#Then turning around and limiting Nexus’?

[xnackery027]

I like how you included Sun’s inner thoughts! Very interesting.

Sun had been so busy worrying about his brothers that he almost forgot he was meeting with Eclipse. He quickly remembered when he was face to face with him. “Sun.” Eclipse said, half greeting and half warning. Like he had stepped a little too far into his territory, which he guessed was sort of true. “Hey, Eclipse.” Sun sighed. He noticed they weren’t alone. The new Solarflare from this dimension was sitting close by, looking even more annoyed than his creator. Sun tried a friendly smile, but Flare only squinted, turning away. “Is Terra coming?” Eclipse broke the awkward silence. “I thought she was coming with you.” Just then, Terra stepped through. “Sorry, Sorry! Had to turn off the oven and stick the batter in the fridge. Hi, Eclipse! Hi, Flare.” The tension in Eclipse’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh. Hey.” He stood up from his desk, walking over to Sun. “You need an inter-dimensional portal?”

“Yeah. I was visiting Nexus, and Moon found out, and he-“

“Save it.” He held up a finger to Sun’s face. “I really don’t care. I’m doing this as a favor to her.”

“Thank you, Eclipse. I really appreciate it.”

Terra smiled, making Eclipse’s eyes light up for just a second before he got control of himself. “Mhm. Anyway, I can’t just make a magic machine to send you anywhere you wish. It’s more complicated than that. Portals like Moon and I’s take lots of power and have to be completely stationary.”

“But, I can make a sort of… dimensional pass. You’d be able to go from your place to Nexus’ and back, but not from or to anywhere else. Understand?” Eclipse smirked as Sun quirked his lips, clearly struggling to get his point. “So… it’s… uh…”

“It’s like a telephone operator, Sun.” Terra said gently. “Moon’s portal is like the big panel of ports, and his computer is like the operator, connecting one dimension to the other when we need to go somewhere. If his computer isn’t plugged into the portal, we can’t go anywhere we want to, because it wouldn’t be able to sort out all the connections.”

“Yes.” Eclipse said. “And what I’m suggesting is a sort of… tin-can-on-a-string system. You and Nexus can talk to each other, aka go between your and his dimension, but you can’t go to mine using it.” “Oh.” Sun didn’t really like things being dumbed down for him, but at least he understood now. “Wait, could… could Nexus go to my dimension? With the thing.” “Yes. If you want to get into his dimension, he needs to have an identical device for the machine to connect to. Two cans for the string to be connected to. But, I could put a lock on it. So he couldn’t portal out.”

Sun looked at Terra, who shrugged. “Your call, Sun. You’re the one that’s been with him.”

“N-No. No. He’s not ready to leave yet. I just need to portal in and out. How long until the… cans are finished?” Eclipse grinned, digging something out of his drawer. Two clunky-looking machines that resembled watches with rectangular faces. It sort of reminded Sun of an ankle monitor. “You can have my old ones. I made this pair so I could go from here to your place without showing up on Moon’s damn radar. I just need to know Nexus’ routing number so I can reprogram them.”

Shit. He kept forgetting about that part. “I… was hoping you could figure it out for me.” Eclipse’s smile faded. “You… don’t know the routing number? How could you possibly not know?”

“Well, I just had the preference saved in the computer! I just clicked on the file for his dimension and then add gateway.” Eclipse ran a hand down his face. “You saved the- god, no wonder Moon caught on! Well, describe the dimension, I guess.”

Oh, he knew this one! He heard Moon and Solar talk about the dimension they picked enough times. “It’s a semi-evolved dimension. No animals or electronics, only plants.” Eclipse paused from typing to look up. “Wait. Does it have astrals?” “No. Too early for it.”

It was Eclipse’s turn to look embarrassed.

“Weren’t you going to send the kids to a similar place?” Flare asked. “Did you not check to see if it was occupied?” Imagine if they had sent them there! Being chased around by a NSP demon! “I would have checked before they left…” Eclipse mumbled. He quickly finished up his work and handed the cans to Sun. “Okay. These run on batteries, so make sure you keep both of these charged. Go home and try it out. By the way, the routing number is B145-A2-28,31-38,09. Don’t forget that, next time.”

“Thank you, Eclipse. I-if you ever need anyth-“

“I won’t, believe me. Get out of here.”

This is a continuation of Superhell AU collab fic.

It was getting a little too long for one post, so I’m calling this part 2. Part 1 is Here Current Collaborators:

@goodolddumbbanana

@sillyzone1209

@sabrondabrainrot

@night-waker

@xnackery027

⭐️You don’t need permission to add onto this! It’s just a fun writing piece. I’ll add names as I see them. The AU is tagged as Superhell AU. ⚠️ The only thing I ask is that the writing be capped with a “keep reading”, so the post isn’t a million miles long. Otherwise, go ham. 🙏 Thank you to everyone who’s been showing love to the AU! Your ideas are amazing and bringing life to this. 🫡 If I’m missing a tag, or anything important I forgot, feel free to let me know! I’ll edit and credit accordingly.

[delicatestones]

Various Parahuman Teen Couples Go To The Mall

Brian and Taylor: Going to the mall is a normal thing neither of them enjoy, which is precisely why they convince themselves that they should do it. Brian musters up hope that he will be able to carry Taylor's bags and wait for her on benches outside of clothes stores, which will affirm his value as a man. Taylor, who only wants to buy a single hoodie, anxiously refuses to let Brian carry her bag because she doesn't want to be a burden, which banishes Brian to the Masculine Insecurity Pocket Dimension in his own mind. They attempt to rally by going to the food court, where they try to have an awkward 'normal' conversation over greasy pizza slices.

Fortunately, a supervillain they have history with attacks the mall mid-pizza, and they rush off to change in the mall bathrooms and return to thoroughly beat the interloper's ass. Brian apologizes for the mall date going wrong (secretly relieved, also deeply compelled by watching Taylor break a guy's arm with a baton) while Taylor says it's no big deal (even more relieved, mesmerized by Brian's visible sweat on the back of his neck). They may or may not awkwardly touch hands at the fire exit before they flee the scene of the crime.

Krouse and Noelle (Pre-Simurgh): On a quest for limited edition Ransack merch at the Gamestop, which turns out to be all sold out or on reserve. Krouse tries to social engineer it out of the clerk anyway, but Noelle gets so visibly uncomfortable he desists. In the depths of excruciating failure he says something shitty about the guy's haircut after they leave the store and Noelle tells him he's being a dick, which he apologizes excessively for in a way that just makes it more awkward.

In a now desperate effort to turn things around, Krouse tries to lighten the mood by latching onto listing Alternative Mall Activities including one of those photo booth set ups. He makes fun of how cliche they are and how it would be completely lame if they went into one, which transitions into cajoling Noelle to join him in this extremely cringe activity for the bit. She says her hair looks dumb and she doesn't want to, so he gallantly offers her his over-sized hoodie so she can hide her face the entire time, a gesture he does not realize extends the shelf life of their relationship for a solid two weeks. His visible joy when she agrees to the idea adds another week to the tail end of that. They hold hands on the way to the parking lot.

His copy of their photos becomes an instantly precious memento he sticks on the wall above his bed; Noelle puts hers in her picture shoebox in her closet. He spends all night on E-bay overbidding for the merch.

Krouse and Noelle (Post-Simurgh): Twelve Injured One Dead In 'Food Court Nightmare'.

Dean and Victoria: It takes Victoria half an hour to get ready for a mall trip. Dean shows up too early to pick her up and engages Carol Dallon in small talk for twenty minutes, a time span in which Carol manages to list every single one of Victoria's deepest insecurities in the form of barely veiled criticism while Dean smiles like he's being held at gunpoint.

At the mall they get stopped outside the Gap by a gaggle of Glory Girl preteen fans. Dean holds Victoria's bags (many) while she goes through the New Wave Fan Experience Checklist. Victoria says something afterwards to him on the way to the next store that hints at the Dallon Torment Nexus. Dean continues smiling and offers the mildest possible effort at sympathy, which Victoria reacts to with virulent irritation, so he gives up and buys her a mall outlet jewelry store diamond tennis bracelet instead. Thus mollified, she proceeds to allow him to obtain Jamba Juice for the both of them. It's another normal (bad) day in Brockton Bay.

Aisha and Alec: There strictly to cause problems for the sake of causing problems. Alec 'distracts' the staff at Hot Topic by faking a fall into a rack of studded belts and loudly insisting he will sue them for emotional and psychic damages while Aisha shoplifts bracelets. They buy hot pretzels and perch on the edge of the mall fountain marked 'NO LOITERING' to conspicuously loiter while occasionally kicking each other in the ankle. When a security guard tries to get them to move they collaborate on roasting his bloodline back to medieval times, triggering rent-a-cop wrath and a threat to call the Real Cops.

