#and only PARTIALLY because he's got amnesia

[crossdressingdeath]

Astarion: So, do you have loves waiting for you once this is all over? Gale: You know what - that is not the easiest of questions for me to answer. Shadowheart: You mean just waiting, like a lovesick puppy? Short-term amusements are much less hassle.

I love how aside from Astarion the only person in this party who isn't an amnesiac is the ex-lover of a goddess. Also the only one here without an incredibly messy relationship in their immediate past is Shadowheart (probably). Just in general this is not the best party to be bringing up the subject of loves waiting for them with.

[ratgrinders]

HIII i’m also a rat grinders fan in the “not interested in pretending they aren’t fucked up” but rather “interested in Why they are so fucked up” way 💥💥💥 i have Thoughts on how the shatterstar ritual affected the rat grinders in different ways and i wanted to know if u had any similar thoughts :3 - @teenagerebellion

THIS IS SUCH A GOOD ASK thank you for sending it!!!!!!!!

Ok so I AM gonna be working off the assumption that a rage crystal functions less like "mind control" and more so amplifying existing feelings to murderous extremes. Think Adaine in the mall fight when she's asked to picture "what would the world look like if all Adaine thought about was rage" and we see a destroyed Sylvaire from Adaine's search for her mother. We know that Adaine would never do that, but we see the underlying motivation is the same.

Off the bat we know Kipperlilly's ritual is different from the others since she chose to do it "willingly" and wasn't forced to choose via death (it's described as having no scar, unlike the others, so she may have not even had to die at all). That doesn't mean though that she wasn't infected with a rage that caused her to do things she never would've done normally, as I don't think Freshman Year Kipperlilly, whose biggest grievances were "I think Aguefort likes them more", would jump to coldblooded murder. I think the fact that Kipperlilly chose the shatterstar affects her mindset pretty greatly going in to rest of the year, because there's no easy way to differentiate between what's "her" and what's the rage star. She probably is constantly thinking things like "This is all me. I am in control of my own faculties. There was no coercion involved I'm just naturally a villain", partially because she doesn't want to admit that she, a mastermind, let herself get controlled like that. Essentially, the ritual itself was so seamless and the descent so gradual, I don't think even Kipperlilly has a strong sense anymore of who she is without rage.

Ruben we know canonically has a bit of amnesia after being revived, not even seeming to remember the entire year he was shatterstarred. Ruben basically has the opposite problem from Kipperlilly, where his change in identity post-shatterstar is so drastic that his sense of self is almost completely eroded, because "how could I have been motivated to become someone like that?". Ruben's not a naturally angry person, but still though, that WAS Ruben, the rage star just tapping in to Ruben's underlying desperate need for approval, emotionality, etc. and bringing it to the forefront. The rage star imbued Ruben with such an intense pain and rage that he felt he could only express it through his music. Post finale revival I think was Ruben just being in shock at how much he's changed, but I think the memories will come back to him and he'll have to reconcile these two Vastly Different versions of himself.

Ivy I believe was still kind of a mean girl before the shatter star, the shatter star just made it more likely for her to say it to people's faces rather than behind their backs. Honestly, I'm imagining her maybe as a young Sandra Lynn before, in the sense of both having this constant bemusement. Beyond that, though, I think Ivy may have been the most likely to take the rage star willingly as opposed to being killed for it (I actually think most of the Rat Grinders still could've been persuaded to take it willingly, but that's a post for another time). Ivy seems to have a lot of pent up rage and disdain for the world around her, and the shatter star only amplified that.

Oisin got buff after getting shatterstarred, which is a really funny canonical fact to think about lmao, because I'm just imagining him doing a bunch of angry push-ups or something. Anyways Oisin before the ritual I'm honestly imagining him to be the type to hang out with guys like Skrank and Shellford, aka those kind of nerdy unpopular guys who nonetheless are still kind of egotistical and little dicks sometimes. (This is actually why I think they were the ones playing pong at the party with Oisin, because they were actually kind of friends before.) Just like Ivy, the rage crystal just gave Oisin more of an excuse to externalize his rage at the world, but I think the main thing it did was just give Oisin a little more self-confidence because now he has all this power backing him up.

Mary Ann was EXACTLY the same before and after the ritual, it was actually a little disconcerting to Jace and Porter and they didn't know what to make of it. The main thing for Mary Ann, I think, is that she really doesn't have much of an emotional stake in the rage ritual, or the beef with the bad kids, or anything like that. She's just Entirely Indifferent to whatever atrocities are being committed, which is just a different type of fucked up lol. Honestly, I think as a barbarian Mary Ann's a bit more used to controlling her rage which is why the rage crystal might've had less of an effect, Lydia Barkrock style.

Buddy's death was so sudden and traumatic, with such a short amount of time to get used to the implications before the finale, I think Buddy's mind is just in a tailspin post-ritual just trying to grab on to anything that makes sense lol. He knows worship and devotion, its been a crutch in his life for so long, and that's what he defaults to when he can no longer reach Helio. In fact it almost seems a bit like a coping mechanism, latching onto it so securely even in the face of all other logic.

[back2bluesidex]

Enchanted - KNJ

Pairing: Namjoon X Reader

Theme: Angst with a happy ending, exes to lovers au.

Request:

HIII i want to make a request for the TS song drabble game Can you do Namjoon x Enchanted the genre maybe angst? fluffiest Its one of my favs ..this idea came to mind while remembering the lyrics.. what if Namjoon lost his memory and reader was a museum crying staring at Nam´s favorite works and then they meet and maybe they fall in love again.. leaving an open ending if he ever got his memory back or not. or maybe he did! whatever you want is fine :)

Song: Enchanted

Word count: 1k+

Warnings: Major character accident, partial amnesia, angst, pining, crying, suffering, reader gets called a bad luck.

Minors and Karens Are Not Allowed in this Blog!!

A/N: A huge thanks to you, anon, for offering this brilliant idea. I changed the storyline a bit so that it fits within a drabble length and I hope you like it.

also, a very happy birthday to our best boy Kim Namjoon. I hope he is happy and healthy just as he deserves to be.

"What are you doing here?"

"eomeoni, I- I"

"Didn't I tell you to keep your distance from now on? Didn't you ruin enough?" 

"Please.. I will - I want to see him once. Please. I promise I won’t even step near. I will just take a look. Please eomeoni?"

"No! You - You are bad luck. Look what you did to my poor son. He was rushing to see you just because you fainted and look who's laying on the death bed now!"

"eomeoni.."

"Stop calling me that! You are no one to me! you are no no one to Namjoon. Leave right away or I'll have to report you." 

The conversion reels in your head as you stare at the man from afar. 

It's been a year since that dreadful night, the worst night of your life. It's been a year since you last saw him, heard his voice, until today. 

Your heart rips apart seeing him standing so gracefully with practiced elegance. Nothing has changed. He still looks the same. It feels as if it was just yesterday when he took you to the art fair and bought you that handmade clay-framed mirror. 

But you know things are far from being so simple, if anything then everything is much more complicated than ever. 

While you still stay awake each night, spending a fair share of time shedding tears for him, he doesn't even recall your name. He doesn't remember who you are, what you sound like, how your touches feel, or the time you two shared being so in love. 

You had vanished from his life long ago, vanished from his memories leaving absolutely no traces behind. 

He forgot you, even if you know he never intended to, even if you know it was a cruel decision of fate, he still forgot you and you can't change a thing about that. 

Silent tears fall from your eyes as you stare at him. Only you know how much you want to run to him, hold him tightly in your arms and tell him that you have waited for him, tell him that you have never stopped loving him, tell him that you love him more than anyone ever can. But you can’t.

And even if you do all these, what will be Namjoon’s reaction? He will just shove you to the ground thinking you are a crazy woman trying to throw herself at him. So you decided to leave. Meeting him unexpectedly here in the gallery should be more than enough for you. You can’t ask for more. You have no right to ask for more. 

You turn your heels to leave but you hear a faint voice calling you from behind. 

"Excuse me.." it's his voice. It's Namjoon. 

You start to panic. Contemplating whether you should run away or give in, you stay planted at your own place. 

