#being a devil gives him a certain durability

[soldsouls]

Anyway I can self-indulgently say that, in this AU, Luci did have to throw down with Asmodium to get his friends out. He caught them as they were escaping. Luci pushed the two of them out a window, and threw himself at Asmodium [who is not only more powerful but also physically larger / stronger even after Luci's promotions]. He knew he couldn't kill Asmodium, but he could at least incapacitate him. That was the aim anyway. He had only the briefest moment to do so as his friends plummeted toward the ground. He knocked Asmodium through a solid stone wall, left him with scratch scars across his neck and chest, then immediately dove out the window to catch his friends. They were mere inches from death when he caught them.

[dailycharacteroption]

Magical Assassin Operative (Operative Alternate Class Feature)

(art by Raszul on DeviantArt)

Operatives prove that the right strike in the right place can change the flow of battle, but there are those that prefer something a bit different than the fickle nature of blows to vulnerable places, some of which we’ve covered here before, but today we’re looking at an operative that adds a little magic to their offensive mix.

Now, magic is nothing new to the operative class. After all, you’re encouraged to interpret the more marvelous abilities they can learn as technology, magic, or hybrid tech at your discretion. And on that note, certain exploits and specializations are expressly magical.

However, our subject today is one that uses magic to influence the amount of damage they do, having learned just enough magic to imbue their operative weapons with destructive energies and other magical effects, almost like how the arcane assailant soldier does as a natural evolution of the magus class of distant yesteryear.

I can imagine these operatives might range from failed magic students that discovered a knack for killing or espionage, to magical assassins that specialize in dangerous targets that are resistant to conventional damage for whatever reason. These are devil-slayers, construct-breakers, and wizard-humblers all in one.

Instead of using their skills to create openings, these magical assassins quickly assess their magical knowledge to channel raw elemental power into their weapon of choice, making it more damaging as a result in the same fluid motion as they attack. What sets this apart from a trick attack aside from the elemental damage is that the weapon retains the charge for about a minute, allowing them to unleash subsequent attacks with the charged weapon with no additional skill checks needed.

Later on, they also imbue their weapons with the magic of various basic weapon seals, including those of moral alignments, projectile guidance, durability, defiance, and so on. As they improve, this list grows to include those that trade out the base damage of the weapon for various elements instead, or those that strike true against incorporeal foes or deal especially grievous wounds, even imbuing multiple at once.

The big advantage of this alternate class feature is that you only have to succeed a roll once for extra damage, at the cost of less damage on average and it’s potentially resistible elemental nature. However, also being able to later add various temporary fusion seals mean they can also tailor their weapon to pierce the defenses of their foe further. As such, I’d recommend putting plenty of skill ranks into various skills that can be used to identify creatures, not just mysticism, so that you can tailor your magic to the best of your ability. Also, consider how to combine this magical theming with your specialization and exploits as well.

It's interesting to think of the reasons that operative pragmaticism blends with the power offered by magic. Some may be thieves or agents specializing in magical problems without the trapping of true mages, or they might be fiend or other outsider hunters that know they could not take such beings in a direct fight and so learn to strike from the shadows. Additionally, the fact that they activate this form of attack as part of an attack gives of the vibe of the innocuous assassin suddenly revealing themselves to be an actual threat to their prey the moment it becomes too late, which is a nice visual.

Dull gray and serious, Valgan Sparkwire lost his vibrancy when he flunked out of magic school, but while a dour attitude grips his heart, he still makes use of what he learned as a hired knife in the undercity. The gnome would never admit it, but a part of him still yearns for magical discovery, though.

Akatas and veshreds are not the only dangers clinging to asteroids in the void. Sometimes truly monstrous threats lurk, sealed away by ancient guardians or simply there by fluke of chance. With such exotic threats out there, it pays to magically-skilled scouts on prospecting missions in the belts, ready to put an energy-charged bullet in whatever is stalking your miners.

A murder investigation centers around a frostbitten decapitated corpse. The lead investigator seems to think it was the work of a gelugon’s blade, but one forensic scientist thinks it must be the work of a strangely superchilled vibrogarotte, which narrows the list of suspects down in a very different way.

[velathetanager]

Devil Fruit AU Musings

Imagine Miko casually doing stretchy things at weird times, freaking Ratchet and possibly Arcee out. She also tries to use her rubber nature to get the Bots to get off her back about being reckless. She's probably more durable than they are in some respects, give her a break.

Raf sometimes uses his Devil Fruit in moments of panic. Ratchet accidentally startled him once and immediately all the metal tools on his desk scattered. This event is actually what prompted the Autobots' human companions to explain the concept of Devil Fruits to them.

Jack's Devil Fruit was actually an artificial version, so he's pretty much invisible by default. He has to focus on being visible.

Fowler didn't get captured by Laserbeak; he basically used the Bari Bari No Mi to create a sphere around her and let her up just before she hit the ground as basically a message to the Cons.

June joked once about swapping the Autobots' sparks. Also, she used Shambles to get out of the cocoon Airachnid put her in by swapping herself with a nearby barrel.

Cybertronians can't use Devil Fruits without being corrupted by them (Dark Energon did create them, after all). Smokescreen ate the Nuke Nuke No Mi, and he has to take a special medication to counter its negative effects.

Megatron does not care about the above fact and wants to mass produce a Cybertronian version of certain Devil Fruits.

[spinningbuster98]

I admit that I have a certain soft spot for Mission 2 since this was included in the demo for the game and that was basically my very first exposure to the series!

The level is pretty great, with some nice combat scenarios both outside and indoors, and I like how the level goes from the outside ruins of the city in the early hours of dawn, to the inside of a crumbling hotel and when you finally exit it's finally morning outside and then you fight a giant demon in a dilapidated church, on its rooftop, inside and in the plaza near it. It's basically the most diverse level in the game location wise

Goliath is a good first proper boss, nicely having you utilize Nero's greater airborne mobility, although I'm ashamed of how the second half of the fight went, I'm still al little bit rusty

Mission 3 ain't too shabby either with some hard indoors fighting, you go into a library to fight some Death Scissors (an enemy from DMC1) and then the boss Artemis is also pretty great and this fight went much better for me :)

So Nero: what about his gameplay this time around?

Well pretty much everything there was to love about it from DMC4 has been brought back with more stuff on top and some added tweaks

The timing for the Exceed mechanic is more lax in order to be more accessible, though I still can't pull it off consistently 'cause timing ain't my thing

His Buster Grab and Charged Shot have either been nerfed or the enemies have been made more durable because now they're no longer near insta win moves, although they're still powerful

The Gun has received an earlier quick charge level that is weaker than the others but charges nearly instantly and can stun enemies

When you first play the game Nero won't have access to his Charge Shot, Buster Grab or even his Devil Trigger due to Ver-The Mysterious Hooded Figure stealing his demon arm, but after completing the game once you'll unlock them for every future playthrough

The Devil Trigger here actually transforms Nero into a demon (with the same design that his stand ghostly avatar had in DMC4), though the effect is still the same, with Nero using ghostly arms to double the amount of attacks you unleash.

Nero can even unlock a triple jump that ends with a glide thanks to those spectral wings.

Technically he even has a FOURTH jump: DMC5 introduces the ability to perform taunts in mid air and Nero's consists in him posing in midair after a jump which, if done after your third jump, essentially results in a quadruple jump. Couple this with Nero's returning ability to snatch enemies from afar (with there being more snatchable enemies here than in DMC4) and his natural tendency to have easier air combos AND with the fact that jumping on enemies has been made easier and Nero in this game can just straight up fly

His newest addition are the Devil Breakers: mechanical arms made by Nico that each have unique abilities, from generating an electrical shockwave right in front of you, temporarily powering up your sword at the cost of more basic moves and turning off lock on, the ability to make short air dashes, a drill that can pierce shields, a rocket arm that you can ride like a surfboard, the ability to temporarily freeze time, Mega man's Mega buster (which is DLC but c'mon) and a bunch of others. Each Devil Breaker can be charged to unleash a different attack: Overture normally just creates a shockwave but if you charge it you can stick up to 3 explosives on an enemy, which go off once you shoot them. Gerbera can unleash a bunch of lasers that ricochet off of walls making it ideal to use in tight spaces. Rag Time freezes time for a bit, giving you enough time to use hard hitting moves that normally require a large amount of windup to pull off. Rawhide normally has Nero swing an iron chain around him for moderate damage which also essentially creates a protective dome around him which can be used to parry enemy attacks, but once charged Nero just goes full rodeo on some poor demons.

There's also a Devil Breaker that imitates Nero's normal demon arm. At first this will be your only way of using the classic Buster Grab but after regaining it once you've beaten the game this Devil Breaker becomes obsolete

....or so you might think! You see the Devil Breaker version of the grab is actually MORE powerful than Nero's regular buster grab, and the charged version is literally one of the most powerful moves in the whole game, rivalling some of the damage that Dante can dish out, so don't sleep on this baby, it can make mincemeat out of bosses if used wisely

However after charging a Devil Breaker it breaks. They also break if an enemy hits you when you're using one. You can only carry a maximum of 8 with you, otherwise you'll either have to buy more from Nico or find some laying on the ground, though they're randomised and get very rare on higher difficulties

The only criticism people have for the Devil Breakers is that you can't freely switch between them: you have to choose the order in which you'll use them at the start of the stage or when you're at Nico's. Otherwise the only way to switch Devil Breakers is by...breaking the one you're currently using

This was done because the devs wanted the player to use them strategically and in a way this does work as there's a certain sense of satisfaction in planning out your Devil Breaker load out before a level, taking into consideration what enemy formations you'll encounter and in what order.

But it also feels limiting, I mean Dante can freely switch between his weapons and style and there's no issue there!

Other than that Nero is awesome in this game! He was already pretty fun in DMC4 but this game pretty much makes that Nero obsolite, taking everything that worked in that game, rebalancing it and adding more stuff on top (and with much better enemy design though more on that at a later time)

And finally: this game introduces a very awesome new addition to style rankings: dynamic battle themes

The better you perform in battle the more hype the music gets, so with Nero you'll start a battle with a D or C rank and the music will be pretty chill...

...then you hit the S rank and suddenly it's ALL THESE VOICES INSIDE OF MY HEAD! ARM ON FIRE VEINS BURNING RED!! FRUSTRATION IS GETTING BIGGER! BANG! BANG! BANG! PULL MY DEVIL TRIGGER!!!!

Yeah it's certainly quite hype you could say.

[alanadamoondemon-artblog]

Real Name - Zalana

Alias / Nicknames - Zalana the Midnight Devil, The Zeti Hybrid

Age - 19 Yrs old

Gender / Pronouns - Female / She, Her

Personality - Witty / Zestful / Empathetic / Impish / Injurious / Introverted

Likes - Drawing art, Moon and Stars, Going Out late night, Sleeping, Mushroom Pizza, Raspberry Juice

Dislikes - Confrontations, Large crowds, Stress, Insects, Shaving, Raisins

Species / Race - Tasmanian Devil Mobian / Zeti Hybrid

Job / Hobbies - None / Spending late at night, Practicing spells, Doing art

Abilities / Talents - Magic powers, Cast certain spells or hexes, Teleportation, High Agility and Speed of an Zeti, Magnetic field manipulation, Controls robots or any kind of machinery, Powerful jaw

Weapons / Tools - Lunar Sickles, Magic chains, Magic potions,

- BIO -

Zalana the Mobian Hybrid but mostly goes by her nickname, The Midnight Devil. She is an Zeti Half-Breed who is also an Tasmanian Devil who loves to hang around at night and having a bit of fun when she wants to. With her own magic powers she was taught by her mother, Zalana can perform certain spells and her most remarkable ability is casting portals to teleport from casting portals. Unlike Choas Control, She cannot warp time and space while can't slow down time. Zalana could only teleport at an certain range depending on the portal's position and sometimes doesn't lead to the exact location she wanted, She continues to work on it and hopes that one day she'll perfected it.

Despite her Zeti Heritage, She doesn't posses all of the powers of an Zeti and can't really control them well for she is an Half breed while being very young. She doesn't have the strength or durability of an Zeti but does possess the speed and agility, Able to keep up and dodge very fast. Zalana also has yet to control her image ability to control Magnetic fields, She cannot control the robots for it doesn't last very long and she does it without realizing it. Her ability is caused by her high emotions and when she is very emotional, machines or robots would malfunction and even explode if they are near her.

