, most importantly, take a look at his colour palette. Right at the very start it's still his classic red and black, but then—without Lucifer even interrupting—he gets so invested in convincing Charlie (and, by extension, proving himself better than Lucifer) that he switches to what I have dubbed his Powerful Palette. It only ever happens when he's demonstrating his full abilities; when he's angry at Husk, when he's fighting Adam, when he makes a new deal, and... now. Arguing with Lucifer over who's a better father to Charlie. And while usually it's in brief flashes before he returns to normal, here he stays consistently in his greens and pinks, for a good majority of the song. You don't think that means he really cares, even just a little bit?

And when Lucifer has the gall to interrupt him with his golden fiddle, and just look at Alastor then;

Look at his face, look at his posture. Alastor, notorious for waving his arms around in grand, swooping gestures, is standing there, gritting his fucking teeth, fists clenched, arms folded at what must be an uncomfortable angle. The only time he moves is to concede a tiny step so he can drop a fucking piano on the literal devil.

Now this bit is so interesting, because he, very briefly, seems to believe that he's won, or is at least winning. And even then, he doesn't relax, he doesn't return to his normal colour palette or even his normal expression. He's still furious, you can see it—with Vox, it was a game. This is personal, and then when Lucifer is actually not only fine but still fighting, now playing a new instrument, (literally playing the devil's chord) to deliberately ruin Alastor's melody? Oh that's pure rage.

This first expression is his immediate reaction to it and, perhaps even better, the other two are him trying to contain it. Because he knows he can be seen, but he physically can't look any more collected than that; he can't control his expressions during this song. If he could, he would, because it would irritate Lucifer all the more, and he's more than smart enough to realise that. But neither of them can control themselves here, because both of them really, genuinely, care.

Then he physically places himself in between Charlie and her father, not only pushing him out of the way, but then going so far as to physically drop him out of frame with a gesture reminiscent of a Roman Emperor as he reinstates his claim over Charlie—again, feeding into his need to be relevant and powerful (we're getting to that part, I promise). But isn't it interesting that this time, he didn't even use his power? He pushed Lucifer with his bare hands, not bothering with the intimidating shadows or powerplays, because for once it wasn't about that. For once he wasn't focusing on the person he was fighting, but on the person he was fighting for.

Now this exchange is so interesting. Because Alastor misses a really good opportunity to get Charlie on his side, and I think he misses it purely because he (almost certainly without realising it) gets actually, genuinely offended on behalf of his friends. Because when Lucifer calls the others losers, he's insulting Charlie's family. Knowingly and callously! Right in front of them! And if Alastor was in his right mind, he would have absolutely pointed it out with a fake gasp and a shit-eating grin. But look at the way he reacts to Lucifer's interruption—the narrowed eyes, the tensing of his shoulders, the flexed wrists and clenched hands. That's genuine anger; it's too immediate and out of character to be anything else. Because he didn't intentionally goad Lucifer into saying that. And instead of taking advantage of the opportunity, he responds by, very childishly, asking Lucifer to "butt out" of his song. Because they were Charlie's family first, and he may feign indifference, but he included himself among them for a goddamn reason, and how dare Lucifer insult them like that?

And again, compare how he's moving and standing to how he was in Should Have Stayed Gone. In this gif (and Hell's Greatest Dad as a whole, but let's focus on this bit right now) he's glaring, his shoulders are hunched—he tries for his usual nonchalance by pushing Lucifer out of frame with a swing of his hips, but then is immediately betrayed by his expression, and his reaction the second Lucifer comes back at him. Meanwhile, in Should Have Stayed Gone, this is how he acts while taunting Vox:

He's so much more relaxed, he's visibly having fun, and Vox is the one bending himself out of shape to try and get Alastor's attention win the argument. Another interesting parallel between him and Vox in these numbers is when Vox is clearly losing towards the end of his part in Should Have Stayed Gone, compared to Alastor's first verse in Hell's Greatest Dad.

I mean, these frames are just a little too similar, don't you think? Both of them desperately trying to grab the attention of the subject of the song, duplicating themselves and leaning over the borders to try and be noticed... oh Alastor.

And now, finally, we get onto the bit that I've been promising for this entire post: Alastor's inferiority complex. The thing is, I think I've worked him out (at least, to an extent). We've seen time and again that he hates the idea of being irrelevant—the fact he doesn't like any technology beyond radio (leading to the real reason for his annoyance in that very first picture I used, when he sees everyone gathered around Vox's screens); his reaction when Carmine said she had not in fact, been wondering where he was; his reaction when Lucifer says he's never heard of him; the way he rushes to "remind people why he's here" at the end of Dead Beat Dad, and the fact that when he first arrived he took out all of the overlords who dared to dismiss his power, just to name a few. His fatal flaw is clearly pride—he wants people to know him, he needs to be relevant or he doesn't know who he is.

And I think that's the real reason he hates Lucifer. Because, father-figure or not, the two of them do represent the same position in Charlie's life. But why would she need help from a human soul (albeit an insanely powerful one) when she has a literal angel around to do whatever she wants? Yes, Alastor is powerful, but if Lucifer is back in the picture... well, we all saw it in the finale. Alastor was quite literally fighting for his life, and barely escaped with it, while Lucifer was dancing circles around Adam, shapeshifting, taunting, joking, and all the while he was periodically rescuing Charlie too. His attention wasn't even entirely focused on the battle, and he wasn't even really trying to hurt Adam until the end when shit got personal.

And I also think that's why Alastor got so scared. Because he almost died. As I said right at the start, he fought like an angel. He didn't even consider getting hurt as an option. And now he's having a crisi of mortality, and being powerful and scared is a dangerous combination. So where will his story go from here?

Well, from the fact that he's still at the hotel, I think that's evidence enough that he's being forced to stay with Charlie—despite all the very real evidence we have that he does genuinely care about her (I mean, they way he talks about shaping her to Rosie? The gentle looks, the fact he loaned her his mic? Don't forget how he looked when that got broken, it's clearly so important to him, and he gave it to her twice. Not to mention the whole 'wanting to be relevant in her life' thing that I've been going on about for like, half of this post. Remember what Rosie said about words being easy, but actions are hard? Yeah, he says he doesn't care, but... anyway). So, he's being forced to stay while he looks for an out in his contract with someone. But where does that leave him in the wider story? Well, I do think he'll eventually turn on Charlie and the rest of the gang, but I also think that it'll be temporary. Assuming the crew gets as many seasons as they want to tell the full story (never a guarantee, but here's to hoping) then I think he'll probably stay for a while next season but work against them behind the scenes, then make an open move against them, then be gone for a while, then start his long and arduous journey back into everyone's good graces.

Obviously his deal with Charlie will come into play, and I think he'll probably use it as leverage to get out of his deal. "I'll make Charlie do what you want—without hurting her, or making her hurt anyone else—and I get to be free from this bullshit" kinda thing. I also think it'll be very interesting when that happens, because I have a theory on what he meant by the deal having "clipped his wings"—I don't think he can take anyone's soul anymore. Think about it; we've only seen him even attempt two deals this season, and not even once has he attempted to add a soul to his supposedly ever-growing collection. It would certainly clip an overlord's wings to not be able to amass any more underlings—especially since it seems that the more souls someone owns, the more powerful they are, not just in terms of owning other people, but in actual, tangible power. So I think he'll eventually get out of his deal, and then he'll be free and he'll go utterly off the rails... for a while. But it won't be as fun anymore. Husk and Nifty will have been forced to turn against their friends, and Alastor won't care what they think, because why would he?