"Hey. Um.. I am sorry to bother you but I- uh saw you staring at my direction and you seemed to be really familiar.. So, do we know each other?" Namjoon's voice is unsure and filled with confusion.

Your heart breaks. You know you should have not expected him to remember you but his confession still makes you weak on your knees. 

Blinking several times and gathering some strength, you turn around and face him. 

He's just as handsome as he used to be, if not more. 

Seeing you silent, Namjoon clarifies, "Sorry if I seem weird with my questions. I actually got into an accident last year and lost some of my memories. So I tend to ask people who they are if someone seems familiar to me. And you.." he pauses, his eyes raking through your face as if he's trying to find a clue "you seem to be someone very close to me." 

"I- I think you got the wrong idea. I mean - I, no, we.. we knew each other through some common friends but weren't exactly close." Your words fumble over each other much more than you would like. 

"oh- sorry then." A sheepish smile takes over Namjoon's face. 

His dimples make you sick and you want to run away from him. 

"I gotta go-"

"May I know your name?" 

You two speak out at the same time.

"Y/N. It's Y/N." You say hurriedly. 

"Yeah... Y/N" Namjoon whispers. 

You don't know if you're imagining things or not, but a flash of sadness passes through Namjoon's features. 

"I don't wanna sound like a creep but-" he hesitates.. "I would love to have a cup of coffee with you." 

"I am so sorry but I kinda have to go." You reply with your heart breaking into a thousand pieces all over again.

"oh.. then, can I at least have your number? Please?" Namjoon pleas. His voice quivers a bit or maybe you're just hearing things. 

You don't know what you should do. You don't know why life is playing these games with you. You don't know where this will go but what you know for sure is that you're enchanted to meet Namjoon again. So you give in and take another chance. 

"Sure." You murmur. 

Namjoon pulls out his phone from his pocket, unlocks it and gives it to you. 

As soon as you take his phone in your hands, your world starts to spin, eyes start to blur, hands start to shake because it's you. It's your picture saved as his wallpaper, the one from the art fair, under cherry blossom, wearing the same hoodie Namjoon is wearing right now. 

When you look up at him you find that his dark eyes are full to the brim with tears, which may start falling anytime. He looks as broken as you do.  

"The story line didn't end there, Y/N. It was the very first page. And... And I was enchanted to meet you. I would do anything to meet you again." 

"You- y-you remember me?" your words get choked.

"How could I not? You are deep-rooted in my heart. My brain may have forgotten a period of time but heart kept on trying to make me remember you. And it was successful." Namjoon smiles through tears, so do you.

"I hope you are not in love with someone else, you don't have someone waiting on you." he whispers, stepping close to your body.

"No- I don't." you reply, taking a step towards him.

Namjoon comes closer, cups your face and connects your forehead with his as you two intertwine your lives again standing in the middle of the gallery.

Taglist:

@phenomenalgirl9 @variety-is-the-joy-of-life @soraviie @sukunabitch @chimchimmarie @coffeedepressionsoup @meowstake @vonvi-blog @nochuel @chimmisbae

[auncyen]

what I meant to write: mIrabelle as the one looping having a crying breakdown in the equivalent of act 3 because I thought of it a few days ago and it's been stuck in my head (Panic! at the Dinner Table).

What actually got written: can you imagine how terrible it'd be for another looper to start suspecting Siffrin did something WELL

-

Siffrin has been suspicious for several days.

(Odile might say 'days' is inaccurate, but it's close enough, you think! You start in early afternoon on one day and then, when everything goes well, see Euphrasie in late afternoon of the next day, so it's around a day--sometimes over...many times under. Also, calling them days feels...better. Maybe it's a 'cycle' or 'loop' for everyone else caught up in this, with them always being reset to the same places, the same lines until you start changing things, but you are moving through time. You're Changing.)

(You're changing, aren't you?)

(For the better?)

--Siffrin has been suspicious for several of your days. They still act like their friendly self--they've even gifted you a flower sometimes! (You suppose other times you might have been too abrupt in waking them up. And sometimes you haven't woken them up at all, because you realize they'll come to the Clocktower anyway. They all will, it's where you're staying. You couldn't come up with anything more creative than a sleepover?) But...something's off.

You first realized something was strange about Siffrin--well, a lot of things are strange about Siffrin. You're more worried about his memory than ever now. Whenever you go into that secret room for the stash of tonics, Siffrin starts talking about a time he ran away from home, only to suddenly stop and look confused. You've tried encouraging him to continue by reminding him of everything he said up to that point (Isabeau applauded your thorough recitation with the most lightheartedness he could muster while still looking Siffrin over with his own concern), but it doesn't jog anything. You've tried guiding Siffrin to tell the story a different way with questions, but it seems like he loses the thread even faster that way. Lately you've just...cut him off from telling the story by laughing as soon as he brings it up and mentioning how mad his parents must have been when he returned. Siffrin still looks confused and lost for a terrible moment when you say that, but then he grins and agrees, and surely he's agreeing because that's what actually happened, isn't it? He said he was playing a prank. He played a silly prank for an hour or two, and then he went home, and probably he got a scolding for it but everything was fine.

...You still. Would like to avoid that room in the future. To not see that scared, lost look on Siffrin. Maybe you're strong enough now that you don't need the tonics?

But, but, you need to focus. Siffrin's memory problems are strange and worrying, and you really wished they'd said sooner how bad it is instead of letting you all tease them about it, but what's suspicious is their connection to the King.

You're not entirely sure what it is. When you go to the King, he always singles Siffrin out. "Bright One...do you remember?"

Obviously, with the already-mentioned memory problems, the answer is No. You've tried asking Siffrin if they know the King in any way, but of course he says no? Even if they knew each other once, Siffrin could have forgotten him the same way he can't remember what happened when he went out on the ocean in a boat to prank his parents? You imagined a tragically doomed romance between a villain and a hero with partial amnesia from an injury earned in one of their past scuffles (why is Siffrin's memory that bad???) for all of ten seconds before you realized that if Siffrin could forget the King, he'll surely forget boring, stagnant Mirabelle as soon as he leaves. After that you were too depressed to imagine anything between Siffrin and the King, which was probably for the better. Especially considering...

One time, the King singled out Siffrin in a different way. A terrible way. The first loop--the first day after you defeated the King and got to see Euphrasie for a glimpse of happiness before being sent back--you'd lost your temper a bit. You'd pushed everyone to go through the House faster than any time before, brought back to your senses at the end of the second floor by Odile dryly commenting on her tired feet while giving a pointed look at Bonnie, who was obviously getting worn out. You'd apologized over and over, and chewed your nails off at the second snack break to let them take all the time they needed to recover their energy, and went through the third floor without saying anything to rush Siffrin. You'd kept your temper in check until you saw the King again, and then you'd accused him of being a cheat, an unchanged loser who couldn't accept defeat, and he'd let your venting wash over him with a calm indifference ("I do not know what you speak of, Housemaiden") until you told him exactly what you were speaking of--the time that kept turning back, again and again, the days the loops the returns--

His face is mostly obscured by his long hair, but you could tell by the way his head turned that he'd directed his attention to Siffrin, and you knew it was with a glare by the cold fury in his voice. "What have you done, Bright One. The Universe's will is with me."

And then

the king struck

and Siffrin--

You don't speak to the King anymore. You don't let him talk either. You're pretty sure he told you everything you'd want to know from him. He can use Time Craft, but he isn't the one holding you in these endless days. He thinks Siffrin can use Time Craft, which sounds ridiculous, but since then you've talked with the Change God (you'd wanted reassurance you'd wanted a sign your statue was the only one unbroken in the whole House and you touched its face in reverence and the Change God spoke to you) and they'd told you three things:

you're their favorite!

they're put out by Dormont being stagnant and unchanging, but they're excited to see how exactly you change (maybe being their favorite isn't good. Your favorite characters go through some awful things, after all)

Siffrin isn't not responsible for this???

So it makes sense that Siffrin had a hand in this somehow! After a few more days which let you reach Euphrasie, you realized the time reset at the end only happens while Euphrasie is talking to Siffrin! That's suspicious! And, and, you've tried preventing it by keeping Euphrasie from talking to Siffrin, but she is so insistent she'd like to talk to them, and everyone starts looking at you strangely the more you protest, and you just...can't stop it.