Because of that, She makes sure to keep herself away from anything mechanical if she is extra moody and relies on her magic and potions rather than her Zeti abilities. Aside from that she has an powerful jaw able to bite through hard wood and able to unhinged it to consume anything that is too big for an average person to eat, With her claw like nails that she can scratch with and with an long tail that she can swing at anyone with. Not only that but she carries some magic potions that were made by her mother in her jacket, She has a range of them that can heal her or Power her strength. And she has potions that do negative effects from shrinking to poison potion, She uses them sparingly and not use them all.

Her choice of weapon that she was given by her mother and trained with is the Lunar Sickles, A pair of moon crescent shaped blades that she can use to defend herself. Not only that but she can have them attach to a magical chain which she can throw them then able to come back to her, And able to grab anything with them or act as grappling hooks to climb with or swing with. Zalana is able to have them shoot magic projectiles and can use them, She can make them disappear then reappear from putting them away in a small pocket dimension.

Despite her mischievous, If not destructive nature, Zalana has an good heart although a strange one. She learns to take some form of restraint when pulling tricks onto people, Must of the time she does it to those who deserve it. Either they had crossed her or to bad guys that dared to mess with others, Overall she loves playing the role of being Karma and giving out fitting punishments.

She has an Very odd fixation with Eggman, Zalana keeps that to herself since he is an power hungry tyrant and doesn't want anyone to know that. She love messing with him from making his machines malfunction to casting spells on him, Zalana greatly enjoys making him mad and sometimes even throw sassy comebacks at Eggman to get an reaction out of him. She strongly dislikes of trapping helpless animals and to pollute nature, Especially enslaving everyone. So whenever she gets the chance, She would make sure to humble him through her magic and make his robots malfunction.

Social skills aren't her strongest suit and gets very nervous when being with multiple people and she doesn't understand basic social cues all that well, She still has some form of social experience and can be chill but still can be very timid and awkward half the time unless she becomes more comfortable and she is chill once you get to know them. Zalana is an emotional person and an empath for she has difficult time dealing with her emotions and is easily influenced by others emotions. She prefers spending time alone most of the time and simply likes to day dream alone while going alone at dark nights where no one is really around or awake, She still does want to spend time with others.

Despite her slight bitterness towards Zeti's because of her dead beat dad, She is curious about them for there isn't anything she knows aside her abilities about his species. Her mother doesn't have infinite knowledge about them aside from knowing some of their abilities, She had to learn them herself as she grew up.

- BACKSTORY -

Zalana was conceived from her mother's tragic relationship with her deceitful father, Who is an zeti. Her mother was an Mobian Tasmanian Devil Witch with extraordinary magical powers who had once travelled to the Lost Hex long ago to grab certain items for her potions and cast certain spells but she had met an Very charismatic Zeti native to the world, he was an lone Zeti who lived most of his life alone and he liked it that way for the most part. He had fell in love with her beauty and was willing to show her around to find ingredients she needed, She at first find him strange however she was charmed by the Zeti when she spent a lot of time at the Lost Hex thus started their relationship that was kept secret due to his kind being disapproval with falling in love with different species instead his own, Especially with the Deadly Six that were around.

However in truth the Zeti was an lustful creature who never seen her as his lover but a toy to be treated as a means to an end, She was blind to his charms and it was too late to see just how uncaring and cold the zeti was when he found out that she was pregnant, Quickly he abandoned her and left without a trace. Her mother although heartbroken still continued to have her child, She left the Hex World and soon gave birth to her daughter that she named Zalana. Her Mother loved her Very much despite that the unfortunate circumstances that brought her here, Her mother goes on to raise her and even teach her about magic to defend herself while attempted to help manage her Zeti abilities.

When Zalana had grew older and her powers had increased, Along her Zeti features that are becoming more prominent at her early age of 13, Her mother decided it was the time to tell her the truth about her father. It was at first difficult for her understanding that she was an half breed of an dangerous race of demons and that her father left her mother because she was pregnant with her, Her mother did her best to convince her that she never regret having her and could only wished she had picked a better father for her. Zalana for a while felt uneasy and angry about her father being absent for her whole life, As time goes by she comes to accept her strange appearance but is still very bitter with her father and Zeti's in general that she refuses to be called a Zeti.

Now she has turned 19 years old and became a lot more independent that she would go out to travel anywhere she desires to have some mischievous fun, She mostly comes out at night for she enjoys the night time rather than the daytime. But at the end of the day, Zalana always comes back home with her mother for she is isn't ready to depart and has an deep connection with her mother who she holds dear but she goes out all the time for she feels like a burden to her own mother despite being reassured time and time again.

[quirkwizard]

This maybe an odd question but the idea randomly popped into my head and I just wanted to get your thoughts. So AFO can “seemingly” transfer a quirks into a single person without modification, as we see with wolfram in the first movie. So if AFO could give one extra quirk to each of the LOV members (that he had access to) who do you think he would likely give what quirk?

I mean, we know he can do that, at least to some extent. Lady Nagant is a canon example of that. We just don’t know if there are any other limits on it. That aside, I’m going to be counting any of the Nomu’s Quirks since those count as Quirks All For One had access to.

Magne - Spearlike Bones: Considering that Magne’s main strategy is pulling people towards the magnet hammer, adding the bones could be a pretty nasty follow up.

Muscular – Power: While there could be a lot of Quirks that work with his Quirk, Muscular is such a meathead that I struggle to think of any that he’d use well. So I doubled down and gave him another meathead Quirk.

Mustard - Air Cannon: This would be pretty useful in spreading out Mustard’s gas, especially if he’s able to combine the two to fire off blasts of sleep gas. Plus he could push his own gas away from himself if he needed to.

Tomura - Transforming Arms: Not only could this extend Tomura’s reach with his hands, but it could give him more opportunities to use his Quirk by dividing his arms into more hands, greatly extending his threat range when used with "Decay".

Kurogiri - Shock Absorption: While Kurogiri has a good defense with his portals, he still gets damaged and knocked around a lot. Every fight he was in ended up with him knocked down. So adding some extra defensive measures should help keep that from happening.

Spinner - Muscle Augmentation: Almost any Quirk would be better for Spinner than "Gecko". I just decided to go with "Muscle Augmentation" since that worked best with his close quarters fighting style. That and the idea of a giant, ripped Spinner is funny to me.

Twice - Super Regeneration: This is working with the assumption that any doubles of Twice would have his Quirk as well. If that is the case, then "Super Regeneration" could help alleviate some of the durability issues that his copies have. If not, then perhaps "Storage" to help move people around.

Dabi – Wings: I was tempted to give him "Super Regeneration", but I think that the damage from the blue flames is so serious that it wouldn’t help him. I decided to instead go with countering his other weakness, that being his poor mobility. With "Wings", he would be able to get around far more easily. That and it could give him a sick devil motif.

Himiko - Tongue Web: I know this sounds gross, but it’s one of the best possible combinations. Considering that the tongue seems to harden, and it extends her range, she could get multiple blood samples at a time, and it would be far easier to pull off then it would be normally. It would be like the world’s most messed up bendy straw.

Mr. Compress – Rivet Stab: This is another odd one. I want to give him "Rivet Stab". As seen with All For One, it can extend the range of contact Quirks like "Forced Quirk Activation", so it should work with "Compress". Though I’m not one hundred percent certain if that interaction would work. If not, "Springlike Limbs" could work well with his natural agility and help keep his hands out of harm’s way.

[queenmuzz]

Devil’s Advocate

You’ve read the Dante’s Valentine’s Day Special, now it’s his brother’s time!

You awoke to the soft delicate scent of roses, and knew your ‘secret’ admirer had made yet another appearance.  ‘Secret’ was definitely a bit of an exaggeration, but still, you enjoyed these clandestine little gifts you had received, and were willing to wait as long as it took for the man responsible to reveal himself.

That man, of course, was the stoic, stony, yet surprisingly sensitive Elder son of Sparda, Vergil.  As a demon hunter yourself, you had come into contact with the Legendary Devil Hunter, Dante quite a while ago, but only recently, had you met the twin brother he’d never spoken to you about.  You never asked, but you sensed some tension, albeit rather gentle tension between the brothers, but you had decided ‘any friend and/or relative of Dante, is a friend of mine’.  And so, you attempted to befriend the aloof man, and though it took a while, it actually wasn’t as hard as you had expected.  

You had proven yourself an adept fighter, a voracious reader, and a perceptive listener, to the man, and cautiously, (and much to Dante’s surprise), you’d formed a friendship with him, a silent understanding that you had each other’s back, that he’d be at your side when fighting off the denizens of Hell, and you’d be there when he tried to figure out how to navigate a (frankly terrifying) world he hadn’t been a part of for over two decades.  

It HAD been nice, enjoying his silent presence, until your friendship had blossomed into something more serious...at least on your end.  Even a blind man could tell he was attractive, and behind his stony mask, there was a man who was deep down, courteous and kind.  A man you could imagine spending the rest of your life with.  But there was a teensy weensy fly in the ointment: You had no idea if Vergil would ever reciprocate your feelings.  It had taken so much time and patience to form a platonic relationship with him, and you didn’t want to destroy what was a perfectly good friendship over something as trivial as unrequited feelings.

But then, a box of chocolates had appeared on your desk one day.  Your favourite, the ones with the silky smooth French Vanilla filling, straight from the little chocolatier from across town.   Dante also had been hovering around, just out of sight, and just happened to walk in as you opened the box, making you suspect he had gotten them for you.  But seeing as he was more interested in ‘helping’ you eat the contents, as opposed to your reaction, you chalked it up to a thankful client.  Strange, it didn’t have a note accompanying it.

Then, a few weeks later… something appeared on your dresser in the small room you ‘rented’ (AKA, helped Dante keep the lights on) from the devil in red.  It was a beautiful green leather planner, with a matching enamel pen, all wrapped simply with a sky blue silk ribbon.  It had been your first clue that the box of chocolates were not just a gift from an anonymous client.  

Because you had seen this exact planner in the window of a little out-of-the way boutique while you were out running errands, and had stopped to admire the fine craftsmanship, but winced at the price tag.  You had planned to buy it later on, when you got paid from your latest job, but by then, it was gone, purchased by another customer.

The fact that this was the exact same handcrafted book that had been on display, and was now your possession, was no coincidence.  And...who was with you to run errands on that very day, who watched your eyes lit up as you peered at it through the glass?  Vergil.  There could be no doubt, the man was leaving gifts for you.  A token of friendship?  Both gifts could be seen as purely platonic, but there was always the chance…

And yet, when you came down the stairs that morning, to see Vergil sipping on his morning tea, trying to figure out the new fangled ‘cell-phone’ his son had given him, he barely gave you anything but a perfunctory nod, which made you question if he really was the gifter.  After all, even someone so emotionally guarded as Vergil would give some sort of clue, a slight inquisitiveness at why you couldn’t get that darn smile off your face.  But nothing. Perhaps the poor man was too shy to admit his feelings, or even quite understand his feelings for you...romantic or not.  And so, you would not mention the gift to him or anyone else.

A week later was the thing that really made up your mind.  Not only were you awoken by the scent, you could have sworn as you opened your eyes, a flash of bright blue, and what sounded like someone hurriedly leaving your room in a tremendous hurry.  (Like Dante when you caught him eating the last of your chocolates)

There, placed delicately on the pillow beside your head, was a single blue rose, its soft velvet petals unfurling in the morning light.  It had been freshly picked, and had no blemish.  You sat up, and cautiously picked it up, as if you weren’t quite sure it was a figment of a rapidly fading dream, and inhaled its scent.  This was no dream, the sweet scent was too real, too vibrant.

This sealed it.  The gift was from Vergil, and the meaning was clear.  One did not leave secret flower gifts to people they considered as ‘just friends’.  You spun the stem between your fingers, admiring its beauty from every angle.  You’d have to find a way to thank Vergil for such a thoughtful gift, to admit you had feelings for him too...but first, you’d need something to place the rose in, to preserve its beauty.  And Dante must have a vase in his kitchen somewhere….

🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

It turns out, Dante did NOT have a vase in his kitchen.  Still, there had been a champagne glass, with the words “HAPPY NEW YEAR! 2007!” written on it, so it would have to do.  It didn’t dampen your happiness as you hummed and spritzed the flower with water, as you placed it in the newly cleaned glass. You were so happy, that you hadn’t noticed that someone also had entered the kitchen, and was silently watching you.  Only when you spun around, finally deciding on a perfect place to place it, did you come face to face with Vergil.

He seemed pale, even more than usual as he stood there, still in his pajamas, not looking at you, but at the flower in your hand.  After a few moments of awkward silence, he spoke. “Where.” a pause, as if he was having trouble voicing his thoughts, “where did you get that?”

