#and could then continue with or without her humanity

[f1daydreamer]

Unexpected Miracle

----

POV: Elena

It started like it always did when I got my period: some cramping, lower back pain, the usual urge to curl into a human croissant and binge-watch bad reality TV. Nothing weird.

Except… the pain wasn’t going away. In fact, it got worse. I was sweating. My stomach was twisting like someone was doing somersaults inside me—which, funny enough, they were.

At some point, I staggered down the hall of the hotel to Charles’s room, hoping to lie down in his bed without disturbing the other WAGs who were all chatting and drinking tea in mine.

“Charles…” I mumbled, knocking gently before letting myself in and collapsing on the bed. “Don’t freak out. I think I’m dying.”

Very romantic.

He wasn't there.

Good. I could writhe in peace.

Until… something popped. Warm liquid spread across my thighs and the bedsheets.

That was not period-related.

And then came the pain.

The real pain.

A scream tore from my throat, echoing through the walls. I grabbed the bedsheets, curling into myself as if that would stop the freight train currently trying to exit my body.

Moments later, the door swung open.

An assistant—bless her soul—saw the scene, went ghost white, and dropped her walkie-talkie.

“Elena?! Are you—did your appendix burst?! Is it internal bleeding?! Oh my God, don’t die!”

“I don’t KNOW!” I howled. “Something’s wrong! I think my organs are rearranging themselves!”

Suddenly people flooded the room. And then—

“Elena?!”

There he was. Charles Leclerc. My loving, beautiful boyfriend. In his team shirt, holding a banana and clearly mid-snack.

He looked at me on the bed—sweaty, crying, soaked—and his face went from confusion to panic in 0.3 seconds.

“What—what happened?! Are you—why is the bed wet?! Did you pee?!”

“NO, I DIDN’T PEE! I THINK I’M—OH MY GOD, IT HURTS SO MUCH—!”

Enter: Dr. Armand, the paddock’s MVP medic.

He pushed everyone back, examined me like a pro, and then froze.

“Her water broke.”

A long pause.

I blinked.

Charles blinked.

“Her what broke?” Charles asked, eyes narrowing like he misheard.

“She’s in labor. We’re delivering a baby. Now.”

The room went dead silent.

I sat up, panting. “I—I’m not pregnant! I literally had my period last month!”

“That,” Dr. Armand said calmly, like this was just another Thursday, “is called a cryptic pregnancy. It’s rare, but it happens. Some women have no belly growth, no symptoms, and even continue to menstruate. It hides behind the uterus or spine. It's one of those things we teach med students to expect once in a blue moon.”

Charles looked at him, pale. “But… we used protection.”

Dr. Armand gave him the look. You know the one. The ‘Aw, sweet summer child’ look.

“I don’t have time to give you the biology lecture right now. There’s a baby coming.”

“No, there’s not,” Charles said, clearly in denial. “She’s not even pregnant.”

“Elena,” Dr. Armand said, ignoring Charles. “You need to push.”

And that was the moment Charles fainted.

---

30 Minutes Later

Charles recovered quickly—just in time to hold my hand while I screamed at him for doing this to me.

“I am never trusting you with protection again!” I screeched.

“You can yell at me forever later, mon ange,” he stammered, “just don’t die.”

I pushed. I screamed. I possibly cursed in five languages.

And then—

A cry.

A tiny, angry cry that pierced the air.

Everyone froze.

“She’s here,” Dr. Armand announced, lifting the tiny, squirming, red-faced miracle in his arms. “A baby girl.”

I burst into tears.

Charles stared. Absolutely frozen. Like someone had thrown a baby in his lap and told him it was now his tax write-off.

“Is—she—mine?” he whispered.

Dr. Armand raised an eyebrow. “Well, unless you’d like me to order a paternity test mid-delivery—”

“I’m joking, I’m joking!” Charles said quickly. “She’s—oh my God, she’s ours.”

Charles stared down at the tiny, wiggling bundle the doctor placed in his arms. “She’s… she’s so small.”

“She’s Elodie,” Elena whispered, exhausted but glowing.

“Elodie Ana Leclerc,” Charles repeated, like the words were too holy to touch. “We have a daughter.”

Charles cupped my face and kissed her through tears. “We’re parents. Oh mon Dieu. We’re parents. In a drivers’ room. What the hell is our life?”

---

POV: Outside the Room

“Did someone say a baby?” Lando blinked.

“There’s no way Charles has a baby,” Pierre scoffed. “He still forgets where he parks his car.”

“I heard someone scream,” Kika whispered. “Like a horror movie scream.”

“Maybe he got a cramp,” Carlos said. “He does that when he eats too fast.”

And then Fred Vasseur stormed down the hallway.

“Why is everyone in the hallway—WHAT is going on here?! I just got off a call and someone tells me Charles is delivering a baby in his room?! Is this some weird PR stunt?!”

The assistant stepped forward nervously. “No sir. Elena just gave birth. In his bed.”

“In his—” Fred blinked. “She what?! Since when is she pregnant?!”

“She wasn’t,” Lando said, jaw hanging. “She was—surprise pregnant.”

Fred Vasseur walked in, saw the baby, then turned slowly and muttered “I came here to manage a Formula 1 team and instead delivered a baby in Leclerc’s dressing room.”

Esteban was already calling Otmar. “Do we have a baby policy in Alpine? Just in case.”

The ambulance arrived minutes later. Elena, wrapped in warm blankets, was carefully placed on a stretcher with Elodie in her arms. Charles climbed in beside them, still in his fireproofs, his hair wild, looking like a man who just survived war and fell in love at the same time.

Fred took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. “I’m too old for this sport.”

---

At the Hospital

Charles held Elodie, swaddled in pink, in the hospital room while I rested with a blissed-out smile and a juice box.

“I have to call my mother,” Charles said, still visibly panicked. “She’s going to kill me.”

He FaceTimed Pascale.

Charles: FaceTime ringing…

Pascale: “Mon amour! I watched FP3—what happened at the end? Are you okay?”

Charles slowly turned the phone camera to the sleeping baby in the hospital bassinet.

Pascale: squints “Oh, is that a—wait. Is that—a baby?!”

Charles: “Yes.”

Pascale: “Whose baby?”

Charles: “Mine.”

Silence.

Pascale: “Yours… like, you’re babysitting, or yours like, you made it?!”

Charles: “The second one.”

Pascale: “CHARLES MARC HERVÉ PERCEVAL LECLERC—”

Elena, overhearing, muttered, “You’re getting the full name treatment. You’re done.”

Pascale: “You don’t just casually have a baby, Charles! That is not something you forget to tell your mother!”

Charles: “I didn’t know!”

Pascale: “You didn’t know you were going to be a father?! Are you serious? What is this, a reality show?!”

Charles: “It was a cryptic pregnancy!”

Pascale: “Is that what you’re calling it now? I raised three boys, I know a pregnancy when I see one—unless she was hiding behind a curtain for nine months—how did no one notice?!”

Charles: “Can I send you a picture of her? Her name is Elodie.”

Pascale: suddenly softening “Elodie...”

He sent a photo.

Pascale burst into tears.

“Oh my God… she’s beautiful. My first grandchild. I can’t believe it. Wait until your grandmother hears this, she’s going to faint.”

Charles: “Please don’t let her faint.”

After more Ten minutes of emotional yelling in French, crying, and several “You didn’t even know?! What do you mean she gave birth in your driver room ?! Are you feeding the child?! Do you even know how to change a diaper?!”

He hung up, sighing. “That went well.”

He called Lorenzo and Charlotte.

Charles: “Hey.”

Lorenzo: “Why do you sound like you’ve been crying?”

Charlotte: “Wait, are you okay? Did someone crash into you again? Did Max say something mean?”

Charles: “No, but I need to show you something.”

Turns camera to Elodie.

Lorenzo: “Whose baby is that?”

Charlotte: “Are you baby sitting ?”

Charles: “No. She’s mine. Meet Elodie.”

Lorenzo: “What.”

Charlotte: “I—what?! From WHO?! From WHERE?! Charles, did you go to a baby farm?!”

Charles: “Elena gave birth today. In my room. At the paddock.”

Charlotte: “Like. In the drivers room?! Charles?! Not even a Hospital?!”

Lorenzo: “Why do you look so calm about this?! I need to sit down.”

Charlotte: “You’re telling me I threw you a birthday brunch two weeks ago and you were a father already?! You didn’t mention a baby in the oven!”

Charles: “There wasn’t a visible oven!”

Lorenzo: “Oh my God, I’m an uncle. This is worse than that time you bought a snake on vacation.”

Charlotte: “Don’t compare a baby to a snake!”

Finally, he called Arthur.

Arthur: “You better be calling me with coffee or good news.”

Charles: “I’m a dad.”

Arthur: “...Huh?”

Arthur: “You—what?!

Charles: “I have a daughter. Her name is Elodie. She was born three hours ago.”

Arthur: “I swear to God, if this is some sort prank $@%#$ ”

Charles: “It’s not. Come see her tomorrow.”

Arthur: “No.”

Charles: “What?”

Arthur: “No. I am NOT uncle material. Don’t put that pressure on me. I’m not even fully human until I have coffee.”

Arthur: after a long pause “...Am I allowed to hold her?”

Charles: “Only if you wash your hands. Twice.”

Arthur: “I’m gonna cry. Oh my God. I’m gonna be the cool uncle.”

---

POV: Fred Vasseur (and the Ferrari garage, a few hours later)

Fred: staring into space, muttering “I run a Formula 1 team. I manage 1.000 horsepower cars. I deal with wind tunnels and strategy calls. Not childbirth. Not baby blankets.”

Mechanic: “He’s been like that since they wheeled the baby out.”

Mechanic: “To be fair, it was in his technical bed.”

Fred: “This team is cursed. This team is absolutely cursed.”

He sat down in the pit wall chair, stared into the distance.

“First we break gearboxes, now we’re delivering children between sessions. What’s next? Someone adopting a driver during Q1?”

Staff : “Can we at least get Elodie a team shirt? The tiniest Ferrari onesie?”

Fred: muttering “That child better grow up to be a world champion, or I want that hospital bill refunded.”

---

POV: The Press Conference – The Next Day

Reporter: “Charles, we noticed you missed most of the post-qualy debrief yesterday. Is everything alright?”

Charles, smiling: “Yeah. I became a dad.”

The room fell silent.

Carlos, sitting next to him, snorted his water.

Lando choked on air.

journalist : “Wait—you’re not joking?!”

Charles: “Nope. Her name is Elodie. She was born yesterday .”

Media chaos ensued. Reporters scrambled. Tweets flew. Headlines exploded.

BREAKING: CHARLES LECLERC BECOMES FATHER AFTER SURPRISE PADDOCK BIRTH

The F1 fandom: hysteria

Twitter: broken

Ferrari PR team: new grey hairs

Later That Night

Everyone came to visit.

Carlos brought flowers.

Lando brought snacks.

Pierre brought… a tiny Ferrari onesie and a plush baguette. “For culture.”

Fred brought wine. For himself.

They all crowded around, staring at the little bundle in Elena’s arms.

“She’s cute,” George said. “She looks like Charles, but that could change. Baby faces morph like Play-Doh.”

Kika leaned in. “She has your eyes, Elena.”

Elena smiled sleepily. “Her name is Elodie.”

Everyone melted.

Charles looked down at her, his entire world reshaped in a single day.

“I had a girlfriend this morning,” he murmured, brushing a finger across her tiny hand. “Now I have a family.”

And even if it all started in the most ridiculous, unexpected way…

It was perfect.

-----

Back at the paddock, a sign was already taped to the driver’s room door:

“DO NOT ENTER – THIS ROOM HAS BEEN BLESSED (AND POSSIBLY CURSED) BY THE ARRIVAL OF BABY LECLERC.”

And below it, in Fred’s handwriting:

"All future team babies must be scheduled off-season."

---

This was a a mixture of several unfinished ideas 😭 and a dream of mine

[shxuga]

Bloody Bites III | Twisted Wonderland

Vampire!Malleus Draconia x Female!Reader | Priest!Rollo Flamme x Female!Reader | VampireHunter!Leona Kingscholar x Female!Reader | Vampire AU | TW: Blood, descriptions of violence, manipulation, abuse, dead dove: do not eat.

ACT I | ACT II

Yuu wept for hours, clutching Leona's lifeless body, the evidence of her sin painting her eyes and lips red.

At some point during her heart-wrenching cries, she lost her voice, leaving only her tears.

"Why are you covered in blood...?" she murmured, feeling incapable of anything beyond pain and misery, the intoxicating scent of her new favorite sustenance detectable from miles away.

Malleus emerged from the darkness, smiling mischievously, his entire body drenched in crimson.

"Let's say I had a little snack on the way..." he hummed, eyeing the hunter's body with curiosity. His face had been respectfully covered with his cloak.

"What a pity. I would have liked to kill that beast-man myself, in honor of all those years of back and forth."

Yuu said nothing. Unexpectedly, she felt calm—too calm for the burning ferocity that had nearly turned her into an animal over the past week. She looked indifferently at the face she once would have destroyed with her own hands for turning her into this.