You can't stop Siffrin from ruining things.

You hate that you're even suspicious of him, but he won't admit to using Time Craft when you ask, and surely even with his terrible memory, he'd remember that? He doesn't forget everything! But if he's lying, then...

Then you don't know what that means.

You don't know what to do.

--

...What Siffrin did: show Mirabelle how to wish and be an islander recognized by other islanders and not particularly liked by the Change God

[57sfinest]

i wanted to look at the symbolism of the ocean in disco elysium because it features so prominently in the setting. insulinde being an isola comprised of islands, martinaise as a port town financially anchored by its ocean trade. the divisions brought by water that we see in the geography: how the canal separates the working district of martinaise from the even poorer, commerce-less village-- how the river esperance separates the worst ghettos of revachol and jamrock from the more rebuilt and financially stable districts-- how, for example, lilienne looks across the bay of revachol to the wealthy district of la delta, a poignant moment of separation between someone desperately poor and the towers of wealth built out of the ruins of revachol. we see water, and often the sea specifically, acting as a divider in various contexts. 

the ocean of time and distance that separates dora and harry, that separates klaasje from oranje:

then, further into the idea of the ocean as representative of time: in various contexts i see the ocean as representing the past. memory residing under the waves, and each of us living above water-- in the present-- but often still helpless to the tides when we’re not careful. to me this is cemented by the implication that the pale is commonly theorized as an *outer ocean* (juxtaposed with harry’s introspective skill, inland empire!!): the pale is the past, and if the pale is seen as an outer ocean, then right there is a tangible connection between the two. memory and the past as an ocean, dangerous if you don’t respect its power, but ultimately navigable. there is frequent reference made to the fact that the bombed ruins of martinaise are sinking or lost into the ocean, lost to the past, now only memory. 

and harry, who is living in the past and being consumed by nostalgia like a rot, drives his car into the ocean. harry’s badge, which is conflated with his identity in the aftermath of his amnesia, was underwater before he pulled it from the car: until he got it, his entire identity was lost with his memory in the past. klaasje’s documents, too, presumed lost to the ocean, a loss of who she was or claimed to be (until you meet the phasmid). lilienne’s husband was lost to the waves, and in the same lines she’ll dismiss your concerns-- he’s in the past now, she’s really not too upset. the cleaning lady, abandoned by the world, who has only her own memories for company in her sea-beaten room. in the context of ruby’s near-suicide in the shack, how inland specifies how the “waves had calmed” as she put the gun away: ruby distancing herself from the past that she thinks is chasing her to form a better plan. the working-class husband, who, had his corpse fallen through the boardwalk into the ocean, would have been lost to the past, living only in the memory of billie and their daughters.

for me, the final dream had some of the heaviest but most subtle inclusions of the ocean symbolism. it’s brought on by looking into the ocean around the seafort and takes place under the ocean somewhere. even before the dream, dora is alluded to in the context of the sea. she moved across the ocean and now, to him, she’s lost under it. she’s trapped in his memory.

where we see things half-submerged or partially oceanic, we see a bridge between the past and the present being represented. something partially lost to the past but still with a foot in the here and now. harry’s half-sunken car, in part a representation of his career: part of his past, yes, but still very much in his present. one of the primary spiritual practices we hear of is the volta do mar: originally a palefarer’s practice to keep them grounded in an onslaught by the past, and its meaning is *return from the sea*. when harry tries to turn back time, he wants to go back to a time when the sun had not yet sunk into the sea-- when the light in his life didn’t reside solely in the past.

also in this context, something that really struck me was how harry will sometimes think of himself in the context of the sea. first is the sea monster thought, brought about by the broken plaza: him as a creature submerged in the past, terrorizing the present. and seafaring brought up to represent a kind of compromise between living in the present and acknowledging the draw of nostalgia. even joyce in her limited knowledge of harry compares him to a “half-submerged ruin”. and when harry is prompted into introspection by the dros predicament, inland empire becomes the *inland sea*.

and i really want to make a final, individual point of this. the whirling-in-rags music is sea power’s song “fire escape in the sea”. there is an explicit reference made to the song by shivers as well, and i think the choice of this song is very intentional. the whirling-in-rags is where harry forgot his whole life, the whole world, and it’s where he wakes up and begins to piece it all back together. the whirling-in-rags is harry’s fire escape in the sea. his bridge between his past and his present, his last-ditch attempt at escape from the tortures of his subconscious. 

(this is by no means exhaustive, there are a lot of other moments where the sea comes in, but i included the moments that spoke to me most. you’re welcome to add your own!)

[randomwriteronline]

I wonder if the toa mata recognized themselves in their own memories from before mata nui.

I dont know, i think theres possibilities to be explored about that. Suddenly remembering yourself and what you find being a complete stranger is a common thing for amnesia plots i guess but also i think this could be even more jarring. Like a more genuine difference between killing machine and living being.

Its less a matter of nature vs nurture and more a matter of nature with a certain type of nurture. Nature dictates they are powerful and driven and well meaning, but the way they are brought up produces completely different people.

Their first taste of life was a sterile room with nobody but each other and a disembodied voice reading out their duties, establishing an arbitrary hierarchy within them, and then sending them to a glorified bootcamp where a ruthless instructor worked on making them into skilled combatants and nothing else, teaching them how to use their elements as tools and weapons without indulging in them; they got a vague sense of what and how a community feels like with the Av-Matoran - as outsiders, as its protective shield, there for them but not with them - only to get that stripped away from them too because their role as life saving tools to be preserved under glass just in case of a crisis was more important.

I wonder if the Toa Mata, the ones who were taken to the Koro of Mata Nui and listened to the Turaga's tales and reprimands and would have moved mountains for the Matoran who treated them like older siblings, return with their minds to things they said or thought or did from before the Island of Mata Nui and stop in their tracks. Whose memory is that, they think? That can't be mine. I am not like that. My siblings are not like that. Some things are perfectly right, they cant deny that; but just as many if not more are so wrong that they almost feel like a really cruel joke somebody planted into their heads.

Kopaka and Tahu got along, even if they dont want to admit it because they need to bicker like children or theyll die, but are more surprised that they werent as tentatively close with anybody else. Lewa remembers so much frustration and tedium and anger that if he stalls in his memories too much he genuinely starts feeling queasy, Pohatu has remnants of bitterness and passive aggression that still cling to him like the smell of a cigarette on someone who gave up smoking, and they both hate that because its nothing like them. Onua and Gali feel like theyre peering into some kind of imperfect clone's brain when they try to remember - its themselves, they know that, it has to be, but there are certain things they know about themelves that are just completely missing and its kind of dizzying to realize that.

Im not even sure they liked each other. They work together because its their destiny, but they don't seem to seek each other out for fun or anything else. In their training days they had to be shoved in each others direction or they would have never solved their obligatory group assignments.

I wonder if their terrors and flaws could partially come from this first life that they had too. Gali's fear of her anger and Lewa's disregard for duty stemming from Hydraxon's methods - she internalized his reprimands about feeling guilt for living enemies, but without any memory of him she believes the words resurfacing in her mind from time to time are her own, and is appalled by their cruelty; he was forbidden from enjoying himself, from indulging in any form of fun, of entertainment, of joy, and unconsciously now he rebels by shirking away from responsability to do whatever he wants.

The responses to Tahu's decision regarding the codrex haunt him, the whole situation, really; how he stripped his siblings of any say on their fate because he was the leader, not even telling them or explaining himself until they had no other choice, and if he could treat them like that once then what would stop him from doing so again and again until he doesnt even think about it? Kopaka is uneasy about it too. He knew the plan and supported Tahu only because he tagged along, but hes very, very acutely aware that he would have been left just as much in the dark as everybody else otherwise, and he would gave not even had anybody to seek any comfort from because hes fairly certain none of the others would have liked him enough to care.