You were taken aback.  Why would he ask such a question?  Surely he had given you the gift!

You decided to answer as truthfully as you could.

“It was on my pillow this morning.  I thought maybe you had given it to me…” you trailed off dumbly as he just stared at you.  “Along with the chocolates and the notebook…” Now Vergil looked alarmed, and you realized you had just misjudged the situation.  It was obvious that he hadn’t given you anything.  But even now, you searched his face, hoping against hope that he was just joking, that he was playing dumb, even though it would be totally out of character for him.

And without warning, he spun around, left the kitchen with footsteps that were quiet to a normal person, but for you, they sounded like the angry stomps of an elephant.  Out of sight, you heard him ascend the stairs, and then...his bedroom door slammed.

You stood there, confused and upset, the blue rose petals trembling in their makeshift vase.  You felt like something had changed between yourself and Vergil, and you were pretty sure it could never be restored. 💙💙💙💙💙💙

To say Vergil was angry was an understatement.  He was absolutely livid, as he stalked up the stairs and into his room.  Not at you, that was absurd.  You were innocent in all of this, an unfortunate victim.  His anger was directed at one person...himself.

He yanked open the nightstand drawer, and to his fury, the chocolates he had placed there a month and a half ago were gone.  He had heard you and Dante speaking about sweet tooths, and you had admitted that there was a little shop that sold dark chocolates with gooey french vanilla filling that you could die for.

And so, without really thinking, he had gone there, and purchased a box for you.  Why?  As  a token of friendship? A way of saying ‘thank you’ for being patient and understanding with him?  In the end, he couldn’t really decide WHY he wanted to give them to you, and so he placed them in the bottom of the drawer, away from prying eyes, (or his brother’s sensitive nose).  Maybe he could give it to you when he had a plausible excuse, such as your birthday.  But now...it had vanished.

Beginning to panic, he ran over to his wardrobe, and began pushing things aside on the top shelf.  The planner, which he was certain he had hidden under several of his sweaters, was also nowhere to be seen.

What you’d been doing that day, he couldn’t quite recall, only that he felt some compulsion to come with you.  To protect you? No...it was just to run some errands...then why had he felt better by your side?

As you and him chatted about plans for his son and grandchildren to visit, you had suddenly stopped at a storefront window, your eyes locked on something in the display.  A beautiful, handbound planner, with a matching pen as a mate.

“My old one is nearly used up...I’ve been looking for one to replace it, but something a bit more durable than what you get in a big box store, you know?”  Why had his chest hurt when he saw your crestfallen look at the price tag, and how you reluctantly walked away?

Only a day later, when he went back to purchase the book, did the clerk help him realize why he was feeling the way he did.  

“Ah a gift for someone special?” they asked as they tied a decorative bow around it.

“Yes...It’s for…” a friend?  No...that wasn’t it.  It was something more, at least for him.  He honestly didn’t know what you felt about him, and frankly, he was terrified to find out.

“It’s for someone very special to me”

And yet, when he had come home, instead of handing it to you, taking secret delight in the joy on your face… he had hidden it, out of sight, out of mind.  Because what if he was overstepping?  What if you saw him as just a friend, and nothing more?  Could he ever face you again, after destroying something he and you had worked so hard to build?

And now...he looked at his dresser, to find nothing but a glass of water.  The night before, he had, on a whim, stopped at a florist and purchased one, perfect blue rose.  This time, unlike the chocolates and the planner, who had a much longer lifespan, the rose would lose its lustre in a day, forcing him to give it to you, to confess his feelings for you.  

And yet, as you smiled at him as he walked in that evening, telling him that supper was almost ready, did he change his mind.  He’d just place it on the dresser, and let it bloom for him, and him alone, a reminder of his cowardice.

How you had gotten a hold of all three things, made no sense to him.  

Wait...three?

You had mentioned the book and chocolates, and he had seen the rose in your hands, but you hadn’t said anything about the fourth intended gift. He had been contracted to kill a demon that had been summoned by some robbers trying to break into a jewelry shop, (a creative way to destroy the security systems, but it had backfired immensely, as demon summoning usually did.)   The elderly owner, in gratitude, had offered him the pick of anything in his collection.

Vergil was going to pass on the offer, as there was only one piece he had worn, and it was long gone, but then his eye fell upon a delicate silver chain, with a pendant of sapphire and tiny diamonds.  You would certainly love it, he had decided, and so the grateful owner had placed it in a black velvet case and given it to him.  But as a gift, it was far too forward on its own...it was best given after he had confessed his feelings to you… and so it had laid, under his bed, waiting for him to work up the courage to do something.

He quickly got on his hands and knees, frantically searching for the box...but nothing…  Just a dust free spot outline where it had been.  Where did it go?  You didn’t have it, or you would have mentioned it.  It wasn’t in his room…  The only person who could have access to his room would be...Dante…

He grabbed Yamato, intending to wake up his no doubt still slumbering brother with an impalement.  It was so like his little brother, taking things that didn’t belong to him. And the implications troubled him.  Was DANTE trying to court you?  You and him had known each other far longer, but he’d never expected his idiot brother to try to undercut Vergil’s attempts for your affection…

Ah, but you never did anything in the first place to court them, he reminded himself, you were never even in the running…

Still, by the time he was done… There would be nothing left of Dante to court you-

He stopped in his tracks.  There, standing in the doorway, was an ethereal blue figure. His doppelganger, its face unreadable as it stared at him intensely.

“Out of way,” he ordered, but all he got was an amused huff.

Vergil was not amused and tried to barge past it, tried to summon it back to him, but he met both as if they were a solid brick wall.  This was odd, in battle his companion would always follow his directions,  why not now?  Whatever it had in mind, it wasn’t going to let him through.

“My brother has stolen things from me, don’t you understand why I am angry?”

He’d never seen his familiar  show any emotion, but now… he was certain it was laughing...

Laughing at him…

“What,” he said between gritted teeth, “do you think is so amusing?”  But all he got was the creature striding past him, and opensx the drawer of his nightstand, mimed taking something out, and then going to the wardrobe, and pretending to retrieve something from the top shelf.  And then, claws clicking the hardwood, it walked to the dresser, and plucked an invisible rose out of the glass, before turning back to him, a look of pride on its face.

And now the pieces were falling into place.

His Doppelganger had given you the chocolates

His Doppelganger, an extension of himself, had given you the planner

His Doppelganger, himself without his stony emotional wall, had given you the rose.

He stood there, unable to think.  Betrayed, by all things....himself.  And yet, he felt a wave of relief. As he watched you humming, and cleaning the glass to place the rose in, he saw the delight and happiness in your eyes.  And you seemed to already guess it was him that was giving you the gift.  Perhaps, his fear of ruining his friendship with you was unfounded.  But his reaction to the scene in the kitchen a mere few minutes ago threatened to ruin everything, and he had no idea of how to fix it.  Vergil was never fond of apologizing, nor very good at it.

And then, with a flourish, his doppelganger’s tail flicked around, and the tip hovered before him, wrapped around a familiar narrow black velvet box.  It seemed his companion hadn’t given away everything just yet.

Sighing in defeat, he took the box, and only then, did the ghostly apparition allow him passage, and followed him down the hall, until, after a moment’s hesitation he paused by your door.  It had been open when he had first come down the stairs, but now it was closed, indicating you had holed yourself in there after his confrontation with you.  Looking down at the box in his hands, he realized he had one chance to make things right.  He took one last glance at the doppelganger, who merely stood a distance away (blocking the stairway, he noticed)

💕💕💕💕💕💕

You sat on your bed, unable to take your eyes off the rose on your dresser, looking a bit less vibrant than before.  Where had you gone so wrong?  You had let your feelings colour your assumptions, let your blossoming affection for the man made you think that he must obviously felt the same for you.  But obviously you had misjudged, and now the carefully laid relationship was on the verge of crumbling, never to be rebuilt again.  Hopefully you two could still work together.

A soft knock came from your door, and hesitantly, you approached, knowing exactly who would be on the other side, but unable to figure out what to say.  Apologise?  Act like nothing happened? Pretend it was all a joke?You took a deep breath, and hoping for the best, but preparing for the worst, you opened the door.

There stood Vergil, stiffly, with his hands behind his back, looking like a boy forced by his mother to apologise for egging his neighbor's house.  For an awkward few moments, both of you first stared at each other, then looked at the floor, as if suddenly interested in the pattern of the hardwood.  Finally, when you could take it no more, you spoke first.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed that you had gotten me those things...I guess I had just,” you paused, desperate to not cross this rubicon, but seeing little other choice, “I guess I had just hoped that they were coming from you.  That they meant something I had hoped was true…”

Vergil pursed his lips, opened his mouth to say something, closed it again, and looked like he was about to turn away, before a  threatening rumbling grumble down the hallway, just out of sight, rooted him to the spot.  You saw his adam’s apple bob up and down as he attempted to form his words.

“No…” he began hesitantly, “I did not give you those gifts, although I wish I had.” You blinked at that last part, about to ask him exactly what he meant before deciding not to interrupt him, as it seemed he was working so hard to muster up what he wished to say.

“The chocolates, the planners and...the rose, were given to you, not by me, but by it…” he motioned to the side, and you peeked out your door to see Vergil’s doppelganger, tail practically wagging, waving to you like an eager schoolchild.  You barely caught in the corner of your eye, Vergil sighing in embarrassment.

“But wait,” you were connecting things together, “isn’t...your doppelganger basically...you?” Vergil bit his lip, then nodded.

“Yes, it’s an extension of me, but a version unshackled by doubts and fears…” he admitted, looking more and more uncomfortable by the minute.  

“So...you and it have the same feelings, same thoughts...just that it is able to act on them...which means…” The sudden realization made your mouth very dry.

“That I had...every… intention to give you those things, but my own weakness, my own fears of how you would react prevented me from following through with my plan.  Apparently,” he nodded back, almost in a gesture of thanks towards the ethereal creature, “Even I was getting sick of my own procrastination, and so...IT took matters into its own hands...or claws, as that is a more apt description.”

You did your best to suppress your giggles as the doppelganger smugly stuck out its chest, no doubt being quite pleased at itself.

“But…” Vergil’s voice yanked you back, “It also gave me one final chance to make things right, to take that step I have long feared to tread.”  From behind his back, he pulled out a long black velvet case, and gently, under your widening eyes, undid the clasp of the box, revealing a beautiful, delicate silver necklace, with an amulet that was a deep blue, and glittered like the entire Milky Way had been shoved inside of it.

“Will you forgive this hapless fool?” he asked as he offered it to you.  “I may not be as skilled with my emotions as I am with the blade, nor do I truly understand this whole ‘courting’ business but-”

He never finished, because you grabbed his arm, and pulled him in for a deep long kiss.  The necklace was beautiful, there was no denying that, but it wasn’t the gifts, nor even the way they had been ‘given’ to you that had attracted you.  It was the man, the frustratingly complex handsome, adorably awkward Vergil, that you had fallen in love with.   And silently, you pulled him inside your room, and silently shut the door, giving you both the privacy you both deserved.  No doubt it wouldn’t take Dante long to figure out what was going on, but that was a problem for the future you.  The future BOTH of you…

But as the door shut, you swore that down the hallway, you heard a very pleased, very demonic, rumble of a chuckle…..

[crazyaboutto]

Someone might have done this before, I didn’t check the tags thoroughly but whatever.

I only know Mephisto from a few places so I wasn’t very knowledgeable about him and decided to do research. I plan to do this for Agnes/Agatha Harkness and House of M. Feel free to DM me to talk about WandaVision theories.

Source: Marvel Wikia

What I’ll be talking about?

1. Who is Mephisto?

2. What are his powers?

3. What is his relationship to the characters in WandaVision in comics?

4. WandaVision Theory

The first 3 parts will be taken from Marvel Wikia and summarized.

1. Who is Mephisto?

Mephisto has many aliases such as The Devil, Satan and Lucifer. He is an extradimentional demon. He calls his realm “Hell” in order to exploit Earth human beings' belief in a single being of absolute evil. He is not the actual Satan but he allows himself to be called names that human beings give to their conceptions of devils. Mephisto is continually seeking to add more spirits of sentient beings to his realm by inducing living sentient beings to submit their wills to his. Mephisto apparently seeks primarily to enslave all human souls.

2. What are his powers?

Mephisto is an experienced and highly skilled liar and strategist. He is also a highly skilled sorcerer with near infinite knowledge of arcane and occult subjects.

