#Wow that was a lot

[callsignrooroo]

Just always and forever thinking about post mission Hangster and how happy they are to be Alive and Together. How the adrenaline would still be coursing through them for days before they finally crash together like the beautiful mess they are. How the sex would be tender but passionate and how it’d be awkward for approximately five seconds afterwards, but then Bradley is pulling Jake to his chest and they fall asleep wrapped up in each other, safe and exhausted and exactly where they are supposed to be

[ghost-husbands]

In Defense of Charles Rowland

Under the cut because this is gonna be a long one, folks.

I'm going to begin this by saying that I have recently joined this fandom and to be fair, don't have as much experience with writing meta and all that. However, I love reading and given that meta is

discussion of fanworks of all kinds, fan work in relation to the source text, fanfiction characters and their motivation and psychology, fan behavior, or fandom itself.

I have always thoroughly enjoyed reading and attempting to write it. Now I have finished watching all the episodes of the season we currently have, and when I finished watching 1x04, I had some pretty strong emotions about what happened in there.

What happened exactly?

Well before we get into that, I want to say that I was inspired to write this because of the original writing of @pippin-katz on the same subject.

So as we know, in 1x04, the ghost husbands have a confrontation with the Night Nurse--an immortal (I think she's immortal, no?) being in charge of the Afterlife's Lost and Found Department. Why is she after them? Because Charles and Edwin are two unaccounted for spirits who are wandering the world and not where they belong. They're both technically special cases. Edwin was dragged to hell by pure accident, the victim of a demon summoning. It says something that even the demon itself apologizes to him for the technicality before he's taken down to the inferno | Charles died after an attack, of hypothermia and his own injuries. He discovers he's dead when he sees his own body and once it hits him that Edwin's going to leave, he doesn't want to stay behind to wait for Death. Frankly, he isn't ready for Death, so he says. So he decides to flee Death, just as Edwin has been since his escape from Hell.

Aside from staying with Edwin for their foreseeable eternity, Charles' motivation for staying is, according to him, the purpose he still serves...the face that he is a Dead Boy Detective who's dedicated himself to helping spirits who still have unfinished business. He's doing good here with Edwin. They are helping people. Ah, let's not forget, I almost missed the fact that when the Night Nurse arrives, Charles almost immediately puts himself between the Night Nurse and Edwin.

He's protecting Edwin as he always has and always will. He's almost bristling with fury and you can see the strength of his will in the way he's standing there, refusing to go quietly. He will fight for his purpose here, he will fight for Edwin, and he will fight for his newly found friends (Niko and Crystal watching from the sidelines now).

The Night Nurse has her job, and she's convinced that it shouldn't be a problem to simply apprehend the boys and pop off. Perhaps if she had only just, then truly, there wouldn't have been a problem. The show would have ended there and that would have been a pretty fucking pathetic end, I'd say. But she resorted to force, and I here want to begin to make my point. The exact kind of force she used and how she used it was cruel, a low blow and makes her, to a certain degree at fault for what befalls her.

What did the Night Nurse do?

Put simply, as pippin-katz points out, she made Charles relive some of his worst memories.

That's being beaten by his father.

That's being stoned by his friends and pushed into the lake where he caught hypothermia.

That's dying freezing and miserable in the attic until Edwin shows up.

If you want a thorough analysis of her actions, go look at what pippin-katz wrote, I'm going to focus on Charles here.

She twisted the knife (and we know that it is a very, very deep wound in Charles, the anger and abuse of his father--he's emotional enough over it to get caught in the murder loop at the Devlin House and it's one of the points of his breakdown in 1x04) when she showed him these moments and basically asks him, "What's the point of staying here, this is what happened to you. That's what people here do to you. You wanted to stay for this? You can't make things better (this was during his father's beating)..It didn't get better, you died. That's the point."

Please, let's not forget how much this affects Charles, the fact that his father beat him and so we might suppose, was always disappointed in him. With Crystal, Charles admits that he looks in on his parents every now and then because yes, he misses them (this coming from a 16 year old boy who despite suffering at his own father's hand obviously had, at least before he died, still the desire to please that man, and perhaps some degree of love for him) but also to be sure that his father will not hurt his mother the way the old man hurt him. He wants to protect his mother. So all of that, reliving that, is going to be very painful.

What did Charles do in this moment?

He's angry. We know that he's very physical, and we can see the way that he puts himself between Edwin and the NN as he refuses to 'come quietly' to the Afterlife. He's visibly shaken by the ordeal and rattled after he recovers from whatever the NN did to him when she made him relive his memories. She flicks her hand and basically does something that makes him collapse, and he's trying to pull himself to his feet after that.

He's so very angry, hurt.

"If you wanted me crushed, devastated, I am. I'm also bloody angry."

Looking around a bit, I asked around to get an idea of how exactly what he did could be taken in a shocking, jarring way. I'm not here to disprove anything or knock other's opinions, I just wanted to compare both sides of it. That being said, two points.

He hit a woman with that big metal device.

It's not like him to be so violent.

Those, in a nutshell, are a very brief, concise idea of why people might look at what Charles did and think, "Hm that was a bit too much. Maybe he shouldn't have done that, not in that way."

I answer with the fact that, as pippin-katz also pointed out, the Night Nurse looks like a small, older woman, otherwise defenseless (Granted, she didn't have anything to defend herself when Charles attacked). Apparently in Doom Patrol (I've never seen it and don't plan to) she looks a little less like a woman and a little more monstrous. So she's not entirely innocent here. I personally disapprove of what she chose to use against Charles (and Edwin, given that she threatened to bring up the same painful memories in Edwin's mind). I don't condone the idea of violence against a woman, that's not okay, and it was a little jarring to see. I guess I'm trying to say....I believe that Charles was right to defend against the attack initiated by the Night Nurse.

Was it laudable that he reacted so violently to her? Perhaps not, I don't think so.

Was he to blame for choosing to fight? I certainly think not.

To the second point, I can't say very much because I haven't read the comics nor do I know extensively his personality and what he would or wouldn't do. But I've gathered that, from seeing the series, he's never quite been the one to attack first, or to strike just for the hell of it. I've only ever seen him react, not initiate. I think it's understandable that he would react strongly to what has happened, and I hold that he isn't to blame for wanting to protect Edwin and their loved ones.

How did his friends react to all of this?

Edwin

Charles reels from what happened, and you can hear that he's shaken by it. You can hear it in his voice when he asks Edwin and the girls, "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Edwin steps forward and tells him it was extreme. That kind of tipped it for Charles, then, I think.

"Was it too extreme, Edwin? So was me dying at 16, mate! I don't wanna be dead. I hate it. Yet every day I'm fucking smiling 'cause who else is going to be the one holding it together, keeping spirits up? You? Are you gonna do that, huh? And for what? What good am I even doing? I couldn't stop Devlin from murdering his family over and over. I can't stop Crystal from hurting. I can't stop whatever it is that's going on with you. I can't stop anything. I sure as hell couldn't stop my dad from beating the shit out of me. No matter how good I was."

Honestly, this part broke my heart. Because Charles, earlier, said that he did this for them, to protect them. He's admitting here that he IS the one trying to hold everyone together but that (wake up call everyone) he's actually hurting too underneath all of it. But as someone pointed out to me, Charles never brought that up to Edwin because he might have considered that Edwin has spent 70 years in hell and would not have wanted to burden his friend with his own problems.

We see that Charles is falling apart here. He's questioning the good that he does, because in his eyes he sees only how he's failed "to stop" all those things, and you can note how his voice rises and breaks towards the end.

Niko and Crystal say nothing in this moment, but either later that episode or in the next one, Crystal snaps at Charles.

"You’re a sweet guy with a rage problem. You walk around acting like the sun always shines, and then you lost your shit while beating the Night Nurse. Edwin and I are walking on eggshells around you instead of just saying 'what the actual fuck?'”

That was definitely something that caught my attention because didn't she hear what Charles said up above? It just popped out at me because Charles explained why he's the one acting like the sun always shines (he needs to try and keep everyone's spirits up because if he breaks down, and Edwin were to break down because of all the shit he's been through, that coupled with Crystal's own problems with David and her personal struggles...there would be no one to pull everyone out of their darkness)

Anyway, I'm not here to bash anyone either. Back to Charles.

So in the end, he breaks down and we can see that the catalyst here (probably) is not only reliving those memories and dragging up the pain he's been carrying from all of that but also the reaction of his friends. In his mind, he did it for them. He immediately steps between the NN and Edwin, to defend Edwin. He's left questioning the good that he's doing here, the point of all of that.

To the final question of was it wrong for Charles to do what he did?

I believe he wasn't wrong. He was defending against an attack. He might have responded with too much violence but he's reacting to something that wounded him just as deeply.

So this ended up being more of an exposition of Charles and his emotional state, but I tried to make a defense of his actions. It's not perfect, and I'm not out to prove any sort of point, just expressing thoughts because I too had a strong reaction to that episode.

Nonetheless Charles remains my favorite.

[mechagic]

Marcille is trans, but since she's half elf and was mostly surrounded by elves she didn't really have to transition that much, since you know elves are very fem

Every time someone tells her "hey you look masculine" she would just say that it came from her human father's side (if shes comfortable saying that) or that the lion decided to fuck her over one last time (as a joke)

Extra ramblings in the tags bc why not 👍

[tdutb]

i decided to draw 4 characters that i had refused to draw because i thought their design was too complex to prove that past me is a coward

Trophy ended up looking the best and i have no idea why so uh. yeah.

zoom-ins under the cut

click for higher quality cuz god knows tumblr looves crunching these

[ashchoo]

Introducing,,,,Lilith!! Odalia’s younger sister :D

-

time for the info dump lmao :) tw for childhood neglect, abuse, eating disorders, mentions of cannibalism??

-

Lilith is the second born of the Mantis family—with Odalia being the oldest—and the quiet one out of the four. She owns a library and loves her job free of her mother’s influence. They have read every book in their library at least 12 times, and are always appreciative of donations. Lillemor uses her names interchangeably,,,also depending on the person (if she doesn’t know someone we’ll she uses Lilith but if she’s close with someone she uses Lillemor,,,don’t tell her mother about that >:3). And if a neighbor is having difficulty finding a book, just ask her! She’d be happy to help,,even if she is a bit shy As a child, her mother put her on a strict diet so someday she become a model—just like Odalia—and forced her to eat people like the rest of the Mantis family does,,,not only did it make Lillemor deathly thin from refusing to eat for extended periods of time, but she refuses to eat any meat at all.

Now for some random details lol,,,,wondering why she has two names? Well it’s because her parents couldn’t decide what to call her. Her mother Morana wanted to name her “Lilith”,,meaning “belonging to the night” (cuz Morana is edgy and evil and shit),,,,but her father Devland wanted to name her “Lillemor” meaning “little mother”(idk Devland actually cares about his daughters). She gets little meals from her friend Monty H Buzby (Monty by @g4l4ctical) cuz it’s cute and they’re besties :D. They can also play the harp! Her favorite book genres are horror fiction and mythology. She also loves the ocean and beach towns (since she’s based off of a conehead mantis, which are found mainly in Mediterranean coastal areas)

anyways thanks for listening to my Ted talk :) also here’s her voice claim

[doodle-birdo]

RW OSTober

Gosh, this track is so pretty… it’s so angelic.