Now officially Wronged By The System, they decamp to breaking into the mall's back corridors (going through an unlocked access door) to vandalize the security office while throwing gummy worms at each other's mouths and missing 70% of the time. In high spirits, they make their cunning exit (leaving through the same door) and sneak into a horror movie at the mall theater halfway through its run time. They heckle the on-screen slasher victims for being idiots until an usher shows up with the original security guard, and then book it for the outside world while laughing like small and charming hyenas.

They agree they should totally rob the mall for real later, preferably while Brian and Taylor are on their make-up mall date, because they are good and kind teammates who only want the best for them.

(This post inspired by the learned discourses of Wormblr character understanders, particularly users lakesbian and simurghed. Any mischaracterizations and errors are my own. These hypotheticals are a non-representative sample of Ways They Could Be At The Mall.)

[deadlyflan]

Someone of your choice to Raph with number 2 or Leo with 23 :D

IT'S THE HURT/COMFORT DRABBLE* MEME! (*A 100-word limit is impossible for me. This is not a literal drabble. It's just generally "short.")

Pine requested: Someone of your choice to Raph prompt #2 “You’re burning up.”

2003!micro-fic.

Leonardo yanked his hand back from Raphael’s forehead with a hiss. “You’re burning up.”

“Ha. You’re burning up.” Raph sluggishly accused. His panting filled the stuffy, dusty space.

Leonardo fumbled in the dark for the canteen.

They’d just gone for a day hike. He wanted to check out the cliffs and copper cave shrines in the hills above the Battle Nexus Arena. It was just a hike. Get some sunshine. Stretch their legs. He’d convinced Raph to come with him. Everyone else wanted to stay in town and eat street food–why hadn’t he just gone with them? Why’d he have to drag Raph into this? Into a landslide?

He knocked into the canteen with clumsy fingers and it toppled over. Leo could hear it slide down, bouncing off loose rocks and gravel. The short stairwell down into the little pocket of air by the shrine had turned into a ski slope of ankle-twisting stones. And their only water supply had just disappeared down it. “Dammit!”

“Uh-uh, Leo.” Raph coughed and the loose dirt and small stones rained down from above them. His lower half was pinned in the rock slide, but his head and one arm were still free. “Put a.” He coughed again. More pebbles and a few larger rocks hit them both. “A dollar in the swear jar.”

“Stop talking. Every time you cough, the rest of the ceiling could fall in.” Leonardo pulled out his shell cell. The battery light blinked its warnings, but he needed the light from the screen if he was going to find the canteen. “I’m gonna go get the canteen.”

“What? Go?” Raph sounded more alert and alarmed than he had since the rocks hit him.

“Just down the stairs. There’s maybe–”

“Leo.”

“Raph. There’s only–”

“Leo!” Raph’s hot hand gripped his wrist as if he were falling off a building.

“Raph! It’s our only water. You’re bleeding. You’re feverish. You’re stuck; it has to be me that gets it. It’s only 3 or 4 steps down. I’ll be right back.” Leonardo knew he was rushing Raph to let go. But the battery would only last so long.

“I–” Raph’s voice cracked around the single syllable, and Leonardo desperately wanted to sit back down next to him.

“I’ll be right back.” Leonardo returned his brother’s grip, squeezing just as hard. “I promise, brother.”

In the faint green light of the shell cell, Raph grimaced, but surrendered Leo’s arm. With supreme force of will, Leo let go as well. On hands and knees, he backed down the uneven stones, bumping and sliding even the few feet to the bottom. His shell made horrific grinding noises against the ceiling as he went.

“Leo?” Raph’s voice sounded so far up above. He coughed and Leonardo could hear the cascade of gravel that pelted down on him. “Dammit.”

Leo held the phone up, trying to see his brother in the gloom. He’d stirred up too much dust, though. The light reflected off it and Raph was just a dark patch in the darker hillside.

“Dollar for the swear jar,” Leo choked out. His heart wasn’t in the joke. It hung in the thick air between them. He needed to finish up and get back up there. How heavy were the stones on Raph's chest? Was he smothering?

Leonardo drew in as deep a breath as he dared. How long before they ran out of oxygen? “I’m at the bottom. Don’t talk so much. You’ll cough again.” Leonardo wheezed and hacked, but at least the ceiling held. “There’s room to turn around down here. I can see the canteen.”

The dim light of the shell cell reflected off the spidery veins of green copper that lay like a net along the walls at the back of the shrine. As Leonardo scrambled over the uneven landslide debris towards the canteen, his phone lit up and trilled with pings and beeps and alerts. He nearly dropped it! “What?!”

“WHAT?,” called Raph from up the incline. “What’s going on, Leo?!”

“It’s–Raph! Raph! We have signal! There’s signal! The–the copper down here–we’re getting a signal!” Leonardo hit the call button with one hand and grabbed the canteen with the other. “Raph, we’re getting out of here!”

[apollabarnes]

Smoke on the Game Changer Set

inspired by @maygrcnt's gorgeous posts here and here

"All right everybody, we've gotten a call about smoke inside. It's a studio, so lots of lights and wires. Eyes up, extinguishers out, and we should find this before it becomes a thing," Bobby said, swinging out of the captain's seat. "Chim, talk to those folks over there, they might have a better idea what's going on. Buck, Ravi, Hen, with me." "On it, Cap," Chim snapped his gum, hopping out and heading for the small group of people. "Afternoon folks, you mind if I ask you a few questions?" "If this is a studio, any chance that the smoke is from a special effect and someone's overreacting?" Hen asked, shouldering an extinguisher. "Definitely my hope," Bobby said, heading through the front door. "Any day we don't have to put a fire out is a good one in my books." He waved down a production member. "Where can I find the person in charge?"

"First doorway on the left, ask for Sam," she said, eyeing them curiously. "Sophie, we've got four firefighters asking for Sam," she continued, keying the headset she was wearing. "I called them. I'll meet them there." "Mm, okay, look for the woman with the headset that looks like she's running everything. Good luck." "Good luck?" Buck asked, falling in behind Hen. "Not going to turn it down, but don't most people want us to have good luck when we're fighting fires?" "It's Hollywood," Bobby sighed. "You should have heard some of the grips on Hotshots." "Great, you're here! I'm Sophie, I called 911." She shook Bobby's hand. "Sam's this way, you can just tell him what's going on and he'll help clear everybody out." "How many people are on set right now?" "Twenty… five? There are a few outside." "I've got a firefighter with them," Bobby assured her. "Everyone, hang here for a minute, we might need to escort them out in groups." "Ooh, is this a game show?" Ravi asked, stepping through the curtains. "This place looks like the seventies threw up on it. I love it." "Excuse me," Bobby said, beelining for the man behind the main podium. "Sam? We need to get everyone cleared out of here while we make sure there's no risk of fire." Sam craned his head around them, looking backstage. "Sophie, did — right, okay, everyone outside. We'll let the firefighters check the stage out and then resume after. Zac's still — uh-huh, outside. Don't come back in, we'll come to you." "Wait a minute. No." One of the contestants leaned across their podium, smoothing their shirt out. "These aren't firefighters. They're way too gorgeous to be firefighters." "Well, thank you, but this is serious and we really do need all of you to evacuate while we make sure that nothing is burning," Hen said, aiming a disbelieving smile at the rest of them. "He didn't say Sam Says," the other contestant interjected. "This is just another one of his plots to make sure that I can never win!" "Brennan! I've never put any of you in actual danger before, there is an actual limit to what I'm willing to do. —There's no limit to what they're willing to do," Sam told Bobby, "I've had one of them offer to give birth on stage and others volunteer to get actual tattoos." "Uh, maybe I don't want to be on this game show," Ravi agreed, blinking at Sam. "Of course you don't, it's a torture nexus specifically designed to drive me insane," Brennan cried. "Ally, help me out here." "He really didn't say Sam Says," Ally agreed. "Definitely suspicious." "Sam Says if you go outside everyone gets a hundred points," Sam announced. "Zac's already got them because he's outside." Brennan frowned at them, squinting at each of them in turn. "That one's a nurse, he was on the episode of Hotshots where Banner came out of his coma!" He announced, pointing at Buck. "They are actors!" "Okay, well yeah, I-I did do that, but it was only because Brad was shadowing Bobby at work," Buck stammered, looking at Bobby. "Cap?" "If they refuse to leave, carry them out. We've already got most of the crew headed out the front," Bobby said, sticking a thumb over his shoulder. One cameraman had stayed behind, but otherwise the set was empty. "I swear, Sam, if this is part of the game I'm going to be extremely angry," Brennan said. "Can I get carried?" Ally asked, raising their hand. "For uh. Science." "No," Bobby said decisively, herding them towards the door. "Buck, hang back with Hen and try and find that smoke." "On it!" Chim had gathered up the rest of the crew on the other side of the truck, waving towards Bobby. "Took you a minute, did you run into trouble?" "Apparently they didn't believe that it might be an actual emergency." "Yeah… the rest of them mentioned something about that. Buck and Hen looking for the source?" "We'll wait to go back in until we know if we need the hoses or not." "Great! While we wait — Ravi, come here, I want to introduce you to Zac. Have you ever heard of a dance called the Wenis?"