Onua as @cantankerouscanuck pointed out to me mightve taken Hydraxon's teachings to heart, hence why he's so quiet: no use in expressing weakness, right? But karda nui must have been hellish on his senses, with all that light - a tangible physical discomfort that would bleed out into an emotional one as he becomes conscious of how none of his siblings go through this, thus he must be damaged in some way, faulty, out of place, and so he seeks to be alone, digging himself away. And its not hard to imagine how Pohatu (who hasnt had the chance to grow into the affable, kind toa his siblings can always lean on when they need to yet) would become convinced of his uselessness within the team and seethe about it.

They arrive on Mata Nui as broken war machines with no clue who they even are and suddenly find nature and community and love, and in a moment theyre people.

I wonder if the environment helped. Being thrown upon a beach in the open air with nothing but a whole world that is so alien and yet feels so right beckoning them to come closer. Discovering their powers and their domains freely, immediately - first thing they did was dive into their respective elements without a second thought, naturally magnetized, taking after them like it was the simplest thing in the world, because they are the first toa, the first beings capable of harnessing these powers in their whole universe, and its in their nature to be so connected to them. Maybe it helped. Maybe it made them feel connected to their own selves enough to figure themselves out in a way they couldnt have done so before.

Maybe it helped to find out their collective destiny each on their own, in their own environment, at their own pace, surrounded by younger siblings who look at them with awe and curiosity and frustration sometimes, guided by people who know how being alive works with all its good parts and messy bits and who can tell what having so much power means when youre barely aware of how to use it or what to do. And maybe it helped to find out who their siblings were in a similar way, introducing themselves as they wanted, as they felt like, without a specific order, and learning to recognize each other as siblings with all the things that make them insufferable and all the things that make them the best and what makes them happy and what makes them angry and how they sound when theyre worried and how likely they are to chase you down to the other edge of the island for doing something stupid, and like real people they grow and develop and change and stay the same, and then they meet the memory of themselves from before becoming people and its...

Idk. Its like the realization of who they used to be and the distance between themselves and those selves, and the fact that they dont like them.

[bet-on-me-13]

Dp x Dc x Miraculous: Deified Siblings AU Pt. 1

Based on 2 Prompts.

One is the Deified Batman AU , which you can read here

The other is a Prompt where Danny, Damien, and Marinette are raised together in the League of Assassins. I can't find it at all, so I will go over the gist of it here. (Edit: Found it!, thank you to the person in Replies who linked me)

Danny is the oldest, about 3 or 4 years older than. The other 2. He is the favorite child.

Danny is 10, Damien and Marinette are 6

Damien is seen as the spare, Marinette is seen as the unfortunate addition.

As the Prompt goes, Danny wants to escape the League and takes his little siblings with him. Damien, fully brainwashed by the Leagues ideals, stabs Danny in the back and drops him off a cliff into a River below, thinking he killed him. He tries to take Marinette back, but she backs away and runs.

Damien returns, tells the League that Danny tried to run away and got himself and Marinette killed in the process. Damien only survived because he wasn't stupid enough to try and leave the League.

Damien stays in the League for a while, before he is eventually taken to his father, The Batman when he is 10

Danny survived his murder attempt, but he lost all of his memories and washed up on the shore of the river miles away. He was found by the Fentons, who were in Europe on a research trip, and was adopted. Canon goes the same for him.

Marinette ran away, using her skills to get all the way to Paris before managing to get adopted by a loving couple. She becomes Ladybug at 13, the same as in Canon.

This is where the Deification happens.

...

Lets go Oldest to youngest.

Danny became a God the moment he died. As a Demigod, he was already partially Divine. When he lost his Mortality, he became what was essentially a God with no Domain. So, he built one up.

He became known as a Protector Spirit, as a Winter Spirit, and after defeating Pariah, as a Death God.

By the time he was 16, he was a fully fledged God.

This did help his amnesia a little bit, and he did have a vague sense of what his life was like before he lost his memories, as well as some flashes. But he knew that he preferred his new life, so he never really looked into it.

...

Damien is the only one who would eventually ascend to God-Hood through Natural Growth.

Damien takes the Mantle of the Robin. And as such, he links himself directly to his father's source of Power, and creates his own Legend, his own Myths. He becomes his own God at around 14.

He is a Vengeful God, one who is Violent. But at the same time he is an Animal God, one who takes care of the abandoned Animals around him. Probably a carry over from his Dad's Protector God Domain.

...

Marinette became a God last. She had it easiest though.

Marinette was born as a Demigod, and later became Linked with Tikki, who is basically a Small Part of the Goddess of Creation tied to the Miraculous.

Her own fledging Divinity mixed with Tikki'a Divinity and helped her Acsend to God-Hood after about a Year as Hero when she is 14.

She would have done so anyways as a Hero, but without the Gotham Pantheon to attach herself to, it would have taken many more years for her to grow enough to Ascend.

She became a Minor Creation Goddess. She also became a Goddess of Creativity, and Protection as well.

If you are worried about the Balance between Creation and Destruction don't worry, Adrien also becomes a God soon afterwards. His Ascension is mostly because he is a being made of Magic (as a SentiMonster) who was linked with a God through his Miraculous.

(I don't like the stories where Adrien is mistreated for no reason, so here he at least gets to be Ladybugs Equal)

...

This is the basic premise of the Prompt. I am planning on writing out the potential Story in a Part 2, but until then what do you think?

(Honestly looking at this after finishing writing it, it feels absurd. 3 different Fandoms, plus 2 different Dp x Dc Prompts. You need to be DEEP in the Crossover Fandoms to really understand this. Imagine a casual fan finding this! It would look like Pure insanity!)

[volfoss]

Garth is really one of the only characters ever. He has suffered immensely due to people thinking his eye color was a curse. He was scared of schools of fish until Aquaman got him past his fear and then adopted him. He's had amnesia more than once. He once got killed by a group of beautiful women against a rock and then got taken in by Aquamans dad and taught magic for the equivalent of 5 years. He kissed a girl and immediately swam away from her because he was too awkward and sad over his girlfriends death. Aforementioned both girls have come back to haunt him and also try to kill him. He didn't have a name until he was in the teen titans, he was just aqualad. He has amazing diplomacy skills. He can shoot magic from his eyes. He sometimes sleeps in the teen titans dock completely naked. He named his child after a city. Said child is so inconsistent with gender that comics from different eras pick different genders for them. He cares so deeply about his friends that when he retires he has a ton of pictures of them together and his granddaughter is named after Donna. He has at least 4 different versions of his backstory (thanks DC). He is somehow very relaxed when tortured in space. He's afraid of going into space (related to the prior point). He had to be the one to make himself and Aquaman a home and Aquaman thought he was going to kill him during this. He's been mind controlled multiple times. He's kind of bisexual with it. His costume for years was made partially from bedsheets that he took to cover himself when his girlfriend and the lady that was part of the group of people who killed him that one time were arguing and he wanted no part in it. He has so much trauma that he is scared to get near people because everyone he loves dies. He has such a massive heart and is easily one of the kindest members of the titans. When attending a funeral, he just wore a suit jacket over top his costume because why would he have a suit? He dehydrates super easy on land and one time, Aquaman milked a cow straight into his mouth to make sure he wouldn't dehydrate. He has a near encyclopedic knowledge of fish. His father loves him so much.

[klausinamarink]

his lips still blue

rating: T | cw: hypothermia, supposed character death | tags: established relationship, supernatural/horror vibes | wc: 948

written for @steddieholidaydrabbles | Dec 2: Came Back Wrong

—

Three days.

Steve was missing for three days and everyone already thought about the worst case scenario. Eddie blamed Chief Hopper for quelshing their hopes for pointing out how the recent snowstorm delaying the search was covering Steve’s tracks. Even Robin had bit her lip in thought so hard that it bled.

But Eddie refused to think about it. He didn’t even dare to let any of those thoughts contaminate the hope he kept nurturing in his chest. Because Steve always survived the toughest shit, no matter how bizarre it may be. A brutal fist fight with three men? He apologized about getting his sweater ruined despite his concussion and bleeding face. A wild bear attack that nearly took Will Byers? Steve was more worried about the kid than himself. Freak mall fires? He worried that Eddie would be mad at him for missing their anniversary date while being treated for third degree burns on his sides.

Getting lost in the woods and three and half feet of falling snow? He had to come back with an embarrassed smile and frostbite in his fingers and toes.

