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sanstropfremir · 4 years ago

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the hotly anticipated kingdom episode 7 review is here!!

this episode was a lot less spectacle-y than the last one (the last episode with stages, i mean), and i think that was a good choice for all the groups on the whole to tone it down on the run up to the finale, because at the rate everyone was headed there would be no room to go any higher. i'm very glad that there was actually a collab stage and not just a song swap, especially because it gives a chance for the boys to work together and make friends when they otherwise arent going to be able to interact much. love love love to see them making friends and having fun doing these stages!

i'm not really sure why mnet didnt put the vocal stage this episode, because what on earth else are they going to put in the next episode with it??? i know it's a content stretch but still, it seems like a weird choice to me. anyways, there’s four stages for me to talk about this time and i'm going to try to not ramble out of control, but we’ll see. i did enjoy watching all of these, but we’ve all got favourites and i'm going to rank by which group i liked better out of the two for each stage, and then i put a few conclusions at the end. strap in folks this is another long one.

rap stages

skz + btob + atz

i was actually really surprised at how much i liked this stage. i would not classify myself as a rap fan and believe it or not i actually do not place a lot of importance on lyrics when enjoying music. although i have very high lyric retention and comprehension, i focus more on the sound than the literal words, so a fair amount of rap is swing-and-a-miss in my personal listening. plus when you add a language barrier on top of that, a lot of the nuance and technical skill of it just flies over my head. so i really dont have much to say about the sonic elements this time around, sorry. also.....i know i joked that nobody from the kingdom staff is reading my reviews.....but is someone from the kingdom staff reading my reviews????? i specifically mentioned that i think skz should do an art themed stage and then we got one????? i know i manifested the punk ateez stage but did i manifest this also??? am i just that powerful???

costume

obviously these are pretty basic rap/hiphop stage looks, but the white was a really good choice for visibility’s sake, and also thematically: it reflects the colours in the lighting really well.

i am DYING to know who the designer of minhyuks jacket is. if somebody knows please tell me i love it so much. it looks like some of the recent belted jackets that dior was putting out, but the drawing on the front armscythe piece reminds me of the superm/kim junggi collab for tiger inside. say whatever you want about superm, but you cannot deny that that is not some of the coolest merch on the kpop scene.

loved the traditional korean elements that came through in addition to the western references: the screens, hongjoong’s fan, minhyuk’s big fuckoff brush, the masks, and the sleeves on the dancers at minhyuk’s bit. those are a costume feature from a style of korean traditional masked dance called bongsan talchum. the masks themselves are versions of hahoetal masks, which are used in a very specific archetypal ritual dance in andong. i think these are imae masks, who is the servant/fool archetype that mocks the nobleman and the scholar. i suspect that was a deliberate choice, but i can only speculate.

another point about the masks which is not relevant but maybe a fun fact for people who don’t know. i actually thought at first that they were western theatre half masks, which are a very old style of mask that, like with hahoetal masks, represent a number of archetypes/stock characters. maskwork is a very common training practice in theatre schools, because it teaches body language and control, because half your face is covered and you cannot speak in your own voice (sometimes you cannot speak at all, this is one of the rules of full mask). the tradition of usings masks to portray emotion goes all the way back to the ancient greek chorus, but more commonly people in the west sometimes know it from the italian commedia dell’arte, of which you will have definitely seen some of the character archetypes before. i just find it neat that the same types of art pop up in different places seemingly independently of each other. humans are cool.

set

not much to say here, it's pretty bare with just some propwork. thought the screen use was fun and they used it smartly in a couple of transitions.

thought changbin’s bit of ‘interrupting’ the artists was cute and fun. there’s obviously a picasso reference there, and the four technicolour paintings are a reference to andy warhol’s pop art silkscreen portraits, most famously of marilyn monroe, but he also did many other celebrities in the 70s and 80s.

lighting

i LOVED this lighting. super bright and fun, lots of use of colour, obviously. the projections were there to enhance the visuals and weren’t distracting in any way. i thought the transition to black and white/ink with minhyuk was smart and had good contrast, it gave a strong rhythm to build back up to for the climax.

sound

bang chan’s ‘spelling colour with a u’ bit had me SCREAMING with laughter. we spell colour with a u normally bang chan, the americans are the ones that are wrong.

staging

i don’t really have a whole lot to say here, it was pretty straightforward and fun. like i’ve said in previous reviews, i wish they were more conscious of the steadicam direction and would stop showing extended bits of the production crew. at least everyone was wearing full blacks this time.

fun use of the upward angle combined with the groundwork/leg choreo during hongjoong’s verse, that was a highlight for me.

sf9 + tbz + ikon

nothing against this stage, the other one just hit harder for me. bobby is the best rapper on the show and he really carried this stage with his charisma. he’s a fun performer to watch and he knows how to command a space. i'm sure there’s technical notes that people have about the raps themselves, but i'm here looking at visuals as a priority, which i'm sure you’ve all grasped at this point.

costume

these were clearly extensions of these idol’s personal styles, with is a perfectly fine choice, especially for a rap stage where the emphasis is more on authorship. LOVED bobby’s 11yro girl at recess look.

amusing that both rap stages involved paint in some way? loved the backup dancers shooting supersoakers filled with paint at them, but i wish i knew the reason for it? i'm glad i saw this stage first because i would have been underwhelmed by the paint throwing if i had seen this after rainbow bonanza.

set

almost no set at all here, just a few props. i'm not judging as harshly on lack of set this round because these stages are meant to be more about skill than anything else.

lighting

i loved the projections, i thought they were unobtrusive and i admit, i LOVE outer space themed anything.

i liked that they did more concert lighting and had no projections in the first half to put more focus on the performers, it really highlighted the fact that this stage was about them, and not about anything extraneous.

sound

it was indeed a song.

staging

i do wish there had been a bit more control of the space, because it did look very empty at some parts and they could have staved that off by keeping tighter camera shots. this stage is so fucking big, holy shit.

they really brought their onstage chemistry and they looked like they were having a blast, which FINALLY!!

i actually really liked hwiyoung’s opening, i think there was a lot of potential there for some sharp contrast work that i wish had been played through a little more, especially with the cool white light overtop the black costumes. it actually reminded me a bit of the intro in the music video from a rapper i do actually listen to, bewhy’s gottasadae.

glad to see some more use of camera effects with the black and white, but why did they do it over the paint throwing? it just made the trajectory of the paint invisible because there was no colour contrast.

performance stages

sf9 + tbz + ikon

ok obviously im gonna have a lot more to say about the performance stages, nobody is surprised there. this one was the better constructed of the two and my personal pick for better stage, but i actually liked watching the both of them equally.

costume

king shit, literally. we love contemporary hanbok in this house. there was good colour and style distinction between the three of them without clashing.

costume change was fun and neatly blocked, it's pretty common to see backup dancers and chorus hiding quickchanges but i liked how this was a more unusual formation.

taeyang rocking the organza skirt and the big purple eyeshadow, thank you for keeping it cunty as always.

i really liked juyeon’s underlayer look. finally we get a good tbz costume look thats thematically relevant!

set

like all the stages this round, pretty minimal. the setting was almost entirely established through the costumes and the projections, which is some really good designwork. it's pretty much just the litters (the lifted chairs they entered on), and some smaller props. they managed to not make the stage feel empty because there was a lot of projection visuals to compensate, which is difficult to do without being overbearing, but i think they mostly pulled it off.

i originally thought it was gonna be weird to try and mesh the traditional korean architectural aesthetic with the weird mnet deco, but i ended up not noticing it as much as i thought i would.

lighting

like i just said, projections very well done and do a fantastic job of conveying setting without being overly distracting. like with the atz/skz/btob rap stage there’s a really broad range of colour use here that they offset by brightening and properly fill lighting the faces so you can actually see what’s happening.

the use of the strobing lasers and more concert style lighting fit really well with the change in the music from traditional instrument sounds to electronica and the more hiphop/isolated movements.

sound

i liked it well enough! i think it had a good arc that we can see echoed through the rest of the piece, like previously stated in the lighting and movement style.

staging

like i mentioned with the quickchange, there was some really interesting formations using the backup dancers here, especially as a lead toward/away from the camera

having the three of them enter on litters; again, literal king shit, love to see it.

this has a pretty clear narrative that doesnt really need an external explanation, which is good. i have to assume that the burning of the paper with 妃 (concubine) is intended to be a gesture of ‘burning’ the love out of their hearts, but that was the only thing i'm still confused on. this may very well turn out to be a reference to a specific story that i just have no idea what it is, but we’ll see once the subs are out!

i loved juyeons solo bit with the alcohol drinking and the table flip, that was the choreographic highlight for me. i just really wish he would use the other muscles in his face more often. we know youre pretty, you dont have to blue steel your way through all your performances!! take a page out of donghyuk’s book and make some ugly faces, it's good for you!!

i though taeyang’s swordwork was fine, but since i do actually have a decade of sword training i'm very judgemental. it's not bad, he obviously has practiced with the weapon and he knows how to control it, but he doesn’t have the same understanding as someone who has trained with a sword as a weapon and not just as a prop. if we hadn’t seen another stage with swordwork in it i probably wouldn’t have brought this up (that's a lie, i still would have brought it up, i have a third dan), but you can really see the difference between how minhyuk moves with his sword and how taeyang moves. a lot of this has to do with the proper weighting of the blade, which i mention briefly in my second episode review in btob’s section (and also this ask here, where i talk about properly weighted weapons in relation to the gun choreo in sf9’s and ateez’s previous stages); minhyuk is likely using a ‘real’ sword (it’s blunted but still made using proper methods and materials), and taeyang is using a cheaper-made replica (unless you’re doing full contact striking a LOT there’s no way a properly made blade breaks like that. also you would never tape it together hello??? respect the blade). if you know what you’re looking for, you can tell from the movements themselves when someone has training. minhyuk did a load of real training for a film where he was a swordsman, and you can tell; the sword is an extension of his arm, all the movements lead with the tip of the blade first, because that’s your first, your fastest, and your most dangerous point. you do 90% of your cutting with the first eight inches of blade, but it takes a lot of specific training to get your hands and arms to a place where that kind of movement is possible. taeyang’s movements are driven from his hands, which is unsurprising, because that’s where he’s used to his extensions stopping. the tip follows rather than leads. wow this got insanely sidetracked i hope you liked this crash course on swordwork.

this is pretty much what i expected to see from this unit. these three groups all have standout soloists, so i wasn’t surprised to see these three boys as the picks. juyeon and taeyang especially, theyre both from groups that are more likely to do experimental stages and choreography that highlights them as soloists and skilled dancers.

skz + btob + atz

this was a letdown from ateez’s last two stages, because they knocked those out of the park, but it's only fair that they have a bit of a fall. that being said, i did really enjoy watching this for its sheer ridiculousness; i’m forgiving the wolf concept this time because well, it’s wolf. you can't cover wolf and not do a wolf concept, that’s against the law. also, like i’ve said before, i'm all for dark concepts IF you give them thematic weight. is it on the nose? yes. is it thematically relevant? also yes. is it dumb? also also yes, but that’s never stopped a single kpop group in the history of ever.

costume

friendship restored with ateez stylists, rivalry started with skz stylists. the fur shoulder fluffs??? stupid and i love them. perfect in every way. however i keep seeing the same fucking costumes on the skz boys and i will come directly for the stylists at jype if they dont get their shit together. be! more! creative!!!

i really really wish they had gone more 2013 kpop with it, we need more of that ugly ridiculous styling. peniel was actually pretty close, with the overly long tunic and those yellow lenses. very vixx on and on (yes i know they were vampires from outer space, let me live)

i actually thought the wolf gloves were fun? the small bits of uv paint actually worked instead of looking out of place, and i'm glad they put them on wooyoung because the uglier an outfit, the better he pulls it off.

set

same dice, just the long table and the camo net at the beginning, which i thought was unnecessary. the table was useful for levels though, so happy to see they utilized that.

lighting

there is so much happening all the time. lots of lasers. it's definitely aiming for camp territory, and i dont actually hate it as much as i did on my first watch. it actually wasn’t as dark as i thought either, because its mostly lit with blue and amber. but it doesn’t really have that great of an arc and its not really that good on the whole.

the projections are a bit much for me, but that’s only when i'm actually looking at them. true to form, i didn’t even notice the excess of red slashes until like my fourth rewatch because i was too busy watching the performers.

sound

rookie exo my beloved. the original wolf goes so hard for absolutely no reason, so i’m not knocking this stage for being ridiculous. in fact it should have been more ridiculous. i think they did a fine job updating the song for a.....less 2013 sound.

i like that they didn’t bother to live sing the stage even though they recorded vocals for it, it gave them all a chance to actually focus on just the dance.

that being said, i am kind of missing all the adlibs from the original. but even though there’s some strong vocalists in this unit, they aren’t made of the same stuff as baekhyun, luhan, chen, AND d.o.

i literally just realized that peniel had already debuted when this song came out AND is technically exo’s senior because btob debuted like two weeks before exo officially did.....oh no

staging

choreographically this feels a lot more like the skz stages that we’ve seen rather than the ateez ones, so i'm curious as to who the choreographer was.

the tricking was definitely more ridiculous in this one, but i can't really say any of it was there for no reason because it all had elements of fighting in it. the scale of the tricks was quite large though and not very well blended with the rest of the choreo, which ending up making them look awkward. i thought it was a nice detail that they shone a green toplight on the dancers that made up the cliff wooyoung climbed up so that it looked like there was grass on it. cute.

the blocking is lacking a lot of fluidity, and i think that’s partially the scale of the tricking and also the editing, because this editing is TERRIBLE. there’s so much cutting, why is there so much cutting!! haven’t we already learned that longtakes are the best for this???

there’s a lot of stuff here that had good potential but could have been pushed a little farther. i feel like i say this for every mediocre stage, but what can i say, i'm good at constructive criticism.

they should have given more showcase to the tree and the scratching arms; it's the most iconic move!! i also wish they had kept some kind of iteration of the different unit ‘leaping’ in over the exiting one, i always thought that part of the original choreo was really fun and did a lot for establishing them as wolves.

i LOVED peniel entering with all those backup dancers in chains, thats some fucking iconic shit. very ‘im the alpha wolf,’ which is valid because he’s like at LEAST five years older than everyone else on the stage. i wish that instead of being the backup dancers it was the actual members, because THAT would have been an image. theyre all wearing harnesses and collars anyways, just clip em in! he’d be like one of those dogwalkers!

me last week: specifically talking about how krump is an uncommon style in kpop and it's very hard to get right kingdom, throwing the manifesting dodgeball at me for the third time: here would you like a KRUMP SOLO?

if you didnt believe me before that krump is hard to get right, i sure hope you do now. peniel did fine, but you can see how easily you can veer off into looking ridiculous.

some conclusions

i mentioned this really briefly in an ask i got earlier today, but i do think it's important to establish that the two performance units are doing two different types of performances. i can understand why people are underwhelmed by the atz/skz/btob stage and wanted it to be less of a traditional kpop dance stage and more like the experimental stages we’ve been seeing for the last few weeks. and i agree! i think they could have done more with it. but i also think that this kind of stage was a good choice for this particular subunit. unlike with the sf9/tbz/ikon unit, there are not really any standout technical soloists in ateez or skz. ateez has, in my opinion, the highest ratio of dancers with actual stage presence of any of the 4th gen groups ive seen. they’re at a solid 75% for any given performance, and occasionally they can bump that higher depending on the stage. that high of a stat is rare. it's extremely rare for a group to have all its members have good stage presence (i can think of like, maybe two or three?), and to get over 50% is pretty damn impressive. but ateez’s strength isn’t in how good they individually are as dancers, but it's in how well they work together. there’s a reason why they put FIVE of them in the performance unit. one of the first things i said about ateez to hanya is ‘i love wooyoung but he doesn’t stand out when he's not centre.’ which is for good reason!! he’s not supposed to! they all willingly give up centre and take it back when they need to, because they have that charisma. there’s a very cohesive push and pull to watching ateez that speaks to their strengths as performers. dancing in a group where you are all meant to be equal is a very different skill than just being a talented soloist. you have to understand what to prioritize in a different way. taemin dances differently with shinee that he does in his solo career, especially since they’ve been back. he understands when to step back; more often than not i find key to be the standout dancer in shinee choreo.

this is a very long winded way of saying that wolf was a good choice for them even though the stage didn’t turn out as well as it could have. also the fact that they made a cohesive performance at all, with a week of rehearsal and while working with essentially strangers is a feat and speaks to all of their skill at their job. performing in a group is a huge part of kpop, and they did call this the performance stage, and not the dance stage.

i'm not entirely sure on what the breakdown is on why each of the subunits were formed. i know the team sizes are extremely uneven, with sf9/tbz/ikon clocking in at 26 people and atz/skz/btob clocking in at 17 (i'm not counting changsub because he's not there and probably has a scheduling conflict), which is like, a whole extra group of difference. but atz/skz/btob utilizing their whole groups for each of the units (5/3/1 for performance, 1/3/1 for rap, and 1/1/1 for vocal, for 7/7/3 total), verses sf9/tbz/ikon only bringing out six people for these two stages and then six for the vocal stage is......weird? that's over half of their group number that’s not performing. i do think the groups brought out their standout performers and made smart choices with the stages but the balance still strikes me as odd. i do wish tbz had actually done some group choreo because they are very strong group performers and it would have been fun to watch.

ateez really played the long game here, good job boys. teaming up with the group who gets the highest fan votes AND the group with the strongest technical skills? i see you.

i think this is probably too wild of an assumption and is only based on circumstantial evidence but.....i think hongjoong might actually have a lot more creative sway than i previously thought. all the stages he’s been a part of have been very well designed, and i know he provided suggestions for the two ateez stages prior to this... i’m probably thinking too much.

ok you know what i know there were some other points in my brain somewhere but this is already 4000 words so i’m going to stop. if i remember anything else its probably gonna end up in the answer to some of the asks i’m inevitably going to get because i think my opinions on these ones are a little bit more controversial, whoops!

not entirely sure if ill do an extensive review for next week’s stage, because i'm not really a ballad fan and i dont really do vocal reviews, but i could do a quick one. i guess it also depends on what else they put in the episode. we’ll see!!

#kingdom #kingdom review #ateez #btob #stray kids #the boyz #sf9 #kpop analysis #if you read this i hope you like fun facts about theatre and swords!#despite having never seen me hanya managed to clock that hongjoong and i are extremely similar #so that might be why ive jumped to this nonsensical conclusion #also tbh i do have an opinion on why the unit breakdowns are like that but its mean so i will keep it to myself #ok im done now #i patiently await my asks #text #lol forgot to tag #ikon

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godsofhumanity · 4 years ago

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ATHENA COMPLEX (WEBTOON) | REVIEW

aight so i’m sure a lot of people have heard about this comic available on webtoon.. i think it’s getting popular again because it’s just come back after being on break for like 3 years lol,, anyways @greekschist recommended this webtoon to me, and now that i’ve finished season 1, i’m here to share my two cents about it :D

OVERVIEW: Suffering from heartbreak after being rejected by Poseidon, goddess of wisdom, Athena, becomes human to seek revenge... but as a high school boy. There she plots to befriend Poseidon’s reincarnation, Adrian, who doesn’t have the slightest clue about the world of the gods. But will her sweet vengeance be thwarted by other opposing forces, or will her own one-sided love hinder her plans?