Something more than her humanity had been lost along with the hunter's life.

"You made me wait, dear. For a moment, I truly believed you'd make it..."

"The hunter... No, Leona said something strange before." She ignored the provocation and continued without looking at him.

"You had never turned anyone before. Why was it different this time? Why didn't you just let me die...?"

And then she decided to face him.

Her reddish eyes glowed with emotion, in stark contrast to her lifeless face. Malleus took his time to respond, revealing that it was a question he had never considered. Yuu sat up, her fists behind her back. Her wrists were free, and there were no traces of any wounds after she had drunk blood.

She had been reborn at the cost of another's life. And its taste still lingered in her mouth...

Not too sweet, not too salty, a unique flavor she would never taste again.

"Was it a whim? Or perhaps pity? Hearing me say all those foolish things while you slept appealed to your sensitivity? Or were you simply feeling lonely?"

"Watch your words." Malleus spoke, his face darkened, and a ferocity flowed in his voice as he expressed himself. He grabbed her jaw with his hand and lifted it abruptly.

"I may have turned you, but that doesn't have to mean anything. If you keep testing your luck, I won't hesitate to annihilate you."

"The days I spent with you aren't a bad memory." Yuu didn't seem to mind having that large hand pressing against her face, so she didn't stop her words.

"Could... I spend this eternity by your side?"

That seemed to surprise him. He blinked, incredulous, releasing her in the process.

"Don't you hate me?"

"Why should I? You were right; I asked to be saved, and you did."

A twisted laugh escaped his lips.

"Well... How unexpected." He made a rather feeble attempt to hide his smile behind a hand.

"You turned out to be more interesting than I thought. I suppose since I was the one who turned you... I feel somewhat attached to you."

It was curious how just a moment ago he had threatened to kill her, and now he acted quite complacently.

He must have felt very lonely...

"Did you kill all the villagers? I'm starting to feel a bit hungry..."

"Oh, dear. Yes, that hunter shouldn't have been enough for you." He seemed genuinely sorry, gently combing his chaotic fringe with soft touches.

"I'm afraid there's no one left here for you to feed on. But since you've put me in a good mood, I might allow you to drink from my blood."

This time, it was Yuu's turn to blink.

"Wouldn't that... kill you?"

"Sweetheart... Only a silver stake to my heart could end my life under these circumstances." He undid the thread of his stained shirt with a finger, revealing the pale skin of his neck. "Come on, don't be shy..."

She yielded, still keeping her fingers well hidden behind her back. She parted her lips and approached until she was a breath away from his pulse. She used one of her small hands to steady herself on his chest, making the areas she touched tickle Malleus's skin.

Yes... This wasn't bad. The time he spent unconscious after his first encounter with Leona was quite pleasant thanks to the little human who took him to a bed and tucked him in every night without fail. It had been a very, very long time since anyone had decided to touch him of their own accord. Perhaps, just perhaps... That place where his heart was supposed to be was moved by the innocence of the human who saved him.

His chest burned, it burned... It really burned!

He pushed Yuu away immediately, feeling the burning spread from that point to every little fiber of his body. He tried to pull out the sharp blade with his hands, but they didn't withstand direct contact with a blade of pure silver.

"You...! What did you do to me?!"

"Just fulfilling a promise."

"No! No, damn human! I'll kill you, I'll kill you!" he roared, his eyes flashing and his fangs enlarging, but none of that stopped the inevitable. The blade was embedded to the hilt, turning his entire body into ashes at a torrential speed.

By the time the screams and curses ceased, only a small pile of ashes stained the pristine floor. Yuu spat on his remains before dispersing them.

That's what you deserve for all the lives you took, bastard...

Then, she collapsed to her knees and took Leona's cold hand between her fingers. Her lip trembled, and her face contorted; something thick flowed from her eyes. It didn't feel like ordinary tears, but she didn't care.

She clung to his hand until dawn.

Until the last thing that remained of her was ashes...

Tag list: @ghostlysyntaxed @nico707 @strayharmony943 @valentinaagarcia @s7-evermore @pinksaiyans @sugarxrt @riverstyxxbitch @stormy64 @gabile18 @serenelitty @bluedmonsst @junni-berry @rhyzoma @sunset18rose @shuzoku @jaym0use @human-name_right_there

[fleetinglyshelved]

Catharsis

I was having an emotion. Like a big overwhelming emotion. It felt bad but good, a weird combination of happy and sad and relieved, like something had been stuck and it wasn’t stuck anymore. Cathartic, okay. This fits the definition of cathartic. It was like the way I’d felt when I killed the Target who threatened Amena and laughed at me because I was upset when I thought ART was dead. Except without the violence, and that only lasted a minute or so, and this seemed like it would go on a while. (System Collapse)

This feeling of "something finally being unstuck" feels to me like something Murderbot has been chasing after for the entire series. It shows in smaller moments like the one it mentions, where it seeks bloody revenge against an imminent threat, or bigger missions, most notably trying to figure out what happened at Ganaka Pit:

On the way here I had shared the recording of what I had found at Ganaka Pit. ART said, This is good news. You were not at fault. I agreed, sort of. I had been expecting to feel better about it. I mostly just felt awful. (Artificial Condition)

It was clearly hoping that finding out the truth, finding out that it hadn't been responsible for the slaughter on a conscious level, would give it that exact kind of lasting closure.

(Alternatively, a self-hating part of it might have almost wanted to find out it had caused everything, so it could feel truly justified in its negative self-view, but that's a different analysis.)

The mission to Milu, finding evidence against GrayCris to support Mensah in her case against them, was another attempt to achieve this sense of closure on a larger scale, and while I do believe it came closest to it when it saved everybody, the thing still hadn't come "unstuck", so it - pun intended - stuck around on Preservation while trying to figure out what it wants.

The survey trip with Arada didn't really seem to give it a sense of fulfillment either, even though I'm sure it was glad it was there to protect everybody. But the mission wasn't a big eye-opener or anything about how great it was to do what it has always done but as itself this time. And sure, a lot of it has to do with the almost disastrous ending to the mission, but even so, it doesn't seem like it has found its purpose. We don't find out anything about what Arada and the others were even studying, because it doesn't care about that.

So it's no wonder it starts the mission at the beginning of System Collapse with an attitude of "Oh well, if it's boring, ART-drone and I can just watch media together." (Obviously, it also has a LOT going on emotionally in this book, but I believe that even if it had been in a better place, it would have gone along with the same sense of "the humans will do their thing, and I'll do my thing if someone or something tries to hurt them".)

And here we are, at the end of the mission. It saved humans from a fate it considers worse than death. It gave two SecUnits a chance to break free, and one returned the favor and helped them escape. It got the humans and ART-drone out alive. It beat a corporation at its own game and helped a central system protect the humans it cares about.

It accomplished something it considers meaningful and important, helping not just humans but also bots and even other constructs, other SecUnits in the process. It's no longer stuck searching for something it might want, it's no longer stuck in old patterns, it has finally found a path to continue walking.

The choice to leave with ART is motivated not only by wanting to keep being with it (❤️), but also a desire to actively support its mission. It finally knows what it wants.

[wolveria]

The Raven's Hymn - Ch 55 (Final)

Pairing: SCP-049 x Reader

Series Warnings: Eventual smut, dubcon, slow burn, violence, horror, death, monsters, human experiments, dark with a happy ending

Chapter Summary: “So… We… the both of us, we’re… okay?”

AO3

Spotify

Domesticity was an experience absent since childhood. But now, the floors were swept, the cobwebs removed, the small cabin filled with warmth and the scent of the old pine planks that made up its interior.

Child’s laughter echoed from outside, though she wasn’t really a child, and the creature that followed her wasn’t a pony, even if it was a comparable size. But from a distance, framed in winter blue and white, they could be mistaken as such.

Absently, you rolled the dough into an elongated shape, your attempt at what was eventually going to be cinnamon buns. You weren’t any better at baking than you were at cooking, but you’d had time to try and learn. You’d had nothing but time lately, and boredom was a precursor to wandering thoughts, and wandering thoughts were the enemy of memories best left forgotten.

And there was so much you wanted to forget.

You’d made a promise that if Leahy hurt Valens, you would burn Site-20 to the ground, and you kept that promise.

But what came after? What did you do now that your every move wasn’t watched, and you weren’t subjected to the whims of an increasingly desperate Site Director?

You hadn’t realized it until you’d had weeks to reflect, the leaves turning from autumn gold and orange to barren, dead brown. Leahy had been desperate, and in his desperation he’d done extreme things. So had you. And those were the things you didn’t want to think about.

And Valens…

Without the barriers between you, no cameras to watch and no guards to pull you apart, you’d thought… Well, you didn’t know what you’d thought. That Valens would embrace you at the first opportunity? Carry you off to bed like his newly-sworn bride and make you his?

It had been a fantasy, and you were to old and worn for those. Of course he would keep a polite distance, shying away if you stood too close. Of course he would give the only bed to you and the girl. Of course he would provide you with everything you needed, food and clothes and even kerosene for the generator, all from his anomalous bag.

He gave you what you needed, but not what you wanted. And you understood. You’d both been forced to use each other at the Foundation’s behest. Neither of you would have gotten into that bed if it wasn’t at metaphorical gunpoint.

But the shower… the shower had been different. The way he’d touched your skin, caressed you as if you were precious, pinning you to the wall and fucking you as if he wanted to take those precious parts of you and shatter them beneath his hands—

Sharp pain bit your thumb, and you dropped the knife with a clatter. In the middle of slicing the tube into rolls, you’d nearly taken off your finger in the process, blood welling from the slash at the base of your thumb.

You rushed to the sink and turned on the faucet, waiting for the sputtering water to run smoothly before you pushed your hand under the flow. There was some relief at the ice-cold water numbing the slice, but blood continued to leak from the wound no matter how tightly you gripped your wrist.

“Shit,” you hissed under your breath. What if it didn’t stop bleeding and you needed to go to the emergency room? You didn’t actually know where the closest town was, and besides that, you didn’t have any transportation—

Warmth pressed against your back as arms enveloped you from both sides. You froze, stiff as a board, as his hands gently took yours, removing them from under the faucet and turning your injured hand upward so he could see the wound clearly.

You didn’t move an inch, barely breathed as he examined you, your mind a fuzzy static as blank as the winter landscape outside. Those… claws. Every time you saw them, at his delicate hands and the points where the curved nails ended, you found yourself staring. And every time, he caught you, immediately turning away and hiding them from sight.

But he didn’t hide them now, instead focusing on your hands, small and fragile between his larger, steadier ones.

“You will need stitches,” he said, his low voice vibrating in a rumble along your back. “Come.”

You didn’t have much choice as he gently took you by the shoulders, guiding you to one of the wooden hand-carved dining chairs, and you half-sat, half-fell into it. Cradling your hand, you watched Valens move across the room to pick up his bag, bring it to the dining table, and set it down.

Voice still trapped in your throat, you didn’t speak as he removed a small vial of clear liquid, as well as a needle and thread and a roll of bandages.

And when you thought you might have regained enough wits to speak, he knelt at your feet and gently took your hand, again examining the wound, so careful as his blunted claws hovered over your skin. After a moment, he let you go and uncapped the vial, spreading some of the liquid on a piece of cloth and carefully dabbing it over the wound. Instantly, most of your hand went numb, and the burning pain vanished.

As he focused on weaving the thread through the needle, you finally found your will to speak.

“How did you know I hurt myself?”

You’d been alone in the cabin as far as you knew, Valens disappearing outside as he sometimes did, though with the way he moved like a ghost, you wouldn’t have known if he returned.

He took your hand and placed it palm up on your thigh, a cloth placed under it to catch the still-leaking blood. He wiped it clean, and then pinched the wound closed as he aimed the needle. You looked away.

“I could smell your blood.”

You swallowed but all the saliva was gone. He hadn’t said, “I could smell the blood,” he had said, “I could smell your blood.” The distinction mattered to you, but you couldn’t explain why.

Watching the needle pierce your skin would make you even more woozy than the blood already had, so you stared out the window at the snow-blanketed trees. It helped with the lightheadedness almost instantly, and you felt a little foolish. With how much blood you’d spilt yourself, getting faint at the sight of it felt hypocritical.

“I wasn’t paying attention,” you offered, even though he didn’t ask. Your voice was tight with embarrassment, and the laugh you gave sounded like it was made of plastic. “Stupid, I know. Especially when I could pull a batch straight out of Cinnabon right from your bag. I just… I don’t know…”

You trailed off, and he didn’t interrupt or fill in the blanks. Valens had always been a great listener, but right now, you wished he’d do more of the talking. He hadn’t done much of that since the breach, and you didn’t know what was going through his head. Only that he was too quiet, too careful with you and the girl, usually wearing oven mitts or garden gloves to cover his newly formed claws.

You could feel it happening, see how withdrawn he’d become. He was slipping away, and you didn’t know how to stop it.