Plus, this one connects on with the previous one. :)

[xerith-42]

Redesign The Nine Part 3 (sort of)

If you haven't read the previous posts in this series, don't worry. In the last two posts I turned my attention to characters who didn't exist, or characters who's development/implementation in the story left a lot to be desired. This is going to be more of that second one, mostly because I love all of the characters I'm going to talk about in this post.

This post is partially redesign, but mostly analysis of the Jury and how these established characters might interact with less established characters to flesh out the Jury of Nine as a whole. I just gave it the same title for consistencies sake, please know that I am not making any drastic changes to these characters that would contradict or retcon their purpose in the story. It's mostly adding extra details around what we already know.

With that being said, let's get started with

Ivy The Venom Scythe

Why doesn't Ivy have a scythe? It's in her fucking name, why didn't they-- well I guess I have to!

Bam!

(image found on Pinterest)

This is Ivy's scythe now. Size and all. Big fuck off scythe that's kind of impractical but god damn does it look cool when she uses it. How does a girl learn to use a scythe like this? By being a weapon raised by farmers.

Ivy was raised to believe that her worth as a person was determined by her ability to protect herself. Unlike many other members of the Jury, Ivy doesn't come from Ru'aun. She comes from Tu'la, where might and fury is upheld as aspirational. Growing up in the outer kingdoms, separate from the tyrannical rule of the king, Ivy never had any sense of civic duty to her kingdom. However, she was raised to be a weapon to protect her family's homestead.

She learned how to use a scythe because it was something always around her parents farm, something that made her stand out against any poor boy with a sword and gave her a unique flare she hoped to use to instill fear into her enemies. Ivy's dreams of guts and glory where shattered when she was just a teenager and her little family farm and the village adjacent to it were beset by colonizers of the main kingdom.

That day Ivy failed. She was raised to be a weapon and she failed, barely making it out alive with her dad and getting on a boat to Ru'aun. It stuck with her in a way she never wanted to admit. She later came to greatly resent her parents, but this event and this failure still haunts her. Just in... Different ways. In Ru'aun Ivy quickly picks up on the fact that the best way to survive is to become a guard. She doesn't really understand the inner workings of Ru'aun's political and religious powers, she just needs a means of supporting herself and goes out and gets it.

And she goes so hard that she makes the top of the Jury list without trying. She was literally raised to protect her family, raised to be a fighter, she knows the answers to any tests they ask her without studying anything. She doesn't fight with a sword, she demands that she fight with a scythe, using a terrible wooden one as a demonstration of her skills. She ends up breaking it over someone's body because she went too hard, but it was impressive as hell. Ivy garners instant attention and recognition for her abilities, and when instructors are writing the Jury list, she's the top name on all of them.

But there is one worry. Ivy's attitude. Despite her great combat prowess, Ivy has a really stand off-ish personality. She didn't really interact with other people a lot and tends to be really awkward in conversations. Eventually she just starts intimidating people because it's easier to get them to do what she wants if they think she'll gut them. And she will.

There's a worry that her stubbornness and lack of cooperative skills will make her unfit for the Jury, who are meant to be a collective that fights stronger together. Fortunately for Ivy, this Jury is run by Zane Ro'Meave who has no morals and pragmatic ideals that serve his own ends instead of upholding the sanctity of a centuries old tradition that barely worked. When Zane meets Ivy she threatens him at one point because her brain just has not had the capacity to wrap around how important Zane is. He reminds her of the stuck up nobles that were always badgering her parents to sell their land and become a part of their kingdom.

Zane is endlessly amused by this angry lesbian threatening him with a sharpened gardening tool, and doesn't even think twice about letting her in. He even assigns her name before she's signed all the paperwork signing her rights away to Zane. Ivy the Venom Scythe. It's too fitting. Ivy takes great pride in this name, and in time take great pride in serving Zane.

Her initial judgement wasn't wrong, but she sees the benefit of being in his good graces. There's an element to people who've left Tu'la that I love to implement. This lingering, always present but never quite visible fear, the threat on the horizon but our of focus. Tu'la and the colonizing fucks that run the major kingdoms are always a quiet threat. Ivy sees what O'Khasis looks like, gets a sense for it's military and their values, and gets a taste for how ruthless Zane is and she realizes if anyone stands a chance against them, it's him.

That's why Ivy is loyal to Zane. And that's why Zane always has faith in her, even if he doesn't express it. He doesn't need to blackmail her by threatening her family, because she gladly moves her dad into a nice home in O'Khasis where he won't pose any threat. And over time, as Ivy spends less and less time away from him, she realizes skills she has outside of being a weapon. Thanks to Zane, possibly Teony, maybe Janus, Ivy does start to come out of the armor she's put around herself.

Teony spends a night with her where Ivy confesses that she actually really likes classical theatre. She used to watch theatre troupes that traveled the countryside do different plays and epics and she loves them so much. Zane makes her realize the value of how analytical she is about people. Ivy is naturally talented at reading people, a skill she's picked up over the years of watching people's footsteps in combat. She knows how to get into an enemy's head and then make a battle plan around it, and she attends almost all of Zane's war room meetings because of this.

As Ivy realizes more and more the person she is outside of what her parents wanted for her, a sort of resentment starts to grow. She starts to reflect on experiences differently. Some fond story about a time that her father taught her a harsh lesson quickly makes her feel angry and protective, how dare he speak to her like that. What gave him the right to harm a child? And why didn't her mother ever do anything?

Ivy doesn't like to be controlled. It's what her parents taught her whenever they talked about their disdain for the kingdoms vying for territory at all times. That the best thing they could be is free of all of them. None of them actually care about their individual lives, they're just numbers, just spots on a map they can say they own. She realizes that her parents thought of her the same way.

Barely their daughter, just something to fend off the enemy. How could she ever be ready to fight an entire kingdom? She was a child, and they took that away from her. How dare they. If there's one thing we know about Ivy, she's ruthless, and she doesn't like being controlled. She tends to take matters into her own hands, and she isn't afraid to cut the threads tying her to a legacy she no longer cares to protect.

Ivy rebuilds her life in Ru'aun, serving Zane, fighting for O'Khasis, forming relationships that mean something with other members of the Jury. And then Teony leaves. Ivy wasn't around when it happened, only getting the letter Teony left from her. That's when things change... Probably not for the better. That's when Ivy starts leaving for jobs longer and longer, taking on projects in other regions even if she isn't who Zane wanted to send.

She starts to desperately chase after Teony because in a life of being a weapon for someone Teony was the first person who liked her fighting but made her feel like a person. Teony gave Ivy hope that she could have a life outside of fighting, killing, and intimidating. She still lives this life but her heart has started to fall out of it and it's almost like she's grieving.

This all comes to a head when Janus finds her in Gal'ruk. He sought her out. He hunted her down when Zane was content to leave her while he achieved his goals in Ru'aun. He hunted her down because Zane is gone now, and so is Lilian. Janus didn't have many people he ever connected with, only three, and Ivy is at the bottom of that list. But he needs some tether after everything else is gone, and quite frankly so does Ivy.

The two travel together for quite some time, but eventually end up in Tu'la, a place Ivy is surprisingly eager to return to. Her eagerness is because she wants to prove to those militants and the monarchy that they failed. They failed to kill her, failed to end her bloodline, and failed to keep down a resistance force against their tyranny, especially with Janus at her side.

[looks at the canon for what happened to Janus in Tu'la]

THIS DID NOT GO WELL.

Needless to say trying to stand up to your oppressors starts to fall apart when your best friend kills a few civilians and then said oppressors respond by killing your friend. As admirable of a fight as Janus put up, as hard as he fought, even he fell to their might. Janus was slain and Ivy was left with a choice. The Tu'la military has some great respect for her due to her fury, her fighting prowess, and the fact that she's a natural born Tu'la citizen. She deserves a nice cushy spot in their ranks as a proper warrior of Menphia. Ivy is left with three choices.

Run, hide, or fight. She chooses to hide, playing the long game she always has and taking the job in the Tu'la military, accepting her guard dog, and using her friends sword as a secondary weapon in remembrance of everything she's lost. Ivy serves knowing that one day she will become a thorn in their side and a knife in their back. Ivy has always fought for her own survival, and the greatest threat to that survival has always been Tu'la.

That doesn't change just because she works for them.

Katelyn The Firefist

Imagine this. You're born to a large, not so well off family living in the fringes of the biggest city in the continent. While you could have moved somewhere better at some point in your life, that point is gone now. Now you have three baby brothers to look after, a mom who is gone all the time, and a dad who is working himself into an early grave and still unable to provide. What do you do?

Katelyn fought back. She may have been the only girl in a family of boys but she was manlier than all of them. She convinced her dad to teach her to fight before her oldest brother could even walk. She was an energetic and occasionally violent child. It was good for her to be trained in how to kill someone so she wouldn't accidentally kill one of her family members if she wasn't paying attention.

Katelyn sparred with her brothers all through their childhoods, it's how she connected with them, how they came to be close. Not all of them took to fighting, but they still learned self defense from Katelyn. She never talked to them about it, but it's clear that the environment she grew up in wasn't always pretty. As O'Khasis started to have more presence bandits were driven out and things became more peaceful. But even still, Katelyn never trusted O'Khasis fully.

She really didn't like that she never saw the full face of its leader. It meant they would always have things to hide. Nevertheless, in an attempt to not only get her family out of poverty, but also to potentially serve and see behind the dark secret of the O'Khasis Elite, Katelyn applied to the guard academy, expecting to get her certification and then work as a guard at the Ro'Meave Estate.

She wasn't expecting to make the Jury list. It was just not a thought that ever crossed her mind despite knowing it was a thing. Katelyn was content to do her own thing, and while she could be friendly with her classmates, she never made the offer herself. She always had to be coaxed out of her shell by others, and few made attempts to really connect with or understand her. She didn't go to the Academy to make friends, she went to make a living.

Instead the day before her graduation ceremony she was approached by Zane Ro'Meave. He seemed delighted to meet her, genuinely excited after all he'd heard of her fighting prowess. I mean, she never fought with a sword.

All that time it was hand to hand. Gauntlet to armor. Bladed glove to throat. Different members of the Jury stood out for unique weapon selections and mastery, but Katelyn stood out for being able to kill a fully armored guard without a weapon. She would be an invaluable asset as Zane's personal guard, able to cover a weak spot in his security. One issue.

As Zane and Katelyn are talking, one of her brothers comes running into the courtyard, excited to see his big sister after so long. Her dad brought them early to surprise her at the worst possible time. Zane responds to the presence of her family professionally, even introducing himself to her father and speaking to him about Katelyn getting the Jury position before she even agreed to it.