His powers:

Superhuman Strength, Superhuman Speed, Superhuman Stamina, Superhuman Durability, Regenerative Healing Factor, Immortality, Penance Stare immunity, Medium Awareness, Netherworld Dimensional Power Tap.

§ Shapeshifting:Mephisto is more of a force than a physical being, one that can take any form that he wants. His "normal" appearance is that of male, red skinned humanoid with vampiric aspect and attire. However, Mephisto can appear in any form imaginable, having turning himself into animals, humans of any gender, or more commonly into other demonic forms, ranging from a stereotypical image of Satan to a giant reptilian monster.

§Mystical Deal:Through a Faustian bargain, Mephisto is able to fulfill almost any wish that someone wants in exchange for something that they have - usually their souls. Once the agreement is sealed, it is virtually impossible for the victim to escape compliance.

§ Ensnare Astral Bodies:Mephisto also possesses certain powers enabling him to capture and detain the astral bodies (sheaths of the soul) of recently deceased human beings. Mephisto does not have jurisdiction over all the souls of humanity's recently deceased. It is not yet known what the prerequisite conditions are for him to be able to manipulate a human soul, nor are the precise means by which he accomplishes the feat known. Apparently these conditions require that the human being in question willingly agree to submit to Mephisto's will. It is not known how a human being may free himself from bondage to Mephisto, nor whether Mephisto will forever retain control of the souls he has obtained. Nor is it known whether or not Mephisto "feeds" on the psychic energies of such souls as other demons do.

§Dimensional Entrapment:Apparently Mephisto can entrap a living human being within his realm through sheer physical force, even if the person did not submit his or her will to him.

§Reality Manipulation:Mephisto was able to create the realities Earth-7161 and Earth-71241 by creating a small alteration in the Earth-616 reality.

§Magical Manipulation:He can control magical energy for various effects, among which are the augmentation of his own physical strength, levitation, teleportation, the projection of mystical energy as force blasts, invisibility, matter manipulation, image projection, size transformation of his body or other objects or beings, the creation of temporary inter-dimensional apertures, and so on.

3. What is his relationship to the characters in WandaVision in comics?

Tommy and Billy Maximoff: Mephisto's soul was used by Wanda to give birth to the twins.Mephisto reabsorbed them, effectively ending their existence.

Wanda Maximoff: Mephisto absorbing the twins’ souls drove Wanda mad, resulting in her altering all reality.

Agatha Harkness: Agatha claimed that Scarlet Witch's children were actually fragments of the soul of Mephisto and wiped Wanda's memory of her children rather than fight to free the two from Mephisto when he reabsorbed the twins.

4. WandaVision Theory

So far: We have 6 episodes. The storyline gives off House of M vibes. Agnes seems to be Agatha Harkness from the comics which I’ll be talking about in another post. Dottie who is the key to the town only appeared in episodes 2 & 3 of the show. Director Tyler Hayward is pushing Wanda to defend herself.

THEORY:

Everything up to Wanda’s pregnancy was pushing Wanda to think about children despite no children was seen until episode 6. The whole talent show was “for the children” despite no children being present. Dottie was in charge of the talent show for the children. When Dottie was giving a speech about the talent show, she said “The Devil is the details” and Agnes said “It’s not the only place where he is”. She again said “For the children” during that speech.

Director Hayward first appeared in episode 4 and all he did was to antagonize Wanda. He is outside and he is giving Wanda every reason to stay inside The Hex. He is also painting her as the villain, trying to make others see her as the villain as well. He knew that Wanda would have deflected the bomb he sent into The Hex and that it would just anger her, making her less cooperative. He is also psychologically pressuring Wanda. You might say “He is the regular asshole” but what if he isn’t?

As mentioned in Powers, Mephisto can shapeshift into any form imaginable. Remember that on the people and their real life ID board, we didn’t see Dottie. What if Mephisto took the shape of a former soul he collected? That soul can be old and hence that is why Dottie wouldn’t be identified. The other minor characters were identified and they were shown. If Dottie was also identified then we would have seen her on the board too. Even if she is identified, there is no guarantee that Mephisto wouldn’t take her form. Dottie was the one who organized the event “for the children”, giving subtle message to Wanda for creating her own children. She even said “The Devil is the details” which is normal to say normally but not when the fans theorized Mephisto involvement after it was announced. Agnes, who is likely to be Agatha Harkness who mentored Wanda, said “It’s not the only place where he is”. I believe she, as an ancient being, knows about Mephisto and she subconsciously warned Wanda then. After what Wanda is supposed to do is done, Dottie doesn’t become a main character. Maybe that is the real Dottie in episode 5. Mephisto is done with her after Wanda got pregnant. After that, I think he started to impersonate Director Hayward. As mentioned above, everything Hayward did made Wanda to be more unstable and to want to stay in The Hex. I think Mephisto would want that and he is a perfect strategist. Maybe he didn’t shapeshift into those people but maybe they had a deal with him and he manipulated them into doing his bidding (See:Powers). Additionally, everything that happens inside The Hex makes Wanda stay inside.

In episode 6, Pietro calls “demon spawns” to Tommy and Billy. This isn’t even subtle. I think it is either subconscious warning that Wanda told herself via Pietro. Or it could be Pietro himself since he died once and maybe has knowledge that isn’t aware. Or it can be Mephisto being a little shit. He might have gotten Pietro’s soul when he died. In Powers, it is said that the conditions for him to entrap a recently deceased soul is unknown. He might have gotten Pietro’s soul when he died and now he is using Pietro to manipulate Wanda.

As mentioned in Powers, Mephisto can manipulate magic and reality. I think that is how Westview is affected. The reality inside The Hex is ever changing.

In episode 5, Norm played the pronoun game “Stop her” instead of saying “Stop Wanda”. It wouldn’t make a difference for Vision since he already thinks “she” is “Wanda”. What if that “she” is actually “Dottie”? Norm didn’t say her name because he doesn’t know it. He only knows she is the one doing him harm. This might be the other clue is that Dottie is indeed Mephisto himself.

[thebeautyofdisorder]

The Undone & The Divine (BBC Dracula) - Chapter 8

A/N: Okay, sorry it’s been like two weeks since I posted the last chapter. I am such a mess. This is a bit shorter, more of a set up than anything, but informative? I have so many ideas for this, that it took me a minute to figure out in sequence what’s going to happen when.

Pairing: Dracula & Agatha/Zoe, off and on Dracula/OFC

Rating: M, for blood, language, and mercenaries with guns.

Chapters 1-2 Here - Chapter 3 Here - Chapter 4 Here - Chapter 5 Here - Chapter 6 Here - Chapter 7 Here

Can be found on AO3 - Right HERE - or enjoy below the cut

Chapter 8

By all accounts he appears as a human man, at varying states of age depending upon how regularly and well he is fed, lingering even at his most satiated at around 45-50 years – presumably the age of his death. His hair is thick and inky black, kept shorter and slicked back when in public view; his nose aquiline and aristocratic; his eyes appear black at a distance but in close quarters and lighting seem to have a dark mossy-brown hue; admirable bone structure, and a mouth that is at times both harsh and jovial depending upon what impression he wishes to put across at the time. His accent is tainted by those of his victims, but always holds a slight thickness and gravel, reminiscent of his native tongue. His teeth, even when not in the state of blood frenzy, still seem longer and sharper than normal, particularly the canines. His fingernails also are long and honed to a point, and seem to be of inhuman durability and sharpness. He is excessively tall and somewhat broad, though of a generally slim build regardless of his bestial strength. No physical deformities upon the rest of his body when in his humanoid state, though his eyes can seem to gleam in the darkness like those of other nocturnal beasts.

When in the presence of human blood, those eyes dilate and become ringed in crimson, and all blunt edges of his teeth sharpen to slight but lethal points. Animalistic tendencies manifest – hissing, snarling, growling, the hunched stance of a predator, etc. Interestingly, he also seems to bare all the normative signs of the common morphine addict – tension, restless movements, irritability, the inability to control his emotions and behavior. He possesses speed the likes of which the human eye can barely detect, but only in small bursts in the midst of attack, by my witness. He was able to manifest a continual fog, as stated earlier in my narrative, and could very well be at fault for the storm swirling in the seas now, as I write. He can deform himself to fit into any small space, one could assume, though I have only seen him do this by defiling the physical forms of other living beings – notably a wolf at the convent, and the late Jonathan Harker, who was also undead at the time. Whether that’s relevant to this ability, I don’t particularly know. He can call wolves and bats to his service, and possibly flies – whether this works with all creatures and he’s merely chosen these for theatrical purposes, or if he’s limited to creatures of darkness and decay, I have yet to discover.

The ‘kiss of the vampire’ is a strong opiate, meaning most victims are often unaware of his bite or the danger they are in until it is too late. He can create and control the dream state in which they enter, often choosing scenarios of an erotic nature. Whether this is for his own amusement or because of the effect it has on the blood, I can only deduce. This method seems to be equally employed through both sexes though I have yet to see any direct indications of intercourse, willing or unwilling. If he possesses a sex drive at all, it is seemingly outranked by his desire to feed.  

He is highly intelligent and possesses a biting wit, which in another context might even be endearing, and his charm is carefully honed to attract potential victims. Though his mental weaknesses are notable, including his arrogance, lack of self-awareness, and dependence on his victims to take in and retain key skills and information. As opposed to learning the language of a new land through study, he merely drains one of its countrymen and absorbs their inherent knowledge. This leads to a flurry of unpredictable behavior and reckless death, and also speaks of his impatience and lack of discipline, which has undoubtedly lessened with age. He was, in life, an excellent ruler and even better general with a skill for strategy currently wasted on petty mind games. If he could ever reach a point of managing his appetite for blood and destruction, he could be an invaluable resource - a first-hand witness to the last four hundred years of European history.

I’m sure you will, dear brother, quickly dismiss this as folly, but however much you would like to categorize him as yet another mindless demon from the pit, I assure you he is anything but. He may fear the cross, but don’t think there is a heavenly power that instilled that fear. It reeks of an entirely human weakness. You would do well to remember that, should you run across him or any of his kind in the future. While his existence seems to have been very luck of the draw, it’s nowhere near as anomalous as Dracula himself would like us to believe. Others could have survived and done what he has done. In fact, I could almost guarantee it.

Zoe read through Agatha’s words again, this particular afterward for maybe the twentieth time since she’d found it. Not for any particular information, more over just marveling at the clarity, simplicity, and dare-she-say fondness with which it was written, in comparison to the information she’d been brought up with. Shockingly, the nun was able to more realistically sum up the vampire than any other Van Helsing before or after her (granted, she had the firsthand experience), and with so much less fire and brimstone, religious nonsense. It was half of why she’d spent so long away from ‘the family business’ as it were, until she’d had to take over the institute. Science had always been the only god she would acknowledge.

Whatever logic Agatha had administered from across the pond however, while well used, had been entirely riddled with her elder brother’s showmanship and particularly Catholic brand of fending off the forces of darkness. Agatha may have seen him as the devil incarnate, but that didn’t stop her from acknowledging his humanity – and in that, Zoe couldn’t help but agree. Dracula was very much still a man, no matter how immortal or powerful, and he still had all of man’s other weaknesses, sans physical vulnerabilities. Minor detail.

She supposed it had made it easier for both the zealot and the scientist to see their subject of animosity as no better than a rabid dog that needed to be analyzed and destroyed. But that had never been the case at all. A self-serving lesson to learn, she had to admit, but an important one. So long as he had retained some of his humanity, there was certainly hope for her.

It was the only thing keeping her sane through the mock trial this experiment had turned into. Every turn she was being questioned and analyzed harder than she had since grad school, and yet still regarded as the antagonistic and dangerous party. It was a contradiction that made her genuinely question the mental capacity of her colleagues.

Yes, let's aggravate the person we're terrified of. Honestly.

Their latest critique, however she loathed to admit it, was actually sound. They needed a control. A 'direct contact' feed to compare to her bottled one, and they all knew there was only one vampire to compare to. Clearly they didn't actually expect him to participate, they only wanted to de-legitimize her process.

But it would make an impact, wouldn't it?

-----

It was just before sunset, traces of red just beginning to seep onto the surface of the sun, and for the first time in a great while, Count Dracula was unenthused. He was beginning to be rather fond of daylight, even if it came with certain disadvantages, as he was beginning to discover. Perhaps vampires were better off as creatures of the night after all.

Most if not all of his preternatural abilities were greatly weakened by the sun, though why he wasn't sure. It made him feel languid and slow, which was perfectly fine for an afternoon on the beach, but highly inconvenient when he got hungry and none of his more willing resources were available. Physical conditioning or a lesser reality of the lore he'd always accepted, who was to say?

