#and like. now she is chimera. she is literally forced to hurt others

[monitorkernelaccess]

I think it probably is more likely that Falin chimera was purposely trying to disarm Laios by crying for help, rather than that part actually being genuine. Cause it happens at a moment when she’s temporarily disarmed from being electrocuted and then she does make a smug face afterwards. But I’m sentimental and I Want To Believe

Uhh it could also maybe be both? Like both an intentional tactic (from the dragon side?) and also a sign that at least some part of Falin is in there and wants to be saved

The way they animate it, her eyes go from dragon-like slitted pupils to normal round pupils as she says it. And then a tear falls from one eye, while the other eye stays completely dry

Looking at all that again with a bit more context and possibly a clearer mind, that looks like it’s all to make the ruse look more realistic. If it were more of an outburst as I originally believed (or was trying to convince myself), then the pupils wouldn’t have changed probably? It seems like an intentional move

In addition to the pupil change, the single tear seems forced as well. Like she could only muster up one fake tear while the other eye remained completely dry.

On the other hand…it’s kinda hard to force tears at all, especially so quickly. And if we imagine for the moment that the tear was genuine, could the fact that it only fell from one eye mean that only half of her was crying? Like maybe the dragon is really mostly in control, but it let Falin out as an emotional manipulation tactic. Meaning that the cry was both genuine and just a combat strategy/self-defense measure.

And I’m still not sure what to make of the fact that she pushes Laios out of the way before crushing Kabru. Like was it just an accident then? Or is it more just a side effect of Laios being essentially the main character and no one in the main party gets killed in that scene? Or…could it still be that maybe, deep down, Falin doesn’t want to hurt her brother?

[looniecartooni]

So... we know Dimitri is a big part of the story. So much so that the devs will share little to no information about him (obviously not to spoil anything). We will see him in flashbacks and supposedly parts of the main game- maybe even the sequel. He is also confirmed to be an antagonist in the game. Thus- there are two possible roles (that could coexist) that this pyromaniac chimera may play.

He could be a. A recurring antagonist in every chapter either in flashback and/or the main plotline, or/and b. the final antagonist that connects the whole story together for it's grand conclusion. While every major antagonist has a rather stand-alone chapter that contribute to the overall story of Billie, we do not have enough to go on Dimitri to know whether or not he will be the one to wrap up Billie's storyline- but let's argue this further with what we do know:

Both Billie and Dimitri want to be heroes. Both almost chase acceptance by trying to be a hero. And they've ended up hurting people in the process.

Billie as we know is a bit of an outcast in her village because she has uncontrollable powers, a love/need for adventure, and because she doesn't exactly adhere to the rules and roles of the village. Reading about her dad and Aristotle inspires her to want to be a hero, but her journey will supposedly lead her to some hard truths about heroism. They've accidently hurt people and unintentionally caused issues that have hurt others and may continue to do so to fight what she believes or is told are forces of bad. Many who probably have had tragic circumstances that lead them to where they are.

Dimitri, from what little we know of him, intentionally causes harm to people so he can be the hero. This behavior grants him the positive attention a hero would get that having someone else be the hero makes it almost competitive (if I am not over reading his introduction too much).

Already we can see how Billie and Dimitri's ideologies are somewhat overlapping, yet very much clash with one another. Billie wants to follow in her dad's footsteps and learn how to be more of the person she wants to be while Dimitri is quite literally living a lie. If he is meant to be a final antithesis to Billie- we could assume that perhaps he was outcasted or berated much like Billie for not fitting in.

That would not be too far off given that he is one of the few chimera characters we have seen along with the tail that speaks his unfiltered thoughts (which he can't control!), but we've also seen many hints at chimera-like god creatures in Billie Bust Up such as one Elaine sort of prays to:

Which means Dimitri could a. be some sort of magical creature or demigod or higher and/or b. have the expectation to be some kind of heroic god or god-like creature because he looks like one. Or/and perhaps c. being a chimera and seeing how many other chimeras are praised, the power/idea of that got to his head and he now has to constantly keep up that reputation for his own ego.

No matter how you view it- whether Dimitri pretends a hero because he's afraid of being outcasted and alone, trying to live up to the expectations of people like him that are literally seen as gods, or is just fueled by his own ego- or all of the above and maybe plus some- you could relate that to or contrast it to Billie.

Billie is an outcast to her people, she has a great amount of power she has no control over, and wants to- almost feels the need to walk in her father's footsteps to get a proper grasp on her powers or prove that she's able to be one. Billie wants to have control over her life and herself, to prove her self-worth. Katie often compares her to Hercules from Disney's Hercules who doesn't want to be a burden with his strength.

We may see Dimitri's story interwoven with Billie's not just in flashbacks, but perhaps other characters as well. It's a little unclear if Dimitri and Billie will meet face to face- it's likely they will since he's integral to the plot and the possible antithesis to Billie. But we may see more of or learn more about Dimitri through other characters as well. There is still some speculation (on my end mostly) on there being a possible link between Fantoccio and Dimitri given that they are vaguely similar in color pallets and personality. And given that Fantoccio is the main antagonist before the fifth and final chapter, if Dimitri turns out to be the final boss- that may cause the need for some needed tension or controversy over how Billie takes on her possible antithesis (however that does play out-if it plays out).

Dimitri could perhaps be connected to other characters as well- perhaps being the reason why some characters have gems (except for maybe Barnaby- but that doesn't mean Barnaby hadn't tried to kill him or something at one point).

It's still very hard to tell what exactly Dimitri's role is in the main storyline of the game and only vaguely understood in flashbacks with Aristotle and Arthur. When the game comes out, it may be revealed that none of what I just speculated was true and Dimitri's just a victim of the zombie infestation or partying in Barnaby's mansion. Or perhaps was imprisoned at Claw Bay at some point or Dutch somehow managed to wrangle him to be at the hotel. Or maybe none or all of the above- who can tell?

All we truly know is Dimitri does have a big role to play. And we'll just have to wait until the game to truly find out.

[gh0stchoir]

Aizawa left Filo's room with a sigh. The girl had cried herself to exhaustion, leaving him to carry her to bed and tuck her in. He wasn't sure how many of his students had actually listened and stayed in their rooms, and who had snuck out to listen in. Either way, he was sure 1-A would know in the morning about how their friends had been used. Because Shouta was sure of it, Tao's problem was one and the same as Filo's. It didn't make sense otherwise. But, given he had little to no information about the boy's family, and didn't even met the mother yet, he was wary. Who knew how deep Tao was in it? Filo had already been manipulated to distrust the Heroes and sympathize with the villains. Was Tao the same? Did he see it more on the Heroes' side? Or did he prefer the villains? Well, whatever it was, Shouta would make sure Tao knew he was safe here in UA. This was a teen they were talking about, a boy. He wasn't legally allowed to drink, drive or vote, he wasn't even legally allowed to use his quirk!

Aizawa froze. The quirk. Tao had listed it as Chimera on the official papers, but was that true? What if his quirk was actually an amalgamation of different quirks, all forced on him by All for One? Gods, what a horrible thought. All of those quirks were mutant-type that changed Tao's body, and if he received them one by one, he must have felt it. Felt how how back ripped to make room for the wings, how his tailbone grew and broke the skin of his lower back for the tail. How his teeth were pushed out by his new fangs, and his fingernails in favor of the claws. It was clearer than ever now, he'd kill All for One for putting them through this hell. He imagined it while he was walking back down, mentally planning a conference with the other teachers and Principal Nezu. They needed to know, those two needed help. With a sigh, he opened the door. To his surprise though, he stood eye to eye with Tao, who looked at him like a deer in headlights. He took a step to side, letting Tao in. He didn't leave, though. Instead, he took the boy's hand. "Tao. Tell me the truth, please. I want to help you."

Tao, through many many tears, cracked and came clean. He told everything he knew. From how he was lied to as a child, to the experiments he endured, to being used as a spy for the villains. He apologized, over and over again. He didn't want to be a spy, no not at all. He didn't want to do this. "I-I'm sorry..I didn't mean to hurt any of you I-" "Tao, it's okay." Shouta hugged him, trying to help calm him down. He felt horrible. No teen should have to go through what he and Filo were and had been through. It wasn't fair, he knew. He wondered if other people just wouldn't hear them out, immediately deem them monsters. The thought disgusted him. Filo was a mere baby when all of this happened to her, and she lived for awhile without ever knowing of her affiliation to AFO. Tao was taken, used as some Guinea pig, and practically stripped of his humanity.

"I..I don't want to be arrested- please.." Tao pleaded. He knew that was most likely the outcome, considering he had literally been used as a spy for the villains. Hell he considered the League of Villains his family. No hero should do that. "I promise, you won't. I'm going to have to have a meeting with the teachers and principal about this, alright?" Aizawa said. Tao stiffened. That meant most likely they would announce publicly what happened, to the world. Tao feared he'd only be called a monster again. He always had been. As a small child, with those dark bat-like wings behind him and the small nub of a growing tail. Kids at the playground he had access to laughed at him, or ran in fear. Joining UA, he could see other students step away from him when passing in the halls. How citizens were confused why they let such a villain-like looking teen into the hero course. Surely this whole ordeal would only amplify those comments, or worse, create an outrage. He didn't think once that anyone would have sympathy.

After talking, Aizawa and Tao parted ways. The teacher left to the classroom, where he grabbed his bag and left. He'd began thinking of what to say in the email he would sent to the other teachers and Principal Nezu. Tao slowly made his way to his room, curling up and continuing to cry. He didn't look at his phone, which had multiple texts from friends. All were worried about him. He laid, wondering if Aizawa had talked to Filo as well. Most likely, he thought. Seeing as, as soon as he returned to UA, Aizawa wanted to talk with him. He was already in their common area, and everyone was in their rooms. Typically at least one or two students were in the area, but not now. Tao thought more. Surely he would lose all of his friends. Izuku would look at him with a frown, he imagined, avoiding him and never conversing again. Kirishima would look down on him, fear on his face. Denki would avoid looking at him at all costs. Mina would tear up anytime around him, trying her best to not notice him. And Katsuki would just ignore him extra hard. The idea of his classmates, his friends, hating him, ruined him. He feared the upcoming days, where everyone would find out about him and Filo's situations.

[princeescaluswords]

All this is just further proof that fandom is DEEP in their own, self indulgent crafted narrative/au that they assert as "canon". They actually HATE the show for subverting common tropes. No, the broody and attractive white man from a distinguished lineage isn't the hero. Nor is the snarky white sidekick. Fanfiction would have you believe Derek was kindly offering lessons to Scott, who rudely snubbed him. Stans whine about the "lost potential" of exploring the Hale Family, but it WAS NEVER ABOUT THEM!!!!

Your question struck me because it's so completely true. They claim to be looking at canon, but they really aren't.

One story I read this morning had Stiles joining the Hale Pack and ending his friendship with Scott because Scott 'neglected' him after Gerard kidnapped him in Master Plan (2x12), because the fact that Scott 'left with Allison and Chris' shows that Scott didn't care about Stiles at all.

Except that we don't see Scott leave with Allison and Chris. The next scene we see is Allison breaking up with Scott and we know it's the same night. But there's no indication that Scott didn't talk to Stiles after Jackson's resurrection. And it certainly seems that Stiles and Scott are in a pretty good situation with each other at the end of the season. Why would their minds go to "Scott didn't care that Stiles was kidnapped and hurt!?!?!"

Especially when their minds don't go there after Raving (2x08). It took you a moment to figure out what I was talking about, didn't you?

When Victoria is using poison gas to kill Scott, Derek, who is standing next to Stiles and his mountain ash line, has to shout at Stiles to break the line because he's sensed Scott is in trouble. And Stiles huffs and breaks the line. But we don't see Stiles ask Scott if he's okay. We don't see Stiles help find Scott. We don't see Stiles at the Animal Clinic while Deaton is taking care of Scott. Derek's there and waiting, but Stiles isn't.

Why don't their minds go to "Stiles is selfishly focused on his own needs and is neglecting Scott!?!?" Because it would be a ludicrous conclusion to draw; Stiles has demonstrated his care and feelings for Scott in the past just as Scott has demonstrated his care and feelings for Stiles in the past.

Now, this is a double standard, one of many, many, many double standards in a fandom that seems to relish them. And one could make the argument that it's a deliberate and conscious choice to ignore one scene in order to support their desired conclusions in another, but after reading enough well-meaning author's notes which talk about how they think that "Scott was a better friend than canon portrays," I think it might be something more troubling:

The fandom has been indoctrinated so deeply by the culture to see non-white characters as inherently not as good or as interesting as white characters that they can't really judge fairly.

I know that there are a lot of minority readers out there looking at each other and going 'duh, stupid white man is just figuring this out now!?!?!', so let me elaborate. I've always assigned a certain level of malicious self-interest to this before, that they chose to ignore scenes that run counter to their desired end -- they wanted the show to be about the Hales and Stiles, but, as you put it, it wasn't, so they were going to get back at the production.

But I'm beginning to suspect that white supremacy is so fully ingrained in the culture that it's become like an optical illusion. They literally cannot see the scenes that establish the idea that this is Scott's story and he's the lead protagonist.

As an immediate aside, no one should possibly interpret this as me arguing that white viewers have no obligation to overcome this narrative illusion or that minority viewers must teach them otherwise if they want to be able to participate fully in fandom. Individuals are responsible for their own behavior, regardless of cultural influences!

But it explains how often well-meaning people can come up with interpretations so essentially disproved by the narrative, again and again. People can say that they like Scott but believe that Scott somehow had less virtue, less talent or less claim to the focus within the story.

It's why they can argue that Scott had 'shit control' because he didn't follow Derek, when Scott literally surprised Derek with his control in Heart Monitor (1x06).

It's why they can argue that Scott was a poor student or can't keep a secret or can't bake or can't do any number of things it is assumed that white characters can do without question, how he is a lovable idiot without any positive qualities that weren't given to him by the Hales or Stiles.

It's why they can scold Scott for not being able to tell that Theo was a chimera infiltrator but forget that Derek couldn't tell that Deaton wasn't an alpha and couldn't tell that Jennifer was the Darach.

It's why they hate Deaton for insulting Derek once and not 'helping enough' but think Peter was the Sassiest Happy Fun Uncle who cared for his family so much.

It's why Kira is a placeholder and annoying, but Cora somehow wasn't.

It's why Monroe being slashed up by the Beast, forced to cover herself with her friend's body, and then having to wait there for the sheriff to find her is a 'stupid reason' to start hunting supernaturals, but Scott telling Stiles to go talk to his father about the person he killed and then decided to hide it is grounds for the end of the friendship if not outright revenge murder.

It's why Stiles could never ever trust Morrell because she worked with the Alpha Pack and promised to euthanize him to protect others, but he would love, love, love, love, and have Derek Hale's babies when Derek worked with Peter and spent an entire season trying to murder Lydia.

It's why they so strongly believed that the show should have ended with Alpha Derek and the Hale Family reclaiming their family's legacy, with all the little betas following them around.

It's why the subversive nature of having the hero be the earnest Latino and not the broody white antihero flies over their heads. It's why they conjure up elaborate and self-contradictory fantasies of unreliable narrators.

They just can't believe that this is Scott's story.

I'm finding it harder to believe that every one of these people is a malicious asshole who chooses to ignore canon so they can get their white power fantasy fix. It's exactly how it's been described.

[celticcrossanon]

BRF Spread - 11th of March 2021

This is speculation only.

11th of March 2021

Question: What is behind the media stories of an olive branch?

Interpretation: Prince Harry is behind these stories. It is a strategy to force the Queen to make the choice to let PH and MM return as members of the Family (carriage rides, photo ops, balcony appearances etc), implemented by the media. 

MM has done this before. This is the same as the media pieces saying that Doria was spending Christmas at Sandringham, that PH would return for Remembrance Day last year, and other stories of like ilk.

Detailed analysis following later.

Added: Prince Harry may not be the one behind this, but he is the most prominent figure and energy in this spread (The Hermit card = Virgo = Prince Harry, major arcana, only major arcana card in the spread). I am trying to be fair as I haven’t finished a detailed reading of all the cards yet.

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

UPDATE

Interpretion: The articles about the Queen extending an olive branch are a PR strategy by Harry and Meghan to force the BRF to take them back and give them money, security, balcony appearances, carriage rides etc. Harry is the dominant energy in this spread.

The first card is the Six of Pentacles. 

Here we see the craftsman Daedalus being rewarded for his work by King Minos.

For me, in this spread, this card is all about money and power. It tells me that Harry and Meghan used to be the recipient of the Queen's favours. Now they want to be the ones giving out the favours - the ones wearing the crown instead of the one asking for favours, and they also want to be rewarded for their work with lots of money (the pile of gold coins). They want to be both of the people in the image - the one in the crown with the power to grant money/favours, and the one receiving the money favours. They want to be both.

In the card, the craftsman (Daedalus) is paid for his work by the King. Harry and Meghan want to be paid for their work with lots of money, but the work will only generate money if they are part of the BRF (the King is the one holding the coins).

This card also raises questions. Who is paying the newspapers to say that the Queen is extending an olive branch to Harry? What favours have been bestowed/called in to get this story printed (or not printed)? The side of the throne is decorated with a tree. Someone in a position of power wanted this story out in the papers. The tree is a carving, artificial, not natural/real. This tells me that this story is an artificial construct.

The second card is the Hermit card. 

This is the card of Virgo, and Virgo is the sun sign of Prince Harry. This article is all about Prince Harry. Notice that the article puts Harry in a position of power (the King on the throne) and HM the Queen as the supplicant (the one extending the olive branch/asking for a favour). Harry has the power to say yes or no, not the Queen.

The Hermit lives retired from the world. Here we see him wandering through the night. That tells me that this is something that was done in secrecy, not out in the light of day. The tree on the side of the throne confirms this, as it is hidden on the side, not on the back of the throne, facing the crowd, for all to see. Look at the bareness of the palace floor and the dry, cracked ground under the Hermit. This was an act designed to cause desolation, not growth. There is not fertility (green grass, flowers, trees etc) coming from this act. It is designed to hurt and not to heal. Hence the Hermit carries a scythe, the instrument of death.

As the Hermit is a major arcana card, and it is the only major arcana card in the spread, it is the dominant energy. This is all about Harry.

The third card is the Seven of Cups. 

This card is about making decisions and choosing between different options. It shows Psyche, the soul, beseeching the goddess Aphrodite for the return of her husband. This is the same power imbalance and the same energy that we find in the first card, the Six of Cups. Someone is asking for a favour from a more powerful person. In the first card, the supplicant was given money, the reward for his labours. Here the supplicant is given nothing, while the goddess points to seven gold cups. The supplicant, Psyche, the soul, needs to make some choices. They want everything, but all the cups are not on offer. The goddess points to one only.

The supplicant kneels on a rocky outcrop, barren except for a few small patches of moss. The goddess, the person in power, stands in the rich and fertile sea.  The supplicant is poor, barren, lacking in green growth, while the goddess is immersed in the fertile bounty of the sea. Here Harry is the supplicant. He is in a position of limited growth (only a few green mossy patches on his rock) and he wants access to the abundance of the Queen and the BRF.

Harry (and Meghan, as the two power/supplicant cards show a pair of men and a pair of women) want to regain their 'in' to the wealth of the BRF. They still want it all - all the cups - to be free to do what they want in America and have the BRF finance them, suppress the press for them, order the British police to pay for their security, etc. These are the seven gold cups. The Queen (the goddess) is saying 'No. You made a choice. You choose the cup of life in America, so that is what you get.' Harry is begging her to change her mind, but she points sternly to one cup. One cup, one choice. Harry and Meghan can not have it all.

The card is the suit of cups, which is the suit of emotions. This tells me that emotions are bound up in this decision. Harry could be playing on the emotions of the BRF to get what he wants - I am your grandson, family, I have mental health issues, you killed my mother etc.

The fourth card is the Ten of Pentacles. 

This is the card of maximum wealth, security, and a happy family life. This is what Harry wants. This is the image that he has been pushing to the media in his PR stories. Look at the land behind the couple on the card - green, rolling hills, lots of water - to me that says fertility, abundance.

Harry wants to return to England and be part of that wealthy family. He wants the money, the paid security, the balcony appearances, the photo ops with senior royals, the carriage rides - all the trappings of royalty. However, Harry also wants to remain in America with his family. He wants the wealth and security oif the BRF and the freedom to do what he wants and make money in America. As per the card before, he wants all the golden cups.