[llamaisllama777]

The Daily*/Weekly TSAMS, FEMNAF, AND EAPS REVIEW SHOW!

Okay, we had a lot of good episodes today, so let's talk about it!

I was so worried for them all for a minute. I mean, I've been on the edge of my seat these last few episodes, but finally, they're free, and now they have what they need to take down Fazbear. All their dirty deals, project Everlight, all of it. They have. All thanks to Eleanor, surprisingly. Ya did good, Ellie. Ya did good.

Also I'm pretty sure, Clipsey, Roxas and Monte all have a kill count now (though to be Clipsey already had one I'm sure) they were all ruthless in this episode!

(🎶"Ruthlessness is mercy upon ourselves"🎶)

They managed to escape... but not without some loss. Eleanor sacrificed herself to save them all. R.i.p. Eleanor. You may have been secretly bad all along, but you proved you were a good person deep down.

So, now, with nowhere else to go and some data to leak they have to go to their siblings!

We're gonna see male Earth (Terran) and female Lunar (Luna)!

Eeeh! I'm so excited!!!

Can't wait to see what you do next femnafs. I've been begging them to leak all the dirt of Fazbear including the footage of them taking Roxas, kidnapping him and Eleanor, striping Roxas, torturing Eleanor, LEAK IT ALL! BURN THEM DOWN! HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA!

*Ahem* Pardon me for that. Onto the Eclipse and Puppet show

Okay, a lot happened in this episode. A lot of sad things.

First off, Charlie is fine. Thank gosh, but I have a feeling they are probably gonna limit her power a bit since she grew smaller cause of the amount of power she used and the last thing we need is Charlie disappearing into thin air if she uses too much power. So, I guess her power will be put on a limit for a while.

And now we have two more deaths... a lot of death in these episodes today.

Lefty and Rusty.

R.i.p. Lefty. You may have been a side character, but you were there when it counted and were there till the end. You did good, Lefty. You got to be the hero.

And lastly, Rusty. We didn't know him long, but at least he got to see Ruin in his last moments and probably talked Ruin out of doing something bad to Charlie and everyone in his last moments. See you around, Rust.

And as for Mr. Sacrifice-a-lot... Ruin... what.. the... heck?! You killed Lefty! I was hoping that maybe the doors opened cause of a glitch caused by Charlie's cure but nope!

Ruin, you selfish little butthole!

(The things I'm gonna have Eclipse say to you in that one fanfiction I'm planning in my head! You deserve all of it!)

I had hope our British boy would change for the better, but that British butt is still selfish.

(I mean, I love that about him, but dang, Ruin, my guy, you just blew EVERY chance you had at a family)

Ruin is about to go full Joker on Afton and frankly, he deserves to go off on him.

Let Ruin's 'one bad day' arc begin!

(And to those saying he's going through a Nexus arc. No, he's not. He's going through a revenge arc. He's not gonna snap and try to kill everyone, just Afton and his acolytes. Our British boy isn't turning into Nexus. Relax, we're fine.)

I'm curious to see what they'll do next, and I can't wait to see everyone's reactions to what Ruin did to Lefty. Whatever chance of family Ruin had just got... ruined. :] (<-I'm not sorry)

And lastly, Sun and Moon show

Sun, let the girl go to school. She deserves to have more friends then just her family.

I can imagine a Dazzle goes to school in vrchat episode!

And Sun is just panicking and being an 🚁 parent the whole time, readying to deck any kid who even is slightly mean to Dazzle.

These episodes were so amazing! 👏 👏 👏

12/10

Keep it up, writers and actors.

[haiisx]

can we hear more about adam's quirk and his support items? im really curious abt them!

Of course, Anon! I'm so happy to hear that you're interested!

Adam's Quirk is called Phase Shift. Pre-awakening, it allows him to change the state of any matter he touches, such as turning a liquid into a solid or a solid into a gas, etc etc. One of his trademark moves is solidifying the air around him, which he uses to create solid walls of air or stepping stones to allow him to walk on air, in a sense.

Post-awakening, his Quirk not only alters the bonds between molecules, but the bonds between atoms and subatomic particles. For example, he could manually take hydrogen gas and oxygen gas and make Hydrogen Peroxide, or knock an oxygen atom out of each molecule and create water. He has to be very precise, and his ability is dependent on his knowledge of chemistry. After his Quirk Awakening, one of his signature moves is to create a combustion reaction upon punching a villain (I mostly came up with this because the idea of him punching a villain and the spot exploding on impact was really cool to me).

Moving onto his support items; they actually work to counteract his Quirk. Adam is not immune to his own Quirk! From a young age, his messed with the molecules in his own body without his control. It was a very small disturbance at first, but as his Quirk developed the effect it had on him increased.

It began with his hands. At around 13-ish years old, his Quirk started to cause him pain as it attempted to change the phase of the matter in Adam's hands. That was when he got his first support items. I'm a little fuzzy on what these support items looked like exactly, but they resembled gloves with some tech woven into the fabric. They canceled out his Quirk in small doses.

These support items worked for a while, but at 16-ish years old he had to get new ones. This time, the pain had spread up to his arms. His next support items were similar to his last ones, but the sleeves extended up to his elbows.

Like the last ones, these didn't last very long. By 18, he needed new support items. His new support items were an experimental design meant to track brain activity and cancel his Quirk completely when he wasn't consciously making an effort to use his Quirk. Something so high-tech was incredibly expensive (and not covered by any sort of insurance, because support items are considered luxury items).

Thankfully for Adam, Avery, who had been saving money from doing sidekick work alongside going to a Hero University, paid for the new support items.

(the general idea)

This iteration lasts quite a while! In fact, it stays with him until he becomes an actual Pro (not a sidekick) at 28~ years old. There were a few kinks in the software along the way, though---for example, sometimes the software would fail to accurately determine when Adam was or wasn't trying to use his Quirk, leading to moments during Sidekick work where he would have to fight Quirkless or moments in his daily life where he'd be in agonizing pain until his support items figured themselves out.

His last support items are the ones he has now! They're grey bands around his neck, biceps, wrists, thighs, and ankles. Much more compact and sleek than all that wiring. It's new tech, so instead of cancelling Adam's Quirk, it redirects his Quirk into keeping all of his molecules/atoms in place. It's much more effective than all the previous iterations.

Of course, his battle with his Quirk doesn't end there. His latest support items are new tech, but they're also as new as it gets for a while. So while he can go in and get them recalibrated every now and then to account for his Quirk overcoming them, it also means that there's a limit to those support items' effectiveness.

There's not much he can do after that, but he does get some painkillers (which my friends and I have dubbed Super Morphine) to deal with everything. He is my little guy and every day I put him in the torment nexus and blend blend blend.

[artbyblastweave]

So comic question - my Big 2-reading friend has been raving about the new Ultimates series, and also sworn up and down that it's actually easy to follow and you in no way need to read six different ongoing series in the correct order to understand what's going on or jump in halfway through a totally unrelated one for ten issues to get vital context.

Is he full of shit, or is it actually comprehensible and worth reading if my comics knowledge mostly boils down to pop culture osmosis and reading some posts?

He's kind of full of shit but also not. They did one four-issue miniseries called Ultimate Invasion- quite good in it's own right- that lays the groundwork/status quo/Big Ticking Two Year Countdown Clock Until All Hell Breaks Loose for the handful of ongoing series that launched afterwards. The fact that it's been largely easy to follow thus far is largely a function of it's currently limited scope- Only four largely separate ongoings (the two of which I've read are quite legible independent of the other ones) set in different parts of the world with very limited overlap, alongside a couple oneshots released as milestones. You can blow through the entire continuity in an afternoon. The Original Ultimate Marvel was, at it's inception, easy to follow for basically the same reason. This has the potential to metastasize in the same way that that did. They also might successfully tie a bow on it as a completed limited scope project. Time will tell. The other thing is that the Hickman and Camp's metatextual project is to create an imprint where the setting is so aggressively plugged into meta continuity porn bullshit that it would serve as a poison-pill to any attempted MCU adaption effort- In contrast to how the original Ultimate Universe was kind of visibily packaging itself for eventual adaptation to film, they wanted to do a story that can be a comic book and nothing else because of how much it's about comic books. A major theme thus far has been characters coming to terms with the lives they were supposed to lead, for better or for worse, and half of what's clever about this thing is banking on your ability to contextualize where the bit players are in life in this story versus where they wound up in other continuities. I also interpret the entire project as sort of a love letter to the phenomenon of trying to create revised, tightened reboots of long-running continuities that spiral out of control in their own right- the entire joke is that one of the two characters kept around by real-life editorial after the last, kinda-poorly-received attempt at a reboot universe like this is trying to make his own timeline with blackjack and hookers, only for it to spiral out of control in turn. (We Are Never Getting Out Of Here)

All in all, I've mentioned in other posts on this project that I've kind of lost the objectivity necessary to know whether this is at all good, legible or enjoyable if you aren't plugged into the big-two comic-book torment nexus. This shit is my Feldspar and Quartz. If you want to roll the dice, the reading order is Ultimate Invasion, Ultimate Universe, and then as far as I know Ultimate Spider-Man, The Ultimates, Ultimate Black Panther and Ultimate X-Men can be read in any order. The fact that I had to give you a reading order probably on some level answers your original question, though

[yzafre]

Rise Magic Watch - Rise pt 2

Part 1

Helllll yess, its time for the boys' magic

We've got Raph, and his shadow clone no jutsu nonsense.