Who indeed.

He had given Zoe plenty of space to run her little experiments without interference, aside from keeping an 'eye' out to ensure she wasn't in any immediate danger. But there was only so long that would last, and despite having ample opportunity to create more brides...he felt like he needed more answers before that inevitability occurred.

Agatha had been right, annoyingly, as usual. Lab rats were not something he needed, especially ones who could question him on topics even he didn't fully understand anymore.

If the Van Helsing women were good for anything, aside from healthy competition, it was certainly bluntness and clarity. Being the only thing close to another vampire of any mental capacity to be in his proximity for over 300 years certainly didn't hurt.

Zoe Van Helsing was someone he needed, a concept he could scarcely understand and wasn't entirely fond of, but if he wasn't mistaken, she needed him as well - and hated it even more.

----

"Dr. Helsing, is this really necessary?"

Zoe found herself staring at the younger but far more egotistical doctor through the glass that separated them with an expression not unlike one would give a particularly frustrating insect who refused to die as fast as she wished it would.

"Is what necessary?"

The man, Dr. Connors, pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose, punctuating his next words with unnecessary flare.

"Well, our sponsor doesn't understand the necessity of this trial, when it cannot possibly prove anything. All of our intel on the 'vampiric condition' states simply that they require blood to sustain life, but also that it's nearly impossible to kill them. Surely your continued …  existence without blood doesn't fully prove or disprove anything. And without anything to compare it to…"

"For now," she interrupted stubbornly, attempting to ignore his tendency to discuss her as though she were a theoretical construct.

"Even so," he continued blandly, "There are surely better uses of our time, in the face of an increasing number of...undead. Preventative measures, protection for the innocent. Unless you can get some sort of control data…"

Their 'sponsor' had sent this idiot to report back on how his precious money was being spent,  and it had become an increasingly infuriating thorn in her side. Or stake in her heart, she was sure he hoped. Zoe had just begun to second guess her tendencies toward homicide, when she felt the tell-tale hairs begin to rise on the back of her neck.

"Oh fuck me," she cursed aloud, completely indifferent to the confused looks of those observing her. They wouldn't be confused for long.

"Careful what you wish for Doctor."

Everyone but Zoe took a startled glance around. She turned around, eyes directly finding the dark ones on the outside of the glass, quirking a stern brow despite the relative chaos of everyone else receding into the corners in panic.

Count Dracula merely flashed her a shit-eating grin in response, relishing her disapproval in equal measure to the human fear beginning to fill the room. Pungent and yet satisfying, she noted, rather unhappily.

"Oh Zoe how the tables have turned," he couldn't resist prodding at her through the encasement, ignoring the guns pointed at his back in favor of taunting her, hands in his pockets. The picture of malicious nonchalance.

She wasn't trapped, as he had been. They'd learned their lesson in that regard at least, but it was a barrier she'd permitted for her own sanity. Watching everyone walk on eggshells around her was grating, and it ruined her focus. Plus, it helped with the sensory overload until she got more accustomed to it.

"And yet you're still the one at gunpoint," Zoe shot back with a hint of a blithe smile.

He turned and directed his overly fond smile towards the tattooed gentleman with the over-sized assault weapon, greeting him like an old friend. The man that Zoe had never seen with a single facial expression looked so dumbstruck that she had to fight down a laugh. This was apparently the last straw for their visiting dictator.

"Count Dracula," came more of a squeak than a shout from the bespectacled doctor's mouth, with such a forced amount of distaste that Zoe was now certain he had lost his mind entirely. "You will not be permitted to attack anyone here."

Shooting Zoe an incredulous look, mostly as she could read translating to ‘Is he serious?’, the vampire watched her answering eye roll very obviously telling him ‘He's an idiot, but reports to the money’.

Dracula finally looked away from their silent exchange, and took out a small pocket flask, not unlike the one he'd left her before, and shook it in the other man's general direction as he passed by him with total indifference.

"Not to worry, I brought my own," he stated, opening it and taking a long swig. It cleared a direct pathway for him easily, bee-lining for Dr. Bloxham who sat at the control panel. She naturally flinched on his approach, despite trying to hide it. He noticed and flashed her a charming smile, to his credit only showing the slightest hint of fang.

"Terribly sorry about the finger," the Count apologized humbly, almost convincingly sincere as he draped a long arm over the back of her chair. "...But would you mind letting me in?"

Bloxham looked somewhat confused. "You want to go in there?" Her eyes shot up to the ceiling. The sun had not completely set. He gave her an encouraging smile with a faint trace of pity.

"I would love to go in there."

Zoe merely rolled her eyes and tapped on the table with relative impatience, as he paced through the parted seas of scientists and interns alike to join her in the completely ineffective glass prison.

"You evil little thing, you didn't tell them," he accused with quiet glee as he approached her from the opposite side of the table.

"If their superstitions help them feel safe, then all the better for me," she excused in a murmur, hoping he hadn't just given the game away completely.

His grin was one of near pride, as he bent his tall form forward to rest his hands on the table. "I can go slit his throat if you want me to. Heaven knows you won't."

She sighed, not trusting herself to answer. "Why are you here?" she asked instead.

"You needed me, didn't you?"

------

Okay, so this could go really amusingly or very terribly - we’ll see what I come up with, eh? Shouldn’t be as long of a wait this time, fingers crossed.

Tag List: @break-free-killer-queen @mephdcosplay @charlesdances @punk-courtesan  @crowley-needs-a-hug @hoefordarkness @bellamortislife @malkaviangirl @imagineandimagine @chelsfic @dracula-s-bride @my-fanfic-library @hyacinth-meadow @mymagicsuitcase @littlemessyjessi @desperatefrenchwriter @ss9slb @crazytxgradstudent @claesbang @mr-kisskiss-bangbang @gettingcrazyforlife @carydorse @dreamerkim @gatissed @alhoyin @girlonfireice @festering-queen @jangleprojet  @guardianbelle @vampiregirl1797

Share with your friends, if anyone else wants tagged let me know!

[skvaderarts]

Apocrypha Chapter Thirty Two: Remembrance

Masterlist can be found Here! Thanks!

Chapter Thirty Two: Remembrance

 Note: I just wanted to take a moment to say OMFG this fic now has a word count of 100K and over thirty chapters long, and people are still engaged and enjoying it! I never thought I’d see the day something like this would happen. Thank you all so much! I hope the pacing hasn’t been too painful. You're all so wonderful, and I feel so lucky!

(-~-)

The dreary weather didn’t improve during their trip back to the Office, no one present taking the fact that Nico was in Fortuna into account. It wasn’t the first time that any of them had walked long distances, not by a long-shot. But the healthy downpour they were not being subjected to makes things somewhat miserable, at least for Dante and Trish. In all honesty, Vergil didn’t mind the rain. Although he was far from the sort of person who would go stand outside in the rain, the eldest Son of Sparda found it somewhat refreshing to be soaked in cool water. 

During his extended stay in the underworld, he had been unable to enjoy such a phenomenon, partially because demons were hunting him with the intent of murdering him for the crime of being born Sparda’s eldest son, and because the rain in the underworld was astoundingly acidic. Taking cover during any storms was an essential part of not being melted, and hell help you if you were crazy enough to drink it.

It was funny how he had learned to take such simple things for granted during his time in the underworld. Although it was understandable when compared to the things that he had to grapple with during his time there, he still couldn’t help but consider things like that when his mind was allowed to wander. At this point in his life, the Darkslayer had spent as much time in the underworld as he had in the mortal realm, and none of that time with his family. That fact was not lost on him, the duality somewhat jarring when he contemplated it. He was sure that he could do better, but actually doing so was shockingly difficult, at least when it came to figuring out where to start.

Vergil was certain that he needed a hobby, or he was going to go gradually insane from culture shock. He was making a valiant effort towards re-assimilating himself into human society, but there was only so much he could accomplish on his own when he’d never really considered himself a part of that society in the first place. Magnolia’s family was the closest to a launching point that he could reference, but they were far from a normal human family themselves. Although mortal, calling them an average family would be akin to calling his prior relationships with other people healthy and well adjusted, and Vergil didn’t like to consider himself a liar. For now, he was content with the concept of trying to find something less toxic to occupy his time with until V was capable of traveling so that they could meet this order that Dante had mentioned before. And until such a time came to pass, he was going to keep the dagger with him. If any member of the cult were still alive, the last thing he was going to do was make things easier for them. If they wanted the knife, or either of his children, they were going to have to go through him.

Practically the instant that they arrived back at the office, Dante flopped down on the couch, eager to take a long overdue nap. Vergil wasn’t entirely surprised, but wasn’t exactly thrilled that his least favorite person was still hanging around. He’d come to terms with the fact that he was going to have to deal with her from here on out, but still had no idea how he was going to make himself do that. Hate wasn’t exactly the proper word for how he felt towards her? Perhaps contempt. But he couldn’t make himself associate his mother with hate, at least towards her, even if he did realize that Trish wasn’t in fact his mother. That being said, he still felt the need to both be around her, and see her cease to exist.

What a headache this whole situation was for him.

Things would have been so much less painful and conflicting for him if he’d been done with his “relationship” with her back on Malet island. Up until recently when she’d ventured to the Qliphoth to do battle against him. And even then, he’s tried to repurposed her rather than just kill her, be that a jab at his twin or an attempt to not have to kill her, even though he wasn’t entirely sure. It was just something he’d decided to do at the time. Vergil cringed slightly at the thought of what he’d done. Sparing his opponent only to corrupt their physical form and force them to serve him as his unwilling servant. How very Mundus of him…

A part of him couldn’t help but acknowledge that he’d done the very thing to her that he was angry at her for helping do to him, and even then, her master had done that, not her. No, Trish’s only crime against him was serving the demon who had been responsible for basically every bad thing that he’d ever gone through, and looking too much like his deceased mother. Physically, she’d never done anything to him, but mentally, simply being around her took a certain mental toll on him. He pondered the concept of whether or not his younger twin had any idea what had transpired between them for a moment, somehow sure that it wouldn’t change anything regardless. Dante took people as they were. It was simply how he wasn. How much trouble had that caused him over the years, especially after he’d died? It seemed that they had ended up in the same place, despite the fact that they fell on totally different ends of the same spectrum; two sides of the same coin. There was a certain ironic duality to their twinship that was both punishingly ironic, and painfully sad and, although Vergil was far from the hopeful sort, he couldn’t help but imagine what it would be like for the both of them if that hadn’t happened. 

Were cursed bloodlines an actual thing? Because if so, their entire family seemed to have fallen victim to one. The devil slayer in blue didn’t doubt for a second that Mundus would try and curse them all. He was astoundingly petty, almost to a comical degree. But nothing involving the former Prince of Darkness was exactly funny to him, aside from the idea of him actually being dead. He wasn’t holding his breath in that regard, however. Mundus was… durable to say the least. But he hoped for the sake of Nero and V that he either was truly gone forever, or that he never found out about either of them. They didn’t deserve to inherit that nightmare.

“Seriously, Vergil. Do you ever sleep? You’ve been awake for, what, like three days?” Dante said passively from the couch as he yawned, stretching as he settled into his couch. This was going to be a good nap. He could just tell. ”Just… sit down and read a book or something. I don’t know. Anything but pacing around, drivin’ yourself crazy. You're pretty close already.”

In all honesty, Vergil was tempted to laugh at that statement, even if only a little. How ironic that Dante thought that he was close to insanity. The eldest Son of Sparda was almost certain that he had reached that point a lifetime ago. At times, he was sure that the only thing holding him together was the refusal to die and give his enemies want they wanted, and various forms of pure spite. But at least now curiosity towards how his relationships with his two young sons would pan out was a factor, and a somewhat positive one at that. Vergil liked to think that things between them were improving since Nero hadn’t tried to stab him that week, and V wasn’t crawling out of his own skin in an attempt to get away from him. As far as he was concerned, that was progress. In what direction, he wasn’t sure. But it was something, and he could work with that.

“Bold of you to assume I’m not already insane, Dante. And for your information, I’m not tired. Simply bored.” Vergil huffed slightly, uncrossing his arms to gesture towards the rest of the room.” You have nothing of interest to do in this office, and I’m tempted to go elsewhere if only to stave off my own mental decay.”