Despite not knowing Zane, Katelyn can't fight the feeling that this is wrong. That she should be shielding her family away from whatever was hiding behind Zane's mask. But now her dad knows she has this opportunity, she could be a true hero to her brothers, give them the life they deserve. Any doubt she has about the position is overshadowed by her unending love for her family. She takes the position, moves her family into central O'Khasis, and serves Zane exclusively now.

One issue. Katelyn cannot fucking stand Zane. She's really good at biting her tongue and clenching her fist, but Zane isn't an idiot. He can see the change in her expression, the twitch of her brow, the way she gets tense when he brings up less than moral ideas. He knows that she's thought of punching him hard enough to knock his head off, but still needs her to know she can't really hurt him.

The day before he plans to put this in action, Katelyn meets a fellow member of the Jury, the one who joined a year before she did. Their initial interaction doesn't leave her with much, just an idea of the kind person he is. It's their interaction the next day that matters. It's what Zane says to Katelyn.

At this point, she's been in the Jury for a few months. And while she's shown no outward intent to harm Zane, he feels it's only inevitable before she does and decides to nip it in the bud. This is when Zane instates a new rule. Jury of Nine members are not to have family.

Katelyn has a few options, all of them running through her faster than she's able to keep track of as Zane speaks. All she can think of is how miserable her life would be without her brothers, without her dad's cooking, without the joy they bring her. She doesn't know if she can live a life without them. But as it is, her options are limited.

She could quit the Jury, but it would be a black mark against her in the eyes of O'Khasis. She'd be seen as a deserter, and her chances of finding work as a guard would be gone. Her reputation would never be able to recover from this. She could cut off her family, renounce them, and instruct them to never speak to or attempt to contact her. She'd lose the thing that means most to her, but Zane promises they'll be supported so long as she works for him.

He doesn't need to say why, or what happens if she decides to take... Drastic measures. Even if she ran away, there's a chance Zane would send someone else from the Jury to take her out and cover their tracks, and whoever that was certainly wouldn't leave the rest of her family alive. "Willingly" cutting herself off from her family to keep the Jury position is the only way to ensure their safety.

Katelyn promises to do it in the morning before the decree is announced to the public. If she doesn't, she knows what'll happen. Katelyn manages to keep it together long enough to get past Zane, but the minute she finds somewhere alone in the estate she breaks. She breaks and she sobs and she wails and she mourns the family she's done so much to protect that she may never see again after tomorrow.

It's there that the man she met before becomes more than just a colleague. It's in the outer part of the Ro'Meave garden that Katelyn is offered a handkerchief and a shoulder to cry on by a man she never expected to leave an impact on her the way he did. It's there that Katelyn learns she isn't alone. He has to leave his daughter under the watch of a caretaker assigned by Zane, and nobody is allowed to know about her, even if she's his pride and joy and he carries not only a folded up drawing of her, but he even has some of her artwork or poorly written letters to him.

The sincerity shown and the vulnerability between both of them is palpable, something stronger than the metaphorical blades to their neck held by Zane. While Zane may be holding them hostage in a way, during a quiet tear filled talk in the garden, they're holding hands, and showing love to one another in spite of it all.

Katelyn would later recall this conversation as the only reason she was able to get through the next day of her life. Saying goodbye to her family is... Crushing. Nothing in their life is to change, other than the occasional presence of an O'Khasis guard to make sure they don't break Zane's rules. Katelyn's dad is keen enough to know that Katelyn doesn't want to say goodbye to her family, but is putting up a tough facade to protect them. He knows his daughter well enough to know that she wouldn't do this if she had any other choice.

Her brothers don't take it as well, heartbroken, angry, and devastated. While one of them can't even look her in the eye, Kacey won't let go of her when they hug for the last time, refusing to let go of the most stable thing in his life. When he lost a mother Katelyn stepped in as the best older sister he could ask for and he's not ready to lose that again. It's a moment that tests Katelyn's loyalties further than anything Zane tried to do directly. She has to push her brother off, tell him that she has to go, and that if he ever sees her again, he's not allowed to talk to her or tell people they're related. She has to do that.

Needless to say, Katelyn wasn't doing great afterwards. Neither was the poor father she had spoken to, and once more they meet each other near the edge of the garden and talk through their awful days, this time with some drinks or even a pipe. It's the one respite that Katelyn gets, the one place she can be herself and not put up a front.

When Jury work is awful, she can fall back on him. When one or both of them is pushed to do something outside of their moral compass for Zane, they confide in one another and assure each other that they aren't the monsters Zane wants them to be. And while it started slow, these little meet-ups are when they start making plans to get the hell out of dodge and get their families to safety. It takes a while to work out all the flaws in their plans, and they need a lot of that time to get into Zane's good graces again. Get him to trust them enough that they can take advantage of it.

Finally there's a window of hope. Katelyn just needs to finish this one job, and then Zane puts a plan into effect he won't need either of them for. He'll go off to negotiate with Scaleswind on his own, leaving them enough time to get out of O'Khasis and save their families. One minor hiccup occurs when Katelyn gets sick the day before she's supposed to go on her job. While she insists she can handle it, that doesn't really slide. He's going to take her job whether she likes it or not.

Katelyn never forgave herself for falling in love with him. She never forgave herself for "making" him fall in love with her. She never forgave herself for being too cowardly to admit this love. She never forgave herself for killing her best friend.

So she did the best thing she could. She tried to avenge him. When she hears the news that he failed her assignment and is on trial as a traitor, she realizes that their plans are falling to pieces and they have to act fast. Katelyn realizes that... They can't save their families. If he dies now for his transgressions then they'll never have a chance to get them out. Zane will tighten his chokehold on that which they love most.

She has to save herself. And maybe save him. Or at least find out what he was saving. Katelyn reads the official report and any testimonial she's able to get her hands on. They aren't allowed to see each other, obviously, but she's pouring over any detail she can get. And it all comes back to one name. Aphmau.

This strange woman Zane keeps mentioning, this paradoxical lord who keeps sticking her nose where it doesn't belong. Her name is never in any of his testimonies, but Zane fills in the blanks of the story with her name. He knows. And Katelyn honestly believes him. From what she's heard it would make total sense for Aphmau to be the reason for the apparent "slip in judgement". From everything Katelyn heard... She sounded a lot like his late wife.

Katelyn has to know more. And that leads her to Phoenix Drop under some guise of "investigation" as if it was possible he didn't do the right thing for once. And we know the story from there... Meaning there's one more--

Jeffory The Golden Heart

GUYS GUYS GUYS GUYS THIS IS MY FAVORITE MCD CHARACTER YOU DON'T EVEN UNDERSTAND

There's one important thing to know about Jeffory. Out of everyone in the Jury who had the potential to even think about backstabbing Zane, Jeffory was the one who the would-be ruler of Ru'aun was most scared of. Not because Jeffory was the strongest, or because he had a greater threat to his collateral, or even because he had the strongest grudge against Zane. Because Jeffory came to Zane with a title.

In canon MCD we're told that Jeffory's name comes from his Golden Glaive, but let's be real, we know why he was called that. Because Jeffory is golden hearted in and out. He's so kind it hurts, he's so god damn nice it's fucking annoying, this man is infuriatingly patient and compassionate. Jeffory had the name Golden Heart attached to him from childhood, first a compliment he was given when he saved an injured bird and fixed its wing. The golden songbird sang along with him, and his mother remarked that Jeffory's heart was as gold as it's feathers.

As Jeffory grew up his kindhearted nature never changed, only improved. He learned to become a guard because he wanted to protect those who could not protect themselves. He was trained by a local blacksmith and one of the guards who sparred with him sometimes, but he was largely self taught. His mother was a baker and his father was a tailor, they had no idea how to train a guard.

But Jeffory was determined. He felt a sense of obligation, not to anyone else, but to himself. To this inherently kind heart he was apparently born with. Jeffory knows he can be a great warrior, and he knows there are lives he'll be able to save if he's given the chance. Eventually he felt good enough to go to the Academy.

All and all, Jeffory had a very basic academy experience. He didn't stand out from the crowd too much, but there's no shame in being in the middle of the pack. He gained some flack and some respect for his unending chivalry on the battlefield, often being the best sport after a match which did piss some people off, but he never let it get to him.

The other reason Jeffory was called Golden Heart was because after enough people attributed it to him, his father brought it to reality. Any piece of clothing made by Jeffory's father had a small golden heart embroidered in. Sometimes it was over his chest, where his real heart would be, other times it was sewn in where nobody could see it, and even made him one coat where the buttons were all small golden hearts. It was in the Academy that this became a pattern people outside of the small village he grew up in picked up on. People called him Golden Heart like it was a call sign, and he often responded to it.

It wasn't lost on Academy staff how much it sounded like a Jury members title, but there wasn't anything they could do about it. Jeffory didn't even qualify for the Jury list, there really wasn't any worry. He finished his time and got assigned to work in O'Khasis. While he would dearly miss his parents, Jeffory was more than excited to explore Ru'aun more and work somewhere new.

Two weeks into his job in O'Khasis and Jeffory met the most beautiful woman he had seen in his life working the graveyard shift in the shadiest tavern known to man. This shitty bar does not deserve to have the goddess that is Grace working it, none of the patrons treat her well, and most of them are blackout drunk anyways. Jeffory stops in to get a drink before changing shifts, and while he greatly resents the bar that treated her so poorly, he's so glad he went into that bar that night.

Grace is more than delighted to have a patron who's not only sober when they come in, but comes in with a smile and likes talking to her instead of ordering her around. Even if it's only 15 minutes, she is properly flattered by Jeffory's natural charm and well meaning nature. He tips her well, and even tells her where he'll be patrolling if she ever needs help with anything. He doesn't expect anything to come of this, but he's still hopeful that something will.

And boy howdy does it. A few weeks later Grace finds Jeffory on his shift and brings him a little care basket with some booze she snuck out of the bar, some bread she baked, and assorted fruits and snacks she could fill it with. He's almost always patrolling the area around her bar and since he showed up the amount of issues she's had have gone down significantly. Whatever he's doing to keep the streets clean is working and she wants to show that appreciation.

This very quickly turns into Jeffory taking her on a picnic date at the top of one of the watch towers where they can watch the sunset together. Because of course it does. And both of them agree that they want this to be the first of a potential many dates with one another. Needless to say dates of this manner continue for some time, and eventually the two fall fully and foolishly in love.

This pushes Jeffory to decide to fully move away from his childhood home and into O'Khasis with Grace. From there the two only become more infatuated with one another, like I cannot enforce how much these two adore each other. Jeffory was ready to propose to her on the second date and he's amazed that they made it to three years of being together without him cracking.

The straw that made him break was actually rather simple. It all took place in one conversation he had with Grace when she came home from a visit to the local cleric.

"What's the news?"

"...I'm pregnant."

"Will you marry me?"

And like that, Jeffory was living the life of his dreams. Jeffory has always been a very family oriented person, always trying to make his parents proud, valuing them and the collective family of his village, and he always had dreams of finding The One and settling down, and now he had that. He and Grace married shortly after he proposed, so she could wear a more traditional wedding dress with minimal modification.