Eddie clutched the blankets tighter around him. He stared out the window for so long that his eyes ached. But he worried that if he looked away, even for just a minute, then Steve would be lost for good and wander endlessly. It was a silly superstition, but Eddie was a beggar at this point.

He shivered, the blankets barely substituting his husband’s steady warmth. He should probably make some tea but what’s a cup of tea going to do in bringing Steve back?

Knock. Knock.

Eddie startled, his gaze breaking away towards the front door. He gave out a sigh, got up from the couch, and shuffled towards it. Already the small hearth of hope in his chest is sputtering out with the image of Hopper giving the dreaded news. He burned that away as soon as it popped into his head.

“What is-” The words died in his mouth just as Eddie opened the door.

Steve stared back at him. His hat and gloves were missing, his jacket was partially covered with snow, and his lips were a startling blue. Alive.

Eddie immediately threw his arms around his husband, weeping and kissing him in relief without a care of how cold Steve’s lips felt.

—

It took another few days for the hospital to allow Steve’s discharge. Despite the waning hypothermia and everyone’s prodding, Steve hadn’t explained the story of his absence. Only that he had been trekking through the woods as usual and… nothing.

Doctors presumed it might’ve been some traumatic amnesia from exposure. Honestly, Eddie couldn’t care less. He was just fucking glad Steve was back.

Steve was quiet on the way back. Eddie tried not to overwhelm him with his own questions, but kept him in a massive blanket pile. Steve was still horribly cold despite the heaters. It was a surprise that he wasn’t shivering either.

“I made you tea,” Eddie pushed a warm cup to his hands. He tried not to frown at how oddly chilly they felt. “Peppermint with honey and shredded cinnamon - your favourite.”

Steve just blinked down at the cup. His lips, once flushed back to color at the hospital, were paled into a bluish tint. He set the cup back down on the table. “I don’t want it.”

“You should really drink something warm, sweetheart. You’ve been outside for-”

“I like it cold.”

Eddie blinked. Waited for Steve to elaborate but instead his husband turned his eyes towards the same window Eddie had been looking out during the three days of hell.

Finally, Eddie sighed. Tugged Steve up by his hand, still cold against his own warm palms. “Let’s go to bed, sweetheart.”

He tucked in Steve extra diligently with another blanket and laid right next to him. It felt strange - his husband back to his side yet his usual warmth was barely radiating off his body. It worried Eddie and he made a mental note to go to the hospital in the morning if Steve’s body heat stayed like this.

Eddie thumbed lightly over Steve’s lips, still in that bluish tint. That worried him too. He whispered, “What happened out there, sweetheart?”

Steve said, “I like it cold.”

Somehow, Eddie fell asleep.

—

Eddie woke up with a violent shiver. He blinked rapidly, vision adjusting to the dark. Once it did, he saw that the bedroom windows were wide open, letting in gusts of flurries.

He cursed, his hand reaching out automatically to Steve-

It patted on a cold, flat blanket instead.

Eddie was quick to jump out of bed, calling out Steve’s name. The entire cold was freezing and every window was open. He stopped in his tracks when he saw the front door was open, exposing the view to the woods where a trail of footprints led there.

He hurriedly put on his warmest jacket and boots as he rushed outside. The crunching of snow seemed to echo louder than calling out Steve’s name.

He kept his eyes on the footprints, sucking in frigid air into his lungs as he ran.

His hands felt numb already. He put the gloves on, had he?

Eddie licked his lips once, wincing at the chapness.

He stumbled over something and fell into the snow. It bit through his face, stung it to one expression as Eddie lifted his head up.

Steve was in front of him. His hands were already on Eddie’s cheeks, thumbing away the snow. Then he leaned his head in.

Eddie only caught a glimpse of his still-blue lips before his eyes shuttered shut at the much-needed warmth.

[writers-vlogx]

Hi can I request a Rafa x reader? Where reader was kidnap by Rafa because he loves her in he's own twisted way and reader was able to escape but got in an accident where they hit their pretty hard and when reader wakes up reader doesn't remember anything in their life like amnesia and Rafa taking advantage of it in the end.

He had tried so hard to get you to love him, tried to make you understand and even after all that you didn't want him

Why? Please tell him why? Can't you see he's trying so hard to show you he's perfect for you, with him you would never wish for anything again.

So imagine the panic that set within him when he found the window to your room wide open and you no where to be found.

You didn't know how long you had been there, but it was definitely long enough to make your legs weak. You weren't used to running this far, especially when you didn't even know in what direction to go or where the hell you were at. Thankfully the adrenaline helped you stay alert and on your feet. There was no clear sign that showed you where you were and anywhere you looked everything looked the same. Trees everywhere, it was no use trying to find a difference so you turned in the first direction you faced and just kept running straight ahead

Meanwhile, Rafael was running out of the house, and anyone within a meter of him could tell he was fuming, angry, and yelling at the sky. He had grabbed his keys on the way out and started the car, rafa knew you were weak, he knew you couldn't have gotten very far and even if you did there was nothing for miles except a long road that was rarely used. In the worst-case scenario he could just shoot anyone that tried to help you and take you back.

You kept running and just a few minutes later you came onto a road, looking around you realized just how secluded this place was, there was a single road and no one in sight, but for whatever reason God must have felt pity on your poor mortal soul because not even a minute later you could hear a car approaching and as you ran towards it, the driver may not have been paying as much attention as he should because he hit the brakes too late. All you saw was black

When Rafael found you his anger shifted from you to the poor idiot who decided to hurt his love, everything he lived for. One bullet served enough and that was that.

...

Now we all know he has money and resources, so let's not fool ourselves. Would he be scared? Yes absolutely but would he bring over the best doctors in the country if he needed to? Also yes. And that exactly what he did, he brought the best doctors gave them the money and told them to shut up.

They fixed you in no time, you would be walking soon enough, after all they were the best.

And nothing like a gun pointed at your head to give you some good motivation.

So when he heard there was bad news he was about as ready as he'd ever been to shoot the doctor on the spot. But Felix held him back from it, that's right Felix knew about this little obsession of rafa and the only reason he had helped him continue his...hobby, is because he produced a good worker and it seemed like when you were around, Rafa had less time to get up to "Estupideces" and "Mamadas" as Felix liked to call it.

Either way, the doctors informed rafa that you would suffer from partial memory loss, how much? They were unsure but they would know once you woke up. And so Rafa's only hope at finally being loved by you was this.

When you eventually woke up, just as the doctors said, you didn't remember running away or the accident, instead blank spaces were where those memories should have been.

Rafael had been nervous all morning when he was informed that you had woken up, he was not ready to face you if you remembered but the curiosity was eating away at him, so he slowly made his way to your room and opened the door.

When he came in he wasn't met with that cold gaze you always gave him, the lifeless eyes you had like a bird in a cage. Instead, he was met with big bright eyes full of questions, and it was true you had questions because your memories were recollections of better times, times when you worked alongside Felix and Rafael in the business, times of the first few time Rafael tried to court you. But nothing else, no rejection, no struggles, and least of all, the lovesick man you had come to meet in your months of captivity.

You asked what happened, asked how you got hurt, aksed if he was hurt.

You were worried for him, worried for your partner, for your dear friend. He answered, he also asked what you remembered, did you know who he was? Of course, you did, you spent the evening answering every single doubt he could have had.

He didn't show it but he was happy, this meant he would paint the perfect picture for you, so he lied he told you of the life he had always dreamed to have with you, the life he had tried to make for you, the life he would make for you and you believed it.

You didn't feel this love he talked about but the way he described it sounded magical, and so you promised to try to remember, try to love, he promised to make you fall in love all over again to make you see just what exactly you had before all of this.

Let's just hope he doesn't fuck it up this time right?