In the picture on the card, the child is playing with a horse. The image of the Trojan Horse has been appearing in my mind since I first heard of this story. Someone, a child of the BRF - not a literal child, but someone below the Queen in the order of succession - is playing with the idea of turning the olive branch story into a trojan horse for Meghan and Harry.

In the card before, the Seven of Cups,the goddess, who represents the Queen, has her back to the Ten of Pentacles card. She stands in the way, blocking access to the wealth and security of the BRF.  Harry is begging her to let him pass and enjoy those benefits.

The fifth card is the Knight of Wands. 

This is an adult fire sign adult, possibly a Sagittarius person, but for me this card says Meghan Markle (a fire sign woman). This is a volatile, exuberant, headstrong person, prone to rushing in without thinking things through. They move very quickly, without giving thought to the consequences of their actions. They are good at generating ideas and 'spin' (as the suit of wands can represent PR), but bad at following through with the ideas and putting the work into them to make them manifest in the world. They often take up an idea and make noise about it to get attention, and they are easily bored.

The card shows the Knight rushing towards the Ten of Pentacles card, waving the fiery torch of PR. They are approaching from the opposite direction to the person in the Seven of Cups, behind the back of the goddess/the Queen. Below them lays the slian body of a Chimera, a mythical beast.

This tells me that Meghan Markle has created a slain monster (I escaped the evil BRF!) as part of her PR. She has created the monster (the evil BRf) and slain it (I escaped!) as part of her PR, and now she is using her mythical scars from this mythical battle (I was oppressed! Silenced! Kept a prisoner!) as part of her PR (the Chimera is a mythical beast, so the 'monster' is not real). She is doing this  to force her way back into the BRF, and she is using PR (the torch) to do the forcing. This is going on behind the Queen's back, i.e. the accusations have come out of nowhere. It is an impulsive and foolish decision, and Meghan has not thought through the consequences.

The underlying energy card is the Queen of Swords. 

This can be an air sign adult, and/or an adult who is employing thought/strategy to get what they want.  For me, here, it is about the use of strategy to get your way. The suit of swords is the air suit, and air is all about thoughts, nit emotions. These thoughts/strategy are fixed on a certain aim, and emotions have no part in the process. The people involved in this strategy do not care about who they hurt as long as they get their way/achieve their aim. Emotions may be used and manipulated as part of the strategy, but there is no softness or caring in the strategy makes - only the cool, hard focus on the end result.

In the card, The Queen is sitting on barren ground. She is pouring water from a jug onto the ground. The water is not from a river or stream, there is no attempt to cultivate the ground. Instead the water is carried from another source and poured onto the barren ground of the Queen's existence. This tells me that Harry and Meghan do not want to work for their money (cultivate the ground and make it fertile). Instead, they want to gain wealth from other sources (the water in the jug) and pour it onto the barren ground of their lives. 

In conclusion: 

The articles about the Queen extending an olive branch are part of a PR strategy by the Harkles to gain access to the perks of being a working member of the BRF without doing the work. It is a two pronged attack, with Meghan creating a mythical monster out of the BRF and then slaying the created monster with her interview, thus putting her in the position of a hero with respect to the BRF, and Harry using emotional manipulation and playing on his family ties. The Queen has blocked Harry but is now being attacked from behind by Meghan.

[besebee]

Alright so I decided I was gonna talk a little about Heroes Rising since I just saw it in theaters. I actually debated going because I don’t like certain directions the manga is taking, but that’s besides the point. Spoilers under the cut.

I want to start off by saying I absolutely adored certain parts of this movie. The fight scenes? Awe inspiring. The camaraderie between all the members of class 1-A? Fantastic.

The premise? Eh... Here’s where my disbelief started to poke through. The idea that UA would send an entire class out onto an island- yes, even one with little to no crime- alone and without any sort of hero supervision is ridiculous. Perhaps with another class in a previous year I could get behind it but this is the class that has had multiple attempts made on their lives. UA is already in hot water with how they’ve handled certain things in the past and whether or not you think they should be, I doubt that the school would want to risk another PR nightmare.

I mean, on top of that the people who work in and run the school obviously want what’s best for the kids and they never want to see them get hurt so why the hell wouldn’t they send at least Aizawa, their homeroom teacher, along with them? Provisional License or not, you have a bunch of students, literal children, on a remote island alone to deal with whatever happens while they’re there.

Alright, so that was a bit jarring but I could ignore it because well, it’s a movie! This is how plot progresses! And to be fair the premise was perfectly fine, I just didn’t find it very believable. It didn’t hurt my immersion in the theater and I was totally enthralled when they got to the island and started doing small heroic tasks like helping people get to the doctor, fixing things, etc. All of these little tasks that showed how well they worked together and how far along they’ve come.

I loved that part. I was grinning the whole time.

Before I get to the villains arriving at the island I want to go over what I thought of them real quick, and I’ll make it fast because we haven’t even gotten to the part I want to rant about yet.

Nine - A watered down AFO. I didn’t mind him, and I actually kind of pitied him? I feel like his character was done well but I wish we knew more about his backstory. There has to be a reason he wants to remake society the way he does. On top of that it is painfully obvious (more so for those up to date on the manga) that he is being taken advantage of. I have no doubt that he was never meant to succeed in his goals and that the Doctor was basically experimenting on him to see what would happen.

Mummy - I loved the music that played in the background whenever he fought. His quirk was super cool and I just found him refreshing since most quirks in this series are physical things? I wish he could’ve stuck around longer like the others but...

Chimera - HIS DESIGN. I LOVED HIS DESIGN. A lot of people from what I’m seeing claim that he is over-powered but honestly given his name I think they did him really well. A being made up of various animals that can breathe fire is what a chimera is, and naturally that means he will be very strong. I will say that they dragged it on a bit long, to the point where him growing in size bordered on ridiculous, but again I loved it. It’s a world full of quirks, some are going to be OP. I can also fully see where he’s coming from with his motivations and I like how he believes in his little group.

Slice - The quirk was something we’ve basically seen before but I love how it was implemented. Her design was top notch and her personality was fun to watch as she handled certain situations. I also love how protective she specifically was over Nine, and I wonder if they have more of a relationship than the movie explored given that they seemed closer to one another than the others.

So moving on to when the villains actually make it to the island. I appreciated that the class split up into teams to deal with each of the villains and I thought the fights were great. I like that we were shown that they were clearly on the defensive as they moved the civilians out of harms way and stood their ground to keep them safe during the evacuation.

The fight with Mummy, however... I didn’t like it. Bakugou seemed to have some kind of plot armor that prevented Kaminari and Kirishima from being able to save him from basically being held hostage and used against them. How? Yeah I’m not sure. Mummy’s quirk works on inanimate objects, and if he wraps his bandages around them he can control them as if they were living beings. Controlling Bakugou’s armor and clothing in order to encase him in this type of ‘minion being’ was a clever idea even if it’s something we kind of saw with the Sludge Monster at the start of the series. One could argue it is with his growth that he was able to escape this similar situation, but I argue that’s completely different. I’m not even sure how he managed to escape Mummy’s hold. I think he might have activated one of his gauntlets but it wasn’t really clear. At least to me.

Lightning Round:

- Mahoro using her quirk to draw attention to their location and the fact that Midoriya needed help was wonderful and honestly the giant Deku was adorable.

- These kids should be dead. I get why they’re not but the amount of damage that they all take throughout the entirety of this movie is ridiculous! If that’s the amount of damage that a teenager can take and still survive, how do heroes end up dying in the field? (I’m just being picky ignore me, I get why they did it and I loved all of the fighting. They all have come so far and it really showcases that.)

- The amount of times someone tells Mahoro and Katsuma to run only for them to stand frozen is... Something else. They are scared kids, yes, but these teenagers are literally almost dying to give you a chance to run so please move!

- Katsuma’s quirk is unique and very interesting so I’m glad it got the spotlight! We haven’t seen many healing quirks!

- Midoriya’s plan was brilliant and I’m glad he got the chance to show off his ability to think things through. His intelligence is certainly something I love about his character and it makes him very formidable as an opponent.

- Todoroki. Killed. Chimera. I know, I know, we have him showing up at the end being led off the island in chains with the others, and Todoroki says “hibernate for awhile” to apply he is asleep, but no. He killed him. There is no way that Chimera could be speared internally with ice while also being frozen over and not die.

- All Might parachuting into what could still potentially be a dangerous situation to make sure his son was okay gave me so many FEELINGS. I actually cried when he cradled Midoriya and they talked.

RANT TIME. I preface this bit by saying: ship whatever you want, like whoever you want in the manga or anime, these are my personal opinions regarding things.

What the absolute fuck was the whole transferring of OFA thing? The minute I saw what Midoriya was about to do my enjoyment of the movie took a sharp nose-dive. Anyone else. Anyone else being given OFA in that situation would’ve been better then Bakugou. I know that Horikoshi has been trying to shoehorn in a bond between the two of them in the manga but in my opinion the whole thing has been poorly handled and feels completely fake and forced.

Bakugou has bullied Midoriya physically and mentally from the get-go. We know it’s been happening since Midoriya was at least five years old and though it can now be very loosely classified as ‘teasing’ for people who really squint, he still does it. He told him to jump off a roof. During their first training exercise in UA, Bakugou severely injures Midoriya despite being explicitly told not to carry through with his attack because it might kill him but he carries through with it anyway because it wouldn’t kill him if he didn’t hit him dead on. That’s quite the gamble to take with someone’s life, especially considering you’re supposedly trying to become a hero.

This is the type of person that Bakugou has been, and the type of person that Midoriya has been dealing with. Midoriya finally, finally, begins to get real friends and realize that he doesn’t have to keep chasing after this one person from his past in an attempt to make things work that will only end up hurting him.

Likewise Bakugou finally began to grow and see his past mistakes and learn from them. He also got friends who he cares about and treats relatively well, and they are so happy to be his friend too.

Both parties became involved in relationships that weren’t toxic and subsequently began to grow and change in ways that made them better people.

...And then Kamino Ward happened. ...And then Midoriya told Bakugou about OFA.

And now they are involved again.

I get that it’s fiction, really, I do, but I don’t think it’s right to have someone who was abused for so long simply... Forgive and forget regarding their abuser. It’s just something that rubs me the wrong way because so many people who have suffered at someone else’s hands are often told they have to forgive to move on which is utter bullshit. These characters were doing just fine as people who recognized their shared past and were learning to deal with each other in situations where they had to be together but would otherwise seek out healthier relationships, and I was all for that! Growth! Growth is good! But for some reason they’re friends again? What?

I wanted to explain my personal beliefs regarding their relationship in order to explain why I think that anyone else getting OFA in Bakugou’s place would’ve been better. For the narrative, for the characters, for everything. Because what you had in the movie was a kid who had been horribly bullied by Bakugou for being quirkless willingly handing his quirk over to him without any regard for himself once again, and then you had that former bully be able to use it instantly.

Showing the audience, showing Midoriya, that everything he has been through in his efforts to cultivate this power, all the things he’s learned and done, have been pointless. If Bakugou can take OFA and wield it at 100% immediately with only his arms breaking with no training whatsoever, what does that mean for Midoriya? That he’s weak? What about his story? And now we have Midoriya seeing his childhood bully take his quirk and use it so much better then he was able to at first and he finds himself back at the question that has haunted him from the very beginning, but even more so after what happened with Sir and Mirio.

Is he a worthy successor?

I didn’t like it. I couldn’t enjoy it. The fight was a beautiful piece of animation, but what had happened just took me out of it. And... I don’t think Bakugou was going to give OFA back. It wasn’t mentioned at all and both of them acted like it was a final thing. Even though the Vestiges said“fuck this” and forced OFA back into Midoriya after the fight (how? magic? who knows) it doesn’t change what happened.

The others are shown to be receiving medical attention and care as reinforcements have finally arrived and we get to see Endeavor hugging a very over it Shoto Todoroki.

...Why? Just why? Like we didn’t need that. It’s just a reminder of another relationship that is being forced into this forgive and forget mold and it just honestly makes me feel sick because of all the things Endeavor has done to his family. I fully believe that he hasn’t changed at all. Instead he looked around once he hit the height of his career, said “oh, I’m alone and everyone hates me and I’m lonely now that I have nothing to work toward” and decided to try and fix things (and I use that term loosely) for his own selfish benefit.

Overall the movie was great. I would totally watch it again, but certain things in the movie just rubbed me the wrong way. Again, this is all my personal opinion, I don’t care if you love Bakugou or BakuDeku or Endeavor, or whatever, you do you, but I just don’t. Oh and to make it clear, if you like any of those characters or things and you support Endeavor trying to get back in his family’s good graces, that’s perfectly fine! I’m not trying to call anyone out or call someone an abuse apologist or some shit, it’s all fiction, I’m just stating my own views.

[wheremytwinwatches]

[Where My Twin Watches]: Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood Episode 43

Last time: The Mine Crew did a puzzle, Fuery is alive damnit, and Beard became Ling. Onwards!

Looks like we’re back at Briggs, there are some rather large explosions going off over it. Let’s hope the wall holds wait what? Briggs is looking just a bit more unscathed than I thought it would be, it seems they’re firing near unimpeded on the Drachma forces who are… yeah, I can’t even call them a fighting force anymore. The Drachmans are just gone, the Drachma CO is staggering through the remains of his troops and artillery, yelling at Kimblee at the lack of infighting from the Briggs side. Heh, so I’m guessing that Sideburns and Buccy rounded up the Central blokes at the first sign of danger, made the excuse that they had to defend “such important officers” when really they were making sure they couldn’t interfere in the defense? Briggs represent! Yeah with one final barrage the Briggs cannons cease fire, Sideburns and Buccy are standing on the fort with no Central officers in sight. Remarking that that was too easy?... uh oh. Crap. Crap crap crap. [Kimblee]: “The crest is carved.” Son of a bitch. Why take the effort to try and kill off some of the best troops of Amestria, when you can use them as an anvil to smash the weaker northern neighbors? Not like the source of the blood matters, just that there’s enough for a Crest in the TC. Leto damn. Alright I’m assuming that we’re at the Ishvalan village Scar mentioned earlier, going by the complexions and white hair. Inside a hut there’s a bit of trouble in paradise, as May is yelling at Al for not grasping the basics of Alkahestry and Al critiques her teaching style. Scar apologises for his rambunctious children to a villager, who brushes it off. Yelling aside the Mine Crew’s helping out, Winry’s doing laundry and Yoki’s being bait for the kids. Although seriously, pulling out his hair? That’s uncalled for. Toad and Marcoh are helping too, getting firewood. What about Boar?... oh yeah, he was selling them out last episode, wasn’t he? Damnit. Damnit! Yup, he’s run out of town to meet up with a cloaked figure, the face says Ishvalan but the voice says Stupid Arrogant Shapeshifting Goth. Episode 43 - “Bite of the Ant” In Central, Riza’s still stuck serving as Bradley’s aide/hostage, she’s making tea when he brings up Selim’s true identity as Pride. Leto damn it, hearing Riza give these muted “yes” answers to Bradley’s questions hurts, screw the Goths for putting her down. Bradley asks for her opinion. Dude, you’re holding her hostage and are an inhuman monster, how do you think she’s going to respond? [Riza]: “I think it’s sad that the family I’ve answered to and trusted isn’t real. That you don’t even have that much. You’re just putting on an act, pretending to be the humans that you secretly despise.” Huh. Bradley’s talking about how his “son” was appointed by his superior, that his power, his rank, everything in his life has been appointed to him…. Except his wife? He chose her? Huh. Right no can’t get complacent, just because he has a wife doesn’t excuse all that he’s done, and I sincerely doubt that she knows about Bradley and Pride’s real natures. You may reminisce about your wife and compliment Riza for her tea, but you still lie to your spouse and hold Riza as a hostage. Back in the snowy climes, Toad and Marcoh are chatting about the doctor’s old job, when Boar and An Innocent Ishvalan wander up. Boar tries to bluff for a moment, but the Ishvalan interrupts him and the red sparks fly and Marcoh knows what’s up. Welp. Envy’s here. He’s taunting Marcoh for thinking he could wait what ice spikes? Oh yeah, Marcoh was a State Alchemist. Alright so it’s Goth and Chimera versus Alchemist and Chimera huh? Boar’s running towards- oh. OH! Ahahaha! “Now what were you saying about my acting?” Dude I am so sorry I compared you to Raven, this is golden! Boar has rejoined Marcoh and Toad, this was all a trap for Envy! Marcoh knew that Envy would want to capture (not kill, he’s still useful for as a Sacrifice) Marcoh on his own. But now Envy’s pulled himself free from the spikes and nope right into another Alchemy attack. Wait but Marcoh and the Chimeras aren’t moving? Alchemy landmines? But I thought the only ranged alchemy was oh I get it. Envy’s taking the landmine comparison literally and is walking in Boar’s footsteps but nope a “landmine” is triggered and he’s launched screaming in frustration. Marcoh claims they’re set to detonate for Goths only, while just off to the side Al and May snicker in a hut, remotely triggering her Alkahestry traps. Ah, right. That’s a good plan for fighting a human-sized opponent, but Envy has his Titan form. That’ll be a bit harder to put down. Toad’s barely able to get Marcoh away from a tail slam, but Boar nearly blinds Envy with some spikes. Add in some “landmines” but Envy’s just smashing through the ice, it’s not enough- incoming Scar! He’s landed on Envy’s back, he’s prepping a HoD… it’s good! Envy’s down! Buuuuut we’re only a third of the way through the episode, there’s no way that Envy’s already dead MARCOH NO! Crap Envy’s grabbed Marcoh with his freaky tongue, ordering everyone to stay back or the doctor dies. Now he’s talking punishment, killing a village and flicking Marcoh in the face when he struggles. And he’s looking at the village I assume we were just in, don’t hurt the people we’ve had on screen! Aargh it’s getting worse as Envy thinks about taking them back home, they’re running low on “ingredients”. Marcoh screams at Envy for still making Philosopher’s Stones- (Sorry, need to make a side note here: this is my main problem with Philosopher’s Stones, in that I view them as a net-loss power source. You kill humans to store their souls in a Stone, and use that for Alchemy/powering your Goth body. But by doing so you decrease the number of people in the world, and make too many Philosopher’s Stones and you use up more humans than are being born. It’s like a vampire drinking all of humanity dry; good for you on killing all of the “lesser beings”, but now without a food source you’re gonna starve to death. Even setting aside the horrific creation method of the stones, the loss of the human mind that could have worked to better civilization if it hadn’t been stolen as a fuel source, the nonrenewable energy of the Philosopher’s Stones is a losing prospect in the long run.) -and demands that they let his research team go. Yeah, about that… [Envy]: “Huh. Oh, sorry. It’s a little late to release them now that we’ve turned them into Philosopher’s Stones.” Yeah, I’ve gotta side with Envy on this one doc. Did you really think that the Goths would just let those loose ends go? Envy goes on to chide Marcoh for crying over his men, when he made so many other Stones with other people. The others look on in silence as NOPE NOPE NOPE WHO DARES WHO’S THE ASS WHO ANIMATED THE BABY FORM ON ENVY’S TONGUE TUGGING AT MARCOH’S SLEEVE AND SOBBING WHAT THE HELL NOT COOL Ahem. So Marcoh is somehow ignoring that as he growls at Envy, saying that he sacrificed so many making the Stones for the Goths wait. wait. [Marcoh]: “I know better than anyone else how much pain goes into creating them! And not only do I know how to create them! But I know how to destroy them as well!” Fuck yeah Doctor Marcoh! Screw Envy! Blue lighting and screaming Goth and determined Marcoh- Mid-ep pictures of Badass Doctor Marcoh and both Armstrongs this day keeps getting better and better! -and back to the screaming Goth as the rest of the Mine Crew look on in shock, there’s a burst of light and red lighting all over the place, back in the village Winry and Yoki look up to see the light show. Marcoh falls to the ground as Envy’s tongue disintegrates, the Titan Goth is falling apart as Boar pulls Marcoh to safety. Envy’s still screaming about the pain, about losing to pathetic humans and Chimeras (Scar has a lovely DNGAF face as this is going on), the terrifyingly powerful Envy reduced to this mass of flesh screaming about not looking down on him, “You wor What What is that Holy crap Envy’s a Yerk!