The following months with Grace were the happiest times in Jeffory's life with very little competition. He loves taking care of his wife, he loves spoiling her, and he loves spending time with her. One minor problem. They're kind of broke. Their incomes were enough for them to live low cost together, but they don't make enough to account for all the expenses of a baby.

So when Grace is 5 months pregnant, Jeffory reapplies to the Academy with the express purpose of being made a member of the Jury of Nine. The training should take three months, meaning he'll be back in time for his child to be born. And this time he's taken advice given to him on a whim by a fellow member of the Jury. He had one chance encounter with Ivy on a patrol, and she gave him an odd piece of unsolicited advice.

"Word to the wise, you've got skill, but it's wasted on a sword. Try to broaden your horizons."

With this in mind Jeffory goes in and trains in using polearms, a spear, and eventually he finds a real fancy for a glaive, It's a weapon that's hard to use in training situations against other cadets, but when Jeffory shows what he can do with the weapon against the training dummies, it's impressive. He always wants to protect as many people as possible, a far reaching weapon is effective at this goal and gets attention. Zane wanted the Jury to be an assortment of fighters with a variety of skills, able to take on different jobs and cover up each others weak points.

Jeffory was the only part of this crop of cadets that ever really caught Zane's attention. There's just one issue he can't let go of. When he see's Jeffory's name on the list, next to it is written "Golden Heart." One of the academy directors explains the origin of his nickname, and how fitting it would be if he were a member of the Jury. Zane despises the idea of Jeffory having a title given to him by anyone else, but the seat is empty and he needs to fill it.

So he approaches Jeffory. Jeffory is as friendly to Zane as he is to anyone else, and only kind of sucks up to him the entire conversation. His natural charm doesn't work on a pessimistic Zane, but he can't argue with the numbers. Jeffory was the best member of this crop of candiates, even if he'd failed before. He'd be a fool not to offer it, and Jeffory would be a fool not to take the offer.

It's the day after Jeffory has agreed to join the Jury that he gets the news. As he's packing his belongings and getting ready for the journey back to O'Khasis, he gets a rather frantically delivered letter, sealed and signed by the cleric Grace had spoken to before. There isn't anything that can prepare Jeffory for the contents of that letter.

He has a beautiful, healthy, breathing daughter. In the process he lost his beautiful, snarky, fantastic wife. He's lost everything and gained everything as well. And he wasn't there for any of it. His daughter breathed her first breath and his wife breather her last and he wasn't there. Nothing else matters.

Jeffory doesn't say goodbye to any potential friend or would be pupil, he doesn't even look Zane in the eye as he passes. He just leaves, goes home to O'Khasis, unable to really speak to anyone. It's the first time in his life he's been this quiet for this long. The entire ride home is just... Quiet. He thinks of Grace in the silence, of her voice, her songs, the music she taught Jeffory, her laughter, her sobbing, any sound she could make that he ever took for granted bombards Jeffory's mind in the silence.

When he reaches home something else fills it. The sound of someone new. Her crying, her screaming, her laughing, her babbling, suddenly there's a new and beautiful life in Jeffory's arms and he's never felt happier in his life. From the moment he laid eyes on her Abby is the greatest treasure of his entire life. Jeffory's daughter is everything to him.

There's a bitter sweet grace period. A time where Jeffory has to start going through all of Grace's things, figuring out what to keep for himself, what to keep for Abby, and what to send back home to her parents. A time where he can adjust to being a father and the challenges of raising a newborn he is not even close to fit to raise. It doesn't last for very long, but Jeffory remembers it as the last time he ever felt peaceful.

Then Zane comes home. And with him comes Jeffory's previously unaddressed Jury summon. There's not any doubt in his mind that he wants to take this job to provide for Abby, but he actually initiates negotiations with Zane to ensure that he'll have time to care for her, and someone equipped to care for her if he isn't present. Zane showed up at his home ready to intimidate and possibly threaten the life of this child and Jeffory's suddenly trying to get proper sick leave and setting up Bring Your Daughter To Work days.

Once again Jeffory displays something that Zane is less than fond of. Jeffory's forward way of thinking, the way that he sees the world in spite of the way that it is and then takes the world into his own hands to get it if he has to... It's unsettling to someone trying to maintain power and control for his own ends. Suddenly Jeffory's a liability but Zane can't get rid of him. He needs Jeffory, needs one of the many empty seats his father left him to be filled, needs someone with his skills and charisma on his side, but he can never trust Jeffory the Golden Heart.

Zane begrudgingly agrees to Jeffory's request, arranging for him and Abby to stay in a smaller homestead near the Ro'Meave Estate, and Zane will make arrangements for Abby to have a caretaker that will care for Abby when he's away. (Don't ask me for details about the caretaker cause then they'll just turn into an OC mid post). Once they're moved, Jeffory does as he agreed.

He serves Zane Ro'Meave. Why wouldn't he? Sure, Zane's a little off-putting, but he's still learning to rule, still learning how to do things. Jeffory sees Zane for the child wearing adults clothing that he is and forgives any perceived shortcomings because of this. He can tell Zane is calculated, but he hasn't wrapped his head around just how calculated Zane is, how many steps ahead he's thinking, and how far he's willing to go for his own ends.

There's just. One problem. Jeffory was the first and Katelyn was the second member of the Jury to come in with previous attachments. Before Zane mostly found people with no attachments, or who were already attached to him and his family. Jeffory was his first taste, and it was not a good one. Jeffory's sincere nature meant Zane couldn't ask him to do messier jobs that he would be best suited for because well, if anyone would tell him "I'm not gonna do that" it would be Jeffory.

And if Jeffory gets away with doing that, if he gets treated differently just because he has the audacity to call Zane cruel, then he won't be the last. Zane cannot let this become a problem. And Zane is rather efficient at killing two birds with one stone. The day after Katelyn and Jeffory first became acquainted, Zane tells Jeffory the unfortunate truth. He needs Jeffory to do a... Less than ideal job.

Kill the last of a resistance group fighting against O'Khasis' forced annexation of their village. Ivy has done a good job of cutting down their numbers, but Zane wants Jeffory to lure them into false peace talks so they lower their guard, and she can do the finishing blow. Jeffory, obviously, says there's no way he's doing that. He'll kill to protect himself or others, but this resistance group hasn't hurt anyone other than Ivy, who has been actively killing them and their friends.

That's when Zane shows how far he's willing to go. Normally Zane speaks in a more... Vaguely threatening manner. He doesn't like to say things outright if he can avoid it, plausible deniability is a powerful tool. When it comes to someone like Jeffory, he knows he can't mince words.

"Kill this resistance, or I kill your daughter. It's that simple."

Zane only has to make this threat once. He never has to say those words again because once was enough to burn into Jeffory's memories. Zane said it with such confidence, such conviction, there's no way it was an empty threat. It puts Jeffory in a... Really bad position. His immediate temptation is to run to Abby, but he doesn't know if he can face her right now. He doesn't know if he can even face himself, come to terms with the innocent lives he is considering taking just to keep her alive.

Jeffory takes a rather aimless walk through the Estate, mostly mulling over Zane's threat and his predicament, and coming to no conclusion on it. Until he's in the garden. He hears the muffled sobbing of a woman in distress, and finds Katelyn the Firefist, curled up and crying against the vine covered pillar. No doubt suffering from a similar family related dilemma thanks to their shared employer.

Jeffory didn't know Katelyn at all. This was the second time he'd seen her, and she made it clear to him that her vulnerability was a rareness he should consider himself lucky to have survived seeing. But her vulnerability is the only reason either one of them open up to the other about their struggles. What started as a hushed conversation trying to relieve some stress turned into them being trusted confidants that either one could go to.

Zane attempted to cut them off from sentimentality, from sincerity, from the things that make them human so they'd be willing to do anything for him. He inadvertently caused his own destruction through this, bringing together two people who could have had a barely passable coworker friendship and instead making them the only people who they can trust. As always Zane's attempt to keep people down only makes them all the better at fighting him.

Jeffory isn't proud of the man he becomes. But every day that he returns home to Abby it doesn't matter. Every night he gets to spend with her by the fire makes all of the blood shed worth it. Zane is careful to space out when he gives Jeffory less than pretty jobs, so they don't happen often. Yet they still haunt him as he's cooking breakfast for her. He just has to remind himself that it's all for her. One day he and Katelyn are going to get out of this together, they're going to get her family, get Abby, and run away together.

When he puts it like that it almost sounds romantic. And the romanticism of the situation is not lost on him, he's been flirting with Katelyn since the first time they talked. He considers bringing up the elephant in the room, but never follows through, mostly because he struggles to tell if it's reciprocated. Katelyn is frustratingly good at hiding her emotions, even if Jeffory is equally good at tearing down her mental walls.

There was one time he almost said the quiet part out loud by accident. When Katelyn met Abby. Abby was about 3 years old at this point, and Katelyn came to Jeffory's house planning on just picking up something for Zane. But the caretaker is gone and she opens the door to find Jeffory sitting at the table teaching his daughter to read. He doesn't shoo her away, he invites her in and introduces the two to each other.

The rest of the day is a delight as Katelyn teaches Abby anything she can ask a question about, plays with her the entire day, and acts like the mother Abby truly needed. Seeing Katelyn interacting with Abby makes Jeffory want to confess his love to her. He doesn't, but Irene help him he desperately wants to. But he can't. Saying that would be putting another target in both of their backs, and it would just complicate things more. Get out of hell first, then fall in love once you're out of the fire.

And just before they're ready to make a break for it, Katelyn falls ill. Jeffory keeps her housed in his room and has Abby's caretaker look after her while he handles her job. Katelyn insists that it's fine, not because she can do this sick, but because she doesn't trust Jeffory to do this and she makes that clear to him. But she's too weak to even get up and stop him from taking this job. He promises to return home to her soon.

He never does.

[minty-mumbles]

LU Superhero AU

I’m gonna be honest, I haven't come up with a plot for this AU. But  I'm posting it anyways lol

Setting

In this universe, everyone has a power, but how useful those powers are varies wildly. 

Heroes are technically a part of law enforcement, but they work independently from the government and have a lot of leeway. A Hero Agency recruits by scouting among civilians who have strong powers with combative properties. Heroes are recruited when their powers manifest (13-15 yo) and train until they become an adult. Then they decide if they want to become a hero or do something else. Very few people choose to stay.

A Hero Agency controls patrol schedules and coordinates the heroes’ actions with the police. They secure private healers/doctors, get heroes high-quality suits and gear, and give them excellent legal representation if they need it. They also often provide housing if the heroes want to use them. In short, they're a safety net for heroes, but they come limitations.

Vigilantes are those who do what the Heroes do, but without the backing of an Agency. This means they aren’t licensed to take extreme actions, which makes a lot of what they do illegal. Heroes technically work to catch Vigilantes, but they end up teaming up more often than not. Heroes aren’t too concerned with catching them. They recognize that Vigilantes are doing the same thing as Heroes do, but simply don’t want to answer to an Agency.