Authors note- I'm sorry loves but I'm trying my best to be okay, a good thing is I'm finally getting to watch the show again, and let me tell you FELIX CONTENT IS COMMING SOON AND MAYBE POSSIBLY YOU GUYS CAN ASK FOR SMUT. I'll try my best to not fuck it up since I've never written it but even if I do, I worked hard on that meal and you will eat it 😌❤️ LOVE YOU GUYS AND I WILL SEE YOU WHENEVER I FIND A GOOD FELIX IDEA BYEEEE

[fanaticsnail]

I watched the Storyteller version of Sapsorrow and knew it sounded familiar! I read "The Magic Fish" by Trung Le Nguyen. It's a graphic novel about a young Vietnamese boy struggling to come out to his friends and parents, particularly because they're immigrants and he feels they might not understand. His mother and him bond over fairy tales and there are three main tales in the novel that are used thematically, the first is Tattercoats (i.e; Sapsorrow), the second is a Vietnamese story Tâm Cám, and the third is the little mermaid. The Tattercoats story is a little different than the Sapsorrow Storyteller version or your version, but the art is beautiful I seriously recommend the book from the art alone (and if not the art, the Vietnamese fairy tale is kind of like Cinderella at the beginning but so interesting and full of plot twists).

I have to thank you for introducing me to Storyteller though, I'm gonna have fun looking at all their other retellings.

Oh my goodness, I know The Magic Fish! I haven't read that one in years!! Thank you for reminding me it exists, sweet snail. I adore it.

Of the Storyteller Series (1988), I have littered some of the plot points in several others.

Remember Me: (Shanks x Bride!Reader), I had "the true bride" in mind. Particularly her apprehension at having her hair touched. In the story in that case, it was a promise to not let another person kiss their cheek - in mine it was a sweep of the hair.

Drawing inspiration from things that impact your heart is so much fun. Makes it all the more real, in my humble opinion.

There are only nine episodes: (All are linked to YouTube for ease)

The Soldier and Death

Fearnot

The Luck Child

A Story Short

Hans My Hedgehog

The Three Ravens

Sapsorrow

The Heartless Giant

The True Bride

I would honestly love to write an OP fic for each of these.

Soldier and Death - Zoro He traps death, now unable to die. He has lived his life to the fullest, but death is the only thing that truly fears him. Reader is the reaper, ordered by Death to not claim him. Fearnot - Luffy He's just a sunshine boy who has never been frightened a day in his life. He wants to experience fear. Just once. The Luck Child - Buggy He is a failing forward king, as the usual. Circumstances demand his death, he continues to thrive. A Story Short - Usopp He has to perform a series of storytelling adventures and present them towards the court for a hundred days. On the hundredth day, he has come up with nothing. What will he do? Hans My Hedgehog - Corazon He will only reveal himself to his wife at night, cursed as a monster within the hours of daylight. She wants to break him of this curse, but has no knowledge to help him. The Three Ravens - Sanji Just imagine Sanji desperately crying out for his love to grace him with the sound of her voice, begging her to say something to aid in her defence - bound to the stake and threatened with death if she does not speak. Ahhhhh. Screaming. Sapsorrow - The one I'm actively working on with Mihawk The Heartless Giant - Doflamingo Speaks for itself, truly. He just is. I could also do this for Sir Crocodile, if I wasn't too busy shipping him with @empressofmankind's Shivs. The True Bride - Already partially did for Shanks. I would love to visit this trope again for him though. Have him be the one with amnesia trope.

Honestly, I would love to do this as a massive moot fairytale collaborative au.

@since-im-already-here - what say you, sis? You reckon I've got the characters and the prompts down for each series?

@gingernut1314, do you know this jim henson series? You want to take a crack at one of them?

@writingmysanity - go on. I know you want to do the Corazon. You so, so want to do the Corazon.

@sordidmusings 👀 c'mon now. Romance, pining. Angst. All that good stuff, dear.

@feral-artistry, you've even already drawn some puppets. You know you want to....

[impulsivefanwriter]

Other Emperors AU — Ninjago

So. The beloved Ice Emperor. The corrupting potential of the Staff of Forbidden Spinjitzu + Amnesia + Vex.

Now what if the Ice Emperor came in other flavours?

That’s right, introducing the Other Emperors AU, a collection of different “What ifs” for if other people had been zapped with the staff by Aspheera!

Different Versions:

Earth Emperor / King of the Underworld = Cole

Lightning Emperor / Thunder God / Lightning Striker = Jay

Fire Emperor / Western Wildfire / Fire Maker = Kai

Energy Emperor / Lord of Energy / Luh-Lord = Lloyd

Water Empress / Commander of the Sea / Wrath of the Waves = Nya

Empress of Technology / Automated Empress / Overseer / The Technodrome = Pixal

Creation Emperor / Second Spinjitzu Master / The Creator = Wu

Not all of them are fleshed out (honestly most just have… one or two minor ideas, but I’ll gladly bounce ideas back and forth with people in Reblogs, comments, and/or asks!), but here’s what I’ve got—

Earth Emperor / King of the Underworld

- Got zapped into the Neverrealm instead and lost his memories from a concussion in the fight

- Vex finds him and the staff and convinces him to take it

- He raises/sinks the Earth to create a stone dome over the realm and make it a cavern of tunnels; some call him the King of the Underworld (Hades vibes) for it and he hates it even if he can’t remember why (haha forgotten Skulkin memories)

- Master of the Mountain mixed with ancient mythology vibes

- His hair grows out and becomes partially lava because come on that look just is so cool on him ; his armour is also formed of obsidian/onyx and crystals

- Difficult to anger (a very patient emperor that listens to his people whenever Vex doesn’t interfere) but if you do (usually on Vex’s manipulation) OH BOY you’re in for it now

- Built a dangerous labyrinth King-Minos-style complete with a stone minotaur in the centre that he sends prisoners/people Vex tricks him into thinking are enemies

- Is very fascinated by Kai’s fire (and Jay’s lightning) because the only light source in the caverns are glowing crystals formed from his powers or special regulated flint/coal-based fires

- He keeps Kai with him when the Ninja arrive and banish the rest to the labyrinth to “prove themselves” on Vex’s manipulation (possibly specifically dropping Jay in the minotaur room as a sacrifice because Jay made a menace of himself in the throne room)

- The Ninja make it through the traps because they’re all kinda Cole-themed (like one involves the Triple Tiger Sashay) and arrive back at the throne room after defeating the stone minotaur, much to Cole/Vex’s astonishment/ire respectively

- Cole realizes the Ninja are telling the truth and that Vex has been lying to him and ends up dropping the staff after reverting the Neverrealm back to its original state

Lightning Emperor / Thunder God / Lightning Strike

- Realizes Zane’s vision (yeah, Jay is the only person who knew Zane had a vision and he DISMISSED IT, hecking come on) is about to come true and shoves Zane out of the way of Aspheera’s shot

- Cracked his head on a rock falling through the portal and has zero memories <3 Should he be dead? Probably. But he’s Jay, so he survives, especially with his boosted element lashing out

-  Vex finds him and is so confused over the lightning appearance but realizes he can use it

- Skybound / Lightning Ruins parallels with Jay ripping up chunks of ground and making floating magnetized islands

- Has a very ominous cult following Vex leads because its Jay, of course it would happen, its not the first time

- Is kinda revered more as a ‘godly figure’ than an emperor (Vex uses his status to make orders in Jay’s name)

- Kinda unhinged, but you can blame the staff + Vex + the concussion and blood loss

- Fascinated by Cole because he absorbs/grounds lightning fine ; also fascinated by Zane who is a walking metal lightning rod

- Constantly zapping around

Fire Emperor / Western Wildfire / Fire Maker

- Lost his powers to Aspheera, battled her with the second staff, and got his butt yeeted to the Never Realm- that’s rough, buddy

- Gets his well-deserved focus season

- He really means well and just wants to keep his people safe, but unfortunately it comes across as overly possessive and tyrannical 

- Older brothers so hard that he comes across as evil/possessive and aggressive when he’s trying to be caring and protective

- Don’t have much for him because the fandom already has insanely cool Fire Emperor AUs

Energy Emperor / Lord of Energy / Luh-Lord 

- So many Lord Garmadon parallels

- ONI-DRAGON LLOYD ONI-DRAGON LLOYD

- Also a surprising amount of Morro parallels about making his own destiny

- So, so traumatized and got corrupted simply for wanting to take his fate into his own hands for once

- Punts Vex out of the castle because he’s had enough of people telling him what to do

- Kinda goes back to S1 Lloyd because this kid just wants his childhood back

- Goes from “scary emperor who’s going to execute you” to “excited little kid” the second he sees his siblings

- Taking the staff back hurts because Lloyd isn’t mad, he’s just super sad and confused and pleads with them not to do it

Water Empress / Commander of the Sea / Wrath of the Waves

- The Never Realm just became the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

- All the ice and snow melts into an ocean with islands

- Nya builds a big ol’ palace that’s both above and below the water’s surface

- Seabound parallels in terms of architecture (lots of accidental Wojira foreshadowing)

- So. Much. Rage. You anger Nya, you’re done for.

