#Maybe some of the Black Dragon mercs?

[overlordraax]

I'd like to congratulate MK Legends Liu Kang for being the first person to successfully pacifist run the Mortal Kombat tournament. Congrats buddy, no one's ever actually managed to do that before.

[iris-of-bliss]

Bittersweet and Spicy [18+]

Summary: You and Kabal have been together for a while now. It wasn’t until the thoughts of him working with the Black Dragon slipped in again. Maybe some love making can preoccupy his mind?

Pairing(s): Kabal/F!Reader

Warning(s): NSFW

A/N: Short + Shy!Reader, Pre-burn Kabal ofc

Ever since the time you and Kabal met, feelings grew further through the relationship. You couldn’t believe that you ended up with the man of your dreams. Getting to know each other, sharing your crazy stories, anything for learning on a personal level. Besides these scenarios, Kabal had some kind of striking personality that sparked you. You found this man to be handsome, too. Everything about him was admired like treasure. The speed demon felt the same towards you. Your timidness and short height alike was so damn cute to him. This made him more protective of you, but not overly at least. Whenever you felt like spending the night at his place, it was such a dream. The fun part about this was how you end up falling asleep in bed. You were always his little spoon, snoozing peacefully in his embrace. Kabal would then caress you and plant small kisses to your head.

It seems like the relationship is going smoothly, except for one secret: Kabal has been working with the Black Dragon for a while now. You have no idea that your lover is a criminal. His job is to basically kill for money. He wasn’t sure how to confess his secret, but what if danger were to come to you? You might need to find out at some point, but what matters are the moments going on now. He’ll have to put this aside and wait for later.

After a long date, you decide to stay at Kabal’s place once again. You plopped down on the couch with him, searching through channels on the television. Unsure of what to watch, you left the remote alone after playing a sappy romance flick. There wasn’t really anything interesting to watch, but there was no boredom regardless since Kabal remained. He held you close with his arm around your shoulders. This is such a great feeling to admire comfort from your lover.

Your eyes glance at him shyly, “Hey, Kabal. I’ve been meaning to ask…”

You suddenly pause at the thought.

“What is it, doll?”

“I wanted to ask…if I could move in with you?”

Kabal’s eyebrows furrow at you by the question. Shit, did you ask to early? Your heart dropped from the supposed mistake. Your eyes look away, “Shoot, sorry. I shouldn’t have asked that.”

“Nah, you’re fine, sweetheart,” he assures you, “It’s not you at all, pretty much other things in my mind.”

You began to worry, “Is everything okay? Do you want to talk about something?”

“It’s alright. I can handle stuff on my own, but thanks.”

Even though your mind felt curious, you pretty much brushed it off. It was probably related to his workload anyway, or so you thought. Your hand slowly trails up from his shoulder to his cheek to cup. You turn to him while Kabal did the same. Eyes look softly at one another, causing you to blush.

“Kabal…”

Hands cupping his face, you lean in to kiss him passionately. The merc returns the favor while your arms wrap around his neck. Kabal leans in to rub your thigh. You whimper at this before straddling on his lap. His hands then grip both sides of your waist, continuing on with the make out session. The sensation of one hand sliding between your thighs to rub your concealed pussy would make you start soaking. You can feel the other squeezing your ass tight. This caused you to grind into him and moan through kisses. Taking notice of these movements, Kabal removed his hand free for his hips to roll. The rhythmic motions were just perfect. No, this wasn’t enough. You wanted more than this.

Kabal spoke between kisses, “Want me to fuck you, baby? Huh?”

“Please, I need you,” you whimpered.

Lips break away so your boyfriend can give a few kisses across your neck. He then gets up to carry you bridal style upstairs to his bedroom. He lays you down on the mattress before locking the bedroom door. You watch Kabal approach your laying position with a plastered smirk.

“I’ll take those off for you, love.”

Kabal first unbuttons your jeans to pull them off, tossing them elsewhere. His hand rubs onto your hip as he kisses your crotch area. You softly moan from his usual teasing. He would sometimes do that before sex, and you enjoyed it. After most piece of cloth was removed, only your panties remain. He’d rather save that for last.

“Get yourself comfortable.”

You set yourself fluffing some pillows before laying down to watch the merc undress. He throws his tank off first. You throbbed at the sight of his built torso. It was enough for you to end up biting your lip and rubbing your thigh. Kabal removes the rest of his clothes before laying down on his side to see you. Both of you stared into each other’s eyes warmly in silence.

Your fingers lightly stroke Kabal’s chest until moving down to his hard cock. He groans at this with brows furrowed. You were stopped right after he snatches your wrist and towers over you. Comparing body sizes, Kabal was so big above your petite self. You chose to lay beneath him every time you’re in the mood to fuck, but that wouldn’t be the case in his mind.

“Look at you with your little teasing self,” Kabal chuckled.

The merc leans in to exchange tongues with you. Returning the favor, you moan some more during this moment. Kabal’s work of his tongue felt so good. You were getting dizzy quickly. This guy must have casted some sort of lust spell, you swore he did. Your criminal breaks the kiss to slightly lick and bite your bottom lip, looking intensely into you. He gets off of you to lay on his back, signaling you to get on his lap. You were surprised as you never went on top of him before. Oh, this is getting interesting. After you straddle Kabal, you lean into him until he stops you. Hands push your body up to set an ideal position.

“Give me a sec.”

You nod while one of his hands trail down to your panties. He rubs the wetness for a second before moving the gusset out of the way with his thumb, revealing your soaking cunt. You let out an airy whimper.

Your boyfriend whispers, “Now sit on top of me, babe.”

Carefully sitting up, you let his erect dick slide inside of you. A loud moan sounded within the bedroom. Kabal groans from the tightness of your wet walls. Hands grip your hips while he bit his lip.

“That’s it, just like that. Good girl…”

You lean backward with hands holding tight for the sheets behind you. Slow bouncing motions were made, already making you slip from one moan to another. This cowgirl position was clearly new to you. Kabal knows this, too.

“Let me help pick up the pace.”

He assists you going in and out on him as hips roll against yours. His hand rubs over your crotch region to tense you. Then up to your breast to squeeze.

“You’re so fucking cute riding me like this. Taking me all in like that…”

“Mmm, Kabal!”

“Hm?”

The criminal starts to tease your nipple, pinching it then flicking thereafter. You unnoticeably scream by this, earning him a dark chuckle. You felt as if your body was nearing to the finish. Sheens of sweat form on the both of you. So damn close.

“K-Kabal! I’m about to-“

You grew exhausted and collapsed against his body.

“Aw, am I too much for you to handle?”

Kabal readies himself before thrusting his pulsating cock inside you. Your hands grip his broad shoulders to take in the pleasure. The tensing and twitching of your stomach was going to break. Your man wasn’t done with you yet, though.

“I’m gonna make you fucking dizzy, sweetheart. Make you cum all over me,” the merc teases.

A mix of desperate moans and whimpers from those dirty sweet nothings kept you waiting on the climax. The intensity is still there. You wanted him to hurry. Let you spill all over him as he squirts into your cave. All of a sudden, his thrusts went into a halt to bottom you out. There was a sharp whisper.

“Hey.”

“Huh?”

Holding you tight, Kabal penetrated you the quickest yet steadiest pace he can. This made his bed shake back and forth. You yelp before continuing to moan for his name. You knew he runs fast, but he can fuck fast, too? It drove you wild. You loved Kabal so damn much.

After the lasting adrenaline rush, you and Kabal climax together. The moaning of names filled the room. His cock pulls out of you, leaking some fluids combined with yours. Your body was shaking from its release. Taking notice of this, the merc caresses your lower waist and kisses you. You lie there in brief silence as breathing began to slow down. This seemed to get that Black Dragon weight off Kabal’s chest, well, mostly. Still, he couldn’t bare the thought of losing someone as sweet as you. A person who’s irreplaceable. If you ended up being crossed out on someone’s hit list, he will kill the one responsible. He would never let that slide.

“Fuck…”

Kabal holds you in a tight embrace. Your hand strokes his face lazily.

You question again, “Is something wrong, Kabal?”

“I just want to let you know that I’ll always be here to protect you. No matter what happens, trust me on this. You’re everything to me…”

“Hun…”

You and your boyfriend kiss one last time before relaxing in peace. Kabal definitely didn’t want to lose you. No matter what went on with his head, you would make sure he was okay. You didn’t want him to feel stressed out so he can enjoy the moment.

You nuzzled into his chest, “I love you, Kabal.”

He smiles at your soft voice.

“I love you too, princess.”

[moonamite]

Madness Combat Wings of Fire AU

This is just saying what tribes I’d think they’d be- nothing too complex yet.

Hank- (Unknown) Nobody really knows what they are anymore, being covered in bandages and scars and black cloth. Pretty big, probably due to their age. Whatever they are, they’re still the deadliest dragon in Nevada.

Sanford- (Mudwing) A very large dark brown Mudwing hatched from a blood-red egg. His specialty is still explosives (Dragonflame cactus) and melee combat, with a little bit of knowledge on healing. He used to be the bigwings of his group, but due to unfortunate events, he’s no longer with them. However, some of his bigwing instincts can be seen when he’s with his teammates.

Deimos- (Skywing) A smallish rusty orange colored skywing. Slender but still muscular. Prefers to blast enemies with fire from a distance. He always looks a little dirty, but that’s just his scale color. Mostly.

Doc- (Icewing) A grey icewing that used to be a member of the AAHW. The scars on his cheeks are a constant reminder of his Dissension. Absolutely not a doctor, but still acts like the medic of the group. Wears a large jacket to keep his cold inside.

Jeb- (Nightwing) A purplish-black nightwing with a sleek body, formerly a head scientist for project nexus, now the self-proclaimed savior of Nevada. He’s got seer powers, though not too strong. Thanks to the animus-touched keystone fragment, he’s got all the powers of his regular grunt self.

Tricky/Hofnarr- (Seawing) The short, dark green, timid eccentric genius animus dragon who is a head scientist of project nexus- or at least, what’s left of him. Not only has he been zombified, but he’s (seemingly) been driven mad by his own powers. He roams around Nevada, without a care in the world, doing whatever he wants, with nobody to stop him.

Sheriff- (Sandwing) A cowardly pale sandwing with a black diamond pattern going down his scales. Despite his cowardly nature, he does a good job being the leader of MERC and all the dragons in it. He’s not afraid to nick you with his stinger, though.

Crackpot- (Rainwing) Although constantly shifting colors, his default colors are usually green and dark yellow/orange. He tends to have a lot of emotions at the same time very quickly, leading to some… unusual and slightly unpleasant colors to look at. He’s tall but scrawny and slightly unkempt looking. Of course, being one of the head scientists for project nexus doesn’t leave much time for sun time. Maybe that’s why he’s so unbearable all the time.

Phobos- (Nightwing) A very big and powerful jet-black nightwing, hatched beneath a blood moon. He’s adorned with jewelry and a flowing majestic cape, and is missing an eye. Cunning, charismatic and cruel, he rules over the city with an iron fist (or rather, talon). Definitely has the ego of a nightwing.

Church- (Seawing) A very big muscular dark blue Seawing, with large spines. Based off an electric eel. They still have the stitches and scars of a G0L3M, as well as having all the electrical weapons as their grunt counterpart.

Jorge- (Mudwing) A greenish-brown Mudwing that’s a little smaller than Church. He’s an unsib but seems to treat Church like a Mudwing would their sibs after getting paired up. Despite not being a bigwings, he’s still massive due to being a G0L3M.

Victor- (Skywing) A slender red Skywing with a short snout. A former chef turned mercenary living in the Nevada desert. He’s a little skittish but is a reliable fighter in claw-to-claw combat, especially aerial combat.

Chopper Dave- (Sky/Nightwing) A slightly short and chubby Skywing-Nightwing hybrid, with the big wings of a Skywing but snout of a Nightwing with reddish-brown scales with black splotches scattered across his body as well as some scars from previous accidents. Carries a lot of Nightwing mannerisms (besides the ego) but isn’t very adept at combat, but is an excellent flier. Totally won’t crash into anything.

Q-Bert- (Sandwing) A big pale gold Sandwing with dark specks covering his scales. He’s a merchant who settled into SQ for the money. He’s fairly bulky and scarred, but they’re old scars.

Skinner- (Rainwing) A large pale Rainwing G0L3M that works as a doctor for SQ. Everybody loves him.

[sunflowerseraph]

hi i haven't watched moon knight but i've watched video essays on it so i know a bit, who's ur favorite character and what are ur headcanons for them?

Ok apologies in advance bc im super dizzy writing this :D but Ohhh my god absolutely its Jake Lockley. Comics and show. Ok well in the show he doesnt have much screentime BUT it doesn't mean theres not subtle jake moments and like teases to him existing. I have assloads of jake hcs (he likes cats, hes fond of sharks, and astronomy, and he wears gloves all the time to help with his sensory issues) but i think he has soooo many roles in the MK sys! Hes a gatekeeper, a memory/trauma holder, a physical protector (occasionally dabbles in emotional protecting, like a romantic/sexual protector!) I think he frequently goes nonverbal (autism creature♡)!! I think hes a Guardian too, but in the case of rangling Khonshu (or any other "persecutor type") ! I have so many hcs abt what roles he fills and the extent of them 🧍 i love intersys relations♡♡ he has little rituals that he takes on when he gets time to front. He enjoys a nice cup of coffee at Genas diner, and he will occasionally smoke a cigarette or two despite stevens protests.(Genas been trying to get him to quit, started giving him lollipops and hard candies cause the smoking is probably from some oral fixation.)

Hes really social! But hes still got the anxiety that comes with being social. He has to be for his taxi driving anyways! I feel like hes got a social mask to interact with people he drives around n stuff, when he needs info, etc. But he doesnt like to meet new people? Like, he has friends already, and the idea of making connections is nerve wracking (thats Stevens job, hes good at external connections! Esp comic steven, since he literally makes all their friends for the most part. Like he and jake make the friends and marc is stubborn♡)

[Tw for trauma ment, abuse, etc! Skip to the next colored line for not that :D]

Jake insys looks different than the body out of sys sometimes too! He holds a physical manifestation of previous injuries/trauma. He and Marc share certain scars or marks from their merc/military days, and in the case of the show, from physical trauma growing up with their mom. Steven tends not to have those marks/scars! Marc definitely has some, but not to the extent as Jake. Since jake is a gatekeeper/memory holder, he would have more scars or marks representing certain memories or traumas that they experienced, even if Marc doesnt, bc Marc doesnt get all the memories. Steven gets like None at all, so he wouldnt really have those markings. Jake might carry some chronic pain stuff (symptom holder) too? Speaking from experience, abuse like that can lead to nerve damage/chronic pain, so it would make sense he would experience it.

[ Ok, end of tw section]

I think Jakes music taste varies too! He usually just listens to the radio in his cab, so he doesnt have a Set Big Preference. He does love Luis Miguel tho. Steven likes reading ,but im sure he enjoys music! Probably nothing too Hardcore, softer music, or maybe even oldies. I think Marc would like music like Pink Floyd, Zeppelin, def leppard, acdc, hozier, Imagine dragons, Muse idk i have lists and playlists but thats not the point here. Jake likes Doja Cat.

He also loves cats just in general, black cats especially. Marc prefers dogs, and Steven (obviously) likes his fish!

Hes the shortest insys! God theres this funny art thing of the mk boys going Jake why are u so small, and jake replies with some shit about being like Wolverine. I think by @bicatperson ?? AS I WAS WRITING THIS I FOUND IT. Here.

EDIT: link didnt work here it is again hopefully?

Im trying to think of more things uhm. He ALWAYS tips Gena extra at the diner (They are sweet, theyre like two highschool sweethearts to me. She cares about his well being and he loves her boys like his own. ) speaking of, jake is So good with kids. Btw. I feel like hed definitely be a little caretaker !! He also loves Diatrice and calls her Dia or dee,or didi :) i also hate all the shit abt her not being "his kid" which just isnt fucking true. Sorry im not a fan of marlene for that shit.

Anyways. Jake is crucial to the mk sys in any universe in anyway possible in my brain ok. Hes kind and strong and doesnt shy from a fight. Hes wreckless at times but hes good at figuring things out. Hes got those streetsmarts. Hes also in love with his lawyer Matt Murdock.

[weirdlet]

Long story short, we reached the barrow, our leader got portaled elsewhere on account of sick player + new baby, which, understandable. Blundered our way through several traps, including having to burn some really caustic mold off our skins, guided by laughing will o’ wisps.

We get teleported into the area surrounding the tomb rooms, which is a giant pillar in the middle of an underdark ocean. There are guard drakes. There are drow. There is an evil sword whispering about Lolth. There is, I shit you not, another young dragon, this time a black one.

The drow get taken out with one Shatter- god I love that spell- and we grind down the dragon, which is first blinded and then flies out over the edge of the cliff, where Glory, my flying tiefling, falcon-dives on him with a shriek like a bat out of hell and a rapier full of sneak attack- plus an off-hand dagger right to the eye.

The dragon falls into the water below. The wisps start saying something we can’t translate- they seemed to defer to the dragon, maybe they were trying to suck up? Who knows- but with the last of our resources and having been somewhat whack-a-mole ourselves with being alive and upright, we take out the wisps. Climb down to the dragon’s lair and sack it. Teleport back to the other door, the one we didn’t explore yet.

There is a coffin. There are murals. There is a headband of intellect gifted to one of the orcish trossfrau, who, as an eldritch knight, is literally the only one of us with any major mechanical use for it (I mean, I’d love to be able to FIND traps and not just disarm them, but that’s another rant).