So cool. Can he see out of them, do you think? Like how does he coordinate them?

Also - in this fight we see him purely using many copies, no kaiju-form. In the movie, he returns to Kaiju-form, but no clones. What I'm saying is there's an unfilled space for the Ultimate Raph Fight where he uses both.

Although - do you think there's like... an tank of energy that has to get shared? Like, making a full-sized clone takes this much energy, growing this much bigger takes that much energy. So that limits how many clones he can make/how big he can get/any space in the middle?

....can he make tiny Raph clones?

April follows up with her magic bat - and teams up with Karai!

It looks like Karai actually communicates with her a bit, giving her a plan/idea. And I love April handing off the bat for Karai to get a hit in! Having a character host a Hamato ghost is honestly really fun.

Mikey is interesting, in that he doesn't actually show that much new. He's got more finesse in his control over the chains, but it's not a sharp change in ability like the others. We're gonna put a pin in that.

Donnie debuts his ninpo! And I love that we all believe he doesn't struggle, because his ninpo is his tech! It's expressed as something he understands intrinsically! The little woosh of the mystic energy back into his bow when he dismisses the rocket-hammer, mimicing the way his tech would collapse - mwah.

And now. finally.

What the fuck is up with Leo's fucking powers

Listen. LISTEN. I thought it was pretty simple. Here's a sword - there's a sword. He pulls himself from one to the other. but. But. When watching at .25 speed, there's a lot of little... quirks? Like. Okay. Okay.

Let's look at this series here. So Leo sends his sword flying (with a kick, lmao - ALSO! Remember back when I mentioned in Battle Nexus New York, all the sword-throwing? well look what's here!) and then. And then!

Okay. So, the sword flies in that translucent form AND Leo vanishes into a beam of light - a light which seems to follow the sword around.

This is actually very common - both the sword acting as a.... portal anchor? Being translucent and Leo turning into the blue light. But it looks slightly different sometimes!

So, here - the sword doesn't glow, Leo just morphs through the air.

Or!

Here. so, Leo vanishes in light, then the sword is translucent, then there's more light, then Raph is there.

It's like. It's... Is Leo himself the portal? Or is he wrapping it so precisely it's only on him/whoever he's portaling? Can he just... step in and out of portal-space at-will?

Except! You can actually watch his energy moving through this reality at certain points - which reminds me more of some of the things we've seen Mayhem do!

It's definitely clear that the swords are some kind of anchor-point for him. Which, I mean, he transformed them from spades to katana with his own Ninpo, I sure hope he'd be able to find them! But, like... am I reading this right that he can sense their location? Would that be at all times? Only when teleporting? Is there a distance limit?

Look, from a functional standpoint what he can do is pretty simple - teleport to his swords, swap people between them - but how he does it... I feel like there's some quirks there I'm still wrapping my head around. I'm going to be chewing on this for a while.

But! Now that we've seen the final form of their powers, there's a series-long conversation I want to wrap up.

On the subject of mystic weapons

From the beginning, we've been gathering evidence (and ignoring word of god information) to try and make a decision between two ways the boys' weapons could work:

The weapons had abilities inherent to them, which then imprinted on the boys

The boys had inherent powers, which the weapons pulled upon

This episode has our last bit of evidence to add to the stack: the boys' get upgraded versions of the powers they've been using, without the original mystic weapons being present. Now, you could say that the weapons shape the boys' mystic energies over the time-frame of the series, but thematically I think it makes more sense for the abilities to be unique to them.

The only problem we have to reconcile, then, is Splinter using Leo's sword to make a portal - but I believe there's an entirely reasonable interpretation of the text that covers that.

I believe that when mystic weapons of those kind are activated, they take an imprint of the wielder's magic. In a sense, I think they're beginner/training weapons!

An imprint like that would allow a person to practice with a limited version of their powers without having to focus on accessing/channeling from their mystic energy. The weapon would handle that for you. Hmm... like learning to drive an automatic, rather than a stick-shift, maybe?

Interestingly, I think this could also account for Mikey's little demon spirit in his weapon. It's noted in the movie that Michelangelo grows up to be the "greatest mystic warrior". If Mikey had a greater amount of mystic energy from the start, maybe the weapon absorbed too much when trying to take the imprint and... overloaded. And became semi-sentient in a way that both... is and isn't him. It's an echo of his soul, I guess?

And! And if you follow that train of thought! It would explain why Mikey's learning curve is smoother than his brother's, as noted above - he had a greater proportion of his mystic energy available in his "training weapon" than the others, so he's not getting as much of a boost/difference at the end.

Under that line of thought, I would say that in Bug Busters when Raph went kaiju for the first time, he was tapping into not just his ninpo, but his own energy for the first time, rather than the imprint in the tonfa.

Anyways! That's my interpretation based on what's in the text - which largely matches the world of god explanation, in the end. So good on them for depicting it well!

And that's all the magic I noted to look at! I feel like I ended up doing a lot more observation than synthesis in this series - maybe I'll follow this up with a "theory of mystic" post at some point, giving my head-canons based on what we've seen? And I should definitely make a post about the movie sometime soon...

But for now, it's been fun. See you around!

[planetformer-central]

Random info about the Baby Primes Au:

Prima: He is absolutely malicious. He D E S P I S E S his siblings with every fiber of his being, but he puts up with them because he is also the BIGGEST daddy's boy to have ever existed. He knows his Sire loves his siblings, and thus he looks out for them, only enough to ensure they aren't killed or seriously injured though. He gladly laughs at the misery of his siblings, especially the dubbed "Modern Primes".

He has a personal vendetta against Bumblebee in particular. The only reason for his wrath is due to the fact that Bumblebee got Optimus's undivided attention throughout his sparklinghood.

Vector: He is one of the more composed of the sparklings and has a habit of pulling a Jack-Jack and vanishing into the space between stars off and on. No one is concerned since he always comes back in time for dinner. Although every now and then he will also vanish and come back with something Team Prime have long thought gone or unattainable.

The day he came back for dinner with Optimus's library card from when he was still Orion Pax was the day he was forbidden to wander. Not a spark wants to imagine that he travelled through time, but considering Optimus lost his library card inexplicably prior to his rise to Prime, Vector has been limited in his movements.

Alpha Trion: How it happened is unknown, but Alpha Trion budded with his quill built into his frame. His Covenant appeared soon after and not a spark is entirely sure how he got it. Arcee suspects Vector, but that is unconfirmed. Alpha Trion is by far one of the nicest of the sparklings. Despite being able to see the prophecies of the future in his Covenant, he is completely unconcerned. Being too young to understand, he just likes the pictures that turn up every now and then.

Occasionally he will say ominous things, but his disposition is as gentle as ever regardless.

Solus Prime: She has not changed at all since her first death. She may be younger and less wise, but she retains her personality right down to her reactions to various situations. It scares Megatronus Prime more than he would care to admit. Megatronus Prime personally tends to her whenever he can as a form of penance for killing Solus the first time. However he struggles greatly when it comes to being around her or the others. Often he will watch from afar or only step in to help Solus work with her hammer whenever she appears to be struggling.

Solus is blissfully unaware of her past, but she trusts Megatronus Prime. That worries Optimus.

Micronus Prime: Much like his eldest brother, Micronus is also a daddy's boy. He and Prima regularly fight for Optimus's attention, but never around him. Their fights often revolve around getting their siblings involved. It is the closest the little Primes have to politics as Micronus leads one faction of siblings and Prima controls the other. Both him and Prima are masters of stringing their siblings into their schemes, so much so that even Liege can be left in the dust at times.

Already Micronus has gotten Prima in trouble a few times. This offense has never been fully addressed and thus has festered quietly between the two.

Alchemist Prime: He is by far one of the calmest and kindest of the baby Primes. He gets along fantastically with Nexus and Quintus and regularly meets with Alpha Trion to discuss anything and everything. He doesn't have a worry in the world, but he has been banned from ever touching the blender again on account of his... interesting drinks. He does his best, but not even Liege, the master of charisma, is able to stomach it.

Alchemist may or may not have made true synthetic energon once, but he said it "tasted bad" and threw it out before Ratchet could look at it.

Nexus Prime: He is the most unpredictable of all the sparklings. Known to have some sort of mental differentiation, he is an unknown. There has never been a case of a combiner being forged while in one frame. Thus, Nexus tends to not be fully there all the time. His mind wanders and he too tends to change forms partially at all times. He is a sparkling who often plays pranks, but generally he likes to stay near to Optimus. He has not been actively noted breaking into his combiner components, but there have been various scuttling sounds at night, so that cannot be confirmed.