You pressed your lips firmly together, swallowed down the ache in your throat, and waited until he was done stitching your wound, and you knew when that time arrived when he placed a fresh pad over your hand and wrapped it in bandages.

“It would be best to leave that covered for two days. I will change the bandage tonight.”

You nodded silently but didn’t look at him, and he didn’t move from his position on the floor. It was difficult to tell with half your hand numb, but you thought you felt the delicate pressure of him cradling it.

“Reid?”

The name was so strange to hear from that soft, metallic voice. Not Doctor or my assistant or even dear one. Just you. Just Reid.

“Do you want to be here?” you asked. The question fled like it had staged its own containment breached, and you regretted its escape.

“…Pardon?”

“If there’s somewhere else you’d rather be, I understand. 682 and 053 will be fine with me. We just need enough supplies to survive the winter, then we can move on. And you can… can get your life back before the Foundation interrupted it.”

Silence stretched between you. You wanted to scream to break it.

Say something!

But he didn’t. He remained perfectly still, perfectly quiet, and in that silence your heart started to crack.

Finally, he spoke, but his words brought no comfort.

“Is this… what you want?”

You still refused to look at him, focused on the window over the sink bright with winter light, clinging to its view of the outside like a lifeline.

“It’s not about what I want.” Your throat ached so much your words were thick with it. “You didn’t ask for this. You didn’t deserve it. Any of it.”

Any of it. Including you.

The stillness of the room lasted only a moment before Valens regained his feet. He went to the front door, which was left partially open so you could listen to 053 play outside, and he firmly shut it.

And then he walked back to you, his pale eyes hard, focused, and you were like a deer in the headlights as he pulled you up from the chair. Your mouth fell open in shock, your body pliant with surprise as he maneuvered you back against the counter. With a sweep of his hand, he cleared the counter of the ruined attempt of cinnamon buns, ignoring the clatter as it fell to the floor.

Valens lifted you onto the counter without warning and slotted between your legs. As if unsatisfied with the small space left between you, he pulled you flat against his body, his hips flushed to yours, the clawed ends of his fingers pressed into the outside of your thighs.

His specter-grey eyes, eyes you’d noticed held a hint of blue if the sun caught it just right, stared directly into you in a way no one else ever could.

“If you bid me go, I will go. But until that time comes—”

His claws dug in a little deeper, a reflex not meant to hurt but unknowingly revealing what you’d missed. In the weeks that had passed without touch or closeness or comfort, he’d been denying himself, too.

“—I will remain. Right here.”

With his claws, he pulled you tight against him. Wanting, possessive, needful. And you finally broke.

Fingers clumsy with haste, you shoved down your jeans and underwear as far as they would go, which was about to your knees before Valens let out a soft snarl and spread your thighs wider. For a moment, you were afraid he was going to leave when he backed away, but then he slipped his hand between your legs.

His fingers deftly stroked your slick heat, and you were wound so tight you nearly sobbed. Trying in vain to open your legs wider, caught within the confines of your tangled pants, you reached down to the apex of his legs where you knew his inner sheath was hidden.

But Valens grasped you by the wrist and gently pulled you away, his eyes hazy with lust but a small amount of regret too.

“The girl and reptile are in the forest, but they will be back soon.”

You tried to focus on his face and the words, but his forefinger had found your clit and stroked it in slow, torturous caresses. His other hand wove through your hair, his fingertips grazing your scalp, as if after weeks of being only able to watch he couldn’t stop touching you.

He leaned closer, his gaze growing dark.

“And when I finally have you, I will take my time.”

Valens pressed his finger in hard, the teasing stroke becoming one of demand, and you buried your face in his shoulder as you cried out. Your hands wrapped around his back, your legs trying to catch his hips as you desperately wanted his fingers to breach you, and he knew exactly what you were doing.

“I will hurt you,” he strained through the teeth hidden behind his mask.

“I don’t care.”

He groaned in frustration, but not surprise. He knew you, your stubbornness and will, how you didn’t let anything go until you were damn well ready.

But he was at least careful as he slipped a gentle finger in you, and then two when your clenching walls greedily demanded more. He curled his fingers just enough for the blunted points to press something inside you, and you shuddered and whimpered at the strange, delicious pressure.

But he didn’t thrust his fingers inside you, knowing it would scratch your delicate, velvety walls, so he instead stroked and rubbed your clit with the pad of his thumb.

It was good, really good, and your legs trembled as the rubber band in your gut slowly tightened. But something was still missing, and with Valens buried up to his knuckles in your cunt, you figured he was busy enough to let you do this one thing.

With your good hand, your palm returned to the front of his pelvis and pressed down, easily finding the slit that was the opening to his sheath. You spread it open with your fingers, and all you had to do was stroke the inner lip before his phallus pushed from the sheath, practically jumping into your hand as if starving for the attention.

Valens growled next to your ear, a warning you happily ignored, gliding the slick cock across your palm and squeezing it before stroking up and down the shaft. Its inhuman shape pulsed in your hand, and the next noise he made was more groan than growl, his hips twitching involuntarily.

He still kept his fingers curled but stubbornly immobile inside your cunt, though his thumb rubbed you without mercy, the movements slippery with the excess of his soaked hand. And with his other, Valens did the unexpected; he slipped his hand under your sweater, lightly raked his claws up your skin, and groped your breast. With a purpose that conveyed he knew exactly what he was doing, he squeezed your nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

Your back arched as if he’d shocked you with a live wire, your walls tight around his fingers, and you stroked and squeezed him almost angrily, as if in revenge for not being buried in you right now.

And it was with that image, imagining him removing his fingers and moving those last few inches to thrust his cock into your desperate, aching cunt that finally pushed you over the edge. Your face buried in his neck, you wailed, clenching around his fingers as your rhythm around his cock faltered, your pattern sporadic and trembling, very similar to how your cunt squeezed him in shuddering bursts.

You breathed out a word, a name, a prayer that only he could hear.

“Valens.”

A snarl ripped through him and his earlier inhibitions forgotten as he thrust in your hand, his claws digging into your breast hard enough it would leave bruises, and then he gave one final jerk of his hips. His cock pulsed hot and hard in your hand, ropes of cum splashing the inside of your bare thighs and the counter beneath you.

Slowly, bit by bit, you relaxed your iron grip on him. Though your injured hand ached, the numbness having faded some time ago, your good hand continued to gently stroke him, milking him for every drop until he shuddered and gave a broken moan at the overstimulation. God, what you wouldn’t give to hear more noises like that out of him.

Valens broke away first, slipping his hand out of your cunt and then out of your sweater, the former drenched and dripping. His skin was darker when wet, almost black, and his claws gleamed as they caught the light.

In a move that lacked any sort of coherence, you grabbed his soaked hand and stuck the two fingers that had been inside your cunt into your mouth. Valens’ hand twitched but he kept his fingers perfectly still as your tongue laved over them, unafraid as you pressed the flat of your tongue against the claw tips.

He bit off some heated phrase in French, but his other hand was gentle as he stroked your naked hip.

“A man could have the patience of a saint, and you would still have the power to drive him to madness.”

You sucked his fingers noisily and greedily as you at last drew them from your mouth, all quite on purpose.

“You’re the one who put me on this counter. You get to deal with the consequences.”

His chuckle low and warm, some of the light returned to his eyes, previously absent as the days had grown shorter and colder. You had missed it so much that its return felt like the sun shining only for you.

Without speaking but the warmth remaining in his gaze, Valens dampened a washcloth and cleaned the mess he’d left on your thighs and the counter, and then he folded it over onto the clean side and pressed it between your legs. You might have taken it as an innocent gesture meant to clean you if not for the focused hunger in his gaze. The lion who had finished his meal and wanted seconds.

And you, weak and aching under that gaze, wrapped your arms around him and pressed your lips to his mask, over his beak and over the cheekbones and on to the place where his mouth would be if not for the chitinous barrier.

His body shuddered and pressed deliciously against yours, proof that you weren’t the only one who ached for a comforting touch, but then he went still. A few seconds later, you heard squealing laughter echoing off the trees.

You sighed and released him, and Valens conveyed his silent apology and regret as he finished cleaning you. Once that was done, instead of letting you hop down, he took you by the hips and set you on the ground, his claws careful as they tugged up your jeans. You pulled them on the rest of the way, making sure everything was in place before you looked up at him, resting the palm of your good hand against his chest.

He didn’t retreat or flinch away as he’d done since your arrival to the cabin, and you took it as a promising sign. A very promising sign.

“So…” Your fingers toyed with the faint wrinkles of fabric across his sternum. “We… the both of us, we’re… okay?”

A hand came up to lay across your restless fingers, holding them steady and close.

“We are. We have always been. And I apologize for making you feel otherwise. I… deeply miscalculated what I believed to be your wishes. Clearly.”

His eyes twinkled with humor, and you smiled. It had been so long since you’d smiled, you were surprised the gesture was so easy.

Not a moment later, the door burst open and a flurry of snow entered, followed by a girl coated in white, sitting astride the back of a large reptilian figure.

053 grinned at you, nearly eye-level with you from the back of 682, and she gave an enthusiastic wave. Seeing you stand so close together, your hand on Valens’ chest with his own covering it, 682 gave an eyeroll and a disgusted snort.

With that, he stalked to the couch and shook his coat, purposefully making 053 fall off his back and directly onto the padded cushions. She cackled with delight, but you winced. If dropped from the same height, you’d have a smarting shoulder and an aching hip.

“Careful,” you mumbled, and 682 just gave you a lethal side eye.

“You should open some windows.” And then he added pointedly, “It stinks in here.”

Mortified, cheeks on fire, you went to the window over the sink and opened it wide. The clean scent of pine, oak, and snow washed over your face, cooling your overheated skin.

The chill of winter was kept at bay from the warmth that pressed against your back, the arms that wrapped around your waist, and the nudge of a beak, affectionate against your jaw.

You didn’t know how long you would be able to remain here, hidden from the panopticon lens of the Foundation. But for now, you were safe, and warm, and free. And loved.

It was good. It was enough.

[clouduru-chan]

I've been crying for half an hour because I was playing Signalis.

And my friends. What a wonderful game, I didn't understand anything at first, but the feeling and love between Eslter and Ariane moved me so much.

And that gave me a fanfic idea.

I've already created the idea a little in my head, but I wanted to know if you would like something like this.

Reader was a human who had the power of photographic memory, she never forgot anything since her birth. She lived with her mother who was a depressed woman who had lost her husband in a conflict with a super villain (her father worked as one of Cicel's soldiers), and with depression and overprotection, she didn't let her daughter leave the house, her education was all at home until she was thirteen. Reader was living well, she loved music and art, and loved her mother's company. But her aunt (her mother's brother), is a damn Karen.

Who kept calling the Office of Children's Issues saying that her niece was living in terrible conditions and was stuck at home. The Office of Children's Issues went to check the complaint, and upon seeing the case, they thought it was right to take the daughter from her mother's house to do a more in-depth investigation, but one day without her daughter, Reader's mother commits something against one's own life, which forces the girl to live with her bitch aunt (by the way, her aunt wanted to have children, but couldn't because she was infertile, so she was jealous of her own sister, and now she has to take care of her niece).

Reader is forced to study at public school, she is bullied because she has never interacted with another child in her life and others think she is weird.

At school she meets Mark, who defends her from bullying (this is before he has super powers) and he becomes her great and first friend, she starts to like comics because of him.

She also befriends William, and as they strengthen their friendship, Mark makes her promise that she will always be with him no matter the situation. They grow up, Mark gained his powers at 17, and asks Reader to be his girlfriend, and they are planning to go to college together (she wanted to study arts or even history of literature, but her aunt forced her to study medicine, and since she is a submissive person, she accepts to go to the college of her aunt's choice).

And also the aunt wouldn't finance the college either, and you who didn't even have much money to finance your own college, and also didn't usually tell your problems to Mark and his friends. Reader finds Cicel and asks if he has a job for her (since her father worked for the government, she thought she could work too), and since Cicel was a friend of her father, he hires her, and she works on simple things, cleaning up brutal crimes caused by captured villains, and until she has proper training (which she learns quickly because of her ease of learning because of her memory).

The government begins a new experiment to collect memories from soldiers, and Reader joins the project because she would earn more money to pay for all her college tuition.

Mark finds out that she works with Cicel and what she has already done, he is disappointed and breaks up with her, saying that she deceived him (even though the idiot never told her that he was the invincible one). She is devastated, but continues her work, until the tragic day of her death, when she was removing all the government people from the house in front of Mark's house, since Omni Man had discovered the place and was killing everyone, and she ends up dying in the worst possible way.

After the Chicago disaster and a month passes, Mark doesn't see Reader at school or even after starting college, he believes that she abandoned everything and just works for the government now. He starts dating Amber and tries to do everything he can to be a good hero.

The project in which the reader participated began using her memories, since she had a knack for learning quickly, and they created an Android with a similar appearance to her, to solve any type of problem until the heroes arrived. The initiative of this project was to reduce the losses of human soldiers in conflicts.

And the Pentagon staff and Cicel call her Krähe (which is crow in German), she works well in a team, helps humans and has not shown any irregularities until the day she started working.