Except suddenly he does. Husk's silences suddenly feel a lot more pointed, and Nifty refuses to even look at him, and suddenly he feels something he hasn't felt in a very long time, or perhaps he's never felt it at all. He feels guilt. Regret. He wants friends again, because they were loud and annoying and they didn't respect him but... he'll realise that his affection for them wasn't all for show, not even by half. Because he almost died for them. And even when he's talking about it, scoffing at his own perceived weakness... he calls them his friends.

And that's when the real fun will begin, because the Radio Demon On A Mission will be a force to behold, and god help anyone who gets in his way, because once he figures out the love he's fighting for... oh, he'll be unstoppable.

[isa-belle1367]

So, as someone so graciously suggested, what if desmond survived the end and met kadar.

I groaned as I slowly woke up. My entire body was on fire, everything hurt, and something was pressing me against the ground.

What the hell happened? I tried to remember, but my brain wasn't working.

I decided I would figure that later. Right now, I had to get out of here. I carefully moved out from under the rubble. Luckily, it was being held up by another piece of stone so I could easily slide out from under it.

I tried to stand, but just sitting up made my head spin.

I tried to blink away the spots and dust in my vision but was unsuccessful. I could barely see. It was extremely dark and my headache wasn't helping.

Suddenly, a light flooded into the room. It looked like a flashlight.

I cursed, trying to get up and hide but was unsuccessful. The light was pointed at me.

"Hey! Someone's in here!" I heard a voice call out.

The light pointed away from my face, and I heard a few sets of footsteps making their way towards me.

I wanted to run, I knew I should run, but I barely had the energy to keep myself up, let alone run.

Soon, someone was crouching in front of me.

"Hey, are you alright? What happened?" He asked while helping me sit up against the wall.

I looked at the man next to me. For some reason, he looked so familiar, but I couldn't tell why.

Behind him, I heard another voice. "Kadar?"

"Over here!" Kadar called out.

I blinked. Did he just say Kadar? As in Maliks brother? The one who died in the temple like a gazillion years ago?

"Kadar?" I croaked.

He put a hand on my shoulder. "We're here to help. But you need to save your strength."

Yep, this was definitely Kadar. But how? Had the temple brought him here?

"How are you here?" I choked out.

He gave me a funny look, but the other man came up behind him. "Let me look at him."

I looked up at the new man and nearly had an aneurysm. Was that Altair?

Once Kadar moved to the side, he bent down in front of me. He pressed a hand against my ribs. I winced at the pressure.

"Broken ribs. Kadar, I need you to keep an eye on him while I go go get Malik." Altair stated while standing up.

Okay, this had to be some fever dream. Some hallucination caused by the eye. How the hell were these guys here? I had so many questions.

Altair walked off while Kadar sat in front of me. He pulled a water bottle out and held it up to my mouth.

Even if this was a hallucination, I wasn't going to say no to water. I was so thirsty. He helped me sip the water. Afterward, I felt a bit better.

Once he pulled the bottle away, I asked, "How are you here?"

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"

I shook my head. "Kadar Al-sayf. You died in the temple in 1191."

His eyes widened slightly. "How do you know about that?" He asked.

"The animus." I knew he didn't know what that was, but whatever.

He gave me a small smile. "Well, I did die, but somehow I was brought back with my brother and Altair." He paused. "We came here because we heard about the temple."

I was about to ask more, but 2 men came into the temple.

The new man I assumed was Malik quickly rushed over to me.

He quickly looked me over. My body was littered with cuts, bruises, scraped, and broken bones, but one thing that caught our attention was my arm.

My right arm, the one that held my hidden blade, was black with golden lines that looked similar to isu ran through it.

He grabbed my arm, which caused me to yelp in pain and yank my arm back.

He gave a quick apology and began to look at my arm without touching it.

"What happened?" He asked.

I paused, trying to remember. "The sun was going to fry the earth, so I opened the temple to stop it."

Then suddenly, a key detail came back to me. By opening the temple, I released Juno.

I tried to stand, but kadar just pulled me back down. "What are you doing?" He asked.

"I released Juno." I strained. "I need to find her."

Altair quickly stepped over me. "We can worry about that later, but right now, you are injured." He turned to Malik. "We need to get him outside."

He nodded. "Do you think you can walk?"

I tried to stand. But I barely got on my feet before I crumpled to the ground.

Kadar sighed. "I guess that's a no."

Altair bent down and quickly lifted me off the ground. He was carrying me.

I yelped in suprise. That quickly turned I to one of pain as he pressed against one of my injuries.

He gave me an apologetic look. "Sorry, we need to get you out."

They carried me out of the temple. Once we were outside. They set me down against a tree. I noticed a van to the side.

I watched as kadar went to the van and grabbed bandages, rubbing alchohol, and a rag.

This was so fucking insane. Three guys who were supposed to have died during the crusades were helping me.

I honestly didn't know whether to thank them, fight them, or run. I mean, they didn't seem to want to harm me.

Kadar made his way back over to us, holding the supplies. "I'll patch him up." He said while crouching down next to me.

He grabbed my non-burned arm, which was instead full of little cuts and scrapes. He carefully cleaned them out with alchohol before putting bandaged on them.

Malik sat next to him, making sure he did everything right. Then, it was time to focus on my other arm.

He grabbed the rag and doused it in alchohol before gently grabbing my arm. He carefully dabbed the rag on my arm.

After a few minutes, he sighed. "I don't know what this is. I think our best bet is to wrap it and hope it heals."

Altair and Malik both nodded. With the go-ahead, Kadar began bandaging my arm.

After he was done. He stood up. "That should be good for now. We should bring him back with us."

Altair nodded. "Yes, we can get the full story there."

I cut in. "Wait, I was with some friends when I found the temple. They left before it collapsed, but they don't know I'm still alive. I need to call them."

Malik sighed. "We have an encrypted line back home. You can call them then."

I guess I had to go with them. I had no other choice. I was in the middle of nowhere, injured, no phone, and no way out.

"Alright, I'll come with you." I said.

"Great, we should go now." Kadar said while heading to the van.

Altair picked me up again. He brought me over to the van and set me down in the back before shutting the door. Kadar sat across from me.

Altair and Malik got in the front seats.

I laid down. Next to me, Kadar spoke up. "So, what is an animus?"

I looked at him. "Um, it's a machine that reads genetic memory and then renders them in 3d so you can relive your ancestors' memories."

"Woah, I understood none of that, but it sounds cool."

I chuckled. "Yeah, it's some super complicated coding."

"Hey, how did you guys end up here?" I asked, hoping to get a better answer then. "I don't know"

Kadar thought for a moment. "Well, about 3 years ago, I woke up in a random field next to Altair and Malik. I have no clue why, though. Was really confused when we made it into the city."

I sat up the best I could. "3 years ago?"

He nodded. "Yeah, luckily, when we woke up, we knew English. It would have sucked trying to learn a whole new language." He chuckled.

I laid back down. "Huh, that must have been super confusing for you."

"You have no idea. We are still super confused. We haven't even had time to get in contact with the assassins."

I looked at him. "Well, today is your lucky day."

He raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

"I'm an assassin as of like 3 weeks ago." I clarified.

He nodded. "That's perfect."

From the front, Malik called out. "We have 3 hours till we get there."

Kadar nodded. "You should get some rest."