- The staff + her element amplified the ocean’s whispers and she’s kinda merged with the sea but not fully, her memories are a bit scattered

- Was going to take on Vex as an advisor because he convinced her she knew him before her memories got lost/scattered, but then her memories associate him with Krux, and she kicks him onto a lone island

- Her brothers have to face the ocean to get to her. They hate it, but they do it anyway 

Empress of Technology / Automated Empress / Overseer / The Technodrome

- Pixal gets to sacrifice herself for Zane

- While the staff doesn’t amplify powers for her, she still gets boosted strength, speed, smarts, etc., her processor running at 300x proficiency

- Is able to get the mech up and running— she DID build it, after all

- Still loses her memories from Vex’s interference, somewhat reverts to S3 Pixal

- Makes the entire realm “efficient” and rapidly revolutionizes technology

- Easily one of the scariest rulers because of how good she is at it

- Took Vex on as an Advisor because of his knowledge of the realm, then fired him once she was done. 

“But you— you cannot FIRE me! I am your loyal, most trusted advisor—” 

“And you are no longer necessary. There is more important matters to attend to.”

- It’s very difficult to dismantle her empire

Creation Emperor / Second Spinjitzu Master / The Creator

- Aspheera blasts her intended target

- Wu is sent to the Never Realm with the other staff

- The Ninja are devastated because they just lost their Sensei AGAIN just after getting him back

- Wu refuses to use the staff at first but then… well, he starts getting desperate to return. He misses his family. And his essence— creation— could be used to help the people of this realm. So he uses it once or twice, sparingly, to help the villages, to help travellers— and slowly gets more and more addicted. Why does this realm hurt the people in it? If his essence is one of creation, couldn’t he use it to… reform this realm into something more peaceful? More habitable? Remake it in his own image? Correct all the mistakes he’s made, start again, start better—

- FSM and Pilots-S2 Garmadon parallels

- His students manage to get into the Never Realm only to find it “prosperous” and “thriving”

- Bonus if there are copies of them, but the way Wu sees them— uncanny valley alert

- EXTRA bonus if there’s a fake Morro that’s based on how he was as a student / if he’d lived , and a fake Garmadon cured of venom and evil

- Breaking their Sensei out of this illusion of a perfect world really hurts

- Wu is traumatized by all his mistakes and they get acknowledged in this AU whether he wants them to be or not <3

[btr-rewatch]

hii, you mentioned you were around during the fandom's heyday, i was wondering if you had any favorite fics from back in the day you'd like to share? <3

Hello! Yes, BTR was actually my official "introduction" to online fandom when I was younger :) I spent so much time here on tumblr and fanfiction.net, which was a lot of fun because the fandom was at its biggest and most active.

Good timing with this ask, because I was actually thinking about making a post with some of the fics that were popular (or that I personally enjoyed) back when the show was on. I still have them bookmarked on my old laptop! I'll select a handful and put them under a read more.

Quick disclaimer that I cannot attest for the quality of any of these fics now. I haven't revisited most of these since I originally read them, though the main details have cemented themselves in my brain on account of my past self having read them over and over and over. Still, I don't know if my older, adult self would find them any good in regards to writing quality or the actual content.

• Ok. So, I have to start out by mentioning Laura (known as Miss Fenway), who I wrote briefly about in my BTF Fandom Lore post. When I tell you that she was the "Queen" of the fandom for the years the show ran, I'm not kidding. Everybody knew her. She churned out fanfics like it was her job. She was responsible for a lot of the headcanons that ended up being adopted by the rest of the fandom. And she wrote "Little Hollow," the 55-chapter, 160,000-word fic that had a profound effect on the fandom. Basic premise is: Logan gets cancer, and from there, everything spirals into tragedy and heartbreak. She then wrote a fic based off an alternate ending to "Little Hollow" called "Three" that absolutely destroyed my younger self when I first read it. Like. It was just too much for me.

Back in the day, Logan was the character who was tormented the most by fic writers, and nobody tormented him quite like Miss Fenway. In some of her other fics, he loses an arm in a shark attack, becomes a drug addict, gets kidnapped, is in a car accident that leaves him brain-damaged, is in a hockey accident that leaves him with amnesia, and so on.

Personally, I was partial to "All These Lives" & its sequel "September." To THIS DAY, I cannot hear either of those Chris Daughtry songs without thinking of those fics.

• If you're into AUs, "Mania" was hands-down one of my favorite BTR fics (maybe even one of my favorite fics period). It's like...an edgier version of the boys? They're a gang of sorts, formed out of necessity in order to keep their neighborhood safe from a rival gang. They carry weapons, get into fist-fights daily, and will go to the ends of the Earth to keep Katie safe. Listen. It sounds off the rails, but read it. Trust me. Even now, years later, this fic occasionally pops into my head out of nowhere because I loved it so much.

• Fics that focused on the guys as little kids were very hit or miss (and sometimes could be weird), but I've got to include two of my favorites, "The Petting Zoo" and "Trouble." They both capture the personalities of the boys so well, and I have to imagine this is a lot what they were like as kids. Chaos all the time. Idk, I thought both of these were so funny. Worth a read, in my opinion.

• Alrighty, last fic on this list is a doozy. It's called "Another Reason." This was my absolute favorite BTR fic, and it was one that I read and literally needed several days to digest because it was such an emotional ride. This is a DARK ONE, guys. It's gritty and depressing and hard to read, to the point I only ever read it once because I was never quite ready to return to it. Kendall is kidnapped and tortured for days by someone associated with Hawk (I think??) so it def treads into AU territory because it's nowhere near the lighthearted, goofy feel of the showverse rivalry between Hawk and Rocque Records. Feeling like the police aren't doing all they can to find Kendall, the remaining three boys steal Mrs. Knight's car and take off in search of Kendall.

Like I said, I haven't reread it because it was a tough read, but I remember it being well-written and rambling at length about it to a family member.

And that's where I'll leave it for now! If anyone checks any of these out, I'd love to hear thoughts (my ask box is always open). I also welcome your own fic suggestions, since I really haven't ventured back into the BTR fanfic world yet. Also, thanks to everyone who read the fic I posted the other day!

[wangxianficrecs]