The soldiers don't like her, because they believe she will take their jobs away.

And the story would consist of a psychological horror.

I really liked the story of Signalis, and I thought about using a bit of the game's idea for a sad story with Mark. If you like it, I'll work on the story better, it's just a draft of what I'm thinking of doing.

[dw-described]

[Image description: Gifs from the Doctor Who episode The Story and The Engine alternated with text. Image 1: Fifteen says, "I'm born".

Image 2: Text: 'I can remember waiting to be born.' He said it deliberately to see how much reaction he could get. 'Impossible. That is impossible.' The young pupil continued: 'It was like being all strung out. All unravelled inside the Loom. I was spread really thin. 'But I knew where I was and what was happening. I couldn't wait to get out. And then I was born. My lungs nearly burst. The first rush of air was so cold. And they were all there, of course. All forty-four of them. All laughing, because of… because..?

Image 3: Fifteen: I die

Image 4: Text: A cold wind. A mountainside. It is dark. An old man stands there, alone. He raises his fist. 'Is this how it began, or how it will end?' the female voice asked without breaking the silence. A third voice spoke. 'It is both. Time is relative. History repeats itself, and repeats itself again. Father to son. The Doctor turned to see who had spoken. There was no one else there. Just him, the woman and the… the other.

Image 5: Fifteen: I'm born

Image 6: Text: Under an orange sky, a group of dark figures stood around a singing structure, a million fine chords sighing in the wind. Information was flowing down the chords, being woven together in the mesh they were forming between them. Spirals of microscopic data had been flowing into the loom for days. Now something was due to emerge. The woman walked forward and touched the chords. Something shaped itself into her arms. A male child. 'Again?' said the child. End description.]

[Plain text:

He wrote it in six words. Short as hell. Do you want to hear mine? You told me a never-ending story...

The Story & the Engine // Lungbarrow / Cold Fusion / Human Nature

End plain text.]

He wrote it in six words. Short as hell. Do you want to hear mine? You told me a never-ending story...

The Story & the Engine // Lungbarrow / Cold Fusion / Human Nature

[kradogsrats]

Allhaven and Evrkynd: An Aanya (and Ezran) Meta

So back before s7, I predicted that Aanya would play a significant role in returning Ezran to his chosen path of radical love after he's shaken from it by being unexpectedly confronted with an alive Runaan. Obviously, that wound up being hilariously incorrect... but I still think the analysis was, at the time, sound.

In arc 1, Aanya is set up as the model for Ezran in... basically every respect. Like, the number of ways Ezran in early s3 directly parallels Aanya at the Pentarchy Summit in s2 is anything but subtle:

They also both leave s3 in a very similar place, as young monarchs who refused to take their people to war, but stepped up to defend peace. Knowing that Ezran would struggle with Runaan's role in his father's death, it made perfect sense that Aanya could relate—Avizandum orphaned her, and while she wasn't interested in taking aggressive action for the sake of revenge (as opposed to Kasef), she probably still felt some kind of way about riding to the defense of Xadia and Zym. It made sense that she would continue in her narrative role as a sort of preview for Ezran's behavior, as far as putting aside personal grudges for the common good.

In fact, the Book Two: Sky novelization makes it explicit. The Pentarchy Summit sequence ends with a segment from Aanya's point of view, in which she privately displays a fair amount of contempt for the other human monarchs and (somewhat hilariously) labels Viren as "aging," but it ends with this:

As a young ruler, she had the opportunity to correct the course of violence that her parents had been a part of. And she hoped to do just that.

As in the series, the Pentarchy Summit in the novelization is intercut with Callum opening and reading Harrow's final letter, in which he urges Callum and Ezran to do the same: turn the story of the world from one of strength and violence to one of peace and love. (Well, less intercut than the series, because different media. But it comes between Callum sitting down to read the letter, and them him actually reading it.) Again, we are meant to see Aanya as strongly aligned with the main trio in the sense of being

We then didn't really get anything to contradict any of that in s6, where her appearance mostly just indicated that she was going to play a bigger role in s7. However, when s7 arrived? Well, she's still very much meant to be compared with and contextualize Ezran's decisions and actions, but as this series is so fond of doing, she herself is massively recontextualized as a character, in turn.

The Orphaned Queen

In s7, we see an Aanya that is different from—but not inconsistent with—what we saw in the first arc. The key is this:

Aanya has had a much different experience from Ezran's—she has had the people around her betray and attempt to manipulate her. Has Aanya ever been able to feel truly safe, outside of the measures she herself is able to take in her own defense?

Contrast this with Ezran, who is generally surrounded by people he can trust implicitly. He does get briefly conspiracy-ed off the throne, but his loyal allies immediately start working to restore him. In arc 2, we see that he is still close with those allies, and the untrustworthy actors have been removed from his immediate orbit. We don't know a ton about Harrow's High Council beyond Viren and Opeli—there was Saleer (untrustworthy), but there were also others, none of whom are present for Ezran's rule. Ezran's council is made up of Opeli, Barius, and Corvus—three people who supported him without reservation through Viren's coup—plus Soren, who displayed his loyalty to Ezran at the end of s3 by "killing" his father (and losing his sister), and then Callum, Ezran's own brother and staunchest protector until Corvus and Soren entered the scene. Unlike Aanya, who is both younger than Rayla and has a higher body count, Ezran appears to have never picked up a weapon for anything but play-fighting with Callum. Aanya simply does not have the luxury of safety and trust that he does.

(We have a single mention in a single interview indicating that Aanya has an adoptive older brother, which makes for another point of close comparison with Ezran in that they are both in the unusual situation of being young monarchs with living older siblings. Presumably, if Aanya truly trusts anyone, it would be him. While she comforts Ezran about his falling out with Callum without even mentioning that she has her own older brother, she does speaks in a way that could suggest personal experience—which would indicate that she and Grark may have had their own struggles. In a medium where time is so valuable that every shot and line of dialogue needs to be scrutinized for storytelling efficiency, exposition about Aanya's family situation may just not be a priority. Personally, I'm not really committed to believing that he actually exists and isn't some kind of large and protective pet, but I feel obligated to mention him in the context of "does Aanya trust anyone?")

So while Ezran, having grown up in relative security, is inherently very trusting (something also driven by the faith of his True Heart that people are good), and Aanya, despite being ostensibly aligned with him in nature and goals, is very much not.

Trust Me to Carry It

Reaching s7, Ezran and Aanya actually have an interesting pair of exchanges about trust, and specifically about trust between the two of them. During Ezran's first council meeting at the Banther Lodge, when Callum (their relationship already visibly fracturing) fails to support him at even the bare minimum level of paying attention, he turns to Aanya, instead. She initially demurs, citing that she is not a member of the council, but Ezran insists:

Aanya appears to not really know how to respond to that, though she takes it seriously and wants to recognize the gesture. She settles for reaffirming the debt owed to Katolis by Duren, and pledging to honor it:

We'll address the rest of this scene in a bit, but first I want to look at a later one—a very subtle moment, but one I think is important.

After the confrontation between Callum and Ezran (in which Aanya has a role, and believe me, I'll touch on that later), Ezran's emotions are running high—he's angry, he's distraught, and Aanya steps in to move him to a more private setting where he can feel his feelings. On the Banther Lodge bridge, there is this exchange:

Ezran cites a time he and Callum had (much lower-stakes) discord, specifically a time when Callum dismissed Ezran's (admittedly far-fetched) claims about his own experience and knowledge of the world, and in response, Aanya makes a gesture of the exact opposite. Callum didn't believe Ezran that the ducks preferred berries, but Aanya offers him berries to feed to the ducks.

We also don't really have a strong picture of how open Ezran is in arc 2 about his ability to understand animals—he seems to be more open about it than he was in arc 1, when he kept it concealed in large part because Callum didn't believe him. It makes sense that he would have grown in confidence after Callum's turnaround, along with both Rayla and Claudia believing him without reservation, but I still get the impression it's something he rarely talks about. He doesn't hide it, in that he will listen to animals and respond directly to them in front of even relative strangers, like Terry, but... maybe it's just the disconnect in how even Ezran treats animals vs. humans/elves, but there's really no evidence that anyone other than Callum and Rayla know, and everyone else just treats things like Bait's "seat" on the council as a child's adorable quirks. So while him indicating openly to Aanya that he can communicate with animals doesn't necessarily mean anything, it's still kind of surprising.

I'll circle back to Aanya display of trust in Ezran (eventually), but first: a quick(ish) look at what Ezran's trust in Aanya winds up meaning in s7 regarding her influence on him.

Your Angel or Your Devil

Aanya enters Ezran's circle of advisors at a time when he is in great turmoil, and vulnerable because of that. He's also struggling with traumatic growth of a kind his other advisors would prefer to shield him from, but that leaves him straining against their expectations. That he will need and want new voices among his advisors has always been an eventual reality, and Aanya is a very appropriate candidate. However, where things get interesting is that, despite her uniformly positive role in arc 1 and in s6, in s7 her influence on Ezran is frequently not framed as necessarily a positive.

In the first Banther Lodge council scene, as described above, Ezran explicitly places Aanya in a position of trust, and she returns with a pledge of support. In context, Ezran has just been encouraged by Opeli and Barius to focus on rebuilding Katolis and reassuring its people. He is conflicted, being deeply affected by Sol Regem's attack—in a way, a breach of his trust in Xadia and the world at large—and questions whether it's worth rebuilding without ensuring that everything will not be so easily destroyed again. To emphasize his point, he knocks over his goblet—the goblet that Aanya then picks up and offers back to him as part of her affirmation that Duren will aid Katolis in any way needed.

She then goes on to agree with his concerns about Katolis's vulnerability, something that visibly disturbs what was previously Ezran's core council:

This is a moment where Ezran takes a distinct step away from his childhood, even before his critical confrontation with Callum, in that he looks to and takes the advice of a peer, rather than a guardian. Previously, the closest thing Ezran had to a peer within his council was Callum, and Callum just demonstrated how unsuited he has always been for that role.

Opeli (and Barius, and Corvus, and Soren) has, from the very beginning, had an interest in protecting Ezran not just physically, but mentally and morally, as well. On Ezran's first full day as king, the adults in the room all suddenly act like they're under tiktok censorship and have to say "unalived" when learning and discussing the news that the four other human monarchs have been attacked, and three of them are dead or sufficiently incapacitated that they may as well be dead (Kasef is acting independently as Ahling's heir, not under Ahling's direction or advice). Ultimately, that might be a kind thing to do! Ezran's father was assassinated, and a coordinated attack on human kings and queens suggests that he may be in mortal danger—something potentially traumatic for a *checks watch* ten-year-old already under significant pressure. Aanya, however, never received that grace, so when Ezran's adult advisors are trying to direct him toward peaceful rebuilding and implicitly reassure him that everything will be okay, Aanya is frank in telling him that safety frequently has to be ensured, not assumed.

She's not wrong, particularly within the frame of her own trauma experience, which is a caveat she even makes explicit. (This is the girl who brings her magic explosive arrows to a wedding. Just in case.) However, as with the many, many people in this series who are not technically wrong, she's also not right—she is putting Ezran on a path that we as the audience immediately recognize as dangerous. So while Aanya in a lot of ways appears to be taking over Opeli's role in counseling Ezran both emotionally and practically, she does so in a way that is... interestingly reminiscent of Aaravos.

Project Ruby Fire

Now that I've made that insane claim, let's look briefly at the magical nuclear deterrence plan. Or rather, let's look at how it's proposed.

Aanya makes a pledge of support and service:

Confronts his enemies(?) aggressively in a way that escalates the situation:

and pushes him from a vague "the future of my people/humanity needs to be protected" toward a specific target:

Above all, she gives Ezran a secret, magical resource to be used for the benefit of humanity against those who would attack/oppress them, entirely changes the face of any conflict to a type of warfare never before seen, and that carries a spiraling moral risk—when you've got a bunch of nuclear warheads, every threat becomes something you may need to nuke. Ezran, after all, goes very quickly from "we're only building such powerful weapons so we'll never have to use them" to... well, using them.

Shitposts aside, I don't think Aanya is doing any of this maliciously—she's not love-bombing Ezran to manipulate him later, nor is she using him to push forward the fire ruby weapons development and exploit them for some kind of secret personal reasons. I think she is genuinely trying to help. What I think is actually going on here is that Aanya is representative of the rest of the Pentarchy and/or humanity—a group the principal characters visibly lose touch with more than once:

She's not following a pattern reminiscent of Aaravos because she's like Aaravos, but because that's what Aaravos's influence has made humanity over the centuries. It's an example of the insidious effect that not just dark magic, but the division of the continent and pitting humans and Xadia against each other has had.

Aanya may not hold any particular grudge against Xadia, but she isn't prepared to trust them, either—instead, she prepares for the worst. Her fire ruby arrows don't appear in the arc 1 final battle, a situation where you'd expect them to be used if they had been available, suggesting that they're something she oversaw the creation of during the two years after tentative peace with Xadia was established. She remains ready to defend herself, even against what are ostensibly allies. The soft threats are the worst.