RATING: 4/10. it’s a little bit weird,, plenty of creative license used in here. if you like cheesy “rom-com” with a dash of heartbreak and trauma, then this is probably the comic for you <3

AVAILABLE ON: webtoon

spoilers undercut!

THINGS I LIKED:

- character designs!!!!!!! i didn’t like everything, but Poseidon’s design was really awesome.. the blue and gold palette worked wonderfully for him. i also like Metis’, Iolo’s, and Ares’ designs ^-^

- cliffhangers. i think something this webtoon does really well is leaving cliffhangers.. little bits of information are very slowly revealed, but without just giving it to the reader in one go.. i think this helps draw the reader in.

- the art. the opening panels that appear to look like gold, resembling depictions of mythology commonly observed on ancient greek pottery are done so well!!! really breathtaking to see.

- fighting scene are also done marvellously,, even if at times i felt the plot was a little wishy-washy, i continued to read just to see the fighting panels because they’re so gorgeous to look at <3

- interesting take on the original mythology. i really like the idea that Gaia curses all the gods because she’s sick of their fighting and can’t take it anymore. i also liked the way the idea of Athena being the prophesised child was dealt with- it’s something i think about a lot, like, what if Athena actually did have a brother who took over from Zeus.. it’s interesting to think about.

- relating to the previous point, i think it’s a cool idea that perhaps the prophecy will still come true- even though Athena is a girl, and the prophecy tells of a male child, Athena goes around parading as a boy on Earth, so in a sense, the prophecy is still being fulfilled, and that’s pretty clever to me.

- Ares!!!!!!!!!!! i know he’s meant to be a piece of shit, but i really like his character arc,, and i mostly continued to read season 1 because i wanted to know what was happening with Dogres.

- the way that no character seems to be painted in black and white- there is no “absoluteness” in this story- no one’s right and no one’s wrong, there’s just perspectives and experiences. i think it’s easy in mythology to just point fingers, but this webtoon avoids doing that, and i really liked that even the worst of the bullies still have sides that might appeal to the audience.

- Adrian being aware of his water blessing.. manifesting Poseidon’s horse and completely bashing those two hunters of Artemis were probably my favourite scenes.. the art for the action scene is done sooo well

- Ares debut panel where he emerges in a tornado of fire,,, we get it Ares

- Apollo healing Shawn. finally some good fucking news

THINGS THAT I DIDN’T LIKE:

- Athena’s whole motivation. it seemed to me from chapter one itself that Poseidon has only ever approached Athena from a fatherly, or brotherly perspective. it’s fine to feel admiration for people, especially older people, who have become father-like figures,, but the way she’s thrown such a massive temper tantrum just because he said that he didn’t return her love in the way she wanted it... idk... seems awfully spoiled of her (and i’m glad Poseidon said no).

- - the way that Poseidon looks so godly, and then Zeus looks like blonde nagito komaeda.... i am NOT a fan.

- adding to the previous- Apollo’s design.. people in the webtoon comments were like “apollo senpai notice me” but he looks so average,,,, idk,, i just don’t get it..

- Nike... she’s kind of annoying,,, and she keeps on changing her mind about what she thinks is good for Athena and idk,, probably the top character that gets on my nerves

- the whole plot where Athena was like “oh sibyl i’m actually only talking to adrian because i like you~”... it felt unnecessary and also weird,, especially the episode where she comes home and nike is like “what’s wrong?” and iolo tells her that “Athena has never taken advantage of a human before”... why start now, Athena?????????

- Athena’s muscular design,,, literally NONE of the other titans are depicted with as much muscle as she is so i just don’t quite understand where it came from?? also Poseidon saying “oh i don’t see you as a woman because you wear armour all the time” but like?????? what????? i know that’s the whole point, but i just... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

- Athena not even changing her name when she pretends to be human... why would you not just make it like “Athens” or “Athenian”...

- those two huntresses in the last few episodes of season 1 acting all “badass” and hunting down Adrian,, when in fact they were actually just bullies,, using magic on a literal child who has no idea wtf is going on...

- Artemis and Apollo being so cold to each other

- i hate the way Athena seems to be the only one who “cares” for humanity and even then,, she obviously doesn’t care enough because she’s plotting to absolutely demolish a small human child solely because he just happens to be Poseidon’s incarnation (through no fault of his own)

- i mean,,, how is it that there is NO ONE else who even moderately cares for humanity??? is this not a portrayal of the gods of humanity?

#anyways yeah that's my take #i'm probably not gonna read S2.. but yeah interesting.#athena complex #review #queuetzalcoatl

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averyscarlet-blog · 4 years ago

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Project Clypse

Hello there stranger! If you don’t know who I am, or you’re too lazy to read my name, I’m AveryScarlet! You can simply call me Avery or Av. And if you know me on fanfiction.net, mostly through my works Mercury Alchemist or Final Fantasy Versus XV, welcome! Now, for a while now, I’ve been wanting to write up my own original story. Issue with me, thanks to college in the past, I haven’t properly developed the mindset to write a full-blown novel. I’ve gotten so used to typing up a chapter or two in a month before publishing them that I can’t properly focus as an actual writer should.

As much as I want to focus on writing some of my fanfiction, I can’t because I’m focusing on studying for NCLEX. So if you’re waiting for the next chapter for FF Versus XV... It’s almost done! It’s just gonna take a while. But as you can see below, I’ve been working on something else. I’m sure you’re confused as to who these characters are in the chat and why I’m pushing so many out. Well. I’ll tell you. This is my way of practicing for a story I’ve been... REALLY wanting to write for a long time. It doesn’t have a definite name, so I’m calling it Project Clypse. Which partially comes from the group my main characters are in.

Now, I thought of writing up their character bio’s but..... I’m not really that good at it as I used to be. I used to for when I was active in RP’s but I’m so rusty that I doubt I can keep up with whomever I’m chatting with. So, I’m just summarizing certain details you need to know about them! Not all of it because that'd be spoiling the story of every character. Now, with all that’s said and done, let me start explaining key points of Project Clypse.

Premise/Background

The story is centered on a world called Avarus, which you can say is sort of like Earth, except it was made with someone else's version of life. Or, it used to be. Avarus is one of the few remaining worlds that has an active patron God, who has chosen to go under the alias Belial. The world was originally created and governed by another, Belial’s younger sister, Soleil. After Avarus’ creation, and the birth of man, she was killed by an unknown assailant. But before she died, she was cursed to experience an endless cycle of death and rebirth into various random worlds. She will live a short mortal life, then die from either natural or unnatural causes.

According to Belial, this curse is bestowed only to Celetials who have performed a dire sin. While there is no definite way to lift the curse, Belial hopes that by locating and retrieving her while she's still alive, or at the very least obtain her soul, then he could find the proper means to spare his sister of her cursed fate and return Avarus's true patron Goddess. Because of her demise, life on the planet started to decay. To prevent its destruction, Belial forced the planet to stop rotating, hoping to delay it long enough for him to find Soleil.

However, there were dire consequences to this act. His actions indirectly causing the world to cease rotating; time became non-existent as a result. This, inevitably, killed off most of the remaining life in the world due to the imbalance of the ecosystem as one half of the planet became stuck in perpetual darkness, and the other being dried up caused prolonged exposure to the sun's light.

The only life that Belial was able to salvage was her sisters creation; humanity. Those that survived after the planet ceased its rotation found themselves unable to age. They can still die, but their bodies will no longer decay. During the first Century since Soleil’s death, the God went through various countermeasures to keep the world and the life still inhabits it safe until he can find his sister.

However, a strange plague began to manifest. Soon, it began to devour most of the remaining populace, creating a dark entity in the process; the Astrals (will explain in a different section).

While Belial was successful in wiping out the infected, the God realized that he cannot keep the last remnants of humanity safe. Not while there are still Astrals lurking about. So he put them to sleep, sealed them in a place that only he knows. However, because of the sudden absence of time and life, the world began to deconstruct itself each time he departed in search for her in other worlds. Realizing he cannot manage Avarus and search for his sister at the same time, he found an alternative. Since his conception, he had noticed a peculiar type of living being popping up now and then in a variety of sentient species. So he sought them out.

Eventually, gathered enough to temporarily replace humanity and trick the world itself into thinking life still exists. At first, he gathered adults since he knew nothing can grow in Avarus once they’ve lived in the world for a certain period of time, but because of their attachments to the worlds they originated from, it was difficult to convince them to remain. Then he thought up of another solution, one which he knew his sister would frown upon. Children. With their young minds, they’ll easily forget their place of origin and can be easily trained in the necessary skill in traversing through different worlds. And, after learning that the Astrals have branched out to those said worlds, learn how to handle their sudden enemy.

Their goal is simple; to locate and, if possible, retrieve Soleil and eradicate the Astrals.

Main Characters

Note: Just in case you did not know... I. Cannot. Draw. As much as it pains me to do this, but I need you guys to have some sort of idea on how they look like. I cannot find the original artists of the artworks; mostly because google imaging is shit and Pinterest tends to... Send you elsewhere. So of you know the artist, please PM me so I can give them credit. If you know they don't want their works republished, I'll remove it and try to figure something out. I take no credit whatsoever on the art! I merely scoured the internet for any references I could use. If you're wondering why I'm not.using actual people... You know how awkward that is?

Anyway, much of these are concepts so expect changes in the future. I tried to discuss as little as possible about each character. And let me tell ya.... That was a lot I had to cut off, so if the explanation is a bit messy, that was from me trying to select what to remove to avoid revealing too much.

. . .

Sound

‘I have to be better. I have to be a better leader. I have to be a better lover. I have to be a better sibling. If I don’t... then I’ll lose everything again. If I must, I’ll sacrifice my identity for a third time if it means protecting them.’

Credits to: T0Q00(?) - Okay, on Pinterest it has the person’s name AND link to their twitter account. The thing is... it’s empty. Their entire page is empty. At least I found the artist’s name?

Also known as the Glutton King, Sound is one of the leaders of his faction, Tunera Clypse and a member of Mythral. He is a first generation Nors. While not as lazy as Noise, he’s not really a fan of getting involved in fights with people. When it comes to killing Astrals; that’s an entirely different story.

Outwardly, he displays laid back, playful, and very concerning outlandish behavior. And by outlandish, I mean his... eating habits. Sound likes to experiment with his stomach. He’ll do absolutely ANYTHING to eat whatever he deems as edible. He also - absolutely - lacks any sense of shame (ex. walking out of the shower and to his room without a towel, slapping Noise’s butt). Although limited to communicate via writing, he makes sure that every single thing he writes is worth reading. Many are even surprised at just how fast he writes his messages. Then again, after years of practice, it’s expected he’d adapt.

Sound is self-aware of the fact that he’s a fictional character and will randomly break the fourth wall, causing much confusion to his friends several times. While not as dark as his previous self, Fell, he maintains some of his views towards life and tends to be as vocal - via writing - of his previous self's beliefs.

As a Cursed Blood, his curse forces him to conceal his face behind a customized Fox Mask. Depending on the amount of facial skin that was exposed, a person can live up to several minutes to several hours before inflicted with sudden death. If a person were to see the entirety of his face, they will die on the spot from unknown causes. He has a Physical Curse as well, which causes him to inflict a certain degree bad-luck to whoever hears his voice. While it’s rarely anything life-threatening, Sound is forced to become selectively mute. Although he tries his best to remain silent, he tends to accidentally let it a few words or sounds slip. Which usually occurs when he sneezes, and when he does, it is immediately advised by his friends to duck and cover.

After undergoing the Ascension Ceremony, he joined the faction Tunera Clypse and then gave up his original name, becoming the next Sound. Unbeknownst to him, his actions later in life has caused him to unknowingly become the Vessel of Gluttony. It is unknown if his eating habits is the reason he became the vessel or it’s the other way around. Either way, he has shown to be fully capable of controlling the abilities that comes with being a Vessel. Sound merely chooses not to use them.

. . .

Ayane Koronashi

“If my brother had left the orphanage that day without me, I would simply smile. If Ulric presented me his latest girlfriend, I’d smile. Smiling is all I can ever do without being a nuisance. I could never show them my pain. I want to cry but my curse renders me incapable of doing so. But now it’s better. I’m better.”

Also known as the Black Fox. Ayane is the younger twin sister of Sound. Like her twin, she is also a member of Tunera Clypse and Mythral; as well as a first generation Nors. Despite being an active member, unless accompanied by her brother, Ayane is rarely allowed to participate in any scouting or combat-related missions. The main reason for this is her curse. While also a Cursed Blood like her brother and some of their friends, the unnatural causes that led to sudden conversion to a cursed blood caused her condition to be unstable. At the beginning, she was unable to retain her original form and would take the shape of a fox.

After some time and practice, she has learned to maintain most of her former human appearance, leaving only a pair of fox ears to replace her human ears and a tail (not by choice) as an extra ligament. Not only that, some of her internal organs remain similar to that of a fox. Because of this, she is unable to eat certain foods that are potentially poisonous to her (or generally unhealthy). She was told that eventually, if nothing is done, she will permanently take the complete form of a fox. She cannot surgically remove the fox parts as they will simply grow back.

Side-note: No, they did not try or plan to remove her fox ears. The curse replaced her human ears so they cannot remove them without indirectly making her deaf.

Her personality is the somewhat similar to Sound’s, but is far more excitable and outgoing than her brother. Just like a fox, she is clever and witty, which she demonstrates many times during combat. She has a tendencyto steal things without her knowledge. While this isn’t necessarily kleptomania, as objects appear in her hands at random, she still tries get over her childhood habit. She does have a tendency to be reckless, though this is stems from her need to be useful as her curse leaves her unable to perform all of the necessary abilities that is required of a Nors.

Another thing to know is her intense hatred towards cats. Which will be explored at a later time.

As a Cursed Blood, she can take the form of a fox. While the size varies, depending on her emotional state, she is commonly seen to change into the size similar to an elephant. If she performs multiple transformations, she will regress to a regular sized fox and sleep for an extensive period of time. She has been recommended to avoid constantly rely on her full fox form as it will hasten the progression of her curse.

After undergoing the Ascension Ceremony, she followed her brother and joined the same faction as him, but unlike him, did not join as a core member so she did not have to give up her original name. Because of the current state of her body caused by her Cursed Blood, her emotions has unknowingly lead her to become thenext Vessel of Envy.

. . .

Reihana Toelle Ur Kamaria

“Why was I born like this... what did I deserve to be cursed like this!? All I want is to hold someone without fearing I’ll crush them. I can’t be the receiver forever!”

Or Rei for short. Is a member of Mythral and is a second generation Nors. As a floater, Rei rotates between the three factions, but she usually works with Tunera Clypse. Known for her terrifying brute strength, Rei is feared by many and is challenged on a near daily basis. Because of her strength and seemingly indestructible nature, she is (much to her annoyance) sometimes used as a human shield. While she is able to take on an army by herself, Rei tries not to go all out in fear of accidentally killing her allies in the crossfire. In terms of mental maturity, aside from Xavier, she is slightly more competent and is level-headed enough to not participate in childish activities. Most of the time.

Rei prefers to ‘punch first, talk later’ when confronted, though the talking never happens as her opponents is either obliterated or immediately knocked out after one hit. While she can be aggressive at times, she merely acts out on this person's due to the rumors that were spread when word of her curse began to circulate. Those closest to her have witnessed her carefree and adventurous nature. She is also cautious and careful of her surroundings, becoming more thoughtful in the usage of her strength as a result.

As much as she loves the thrill and adrenaline that comes from combat, she prefers not to fight too often. Mostly because it usually leads to unnecessary mass destruction. She craves for proper physical contact, but due to her curse, she forces herself to avoid it as much as possible.

Being the physically oldest, next to Percy, she tends to act like the big sister of the group, which Rei has admitted she finds embarrassing. Still, she works hard in trying to act as moral support for her friends. That doesn’t stop her from losing her temper when a certain line is crossed.

As a Cursed Blood, she is cursed with immeasurable strength. Her strength doubles based on who or whatever is the strongest in a world that she sets foot in. That, of course, excludes Celestial’s as the strength of the divinity is almost non-existent. By default, back in Avarus, her usual strength is enough to crumble an entire building. In other worlds, it depends. To help control and regulate her strength during combat, she uses a large amount of Astral Dust to create form-fitting gauntlets around her lower arm. She was meant to become the Vessel of Wrath but was instead changed to be the candidate for the Vessel of Pride.

. . .

Perseus Vlahos

"I used to believe that being a hero will allow you to cement your place in history. But over time, I learned that the farther in time your name is shared in time, you become nothing more than a mere legend. Or worse, a myth. Stories can be altered, changed. If that’s the case, I’d rather not be remembered at all. I didn’t work this hard just to be written off as a bedtime story.”

Christened under the name ‘Percy the Naive’ by his best friend, later life-long rival, Wilhelm, he is the current wielder of the legendary sword; Excalibur, and member of Infernum Poncitator. Grandson of Rayner, Percy is one of the few third generation Nors in Avarus. He is a kind young man and is respected amongst his peers (well, most of them) and superiors, so much so that he has been offered the position of leader of the faction. Percy refuses as not only deems himself unworthy, but out of respect for those that have lived in Avarus longer.

He displays many the ideal traits of a knight, eventually becoming viewed as an ideal knight by others. However, deep down, Percy perceives himself as the opposite. He feels he is a dishonorable fraud and is not proud of his status as Excalibur's chosen wielder. If he was given a chance to do it over again, Percy would immediately abandon his decision never search and locate the sword.

After joining Avarus, in a short span of time, Percy was able to easily establish himself as a sort of leader figure within his faction. While serious most of the time, especially during missions, due to his time with other Nors, has displayed a degree of patience and tolerance towards whoever he is assigned. Still, he never forgets their main objective and takes charge if he deems the assigned leader incompetent. Which happens more times than he refuses to count. He tries to maintain a cool head, but will severely reprimand others if the situation calls for it.

Proficient in the ways of the sword, he garnered the attention of (the then Mongrel) Mitchell. He was very reluctant in taking in a squire. But eventually, Percy relented after the younger boy attempted to fight against an Astral and nearly lost his life. He plans to one day pass down Excalibur to Mitchell once he gains the strength to surpass Percy.

At the moment, Percy is the current Vessel of Wrath.