So she has her third eye squeegeed, so to speak, and starts helping us figure out the riddle of the coffin of the ancient dragonslayer. Again, it is too long, let me sum up.

We have two dragonslaying swords now, one inhabited by the spirit of the dragonslayer and first queen of neverwinter, the other by the spirit of the bitter black dragon we killed. It’ll be interesting to see how that thing’s whispers hold up against the military discipline of our soldierly barbarian tortle.

Make camp, collapse, and in the middle of the night, a portal opens and our leader beckons us through, saying ‘guys- we got problems.’

Will we find out where our merc company leader’s wastrel son is at? Will there be consequences for having killed three dragons (albeit small ones) before seventh level? Will we, in fact, ever actually get paid for taking this job? Tune in next week for Glory’s Travails!

[oonajaeadira]

The Mandalorian Tarot: Major Arcana

If you’re following me, you know this is a Mandalorian obsessive account. I love the man, I love the show, I write a Mando-fando that is all about pining and touch. I tend to go all in when I have an interest. 

Another one of my interests? Tarot. A friend challenged me to Mandalorify the major arcana. And because Jon and Dave know their stuff and are good with archetypes (which is all tarot really is), it was an easy fit.

YOU GOT MANDO IN MY TAROT. YOU GOT TAROT IN MY MANDO. TWO GREAT TASTES THAT TASTE GREAT TOGETHER.

But. I can’t draw, so I’ve dreamed them in words and included the Rider-Waite-Smith deck illustrations that I would riff on if I could.

READY? LET’S PLAY.

(All tarot illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith. All Mandalorian images property of Star Wars/Disney.)

UPDATE! @heathenashtattoos​ has taken up where I cannot and is making these cards a reality! I will post them individually and come back to link them to this post as we go.

0 THE FOOL = THE MANDALORIAN / IT IS MADE! --->

The story of the tarot is the Fool’s journey, the arc of becoming. So it makes sense to me that Din would be the fool. Fits even better, since he has tremendous Fool energy in his himbo tendencies, just rushing forward into situations without a lot of planning--he’ll deal with it when he’s in it--ready to rely on others to show him the way or guide/help him to the next step.

If I could draw: Din on the cliff, with his jetpack on, meaning he has no fear of falling. Instead of the bindle-stick the Fool carries, he’d have his pulse rifle slung over his shoulder. Instead of the dog nipping at his heels, Grogu. And, of course, the landscape would be Tatooine/Navaro-esque.

~~~

1 THE MAGICIAN = LUKE SKYWALKER , IT IS MADE! --->

The Magician is someone who is still learning to bend the laws of magic/the Universe, but very adept with their tools. Since Luke is only a few years into his Jedi training at this time, he makes a pretty good Magician.

If I could draw: Luke in his blacks, holding up his lightsaber. The Jedi symbol would replace the infinity sign. 

***

2 THE HIGH PRIESTESS = AHSOKA TANO / IT IS MADE! -->

High Priestess is further along the path of her magic than Magician, and her knowledge is more intuitive, her skills more effortless. Where the Magician is still learning the balance of light and dark, the High Priestess knows the value and pitfalls of both. It was always going to be Ahsoka.

If I could draw: Ahsoka sitting cross-legged in meditation mode, but with eyes open and a knowing smile. Instead of two pillars, she holds her lightsabers up and parallel to each other.

***

3 THE EMPRESS = PELI MOTTO / IT IS MADE! -->

The Empress is the mother figure, the energy in the universe that provides all that is needed and embodies the energy of creation. I can see the argument for Omera being the Empress--mostly because she is a mom and she’s soft and a lot of people see the Empress as a soft female figure, I get it. (And if I were to do a minor arcana, girl would show up as one of the Queens for sure.) But in the end, I gave it to Peli because she’s a recurring character, more relevant in his story, and if Din is the Fool, Peli is more an Empress to him. She’s able to be the provider of his particular needs; services to his ship to get him up flying, contact and location information, and she’s always willing to care for Grogu whenever she gets the chance.

If I could draw: Peli sitting in the dock, against the R4 unit, holding aloft a spanner and surrounded by her pit droids.

***

4 THE EMPEROR = BOBA FETT / IT IS MADE! -->

The Emperor is all about authority. And all I gotta say about Boba is BIG DICK ENERGY.

If I could draw: Just put him on the Jabba throne and let him lounge like a badass.

~~~

5 THE HIEROPHANT = THE ARMORER / IT IS MADE! -->

The Hierophant is the keeper of traditions and a spiritual guide. As the leader of the covert and keeper of the Way, The Armorer fits.

If I could draw: The Armorer, framed by her forge, holding aloft her tools, with Mandalorian acolytes. Instead of the crossed keys at the bottom, let’s just have a mythosaur skull.

***

6 THE LOVERS = FROG LADY AND FROG HUSBAND

This should be obvious and I will fight anyone who says it isn’t the right thing to do. I will die for this.

If I could draw: I would actually depart from the Smith depiction and just draw them embracing or holding each other by the arms and staring into each others’ eyes. Some kind of glowing background? Maybe the egg tank?

***

7 THE CHARIOT = THE MUDHORN

Oh. You thought I was going to say the Razor Crest, didn’t you. Don’t worry, I have plans for our beloved craft, but it ain’t here. The Chariot can be a ride, yes, but it’s about victory. Sometimes it’s about the victory over your inner “beastly” natures. To travel to the next phase in the journey, the Fool must take on the beasts that drive the Chariot and claim dominance over them, and when he does, they will carry him to the next level. Since it’s the victory of the beastly mudhorn that brings Din to his bond with Grogu and becomes his signet, Mudhorn for the win.

If I could draw: Again, I’d probably play on Smith’s imagery, put the charging mudhorn in the middle, and replace the rams with Din on his knees brandishing the vibroblade and Grogu in his pram with his Force hand up.

***

8 STRENGTH = CARA DUNE

Don’t come at me about including Cara. I am glad Gina got shown the door and I lose no love on that bigot. But. Cara is not Gina and to cut her out is to cut out Jon and Dave’s creation and I won’t do it.  I actually love her a lot--she’s got her flaws, but she’s sassy and strong and solid, and I would happily accept a piggyback ride from her any day. She’s also a major player in Din’s story and deserves a spot in it. Strength comes after the Chariot--once you’ve conquered the beast within, you have confident dominion over it and it becomes a companion or a tool for your use. Cara is one with her toughness, she’s used it to do some good and bad shit in her past, and she continues to wield it effortlessly and fearlessly. She is absolutely this card.

If I could draw: I would put her maybe sitting on top of the downed ATST. I’d replace the infinity symbol over her head with the one on her cheek (Rebel Alliance).

~~~

9 THE HERMIT = KUIIL

The Hermit is a loner, yes, but in his solitude he looks within, learns from all he’s been through, and becomes wise. He holds aloft a light of wisdom and truth. This was always going to be Kuiil.

If I could drawn: Just our buddy, looking out over the Arvala-7 landscape, holding aloft an in-universe working lamp. No need to get fancy. He would want it to stay simple.

***

10  THE WHEEL OF FORTUNE = IMPERIAL SYMBOL AND STORM TROOPERS

The Wheel is fate. You win some, you lose some. Sometimes you’re on top, and sometimes the Wheel crushes you beneath it. You are helpless to its roll and where you’ll land. Storm Troopers are such a sad bunch. They are keepers of Imperial Law on the ground. On a good day, they capture a Rebel or hold off an attack. On a bad day, their Moff just blasts them to make an example.

If I could draw: The wheel would just be the Imperial symbol and there’d be Troopers on and under it. Maybe the one on top is just standing there, looking authoritative. The one underneath has been blasted. Some Wheels have two more figures--one on each side--and I’d add those too. The one on the down-going side would be falling, arms flailing, blaster shooting (if only sound were available, there’d be a Whilhelm scream), and the one on the up-going side would just be dangling by one arm, along for the ride.

***

11 JUSTICE = COBB VANTH

Well, it just feels right to make the Marshal into Justice. But it’s not just a literal translation of making sure the right thing gets done and the bad guys are punished. Justice is about wiping away emotion and making decisions with bare truth, looking at every side of the situation and understanding what is really there. And I think Cobb fits this well. He doesn’t want to give up his armor because of what it means for the protection of his people. But he’s willing to consider it, if there’s another way he can protect them. Emotionally, he doesn’t want to deal with the Tusken Raiders, but he does it because he can see it’s the best course of action. He flies into battle with the Krayt Dragon. He gives up his armor without a fight. He makes a fair trade and sees the balance in it because he walks away from the emotion and chooses the best course of action. Cobb Vanth for Justice, errybody.

If I could draw: Cobb in the Fett armor, but with the helmet at his feet. In one hand, a bottle of spotchka. In the other, the Tusken mushroom drinky thing; he’s holding them with equal balance.

***

12 THE HANGED MAN = MIGS MAYFELD

The Hanged Man is not just about a dude who’s hanging upside down. (If that was the case, I would have just gone with Gor Koresh and called it a day.) Hanged Man is about changing your perspective to see things in a new way so you can grow. Many times, this growth also requires sacrifice. Over the two episodes we see Mayfeld, we know he goes from Imperial sharp shooter, to traumatized deserter, to merc, prisoner, and exonerated friend. He’s seen some shit, given up a lot, and he’s willing to see how he can be a help to others and find redemption for himself.

If I could draw: Hear me out. Take the image of Mayfeld hanging upside down from the Crest hatch into the prison ship. Mirror that above with an image of him in his Imperial Ground Transport gear. Flip it all upside down so bad Mayfeld up top, good Mayfeld on bottom, images mirrored but inverted, hence “looking at things a new way and getting everything a little topsy-turvey.”

~~~

13 DEATH = MOFF GIDEON

Death is about transformation, so it’s not always the most sinister card. But Death does not discriminate. It comes for us all, constantly stalking, and it will strike you down to serve its needs. You need to face Death to get to your redemption. But really, Gideon is our big baddie here, so why the hell not.

If I could draw: I would forgo the Smith illustration and go for the Marseilles tradition on this one. Gideon and the Darksaber replaces Death and the scythe.

*** 

14 TEMPERANCE = IG-11

Temperance is the transformation that comes after Death. Once Death has chopped your physical being into pieces with his scythe, Temperance is there to take all your pieces and put them back together into something new and better. It’s also a card that asks you to re-evaluate your priorities and see if you can find better motivations than you previously had. IG’s death and reprogramming speak loudly to me on this.

If I could draw: IG pouring the tea.

***

15 THE DEVIL = THE CLIENT

Here’s another baddie card that’s all about your worst faults, about excess and giving into the stuff that will eventually kill your soul. The Client holds on hard to the Empire, doing whatever he’s ordered to do to be one of the top dogs. And in the end, it doesn’t matter. Gideon takes him down like he’s nothing.

If I could draw: The client, wearing his Empire bling, with chains around Doctor Pershing and a rough-looking Storm Trooper.

***

16 THE TOWER = THE RAZOR CREST

I don’t know about you, but Chapter 14 killed me. And not because the Dark Troopers flew away with Grogu. We all knew Din would never stop at getting him back. But when the Crest was destroyed, it was like someone punched me in the soft parts, and I made a lot of severely anguished noises. The Tower is the most tragic card in the tarot. It’s when forces beyond your control make a very big (and usually negative) impact in your life and everything changes. You are left to pick up the pieces and survive any way you can with the skills and resources you’ve been blessed with.

If I could draw: Just that moment of the ray hitting our beautiful Crest, just as it begins to break apart, maybe with Din, Boba, and Fennec watching in horror in the foreground.

~~~

17 THE STAR = GROGU

The Star is hope. It comes after the biggest tragedy in the deck to tell you that not all is lost. There is always something there to live for. C’mon, kids. In this series, there was only one choice.

If I could draw: Just Grogu. Maybe drinking his soup. Or maybe he’s levitating his metal ball overhead, reaching up to it with a smile on his face. *coos*

***

18 THE MOON = BO KATAN KRYZE

We all like Bo Katan, sure. But remember my Clone Wars/Rebels fiends, she was Death Watch, and they were terrorists. She sided with Maul to take over Mandalore. Sure, she’s come a long way and her path is a bit more honorable now, but she’s got an agenda, which makes her hard to trust. Since the Moon is about more feminine energies and has themes of illusion and deception--things look great in the moonlight, but maybe not as they really are--Bo Katan’s our girl.

If I could draw: Head and shoulders profile, double-imaged so you see her face, but her Nite Owl helmet superimposed in profile over it. Nite Owl signet on the bottom. Possibly flanked by her two Nite Owl cronies.

***

19 THE SUN = GREEF KARGA

Everything's sunny when Greef’s around! He’s the feel-good gramps that’s going to make any situation A-Ok! If you’ve got a problem, Greef can sort it out...or he knows someone who can! The sun is always gonna shine on you and take you back.

If I could draw: Just Greef smiling and being cheesy with the halo of the sun around him. 

***

20 JUDGEMENT = FENNEC SHAND

This card traditionally shows the resurrected rising from the grave, ready to be judged. Fennec’s got a lot to answer for in her life, but she is being given a second chance, and my number one girl crush is going to do new and wonderful badass things with it.

If I could draw: I’d either just show her opening her gut pocket to show her new works, all full of aura, with her looking down at it reverently. OR I might do a scene of her being rescued by Boba.

~~~

21 THE WORLD = THE HELMET

Din’s helmet is the world he lives in. But it’s also a symbol of The Way. The World represents completion, a wholeness of self and being, the end of the journey. And since Din is our Fool, his journey is an exploration of his morals and honor, what it means to walk the way of the Mandalore, and what the meaning of the helmet is for him. He may choose ultimately to keep it on and go all-in on Mandalorian-4-lyfe (Child of the Watch style), or he may understand that the helmet is just a symbol and the honor was in him all along; he can wear it or not wear it and it’s all the same.