It is not common knowledge, but Nexus has long since seen through the holy and innocent cover Prima puts up. He is not fond of the eldest and tries his best to keep Solus away from Prima whenever he can. No one is entirely sure why, that is save for Onyx.

Onyx Prime: Having retained many of his less violent and serious memories, Onyx is well aware of the situation he and his siblings find themselves in. He doesn't mind it and in fact appreciate the chance to grow up normally. He acts like a mech Ratchet's age more often than not, but he allows himself to relax more around Solus and Micronus. He fears for Solus a great deal and tries to keep Micronus with him out of genuine concern. Onyx remembers his siblings turning against each other, and in his mind, it is not out of the question for Prima to make one siblings "vanish".

Onyx also tends to keep Amalgamous close as a failsafe of sorts. If everything else falls apart, Amalgamous has similarly retained just enough knowledge to be of use.

Amalgamous Prime: He is an odd one when it comes to his rebirth. All his siblings retained many of their old characteristics, but Amalgamous shifted entirely. No longer able to be a walking ball of energy, he ended up looking more like Whirl in design. He is suspected to have the ability to shapeshift, as evidenced by his complete lack of any voice.

Unlike any of his kin, Amalgamous speaks solely in mimicked voices. He has a voice of his own, he just never uses it. He's fond of impersonating Smokescreen and Ratchet.

Quintus Prime: He is an odd one even compared to Onyx. Quintus is perfectly fine as an individual and behaves a great deal like a sparkling should. However, none save for Optimus know if he has legs at all or not. He always glides everywhere he goes and even Prima is a tad scared to see whatever is behind his various cables. Quintus for his part is rather oblivious to everything except his current hyper fixation.

He will only respond if spoken to in ancient Cybertronian and he has expressed a severe fear and guilt ridden response when presented with anything Quintessons related. Ratchet can't determine if he remembers his prior death or not, but Optimus suspects he does.

Liege Maximo: Against all expectations, he doesn't cause all that much trouble. With abundant attention from the team and his Sire, Liege is perfectly content. He has an ego on him and will scream if not given sufficient attention, but all his manipulation is generally mild. He was made to use his words, and as such has already begun picking up many Cybertronian dialects from the team. This he uses to garner the attention of various siblings.

He knows who to go to in order to get what he wants. The modern primes absolute adore him since he ALWAYS knows how to get treats from wherever Optimus hid them.

Sentinel Prime: Orange cat behavior embodies him best. Sentinel wants things and he is not afraid to fight for them in his own unique way. He and the other modern Primes have grouped together and he is the leader purely due to the force of his personality. He and the other modern Primes are the most like actual sparklings out of all the baby Primes. Sentinel in particular is known for getting into places he really shouldn't be capable of and then refusing to emerge until bribed.

Nova Prime: He is highly docile and gentle. Also a daddy's boy, Nova is perfectly content to simply hang around Optimus whenever he can. He likes to sit on his shoulder or be held. He also has an all but debilitating sweet tooth. Normally very calm and composed, Nova will lose his marbles at the sight of any and all treats. He will give an arm and a leg for a decent sweet. As such, he is the one all the young Primes go to if they have bribing good and a task that needs wings.

Optimus has tried to stop it with wing clamps, but Nova doesn't need wings when he's on a MISSION.

Zeta Prime: History got a few things wrong when it came to Zeta. The team were FLABBERGASTED when instead of Sentinel Zeta Prime emerging, they got Sentinel AND Zeta Prime. Two separate mechs with very different missions in life. Zeta was lost to history for the most part due to his rather brutal reign, and thus now that he has been reborn as a sparkling, not many know how to handle him. He is a highly unstable sparkling and notoriously aggressive. He will attack anything and anyone that comes too close to his family.

He also seems to have a strange fascination with energon. Arcee has been doing her best to help Zeta to develop healthy coping mechanism for his very obvious love of combat.

Guardian Prime: Similarly all but lost to history, Guardian Prime has next to no records on him. He is a wild card, but has proven to be ridiculously sweet. He is a ride or die companion for the other modern Primes and often serves as the defacto messenger between the modern Primes and the old Primes. When the modern Prime sparklings try to get something from the elders, its Guardian who ends up going forward most often.

He admires the old Primes and does his very best to try and watch them work their "Magic"

[gyrovagi]

Au scenario where caden is a mage, he still ends up at least just as repressed and fucked up, right?

oh he would absolutely be even more repressed and fucked up, though exactly how that all turned out would depend on when his magic manifested and what circle he got sent to. as a templar, it's easy and convenient to just kind of forget about the whole 'tranquil eldest sibling i never really knew' thing. as a mage, that would be hanging over his head constantly. entirely new torment nexus to suffer in.

i actually think the best case scenario for mage!caden would be if his magic manifested pretty young, like age 5-6, before roz become tranquil. still a very bad situation to be in! but he'd have emotional support from owain, even if it was necessarily limited to letters (and valerie wouldn't have fully developed her teenage disdain towards caden yet, so she'd be pretty shaken up and make an effort to keep in touch). there'd be a couple years to adjust to the reality of circle life and his own identity as a mage before the news broke that his eldest sibling 'chose' tranquility.

assuming he managed to get attached to a decently sympathetic mentor figure in the circle (potentially vivienne, even, if for some reason he got sent all the way to montsimmard) i think he could turn out 'alright,' which is to say he'd manage to transition but still kind of view his magic as a Test From The Maker and have a lot of issues about complying with andrastian gender roles as the Pious Good Mage. he'd end up relatively similar to his canon incarnation i think, but his relationship with solas might be even weirder. Actually maybe this is how caden weird relationship with cullen can win

(supplementary lore: it's great-uncle havard who gave caden his Boy Name, so if i really wanted to be lore-accurate, in this scenario caden would most likely have been named/named himself after hessarian.)

worst case scenario, of course, is if he's revealed to be a mage when he's already started training as a templar, around age 13. a miracle occurred, he won the ability to transition/access manhood in exchange for becoming a faithful, disciplined templar, and then he completely fails because of an inborn trait entirely outside of his control. which would be very very easy to take as a sign from the maker that he is not allowed to transition.

he has no support. he's disappointed great-uncle havard who saved him. valerie kind of hates him (this is maybe not 'fair' on her part, but she's also a teen going through it), and he started pushing owain away when he began his training, so it would be pathetic to start accepting his pity now. and on top of all that, his eldest sibling, the other mage in the family, 'willingly' became tranquil, so that's the prior example he has to follow. It's bad in here!! like the 'best' outcome in this scenario is giving up on transitioning and adopting kind of a degendered sexless repentant nun persona. the worst and more likely outcome is that he also becomes tranquil, and if he became the inquisitor would be having kind of a joan of arc moment. Even weirder about cullen and also solas in this scenario

[betsybraddockagentofstrike]

Overview — Excalibur: Angels and Demons

Why Excalibur?

The more I explored Betsy’s past in Agent of STRIKE, the more the story evolved from a solo narrative into a team dynamic. As an aspiring novelist, I found myself increasingly drawn to larger rosters and multi-faceted interactions.

Also, one limitation of writing a continuity-based prequel is that much of the characters’ established lore must remain untouched. Since Agent of STRIKE is tightly connected to late '70s and early '80s canon, I needed more narrative freedom. So I decided to start a new series set in the current publication timeline. This could be read as a “what if” what if Betsy recreated Excalibur instead of joining Forge’s X-Force?

The original pitch dates back to one of those classic “create-a-team” threads on the X-Forums. It centered around the three swordbearers, Magik, Betsy, and Kwannon, alongside Angel, for the mythological approach, and Kurt, as his polar opposite. Chamber and Pixie rounded out the roster, adding a “United Kingdom” touch.

The idea of a war between Otherworld and Limbo, two nexus realms, struck me as an untapped, high-stakes concept. A battle between light and darkness, order and chaos. Years later, I started fleshing it out more seriously. I teased it among the small community following Agent of STRIKE, and the idea resonated.

I had the big picture: a war between realms. But facing Limbo almost always means facing Belasco. And while he’s a classic villain, I wanted a twist, a different antagonist. That’s when I decided to bring Merlyn into the mix.

Last we saw Merlyn, Betsy had beheaded him. I needed to address that. I was inspired by two things: Shinnok’s severed, still-living head in Mortal Kombat, and Mimir, the talking head from God of War. My original idea was simple: Merlyn’s head would serve as Belasco’s reluctant counselor, a disembodied relic full of bitter wisdom, trapped in eternal defeat.

But another influence was the movie Skeleton Key, where voodoo spells are used to swap minds, imprisoning victims inside moribund bodies while their attackers walk free in stolen flesh. That sparked the idea of Merlyn using forbidden magic to switch bodies with Belasco, trapping the demon’s mind inside his severed head. While everyone believes Belasco is the one pulling the strings, the truth is far more disturbing: it’s Merlyn, hidden in Belasco’s body, orchestrating a grand plan to merge the realms. The reveal recontextualizes the entire story, and I knew it had to come only at the end.