. . .

Noise (***** Rallus)

“I tried all of my life to give my dad a reason why he shouldn't be treating his body the way he did. I tried all of my life to keep my friend in line so I'd never have to be the one to discipline him. And yet... If only I didn't try so hard, they'd still be alive.”

Author’s Note: Yeah I... legit do not know who this belongs to. There’s the artist’s signature so that’s the good thing. Problem is....

After escaping from the confines of his original world, Eingesperrt City, and, with the help Sound, joined Avarus and assumed the title of Noise. Unlike others that were gathered in the past, Noise is a regular human being. Something only Sound knows. Regardless of the danger, he became one of the leaders for Tunera Clypse, later joining Mythral after adapting to his new lifestyle.

He wears one of the Artifacts in order to copy and use only one ability of his choosing. As long as a piece of original user is within the Artifact, Noise can use it for as long as he wants. However, if its been removed and replaced with something else, the previous copied ability cannot be used ever again.

Since his recruitment, Noise adopted an extremely lazy personality. He’s so lazy that somehow even snoring consumes too much energy. To make sure he’s awake most of the time, Sound forced Noise to set up a sleep schedule, so that when he’s ready, he has enough energy to do SOMETHING. However, no matter where he is, he’ll take every opportunity to take a nap. He doesn’t care. As long as he gets to close his eyes, Noise is fine to sleep wherever, even if it involves napping righ at the edge of a volcano.

He’ll get annoyed if anyone that dares try to wake him up and he’ll be in a fowl mood for the rest of the day. The only exception is the fox girl and his lover. Despite this, he displays a certain degree of kindness. It’s just really hard to tell if what he’s doing is truly an act of kindness or he’s just too lazy to do things such as delivering a ‘motivational speech’. He can be blunt when he has to be, and he tends to come off as a jackass rude because of his personality. However, this is his way of showing he cares. Noise will flat out tell you if he dislikes you.

Another thing to know about him is his crude sense of humor. Combined with his blunt and rude nature towards people, mostly acquaintances and strangers, it always leads to various... Misunderstandings. Worst case scenario? A fight. He'd improve if he could, but he won't.

Look, if you haven't figure out that he's lazy after reading all this, gooood luck.

For reasons unknown, despite becoming the next Vessel of Sloth, it remains dormant within him. They thought of extracting it to learn the causes that led up to its current dormant state, but Sound intervened in time as he knew that extracting it by force will kill the the vessel.

. . .

Michael/Raphael/Gabriel/Uriel/Saraqael/Raguel/Remiel/etc

‘Dragons are raised under the false pretense that they are the supreme species above all others. But that merely obscures the truth; the truth that we’re just as vulnerable as anyone else. There are various ways to kill aside from piercing our hearts with a spear.”

Author’s Note: Just so you know, HE’S BLONDE and has green eyes! This was the only option I have that closely resembles how I envisioned him! There was another because he gives off the same atmosphere when you look at him but... he’s from an otome game. And I only learned that recently so, if the same goes for this one? WELP. Oh and he has patches of dark brown scales on part of his skin.

Neither a Quietus Nors nor a resident of Avarus, Michael is a dragon. His version of his race if capable of transformation, but can only change into the form of the last creature they devoured. Whole. Rather than his true form, in order to remain working in Avarus, chose to work in the form of the former Prince of Edrakon, a world where dragons were enslaved and cruelly treated as mere objects. Despite his appearance not being his own, he maintains an intimidating and powerful aura, which is easily distinguishable even within a large crowd.

Due to the high esteem he holds towards his race and his pride as a Dragon, he can come off as domineering, even becoming critical towards other versions of his race if he finds something illogical or nonsensical in their appearance and their abilities. While he does act this way, he finds it absolutely disgusting to find dragons place themselves in a position of power and abuses their power in controlling another species. Another aspect of him is that he looks down on dragons with physical defects, which is mostly directly aimed as himself due to his extremely poor eyesight. Thus, forcing him to rely on his human form to watch glasses. He also has a very confusing naming system; where he changes his name based on the date, time and temperature.

Micheal held the potential required to become a Nors, but because of his age, he was unable to undergo the necessary steps to fully integrate into Avarus. While others are reluctant to have him join their ranks, several others, for different reasons, allowed him to remain. This eventually allowed others to accept his addition to the organization.

As the one in charge of organizing and handling most of Avarus’ internal affairs, a job the Nors, even the Ex-Anima/Animus, are reluctant in taking up such an important position; he takes his job very seriously. Although he does express some contempt towards humans, this does not extend to the people he works with. He cares about them to a certain degree, which is shown by he constantly reprimands whoever acts risky during a mission.

He is the current Vessel of Pride, something he only learns of later on. Despite the fact Micheal is a vessel, Belial believes this is only temporary. He isn’t particularly close with Belial, but he respects the God enough to follow his orders.

. . .

Ulric Soknawo

'In my tribe, I was considered an outcast. You can thank the unnatural union that birthed me. Now? It hasn’t changed much, but at least I’m no longer considered the runt of the pack.’

Whose other name is Kuckunniwi, is a former member of the Aniwaya Tribe. In their world, his people are Natives who worshipped a guardian Wolf Spirit. According to them, in return for their unyielding loyalty and devoted nature, it granted the people with the power to take the form of the spirit they have worshipped for many generations. So long as they use that power to protect the forest, it shall provide them protection. Ulric is the third, second youngest, illegitamate son of the Tribal chief Tamaska and grandson of Wolfram.

As per tradition, all tribesmen are given two names, one for their human form while the other is for their inner wolf. Despite being allowed to use either name like others of his tribe, he refuses to be use his wolf name due to the meaning behind it. After being discovered by Ayane, she brought and recruited him to Avarus. Ulric is considered to be a Third Generation Nors due the fact his father was (oddly) not born a Nors, or had to potential to be converted into one.

Ulric tends to act like the stereotypical lone-wolf, choosing to remain in solitude and observe from a distance. He likes to spend his quiet time alone, though he does allow others to sit next to him when asked. Many have pointed out that he never smiles, but, as much as he hates to quote Noise, states that if there is no reason to smile, there is no reason to put so much effort in abusing his facial muscles.

As much as he loves being a wolf, he finds certain aspects of his second nature to be... aggravating. Depending on the season and the weather, it deals a the effects his wolf instincts on his human nature. Because of the two separate natures continually clashing, he tends to act irritable and his temper worsens, especially during the night. Ulric holds a strong belief that one’s nature, regardless of your race, should never control a one's personal feelings.

He holds an unyielding loyalty to his loved ones, almost to the point of willing to kill for them if the situation calls for it, but his actions are subtle and tends to be the exact opposite of how he truly feels. Only two people in his life have been able to decipher his behavior, and he cherishes them for it. Ulric has a bit of a temper as well but is able to keep it in check. His temper, however, is what led him to becoming a Cursed Blood. His curse forces him to foresee the deaths of whomever he romantically falls in love (or at least feel an interest) with.

Any attempts at interfering will only hasten their death.

. . .

Xavier Wozwald Hawthorne

'Murderers are dumbasses, always killing because of their unchecked emotions and pented up desires. Hence why most of them clumsily try to hide their crime. Serial killers are more... sofisticated with their craft, but their ego always gets in the way. If they weren’t complete dumbasses, they would have lived a long comfortable life. I should know.’

Note: Yes, this is obviously Vflower. Did I know that before? No. Do I plan to change the art reference? Yes, but only when I find one that’s not a god dang real-life person’s online avatar. XD Seriously, each time I thought I found one... it’s an utaite or vtuber.

Is a member of Mythral and a First Generation Nors. Like Rei, he is a Floater, which allows him to particiate in mission for all three factions. However, he prefers to work with those in Tunera Clypse as, since they mostly handle scouting and recruiting missions. As long as he doesn’t remain in Avarus for too long, he's fine with accepting any mission related to Tunera. Xavier will still accept missions from other factions, but that's merely to fill up his quota.

Despite appearing around the age 12-14; which was not by choice, Xavier is in fact mentally older than most of his fellow Nors. Known for his sharp tongue, Xavier is one of the few known Nors to have been granted permission to travel outworld immediately after undergoing the Ascenscion Ceremony.

Due to the experiences his past life went through, Xavier has a very grim outlook of the world and displays little to no respect towards authority figures. And that includes his current patron God; Belial, which only worsens after being told by the God that he is unable to help Xavier grow into the appropriate intended size. Unlike most Nors, he displays a high degree of critical thinking and intelligent. He is, if not more, level-headed than one of his friends; Percy. Though that doesn’t stop the teasing. While confident in his abilities in terms of combat, Xavier knows the limits of his current smaller body.

In order to compensate, he creates an excessively large scythe as compensation, but he's too proud to admit this.

Because of his level of maturity, he has been labeled as a 'Midget Grandpa'. Which he fails at trying to prove otherwise by collecting certain tthings that are considered out of date by their standards. Eventually, it became a soft of hobby for him to collect such things.

Xavier tends to display a sadistic nature while in combat, choosing to taunt his opponent by constantly pointing our their obvious flaws deficits and toy with them until the last minute. Most times, he will use his child-like appearance to his advantage to further torment his opponent/victim. Comically enough, if his opponent is a cold-blooded criminal, Xavier will compliment and , depending on their actions, congratulate them; much to the annoyance of those involved.

Like Sound, he has both a Physical and Blood-based Curse, but unlike the latter, Xavier was born with both. His Physical Curse has caused severe permanent scarring on his right arm, making it appear similar to third degree burns. If freed from any type of coverage, such as bandages, his arm will painfully be set a blazed, forcing him to conceal his arm at all times. As a Cursed Blood, Xavier has a similar effect of a Siren, except his hypnotic singing forces someone to commit suicide. Every time he uses this curse, he temporarily falls into a coma.

. . .

Succu(bus) Kilmer

Like her name suggests, Succu is a succubus, but belongs to a different version of her species. Due to being a demon, she is forbidden to reveal her true name. Succu is neither a Nors nor a Cursed Blood. She’s more of an illegal immigrant after sneaking her way into a group of Nors when they were scouting for potential recruits. There have been many attempts in trying to relocate her back to her original world, but she is able to seduce her attackers and slip away. Eventually, Belial declared that she will be allowed to remain as a resident, so long as she contributes in their mission to locate Soleil.

While they do seduce those of the opposite sex, her source of food is not as grotesque as several others. She does seduce her victim, but moves her body in a way that her victims find alluring. Succu will then massage certain parts of their body as a means to relax them. To assure that they will not attempt to escape, she will release pheremones that nulls the victims senses. What she devours isn’t the flesh of her victim nor does she devour their soul, she merely devours the emotions she was able to invoke until her hunger is quenched.

Succu is flirtaceous and very... very.... VERY- Well, you get the point. While she doesn’t flaunt her beauty, she does know how to use it to her advantage. However, despite many approaching her, Succu has only eyes for one, and is willing to wait as long as possible for that person to reciprocate her feelings. Succu, although assertive and open with her feelings, is not the type to force them onto someone.

She does like to express herself by getting physical - very physical. Not the way that you’re thinking, you perverts. She finds it more convenient to allow her actions to talk rather than saying things verbally. Since she’s an outsider, she notices several things that not even Pery or Ulric have noticed, and both are outsiders as well considering the fact they grew up outworld before being recruited. Regardless, she remains silent for the sake of remaining by her beloved’s side.

Succu is often mistaken as the Vessel of Lust due to her nature, and, on her part, finds it’s tiresome to prove that she is not.

Side Characters

Tank Mortem

A former member of Tunera Clypse and Mythral, Tank has been assigned to act as one of the engineers in maintaining the Infernian Generator due to his body’s condition and the issues of his mental state. He seldom participates in missions but, despite being given strict orders not to, joins in anyway. Due to the limits of his mental capacity, Tank has difficulty interacting with others. Quite literally.

Beatrix Staccato

Is a researcher and inventor in charge of the tools and weaponry utilized by most Nors and Ex-Animus. Having taken over most of the unfinished projects since the passing of his master, Beatrix has dedicated all of his time in improving the welfare of the world and its inhabitants. However, most of his experiments tend to be a bit... over the top. If he’s not thinking of new potential products that may benefits the Nors, he’ll make whatever comes at the top of his head, and most of the time it’ll lead him to make the most outrageous and unnecessary items. Beatrix prefers to remain in his lab/home at all times, rendering his social interactions with the three factions to be limited via holographic meetings.

‘Nyx’ Pierrot

Leader of Vanidicus Persona, she is one of the oldest Nors - next to Constantine - making her the default leader of her faction. Much about her is a mystery. Even her behavior can be viewed as... questionable. Not outlandish, that’s Sound’s department. Her behavior is so odd that it’s enough to baffle even Belial. She takes her leadership over her faction very seriously, however, as part of her nature, the requirements in joining and maintaining your membership vastly deviates from the original. However, looks can be deceiving. Aside from her seniority, there is a reason why she was given the position of leader.

Mitchell Pierrot

He prefers to be called as ‘Mitch’ after being told, and proven, by his sister how much of a tongue twister his name is if repeated constantly in a single conversation. While he is the younger brother of Nyx, Mitch opted to become a submember of Tunera Clypse upon undergoing the Ascension Ceremony to be in the same faction as his mentor, Perseus Vlahos. Compared to the Nors in his batch, he is viewed as weak by many as he is unable to perform the abilities that is expected of him to develop after becoming a Nors.

Constantine L. Refrain

Nothing is truly known about him except that he’s a chronic smoker. Nobody truly knows who he is, no one even knows which faction he belongs to. It’s nearly impossible to question these things as he is constantly surrounded by a shroud of - barely tolerable - smoke. All that is known is that he’s been around longer than most of the Ex-Animus. Constantine usually frequints the Silent Siren Bar, staying there for hours until he’s either drunk or needs to receive another pack of cigarretes from Beatrix. He says they’re for medicinal purposes buuuuut...

I’m pretty sure black smoke isn’t normal.

Stefan Mal Sorcier

Is Percy’s second pupil. Although, it was more like Percy was forced into taking in another after his continual refusal to become leader of Infernum Poncitator. Outwardly, he is aloof and always appears smiling, which unsettles Mitchell even when they’re alone. His politeness is found unusual by many and causes others to feel wary around him. Even the dragon finds himself is unable to remain in the same vicinity as the young man. Despite being full of many secrets, Percy accepts him as is and tries his best to teach him all he can, which Stefan appreciates.

Kyline Necro

Considered as the mascot ambassador of Avarus, like the soul that was fused with her upon birth, she mostly lounges around and has little participation in any missions in and out of Avarus. This has caused her to be disliked by many, most especially Ayane. The only person Kyline has gotten close to is Noise; mostly because they share the same favored sleeping spot. On a side, she acts a physician, or surgeon if you like to get technical. She has a strange fondness of picking apart and replacing specific limbs with doll parts.

Yu-Yan Chi Ryou

Was once one of the strongest Nors from Xavier’s batch until he was inflicted by an unknown disease during one of his missions. While there is no name for the disease, it has caused much of his bones to undergo crystallization; rendering him immobile due to the pain that comes from even the smallest of movements. Since he is incapable in participating in any activities, Yu-Yan has since been forced to be confined to a wheel chair for the rest of his life.

Anita Eine Kleine

Is the fighting instructor of the Mongrels and a member of Infernum Poncitator. Anita is a highly-skilled caster, able to conjure and manipulate various elements. She absolutely hates the term ‘witch’, even going as far as to cast a minor curse in making a person temporarily mute if they refer to her as one. Which Sound found rather offensive when he found out about the curse, something she deeply apologized for. She participates in some Scouting Missions but only if personally requested by someone from Tunera Clypse.

Victor Stein

Is Beatrix’s (only living) research assistant. He is the sole survivor of the Night of the Black Moon. Although having physically recovered, the damage to his mental state has left a deep scar on his psyche. He fears yet obsesses over the sensation of pain. There is not one instance where he isn’t found sowing over his own intact skin. While Victor knows his addiction found uncomfortable by others, he finds it extremely difficult to control his urges.

Wolfram

Grandfather of Ulric and most of his siblings, he is an Ex-Anima (or retired Nors) and a former member of the original Mythral. As the more experienced and one of the longest surviving resident of Avarus, he acts as a mentor to those who seek his guidance. However, in terms of combat, his skills are very limited as he has become permanently stuck in his wolf form. The only grandchildren he's ever personally met are Ulric and Seeing, who have both ironically became his favorite. While acting as a mentor, he is rather strict, constantly parting lessons in order to make sure none make the same mistakes he committed when he was younger, many of which he refuses to share.

Diantha Anemone

Despite being still a Liberi, Dia still participates in many activities meant to be done only by Nors. She originally wanted to become a part of Tunera Clypse due to the many adventures imparted by Sound. But after having a first hand experience in one, it traumatized her to the point where she wants to merely work as a Librarian, a position many people avoid.

Echo & Yell

Fellow teammates of Sound and Noise. As part of the four heads leaders that overwatch many of Tunera Clypse's activities, both in and out of Avarus. They mostly take charge of delegating the members while the other two take an active role in leading many scouting missions off-world. Contradicting her name, like Sound and Noise, her personality is the completely opposite. Due to her sociophobia, she is extremely shy and is unable to speak when talked to, only whispering her sentences as she talks. Yell, however, is the only one whose personality fits the mantle she inherited. Due to her curse, she has to raise her voice after every two hours. If not, she will fall into a coma, and she can only be awaken by *************.

Important Figures

Belial

Credits to: @airtrees0507 (Again, another artist who... disappeared from the internet. How do I keep finding refrences where the artist is just gone?)

Is a Celestial and the younger brother of Soleil. However, despite his godly status, he does not have any of the expected gifts. Neither a god of creation, life, or death, he has been given the title God of Void by his peers. Because of this, he is incapable of maintaining Avarus by himself, forcing him to use alternative (and questionable) means in preserving the world his sister created. Like his title, Belial is unable to express emotions, giving blank demeanor. He does, however, hold some semblence of emotions within him. Yet despite this, he has little to no understanding of life, death and emotions. Even after centuries since he over his sister’s role as Patron God, he still has no understanding to all living things, almost to the point of coming off as insensitive and heartless.

Belial has a deep devotion to his sister, having gone through great lengths to make sure to maintain her world and willingly sacrifice the lives of many. Despite knowing her distaste towards such acts, he holds onto the hope of one day finding her.

Soleil

Credits: Um... Lucare Eu??? Sorry, I’m just basing it off the signature. Once again, can’t find the artist themself so...

The true patron goddess of Avarus and the older sister of Belial. Aside from her status as the original creator and caretaker of her world and the life that once flourished within it, not much is known about her. While her exact cause of death is unknown, she was cursed to live an endless cycle of death and rebirth in various worlds. In order to restore the world she created and loved dearly, Belial dedicated his life in searching for her soul and freeing her of her curse. As a Celestial, she was said to have chosen to take the form of her first ever creation and first mortal friend.