Oh my Leto this is amazing. The Big Bad Titan-shifting Envy, the most powerful physical being in the setting, is at his most basic form a weak little “worm”. And hey, Marcoh’s still alive! I was sure that the whole Philosopher’s Stone killing spell would have finished him off. Any reason we can’t just take him to Central and off Wrath and Pride, then? The Mine Crew reunites at the village, and it looks like Worm!Envy is still alive, too! Finally we can interrogate a Goth and get some solid answers. We’ll start with Yoki flicking Envy around and can I just say it’s so, so satisfying that we’ve brought a Goth so far down that Yoki can push them around? Winry’s worrying over Marcoh’s condition, but he says this was something he had to do, he had to deal with his very understandable fear of a Goth and do what was right. Like Winry’s parents! Awwww. Ahahaha! Looks like Envy’s still got some bite, he bit Yoki’s finger and ouch that actually looks like it hurts. Whoops Yoki tripped AW HELL NO LETO DAMN IT YOKI YOU JUST GAVE ENVY A NEW HOST NOW WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH GOTH!YOKI FIRST BEARD AND NOW YOU COULD PEOPLE STOP TRYING TO COPY LING Although… yeah this is Yoki who doesn’t have any Alchemist powers so… short fight? [Envy]: “Now if you want him to live you’ll do as I tell you!” [Toad]: “Nah, he’s all yours. Do what you want.” [Boar]: “It’s not like he’s our friend or anything.” Dudes! What the hell! Yeah it’s “just” Yoki but you’re just going to give him up to the Goth?! Sweet Leto, May and Al are already crying over Yoki’s “sacrifice” and Scar just turns his back, Marcoh, Toad, and Al prepare to destroy both him and Yoki oh I get it now. I mean, yeah the bluff got Envy to release Yoki but seriously. He got you out of Baschool through the mines, and this is how you repay him? [Yoki]: “Damn all of you! None of you guys are my friends! How could you?! You’re dead to me!” Back to the hut, Envy’s griping in a jar, Boar and Toad toss him around as Yoki understandably sulks in a corner. But Envy raises a good point: even if he does tell them everything they’ll still kill him for his earlier crimes, so why bother? He’s more curious why the Fullmetal Pipsqueak isn’t around. Apparently the last he heard was that Ed went missing? Ooh, so the Goths don’t know that Ed survived the mineshaft explosion! Unfortunately that leaves Al and Winry wondering if the third member of the Blond Trio is no more… Later that night everyone’s sitting around figuring out what to do next, Al steps up and declares that they won’t backtrack to Baschool. Ed wouldn’t worry about Al or fall victim to rumors from the bad guys, so they’ll keep going forward. Except Scar? Oh hey, looks like Sideburn’s words got through to Scar, he wants to change Amestris rather than just punish it for the Ishvalan Genocide. So he’s going to go off with Marcoh for some unstated reason, Al’s going to head towards Liore to see if the TC tunnel runs under it as well- hold up, is Scar giving Envy to May? [Scar]: “Here, May. Take this thing and return to your country.” Yeah, I’m with Yoki here, hold on! Don’t tell me you’re putting May on the bus! Who’s going to teach them about Alkahestry, aka the one thing that worked against Uncle? [Scar]: “You need to think about your own country!” …damnit, he’s right. May came here to save her clan, to earn the Emperor’s protection by making him immortal. Unless Ling can shake off Greed he’s out of the picture, meaning any help for Xing rests with May. If she sticks around in Amestris as well, then some other clan will get the Emperor’s favor or he’ll die and the whole nation will devolve into warring clans. May needs to save her own country. Amestris will have to be saved by its own people. Aw, it’s day and the Mine Crew’s at a crossroads. Al promises to find May for advanced Alkahestry lessons in the future (hopefully she’s gotten more teaching practice by that point) and she heads off for Xing, Scar and Marcoh split off afterwards for whatever they’re doing, and the remainder of the Mine Crew head out as well (so Yoki stuck with Winry and the Chimeras, not Scar and Marcoh?) Nighttime in Central, a cat’s rummaging in an alleyway when wait is that a Chimera passing by? He looks familiar… [Chimera]: *sniffle* “Poor Mister Greed…” Holy carp it’s one of Greed’s Chimeras! I thought Bradley and his men wiped them out! Seems that Lizard here managed to slip away. He’s hiding from some MPs who are looking for Izumi Curtis and her husband HA you guys missed the power couple by a few episodes. Lizard hears them mention Bradley, aka the guy he saw skewer his boss, and after wavering for a bit hitches a ride on their car to track down Bradley, and hopefully Mister Greed as well. The Mighty Armstrong! Looking… nervous? Oooh, he’s run into Armstrong the Great, who is currently crushing his foot and snapping at him for failing to address her as a General. Geez, Armstrong the Great is kind of a bully to her little brother. Seems Central has gotten reports about the Drachma forces getting wiped out, but there really wasn’t anything they could have done to prevent the Crest of Blood from being made. Armstrong the Great’s doesn’t care, her troops did their job of defending Amestris. [The Mighty Armstrong]: “Oh my, you’ve only grown more ferocious. How will you ever find a husband if you continue to- erk!” *Boot to the knee* Jeez, ease up on your brother! Just look at him with his cringing chibi artstyle, how could you hurt such an adorable guy? And she just keeps it up, when another officer asks if Armstrong the Great is her brother she snaps that she doesn’t consider him one, after his “cowardice” in Ishval. Once again, a brutal reminder that while Armstrong the Great may be on the side of Good, that does not mean that, barring exceptions like a few of her men (like Buccy, hmmm?), she is Nice. The Officer’s leading her down a metal hallway hey is this the one from the credit sequence? He’s quizzing her on the Three State-Appointed Tenets of Alchemy: Obey the Military Do Not Create Gold Do Not Create People As far as rules set by a Government, the first two rules are understandable: you can’t have a Government if the people don’t obey it, and an economy can’t function if people are making money from nothing. But the Third Tenet? Barring the standard natural reproduction of people, Armstrong the Great says that making new people is unethical, considered a sacrilege against God. [Officer]: *Shiny Glasses* “But that isn’t why. The State has no interest in ‘ethics’, they’re too much of a variable to use as a guideline.” Uh, what’s with the hanging heads? Why is Armstrong the Great freaked out guys Armstrong the Great is shocked what the hell are we looking at? [Officer]: “The true reason is far less abstract. The Third Tenant is to prevent someone from creating their own army, General.” End Credits. AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH CENTRAL HAS GOLEMS AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH Post-Credits scene: Hey, the Mine Crew’s made it to Liore already! But they’re a bit peckish, where’s someplace to get some grub well hello Rose. She’s happy to see Al after all this time, and actually wanted to see Ed as well. Hee, I saw that smile Winry, and so did Al. Go on, tease her- [Beard]: “Ok Rose, these pots are as clean as they get! Have anything else-” The heck? Beard stuck around Liore? What about your mysterious plan, declaring war against Uncle? Oh my Leto if you actually stuck around just to help out Rose… Oh! Al wasn’t in Resembool when Ed ran into Beard, was he? This is the first time they’ve seen each other since Beard left home! ...but we’re going to have to wait for next episode to see the fallout. Damnit!

[zetalial]

FMA 03 month Day 4

The Homunculi

Well, I’ve already discussed Envy and Lust on day 1 and 2 so I thought I’d use this spot as a chance to discuss Wrath.

Wrath is neither my favourite or least favourite. He’s an odd character as he can be kind of annoying and I can see why a lot of fans don’t really like him. I’d rate the Untainted Child, Wrath’s introductory episode, as one of the weaker episodes in fma 03 (though the gate scene is good.)

But I also really appreciate Wrath as he is kind of powerless and didn’t exactly choose to be a villain - it was forced on him. That’s true to a lesser extent with the other homunculi but it’s especially true with poor Wrath, the titular untainted child.

Wrath’s only real memory is of his creation where Izumi creates him using her dead child’s remains and upon seeing her monstrous creation, throws him back into the gate where he is trapped within the dark abyss for years before stealing Ed’s limbs and gaining enough power to finally escape. 

Harrowing as that is, Wrath intially can’t remember and is an innocent creature who just wants to have fun and doesn’t really understand humans. However, he immediately faces rejection from Ed and Al, then gets attacked by the military before finally regaining his memories just in time for Izumi to take him to the island and choke him to death (though she does change her mind).

It’s Envy who offers him acceptance and a real identity, then Sloth who takes care of him, giving him some level of motherly affection. Yeah, It’s no wonder that he chooses to stay with the other homunculi.

So Wrath poses the question of whether the homunculi are evil, if it’s just in their nature. And the answer isn’t quite straightforward. Wrath isn’t really evil so much as confused, and yet he craves red stones, which are made of human lives. At one point, Hohenheim speaks to Al, saying something along the lines of how the homunculi may start off like innocent children but overtime their desires inevitably corrrupt them. He’s not quite an unbiased speaker, of course, but the idea that their existence is literally a crime against nature, much like human chimeras are abominations, is certainly there. Nina’s existence seemed so hopeless to Scar that he considered destroying her to be a mercy kill, no act of cruelty. Indeed, Wrath’s death scene in CoS suggests he was somewhat suicidal. (I won’t discuss that any further now.)

Mostly though, Wrath’s actions are borne of rage and frustration and a desire for attention, not malice, (though he does seem to enjoy fighting Ed and Al). Izumi is a confusing mess of conflicting emotions for Wrath. Let’s say there’s a great amount of anger and hurt from her abandonment, hatred for how he was created mixed with a craving for affection and fear of her. And some jealousy over her relationship with Ed and Al. He doesn’t know how to deal with his feelings and literally just runs away when she confronts him.

I described Envy as a ball of emotion but I really should have reserved that description for Wrath because oh my this kid will fight anything. He’s like a wrecking ball that somehow manages to mess with everyone’s plans, causing everyone trouble - including himself.

When Lust decides to ally herself with the Elrics, Wrath takes it upon himself to fight her and ends up killing her. Then he is reckless enough to merge himself with Sloth - leading to her demise. Then he’s annoying Dante and Envy beats him up and then he actually ends up helping Ed while he’s fighting Envy. At no point does he consciously consider switching sides or anything, he’s always reacting in the moment.

The sheer number of characters he manages to upset just by existing and acting on his emotions is actually impressive. It’s seriously a wonder that he ends up as practically the lone survivor who gets the fairytale ending of going to Risembool to reunite with Al where Winry makes a pair of automail limbs for him.

He was forced into the role of villain but by the end, he doesn’t want to have the role anymore and becomes just a loose end. 

All in all, Wrath’s story is not a satisfying one, it’s a messy kind of story that this anime seems to specialise in where not everything ties off nicely at the end. Wrath lives though. He’s lost interest in being a monster with all the other homunculi dead and he gets to continue living. It’s an optimistic end. 

Wrath, like the other homunculi, was not evil, but continually manipulated and used because he was unnaturally powerful but emotionally vulnerable as a result of his creation. I like how CoS shows him having mellowed out, he’s not really happy but he’s now nice to Al and it’s implied he gets a happy end with Izumi, which is nice. He’s one of the good guys in CoS. 

[dr0wning-in-hell]

Six Months - Derek Hale

Summary : 6 months ago Derek and Y/N broke off their one year relationship over a stupid fight. Y/N is in her last year of high school and all starts well until Theo Raken enters the party.

Word Count : 3.2 k+

Warnings : Angst, some heartbreak, flashbacks are italic,

Pairing / Characters : Derek Hale x reader, Theo Raken x Reader (only a little), Lydia Martin, Scott McCall,

Prompt “Hi darling!!! Can I request a Teen Wolf imagine where it's been 6 months since Derek Hale and y/n have broken up and currently it's the beginning of the new school year and Theo is interested in Y/N but y/n is skeptical partially because of how much y/n still loved Derek.” - @black-beautiful 

A/N : it’s been a hot second since I last posted and I’m very sorry about that. Enjoy this shitty piece:)

New masterlist | requests | prompt list

It all started with one single word. Who?

Who was Derek talking to behind Y/N’s back? Who was Y/N talking to behind Derek’s back. For some reason the couple had a suspicion that the other was cheating. We’re either of them right? No. Did their relationship split apart because of their stubbornness and ego? You bet.

Y/N was sitting in the Hale loft by herself, her legs outstretched on the couch as she waited patiently for her boyfriend of one year to come home. Y/N had gone to Derek’s loft in hopes of talking to him about her long and stressful day but to her dismay, he wasn’t home. At first she thought nothing of it, but as the hours began to smear together her mind unwantedly began coming up with horrible reasons as to why he wasn’t back.

He could be dead. He could be facing the town’s next evil with the McCall pack. He could be cheating.

He could be cheating.

The mear thought of Derek cheating on her made her stomach twist in unpleasant ways. In the back of her mind though, she kept thinking what if? What if he was cheating on her? Who would it even be with? Yes, Y/N was human, she wasn’t any supernatural creature but from the day she could walk until now her family had taught her to fight even without claws and sharp teeth. All the ugly thoughts took a toll on her already exhausted brain, causing her eyes to close shut after only a few more minutes of sitting in a sad silence. 

Thirty minutes later the door the loft swung open and then slammed shut, waking Y/N and scaring her half to death. Rubbing the gunk out of her eyes she saw Derek walk in, a little bit tipsy. He was out drinking. Why would Derek be drinking?

“Der?” Y/N said softly. Derek didn’t give her a second glance and Y/N was becoming angry. “Derek. Hey, look at me.” Y/N shot up from the couch and grabbed the back of Derek’s shirt, forcing the man to turn around. His eyes were different, almost cold as he stared down at her. “What is wrong with you?” Y/N asked, baffled at the sight in front of her.

Derek grunted, “Wouldn’t you like to know?” 

Y/N’s mouth dropped a little bit. How could he talk to her like that? She had done nothing wrong, at least she didn’t think she did. “Where were you? I’ve been waiting for hours, I thought something happened to you.” 

“I’m fine Y/N, just leave it alone.” Derek shuffled away, but Y/N followed. 

“No, I’m not just gonna leave it alone.” Y/N declared. “What’s been going on with you? Why have you been so distant, and-and why have you been treating me so horribly? Did I do something to hurt you?” Y/N’s voice started out hard and angry, but then fell to a soft and scared tone

Derek turned to face his girlfriend, his eyes intimidating her, “You really are that dumb aren’t you?” Derek shook his head, “Why don’t you ask whoever you’ve been cheating on me with those questions?” What the hell was he on about?

“What the hell are you talking about?” Y/N’s eyebrows furrowed together, confusion tracing every part of her face. “I’m not the one cheating!” Y/N let the words slip from her lips before she even realized what was happening. 

“So I’m the one cheating now?” Derek fired back. “Yeah, because I would so go and cheat on you. If I didn’t want you I would just flat out say it.” Y/N’s heart was speeding up so fast she thought she might pass out. 

“Then who are you talking to behind my back? I see the way you look at your phone, you’re always smiling. It’s the smile I’d see when you’d look at me, or my messages. So who is it? Who is so much better than me, that you decide to cheat on me?” Her voice was cracking now, reaching it’s limit as she was beginning to scream at the man.

Derek growled, “I could ask you the same thing. Who are you always texting when we’re together? Why are you always disappearing when someone calls you? Who are you slutting it up with?” 

He hadn’t even heard what he said. “I’m not cheating on you, and if you really want to call me a slut I think I’m done trying to defend myself to you.” She walked away, going to grab her bag and leave. Before doing so she threw down the necklace Derek had gotten her for Valentines Day, not only a month ago. Y/N left the loft, never looking back to see if he was going to call out to her. He never did. He never did anything to chase her, to get her back and explain. Derek simply let Y/N, a girl he was so madly in love with, walk out his door and never see her again. 

That was six months ago and now it was the beginning of Y/N’s senior year and she wanted to make the best of it. Y/N wasn’t sure what this year was going to bring, but she wanted to make it better than last years. Her hopes were high that this year there would be no threat to her friends, to her home. They had all gone through so much it was time for them to get a break. A break was good. 

As Y/N walked to her locker, she could feel a pair of eyes on her. Y/N didn’t turn her head in any direction to see who was watching her, she just kept walking forward until she was at her destination. Even as she grabbed the supplies she needed for the first day the feeling of being watched still hung in the air. Finally having enough of this Y/N twisted her head around and saw Theo Raken of all people starring her down like prey. Why would Theo Raken be starring at her.

Y/N shook her head, slammed her locked shut and walked to her first period class. 

Y/N didn’t have many classes, having taken so many electives and doubling up on her core classes her sophomore and junior year, she only had about two classes. When first period ended she headed to a familiar face, Lydia Martin. The two had become close after all the things they’d been through together, they were inseparable after Y/N’s nasty breakup and over the summer break. 

Lydia turned around and screeched as she saw her friend walking towards her. “Y/N/N!” The two had literally hung out two days before school started but for some reason she was acting as if they hadn’t seen each other in years. Lydia crushed her in a hug, restricting air from entering her lungs. Y?N was barely able to move her arms but she tried her best to pat her friend on the back.

“We just saw each other the other day, Lydia.” Y/N chuckled as her red haired friend pulled away. 

Lydia just shrugged it off and start walking with Y/N. “So, how are you feeling?” Lydia asked. Y/N knew what she was really asking. Are you still heartbroken?

Y/N never knew how to answer, she was still heartbroken, and she knew that the fight was six months ago but she couldn’t get it out of her head. It was a recourring nightmare, every day she woke up and every night she went to sleep.  “I’m alright.” Y/N said in hopes her friend would believe her/ Lydia knew when she was lying though, and she also knew that she was far from fine. Sighing, the banshee decided not to press it any further and the two walked to their next class, which thankfully they had together. 

The pair walked in and sat next to each other in the middle of the room, talking about absolute nonsense. Y/N hadn’t noticed it until a few moments later when she got that feeling of being watched again. Turning her head in the slightest way Y/N yet again saw Theo watching her. His eyes were trained on her and only her, causing her to become nervous. Y?N picked up her pencil and scribbled something down on a piece of paper before sliding it over to Lydia. Lydia, not being the most discreet turned around completely to see Theo starring at the two girls. 

“Well, that’s not freaky at all.” Lydia mumbled to Y/N. They both knew that the chimera would hear them, but they didn’t care. Maybe if he heard them he’d stop staring at them.

Seconds later the teacher walked in and the boring hour began. All through class Lydia and Y/N were passing notes about how Theo was still staring and how he had been all day whenever he saw Y/N. The pack didn’t trust Theo, not after everything he did to them and all the innocent people. Y/N honestly despised the guy, he was horrible and wished he would have stayed in hell. 

“Do you have a class after this?” Lydia quietly asked the Y/H/C haired girl next to her. Y/N shook her head no. “Good, we can go to my house and have a little talk.” Y/N was confused but when she saw Lydia’s eyes dart over the chimera she knew what she was talking about.

Class ended and it felt like the girls couldn’t;t get out of the building and away from the place fast enough. 

“Y/N! Hey, wait up!” It was Theo. Y/N and Lydia looked at each other and sprinted to the car the rest of the way. Theo kept shouting for Y?N but she just wanted to make it to the car.

The two girls jumped in the vehicle, buckling up in the blink of an eye. As Lydia was about to pull out of the parking stop she checked her rear view mirror and saw Theo standing behind her car. She creamed and slammed on the breaks before putting the car in park again. Y/N jumped out of her skin and turned around to see what had scared her so bad, but here was nothing there.

“Lydia, what he hell did you-” She was cut off by a knock on her window and then it was her turn to scream. Her hand flew to her chest, her breathing now rapid as she tried to regain breathe. Y/N hesitated to roll down the window, but as the nice person she was, she rolled it down and slowly looked up at Theo. “Hey Theo.” She said warily. 

Theo smiled at her a bit, “Hey Y/N, I was calling your name back there, seems like you didn’t hear me.” He leaned against the car, laying his arms over the window and almost poking his head in. 

“Oh, were you?” She tried to act like she hadn’t heard him, but unfortunately she did. “What do you want?” 

For the first time in Y?N’s life she saw Theo hesitate to speak. “I was uh- wondering if you’re free Friday night?” He said. Y?N’s puzzled facial expression gave away that she didn’t know what she was hinting at. “This new restraint opened up and I was wondering if you wanted to come with me to see if it’s any good.”  Y/N’s swiveled over to Lydia, her eyes silently pleasing for her to help. LYdia leaned forward and gave the boy a fake smile. 