A Bright Future for Humanity

Ultimately, Ezran is able to recover most, if not all, of his pre-s7 convictions regarding radical love and pursuit of peace—notably after taking himself to a place Aanya can/does not follow. Aanya obviously supports him in this, and it's not entirely clear whether Project Ruby Fire continues. Aaravos's return is on the horizon, and it proved effective against him once, already. (Though, as Aaravos himself warns, he does not fall for the same tricks twice.)

Going forward, a strong narrative role for Aanya given how she has already been used would be as a continued counterpart to Ezran—in that, as Ezran represents the reunification of humans and Xadia, she represents a united humanity within that. Throughout arc 2, we don't see anyone from any of the other human kingdoms—even though after two years, they ought to have worked out new rulers—only Katolis and Duren. There are models for Neolandian, Del Barian, and Evenerean soldiers from s3, but none appear in the Evrkynd scene—though there also aren't even any Durenian soldiers there, despite Aanya's presence, only Katolian soldiers and civilians. (To be fair, it's presumably still Katolian soil, since it's where Viren crossed with his armies and they were headed for the Breach before hearing it had been destroyed. But that just makes the need for a future united humanity more obvious.)

They could also, of course, be setting up an eventual romantic relationship between Aanya and Ezran. At twelve and thirteen years old, we can't exactly expect sparks to be flying, but there are a couple significant times when Aanya appears to be paralleling Sarai, not to mention their scene on what might as well be declared "Callum and Rayla Affirmations of Devotion" bridge.

Sarai is also presented as a warrior-queen, with a desire to improve the future world. I've written a bit about what Sarai might have seen in Harrow, and... even noted at the time (also prior to the s7 release) that she was likely similar to Aanya. Aanya and Ezran could have that same kind of dynamic—the pragmatist who grounds the idealist in reality, and the idealist who inspires the pragmatist to greater dreams.

Finally, I made the comparison up there between Aanya's pledge of service and Aaravos's, but there are others that could be made:

It's not a ship I have any investment in, but the foundations are admittedly sound.

FINALLY: A Shot in the Dark

I managed to write all of this without actually addressing the question that made me think about any of it in the first place, which is: would Aanya have shot Callum, if Ezran had given the order?

Short version: no, I don't think she would have.

To elaborate, the confrontation with Callum (and Rayla, and Runaan) comes right after Aanya has pledged Duren's (and her) support to Katolis (and Ezran)—whatever they need. Here, despite having no real personal stake in the conflict (though she probably has some strong feelings about assassins, in general), she lends Ezran her martial support, much in the way she did in s3 for the final battle. Aanya shoots two arrows, one of which is close enough to hitting Runaan that Rayla feels she has to deflect it, and the other of which grazes him—what she calls a warning shot.

What Aanya is actually giving Ezran in this scene is the appearance of strength and ruthlessness. As someone who grew up surrounded by people seeking to exploit what they saw as weaknesses—such as her young age—she's highly aware that a major factor in defensive strength is deterrence through intimidation. Ezran also knows this, on some level:

Ideally, she won't have to shoot Callum to get him to back down, only look like she will. As I noted earlier, her actions do escalate the conflict—but also may very well have worked to resolve it, had it been anyone other than Callum.

Ezran backing down is also crucial in setting up their next scene, which includes the ducks-berries sequence and Aanya declaring that she will extend her support to entrusting Ezran with the secret of the fire rubies. I think, because Ezran didn't give the order, she has seen that he's not going to foolishly escalate conflicts out of anger or pride. She placed herself in his hands as an indiscriminate weapon, and he chose not to use it.

If Ezran had ordered her to shoot Callum, I think she would have lost basically all respect for him. If she shot at all, she would be deliberately shooting to miss.

And that's what I think about Aanya.

[starlighthosh]

I hear you - w.jh

Pairing: dancer!jun x dancer!reader

Warning: fluff, angst, strangers to lovers, Jun crying, miscommunication, mention of panic attack, past parent loss, hallucinations

Content: What happens when you accidentally overhear something the other said?

It was a normal Wednesday afternoon like every other. You were on your practice break, sitting in a corner, while your ‘friends’ sat in the middle of the room, laughing loudly at the jokes of the others. You had your headphones on, choreographing a new dance in your head.

For others you might seem like an outsider, which you kind of are, but just because you chose to. You had this skill of making yourself invisible for everyone around, which was also what was going on right now. It’s not like they don’t like you. Completely different, they always want you to sit with them and try to engage you into their conversation. You denied their affection though. You liked the dark corners more, they were just peaceful, without any hatred or fear.

You were in your own world, starring into the void while pictures of dance moves flew across your mind. Suddenly, someone tapped your shoulder. You flinched and snapped your head to the person. A tall guy kneeled beside you, smiling shyly. Your eyes met up with his, a deep brown sinking you into them.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t meant to scare you” he nervously chuckled, rubbing a hand on the back of his neck. You were still shocked, carefully scanning him with your eyes. His body could be seen through his loose clothes. He has a great physique you thought to yourself. His hair lay messily on his head, making him seem more authentic. His face had an indescribable beauty to it and his presence took up your whole being, shining like gold around him.

“No, no, it’s fine. You didn’t scared me” you quickly replied. He let out a relieved sigh, smiling again at you. “So, I’m new here. Is there anyone that I have to go to or am I just a part of this group now?” you chuckled slightly at his clumsiness. “She’s kind of the leader here. You should go to her first” you recommended as you pointed with a finger to her.

“But.. they ignored me” he said. It wasn’t unusual for them to be rude to others, but how can you ignore a person like him? His aura is really hard to ignore, putting everyone in awe around him.

“Hey, we have a newcomer” you shouted to the others. It may have seem like they didn’t even acknowledged that you were still in the same room, but suddenly all their attention went to you, responding immediately. The said ‘leader’ gasped as she came up to you. “Well hello there. Nice to meet you. What’s your name?” she exclaimed in her best costumer-service voice.

“I-I’m Jun” he replied, surprised at the sudden shift. What a beautiful name. She smiled gently at him, pulling him with her to introduce him to the others. You were left alone in the corner, feeling the cold breeze he left. The effect he had on you was no joke, leaving you in a trance of admiration. But, somehow he doesn’t seem to have the same effect on others.

The next practice breaks continued normally. Just that now, there are two of you sitting on the sides. Jun and you. You didn’t talked with one another, just quietly enjoying each others presence, knowing you aren’t alone.

You had no problem being alone, even growing to like it over the years, but you enjoyed him around. He didn’t said much, mostly being overheard. Not from you though. You heard every sound of him. Every breath, noise, word. It was like he fixed your whole attention to him. You didn’t complain though. He was an interesting human being.

The gap between you two closed a little more with every practice, even starting to exchange a few words with another. You couldn’t ignore the fact, that your heart pounded in your ears, obviously being nervous. He just had that strong hold on you, his smell and presence taking up all of your senses. You wondered, if he felt the same about you.

He did. From the moment he walked into the practice room for the first time, his eyes always searched for you. It was fascinating for him, how you could just change your presence in milliseconds. He just couldn’t understand why. As someone who has been ignored by everyone his entire life, his dad, classmates, teachers, bosses, he just couldn’t wrap around why you would purposefully make yourself invisible. But he was drawn to you, noticing you the whole time you’re together.

It’s been a couple weeks since Jun joined your dance group. The change in your group atmosphere was noticeable. The others, that were normally in the center, moved closer to the side. Now, Jun and you were filling up the room with laughters. Even in the breaks, you jokingly choreographed songs with weird moves.

The presence of the others vanished with every second you two spent together, creating your own little world. But they noticed it too. You’ve never been so open with them, like you are with Jun. They somehow envied him. It was beautiful to see, how you brought out the best of each other.

“We have a dance competition” the ‘leader’ announced. Everyone looked at her with a question mark above their head. “Actually only two of us” she continued “It’s a duo dance, so only two of us are going to participate in the competition. They will basically represent the whole team”. Complains started to spread. “Why only two of us?” “That’s not what a team is about” “Why are we even participating?”.

“I want Jun and Y/n to represent us” she said, completely ignoring the others. The room went silent, shocked faces being exchanged. Excitement grew up inside of you, but you stayed silent. “Us?” Jun unsurely asked. “Yes. I think your chemistry is great for this”.

Your breath hitched in your throat, eyes widening with shock. Jun hesitated for a moment, then took a deep breath and turned to smile at you. “I guess we can make it work, right?” he asked you. You kept silent for a moment, not knowing if you were actually ready for this. But it’s for the team. “Yes, we can” you assured him.

He looked at you with a relieved smile. “All right, then it’s fixed. Don’t disappoint us” she warned, building up pressure on the both of you. Everyone went back to their doing, except for Jun and you. The silence between you was deafening, none of you knowing what to do next.

You’ve been staying longer for practice since the announcement, practicing for the competition. Even though it was awkward at the beginning, your bodies were in harmony. Every movement was perfectly balanced, moving like water through the room.

The two of you flopped down onto the floor. Your chests rising and falling hardly with every breath, sweat dripping down from your faces. This choreo was really challenging, but it was all for the team.

Both of you didn’t really spoke with one another, like you used to. It was weird to talk about the situation you’re in. You haven’t known each other for that long and now you have to dance together, because your chemistry is great? What does that even mean?

Duo dances have never been your thing. Also because you tend to get an unhealthy obsession with the other person, only breaking your heart in the end. Thats why you were glad that your current dance group never did those duo dances. Well, until now.

Jun though, he looked like he enjoyed every second of it. His presence have already been strong, at least for you, but this dance made him shine even more. He was completely in his element. Plus he’s doing it with you.

Still, there was something weird about him in the last days. It’s like his mind was occupied by something the whole time. You often had to make sure that he was still in the practice room and not wherever his mind was.

You opened the door of your apartment. Street lamps shining through the curtains of the dark room. You threw your shoes in a corner, together with your bag, and flopped yourself on a chair. An exhausted exhale left your mouth as you covered your face with your hands.

Ever since Jun came into your life, you’ve not been able to think straight. Everything reminded you of the little things he does. Like the cat memes on the internet or the weird guys in your favorite tv shows. He was just way too.. cute

He took over your mind once again, not letting you breathe just once. You hated him for that. Everything was fine with you, but now you just malfunctioned every time he gets a little too close to you. You could swear, you sometimes even smell him randomly.

It was like he could read your mind, your phone started to vibrate. You removed your hands to take a look, exclaiming a fake cry, as you read his name. You took a deep breath and answered the call.

“Hello? Jun?”

“Y/n? I need your help”

“What? Did something happened? What’s wrong?”

“Please, just come to the dance studio”

“Okay okay, I’m on my way”

And with that he hung up. You starred at your phone for a second, his helpless voice still ringing in your ear. Then you quickly started to move, taking your shoes and jacket, and rushing to the studio.

As you reached the dance studio, you saw a trash can on the floor, its contents emptied on the floor. A few meters next to it was a car with a broken window and dents. What the hell happened here?

Jun was curled up in a corner with a traumatized look. You ran to him, kneeling down in front of him. “Are you okay? Did someone hurt you?” you asked worried, taking one of his hands in yours. They were cold, his whole body must be freezing. It was clear that he must have had a panic attack. “Let’s get inside okay?” you helped him up and guided him to the emergency room in the studio.

You put a blanket over his shoulders and hot packs in his hands. Carefully you sat down beside him. He still wasn’t really aware of his surroundings. You were unsure, if you should ask him now or wait a little longer for him to acclimatize, but your curiosity got the better of you.

“What happened out there Jun?” you asked cautiously. He slightly moved his head to look at you, in his eyes a deep sadness. “My.. my mom” he stuttered out of him. “Your mom? What’s with your mom?” you tried to get more out of him. He didn’t responded, only looking wordlessly at you. You tried to give him the time he needed calm down from his shock.

“I’m sorry, I must have disturbed you. It’s just.. you were the only one I could call” he said after a while. Your heart sank in your chest. “It’s okay. You needed help” you tried to assure him, but the words seemed to coldly fly past him.

You reached out for one of his hands, caressing the back with your thumb. “Tell me what you need and I’ll do it” you offered him. His gaze switched between your hand and your face.

“I need you” he muffled not even above a whisper. “What?” you asked, not understanding what he just said. Instead of repeating it though, his face turned cold. “Forget it” he bluntly said. The sudden shift surprised you, besides that this is the first time he has talked to you like that.

He got up, leaving the blanket on the chair. “Thanks for coming, but I don’t need your help anymore” he stated. His new attitude sending goosebumps all over you. “Jun, I-“ you tried to hold him back, but he already left through the door.

You ran after him, trying to make him listen to you, but he wouldn’t even look at you. “It’s not what you think, I just didn’t-“ you explained, but he cut you off. “I got it, all right? You can leave now” he demanded. “No, I don’t think you-“ “Just go!” he snapped, interrupting you again.