It is said that, despite having blessed with the gift of creation, she was known to be a lonely goddess. Those that new her describe as someone that’s physically there but is spiritually detached.

The Oracle

Is a title given to those with the ability to commune and guide the spirits to the Empyrean Plain, more specifically Avarus’ residences due to the absence of Soleil. The Oracle acts as the divine anchor on the world to aid Belial in prolonging the world’s existence. They are also the main source of Belial’s divine power; both of which are maintained through her prayers. The gender and species of the Oracle is non-specific, but it if preferred by Belial if they are humanoid and have the ability of speech for the sake of communication.

The current Oracle is Aniela Fischl, who, unlike her predecessors, is able to foresee various futures. She does so by carefully peeking through the leylines and selects various possibilities that solely benefit Avarus. No one is allowed to meet her except Belial and her assigned Seekers.

The Seekers

The guardians, caretaker, and acting medians between the Oracle and the residents of Avarus. Their duty is to ensure that the chosen Oracle remains within the Spiral Tower and that he/she fulfills their duty, even going as far as to grant their wish regardless of the consequenses. Each Seeker has only one desire, and that’s to protect the Oracle at all times.

Races

Liberi

Age Range: Birth or 5 to 10 years

Although that is the official term, ‘Mongrel’ is what they are commonly referred as. It is the used for the for the children taken to or born in Avarus. Mongrels spend most of their young lives training within the safe walls of the Aldebaran Academy. They are forbidden from leaving as, according to Belial, they are the extremely fragile during this point of their lives. Regardless of their age, depending on how well they’ve performed in training, they will be given the right of undergoing the Ascension Ceremony. Those who fail are xxxxxxxx xx.

Due to their young age, their behavior is more sporadic than that of a normal child. Their reflexes are enhanced, almost to the point where it becomes difficult to contain them. Mongrels lack common sense so they tend to act out without fully understanding the impact their actions have. While childish and friendly by nature, Travellers are advised to approach with caution. Those who act beyond the expected norm are called Prodigies.

Quietus Nors

Age Range: (Physically) 14-19, (Mentally) 10 or above

Or simply called, Nors. After their graduation, every Nors is immediately sent to work. Depending on the final results of their training prior to undergoing the ceremony/procedure, each is individually assigned into one of the three factions ; Infernum Poncitator, Vanidicus Persona, and lastly, Tunera Clypse (formerly called Tunera). Those that are assigned to neither of the factions are assigned to more menial jobs alongside the Ex-Animus,

Despite their young minds, they have quickly adapted into their new forms. Due to time becoming almost non-existant in Avarus, Nors age at a rapidly slow rate. Though known to be childish by nature due to the gap of their young minds to their bodies, they dangerously lack empathy and display little to no compassion and remorse towards others. In worst cases, some act selfishly on their own accord. On a positive note, they lack any emotions that may hinder their mission in locating Soleil; such as fear.

Only two of the three current generations of Nors differ greatly from the first:

First Generation Nors - Are those converted or directly born within Avarus with the blood of two Nors. Those born in the first generation share two specific physical characteristics; raven black hair and golden eyes. They all share the same abilities upon conversion/birth, but it depends on the individual which ones they should master. Unless they happen to be a Cursed Blood, they are unable to obtain different abilities to call their own. They are required to undergo the Ascension Ceremony.

Second Generation Nors - In terms of personality, they are considered half as bad as those in the first gen. Unlike the previous, second generation Nors are considered slightly weaker, however, they have a better chance of obtaining other abilities outside of Avarus. Their hair is slightly lighter shade of black but their eyes remain the same. They too are required to undergo the Ascension Ceremony.

Third Generation Nors - While rare, they do tend to appear once in a while. It’s not exact how one falls into this category. The closest is being the grandchild or who has an anscestor that was a Nors. Because of their circumstances, these Nors are far weaker as they cannot use any of the standard abilities. Third Generation Nors are far difficult to locate as their potential doesn’t surface until they are of a much later age, rendering them incapable of taking necessary training to hone their abilities and undergoing the Ascension Ceremony. They do not share the common personality or physical traits of a Nors. One thing every Nors in this generation share are sky blue eyes, which emit a faint glow when in the dark.

Ex-Animus (or Anima for singular)

Age Range: (Physically) 30 to 40, rarely appears in their early 20′s

Are individuals who are retired from their duties as a Nors. Although Nors generally age at an excessively slow rate (due to the effects of Avarus), after a number of cycles (which refers to the number of batches that underwent the Ascension Ceremony), they will be given the order to retire. Regardless whether they are willing to or not, there is nothing they can do once the order has been issued. Once one becomes an Ex-Anima, they are completely cut off from their original faction and are unable to leave Avarus for the rest of their life.

Not only that, they are unable to defend themselves like they used to as they can no longer control Astral Dust and use the abilities from their time as a Nors,Basically. Basically, Ex-Animus’ are left to fend for themselves.

Factions

Every Nors is allowed to join any of the three factions; Infernum Poncitator, Vanidicus Persona , and Tunera Clypse. There is an option to not join any of the factions; they are called ‘Floaters’.

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razzle-zazzle · 5 years ago

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I'm just learning about your Golem au and,,,, IT'S SO GOOD??? You have a terminal case of galaxy brain I'm so sorry 😔 If you're willing to share any headcanons or etc about it I'd love to hear about it!! I'm super super into this au and want to know all I can skcksnc⁠—Anyway ty so much Razz for making this amazing au and I hope you have a great day/night!! 💛💛💛

Awww, thank :DD Seeing this makes me really happy, I hope you have a wonderful day too!

Hmmm, headcanons...

In this AU, Shane, besides being the previous EM of earth, is also an arcitect. And Sasha had a hobby in magic, hence why Gaia is so skilled at ceramics.

Gaia splintered her soul to give life to Cole. The splinter has since grown into its own soul, as Cole has grown into his own person.

The rune on Cole’s forehead means “life.” It can be changed to mean “death” by adding a line to it, but that would permanently get rid of Cole so don’t do that. The rune is hidden under his hair.

Cole was mute for the first three years of his life, at which point Gaia figured out how to give him a voice.

Cole can eat rocks. Before finding out he’s a golem, nobody questions it.

Learning to dance from Lou is why Cole is so graceful; golems are usually a bit clumsy and stiff but Cole is very fluid and flexible.

As of the start of the series, Cole is five, going on six. Mentally, he’s sixteen, but in terms of how long he’s been around chronologically? Definitely six. He’s ten when he becomes a ghost, and eleven (going on twelve) when he goes through the Rift of Return. He’s fifteen, going on sixteen, when he falls in s10.

Cole, like most golems, is nigh invulnerable, because magic. Doesn’t mean he can’t break, of course :) It just takes a lot of force. But his body is reduced to dust when he gets ghosted, save for his heart stone and his face, which his ghost manifests around.

Golem!Ghost!Cole has dust floating throughout his form. He also has no face, the stone remnant of the face his mother made acting as a mask. Thus, since the stone face is stuck in an “:o” expression, he has difficulties emoting as a ghost.

There’s some other things about the Rift of Return that I don’t think I’ll share just yet, mostly because I have,,, plans,, and I wanna try and write something for those plans. Or draw something stupid. Either works :D

But thank you for the question, and giving me the opportunity to ramble, it means a lot :D

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ichorhalf · 5 years ago

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❝ war isn’t something that should ever be sought out , but if it calls – if you’re summoned by throned beings asking you to die for them , know what you fight for . just because they hold 𝐃𝐈𝐕𝐈𝐍𝐈𝐓𝐘 in their hands you’d follow them blindly ? snuff out the flames , cease your offerings & see how long they continue to love you . your 𝐋𝐎𝐘𝐀𝐋𝐓𝐘 should be earned ; the blood of the 𝐂𝐎𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐀𝐍𝐓 is thicker than the water of the womb . don’t fight blindly , half god – know why you’re fighting for them before you charge into battle . ❞

❛ why do you fight for them ? why do you sacrifice yourself for the titans ? ❜

❝ why don’t you ? what have the gods ever gifted you besides their burdens ? ❞

𝐃𝐀𝐍𝐀 𝐀𝐇𝐍 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒓𝒐𝒅𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒂𝒔𝒌

basics .

name : ahn ji su / dana ahn

nicknames : dane , traitor .

birth date : march 31 .

gender : cis female .

pronouns : she / her .

ethnicity : korean .

nationality : american .

hometown : boston , ma .

demigod abilities : telumkinesis , the ability to adapt & be highly skilled with a new type of weapon in very little time . enhanced intellect & war strategy . crafting abilities . enhanced physical abilities .

cabin number & godly parent : cabin six , daughter of athena – goddess of wisdom & war strategy .

how did their godly parent meet their mortal parent? : kennedy ahn , military strategist for the united states navy makes friends with grey - eyed liaison dana astbury . a stranger to romance , kennedy appreciates the connections their minds make – so used to turning away suitors because she doesn’t seek out romance the way they do ; but dana astbury – astute , intelligent , incredibly attractive . dana thinks the same of kennedy , a dear friend given a sweet goodbye before dana leaves forever – she leaves a thought child as a gift .

muse appearance .

faceclaim : jeon heejin .

height : taller than expected , her mother never reached past five feet four inches but dana rests at a steady five feet ten inches ( & a half ) . a sturdy height , it makes her a potent opponent on the battlefield & she has learned how to use her height & extra length to her advantage .

hair colour : untouched by any kind of hair dye or chemicals , dana's hair is long , thick & a natural chocolate brown . it requires a lot of upkeep to make it look healthy , easily greasing & dirtying in days if she's at full activity – but she usually keeps it down & around her face nowadays , no longer needing a reason to keep it up .

eye colour : like most children of athena , her eyes are startling grey – so grey they almost seem unnatural . they seem to lighten & darken with her mood , but it's mostly lighting & situations she's found herself in . they always seem like they've seen something that they can use to their advantage , but she doesn't ever act upon it .

dominant hand : right handed , though she’s been trained to become ambidextrous . as taught by a titan , she’s learned to wield weapons strongly with both hands in order to build herself up as more of a physical threat on the battlefield . she lacks in skill in her left hand , but a master of bluffing – dana’s skilled just enough to get away it it .

distinguishing features : a white scar visible even in the darkness – it brands her a traitor , troubled eyes that don't carry as much potency as they once did , scarred palms that look like they've bled as sacrifice one too many times .

dress style : relaxed , almost boy ish . her wardrobe consists of form fitting camp half blood t - shirts that've been cropped paired with oversized button ups & torn jeans – various styles ( inspired entirely by this & this ) . if not in that , it's some over sized shirt & black track pants – very particular style but before the war , she had effortless style , the kind to make people stop & stare . not much these days .

camp - related .

go - to weapon : any weapon molds itself into dana’s hands , but she’s always preferred axes – in her right hand , a barbaric hooked axe used to GUT her enemies ; in her left , a standard battle axe . often stained with blood , she spends a lot of time cleaning them & sharpening them – but they haven’t been used in months . celestial bronze glints in the shadows , her axes tucked away since she met defeat .

ambrosia : almost tasteless , it took a while for dana to put her finger on what ambrosia tasted like – but finally , a year into her time at camp half blood she’s reminded of tteokbokki ; a little spicy , but tasty & chewy just the way her mom used to make them . she can still remember a childhood vacation taken to south korea & trying street vendor’s versions of the homemade food , but ambrosia tastes just like the kind her mom used to make her .

favourite camp location : before the war , during her short tenure at camp half blood she was always found training – or beating the satyrs on the volleyball court ( she was always the go to setter , no big deal , she’s got fast hands ) but nowadays , she’s hung up her weapons & hasn’t stepped foot in the court . dana’s mostly always found at arts & crafts , she’s not half bad at drawing at all – & of course , gifted with weaving .

their opinion of their godly parent : her relationship with athena is strained ; even to this day , the bitterness is so deep it’s now embedded into her DNA . at the conclusion of the second titan war , dana laid on olympus with the rest of the injured with a bandage around her neck . apollo had failed to bring her back to full strength ( or refused , dana thinks ) , athena had scathed to her daughter – reminded dana of her disgrace & her treachery . so , all in all , not great .

age they were claimed : fifteen , almost sixteen .

how they were claimed : dana arrived to camp just shy of eleven & spent almost four years in the hermes cabin unclaimed . it was the most humiliating years of her life , nights spent on the floor while she sported the same grey eyes as the rest of the athena kids . her parentage was a dead giveaway , but she remained unclaimed . after leaving & returning to SPY on camp , she was claimed & her siblings said it was their mother finally welcoming her – but dana’s always seen it as a last minute effort to keep her from going back to the titans . anyway , after learning her heritage – she left .

stance on the new cabins : for the new cabins

reason for their stance : it is EVERYTHING she fought for , it’s everything everyone in the titan army fought for . a change for the gods , for the hubristically arrogant gods to recognize their children & give them a place among their peers . dana’s mouth remains shut these days , but icy glares give her position away when the subject is brought up – luke castellan sacrificed himself , hundreds of demigods she trained with died because they were forgotten . despite an icy exterior , she will fight anyone who thinks otherwise .

their opinion on lyssa pentelute : her resentment , dana can deal with . years spent with the femme on the floors in the hermes cabin – dana UNDERSTANDS . there’s pain in watching people thrive with what they NEVER had , but she thinks the girl to be incredibly selfish , incredibly foolish . war isn’t something that should ever be sought out , bloodlust isn’t normal & revenge because someone else gets a luxury she never got isn’t justice . her thoughts on anyone else against the cabin remains the same & she’ll chew off someone’s head without lifting a finger .

quests : only two – one at thirteen & one at fourteen – the same summer of percy’s quest . the first one she was chosen as a spare companion by a newly claimed son of ares , someone she got close with in the hermes cabin . she’d gone in hopes of succeeding & getting claimed , but the ares kid died & she arrived back to camp with a new scar & a crestfallen daughter of hebe . her second quest a long shot , left in hopes of finding the lightning bolt & returned the sole survivor – the son of poseidon went a couple of months after her & succeeded so like . sucks to suck – also , neither got her claimed so ????

personality .

positive traits : strategic , instinctual , cogent , potent

negative traits : fustian , disparaging , glacial , acerbic

mbti : intj / the architect

alignment : chaotic good / chaotic neutral

hogwarts house : gryffindor

kinsey scale : kinsey 3

archetype : wise old man

what candle scent are they : cinnamon spice vanilla , you're an old soul . you ooze warmth and nostalgia , wrapping others in your embrace and leaving a reminiscent smile behind .

goals & desires : once upon a time , to incite a revolution . to light a match & burn a flame so bright it brings the gods to their knees . now , a desire to rest her tired eyes – she awaits thanatos , sits on an abandoned throne in wait while she lacks the same drive & fire that used to occupy her .

fears : a lack of fear , a lack of emotion – dana doesn’t know what she fears anymore . her greatest fear used to be facing a loss , losing her leader & losing the war & it had manifested into reality – so , fears : spiders , blindness , drowning .

hobbies : nowadays , she takes after ARACHNE & weaves day in & out . her station in her cabin is left untouched , but filled with sketches , blueprints , intricate weavings of a world she’ll never get to see . there’s a dartboard on the back cabin six , too , paired with an ugly striped camping chair & an enchanted newspaper ( it shows the daily newspaper of her choosing – stolen from a previous athena camper ) . she spends hours at a time out there , mostly alone either playing darts , reading or sketching .

habits : she never carries copper coins – choosing to abandon pennies for the silvers instead ; studiously collects drachmas for analyzation – not even because they’re cool ; whenever she equips a short weapon , she’ll twirl it twice – axes , short swords , daggers . with longer weapons , spears , two handed swords , she’ll tap the ground thrice ; has made friends with the harpies & actively signs up for dish washing duties to befriend them .

#ambrosia:task001 #* ◟ . 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒂 𝒂. ─ 𝐅𝐈𝐋𝐄𝐃 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐑 ╱ development

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mor-beck-more-problems · 5 years ago

Text

Friend Fail || Skylar and Morgan

@theskyeandsea

Don’t do blood magic in front of the baby seal.

Morgan stopped her work for the third time this hour to make sure she really did have everything she needed. The crystals were all made, the bath salt jars were freshly clean and ready. She had her measuring cups and postage boxes so Skylar could help. She had even gotten through half her grading. There really was no reason not to make use of her new chalkboard and try another summoning. She’d gotten Sean with a birthday cake--sort of. Who was to say she couldn’t get Constance with a proper circle and a little blood? At least, practice getting the circle, right? The board had even come with chalk in three different colors, just waiting, begging to be used. Morgan checked her phone to see where the planets were. Still Aquarius season, so not great for her, but her Mercury was almost in a water sign. It was all so...promising. Enough to give her pause and make her look around the room once more. It didn’t feel very much like skirting around the curse if the universe was setting everything up so nicely for her. But if she waited until things were more dire, what would that achieve? Morgan pulled up the spell on her phone again. This was not Cassie approved, but at least she had salt this time. She could line the place if she decided to get serious. Which, she wouldn’t. Probably. (What if this was her one door and she was missing the good kind of signal? Or what if that was just what the curse wanted her to think?)

A knock at the door startled her out of her thought loop. Right. Skylar was stopping by the house to visit. Good for her! Making friends with grownups was kind of pitiful, but she’d been there before herself. Sometimes you had to take what you could get. “Hey, come on in!” She stepped back and signed, Good afternoon! Happy to see you. She’d watched a couple of videos online and had mostly memorized the greeting, plus two other words. Work there, Magic there.

Skylar really, really, really didn’t want to be here. Her head had been aching all day, she’d barely been able to eat anything, and her body just felt run down, even though she’d slept ten hours the previous night. And… what made it worse was she knew exactly why she was feeling this way. Ricky had told her as much. It was because she hadn’t transformed. Apparently, all her problems were a direct result of not turning into a seal, which she didn’t quite follow. She wasn’t a seal who could sometimes be human. She was a human, a normal human. With… quirks. Taking a long drink from her thermos of coffee, Skylar sighed as she walked up to Morgan’s house. This was going to be good for her. This was going to be something good and helpful and nice. Because Morgan had been nothing but nice and helpful, even after Skylar had been dismissive of the whole magic situation. Knocking on the door, Skylar offered what she hoped was a bright smile as Morgan opened the door.

The signing threw her for a second. For one thing, she was going way too fast for her fingers, so they came out garbled. Skylar could tell what she meant, but it wasn’t the best use of sign. “Hi! Thanks for having me.” She said. Setting her coffee down, she let out a small laugh and signed, What do you mean by work there, magic here?