If I could draw: The World usually depicts a circle or sphere of some kind, the symbol of perfect completion. The helmet is close enough, so it takes up the center. Traditionally, there are four symbols in the corners that give more meaning to The World, and I would replace them with The Razor Crest, Grogu, the Mudhorn Signet, and the pulse rifle or blaster. These represent his home, his foundling, his clan, and his religion, all of which make up more of the whole; what it means to him to be Mandalorian.

~~~~~~~~~~

Challenge accepted and faced. 

Adira dops her witchy mic….

[jq37]

The Report Card – Fantasy High: The Seven Ep 6

Bitches Be Shopping

What is up y’all. A little late but let’s jump in with episode six of The Seven where our girls have just received a LOT of information, Sam most of all who got put into a little vision coma that she’s just now waking up from.

She explains the vision to her friends (as she interprets it, the other Eidolons didn’t die, just became part of the natural forces of the world) and then the bear that Penny made on a whim last episode (who is Russian, named Koda, and somehow a trained circus bear) gets into a fight with Katja with their friends buffing the two to make things more interesting because these are still idiot teens, life or death situation or no. Yelle decides to be the adult and tells them to knock it off and get back on mission.

That means Katja needs to call her dad since he’s knows the guy who’s the best lead to getting to TK ( Talcidimir Tallbreeze who I’ll call Tal). She actually manages to get her dad this time who is inside a giant snake on his hell mission. Katja asks what he knows about TK and he says she’s a sorcerer but also has a spell book so maybe she’s multiclassed. Sam and Ant desperately want to know if they boned and Katja absolutely is not interested in that knowledge. Yelle decides to just ask which makes her dad a little annoyed since he’s kind of in the middle of something (literally) and that annoys Ant, Ost, and Sam who--respectively, accuse him of gaslighting Kat, cast Command on him, and cast Bane on him to aid the Command spell. 

Mr. Cleaver fails the save and Ost commands him to tell Katja the truth. He admits that he did hook up with TK and he regrets it (note: it wasn’t like he cheated. It was just a casual hookup that wasn’t fulfilling it seems). Ost demands he apologize for not being there for Kat and Sam berates him for being at the top of the world and not lifting up his daughter too. For his part, Kat’s dad seems genuinely apologetic and promises to do better. 

“You don’t need to be the best father, you just need to be there,” Katja says, making her dad break down crying. 

Yelle, who has no daddy issues, is a bit less aggro and says that everyone makes mistakes and he can start making it up right now by helping with the Tal situation. She also gives them the tip that a cold spell will probably get them out of the snake lickety split.  She is on the money with the snake tip and Mr. Cleaver gets them all invites to a masquerade ball Tal is hosting. It’s being held on the Rumbosa which is this city-sized leisure ship. Mr. Cleaver says he’ll be back as soon as he can and, in the meantime, she should take care of her friends, “even the first 2 that were terrifying to me.”

The girls give Katja the axe they took as a birthday present (it was apparently her birthday the day before which Rekha just decided and Ost/Izzy refuses to accept without a fight because she *knows* Kat’s bday) which is identified as the Axe of Sundering (it can shatter objects, people, and sometimes concepts like halving movement). The two unnamed potions Yelle found are also ID’d as a Potion of Fly and a Potion of Gaseous Form. She distributes the Heath Potions to people without heals. Ant’s new arrows bypass some resistances and let her treat whatever she hits with the first one like it’s her favored enemy. 

According to their invites, the ship they need is docking in the city of Gravalvia soon (a very old city in the Baronies) so they need to figure out a plan. They have some downtime, during which:

Zelda tries to hype up the team.

Zelda tries to see if Ost is OK wrt dad stuff and Ost has a Full Breakdown after badly pretending she’s fine. 

While Zelda, Ost, and Penny are being Emotional and Sam is trying to literally cool them down with her powers, Ant and Yelle keep watch and experience emotional stability as the Adults Of The Party 

Anyway, after a night of rest, they head to the golden city of Gravalvia which is this very cool, very pretty city with mosaics and fountains and I assume columns. They get there and there’s a dramatic fight happening in the square which is halted when one of the fighters realizes that the country he’s fighting for doesn’t exist anymore. And now, it’s time for what we’ve all been waiting for. Shopping Montage! Let’s go girl by girl.

Katja and Ost

Kat asks for help from Ost with getting fancy for this gala since she’s never really done anything dressy before (and she had no mom to help--Kaaaat) and Ost is happy to oblige, dressing them both like “Jersey trash”. Kat, of course, still wears her Khakis underneath.

Antiope

Ant decides to get a vibe for what people here wear and picks something that will blend in but be forgettable so she can be stealthy. Classy blue dress and mask.

Penny

Penny...OK, I absolutely cannot describe what happens here in any way that will do justice to the scene. I am going to tell you what matters to the plot. You have to watch this yourself if you want to see the entire table have a collective breakdown. 

While looking for a costume, Penny runs into a halfling who is a member of the Society of Shadows--Laertes. He wants to know why she hasn’t responded to their invitation yet. She says she’s really eager to join, she just wasn’t sure how to respond (and also, she’s kind of in the middle of something). He says she can join by just messaging back and then her loved ones just have to sign waivers to have their memories wiped of her and she’s good to go. Say what now? asks Penny. She didn’t realize this was like a full Men in Black situation. 

He says it’s ultimately her decision and leaves.

Of course, I left out the parts where he ate a handful of Candy Heart’s remains, became violently ill, almost projectile vomited into Penny’s mouth, and she tried to kiss him despite him being a full adult. It’s A Lot, ok?

Also, we don’t find out until later but Penny picks a sexy duck costume for reasons that make more sense if you watch the scene but not *much* more sense. She also burns one of the healing potions on this dude as he is bar

Danielle

Danielle tries to get some info on the guests at the party and gets the names Lawrence LaDuc, Princess Autumn, and Duston who is the playboy cousin of Tal. She also hears some dude saying some colonize and plunder the earth BS and casts Heat Metal on him, fully mercing the dude. Ice cold. 

She tries to play it off like it’s the Curse of the Forest and when that doesn’t work and people start coming for her, she wildshapes into a dragon wyrmling and starts roasting people, killing 1 and dropping 2 to zero. 

Unfortunately, one of her party members is a known dragon hater and uses her new arrows to snipe her right out of the sky. Ant is horrified once she realizes what she’s done but Yelle says it’s all good. It’s NOT all good, says Ant, I STABBED YOU. You’re allowed to be mad! Yelle says she’s just really good at compartmentalizing but what Ant’s getting here is that Yelle doesn’t really believe that her feelings matter which echo the fears of her moms. 

Sam

Sam uses a combination of Mantle of Inspiration, glamour magic, performance, and good old flirting to get herself some killer clothes and also start a spontaneous musical number Giselle style.  

Brennan says she looks resplendent and, honestly, when does she not?

They reconvene, Zelda in a classic hoop skirt. Yelle realizes she never got a costume and just whips out a Met Gala level, autumn themed, Queen Mab-esque costume with Druidcraft which she could have done this whole time so I guess that’s why she was cool spending her shopping time getting gossip and playing Poison Ivy. 

They get to the ship and the way this works, everyone has to make an entrance and the really rich people (including Tal) are on a dais up top watching everyone come in. They all have to give fake names for the night since it’s a masquerade and they have to do Performance or Persuasion checks to see how impressive they look going in. 

Before they go in, they plan a little. Penny wants to look for TK. Sam wants to find Dunston. Ost wants to talk to the bouncers. Yelle wants to see if there are plants she can manipulate (there are btw) and for any exits. 

A quick rundown of how these all go:

Katja aka Mere (which means both mom and horse): 16 

Ant aka Midnight Huntress: 18 

Penny aka Penny Duckstone: 13

Zelda aka Madame Goodparty: 2 (Poor Zelda)

Sam aka Songbird: 22 (but she takes a hit to entrance save Zelda from totally flaming out)

Ost aka Stanley Gucci: 13

And Danielle, who never hogs the spotlight and is embarrassed to admit that maybe she does want to be the center of attention for once in her life with a Natural 20, gets a 29, absolutely bringing down the house as Empress Anima. As she walks forward she feels a voice say to her, “You got this. I love the name. You wear it well.”

Tal seems very impressed by her and a lady in a rabbit mask (Coeliabranca who I’ll call Coel if she comes up more) comes down to bring her up to the top with the high rollers. As she leaves, Sam casts Fly on her, just in case and holds the Concentration. 

Ost and Kat go talk to the bouncers and Kat decides to pretend to be her mom to get access to the area Yelle is. She rolls low and is told, “Hey, aren’t you already up there?” Kat is like, fuck and Ost saves her by using her charm earrings to get an entourage of guards who will let them through and do what she says. Once up there, Kat doesn’t see her mom which I can imagine she has mixed feelings about. 

Sam finds Dunston who is talking about Fantasy Bitcoin and seems like a real “Step on me mommy” type you know? Like, I feel like he’s into findom. Anyway, Sam charms him and his hangers on and learns about a procedure called a Phlebectomy that involves something going into their nose and then they feel better. Sam is rightfully horrified because, as I said, she is Most Likely To Survive A Horror Movie and can sense BS when she sees is. It’s apparently all the rage with the rich people here which is, como de dice, concerning seeing as they’re surrounded by them but we’ll get to that. Sam takes advantage of Dunston’s proclivities and gets him alone, knocks him out, steals him clothes, and pretends to be him (a *very* good scene by Sephie). 

Penny sees a gnome gnome boy (Lysander Higgins) shining shoes and finds out from him that there is a copper earth genasi woman here. In a very Cinderella move, she asks what shoes she was wearing. Then, she makes out with him which like, sure. At least it’s not a grown adult man this time. Before she gets her kisses in, she does tell the group what she learned. 

Up with the rich people, Yelle is introduced to Tal’s friend who is into Eidolons because of the name she chose. Between the shoes and her knowledge, they confirm that it’s TK! Yelle asks what she knows about Eidolons and she says that 7 is a very powerful number.

We cut to Ant who is patrolling the room as the sun sets and she suddenly hears a little beeping. It’s coming from a small crystal that was in Preston’s shirt (which she still has on her because???). Guests start dripping goo from their noses and transforming into monsters. Ant realizes that some kind of spell is happening triggered by midnight and this beeping. Hope these costumes are battle ready cause it’s fight time baybee!

Superlatives 

Danielle: Most Likely to Be on The News for Murdering Fantasy Jeff Bezos

I cannot imagine what was running through Yelle’s head when she decided that, having just rolled into a foreign country, her next move was to start using lethal force on anti-environmentalist colonizing capitalists. Like, she’s not *wrong* per se but she is wild--in all senses of the word.  

Random Thoughts

Kat keeps saying yesterday was her birthday which Ost/Izzy (and the rest of the group to a less vocal degree) are simply not having because maybe her dad would forget her birthday but her girls absolutely would not.

“You’re great because you stayed,” is the other killshot Kat line to her dad.

At a certain point Sam says, “This is so unhealthy,” to I think Yelle and like, if SAM is telling you your coping mechanisms are unhealthy, get thee to therapy.

OK, so someone, presumably Anima’s spirit, talks to Yelle as she makes her grand entrance which seems like info they should get to Talura ASAP, right? Cause that’s evidence they’re not dead-dead, just changed in form. But also Anima, girl. Don’t talk to Yelle. Talk to your rampaging sister!

"That's my secret, I stay in initiative."

Just a process note, notes are taken for the next ep and I am working on getting that recap up ASAP. As a battle ep, it will be in the abbreviated style that I did for last battle ep. 

In this episode, Penny rolls a Nat 1 (which she rerolls) and one of Brennan’s NPCs rolls a Nat 1. Ant rolls 2 Nat 20s, Yelle rolls 1, and Brennan says that one of his NPCs gets a 20 which sweeps him entirely into Sam’s dance number. 

[dinogoofy]

Kabal × reader

Flowers for broken hearts

It's an angsty one boys

Ok, just for reference, this is gonna be a really weird timeline, and we're gonna pretend that revenent kabal was revived with Jax, but went straight back to the black dragons, ok? Ok.

Like normal, sexual scenes are implied but not explicit.

TW for violence.

----

You had always loved mornings, but honestly it was only because of the man you woke up next to each day. 

The birds were tweeting softly from outside the window, and you tried to stretch in the warm, early morning sun, only to find out that you were stuck. 

Your fiancé's warm body was curled around you loosely, still asleep. You smiled, he definitely deserved the rest, especially after last night. You snuggled into Kabal's bare chest, breathing in the scented remnants of the awful Axe cologne he still used. 

Kabal hummed at the movement, holding onto you a bit tighter and nuzzling into your hair. 

"Good 'morning, sunshine." He groggily spoke, rubbing your back up and down as you cuddled close to him. That early morning voice of his never failed to make your heart flutter.

"Good morning, handsome." Kabal smiled, kissing your head. You sighed, content in the warm bed. The fuzzy, happy feeling in your chest blooming as you pressed your face into his neck, lightly kissing his smooth skin. You could feel the rumble in his chest as he faintly chuckled, somehow pulling you even closer to him.

"Tryin' to get me going this early in the morning huh? Such a naughty girl…" You gasped, fake offended as you slapped his chest.

"Kabal!"

"What? You and I both know you find me irresistible-" You laughed, covering his mouth with your hand and pressing your forehead to his. 

"Oh, shut up! Stop being such a cocky bastard, or I might just stop kissing you all together!" You could feel his smile from underneath your fingers. Before you knew it he had flipped you over on the bed, your back pressed into the cushion as he leaned over you. His loose, long black hair falling around the two of you like a curtain.

"If that's the case, I guess I'll have to start stealing them from you, Dear~" The bubbling laughter in the room was infectious as Kabal pressed kisses to your forehead, nose, cheeks, eyelids, anywhere where he could get really. The fuzzy feeling bloomed once again, and for a moment you were reminded that this was indeed your happy place. You caught his face in your hands with some effort, and pulled him into a soft kiss. 

Kabal eagerly pressed into you, sliding one of his hands up your arm to gently lace with your own hand. What a wonderful way to wake up.

Unfortunately, the soft moment was cut short as His phone started to ring. Kabal broke this kiss for a moment, and heavily sighed. Pressing one last quick kiss to your lips before getting out of bed. You frown at the loss of contact, but didn't refrain from ogling his butt as he stood. 

"My eyes are up here, Babe." Kabal jokes, not even turning back to look at you as he picks up his phone, opening his dresser in the process and grabbing some pants.

"Stryker, whatcha got for me?" It felt like your heart sunk into your stomach upon hearing the name. It was supposed to be Kabal's off-day! The whole reason the two of you had moved to the country just outside of New York City was so Stryker would stop calling kabal into duty so randomly.

You knew how important this job was to Kabal, so you never protested when he did leave. You put up with him during the awful, random merc jobs that he had while working with the black dragon. You couldn't be mad at him for working an extra shift for the station every once in a while.

At least you don't have to worry about that Kano asshole and the black dragon showing up unannounced. You thought. At least there's that.

Kabal let out another heavy sigh as he hung up the phone, running around the room to gather his things in a hurry. He looked worried.

"Is everything alright?" Kabal shook his head as he threw a shirt on. Rushing over to press a kiss to your head.

"Something weird is going on in the city. He mentioned something about Outworld fusing with earthrealm… or something like that. Said I needed to get my ass over there right away." Kabal cupped your face in his hand, running his thumb along your cheekbones in a soothing manner as you frowned.

"Just come back in one piece, ok?" You tried not to let your voice waver as you spoke. Kabal chuckled, leaning down to give you a hug.

"I'll do my best, sweetheart." Your chest tightened as he let go of you to rush out the door.

"I love you." He turned around with a bright smile on his face.

"I love you too." And just like that, he was gone.

It kinda felt like he took your heart with him.

It's been a long time since Kabal walked out on you. It's been rough. The tears, the heartbreak. He hadn't contacted you. No voice-mail, no messages, nothing. You had started to wish that Stryker hadn't even told you that he was alive. But he did. And now all that's left to do is get over him.

That wasn't quite as easy as you thought it would be. 

"Hey kabal, I'm just...calling to check in on you. Call me back soon, alright?"

"It's me again. I know I've been calling your work phone a lot, but I'm really worried."

"Could you please, just- just pick up the phone? Just once? I miss you."

"Our wedding date is- was supposed to be next week. I...I won't be mad if you come back this late… just please, come home."

"It's… *hic* it's me again um… we um… went out tonight. They told me to give it a rest. Heh, but I know this line's still active! Stryker *hic* told me so. He wouldn't lie right?"

"..."

"I'm going to stop calling this phone soon. If you can hear this...I… *sigh* nevermind. This is useless. I'm sorry."

----

After Kabal left, you saved your money and quit your job. Turning the land around your home into a flower farm, you had already lost so much, why not give back to yourself? Your favorite hobby became your favorite job, and soon enough you had made enough money to build a little shop on the property just a little closer to the road. And my oh my, was business booming.

"Hey Mrs.Cameron! How've you been?" Mrs. Lissy Cameron and her wife were once your wedding planners, and then they became your #1 customers when you opened up shop. She smiled at you, and you carefully took the premade bouquet of flowers from her to ring it up on the register. 

"I've been wonderful! Sarah's been asking to come here all week, so I figured we might as well stop by on our way back home." Her wife scoffed, playfully swatting at her.

"Please, we both wanted to drop by. Lissy has been obsessed with your hyacinth bouquets since you did the floral arrangements for Janet's wedding." You giggled sweetly, telling them their total and carefully bagging their flowers. When you looked up to take Lissy's card however, the two of them looked worried.

"Is everything ok?" Sarah sighed at the question, reaching out to take your left hand. Your chest started to squeeze up. 

"You're wearing it again." You solemnly looked down at the ring on your finger. Letting out a curt, sad laugh. You hadn't noticed that you had put it on this morning. You were kinda on autopilot when you woke up after sleeping through your alarm, and had to rush to open up shop. It must've been simply out of habit. It had taken a while to stop wearing it, as it partly carried the hope that he would be back. But he wouldn't be, and you knew that. But every once in a while… 

"I hadn't even realized. Thanks for letting me know." They gave you a pitiful look as you slipped the ring off your finger and set it next to the register. Lissy gave you a soft smile when you finished ringing them up. 