Much to his surprise, Dante laughed at that statement. He failed to see what was so entertaining about that statement, but also realized that he wasn’t eager to get into a fight over it at this point in town. He simply didn’t care that much. His mind was elsewhere. Being laughed at was something he was used to. Most of Mundus’s court had made doing so into a sort of sporting event, constantly looking down on him and taking any opportunity that they could to ridicule him and downplay any of his actions. He’d never actually cared about what they thought, more concerned with simply surviving his situation. But, at some point he’d come to the conclusion that he would get his revenge on them if he ever had the opportunity if only on principle. And he had done so in his role as the Usurper King, making quick work of the vast majority of them. The idea that the last thing many of them had even realized was that they were being slain by someone they thought so little of was almost enough to make him smile. Almost.

“I fail to see what you find so entertaining about this.” Vergil said, venturing over to Dante’s desk to see if he had anything new to read. He knew that he didn’t, but searching fruitlessly was still something to do. And at this point, he didn’t care to care.

The youngest Son of Sparda shook his head, his eyes now closed. He could just tell that Vergil was bored out of his mind, and that was the funniest thing he’d seen in a long time. Vergil was just so dramatic about it, and he always had been. Some things never changed it seemed, and something about that was reassuring to him. He never liked to believe that his brother had been completely consumed by his negative experiences in life, and seeing even the smallest bits and pieces of who he had once been poke through the surface put him in a good move. At times, he missed who his twin had once been so much that it physically hurt him, but the small things like this conversation bought him some measure of peace. He cherished that.

“It’s funny because you used to have hobbies, but now you're just boring, Vergil.” Dante said, trying not to burst into hysterical laughter.” Like, you used to read books, and listen to music, bail on our plans to go do who knows what, and do stuff, but now you don’t even think about the fact that you can just go somewhere else and do, well, literally anything else. When did that happen?”

Out of reflex, Vergil opened his mouth to retort and raised his hand to do… something, but then his brain ceased to function, and he lowered his arm again, taking in the truth behind his twin’s words. Dante was… right? When and how had this happened? Had his actions leading up to this point truly robbed him of all of his individual pursuits and interests to the point where all he could do was sit in this office and be bored until something worth wild occurred and stole his boredom from him? No, that simply couldn’t be. The child he’d once been would probably weep openly at how stationery and indevorless he’d become. There was simply no way that he was going to sit in this office and do nothing until death came for him, or he took his own life from a lack of mental stimulation. No, he was going to get a hobby, and there was nothing that his twin and his lackluster personal life could do to stop him. The town they lived in was large and populous. There had to be something entertaining to do in this hellhole. After all, there was no way he was going to figure out how the TV worked and pick a favorite show or something. Never.

“Foolishness, Dante. There has to be a museum or library around here somewhere, and when I find out where, I’m going to do… something.” Vergil said, not entirely sure what he intended to convey in that statement. This was what he got for trying to explain himself to his younger twin brother. His goals were beyond his understanding.

Dante shrugged, gesturing towards the phone and then to the door. “Sure thing, brother. While you're at it, why don’t you take Nero with you? Fortuna is a pretty boring place. Almost as boring as you are. Probably how you ended up there in the first place. Anyway, he’s probably into that kinda stuff, too. Might actually make things fun if he tags along.”

Vergil gave his brother a sideways look, unsure of what to say. The temptation to impale him was strong, but he enjoyed sitting on that couch, and didn’t feel like cleaning it. It was difficult to remove blood stains from leather, and there was no way that Dante was going to do so himself. As from what he could tell, his twin couldn’t exactly afford to replace it. Then again, he could afford to keep mocking him if he wanted to live, either. Cause and causality. Nothing more, nothing less. That being said, he was tempted to do just that. In spite of his brother’s backhanded suggestion and the implications behind it, spending some meaningful time alone with Nero didn’t seem like a bad idea. Perhaps calling him and inviting him out for the remainder of the day would help them get along better? Either way, he wasn’t going to tell Dante what he planned to do. There was no way he could allow him to experience that level of satisfaction.

With a sideways glance and a few muttered curses in barely perceivable English, Vergil left the building, nearly breaking the door handle as he attempted to force the door to slam shut in spite of the fact that it possessed an anti-slam mechanism. It bent to his will, but the odds of it actually  working correctly after that were few and far between. Was it time to purchase another door already?

Stifling a giggle, Trish ascended the stairs to join Dante. She’d been watching their exchange from the balcony above the main office, entirely sure that Vergil had no idea how badly he’d just been played. It seems that Dante’s reverse psychology knew no bounds. While it was rare that he ever got to pull a stunt like that, Trish had seen him do so before on one occasion or another, and it was never any less funny. No one ever seemed to consider that Dante was capable of that level of sly bastardy, and it was highly entertaining to see someone as intelligent as Vergil fall for such a blatant case of backwards manipulation.

“Dante, you know he’s going to kill you when he realizes that you did that, right?” Trish said with a small laugh as she headed down the stairs. She shook her head softly and plopped down on the arm of the couch, wondering how long it would take before she walked in on her longtime friend being impaled on the end of Yamato’s blade.

The devil slayer in red smirked for a moment, sitting up and heading over towards the desk. Trish gave him a sideways look as he went. Wasn’t he about to take a nap? “Wait a second, where are you going? I thought you were…”

A sudden wave of realization hit Trish as Dante kicked his feet up on the desk, grabbing a magazine. Dante truly was sneaker than she gave him credit for being, wasn’t he? 

“Oh, I’m not tired. Vergil just isn’t in the habit of waking me up. That’s more my kinda thing.” He turned through the pages of the well used periodical, clearly disinterested.” He really needs to get out more. And if he can’t drive me nuts, what else is going to do around here? Learn how the TV works? That’s not gonna happen.”

He paused suddenly, bursting into hysterical laughter as he leaned forward, shaking his head and tossing the magazine to the side. Trish folded her arms and shook her head, somewhat amused by the very sight of Dante laughing so hard. It wasn’t every day that something like that happened. “What’s so funny, Dante?”

The legendary devil hunter leaned back in the chair, trying his hardest to stop laughing long enough to give her a suitable answer. How long had it been since he’d laughed like that? Too long, that was for sure. “Oh, it’s just that… Vergil is so bad at using modern stuff. He has no idea how the TV works! Took him like ten minutes to figure out how to unplug it!” The laughter that he’s been holding at bay broke through the cracks in his demeanor, flooding the room as he tried uselessly to stop cracking up again as he realized that Trish didn’t get it.” It’s gonna be hilarious when he finally finds out about the internet! He probably has no idea how headphones even work! The most modern thing he’s probably touched since he’s been back is the jukebox!”

Moments later, the hilarity of that statement kicked in and Trish giggled to herself, gradually graduating into full laughter as she began to fully comprehend and picture how funny that was. What a tragedy! Yes, the internet had been invented long before Vergil had gone to the underworld, but that still didn’t mean he knew what it was! His working age was so much older than his physical age. Holy hell! 

As the two of them continued to laugh at how thoroughly insane and sadly unbelievable that was, the sound of the phone ringing filled the room and interrupted them. Trish shook her head, clearing her throat slightly and she choked back another laugh. Dante, however, was not so lucky. He had fallen into a full on laughing fit, and there was no hope of saving him. She took the phone off of the receiver, shushing him uselessly.

“Devil May Cry. How can we...” She trailed off slightly, the laughter stopping. She tapped Dante on the shoulder, a more serious look on her face. The youngest Son of Sparda took a few deep breaths and shook off the remainder of his laughter, studying the troubled look on Trish’s face. “What is it?”

The blond demon hunter glanced over at him before thanking the person she was talking to and hanging up the phone. She then turned to Dante, sighing slightly. “It’s Morrison. He had a customer with the password. Looks like you have business to attend to tomorrow.”

An incredulous look crossed Dante’s face as he took in the implications of what she’d just said to him. A customer with the password? How long had it been since he’d had one of those? V had been the last person in over a year who’d even come close to pulling that card. What could this be about, and why now? As he sighed and reached for the phone, Dante shook his head slightly and furrowed his brow. One thing was for certain. Morrison was going to have his work cut out for him explaining this one.

He needed a pizza. Maybe even a strawberry sundae. This had been one hell of a week.

(-~-)

In the ten years that I’ve been writing Devil May Cry fan fiction, this is the first time I’ve ever used the “customer with the password” thing. I have no idea how I’ve managed to wait this long, but here we are! Let the BS begin! Can’t wait to see you all on Friday!

[soldsouls]

Okay. We'll flesh out details on these revisions in the future, but for now we're saying —

The rumor that Graz'zt is the offspring of Asmodeus and Pale Night, although never confirmed, has incited curiosity in many. The sort of curiosity that leads denizens of the Hells to attempt perilous schemes for the chance of advancement. Luci is the product of such a scheme: a devil and demon who came together to produce a child. Luci knows this about himself, but what he doesn't know is who his parents are (or were as the case may be). He didn't immediately prove the unstoppable weapon they'd desired, so he was simply abandoned in the Hells when he was a few years old*.

I don't intend to make up a character sheet right now, but I think we can say that, in an unbound form, he has traits from both parents. Overall difficult to damage in a significant way but not a heavy hitter in a fight. Affinity for fire-based spells [shocker]. Appearance-wise I want to DND-ify his og look. Overall humanoid form, on the smaller side. Entirely pitch-colored, including scelera. Irises red with the Hells' flames, sharp teeth, short horns. Spike-ended tail. He has some odd traits: a total lack of wings and a red glow pulsing within his horns. Nevertheless, he could pass for a cambion and often did to keep from drawing attention.

Anyone who examined him closely enough, however, would realize something was off. Which is exactly what Asmodium did. He put two and two together about Luci's origins, and decided that one man's trash was another man's treasure. He'd pick up what Luci's parents had cast off and see if he couldn't make use of it. This mostly entailed making use of Luci's durability. Often as a messenger / courier of sorts; very dangerous job in the Hells. He was also offered as a summon for certain people Asmodium wished to ensnare; they felt very superior ordering about a "cambion", and Asmodium preyed on their pride. Not to mention he was a more useful pawn to have on-site than a mere imp or quasit or the like.

I think that when he tricked his way into double promotion to save Bean + Elfo, the process was especially agonizing for him. These were devilish promotions. What was demonic in him was either purged or fundamentally altered / repressed. Rescinding the promotions didn't fix this; the damage was permanent. Asmodium took advantage of this to bind him. He is bound to the appearance of an elf, his natural immunities + resistances are removed, and he is "mortal" in the sense that being killed will end his existence permanently. Asmodium has the power to alter his appearance, but Luci cannot alter it or return to his original form. In fact, I'd say all but the most powerful illusion / disguise / glamor magics wouldn't take hold.

*Miscellaneous note that I'm going to say Luci's full name — Lucille Lucifer Jr. DCLXVI — was not given by his parents. They neglected to name him entirely. He was given this name after they abandoned him. It was meant to mock him with the "junior" and the numerics driving home that he had no lineage to claim. How could he be a junior or 666th with no family? He has been unable to change the name and vastly prefers Luci as a result. He will not divulge it when he has a choice and using it is a good way to get clawed. He hates it so much, in fact, he'd almost sooner give his true name lmao

[thenightgazer]

If you OC could have any superpower,what would it be? 👀

Hello, K! I'm so sorry it took so long to answer this >< I hope this list would satisfy you (pardon my grammatical error since English isn't my native language 😭)

I'm currently making an OC bio for Lyra but I haven't start it yet. Maybe this list of her power and weakness could give you some insight about her. I already mentioned some of her abilities in my Vergil x OC series Tales of Apotelesma. Anyway, let's begin! (it's gonna be long. Brace yourself! 🌟🌠)

Powers

Lyra is a telepath. She can read humans and demons' mind. She usually receives thoughts automatically, but she needs to touch them or take a high focus to read their mind only if Vergil or Dante are around her (I'll explain this in her weakness part)

She can put people into slumber and wake them up, also reading their dreams. She can do this to lesser demons too

She can erases and restores memories, with the exception to the people who has neurodegeneration and brain disease. Again, it works only to human and lesser demon

She can mask her presence and her power from being detected by other powerful being (this is why Vergil has suspicion towards her, because his demonic instinct told him that Lyra has something inside her that is unsettling, but he couldn't prove it until Lyra showed him her power voluntary)

She can perform telepathic illusion, causing people or demon to experience events which are not actually occurring. She almost never did this because it requires too much energy and she needs to think quick and super creative in order to create the illusion (imagine you need to write a fic within 8 seconds, yeah that's what Lyra had to do if she really need to perform the illusion 😂)

Being a telepath, she can intuitively translate and understand any language.