Oh, thank god Skylar could talk just fine, maybe (probably) even read lips! Morgan saw the two whole words she’d learned outside of the basic greeting repeated in a new way, one she had no idea how to answer. She winced. “Sorry. Just--different tasks I have going on today! Um, I’ve got some bath salts that need to go into those very uh, hashtag aesthetic jars, and I have this shiny new chalkboard that has a lot of magic potential! I’m not going to do anything to it, I should clarify, I’m going to use it to make some more elaborate circles that I’m using right now.” Only after she finished did she realize just how fast she was prone to talking sometimes. Sorry, she signed, the only other word she’d thought make handy use of. “I talk fast sometimes, and I don’t always realize. Can I get you some sweet tea?”

“No problem.” Skylar said, waving it off with a laugh. “I was joking. Sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun.” She said as she took look around Morgan’s house curiously. There were a lot of odds and ends, and a lot of jars as well. What were the jars for? Watching Morgan intently, Skylar did her best to match the lip movements with what she was hearing, but it wasn’t easy. Morgan was speaking just a bit too quickly for her. “Ah. It’s okay, really! You said something about aesthetic jars? Is that what these are for?” She said, gesturing to the mason jars that were set up. “Tea? No, no, I’m good. Thank you though.” Skylar said as she picked up her thermos from where she’d set it down. Being around other people usually helped take her mind off what troubled her, so hopefully helping Morgan would do the same.

“No, I think you earn the right to tease,” Morgan said, trying to reassure her. “I tried to be competent in your language over the course of forty-eight hours maybe, with nothing but youtube and willpower. But, grab a pillow! Make yourself cozy!” She grabbed some tea for herself and sat on the floor with her shiny new board. It was so smooth it didn’t even look real. Morgan broke the seal on the chalk. It was good to practice, right? “You can put the TV on and make yourself at home if you want, but if you really want to help, You can use the measuring cup to put two scoops into the jars.” Morgan beamed over at the girl,who, now that she wasn’t moving quite so fast, really did seem in need of some kind of pick-me-up, poor kid.

Shaking her head, Skylar shrugged. “I appreciate you trying at the very least. It’s more than a lot of people do.” She said, the thought making her slightly melancholy. Ack. No, no, no. Watching as Morgan picked up a neat little chalkboard, she settled down on the proffered pillow, her legs curling under her. “Oh, that’s okay. I’d much rather do something productive than just use your cable.” She said with a smile. Looking at the set up in front of her, Skylar set to work doing as she was told, putting two scoops of… stuff into the jars and screwing the lids on. “What are these jars full of anyways? Magic salt or something?” She asked curiously.

Morgan began drawing the circle. After so many years of alchemy, she was pretty good at freehand, though everything that went in would need more precision. She couldn’t help but smile at the tingle that went up her hand from that new-supply feeling. She looked up at Skylar to make sure she could see what she was saying alright. “Salt, lavender oil, dry roses and yarrow, and ground crystals. Very relaxing, but less real magic and more mind over matter fluffy magic,” she admitted. She got up and went for her chalk compass. “This, on the other hand, will hopefully be real magic someday. Thank you for deciding to help me out, by the way.”

All of the things Morgan rattled off sounded just like normal herbal stuff that you could find in any shop, which Skylar realized was exactly the case as the woman finished speaking. Hm. So there were still some parts of “magic” that weren’t exactly flame throwers and turning garbage into candles. At least some things still made sense. Lavender was just relaxing because it smelled nice, not because it had any crazy property to it. “No, don’t worry about it. I needed to get out of the house anyways.” She said as she filled another jar with salt mixture. She watched as Morgan grabbed a small instrument and tilted her head, intrigued. “What’s all of that for? The chalkboard and things.”

Morgan hesitated, compass in hand, as she started to section off her array, making room for each of the runes and sigils she would need to make this work. And, terrifying as the feeling was, she couldn’t help but feel excited. She had a name. Constance Bachman. She had to be related to Sean and Agnes, even if she hadn’t been able to find her name in the geneology list. Maybe a spinster aunt? Or a lost sister? Either way, she was findable. And if Morgan actually managed to hack herself a successful, specific, ghost summoning with this, it would be the craziest and most amazing feat of magic she’d ever accomplished. Which meant she definitely wouldn’t today. Or that if she did, she’d get some static-y bitter brother of Sean’s. Or maybe some minor pesky demon. But she had to thread the needle between knowing the curse wanted to screw her over and manifesting some progress. It could work. And, well, who was Skylar going to talk about it with anyway? “Reason A for getting a big board is so I can make my crystals faster. The more material I can fit and work with, the more I can pop out at a time. My pop socket lid is great, but really not practical. But this,” she explained. “Is something different than my normal bag of tricks. I’ve got this project about spirits and their living descendants.” She began marking out the basic runes for summoning, then constructing the smaller circle she had designed to get Constance. Hopefully, anyway. She reached over for the version she’d sketched out on paper. She smudged away one of the sigils and drew it over again, clearer this time. “If it works, I might be able to bring someone over. Wanna see?”

Skylar watched as Morgan divied up the board with chalk, still not quite sure what she was looking it. Magic seemed to be a bit different than she thought it was. Winston had just kinda… done magic when they’d done it. But, she supposed that there was probably some method to the madness. Continuing to screw the lids on jars, she listened as Morgan offered an explanation. She wasn’t really sure what she meant by pop socket lid-- was she talking about the thing on the back of phones? Not wanting to interupt, she continued to listen. “So… you’re using a chalk board to summon a ghost?” She repeat, just trying to wrap her head around all of that. Ghosts. Ghosts were real. Okay. And you could use chalk and weird little doodles to make them appear? Mmmm, that was less okay. Even though she didn’t really want to see the odd little circle, Skylar scooted closer, “That’s interesting. They look like something out of Skyrim, honestly.”

Morgan was almost finished. She laid it down on the floor and examined her handiwork, then knelt down to add in the minor markings of the array. “What’s a Skyrim?” She asked. “Wait, don’t tell me--it’s that new show on Netflix right?” No, that sounded wrong. Morgan was more preoccupied with getting all the connecting lines just right anyway. “Sorry,” she said, looking up again. “I’m old. Like way old. I follow Grey’s Anatomy, and I have my supernatural crime shows, and food network. But tell me about Skyrim! I’m just going to grab some salt from the kitchen real quick.”

Raising an eyebrow, Skylar tilted her head in surprise. Mm. Well, after Alain had sent her the weird old French music, it shouldn’t be that surprising that some people weren’t as in the know with video games and stuff. “It’s a video game. You play as a Dragonborn, someone who’s got the spirit of a dragon, and can read and speak the ancient language of dragons. It’s…” She paused, realizing that she had no idea if dragons were a real thing. Were they real? Was Skyrim real? “It’s a fun game!” She finished, offering a slightly stressed smile. Oh dear. “Are you using table salt..” She asked. So, magic consisted of weird little runes on a chalkboard and table salt. Good to know, good to know.

Video games. Morgan probably should have guessed something like that. There hadn’t been time or money to that when she was a kid, and though now, as far as she could tell, you could download one off the internet for thirty dollars, it seemed like an alien existence. “It sounds like fun!” She said brightly. “Fantasy conception is one of my favorite interests. Oh--and it’s not table salt, or not just table salt. It’s a mix this exorcist friend of mine told me about.” She came back out with the mix and started shifting around some objects in the room. She would need to get the real estate for this eventually. And maybe--maybe this could happen. “Hey, Skylar, do you think you can write the alphabet out for me real quick?

“It’s a neat game, mhm.” Skylar said with a smile before taking a long sip of coffee. Thank God for this new thermos, honestly. Alain had been right about investing in one of these. And she honestly needed it now more than ever. As Morgan explained the mix of salt, Skylar watched with interest as she moved things around. Was this a big spell..? She had been under the assumption that the… spirit would just pop out of the chalk board kinda like a hologram in Star Wars or something. But then again, what did she know about magic anyways? “Huh? Oh, sure. On the chalkboard or somewhere else?” She asked, picking up one of the pieces of chalk from where Morgan had left them.

“Huh?” Morgan looked up from her work distractedly. “No, just grab a pen and paper from my grading pile over there. If I do, hypothetically, get a ghost in here, it’s going to need a way to talk to me. Especially, uh, since I can’t see them!” She was finished. She was finished and she felt like she’d stolen a cookie from her mom’s jar. Like she should run and enjoy her spoils or stay and get as many into her hand before she was caught. Morgan started to work on the salt circle, was going to fetch her dad’s old athame, just cleaned, before she realized just how this might look to someone who just learned that half the mythical creatures they’d read about as a kid were real. “Um, you don’t have to stick around for this part if it’s too much,” she said. “My cat is around somewhere if you’d like to meet her, or I can take it from here,” she offered. “Unless you can secretly see ghosts, in which case I will literally pay you to stick around.”

The back of her neck burning in embarrassment, Skylar nodded and did as Morgan told her. “Sure! Will do!” She said, hoping her tone sounded bright and not mortified. Mmm, yeah the alphabet made more sense to be written on a piece of paper. Writing out the alphabet in clean, large letters, Skylar tilted her head in surprise. “You can’t see ghosts? I thought that if you summoned them you’d be able to see them. But, um, sorry. Dumb assumption, I guess.” She said as she printed out a large Z. When Morgan offered her an out, Skylar chewed on the inside of her cheek. A big part of her wanted nothing more than to just… pretend that this wasn’t real. She wanted to forget everything about this. But, she couldn’t just run away from magic. It was here and she should know more about it. “Um, sorry. I don’t think I can see ghosts, but… I��d like to stay, if that’s okay. I just, I want to know more about all of this.”

“Oh, gosh, I wish,” Morgan confessed. “I honestly thought that too, but as it turns out you need some kind of special ability for that. And, for the record, not a dumb question. Didn’t you only learn all this weird shit was real two weeks ago? You’re harder on yourself than I am on actual students. There’s a lot to learn. Too much, really. I’ve known magic was real my whole life and I just figured out the ghost thing a while ago.” She smiled brightly at Skylar, hoping she felt better and went for the athame. She’d laid the salt thick. If, even, anything happened, they would be safe, and she could vacuum away the evidence before Cece came home to ask questions. And maybe if she was lucky Skylar would be willing to help with that too. She grabbed one of her novelty bowls, a tragic indulgence from the dollar store during her Traveler’s Rest stay, the happy faces of the Disney princesses already peeling away, and positioned herself over the circle. Then she put Skylar’s alphabet paper and pen in where it wouldn’t disturb the runes. “Let’s just hope this doesn’t turn out really anticlimactic, huh?” She raised the ritual knife and began to chant. So far so good. Then came the time for her blood offering. Morgan pressed the knife into her arm, voice hiccuping only a little as the pain sliced into her. So far, so good. Then she looked down into the bowl to make sure she had enough and the world shrank down to the size of a single drop of blood. She went silent and the rising magic and the knife both went whizzing away from her.

“I… Yeah, only the last two weeks, with the karkinoids.” Skylar said with a shrug as she moved over to the side, letting Morgan do all the final preparation work on the spell that she had laid out. But… No, Morgan didn’t need to know about her situation. Not after she mentioned how there were people going around trying to steal teeth for potions and stuff. Skylar watched, curiously as Morgan pulled out a weird little disney princess bowl and set it down. Were princesses important for this? Fingers curling up at her side, she forced herself to watch as Morgan began to say words she’d never heard before and then draw the knife blade-- What the fuuuuuuck was she doing? Before Skylar could react, tremors began to fill the room, the bowl of blood shaking violently-- A sharp pain lanced through her right shoulder, searing and hot, as the knife flew towards her and lodged itself into her body. Letting out a scream of pain, Skylar fell to the ground, a large spout of blood splattering across the room. “MORGAN!” She cried out, panic threatening to overwhelm her as she stared at the knife sticking out of her.

Morgan didn’t hear or notice anything except the blood in the bowl. She shoved the plastic into her mouth with both hands, guzzling the liquid ravenously and licking the sides where it had stuck. And there was more, streaks puddling on the floor and the coffee table. Morgan dropped the bowl and threw herself down to lap them all up. When she pulled away at last, panting and dizzy, her face stained from nose to chin, and saw her dad’s knife lodged in Skylar’s arm. “Oh fuck.” She licked her lips in spite of herself and scrambled to her feet. Keys. She needed her phone and her keys so they could get to the car so they could drive to the hospital. Fuck. The fucking blood clinger. She should’ve known it wouldn’t have worn off that quickly. “It’s okay, it’s okay!” She cried, her voice jumping higher each time she said it. The edges of her vision felt blurry and she grabbed an empty mason jar while she was at it. “Come on, we’re taking you to the hospital, okay! Also, hold this to collect any blood you lose! This is fine, you’re gonna be fine!” She, on the other hand, looked like a walking crime scene, but maybe if she bulldozed ahead on the knife inside the girl’s arm they wouldn’t have to go into it.

Skylar began to hyperventilate as she stared at the knife in her arm, her vision narrowing at the edges as she tried to focus on anything other than the knife-- “What the fuck are you doing?!” Skylar screamed, pointing at the bowl of blood that Morgan had just drank from. Scrambling away across the floor, she let out a cry of pain as she tried to put as much distance from her and Morgan, who was apparently some kinda vampire? “G-get away from me!” Skylar said, rivulets of blood running down her arm to pool on the floor. The more she struggled, the more and more blood poured from around the knife still lodged in her arm. “I’m not going anywhere with a vampire! An-And I’m not,” She let out a groan of pain as her arm screamed in pain, “Going to make you a to-go cup!”

“Oh my god you’re making it worse!” Morgan shrieked, starting to panic herself. She screwed her eyes shut. Maybe if she didn’t see the blood she wouldn’t have some weird blood-clinger blackout. “I’m not a vampire, it was a magic tick! I thought it had worn off but apparently not! I mean, would you rather be the juice box? Come on!” But no sooner did she settle this in her head than did she slip on the floor and come face to face with the fresh streams of blood from Skylar. Morgan forgot everything she was talking about and licked them up like her life depended on it.

As Morgan tried to convince her that she wasn’t some kind of vampire out to suck her blood, Skylar remembered what Ricky had told her. Selkies had more blood than other people, making them prime targets for vampires. “A magic tick? That’s, that’s a thing? WHAT THE FUCK!” Skylar screeched as Morgan dropped down and began to lap up her blood from the floor. Skylar watched in horror and reached behind her to pull herself up to her feet-- she needed to get out of her, she needed too… As she stood up, what blood was in her head, immediately rushed out and her vision went white around the edges as fell back to the ground, woozy. “I… I… I’m…” She couldn’t fully make out words any more, all she could do was grasp at a nearby mason jar and hold it to her still bleeding shoulder.

Morgan slithered her way over the floor, lapping every drop until her tongue felt rough and every drop had been siphoned. She groaned, still thirsty, and made a grab for Skylar, but missed as the girl stood up. Her head hit the wall and she lost her balance, going splat and rolling onto her back Slowly, her brain cleared again. Maybe anticlimactic would’ve been better after all. “Skylar??” She asked. “Are you still there? Can you drive yourself maybe? Or, I don’t know, call an Uber? There’s Uber in White Crest, right?” She was afraid to get up again. Afraid the floor would fall out from under herself. Afraid of the red, tangy blood. It was still on her rough-scraped tongue and in the back of her, hateful and terrifying. But in the moment it hadn’t been. God she was so screwed. “Skylar--?” She croaked.

“Mmmnot good. No’ good.” Skylar said thickly, her head heavy as she continued to try and get away from Morgan. Holding the mason jar in her hand, she did her best to siphon some of the blood that clung to her skin into the jar. “Don’ eat me… ’m… fishy. Wouldn’t tas’ good.” Her words slurred together as she slid the mason jar towards Morgan. Uber? Her phone. Her phone! Pulling her phone out of her pocket, Skylar swiped her thumb across the screen to send a garbled text before setting it down on the ground, “Please don’t eat me.” She mumbled.

This was not going to be a good day. And really, Morgan should’ve known better than to hope for getting away with anything for long. She reached across the floor and grabbed the jar, stomach-lurching at the precaution and inched, achingly, to a sit. “I promise on whatever will make you feel better I do not want to eat you!” Never the less she sipped the blood. It didn’t soothe her like it did earlier, so maybe she was past the worst of this. “Come on, Uber’s going to take too long and you need help.” She was unsteady on her feet, but she had what she needed and she could just about make it to the door, to-go cup in hand as Skylar had so kindly put it. She staggered out and took a deep lung full of fresh air. She had no idea how she was going to explain this to Ricky, or anyone else for that matter. How far was the hospital again?

“Not an Uber… Ricky, he’s gonna… gonna help me. Can’ go hospital.” Skylar said, shaking her head back and forth. As she continued to struggle away, she fell flat on her back onto Morgan’s floor, the knife still sticking out of her shoulder. Fatigue and blood loss overtook her and Skylar passed out right in the entryway of the front door.

Morgan heard the thump of Skylar’s body on the floor and went more or less splat herself on Cece’s porch in defeat. The was no way she was getting her in the car by herself, or answering any questions EMTs might have. And Skylar didn’t want that stuff anyways, though whether it was because health insurance was a curse on everyone, or because of some supernatural bullshit she didn’t know about yet, she had no clue. But in the end, it didn’t matter. Morgan sent off some messages and waited for everything, as usual, to get worse.

#wr skylar #wr chatzy #wr skylar chatzy #wickedswriting #friend fail #alas i had to name this all by myself #woe

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roxannarambles · 5 years ago

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Top 3 Favorites Of Fire Emblem 3 Houses

It’s time once again for Top Three! This time, for Fire Emblem: Three Houses, a game I’m rather late to playing but have finally gotten around to!

I’ve decided to divide it by houses and give my top three favorites from each of the playable characters from the three houses/four routes.

(Contains a few plot spoilers.)

Black Eagles

1.) Caspar

Caspar isn’t a perfect guy; he tends to have a disturbing tendency toward black-and-white thinking on morality, dividing the world into pure heroes and pure evil, and he doesn’t always stop to ponder the more intricate details of moral quandaries. Yet, despite that fact, in his heart he means well, and you cannot help but love him anyway. He’s enthusiastic and earnest, whole-hearted in what he does, and will fight fiercely to protect his friends. His voice actor is simply splendid and I think half of why I adore his character so much; the delivery is just perfect. The character will bring humor and energy to almost any situation, and both those elements are valuable standouts in a game with often heavy story themes.

2.) Petra

In a lot of ways, Petra is simply fulfilling a warrior princess archtype; a self-reliant huntress, proud, fierce, grateful to the blessings of mother nature, confidant, driven. With all that, it’s hard to find anything to dislike about her. She’s genuinely open and caring with everyone, despite the injustices against her country. She works very hard and carries the burden of an entire country on her shoulders with poise. She also makes for a powerful assassin unit.