Heroes are public figures. (There's definitely fanfiction written about them in universe, lmao.) Generally their civilian identity are kept secret. The public assumes that heroes live in the housing that the Agency provides, and that being a hero is their only job. However, most heroes live elsewhere, and only crash at Agency housing if they’re working late or they're injured. Being a hero pays more than enough to live off of, but most heroes have at least a part-time normal job so to not draw attention.

Characters

Time: 

Status: Hero (Starting to take a background role in things. Not retired yet, but not as active.)

Code Name: Tempus or Kronos

Power: Rewind - He can rewind time up to three days. He can go back shorter time frames, like one day, but it takes more concentration to do so. Three days is the default. The minimum amount of time he can wind back is 15 minutes, and that's after decades of practice. 

When he travels back in time, his body is rewound to the state it was at the time he wound back to. He could be bleeding out, and turn the clock back and be fine. He's not able to bring anything back with him, so he’s gotten pretty good at memorization.

Once he rewinds, he can’t do so again until he's back to the point where he started from. For example, if he rewinds three days, he has to wait three days to be able to rewind again. He can’t just keep going back three days at a time until he’s rewound an entire year.

Other: 

Time was unusually young when his powers manifested, only nine or ten. The powers manifested when his school was attacked by the villain Majora. No one believed him, either about the fact that his power had manifested so young, or that his school would be attacked. (Power manifestation usually happens ages 13-15.) He was stuck repeating the same three days over and over. He doesn’t know how long he spent in the loop, but eventually he managed to seek out the help of a vigilante, the Fierce Deity, who has the power to possess others and give them godlike strength. He was able to defeat Majora, but at the cost of the life of his childhood friend, Navi.

He’s married!! To Malon! And they are so in love

He used to teach history at a university. 

His secret identity has been revealed. People know he’s married, but they don't know to who. This forced him to move into agency housing. Malon stayed on Lon Lon Ranch just outside of the city. Time spends a good half of his days there, he just has to be careful about not being seen around the ranch too much now that people know who he is. If he were to retire, he and Malon would likely go into witness protection.

Twilight: 

Status: Hero 

Code Name: Vespera (? Latin for Dusk)

Power: Wolf Form - He can shapeshift into a wolf. While in wolf form, he can talk to other animals and ask them to do things. This gives the illusion he can control animals, but he actually can’t. He’s just polite and more often than not animals listen to him. His wolf form is slightly larger than a normal wolf and has better senses. He has unnatural tracking skills. He is incapable of human speech in Wolf form.

Other:

He is Time’s distant cousin. They weren’t close at first, especially because Twilight lived all the way out in the countryside, while Time lived in the city.

Twilight’s power manifested at a rather young age (11) and he had problems controlling his transformations. His parents sent him off to the city to train as a hero, in hopes he would learn how to control his power better. He stayed with Uncle Time, who just so happened (not that Twilight’s parents know this) to be a Hero as well.

Twilight was mentored by Time. Mentoring actually means something in this system. They teach the younger heroes the ropes, etc.

He ended up liking being a Hero enough to stay. He goes back to visit his parents and help out around the farm during the summers though. 

He was mentoring Wild before Wild’s accident.

Warriors: 

Status: Hero 

Code Name: Captain

Power: Persuasion - He can’t exactly brainwash people, but he can make them very susceptible to his suggestions. They can break out of it if they have enough will. It’s very useful for making opponents lay down their weapons and give up, and even if someone does still try to fight him, it makes them reluctant to do so, making it easy for Warriors.

Other: 

Used to be a captain in the military and was recruited to Hyrule City’s hero agency from there.

Oh my god, he has so many fangirls

Sky: 

Status: Hero 

Code Name: Loft (& Crimson)

Power: Spirit Bird - He can manifest a ghostly bird. It can come in any form, from a common sparrow, to a hawk, to mythical birds like a phoenix. Its default form seems to be the legendary Loftwing. No matter what form the bird appears in, it’s always a brilliant shade of red, making it easy to spot. Sky doesn’t control it, per se, but they share a very deep bond, to the point many have wondered if the bird is just an extension of Sky, and not a separate entity. 

I’m considering also giving Sky float or levitation as a secondary power. Just cause it would fit the theme

Other: 

Sky is a pacifist. Crimson can and will kick your ass /hj

He is dating the daughter of Hylia, the Mayor of Hyrule City. She knows he’s got some sort of dangerous job, and assumes he works for the military, but doesn’t know he’s a hero. She has not connected his little pet cardinal to the giant red loftwing yet. Time has told Sky he needs to tell Sun before things get messy, and Sky is trying to figure out how to tell her

Legend: 

Status: Hero, Vigilante

Code Name: Hare 

Power: Does he…. have a power? Unclear. Even the others in the chain aren’t totally sure. He must have one, right? One time he mentioned something about being turned into an animal, but no one’s sure if that was on account of his own power, or from somebody else’s. He mostly fights using the power of These Hands™️ and lots of interesting technology and items that have been magically enchanted by other people’s powers. 

Other:

He’s got a mysterious background, but everyone knows that regardless of what he was doing before he came to Hyrule City, he’s very experienced. 

He used to be a spy for Hylia, the mayor of Hyrule City. He quit after his girlfriend died in an unrelated incident. The stress and grief were too much for him. He didn’t want to go back to that life, so he became a hero instead.

Often does reconnaissance missions to go find precious artifacts or things like that. EIther via the government or via an independent client. Because he takes an independent contract out of the purview of his work, he’s also technically considered a vigilante sometimes.

A lot of people owe him favors, and he has a lot of powerful connections. If you need something, be it information, a rare item, or to find someone, he’s your man.

For a short while, there was a popular theory among the public that he was a child assassin. It eventually got out of hand and the Agency publicly addressed it, shaming people for trying to pry into Legend's private life. The rumors mostly stopped, but there are some people who still believe it. 

Wild: 

Status: Ex-Hero, Vigilante  

Code Name: Before his accident when he was called Champion, after his accident he’s called Nightwatcher (Don’t like this name, can’t think of another)

Power:

Minor Time Manipulation - A Flurry Rush basically. He can slow down time for up to a minute at once, allowing him to appear to move unnaturally quickly. He can only activate when he’s in midair, for some reason. He works well with Wind because of this, as well as being an accomplished parkour artist.

Regen - He lost this power after his accident. It repaired any physical damage done to him. It was not an instantaneous repair, it took a while. It also increased his pain tolerance, partially due to his power, and partially because he got injured so often and was expected to walk it off because he could heal. He got used to the pain. He’s reckless because of his power, knowing any potential injuries wouldn’t matter. This mind set becomes a problem after he looses this power.

Other: 

He used to be a hero-in-training. Only about a year before graduating to a full-fledged hero, there was an accident. He nearly died and was in a coma for 100 days. This accident also took his memories, his regeneration power, and his civilian friend group (the champions) 

He may or may not have gotten help from his friend Flora and some shady Sheiklah scientists to survive. On a totally unrelated note, he now has a cool robot arm and his eyes glow!

When he woke up, he remembered nothing. He didn’t want to be a hero anymore, and didn't like being under the Agency’s thumb. He now acts as a vigilante. 

All the heroes know he's the same person, but have no intention of doing anything about it. The public has several conspiracies about him being the young hero who was long thought dead, but nothing proven.

Flora used to be a mechanic for the agency like Four., but has since dropped out to become a weapons/suit/gear supplier for Vigilantes. 

Wild somehow has the phone number of Hylia, the mayor of Hyrule City. No one’s sure how he got it, because everyone else has an absolute bitch of a time getting a hold of her, even her own family members. (Seriously. Flora, who’s her niece, started to desperately look up to the woman after the death of her mother, but was never able to talk to her. Like, ever)

Hyrule 

Status: Healer, Hero

Code Name: Glowmoth/Glowworm/Firefly? (Not sure about this one. I wanted something to allude to the fact that his fairy form and magic glows. A moth themed Hyrule would be so cute, and Firefly would allude to his proclivity for fire) 

Power: Fairy Form - He can transform into a fairy. He can fly. It’s good for stealth because it's small. It does glow slightly, so if it’s dark the stealth is negated. As a side effect of his fairy form, he also has the power to heal. He use his own energy to heal, but the fairy dust he sheds while in his transformed state can be used to heal as well. Dissolving the dust in a liquid will make a potion or a healing salve, which this takes no effort from Hyrule, so how he usually heals.

Other: 

“I’m a healer, but… *cocks gun*”

He started out as a vigilante who lived on the streets/partially in the Lost Woods that borders the city. He went around offering medical assistance to any who needed it. As he was way too young to have a medical license, this was illegal. 

Time saw him doing this and basically went “Oh yeah, you’re coming home with me,” and took him to meet Malon. Hyrule didn’t know that Time was a Hero at first. Time only told him later when Hyrule didn’t stop healing poeple and Time wanted to give him a way to do it legally. 

He primarily acts as the field medic, but he’s more than capable of taking care of himself. He’s just more concerned with the civilians who might have been caught in the crossfire of the battles

Four 

Status: Ex-Hero-in-Training (He's retired from field work and now works as the heroes’ mechanic)

Code Name: Fracture

Power: Duplication- He can split into four people, the colors. They started out as simple clones of himself, but started to gain their own personalities the more often they were separated. Recently, they started communicating with Four mentally while he was not split. Four is currently seeing a specialist for this, as it’s an unfortunate reality that people’s powers can become too strong and can overtake them. (This is what ended up happening to Fierce Deity, and Time had to kill him)

They’ve been able to stop this process in Four. But he’ll need to have treatment for the rest of his life to stop it from getting worse, and he can’t over strain his powers, ei: stay split for too long. The colors are now a permanent fixture in his mind, and Four has made peace with that. He can mentally communicate with the colors now. If he is asleep/unconscious, or he allows them to do so, they can take over control of his body for short periods of time. 

(I kind of want to give him a shrinking ability too. Having a second power would add to the “his power is too strong for his body” situation. If he has shrinking powers, Minish would be a good alt code name for him.)

Other: 

Four is trans and named himself Four in honor of his ability, before he knew the colors would become sentient. (I know some of the others have names that very conveniently align with their powers as well, but this was the worst case, so I justified it) 

Four was heavily debating whether he wanted to be a hero or drop out to go to a trade school. The choice was made for him when he could no longer overuse his power. He’s not mad about it, because he probably would have quit anyway. He still makes gear for the other heroes.

He moved into agency housing so he could have direct access to medical staff after it was realized something was wrong with his power. 

Wind: 

Status: Hero-in-Training

Code Name: Whirlwind or Squall

Power: Wind Manipulation - He can manipulate the wind. He is able to send gusts of wind to shove other people around, can fly, and can carry and pick up other people as well. Is still getting a grasp on his powers. While he is very good at activating them when he needs to, he is worse at keeping them contained when he’s in a bad mood.

Other: He is training to be a superhero. He’s only allowed on the field right working as Hyrule’s assistant, but he’s learning quickly, and wants to become a full fledged hero.