Thematically, I loved when Tini Howard used “as above, so below” to explore mirrored realities. In my vision, Limbo is a dark inversion of the radiant Otherworld. That’s how I conceived the Fortress of Oblivion, an inverted Starlight Citadel that drains energy from its twin, sparking the crisis.

The first chapter had to be a classic recruitment story. Betsy’s investigation starts with a visit to Warren, not because of him, but because his Manhattan penthouse offered a perfect vantage point to spy on the Limbo embassy. When Madelyne Pryor refuses to help, Betsy turns to the next portal to Limbo, Illyana Rasputin. That gave me the perfect chance to bring in my second favorite character, Kwannon, who has been frequently paired with Magik in the comics lately.

I wanted the opening arc to evoke the spirit of the original Excalibur, hence Nightcrawler. But juggling the entire original lineup would be overwhelming. So I brought in Rachel and Kitty in a way that allowed me to write them off after the first arc.

Once the team was assembled, the real journey began. Madelyne plays a key role in Limbo, but her powers overlap too much with Betsy and Rachel. That gave me a perfect excuse to make her the secondary protagonist in a side story.

Her being transported to a magic-dead Earth came from an old pitch of mine. I wanted to explore the philosophical implications of a world without magic, dull, dry, and severed from Otherworld and all other realms. That becomes Maddie’s quest: to restore magic in that reality.

Meanwhile, I structured the main team’s arrival in Limbo by scattering them into groups to better manage character dynamics: Betsy, Kwannon, and Magik land on a battlefield; Kitty and Rachel arrive inside the Fortress of Oblivion; Kurt and Angel end up in Otherworld, affected by Limbo’s interference.

Betsy’s plan was to investigate quietly, but she was too late. Saturnyne and Otherworld were already waist-deep in a war against Limbo. The team had no choice but to join.

Kitty and Rachel weren’t there just for nostalgia. I wanted a proper X-Men-style soap opera, so the arc of corruption, mind rescue, love triangle, and eventual breakup was spread through the chapters. And since I’m a big Rachel/Kitty shipper...well, I finally got to put them together.

Maddie and her quest:

Although the book centers on Betsy, I worried she might lose panel time with so many subplots. That’s where Dr. Braddock came in: a version of Betsy from the magic-dead Earth. I write Betsy as a badass, and I hate when she’s portrayed as insecure or unsure...it erases the core of her character. But remembering where she came from matters. That’s what Dr. Braddock represents: the fragile girl who thought she wasn’t good enough to join a team of heroes… but who was, just like our Betsy, destined for greatness. And Maddie knew that.

Her transformation into Doctor Albion, that world’s Captain Britain, was essential to restoring the link with Otherworld and letting extra-dimensional magic flow back into her world. Only then was she ready to return and join the battle, becoming part of the Corps.

About the main plot:

There was always a desire to give the story an epic weight. Two mystical realms, one evoking Heaven, the other Hell. In my mind, Limbo has heavily inspired the biblical Hell, just as Mephisto is often associated with the Devil. Even Belasco is said to have inspired Dante’s Inferno. That led me to imagine the apocalyptic signs from the Book of Revelation (from the Bible) not as prophecy, but as remnants of ancient enchantments, spells Merlyn accessed through Belasco’s memories. With that power, he set out to turn Otherworld into a new Elysium for the denizens of Limbo, and in doing so, began to merge the realms.

So that’s how the story came together. There were many threads to tie, many characters to balance, and still, it had to be about Betsy. That was the hardest part. Much harder than in Agent of STRIKE, where she believed British espionage was the ultimate challenge. But that was just the beginning. Beyond Krakoa, what awaited her wasn’t secrets or politics...it was prophecy, myth, and the burden of protecting all realities.

I’ve always been drawn to the loose threads, the leftovers buried in the most forgotten corners of X-continuity. The Celestial Nullifier was originally introduced by Chris Claremont in his House of M tie-in, where Saturnyne threatened to erase Earth-616 due to its destabilizing frequency of reality warps. I brought it back as a narrative bomb: a way to shift the tides against Limbo and to cement Saturnyne as the cold, pragmatic antihero of my story. The idea of a reality being erased entirely, with its remnants leaking into Otherworld’s Blightspoke, came from another unreleased story I had written. Originally created by Hickman and Tini, Blightspoke is the wasteland where broken timelines and fallen realities resurface in fragments. It felt like the perfect place to Limbo, to become a broken part of Otherworld.

The final pages of the arc set the tone for the team going forward. And on a more personal note, I’ve always felt that one issue with bisexual characters in monogamous relationships is that we often lose the chance to see the full spectrum of their identity represented. That’s why I chose to leave Betsy single for a while...not out of indecision, but to let her breathe, reconnect with herself, and leave space open for possibilities.

I originally pitched Excalibur as a self-contained mini, so I could eventually move on to another concept. But the response was so positive, I knew I had more to say. The two bonus pages teasing The Quest for the Crimson Dawn had been in my mind for years, and seeing the story resonate gave me the confidence to move forward. So it’s safe to assume: whatever comes next, it will sprout from there.

[shepardstales]

Chapter 4 of All Is Fair In Love And War

Here's Chapter 4 of All Is Fair In Love And War. Luckily I had this whole thing written before insecurity hit and I'm trying not to delete everything

This is also on Kofi!

@lordkingsmith @keeping-writing-frosty @bardic-tales @watermeezer @pinkevilwriter

This is also from Aaliyah's POV

Chapter 4

Aaliyah

I never asked for any of this. For the art of killing and turning families against one another. To raise the dead like puppets that cannot be killed, who will do your very bidding until your energy depletes and the illusion shatters once more. I’m a cursed being in of itself: I am a fallen angel, someone who is losing their powers, becoming mortal and all the while using that energy to become something greater again: A being that’s magical. A being called a Necromancer.

I’ve been chained up in here like a common dog, a bitch if you will. There are plenty of Gods that want to mess with the world. And it just so happened Morrigan was using me as her vessel of evil: to test the very limits of evil, to see what I can do and how many people I can do it to.

Hundreds have tried to rescue me, and have died in gruesome ways. Eyes ripped out, their very fears used against them and they drowned in their own sorrows, whilst others simply made the mistake of looking back into The Underworld and getting trapped in the labyrinth again. The Underworld should not exist. Everyone around me is a ghost, a former lover or friend that has come to try and get me home. It is a very plague upon life itself and now there is nothing left in it apart from myself, Morrigan and whatever measly flesh bag gets thrown my way, to work on and bring to life in sacrilegious torment nexus.

I’ve been trying to escape, to get someone to save me, but there’s a part of me telling me that I like this - though, I feel like I’m trapped under Morrigan’s influence. She has her ways of sweet talking and promising things, but she never means it. It’s her way or die. It’s do or die and the blood I’m wading through is almost neck high.

I’m almost drowning.

How much longer before there is nothing left to save, no-one to save?

My thoughts are interrupted by blinding light that builds a cage around me, with shackles to a table - our experimentation table. The cage is a lab and I’m just a mad scientist.

If I’m here, than somebody has been foolish enough to enter this world to look for me. I’m sending people to their deaths without even knowing them, but they’ve obviously heard about me. I can hear walls going up, being shaped and remade and I know this labyrinth is ever changing. Constant. Never the same. It’s always a labyrinth, it’s never a habitable city that can be walked around.

No, that’s the lie. That’s where it gets you. Then they lay their claws into you and never let go. You are what is being feasted upon. Your soul, your body until you are given completely to a God that don’t give a shit about anything but power.

It’s total annihilation.

“Aaliyah, it’s time to get to work love. We have fresh meat headed our way.” Morrigan appears in a puff of dark smoke in the lab, dressed like she’s a fan of David Bowie and she’s seen far too many movies over the years.

“None of the people you’ve brought me have been able to stay under my command for long. They have no power here, they’re disintegrating before I even get a chance to truly work my magic.” I explain, picking up a book and trying to read through the book quickly, thinking there is something I missed.

It’s the same old story, every time. I tell the truth but it hits her and she smacks it down like a pesky fly.

I’m nothing more than a measly maggot, writhing around in the dust and what remains of the bodies; dissecting them, desecrating the bodies like even my blood will fix things. If I gave my life, would it undo all the bad things I’ve done? Will it bring back the others so they can walk amongst the sun?

“How is that my problem? That’s your problem.” Morrigan pointed out. “We wouldn’t have this problem if you gave us the results we’re looking for.”

I’m the one to blame. It’s always me, because I’m the supposed Necromancer.

I try to move around the room, but I cannot move from the table because the chains are on the legs of the table and the table seems to be built into the ground. Like the whole place was built and twisted to Morrigan’s liking.

“Can I at least go for a walk or get some food or something? Everything takes energy you know.”