I nodded. He was right, I hadn't realized just how tired I was. I barely closed my eyes before I fell asleep.

[oldmemoria]

What if I just

(Miles) Sparkflight- nightrain-wing (usually appears black like a regular nightwing, but particularly likes using his rainwing power of color change to blend into environments. He has future sight powers, but he hasn’t harnessed them very well yet.)

(Gwen) Snowdance- icerain-wing (she has Snow White scales that look water colored blue and pink in some places. usually they’re very light, easy colors in the eyes, they rarely change to anything too harsh unless she’s really emotional. She treats her scales like a canvas.)

(Hobie) Ivy- rain-wing (lets his scales change color freely, no one really knows what his base scale pattern is like because he’s not one to cover up the emotion in his scales)

(Pavitr) Petrel- skyrain-wing (similarly to Swordfish, he only has select scales that can change color, but he really likes changing them. His base scale color is a true red tone, and he usually has blue and gold highlights on the scales he can change.)

(Miguel) Swordfish- Searain-wing (like a dark, dark blue, where only his light up scales change color. Being one of the only seawing he uses that to his advantage and communicates with himself under his breath with his light up scales. He basically looks like an rgb keyboard lmao.)

(Jess) Stardrift- night-wing (a dark, violet-black scaled dragon, her star scales on her wings look like shooting stars. Mind reader.)

(Peter B.) Petalite- sky-wing (average red skywing who’s adorned with little trinkets)

(Mayday) Malachite- skywing (a bright red flamescale, Petalite made everyone gloves that they can put on their talons to hold her.)

(LYLA) Limpet- lucky for her she’s the only human (scavenger, in this case). One of swordfish’s. . . Friends. . . found her one day and decided not to eat her so she (the friend) gave her to him as company. She thinks Swordfish is her pet dragon, Swordfish thinks she’s his pet scavenger. Everyone is very confused in this scenario.

(The Spot) Polka Dot: fucked up little rainwing who somehow got his hands on an animus talisman. Oops.

(Margo) Seawhisper- nightsea-wing (she’s a dark blue, lighter than Swordfish for reference, and has very gorgeous ombré sky blue to light violet light up scales. She has mind reading powers :3)

(Kingpin) Strongwings- big fuckin nightwing. Like huge. If you think Swordfish looks big for a dragon you’re not prepared to see this guy— er— this corpse, I guess. He’s dead.

They’re all connected through being animus. Other than Strongwings and Polka Dot, of course.

See it as like.. the talons of peace but everyone is less mentally stable.

I’ll come up with their dragon names later probably, and I might draw a few of them.

[the-wolf-who-writes]

Zorua!Desmond AU Part 2

The first thing that told Clay something was wrong with the “timeline”, as he called it, was when his Porygon-Z glitched.

It did that occasionally for no reason at all. After it evolved when Clay was taken from Animus Island to “monitor the Tree”, Clay noticed some odd behaviors in his Pokémon partner. Such as it would glitch or even vanish for a few seconds before reappearing completely normal.

His companion wasn’t like any other Porygon-Z’s Clay had studied back in school. It had golden circuitry running around its body that Clay privately guessed had something to do with the Isu. Maybe it had been an experiment or something? Clay could only guess.

But he often attributed the weirdness down to “Isu bullshit” and left it at that. He had to watch a bunch of possible timelines end in catastrophe anyways, why would he have to spend more computer-brain power on weird shit his Pokémon did?

Not that he didn’t care for his Pokémon partner. He did. He was just a busy computer man trapped in a gray room for the rest of his existence.

Trainer Clay, I believe there is a glitch in the current timeline that might have something to do with Subject 17, Desmond Miles.

Clay’s head turned so quickly he would have gotten whiplash if he were still in his human body. His Porygon-Z talking in his head wasn’t a new thing. The mention of Seventeen though…

“Copy-paste and upload it through the Isu database to the Tree. Scan it for Desmond’s location.” Clay ordered, reaching out and placing his palm on the Tree’s trunk to quickly access the information.

Affirmative. Upload complete.

December 21st, Desmond Miles sacrificed himself to use the Eye to prevent the solar flare from frying Earth. A split second before he should have died, a glitch happened and the Eye responded to-

“This can’t be right.” Clay muttered. “It says the code was rewritten with a new program.”

New program accessed:

DO NOT LET DESMOND BE ALONE

connected to

AUDITORE FAMILY LINE

EZIO AUDITORE: linked to

PETRUCCO AUDITORE

Program applied:

2012 ERROR

1473 ACCEPTED

Eye activated

Program accepted

Rerouting power into TIME TRAVEL MODE

Combining human-Isu-Pokémon DNA

Combination successful

Program complete

Thank you for using Isu Interfaces

The information overload passed in a blink. Clay staggered back, gripping his head. “How the fuck did that give me a headache?”

Clay’s partner gave its best impression of a shrug. Clay just shook his head. Isu tech was an anomaly and every time he thought he finally understood it…

It did something weird like turn Seventeen into a Pokémon and throw him back in time. Well at least he was with the Auditore family. It could be worse.

Clay quickly located the branch of the timeline Desmond had been thrown into. He watched Ezio find a… bunch of static? Clay squinted and tried to go back farther in the timeline. He found he couldn’t go earlier then Ezio approaching a closed-off alleyway in Firenze and scooping a bunch of static into his arms, talking softly to it.

1473, only three years before the betrayal of the Auditore men. Clay’s gaze darkened as he watched Ezio bring the static to his little brother and flashes of the months ahead popped into his mind.

Petrucco hauled away with Federico and Giovanni, the static hidden inside of a false passageway that led from Petrucco’s room to Maria Auditore’s gardens. Maria and Claudia were also taken by the guards because they had gone out to buy some berries for the static.

“Hey Malware, are you able to make out the identity of that static?” Clay croaked. His non-existent heart pounded in his chest.

Running diagnostics.

The Anomaly in the Timeline is none other than Desmond Sneak, subject 17-B. Variant: Zorua, Hisuian. Dual type: Normal-Ghost. Current moveset-

“Stop.”

Clay watched as Desmond emerged from the hidden passageway and sniffed the air. The human-turned-Pokémon jumped onto Petrucco’s bed and let out a cry. He circled on the bed and laid down.

Clay cut the timeline connection to let Desmond mourn in peace.

[pheoblitz]

Eamon and Aureus! EEEEEAmon AND AUReus! The treasure and the collector. Assassin dragons by trade and kings of their craft.

Together they share 1 enchanted staff. Each end of the staff contains 2 elements that it can control. Aureus has the side that creates acids and poisons as well as electeicity. While Eamon has the half that creates fire and water. While Eamon's half seems a bit more basic, the half is much more versitile in what it can do, as it can creat boiling water, burning hot steam, regular steam, etc. Allowing him to both attack and create a cover to hide in. Eamon is owned by a close friend of mine linked below.

Aureus is the one who originally owned the staff, it having been a gift made for him by his new at the time animus friend. The friend had not been an animus for long at that point, so he did not understand what he was doing by making that item. He lost contact with that friend for awhile before meeting Eamon who became his new best friend. Since his staff meant friendship to him he gave Eamon a half.