"Hey, Sarah and I were going to get drinks tonight with a few friends. You could tag along if you'd like? I'm sure you'll meet some interesting people." Lissy wiggled her eyebrows at you, and you laughed when Sarah slapped her arm for it. Sarah turned and gave you a soft look.

"You don't have to Honey," She paused. "But it might be good for you to get out of the shop sometime. We barely even see you outside this place." You tried your best to smile at them, but it came out sorta lopsided.

"I'll think about it." Lissy gave your hand a reassuring pat, taking the flowers and waving goodbye as she and Sarah went out the door.

"Take it easy!" You smiled sadly at the words. 

"I'll try." 

----

Today had been the busiest day you've had in a while, but it felt worth it in the end as you closed up shop. The setting sun casting a warm glow through the many windows. Creating a perfect, calm setting to close everything up. You tidied the flowers that were left over from the day, replaced the water in the vases, even swept. 

You had gone out and turned on the sprinklers for the bushes and blooms outside, coming back inside to mop before you had to run back out again to turn it off and finally, finally turn in for the night. 

The water sloshed around as you set the bucket down to start mopping near the counter. When you stood, your eyes caught on the ring again. 

That stupid, beautiful, ring that never failed to put a damper on you mood. You slowly staggered toward it, gently picking it up in your hands to examine it.

It had always been the most beautiful piece of jewelry you owned, it was a shame that it wasn't used for some other couple. Preferably one that actually worked out in the end. As you traced the outline of it you started to wonder where Kabal was right now. Was he ok? Was he married so soon? Did he have kids? Or maybe he was just dead. You didn't know which one hurt worse.

You sighed. You couldn't keep doing this. You couldn't keep finding it, and thinking about him, and bringing the pain all back to the surface again. You just couldn't. You set the ring back down. Maybe you should take Lissy's offer up. Drink your woes away.

A noise caught your attention, kicking you out of your thoughts. A clay pot rolled across the floor as you looked up.

"Hello?" You called out. No response. You slowly grabbed the bat you kept underneath your counter, and started to creep over to the other end of the shop, walking through the giant, open doorway that separated the sunroom, where the flowers are kept, from the shop.

There didn't appear to be anyone there when you got over that way, and you sighed, relaxing for a second. You leaned down to pick up the pot.

"Gotcha!" Suddenly a pair of arms forcibly wrapped around you. You screamed, and one of the arms suddenly moved from your waist and clutched your throat.

"Keep it down, or I'll fucking kill you." Still panicked, you managed to wrench an arm out of the man's grip and sharply elbow him in the side. He groaned in pain, and the split second he loosened his grip was enough for you to break from his hold and slam the pot down in his head.

He yelped in pain this time. Holding his now bleeding head. You held the bat in both hands now, ready to swing again. 

"Get out of my shop! NOW!" You barked at him. He chuckled in a creepy, unhinged way. Smiling up at you with disgusting yellow teeth and spitting on the floor.

"I'll be damned if any of Kano's bitches tell me what to do!" You couldn't even process the words before he lunged at you again, you tried to dodge swiftly. Unfortunately, he was still able to grab one end of the bat. He used it to yank you closer and knock you to the ground. You desperately tried to push him off as he wrapped his cold, dirty hands around your throat, pushing all of his body weight there. 

You tried to kick at him, but he wouldn't budge. Your nails clawed deep into the skin of his wrist, and even lashing out at his face had no effect. Your eyes started to get teary as you struggled to breath. 

All you could feel was a rush of wind, and the man had been knocked off of you. He was launched into one of your tables of flowers, breaking it in half as he landed. You coughed, gasping for air. Thankful that you could breathe again. You felt so sore, but you still sat up, baffled by the events. 

A new man was standing in between you and the attacker. He was clothed head to toe in frightening, thick gear, fists clenched. You wouldn't have known who it was. Especially not with the mask on his face, but when your eyes settled on the hook swords on his back… 

It couldn't be… 

A scream interrupted your thoughts. The new man holding your attacker up by his neck. He was screaming for forgiveness, for a chance to run. You stood, and the masked man stiffened, dropping the other into the mess once again.

"You've got two minutes to run." The attacker didn't even spare a glance at you before trying to bolt out the front door, slamming into it hard before frantically popping the lock open.

The masked man hadn't looked at you, but you, however, couldn't take your eyes off of him. He started to walk away when you called out for him.

"Kabal?" Your voice broke. He didn't turn back. He kept walking. Fury started to build up in your chest. You stormed over to him, grabbing him by the sheaths on his back. 

"Where do you think you're going?! You come back for two fucking seconds and plan to leave just like that? Without an explanation? Fuck you!" Tears were running down your face now. He stops in his tracks, but doesn't turn around. He calls your name. 

"That guy's gotta grudge against the black dragons-understandably. 'Managed to hack into some old files. He's been hunting down family and friends and killing them on the spot. Had a few 'mercs quit on us Kano gave me the order to kill him." He pauses. "That's the only reason I came back." You didn't flinch at the info that he was back with the dragons, but It felt like your heart shattered a second time when he spoke the last few words. This fucking asshole. you refused to back down. 

"You know that's not the explanation I'm asking for." He didn't respond. But he didn't move either. You stepped in front of him. Looking straight into the eyes of his mask. Tears were still streaming down your face, your hands were shaking, you were so fucking mad, and sad, and destroyed. You almost wished he had been dead. 

"Kabal. Where. The. Fuck. have you been." He sighed, and you couldn't tell if he was making eye contact- or even trying to, through his mask.

"Don't worry about it." You were clenching your hands so hard your nails started to bite into the skin of your palm.

"I swear to God, Kabal. You fucking left me without so much as a note. You're going to tell me why!" 

"I don't have to tell you anything." He pushed past you forcefully, making his way to the door. For a moment you just stood there in shock. What was wrong with him?!

"Excuse me?!" He sighed, walking over to your counter.

"I'm not doing this with you today." You were bubbling with rage, not able to even swallow your sobs. Kabal had stopped at the register, frozen for a moment, and you took that chance to reach out and grab him by the shoulder, forcibly turning him around.

"In case you fucking forgot, our wedding was supposed to be two months after you disappeared on me. Do you know how much that Fucking hurt?! Do you have any idea how much it hurts now, you piece of shit! God just- at least just TELL me why!" Kabal stiffened, and you knew he was starting to become angry. Or maybe he was sad. You couldn't tell. No one spoke for a long moment as you tried to wait for him to respond. He didn't. 

Your watery, angry eyes were glaring at him, and he watched as you walked behind the counter. In a moment of uncontrollable anger, you snatched the ring up and forced it into his hands. His shoulders slumped immediately when he realized what it was.

"Get the fuck out of my shop." Your hands were shaking, your face was still flushed, eyes red from the tears, but you didn't look away from him. He started to call your name, but you interrupted him.

"GET OUT!" Your voice had gone hoarse. Kabal didn't budge. Slowly, very slowly, he reached up to his mask. As he took it off. Your guarded expression immediately faltered.

His face was horribly scarred. You sucked in a breath from pure horror for a second. Burn scars all over his face. You looked at his hands, his neck. He was scarred everywhere. His face twisted in disgust as he analyzed your face.

"You really wanted to know that bad, huh? I left you because I already knew what you would think, what you would say if I came home to you like this." You were almost in shock, tears running down once again as you gently reached over the counter to touch Kabal's face. He flinched for a moment, but let you touch him. 

"What happened?" Your voice shook, horror evident on your face. His face fell for a moment as you touched him, so terribly gently. He hard look in his eye softened.

"What does it matter? I'm horrific." You let out a sad, snarky laugh. Cupping his face with both your hands, caressing his cheekbones just as gently as he did yours the morning he left.

"Don't you remember the night you proposed?" He sucked in a breath, and your hands gently pushed his short hair out of his face before you reeled yourself in. You wouldn't touch him like this. It didn't matter why he left you, he still did it. But even then, your heart ached for him. Damn, you needed to see a therapist.

"I had quit the black dragon. I was asking what you thought of me joining the NYPD." 

"And?" Your voice broke as you struggled to maintain a strict tone.

"...and?" You nodded tearfully, sniffling from all the crying. Kabal kept going. "We talked about my tendency to join violent fields. I… I had asked you if you'd still love me if I came home with bruises every night, just like I had used to." His face started to shift. You already knew he remembered what you were about to say. That flicker of anger started up in your chest as you spoke bitter words.

"I told you that I'd love you no matter how many scars, or bullet holes, or bruises you came home with, as long as you were coming home." Kabal's realization left a devastated look on his face, and no matter how bitter you felt, you couldn't help but reach for his hand. He held your hand back limply.

"...I kinda fucked that one up. Didn't I?" You laughed, a pitiful, angry noise.

"You did." You stopped for a moment. "You did." You felt numb as the words fell into a whisper.

"-But no matter how fucking angry I am, I don't think that statement ever changed, Kabal." He ran his thumbs over your knuckles, avoiding eye contact with you by looking down at them.

"... You'd really still love me after all this? After all the scars, all the time…" You pressed your lips into a line, sighing before squeezing his hand. His eyes started to water as your own began to dry.

"I..." It was difficult to say this. It really was. But you wanted him back. You really did. You wanted to give him that second chance. You wanted those sleepy mornings and the pillow talk and the awful food he cooks. You missed him so fucking much.

"It's gonna take a while, and certainly some couple's therapy, but Kabal…" You held his cheek again, lifting his head to look at you. You looked into his eyes and bit back what you were originally going to say. Letting out a pitiful laugh at yourself before doing your best to wipe that look from his face. You didn't owe him anything, but you saw an opportunity and took it.

"... I wouldn't mind seeing that ass in the morning again." Kabal was taken off guard for a moment, and you felt triumphant. He erupted in wonderful, happy laughter. Pulling you close from across the counter and kissing your forehead.

"How could I say no to that?"

.

.

.

"Kabal, weren't you supposed to take care of that one guy?" 

"Shit."

[lunarsaga]

EPISODE 5: The Band of Seven, Resurrected

WELCOME TO EPISODE 5! So far, episode 6 is up on my Patreon already, and episode 7 is in progress. Support me on Patreon to see stuff first!

IMPORTANT: I am starting to integrate the art into the story a little differently! Instead of just visualizing a moment in the scene, the image will replace the lines it's depicting. It'll work more like a hybrid graphic novel, that way it'll flow better. (So don't skip over the art, read it like you would a western comic!)

Reminder: [Dialogue like this is English!]

EPISODE 5, LESSGO! ☆*:.｡.o(≧▽≦)o.｡.:*☆

It was a bit of a long flight between the bone-eater’s well and the spot where Luna last left her sister and her friends.

They were still headed northeast, still trying to find Naraku. But Luna’s supply of ammunition only lasted so long, and she decided she probably needed more medical supplies if they were all gonna make it past this war with Naraku. So she’d gone back to the modern era for a few days, and called Alice to get her connections with other Hunters in Japan—so Luna could make more Sacred Salt rounds without having to explain to international customs why she was getting a bunch of empty shotgun shells, non-native herbs, and a few other assorted (weird) things she needed.

So she’d gone home for a few days. Thankfully, she didn’t have to walk; Airisu (who still objected to Luna calling her ‘Alice’, but agreed to the simple nickname ‘Ai’) in full demon form could fly pretty fast, but she ran out of steam after about an hour. It took them a full day (including rest time) to get back to the village, and the same on the way back.

But before they joined back up with their friends, Luna had a stop to make.

It ain’t hard to miss, she thought snarkily, he’s like a damn homing beacon.

Finally, among all the green of the forests, she spotted a speck of white. Easy. “There they are!”

Ai set them down just behind the little group of travelers—Rin, the little imp Jaken, the big horse-dragon (Ah-Un, Luna believed?), and heading the line was, of course, Lord Fussy Britches himself. Rin spotted them before they touched down, and greeted delightfully:

“Miss Luna!”

The Hunter’s arrival brought the others to a halt, and for some reason, Luna found a very smug satisfaction in the incredibly irritated, over-the-shoulder side eye she got from Sesshomaru. But she paid him no mind; she was here for Rin.

Luna held out her hand, unfolding her fingers to reveal three beautiful pearls, strung on a little leather cord. Each of them glinted with an odd pink sheen and were warm to the touch; anyone with any sort of spiritual senses might’ve picked up on the soft energy radiating from them.

Luna tied the cord tightly at the ends and moved to slip it over the little girl’s head.

“As if she would ever need such a ridiculous thing!”

Luna swore one of these days, she was gonna drop kick that little frog. “Look, dude—”

“It’s Jaken, insolent human!”

“—I’m just looking out for her. No need to burst a blood vessel.”

“What is she to you?”

Luna was actually shocked to be addressed by Sesshomaru himself. He was still giving her the side eye, but there was less irritation and more of… something Luna couldn’t place. Maybe she was flirting with death, but she couldn’t resist.

She stood tall, chin high, and responded: “What is she to you?”

There was the anger: contained, but frigid and harsh as the Arctic behind those amber eyes. Sesshomaru did not answer her, but Jaken sure did.

“How dare you, human! Your nerve is surpassed only by your stupidity to speak to Lord Sesshomaru that way! Surely you wish for death!”

Only sometimes. “Can it, Kermit!” She snapped at him, “I ask because he’s always leaving her alone, with nothing but you to protect her! You, who are half her size and don’t have much in the way of defense!” She moved her challenging gaze to Sesshomaru again, steadfast. “So I ask again, what is she to you, if you leave her with barely any protection so often? Because to me, she’s a friend and I care about her, so I brought her these as a last resort option, in case you’re not around and she needs help.”

There it was, that unreadable expression again. Sesshomaru was definitely incomparable at hiding his true emotions—something Luna could absolutely not stand. Tense silence hung in the air for a moment, before Luna shrugged, holding her hands up.

“Hey, think of it this way,” She said, trying a sly little smile, “You’re a busy guy. It’s one less thing you have to worry about. And if she never needs them, at least it’s a pretty necklace.”

Man, this guy was good at keeping quiet. But now, the icy glare was gone. Luna swore she could see just the tiniest arc of a silver eyebrow before the demon turned back around on the path they’d all been heading.

“Jaken, let’s go.”

Flabbergasted, Jaken tripped over himself trying to follow. “Y-yes milord!”

Grinning, Luna got back down to Rin’s level. “You take care, okay kid?”

“I will! And thank you so much for these— I don’t think I’ll need them because Lord Sesshomaru always comes to save me, but I’ll wear them anyway!”

“That’s all I ask,” This little angel was definitely gonna need it at some point. “But if you do need me, I’ll always be there for you, okay? I promise.”

The smile on Rin’s face could’ve melted the ice caps. “Thank you.”

Luna stopped her as she started to leave. “Hold on, one more thing. Each one only works once before it shatters, so you gotta save them for when you’re really in trouble, okay?”

“Okay, I will! Bye, Miss Luna!” Rin grinned, waving at her friend before hurrying after the demons.

Luna chuckled, turning back to Ai for a second before something occurred to her. “Hey, Sesshomaru!”

He didn’t turn to look at her this time, but he did pause in his walking.

Good enough. “I heard there was something going down in the Northeast—direction of the Ox and Tiger. Something to do with Naraku. Thought you might like to know.” She didn’t wait to see if he heard or registered what she said; she just hopped back on Ai’s back, and the two of them took off.

“I hope you know conflating bravery with stupid pride is more than likely to get you killed one of these days.” Ai said as she lifted into the sky.

“Oh most definitely,” Luna laughed. “But as much of a pompous man-child as he is, you can tell he cares for that girl more than he’s willing to admit.”

“That may be, but he’ll definitely kill you if you keep disrespecting him.”

“That’s a risk I’m willing to take, for Rin’s sake.” Luna’s voice was soft, carried off by the wind. “That little angel’s been through enough, she deserves someone in her corner.”

~    ~    ~

Finally catching sight of their friends again was a bit of a relief for both Luna and Ai. It had been a long couple of days, going all the way home and coming back. Part of Luna hoped they’d get just a little bit of rest before whatever shit hit the fan next, but another part knew the odds on that were pretty low. Still, it was nice to be back.

Kagome was the first to spot them as they flew in. “It’s Luna!”

“Luna’s back!” Shippo proclaimed joyfully.

“Hey, y’all,” Luna greeted as Ai touched down. She hopped off the demon’s back as her friends offered their greetings. “What’d I miss?” She asked.

Miroku was the one to answer. “Quite a lot. It seems that we may encounter a new enemy: the local villagers recently informed us of a group of mercenaries called the Band of Seven. The villagers believe these ruthless killers may have been brought back from the dead.”

With a grin on her face, Luna shrugged at the idea. “Undead mercs, huh? Nothin’ we can’t handle.” She held up her fist for her sister to bump it, and as Ai changed back to her human form, Luna noticed their little group was smaller than it should’ve been. “Where’s Sango?”

Kagome bumped fists with her sister, smiling at Luna’s nonchalant comment. “She went off with Kilala. I sensed a Jewel Shard nearby earlier… so I think she may have gone to look for Kohaku.”

Luna didn’t have time to respond. Off in the distance, she heard the distinctive echo of a sound she was all too familiar with.

Inuyasha hopped up onto a tree limb, hoping to get a look at what was happening. He couldn’t see it, but he sure as hell could smell it. “And it ain’t from just a handful of people, either.”

So much for a second to rest, Luna chuckled to herself as she tightened the straps on her backpack and immediately kicked into gear. “What’re we waiting for, then?”

And off they were, charging headlong into danger as always. Luna could sense something was up; more so than usual. The stench of blood was never a good sign in the first place, but there was something else setting off warning bells. Something she couldn’t put a finger on.

The smell got stronger and stronger, until… they reached its source. Despite the amount of nasty shit she’d seen in her ten years of hunting supernatural monsters, there were some things that still turned her stomach, and seeing a single human being standing in a veritable ring of blood and gore was definitely one of them. His black hair was pulled into a twist; his lips were painted red, he had blue tattoos like tear tracks under each eye, and one side of his kimono was tucked up under his belt. The dude was just squatting in the middle of the carnage, eyeballing the barrel of a matchlock gun like it was his first time seeing one (which, hell, it might be, she thought to herself; in this time, they would’ve only recently been invented). He seemed completely unbothered by the dozen and a half bodies of freshly murdered warriors and their horses surrounding him.