“Hey Theo, sorry to interrupt but Y/N and I really have to go. Bye.” She carried out the ‘bye’ longer than she should have as she pulled away from the school parking lot, nearly running over Theo’s feet in the process. When they were far enough away she finally spoke again, “What the hell was that? Was Raken trying to ask you out?”  Y/N shrugged. “I have no idea, but there’s no way on Earth that I would go out with him, not after all the things he’s done to the pack.”

Lydia glanced at her friend before looking back at the road, “I don’t know Y/N/N this may be a good thing for you.” She sighed, “It’s been six months since you and Derek broke up, don’t you think it’s time for you to move on? Find someone new?” 

“As in Theo Raken?” Y/N shook her head and leaned her arm Afghanistan the open window, “No, no way. Not going to happen.” 

“Are you saying that because it’s Theo and you don’t like him, or are you saying that because you’re still in love with Derek?” Y/N’s silence told her that it was the later.

Y/N furrowed her eyebrows as she watched Lydia pull up into the parking lot of the Animal Clinic. Why would they be there? “I thought we were going to your house?” 

“Got a text from Scott, said he wanted to talk to all of us.” She said. Y/N huffed and got out of the car, slamming the door shut behind her. “You better knock off that attitude missy or you’re walking home.” Y?N put her hands up in defense, surrendering to her friend.

As soon as Y/N was at the door the sudden realization that Derek might be there scared her. Lydia walked in and was holding the door open for her but when she didn’t come inside she knew something was wrong. 

“Y/N/N? What’s wrong?” She asked.

“I just realized, Derek might be here.” Y/N looked at her friend, Y/E/C eyes wide. “I haven’t spoken to him or even seen him since it happened.” 

Lydia sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose, “You have to get over him Y/N. He was the one who let you go, he was the one who made the mistake. Not you. You’re going to be fine, and if anything happens I’m right here.” Y/N nodded slowly, grabbing her friends hand and entering the clinic. 

Everyone was in the usual meeting spot, the conversation of the current problem already being talked about. As soon as she stepped into the room her heart nearly stopped. This meeting was going to be more than just awkward because Y/N’s ex was going to be there, but also because Theo was going to be there. She had no idea as to why the Chimera would be there, he wasn’t even apart of the pack and everyone hated him, but here was, standing in the corner being all moody. 

Swallowing the lump in her throat that was preventing her from breathing properly her and Lydia joined the conversation. Y/N could feel Derek’s eyes on her, burning holes into her body, and she could see Theo staring Derek down from his dark corner. 

“Y/N? Do you think it’s a good plan?” Scott asked, grabbing the girls attention. Her Y/E/C eyes shot up from the metal table and looked at the Alpha, obvious confusion gracing her features. Scott sighed, not waiting for an answer. “We can talk about this more tomorrow, until then just stay on alert and if you hear or see anything call one of us. Don’t go at this alone.” The rest of the group nodded and walked out. 

As Lydia and Y/N headed for the door someone grabbed her wrist and turned her around. Her eyes were met with a broad chest, and she knew that it was Derek. She didn’t have to look at him directly to know that. 

“I think we need to talk.” His voice was low and soft, something Y/N was not quite used to. 

“There’s nothing to talk about.” She mumbled, looking down and pulling away from him. “There wasn’t anything to say then and there isn’t now.” 

Derek sighed and looked away from the girl, his heart hurting. He had been hurting from the moment she left him, from the moment she threw the necklace on the ground and walked out of his life. “I’m sorry about what I said, I didn’t mean it.” He mumbled, still not looking at her. 

Y/N shook her head, “You had six months to say that to me, Derek. Why now?” 

“I don’t know, I didn’t- I didn’t know how to say it, how you would reactt or what  would happen.” Lame excuse. 

“Whatever Derek, you never gave me a chance to explain and after calling me a slut I had no need to.” Y/N sighed, “I need to go, Lydia’s waiting on me.” Y/N began to walk away when she heard Derek’s voice again.  “I never cheated on you.” He said, his eyes piercing her clammy skin. 

Her head turned back a frown lacing her lips, “And neither did I.” Y/N walked out without another word to him, her heart hurting too much for her to get another word out. Waiting at Lydia’s car wasn’t just the banshee herself, but Theo Raken as well. 

“What do you want?” Y/N’s voice was cold, only because of the conversation she just had with her ex.  “Woah, what’s with the attitude?” Theo said, pushing his body off of the side of Lydia’s car. The glare Y/N sent his way was enough to get him to ease up, “I was just talking to Lydia about how you’re trying to get over that jack ass Derek in there, and I was wondering if I could help by taking you out on a date.”  Y/N let out a sigh, her hand gripping the handle on the car door. She didn’t know what to say. She wanted so badly to get over Derek, but at the same time she didn’t because of how much she loved him. When she looked up at Theo again she saw Derek standing at the entrance of the clinic, watching them. 

“Let me think about it.” 

Y/N got into Lydia’s car, looking at the stunned look on Theo’s face, and the sad expression across Derek’s. 

[theeternalspace]

In Memoriam 4

Summary: The metal tree had always fascinated the Prince.

Only, it wasn’t a tree.

And, as it turned out, he wasn’t really a Prince. Instead he was… a side of someone’s personality? He doesn’t remember Thomas, or the other sides, those who call themselves his friends. He doesn’t really remember anything, not even his own name, no matter the efforts of Patton, Logan or Virgil. He must venture back into the Wardrobe door, back to the metal tree in an attempt to recover his missing memories and regain everything he has lost.

But perhaps some doors are best left closed for a reason. And perhaps some personas should remain in the ground where they have been buried.

Story Warnings: Sympathetic/Grey Deceit Sanders. He is trying his best you guys. Anxiety. Self doubt and self loathing. Fantasy fighting. Verbal fighting. Threatening behaviour. Blood and injury. Memory loss. Drowning. Near death.

Previous || Next

Hwin leapt to the side with a whinny of pure panic as Bree took Roman in the opposite direction. The beast crashed harmlessly through empty space to headbutt the trees directly behind where they had been standing only seconds before. The horse spun, trying to keep the manticore-chiminea in its line of sight as best she could. 

Virgil felt himself lose balance a split second before it happened, Hwin turning further to the right and his body just continued to slide to the left, off her and away from everyone else. He reached out to try and steady himself, knowing as he did that it was too late and there was nothing to be done. Thoughts passed through his mind in a fraction of a second, shifting from fear to acceptance as he slipped from Hwin’s back. He landed heavily on the ground, his shoulder connecting harshly against compacted snow.

“Virgil!” Roman called out, the prince completely obscured by the bulky body of the monster. There was no way to be completely sure as to if he was hurt or not but at least he was alive and uninjured enough to be able to shout without sounding hurt. He was alive and that was enough to start with. “Virgil are you okay?”

Instead of focusing its attention on where the sound had come from, like he might have guessed, the beast turned, malice filled gaze from all heads fixing themselves squarely on Virgil instead. There was an intelligence burning within those sharp little eyes, an anger and hunger that zeroed in on him and it didn’t take a genius to realise it was rearing round with the intention to attack him. 

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me,” Virgil whispered, pushing himself into a crouching position and trying to avoid reacting to the pain that shot up his arm when he put pressure on it. Sharp and hot were the words that came to mind despite his best efforts not to think as Virgil bit down on his lip to swallow the shout of pain. At least he could still move it, but he couldn’t spare even a second to examine his arm and see how badly it was hurt. 

Not with the beast lunging forward, its scorpion stinger tail lashing out and swinging towards him, poisonous barb striking out at him. Adrenaline pumped through his blood, enabling him to roll to the side, thoughts of his injured arm completely lost under the rising tide that was the panic born out of just trying to survive. Stinger plunged deep into the snow where he had been crouched only seconds before, the beast howling with fury at missing.

Virgil didn’t stick around to wait for it to try again. He needed some cover, he needed a way to defend himself, maybe even a way to go on the offensive but most of all he needed to get it away from Roman. While the regal side might be a magnificent sword fighter, that was the Roman with all his memories intact. There was no way to know how much of that training his subconscious mind remembered, no way of knowing if he could hold his own against an enemy besides actually pitting him against it and Virgil wasn’t willing to test that. The chance that Roman might not remember was just too much of a risk for him to bear.

Weapon, weapon, weapon, he needed some kind of weapon, thoughts looping around in his mind as he raced through the trees, feet crunching heavily against the snow. There was no way to be stealthy when running through such a substance and even if by some miracle he could have found a way to be quiet, the footprints he was leaving in his wake were more than enough to make sure it could track him.

Virgil didn’t dare look behind him to see how close the beast was - he could hear its cries as it chased him through the trees, hot on his tail. It was closer than he would have liked but far enough away that it hadn’t managed to hit him yet and if nothing else, the trees seemed to be hindering its progress enough. As if in reply to his silent thoughts, the beast roared again, a heavy thud sounding as it collided with one of the larger trees, the force sending the whole trunk crashing to the ground somewhere to the side of him. The smack as the whole tree hit the forest floor seemed to echo for miles, filling his ears so for a moment he couldn’t even hear his own heartbeat. 

Oh God, he was going to die. It was growing more angry by the second, and more likely to take that anger out on him as a result. He was going to die running away from an insane beast that had no business being here in the first place because even without his memories, Roman couldn’t keep his own damn imagination under control.  

At least when it was following him, it wasn’t attacking Roman. 

A small mercy and he knew this wasn’t Roman’s fault, not really. Which was less of a small mercy since it didn’t actually change anything about what was happening. He couldn’t understand how Roman could have conjured up such a malicious beast. If Logan was here - and Virgil was so thankful that he wasn’t - he would have probably questioned that line of thought, the image bringing a small, barely there smile to his face. He knew of course, that Roman had the power and so functionally could create such a monster, but then not every thought and question was a literal one. 

How could he create something that was such a threat when he had no desire to? When he was better than this? When he claimed to not have been thinking anything negative in the first place? Not that it mattered because the beast was here and it was not going away anytime soon. Not unless they could somehow manage to defeat that beast, in which case Virgil needed a weapon. 

Virgil dived behind a particularly large snow drift, hand lifting to press against his chest, as though he could physically keep his heart from bursting out, it was beating so fast. It was a terrible hiding place because his footprints would lead the beast right to him but Virgil couldn’t run any further, not this second. His heart felt as though it was about to explode, his lungs burning harshly as he breathed, each lungful a battle to get in and then out of his body. His back was freezing, pressed tight against the snow, the white flakes no doubt mixing with his hair to chill his head even further. 

He glanced around wildly, hoping against hope that there might be something here, something he could use to defend himself. Stopping had been the only possible choice but stopping meant that the beast was going to catch up to him. The second Virgil moved from behind this snow drift he was dead, and remaining here would merely give him an extra few seconds before more death.

The only thing within arm’s reach was a tree branch, about as long as his arm. As tempting as it was to imagine himself swinging it at the manticore-chimera, Virgil was a pessimist more than anything. He knew it would just connect against the hide of the beast and then bounce off, probably breaking apart in his hand as it went. This is really not how he wanted this day to go, his eyes closing for a moment in frustration. A few feet away from him, the lion head of the beast gave another howl, the noise making him flinch, eyes snapping back open.

A whisper of... something, in the air around him made him look down, the hairs on the back of his neck standing up as he did. 

Pale gold, barely there smoke curled around the loose branch at his feet, the wood shifting, elongating as it changed it shape. It stretched out, curling a little at the edges as it both flattened and sharpened. Where moments ago there had been a simple wooden stick, there now lay a sword. It had a few purple stones set into the hilt of the blade, all of inlaid with elegant gold patterns picked out against the darker metal of the rest of the blade. Not even Virgil could mistake this sign, it was clearly meant for him. 

Finally. 

“Thank you Roman,” Virgil mumbled, lifting the sword cautiously and testing the weight. It fit perfectly in his hand, as if it had been made for him. Which clearly, it had and at least Roman had worked out how to do that if nothing else. Maybe there could be a way out of this after all and while he wouldn’t be able to take the beast head on, he might not need to. A few blows might be enough to destabilise it enough for it to vanish again, and Virgil doubted Roman had the knowledge needed to create something that can stand up to an actual attack. Assuming Virgil didn’t die trying to attack it. 

Okay. He could do this. Virgil took a deep breath, trying to centre himself, both hands wrapped tightly around the handle of the blade. The heavy footsteps of the beast grew closer and closer, the creature moving in for the kill. He could do this. On the count of three. One. Two. Th-

“Halt, foul beast!”

Virgil felt the red in his face from the running drain away once more, leaving him pale. No. Roman. He shouldn’t be here, he couldn’t be here. Virgil ran into the woods in order to lure the beast away from his friend, not have the reckless idiot chase after them both. That was just like him. 

Wings flapped, Virgil tilting his head up a little, peering up through the snow towards the sky. Not that he could make out much of the sky with how thick the canopy was. Or the giant feathered wings which towered over his little hiding spot, and the beast had to be on literally the other side of the snow now. It wouldn’t even have needed to move around to attack him, it could have stabbed him right through the snow drift.

If it hadn’t been for Roman distracting it, Virgil would probably be dead right now. Or at dead as a Side could be, which wasn’t permanent but was incredibly painful and not something Virgil wasn’t keen on going through again any time soon. That didn’t mean he wanted to let Roman experience it either however and he was not going to let the creative side suffer that kind of pain, not today, not ever. 

The wings spun, letting him know that the beast was turning, Virgil unable to do anything but stare upward in horror as first a snake and scorpion tail swung across his little snowy hideout, just to ram the point home. Not that it was looking at attacking him anymore. No, it had decided to target Roman instead, Virgil forcing his frozen feeling limbs to move. He turned slowly, shifting along the snow to be able to watch the scene in front of him.

The manticore-chimera focused on Roman, lion head snapping and snarling. It lashed out, claws raking in thin air as it tried to cut deep, the prince avoiding the wickedly sharp blades in the nick of time. The beast reared back, whole body tense as it attempted to attack once more. 

“Roman, look out!” Virgil screamed, the scorpion tail thudding into a tree directly beside the prince, missing his head by mere inches. He couldn’t just stand there while Roman was being attacked, the other side needed some help. Virgil moved without thinking, darting out from behind the snow, sword held high. With a strength that Virgil hadn’t even realised he possessed, he lashed out, stabbing deep into the flank of the beast. 

Pain filled screams rang out, shrieks of agony as the beast tried to turn, narrow eyes trying to search out Virgil once more. He dived back behind the nearest tree, his heart thudding painfully in his chest as the beast lashed out. Branches crumbled under the onslaught of claws raking across it, bark and leaves snapping away and fluttering down to the ground. Virgil didn’t want to think what sort of damage the claws could do if it was a person they were slashing. So of course, his mind started to instantly fill with the sounds and scents of such a thing, how bright and horrific the blood would be against the white of the snow. Virgil didn’t want to die here, the anxious side swallowing down a whimper of fear as the tree he was hiding behind started to creak and groan under the brutal attack.  

Roman took advantage of the distraction to stab deep with his own sword, blade slicing in from bind. It screamed again, maddened by the scent of its own blood, body thrashing wildly.  

He moved, half stumbling against the snow banks as he found a new tree to hide behind. The one he had originally used was almost completely cut through near the base of the trunk, wild and deep gashes a lasting reminder of what the manticore-chimera could do to either of them if it managed to get them in its grasp. 

Sword felt heavy in his hands, wanting to drag him down, to just stop. Virgil couldn’t allow himself to stop though, couldn’t just stand there, not now the beast was focused once more on his friend. It’s scream sounded even shriller than before, the beast lashing out without any apparent thought or plan. All it seemed to want to do now was cause damage, the scent of its blood rank and almost overpowering. With so much spilt, he wouldn’t be able to tell if Roman got hurt. 

That fear focused his mind, gave him the strength he needed to step back into the fight, sword this time slicing along the scorpion tail. The manticore-chimera threw back all its heads to howl in pain at attack, Roman choosing that moment to strike. He darted forward, ignoring Virgil’s cry of panic, blade sinking all the way down to its hilt as he plunged it deep into the base of the throat of the goat head. The manticore-chimera finally collapsed to the ground in a flurry of screams and feathers, its body contorting harshly. 

There were a few moments of nothing but twitching from the form before it simply dissolved, melting away as though made of snow and back to the snow it had gone. Leaving them alone with only an empty space and memories of what had just happened. 

Virgil panted heavily, his heart racing as he tried to convince his body that the threat was over and that they were all safe. It helped to see Roman come closer, almost bouncing over the snow, looking completely unharmed.

“I’ve got it,” Roman announced, a brilliant grin on his face, looking completely unphased by the battle they had just survived. “You must be Thomas’ Protection.”

“Nice,” Virgil snorted, pushing away the twinge of pain, of hurt and he was doing this all wrong. He should have been upfront with Roman in the first place, should have just told him what he was and faced the fact that the other side might hate him for it. At least he wouldn’t have him guessing such ridiculous things and Roman’s first guess was so wrong. Virgil couldn’t understand how he could look at him and see such a good trait, such an amazing positive light trait.

If anyone was Thomas’ Protection, it had to be Roman. Sure, Virgil had always tried to protect but he knew it had rarely been in the right way and despite his very best intentions, it rarely come out right. He shook his head, trying to will thoughts away. 

“I’m not that Princey. Not even close.”

“Ah well... I’ll get it right next time... Virgil.” 

“You can use nicknames you know,” Virgil blurted out, unable to stop himself. Empty hand lifted, slapping it over his mouth but it was too late and the dreaded words had been said, floating in the air around them.

“What?” Roman looked confused more than anything else, although Virgil wasn’t sure if that was because of his words or because of the way his hand appeared to act of its own accord and try and cover his mouth up. 

Virgil shrugged a little, trying to act casual and not slink away in embarrassment as he forced his hand away from his mouth.

“It’s just... sorry forget it.”

“No, tell me. Please.” Roman looked so endearingly pleading as he asked, stepping closer and really that just wasn’t fair. How was Virgil supposed to say no to him when he looked like that? “I want to learn who I was and who you are to me.”

“I... it’s just you don’t really use my name all that much?” It came out sounding far more like a question than Virgil had intended, as though even he didn’t really know what was being said. He cringed a little and forced himself to continue, words spilling over themselves in their haste to be said.

“You use nicknames a lot instead, it is sort of our thing? So it... I mean. You keep coming up with new nicknames for me, sometimes you reuse them but you tend to call me nicknames instead of my name.”

“Nicknames? Oh we must have been close friends then.” Roman looked delighted by his assumption, as though he could imagine no better past for himself than to have been friends with Virgil. Another cut into his heart, another wound laced against it because for some strange reason Roman seemed to want to be friends with him and Virgil was too afraid to even admit what trait he represented in Thomas’ mind. What sort of friend kept something as huge and as important as that from another? 

“Yeah... sure... let’s go with that.” It wasn’t completely wrong, and they had certainly been close. Bound together by their shared antagonistic view of each other and as much as Virgil would like to pretend otherwise he knew he was as much at fault as to the state of their relationship growing up as Roman had been. Probably more at fault really because he could have made more of an effort. 

He liked to hope they were friends now and that was close enough right? In the days leading up to Roman’s memory loss Virgil would have considered them friends and they had hung out together outside of working without actually bickering too much. Admittedly, Virgil had spent most of that time on edge, terrified he might say or do the wrong thing and destroy this peace they had created but still, they had done things friends were supposed to do.  

Friends. He and Roman were friends. 

That was the truth, although it was far more complicated and there wasn’t any time to really go into it. Virgil gave a soft little cough, looking around helplessly for something to change the subject with. Hwin softly moved over to them, the horse having wisely avoided most of the battle. That was his sort of horse, someone who wasn’t reckless. 

“Nice sword,” Roman commented after a long moment, nodding his head towards the blade held loosely by his side. Virgil had almost forgotten he was still holding the blade, and thank goodness he hadn’t tried to cover his mouth with that hand instead. That would have been unpleasant to say the least. 

“Needs a little... something though.” 