Fun fact, Aureus is a sort of sandwing rainwing hybrid. His scales can slightly change colour between earthy hues like various sand colours and dirt colours including gray, pink, white, and black. His barb tail shoots out acid rather then venom. However, his barb is curved too much for him to be able to do so. He also has the teeth for spitting venom but has no venom to spit. Just has the long sharp fang like teeth, which he has definitely used to bite with before. He mostly coveres up his rainwing parts so you cant tell he is a hybrid unless you look into his green eyes. Also his mask is not supposed to be anubis spacifically in lore, its just a joke of his about his name being part of the the scientific name for a jackal. IRL, its just a nod to the god and his themes of death and weighing souls. As Aureus plot surrounds alot of judging people. Then changing his perspective on judging things over time.

Together they arw a force to be reckoned with. However, they are also destined to fall apart and distent from eachother over Aureus shifting morals. Eventully causing a bitter mood between the two as one seemingly helps others fight the other one.

Above is flat colours so you can see the two in their full glory. This was a redraw of an old drawing I did years and years ago. However I dont have a good version of the old one anymore. You can see it if you look at my profile on the wings of fire amino as I mostly posted there when I made it.

[onewomancitadel]

It really tickles me that Jaune's anima (his feminine unconscious) and Ruby's Shadow kills Pyrrha, like an actual part of Jaune kills Pyrrha and Ruby's suppressed darkness kills Pyrrha, but it awakens her silver eyes - the heritage of her mother, which she can't speak of and knows nothing about, which the very mention of twists something inside her. I think this is where the Jung stuff actually adds another element to the story which isn't just about setting things in order and giving the characters their roles, because it is actually kind of exciting to think there is a literal explanation for Jaune's guilt beyond the fact that he feels like had he been capable, he could've gone with her up the Tower and saved her. A maligned and externalised part of him - his feminine enemy, the part of himself he hates and fears, that he will grow to especially hate - is responsible for killing his teammate, almost-Fall Maiden and love interest.

Cinder loses an eye and a arm after this sequence. Salem explains this to her that it was Ruby's fault, but I don't think this is the case: I think it's very clever of Salem to make Cinder think she's weak to the silver eyes, when the silver eyes would free her of the Grimm curse she's placed under - Cinder's White Shadow, her suppressed light, her goodness, is actually the key to her freedom from this new imprisonment.

And then there's the fact that it's Ruby's Shadow who kills Ozpin, which causes him to reincarnate into Oscar, which brings Ruby's animus (her masculine unconscious) into the story, so Ruby can actually keep going on her Heroine's Journey and reach a Jungian catharsis Salem never could. Ozpin's death is necessary for Ruby's psychological wholeness, but then there's also the fact that Oscar is the next victim of the curse, which is another obstacle to overcome; Ruby is his anima, his feminine unconscious, and she's the only one in V6 who believes he can be free of it.

I think more specifically to Jaune, to pick up on that idea of the feminine part of himself being his enemy - it's that it's very literal in his story, there's obviously a masculine anxiety in his storyline. He's worried about being a Huntsman, being weak, saving people, taking on gross responsibility beyond himself, fulfilling his family's legacy in a very particular way, which he begins to overcome when he awakens his Semblance because he can't kill Cinder. He can't fight her, he can't meaningfully hurt her (physically), and she can threaten his loved ones - she's physically very powerful, she has the Fall Maiden power - but that's kind of the answer, right, which is that he's not meant to fight her, because he'd be killing part of his soul, which awakens his Semblance. She sees into him and decides that she's not going to kill him despite the fact he's supine beneath her, physically vulnerable but at this moment, coming into spiritual awareness and unsettling her, because that's what he wants - her masculine unconscious is angry and hurting, and (physically) powerless, her worst fear - but she's not going to give him what he seemingly wants and really, cosmically, teach him a lesson, that his life matters, and he can't throw it away, because he's part of her. It's interesting that this leads to Cinder's lowest point in the series - weakened, presumed dead, without allies, her mask broken - which she doesn't recover from for a long time.

And then her animus protects her and stops her from taking the Maiden power through Penny. She's already got 'the' power, the Fall Maiden power, she doesn't need more; her masculine unconscious knows this, that she has enough already, and he sacrifices the ability she gave him, in the worst scenario possible, to not let it fall into her lap, and to give Penny what she asked of him that Ruby couldn't. In this case like... Ruby's dark reflection puts Jaune into a situation where he has to make a decision which Ruby will absolutely not approve of, which she rejected herself, which in itself will cause them to play out the same scenario as Rhodes and Cinder - Ruby is disillusioned with him the same way Cinder was disillusioned with Rhodes-the-Huntsman, which actually already had an awful reversal with Jaune and Pyrrha-the-Huntress (who leaves him behind and dies at Cinder's hands).

I want to add the caveat here that all the Jung stuff is just like... descriptive of how we talk about gender (and tbf I think Jung can be more forward-thinking than you believe; it's really interesting a lot of people think it's a novel interpretation that Paul occupies a nonbinary space in Dune, because a basic interpretation of the story that Paul has both feminine and masculine elements - he fully integrates his anima, his mother, through the awareness of the Water of Life - but also occupies a boundary outside of that, as both the one who gives and the one who takes), not really intending to be prescriptive about how people ought to be behave or how people ought to identify. Like, we know there are cultural ideas about what it is masculine and what is feminine, and what it means to have awareness of other men and women, which is an important idea in psychoanalysis, that first when you are a child you don't recognise the difference between male and female, then they grow into disparate ideas, but psychological growth is achieved through reuniting the masculine and the feminine. In a story like R/WBY this is actually something which occurs on a cosmic scale - from a Gnostic viewpoint, Salem is the fall of the Sophia - that the anima/animus of humanity is first whole then divided through Ozlem's union and then breaking of the world.

I'm not about to get into a whole Jung segue, the important part is that this is just storytelling language.

It's potent stuff, because you can see how all these characters are squared out - but then when you look at something like Blake and Yang, Yang is Blake's animus, so not even R/WBY feels particularly constrained by gender to explore these ideas. When Yang is traumatised and dismembered by Blake's persona, her false self (Adam), Blake has to flee, because she feels disempowered by the fact that what feels like a true part of herself has injured Yang. It's when she meets her Shadow (Ilia) and finally reconciles with her that she makes the choice to go back to Yang, because Ilia is really that dark suppressed part of her - someone who's stayed behind in the White Fang, who loves her unconditionally and without return and forgives her, who's not like Adam at all, and can help redeem the White Fang. I think it's pretty significant that once Yang accepts Blake again, this scary feminine part of herself (after being mother to Ruby, after her own mother fleeing, after finally finding Raven again and seeing who she truly is), that Yang can use her Semblance again - with clear vision, unclouded by anger - to protect Blake from the bull. And then you have that whole sequence with the bull sacrifice, and the sacred marriage - 'marriage and killing are related'.

I had wondered if the phases of anima/animus awareness were being literally explored, and maybe there are - maybe this explains the sequences of interaction, that at some point, say, Jaune will come to the highest understanding of Cinder as a complete person, but that feels pretty self-evident; it would make sense that something like that would happen anyway if they went in that romantic direction. What you'll also notice - if you haven't read my Jung posts before - that the twinned pairs I've explored here are mostly romantic, but I think there are some who aren't - most prominently Weiss-Whitley and Qrow-Raven - which is meaningful, probably because Qrow-Weiss are analogues of each other across team S.TRQ/R.WBY (Qrow-Weiss/Summer-Ruby are a duo; Blake-Raven/Yang-Tai are the other; there are other superficial parallels, and more specifically a Jungian parallel of Summer-Pyrrha, though).