It was just one simple request. Morrigan took it like I slapped her across the face.

“You can have food when you provide results. We need to put on a good show for our newest contestant in the Aaliyah Games.”

The Aaliyah Games. Is that what she’s calling it now? Pathetic really, but even she can’t tap the power I’m supposed to have. They always said some Angels were stronger than any mere God that was brought into existence by another.

“The results aren’t happening because my energy is depleted. When the energy depletes, the corpses stop being animated. It’s simple.” I try to reason with her. “And you know certain things and stress affect magic. It’s the way nature is, even I can’t control that.”

“When was the last time you ate?” Morrigan’s voice is softer now, gentler than it has been in the past couple of weeks we’ve been working.

“It’s Wednesday, right? I last ate on Monday.” I say, working it out on my fingers.

“I really haven’t fed you in days?” Morrigan sounds surprised. “What did you last eat?”

“You made me eat the remains of the last guy that stumbled through here, because you thought I needed to be taught a lesson.” The memory is like a knife against my throat; the urge to be sick is all too real but there’s nothing in my stomach.

I can’t be sick. Literally, the only thing in me is bile from my stomach and even that would come out as acid. That won’t be a pretty sight.

“What was his name?” Morrigan asks and it’s then that I realise she is mocking me. She is making me remember all the horrible things she’s done, to make me feel like I need to listen to her.

Like she is the one in control.

“His name was Leon. And he was my friend.”

A slash down my throat from an invisible metaphorical knife, cutting me open and making me relive that night again.

My heart isn’t beating. It’s breaking over and over again and if I could, I’d throw myself from this tower and end it all. I’d be weak enough to permanently die. And that’s why Morrigan ain’t letting me try.

“Fine. You can have a proper meal. But you’ll dine with me and not go far. Is there anything specific you’d like?”

“Can I at least have a tagliatelle carbonara? I haven’t had pasta in so long and you know it’s my favourite.” I plead.

The shackles fall out from underneath me and fizzle away into nothing. I know not to run so I slowly walk over to Morrigan, gently reaching for her hand.

She takes it, but only after a few minutes of thinking.

“'I’ll see what I can do.” Morrigan raises an eyebrow.

The next thing I know, I am dragged out into the hallway and led down the stairs of what is the remains of this godforsaken tower.

My stomach rumbles. I could really, really use something good to eat now.

“Morrigan? Who’s the latest soldier come to die?" I ask, having no idea whatsoever.

“His name is Mercutio.” Is all I’m told.

Someone is clearly a fan of Romeo and Juliet.

[mechanicalriddle]

basically in gunstar. oh god where do i start.

so lydias character Meat had pretty much completed merging with the Viator of Nullspace into a single gestalt entity, and also restored him to most of his power. We were on a space station version of Nexus and did some politicking there. Then we wound up finding the rest of the Viator, which involved having to extract it from core systems of Nexus station via partially lobotomizing its patropolis. Which Meat and our crafty Dawn took point on. At that point he regained five of his lower souls, which each bonded itself to each of our personal voidfighters (since Siithi is her own voidfighter, her guy is bound directly to her)

Anyways. The Titanics attacked Nexus. We had a big siege that lasted a number of sessions and was mostly LANCER/Star Wars flight mechanics and some battlefield management games duct taped together.

Then the Titanics revealed their ultimate weapon, which was a third circle of Theoin made of a gazillion eyes (pretty explicitly ophanim-themed). We in turn revealed our ultimate weapon which was the five of us fusing our ships together to form the fucking REBORN VIATOR OF NULLSPACE, at his FULL POWER, with Meat as the head and Siithi as the... weird interstitial goo holding together the torso and the rest of the players as the limbs

The Deva spun around really fast slapped the shit out of us with its 13 wings (NOT 7. THERE WERE 13) and also fired off a death ray at us and killing it was kind of a pain in the ass but eventually the dawn and the alchemical stockpiled like 40 initiative apiece and also Meat got off a pretty respectable shot with not a lot of init and then the alchemical's shot also gave the fucking thing gremlin syndrome??? then it kind of tore itself to pieces.

Then the Dawn threw himself out of his cockpit to directly parry the Deva's death-throes death ray with his fucking hammer and due to conservation of momentum blasted himself off into god-knows-where

Because we had leaned on the special powers granted by the Viator a little too much, and also Meteor-Dream is a lousy shithead (who i love) they were powerless to resist when the Viator chose to go berserk and start targeting Nexus station. Siithi responded by hitting E3, buying up venoms with some spare BP and, being bound into the same body as them, promptly attempting to euthanize them lol

This worked and also backfired because the Viator started poisoning her back. Eventually the Viator became diminished again and partway relinquished its hold on Meat and Siithi proceeded to intitiate into shadow circle necromancy, lol

now she is in a hospital. she fucking hates hospitals. She is about to limit break also

[sofiasfanartcollection]

and for a moment all was soft and quiet

(Close-ups and a thumbnail sketch and a process pic)

Wanted to sketch and paint something of what I imagine a pocket dimension Hypno can access through his hat and jacket looks like

This is where he keeps his rabbits and doves in my headcanon :]

Drew some New Zealand plants including: pōhutukawa trees, a kauri tree, and rārahu (ferns). There’s also bioluminescent mushrooms (not based on a specific species).

There’s stars reflected in the water but not in the sky. The water doesn’t always reflect what is visible. It can reflect the past or inner realities or illusions. Might want to play around with that idea if I draw this place again.

(Keep reading for some ramblings about Hypno’s powers)

some headcanons, mostly about Hypno's powers

-- Hypno can use his mystic powers to recreate any magic trick from his old routines. Basically anything he could do with magic tricks (that he still remembers how to do), he can now do for real and sometimes at a grander scale. (For example: he could make small animals and objects disappear into his hats, now he can make people and buildings disappear into his hats and they would end up in his pocket dimension.) He could also add more to his repertoire if he learns how to do the magic trick practically first.

Judging by what I’ve seen in the show and what he says he can do, Hypno can: summon doves, rabbits, razor rings, wands that turn into knives?, and cards; transform physical objects into flowers; make objects and people disappear into his hats; presumably saw people in half and put them back together again; hypnotize people to follow a command; and teleport (going to headcanon that it’s just for short distances though.)

--It would be fun to add: never-ending rainbow handkerchiefs and maybe coins from behind people’s ears, and some more card tricks like cards teleporting through things (also I really like Ollie’s idea that he uses cards as shields!) Maybe he can make people and objects float and predict what people write down or draw in a specific notebook too.

--The words he uses aren’t magic (except for when he had Houdini’s journals that is), they just help him focus and are a habit. Of course it’s for show too.

--The fashion montage illusion seems like something different than his usual powers. My headcanon is that it was the result of a spell he found instructions for (among mystic objects from the store Warren got that crystal from), and he created it using some water from the pocket dimension. However, after using the spell, and after the whole Battle Nexus New York happened, he returned to the pocket dimensions to find one of the islands (not one pictured above) was charred and damaged. He assumed that taking something from the pocket dimension to use in the spell had caused the destruction and decides to not try that again. He decides to stick with the abilities that come naturally to his mystic power. (I’m going with the idea that casting spells/manipulating magic comes with some kind of terrible cost or danger in the ROTTMNT universe. For example, Draxum’s spell taking them into Splinter’s mind was potentially dangerous.)

[I wanted to think about the limits to Hypno’s powers (since he really does seem to be potentially overpowered) so that's part of why I'm coming up with the headcanons that he has to know how to do the trick practically, and that he won't create a spell like the fashion montage illusion again (with him not wanting to risk damaging the pocket dimension again.) Of course, in the show what seems to keep him from being too overpowered and too much of a threat to the turtles is that he often gets his magic turned against him and isn't as malicious and focused as some of the other villains.]

Edit: (wanted to add another thought) I’m not sure who came up with this, but I’ve heard a theory that part of the reason why Mikey is so powerful with his mystic abilities is because he is open with his emotions. Mystic powers do seem to be connected to emotions in the show. What if that’s part of the reason Hypno is so powerful too? He does seem to be pretty open with his emotions (thinks back to when I was looking through screen shots to redraw, such a wide range of expressions: rage and terror and confusion and grief and guilt and joy etc. I mean what happened in Warren and Hypno Sitting in a Tree would be an emotional roller coaster for sure.)

[officialcombaticons]

I guess I'll start with a little introductory post about my TF ocs and then maybe get into their backstory stuff in another post?

Like I said, to the surprise of no one, I made a combiner team. They're known as the Soothsayers, though their full title is the Soothsayers of Nexus Prime. If you don't know, Nexus Prime was one of the original Thirteen, and was the first combiner. Basic overview is that the Soothsayers' combined form was known for seeing into the future, and people would come to the temple they all lived at in order to ask for prophecies. They all technically have this ability, but their combined form can do it consistently at will. Whether they're truly being given visions by the Thirteen or even Primus themself, or if they simply have a very sophisticated processor that allows them to predict the most likely outcomes is up for debate.

So let's meet the team!