Other: 

Mentored by Warriors

New to the Hero Agency, only developed his powers recently 

He was this close to joining a group of vigilantes. (Who are strangely pirate themed and very committed to the bit, despite Hyrule City not being close to any ocean, unless you count Lake Hylia. Which you shouldn’t.)  Time managed to convince him not too. (He has a bit of hero worship for Time)

Bonus Characters!

Dink: 

Status: Villain 

Code Name: The Shadow

Power: Infection - He can infect people with his black slime and control them. The amount of people he can control at once is dictated by how complicated the tasks they're doing are. He can control a bunch of people if all he’s asking is for them to patrol and sound the alarm if anything is wrong. He can control less if he’s asking for them to do something like perform surgery. The abilities of the person who is controlled are limited to their own. So for example, Dink wouldn’t need to understand how to do a surgery, but his victim would. He is not mentally connected with them, so if he sends them to do an errand and they get knocked out, he wouldn’t know. I imagine he might also be able to form little creatures out of the slime (not sentient) to fight for him as well.

Malon: 

Status: Civilian

Power: Animal Charmer- She’s unnaturally good at calming animals. It works best on mammals, works okay on birds, lizards, and amphibians, works very poorly, if at all, on fish and invertebrates. The longer she spends around a certain type of animal, the better her powers work on them, although this is still limited by type of animal. She could spend days with spiders, but her control over them wouldn’t grow much at all. Because she works on a farm, she is excellent at calming common farm animals.

Other: 

Lives on Lonlon Ranch

She knows what Time’s job is. She doesn’t necessarily like him going out to fight, but she admires that he’s brave enough to do so. She also knows she couldn't stop him if she wanted to

Ravio: 

Status: Spy and part-time Hero

Code Name: Rabbit

Power: Portrait - He can turn into a painting and move along surfaces. 

Other: 

Lives in the neighboring city of Lorule. He works directly with Lolia, Mayor of Lorule City.

He’s a spy and also occasionally helps with rescue type missions like finding people trapped in rubble. The public is aware of him, but doesn't know he’s a spy, obviously. 

He is one of Legend’s “connections.”

Legend and Ravio’s matching names was a total coincidence /srs Legend was a bit pissed about it.

Ravio looks a lot like Legend, actually, to the point that half the public thinks they’re related. The other half thinks they're dating. Their matching names do not help this situation. Hare/Rabbit fanfiction in this universe is very highly debated lol. 

They actually aren’t related, but neither are they dating, exactly. Legend is still a little reluctant to date after Marin

Marin: 

Status: Civilian (Deceased) 

Power: Lullaby- Can sing someone to sleep. Her actual singing abilities were not changed by this, so she went to singing lessons to get better at it, to insure she wasn’t screeching people to sleep. 

Other: 

Wanted to become a nurse? 

Was dating Legend. 

She was killed in an accident with an old superhero, Windfish. Windfish was able to take someone and himself to a constructed dreamscape. He lost control of his power one day, sucking both himself and Marin into a dreamscape. They both fell into a coma while Windfish tried to get them out. After nearly a month, he was forced to admit defeat, and was convinced by Marin to leave her behind. He woke up, leaving Marin trapped in a coma with no way to wake up. Her family decided to pull the plug on her life support. Windfish retired from hero work after that.

Arryl: 

Status: Civilian 

Power: Seagull Speak- She can communicate with seagulls. Her power hasn't actually manifested yet, but she does have a very odd affinity for the birds that other people have started to notice.

Shadow: 

Status: Villain (?) (Deceased)

Power: He can melt into a shadow, becoming immaterial. If he had more time to master his powers, he would have discovered he was able to teleport short distances through shadows. 

Other:

Shadow was an experimental clone made by Dink using Four’s DNA and Dink’s dark goop.

Unfortunately, Shadow is dead. Vio “turned traitor” to try and rescue him from Dink after it became evident he didn’t actually want to be a Villain, but failed in rescuing Shadow

No one except Vio and the Hero Agency knew that he was on a mission. Yeah, the betrayal angst was at full volume here

I keep thinking: the mirror that Shadow shattered, sacrificing himself? In this AU, it wasn't a mirror, it was the glass tank he was being kept in that was keeping him alive. You know the big cylinders you see in sci-fi movies with people floating inside of them? Those things. Shadow had to shatter his for some reason to save Vio, who'd gotten in too deep in the assignment.

[spaghettixdemon]

Nice to meet you...!

Hi Hi this is my new Tumblr acc. :) I created it to try to publish some fanfics collecting dust. Below are some fanbases I'm apart of - besides that, I write both SFW and NSFW so feel free to comment/send requests for anything!

-Till next post xo

================================================

Mythic Quest

Community

Okja

Little Miss Sunshine (only sfw!)

The Batman

Moon Knight

Criminal Minds

Tokio Hotel

Beta Squad

School Spirits

DUNE

[rxccoonboo]

I want to run away

I often fantasize about running away into the forest, becoming a cryptic non human being. I know how to start a fire, I know how to hunt, so what's stopping me? I don't care how socially acceptable these thoughts are, I just know it's an urge I cannot shake. It is always with me, the thought of what I could be haunting whenever I'm near a forest. I want to run away. I can't, for I love my friends and family, but god i want to. I want to rip and claw and maim. I should not be in the company of humans, for I am not one. It makes me so angry, that I can't just disappear into nature, as the people I care about will be worried. I want to leave. This body isn't mine, this face, this voice, everything about it is wrong. Why can't I be free.

I should be in there. Why am I here. In this vile society. I hate it here. Let me leave.

[green-cinnamon-stick]

Gwen Stacy: A Character Study

Spoilers ahead for Across the Spider-Verse

I started typing this in the tags of that last Gwen Stacy reblog and realized I had way too many thoughts on this to flood the tags with. Okay if you didn't read those tags, all I had said at first was that I had seen a lot of discourse about Gwen. Miles doesn't need to take her back, she's a bad friend, how dare she show up at the cookout knowing all she knew (lol that one made me laugh ngl), nothing too heinous but I didn't see a whole lot of forgiveness. Before I get in to this, I'm not excusing her behavior in the slightest. I just think there's a lot more to it than her being a bad friend to Miles. The whole movie, Miles is trying to make a point that he's not a kid. But...he is. The way the adults try to direct his life is juvenille and definitely make it seem like he's younger, but he is still only 15. He gets away with a lot cause he's still just a kid and he's still learning. Gwen doesn't get the same treatment and yet...she's only 15mos older. She's not years older like Hobie or even Peter B.. She's barely 16 herself. Now here's a girl who still blames herself for her best friend's death and who's dad blames her for her best friend's death (unknowingly). She befriends this kid who's just.like.her. Dad's a cop, he's new to being a spider, he's her age, and he too feels alone. But she can't get too close because she hurts the people she loves. She literally STARTS the movie explaining this.

When she finally reveals herself to her father, he turns his back on her. Now here's this group of other spiders who can travel to different dimensions freely and can provide her a fastrack ticket back to Miles. She asks Jessica to adopt her on sight. And that's before her dad even drops her, that's how alone she feels. She already feels like she doesn't have a home. So imagine her probable horror when she finds out that the new best friend she's trying to get back to, is the number 1 enemy of her new "family". He's the cause of a whole host of problems and she's forbidden to tell him. She can't go back home and she can't stay with Miles because she'll glitch without a watch. And she can't even use the watch because she's not supposed to see Miles at all. So what can she do, go back and have her dad arrest her? Or stay with the only people who understand her? They show us in multiple ways that she hangs out with Hobie the most. Now they want us to think there's something there and she probably has a small crush, but that's mostly just cause Hobie's kind of too cool not to have a slight infatuation with him. (And that's coming from someone who doesn't even like guys). But I like to think Hobie also is the only person who doesn't trust Miguel and doesn't really agree with "the plan". So she hangs with the one other person *besides Peter B, who doesn't hate on Miles. I can only imagine how insufferable Miguel probably is about it. So she finally gets an opportunity to be in Miles' dimension and the FIRST thing she does is go to him. Breaks all protocol, ditches her tracking device, and goes to hang out with her best friend.

Now this is the point in which I do believe she could've told him. Especially since the last time she lied, her best friend died. But we've seen Miguel can get unhinged. To a level even Peter B. didn't know he was capable of. She knows they don't like Miles. If she tells him and he goes to confront Miguel and he kills Miles, she's now caused the death of two best friends. If she tells Miles and Miguel finds out, and takes her watch, she's now lost any chance of EVER getting back to Miles not to mention she gets thrown back with her dad...who hates her. So she does what any 16yr old girl would do when faced with a lot of tough decisions....she lies (again), and she runs. First from the Spiderteam and then from Miles. She tries to do what Miles did and have two cakes, but she's bad at it. She's not designed to "break canon" so rule breaking isn't in her nature. I think there's actually a lot more to how much that drives who they all are as people. Which also explains why Miles simply doesn't get it. Even with Hobie, it's in.his.DESIGN to be an anarchist, ergo he's still following his own canon. But Miles doesn't have a canon. So none of his friend's actions are going to make sense to him.

I don't know. I think a lot of Gwen's decisions can be chalked up to "she's a 16yr old girl with her own baggage". She wants to see her best friend but it comes at a cost. A cost she pays for almost immediately when hanging with Miles is the reason the Spot gets even stronger and then escapes. She was supposed to be watching him but she impulsively went to go hang out with her best friend. Thus dragging Miles into the problem because he follows her. Her lying gets people hurt in so many ways. But if she had told Miles the truth, he still would've followed her. He has a thirst for knowledge and a need to help. He was always going to intervene when given the chance. Gwen's choices were between family or friends. Same as Miles. The only difference being, Miles considers them to be the SAME thing thus making the decision to choose, damn near impossible for him. He's close with his family but he can't tell them the truth, so he just needs friends who understand him. She needs both but she told her dad the truth and he turned his back, so if she tells Miles the truth....... She's been told explicitly that she can either have this new family who gets/wants her, or go back to her dad if she chooses Miles (who also gets her on a level that no one else does) but who she can't be with without risk of death by glitch....so she lies. And when she realizes she still has her dad, guess what her first act is? Going back to Miles. So should she have lied to him? No. But would telling him the truth have yielded different results? Honestly, I don't know. But I like to think no. Everything still would've happened, just differently. The Spot still would've gotten away and Miles would still go against Miguel to save his dad and stop the Spot. Unfortunately the only thing her lying did was put tension on their friendship, but she had no way of knowing if telling him would work in anyone's favor.

Now Peter B......I want to know if Miguel threatened him. Cause when Miles asks why he didn't come to see him he says the same thing as Gwen, "I couldn't". Miles doesn't really hear that. He hears "i had the opportunity to see you and I chose differently" but that's not what either of them said. I'm hoping they show us more of that cause there's a lot of power in the word "couldn't".