3.) Linhardt

Linhardt is, to be perfectly honest, probably suffering from some pretty bad depression. His tendency to skip sleep some nights in favor of binge-studying, and then to sleep excessively and at all odd hours of the day, doesn’t read as “quirky” to me so much as a plain and very real symptom of depression (which can manifest in a number of ways, including insomnia and excessive sleep). His general attiude of apathy, again, seems a rather plain sign of depression. Considering the troubles of his past that he mentions he’s been trying to avoid confronting, this does make sense. While I don’t particularly enjoy Linhardt’s apathy and sleepiness, he’s actually quite a nice intellectual and a very good friend, when he puts his mind to it.

Blue Lions

1.) Ashe

Ashe is a Very Good Boy, My Good Son. He’s as sweet and pure as a summer’s afternoon and I won’t suffer any fools who say otherwise. He dreams big and he actually puts the effort out to pursuing those dreams. Even when others try to dissaude him, or tell him he’s being niave to have such glowing ideals of knighthood, he fights for them anyway and follows his heart. He also cares deeply about his family and does all he can to take care of them, putting their needs above his own. And, he’s flippin’ adorable. What a lovely person.

2.) Felix

Ok, look. I don’t always like rude, bitchy, acerbic tsunderes. But when I do, I like me some Felix. Apparently. Felix is a disappointingly rather two-dimentional character in a lot of ways, since he falls into the “obsessive swordsman trope” that Lon'qu, Rutger and others also fall into. He obsesses over his swordplay and over improving himself, but there is no real core to WHY he obsesses over it; what drives him. The support conversation with Byleth and Felix explores this, but the conclusion never actually reaches any reason why he obsesses over it. He simply wants to be strong for the sake of strong. He has no idea why and never actually finds a reason. I find this deeply unsatisfying. Still, despite this fact, I cannot help but enjoy him anyway. His bitchiness and tsundere behavior is highly entertaining to me. And he does seem to at least draw some very clear lines: as obsessed as he is with power for sheer power’s sake, he is truly disgusted at excessive bloodshed and cruelty. He’s equally disgusted at romanticizing battle or dying for your ideals-- although I think his interactions with Ashe make him consider that sacrificing for your ideals may not be so terrible after all.

3.) Annette

She’s bubbly, cheerful, energetic, loves to learn, is super friendly and often silly and provides comedic relief. The Blue Lions are generally a bunch who carry some pretty heavy emotional baggage-- so Annette’s presence is pretty essential to lighten the tone at times and help buoy people up. That’s not to say Annette doesn’t have her own shit to deal with, considering her father left her and her mother when she was still young. Still, she is a resiliant person who manages to carry on with aplomb despite that pain. And we get to enjoy her reconciliation with her father during the Blue Lion route, which is quite nice.

Golden Deer

1.) Claude

Claude . . . Claude has so much great potential as a character, but I feel he was short-changed, in the end. He has an intriguing combination: he’s a man who has built up a reputation of being a sneaky, devious schemer, somebody to not be trusted and who does not trust others-- who relies soley on himself. Yet, on the other hand, he also has big, flowery dreams of creating a world that has destroyed racism and xenophobia, that welcomes and celebraties diversity and differences of all stripes. For all his claims of being self-serving and mistrustful, his dreams are enormously altruistic and compassionate. There was great potential in exploring this contradiction in his character, as well as tracing Claude’s path of slowly opening up and learning to trust others with his tender heart-- such as with Byleth. The trouble is this never actually HAPPENS in his route. The main plot focuses mostly on the actual military strategy; it does not go into the character development he so deeply deserved. His support conversations with Byleth were intended to show this character development, but without actually showing how he got from Point A to Point B-- wary and mistrustful vs. learning to open up-- it rings hollow to me. It’s frustrating, because I do love Claude dearly (deer-ly, haha. . .). He deserved, quite frankly, so much better.

2.) Leonie

Leonie is very straightforward: what you see is really what you get. She’s a Commoner from a small village with big dreams of heoric mercenary life-- not all that dissimilar, really, from Ashe’s big dreams of heroic knighthood. She managed to drum up support (both emotional and financial) from her village and now feels obligated to do them all proud and pay them back for their support and kindness. While she can be a little single-minded at times about her adore for Jeralt (sometimes even lashing out in jealousy at Byleth), overall she’s a strong-willed, clever, and very determined young lady. I can’t help but love her. She also excels as a fantastic unit to use in-game, powerful, versitile, and getting so much done through pure grit, without any of the advantages or leg-ups that the Crest-bearing nobles are in posssession of.

3.) Ignatz

I do realize this is Sweet And Pure Archer Son Number Two on my list, but there’s no way he’s not going on the list. He’s just too wonderful. Look at my son!!! He loves his family dearly and puts aside his own dreams to honor their needs and wishes! But he also can never quite give up on his artistic dreams and his friends all gradually encourage him to have the confidance to pursue them! He is so polite and sweet and friendly and shy! He has adorable little daydreams about the Goddess and has a crush on Saint Cethleann! He has such a huge glow-up after the timeskip and turns into such a dependable, strong young man who fights for justice and always holds such tender compassion in his heart! He’s great. :)

Church of Seiros

1.) Seteth

I would be repeating myself if I wrote anything here expounding upon my love of Seteth, which is as wide and deep as the blue-green seas. So I will just link you to a previous post. That should explain exactly how my feelings evolved over time about Seteth. He was an absolute surprise and a joy to discover. I never expected to fall in love with him; when I first started playing I always expected that Claude would be the one to steal my heart, not this mysterious man. But life’s funny like that.

2.) Alois

This man is a giant freaking dork and a goober, and I feel a great deal of affection for him. He makes me feel happy and safe and he is a great adoptive brother/dad/uncle/whatever. Truly, the game and the church would feel much emptier with him not around (and much quieter, haha).

3.) Shamir

Shamir, when you first run into her, simply seems rude and cold. In fact, you will probably always have that impression of her, unless you read her support conversations. Once you access her supports, a whole new story is told. While she’s reserved and can be curt, she really does have a warmer side, growing to truly care for her allies. She’s deeply thoughtful and reflective, full of surprising insights. She’s also a remarkably talented mercenary and assasin, but while she insists she’s simply a sellsword, she does care about more then just the pay and survival.

#fire emblem #fe3h #mystuff

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darks-ink · 6 years ago

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Play Your Part 3

Chapter 3: You Might Just See A Ghost Tonight

Chapter title is from Emperor’s New Clothes by Panic! At The Disco! I don’t really have any author notes that I haven’t already posted about on Tumblr so...

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“So let me make sure I got this right.” Jazz’s eyes darted from Danny to Sam and Tucker, then back to Danny. “This is Danny, but he’s not our Danny?”

Tucker opened his mouth, but Jazz held up a hand to silence him. “I wasn’t done yet. So this Danny is from an alternate timeline where everyone but him is half-ghost. He got dragged here because of some strange artifact, and now you guys want to go into the Ghost Zone to find out what it did and how to undo it. Right?”

“I guess?” Danny shrugged. “It was their idea.”

Jazz rolled her eyes. “Of course it was. Clearly you never have stupid ideas, do you?”

“Hey!” He huffed and crossed his arms. “I don’t know about your Danny, but I do my best to stay in the background, thank you very much! The last thing I need to do is draw the ire of people stronger than me.”

“Ah, that’s definitely not like Danny,” Tucker commented, nodding wisely. “He would fight God if he could.”

“Alright, so I’m not a ballsy half-ghost, whatever. Can we focus, please?” He didn’t want to hear more about how, even here, he was lesser. He had hoped, briefly, that maybe he would fit in better in this world of humans, rather than half-ghosts. But apparently that wasn’t the case.

Apparently he couldn’t even live up to the standards set by himself.

“Of course. Well, here’s my first question for you three.” Jazz gestured at him. “Do you know if you only swapped your minds, and kept the bodies in the right place, or is this a full swap?”

“What?” Danny asked, frowning at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Well, mind swaps are a classic plot device, right?” She shrugged. “But usually that only involves swapping the minds of the people involved. So if that is what’s happening here, you would still be able to access Danny’s ghost powers, because it’s still his body, not yours.”

Danny held out his hands, staring down at them. They looked perfectly normal. He didn’t feel any different, either. But then he was supposed to be half-ghost, too, normally. So what was the difference?

“How can I tell? If it’s his body or mine?”

“Ghost powers, duh.” Tucker’s grin became even wider when Danny glared at him.

“I don’t know, Jazz. I don’t think he has powers,” Sam pointed out, ignoring the two bickering boys. “With that kinda glaring we would be seeing green already.”

“Huh?” Danny’s head snapped back to the two girls, glare softening in a frown. “Oh, yeah, I guess. I’m not sure how you’re supposed to trigger any of them on purpose, anyway.”

“No one ever taught you how to use your powers? No special lessons or anything?” Tucker stepped in closer again, curiosity peaked. “Even though everyone had them?”

“Well, no.” He shrugged. “Apparently it just kind of comes naturally? They usually start manifesting when you’re pretty young. My dad was really late, and he got them by twelve.”

“Hence why you’re so sure you won’t get them.” Jazz nodded in understanding. “I guess that that makes sense.”

“Why does it matter if it’s a body or a mind swap, anyway?” Sam cocked her head, her brow creased. “We gotta learn more about that artifact, anyway. Whether he has ghost powers or not doesn’t matter for that.”

“Yeah, no, you’re right,” Jazz admitted. “Curiosity, mostly, and it could’ve helped you narrow down the search.”

“Eh, we’ll figure it out anyway.” Tucker held up his PDA demonstratively. “You’re underestimating our powers of research, Jazz.”

“Whatever makes you feel better.” She rolled her eyes, then sat down at the kitchen table. “I’ll keep my parents distracted if they come back before you guys, but don’t make it too long, okay? Or warn me beforehand so I can lure them away.”

“Yes ma’am.” Tucker shot her a grin and a salute as he made his way towards the door to the lab. “Let’s go, guys!”

Danny heaved a sigh but followed anyway, Sam right on his heels. “Is he always this enthusiastic?”

“Nah. I think he just wants to see your reaction to some of the ghosts Danny knows. Or, uh.” She made a face. “Our Danny, I guess, since you’re Danny too.”

He snorted. “Yeah, it’s kind of confusing, isn’t it?”

“No kidding.”

They entered the lab, which… actually looked different from the lab back home. Lots of glowing green on their inventions, too. Clearly powered by ectoplasm. Tucker was already standing next to an enormous cylindrical vehicle, which floated a foot or so above the floor.

“And here’s the Specter Speeder!” He threw out his hands towards the vehicle. “Tah-dah!”

He looked it over, nodding despite himself. “Not bad. Looks better than the RV, at least. Less tank-like.”

“Less reviewing your parents’ inventions, more getting in.” Sam shoved him towards the door, and he stumbled in.

“Alright, alright. No need to shove me!”

She clambered in after him, Tucker following suit and closing the door. “Who’s gonna pilot?” she asked the other boy.

“You do it, I’ll keep track on my PDA.” Following this statement, he sat down in the co-pilot seat. Co-driver? What did you call the person steering a hovercraft? “And Danny can sit in the back and enjoy the view.”

“Thanks,” he said dryly. “You sure you don’t need me to do anything?”

“Eh.” Tucker shrugged. “You can help look at stuff when we get somewhere, but for now we’ll be fine. Maybe prepare yourself to meet some of your fans, so you can convince them that you’re not the normal Danny?”

He made a face. “He has fans?”

“Some,” Sam commented, starting up the Speeder. “But mostly just humans. Tucker was referring to some of the non-malevolent ghosts that Danny is allied with, since we’ll be asking them first. You said it was a magical necklace, right, that brought you here?”

“I mean, I’m pretty sure that that was the thing responsible, yeah.” He shrugged, then realized she couldn’t see it. “Why?”

She turned her head some, sharing a glance with Tucker. “I was thinking we could start with Dora, then. She’s our expert on magical necklaces.”

“A magical necklace that lets you turn into a dragon isn’t the same as a body-swapping necklace, Sam,” Tucker pointed out. He then undermined his own statement by leaning forward and setting the destination on the navigational system.

“It’s a good place to start, anyway.” She shot Danny a look over her shoulder, briefly. “Better than Frostbite, anyway, and Clockwork wouldn’t be any help whatsoever.”

Danny frowned, fingers tapping on the edge of his seat. “You’re telling me that he’s the only half-ghost around, constantly fighting full ghosts, and yet he only has like, three allies? And you guys, I guess.”

“Yeah, kinda.” Tucker shrugged, twisting in his seat to talk more easily. “Most of the ghosts don’t like Danny getting in their way. And some are encouraged by Vlad, too, since he’s also half-ghost and doesn’t like that Danny isn’t on his side.”

“Really? Vlad? As in, Vlad Masters?”

“You know him?” Sam asked, not looking away from the front window.

“Well, yeah. Dad says Vlad is his best friend, but he comes around basically never. Old college friends or something, I think.”

“Huh. Yeah, that checks out with how it is around here. He flirts with your – Danny’s – mom a lot, and makes evil plots because he’s half-ghost and wants Danny as his half-ghost son or something.” Tucker shrugged, leaning his arms on the back of his seat. “It’s kind of messed up.”

“But that doesn’t make sense!” Danny flapped his hand, gesturing wildly. “Why am I human, countered by your Danny being half-ghost, if he gets to be half-ghost in both worlds? How does that make sense?!”

“I dunno, man. This sort of thing doesn’t have to make sense, you know?”

“But that’s so unfair!” Danny groaned, burying his head in his hands. “Why do I have to deal with this shit my whole damn life while he gets away just fine! So he’s not particularly powerful, at least he’s not bullied over it like I am!”

Tucker hummed. “He’s not… powerful? That’s weird. Vlad in his ghost form is among the most powerful ghosts we’ve encountered.”

“Great. So not only is my half-ghost counterpart here way stronger than normal halfas should be, Vlad gets to be all powerful too? So then what’s the damn difference?”

“Well, Vlad is pretty messed up,” Sam piped up from the front seat. “He suffered from ecto-acne after the accident in college, and he took years to get his powers, as opposed to Danny who got them pretty much instantly. Maybe that got mirrored in your universe into an accident that weakened him, but didn’t completely remove his powers?”

“But that suggests that I’ve been in an accident that made me lose my powers.” He looked down at his hands, clenching and unclenching them. “But that has never happened. As far as I know I’ve never had powers. I wouldn’t even know what my ghost form looks like.”

“Now that is a question I can answer.” Tucker clicked around on his PDA a little, then held it out for Danny. “Here’s a photo of Danny Phantom for you. I dunno what you guys wear in your ghost forms, if they’re formed naturally, but this is what he looks like, at least.”

“Huh.” Danny took the PDA from Tucker’s hands, eyes roving over the screen. Pictures on there was indeed what he might expect from his own ghost form, bar the clothing. Messy white hair, a brilliant smile, and vivid green eyes. A good mid-point between his parents’ chartreuse and green, he supposed. But--

“Why is he wearing a jumpsuit?” he asked, handing it back to Tucker. “He isn’t following our parents’ style, is he?”

“No, no. That’s what he was wearing when he became half-ghost, only inverted.” Tucker glanced at the front seat, but Sam remained silent. Her hands were clenched around the steering wheel with such force that the knuckles turned white. “He, um. Sam kind of talked him into wearing it.”

“Oh.” He cleared his throat, awkwardly. “Well, um. Why doesn’t he change it, then? That’s what we do, normally, to make our clothes match our current style.”

Tucker shrugged, turning back around in his seat. “It makes him look superhero-y, I guess. He’s never complained about it, at least.”

“I guess I can’t argue with that.” Danny glanced out of the front window, eyes roving over the expansive green landscape. “Hey, is that a castle?”

“Yup. The castle of Queen Dorathea.” The Speeder jerked as Sam slowed it down. “This is our destination for today. If she can’t help us, we’ll have to try somewhere else tomorrow.”

“Alright.” They landed, and he undid his seat belt. “So, uh. Is this one of those ghosts that knows other-me?”

“Yep,” Tucker confirmed, stretching himself out. “Just don’t piss her off and we’ll be alright. Sam can take point, right, Sam?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.” She stood up, smoothly, and exited the vehicle. “As long as you two don’t behave like idiots, we’ll be fine.”

“I don’t know, that’s a lot to ask of us, Sam.” Danny shot her a grin as he caught up. “I don’t think Tucker has spent a single moment in his life not being an idiot.”

“Oh, you’re one to speak!” The other caught up and shoved Danny, a fake offended expression on his face. “You’re-- Watch out!”

Tucker’s fingers wrapped around Danny’s wrist, barely preventing him from falling. He stared back, wide-eyed, half his chest and the other arm phased through a wall.

Sam grabbed hold as well, and the two of them pulled Danny back onto his feet.

“Sorry,” Tucker said, grin a little shaky. “I, uh, didn’t realize that you didn’t know you could phase through stuff in here.”

Danny just looked between him, the wall, and then him and Sam again. “Come again?”

“Humans are the ghosts in the Ghost Zone,” Sam explained, entering the castle proper now. “You can phase through stuff if you want. And, since I see the way you’re looking, yes, not wanting to hit something counts as wanting to phase through it.”

“Oh.” He glanced at his arm, then the wall. “Is that… what it is supposed to feel like? Intangibility?”

“Actually, I’m not too sure.” Tucker caught up as well. “I never asked Danny.”

“Seems like a missed opportunity.”

“Yeah, indeed.”

They paused before a large ghost, his empty red eyes peering at them over a humongous ax. Then the ghost nodded, minutely, and floated aside. “Sir Phantom. Our Queen can be found in the library.”

“Uh.” He shot Sam and Tucker a half-panicked glance, then looked back at the ghost. “Thank you?”

The ghost simply hummed. Eyes still wide, he sped past, Sam and Tucker rushing after him.

“Not used to seeing big ghosts like that?” Tucker smirked. “Or was the title getting to you?”

“A little bit of both.” He shot the other boy a glare. “Couldn’t you warn me about that? I thought you two said that I didn’t have any fans among the ghosts!”

“They’re not fans,” Sam explained patiently as they made their ways through the halls. Apparently the two of them knew where the library was, or they were better at pretending than him. “Dora really did knight Danny to thank him for services rendered.”

“That still would’ve been nice to know!” They entered a hallway with two enormous double doors at the end. “A title is still a big deal, you know!”

“Sorry, we kind of… forgot?” Tucker smiled sheepishly. “Danny doesn’t like them, so we tease him about them. I guess we didn’t realize that they could be a big deal to, well, you.”

“Alright, well--” he fell silent as both of his conversation partners walked through the giant wooden doors.

He made a face. Then, not wanting to come across like an idiot – or at least not more so that he already has – he focused on the earlier sensation of phasing through the wall, and walked forward.

Sam and Tucker stood on the other side of the doors. They weren’t alone. A girl, green skinned and red-eyed, with long braided blonde hair, floated in-between them.