Genesis (they/them) - the combined form of the other Soothsayers - their pronouns are a little joke, because it's simultaneously singular and plural :) - contemplative and wise; finds joy in being able to help others - sometimes they're frustratingly enigmatic, even to the rest of their team, but they mean well Temperance (she/her, they/them) - torso of their combined form - altmode is a VTOL aircraft of some kind, probably a tilt rotor model (think something like this) - fascinated by organic life and how it functions, but can get a little morbid about it - a curious streak that can turn into nosiness

Chariot (she/her, they/them) - left arm of their combined form - altmode is a helicopter - astronomer and astrophysicist - studious and even fervent when it comes to her work, but has a dash whimsy about her

Hierophant (she/her) - right arm of their combined form - altmode is a very light jet - she has two heads for more processing power/memory storage; no they do not have separate personalities (this is why she only uses "she/her") - because of the above, she has near perfect memory recall (it's been perfect thus far, but could reach its limit in the future one day) - serious and precise with her words and actions Empress (she/her, they/them) - left leg of their combined form - altmode is a truck of some kind - a little rough around the edges, but dedicated to their team and the work they do - actions speak louder than words; or rather, she doesn't feel she's the best at offering advice or wisdom like her teammates, and would rather do something actionable herself Magus (she/her, they/them) - right leg of their combined form - altmode is ??? suv?? van?? idk there's too many cars to go through, she has wheels - feels like she needs to make up for a past that she carries a lot of guilt over - outwardly excitable and playful to cover up the melancholy they feel - I've often wanted to do something a little silly with how they talk but then it's like... I'm the one that has to write it

End notes to say that I'm still going back and forth on some of this stuff, and plenty of the details have the potential to change. I'm considering making one of them a triple changer (quadruple changer? are all combiner bots technically triple changers already?) because that sounds fun.

Also, as I mentioned, they're all named after Major Arcana cards. "Magus" is another name for the more common "Magician", and "Genesis" is meant to represent "The World"!

[lanaevyssmoved]

do u have any game recommendations that have character creation? besides bg3 ofc

gonna be real i wouldnt recommend bg3 for a character creation game because you can only use preset faces ...... bro but if you mean it in an oc way......

i would recommend.............

heavily modded skyrim, if you don't wanna do it yourself use wabbajack, some of the modlists on there are designed for graphics or high end systems and have very pretty characters. there's also ones not like that with rougher characters or more vanilla characters. lots of choice! do not get into the community though, this is a warning

following on from that, any elder scrolls game - morrowind is the best and one of my all time favourite games

you can follow on from that with fallout if you like the setting. i recommend fallout 1 and 2 the most as i'm not the hugest fan of bethesdas fallout but that is not a common opinion that be a hot take

heavily modded final fantasy xiv, you can fully mod on the free trial version as far as i know - be warned this is an extremely slippery slope because it has a modding community to rival skyrim and many customisation mods are paid for however there are ways around that. anyway you can get mods from here, here and here as well as the nexus

elden ring, dark souls 3 - the other dark souls but those character creations look like dogshit ass but still fun to make ocs in imo.. demon souls if you own a ps5....... i do not

pillars of eternity, tyranny, while visually quite limiting the character creators are still very neat from a roleplay pov - tyrannys has a lil "post character creation" game you get to play where you make "post game" choices and i uh, used to play that all the time for fun without intent to keep playing.....

a good follow up to that would be dragon age, all three of them but specially origins, i used to play the origins and not continue the rest of the game for fun! now be warned all of these games suck terrible dick in terms of modding because it's awkward and annoying and easily broken! i recently replayed dao and dai and so much of that time was spent troubleshooting...... joyous

have to kind of mention mass effect after? but ur kind of always making the same character..... ive always struggled with mass effect personally. maybe its the setting?

you can also look at starfield since that's got actually a pretty decent cc but i did find it quite limiting. but i've not really played it for more than an hour cuz bg3 exists so i can't say much

back to crpgs, the two pathfinder games! again limiting on the character side but roleplay side very very strong. i've not played wotr but i have mutuals who act like it is gods gift to gaming and i believe them. i really liked the first!

the outer worlds could be a good choice, i really like that games aesthetic but it's another space game and i think we're seeing a pattern that i'm just not that into those. hm. it was bethesda style gaming in space before starfield exists with the personality of fallout, kind of ?

this ones going far out there but crusader kings iii has an insane character creation and my favourite ruler ever was this old witch woman cannibal who slowly but surely turned her whole corner of the globe into a witch worshipping cannibal cult. i miss her

age of wonders 4 has a really cool cc, you can even make dragons with the dlc like Actual dragons.... i have made so many characters in there and gave them their funny little lores.. age of wonders has real cool lore and it is Completely ignored by tumblr afaik and that sucks

encased is a really cool rpg it's another sci-fi-y one.. it isn't as polished as you might expect cuz it's a very ambitious game but a small indie studio but i would say if you enjoy fallout 1 + 2 you will enjoy encased

dragons dogma! you get to make two people in this just like in bg3! i made a lil girl and her big brother and i was so fucking emotional over them that i was crying constantly even when nothing was going on. i played dragons dogma to fucking death on the ps3 and i think its interesting and rich enough to sink ur teeth into

i have to mention greedfall as the owner of the greedfall url.... greedfall is very interesting as its a double A title akin to a dragon age game.. it might make one feel a tad uncomfortable because it comes across as colonialism the rpg but it does get very interesting and it has neat as hell characters and magic and big monsters who fuck hard

wasteland 3! kinda again has the fallout type of vibe it is violent and full of dark themes and twisted themes but its also extremely comical its true black humour at times and you get to make two characters again and you can even make TWO MORE CHARACTERS so i had a bunch of custom characters.. u can get really wild in the cc as well and builds are SUPER fun....... v good game

spellforce 3!!!!! i love this game, the cc is again like another crpg one but spellforce 3 has very deep lore spanning many games .. its not typical crpg in that its also like a strategy war game too but i think it does the mixture very well and i LOVEEEEEEEE the lore!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

uh i forgot to mention divinity original sin 1/2 because .. bg3 should lead you right there but uh. play them both! the first is so good in coop i feel cuz of the natural banter between the protagonists. if you don't have friend the second is very good single player just. be warned i don't think it has good endings but the ride is worth it!! and divinity lore fucks hard. i also recommend divinity dragon commander because its so much fun

can i say stardew valley? mayhaps sun haven too? if ur crazy like me you can turn these into prime oc generators. also mods

oh, monster hunter world and by extension wild hearts. monster hunter world lets you make a cat and while ur character themselves doesn't get to do much story wise i did get very obsessed with my character and wanting them fight cool monsters. wild hearts is similar though your character does feel a bit more special- be warned this game is known for running like ass on most systems, its pretty good for me but be warned all the same

TEEHEES.... KENSHI!!!!!!!!!!!! i was holding back on mentioning kenshi but i can't. you can make a whole fucked up lil squad if u want. u got weird alien races. u got a billion fucking mods. u can have ur buddies limps removed and give them robot ones. u can make an army of weirdos. bro i got so invested in my kenshi squad i was writing FANFIC. i was dreaming of them. i was unable to sleep about them. i miss them so fucking much dude!! kenshi doesnt really have a story beyond what u make it. that shit is a SANDBOX.. and i love it so much. everyone should play kenshi. its kinda like rimworld if u want a comparison. i think its Perfect. the best game to exist ever (lie) its so wonderful....... man........its also broken as shit cuz its the most ambitious game to exist ever and it was made by 1 dude so

oh if u like anime games i have to mention code vein (souls like) and god eater (monster hunter like ?) they have very good ccs and i know people super into the lore and stuff. i only played code vein and i liked it a lot honestly

uhhh i mentioned 1 mmo so i should probably mention guild wars 2, the cc is very good, the whole games end game is about fashion and looking amazing. the lore is also super duper neat! i haven't played it for a long time now but i did play it on launch and i had a blast for a few years

if you like d&d i would recommend solasta! it has a very good cc i think honestly and it feels the most like this is d&d in a video game out of every game i've ever played, and it translates the system very and faithfully (as opposed to say bg3 who changed things for game reasons). solasta is also best with friends because its so in that vibe of this is a silly lil d&d party. its much fun

lol i got the block text limit popup

kotor 1 and 2, it might be hard to get into the lore and characters if you're not into star wars but i found it pretty ok to as not a huge star wars fan. i also think they deserve to be played despite that as well because they are fantastic rpgs and some of the best bioware ever made

vampire the masquerade bloodlines!!! i am not a vampire fan really, a small one, but this game captivated me.... very easy to get into making a character i feel and ur given enough to make characters that align different ways easily. the combat did not age well..... but the story and roleplay absolutely did

ok.. im gonna stop here.. but i will say give games like icewind dale and arcanum a chance.. look at old as hell crpgs and try them. this includes bg1+2 which i still need to play myself but will be soon! they are classics because their stories are fantastic, and shouldn't be missed out on!!!!!