[threepointstar]

okay bad bitches we did it we made it through the indian wells round of 32! some thoughts on the upcoming matches:

also these are not technical notes i do not have the capacity to do that just yet i'm just rambling don't take it too seriously LOL

atp

lehečka/tsitsipas — you all know i want jiri to win this but i fear it is not happening and my boy is getting beaten down first thing in the morning. then again i haven't been watching stef lately so idk how he's playing but it feel silly to hold out any real hope

maroszan/alcaraz — carlitos straight to the qfs please Next

z****v/de minaur — okay listen i know their h2h isn't great but alex does have the most recent win over the rat (davis cup), not to mention he's been playing absolute lights-out full-dark no-stars tennis lately. like we have a chance. it's slim and i know this match is going to do terrible things to my heart rate but We Have A Chance

shelton/sinner — the main event! i'm not going to lie i am genuinely more interested to see how this goes than in who wins... ben being the only person still in the tournament to have beaten jannik AT ALL recently. this one's going to be a good one i'm excited

ruud/monfils — casper is looking in better shape but monfils is always something of a wild card... lowkey i will be happy no matter how this one turns out i just hope both teams have fun [heart]

nardi/paul — i'm mad at tommy paul for defeating ugo humbert even though i'm still mad at ugo humbert for deafeating daniil in dubai Whatever. luca nardi indian wells champion 2024

fritz/rune — okay listennn i have to support fritz as a fellow californian at the california tournament but also i think rune tennis is some of the silliest shit available as entertainment to the people. i could go either way on this one

medvedev/dimitrov — of course i'm rooting for daniil but this one should also be fun to watch

wta

potapova/paolini — jasmine paolini indian wells champion 2024 Next question

pavlyuchenkova/kostyuk — i am not kostyuk's biggest fan i fear

kerber/wozniacki — throwback match... honestly the fact that we get to see this as a r16 matchup in 2024 is kind of crazy (positive) i am quite looking forward to watching this one

światek/putintseva — listen on any other day i'd say iga's taking it but the last time she was in a wta 1000 she got knocked out fairly unexpectedly.... i do not know enough about putintseva to really say anything though so i could also just be loud and wrong

parry/sakkari — maria sakkari my icon my good friend... please avenge leylah for me thank you

mertens/gauff — coco 🔛🔝

yuan/kasatkina — i'm hoping for either dasha or jasmine to win the whole thing ngl so i fear i am on her side for this one

navarro/sabalenka — i like emma navarro but i am quite sure sabalenka is taking it

[herstoriies]

v: train to nowhere

tldr; Priscilla is the daughter of a doctor, niece of the mayor, and a former schoolteacher in the Old West town of Fort Lago. Now after the murderous disappearance of her father and the life she knew upended (long story), Priscilla befalls the life of a freighthopper wayfarer on a train to nowhere, arriving and departing the locomotive stations dotting the Western Frontier like a phantom tumbleweed. She's endlessly searching for something or someone. For what? A story that explores the thin line between justice and vengeance. altruism and blindness, and shattered ideals. Like a tigress in the grass, she lies in wait to take back all that was robbed from her. Yet will Priscilla realize that revenge alone will never be enough and could come at an even greater cost...? (Heavily inspired by themes of the song 'Back on the Chain Gang' by the Pretenders, Les Mis, The Count of Monte Cristo, RDR2, Spaghetti Westerns, and Nicholas Nickleby. ) Featuring: Dr. Raleigh Duncan, Josephine Kimbleton-Duncan (mention), Sir Henry Kimbleton, Edmund Staunton, & Grimsby.

-- part 0 : prologue, Fort Lago

Dr. Raleigh Duncan, Priscilla's father, Josephine Kimbleton's husband, Henry's brother-in-law.

Dr Duncan is an altruistic doctor, an exemplary man of duty & moral compass, ever seeking modern advances in medicine to bring to the quaint yet thriving frontier town he and his daughter Priscilla call home. He also gives free treatment to those who cannot afford it, much to the angry ridicule of those more unscrupulous & prominent in town who see his generosity as undermining their influence.

His relationship with his brother-in-law - the mayor of this town - had always been strained - worse after Josephine's death. Yet life's tragedies and challenges did not dissuade him. Not once did the doctor compromise his ethics or cease being a loving and doting father to his only child, giving her his fullest attention and raising her with all his best to be an intelligent and poised young lady. (Even if she was still a handful, free-spirited as the prairie, and the number of male suitors he had to fend off only added to his graying hair...)

Unfortunately, Dr. Duncan's selflessness became his fatal flaw.

Josephine Kimbleton-Duncan, Priscilla's mother, Dr Duncan's wife, Henry's sister. She marries Duncan against her brother Henry's wishes (& threats). Though she was taken from this world too soon, her perseverant noble lionheart and goodness left a lasting impression on her daughter.

Mayor "Sir" Henry Kimbleton - Priscilla's uncle, Josephine's older brother, Dr Duncan's brother-in-law. Originally from the East Coast, "Sir" Henry is the town mayor of Fort Lago whose presence is a mix of charm and intimidation. His rise to power was through his genteel charisma, cold calculations, ornately worded orations, and ruthless efficiency. Corruption was inevitable. Behind his smiles & airs, Fort Lago became his personal fiefdom, and anyone who opposes him an enemy.

Henry harbors a deep resentment towards Dr. Duncan, incensed that Duncan 'stole' his sister, and filled Josephine's head with ideals that lead her to defy her own brother to marry for love. He also unfairly blames Duncan for his "incompetence as a physician that couldn't save his own wife". He barely tolerates Dr. Duncan publically 'for family's sake' and due to Duncan's popularity among the lesser townsfolk. But as time and corruption callous the heart, Henry's hatred bleeds to even Priscilla.

Though he denies it, he has leveraged his position for personal gain, much to the disapproval of Dr Duncan who's even tried interfering at times. Henry also has a network personnel, including a gentleman-rancher and hired enforcer loyal only to power Jed "Snake" Grimsby for dirty work, the sheriff in his pocket, a morally flexible doctor (rival to Dr Duncan who sees him as bad for business), and an 'aristocrat' con-artist businessman named Edmund Staunton (who holds a personal vendetta against Dr Duncan for exposing one of his schemes).

[For those curious, Thomas & Charles are MIA either overseas, back on the East Coast, or in San Francisco. Possibly Charles insisted on bringing Thomas along for his latest expedition and the brothers go on a wildly comedic and chaotic traveling expedition in the great wild somewhere...]

-- part 1 : the doctor's daughter

Priscilla Mae Duncan. Daughter of Dr. Raleigh & Josephine Duncan, niece of Mayor Henry Kimbleton. Bright, quick-witted, full of dreams, and carrying the same idealism to life as her father, Miss Duncan is a schoolteacher by trade, and a competent dilettante of many talents. Only she's unsure yet just how to properly use her talents. She's also rather sheltered, due to her father's overprotectiveness ever since her mother passed.

Though the train rolls by, and visitors from all over pass through, the provincial life in Fort Lago is more than enough for her.

-- part 2 : coffin without a cadaver

One fateful day, Priscilla returns home after a long day of teaching to find her father's clinic empty. Suspecting her father possibly finished early, it came as a shock she didn't find him at home either, nor at the town meeting house, or even Uncle Henry's residence.

To ease her distress, Uncle Henry gave Priscilla many empty reassurances and welcomed her to stay with him for protection.

Priscilla returns the next day to the clinic, finding her father's patients disgruntled over his absence. Some rumors arose Dr. Duncan was involved in malpractice, had experimented on his 'free' patients, accrued some enormous debt, and cowardly fled in the middle of the night. In search of any clue, Priscilla only came across what may have been signs of a struggle near the back porch of their home. Any concerns she brought to Uncle Henry - including why as Mayor her brought on a replacement doctor so soon - were dismissed and told to leave things to the experts.

Henry: "Priscilla, I may be your Uncle, but never forget that you are speaking to your mayor."

-- part 3 : ghost town

Days turn into weeks and Priscilla hasn't stopped searching for her father. Mayor Kimbleton is greatly displeased with her meddling, and despite his objections, his niece continues taking matters into her own hands.

With the new replacement 'interim' doctor having taken over Dr. Duncan's practice, most patients have moved on, save for a handful sympathetic to Priscilla's plight who try to aid her search.

What she feared most was finally confirmed - Priscilla discovered her father's bloody and cracked pince-nez spectacles beneath the back porch of their home that appeared to show signs of some scuffle.

At that same moment, Mayor Henry appeared to inform her that next week she was being sent to her maternal grandmother's on the East Coast for a change of scenery to ease her nerves and cease this obsession when everything was already under control. Henry went so far as to even subtly accuse Duncan of abandoning his daughter.

An outraged Priscilla finally lost her temper, holding up the evidence of the pince-nez - to which Henry thundered that because of her wild imaginings he was sending her away on that train tonight.

And that she should be grateful that he wasn't sending her to a sanitarium.

Later, Mayor Kimbleton bid Priscilla farewell at the station with a parting gift of a new dress for family appearances' sake. She was also to be escorted between Edmund and Grimsby as her accompanying 'chaperones'. Aboard, despite mostly silence or 'pleasant' smalltalk, things only went from bad to worse. Edmund curiously departed the train mid-way due to 'business' leaving her alone with Grimsby. Priscilla observed Grimsby checking the time using her father's pocket watch - with what seemed to be dried blood between the ornate crevices of the casing. Was this man her father's murderer? As Grimsby slept, he mumbled to himself of boastful sordid accomplishments 'back home' to 'Hal'... Uncle Henry?!

Worse yet, when they reached a crossroads station where they were supposed to change trains to travel north-east, they remained instead on the course heading south.

Priscilla trembled. They weren't traveling to her grandmother's, were they? Would she even reach the next station alive?

-- part 4 : train to nowhere

In the hours of darkness, Priscilla awoke to escape. Painstakingly careful she detached her father's pocket watch from Grimsby's coat and took his cane, and with her carpetbag of belongings, she fled into the night.

Alone and fearful of anything that moved, she followed the tracks to the nearest train station, boarding the next train without a destination & only a direction: heading back West.

Overnight, Priscilla's life's idealism shattered irreparably. In her quiet self-reflecting thoughts a burning hunger for justice, vengeance, stirred in Priscilla. They would all pay for taking the innocent life of her good-hearted father - death or unknown fate aside, and her own life derailed.

Town after town off the railway she stopped to rest, find work, or gather information. Often, in a new town for respectability she'd wear her late mother's wedding ring (though inside inscribed with ' R & J - amor aeternus - eternal love') and call herself "Mrs. Priscilla Mae"... the poor widow Mrs. Mae whose newlywed husband perished in the war, or by bandits, or sudden illness (she changes the story each time). Other times, she was Miss Kimble - an affluent disinherited heiress traveling to San Francisco. Polly Oliver or Miss Rip Van Winkle, too. Or some other sob story she'd spin to hide her real identity: Miss Priscilla Duncan, the daughter of a doctor, fighting to survive, a woman alone without a map seeking answers.