“Ah, Sir Phantom,” she said cheerily once she caught sight of him. “A pleasure to see you again.”

“Uh, yes, um. Right.” He shot a wide-eyed look at Sam, then Tucker, hoping that one of them would speak up. “It’s… nice to see you too, Queen Dora.”

“Oh, please.” She flapped a hand. “You know you can call me Dora.”

“Right…” He narrowed his eyes at Sam. Didn’t she tell him that she would take care of it? “I’ll… remember that, Dora.”

She smiled brightly, folding her hands together. “Now, what brings you three here today? Not a social call, I assume?”

“No, sorry,” Sam said, finally taking over. She turned towards Dora. “We ran into a magical necklace, and we think it might’ve been a ghost artifact, so we were hoping to find more information about it.”

“Ah.” She nodded, her brow slightly creased. “Well, what can you tell me about it?”

“For starters, it swapped out Danny with one from a different universe.” Tucker gestured over at him, and he stiffened under the new scrutiny of the ghost queen. “Or, well, technically he was the one who ran into it and swapped with our Danny.”

“Is that so?” Her eyes softened slightly, but lingered on him for a long time. “You are not my Sir Phantom? I’m sorry for the confusion, then.”

“Uh, yeah. Same.” He shrugged, his shoulders lifted high. “I didn’t want to trick you or whatever. I’m… just Danny. No Phantom, no ghost powers.”

“Hmm, really? Is this… Would you consider this a problem, a fault?”

He drew his shoulder up even higher. “Maybe… Why?”

“I think I might know which necklace you found, then.” She cocked her head, one finger tapping on her cheek. “I will look into it, if you wish. But it might take a while.”

“Just like that?” Tucker asked skeptically. “Based only on a body-swap?”

She narrowed her eyes. “Sir Foley, do you really think that that is a common attribute of necklaces?”

Danny laughed, startled. Tucker made a face, then nodded. “Yeah, alright, that’s fair.”

“Can you send a messenger if you know more?” Sam asked, apparently more focused that the rest of them together. “We can’t stay here for long, I’m afraid.”

“Yes, yes, of course.” She rightened herself, her hands folded together. “I’ll make haste, then.”

“Thank you, Dora.” Danny let some of the tension drain out of him, shooting her a grateful smile. “I really appreciate it.”

“It is my pleasure.” Her eyes lingered on him, like she knew something he didn’t.

“If you don’t hurry you’ll be late for school.” Jazz’s eyes on him were steady, unwavering.

He made a face back at her to cover for his slip-up. He’d forgotten to account for the fact that he had to walk to school, now. Most of the time he flew to school, and in all other cases he walked with Sam and Tucker. But he had slept in, and thus had missed his chance.

“I’m leaving already, jeez,” he said, grabbing a piece of toast. He wasn’t a fan of toast, but it was already done, and easy to eat while walking. “No need to rush me.”

“Just looking out for you, since you can’t fly.” She passed him by, ruffling his hair along the way. “Now go, or do you want me to fly you?”

“No thanks, I’ve got it.” He waved her a short goodbye, taking a bite of his toast. “See ya, Jazz!”

The door slammed shut behind him, blocking out any answer she might’ve given. Shouldering his backpack so it laid better on his back, he started walking towards school. He wasn’t late enough to call for running, but if he kept his pace a little faster than usual… well, no one around to comment, right?

“Hey man, I thought you didn’t like toast?”

Danny jerked to the side, then glared at the empty space on his right. “I don’t,” he confirmed for the apparently invisible Tucker, “But I was running late and this was the only thing I could grab.”

Tucker faded into visibility, bright purple eyes and white-rimmed glasses. “You’re running late? Seems like a perfectly good time to me.”

“That’s because you fly faster than I walk.” Danny took a bite of his toast, then dodged to the side as Tucker lunged at him. “That wasn’t an invitation to carry me, Tuck!”

“Alright, alright! No need to snap at me.” He raised his hands defensively. “Just wanted to help, man.”

“I don’t need help, I’m fine.” Another bite of dry toast. “Just need to walk a little faster than usual.”

The half-ghost version of his best friend hummed, then floated along, lying on his back. “Well, I guess I’ll fly along, then. Sure you don’t want a ride?”

“No, Tucker, I’m fine. Can’t go you bother Sam or something?”

“Bother who?” Sam floated in front of him, blocking his path, her arms crossed. Her white ponytail flared like fire, and her cyan eyes sparked dangerously.

Rather than answer, Danny shoved the rest of the slice of toast into his mouth. Smooth, Fenton.

Apparently Sam thought so too, because she huffed out a laugh and floated aside. “Yeah, I see how it is. Get going before you’re late.”

Danny nodded, speeding up his walk even further than before. Still not a run, though. Tucker and Sam now both floated along, one on each side.

Man, that really was annoying. Maybe he should stop doing that to his own Sam and Tucker, back home.

“He didn’t want me to fly him, and apparently I was being annoying about it,” Tucker explained to Sam, still lying flat on his back. “Snapped at me and everything!”

“I didn’t snap at you.” Danny swatted at the floating boy, not surprised when the other simply turned intangible to avoid it. “I just told you that I didn’t want to be carried.”

“You’re not gonna be late again, are you?” Sam asked, some concern in her voice. “Lancer’ll kill you if you follow up your day away by being late again.”

“It’ll be fine if I keep up this pace.” He rolled his eyes at her, quietly wondering how often this Danny was late, and why. It’s not like he had ghosts to fight or anything!

“Just saying. You saw how pissed he was when we were late two days ago.” She stretched, lounging comfortably in mid-air. “And you know what he’s like towards you.”

He didn’t, but he was starting to get an idea of it. “Yeah,” he told her, speeding up just a little more, just in case. “But it’ll be fine, Sam, no worries.”

Before long the school appeared in sight, and he rushed through the doors and into packed halls. He dodged through the mass, ignoring the fact that some of its members were ghosts – or at least in their ghost forms – and praying that his locker and combination were the same in this universe. His ghost sense crawled from his core and into his lungs, but it stayed weak enough to remain unnoticed. No mist crawled out from his mouth – or his nose.

He stopped before his locker, starting to twist its lock quickly, lest he lose focus. Thankfully it unlocked quickly, and he bit down the cheer at things going well for once. Just as he was looking over the books and trying to remember what class he had, Sam appeared by his side, English books in her arms.

“Come on, grab your books and get going. If you’re early you might just give Lancer a heart-attack.”

“Right,” he said, taking the appropriate books out of his locker. Huh. Looked like they were reading a different book in this universe. He slammed the locker closed just as the first bell rung. “Let’s get going, then.”

She nodded, landing softly on the floor as white light washed over her. Now in her human form, looking like she normally did, she led him towards the classroom. He caught sight of more people transforming in the hallways. Must be a rule against ghost forms during class, which, actually, kind of made sense.

They reached Lancer’s classroom without too much trouble, and Sam walked in and to her usual seat without issue. When Danny tried to do the same, his core pulsed more strongly, and blue mist blew out of his mouth. He stilled, but no one seemed to have noticed.

Stepping inside, he saw what had triggered the proper ghost sense; Mr. Lancer sat behind his desk, his goatee and eyebrows white and his irises bright red. As a full-grown half-ghost, he must be powerful enough to set off his ghost sense.

“Mr. Fenton,” Lancer drawled, “How nice of you to join us again. And on time, for once? Color me surprised.”

Danny shrugged, unsure of what he was supposed to say.

“Well, go on and take your seat then.” Mr. Lancer waved a hand towards the desks. “Don’t get in the way, now.”

He huffed, but did as asked. Just blend in, Danny. Don’t draw unnecessary attention. Find out why you’re here and go home.

Slumping into a seat, he set his books down. He wasn’t sure how the lessons would go, but surely there couldn’t be that much difference between this universe and his own?

He opened his locker, then stuck his head inside and just groaned.

“You alright there, dude?” Tucker asked, stepping up next to him. “You’ve been weird today.”

“’m fine,” he mumbled back, not removing his head. It wasn’t like he could tell the guy that he was actually from a different universe and only now realizing how crazy this one was. The fact that everyone was half-ghost apparently wasn’t the end of the differences. Stunning. “Just… haven’t quite recovered from the accident two days ago.”

“Is that why you took a day off yesterday?” Sam leaned against the lockers on his other side, clearly curious. “No one wanted to tell us why you didn’t show up. Started to wonder if you hadn’t gotten jumped and killed or something.”

“Do you really have to be so morbid?” Tucker leaned back so he could shoot her an unamused glare past Danny, his eyes flickering purple briefly.

Danny pulled back his head, flapping a hand to stop them from squabbling. Some things never changed, he supposed. “Tucker, let her be, she’s just being goth. And yeah, had an accident in my parents’ lab, and Mom didn’t want me to come to school.”

Sam smirked at Tucker, clearly thrilled that Danny had taken her side. Tucker just stuck out his tongue in retaliation.

Rolling his eyes at their antics, Danny started putting away his stuff, letting his thoughts wander. This universe was absolutely madness. The only good thing he could think of was that, with his parents as human hunters instead of ghost hunters, ecto-contaminated food seemed to be far less common. Kind of weird, actually, considering that now everyone was half-ghost and wouldn’t die of ectoplasm poisoning if they did eat it, but hey, whatever. He never liked the taste of it anyway, and it had no benefits for healthy half-ghosts like him anyway.

Blending in was actually surprisingly tough. He had thought that it wouldn’t be all that different from usual, pretending to be powerless and a normal human. But here, that made him stand out, made him a target. And honestly? He really didn’t like that.

The bullying wasn��t limited to just Dash and his cronies. Pretty much the entire student body avoided him, like touching him would drain their own powers. Everyone bit insults at him, even the teachers! Like being human was bad, was lesser.

It was a stark contrast to his normal life, where he was constantly hiding and afraid because he wasn’t human. Because ghosts were lesser, were dangerous manifestations that didn’t deserve to exist.

He sighed, then zipped up his backpack. Sam and Tucker both shot him worried looks, but he ignored them.

Really, the only good thing was that these half-ghosts seemed to grow in strength with time. The students were all too weak to really trigger his ghost sense, and hiding it from the teachers wasn’t too hard.

“Ready to head home, Danny?”

“Yeah.” He nodded at Sam, clicking his locker closed. “Let’s get going. I’ve got tons of homework I need to get working on.”

“At least you don’t have detention again,” she said, her voice cheery like it was a good thing. Ah, another one of those things that hadn’t changed. Back home he got detention for being half-ghost, and here he got it because he wasn’t half-ghost. “So you’ve got that going for you.”

“Woo hoo. Lucky me.” He pushed through the doors of the school, ignoring the flash of light that preluded Tucker rejoining him in his ghost form.

“Man, Danny, you’re being almost as depressing as Sam,” the now-floating Tucker commented. “Cheer up.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Eh, good enough for me.” Tucker shrugged, then darted a glance at his watch. “Hey, I gotta get going. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure.” They waved him goodbye, and Tucker shot off like a rocket. Man, he didn’t realize he could miss flying so much.

“So, uh…”

Danny shook his head, turning to face Sam. “You have to get going too? It’s fine, Sam, don’t worry about it.”

“Yeah, alright.” She grinned, shifting to her ghost form as well. “See you tomorrow, Danny.”

He watched her go, then heaved another sigh. A whole school day had passed, and he still didn’t know why he was here. Clockwork might be fond of vagueness, but at least he usually gave some clue to what was going on. But he couldn’t dive into the Ghost Zone to find out more, either. He had no one to cover for him, and people would surely connect his ghost form with the normal Danny Fenton.

Still encompassed with these thoughts, he walked into the Fenton household without thinking. The moment he stepped inside, thick blue smoke wafted from his mouth.

And, startled, his wide blue eyes met three pairs of eyes looking back at him.

#danny phantom #danny fenton #dp fanfic #phanfic #dp fanfiction #phanfiction #sam manson #tucker foley #dark writes #play your part

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thewritewolf · 6 years ago

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Adrien AUG-Reste Day 27: Dadrien

Chat Noir has to take care of Ladybug when she gets hit by an akuma's attack. Also, there is a scene in here based on this comic, which was most of my inspiration for this story.

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@adrienaugust

Enjoy!

Read on Ao3

Another day, another akuma so out of control they are even defying Hawkmoth.

Maybe that explains why they completely lost interest in Chat Noir after he dived after Ladybug. He still had no idea what the akuma’s ability was, but his partner had definitely been hit. Instinct took over after that, but it was only once he landed that he realized that his partner was a lot lighter than she normally was.

When he finally stopped to look for any injuries, his jaw fell open when he realized he was carrying a little girl, no more than three or four years old. A four year old in magical kwami-granted armor, pigtails, and the biggest, bluest eyes he ever saw. His heart melted even as worry gnawed at his gut. There was no way they could continue to fight like this - and he definitely wasn’t about to drop her off somewhere by herself while this wore off.

He bit his lower lip, bouncing up and down in place while cradling her in his arms. It had to be temporary, right? And he had no idea where the akuma went anyway. Maybe if he just… kept an eye on her for a while, she’d go back to normal? The day was still young - although not quite as young as Ladybug was at the moment. What were they going to do until then?

“Pway with kitty!” She reached forward, pawing at his ears that stayed just outside her reach.

“Hey! Young m'lady you can't just go pulling on a distinguished cat's ears!"

Her only response was an entertained giggle as she stubbornly continued her quest.

“Okay, maybe we can burn off some of this energy first,” he mumbled mostly to himself as he tightened his grip on her and leapt up onto the roof tops. There was a park he vaguely remembered from his childhood, one that his mom would take him to.

With the threat of an akuma hanging over people’s heads, the park was unsurprisingly empty. A perfect place for his little lady to exhaust herself while he waited for her to return to normal. However long that took. But he was more than up to the challenge. He was Chat Noir, after all. How hard could watching a four year old be?

The moment Adrien planted himself on a bench, his eyes widened as he watched her running around the open space, narrowly avoiding colliding with various hard, metal playsets as she weaved between them. He immediately sprung to his feet.

“Okay, technically, m’lady you are still in a super suit, but you still need to watch where you’re going!” He yelled after her, but she just laughed and kept doing what she was doing. Their time at the park only got more stressful from there.

He let out a very manly screech. "Young M'lady you get AWAY from the fountain!"

Without having anything to dry her with, both her and her kwami could get sick. Thankfully, she changed her course...

“No! You CANNOT play with the pigeons! They might carry you away!"

...right towards a flock of birds.

It went on like that for nearly an hour and by the end of it, Adrien was feeling more exhausted than little bug was looking. He already felt frazzled and she was still pulling him along by the hand, clearly trying to get… wherever she wanted to go to in a hurry. Which made it all the more jarring when she suddenly changed course to stop and look up at him.

"Kitty? Tummy's growly."

All his previous annoyance with her melted right along with his heart in the face of her pleading expression. It took him a minute to process what she was saying.

"Tummy's... oh! Right. Children need food. And the akuma battle was this morning so you probably didn't get a balanced breakfast."

"Fwench fwies!"

"Now,” he began as he put on his best Stern Parent impersonation, “I don't know who your parents are, but I don't think they'd appreciate- Don't look at me like that, LB. I…” He sighed in defeat. “Fine..."

“Yay!” She started skipping as they walked.

Was this how she was back then? Carefree and adorable? Or was that just part of the akuma magic? Not for the first time, his heart ached with how little he knew the love of his life. Maybe one day they could share their identities and he could find out all there was to know about her. He had to believe that.

Like the park, the fast food joint was mostly abandoned and the cashier was looking at her phone when Adrien walked in. She glanced up at him, only to do a triple take - once to realize a customer had just arrived and another when it hit her that it was Chat Noir. And baby bug.

Mustering as much charm as he could, he smiled warmly at the bewildered staff. “Hello! Can I get two fries and two drinks?”

“Um… yeah.” The cashier - Katia, if her nametag was accurate - said slowly. “That’ll be five euros.”

He reached in his pocket and thanked Plagg for magic as five euros from his normal wallet manifested in his hands. He was just about to hand them over when Ladybug pulled on his free arm.

“I wanna buy it!” She frowned in thought and whispered to him. “Pst! Can I pwease borrow some money?”

He shrugged apologetically to Katia and took back his five euros, handing them to Ladybug, who could only barely see over the counter. She clutched them in her tiny fist for a moment before nudging his elbow and holding the euros up to him. Fighting a smile, he took the euros and handed them to Katia, who was thoroughly bemused at this point.

“We’ll, uh, have them out to you two in… just a minute.” She disappeared behind the counter and Adrien took little bug over to one of the booths. He had her sit on the inside to keep her from getting into mischief.

Thankfully, it proved unnecessary since there was some paper and crayons at the table. She hummed to herself while doodling and he took the opportunity to browse the Ladyblog. Maybe Alya had spotted the akuma while he’d been busy taking care of Ladybug.

He hadn’t found anything by the time their food arrived. From the way her eyes lit up when her fries were put in front of her, it was just as much a treat for her as it was for him. Father would never approve of him having fast food, after all.

“Kitty, here! This for you!”

His attention floated back to her and his heart melted when he saw the crude crayon drawing of a him and a mini Ladybug at the park. They seemed to be having a lot of fun.

“Aww, thank you, little bug. I’ll love it forever!” He took one last tender look at it before carefully folding it up and staching it in his pocket.

They finished their meal and Adrien hoisted her up onto his shoulders once they were out of the restaurant. He wandered back through the park and could feel Ladybug getting antsy above him. That didn’t bother him too much until he heard her start to sniffle.

“Hey,” he said in as soothing a voice as he could, “what’s the hubbub about, bug? Aren’t you having fun?”

“I wanna go home!” She sniffled. “Wanna see papa a-and momma!”

He held her close, heart breaking. It was easy for him to forget that she had a family to go back to.

“I know, little lady, I know. But you have to be Ladybug until we can get you back to normal, okay?”

"Don't wanna be Wadybug anymore! I'm Mawinette!"

The world froze in time for one brief moment. There was a feeling of something shattering. Later, Adrien would assume that was him breaking through the enchantment on the miraculous. For now, he was too stunned to form a reply. Instead, he just held her close while she cried. Her tears pulled him out of his stupor before long and he tightened her hold on him.

“I’m sorry, Marinette…” He gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

He was startled again when she became enveloped in a flash of light. When he was done blinking the spots out of his eyes, he noticed that there were still a lot of spots in front of him - except these were the much more familiar black-on-red spots he was used to. The unexpected weight toppled him over and both him and a restored Ladybug tumbled to the ground.

“Geez, kitty, and I thought I was the clumsy one.” She disentangled herself from him and stood tall. Well, as tall as she usually stood. “What happened? Where did the akuma go?”

“You… don’t remember?” It was a struggle to get any words out, but he was doing his best.