Inuyasha was the one to get to the scene just ahead of the others, calling back over his shoulder: “Stay back! Don’t come over here!”

Instinctively, Luna remained in front of her sister, her arm out to try and block her view. Her stomach was churning, and her hand was poised to pull her gun if needed. No way this guy could be human… right?

“Did… that one person do all this?” Kagome’s voice was a shocked whisper.

It was then that the guy in the middle noticed them. He stood, his sword over his shoulder and his head cocked slightly to the side.

“Are you the one I’ve been looking for?” He asked, a grin on his face as he shielded his eyes from the sun. “Are you Inuyasha?!”

“Got a bad feeling about this.” Luna mumbled, “That guy isn't a demon, is he?”

“I don’t think so,” Kagome uttered back to her, “I don’t sense a demonic aura….”

“How’d you know my name?!” Inuyasha demanded.

He got no answer out of the guy with the sword. Instead, the guy squealed: “You’re adorable!”

A dumbfounded silence fell over the group. Luna glanced around at the others to make sure she didn’t just lose her mind—but no, the general consensus among her friends was along the lines of ‘what the actual fuck?’

“I especially love those fuzzy ears of yours!” The guy continued, licking his lips. “I want them~”

Alright, so this guy was nuts. Luna had had enough of ignoring the bad vibe she was picking up from him. She dropped her bag next to Kagome’s bike and readied herself for a fight: detached the ammo bag and shotgun holster from her pack and slung them over her shoulder, slipped her short sword through one of the belt loops on her jeans, and pulled her shotgun to make sure it was in hand and loaded. She kept her eyes moving back and forth between Inuyasha and the dude with the sword during the next exchange:

“Who are you?” Inuyasha demanded, “What are you after? You don’t smell like a living person, you reek like corpses and graveyard soil!”

No answer.

“Inuyasha,” Miroku said in realization: “Could he be—?”

“Yep,” Inuyasha confirmed, before calling out to the guy with the sword again: “Some villagers were talking! They said some disgusting specter rose up from the grave. That’d be you, I presume!”

Right, zombies, Luna thought to herself; if he really is undead, the Sacred Salt won’t do as much as it would a demon… It’d sting, but what I really need is-… She smirked and holstered her gun again, grabbing a different weapon from the bottom of her bag.

“Are you one of the Band of Seven?!” Miroku asked of the specter as Luna was tuning back in. “Answer me!”

After a long pause as the specter seemed to size the monk up, his response was even worse than before. “Inuyasha really is good looking, but you’re pretty sexy yourself~”

Luna snorted so hard she thought she was gonna eject her brain through her nose. Ai whacked her in the arm as a warning.

“No one minds if I suck him up, do they?” Miroku grumbled.

“No.” Inuyasha said, flatly.

“Hold on!” Kagome said, “He’s got a Sacred Jewel Shard! He must’ve been revived with the power of the Shard!”

“So that was what I was sensing,” Luna mumbled, “but why does it feel off...?”

“Where’d you get the Jewel Shard?!” Inuyasha once again attempted to pose a question to their opponent, only to once again receive a weird, adoring response:

“You know, you’re cute when you’re angry~!”

“Shut up!” Inuyasha shouted, jumping forward and drawing his sword. “Alright, dead man, you’d better start talking to me, and I want real answers!”

The expression on the specter’s face shifted from one of reverence to one more sadistic as he regarded Tetsusaiga. “That’s an interesting sword you have there… let’s see whose is stronger.” He lifted his own sword, making an odd motion around his head and shoulders with it as if he were gearing up for something. “Yours or mine?!”

When he brought his arm down, something that looked almost like a bolt of silver lightning shot from his blade. Inuyasha barely had the chance to block it as it cut an arc through the air toward him.

“Inuyasha!” Kagome called out in surprise.

“Stay back!” Miroku threw his arm out in an attempt to shield the others. “It’s some kind of trick sword!”

“That’s my cue!” Ai shifted into full demon form, jerking her head at the sisters and the little fox. “All aboard!”

Kagome climbed on no issue, but Luna glanced at Miroku, who made no move to follow them. “You coming?”

“I’ll be alright, you keep them safe.” Miroku said, resolute. Not about to argue, Luna climbed on the demon’s back and Ai leapt into the air above the fight.

“You gonna be okay holding all of us after that long flight?” Luna asked her friend.

“I’m fine, it’s the same weight as you with your pack on.” Ai sassed back.

“Yeah well, fuck me for being prepared,” Luna laughed, starting to prep the other weapon she’d brought.

Kagome managed to tear her eyes from the confrontation below to try and see what her sister was doing. “What did you bring, Luna?”

Luna grinned as she clicked the last accessory into place, then turned back to show her sister. “This? This is my baby.” She held up her favorite weapon: it was a fully-customized folding compound crossbow as long as Luna’s arm. She pressed a release on the side, and the arms shot into place, making both Shippo and Kagome jump.

“Whoa!” The fox demon exclaimed, “What kind of a weapon is that?!”

“It’s a crossbow, Shippo,” Kagome explained, “It’s kind of like my bow, but the arrows are smaller and it’s easier to fire.”

“Self-loading, too,” Luna smirked as she strung it up, “The ‘arrows’ are called bolts or darts. This thing can shoot way faster than a longbow, and since we’re dealing with Zombie Harley Quinn down there—” She grabbed a bolt from her ammo bag to show it to them, “—we’re gonna need these. They’re tipped with pure silver. Great for dealing with Vampires, Werewolves, The Undead, and The Unholy.”

Shippo reached out to touch it, but Kagome stopped him, shaking her head rapidly. “It’s safe to assume you shouldn’t touch anything Luna has in her bag, Shippo.”

The kid swallowed nervously. “G-got it...”

Below them, the fight continued. Inuyasha could barely avoid each strike of the snakelike sword, and his opponent only seemed to be having more and more fun.

“What do you think of Jakotsu of the Band of Seven, huh?!” He shouted as he swung the sword once more.

“Not too much!” Inuyasha came back at him with Tetsusaiga, but to no avail.

Kagome gasped. “He needs help!”

“That’s what this baby’s for,” Luna grinned, patting her crossbow. “Ai, can you stay out of reach of the sword but get me close enough to shoot?!”

“It’ll take a miracle!”

“Better start praying, then,” Luna lined up the shot, finger still as stone on the trigger. There was a familiar voice in the back of her head; she could hear her father saying: “Aim for where they’re gonna be, not where they are.”

I know, dad. She tried not to sigh audibly as she managed to get Jakotsu’s head in her crosshairs and pulled the trigger, quick as a viper.

And… almost missed him.

The consecrated silver bolt seemed to burn through the air as it shot just centimeters shy of the specter’s nose and grazed his arm, burning a hole in his kimono. He whipped his attention to the woman who shot it.

“How dare you interfere?!” He snarled, rearing his arm back and whipping his blade toward them.

Luna felt her stomach drop.

“You idiot!” Ai snapped at her, trying to fly out of range of the sword as Kagome and Shippo both clung, screaming, to Luna’s back. Just as the sword arched toward them, there was a familiar cry of:

“HIRAIKOTSU!”

And Jakotsu’s blade was then tangled around the aforementioned boomerang. All three riding on Ai’s back sighed in relief when they saw Sango swoop in on Kilala. Ai touched down just as Kilala did, transforming into her human form and unceremoniously dumping the sisters on their asses.

“Are you all okay?” Sango called over to them.

“We’re fine!” Shippo answered.

“Perfect timing, Sango!” Kagome said.

“Some weapon, Luna!” Ai huffed in the Hunter’s direction. Luna just stuck her tongue at her.

Jakotsu was practically red in the face, shrieking in frustration: “What is with all you vile women?! Can’t you see I’m trying to battle Inuyasha?!” In the same breath, he whipped his sword again, toward Sango this time. The movement freed Hiraikotsu, and ended up leaving a small slice on Sango’s arm as Jakotsu pulled it back.

“Stay out of this!” He continued, “None of you will interfere!”

But their “interference” had served Inuyasha well enough: it gave him just the opportunity he needed to rear back and punch the specter in the face.

“Shut up! I’m tired of listening to your pointless babble!” Inuyasha growled.

Jakotsu grunted as he tumbled back, then rubbed his cheek and pouted like a kicked puppy. “That was cruel…”

“Oh, get over it!” Inuyasha snapped, “Now tell me who gave you the Sacred Jewel Shard before I have to seriously hurt you!”

Kagome and Miroku rushed to see if Sango was okay, but she assured them that it was just a graze; she was fine. Her attention was more on the subject at hand.

“I have a feeling that the shard came from Naraku,” She said, somberly. She looked at Kagome. “When you sensed a Jewel Shard earlier… it was Kohaku. I saw the Saimiyosho around him as well.”

“That means that your brother is still under Naraku’s control…” Miroku said. Sango nodded.

Luna had set her weapon down next to her backpack, and came back with a bandage for Sango’s arm. Her mind was going at a million miles an hour, trying to figure out how the hell they were gonna handle this—first an undead band of Ronin, now they have something to do with Naraku. What was Naraku playing at...?

“Gotta wonder what the hell is next…” Luna mumbled sarcastically.

Seconds later, she would regret asking. A cloud of black smoke poured over the cliffside, drifting right toward them.

Like he knew what was happening, Jakotsu got up and collected his sword. “Inuyasha! You should get out of here while you can! Bye!” And with that, he was just… gone.

“What the hell—” Inuyasha broke off with a startled yell when the cloud reached him. “Its poison!”

“But where’s it coming from?!” Miroku wondered.

“We need to move.” Luna reassembled her bag in less than thirty seconds—side effect of doing it so often. “We can figure out what the hell is going on when we’re safely away from here!”

Why do I feel like we stepped into something huge here? Luna thought to herself as the group of friends moved away from the cloud of gas.

[ask-mortarion-the-death-lord]

cause ive always liked fire emblem, and cause the questions rested on my head before, the primarchs in fire emblem classes:

lion = paladin. its the most traditionally knightly class, and well the lions never really been depicted on horses or in relation to fast vehicles all that often, the paladin class is more so marked by balanced stats and a sharp increase to res so i feel confidant in giving him a mounted class like the paladin.

fulgrim = swordmaster. lightly armored very fast class, well its limited to just swords for the most part i feel that also suits fulgrims perfectionist nature since as a class its largely about perfecting that one weapon often getting special perks for doing so. plus in terms of outfits swordmasters are one of the more fashionable or exotic classes which also suits fulgrims tendency to extravagant dress.

perturabo = great knight. at first i thought general since its a very representative defensive class, heavy armour, used by enemy armies alot, best used in defensive roles, all that stuff. but on reflection great knight kinda works a bit better, since the iron warriors also notably use a lot of vehicles. this gives perturabo both high defensive properties but decent mobility like his copious tanks without being as high as say a paladin or bow knights mov to represent perts preference for terminator armour.

jaghatai = nomad trooper/bow knight. i specify nomad trooper because it better gells with the whole Mongol thing the khans got going on, but bow knight is also the more common variation of this class. regardless, its a more speed aligned mounted class capable of using swords and bows, that has the khans name all over it.

lemen = warrior. the russ is typically portrayed with axes, has a viking theme, and well hes 'uga uga barbarian' he also strives to try and be better then that. its another easy fit really, even if bows arent particularly fitting for russ but then that also does help to emphasize the sortta duality of the russ as a savage reveling in it whos also embarrassed by it to some extent.

rogal = hero. its not a defensive class like the general but it is the more defensive counterpart to the swordmaster usually, and rogals usually not shown to be wearing terminator armour. aside from that its something of a flexible class used by shady mercs and noble knights in equal measure, so it can work with both an air of practicality and luxury well.

konrad = trickster. assassin seems like the better choice since it jives more with konrad visually speaking, konrad also has psychic powers that let him see the future. thus trickster works a bit better i feel to represent that, placing him in a thief promotion well also giving him access to magic. i thought of dread fighter as well, but konrads not known for sending out warp bolts so the tricksters support magic works better for konrads future sight.

sanguinius = falcon knight. a female dominated class, ignoring that stipulation fire emblem pegasi have the unicorn thing where their atleast rumored to only accept the pure hearted as riders, and well i wouldn't call any primarch pure hearted neither are many of the pegasus knights in fire emblem so it works thematically without being a hard requirement. also, wings and a flying class thats focused on speed and has also at times had access to support magic. another obvious fit for all intents and purposes.

ferrus = blacksmith. thank god for fates giving me this out, well ferrus does wear terminator armour he also notably relies on his arms metal coating to protect that so i feel more confidant in giving him blacksmith which is a defensive class but not a heavy armour class if that makes sense. also, overlap of professions which putting aside the terminator armour stuff does make this the otherwise obvious choice for ferrus.

angron = berserker. the class is pretty much all attack and speed no defense, relying on high health to tank hits. well its usually locked to axes, angron usually uses axes to thats fine, and well its also a class mostly associated with bandits and barbarian and tribal looks its also a class that gets a lot of association with gladiators and arenas so it works in that sense as well.

roboute = hero, great lord. not totally happy with this one so im giving myself multiple outs on it. hero i feel works in a visual sense but its doubling up on rogals, well great lord works better in terms of who roboute is but its pushing roboute into the definitive protagonist class of fire emblem. settled on great lord eventually both because its the protagonist class, and because well its a class capable of defending itself their both usually not the best fighter and also need to be handled carefully or else cause a game over due to dying,

mortarion = oni savage. a defensive class specialized in using axes but which does have access to magic use. it fits in that mortarion prides himself on endurance and physical strength well shunning magic, despite having had training and education in magic himself and arguably because of who taught him. plus visually the class is designed to look intimidating and wears a mask, both vague enough applications to mortarion.

magnus = sorcerer. also called druid, dark sage, or dark bishop. i thought of maybe basara since its a class with access to physical weapons, but i decided sorcerer for two main reasons. first, magnus relies heavily on his magic over his physical fighting skills by primarch standards. second, darks magic which sorcerers specialize in have the narratively appropriate connotations in fire emblem for magnuses character. as dark magic in fe is both a dangerous dark force used by evil wizards to summon dark gods or cast curses, and a neutral force of nature that can be researched and understood like a science, used like a science to consume enemies in black holes even. it is the perfect magic to give the "its not a phase dad, its a science! -consumed by dark forces-" character in essence.

horus = general. perfect class for horus less because of its defensive properties or role as a defensive class, but more so because of what it arguably symbolizes and how horus is the primarch next to perturabo who wears the most terminator of terminator armour. namely that general is the class most frequently used by enemy bosses and commanders in fire emblem, often by one of the head honchos or a minion of said honcho. in that sense, its the perfect class to have the warmaster and arch traitor of the imperium in.

lorgar = war monk. religiously affiliated class that wields an axe, and already a perfect fit for that alone. the war monk class also has access to support magic with jives with lorgar unlocking psychic power through his studies of daemonology and the chaos gods, and also his own psychic visions. my only concern is that to access war monk regularly you have to be in the priest class beforehand [unless your a prepromote] which jives with lorgars history but is also a class locked to support magic, but for a primarch im willing to let it slide.

vulkan = wyvern lord. vulkans another character in terminator armour, but i feel wyvern lord works better. not because vulkans known for flying mind you, but more so because wyvern lords a defensive flying class, involves a a dragon, and because wyverns in fe are difficult to tame mounts but ones that are fiercely loyal and protective of their riders if said rider treats them well. which fits into vulkans friendly, by primarch standards, attitude.

corvus = assassin. well corvus also uses psychic powers to turn invisible, i felt giving trickster to konrad worked better because konrad was more active and constant in his use of psychic powers well corvus tried to avoid using his power as much as possible from what i remember. as such that left corvus with the more physically aligned thief promotion which i enjoy as a sort of 'delightful irony' since the assassin aesthetic better suits konrad.

alpharius/omegon = halberdier. feeling blessed that alpharius omegon have largely been presented as using lances cause it makes this a lot easier. well the ao twins are masters of a sneaky legion themselves, importantly the alpha legion favours infiltration and disguise over sneaking about. and what better disguise then as the promotion of the most generic of classes the soldier class. its a lance locked class, but i feel thats a good enough trade off for the inconspicuous murder angle. and the soldier class is if nothing inconspicuous/cannon fodder.

and bonus malcador and emperor!

malcador = sage. even putting aside that malcadors claim to fame is being a psyker, sage works in relation to the fire emblem trope of wise and crinkly old sages [the gotoh archtype as its referred to] which malcador fits on like a glove.

emperor = emperor, baron, master knight. the emperor class is indeed a thing, and im specifically thinking of the fe4 emperor class which could utilize every weapon and magic outside of light magic and dark magic. aside from that the emperor class was also a heavy armour class which... i dont remember if the emperors wearing terminator armour but it does gel with the emperor being fukin big. the barons an alternative thats basically the same as the emperor class if a bit weaker, and master knights the mounted variation that has access to light magic.

[iris-of-bliss]

Who's The Boss? [18+]

Summary: Kabal arrives home angry from work. He was getting so tired of the Black Dragon making an unwarranted mess during missions. In order to make him feel better, you come up with an idea where he takes the lead by satisfying you as well as himself.

Pairing(s): Kabal/F!Reader

Warning(s): NSFW

It was finally time for Kabal to head home after a heinous day at work. Between his comrades screwing up on a mission and Kano being much of a dickhead as usual would push his mood over the edge. At least cowboy Erron Black wasn’t much of an issue anyway. He couldn’t wait to arrive home so he can make intimate love with you for god knows how long. It could last for a few hours maybe. The guy’s got plenty of stamina. He can keep fucking you until your legs feel like complete jello. If it weren’t for you being in Kabal’s life, he might have chosen to kill someone instead.