The point of this post was just like... because I didn't want to hold back from thinking about it for once. I get a bit shy writing these posts, especially because I have so many reservations myself about how far to take all of this: from the perspective of writer, I would like this stuff to give me some foundation, but I wouldn't want to be backed into a corner either. I like how it adds a new flavour, and I like how it allows you to arrange the pieces on a board, and also how it gives you something to work with before you start stacking on the allusions and interacting with those elements people will recognise more immediately. This is all baser, fundamental stuff which undergirds the story, like the monomyth (which draws on psychoanalysis itself). I really like it, because I like thinking about where the characters are really going and where they think they're going. It's exciting to me that something so tragic, so terrible, so awful, which is the death of innocence in the story, or later the death of adolescence, is the promise of more story - of something beyond it. I guess that's why I like the broken moon or anything associated with Ozlem in this story - because in its brokenness is the promise of wholeness - I like that sense of playfulness.

More particularly to Jaune/Cinder there's just that extra flavour because they are necessary to each other without any conception of exactly how or exactly why, if anything they now view each other as absolute impediments to where they need to go. Which is really exciting. I love that. They don't know. Hahahaha.

[halcyonleaf]

South Park x Wings of Fire

This au takes place around ten years after the events of the third arc. (5,022 AS) It's the same dragon characters as in the book but I stuffed South park characters in it lol.

Why did I make this? Easy. Two fandoms I'm really into. :) Same thing happened when I made Sp x Dsmp.

I have no big story planned out for this au.. Right now it's really one of those school slice of life things… 

Also ignore the fact they don't have proper dragon names. I can’t think of any good ones..

Turquoise Winglet      Peridot Winglet        Gold Winglet

MudWing: Cartman          IceWing: Craig                  NightWing: Wendy

SandWing: Kenny             MudWing: Clyde                RainWing: Bebe

RainWing: Butters           NightWing: Tolkien         SandWing: Karen   

SilkWing: Kyle                   SandWing: Tweek            SkyWing: Red

NightWing: Stan              SkyWing: Jimmy               SeaWing: Nicole 

HiveWing: Ike                   SeaWing: Scott                  IceWing: Trisha

The Turquoise Winglet

Eric Cartman, Mudwing-SkyWing hybrid, Hatched: 5,015 AS (7 years old)

Although he looks like a normal MudWing there are little characteristics to his design that make him part SkyWing. He has one blue eye, he can breathe fire at any temperature and his wings end at his tail instead of his thighs like all MudWings. 

He would personally RIP OFF all your scales if you call him a Hybrid.

Eric only has one sib and that is his SkyWing half brother Scott.

Why doesn’t he have any other MudWing sibs? My only excuse for that is.. Liane had trouble when it came to having eggs and she got lucky with a random SkyWing she met near the Diamond spray delta.

Eric has scars all over his body from several fights with his FlameSilk classmate Kyle. The first one he got was when he was a little dragonet he hatched in a reddish egg (because of being half SkyWing) and Liane wanted to test if he could have fire-resistant scales. The answer to that was no and she gave him a pretty bad scorch mark on his right shoulder. (she deeply regrets doing that.)

Kenny McCormick, SandWing, Hatched: 5,014 AS (8 years old)

(In this au Jerboa III unsuccessfully got animus magic to disappear.)

Kenny’s egg was part of an experiment (most likely from Vulture’s dragons) to see if there is a way for animus-touched dragons to come back from death. Many eggs/dragonets were used for this test and all of them died except for kenny. Although.. He is still one of their failures. He can't die and come back but he still can get very bad injuries and not die from them. 

Before Kenny and his little sister went to jade mountain they lived in the scorpion den. (poor of course) Jade mountain was the only school that did not ask for any sort of money. And their parents did not want to homeschool any more dragonets.

Kenny often tries to keep Brightsting cactus on him or wrap up his tail so he can keep himself from getting poisoned because part of his curse made him a bit prone to accidents.

Butters Stoch, RainWing, Hatched: 5,015 AS (7 years old)

Butters is a typical happy RainWing; it's as if nothing can make him angry. Although.. he could've been even more happy if he grew up in the rainforest.

Before school butters grew up in santerary his parents thought it would have been better if their dragonet didn't live in the rainforest. Because they didn't trust Queen Glory for whatever reason.

One day something clicked in his mind and he took his anger out on a SeaWing student that is when his parents revealed to Tsunami and Sunny that he didn't grow up in the rainforest and now is the time he probably should experience the rainforest himself. 

Kenny tagged along with butters on his trip and the RainWings greeted him with open talons. He didn't stay however even though it is everything he could have wished for he didn't want his friends (especially kenny) to be sad for leaving school.

Kyle Broflovski, SilkWing, Hatched: 5,015 AS (7 years old)

Kyle and his family are one of a few families of Pantala dragons that decided to stay in Pyrrhia. His parents told him that he could go to jade mountain accatony after he got his wings but he convinced them to let him go before he got them.

Upon arriving at jade mountain he almost immediately made friends and… enemies with his winglet. A silly MudWing hybrid would always make fun of him for being wingless and for just being a SilkWing. Eric is always telling him that SilkWings should still be Second Class dragons for the HiveWings. He sure did pay for his comments when Kyle got his wings.

When jade mountain got its first SilkWings Sunny made a safe cave just for them so they can undergo metamorphosis. The day Kyle was meant to go into metamorphosis he noticed that his wrists were burning a little. This made him pretty excited because that meant he inherited his mom’s Flamesilk. It.. also meant he can give Cartman what he deserves. And to give his NightWing Friend Stan glowing Friendship bracelets. 

Stan Marsh, NightWing, Hatched: 5,015 AS (7 years old)

Stan and Shelly were hatched and raised in the old NightWing kingdom.

They were both hatched under similar moons giving them both powers. Shelly got strong mind-reading while Stan got pretty weak foresight, which means visions would pop up in his mind at random times and they would sometimes go from what he was going to eat for dinner to a big threat that could kill him and his friends.

Stan was introduced to jade mountain academy when semi-queen Fierceteeth gave his class fliers because “her brother made her.” and this school sounded a whole lot more fun than the old NightWing school to him. Shelly didn't go because she thought only dumb dragons go there and the NightWing school teaches more smarter subjects.

It took him awhile to warm up to his winglet when he got to school but his SilkWing and SandWing definitely helped him. He may have feelings for the SilkWing. MAYBE.

Ike Broflovski, HiveWing, Hatched: 5,019 AS (3 years old)

Around 5,015 AS a few HiveWing families thought about living in Pyrrhia. their families grew there but, out of all the new families of HiveWings some of them couldn't keep their eggs so they put them up for adoption that's when Kyle’s parents adopted Ike.

Ike and Kyle went to school at the same time and they got put into a winglet together because their parents thought it would be easier for Ike to be with his big brother. Ike doesn't really get into all the adventures and conflicts as the rest of his winglet does; he likes to go at his own pace wrapped up in his own hobbies.