He clicked his fingers, Virgil feeling a new weight settle around his hips as Roman tested his powers, letting himself learn more of what he was capable of. Looking down, he could see a dark leather belt around him, a black and purple sheath at his side for his weapon. It was a little more basic than the sword itself as if Roman had tired himself out by making that and now he didn't have the energy to match it perfectly. The sheath was still beautiful though, and so much more than anything he might have been able to conjure up.

Virgil couldn’t help but roll his eyes and it seemed as though some things were constants in all versions of Roman. His need for praise being one of them but Virgil could hardly deny him a few words of encouragement, not after everything that had happened. After all, the sword had saved them both.

“You’re getting pretty good at this,” Virgil admitted, carefully slotting the weapon into the new sheath, the weight feeling a little odd on his right hip but he was sure he would get used to it. “Thanks.”

Roman looked strangely bashful, a hint of a blush colouring his cheeks and Virgil realised that this was probably the first time that he remembered anyone complimenting or thanking him. The first time someone said something really nice and he had the misfortune for it to come from Virgil. 

“It’s just a sheath, it's nothing really,” Roman said after a moment, still looking uncharacteristically embarrassed by the praise. “Come on, Bree says we still have a bit of a ride ahead of us.”

“You got it Princey.” Virgil offered him a mock salute as he swing back onto Hwin’s back, giving Roman a genuine smile as the prince nudged Bree on, letting him lead the way. 

A sudden chill swept over him, a cold that had nothing to do with the freezing cold temperatures and everything to do with his own anxiety, his own nerves, screaming at him to turn around. Head whipped round, watching the trees behind them, the messed up snow from where they had fought and the large mark from where the beast had fallen before dissolving back into the Imagination. 

There was nothing there, nothing out of the ordinary that he could see and yet still his anxiety was hissing for him to look harder, longer. For him to focus on what wasn’t there because something important wasn’t there. With a sigh, Virgil started to turn away, to focus back on the task at hand. A blink and snow moved, a shift out of the corner of his eye that had his nerves yelling once more.

Virgil squinted, staring back into the treeline, trying to make out the shape once more and for a second, he could have sworn that he had seen... something. Someone. White against white, a barely there outline but an outline nevertheless. He stared and stared but nothing else moved, a stillness that only made him more ill at ease. It was unnatural how still everything was and yet without anything for him to zero in on, there was nothing he could do and no way to calm his nerves.

“Hey my Shadow Knight, you coming?” Roman called from further along the trail. Not one of his best but it was an attempt at a nickname nevertheless and Virgil could appreciate that. 

“Coming,” he called back, giving a soft sigh as he set off. The itch of being watched continued as they travelled but no matter how hard Virgil looked he could never actually spot someone. In fact, he couldn't spot any other signs of life, that unnatural stillness continuing, as if the four of them were the only beings alive in this world. It was as though Narnia itself was holding its breath, waiting for the next blow to land.

“Here we are,” Bree announced suddenly, head jerking up and down, long mane flowing gracefully with the movement. Virgil looked around, taking in the large, ornate sledge that was just abandoned in the snow. It was a good hundred or so feet away from the treeline they had been following, standing out against the white snow. Gold, black and red were painted all over it, the rich tones somehow surviving the endless snow. 

As Virgil watched, white flakes landed on the sledge only to instantly melt away as though the item was hot to the touch. Imagination magic at its finest, ensuring that objects of importance survived as they were meant to be seen, laws of reality be damned. There were no footprints leading away from it but then with the constant falling snow that was perhaps to be expected. What was strange was the fact that it had been abandoned at all, that whoever had been using it had gone to the effort of releasing the creatures instead of just riding away. As if that person had wanted it to be found like this. 

Virgil had a very bad feeling about this.

They approached it cautiously, Virgil constantly glancing around as they did, half expecting some kind of trap to swing down on them. Nothing happened however, nothing leapt out at them, no ropes and netting fell on them. Instead, they simply stopped beside the large sledge that seemed all the world to be exactly what it first seemed. Utterly abandoned. 

Both swung down from Bree and Hwin, crossing the final few paces on foot, the two horses murmuring quietly to each other. 

Inside laid a thick black fur blanket, the sort the looked super soft and then somehow managed to be even more comfortable than you expected. Virgil’s fingers itched to touch it, to wrap it around himself and just forget about everything else. Just hide under the covers until the sun went away, the temptation growing stronger by the moment. With a soft grunt, he pushed the thought away, moving further down the sledge to look at the back seats. 

Attention narrowed to the small jar nestled innocently enough at the back of the sledge, on its side and open, the lid a few meters away. Carefully, he reached out scooping up first the jar and then the lid, screwing it shut. Virgil had an even worse feeling about this as he turned the jar around, reading the label. 

Royal Jelly. 

Oh, Roman. For a moment, Virgil was silent, thumb lightly brushing over the small, chibi like drawing of Roman on the label who was grinning so brightly out of the image at him. For a moment, he simply read the description of Pomegranate and Elderberry, fit for a price. For a moment Virgil allowed himself to imagine what Roman had to be feeling, that he had been tricked by such a device. 

For a moment he let himself wonder what had been going through his mind, why he had been so... distracted? So... ill at ease that he had allowed himself this weakness? Why had he fallen for the charms of the White Wizard, when he must have known that it was dangerous. Some part of him must have known that it would be a trap. For a moment he wondered all this in silence, before Roman came up beside him, expression curious and open. Roman looked at the jar in his hand with interest, but without recognition, memory of his moment with the jelly as lost as every other memory he had.

Then the moment was over and only Virgil’s anger was left. 

“You idiot!” Virgil snarled, waving the jar around accusingly, the jelly inside bouncing a little with the movement. “You ate the White Wizard's treats!”

“I... I did? I'm guessing that's bad?”

“Very bad! Come on Roman, you would have known the story, you must have known that the White Wizard was the villain and not to eat anything he offered because it was magical and dangerous. And yet you did and it took your memories and that...” Virgil tailed off, eyes widening as a far worse thought occurred to him, something that struck him to the core. 

“What?” Roman asked, hand lifting as though to comfort Virgil before pausing, awkwardly hovering in the air, unsure if his touch would be welcome or not. They were lost, the pair of them, with no understanding of how to get back to the connections they had once shared. “What is it?” 

Virgil blinked rapidly, looking away from the hands, unable to stare at them any longer, unable to stare at Roman any longer, at the man who was and was not his friend. His family. He exhaled, something heavy and tired, feeling himself shrink a little under the weight of his own thoughts and knowledge. 

“That means that whoever did this is more than just a character in a story you originally dreamt up Princey. See... in the story, the treat just made the character more... susceptible I suppose. It was so the baddie could get information, could start to poison the mind of the person against the rest.” Virgil stared down broodingly at the jar, as though it could somehow come to life and answer his questions, could explain what exactly had happened to Roman and how to fix it. 

It wasn’t fair, it wasn’t right that Roman was the one who was paying for his mistakes because this had clearly been set up for Virgil and then modified when only Roman had entered the world on his own. Which proved even further that this was the work of a character that had somehow broken out of the confines Roman had originally placed around it, that it had become capable of acting independently so that it could do such a thing. 

This was supposed to be his story. He was Edmund, he was meant to eat the treat and use it as an excuse to become the enemy. He was meant to be lost and have Roman save him. Virgil didn’t know how to play the role the other way around. He didn’t know how to drag someone back from the brink, how to keep them getting lost. He didn’t know how to be the hero because it wasn’t a role he was ever supposed to play. Just as Roman wasn’t supposed to be the bad guy.

Only... the magic hadn't done that to Roman. 

It hadn't turned him against them, it had taken him, taken all the years, all the memories and left an empty cut out in its place. It had drained Roman of everything that he was but he was still Roman in his most basic form, was still good and honest and brave. He still had the same basic starting point but it left him a shell. 

Was that better or worse than the mental image of a scowling Roman with a sword against his throat, fully prepared to attack them all?

Memories made a person. Made a side. Memories, for good and for bad made you who you were. This Roman was all wrong. Too soft, too eager to please, to unwilling to push back. He hadn't been forged in the fire of their fights and while Virgil might have often wished that their past was different, better, he had accepted that it was what it was. He couldn’t rewrite what had happened, no matter how painful some things had been. To ignore their shared past would be to ignore so much of what made up not just them, but Thomas as well and Virgil couldn’t do that. 

“Did I tell them things?” Roman’s voice broke into his brooding, so small and pain filled, yet still worried about what he might have done, how it could have hurt the others. He didn’t even remember them beyond a few stilted, awkward meetings and yet his main concern was to know if he had protected them or not. 

It reminded Virgil yet again that while this Roman wasn’t his friend as he knew him, he was still Roman. He was still his friend in some form. Memories made a person true, and this version of Roman set his anxiety flaring into high alert but he couldn’t act as if he was a stranger because the core remained intact, remained the side he knew. He couldn’t push him away as his anxiety wanted to, because Roman didn’t deserve to be treated that way. Even if he was wrong. Virgil swallowed heavily, considering the question for a moment before shaking his head.  

“I don’t think so... the treats were designed for one purpose. If I’m right and the jelly made you lose your memory then it was designed to make you lose your memory... which means this was done to you on purpose... which means we’re dealing with a far more dangerous White Wizard. Its... it's possible he even knows this is the Imagination.”

The Dragon Witch was the only being Virgil knew that was aware of a world outside the realm Roman had created for her. Was this the Dragon Witch? Possible and yet Virgil didn’t think so, there was a flavour to the actions that reminded him of something beside her malice, something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. A half remembered memory itching in the back of his mind where he couldn’t reach but was aware enough of it for it to be incredibly annoying. 

“So what does that mean?” Roman asked after a moment, his words prodding Virgil back to focus on the conversation at hand. Virgil gave another shrug before carefully placing the half eaten jelly into a conjured up side bag for Hwin. Perhaps Logan would be able to make some sense of it if they couldn’t find any further clues as to how to fix this. If anyone would be able to get anything from it, it would be the logical side. 

Assuming of course, that he could convince Logan not to test the jelly himself and it was still labelled as Crofters which would only tempt him. Not to mention his belief in his superior attitude could easily convince him that he could test it without falling prey to its powers. It might be a bad idea to actually tell him then, but there was time to think about it, to consider his next step and if they were luck for once, perhaps they would be able to restore Roman’s memory and then Virgil wouldn’t need to make the choice one way or the other. 

Part of Virgil wanted to just destroy the jar, to hide it from Logan because then Logan would never know how deeply Roman clearly felt the lack of his own flavoured jelly. He wanted to protect him from everything, even himself. Virgil couldn’t protect him from this however. 

“It means we’re in trouble.”

[ogdoadfates]

Bakudeku or just bnha prompt

Fantasy au, this gonna be really long

Themes and such: Romance, angst, hurt, violence, mature stuff if you want, slow burn like really slow, this thing is practically a series, guts and such, adventure, ect ect.

Kacchan is a werewolf and one of the alphas of a hidden pack (along with his parents). Werewolves will sometimes ‘adopt’ other species into their packs.

Kirishima is half kitsune half werewolf (basically a werewolf with multi tails, his magic isn’t that strong at all only allowing him to harden his hide/skin a fair bit since his natural element is earth) adopted into Bakugo’s pack

Iida is a centaur, centaurs are semi secretive and very very strong believers in their rules.

Uraraka is a selkie, she is friends with iida making him break one of the centaurs rules (don’t associate with lower and/or weaker creature, or something close)

Tsuyu is a kappa (who didn’t see that happening)

Todoroki is a vampire (big surprise there)

Jiro is a fairy (fairies can disguise themselves as humans). Hangs around the elf kingdom and even helps out sometimes.

Momo is a Elf her elven magic is either nature or metal based (prefer nature because an ol’ fairy weakness is some metals), is either royalty or related to it.

Hagakure is an will-o-wisp (can’t really take a see-able human form but can interact like one)

Aoyama is a griffin (Griffins can have a human like form, but still have wings and lower half of a griffin just a little more human like so they can stand properly)

Mineta is an imp (need I say more)

Denki is an electric mage. Adopted into Bakugo’s pack after kicked out of his village for his magic even if he’s a mage and not a witch.

Ojiro is a sphinx.

Sato is an golem. (a brick golem to keep up with that baking theme, brick ovens were used way way back so yeah)

Tokoyami is a Hippogriff (human form he is stuck with a bird head) Darkshadow is his friend which is a regular crow/raven. (yes he can communicate with birds). He’s a wanderer and eventually finds Shoji

Mina is a Pixie. adopted into the Bakugo pack.

Shoji is a mutant. (basically he has multi arms and thats it) wonders around alone. Till he met Tokoyami and then proceeded to travel alongside him.

Sero is a  Arachne (think centaur but half spider instead of horse) Adopted into Bakugo’s pack.

Aizawa is a Church grim/black dog/Bergahest (you get it, it’s a giant black dog thing, sorry for it not being a cat but it makes sense with him to be one of these). He haunts around an old graveyard, guarding a childs grave. (since they start off as dogs in the first place, it’s his old masters grave)

Shinso is a Nekomata (a two tailed cat, they are told to live long long lives and in this case have some magic, Shinso’s being illusions. I guess also think of them semi like cheshire cats). He wasn’t liked since his powers could trick humans so humans kept chasing him away.

Present mic is an banshee (but in this case they aren’t spirits instead they are just born a banshee, kinda rare)

Midnight is a pixie.

Toga is a shapshifter

Dabi is a vampire (he a todoroki my guys)

Shigaraki is half Bogle half human (Bogles are scary lookin creatures)

All for one/sensei is a Demon 

All might is a sea-goat (those suckers are HUGE!!! but can also have a human form, they look kind of like a satyr when in that form tho)

Inko (deceased, sorry) was a witch. She died via a hanging.

Hissashi midoriya is a dragon and a bastard, not a nice guy. (or he was nice and died somehow you pick)

Deku is half dragon half witch (his dragon traits don’t show till later but give him a semi immunity to fire, he also suffers from some dragon like instincts), his magic is storm or nature based. This is an imbalanced hybrid combo combating magics sometimes causing him to accidentally hurt himself thanks to the overflowing amount of magic he has (think of sleigh beggy from ancient magus bride and thats kinda whats happening to him)

Nedzu is a chimera.

Hatsume is a human.

Monoma is a priest/monster hunter.

Ships

Deku x kacchan

Mina x kirishima

Tokoyami x shoji

Jiro x Denki

Momo x todoroki

Aizawa x present mic

iida x urakaka (or urakaka x Tsuyu )

Oijiro x hagakure

and any others you can think of

Story/true prompt

It’s be a long story with different paths to follow, each paring or even lone characters can have there own story to follow

Deku’s would be how he escapes from being burned (witch burning and no he’s never met Kacchan, but his mother new kacchans.) So Deku’s journey begins with him running away and trying to figure out how to fixes his magic before it kills him (clocks ticking, he gets worse over the course of the story. and he doesn’t tell those he becomes friends with this at first, just claming to be sick with some normal illness when asked) he’d stumble apon others and become friends with them (Urakaka, shinso and possibly Tsuyu ) one noticeable one being Aizawa which Aizawa later becomes his familiar. Deku ends up getting known to the villians (shigi, dabi, toga, ect) as a giant magic source (though this would/will kill deku if they got him) and end up trying to capture him to summon sensei. So he ends up having to run from them later finding the Bakugo pack (Kacchans mom would vaguely recognize Deku’s sent/looks and at some point find out he’s inkos son, causing her to learn inko is dead) This gives Deku and kacchan time to meet it would not go off well at first at all and only get worse when the villians track Deku down and end up killing Kacchans parents and most of his pack. But thanks to this the humans/monster hunters now know the packs location so the pack has to move to the packs old territory with kacchan as their new pack leader. This is where deku and kacchans group split up. While all this is happening Momo is helping hid todoroki from his father, later they meet Aoyama and sato when trying to hide todoroki when his father visits the elf kingdom. Some of these groups meet and become friends/acquaintances of the others and annoyed by mineta. Deku on his journey will meet all might learning about the demon the villians are trying to get him to summon, all might says he’ll join up with them soon. Later kacchan and dekus group will be forced to meet up and camp together thanks to injuries and the two will start to work together (begrudgingly at first) eventually they decide to travel together they end up finding present mic and All might again they introduce them to the elf kingdom (Banshee’s are kind of like royalty since so rare and very powerful aka best not to piss one off and all might is known as a great hero to them for warding off the demon the first time, you can change the way they get to the castle). This is where all of these groups start to get together and the threat of the sensei is back. During all of this Kacchan and deku get a lot closer and even start to develope feelings for each other, but later kacchan learns the horrid truth about how Deku’s magic is literally killing him and making him weaker as time goes on, causing him to even ask Aizawa to tell him when deku needs to sit out (this is asked while deku is knocked out via his illness, his illness also affects Aizawa a bit).Eventually the elf kingdom and the vampire kingdom end up in a war thanks to momo hiding todoroki being found out. Which causes everyone to flee but this time together as one big group, this is where they regroup/meet up with everyone else, the groups get split up at least twice. They later find a place to stay again and Deku is finnally starting to figure out how to help with his magic issues thanks via finding Nedzu who walks him and aziawa through it. The ending is basicly everyone who’s gonna be together together (tho that is not the main focus) and them sealing away Sensei once and for all.

Feel free to contact me to talk about this or if your gonna write it I’m more then willing to help or even proof read. basically need anything for this talk to me.

[pass-the-bechdel]

Stargate SG1 s07e15 ‘Chimera’

Does it pass the Bechdel Test?

No.

How many female characters (with names and lines) are there?

Three (33.33% of cast).

How many male characters (with names and lines) are there?

Six.

Positive Content Rating:

Two.

General Episode Quality:

It’s an episode about why dating men is a terrible idea; it just doesn’t know that’s what it’s about.

MORE INFO (and potential spoilers) UNDER THE CUT:

Passing the Bechdel:

Pshaw.

Female characters:

Sarah Gardner.

Samantha Carter.

Osiris.

Male characters:

Daniel Jackson.

Pete Shanahan.

Jack O’Neill.

Teal’c.

Farrity.

George Hammond.

OTHER NOTES:

In Daniel’s memory/dream of meeting Sarah, she tells him what the artifact he’s studying was for (because she has already studied it) and he says “Good guess”. It’s not a guess, bitch, she’s done her research. Zero surprise though, that the first thing Daniel establishes is that he’s a patronising academic ass. It’s not the only belittling remark he makes across this 'meet cute’, either. Yay.

Y’all know the whole Carter/O’Neill thing has never worked for me, but the two of them have more chemistry and charm together having an awkward elevator conversation about Carter’s new boyfriend than Carter has at any point in the bad-dialogue ‘romantic’ scenes with that total pill, Pete.

Teal’c’s interest in dream interpretation is the highlight of this episode. 

“It’s nice to know people still stay together no matter what,” Pete says, having taken his new lady friend to some random couples’ 50th anniversary celebration. That’s a fucking SUPER creepy thing to say to a woman you’ve been on like, two dates with. Back the fuck off.

“Sounds like a normal male fantasy to me,” Carter says, laughing at Daniel as he talks about how his memory/dreams of Sarah are different to what happened in real life, because in the dream she doesn’t care that he’s an inconsiderate jerk and instead she considers facilitating his work to be far more important than him treating her with basic respect in their relationship. Unfortunately, while the storytelling clearly acknowledges that Daniel treated Sarah poorly when they were together, it also seems to be packaging this story as if he’s going to ‘make it up to her’, and that’s not what’s up.

Pete, who KNOWS that his new girlfriend is an Air Force Major who works at the local military base, detects that her job in ‘deep space telemetry’ is a cover, but for some reason he gets angry at her and walks out when she won’t tell him what she really does, even though she tells him that she’s not allowed to say? She OBVIOUSLY does classified work, logically he KNOWS that, and she essentially admits as much when she tells him she’s not allowed to come clean. But somehow, Pete still pretends that she ‘just doesn’t trust him’ and he’s sooo hurt and he storms out AND THEN HE CALLS UP A CONTACT IN THE FBI AND INVESTIGATES HER. He’s a freak! And now he’s also a literal stalker! A STALKER, GUYS. Danger! DANGER!!! 

Daniel prioritises trying to find the secrets that are possibly-maybe buried in his subconscious, over saving Sarah. This is that cool ‘making it up to her’ that we were talking about earlier. Still prioritising his work, but not just over their relationship this time - over Sarah’s literal life! You’re a real catch, Daniel. Die.

I’ll have a donut, Teal’c. 