Meanwhile, you were in the middle of cleaning up the living room. There was not too much cleaning to do since you guys decided on settling in an apartment together. The work was almost finished when a stash of slasher films were left scattered across the coffee table. You and Kabal last night were debating which movie you wanted to watch. Ranging from Friday the 13th to The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, you make your decision before cuddling on the sofa together. There were some moments where you share small chatter relating to the movie as well as sneaky teasing. You two didn’t want to go too far since you wanted to keep your focus on the screen, though you were secretly hungry for it. Sadly, all you did in bed was cuddle and give sweet kisses to one another since Kabal had work the next day. Luckily, he has earned a few days off from that shithole workplace to settle down with his lover. Making love to you like there’s no tomorrow was the one thing in his mind right now.

A sound of the front door opening brought your attention after placing the DVDs back in the cabinet. You jump as the door slams and hear strong footsteps approach close. You would assume Kabal went through a terrible day while away from home. He walks in the room only to toss away his hookswords and plop down on the sofa exhausted. He rubs into his forehead as his eyes remain shut. This guy has had it.

You approach your boyfriend with a slightly concerned look. You place your hand over his wrist to move away from his face. His eyes open and pay attention to you. Only your presence alone is enough for the merc to smile.

“Is everything alright at work, Kabal?” you ask whilst massaging his hand with your other. He ends up holding onto it, rubbing your knuckles with his thumb.

He replies softly, “Yeah, sweetheart. I’m fine.”

You knew he wasn’t doing fine. He acted like this in a few other instances. Kabal is a terrible liar.

“C’mon, how about we head to bed-,” he attempts to quickly get up before being grabbed by the wrist again. The conversation wasn’t finished yet. He then turns to you to hear your concerns.

“Kabal, I know there’s something wrong. There’s no need to hide it, and I know it’s about work,” you remind him while your hands trail up to his arms before stopping at the fur of his jacket. You lean in to kiss Kabal with him returning the favor.

“Now talk to me. Why are you in such a bad mood all of a sudden?”

The merc felt hesitant for a bit towards discussing his personal issue. He wasn’t really too open about bringing up his concerns since he normally deals with it around the operations. His comrades would either do a shit job or finish the work as intended. The experiences are not all perfect, but they could go one shitty way or another. He’d end up making it to the end eventually.

Kabal sighs and answers your question, “The mission didn’t end up going well.”

His hands wrap around your waist to caress. He continues on, “Goddamn idiots these days can’t do their job right. They kept fucking up like last time.”

You close the gap to embrace him. He returns the hug and pets strands of your hair.

“Then Kano being a shithead as usual comes in and puts the blame on me for this mess. Jackass doesn’t want to listen. I mean, the boss is the boss after all.”

“I’m sorry you were going through that. I’m sure you’d rather lead the Black Dragon instead.”

“God I fucking wish, baby.”

You look up at him and cup his face in your hands. Your voice whispers seductively, “Maybe you could use some practice if you want to prove it to me.”

The merc gave off a confused look, but he quickly realized what you meant and grinned at the thought.

“With pleasure, beautiful.”

Before you make your next move, Kabal rushed in for a rough kiss with you falling for it. He bites into your bottom lip for entry until you allowed his tongue to collide with yours. He was going in hard with you as the apparent taste of alcohol was there. He probably had a drink or two after that dreadful day. You were moaning into this by how rougher he kissed. Growing dizzier by the minute, some of your boyfriend’s deep breathing had gotten to you. You submitted as you were about to stumble. He still held you close to prevent yourself from falling back. Your leg is then lifted around his waist. You throw your head back with a sigh before Kabal plants a trail of kisses across your exposed neck. He reaches for your earlobe and bites into it as part of his teasing tactic.

“Strip for me.”

The deep voice in your ear shook you to the core. You comply his request before backing away to remove each piece of clothing. He helps you with your shirt to toss it elsewhere as you take off the rest by yourself. After finishing the little favor, a blush appears across your face when a pair of strong hands grab your ass. Kabal pushes your exposed crotch against his, slowly rubbing into you. Feeling his clothed boner push against your wetness causes you to start grinding. Your clit was aching even. You have some sort of kink where you were fucked naked while Kabal remained fully clothed. That’s one of the many interesting things he loved about you.

You wrap arms around his torso and mewled, “Mmm, Kabal! Do more to me, please!”

He chuckles and picks you up to set your back along the coffee table. The merc spreads your legs open and guides a gloved hand over your hip. He leans close into you while pushing his knee against your wet sex. Kabal’s free hand snakes up to your breast before squeezing it gently. He was able to gain a small whimper out of you. This will be a fun challenge.

The merc whispers, “Since I’m the one taking charge, you’re gonna do as I say. Can you do that for me, kitten?”

Your heart jumped by the pet name he gave you. Kitten, such a fitting name for you who’s about to have your body end up being weakened by Kabal filling up your insides. Your mind was at a state of trance while eyes studied the merc’s handsome facial features. He took notice of this and tightly pinches your nipple to pull. You arch your back and moan almost loud enough for the neighbors to hear.

“Answer my question: yes or no?”

His tone sounded serious as you snapped back in reality. You quickly reply, “Y-yes, Kabal.”

“Atta, girl.”

Kabal kisses you and starts rocking his knee between your thighs. His working fingers along the nipple are instead cupped around your breast. His thumb then teases it in slow circular motions with some light nail scratching against the bud. An eruption of whimpering and moaning combined led you to grind desperately on his knee pad. You even felt your stomach twitch sharply. Your legs lazily wrap around his torso, taking in the slipping wetness he created. One of your hands grip the shoulder of Kabal’s jacket as the other held onto his wrist resting on top of you.

“Ah, you’re doing so good, Kabal. A-ah fuck…”

Kabal smirks at you before leaning into your neck to kiss once again. He lets go of your hip to set his forearm next to your face, maintaining his balance. It wasn’t long until he begins licking and sucking on your skin. His teeth find the perfect sweet spot and bit into the supple flesh roughly.

“Ah! Yes, more!”

You caress the back of his head while he abused the skin. You could’ve sworn Kabal made a heavy growl when he kept biting further. He wanted you to become his prey. To show you who is in charge through the entire session. But would you prove him wrong? You decided to take the risk and slide a hand to his erect boner. Kabal’s breath hitched before he was fast enough to pause his movements and grabs your wrist to pin down. He looks into your eyes intensely.

“No. Teasing. Got it?” his voice became serious again. Looks like your little trick failed miserably. He wasn’t fucking around like that, and you loved it. Only he gets to tease and make you cum. He can finish himself off after.

“Yes, Kabal! I’m so sorry! I won’t tease you again!”

“Looks like I’ll have to go rougher on you, don’t I? Can’t have my naughty kitten start biting.”

Kabal squeezes your ass before giving it a smack. It made you whine from the driven pleasure within. You suddenly blurt out, “Yes, boss! Anything for you!”

Kabal freezes for a moment. You didn’t make a single reaction from the comment as you blush and bit your lip. You were too horny to even care. Your back arches whilst one eye is closed shut and the other lidded open, staring at the man above you. The relentless merc grins at you as his knee pushed against you even harder. He kisses your lips deeply to bring back your whining again. Your cunt ached for him to slip inside you badly. Kabal pulls back to sit up and undo his belt. Just the metallic click of it alone made your stomach tense. He manages to spring his cock out before stroking it for show. His large size made you whimper and your sex throb, leaking tears of fluid. The tip seemed to be glistening, implying the sight of pre-cum. You feel his cock grind against your slit. Admiring the lewd skin-to-skin contact between you makes this all worthwhile.

“When I start fucking you, you’re not allowed to cum unless I say so. Understand?”

“Yes, boss. I won’t disappoint you,” you speak tenderly. Kabal positions himself right onto your entrance. How long will it take for you to reach the climax? This was going to prove a challenge for you now.

“We’ll see about that, sweetheart.”

Without warning, he shoves himself in to bottom out. You cry as your legs began shivering from his rough start. Kabal makes your body jump every time his hardened cock hits your cervix. He knew you didn’t have a problem with him being rough. It makes this all the more fun. He groaned from your tightness while keeping up the pace pounding into you.

“Shit…you feel amazing around me, sweetheart,” he growled lowly by the pulsating of your walls, “I’m going to make those legs break.”

You notice his hard pounding end up moving faster. Audible sounds of skin slapping with your wetness benefited the arousal between you. One of the merc’s hands rub up and down your stomach, causing the area to twitch beneath him. This was too easy for Kabal.

“Already giving in, huh?” he grins mischievously.

You shook your head as your breathing hitches due to his usual teasing. No matter how hard you try holding back your orgasm, it felt like a thread about to snap at any moment. The bit of flesh above your pussy wouldn’t stop aching. Your lidded eyes took in every piece of Kabal. His tightening muscles, the dangling of his necklace, the expression of his desire to fuck you. The ability to prevent your body from breaking was unable to last long. Kabal’s tireless thrusting didn’t end until he bottoms out, preparing for the climax. A hollered moan filled the room with your head thrown back. Your uncontrollable breathing was all over the place. Kabal emits a dark chuckle as his eyes take in your exhausted face.

“Who’s the boss, babe? Hm?”

Kabal awaits your answer with his thumb pushing the skin just above your clit up. He loves hearing those cries like they were music to his ears. He pushes his body into you harder even though he was already bottomed out.

He makes himself sound impatient, “I can do this all night. Now, who’s the boss?”

You bit your lip as you sighed, “You, Kabal! You’re the boss! You always will be!”

“Good girl. Now cum for me.”

As soon as he teased your clit, you release an airy moan whilst a warm climax of your orgasm snaps. Kabal fucks into you with some fast motions until he came fully. He groans and clenches his teeth during the release. The panting breaths between you made the area feel hot. You were sweating like crazy. Kabal’s ejaculate was seeping over your cunt. Looks like there was more cleaning up to do.

“I fucking love you so much, baby…”

Kabal leans in close to you, resting his face next to yours. The waist of his body flinches with yours, both sexes throbbing against one another. After letting out his breaths, Kabal holds onto you to stay still on his cock. He is able to stand up while carrying you without any issue. He plops down on the sofa with you still resting on him.

Kabal whispers in your ear, “You’re gonna keep yourself settled on my dick for that little teasing you tried earlier. I’ll pull you off when I know I’m finished.”

“But you filled…so much in me, Kabal.”

You slowly attempt to slide off him only for the merc to press you back down by your hips. You moaned from how full you have gotten again with his large size.

“What did I just say?”

“Y-yes, boss…”

Your body slinks against his with a sigh, resting your head in the croon of his neck and hands along his shoulders. Your pussy continues to ache around him with cum dripping on the cushion. Kabal rubs a hand on your hip as the other caresses your lower back. He places small kisses around your neck nice and tenderly where your hickeys were. This was given as a reward for following his orders. The session of Kabal playing boss seems to have payed off.

[crackimagines]

Yo, you remember that one episode of Avatar that showed the gang’s adventures through a terrible play? How would that come out in your ChildByleth Au?

Child!Byleth Post Masterlist here!

(Singer) 

“R̴̨͙̾̆͘Ẽ̶͖̘̱̃͗A̸̞͂̅͜C̶̥̺̳͝Ḧ̸̯̹́ ̶͕̙̎̚F̸͈̦͐̾͜O̴̟̽͑R̵̢̙̫̈ ̷̳̿Ṁ̴̭Y̸̧̰̼̓̄̚ ̷̧̆̇̀H̵̲̪̅̍͝A̷͍̤̒Ą̷̭͍̃A̸͍͓̜͛Ä̷͕̣̣́͝Ǻ̵͙͆N̵̛̤͜D̸̠̲̓,̷͈͌͂ ̷͕̅͛͜͝I̸̠͂͗̓'̷̤́͛̒L̷̛͉͖̘̍́L̷͍̦̇͛̕ͅ ̴̠͒͐͝S̴̰̐Ơ̷̮͉̤̂̀Ä̸̘͉̒̈́R̸̠̣̎̚ͅ ̴̘͕̟̈́̀̕A̷͚͑̑W̶̧̐̅̕Ǎ̷̠̦̐Ä̵̞́̈A̷̦̜͚̅͂Y̵̛̦̩̐”

(Byleth) “OW MY EARS!”

(Dimitri) “Is…Is that what my hair looks like to people?!”

(Edelgard) “I think Dorothea is about to kill someone.”

(Claude) “Man, this is great!”

Thanks for the ask anon, I hope you enjoy!

—–

Child!Byleth + Classes watching a horrible play of their Route HC’s

—–

Blue Lions:

(Byleth) “I…I don’t think I’m that tall. And why am I talking like I smoked at least 40 pipes?”

(Dimitri) “Goddess, what did they do with my hair?! It looks so…greasy!”

(Dedue) “…My lord, I believe that is the only accurate part of this play. And…Is that supposed to be me? My voice isn’t that high!”

(Felix) “I’m going to kill whoever thought of this play, I do not act like some brooding swordsman!”

(Sylvain) “And I am NOT that ugly! I like to think of myself as decent at least!”

(Ingrid) “Wait a second, the person playing me isn’t even a girl! Do they think I’m a guy?!”

(Ashe) “Um…I don’t think I see myself anywhere in that.”

(Annette) “Yeah, you, me and Mercie aren’t anywhere! Wait a second, do they think we’re so unimportant that we don’t even show up?!”

(Mercedes) “…I am going to beat someone to death-”

Black Eagles:

(Byleth) “That…That is the worst cardboard dragon I’ve seen. And that looks nothing like Rhea! More importantly, I don’t know why I’m portrayed to be some brat during the war.”

(Hubert) “Whoever decided to make Edelgard act like some bumbling idiot as she leads the Empire is going to be executed.”

(Edelgard) “Hubert your actor looks so…edgy. He seems less intimidating and more annoying to listen to.”

(Dorothea) “I thought the manager said he found the right people for this! Oh, he is so DEAD FOR PORTRAYING ME LIKE THAT!”

(Bernadetta) “Well at least they got me right in that I hide in the corner the entire time…”

(Linhardt) “I really really wish I could sleep through this right now. The actor who’s playing me, I don’t think he’s acting like he doesn’t care, I genuinely believe he’d rather be anywhere else right now.”

(Caspar) “Oh come on, I’m not that dumb! This is slander!”

(Petra) “I am confusion. That person looks nothing like I am…They are even speaking perfect Fodlanese. And Byleth and I are not that casual with one another!”

(Ferdinand) “Why…Why does the person playing me just repeats saying “I am Ferdinand Von Aegir”?”

Golden Deer:

(Claude) “This is amazing to watch!”

(Byleth) “For you, maybe! The person playing me looks like he eats children in a dark alley! People always said that I look like a cute kid, how did they get some sewer goblin to play me?!”

(Hilda) “I don’t dress THAT bad, do I? Why are her boobs so huge?!”

(Marianne) “A-And why am I so buff?”

(Ignatz) “Ugh, the person playing me makes me want to stick an arrow into my ear! He needs to clear his nose!”

(Raphael) “I am NOT that scrawny! I think they just picked that kid up from the street instead of choosing at least someone strong!”

(Lorenz) “This is absurd! My hair is not that horrid, and I am NOT that stuck up!”

(Leonie) “Why am I always drinking? I’ve only drank once with my mercs and only one chair was broken!”

(Lysithea) “How DARE they insinuate I get all butterflies and rainbows when I’m with Byleth?!”

Church of Seiros:

(Rhea) “…I am very tempted to smite these fools down for their idiocy alone…”

(Byleth) “Wouldn’t blame ya if you did.”

(Seteth) “I am not that dramatic when it comes Flayn! Who gave them this info anyway?!”

(Flayn) “Eugh, this play makes it seem like I was flirting with the professor the entire time! How scandalous!”

(Shamir) “The person playing me could at least show some emotion.”

(Catherine) “Hey, at least they got you right! I’m not that wimpy looking, and more importantly that’s not even Thunderbrand! That looks like a regular sword!”

(Alois) “My goodness, the facial hair on my actor is horrific!”

(Hanneman) “I do more than talk about crests, excuse them!”

(Manuela) “Oh…Oh goddess, my actress looks so old! I BETTER NOT LOOK LIKE THAT TO EVERYONE!”

[shitty-tf2-headcanons]

Could we get the mythical au bois (cause they're mostly monster-like creatures) hunting down or luring the s/o on Halloween night? Maybe it leads to some NSFW?

Ayy if anyone else wants to check out the monster merc post then head here. Also don’t forget to check out the art work @lavenderscreativecorner did for the mythical bois uwu (also sorry if some of these ain’t very nsfw)

Scout-

What was meant to be a relaxing night in proved to be anything but, considering there was always a new distraction or annoyance to keep you away from your couch. There were occasional knocks at the door when trick or treaters weren’t around or the lights would seemingly turn off by themselves. You once again stood up with a huff when what sounded like a rock hit your window. You inspected the glass for any damage before trudging back to your couch with a tired expression. The exhaustion of the night had affected you so badly that you weren’t even aware of your sudden guest until you sat down on his warm lap. All that escaped you was a undignified squeak as broad blue arms wrapped around your waist and a grinning imp nuzzled your ear, going on about how fun you are to play with, giving your ear a quick lick and bucking his hips up against you.

Soldier-

The moment you saw you the stranger’s head get ripped off their shoulders and felt their blood splatter on your skin is the moment you knew your life would meet its end. You didn’t even run. You stumbled back and fell on your ass as the giant blood splattered beast stomped toward you, his breaths heavy and harsh as you approached your shaking form. You squeezed your eyes shut and dug your fingers into the dirt as he stopped in right of you, his hand grasping the back of your head and forcing you close to his thigh, a pained cry escaping your lips as your cheek rested against his muscular thigh. He grunts and gives you a harsh shake, forcing you to open your tearful eyes and stare up at his snarling face. You whimper and wipe your blood splattered face on his leg. His large blood coated hand pets your head and urges you closer to his crotch. 

Pyro-

When your friends told you that there was a cave full of treasure, you didn’t believe them. Your suspicions were confirmed when you found no treasure but a large red dragon that made quick work of your friends. You made a break for the entrance when a wall of fire blocked your path and a spiked tail gently swept you back away from the burning flames and to the warm belly of the dragon, your piercing screams bouncing off the cave’s stone walls. Their wide black eyes watched you thrash and wiggle around their tail and even gave it a few shakes to see you squirm just a bit more. You cried out as they leaned their head down and breathed their warm smoky breath on you, their long thin tongue snaking out to run a long stripe up your back. You whimpered and leaned forward on their tail as their hot tongue slipped between your legs and slid back up once again. 

Demo-

Even past the darkness, you could still make out the shape of a seal on the rocks. Your chin touched the black water’s surface as you gazed at the lone creature, its beady eyes stared right back at you. Your lips quirked up into a smile as the seal slid to the rock’s edge and plunged below the surface, you stared for a long moment before swimming back to a nearby rock and lying back on the smooth hard surface. Your smile grew when the seal peeked up from below, its eyes unblinking and dim, coming closer to the rock’s edge. The moment a human hand grasped the edge is when your smile dropped. Your body stilled as a man climbed atop the rock and crawled toward you, a seaAl skin’s resting on top of him. His wet naked body slid between your wet thighs until you were face to face with his grinning face.