[exsaltedd]

I’m sure this doesn’t even matter in the grand scheme of Plot and whatnot but my zoomie little brain keeps thinking about. The SeaWing queen before Lizzie, who I believe is her and Jimmy’s mom from a previous ask

and in terms of lore with empires, their parent withered away and died after getting the eggs it asked for. so unless Lizzie hatched about a few months after Jimmy’s egg existed, I would imagine Lizzie was already a lil baby roaming around when Jimmy showed up. if following Empires Lore, their mom probably just died from something else sometime in their life, possibly old age, maybe corruption, or other causes, and Lizzie was either the only heir or the strongest heir who snatched up the throne.

on the other hand. I can’t help but wonder if Lizzie battled their mother for the throne. If her reasons were in any way related to those around her rather than simply desiring the title. the freedom to keep her kingdom and still marry the love of her life, the ensured safety no one higher ranking than her would try to misuse his animus abilities, some sort of resentment built up over her and Joel being the only ones who tried to keep Jimmy safe, anger at injustice that went unchecked towards her brother, etc. and if it was a fight for all to see, or something quieter, where no one could pin it directly on her. It wouldn’t matter if she Was blamed, that was how the rules worked, but maybe it would’ve upset her brother if he knew. or maybe she just wanted to make sure it was over with quickly, where no one would catch wind of it and she was sure to win. maybe she got a bit of help from an animus she knew.

am I insane? perhaps a little

YAY ESSAY 2 READ

i do believe for this au she'll have fought her mother for the throne. as canon accurate as it would be to beam her mom with a Disease, it's way more interesting to have her fight the previous queen both from a storytelling and character development standpoint. she challenged her openly after she made a snide comment towards jimmy (im going on the basis that the seawing king was the one who cheated on the queen to get with a mudwing and just snuck the egg into the royal hatchery i've decided.)

the seawing queen feels resentment but she can't get rid of the dragonet because she wasn't That cruel yk, but lizzie had enough of the comments and remarks. it was handled publicly for everyone to see as a show of her determination to defending her brother.

"It will be held tomorrow, I'll be seeing you then, mother." She turned up her snout, beyond agitated by the constant berating of her brother.

She wouldn't stand for it, not anymore. Lizzie was old enough to inherit the throne, and she was done with these slimy, snide seawings. With her head held high, she opened a wing to place over the back of Jimmy, "Come on, let's get you out of here," she whispered, "they don't understand how wonderful you are."

Jimmy followed, bobbing along with his head hung down and eyes slightly distant. He gave a halfhearted reply, "Haha, yeah, it's fine, Liz, it really is, I'm used to it-"

The princess whacked the seawing with the wing she held tented over him. "Nonsense! I'll show them! I just need to talk to someone first. Come with me."

The two of them had reached the tunnel leading from the Summer Palace, and slid quietly into the water. Lizzie lit up the scales on her tail to give her brother something to follow since he couldn't see as well in the water, and guided him out of the tunnel and into the open ocean. She lifted a wing and felt for a current leading south. Once she found it, she motioned for Jimmy to follow her, and slipped into the stream.

It was a quiet, short ride, the only sounds around her being the water flowing past and the occasional groan of the ocean. This was home to her, a clear, deep blue she could get lost in for hours and hours. She loved it here, and she wish Jimmy could love it like she does.

Lizzie looked behind her, checking for her brother, and after spotting him fighting to stay in the current, she rolled her eyes and swam back to help him. She pushed his wings close to his body and flattened the arch in his neck to be more streamlined. The princess returned to the current directly next to Jimmy in case he was having any more troubles, but thankfully, the rest of the journey went smoothly.

Lizzie stuck her head out of the water and paddled slowly towards the marshy land in front of her, Jimmy following closely behind. She tapped a ring around one of her talons twice, "Joel?"

After a few seconds have passed, the earth in front of her split and from it rose a short, burly mudwing with bright green wings and purple accents decorating his body. He grumbled something about being busy sculpting before the princess spoke again, "I'm going to need your magic."

[sickfics-for-days]

Animus' Revenge

As the argument with some no-goods on the path escalated into a fight, Percy felt his excitement grow. He’s been itching to try Ripley’s Animus, very curious to see what it could do in his own skilled hands. Stepping back to give himself some distance to work with, he began his analysis of the battlefield.

Fortunately, the others were more than a match for their adversaries, as between the different barrel design and overall weight difference, Percy hadn’t managed to hit anything the whole skirmish. Animus had misfired more often than firing, leaving Percy to desperately try and figure out how the mechanisms worked in order to unjam them. The first time was relatively easy, but by the sixth and seventh, it had gotten almost impossible. Finally, he had just holstered the weapon in frustration.

As the last bandit fell, Percy moved to rejoin the others. However, as he did so, the ground under him seemed to tilt and sway, forcing him to grab hold of the tree trunk he had made his cover. When the lightheadedness had faded somewhat, he took another step forward. He still felt concerningly unsteady, but as long as he went slowly, he should have no issue rejoining the group.

Halfway there, a cold sweat broke out along his neck, making him shiver. He felt himself stumble, but also felt strangely detached from the action, as if he was watching it happen to someone else. Blinking hard to clear the spots from his vision, he looked up to see how much further until he reached the group. He didn’t remember going this far at the beginning of the fight, but it certainly seemed too far to hope to make it now. His heart thundered painfully in his chest, accompanied by a ringing in his ears that seemed to leech the sound from the rest of the world. Before he knew it, he found himself on his hands and knees, all the sensations pressing in suddenly too much and altogether too close. Where was he? What was going on?

Someone grabbed his shoulders, pushing him upright. Scanlan was standing in front of him, face uncharacteristically worried. His mouth was moving, but the ringing absorbed the words before Percy could make them out. Honestly, trying to keep the bard in focus was giving him a headache. Eventually, Percy gave up on that doomed effort, allowing Scanlan to double and triple in front of him before fading out altogether.

The worst headache of his life woke him. The pounding agony was eloquent in its argument to stay still, hiding in the dark refuge of closed eyelids, and Percy was not inclined to argue. Eventually, beyond the darkness, he was able to make out soft voices.

“Do we need another healing spell?” Keyleth asked.

“We don’t know what’s wrong, there isn’t a scratch on him,” Vex replied tersely.

“I don’t like it,” Scanlan chimed in. “ I don’t trust that new weapon. This could be Ripley’s doing.”

“You have a point,” Vex mused. “Where is it?”

“He’s still got it.”

Percy felt small hands fiddle with his holster.

“Fuck,” Scanlan cursed. “Why is the holder so complicated? It’s just a pocket on a belt!”

The gentle movements became more aggressive as the gnome tried to free the weapon. Percy winced as it jostled his head. Surely even Scanlan could…wait. Groaning inwardly, he recalled the mechanism he had just installed that morning. Simple to disengage for him, but unobtrusive enough to keep pickpockets from lifting such a dangerous weapon. Steeling himself, he forced his eyes open, grateful for the low lighting, wherever they were.

“Here, let me.” Propping himself on one elbow, he kept the leg with the holster straight. Fiddling with the release took only a second, then he handed Animus over.

“Doesn’t make any sense,” he continued, collapsing back and pressing the palms of his hands into his eyes. “Didn’t even work. Mostly just misfired.” The pressure wasn’t helping, but neither did he want to stop.

“Darling, how are you feeling?” Vex’s voice was a lot closer now.

“Like my brain is leaking out my ears,” he replied truthfully.

“Did you get hit? We couldn’t find any wounds.”

Percy hummed a negative. “Probably didn’t even notice me. Not like I did anything.”

Gentle fingers carded through his hair, a useless gesture against the pulsing agony.

“Keyleth dear, anything on the weapon?”

Curious despite himself, Percy pushed himself up, one hand still putting pressure on his forehead.