Immediate silence. Tears build up in your eyes, as you processed what just happened. “Fine, if that’s what you want” you mumbled. His eyes widened, hearing the hurt in your voice. “Wait no, that’s not what I meant” he tried to explain, but you already made your way past him, leaving him right there on the spot.

Since then, your practices have been going on very very quiet. All you could hear was a scoff here and a frustrated groan there. The others also noticed the difference and they didn’t liked it.

The ‘leader’ came up to you in one of the breaks. “Hey, everything alright between you?” she asked, pointing to Jun with her eyes. You coldly nodded. She starred at you for a second. “I trust you two with the competition, if you fail this because of a stupid fight, both of you can leave this group” she bursted out, loud enough for him to also hear it, before going back to the others.

After practice, Jun tried to find the right moment with you. “Can we talk?” he quietly asked. You looked at him. The nervousness was written all over his face. You fumbled for a moment, then went back to your reserved behavior. “You tell me” you said, making his eyes open wide. “Or should I just go?” you added, sending shivers down his spine.

Your fight wasn’t good, you knew it too, and it was selfish to spread it out more now. You still had 2 days till the competition. It would be great, if you compromised your miscommunication till then, but right now, it doesn’t look good.

“Why are you being like this?” his voice cracked. You turned to him in disbelief. “Why am I being like this? Didn’t you tell me to leave you alone, after I rushed to help you, because you needed me?” you almost screamed. Juns Face turned red. “Yeah well, how do you want me to react, when you just reply ‘what’, after I basically confessed to you.” he screamed back.

“What confession?” you hissed. “Are you kidding me? Now you don’t even acknowledge it anymore?” he scoffed. The whole conversation becoming a shouting match between you two, to the point where Jun just takes his bag and slams the door from the practice room shut.

You’re left with an empty silence. Your mind still fuming over the recent argument. This is why you like corners, no hatred and fear. No potential fights over the stupidest thing, while both are just talking past each other. It was also sad. Jun was the first person you actually liked around. The only one you willingly shared a corner with. This was just so unfair.

You went through the argument again. “What confession?” you whispered to yourself. The one you didn’t unterstand? The reason why it escalated? Is that why he just pushed you away?

Jun didn’t make it far, before bursting into tears on the stairs of the studio. He just couldn’t understand how you could be like that. First, you rejected him and now you’re playing dumb? Or was he at the wrong? What if you really didn’t unterstand him?

His sight got blurry from tears, the heated argument replaying in his head like a movie. Now that you’re mad at him, he’s got nothing left to hold onto. Nothing that could protect him from going insane.

He did have some problems. Like seeing his dead mother randomly. Or hearing her voice before sleeping. It didn’t happened with you. He was safe with you. The only one he could call, when it happened again, knowing he won’t get judged. No, he would be seen, he would be heard.

Obviously you didn’t hear him though. Was he just overreacting? More tears streamed down his face. He just stood there for a while, letting all his emotions flow.

Until he heard a familiar voice. “Jun?” someone asked from above. He turned to follow the voice. You were standing a few steps over him, looking at him with full of worries. He gasped and wiped his tears away, but he couldn’t help that they were still flowing.

You stepped down the stairs until you were on eye level with him. “Tell me, do you love me?” you bluntly asked. Jun stopped breathing, feeling exposed. “Is that what I overheard, that you love me?” you asked once again. He froze on the spot, not knowing what to do now.

Carefully you cupped his face with one hand, wiping away the tears with your thumb. “Do you? Because I do” you softly stated. That was it for him. He crashed his lips onto yours, his hands holding your hips tight, pulling you close to him.

After you broke free, both of you were out of breath. “I love you, y/n. I need you. You’re the only thing keeping me sane” he mumbled through breaths. This time though, you fully heard him. Your heart clenched at his words, kissing him gently again.

“I should’ve let you talk, I’m sorry” he apologized. You nodded. “Yes, you should’ve. You can be glad I’m smart and figured it out myself.” you teased. He chuckled, his arms pulling you even closer into a tight hug.

“I love you Jun”

“I love you too. Thank you, for hearing me”

Authors note

Omg this was so much longer than I planned, that’s why the ending might seem a bit rushed. I apologize for that. Still had a lot of fun writing it. Hope you guys enjoyed it🤍

[kikyoupdates]

Made to Destroy ⭑˚💎⭑ 𝑎 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑡𝑡𝑦 𝑠𝑚𝑖𝑙𝑒

bnha x op!reader

op!reader, my hero academia x fem!reader, reverse harem, over powered reader, f!reader

You are the product of a series of twisted experiments, an anomaly that shouldn’t have ever existed in the first place. Thankfully, you are taken into the arms of a hero and given a new purpose in life. But as you soon discover, it isn’t easy to deny your true nature, especially when you were made to destroy.

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“Not a real human,” Aizawa mumbles weakly. “So… what are you trying to say?” 

“To clarify, I don’t mean that she was conceived artificially,” Dr. Iwase says. “There are plenty of parents who employ various methods in order to have children, and all of those are perfectly acceptable, thanks to medicine’s advancements. But when I say that [Name] isn’t a real human, I mean that she was not conceived, but rather, created. Time and time again, she’s said that her very first memory is waking up in front of the man who harmed her, no? And while it’s true that children often experience infantile amnesia to some extent, it still wouldn’t make sense for her to have absolutely zero memories preceding that event. Which is why I believe… [Name] was created by that man, who is presumably a scientist, and she took her very first breath on the same day you met her.” 

Aizawa swallows. Right. He had a feeling that this was where the conversation was headed. 

“She was created just recently,” Dr. Iwase continues. “Which would mean that she never experienced the gestation stage, nor infantile development, as ordinary humans do. It would also explain why her medical data is so puzzling to me. Considering everything we know about her, and how strange her circumstances are, I can’t think of any other explanation, no matter how far-fetched it may seem.” 

“So, what then?” Aizawa frowns. God, he feels like he’s going to be sick. It’s true that for a while now, deep down, he’s felt like you were quite different from the other kids. But nothing could have prepared him for such a harrowing revelation. 

“[Name] was created,” Dr. Iwase goes on, frowning slightly. “And… I still don’t understand how that man transplanted a Quirk. I’ve never heard of Quirks being donated from one person to the next. But [Name] said that he mentioned something about wanting her to be durable, and that alone tells me that she wasn’t created to fill the role of a child. If that were the case, he could have used virtually any other means to conceive her. The fact that he artificially engineered a human can only mean that whatever his intentions were, they can’t possibly have been good. After all, why would she need such a powerful regeneration Quirk? It’s almost as if he intended for her to get hurt. Perhaps, and it sickens me to even suggest it, but… perhaps she was meant to be used as a weapon.” 

Aizawa slams his fist against the wall without even realizing it, and Dr. Iwase flinches, visibly taken aback.

“Shit,” Aizawa curses. “Sorry, I’m… I’m just really pissed off right now. I just can’t understand what kind of maniac would do something like that. It doesn’t matter how she came to exist. The fact of the matter is that she does exist. She’s living and breathing, just like the rest of us, and she’s a kid, for crying out loud! I don’t care if her circumstances are unique. You can’t look at her and tell me she’s not a real little girl.” 

Dr. Iwase nods, then offers a sad smile. “Yes. Of course, I agree. [Name] behaves just like any other child would. Her background doesn’t make her any lesser than her peers. When I said she wasn’t a real human, I was just trying to stress that her existence came about artificially, rather than naturally. But she is alive and sentient, just like you and I are. It goes without saying that she needs to be protected.” 

“Artificially engineering a human,” Aizawa scowls. “Doesn’t that violate some code of ethics? People can’t be playing God like that. Not to mention that whoever created her most likely had malicious intentions, and she’s already admitted to being hurt by him. I swear, when I find this lowlife…” 

Aizawa withdraws his fist from the wall and clenches it even tighter. His knuckles are bright red, and a few spots of blood stain his skin. He slowly drops his fist to his side, but all the while, this entire body is shaking.

He’s a hero. All his life, he’s fought to protect other people. It’s a valiant, noble pursuit, even though he would certainly never refer to himself using such pretentious terms. 

But here’s the thing. Heroes don’t kill. No matter how dangerous the villain, no matter the danger that they face, heroes must always strive to apprehend criminals and bring them back to the police, rather than ending their lives outright. 

Aizawa is a hero, so it goes without saying that he must adhere to those rules. 

And yet, whenever it concerns you, it’s almost as if all the rules go flying straight out the window. 

The man who did this to you… the absolute scumbag that had the nerve to think of you as a tool… 

Aizawa has already made up his mind. 

If he ever crosses paths with that sicko, he’s going to make him wish he was dead. 

“Whoever is responsible for [Name]’s existence is no doubt a criminal wanted on several heavy charges,” Dr. Iwase nods gravely. “He won’t go unpunished. Although finding him will be a trickier matter, since we don’t know his name, or his general location, and as of now, a vague physical description is the most that we have. Perhaps more details will come to [Name] over time. Either way, I’m sure the police will want to investigate this matter, as it seems highly dangerous. Artificially engineering humans, and not only that… but transplanting Quirks. This can’t possibly bode well.” 

That much is obvious. Aizawa has never heard of Quirks being given to people. He always thought they could only ever manifest naturally. Perhaps this deranged scientist discovered a way to pull it off after years of research. It sounds difficult to believe, but considering everything else that’s been discussed here today, it certainly isn’t impossible. 

“At the very least, I suppose we finally have a bit more information to go off now,” Dr. Iwase sighs. “You should contact the police and fill them in on what we discussed. Give my contact information as well, so that I can weigh in and tell them my theory. It’s possible that I’m completely off the mark, but if nobody’s come looking for [Name] after all this time… it’s either this, or perhaps, her parents have already passed away.” 

Aizawa shakes his head. “No. What you’re saying makes sense. And supposing her parents really are deceased, it’s still strange how she claims she never knew them. Everything happening here is far too abnormal. I think, despite the initial confusion, we’ve finally figured out the truth. Even if the truth is hard to swallow.” 

Dr. Iwase nods again, still with that tinge of sadness in his eyes. It really is unfortunate that this is the reality that’s been thrust upon you. Details aside, you are a kid. You think and act just like one. You’re innocent and carefree, and when you smile, Aizawa swears the whole world gets brighter. 

It’s up to him to protect that radiant smile of yours. 

“Thank you again for meeting with me,” Aizawa bows. “This was a necessary discussion, and I’m glad we were at least able to clear some things up. If you don’t mind, I’ll be taking [Name] home now.” 

“It’s no problem. I wish I could say that the worst part is over, but… it seems like this battle has only just begun.” 

“That’s fine,” Aizawa says. He narrows his dark eyes. “No matter how long it takes, and no matter how difficult it is, I’ll do everything in my power to get that bastard locked up. Someone needs to teach him that lives aren’t meant to toy with.” 

He bows once more, then re-enters the room, where you’ve been waiting obediently this whole time. 

“What happened?” you frown. “I heard a loud noise coming from outside. Did someone get hurt?” 

Aizawa quickly hides his red, aching knuckles behind his back. “I just tripped,” he lies. “And I bumped into the wall a bit hard.” 

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?” 

You hop off the exam table and walk over to him, peering up through wide, concerned eyes. Aizawa thinks it’s adorable how you worry about him. You’ve got so much on your plate as it is, and yet, you always seem to be putting others first. 

You’ll be an amazing hero. 

“I’m okay,” Aizawa reassures. He crouches down next to you, then uses his uninjured hand to ruffle your hair. “I just spoke to the doctor, and he said you’re still perfectly healthy, so we can leave now. And since you’ve been so patient with all these hospital visits, I’ll make sure to get you as many burgers as you want today.”

It only takes a second for you to explode from excitement. 

“Really?!” you exclaim, and you start jumping up and down, unable to contain yourself. “Oh my gosh, it’s a burger fest! I’m gonna get ten, no—fifteen burgers! And you already promised, so no take-backs!” 

Aizawa chuckles softly. “No take-backs. Today, you can have your fill.” 

There’s a good chance you’ll throw up from overeating, but he supposes every kid has to learn that the hard way. As long as you’re happy, then he’s happy too. 

Either way, there’s no doubt about it now. You have no family to return to, and regardless of how long the investigation goes on for, it’s highly unlikely anyone will ever come looking for you. But that’s okay. Just because you’re different from the other kids doesn’t mean you’ll have to suffer for it. Aizawa will make sure that your life is filled to the brim with joy, excitement, and everything a kid could ever want. 

From now on, he will be your family.

A few days ago, something truly horrible happened. 

You threw up while eating your beloved burgers. 

But how? How could they betray me like this? 

To put it simply, you are flabbergasted. You always believed that burgers could do no wrong. And yet, after stuffing your face with countless of them, which was pretty much the best moment of your life, you were suddenly seized by a violent sensation in your stomach, and you ended up having to purge into a toilet. 

“This is why you need to pace yourself,” Aizawa said. “I let you have a bunch of burgers, but you see what happened? If you eat too much of anything, you’ll get sick. From now on, be more aware of your own limits, okay? But I guess I’m also to blame, since I let you keep eating despite knowing it wasn’t going to end well.” 