She can manipulate and control thoughts and actions (again, she rarely did this because it would drain her energy and she thinks it's against the concept of free will). It's difficult to perform this to more powerful being

She can perform mind-link only with Vergil. This link makes them intuitively and empathically bonded. They can communicate telepathically and somehow the link makes a mind-bridge to enter each others' dreams and small part of memories. They can tell if something happens to each other even when they are not together at the moment

She also possess telekinesis ability. This ability is limited to merely control matters, not creating them

She can create an invisible force shield to protect her from physical attack

She has a certain degree of gravity manipulation, which almost caused her death in the past. She never performed this anymore

She never formally practiced martial arts, but from her experience of fighting, she always attack to the body parts where it hurts the most. She also use her staff (a mysterious devil arm) in battle. This gained her a fighting style similar to Wing Chun.

Weaknesses

She posesses normal human durability and speed

She has a terrible sense of direction

Although she's a telepath, she's not immune from mental pain and disorder

She couldn't read Vergil and Dante's mind. Sparda gave them a mind-barrier to protect them from mind invasion. Only Mundus who could break the barrier on Vergil, turned him to Nelo Angelo, but Vergil managed to restore the barrier and escaped from the Underworld (and he went to Nero to rip Nero's arm off take Yamato back)

Along with her inability to read the twins's mind, the power of Sparda's mind barrier also slightly prevents her to automatically read people's mind at her surrounding. But she can still read them if she touches them or taking an extra focus on their mind

She's actually very manipulative

Intense and powerful sound waves can paralyze her

[hellzyeahwebwielingessays]

The Not-So-Amazing Mary Jane Part 23: MJ’s odds of dealing with Mysterio are VERY uncertain

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

Last time I proved that, whilst not impossible, the likelihood that Mary Jane could protect herself and others from most anything Mysterio (and his crew did) was extremely uncertain. This time out I’m going to break down what MJ could try against Beck (on his own) and whether they would work.

One could argue that super hero comics are needlessly dominated by an attitude that prioritises physical might as the only options to resolve conflicts in stories, or at least conflicts with villains.

I don’t exactly agree with this but that’s a whole other debate.*

Smarts can be a superpower (just look at Reed Richards or Doctor Who). However, their usefulness as a super power varies greatly depending upon the situation. It is most certainly not innately better than any given power. In fact MOST abilities of any kind (super or not) are not innately superior to any other ability. The majority of the time it’s about how you use your talent.

However, for the sake of argument let’s take this POV as our starting point and consider the more cerebral ways MJ could deal with Beck.

Well for starters she could try to manipulate him.

In order to keep Beck under control or to give herself an opening to attack or escape MJ could always manipulate him.

She is smart, a great read of people and has some psychology training. She could empathise with him, or at least convince him  she is empathising with him. Or, she could trick him into underestimating her somehow. Or she could always just use her ‘womanly wiles’ on him.

Well why not? MJ does have a certain amount of experience with wrapping men around her finger right? She could use her charming personality, beauty, etc. to manipulate him.**

But then again…he did literally say such things wouldn’t work on him in AMJ didn’t he.

But hey, maybe he’s lying or overconfident. Maybe he’s not actually beyond such things. The problem is that ‘womanly wiles’ really aren’t guaranteed to work at all. It rather depends upon MJ being Beck’s type and she has no evidence of that beyond his insistence that she have the role of his real life would-be lover. But even if she was his type, manipulating him in such a way has absolutely no guarantee of working. It’s a complete shot in the dark. In fact it’s so unreliable that most of the time Mary Jane has never utilized her ‘womanly wiles’ to escape or diffuse dangerous situations. Noticeably I never mentioned them in part 20.

More importantly we are talking about an incredibly adept manipulator who’s very good at getting inside people’s heads here. Whilst the old saying ‘You can’t trick a trickster…’ isn’t 100% true it is true that it’s rarely easy. In this case Mysterio is far more experienced at manipulating people and has done so on much deeper levels than her.

And yet in AMJ #1 there is no indication that MJ has even considered that Beck is, or could, manipulate her. In fact there isn’t even an implication that she is or (will be) trying to manipulate him, to keep him under control.

What I’m saying is MJ would have the sense to not presume she can out manipulate a master manipulator. Maybe she could. But it’s very possible that she couldn’t and the consequences could be disastrous for her and others. It’s far too much of a risk, even if we are charitable and say her chances are 50/50.

How about something else?

Could she outsmart him? Let’s say she tries to outsmart him into exposing himself or sets a trap to ensnare/subdue him. Would that work?

Well it rather amounts to the same thing as trying to manipulate him. Mysterio specialises in setting traps and the nature of his skills means it’s possible that MJ setting a trap for him could in fact be a part of a wider trap he’s set for her. Remember he fooled the Avengers, Guardians and Daredevil’s hyper senses in ASM #1; a fact MJ would likely be aware of.

And no matter what all this is heavily reliant upon MJ happening to have the time, freedom and resources to pull any of this off.

She can’t guarantee ay of that or even make it a strong possibility; especially not if Mysterio were to hypothetically employ his staff against her.

I should also mention that according to official Marvel handbook entries Mysterio is more intelligent than MJ. According to The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Spider-Man editions 2004-2005 MJ’s official intelligence statistic is   a 2/7 and Mysterio’s is a 4/7.

Obviously that doesn’t definitively prove anything. There are different forms of intelligence and it’s entirely possible to outsmart someone more intelligent than your self for various reasons.

In MJ’s case she is most definitely a superior improviser than Mysterio, who’s really much more of a planner and strategist. So if they wind up going up against each other out of the blue MJ would be in a better position to protect her self and possibly win.

It’s far from impossible for her to outsmart him basically. But it is also a big, big, big risk. It’s not something that she could honestly rely upon and she would know that due to her various combat experiences.

Now I’ve dispensed with MJ’s more cerebral options, let’s get more physical.

Now obviously if Beck had his criminal crew and/or his robots gang up on MJ it’d be over, but if both she and Beck were unarmed and had no protective gear then it could go either way. MJ has slugged people to the ground before but Beck (using trickery) has landed blows that have felled Spider-Man.

Plus Beck does have a natural height and weight advantage over MJ if you check the official stats.

If MJ had a gun or a baseball bat when Beck didn’t well then she’d probably win. But were the tables turned he’d very probably win, provided there weren’t nearby resources MJ could draw upon to help her.

If both were armed I’d actually give the advantage to MJ as she’s much more used defending herself with basic weapons than Beck is.

If MJ had her web shooters, her gun AND a baseball bat handy and Beck just had his standard Mysterio gear then he would win unless MJ got very lucky. He’s used to tangling with super powered people many of whom have sensory abilities that can (at least somewhat) mitigate his tricks. MJ not only lacks these powers but also has little-no experience fighting someone with Beck’s skills.

Over all in a one-on-one fair fight MJ stands a reasonable chance of beating Beck.

But of course…Beck’s forte is fighting unfairly.

Unless he was very unlucky or forced to he would never bother fighting without a strength enhancing suit like the one he used in ‘Guardian Devil’.

Or the assistance of one of his robots, like the ones he used in ASM Annual #1, versions of which he literally showed Mary Jane in AMJ #1.

Or with any his myriad of tricks, like his optical illusions and holograms, the kind he also  showed MJ in the issue.

Without enhanced strength, speed, durability or sensory abilities MJ is just not going to survive (let alone defeat) anything Mysterio throws at her. Put his abilities of manipulating people aside, the guy can literally make Mary Jane see and hear things that aren’t there. He can do this even without using hallucinogenic drugs of any kind, although he does have stuff like that.

When you look at Beck’s combat history, even against civilians, he always employs his tricks. He rarely just attacks directly. A great example of this can be found in Symbiote Spider-Man #1 where Beck tries to rob a bank and uses trickery to deal with the security guard.

With this in mind even if he does underestimate Mary Jane it’s very unlikely he isn’t going to employ his tricks meaning MJ (without the fates on her side) is going to get hurt or be unable to prevent him harming others.

And that’s what these last several instalments have boiled down to.

Within the premise of Amazing Mary Jane, MJ on her own simply cannot guarantee anyone’s safety at all. She can’t even be reasonably sure she could.

And that would be fine and dandy if the situation forced  her to try regardless of the odds. If she and others were trapped in a burning building and the only way out was fighting Mysterio or another villain she would more than likely try rather than wait for someone to show up and save her.

But the premise we’re given in AMJ #1 doesn’t imply anything like that. There is no hint that it’s ultimately necessary  for MJ to risk herself or others. No need to try/hope she can keep him and his crew under control, handle them if they get out of hand or minimize the risk of them breaking the law once the film has finished up.

And that’s why I denounce MJ taking the risk at all (let alone justifying it on her win over Chameleon) as utter out of character nonsense.

Next time we examine MJ’s failure to alert anyone to Beck’s presence.

*I personally adore Doctor Who (even more than Spider-Man in fact) and he/she is a character that routinely resolves conflicts without throwing a single punch…Although they do often associate with people who do that for them. Or rig up a machine to blow up the threat. Or…basically the Doctor is the most famous ‘non-violent’ hero in modern sci-fi/fantasy and yet they typically directly/indirectly diffuse dangerous situations through violence; they just don’t do it through their own physical might.

I feel this is rather proof of how from a truly practical POV physical might and/or at some form of violence/ the threat of violence is usually necessary to diffuse violent situations.

**I’m not even talking about seduction by the way. Sometimes for some men the attentions and (perceived) kindnesses of an attractive woman can make them double check their actions or more open to suggestion.

Previous Part

Next Part

Master Post

[rockingbrooklyn]

The Bidders and their Watch choices

Eisuke:

He is a HUGE connoisseur of watches, in every sense of that word. His favorite Brands are Rolex, Patek Philippe, Rado, Longines, Tissot, Fossil, Timex, Audemars Piguet, Breitling, Tag Heuer, Chopard, Cartier, Vacheron Constantin, Blancpain, Omega, Montblanc, and practically every expensive Brand on this planet- you name it, he has it. He also owns Apple and Samsung Smartwatches. He has a massive collection of wrist watches in several colours & styles and noone can beat his expertise with watch fashions; he's a watch-Guru. He is always updated with the latest watch trends and with him being one of their biggest customers, Brand owners more than often send him their newly launched pieces or personally notify him to attend the launch of a new model that might catch his attention. This dude owns watches worth millions. He is super passionate about watches and will go lengths to get them customised with his initials E.I on the dials. He knows how spoilt he is when it comes to watches, but he thinks it's worth every penny and he's super proud of himself (that bitch). Eisuke prefers Analog watches to Digital ones. Watches are his go-to Birthday, Anniversary or Congratulatory gifts. He's a compulsive watch-shopper- if he likes a watch, he's going to raid the shop to get it, (they better not give him an excuse of it being just a showroom piece and not on sale or it not being customisable or any shit like that, he'll go APESHIT and ruin their Brand-name), and he doesn't give even a micro-fuck about the price.

Soryu:

Soryu too, loves watches, but he isn't as much a spendthrift as Eisuke. It's like he wants to buy watches, but he doesn't want to come across as spoilt, so he controls his urges. He owns 10-12 really good, high-end watches. Among Analog watches, his favorite brands are Timex and Omega- they're sturdy, durable and heavy-duty, much similar to his personality. His personal favorite is the Apple Smartwatch because it performs a plethora of functions for him- time, weather, temperature and tracking. On those days when he personally has some 'dirty' work to do, he avoids wearing a watch for it would break his heart to ruin one of his treasured pieces. He prefers watches in metallic black, navy blue or silver colours to match with his suit. He prefers watches with multiple dials to know the precise time, along with the date, day and month.

Mamoru:

This guy could care less about a watch, it isn't a daily-wear accessory for him. He thinks watches in general are a waste of money, and he doesn't give a fuck about the time either. He owns 2 or 3 watches in relatively cheaper but very reliable brands like Casio and Seiko. He has honestly been using the same black Genuine-leather strapped Casio since the past 10 years and Eisuke often mocks him for it, but he still wears it anyway. Infact, he brags about it being vintage and Baba has to explain him THAT IT ISN'T GODDAMMIT. He prefers leather straps to metallic straps. Among metallic straps, silver is his favorite color. He has only one CRAZY EXPENSIVE Patek Philippe(thanks to Eisuke) and he frankly never uses it because it would kill him if that watch gets scratched or damaged in any way. Yes he is thrifty.