Keyleth’s eyes glowed as she turned her gaze to Animus. Her forehead wrinkled, then the magic dissipated. “It’s definitely magical. At a guess, it probably does extra damage when you hit something with it. Other than that, there’s no other magic I can sense.”

“You sure?” Scanlan asked skeptically. “No ‘whoops if your name’s Percy you die’ clause?”

“It doesn’t look like it.” Keyleth twirled her hair nervously. “It’s weird how the spell’s constructed though.”

There was something there, Percy knew it. Ripley had been an engineer first, mage second. He just had to think like her… The pain behind his eyes spiked, and he lost his train of thought as he buried his palms once again against his eyelids with a groan.

“Take is easy darling,” Vex fussed. “Just lay back down, we’ll figure this out in no time.”

No, you won’t. Percy wanted to argue. Anna Ripley was dangerous, even in death, and it would take an equal mind, his mind, to render her plans inert. However, at the current moment he was forced to comply, as the longer he tried to engage, to help, to think, the higher the pain kept rising. Gingerly, he laid back down, hiding in the darkness of closed eyes, as his friends’ voices faded away.

He woke next straight from dreams, solution front of his mind. Bolting up, he sprinted out of the tent.

“Keyleth!”

He eventually found her, rolled in her bedroll, fast asleep.

“Keyleth?” He shook her shoulder. “Keyleth, what did you say about Animus’  enchantment?”

Groggily, she rolled over. “Wha-?”

“The magic you detected on Anna Ripley’s weapon, what was it?”

Keyleth sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. “Umm, it looked like a basic damage enhancement spell.”

Percy nodded quickly. “Yes, but you said it was constructed differently, right?”

“Right,” Keyleth looked more awake now. “Instead of being on the whole of the weapon on the ammunition, it was-“

“On the mechanisms inside?” Percy finished for her.

“Yeah,” Keyleth nodded. “That’s exactly what it was like, how did you know?”

“Because it’s what I would have done. The mechanisms that launch the projectile imbue it with the magical damage, thus allowing any kinds of ammunition crafted to suffice. The flaw in the design is if it misfires, the spell has nowhere to go. Naturally, then it would find the next closest target, the wielder. That’s what happened! As it kept misfiring, it was syphoning all that magical damage into me.”

Percy, who had started pacing at the beginning of his explanation, now stopped and looked triumphantly at the druid.

“That’s great,” Scanlan piped up from behind him. “But it’s like, ass-o’clock in the morning, so do you mind letting the rest of us get some sleep?”

[frozenjokes]

context: wof dragons. watcher lore. more context: read my fic. Link in pinned post

“Okay. Fine.” Grian pushed himself up, snorting a small plume of smoke and shaking out his wings.

Scar frowned. “What’s your problem?”

“What’s your problem?”

“Grian. Come on. Don’t play games.”

“I don’t know! I just don’t know how you can go back to normal after last night! The enchanter! The traps! Who cares!”

“Don’t forget the cookie!”

“Scar!”

“Grian.” Scar sat down, eyes level and focused, “I know it’s weird. I know you have a lot on your mind. But we can’t just stop playing the game.”

“Why do you care so much about the game?”

“I don’t. Not really. But the Nightwatchers care. I mean, I’ve just been thinking, right? Martyn must have stayed off the Nightwatcher radar for years. He must be at least 30, maybe in his forties. You said the Nightwatchers couldn’t find him because their magic doesn’t work. Not just animus magic, but future sight and mind reading.. Even though they have him now, they still can’t see him in their futures. That must make things really volatile right? It makes me wonder if they can even see any futures that involve Martyn, or if they know what’s going to happen in the game at all!”

“Scar, I don’t-“

“It doesn’t matter how controlled an environment they put us in. They don’t know what’s going to happen. And the more we keep them occupied and entertained, the less time they have to try and figure it out. That gives us time to look for an opening.”

“An opening for what, Scar?” Grian’s lip curled just slightly, unable to stop himself from being defensive. He shook his head, exasperated.

“I don’t know! A chance to help Martyn out of here? A chance for anything! Anything could happen! This is how we can beat them, Grian. If they can’t pull themselves away from the screen, then they can’t do anything to stop us.”

“I don’t think that’s enough. There’s no way out of the game except to die, and I have a feeling they won’t be letting Martyn come back after the game is over.”

“I don’t think anyone has ever looked hard enough. We’re all enchanted to think we want to be here.”

“That’s not how it’s always been, but it got old pretty fast.”

Scar looked briefly horrified, but closed his eyes firmly, setting his mind back on track. “Yeesh. Whatever. I’m sure there’s got to be a hole or something somewhere. Something the Nightwatchers overlooked.”

“This is pointless.”

“You’re being so annoying right now! I don’t care! I think we can have something, and you don’t even want to try! Can you just decide whether you want to be evil or not already so we can move on?”

“I-Evil?! You’re being naive Scar,” Grian snorted, nostrils flaring. Evil? Please. He was only being practical.

“I’d rather be naive than give up before we’ve even started trying. Moan and groan all you want in the desert, if you get bored, come find me.”

“What do you think you’re going to do?”

“Set a trap. I’ll figure it out.”

The two dragons paused, Scar, turning around to get the enchanter, and Grian watching. His heart felt the strain of his indecision, sucking out any of the little energy he had left. He closed his eyes. Scar grunted and cursed as he struggled to balance the enchanter on his back, kicking up sand against Grian’s nose. He shut his eyes tighter. Grian heard the soft plops of a llama’s footsteps and Scar’s chuckle as Pizza approached him. Pizza let out a mrrrp of content as Scar pet her, cooing. The atmosphere shifted to something peaceful. Domestic. Just like before.

Grian pushed himself to his feet, going to gently take the enchanter and its harness from Scar.

“We’re going to need some flint and a fuse maybe; anything that can set a spark. We should carry the dragonflame cacti and the flint separately, just in case,” Grian sighed, meeting Scar’s sad eyes, “I’ll play the game. But I’m not ready to play your game yet.”

Scar gave him a long look; a look Grian might give a dragon whose mind he was trying to read. “I can work with that,” Scar said, rubbing the side of Pizza’s face. “But one last thing before I drop it; I just need you to know you can’t play both sides forever. You’re unhappy and you’re scared, but I think one path will lead to a better future,” Scar paused, thoughtful, “That same path could also lead to no future, but if we fail, we failed fighting for something better. I’d take that over wasting away with the Nightwatchers in a heartbeat.” Grian didn’t respond. He didn’t think Scar expected him to.

[teecupangel]

I've been replaying Nobodies and in the middle of the second game I thought "Hey this guy talks like Desmond!" then I thought it would be pretty funny if Desmond became a murder cleaner lol

Nobodies: Murder Cleaner is available for Android, PC (via Steam) and Apple if you want to try it. It’s a point and click game where you play as a member of a secret government organization and your job is to clean up after other members have killed the target.

So we have two option for this idea.

Option 1: Canon ‘Verse where Desmond becomes a Cleaner instead of a Bartender

In this one, the only thing we have to tweak is what Desmond’s history becomes when he left the Farm. Maybe he saw one of the Cleaners doing their job in Rapid City and the Cleaner didn’t want to kill a kid to cover his tracks so he makes Desmond his accomplice, helping him clean it up, all the while teaching him the ‘craft’. After that, Desmond tags along because the Cleaner says that’s the only way he’ll survive and maybe Desmond’s upbringing mess him up enough that he thinks this is okay. That this kind of life is actually better than the life he had back on the Farm. The Cleaner keeps a close eye on him and notices how ‘unique’ Desmond’s upbringing is. He even thinks Desmond has what it takes to actually be one of the ‘messy ones’ but Desmond preferred to clean. It feels… more distant to his life before.