It was a harrowing experience, and even that is an understatement. But you suppose you’ve learned an important lesson.

Even a burger—the most amazing food in the world—can be a double-edged sword if not wielded carefully. 

But mostly, you learned that you don’t like to throw up. It was icky. 

Anyways, you’re back in school now. The whole class was given several days off from school because of the hostage situation at the museum. The kids were given some space to rest and spend much-needed time with their families. Even now, a good deal of your classmates are absent, and you have no doubt they’re still recovering from the traumatic event. The teacher surely understands, and despite the noticeably smaller class size, she does her best to keep the atmosphere lively and upbeat. 

“Okay, everyone!” she beams. “For today’s art class, I’m going to split you into pairs and have you paint your partner’s portrait!” 

I hope I get paired up with Izuku.

You turn hopefully towards the freckled boy’s desk, and based on the way he keeps shyly glancing your way, you get the feeling that he’s thinking the same thing. 

There aren’t a ton of kids in class today, so the odds are actually on your side. Although truthfully, you wouldn’t really mind being paired up with anyone. Well, anyone but—

“[Name], you’re going to be working with Bakugou today.” 

Your jaw drops open, and the very next moment, Katsuki’s jaw drops open as well. 

“Hell no!” he cries out. “Why do I have to work with that idiot?!” 

“Bakugou, stop it,” the teacher chides. “It isn’t nice to speak to your classmates that way. If you keep saying rude things, I’m going to have to put you in time-out.” 

Katsuki grits his teeth, clearly mortified beyond words. Nobody likes being put in time-out. It’s humiliating. You know this because it happened to you once when one of the kids fooled you into drawing something inappropriate on the blackboard. 

So, regretfully, it doesn’t look like you’ll be getting to work with Izuku for today’s activity. It’s a shame, but you suppose it’s not the end of the world. Besides, you’re used to dealing with Katsuki’s nonsense by now. 

Everyone is given a big piece of paper, and a handful of paints. Katsuki lets out a displeased huff as he sits down in front of you and picks up his paintbrush. Since you’ve never actually painted before, and since you need to get a good look at his face to do his portrait properly, you proceed to just stare at him.

“What’s your problem?” he snaps. “Quit staring at me and start painting, moron!” 

“But I need to memorize your face,” you insist. “So that I can paint you properly. I want to do a good job. I’m also not really sure what to paint, since your expression keeps changing. But I guess I should probably just make you look angry.” 

“Asshole,” Katsuki mutters, but he drops the issue quickly enough and gets to work. He must be trying to get it over with as fast as possible. 

Katsuki isn’t normally quiet, but since he’s so focused on his task, you’re graced with a blissful period of silence. The whole classroom is silent, for that matter. All you can hear is the sound of brushes dipping into paint and creating occasional brushstrokes across the paper. You’re not talking either, and in fact, your tongue is poking out of the corner of your mouth as you occasionally glance at Katsuki, as a reference for your painting.

Finally, you set your brush down.

“Okay,” you say. “I think I’m done.” 

Katsuki sets his brush down too, then crosses his arms. “So am I. Well, go ahead. Show me what you painted. There’s no way it’ll be better than mine, though.” 

You look down at your painting, and honestly? You feel pretty confident about how you did. This was your very first time, after all, but it almost felt as natural as breathing. Perhaps you’re secretly an artist in the making. Oh! Maybe you can be a hero-artist! Assuming there’s even such a thing. 

You’re giggling to yourself, off in your own little world, and Katsuki rolls his eyes before reaching out to grab your paper in his hands. 

And then, he blinks. 

“What the hell… is this shit?!” 

He lifts up the paper, and based on how he’s mashing his teeth in a fit of rage, you suppose he doesn’t quite get the appeal. Silly boy. He doesn’t even know true art when it’s staring him right in the face. Or—when it is his face, for that matter. 

“It’s you,” you say simply, then you purse your lips. “I thought I made it look pretty accurate. Look, the painting of you is frowning and everything. Just like you are in real life.” 

“In what world is this ugly painting supposed to be me?!” 

Katsuki appears incredibly offended, although you’re not sure why. He makes ugly faces all the time. You figured that painting was the spitting image of him.

You roll your eyes. “Okay, well let’s see what you painted, since you’re apparently so much better than me. But if it’s worse than mine, I don’t want to hear you whining anymore.” 

You reach for his piece of paper, and admittedly, you’re not expecting much. Katsuki likes to brag a lot, after all. He’s probably just being arrogant like usual.

But it turns out that he has good reason to be arrogant.

One look at his painting suddenly makes you feel incredibly self-conscious about the garbage you’d prided yourself on just moments ago. 

“This is… me?” you blink. You study the painting carefully, and you can’t help the way your fingers rise to pat your face in disbelief. “Wow, it’s… it’s really good! I look so pretty!” 

Katsuki leans back in his chair and scowls. “Obviously. I told you mine would be better. If I’m gonna do something, I make sure to do it properly. Ugh. Still can’t believe I had to get paired up with you, of all people…” 

He’s bitching nonstop, as always, but you’re far too preoccupied with the painting to pay him any mind. 

It looks really, really nice. Katsuki has a dirty mouth, and he’s rude to the other kids—most notably Izuku—but you have to give credit where it’s due. He’s smart, has a pretty strong Quirk, and seems to be good at pretty much everything. 

He isn’t a nice guy, and that’s the main reason why you don’t respect him. But… there are certainly some things that are worthy of admiration.

And this is one of them.

“Hehe,” you grin, unable to tear your eyes off the painting. “I love it. It’s so cute. Katsuki, you did a really good job. I’m sorry for bragging earlier. You’re right that your painting is way better than mine.” 

“...huh?” 

Katsuki frowns. You really are weird. Most people would hate to be proven wrong, so why is it that you’ve got that stupid smile plastered across your face? Why is it that you don’t feel the slightest bit insecure, even when things don’t go your way? 

Why is it that… the longer he stares at your smile, the funnier his chest feels? 

“I wanna take this painting home!” you exclaim. “To show Aizawa and Mic. I’m sure they’ll love it too. Hey, do you think the teacher will let me? She will, right? I really hope so.” 

Katsuki doesn’t respond. He’s too busy avoiding your gaze, and for some reason, his cheeks are getting ridiculously hot.

You lean across the table slightly. “Hm? Katsuki, your face is really red all of a sudden. Are you sick? If you have a fever, you should probably—”

“Shut up!” 

Maybe he really does have a fever, because for a moment there, he actually thought you looked pretty. 

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[warriorlid14]

So, I'm guessing this is a situation where Tobias isn't a nothlit.

Rachel's mom: she's overworked and overwhelmed and gets little help from Dan, all of which don't make her an ideal foster parent, BUT. She's also a privileged, wealthy lawyer so I think she'd be likely to be approved to foster him. I do think that in a Tobias-is-a-human world she'd be one of the adults he's in closer proximity to, simply because that's his girlfriend's mom. And I think Naomi *would* notice that this shy, quiet kid her daughter is dating is undefed, doesn't have the best clothes, is overworked (if Tobias stayed human I can't imagine him not being forced to take a part time job; Marco is also parentified but he got out of poverty pretty early on with Peter's new job and Tobias would not have that luxury), and is probably neglected. I think she'd probably want to help out. I don't think that it'd be through fostering though. I can picture her having extra food around for him or trying to buy him new clothes or telling him that he's welcome to crash on their couch whenever. And ofc she probably wouldn't want her daughter and her boyfriend living together. So unless things got really really dicey for Tobias and he actually told her (which he wouldn't), I don't think she would. I do see the possibility of her calling CPS on his uncle though which could cause a whole other set of issues.

Cassie’s parents: also unlikely to end up in a fostering situation because he's not around them much and also he would be trying his hardest to NOT end up in the foster system (and not just because it would make fighting yeerks harder). But if it DID happen, this is how I think it would go:

He gets kicked out of his uncle's in the middle of the night for xyz reason

He could try to crash at Jake or Marco’s but it's too late in the night and he'd have to give an explanation and doesn't want to admit he's been kicked out

It's too cold to stay at Ax's. He *could* break into a hotel room but he still remembers how much Jake disapproved of that move with David and though Tobias is not morally opposed to breaking into an overpriced, empty hotel room, he'd feel weird about it

So he decides to crash in Cassie’s barn and he'll just get up before anyone else comes in and then make some excuse to crash at Jake or Marco’s for the next few days until things clear up at his uncle's

Except he doesn't wake up early enough and so Walter finds him sleeping on a hayloft

Cue Tobias having to hastily explain to a very confused Walter and a very concerned Cassie, that yes, his uncle kicked him out, but it's fine this has happened before ("What do you mean this has happened before??") and that it's not a big deal. His uncle will cool off in a few days. No he has no other family to call, but it's fine. He'll rent a hotel room for a few days, he has some money saved up, and Oh God please don't call CPS

So Cassie’s parents let him stay in the spare room for a week. They sit Cassie down and ask her about his family life and she tells them the truth

And Cassie’s parents didn't really know Tobias beyond him being Cassie’s friend and being kind of quiet and shy. But they still feel guilty for not noticing that one of her friends was being horribly neglected. And they tell him that he's welcome to stay any time. And start packing Cassie and extra lunch for school and ask about him and make sure to talk to him any time he's around

Tobias, in gratitude, volunteers to help out at the barn sometimes and so they form a bond

When his uncle kicks him out again a couple of months later, Tobias sheepishly shows up at their door and they let him in without question. He once again asks him to not call CPS

And they understand the lack of trust in a system that's supposed to, in theory, help. But also this is a teenager who's being abused and they can't just let this continue. Plus, they really like him. So when Cassie’s parents ask her if she'd be okay with them fostering Tobias, she's like "omg please", being his friend first, thinking about consequences for the war second

At the subsequent team meeting, Tobias says that while he really appreciates the concern, truly, it'll be a security risk. Marco reluctantly agrees. Jake mentally agrees but also feels so horrible that he didn't realize how bad Tobias’s home life was that he doesn't vocalize it. Rachel and Ax plot on how to kill Tobias’s uncle while making it seem like an accident

Cassie points out that if he let his parents foster him, Tobias wouldn't have to work anymore which would actually free him up for missions. This is enough to change Jake's mind (who rlly was just looking for an excuse to say yes)

A few weeks after he's moved in to Cassie’s house, Tobias sneaks back into his room in the middle of the night after a mission. Her parents catch him. He's convinced that they're going to decide he's too much trouble and send him back to his uncle's. And even though he had said it's what would be best for the war because his uncle didn't care that he was out at all hours, he really really doesn't want to go back

But instead they sit him down and tell him that they understand he's having a tough time and that they hope he can trust them and talk to them. He only barely manages to not burst out sobbing

The kids have to rely more on the Chee to cover for Cassie and Tobias

Also ofc Dude moves in as well

BIG THINK: Tobias fostered by one of the other animorphs parents

I'm drawing a blank as to how the kids could do this while still maintaining their cover. Only Jake or Cassie's parents are likely to get permission to foster a kid, Jake's house is a bad idea for obvious Tom-reasons, and Cassie's might work but she'd have a heck of a time explaining how she suddenly knows this kid so well. Anyone else have ideas?

[theemporium]

I can’t believe her friends think they can cover up what happened by saying she “stole a couple fics over the years” but she’s sorry now and she’s grown in the *checks calendar* month since this happened. Those same friends refused to hold her accountable and continued to send her anons and fuel her over inflated sense of importance, making her whole apology in the first place null and void. She isn’t ever going to learn because she is constantly having smoke blown up her ass by people who refuse to acknowledge what she did and think her crying in private to THEM justifies what she did to all the writers and people whose content she plaigarized.

She continuously stole multiple fics after being called out on multiple occasions, knowing the severity of the situation and not giving a fuck, ignored anyone who DID call her out, had her friends make posts about it all just being “hate” and that it isn’t tolerated, and has had her friends deal with the whole fallout since.

Stealing fics is the cherry on the cake too, her whole presence on here was built on stolen content (she even made text posts of stolen tweets so this sugary sweet personality she gives off probably isn’t even hers in the first place) and generated by AI - and anybody downplaying that fact when we don’t even know at the surface which content that was because she deleted her blog and ran to clear the evidence (a blog which at the time was engaging people in heavy kink discussions based around her fics and glamorizing seriously dangerous and unhealthy sexual acts that could result in literal damage to the body) has been brainwashed by her whole act.

The whole situation was disgusting, how it was handled by her friends at the time and is still being handled by them is disgusting. You can’t just block anyone who speaks out about it and say it wasn’t their place and it was just seeking drama when that girl rocked this community and didn’t care to face up to the consequences.

And announcing a comeback through another person without even arranging to make a post yourself is so unabashedly stupid. It’s so obvious she hasn’t learned a thing or she wouldn’t still be hiding behind her friends and their insistence to call anyone who speaks out a hater. @/kawhh is making herself and her friend look even worse.

The sad thing is that people will fall for it all again though because they’re creating their own narrative. It’s a hard pill to swallow as someone who has been in this community for so long to watch her avoid responsibility again and again.