Heavy-

You didn’t know who you pissed off or what you did to deserve this. All you know is that a giant stone monster had backed you into a corner and forced you further up the wall with his rock hand wrapped around your neck, squeezing until all you could do was sputter weakly and fruitlessly kick at his hard chest, his glowing green eyes staring right into your wide panicked ones. This is it. You’re going to die. You’re going to die at the hands of some stone monster. Your eyes drift closed as your brain slowly began to shut down on itself, the monster cocking its head as life gradually drained from you. His face remained impassive as he slid you further down the wall and brought his face close to yours. His cold hard lips met your own. Your lips pursed against his as your last bit of life escaped you, your heart stopping as his lips pulled away from you. 

Engineer-

Despite sitting next to a roaring campfire and a group of drunk/high strangers, you still managed to hear faint whistling farther in the woods. The tune sounded lively and joyful was accompanied by the sound of stone being struck. You left the safety of your group and ventured into the forest, falling deeper and deeper until you happened across a couple bags full of broken stone, the whistling as clear as crystal. Just ahead of you was a short man with a long blonde beard, whacking a large boulder with a hammer, whistling his heart out. It’s only when your foot stepped on a stray twig did he stop and look over at you with a slight gasp. You froze in place and quickly held your hands up in surrender when he looked ready to throw his hammer at your face. His blue eyes peeked from under his hat as they ran up your body, a shy smile growing on his face.

Medic-

A faint blue flame glowed in the window of a seemingly empty mansion and called to you like that of a siren, a dark disembodied voice beckoning you into the home. A chill ran down your spine and a stone formed in your belly, your mind knew death awaited in you there but your legs carried you anyway, as if you were under some spell. Death did await you. Although he came in the form of a bluish gray man, who remained handsome despite his skeletal appearance, his bony finger beckoning you forward. So you did. You walked right into his cold embrace and let death run his lips up your neck, your eyes barely open as you watched his blue eyes glow brighter and his grin broaden. His hand grasped the back of your head while the other effortlessly reached inside your chest and pulled out your beautiful glowing soul. Oh yes, yours would be a fine addition. 

Sniper-

A deafening howl pierced the silence of the woods as you darted past the trees and bushes, your legs heavy and your lungs burning as you ran. The beast’s claws tore apart the land behind you and it’s wet nose nearly touched the back of your head. Your cries for help were drowned out by the monster’s hungry pants and growls. You ran as fast as you could but it was a stray rock that done you in, you planted into the dirt and felt your tremoring body shut down on itself, a strained gasp escaped you as his claws ripped into the clothes on your back. His large shaggy body climbed atop yours and pinned you down. His paws rested on either side of your head, his drooling hot maw pressed against your ear, his rigid knotted cock pressed close against your ass. He growled in your ear, licking his chompers as his yellow eye trained on your fear stricken face.

Spy-

It started with a look. Deathly blue eyes met your own and lured you in with their otherworldly beauty, chills ran down your prone body and your mind grew warm and fuzzy. Despite your better judgment, you followed the beautiful stranger, who remained elusive despite his slow leisurely pace. You followed him to the back of a building and soon found yourself against a wall, his lips on your neck and his cold lanky body pressed your warm one. His hand caught both your wrists and held them above you as he slowly drove his fangs into your neck. You didn’t cry or scream at the bite. You could only moan and rub your crotch against his hardening cock as he sucked on the bleeding flesh. Your body shook and trembled as he drained you of your precious nectar. Once he had his fill, he pulled away from your neck, his quirked lips coated in your blood. 

 Miss Pauling-

Your hand throbbed and shook as you held it close to your chest, blood gushing out the bite mark on your palm, your back pressed close against the rotten door and your breaths shallow. You squeezed your eyes shut and grit your teeth to the point of pain as shuffling footsteps and low pained growls resonated through the old home, your body tense but progressively losing strength. Your heart slowed in your chest as a shambling dead woman walked into the near barren room, your dim eyes cracking open as she dropped to her knees and crawled between your parted legs, her still chest pressed against yours. Her rotten hand grasped your bitten hand, her dead eyes trained on your paling flesh. You whimpered weakly as her cold lips wrapped around your stiffening fingers and lightly bit them as your heart succumbed to the infection. 

[longneckreach]

Breakout

[Archive folder]

Longneck Reach struck under cover of night.

Aspis slithered flat against the ground, the hard stone beneath him still hot enough from the day to burn his stomach; but with no natural cover for miles, they had to be very careful. 

He was grateful for the moonless night but more grateful, exponentially more grateful, for the dragons on either side of him. The Reach was reeling, still, in the wake of the Marrow Massacre raid; and there were only so many dragons they could justify sending on a mission like this, so different from anything they normally committed to.

Adecia defended her borders--the Council, Aspis reminded himself. It was strange thinking of a dragon like Adecia as not being mistress after the gods to her clan, even stranger to think of a clan leader who held no power except as a tiebreaker and willingly bowed to the will of a Council that was more Beastclan than dragon.

So, the Council, and the clan itself, they defended their borders and would send aid to allies and potential allies. But that was very different from a black-ops strike in the middle of the Wasteland.

Ostensibly, they were only here for Alumette, and the Serthis who was commanding the force had been sending messages up and down the arrowhead formation while they flew here. This was a rescue mission only, she’d said, firm. They were not here to destroy a clan of slavers...this time. Nor were they under any circumstances to cause so much damage that the clan was likely to fortify, nor were they to give any impression that they would be coming back.

Because they would, she’d said, razor-sharp blades somehow glinting in the black night, be coming back.

The handful of dragons that had been able to accompany the strike force were mostly smaller breeds. Ennis had shrugged off any attempts to get her to stay behind in favor of insisting Kenner, blue-and-white Wildclaw who’d healed Aspis’ injuries, was useless in a fight and better than her in an emergency. Chavi had shown up without being sent for with her mate, a Wildclaw who looked like the kind of cocky mercenary Aspis used to kill in the arena except for the way all the Resistance liaisons seemed to revere him. Aspis had secretly hoped that Adecia’s mate Radec would join them, or else Captain Turania; but Turania was needed to organize the forces remaining, and Radec’s injuries in the battle for the Reach had been too severe.

They’d picked up another Wildclaw in the form of an auburn dragon named Lexine, who’d introduced herself with a smirk as an “archaeologist” to general good-natured eye-rolling. The plan was to send her in as a scout to try to smuggle Alumette out without being seen, and she’d come prepared with a literal bag of thieves’ tricks, so Aspis had a pretty good idea of what kind of ��excavating’ she usually did.

(“I’ve never stolen anything in my life,” she’d assured him when she saw his skeptical look. “Every artifact I’ve ever touched has ended up in the hands of its rightful owners, no exceptions.”

That gave him an even better idea of what her ‘excavations’ were about, but it also increased his respect for her considerably.)

Other than that, however, they were short on hard hitters. His new friend Katosomata, who gently told him to call her ‘Kat’, had flown him here; but she wasn’t a fighter at all. That role was being filled by a big red Imperial named Claret who’d carried most of their Beastclan allies—two centaurs, seven longnecks, four serthii.  Kat was only here as a navigator. Aspis, after all, had only been to their destination once, and he couldn’t fly. Navigating from the air would be an exercise in futility, and they didn’t have time to waste.

She said she could “remember” the Pit, from the pain it caused. Aspis had first thought that maybe she’d been held captive there too; he couldn’t imagine that she had ever been part of the clan. She’d looked at him for a long time, smiled, and shaken her head. “Neither,” she’d murmured softly, and hadn’t offered him any more information.

He respected her too much to press. Alumette would have had a million questions, if she were here—well, she would have a million questions. If this worked, she’d be here very soon.

Nearly soundless even against the hard-baked earth of the Wasteland, the Serthis leader slithered up beside him.

“Shirala,” Kat greeted her.

“Hush, my friend, unless you need to speak. The scouts are closer than you know. We’re ready to move,” she murmured, face pressed close beside Aspis’ ears. He nodded, trusting her to feel it. “You’ll follow Lexine. Do as she says. Identify your sister. If she sends you back, come back.”

“Yes ma’am.” Even though he was nearly frantic with the knowledge that his sister was nearby, Aspis would never do anything to risk the mission.

“We expect an alarm to be raised,” Shirala continued. “Chavi will be with you; Perry will be close.” They’d sent Perry in on the ground earlier that morning; he had the blessing of being a generic-looking low-tier merc with a weirdly good reputation considering all of his Beastclan Resistance prisoners conveniently ended up escaping at some point. Exactly the kind of dragon who might sign on with a group of slavers for a quick, easy bit of treasure. “If you can run, run east. If you can’t run, do your best to make noise and light. Stay alive. Do not allow them to separate you. We will come. Trust us.”

“I do.”

Like magic, between one breath and the next, Chavi’s beautiful marbled-copper fur pressed into Aspis’ right side. Shirala clasped Aspis’ shoulder before dropping to the scorched earth and hauling herself flat away, and was replaced by Lexine.

“Tell me what I’m looking at.”

Aspis did his best to point without moving. They were crouched in the shadow of a low plateau, maybe half a mile from the edge of the Pit itself; it was the only cover to be found.

“That’s the Pit,” he said in a low voice. “The web of metal. The camp is behind it. It’s centered around Adder’s command tent. Um, the command tent is big and red. They weren’t keeping Al in the Pit last time, but they might have moved her.”

“Will she come with me if I ask?”

Aspis thought about it. “I’m not sure. She might think you’re one of Adder’s trying to trick her. Tell her...tell her that her brother says he wants her to get out of there like clockwork. They shouldn’t know that reference.”

“Clever,” Lexine whispered. “Ready?” Aspis gave a single, steely nod.

That was when the Pit exploded.

=

It started slowly.

A little too slowly for Alumette’s sense of comfort, actually, but it was within the expected parameters.

It started with a glow, racing through the wire she’d planted all around the Pit’s edge, and from there shooting through the ugly mismatched web of chain and razor wire that kept dragons from flying out.

It glowed, bright angry red then orange then yellow in the dark, then white, and then the network was no longer able to handle the strength of the electric current she’d created.

Alumette knew what that meant. It was the central thesis of her Plan, after all!

She remembered what it meant in time to duck.

Flames burst into existence like dropping a torch in lamp oil, not racing from one end of the wire to the next but all at once; violent green flames, fading to a furious red as the copper burned out and the heat began eating through the other parts of the net, the cords and the grime and the shards of glass. The wires unravelled, weak points snapped. Sharp nails and glass were flung in every direction; Alumette heard a strangled scream but couldn’t afford to care, because within seconds, the net over the Pit had collapsed.

Before the guards had a chance to recover, she’d already slithered over the side and was racing on all fours through the burning wreckage of the overloaded wires.

Without the net, there was nothing to keep the bridge up. And with the bridge down, that meant that if she could just get the keys…

And without the net, there was nothing keeping her from racing across the Pit, while the stunned and confused guards would have to run around the perimeter in order to get anywhere first.

The guards liked to taunt their prisoners while they ate. Some of them, not all but some, would have been standing on the metal bars over the prisoners’ cells when that lightning bolt ran through the circuit. Al raced toward a gap in the guards’ line. Part of her thought she should try not to look too closely at his body; but she did, anyway. He sure did look dead.

Maybe that should bother her. But maybe, given who he was, what they did here, it was fine that it didn’t.

She grabbed his key pouch in her teeth and tugged, hard, before diving back down into the Pit.

There was only one guards’ entrance to the Arena, and none of the guards on duty down there carried keys in case the prisoners overwhelmed them. So Alumette flung the key pouch through the arena-level bars of the closest cell, grabbed a spear from the rack and dove through the guard door. A guard, a Snapper, was on his way through it from the other side. She dodged snakelike around him; he shouted after her, like she was going to stop.

By the time she skidded to a stop in front of the cell she’d identified, the injured Skydancer on the other side was just coming through the outer door.

“Who the hell—” he began.

Alumette snatched the key back and shoved a spear at him. “Later! Fucking later!”

She kept running, and left the Skydancer to deal with the guard.

She really couldn’t have carried more than one weapon at a time, so when she fumbled all the other cell doors open she didn’t have anything to give them. They were dragons, though, or Beastclans who were used to hardship, and even if they normally hated each other they weren’t stupid enough to fight amongst themselves right now.

Hopefully. Probably. She did not have an appropriate alteration to the Plan if she were wrong about that part.

“Don’t leave without me!” she called to a venom-green fighter as she bounded from her cell.

“No promises,” the Mirror rasped back. “Every dragon for himself out here.”

“That’s dumb,” muttered Al, and ran off in the other direction. 

Despite having just said every dragon for himself, the Mirror shouted after her, “Hey! No! Kid, don’t go in there!”

=

Aspis didn’t know what was going on anymore.

His first instinct had been to run toward the flames too, but that was just his first instinct. Whatever was going on, it had to be the perfect distraction. Who would notice them going after Alumette now, with a breakout in the Pit? Wasn’t this perfect for them? Lexine had said the same thing, gesturing them in toward the camp while chaos broke out.

But he wasn’t one of the Reach, and Chavi was; when she’d countermanded their “archaeologist” simply by virtue of saying that no, the fire was where they needed to be, Lexine had listened to her. And Aspis...gods forgive him, but Aspis trusted these people.

That being said, he really hoped reinforcements got here soon, because the two dozen escaped arena fighters plus the three from the Reach weren’t going to be able to hold out against the entire captor clan for much longer.

And ‘two dozen’ was a stretch. By now, it was probably closer to sixteen that had actually stayed, and a few of those were dead already. A lot of them had broken clear the moment they could spread their wings.

He knew the Reach force was right on their heels, he’d heard Ennis and Shirala marshalling them as his trio bolted for the fire; but as he slashed, hissed, twisted to slash again, a snarling leonine Tundra raised a battleaxe that Aspis wasn’t going to be able to dodge, and he knew they’d get here too late.

From the rear of the pack, he heard a bloodcurdling shriek.

“She’s loose! She’s loose! The plague rat’s—!”

The Tundra’s head snapped around. Even as he turned something flashed, black on black and gray, in the smoke and flames; red eyes and the wicked curled horns of a mutated daughter of the Wyrmwound glistened like blood as the Tundra’s life poured out, scarlet, pooling on ground too tortured by the sun even to drink up moisture.

Kpinga, free and with frills spread for the first time Aspis had ever seen, raised her head to look him in the eye.

“You’re an idiot,” she told him flatly. “Your sister is too. You were both right. Don’t let it go to your head. Duck.”

Before Aspis could process literally any of that, his body had already responded to the order; it had learned not to hesitate when his arena partner said things like that during a fight. As he was halfway through hitting the dirt hard enough to jar his teeth Kpinga beat her tattered wings once, shooting over his head and slicing out the eyes of the Mirror who’d been about to tackle him while both dragons were in midair.

The Mirror hit the ground screaming, and a Serthis finished it off.

Longneck Reach had come for them.

Serthii and longnecks swarmed down the bridge, one longneck warrior sitting astride a galloping centaur; she flung herself off to impale an enemy Wildclaw in passing. The other centaur, leading a group of beastclan warriors and Ennis, charged straight through the battle and into the guard’s entrance to sweep the back corridors for injured, or anyone left behind.

Aspis turned to Kpinga, who had managed to kill two more Mirrors and a Coatl since the last time he’d looked.

“Al’s here?” he asked.

“Spiral, bright silver, talks with her front paws, never sits still, picks locks like nobody’s business. She’s running a sweep. I like you, Aspis. But if you go back in there, I’m not coming after you.”

“You should run,” Aspis agreed. “While you still can.”

Kpinga dipped her head, spread her vast wings, and leaped into the sky without another word.

Aspis ran toward the guard’s entrance.

=

“No one’s coming, lightning rod.”

Alumette’s claws scrabbled against the hard ground, trying to find purchase. The Wildclaw digging bloody front claws under the scales of her tail had electric blue eyes too; she’d tried to shock him to no effect, except to make him grin wider.

She hadn’t liked that grin at all, so she’d stopped.

He tugged her back; reflexively, she tried to spread her wings and cried out when they jerked against the piercings. She lost her balance, rolling her front half onto her back to try to twist out of his grip, and also so that she could snap and bite. She flung an empty food bucket into his face, but he dodged it.

He raised one sickle claw and ripped it down; she twisted at the last second and it missed her wing, biting deep into her left flank instead and ripping open a long gash. She screamed.

“You, you can’t hurt me,” Al said desperately. “Nalkh—”

“Your brother’s running with the Resistance now,” said the guard, planting his foot firmly on her belly, killing claw raised again. “I don’t think Nalkh is very happy with him. You should be begging me to gut you quickly instead of waiting to see what she wants to make him watch.”

Al twisted again, trying to turn and bite; he jerked her tail until he flipped her back around, banging her head on the floor and hauling her tail under his arm and over one shoulder so her back legs were off the ground, pinning her to the floor with his sickle claw over her throat.

Al had never been very good with words. She was good at making things, like equipment, and inventions, and plans, and scripts. But talking was hard, and she didn’t know what to say that would help.

She hadn’t been paying enough attention. She’d been running one last circuit, making sure she hadn’t missed anyone. And there’d been a Wildclaw curled up in an empty cell who’d called out to her, so she’d slipped inside to free him, and hadn’t looked close enough to realize he was one of the relief guards...

Maybe she was imagining things, but as she closed her eyes and pressed back into the floor she could almost hear Aspis calling for her.

The guard growled low. “Oh, good. The meatshield’s still alive.”