Pete stalks Carter. He STALKS HER. And he stalks her while she’s on a stakeout, and he’s a cop, and he’s staking out her stakeout, and he knows that’s what he’s doing. Stalking his girlfriend and staking out a top-secret military operation. For some reason, despite this, he gets out of his car and just...approaches her, mid-mission, while she’s visibly in the middle of her job. He gets shot by a Goa’uld blaster weapon, because in addition to being a possessive human nightmare, he’s also an out-and-out MORON.

But it’s ok! The stalker-freak survives his injuries and gets read-in on his girlfriend’s top-secret job! For some reason, Samantha Carter, an Air Force Major, total brainiac, and altogether intelligent-reasoning person, doesn’t dump this guy’s STALKER-FREAK ASS, despite all the alarm bells he’s setting off! Really? And naturally, the plot actually rewards him for ignoring all reasonable boundaries in interpersonal relationships as well as, uh, NATIONAL SECURITY, giving him all of the information he was not entitled to have as well as ‘getting the girl’. It’s. Great.

So, this is their answer to Carter ‘moving on’ from O’Neill and finding someone new? This restraining-order chump? Absolutely nothing about this narrative seems to assess the slightest problem with Pete’s behaviour, he’s positioned as a great romantic prospect, his erratic and suspicious attitude is treated like justified frustration, and Carter’s work is the villain in the story (and the common thread between her relationship with Pete and Daniel’s relationship with Sarah, even though that’s idiotic because Carter’s relationship is jeopardised because Pete is a nosey shit-heel who treats ‘classified’ like a personal affront, whereas Daniel and Sarah had the same job and worked together and the problem was that Daniel was too self-absorbed to maintain a relationship in the first place; his work wasn’t the problem, his obsessiveness was). Pete is a disastrous character, but the writing seems to think he’s charming and tenacious, not an abusive red flag. Considering that Daniel’s continuing failure to place Sarah’s wellbeing as of paramount importance for even a moment - even when her life and autonomy is at stake - is handled as if he’s somehow getting closure on being a terrible person and partner, it’s obvious that we’ve blundered into a truly dismal alternate universe where the normal laws of human decency have been replaced with bizarre, warped, fantasy notions of how to handle conflict and catharsis and make up for past wrongs. Sarah gets her life back, but Daniel didn’t actually ‘learn a lesson’ or ‘do right by her’, he repeated the exact same mistake and then O’Neill shot Osiris with a tranq. Daniel has no business feeling better about anything, and the fact that he could delude himself into thinking he did the right thing just means he has internalised his negative behaviour under the guise of a positive. That’s a bad thing. Pete’s bad behaviour is much more egregious, and he is likewise rewarded for it, and thereby not only is his character encouraged to internalise stalking and being a possessive wanker as positive behaviour, the audience is being presented the same as if it’s a good thing they should either do or reward in their own lives. ‘If a guy stalks you because he wants to know what you’re doing, it’s cute! Date him, for sure!’ No. No. Do not date Pete. Avoid any shades of Pete in your life. While you’re at it, also avoid Daniel. Both of these guys suck and they don’t deserve to even speak to women. Probably, the writers should not do that either.

[krpk-remaking]

pairo

a kurapika character study and a speculation on his future

the first time he thinks about specifically pairo in a while is, when the little kid hes just met jumps off the boat to save the sailor.

he and leorio grab hold of gon before the ocean swallows him and he cant help but think back to when pairo grabbed hold of him, damaging his legs and eyes in the fall because then, no one had grabbed them.

it makes him wonder what pairo would be like if he was still alive today - a stupid thought, he knows.

he‘ll never find out.

he tags along with gon.

he tells himself that its not because he reminds him of pairo in a way.

leorio joins them, too.

they fight some more, petty arguments that adults wouldnt have.

probably, because they arent, even if they pretend to be.

they reach the hunter exams.

he tells leorio.

not every detail but enough. and he finds out, that leorios lost a friend too - maybe gon reminded him of that lost friend too. it hurts to be reminded so much of pairo but he deals with it.

he distracts himself.

as always.

maybe leorios sillyness helps.

he cant be weak right now. they reach trick tower.

he sees the spider tattoo.

he KNOWS its fake but its enough.

leorio deals with the aftermath.

then, no pairo for a few days.

they finish trick tower and take on the island.

he finds leorio, then gon finds them.

its only when both of them nearly die, that he is reminded of the loss hes experienced.

but gon doesnt loose hope so neither does he.  

its so painfully pairo, to not loose hope. they all get through the challenge, him, gon, leorio, and killua too. hanzo breaks gons arm.

he doesnt understand how someone could just break a kids arm.

both he and leorio. later, killuas older brother reveals himself.

he wont let him hurt any children.

leorio and hanzo stand by his side. gon wakes up, they go to get killua, and once again gon reminds him of pairo too much.

then, separation.

he thinks less of individual loss.

revenge takes up his mind without any distractions around.

he learns nen, makes his chains, gets the job, goes to york new city.

people tell him the revenge will destroy him

he doesnt really care.

he thinks about them sometimes but not too much, he needs to stay focused.

melody knows now, too.

shes trustworthy he guesses.

no way to hide it from her either way.

he doesnt really care.

its september first and he doesnt go to meet them. leorio calls and he tells him hes busy with work.

he kills his first spider and its worse than he thought itd be.

he prays and for the first time in months, thinks about pairo again.

the spiders know him as the chain user now and theres no going back.

he doesnt really care.

nothing else in his life but revenge now.

too much happens, but he gets the eyes and thats what counts.

the spiders fake their death and he meets the others in the park.

he didnt realize how much hed missed them and laughs, for the first time in a long while.

he finds out that the spiders are alive.

gon leorio and killua insist on helping and he cant stop them.

he knows hed care if something happened to them and he hates it.

he takes the leader.

they send pakunoda.

he binds both of their nens.

he falls into a fever and pairos there again.

he sees him in hallucinations and the guilt kills him.

if hed been more careful and stayed away from the cliff, pairo wouldnt have saved him, wouldnt have been hurt, wouldve been able to leave to the outside with him, would still be alive.

its a selfish wish.

the survivors are the ones that bear most of the pain he knows this.

its selfish to wish this fate on another person, just so he wouldnt be alone.

he never did find that doctor for pairo.

when he wakes up from agony filled fever dreams, for only minutes at a time, leorio is there.

melody too sometimes.

often, leorio is sleeping, leaned against the wall next to him but when he isnt, leorio makes him drink water and swallow pills.

it hurts his throat.

cant he just go back to sleeping?

melody tells him that the nostrade girl is alright.

he wont loose his job.

he‘ll get the eyes.

all of them.

thanks to leorio, his fever goes away.

he thanks him.

but he wonders if leorio wouldve been able to help pairos eyes and legs.

leorio lost a friend and dealt with it by doing his best to not let anyone ever die again.

he lost his entire clan and dealt with it through pure destruction.

if it had only been pairo alone, maybe hed be training to be a doctor right now, too.

but he isnt that noble.

he knows that everyone was right and that the revenge is making him rot from the inside but theres no going back now.

hes gone back to not caring again.

its better to not care.

when he leaves, he doesnt tell gon and killua.

theyre kids, they shouldnt be involved in all this.

he cant get away without telling leorio, though.

he lies and tells him, theyll all reunite soon, but he knows they wont.

its better that way.

leorio pulls melody aside and tells her to take care of him.

he pretends he doesnt hear them.

how selfrighteous of leorio.

he goes back to his job.

starts hunting down the remaining eyes.

keeps climbing the ranks in the nostrade family.

hes good and they know.

leorio tries calling him, a lot.

he never picks up.

why wont he just take the hint.

its better to not get close.

he doesnt admit it, but its nice to know that leorio cares.

he misses them.

the chimera ants happen and he hears on the news.

it doesnt concern him.

leorio still tries to call.

the chimera ants are dealt with.

someone died.

its the chairman he thinks.

leorio tries to call him a few times, again.

he sends texts too but he doesnt read them.

he doesnt have time.

he cant get close.

they shouldnt get close.

its too late, he figures, so maybe „they shouldnt get any closer than they already are“ is a better wording.

he hasnt thought about anything but revenge for so long.

he hasnt thought about just pairo for a while.

its nicer that way.

replacing any sadness with anger keeps him from crying.

mizai shows up.

joining the zodiacs seems useful to get the remaining eyes.

he finally answers one of leorios calls.

he cant give him his email.

too close.

mizai knows enough already.

hes thankful to, and for leorio.

he doesnt get why leorio still does all this, after everything he has tried to push him away.

then, prince woble.

she has little personality yet, shes a baby, but exactly because of that, shes the least rotten person hes met.

he sees the fear in queen oitos eyes and he promises her that he will protect them.

he doesnt lie for a change.

again, everything happens so fast.

they board the ship, everything spirals out of control.

if he keeps using emperor time, he‘ll be dead by the end of the week and he knows this.

leorio is there too but he doesnt see him.

he blacks out once, because he overused nen and bill nearly calls a doctor.

he wouldnt admit it, ever, he feels selfish to even think it, but it wouldve been nice to see leorio again.

theres too much going on to think of pairo.

a few princes die, others learn nen.

a big fight breaks out a few decks under his but he doesnt care, he focuses on prince woble and protecting her.

then, queen oito dies.

he feels it in every last bit of his body.

they were still connected through emperor time and he feels the sensation of death.

hes with melody and bill when it happens.

they were on break.

how stupid of him to think he deserves to rest.

he uses his last strenght to tell them that they need to get to queen oito and he sees bill sprinting away before his vision goes dark.

he doesnt die.

why should he, his body is still in more or less good condition.

but he knows death now.

when he wakes up, leorio is there.

panic overcomes him but leorio tells him to rest and that prince woble is alive.

leorio looks so, so angry, that a mother had to die to protect a baby from a unnecessary war over a stupid throne.

he would be too, but hes just become too good at turning his emotions off.

he tells him that hisoka killed most of the spiders until the woman with pink hair landed the final blow on him.

its only her and killuas younger sibling now.

he feels weirdly empty, and relieved at the same time.

its the most hes felt in a while.

he gets better fast and leaves again.

leorio tries to hug him goodbye but he pretends he doesnt notice and turns away.

leorio tells him to be careful.

„okay“ he lies.

then the sucession war is over.

somehow, prince woble is still alive and he is too.

thanks to leorio, probably.

hes gotten a lot stronger and better at using nen.

prince fuugetsu has the throne now, offiially.

shes griefstrucken but shes managing.

hes thankful to her kind nature and melodys newfound connection to her.

without her, they couldnt have faked prince wobles death.

then he goes to retrive the eyes from prince tsnedderichs chamber, leaves woble in melodys care for a bit.

leorio insists on coming with him, as emotional support.

he tells him he doesnt need it but leorio insists.

he regrets not being more forceful.

he regrets so, so much

its pairo again.

its his head.

the prince had his head in a jar, the middle piece to the missing eyes.

he stares into pairos dead eyes and for the first time in years, actually cries.

he thought that by now, he might have forgotten how to cry but he hasnt.

he screams and cries and everything just spills out.

he just cant grasp how someone could murder a child, cut off their head, and sell it.

he cant.

he hates how he cares.

leorio tries to hold him and he pushes him away, this time literally, but leorio is physically stronger than him.

he cries and punches and kicks leorio but he doesnt let go.

eventually he blacks out and he guesses that leorio carried him back to the med bay because thats where he wakes up.

leorio is once again asleep in a chair next to him.

theres a huge box next to him and kurapika knows whats in it.

oh the irony of it all.

finally a doctor who maybe couldve helped pairo and pairo is even here.

but its too late and pairo is dead and gone and its his fault.

he knows the spiders are truly at fault but you cant get rid of guilt that sits deep in your soul that easily.

he just lays there and thinks, of pairo and everything thats happend since he swore revenge, now eight years ago.

pairo made him promise to have fun, back then, before he left.

he never got to ask him if he did have fun.

melody comes in, holding woble and her eyes widen with happiness when she see that hes awake.

he holds a finger to his mouth and points at leorio.

she just smiles, sits down on the other chair.

then hands him woble.

the prince is sleeping, too.

she smiles in her sleep.

he looks at the sleeping baby, looks at melody, the sleeping leorio, thinks of gon and killua who are waiting back home, and smiles back at the child.

if pairo could still ask if he had fun, kurapika would truthfully say yes.

[internethorrorfan]

Creepypasta x Mary Sue Child Reader (revised version, originally posted on Deviantart  in 2017)

(this is a parody BTW)

 Based on a true story.