As money ran short & when there wasn't much opportunity for work (surprisingly no one needed a schoolteacher), she did pick up a few odd jobs to buy her next ticket and earn her keep overnight in an inn:

A General Store worker

A Seamstress

A Midwife

A Singer

A Barmaid

When no honorable work could be found (that wasn't a saloon worker, and trying not to openly affiliate with encountered outlaws or - gasp - members of the Van Der Linde gang... not to mention her encounters with the Pinkertons...), she returned to the train station and purchased a ticket to the next dusty frontier town. And so to the rolling drum of the train engines, the cycle of wandering and searching continues.

Strange she wasn't much different from a runaway, but only to bide enough time to ponder her revenge.

[to be... continued]

.

.

Author's Notes: Bonus Round 1:

Spoilers! ;)

I’m open to either option of Priscilla’s father being dead or alive or unknown. All have interesting outcomes and I'm therefore leaving it open:

- confirmed dead, mostly brings closure

- alive, I figured Duncan was arrested, & forcibly taken away to a chain gang to work the railroads. There’s some brutal irony here if Raleigh worked the railroad but meanwhile, there’s Priscilla aboard the train passing by… (feels, gut-wrenching reunion) also totally inspired by the song “back on the chain gang”. [Edit - thanks for the idea @ therapardalis! : Maybe Dr Duncan was among a group of chain gang convicts that ran off and formed a Robin Hood-esque outlaw band (Van Der Linde perhaps?), and he became their medic. A twist for someone so uncompromising in values to become part of a band of outlaws for survival]

- unknown, the most “gritty real” and an interesting essay on acceptance

Bonus Round 2: RDR2 crossover brainstorming (not finalized):

Thanks to conversations with @ sharp-teeth-and-wide-grins , some RDR2-specific crossover ideas include: rather than Priscilla's mayor Uncle being an OC, she's the niece of Mayor Henri LeMieux of Saint Denis, & Priscilla's mother Josephine was Henri LeMieux's sister. Priscilla is rather sheltered and naive and unfamiliar with the Van der Linde gang. Rather than being from an original town idea called Fort Lago (inspired by High Plains Drifter), she's from Strawberry (*not finalized).

Bonus Round 3: the first draft/scrapped version of part 3/4, an alternative more dramatic confrontational approach to Priscilla's discovery & escape to the trains:

Finally, Priscilla receives an anonymous note telling her to meet at Grimsby's ranch - someone knows where her father is!

'Just in case' she asked Edmund to accompany her, only to discover she had walked into a trap. Grimsby and the corrupt sheriff were waiting for her, and Edmund was in on it.

They threw her father's bloody pocket watch & pince-nez spectacles, making threats and insults.

Priscilla: "You'll pay for this! I'm the mayor's niece, and my uncle--"

Grimsby: "Your uncle? He's the one who gave the order, sweetheart."

Overnight, Priscilla's life's idealism shattered irreparably.

In the struggle she kicked over a kerasene lamp and the shed . You'll all burn for this. As the flames spread, in the chaos she fled.

She ran home, grabbed her essentials, and ran for the train.

[el-yon]

Do you think Ryuuken and Kanae really did loving each other romantically? I mean, Kanae was obviouslu devoted to him, but in your opinion how about Ryuuken? Is it possibly a half-hearted relationship that ended up as a marriage, because Ryuuken was kinda lost in such a painful situation?

"Ryuuken was kinda lost in such a painful situation" pretty much describes him throughout Bleach, doesn't it? Girl he was supposed to marry out of arrangement but he had feelings for gets attacked by a hollow, barely makes it out alive thanks to a bizarre spiritual move, marries a shinigami and then dies. Women he loves and becomes the mother of his child falls into a comma and dies. He tries to keep his kid away from the warring-troubles with the worst approach to it, and his estranged son befriends the shinigami-hollow-quincy-human who happens to be the son of the girl he liked and the shinigami she married, and now they have to join forces to defeat the quincy-king who is responsible for both women's deaths. OOF. Anyway, onto the ask:

I should start by saying that I am not exactly a Ryuuken deep-diver... but this ask does seem like a great opportunity to dive a tiny bit more, so thank you for this ✨-- i had a lot of fun writing this, so brace yourself !

Do I think that he loved Kanae? Yes, and I believe it was a whole-hearted relationship; despite of Ryuuken's terrible emotional aloofness and inability to express himself.

This is something to keep in mind: we know that Ryuuken is not good with expressing/receiving affection, as we have seen from how he handled things with his son. His feelings for Masaki were also ill-expressed; they only manifest in an angst-filled situation when her life is in danger and he resents his powerlessness (even though he was young, Kubo's message about his character seems pretty consistant).

And to make matters worse, we don't have any glimpses on how Ryuuken and Katagiri got together; all we know is that Masaki left the Ishida house, which was (according to Isshin) the decisive move for Ryuuken to detach himsel, and a few years later, Ryuuken and Kanae are married and with child. This may have some angst bittersweet taste to it, but this was actually a good thing. The Ryuuken/Masaki possibility got scrapped during EBTR - letting Masaki go was a post-fact liberating act for everyone involved, so I don’t think that Ryuuken got “stuck” in his feelings for Masaki. They grew up, life went on. 

But let’s dig for his and Kanae’s bond.

The nobility quincy nonsense makes it clear that Katagiri is a servant, but we have these indications that Ryuuken saw their rapport in a different light. When he talks about his mother and Masaki, he seems to confide in her - something that his character would not do if she was, in fact, “just a servant”. On the fateful events, one could say that he told her to follow him when he went after Masaki because it was her duty; but Ryuuken knew Masaki was breaking the rules. It would have been wiser to a) just send someone - Katagiri alone, for instance - but Masaki would suffer the consequences for it, or b) go by himself, that way he would guarantee to be the only one to know about it. Yet he takes Katagiri, and he is certain she will “follow his order” because he is trusting her, and this is my impression of it, but he trusts her in a more intimate manner than just duty-bound procedures. I say this because of *this* reaction:

He could have yelled at her, he could have just trapped her with the arm next to her, but he pins her wrist with his hand against the wall (I mean... come on!!... anyhow, I have come to over focus on hands, blame Kubo for his narrative style)  -- and their clashing eye contact after is really more than a master-servant relationship, methinks. Later that night, Ryuuken may try to deflect it and re-center them around formalities, but Kanae refuses to do so and exposes her feelings. Now, even though his “that’s enough” does seem cold, it seems to me that part of him, the part that tells her “let’s come back home” is actually accepting a) Kanae’s feelings, and b) his own (late) confirmation that this person right there is not just another formality, that the trust he built around her so far was not just based on quincy-duties, but on genuine affection. 

Onto speculation now, but there is another issue: Katagiri is considered “inferior”. From what we gathered so far about his family, it feels safe to assume his mother and/or other authorities (?) were not fond of the idea of her marrying into the Ishida family. Ryuuken probably went through some trouble to solidify their relationship, and I don’t think he would have done it if his heart wasn’t fully in it. 

Kanae was probably one of the very few bonds (a heart, if you will) that Ryuuken managed to build, and when she is taken from him, he looses it in a very Ryuuken fashion - which traumatizes his son on the process, not only because of the autopsy, but because of the entire aftermath. Ryuuken was probably confirming that her death did happen due to Ywach (and there is a major TYBW spoiler as to what else he finds in there), due to being a Quincy, and as if this wasn’t enough to crush him, it informs him that their son is bound for trouble in the future if he follows down the Quincy road, so Ryuuken closes himself off.

The anime showed a frame of Kanae holding Uryu (thank you SP for the heartbreak, by the way) when Isshin is telling Ichigo about her death, but the original shot was Ryuuken facing the window and a small frame of solo-Kanae. Because of the contrast of Isshin over-the-top picture of Masaki in the living room and him constantly bringing her up, it can be easy to think that Ryuuken and Kanae’s relationship was not as “loving” as Isshin and Masaki. But I don’t think that is true - these are two very different couples. Isshin and Ryuuken are two very different men, and Masaki and Kanae are two very different women, but both of them understand their respective partners and their deflection strategies - humor and aloofness -, embrace their love as they come, and build their own affection spaces, each on their own way. 

Ryuuken’s mind might have been troubled by resentment, anxiety and fears over the course of his life, but as far as his relationship with Kanae is concerned, I like to think that there was a beautiful heart right there, that he did love her as well as his emotionally troubled self could, and that amidst all his angst, he was actually happy -- even if Kubo won’t let us see that. 

[the-chaotic-child]

some quotes from my dofe practice expedition :)

"pass me the orange"

"i can't pass you the orange its not mine"

"you know, im actually so annoyed about my porridge"

"why is it solid?"

"try one"

"is it dead?"

"its a squashie"

"no its a hardie"

"only problem is, I don't have my toothpaste "

"toby I don't think ur teeth r gonna fall out after one day"

"yes they will"

"i didn't brush my teeth at all when i was little. 6 yr old me didn't like brushing my teeth"

"yea and they fell out"

"huh"

"they fell out"

"hmm"

"and then god gave u a second chance"

"and i smashed it"

"wHat"

"yea look, my front teeth are chipped"

"oh. well i need to brush my teeth."

(i gave him my toothpaste and he ran to brush his teeth lol)

"angus is lost"

"at least we have food"

"oh look who's back"

"we were worried you died"

"..you could have checked on me?"

"trust me we cared but we didn't care that much"

"do you think this will taste like chocolate orange?"

"??"

"ive put pieces of my orange into the hot chocolate, and squished it all together"

"put the mini roll in too! pour the hot chocolate over it to infuse the flavour then squish it"

"oh yea!"

[HE STARTS POURING IT OUT BUT FUCKING LUMPS OF ORANGE KEEP COMING OUT EVERY SO OFTEN ND IT LOOKS DISGUSTING]

"okay! time to drink it!

bLEaghHgh"

"wAs iT niCe?"

"no."

"uhm guys. I can't find the oxidiser packet"

"are you sure there is one in yours [dehydrated meal]?"

"yes it says 'remove the oxidiser packet'"

(searches for like 3 minutes)

"do you want a pot to pour it out into?"

"yea."

(there is no oxidiser packet)

"nO packet!"

"you know, in angus's bag the packet said do not eat in so many languages that i literally found the french before the english"

"je ne suis pour manger"

"sounds about right"

"what if you didn't find the english and you ate it"

"oh yes, extra flavouring huhuhu"

"delicious ne pas mangey mangey"

"how far does it have to get to be your problem not mine?"

"can we play piggy in the middle?"

"yes that's a really good idea!"

(some crash bang falling noises)

"ow! RIGHT UR GETTING IT NOW"

(someone walks into a tree)

"there was a tree there"

"thanks" (sarcastic)

tHE NEXT PERSON CASUALLY PROCEDES TO WALK INTO THE TREE TOO

"he's gone barefoot into the toilets"

"oh. i had respect when we walked into the woods barefoot but the toilets..."

"yea, i don't want to touch his feet anymore"

"me nei- WAIT WHAT"

and a fuck ton more but i have fOrgotten so this is all you get for now :)

[totaleclipse573]

Thinking rn about how Terios was raised and grew up on the Black Comet I’ll talk in the tags