Alumette’s eyes flew open. Her brother’s voice hadn’t been a dying hallucination?

Well. That was definitely not part of the plan.

“Aspis!” she yelled before the guard bore down on her throat and choked her.

“That’s your brother, right, lightning rod?” he said. “Good. I want him to watch this. I had a brother too, you know that? You’re carrying his key pouch.”

Al froze, then glared at him.

“Your brother was a piece of shit,” she informed him, since he was going to kill her anyway. “And mine’s gonna kill you.”

Claws shrieking against the packed dirt like a chalkboard, Aspis skidded to a halt outside the cell. “Al! Are you—”

He froze. The Wildclaw, turned to look at him, grinned viciously. He slowly raised his sickle claw over Al’s throat.

“Who’s faster, meatshield?” he said. “You move the tip of your tail, and I’ll—”

It wasn’t like the end of that sentence was exactly a mystery, but Alumette never did learn what it was going to be. Something rushed by overhead with a wet thud, the guard’s head snapped to the side, and his suddenly limp sickle claw glanced harmlessly off her throat scales as he collapsed.

“Kpinga?” Aspis blurted, looking around. Al didn’t know exactly what he meant by that.

Ss she picked herself up she did definitely know there was a white arrow embedded in the guard’s skull. She stood on her good hind leg, peering out the window in the thick wooden door to peek into the arena.

A white centaur, with elegant silver skin and flashing hooves, stood on the other side holding a second arrow to the loose string of a recurve bow.

She smiled when Alumette waved at her, put the arrow between her teeth, and waved back before turning and galloping away.

Aspis, big paws shaking badly, had managed to fumble open the cell door by then, and Al dropped back to the ground and dragged herself through it.

“Al,” her brother whispered. “Al, you’re—was this all you?”

Al’s tail twitched with the need to wind herself around him and never let go, but this wasn’t the time or the place.

“I made an electromagnet,” she explained. That was probably a sufficient summary. “You have friends!”

“You don’t have to sound so surprised,” protested Aspis, but at that moment an unfamiliar Mirror came loping up behind him. Al stiffened at first; but there were several longnecks and a serthis with her, and she slowed to an easy stop when she saw Aspis, so this was probably a friend. 

Note to self: Not just the Resistance, there are also new dragons. Addendum: Do not electrocute strange dragons on sight.

“Your sister?” the Mirror confirmed. Apparently taking Aspis’ watery eyes as confirmation, she nodded to Alumette and said, “You need to lie down. Aspis, Shirala, Riin, cover me.”

Hoofbeats echoed along the corridor as the Mirror (“This is Ennis, Al, she saved my life”) worked. It was the beautiful silver centaur from earlier, the young archer. She took one look at Al’s injured leg, and winced.

“Oh, sweetheart,” she murmured; then, to the Serthis, she said, “Chieftain, we’re being overrun. We have to move, now.”

“She can’t walk, and she can’t fly,” said Ennis. She tied off the bandage. “Can you carry her?”

“Like I would with a young Serthis, she’s almost the same size,” confirmed the archer. Al didn’t protest as she trotted forward.

“This is going to sting,” she said. “I’m sorry. Wrap your tail around my quiver and your body around my shoulders…”

“I think I’ve got it.” Al squirmed slightly, feeling sick as her injured leg twinged. “If I put my paws here I can balance and my head won’t get in the way when you shoot. I’m Alumette.”

“Alayna,” said the centaur. “That’s a beautiful name.”

Ennis double-checked Al’s bandage, then nodded to the Serthis who seemed to be in charge. Without pausing, she shouted, “Fall back!”

Everything was kind of a blur after that.

Alayna was very fast, and everyone seemed invested in getting their group to safety. The arena was mostly empty, but there was fighting at the top of the bridge that was probably going to present a problem…

Except that it didn’t. Their band sprinted toward the silhouette of a Guardian in the darkness, encouraged by shouts from the Beastclan already sitting on her back. As they started getting close the air shuddered, something made the black sky even darker…

“Oh!” Al realized. “That’s what it’s like being under an Imperial attack run—”

 The Imperial opened his mouth, and gold flames enveloped the arena. 

“He’s a Light dragon!” she informed Alayna.

The centaur turned to glance over her shoulder, grinning. “I know.”

Al twisted her head to watch the Imperial as he finished his first pass and pulled up. The golden light of his own flames danced along his scales, drawing out all kinds of beautiful shades of red. But the bigger members of the slaver clan, the ridgebacks and the handful of their own Imperials, were readying to meet him. If the smaller dragons and beastclan wanted to get out, it would have to be now, while they had a big red distraction and the smaller enemy dragons had been scattered or immolated.

 And they weren’t all going to fit on that Guardian.

Judging by the Serthis’ expression, she knew that too.

“If you can fly, fly,” she shouted. “Everyone else, move! Get southeast! Now!”

[cienie-isengardu]

What is up with Shirai Ryu?

Or, is Hanzo a hypocrite?

While looking through various MK11 intros, I’m kind of tired about the whole “honor” stuff that Hanzo and Kuai Liang and so many other characters like to talk. Mainly, because honor is very unspecified term whose meaning (thus the line between acting honorable and dishonorable) will change from one person to another. And as much I love cultural clashes between characters of different clans / fraction or realms, Hanzo’s talks about Shirai Ryu make me wonder what the hell is going on with his clan right now?

Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu were rival clans for ages, but the japanese ninjas - and the whole ninjutsu created by them - has its roots in Lin Kuei teaching. Bi-Han called himself thief and assassin and we know that ninjas played similar roles through the ages. Stealing, killing, doing all dirty job someone paid for, it was what Lin Kuei and Shirai Ryu did for years. The two fractions of course vary in clan traditions and family matters, but I think we can all agree that morally wise, assassins and master thieves aren’t the common image of honorable men, right?

Of course, both Hanzo and Kuai Liang decided to reform their respective clans, pledged to serve Earthrealm as the protectors rather than working for anyone who can afford their service. Thus both grandmasters reject job offers from gods & Outworlders alike; reject offers that would pose a danger to their home realm. What is nice and all, but clan has its own needs; there are people who must be feed, clothed, sheltered, medically equipped, armed with the right equipment and trained. This of course cost a lot money and maybe the Shirai Ryu and Lin Kuei do have the right funds accumulated over the centuries. But as far as MK11 intros are concerned, Sub-Zero most likely did not change completely Lin Kuei. Of course, Kuai Liang’s clan is meant to be protectors of Earthrealm, but there is still (rogue) Frost who is proud to be an assassin. And since she joined the clan between MK9 and X, the fact she is so aware of the clan history, the feud with Shirai Ryu and assassins traditions may imply that at least to some degree Lin Kuei is/was still involved in “old bussiness”. Whatever the case - Lin Kuei still training assassins who just don’t work anymore for “outsiders” or Frost (with Noob) being a rogue " remains of ancient glory”,  both versions are representing the better and the darker sides of Sub-Zero’s fraction.

Hanzo on another hand, as solely representation of Shirai Ryu in MK11 game, seems at times as, well, deluded person. Especially when intros aren’t clear if that was supposed to be P.O.V of current or past Hanzo.

First, let me quote little backstory provided by MK: Mythologies Sub-Zero:

Scorpion is the code name for a modern day member of the Shirai Ryu named Hanzo Hasashi [...] He learned this technique from his own father, a ninja himself who forbade his son to become a member of this ancient group of assassins and wanted him to accept the trappings of modern day life. But the lure of quick money and his own wish to afford his wife and child the finest in life force him to join the Shirai Ryu.

His latest mission leads him into the heart of China, home of the rival Lin Kuei and location of the Shaolin temple where his mission is to steal the sacred Map of Elements.

So, Shirai Ryu are ancient group of assassins, the last mission of Scorpion was to steal the sacred Map of Elements from Shaolin Temple and Hanzo wasn’t forced to join the clan, he did it mainly for money to afford his family in finest way.

After coming back to life, Hanzo made great effort to redeem his clan and became ally to other heroes. At the same time, he himself says Shirai Ryu are not bound to Special Forces (U.S.)’s laws what results in fact Sonya Blade keeps eye on Hanzo and his clan. Probably attacking SF’s base and killing captured Quan Chi is/was still fresh in her mind. Anyway, the real question is, what Shirai Ryu does? What kind of jobs the clan takes, from where Hanzo get money to cover needs of his ninjas and funds to rebuild destroyed years ago home? What Shirai Ryu ninjas do between crisises threatening safety of Earthrealm?

The reason why I wonder such things is tied up with Hanzo’s character banters, particularly with other merceneries.

Scorpion: Why seek out my clan?

Kano: You're a clan of assassins, ain't you?

Scorpion: You refer to the Lin Kuei.

It is hard to tell, if Scorpion here is the younger or current version thus if he talks about old Lin Kuei (a true statement about clan of assassins then) or refer to Kuai Liang’s one clan that was supposed to change for better. Whatever the case, if clan of assassins is what refers to Lin Kuei, I’m sorry, what Shirai Ryu is or was then? Because it was assassin clan too not so long ago and Hanzo himself joined and worked for such group.

Kabal: The Shirai Ryu hiring, Scorpion? Scorpion: We're family, not mercenaries.

Not mercenaries, said a man who was once hired to steal sacred Map and did it solely for money (or maybe even satisfation/chance to kill Lin Kuei). Even if Hanzo is speaking only about current situation of clan, it still does not answer are his ninjas involved in illegal jobs or are they just train in case of emergency?

This statement (and other intros with Jacqui anc Jax) makes it clear to join Shirai Ryu means became part of the clan for good. But frankly, that still does not mean that family unit like ninja clan can’t (couldn’t) be mercenaries. I mean, mercenary is person primarily concerned with making money at the expense of ethics and you know, taking jobs like assassination or theft is, well, dark side of mercenary profession. Soo, did Hanzo’s statement “not mercenaries“ was purely about joining the clan (not hiring unknown people) or as a whole, no more doing illegal stuff by his clan to gain money?

Erron: I thought Shirai Ryu were mercs. Scorpion: You understand little, Black. Erron: I've killed people for being less rude. 

This one is similar to the previous intro but I feel this time the focus is more on the past of Shirai Ryu, since Erron (as hired gun by Shang Tsung / Shao Kahn) lives for one or two hundred years so he may be familiar with old!Shirai Ryu ninjas reputation.

Of course, Hanzo may be right, Black (and us, for that matter) as outsider, does not have insight into internal clan traditions, ethics or internal matters thus the lack of understanding may lead him (and me) to incorrect conclusion. Maybe Shirai Ryu for ages served Japan in a way Special Forces serves now USA? Maybe they worked always for their homeland’s well being? We don’t know. But then if Shirai Ryu aren’t/weren’t mercs, how else one should think about ninja clan that send his own warrior to Shaolin Temple in foreign (hostile) territory to steal sacred artifact while being paid by some weirdo (Quan Chi)? Like, how that was more honorable than, let’s say, Erron working for Kotal?

   Scorp: There will be no deal, Kano.    Kano: Gotta make a buck, mate.    Scorp: The Shirai Ryu are not criminals.

Hanzo says his clan members aren’t criminals. I sorry, aren’t attacking Special Forces, the supposed allies, isn’t sort of crime? Even if two years passed since then, Shirai Ryu ninjas went to foreign country and attacked its army (who were at times helping refuges from Outworld). Of course, they weren’t motivated by greed or bad will, they were following their grandmaster. But Hanzo literally put his own need for revenge above needs of other heroes, including dead ones. Oh, and let’s no forget that past!Hanzo attacked Shaolin monks and killed who knows how many of them. Indeed, no criminals, ha!

Scorpion: The Shirai Ryu do not respect thieves. Kollector: I collect only what is due Shao Kahn. Scorpion: It is robbery, nothing more.

Sorry, what was your last mission again? Stealing from Shaolin Monks some precious map for some dude Quan Chi? I’m sure Shirai Ryu would never respect thieves! Riiiight.

Hanzo of course may talk about reformed Shirai Ryu, but that would look, once again, like he keep silent about past sins. Unless he really believe his clan never did anything dishonorable.

It’s hard not to wonder how exactly Hanzo reformed Shirai Ryu is he alone seems to ignore his own deeds. Mercs are looked down, so are thieves or in general, people working for money. As much as I can agree than Black Dragons - especially Kano - are the worst kind of scum, it would be actually nice to learn more about Shirai Ryu ethics or how ninja define honor. We know that for Hanzo, his “clan's honor is priceless” but he himself did a lot questionable stuff through the course of all games.

My biggest problem with Scorpion and his talk about honor (or in some causes, how pretty quick he is to accuse others of lack of thereof) is the contrast with Kuai Liang. Sub-Zero is the one willing to admit faults of his clan while Hanzo rarely acknowledges such in Shirai Ryu. Sub-Zero is the one trying hard to estabilish Lin Kuei as protectors of Earthrealm AND ally to other heroes, while Scorpion for a long time freely(?) keep himself and his clan isolated. Of course, both grandmasters treat Earthrealm’s best interest as priority, but between them two, it’s Kuai who is seen actively protecting Earth while Hanzo often was the source of problems, like killing capuring Quan Chi. Mind you, I don’t think Hanzo was wrong to assume as long as evil sorcerer will live, Earth is in danger (though, since Quan Chi is demon(?) shouldn’t he reborn in Netherrealm at some point?). But attacking your supposed allies and destroying the one chance to save fallen and enslaved comrades because Hanzo knows better does not strike me as the most honorable thing.

Once again, what is honor in Mortal Kombat? How Hanzo or Kuai Liang or Raiden or anyone define such matter?

I keep wonder about that, because Hanzo talks a lot about how Shirai Ryu are honorable while other merceneries are just thugs and all. What sounds a bit like hypocrisy when one look at Scorpion’s own history. Especially when younger!Hanzo is involved, because he is still the prime example of Shirai Ryu ninja working not-so-long-ago as assassin and thief.

But yeah, sure, everyone is greedy bastard and thug, even if said person is doing the same stuff like (old) Shirai Ryu did.

[knifeaparty]

ive been thinking about and sketching a ffxiv/tf2 au so i am going to ramble about it bc where else to but here

mercs and their races, clans and classes so far:

medic: au’ra, xaela, scholar

honestly i thought of this crossover bc someones xaela looked so much liked medic everytime i saw them so... ive thought about elezen for him which would be interesting and make sense? but dragon medic is too fun. scholar bc, obvs.. i think its the healing class that fits him most with my complete lack of knowledge of what scholar is. hes def not a white mage because the whole uaaah nature thing and it would be cute if his little fairy was archimedes. the scholar aesthetic fits him more than astrologian, too. also the arcanist/summoner side job i think fits him perfectly 

heavy: roegadyn,  hellsguard, warrior

this is the most self indulgent one for me as an mroe warrior player. i think the reclusive mountain clan hellsguard fits him, even tho it’s more of volcano mountains than snowy mountains like russia.  as well as ofc the more beefy roe body type. i think a huge axe named sacha is the best i will get bc i cant just make everyone machinist lmao. also the close ties w warrior to hellsguard makes it an obv choice. *thinks about beat mode* i would like to see it. 

sniper: au’ra, raen, bard

NOW THIS ONE EXCITES ME THE MOST!!!! i ADORE thinking about raen sniper growing up in the dawn thrown around chad xaela au’ra lmaooo. the raen clan in the lost underwater city was just too tempting it just tickles me how perfect it is...  i remember thinking of this crossover before i got to stormblood and when i finally learned more about the au’ra and met the raen clan i went insane it was simply meant to be. me equating xaela to australians is what made me want to switch medic to elezen but there are xaela from ishgard too so who cares. also.. thinking about sniper in the bard outfits absolutely kills me. i dont think saxophone or didgeridoo are instruments in game but ill allow it for him. 

spy: elezen, duskwight??, ninja

this one was a tough choice, esp bc his race effects scouts... obviously hes a ninja, as funny as that is but his race is still up to debate. i didnt really think about the clan bc elezen clan stuff is barely a thing in game, and i would think hes just from ishgard, which makes him basically a wildwood, but i think him being a duskwight is quite funny as well and gridania is also heavily european inspired so, why not. i really wanted him and scout to be cat boys but idk who else i would make elezen lmao. and i cannot imagine an elezen miqote mix. 

scout: elezen/hyur mix, ???, monk

scout was a hard one to pin down, by god i want him to be a cat boy but also him being mixed and having the cute short ears and growing up in the brume is just too irresistible. obvs mother is a hyuran woman. also.. his class... i know ninja is like the “scouting” class and monk is a somewhat beefy tanky dps class but,  i think its the best fit. you do get that speed boost ability (that i never use) so ill just run with it. no pun intended. 

pyro: lalafell, dunesfolk, black mage

its just the obvious choice. blackmage has the most literal fire power out of all the classes, and theyre also just.. generally cryptid ass lalafell lmao. i think its cute and funny. have you seen those lil dudes? c’mon. pyro. definitely just an ul’dahn cryptid. love to see it. 

engie: lalafell, plainsfolk, machinist

this one tickles me especially i just love it so much. even tho all the mercs love their guns i had to give engie mch for the turrets. and i made him lalafell bc hes short. sorry engie my short king, its just too funny. i think he would be home to either limsa or gridania, you dont find many lalafell in limsa but i think he can match their energy. prob grew up in gridanian country side and moved to limsa for the business. 

soldier: hyur, midlander, dragoon

soldierjust being the generic dude he is (this is no shade i love him) is the american hyur. i debated his class a lot but then i thought about his rocket jumps and was like.. okay hes a dragoon. the aesthetic of it doesnt fit him but the playstyle does i think. hes prob from limsa or ul’dah. convinced hes fought all the wars against the garleans but has never actually met one in reality. 

demo: hyur, highlander, paladin

>>> or miqo’te seeker of the moon

demos the one im most undecided on. i just like the thought of demo and soldier being hyur bros but that means i have NO cat boys ??? i could make soldier, engie, or pyro one probably, but i’m just super attached to the races ive given them. engie and pyro being lalafells and soldier and demo being hyurs is just too good to me. i dont really think he would be an ala mhigan either really? i feel like hes just a gridanian. so seeker of the moon would probably fit better but i’m not sure. also paladin bc demoknight but i also think rdm or some casting dps for him would be fun bc of his cursed sorcery background. i think him being taught some blm and his experience w a sword through paladin would make him a good rdm one day. maybe hes a paladin that becomes a drk or something lmao. i think scout is the only one who fits the miqo’te body type too so thats really whats holding my back bc... i will not make demo a twink. 

something that deeply troubles me is the thought of bald catboys, which limits my options for assigned catboy at crossover. they have their hats but..... 

i also dont really have any ala mhigan or doman hcs for them the dawn throne is as close as i get but its just the reality with the tf2 having little asian rep.