"Thank meou!" you said to your parents. You were an 3 month old neko baby kitten cub girl. Like all nekos you had the tail, claws, and fangs of a cat and had cat ears on the top of your head and had a cat form and had the senses of a cat and was smarter than the average human and is extremly kawaii desu. You're hot pink tail (as hot pink as your cat ears)was bushy, pinned up and curly at the tip and was the most softest, fluffiest, cutest, thing on the entire planet. You were wearing a Hello Kitty diaper with a hole cut into it for your tail, a little white dress with a silk purple ribbon around the waist that tied into a bow in your hair with a baby blue rose above it, and. You're parents had just given you you're 87th plate of cheesecake and waffles for the 3 month anniversary of your birth (you was 3 months old) and you was gurgling, purring, mewing, meouing and giggling at the top of your lungs at the sight and smell of the food. You was smiling at them showing you're fangs.You hugged your rainbow sparkled stuffed animal rainbow unicorn named Unicorny tight to your chest as you ate the food from your food bowl. Your tail was rapidly swishing back and forth and your cat ears were twitching in excitment at the food and you where jumping up and down at literally rapid fire speeds causing your high chair to bounce up and down rapidly too at the food. "May I PWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESE give my widdle stuffy wuffy some foodie foods two, Mommy-chan?" you said in literally the cutest voice any life form in any universe had and would ever use ever as you were grabbing the cheesecake and waffles in your claws and shoving them into your mouth. "No she's all full y/n." your mommy said."Okey dokey pokey mommy-chan!" you said. "That was yum yum yummy in my tum tum tummy mommy-Chan and daddy-chan!" you said finishing the food and grabbing Unicorny and turning into your cat form so you can jump into your father's arms with your stuffy without hurting yourself. Turning back into your neko form you said "Kay now Daddy-chan where's that twelfth bag of catnip you pwomised?" You're daddy gave a little baggy of catnip to you and scratched your ears causing you to gurgle, purr, mew, meou and giggle more louder than before and rub your head into his hand. ''Yep daddys little kitten." your daddy said, making you curl into a ball with your tail swishing side to side and hug your stuffy tighter while eating the catnip. My life is completely utterly absolutely positively 110 % perfect!, you you thought to yourself. Me mommy-chan and daddy-chan always give me exactly what I want, do exactly as I say, let me do whatever I want, feed me 100 square meals a day plus snacks, give me literally 24/7 attention over anything else and never get on to me or punish me even whan I break stuff or throw other babies out windows or cry uninterrupted for 5 weeks straight because they bought me the wrong My Little Pony plushie! Exactly like all good mommies and daddies should be! Mommy-chan and daddy-chan are the bestest peoples in the universe and I'm so glad they don't spoil me! I sure hope notting bad ever happens to me and my family! You fall asleep after you thought this so your parents put a pacifier in your mouth and placed you gently into your crib. When you waked up the next morning you went through your daily routine of waking up your parents by screaming at the top of your lungs for them to feed you but stopped when noticed you something. You wasn't in your crib. You were in a cardboard box in an alley. You find a note next to you. Being a neko, your eyesight was far better, allowing you to make note of everything and read the note perfectly despite being a 3 months old baby kitten cub. The note said: "We can't take care of you anymore so we gave you a box to stay in and left you with all the essential things to survive." the note said. You looked around your box. The note was right, your mommy and daddy HAD given all the essentials of living to you: stuffed animals, toys, princess dresses, Sippy cups, your rattle, etc. You hold your stuffy Unicorny close to you and played with your rattle for 8 weeks until you realized you're parents wernt coming back. You cried and screamed. You made a boom boom in your diapie. You cried and screamed louderer. It started storming and rain came and made you and your stuff all wet and also started drowning you. You cried and screamed loudererer. Hailstones fell and started hitting you giving you many boo boos you could feel the boo boos hurting and you tried holding in the pain but failed. You cried and screamed louderererer. Lightning started striking you and setting you on fire giving you even more boo boos. You cried and screamed so loud that astronauts in outer space could hear you yet still so no one helped you. You were left crying and screaming in your box with no food, water or air for 6 months until two peoples found your box and threw it (and you) into a bag. The two peoples couldn't resist going "aww" when they saw you for the first time due to how cute and perfect you is. Carrying the bag (with you still in it) to a place the two peoples through you HARD on a metal table (givng you yet another boo boo) and then give you many shots making you cry from all the boo boos and then pass out. You waked up in a white room and the peoples explained they were scientists and they had injected you with 8 trillion different kinds of chemicals and you were now a creepypasta. They also told you your new powers. You could warp reality, teleport, shoot lasers from your eyes, read minds, turn invisible, you had 70, 109 hot pink retractable indestructible tentacles that where super strong and could cut threw literally anything in the universe, you had a chimera form, you were super strong, you were faster than an airplane, you were super smart, you had extremely kawaii desu yet also terrifying bat wings protruding from your back (but you couldn't fly yet) , your neko powers was increased 50, 000000000 fold, and you was 10,  0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 trillion times cuter than before yet also scary. They also gave you a mirror. You saw yourself. You gasp. Your naturally blue hair is done up in pigtails (as always) but now had pink, red, white, green, yellow, purple, orange, and black streaks. Your previously beautiful shimmering purple eyes has changed color: they were now blood red and bleeding blood but they still shimmered beautifully. You noticed you could now walk and stand and din't you have to crawl anymore despite being baby. You immediantly turns into your new chimera form and ran around knocking many things down with your snake tail until you knocked into a table, fell down, landed on your but and got your seven millionth boo boo in the past 6 months. Turning back into your neko form you started to cry your booty hurt and your knew was scraped with blood comeing out. "But I'm bored and and I want my wattle and my sippie cup and my bottle and my stuffies and my paci and my yawn balls and my chew toys and i’m hungwy and thirsty and i want see my mommy-Chan and Daddy-chan and I no wanna be a cweepypasta and there's doo doo in my diapie and I have SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO many boo boos!" you said in your adorably perfect cute kawaii desu little voice. Immediately one of the scientist peoples grabbed you so hard by the tail you thought he was gonna tear it out and swung you like a lasso over his head and threw you headfirst into a metal door causing you to more cry. He then picked you back up by yir tail and repeated this process 239 more times until you stopped crying. "I don't care what you want your a creepypasta now and you do what we say now. You're name is y/n no longer your new name is Kitten Child Cutie Pie Kawaii Chan the Killer you are the only one who can defeat Zalgo.'' the scientist people said. [TIMSEKIP] It's your second birthday and has been at the place for 18 months. You was cutely wearing a cute hot pink unicorn onesie with holes cut into it for your cute bat wings, a cute sparkled Hello Kitty beanie with holes cut into it for your cute cat ears, a cute bedazzled silver princess tiara, a cute baby blue hairpin in your hair with an Operator symbol on it, a cute hot pink tutu, a cute purple diapie with a hole cut into it for your cute tail and and were cutely cuddling your cute stuffy Unicorny. These objects were the only things that remained from your box. The day you first arrived at the place the scientist peoples took every single other one of your possessions and set them on fire with a flamethrower before setting you on fire and beating you with the flamethrower. The peoples at the place were such meanie weanies to you. Every day since they found you did almost nothing but sleep, train to use your powers so you can defeat Zalgo, get experimented on and get the beatings. Every single day they would use all kinds of torture methods on you. Their ways of torturing you included giving you the beatings for 15-22 hours a day, tying both your hands and feet together and then throwing you in a washing machine at high speed, filling your diapie with broken glass and rusty nails without even changing it first, disintergrating your body with acid, cutting your eyes, arms and legs off and forcing you to eat them before they regenerated, setting you on fire and then throwing you into a shark tank, making you sleep on a bed of nails covered in fire ants suspended above a pit of venomous snakes, covering you in BBQ sauce and letting the guard dogs use you as a chew toy before breaking your limbs and shoving you headfirst into a meatgrinder, pouring a mixture of boiling water and gasoline directly into your eyes and making you eat green beans. When you weren't getting the beatings or being tortured you were training to uses your powers and be a more better fighter. Because of you're training and since you had aged, your chimera form grew into something more much more edgy and scary despite you still being an perfectly flawless, amazing, kind, nice, 2 year old adorable little ball of fluffy cuteness. In all of your forms (kitten, chimera and neko) you were completely and utterly indestructible and incapable of being harmed in absolutely any way shape or form whatsoever. As a younger baby kitten cub, your small teeth could only bite so much, mostly only being able to dig into and tear your opponents throats out without effort. Now every single tooth was sharp as swords and could instantly tear off entire limbs with one bite and also bite threw solid steel. Your claws as a younger baby kitten cub could do enough damage to make jagged lines across flesh, ripping any and all tissue or muscle in the way, but now your claws in both your cat, neko and chimera forms were strong enough to cut through time itself. Your meou as a younger baby kitten cub was extremely weak, only being able to make people's ears bleed if you wanted it to. Now you could make trillions of people's heads explode at once if you wanted it to. The fangs on your snake head had venom before and still constantly dripped the lethal chemical when you was in that form, but know the venom could instantly melt people into thin air with just one drop. Your goat head's horns were razor sharp, completely indestructible and had a lot of scratches from deflecting chainsaws, laser beams, swords, rocket launchers, baseball bats, nuclear missiles and any other weapon the scientist peoples could even try to hurt you with. All heads in your chimera form (lion, snake and goat) could breathe fire and you breath fire in your neko and kitten forms as well. Your cat ears could pick up even the slightest movement before, but now you could tune your ears so well you could hear the heartbeat of flies on the opposite side of the world. You eyesight was far more better than a normal human before, allowing you to take note of literally absolutely positiv;y every single tiny little thing around you but now it was so good you could make out the individual molecules of dust particles on other planets in other solar systems in other universes if you so desired. You could instantly regenerate from any wound and your regenerative powers was so great you could regenerate even if someone went back in time and erased you from existence.   You were 19 trillion times faster than the speed of light, but the peoples only trained you for strength. That was literally the one only thing in the history of existence that didn't come naturally for you, but even then you completely excelled at it. Your senses and powers only further developed and increased even further with each passing nanosecond. Due to being able to make people's heads explode you're catchphrase is "I made a boom boom!" because all creepypastas need catchphrases. You weren't even out of diapers yet and already you were the most powerful being in the entire universe, 8,00000000000000000000000 times more powerful than Zalgo, Slenderman and every other creepypasta on Earth combined. According to the scientist peoples calculations, you'd be able to juggle planets with one finger and destroy entire universes with a sneeze at age 16! You only had an hour of playtime a day and since you only had 1 stuffy and no toys, rattles, bottles, sippy cups, catnip, etc. you weren't happy then very much either but were . The peoples only gave you a laptop to play with. On your laptop you mainly watched anime and listened to music while researching your fellow creepypastas. Today you were going onto the best and most reliable source of creepypasta information: Wattpad. You were listening to your favorite song as you read the extremely accurate and well written stories Wattpad had to offer. "Cwawling in my skin, these wounds they will not heal!" you sang along as you browse the site. Suddenly the lead scientist people burst into the room and gave you his usual greeting: 945 roundhouse kicks to the face and 857 dropkicks to the stomach. Before you even had time to cry he grabbed your laptop and smashed it over you head until it breaked into a million billion zillion pieces. Then you cryed. The scientist people said "Kitten Child Cutie Pie Kawaii Chan the Killer I came two say that since it's your birthday we should gift you by using every single torture method at our disposal. You aren't getting any food today and no I don't care that you haven't had a single bite to eat in 6 months. Also you're getting the beatings right now before the experiments and training sessions. Also you have no play time anymore so I destroyed your computer. Stop crying you little brat this is all so you can defeat Zalgo." You and looked more at him very sadder and said "But it's Halloween! Which is also my birthday! I just tuwned two! You should be giving me cheesecake and waffles and pwesents and candy! YOUR A BIG DUM DUM MEANIE POO POO HEAD!" "WATCH YOUR FUCKING LANGUANGE YOU LITTLE SHIT!" the scientist people said before grabbed you by the bat wings and threw you headfirst into the solid steel door of your room 700000 times until you passed out. When you waked up the boo boos on your head caused you to cry and that was before you got the beatings. The scientist peoples took turns beating you with sledgehammers and crowbars for 7 hours then threw you hard onto the metal table and gave you 150000 shots before throwing you in the torture room. There they removed your onesie and attached electrodes to your tongue, eyes, cat ears, human ears, nipples, fingers, toes, tail, fangs, claws, eyelashes, wings and all 70, 109 of your tentacles and shocked you at an extremely high volume of electricity for 9 hours straight before trying literally every single torture method they've ever used on you and then they put your onesie back on you and threw you hard into the training room where you had to fight 100,000 highly trained ninjas carrying laser guns. You effortlessly defeated them with your powers in 5 seconds, 4 seconds longer than your usual training session. Because of this they attached you to to a machine that spanked you at supersonic speeds while punching you in the face at supersonic speeds, harshly pulling your extremely sensitive tail and cat ears and shocking you 1,000 times harder than the electrodes did at the same time for 7 hourss before beating you again and grabbing you roughly by the cat ears and threw you back into your room. You cuddled Unicorny to your chest tighter than anyone had ever cuddled a stuffy before and tried to cry but you cried so much during yur time at the place that you had completely ran out of all water in your body and were now crying black blood tears instead. "It's my biwthday Unicorny and they were so mean to me! They bwoke my laptop and made go hungwy again and beat me and shocked me and water -boawded me and set me on fire and thwew me in the shawk tank and made me dwink hot lava and even worse, they gave me no pwesents and cake for my biwthday or candy for Halloween! Instead I got boo boos and hurties and owie wowies! I feel like one giant boo boo Unicorny! WAKE ME UP! WAKE ME UP INSIIIIIIIIIIDE!" you said to your cute little stuffy before falling asleep. Suddenly you woke up and heard a voice in you head (btw you had been driven completely and totally insane and now heard voices in your head. You were still sweet and cute though.) Just use your creepypasta powers to escape the place and defeat Zalgo, shorty. said the voice. This thought had never ever once crossed your mind once during the 18 months you had been at the place and tortured you. You hug Unicorny tight to you as you used your laser vision to melt through the door of your room and escape into the hallway and killed all 900 armed gards with your tentacles in 5 nanoseconds before turn into your chimera form. "I MADE A BOOM BOOM!" you said before started ramming people to death with your goat head before biting them with your snake head and poising them causing them all to melt. You tearing people apart with your claws, tentacles and lion head fangs while firing laser beams in your eyes from all directions and breathing fire from all 3 heads and exploding people's heads with your meou all at once. After brutally murdering every single one of the scientist peoples in a very edgy yet kawaii desu way and eating their corpses you drew Operator symbols, kittens, little knives, puppies, pentagrams, flowers, 666 symbols and smiley faces on the wall in the scientist's blood. Despite you being a 2 year old doodling on walls with human blood your art skills far surpassed the likes of Pablo Picasso and Vincent Van Gogh in it's beauty and excellency. Anyway you teleported to Zalgo's dimension and killed him in 1 nanosecond in your kitten form with no powers and both hands tied behind your back then went back to the place. After that you left the place and go in the woods and started playing with Unicorny until you saw a tall faceless man standing in front of you. He went "Aww" upon seeing you. He had a nice smell, you instantly loved everything about him with absolutely positively every single tiny little fiber of your being and completly forgot about your real parents as you wanted to spend the rest of your life with him as your father figure. You imediantly grabbed Unicorny and ran up to Slenderman. "Is it really you, Slender-Chan?" she said. "Yes." he said. "Is it twue that you're a kind cawing nuwturing father figure, Masky-Chan's a bwown haired blue eyed shy cheesecake obsessed teenage pwoxy, Hoodie-Chan's a stuttering shy pwoxy who's madly in love of Masky-chan, Ticci Toby-Chan's extwemly hyper and can't talk about anything besides waffles, Ben-Chan's a pewverted video game obsessed stoner whose last name Dwowned and who's madly in love with Jeff the Killer-Chan, Smile Dog-Chan's an adorable wittle puppy that Jeffy-chan keeps as a pet, Sally-Chan's a compwetely flawless shining pawagon of humanity who's instantly wuved by evewyone she comes acwoss and always get's what she wants no matter what just like me, Laughing Jack-Chan's a wovable candy obsessed dope who wuves kids and that all the cweepypastas live in a big beautiful mansion as a big happy loving family who constantly take wandom people to live in the mansion and be part of the family?" she said. "Yes it is and could you tell me more about yourself, child?" he said. "My name is y/n but my cweepypasta name is Kitten Child Cutie Pie Kawaii Chan the Killer. This is my stuffy Unicorny. I'm a 2 year old neko who was given powers too defeet Zalgo, which I dwid. My likes are stuffies, wattles, puppies, kitties, ponies, chew toys, bottles, dollies, cheesecake, waffles, cawtoons, candy, tea pawties, fishies, being held, yarn balls, soft petting of my tail and cat ears, cuddles, warm hugs, positivity, killing innocent people and eating their corpses, unicorns, cwean diapies and cute things. My dislikes are meanie weanies, not getting what I want, other people getting more attention than me, veggie weggies, dirty diapies, and cweepy things. My theme song is How Could This Happen to Me? by Simple Plan. My stats are stwength: 10/10, speed: 10/10, intwelligence: 10/10, cuteness: OVER 9000 out of 10! LULZ RANDOM XD! I'm gonna call you papa-chan, Slender-Chan.  I'm a mur-dle-ler.. murder. Murdererer. Uh, I'm a killer papa-chan! So you should take me to the mansion and make me part of the creepypasta family, especially since I'm your daughter now! Also my hair-pin is your mark! Therefore I are now your child!" you said pointing to your hairpin. You then said "Oh and my cathphwase is "I MADE A BOOM BOOM!" because I can make people's heads expwode with my meou! I also say it when my diapie need to be changed! Now can you pwease take me to the mansion and make me part of the family papa-chan?"   Slenderman, in tears, picks you up and held you in front of his faceless face. "Kitten Child, you are the literally the single absolute most greatest thing I've ever seen in my several thousand years of life. Nothing has or will ever surpass your greatness. Im glad you're my daughter now. Not only will I make you part of the creepypasta family, but I'll make you the new leader of the creepypastas  and the top priority over any single other thing in my life." he said. You gasp. "Does that mean you'll have tea parties with me and give me cute onesies to wear and sing me wullabies and give me bathy wathies and watch Naruto: Shippedun with me  and give me huggles and kissies and bwow waspberries on my tummy tums and obey my every single whim or command without question, papa-chan?" you said. "Of Course Kitten child." he said. This insttally caused you to gurgle, purr, mew, meou and giggle loudly in a way that was very cute and adorable but also extremly demonic and scary at the same time. "Yep. Your the cutest killer ever." Slenderman said before teleporting to the mansion with you. Inside the mansion Splendorman, Trenderman, Sexual Offenderman, Masky, Hoodie, Ticci Toby, Clockwork, Sally, Ben Drowned, Smile Dog, Eyeless Jack, Laughing Jack, Lost Silver, Glitchy Red, Sonic. exe, Tails Doll, Bloody Painter, Jason the Toymaker, Homicidal Liu, Jeff the Killer, Jane the Killer, the other Jane the Killer, Nina the Killer, Jana the Killer, Charlie the Killer, Cleo the Killer, Jessica the Killer,  Jessie the Killer, Jess the Killer, Cassie the killer, Camille the Killer, Jenn the Killer, Jenny the Killer, White the Killer, Kyle the Killer, John the Killer, Jenna the Killer, Ray the Killer, Poopsy the Killer, Ashley the Killer, the Puppeteer and Jaimy the Killer were all standing there waiting for Slenderman. "Waffles waffles waffles." said Ticci Toby. "Cheesecake cheesecake cheesecake." said Masky. "Kidneys kidneys kidneys." said Eyeless Jack. "Video games video games video games." said Ben Drowned. "Candy candy candy." said Laughing Jack. "Cutesy cutesy cute cute cute!" said Sally. 

Then Slenderman teleports into room with you in his arms. All the creepypastas went aww when they see you and instantly loved you because of how amazing and adorable you are and were happy you were part of the creepypasta family. "Hi everyone this is Kitten Child Cutie Pie Kawaii Chan the killer. She is a 2 year old neko. She is also the new leader of the creepypasta family and is the most dangerous killer on earth." Slenderman said. "You mean this sweet, little, tiny, cute, adorable, perfect, flawless, amazing, astounding, wonderful, kawaii desu little baby neko kitten cub is more dangerous than every other creepypasta in the universe?" Cleo the Killer said. "Yes she killed Zalgo." Slenderman said. "Wow." the creepypastas said. "Welcome to the family, Kitten Child. Do you have anything to say, Kitten Child." Slenderman said. "Thank meou!" you said. 

(Oh by the way this is what you looks like at the end):

[thetakenpokemon]

Interlude II - The ‘Fight’, Pt. 2

[PoV: Bladesong]

I slam my foot into the ground, effortlessly cracking the concrete. With a powerful shove I start rushing towards the direction where Chimera is flying above.

To my unsurprise he unleashes another beam of psychic energy, however I don’t adjust my direction this time. Raising one of my tendrils I move the blade into its path, flat-sided first instead of its edge. Upon contact the laser is immediately deflected into the dome, causing the shield to ripple from the surge of energy.

Okay, so not only can I cut lasers. But the metal can also deflect them.

I can see Chimera’s eyes narrow slightly with irritation, in which I could only grin in response.

Yeah, that won’t work with me anymore.

Kicking off the ground I leap directly at him, and with a turn of my head I let my tendrils strike at him like a pair of serpents.

Immediately he flies to the side to avoid my attack, but I expected him to do this. Lashing out with a clawed hand I just barely manage to snag his wrist, my hold tightening like a vice.

“Gotcha.” I grin, feeling immensely satisfied at his incredibly surprised expression.

The expression didn’t last long, for his eyes narrow in an almost playful way. “Are you sure?” He asks me, his tone matching his expression.

I blink, but I didn’t get a chance to properly figure out what he meant until his crystal core flashed brightly.

His body vanishes, my hand now grasping open air. I see another flash of light behind my frame, but just when I begin to turn my body around to see what’s happening...

...I see an orange foot strike me dead in the face.

My body is once again sent flying, this time straight into the ground. I slam into the concrete hard, my heavy frame creating another miniature crater.

Of all the things hurting, my face is definitely stinging since it’s the least armored spot on my body. I immediately begin rubbing it, my teeth grinding together. I can hear the crowd roaring now, as well as a certain voice screaming ‘THAT’S RIGHT CHIMERA! KNOCK HER ON HER ASS!’

“Ignore Samantha.” I hear him chuckle, his frame still hovering in the air. His chuckles quickly stop, his expression shifting to one of disappointment.“Regardless, I know you’re more powerful than that, Bladesong.” He crosses his arms. “Fight like it.”

Letting out a growl I slam my free fist into the ground, adding another spider-web of cracks on the concrete. “You want me to fight harder?” I say lowly, already frustrated with how this fight is turning out. “I already am fighting hard!”

His eyes narrow. “No, you aren’t.” He says in a matter-of-fact tone. “Get back up, Bladesong. There’s more to yourself than you think. Show it.”

Without even waiting for me to do just that, he thrusts his palm outwards and throws out another laser.

My bladed tendril snakes in to block the attack, deflecting the laser harmlessly away. In response Chimera cups his hands together once again, collecting his energy into a sphere.

I quickly stand up, my hands clenched into fists.

Okay, so... If I get within range I seriously need to land my blades on him, since that’s the only thing I can hurt him with. Yet at the same time, every time I get close to him he ends up flying away or...teleporting. Hell, I’m sure it’s likely that I’m not gonna get another opportunity again like earlier.

Shit... So...what then? My body can’t do anything else, so what else can I do? I don’t have any special tricks like he does...

...

Or do I...?

As my thoughts wander, I feel myself drift inwardly. Feeling the hum of energy within the core that fuels my form, I soon realize something.

This energy, it flows throughout my form... It powers my form, such as giving my synthetic muscles the strength they need.

And...It’s not even operating at full potential.

...

I look up at Chimera, my eyes narrowing.

Drawing upon my core, I feel the energy flow suddenly at an increased rate. In the corner of my vision I see purple text pop up.

I know what to do. I don’t need fancy tricks like flying and shooting lasers.

[CORE ENERGY FLOW OPTIMIZED]

I need to be faster.

I need to be stronger.

[PC BLADES ACTIVATED]

The edges of my tendril’s blades start glowing, the metal radiating a bright magenta light. That combined with the humming sound they’re making, I know that their cutting potential has increased by more than tenfold.

Yeah alright Chimera, you want me to go all-out? I’ll give you all-out.

With Chimera’s attack fully-charged he immediately throws the sphere at me, its surface pulsing violently as it streaks towards my form.

I don’t even wait for it to get near me. In an instant I start sprinting, sending large chunks of concrete and earth flying into the air. Way behind me the Psycho Boost impacts, causing an explosion that misses me by a mile.

Well... Not a mile in a literal sense, but you get my point.

The second I reach the wall of the dome I leap up and twist my body around, landing on it with my feet-first. Quickly I kick off, propelling myself into the air at speeds far faster than earlier.

I fly towards Chimera like a cyborg missile, my blades hugging close to my form. My intention isn’t to attack him, not yet...

No, I want him to dodge.

And he does just that, his body immediately zooming away to avoid my form. He just barely avoids me, my form flying past where he once was.

Perfect...

Tracking his movements with my eyes I angle my body once again, slamming into the roof of the dome feet-first. The sheer force of the impact causes the shield to crack, but said damage immediately mends itself. Now knowing where Chimera is heading I kick off once again, this time my blades extending outwards.

Chimera turns around, only to see me heading right for him with no time for him to react.

I grin widely.

"Gotcha.” I say again.

I fly by him, but not before feeling my blade slicing into his body. My only intention is to do a shallow cut on his arm, mostly to prove that now I’m fighting all out. Once again turning my body around I slam into the ground feet-first, laughing to myself.

As I stand up, I begin to notice something.

The crowd...

They’re absolutely silent.

And...I’m getting the feeling it’s not the good kind of stunned silence.

Turning around, I notice something laying on the ground.

Chimera’s arm.

...

My eyes widen in horror.

Holy shit, I fucking cut off his arm!!

I fucking cut the thing clean off, the amputated end still sizzling from contact with my blade’s heated edge.

Shit.

Shit shit shit.

SHIT!

“Chimera, I’M SO SORRY!” Immediately shout, cupping my face in my hands. “I DIDN’T MEAN TO!”

My mind is a storm of frantic thoughts, all of them trying to figure out on what to do in this unexpected situation. But before any of them could fully manifest, a loud laugh cuts them off as well as making me fall silent.

The laugh...

...is coming from...Chimera?

I look up and to my immense confusion I see him laughing, his eyes fixated on the stump where his arm used to be.

I fucking swear... I’m so freaked out right now that I’d throw up if I could. I completely cut off his arm, and...he’s laughing?!

What the fuck?!

“You know? I think that’s enough.” He says, finally managing to gain control of his laughter. “Obviously you’ve proved yourself.” He lowers himself back to the ground, still chuckling.

At this point I’m just staring at him with wide eyes, unable to properly form any sort of words.

Like, what can I fucking say? I just cut off his arm, and he’s acting as if that sort of shit didn’t even happen.

Once his feet touches the ground he walks over to his severed arm and picks it up with the one he still has. Suddenly several tendrils sprout from the stump on his body as well as the end of the severed arm, and upon moving the severed arm to the stump the tendrils immediately grab each other. I watch before my eyes as the tendrils pull the arm back into its place and...

...the flesh connects the arm back to his body, acting as if it was never severed to begin with.

He swings his reattached arm a few times before nodding with satisfaction. “There we go, good as new.” He says with satisfaction before look at me, only to pause when he sees my completely shocked and dumbfounded expression. “What?”

“Wuh...” I dumbly say, unable to properly formulate any sort of words. Because...you know... I severed his arm off, only for him to reattach it before my very eyes like it's just a normal Friday.

“Ah, I guess I haven’t talked to you about that.” He chuckles.

Well gee, no fucking shit!