💙 Return to Sender by Thesaurus_with_no_words

💙 Return to Sender

by Thesaurus_with_no_words

M, WIP, 72k, Wangxian

Summary: On yet another gray and eerie morning in the Burial Mounds, Wei Wuxian wakes up with his golden core back. It turns out he lost something else in the process. (Aka: Wei Wuxian's feelings towards certain people get erased. It changes things. Is it a curse, or a blessing in disguise? And can Wei Wuxian trust himself, his choices and his priorities, after losing a defining part of who he is?) Kay's comments: You know how some people in MDZS are really lucky that Wei Wuxian likes them? Yeah, so this story erases his memories of how he feels about people and gives him back his golden core during the Burial Mounds arc. It's because Jiang Cheng got himself cursed, because he insulted a deity and Wei Wuxian and said that he owed nothing to Wei Wuxian, so the deity decided to take all things that Wei Wuxian gave him: his golden core, his loyalty, his love and even the sword forms he had taught to the disciples. It's really fascinating to see how it all affects things and I love how this story portrays Wei Wuxian's relationship with the Wen remnants and the Wen siblings in particular. Excerpt: When he has finally worked some moisture back into his dry mouth, he asks, voice faint, "Who did I give it to?" The question earns him a long, assessing look. It makes his skin prickle. Finally, Wen Qing sinks down on the stool across from him, shoulders slumping as she drags a hand over her face. She sits quietly for a moment, elbow supported on her knee and forehead resting against her palm. Her expression is further hidden by the shadows of her hair. "You do not remember Jiang Wanyin." It's a statement, not a question. Wei Wuxian can't read what her tone of voice means, so he ignores it, focusing instead on turning the name over in his mind. He tilts his head and mouths it carefully, tasting the syllables. "Jiang Wanyin," He echoes, eyes narrowing thoughtfully, like he’s inspecting a freshly picked river stone for sharp edges. "Jiang… Cheng? Ah, I think I had a shidi by that name?" A thin thread starts unspooling, leading him fumbling towards faded recollections, like an old mirror splintered into shards. Lotus flowers. A bustling market town. The glint of fish scales as they turn in the water surface. Sunburns on his shoulders and nose. Kites hanging high on a summer bright blue sky. Wei Wuxian licks his lips, tasting phantom spice. "Yea, he was my shidi, back when I was still a part of the Yunmeng-Jiang sect." Wen Qing’s head snaps up, dark eyes searching his, "What else?" After pondering for a moment, Wei Wuxian can only say, "He was the sect leader's son. Quite the hothead. Later he became the new, and current, sect leader." "You remember that, but not your relationship?" Wen Qing probes.

pov wei wuxian, canon divergence, golden core transfer fix-it, kinda, bamf wei wuxian, lan wangji/wei wuxian get a happy ending, somebody lives/not everybody dies, burial mounds settlement days, not jiang cheng friendly, temporary amnesia, partial memory loss, literal emotional manipulation, unrealiable narrator, slow burn

~*~

(Please REBLOG as a signal boost for this hard-working author if you like – or think others might like – this story.)

[seijitheclown]

As I just hate it to sit on my hands regardings this... I vented on twitter already but here are a few thoughts on the current chapter (251).

Spoilers ahead, I only use old panels if referencing to something. Also i can't read japanese I only got bits here and there and I'm waiting on my copy from animate to get crushed by the chapter irl.

First of all I just came back to this panel not even 2 weeks ago as I was redrawing panels and I only then noticed this is Bookman. I was certain it is our Bookman but right now I am not sure if its truly him or someone else (but I am sure it's someone from Zeugle/Zoogle however you spell it, I would favor "Zeugle" btw as "Zeuge" is "Witness" in german, that would kinda make sense with the role of the clan in the history).

As we learn past!Allen and Bookman Jr. aren't the same person, nope. And the coat here is super similar to the one Bookman Jr. wears it even could be him just with beard, though I doubt that somehow.

What I am sure about is that we all fell for the fact we all tought the person in the flashback panels is ... past!Allen and we all thought the guy with the glasses is him. But it was Bookman Jr. all along. All the HCs we (and I mean ME) had are null and void as surprise surpise our PastA boy is someone completely different. I don't think the person asking Nea to use him is Allen. It's Junior.

Why? Because there are two key scenes Allen can remember and it's these two (both Volume 27) :

Being hold by someone who clearly 'loved' or 'cared' for him. With the current knowledge this is Allen who is embraced by Junior.

Then the second memory he still has is this one:

Which is Nea asking him what's his name is.

These are the true key elements from Allen's past with Nea/Junior we got until now, if I didn't miss a moment; as the other are clearly Junior/Nea and not Past!Allen/Nea.

To be honest I think by now that Past!Allen was indeed a random street rat with no manners, no future and nobody whom cared for him, exactly the person Mother described as she asked Cross if he would have prefered someone like that over the child he had found as host. Nea most likely found him and kind of befriended him ..? Something between them happened that Allen decided "Yes I want to host your memories" and I stay with my HC that pastA shared the same mindset as Red: he's nothing worth and better off dead/aka if his life can be of use he would go for it and if that means offering himself to keep Nea alive somehow then it's that.

And the scene between Junior/Allen .. I think it's Junior trying to protect Allen from Aprocryphos. I suspect it was him who killed Junior ... at one point he got Allen and infused him with Innocence. I think with the emotions Red still felt back then/the fact Allen remembers this as one of his ealiest memories means that he had a bond with Junior, something quite deep. There still could be the possibility that Allen forgot everything by himself because he was in denial, Amnesia after traumatic events is a thing... though we know Apocryphos likes to mess with memories.

Another thing: I don't think Bookman Jr. is Cross. Yes, Cross' mask has the same marking as Junior's scar, but why should the Bookman say the body was never to be found because ... the current Bookman knows Cross and he would have recognized his old apprentice, why should the Noah reference that and why should Bookman react to that at all? Sweating like they got his weak point as they target Lavi? And Cross would have known Allen as they have traveled together, at least partially. Also the others from Zeugle clearly implied that they were rescued last minute by Lavi being born, Cross is pretty much alive (or is he...? ) and their blood bond would have told them.

A very wild theory that came to my mind is that past!Junior = Lavi. Apocryphos fucked up Allen, why not Junior as well? Could be that - whatever happened - BOTH were regressed. I mean we don't know what's under Lavi's eyepatch and we know Bookman have a thing going on with blood/being related to each other. (Heck Lucia looks like Junior with a Haircut but she also looks similar to Allen ???)

I could be wrong with everything and I usually don't share any theories but damn I have so much about this in my head and I have to digest the fact we didn't get a crumb right about pastA not even what he looked like and my whole ass epos fic and the character I built up is just 100% wrong and urgh. I had started on two more fics last year I will completely scrap. Not to mention the Cosplay and the Fandoll I made of him... sigh, I don't think I will continue doing the Fanon Variant as Cosplay, about the doll... he's still a Character in my AU and he is my absolute fav among the dolls, it hurts my soul. I feel like my non existent fave got killed off.

This is more vent than anything else, just ignore me.

If you read this far, here is the two sketches I did yesterday after trying to digest the first impression:

Partially done without reference and during a super messed up day.

So eh. Do with this whatever you want I don't actually expect someone to even read this. I'm not truly in for discussing stuff I just want to scream into the void.

[mobius-m-mobius]

a mr tesseract thought: the tva has so many infinity stones… just sitting there… they might not notice a handful of paperweights go missing

Anon you've got my full attention 👀👀

Absolutely living for all the renewed Mr. Tesseract theories and origin stores going around because he's just too perfect to continue the current story!?? I'd always pictured a Mobius variant eventually entering the picture, having succumbed to the power of the Tesseract after needing to save Loki in some way but never in a million years imagined before now that *our* Mobius could end up in that exact situation...

Plus tbh I almost feel Loki going about their self-sacrifice in such an isolated way, reliving all those centuries determined to find a solution without involving anyone else, had an obviously noble goal but a means in such a misguided way which has almost ensured Mobius will do something similar.

Mobius isn't okay. He's on a timeline that can never be his (partially to escape the memories of Loki by his side everywhere he looks in the TVA and hopefully so that back in the flow of time Loki can at least see him again as some form of company still), looking at a life I think he greatly admires but wouldn't personally want even given the choice, and seemingly the only one left directionless and without purpose with Loki being gone.

It wouldn't be a stretch to think loneliness would turn to frustration (because he's done nothing but repress *everything* in the past and deserves to finally burst and be angry and figure out how to express his emotions), confusion, and finally desperation at the thought he might be the only one who cares enough to burn things to the ground in an attempt to either find Loki again or bring him home. I've been headcanoning that similar to Loki in the last episode, Mobius will start putting himself more and more at risk searching for a solution and cut everyone at the TVA off while doing so to keep them from worrying about what he's getting involved in and stop him, which of course eventually leads right to the Tesseract as potentially one of the only methods left of traveling to what I assume is the end of time or somewhere similar.

Bonus points if Loki is watching every moment, unable to do a thing as the Mobius he knows slips further and further away while experimenting with the Tesseract until finally he can't see him on the timeline at all anymore, and as he mourns a crackle of blue energy opens nearby. Loki immediately realizes what's happened and calls desperately for Mobius, but when the figure who exits steps closer he's all cold, hard lines and an blank, electric blue stare. Temporary amnesia v4.0 let's go but make it even more angsty this time 😂😅 Eventually the Power of Love™ wins out of course but that's pretty much my dream arc for now!