I really couldn’t have said it better myself!!

the one positive that has come from this situation has been the anons I’ve received on this blog seeing right through her bullshit. I have seen the backlash other blogs are getting, trying to defend her and play down the whole situation. but it’s so refreshing to know everyone I’ve spoken to in this blog has been able to see its utter nonsense and insanity

and I think as long as there’s a group of us who don’t give a shit about her or her friends or the hate they send people calling them out, then we can at least try to prevent it from happening again. the people in the past made the mistake of being decent to her and reaching out privately to sort things out (and I don’t blame them for being nice, respectful humans). but if she has no shame, then I see no issue in calling it out publicly

ESPECIALLY when it comes to the dangerous kinks and sexual content the lot of them are pushing. even if us posting about it helps one wee brainwashed cult follower of theirs to see how dangerous and wrong it is, then at least it’s doing something

[pompomqt]

Journey to the West Chapter 80

When Tripitaka finally believes Wukong that the 'innocent' human is actually a demon in disguise:

Welcome back to this week's chapter of Journey to the West with @journeythroughjourneytothewest. This week we finally get to leave the worst king in this entire book in the dust as we continue on moving west into a new arc. So let's get into it shall we?

So the gang is finally able to ditch the king and continue west, until they run into yet another spooky mountain. Tripitaka warns them that they should be careful, since they have a horrible track record when it comes to mountains, but Pigsy assures him that they'll probably be fine since it's not that far from the western paradise. And indeed they are able to make it through the mountain without incident, only to next encounter a park pine forest. Which they also have a bad track record with. Tripitaka is spooked as usual, but Monkey just uses his staff to open up a wide path to get them all moving again.

The fact that they aren't running into any demonic issues for once, seems to go to Tripitaka's head however, since partway into the forest he decides that this seems like the perfect place to rest for a while. So he asks Monkey to go procure a meal, while he rests in the shade, and Sandy and Pigsy go wandering around picking flowers and fruits I guess. So Monkey takes off on his cloud, but before he completely leaves the area, he takes a moment to marvel at Tripitaka's beautiful holy aura. He also remarks that despite all the marvelous things he did in the past, he now must humble himself and serve this man as a disciple. That to is fine however, since if it's Tripitaka, they will definitely attain the right fruit. However as he is soaking in Tripitaka's wonderful aura, he notices a mass of black fumes, and figures its a sign that a demon attack is on the horizon.

Meanwhile Tripitaka is reciting sutra's when he hears a voice calling out for help. And despite thinking that it might be someone being attacked by a tiger or wolf, he still decides to investigate by himself. Luckily, there are no tigers or wolves, just a girl half buried in the ground and tied to a tree. Unluckily, this girl is obviously a demon in disguise. Tripitaka however doesn't know that and asks her why she's bound here. So the fiend breaks into her rehearsed sob story, which goes a little something like this:

She came from a good pious family from the Bimbana Kingdom, but one day they were attacked by brigands. The rest of her family managed to escape but she was captured, and since all the brigands desired her for her beauty and wanted her for themselves, they began fighting over her. Eventually they resolved the issue by deciding that if they couldn't have her, no one could, so they tied her up here to leave her to die. She was here for five days before her luck took a turn by Tripitaka finding her to free her.

Tripitaka of course believes her story so much that it brings him to tears as he calls for Pigsy and Sandy, and asks for Pigsy to untie her. Before Pigsy can do so however, Monkey, who saw the black cloud and decided that the food could wait since Tripitaka was in danger, launches himself out of the sky at Pigsy, and does an epic take down on him. Pigsy asks what his damage is, since he was just following Tripitaka's orders to untie her, but Pigsy tells him not to do that since this girl is a demon in disguise.

Tripitaka doesn't believe him at first, asking how he knows that, but Monkey just points out that they've been through this exact scenario before, and that it never ends well for him. Pigsy says that he probably just wants them to leave her here, so he can sneak back and have some fun with her himself. And Monkey snaps back that he's not the one who is so ruled by lust that he ended up tricked and tied to a tree that one time.

And for once Tripitaka actually believes Wukong over Pigsy! He's grown so much you guys, he actually managed to learn. Anyways Tripitaka agrees to leave demon girls well enough alone, and Monkey is pleased that he might not have to pencil in a rescue mission into his busy schedule this week after all. Anyways Monkey says he'll get Tripitaka something to eat once they are out of this forest, and they all take their leave.

The demon girl isn't willing to give up that easily though, since she really wants to take Tripitaka and mate with him so she can become an immortal. So she uses a breeze to carry her voice to Tripitaka to ask him what kind of scripture monk would leave an innocent human tied up like this? This is enough to get Tripitaka to stop in his tracks and decide that they better free the girl after all. Monkey asks what brought this on, since he was doing so well earlier, and Tripitaka replies that he hears her calling him. The three disciples remark that they didn't hear anything.

Tripitaka however is insistent on following the decree to never fail to do good even if it's small. Monkey just sighs and figures he better schedule in that rescue mission after all, and tells Tripitaka to just do what he wants. Better then having Tripitaka yell at him and then doing it anyways. So Tripitaka takes Pigsy to go dig her out, before bringing her back to the group. Monkey just sniggers and says this girl will bring about their downfall. Since the next kingdom they meet will probably assume they kidnapped her. That being said, Tripitaka is still willing to assume responsibility for her.

So Monkey switches tactics, and says that the girl was probably better off dying preserved in the dirt like that. The girls feet are so small there is no way she can keep up with them, and when she starts lagging behind, she'll probably be eaten by a tiger or something. Tripitaka says that is actually a good point, but instead of abandoning the girl like Monkey probably wanted, instead he gets off his horse so he can walk with her, while Pigsy leads the horse. After all, they can't exactly leave him behind to get eaten by a tiger.

They slowly travel along until they find what is either a monastery or temple, and decide to rest there for the night. As usual Tripitaka goes in first to try and secure them a place to stay before the disciples ugliness can run off their hosts. However when Tripitaka opens the gate he finds it badly rotted, and see's the the temple is in shambles. As Tripitaka explores the ruins he is brought to tears by the sight, especially at the sight of a huge tattered bronze bell. However the place isn't as isolated as it looks, and a temple worker hears Tripitaka lamenting over the bell, and is spooked by it, so he throws a brick at the bell which winds up spooking Tripitaka to.

After the two are able to talk, and clarify that neither of them are a demon, Tripitaka asks if they will host him and his disciples for the night. So the temple worker leads Tripitaka further inside, to a much nicer part of the temple. Tripitaka asks whats with the discrepancy, and the temple worker says that three are a bunch of bandits in the area who used to profane the place, so now they keep all the nice stuff in the back.

Anyways Tripitaka is brought to the main priest, who is starstruck by Tripitaka's handsomeness, and asks why and how a monk like him could travel all this way, through such dangerous territory. Tripitaka says he didn't do it alone and has three disciples, who are waiting outside. The Priest is alarmed by this, since it's to dangerous to be outside this late at night, and asks two young priests to go bring them inside. Only for the two priests to come back and tearfully tell Tripitaka that his disciples are gone, and were probably eaten by the three terrible fiends at the gate.

Tripitaka asks for the description of the fiends, and yup, sure enough, those are his fiends. He tells them as much, that the people at the gates are his disciples plus one rescued damsel, and asks that they bring them inside before Wukong gets impatient and breaks in anyways. With that the disciples are led inside, where they all have a vegetarian feast together.

Current Sun Wukong Stats: Names/Titles: Monkey, The Stone Monkey, The Handsome Monkey King, Sun Wukong (Monkey awakened to the void), Bimawen (Banhorseplague), The Great Sage Equal To Heaven and Pilgrim Sun. Immortality: 5 + 94,000 years Weapon: The Compliant Golden Hooped Rod Abilities: 72 Transformations, Cloud-Somersault, Ability to transform his individual hairs, super strength, Ability to Summon Wind, Water restriction charm, and the ability to change into a huge war form, ability to duplicate his staff, ability to immobilize others, the ability to put others to sleep, and the Fiery eyes and Diamond Pupils, intimidating horses, churning large bodies of water, sleeplessness, seizing the wind, enhanced smell, discerning good and evil within a thousand miles, Spirit Summoning, lock picking, object transformation, distance reduction, vanishing in a flash of light, super healing, transforming others, Invisibility, Wind Immunity, Medicine Making, putting out fire from a distance with a glass of wine, weaving a straw dragon and Body Division Demon Kill Count: 10753 + Unknown Number of Minions Human Kill Count: 1039 God's Defeated: 23 + Unknown number Defeats: 8 Crime List: Robbery, Murder, Mass Murder, Arson, Theft, Coercion, Threatening a Government Official, Resisting Arrest, Assault, Forgery, Employee Theft, False Imprisonment, Impersonating a Government Official, Treason, attempted murder, failure to control or report a dangerous fire, desecrating a corpse, breaking and entering, trespassing, violating Tree Law, looting corpses, trading counterfeit goods, criminal threat, animal abuse, Assisting or Instigating Escape, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Disorderly Conduct, Joyriding, unauthorized practice of medicine and Voyeurism Cry Count: 18 + 3 fake cries Mountains Trapped Under: 4

Current Tang Sanzang stats: Names/Titles: River Float, Xuanzang, Tang Sanzang, Tripitaka and the Tang Monk Abilities: Curing Blindness, making branches point a certain direction (allegedly), reciting sutras, pretty privilege, memorization, Heart Sutra, Meditation, Being Heaven's Specialist Little Guy, and a Golden Halo Cry Count: 47 Tight Fillet Spell Uses: 63 Paralyzed by fear: 6 Bandit Problems: 3 Kidnapped by demons: 15 Falling Off Horses: 12

Current Bai Long Ma Stats: Names/Titles: Bai Long Ma (White Dragon Horse), Prince of the Western Ocean, and third prince jade dragon of the dragon king Aorun Abilities: Transforming into a human, a water snake, and a horse, eating a horse in one bite, flight, Magic of Water Restriction, Singing, Sword Dancing and Magic Pee Cry Count: 1 Crime List: Arson, and Grave Disobedience. Contributions to the plot: 4 Kidnapped by demons: 5

Current Zhu Wuneng Stats: Names/Titles: The Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, Zhu Wuneng (Pig who is aware of ability), Zhu Ganglie, Pigsy, Idiot and Eight Rules. Weapon: Rake Abilities: 36 Transformations, parting water, fighting underwater, cloud soaring, size enhancement, CPR and Shoveling Demon Kill Count/Kill steals: 15 + Unknown number of minions Kidnapped by Demons: 12 Human Kill Count: 1 Failed Flirtation/romances Attempts: 4 Cry Count: 5 Crime List: Sexual Harassment, Murder, Kidnapping, arson, defamation, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption, Identity Fraud, Theft, Forcible entry, Disrupting a Funeral, Violating Tree Law and Arson

Current Sha Wujing Stats: Names/Titles: The Curtain-Raising General, Sha Wujing (Sand Aware of Purity), Sandy and Sha Monk Weapon: Monster Taming Staff Abilities: Fighting underwater, Cloud soaring, and fetching water from a well. Demon Kill Count: 1 + Unknown number of minions. Kidnapped by Demons: 8 Human Kill Count: 1 Cry Count: 5 Crime List: Breaking a Crystal Cup, murder, desecration of a human corpse, Damage to Religious Property, contaminating a substance for human consumption and Arson

[fuckyeahhandizzie]

Okay but imagine if someone had slipped Mali-Landon some of Hope's blood (don't ask me the details of that, just go with it). So when she stabs Landon and kills Malivore, her switch flips still, but she leaves before he wakes up in transition. He feeds, he turns, he's confused - because he should be dead. And he ends up losing control, hurting people. He stays away from the school and Hope because he doesn't want them to see him like that.

Things happen more or less the same. Lizzie still goes after Hope, she still dies. But somewhere in that, Landon finds Hope again. She's different, she's darker, and she doesn't believe that this is really Landon. It's some kind of trick - and a bad one, because Landon isn't a vampire. So she tells him, flippantly, to walk into traffic or something. And he does it.

And then suddenly boom sirebonded handizzie.

[shakingparadigm]

Hyuna saves Mizi due to her own personal reasoning, not out of rebellion duty or obligation. First, to make up for the death of someone dear to her, and second, as an act of self-consolation. Hyuna sees her past self in Mizi, and believes that saving her will help free herself from the past that she's been shackled to.

[modelxis]

Had Ciel been a young adult, like, early 20s? You think everyone would be more judgemental at her after the truth about Copy X was revealed? (I mostly referring to players)

Like, she made him thus she is responsible for his actions. But most people would dismiss as "hey, she was a kid at that time, cut her some slacks" and yeah, we can also assume there is other factors such as the government would monitor copy X and "teach" him the politics without Ciel's input.

But what happened had she been an adult, a respectful scientist of Neo Arcadia?

"Should she have known better?"

"Why did she not study Dr.Light's methods carefully?"

[thegroundhogdidit]

something i don't think we talk about enough is how nimona's screams at the end were terrifyingly, DEVASTATINGLY human