Since it’s quite clear that I’m in no state to talk right now, he instead turns to the crowd. “Alright! The battle is over!” He says loudly. “Maria, you can lower the shield!”

To say the least, it...took several moments before she did.

Not that I blamed her.

[tcshearts]

Session 1, Chapter 5 - Confrontation

Content Warning: Death, Graphic Violence.

I glare at my father and his guards angrily, he set us up and now he has us cornered. These guards can’t do a thing to us, but I doubt he cares as long as they slow us down and hurt us at least a bit. He’s an intimidating figure, standing just a few inches under seven feet tall and weighing over three-hundred pounds of solid muscle. He wears a black mask over most of his face, with dark red goggles covering his eyes of flame. His lower face is exposed leaving his mouth and beard, a mix of hair, ash, and embers, visible. His chest is covered by black plate armor, as well as his arms and legs. He has spiked boots and gloves. A red aura surrounds his black armor. He resembles some sort of dark knight from a fairy tale or video game.

I don’t waste a second, leaping on a jet of flame towards Heatstroke, flying over the guards. I create a whip of fire in my right hand while launching a knee-height wave of flame out on impact with the ground. The flame sends a few guards back, but Heatstroke makes it disappear as it reaches him. As for the whip, Heatstroke reaches an arm to block it, and the flame slowly turns from red to black. I drop it as the fire disappears, using my enhanced agility to backflip once, just making separation.

“Phoenix, wai- shit. Chimera, can you get the-” Dragon starts.

“On it.” Chimera cuts her off, using her telekinetic energy to throw a few guards around the room like ragdolls.

“You’ve gotten better. Unfortunately for you, so have I.” Heatstroke says, disappearing in a few embers. He’s using his special power, the ability to teleport through flame.

He can teleport through flame, but I can bend it. I grab all the fire from torches and lanterns around the room, forming it into a small ball of red flame. It’s the only place he can come back through, and I’m content with that. I watch Dragon and Chimera, fighting effortlessly against the armed guards, a few of them start to give up and race towards the exit on the left side of the room. I channel the flame in my hand and launch it like a whip towards the door, making sure I can pull it back.

“Phoenix no!” Dragon yells, extending a claw towards me.

My whip of flame strikes the side of the wall, colliding with a viscous black liquid that I hadn’t noticed until the second before I hit it. Chimera and I gasp simultaneously as the room is covered in bright red light and heat.

Chimera was able to act a second before I was, covering herself, Dragon, and I in a shield of blue light. I try to take some of the strain off of her, commanding the fire to flow over the shield like water instead of trying to push through.

Gasoline. God dammit, of course. He coated the floor and walls in a thick layer of gasoline. I took his bait, and now the entire room is covered in hot red flame. The guards and soldiers in the room were turned to ash by the blast, which eliminated one problem and replaced it with a new one. With Heatstroke’s ability to teleport through flame, he could be literally anywhere in this room. I try to lift the fire, to pull it away and make clear spaces, but it can spread faster than I can move it.

“It’s okay, let me ju-” Chimera starts. She is suddenly cut off when a black-clad fist clamps around her throat as a hulking masculine figure lifts her into the air. She puts her hands on the man’s arm, fighting desperately to get out of his grip, but he doesn’t budge.

Heatstroke chuckles as my teammate fights desperately against him. I charge him, but he’s able to see me coming as he easily uses my own momentum against me and throws me into Dragon. My concussed head hits hard against her nearly unbreakable scales as she lets out a low grunt and hisses softly.

“God. I fucking hate telepaths. It’s an obnoxious powerset.” He starts. “I’ve fought with and against other, better Chimeras in the past, you’re nothing special. You’re just a kid, and you’re in way over your head.”

Embers come from Heatstroke’s hand, trying to burn through the neck of Chimera’s costume as her choking sounds get more desperate and panicked. I struggle to stand, but I can’t. She starts coughing, choking, and I can see tears in her eyes.

“Remember this, Spirit pick your next host far, far away from Oru.” He says as he pushes even tighter against her throat. She’s going to die. She’s going to die, and it’s all my fucking fault.

Chimera’s eyes flash deep blue as she lets go of his arms, Heatstroke starts to glow the same blue colors as his head tilts slowly. His hand is blown back with force, dropping her, though she stays floating in place. Chimera throws him into the wall with a wave of her hand, holding him there, trying to push him deeper into the burning wood. He tries to fight, tries to teleport, but his body is immobile and entirely at her mercy.

Chimera lands on the ground as a wave of blue light surges from her body and washes over the entire room, extinguishing all of the flames and leaving just scorched wood, without so much as embers. She’s not finished with Heatstroke. She warps the wood of the wall, his body sinking into it, it piles onto him as more of his body starts to vanish beneath the wood. She’s pulling wood from other walls and floors in the building, creating a makeshift prison. Within a few moments, the only thing visible is his head, trapped in place by scorched, blackened wood.

“First, I’m telekinetic, not a telepath. Yeah, you’ve fought with and against other Chimera’s multiple times, which means you’ve fought me multiple times. I remember every second, every fire blast, and every single breath you took. I am Chimera, every single incarnation of them, and I know everything they knew. Underestimate me at your own peril, but I’m much stronger, much smarter, and much more experienced than you. I’m not leaving Oru anytime soon. I’m The Chimera, people treat me like a God for a reason. If you need another reminder, I’ll gladly provide one.” Chimera says, her voice carries an unusual worldliness. She’s speaking as if she is a millennia-old entity who’s fought in countless wars and not a fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl who started this superhero gig four months ago. Her eyes still glow bright blue as she exerts her power on him to hold him as tightly in place as possible.

Dragon and I slowly get to our feet, Dragon supporting me with her superior strength. It’s hard to tell with her reptilian eyes, but Dragon looks afraid. Her eyes dart quickly around the room as she looks Chimera up and down.

“Holy shit.” Dragon mumbles.

“What?” I ask.

“Nothing, we’ll deal with it later. I have questions for Chimera, a lot of them.”

Chimera suddenly drops, her eyes returning to normal and closing gently. Dragon manages to catch her before she impacts the ground too hard. She doesn’t detranscend, but she’s out cold. It’s not a big deal, Dragon and I can take it from here. We walk towards Heatstroke, encased in solid wood. I lean against the wall and glare at him.

“Finally, you’re going to pay.” I spit, my anger boiling over as I spew light flame from my fists.

“If you say so.” He says with a small smirk.

I ignite a bolt of fire in my hand, sending it into his face. He groans slightly as I reach back and grab more flame. I hit him with another strike of flame, then another, then another. I see his face and mask left with scorch marks and embers. He’s going to pay! I’m going to have my revenge! Fuck this monster and everything he did. I’m going to make him feel every bit of pain he’s made me feel.

Dragon grabs me, holding me back. I glare at her, ready to explode on her for trying to stop me. Until I realize why. Around my father is a ring of burning fire in the old wooden wall prison that Chimera trapped him in. I curse under my breath as my father disappears. I’m so fucking stupid.

I fucked up, badly. Heatstroke appears next to me, teleporting through the fire I had created. I catch a swift, hard kick to the jaw, feeling the metal of the boot impact the metal of my mask. I go flying into a wall and impact it hard.

Dragon was ready, she pounces on him without a second thought. She bites into his neck, one of the weaker areas of his armor, hard but can’t break through. She tries a new tactic, throwing him against a wall and pinning him there with her tail. It’s a testament to Dragon’s pure strength that he struggles to break through. My father, especially transcended, is not a weak man.

Heatstroke fights back, sending a jet of flame right between Dragon’s wings. She moves her tail and lets him up. Heatstroke wastes no time, peppering her with more fire. Dragon moves in close, rather than backing off to avoid the flame, and slashes at his face, leaving three bright, red, slash marks across it.

I’m back up as quickly as I can be, sending a strong kick into him and infusing it with flame. Dragon and I double team him, quickly exchanging blasts of heat and cold. My father trained me in Běishàolín and how to work my fire blasts into it. In a straight up, one on one fight with strict Běishàolín, he would probably win. Dragon isn’t a trained fighter but knows how to use her gifts. I use strikes, quick jabs, low sweeps, and very brief holds, all infused with flame. Dragon, on the other hand, utilizes bites, scratches, tail sweeps and ice breath to keep my father from being able to reverse what I’m doing.

Heatstroke takes it for a while, reversing strikes that would knock him down or hit vital organs, but not striking back with any real force. Dragon pauses for a second to consider it, before pulling on my arm. I hold back when she orders me, but don’t let my father out of my sight.

“Wood.” Dragon says. That’s all I need to hear to get her meaning, I glance around the room and see flames peppering the walls and supports of the building. I thought he had been blocking some of the flame in my strikes and sending them off, but he was sending them into walls. The walls of a wooden building.

I don’t even get a chance to process it before he does it, Heatstroke brings down the ceiling above me, sending a jet of black flame and wood into Dragon and I. I feel planks try to pierce my armor, before getting deflected. Fire washes over me, as I struggle to get back to my feet. Fuck this! I gather the fire around me before it disperses and use it as a jet. I launch into Heatstroke, hitting him with my shoulder. We break through a wall together.

I call on two blades of flame, slashing across his chest once, twice, three times. I growl under my breath as I call the swords off. I strike towards his face, extending my fist upwards, but he blocks, sending his own wave of black flame into my stomach. I lock eyes with him as he stands up.

“Good, good. You’re improving marvelously quickly.” Heatstroke taunts. I snarl under my breath. I call more flame, sending out quick strikes and jabs, my father is on the defensive, block and deflecting.

“Fight me fucker!” I hiss, slightly out of breath.

“Like I fought your brother?”

I unload on him. Jet after jet of searing flame. I throw my hands together and call a torrent on him. He raises his arms to block it, but my flame is stronger, hotter, and pushes him down into the floor. I scream as my flame grows, reaching a peak. I enter The Cinder State, flying behind him and gripping his neck, calling heat to my hands and burning into the armor of his neck.

“Stop!” Dragon yells, following after me.

“What!?” I hiss, not letting go as my father struggles in my grip.

“He’s stalling. He has more power in reserve than you.”

Heatstroke quickly disappears, vanishing into flame. I glare at Dragon, she’s right. I was stupid for not realizing it.

“What do we do then?” I mumble, watching the flames around the room carefully.

“Fight together, he wants to keep us separated, expend our powers.”

“Is Chimera up?”

“Almost, come on, stick together. Anger is your tool, not the other way around.”

I follow Dragon back into the room where Chimera is laying, she’s getting up slowly and breathing heavily. Dragon offers her a hand, and she takes it, leaning against Dragon as she stands gingerly.

“Where?” Chimera mumbles breathlessly.

“He’s in the process of teleporting.” Dragon says. “Come on, you’re hurt, rest.”

“No, let’s end this. Now.” Chimera says, nodding to me. I nod back.

Our quiet conversation is broken by a searing bolt of black fire, aimed right at Chimera’s head. I leap toward it and catch it, turning it red in my hand as I cast it back at my father, standing by a flaming wall in the next room. Dragon, Chimera, and I stand in line, showing a united front. My father looks us up and down, seemingly bored. Then, a bullet deflects off of his shoulder pad. Part of the wall to his right has fallen away, and the same girl in a bike helmet is pointing her scavenged pistol at him, Sarah.

He turns towards Sarah and points his fist, charging a bolt of fire within a few seconds and firing it at her. Chimera and I both move within a fraction of a second. She moves toward Sarah, and I move towards him. Sarah’s a distraction, and she’s putting herself at risk. If she wants to commit suicide by supervillain, fucking let her.

I strike Heatstroke hard in the back with as much force as I can muster. Slamming my fist, infused with as much flame as possible, into him. I pierce his armor, melting a hole in it and hear a sickening snap as my father falls over, writing on the ground. He tries to stand, but his legs won’t cooperate. I see a pulsing, red, bit of spine crumble away to ash in my hands.

I glance out of the corner of my eye, watching the bolt of flame heading towards Sarah. She looks at it like a deer in the headlights. Chimera, ever the superhero, flies in front of it. I watch both of them disappear behind a fireball. When it clears, Chimera is smoking, her costume is scorched from head to toe, her white cape and blonde hair are both on smoldering. Chimera lets out a shuddering breath, her eyes fight to close as she stands there, breathing heavily.

“I… uh… thank you.” Sarah says.

“Leave.” Chimera mutters, her voice is weak and low. She’s barely breathing, and I can’t imagine how badly burned she is. Chimera has struggled with things like fire, water, or electricity in the past, but she had to be able to deflect some of it. She would have been entirely turned to ash otherwise.

“Fuck…” Chimera mutters as her knees give out and she collapses.

My attention goes back to my father. He’s laying on the ground in agony. I feel my fist, still searing hot and glowing red.

“Dragon, fires.” I order her. Dragon spreads ice cold air around the rooms and extinguishes all the fires in the immediate area. Dragon grabs my shoulder, I shrug it off.

“Let’s go. We can restrai-” She starts.

“No. He dies.” I respond in a monotone voice. “Now you pay. You pay for everything you did.” I turn my focus to Heatstroke.

I start to gather fire around me, clinging to my costume and body. I glare at my father with hatred.

“You ruined my life, you ruined this whole fucking world.” I scream at him, if my eyes weren’t made of my fire, I’d be holding back tears. “You killed my brother, my mom, my whole fucking family. You took my father away from me, you took my best friend away for me. I hate you!”

“Phoenix…” Dragon says softly.

“I hope you suffer. I hope you feel every inch of you being burned to ash. I’m going to enjoy and relish this moment for the rest of my life. Leaving me alive was your biggest mistake, I was always going to come back, I was always going to get revenge. You’re going to die at my hands, alone. No guards, no Archduke, no family. I hope you’re happy with your choice.”

A small black fluid leaks out of my father’s spine, Dragon goes to examine it, careful not to actually touch it.

“What the… Phoenix! Sto-!” Dragon says.

“Ra- Rach-” Heatstroke starts, I make the fire around me hiss, crackle, and scream, cutting him off.

“Phoenix! The building is going t-” Dragon starts. I use the fire around my body and hands to make a giant ball of fire, I twist it, forming into an avian shape. I throw the full blazing force down on his prone body, engulfing it and turning him to ash in a matter of seconds. Flame washes over the floor and walls of the building. I did it! I got my fucking revenge! I don’t feel better exactly, not yet, it barely feels real. I feel free, I feel like a burden of grief has been lifted. Killing Heatstroke won’t bring my family back, but avenging them is about as good as I could hope for. I look at the ashes that were his body and shoot one more jet of flame at them.

I hear a loud screech and creak as I feel the ground beneath my feet start to fall. Almost instinctively I ignite my wings, and Dragon’s wings hold her up without the slightest effort. Unconscious Chimera and Sarah, on the other hand, don’t stand as much of a chance. I swoop down quickly, grabbing Chimera in my arms. I don’t have an angle to catch both of them, and I owe, and sort of like Chimera, neither of those things are true of Sarah.

As I hold Chimera against my chest, Dragon dives past me, pursuing Sarah. She’s getting close, but not quite close enough. Sarah is falling faster than Dragon’s bulky body can fly with all this debris. Everytime Dragon gains on her, she seems to be struck by an errant plank or old machinery.

I look down, as much as I don’t like Sarah, and as dumb as I think she is, I don’t honestly want her to die this way. I float there, slack-jawed, as a bright, green, light surrounds Sarah. She freezes in mid-air and Dragon has to cover her eyes with her claws as she dives past the light. Suddenly, where Sarah was floating, is now a wispy, ghost-like figure surrounded by a faint green aura. She doesn’t have wings but seems to float almost like its second nature. Her face is cherubic, but wispy and almost-gaseous, like the rest of her. She has no mask, but her face changes so constantly, she doesn’t need it. Dragon shoots me a confused look, one I give right back beneath my mask.

“Sarah?” Dragon asks.

“Um… I… yes.” she says, her voice echoes slightly and seems to carry on the wind.

“Come on. We can talk somewhere else. We really don’t want other people showing up. You seem to have a basic handle on flying. Follow us.” Dragon orders, I roll my eyes and grumble to myself. We had long talked about adding a fourth teammate, but this is far from the person I had in mind.

Within two or three minutes, we’re over an old rooftop in a slightly run-down part of Oru. I land first, setting Chimera down gently. Dragon isn’t far behind, landing next to me in a huff. Sarah finds us a few minutes after.

“Do we need to have a conversation?” Dragon asks me, her voice has no hint of humor or levity to it.

“What about?” I ask.

“Goddammit Phoenix. You know I respect and care for you, but… fuck. Sometimes you make it really hard to excuse your actions.”

“Fuck off.”

I roll my eyes hard. Seriously? This? Now? After what we just did? After our greatest victory we’ve ever had as a team?

“Look. We got out okay, sure. But it could have been much worse. We had Heatstroke, you let him free.” She scolds me.

“I made up for it.” I insist.

“You used fire, recklessly in a wooden building. You burned him and the building to ash when he was defenseless. Not to mention the-”

“He was defenseless? Are you fucking serious? Like he wouldn’t have done the exact same thing if we were in his position? He was a monster, and he deserved to die. I won’t feel bad about it.”

“I’m not saying you should, but you could have hurt people. Sarah would have died if spirits didn’t work in such weird fucking ways. You could have hurt bystanders if we didn’t get them out. You’re reckless.”

“Would you ask a wildfire to burn a little colder? Would you ask a house fire to spare your bedroom? I am what I am. I am rage, I am fire. You get what you get. You need to accept that.”

“You aren’t your rage Phoenix. You control it. You can be so much more if you just-”

“For fuck’s sake!” Chimera chokes out, coughing heavily as she sits up. Dragon and I both stare at her. “Are you fucking kidding me? Right now, after everything that just happened, you two are still arguing?”

“Chimera, we need to talk about this. Actions have cons-” Dragon starts.

“Yeah! Actions have consequences, fine! Whatever! This conversation needs to happen behind closed doors! I think we have more pressing issues to discuss.” She says, we all look at Sarah, who has been trying her best to make it seem like she isn’t here.

“Fuck this noise. Do what you want with her. I don’t even know if I want to be a part of this team anymore.” I spit, walking towards the edge.

“You don’t mean that.” Dragon says, a bit of disbelief in her voice.

“Fucking try me. I’ll see you around. I could care less what you do with the soon-to-be-corpse. You want me on your side, accept me for what the fuck I am.”

“Phoenix…”

“Bite me.”

I ignite my wings and fly off. I don’t know if they’ll recruit Sarah or not, ultimately, it doesn’t matter. I’m not sure why I’m still here. My six-year long mission is over. I could retire, I could manage in a comfortable, if not fun, life. I want to stop the Archduke, sure, but this has been all I’ve wanted for so long. Now I have it, and I almost feel like I don’t know what to do. Something is keeping me here. Maybe it’s my nature, being a Flamewake means I have to be a “hero,” whatever that means. Maybe I just want to spend more time with them… with her. Fuck, I don’t know.

Within five minutes, I’m detranscended and back into my bed in my dorm. I’ll catch hell for missing all the school did, but it’s beyond worth it. Walking the few blocks to get here was a chore. I wasn’t feeling great at the start of the day and participating in a fight didn’t help my injuries at all. I grab the small bottle of Vicodin that Dragon gave me and pop a pill into my mouth. I can afford to relax here, at least for a few hours.

Before I try to rest, there’s one thing I have to do. I go to my desk drawer and retrieve a small photograph from it. A nine-year-old girl stands with a hulking, bearded man. They’re at an amusement park. It’s crowded, the girl holds cotton candy in one of her hands while the man makes rabbit ears above her head.

My father and I, this was one of my best days and best memories with him. There was a lot of anger in our house, emotions ran high. We never hurt each other, but with all of us having the tempers that we did, we needed ways to cool off and unwind. The amusement park was one of the ways my dad and I would do that. I can hardly believe that this is the same man I had to kill today.

I had gotten rid of most pictures of my dad, destroyed them. This one I hung onto, maybe out of hope, or of nostalgia, maybe as a trophy for when I finally won, but it’s time to let it go.

I pull a small red lighter from my desk and place the edge of it against the photo. I pause for only a second before I strike my thumb against the lighter and slowly start to burn the photo. I look one last time into the eyes of my father, the smiling man who loved his daughter, and myself, the happy little nine-year-old who wanted nothing more than to spend the day with her dad.

But I guess both of those people are dead now.