“Well, I got hit by the akuma, you caught me, and you just fell…” She looked around and her brow furrowed. “Does the akuma have teleportation powers? Weird.” She waved him on. “Let’s go find them before they can cause any more harm, Chat Noir!”

She swung off, leaving Adrien to stare blankly after her.

How was he going to break the news to her?

#Miraculous Ladybug #AdrienAugust #AdrienAugreste #Chat Noir #Ladybug #ml fanfiction #my writing

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devnny · 6 years ago

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CHAPTER TWO.

JTRM — THE “R” STANDS FOR RECOVERING!

PREVIOUSLY.

This is it fellas; the MEAT, the starting point that actually matters. It's all a damn mess hereafter. Devi, babey... forgive me, the Hell begins now! (And Johnny... please fucking behave yourself.)

Dear Diary,

I’m back from vacation.

I have a date FUCK meeting with Devi. Yes, that Devi. Weird, no?

She grew a head-thing too, but she can control it, and she’s going to try and help me do that too… We’ll see how well that works out. She yells a lot… scary.

I haven’t totally given up on my emotional enema idea, though! Just gotta work on my temper. Why does everything have to be so aggravating?

3:00PM:

“I must be out of my fucking mind, Tenna.”

“I thought you just got over being out of your mind.” Tenna replied from the couch, squeaking Spooky as punctuation to her sentence.

“Don’t chastise me.” Devi moaned, loosely draped over her armchair. “Sickness has nothing on Nny.”

She dragged herself into an upright position to continue her complaints.

“AN ART LESSON FOR A MURDEROUS LUNATIC, yeah, innovative idea there, Devi!” She cried to the gods in vain. No gods could save her from the bed she’d made so neatly for herself.

“Maybe he won’t show up?” Tenna tilted her head further off of the couch in an attempt to make eye contact with her forlorn companion. Devi only melted further down her seat.

“That’s my only hope.” She sighed. “But knowing my luck, he’ll show up with a bouquet of severed hands for me. God it was so… weird talking to him again. Besides the topic being about personal insanity and death, it was sorta like old times.”

Tenna sat up to stare at her skeptically.

“Don’t tell me you missed him.”

“NO, no! Nothing as stupid as that.” Devi insisted. “Well, I mean, I did miss the Nny I thought I knew, but that’s kinda “sucks to suck”, seeing as that Nny wasn’t… really him.”

“And what if that was the real him? And you’re going to slowly scrape Mister Nice-guy out of his skull with your bare hands, like some kind of monkey artist-therapist combo?”

“I doubt that even more.”

Devi got up from her chair to scoop up the art tablet that was besmirched with Johnny’s drawing from off of the coffee table. The little stick figure he scribbled down had stayed there, mocking her, since his creator had left in the early morning hours. Johnny had only shared a couple of his “Happy Noodle Boy” comics with her long ago, likely because he was embarrassed about them. He had said he used to paint and sketch very detailed pieces, but as “something” – which she now knew was the “Doughboys” and wall-demon, and whatever else was involved with these brain parasites – overtook him, he lost all ability to create beyond these meager doodles. She couldn’t imagine a more horrid fate for a creative. For herself.

To some degree, she pitied him, but then she would remember he that tried to murder her and felt a lot less pity. Even if she understood now that he was hapless pawn, set forth to do obscene violence in the name of some otherworldly creature, all that said about him was that he was too weak-willed to stubbornly commit to his art the way she had – so could she even help someone like that?

It was irrelevant, she decided, since his new little “voice” wanted to involve her in his scheme to eat the last remaining bits of Johnny’s brain. If she didn’t try and aid him now, he would probably just manifest in a couple of months to try and either murder her or… worse.

She shook her head. Disgusting!

“I don’t have a choice with this Tenna.” Devi grumbled. “Or rather, I guess I do, and I’m choosing to deal with this now, instead of trusting Nny to have any mental wherewithal to fight this off and not turn into a puppet again.”

“That’s very brave of you, Devi. You’re an inspiration.” Tenna joked, wiping a fake tear away. Devi groaned.

“Thanks. Now get out of here, before the creature himself shows up.” She tossed the tablet back onto the table haphazardly. “I know how he acts around me, relatively anyway, but I don’t need extra company throwing him off-balance, and this ends up a double murder.”

“Okayyy, but if things get hairy, give me a code, like, three stomps on the floor, or eerie silence, or something, and I’ll call the cops!” She grinned from the doorway.

“WHAT GOOD WOULD IT DO!?” Devi steamed and slammed the door shut. She still had very bitter feelings about the city’s useless police force – demon intervention or not.

6:01PM:

Johnny sat with his knees up under his chin in the driver’s seat of his car. He pressed his shins against the steering wheel anxiously while he tried to think about what to do. He had gone home and bummed around – the house was still as he’d left it, only dustier, which was to be expected -- until the afternoon, after which he started panicking like the madman he was. What the hell was he supposed to do, actually show up to this thing against his wishes? An ‘art lesson’ with that intimidating woman that he didn’t particularly enjoy being around anymore, mostly because she berated him with scathing honesty now!? Ridiculous!

Yet he was here, parked behind a 24/7, less than a block from her apartments, at the time she requested he come. Curse her, and curse her rightness about all of this. He didn’t want to go.

Hesitantly he moved a hand over and grabbed a small bag of his own art supplies from home. Nothing fancy, but he preferred his own pens for inking comics, as he knew how they performed. Small increments of control was better than none, after all.

Johnny, bag clutched to his chest, exited his vehicle and kicked the door shut. As he walked from the alleyway to the sidewalk that lead to Devi’s building, he questioned all the uncertainties that he was headed directly towards.

The most basic of those worries was his timing for this meeting – arriving early was out of the question, but he had arrived almost exactly on time, which also seemed kind of pathetic. He hated getting caught up in these sort of social dilemmas – but since it involved another person, and one that he kinda-sorta respected in the highest regard, he wanted to make a good impression! What if she was irritated that he was even a minute late? Or what if that made him look totally creepy, and arriving loosely around 6:00PM was more of what she imagined? Stupid social cues!

Amongst his inner-monologuing, he failed to realize how close he was to Devi’s apartment until he was at the steps of the building. He cursed to himself, then treaded up into the lobby and checked the time on the digital wall clock that hung lopsided by the elevators. 6:14PM.

“Shit.” Johnny mumbled again. He didn’t want to hurry if this was supposed to be a casual timeframe, but he didn’t want to doddle either! He decided to take the stairs, but briskly.

FOUR FLOORS UP:

Devi had just started to think that the glimmer of a chance that Johnny wouldn’t show up was plausible, when the door knock came.

“Shit.” She griped from the kitchen. Her chest heaved out a sigh, and she aggressively set down her glass of water on the counter. This was going to be a long night, surely.

A few short strides to the door, and she opened it up to her expected guest. At least he didn’t have a bouquet of human limbs.

“Hi.” Johnny shot her a sideways smile. Devi did her best to hold in any unhappy noises, and tried to force what little optimism she had out from the very bottom of her soul.

“Hey, Nny.” She replied, only a little dryly. Johnny smiled wider at that.

“No bat tonight?” He pointed to her bare right hand. Devi looked down to it, then back at him.

“Don’t tempt me.” She stepped aside and let him in, hoping that the act wasn’t just as good as signing her death certificate. Johnny strolled in much too casually for her liking, but she ignored that, hoping to put off any bursts of maniacal rantings from him as long as she could.

Johnny looked around her apartment, like a normal house guest might, seeing as he was one this time. He inspected a few of her paintings with a thoughtful smile on his face and his hands crossed behind his back, still clutching his pencil bag. Devi’s eyebrow ticked in annoyance.

“I didn’t really get a good look at your apartment last night. It’s nice. Very you.” He hummed.

“Thanks.”

“These are your paintings aren’t they? I like them.”

“Thank you, Nny.” Devi rolled her eyes tiredly. “Can we focus here, a little bit?”

“I’m only trying to be polite! You were so kind to invite me back despite desperately wanting to smash my skull in yesterday.” He smiled at her again, almost arrogant, as though trapping her in small talk was a necessary evil, and if he had to suffer this social outing, so did she. Devi snorted.

“Your immense politeness is noted. Now let’s get on to what you’re here for.” She tilted her chin in his direction as she walked by, leading him further into the living room. She sat with a leg tented up on the floor, and Nny followed, sitting across from her with his feet together.

“I see you came prepared for this. That’s good.” She noted the little bag in his lap, choosing to assume it was art supplies and nothing sinister. Johnny grinned while Devi took up the same drawing pad from the night previous. He eagerly opened the pouch to spill out his pens and pencils onto the table. Devi held in any relief that she was right in her assumption.

“So. You just want me to draw?”

“Yeah.”

“And you really think that’s the key thing here?” Johnny questioned skeptically.

“Sickness always talked about how annoying my work ethic was for her. While she was trying to form, I guess, I was using too much of my brain for painting stuff, so she couldn’t grow right, or quickly, or whatever.”

“I see…” Johnny brought a knuckle up to his mouth. “So it’s not so much using your brain, but using it for creative endeavors? Writing, drawing, thinking?”

“Seems like it.” Devi leaned back on her palms. “And to a further extent, not giving in to the temptation of sitting around and doing nothing. There were times where all day I’d be thinking; “I need to work, I need to work”, but I just sat there on the couch thinking about it, never actually got up and did anything, which is what she wanted. For you, it was probably a little different, seeing as – as far as I know – the only supernatural thing that lived in the apartments besides Sickness was the psychic fat of a morbidly obese woman.”

“…What?”

“Nevermind.” Devi looked around before settling her eyes on the paper again. “Just draw, for like, an hour. I need to get some work done too, so I’ll just sketch concept crap while you do that.”

“What should I draw?” Johnny inquired while he jammed the eraser of his pencil up against his gumline.

“I can’t tell you that, that defeats the purpose.” She sighed. “Just, draw a comic, I don’t know. It doesn’t have to make any fucking sense, just something.”

“HAH!” Johnny laughed. “Well I have good news about my Happy Noodle Boy comics, then.”

He seemed a little more enthused at that and pulled the tablet in his direction, before hunching over the table and skritching away at the paper beneath him. Devi watched him curiously a moment before returning to her art room to retrieve her own sketchbook.

45 MINUTES IN:

Devi looked up from her perch on her armchair at her struggling ‘student’. She’d already watched him wad up and throw three separate sheets of paper around him, and he was looking more unhinged the less his drawings were coming out like he wanted. Johnny stared at his current page with his lips pursed and his eyebrows furrowed tightly. As he lifted a hand up to the spiral of the tablet, Devi interrupted him.

“Ah.” She scolded. “Keep going.”

“But it’s STUPID. It makes no SENSE.” He argued at her from the floor.

“I told you that’s fine. Don’t get frustrated on the details, it’s fine if it looks like crap as long as you finish.”

“IT’S NOT!”

“Nny.” Devi’s eyelids lowered, indicating as ungently as possible that she wasn’t budging on the subject. Johnny responded with collapsing across the table dramatically.

“THIS IS TOO ANNOYING, I WON’T CONTINUE.” He seethed. “I’m going to the 24/7 and getting a Brain-Freezy!!”

“No, you are not. Finish your stupid comic, you only have like, ten minutes until ‘break time’ anyway.”

“YOU CAN’T MAKE ME STAY!” He screamed back, raising up to glare at her with his hands flat on the table. “I’M TIRED of being controlled, this is idiotic!!”

Devi frowned and set her sketchbook aside.

“Don’t be such a baby!” She chided him. “Think of the goal you’re working towards, you moron! Complaining about not being free when working toward freedom? HELLO?”

Johnny kicked his legs out and let himself fall backwards onto the floor, glaring at the ceiling as though it had called him a slew of cusswords. After a few moments of heaving breaths, Devi watched his chest slow to childlike huffing.

“But… I HATE it, Devi. I HATE IT!” Johnny clenched his fists tightly. “I hardly even enjoy drawing these ASININE Noodle Boys anymore!! I want to draw the way I used to, and this just reminds me that I can’t!! Sometimes it’s still fun, but mostly it SUCKS! COMPLETELY SUCKS!”

“Jeezus… don’t look at it like that, Nny.” She sighed. Tenna joked about her being a therapist monkey, but that was barely an exaggeration if this was going to be how things went every encounter. “Look at your scribbles like the first step back to your previous talent, not a continuous path of stagnant shit you have to walk. I swear, Johnny, this is going to help.”

She hoped that she was swearing to something she could actually bolster, especially after Johnny rolled his head over to give her an immensely forlorn expression. After a moment he sighed and sat back up, lamely picking up his pencil to continue drawing. Devi watched him again, a pinch uncomfortable with the sudden seriousness of the mood, and tried to think of something funny to say.

“Well,” She picked up her work again. “I guess if all else fails, you can just die again.”

Anyone else might have thought the comment cruel, but Johnny burst into a fit of muffled hysterics. Devi smiled against herself, but did her best to hide it behind her sketchbook. Johnny’s giggling tapered off as he settled his hand back onto the page he was working on.

“You know,” He began as he started scribbling. “the funniest thing about the whole dying incident… the method was so stupid.”

“I told you about the RadioShack arm and all of that, but the way I rigged it, it shouldn’t have ever worked! It was hooked up to the phone, and would activate when I got a phone call, but wouldn’t actually go off until I picked up the receiver and said “hello” into it. As Psycho-Doughboy so kindly said, it was a load of shit! I never get calls, not even wrong numbers, and especially not at 2 o’clock in the fuck-all morning!”

Devi’s hand stopped moving mid-stroke, her eyes wide. Johnny didn’t notice, and continued speaking while he drew.

“But, out of all the shit luck I’ve had, the phone rings, right then, right when I was screaming with the Doughboys, saying I was calling the whole thing off! Now that I think about it… I don’t know why I didn’t just… not pick it up – BUT, thank fuck I did, right?”

Devi remained silent, her throat suddenly, and increasingly, dry. It couldn’t be, it just could not be. Her mind raced; maybe it was wrong, she was mistaken – but there was no way, it fit too well. All she heard was that fucking “hello”, then a bang – a gunshot. A thud. A scream. If Johnny was still talking now, she couldn’t hear him.

“It was me.” She said suddenly, bringing Johnny out of his thought.

“Huh?”

“…It… was me. It was me, I was the one that called you that night.” Devi’s widened eyes lifted to stare at him as she spoke. “Tenna said… I was just… checking if you still lived there.”

Her mumblings died off as her eyes wandered away from Johnny’s face to bore into the drywall across the room. Johnny blinked, barely processing what she was saying.

“What? You called me that night, Devi?” He wondered only briefly how she could know it was that exact night, but quickly rationalized that he hadn’t received any other phone calls besides that one, before or since. It was Devi. His eyes grew impossibly larger as the reality of it dawned on him.

He stood up, unable to keep still with the sudden surge of energy pulsing throughout his body.

“You, you – YOU called me Devi!” He paced as he handled the information. “You did – oh my God, I can’t believe I never thought of this before!”

Devi’s attention made it’s way back to her now manic guest, and she watched him uncomfortably from her seat. Johnny smiled uneasily, holding his head while he walked.

“The entire reaction, I gave the reaction the credit for removing those shitty horrors from me, but I never thought of the action! The call itself! It wasn’t just the GUNSHOT, it wasn’t just DYING, it was that phone call! MORE IMPORTANTLY, it was the one that placed that phone call!! My God, all this time I’ve been ambling around, a slave free from his shackles, thrust into a world unknown, when the KNOWING was right there!! It was so obvious!”

He stopped his frantic pacing to kneel into a lunge at the foot of Devi’s armchair, startling her further into the fabric of it’s back. Johnny grabbed the corners of her sketchbook, which she was using as a pathetic shield between her frazzled self and the man before her, and he smiled wide with excitement.

“Oh, Devi! Devi it was always YOU – who else would it be!? Who else COULD it be!” Johnny breathed through a laugh. “Devi, you KILLED ME.”

She could only stare at him in silent horror. It wasn’t like she meant to kill him! She did say that she wished he would die for making her like him so much and then letting her down so horrendously but – Christ, it wasn’t meant to be so literal! She didn’t want to be the cause of it! If he wanted to just go vaporize and leave her alone, that’s what she would have preferred back then. Johnny didn’t seem to realize her discomfort on the gruesome truth to his ‘demise’.

“You stripped me of those wretched little monsters – even the WALL-THING!” His smile didn’t waver. “I should have known; there was a reason you escaped! No, a reason I MET you!”

Devi wanted to interrupt before he convinced himself of some soulmates bullshit, but her throat felt clogged, and nothing would come out.

“And here you are, helping me again… Fuck’s sake, I’ve been so foolish! So BLIND!” Johnny’s fingers gripped onto her sketchbook harder, pulling it down so the top was under his chin as he leaned in further. “All this time, it was always you; you made me happy, you escaped, you released me of that Hell!! If fate’s a real thing, THIS is it! How else would I get aligned with the one person, after all of that previous shit, that has the mental fortitude to withstand an attack from those disgusting vermin!?”

“J… Johnny.” Devi managed finally, through her barely functioning jaw. The sound of her voice seemed to reel him in a ways, and he slid back to sit on his heel expectantly, but with a much less wild look in his eyes.

“Oh, I beg you, please don’t be nervous Devi! I don’t hold any resentment for your hand in my death, not at all!” He chuffed. “And I’m so sorry for… for yelling, and being an overall pain in your ass since visiting you. I swear, after this, that’s it! Whatever you say, goes.”

Devi blinked in surprise at that. Was he honestly pledging his loyalty out of sheer gratitude that she inadvertently kind-of murdered him? She could only stare at his eager eyes, unsure of whether to be horribly afraid of this new measure of weirdness in their relationship, or to feel safer in that she was his so-proclaimed Angel of Death.

“Um… uh…” She tried to think of something to say, but was still panicking internally. “Um, y-y’know what, Nny?”

She hated how his head perked up, like he was waiting on her word.

“A uh… a Brain-Freezy sounds good, actually. You wanna go grab us a couple while I… think about what kind of existential bullshit I’m experiencing right now?”

“YUM. Yes, okay! I will!” His smile pulled up on one side, letting his gums peak out, before he ran to the door. He halted abruptly and turned to her again. “Is Cherry Doom okay? That’s the flavor I get.”

“Yeah.” Devi didn’t even think about her answer, and watched him leave with an uncertain, disturbed look in her eyes. She melted unceremoniously against the chair, arms and legs splayed out, and continued to stare at nothing in particular. She didn’t want Johnny to like her so immensely -- she didn’t even want for him to like her much at all! The way this was going, she might be stuck with him as long as his gratitude lasts. How long could the frenzied gratefulness of a homicidal maniac last, exactly?

NEXT.

#devi: it cant last that long right???? right?#jtrm #mine #devnny #now i can write the fun parts #aka: leash #chapter

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