We get our timeskip and Desmond is one of the best cleaners out there. His identity is ironclad because his Cleaner mentor gave him a new one and their organization made it official since they do have a bit of leeway with the government. In exchange, Desmond will be in their service which he doesn’t mind because the organization pays for everything he needs (other than the equipment and items he might actually need when it was time to clean up because having such equipment with him when he gets to the scene would be security guard bait).

At this point, the organization has an idea that Abstergo is very sus and there’s a shadowy organization that does questionable things against Abstergo most of the time. They don’t know the full story though but Desmond believes that his parents’ cult is actually an ecoterrorist group. He keeps it to himself though since he doesn’t want to be anywhere close to them.

With the backing of the organization and his more honed skills and espionage, Desmond is actually more or less a ghost even to Abstergo. They know Desmond Miles exist but they also know that he disappeared nine years ago. Desmond’s government records are all fake data but authenticated by the government itself. Hell, he even has an SSN and tax records. (Your call if he keeps his Desmond Miles name or he changes to like Desmond Miller or full on fake name like Derek Milton or something XD)

If you still want Desmond to be part of the Animus Project or to kickstart the main plot, Desmond gets caught because the organization has traitors and one of them took him while he was cleaning a scene that turned out to be a trap. However, Desmond knows how to play the game and his childhood training only help him become better at his job.

If Vidic kept the same ‘security’ in AC1 (cameras only, no visible guards), Desmond would find a way to kill Vidic and (maybe) Lucy before the guards even get there. Once he gets access to the computer (thanks, Lucy), tampering with the security feed would be easy because he’s done it before as a Cleaner. He’s also used to using items and devices he sees on the ‘scene’ so yeah…

Before the even finishes Altaïr’s memories, he’d most probably already made his escape after cleaning the scene.

And that’s when…

The Bleeding Effect starts…

Option 2: Full Spy AU where every Assassin is messy and Desmond has to clean after them

Okay, this one plays loose with the lore.

In this one, the Brotherhood is a secret organization that has the capital and the influence that a usual Hollywood super spy organization has.

And Desmond is the poor son of a high ranking member of the organization. He was being trained to be an operative but he didn’t want to be an operative like his father.

So… he became a cleaner instead.

In this one, I think it would be fun if Desmond is just some poor cleaner who has to clean up for the messiest of the operatives because he’s one of the best cleaners.

So the setup could be Desmond appearing on the scene and deducing which of his messy ‘regulars’ did this one and he all have nicknames for each of them.

One of them is super good at his job that Desmond just have to take care of the body most of the time. That one he calls “the light of my life” because it means a quick easy job then Desmond can just chill somewhere and see the sights until he’s called again.

Another one is someone who always has to chase their target and dear god, Desmond wants to strangle this operative so badly because Desmond has to clean up multiple places and that includes CCTVs used by the local government for the roads and such. That one he calls ‘the bane of my existence’.

The funny thing?

Both operative are the same person: Altaïr who seesaw between absolutely the best or having a bad day that can only be summed up as “the universe is conspiring against him to get some cardio today”.

Of course, there’s a lot more operatives that Desmond cleans after.

There’s one that liked to actually steal shit and Desmond just usually make that a burglary gone wrong most of the time.

There’s another operative who may or may not have a dog that he uses to rip apart his target and Desmond always prays the scene is somewhere outside so he can just make it look like a wild animal attack and always hate it whenever it happens in an office building or anywhere indoors to be completely honest.

There’s another one that tries to be sneaky but that only makes Desmond’s life harder because he has to make sure to look everywhere just to be sure that the sneaky operative didn’t miss or fuck up somewhere.

In other words, Desmond has a lot of complaints for his regular operatives XD

[starmakerphantom]

OCs! Woo

Hi im Phantom and my hyperfixation is making ocs. These are my ensemble stars ones i have drawn already and some infos about them!

Akio Nijihara

-Part of a unit whose theme was that they are RPG charackters. Hes the healer

-His whole gimmik is that hes a nurse. Modeled after my sister who is very low empathy

-I gave him sister related trauma

-i need to make his other unit members.

-his glasses are fake, he wears them for aestatic

he will get a drawing with a plague goctor outfit and he will get a drawing with a labcoat where just....candy drops out. Im just bad at art

Kihiro

-insecure little bitch, copes via means of fashion and being not nice

-mainly sensitive about his looks and being small (basically "if people want to stare at least give them a goo reason)

-blooms on stage, his worksona is very pleasant to work with

-will always choose the sluttiest costume available

-actually used in an rp!! Gay gay homosexuall gay

-His unit is named Chronostasis, their theme is Gay Lasertag

-he wears a facemask and froggy hat. Used to wear a hoodie but the hat was a gift from his units leader

Secret Garden

Oh damn a whole unit but i dont have their costumes

Leader- Sai Himawari

A poet, an artist. If words fail, sing. If singing fails, dance

-Logical conclusion? Become idol

-(obv. a valkyrie mega fan. He would never admit that. We know its true)

A romantic soul

dense fucker, Aji could be stabing someone in the background and hes like "what did we say about using our words"

Hes a wip

Aji Kengai

-oh boy

-a gardener

-"yeah thats safe to eat, trust me bro"

-is an idol because hes BIG GAY for Sei, and with big gay i mean hes a yandere because im cringe

-bad at words

-i loaded all my body image issues into him

-if he smiles with his eyes closed, run

If you put their names together (Ajisei) supposed to spell the japanese word for hydragena :,)

Kokoro Cafe

WHAAAT, Another Unit? YES! Main boys. Their gimmik is that they cute cafe staff/ a host club

Leader- Gekko Amina

-looks and talks a bit sus, but actually a good boy

-got scouted, formerly know as the karaoke king

-loooots of confidence, a bit cringe

-shark teef, has to wear braces.

His jacket is so big it has room for another guy

-ironically, he has stae frigth

I FORGOT TO WRITE DOWN HIS NAME AAAA ITS ON THE OTHER REF

-movie fan, but like only old hollywood stuff because he likes the divas so much

-has adapted the personality....is aware he currently lacks the talent to justify it

-friends with Gekko so thats how he ended up here

-has trouble taking no for an answer

-i just think hes cute

Hayato Mikimura

-"Haha great plan guys, anyways wheres my paycheck"

-In need of money. Does this for the money

-scam artist. And not ashamed to rope the other 3 in

-has a twin sister who used to medel

-gets cold fast

-at least he provides brains

Yani Hanabe

-"Wait this is an idol school?" Didnt you go trough the entrance and performance exams? "yeah-" AND THAT DIDNT RAISE QUESTIONS??

-Anxiety on legs

-needs a haircut

-and better clothes

-actually the one who had the idea of the cafe theme after a job brougth them all together

-he is their SON but they also bully him the most

All 4 of them have crossdress designs. Take a guess why

The one i havent drawn yet but is the worst/ best idea

-he has (animu)amnesia

-but is convinced becomming an idol will help that

-im working on it once my hand is doing better, i work better AFTER i drew a vague concept

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I can make a shuffle with that many boy. Theres already a temporary unit in story

I love ocs so much. I want more

I want to use them more

Im just very shy about showing my writting

If ur lucky i manage to do more idol costimes