Ota:

Ota, being young and artsy, prefers modern Brands to the Classic ones. His favorites include Tommy Hilfiger, Tag Heuer, Armani, Fossil, Swatch, Chanel, Hermès, Michael Kors and Casio. His favorite watch is his limited edition G-Shock by Casio, he treats that watch more like a baby, and less like a watch. Like Eisuke and Soryu, he too, owns an Apple Smartwatch. His watches are colourful and fashionable. He hates those boring leather straps and gold-plated watches. His go-to watch brand is Tommy Hilfiger. He often ditches multiple-dial watches for creative single-dial ones. He likes digital watches too. He has partnered with several Brands to provide them with unique, youngster-focused designs. He has a weird obsession with LED and Radium watches.

Luke:

As a doctor, he wears a watch 24/7, more than often even when he sleeps. He isn't a watch collector like Eisuke, but he adores Classic watches. He owns 8-10 high-end watches in Brands like Rolex, Victorinox, Breitling, Swatch, Roger Smith, Bremont, Pinion, Speake-Marin, and ofcourse, Robert Loomes. He LOVES English watch Brands. For everyday use, he wears his trusty leather strap Bremont, but for special occasions, he switches to metallic strap ones. His preferred watch type is Analog, with multiple dials which help him keep track of the month, date and day. He doesn't understand Apple watches really, they seem like an unnecessary technological complication. Among metallic straps, his favorite colours are rose-gold, bronze and silver. He often browses through Classic watch catalogues and makes an occasional splurge on one of his favorite Brands. He HATES when any of his watches run slow. He makes it a point to keep all of them very precise and in perfect working condition.

Baba:

He loves luxury and vintage watches, especially the Gold-plated ones. He isn't at all into modern designs. He is always looking for watches being auctioned and ensures that he gets his hands on them. He has formerly purchased really expensive Rolex and Patek Philippe watches through auctions. His watches are all Analog and they stand out since they are often encrusted with precious stones- he's rather extra about the bling and Eisuke hates him for it. He likes rectangular dials more than round ones, and prefers leather straps (he has particularly hairy hands- his hair gets caught in metallic straps and it hurts like hell, poor Baba ends up getting rashes on his wrist more than often.) Maybe he should take up on Ota's advise to get his hands waxed.

Hikaru:

Hikaru doesn't wear a watch most of the time due to (both) his professions. As a Bellboy, he tends to damage watches by accidentally hitting them on walls, doors, lifts, ovens?! There was one time when he mistakenly wore his favorite watch for a major kill, and it ended up covered in blood. Hikaru begrudgingly spent the entire night trying to clean it up and that taught him to avoid watches at all costs when he's being a hitman. He currently owns only two watches- both G.Shocks by Casio- one black and one white.

Shuichi:

He too, just like Luke, wears a watch 24/7. Wearing a watch is a part of his morning routine. He'll probably get a panic attack if he doesn't wear one. He too, owns several watches like a certain other person, better not be named, for it peeves Shuichi to no end. He likes watches in Silver and Black colors, any type of strap would do. He has fixed shops where he'll go to buy his watches and refuses to buy a watch anywhere else. It once happened that he came across Eisuke in a store and they picked the same kind of watch and the look of intense hatred on their faces left the store employees rather scared. The next time they came across each other in a watch shop, they both turned away and left (Lmao). Since then, Shuichi avoids shops inside Tres Spades or within a 2 km radius of it. His preferred Brands are Rolex, Victorinox, Breitling, Longines, Rado and Cartier. He prefers simple yet classy watches to go with his smart suit. He hates blingy watches meant for showing off- especially the ones that Eisuke wears. Eisuke's obsession with watches pisses him off. These two could totally be watch rivals.

MC:

Just like Hikaru, MC avoids wearing watches because they get damaged during work. She has 2-3 affordable, trendy, and chic Citizen watches for special occasions. She prefers round dials and metallic straps and her favorite colour is Rose Gold. On one of her Birthdays, both Eisuke and Shuichi gifted her filthy expensive Patek Philippe watches. She's scared to even touch those and keeps them securely locked inside her safe because God knows how many millions they might be worth. She is sure to get mugged if she wears those. She often thinks whether Eisuke genuinely (and innocently) gifted that watch to her or whether that devil bastard wanted her to fall in trouble that motherfucker

___________________________________

#Check out more of my writings here:

Masterpost

[yoyo-inspace]

HDM HOLIDAY EXCHANGE GIFT

A little bit late, ran into some troubles yesterday, but here it is! I was prompted with soft protective Dadsriel and this is what came to mind - it might not be particularly soft, and it's only reluctantly protective - and Asriel isn't even referred to as a Dad even once! 

Hm. I still hope I managed to hit some of the right notes to fill this prompt.

This has not been beta'd, or edited a lot, so all mistakes are mine.

For @anxiouss-princess on tumblr. I hope you enjoy! :) 

@hdmholidayexchange - thanks for a fun exchange!

Can also be found here on AO3. 

Rotlaust Tre Fell

Summary:  A storm hits Oxfordshire that makes the forest shudder and that whips the rivers into a frenzy. It’s not a night to be outside. 

Of course, that's exactly where Lyra finds herself.

Title from the Wardruna song - translates to Rootless Tree Fell.

--

Lyra is eight years old when she gets caught out in the storm. 

It’s springtime, but instead of budding flowers and birds coming back from the south, the arrival of spring is accompanied by one of the worst storms Oxfordshire has seen in years. It won’t flood, or so they say, but the residents of Oxford and its surroundings still tie down their belongings and huddle together inside as the rain starts beating viciously against rooftops and window panes. The wind makes the trees creak to the point of branches breaking off, and it whips the rivers into a frenzy. It’s not a night to be outside. 

“I told you this was a bad idea,” Pan hisses, hidden as he is beneath Lyra’s far too thin spring jacket, which is already soaked through. He’s in the form of a dormouse, and his paws are clutching Lyra’s shirt, as if to make sure he doesn’t get blown away. Lyra doesn’t reply to his chastising because she doesn’t want to hear it. Also, it’ll hardly help. 

She really had been planning to be back by nightfall. The wind hadn’t picked up until the evening anyway, so how was she supposed to have known? It isn’t like she wants to be here. She’d much rather be huddling in front of the fire at Jordan, or already beneath the blankets in her bed. Instead she’s huddling in the hole left by an uprooted tree, the roots still gnarly and bent above her. It was the best shelter she’d been able to find. She’s muddy and wet, and she’s certain she’ll get a beating once she returns to the college for ruining her dress. In her opinion, they clearly should have given her a dress that’s more durable. She can’t see why she should be blamed for that. 

“It was a stupid bet,” Pan comments again, though she can hardly hear him over the sound of the wind. However, she knows to what he’s referring. A bet with the townie children, about who could find the first spring berries. 

“There en’t any berries out here anyway, and if there was, they’d be blown away by now,” Lyra mutters and wraps her arms tighter around herself. She’d wanted to stay out looking for longer than all the rest, but once the storm had surprised them, she hadn’t been able to find her way back. Then she’d been sliding down a hill and now here she was, hiding until it was over. In comparison, one of Mrs Lonsdale’s harsh baths didn’t sound too bad. 

“-ra!” 

Both their heads snap up, though Pan hears it clearer than Lyra. “Was that someone calling, or was it the wind?” 

They both listen, and for a moment they’re almost convinced that they were tricked by the noise of the storm, which is still raging around them. 

“Lyra!” 

Pan perks up, enough so that his head is above her collar. There’s no mistaking it. “That’s-”

“Thorold!” Lyra shouts as loud as she can, going as far as to stand up from her little muddy alcove, even if the rain gives her hair another whipping. The hole is deep enough to reach to her chest, but it gives little cover once she’s standing up. She isn’t even sure her voice carries over the howling of the wind. What her uncle’s servant is doing out here she has no idea. She didn’t even know Lord Asriel was expected. Had he arrived while she was out in the woods, looking for berries? Another reason to consider the whole expedition a failure if she’d missed him. She shouts again. It’s impossible to see anything, and if she’s not mistaken the wind has picked up. The trees creak worryingly all around her. 

“Sir, over there!” 

She can’t even make out which direction the voice is coming from. Maybe if she squints and puts her hand above her eyes she can make out figures- or no, those might just have been trees- 

There’s more creaking and suddenly someone appears from the side, jumping down into the hole with her, and hands underneath her arms as she’s not very gently shoved out of the hole with a shriek. Pantalaimon turns into an ermine under her jacket to have a better grip. 

“Idiot child!” 

That’s certainly her uncle, and he’s climbing out after her, faster than she can really register. She can’t imagine why he sounds so angry, other than the fact that she can’t imagine anyone being too happy having to go out in a storm like this. But she thought she hadn’t done too badly! She’d even found cover, all on her own, instead of wandering around the forest, which she’s heard you’re not supposed to do when lost.

She was about to explain all this - rain in her mouth be damned - but she doesn’t get much further than a half aborted ‘uncle’ before he grabs her again. 

“Watch out!” 

There’s a loud creaking, and then Asriel is throwing them both to the side, his arms around Lyra as they roll away. Lyra has no idea what happened, but the noise she hears, a loud thump and creak next to them, is at least loud enough to pierce the roaring of the storm. Her back is against the ground, her face tucked into Lord Asriel’s shoulder as his hand cradles her neck for a moment longer. There’s a strange stillness there, in his arms, and she feels impossibly small. Or maybe it’s just the fact that she’s being protected from the rain.

The next thing she knows, Asriel’s getting up and yanking her up with him. It hurts, and she can hear Stelmaria growl as he speaks again. “What the devil possessed you to hide out there?” 

Lyra can’t understand what he means at first. There’s a tone in his voice that she hasn’t heard before, and while his face is hard to see with all the rain, she can’t be imagining that look. It’s not just anger. He’s worried. Despite the situation, and the way she’s started to shiver - or maybe she had been all along - that warms her a little. He never worries. 

Then she catches up with what he’s talking about, and she turns to the hole in the ground which she’d made her temporary shelter. Except the hole is gone, and somehow, the tree that had been lying so kindly to its side, offering her a place to rest, has snapped upright again, as if closing a trap. Lyra stares at the roots digging into the ground where she’d been not a minute earlier. That could have been me, she realises. Buried beneath those roots, and if not pierced by them, then certainly crushed or worse - locked inside a hole in the ground and no one would have heard her. 

Suddenly the shivering catches up with her legs and she can’t quite stand on them, but this time she doesn’t fall to her knees, but is instead hoisted up in Asriel’s arms as he huddles her close. She didn’t noticed growing so cold. 

“Thorold, run ahead and tell them to prepare a hot bath for her,” she hears her uncle say, though he hardly has to shout to be heard over the wind. His voice is already loud enough, and that’s somewhat comforting. The storm is clearly no match for him.

--

Lyra is unsure how she manages it, with the storm thundering overhead, but she falls asleep somewhere before they reach Jordan, and she’s quite groggy as Asriel hands her over to a fussing Mrs. Lonsdale, who immediately sets about stripping off her clothes and getting her into a hot bath, which feels scalding before she grows used to it. At least that did plenty to wake her up, but by then her uncle is already gone. Not that she expected him to stay around bathing her. Mrs. Lonsdale was clearly there for that, scrubbing mud from all over her while prattling on about how irresponsible Lyra is. 

Lyra herself is quiet, though more contemplative than grumpy, and Pan sits on the edge of the bath in the form of a sparrow, just as silent. 

After the bath is done, she’s dressed in her nightclothes, and some warm socks that she’s quite sure are not meant for a child. She’s given another blanket to wrap around her shoulders and then she’s led to one of the guest rooms and sat down in front of the fire. A cup of hot tea is placed in her hands, and she even manages to mumble a thank you to Mrs. Lonsdale, who just scoffs and makes her way out. Lyra sips her tea in silence. If she’s not mistaken, there’s a little bit of honey in it. She never gets honey in her tea. 

Neither she nor Pan have the time to contemplate where they’ve been brought, or take in the presence of large suitcases in the corner of the room clearly marking it as inhabited, before the door opens again. She’s expecting Mrs. Lonsdale, or perhaps the Master come to give her another lecture, but it’s Lord Asriel she sees in the doorway. While he’s hardly in his pyjamas - she’s not even sure she could imagine him in one - he still has a similar blanket to hers wrapped around his shoulders. Lyra wonders if he too were forced into a hot bath, though she doubt Thorold cleaned him off with the same ferocity as Mrs. Lonsdale did for her. There’s silence as he looks at her, and then her uncle turns to the corridor. 

“Thank you, Thorold, you can rest for the night.”

She hears a muffled ‘sir’, and then Asriel enters the room and closes the door, letting out a sigh that’s more tired than any she’s ever heard from him. He doesn’t look at Lyra again but goes to pour himself a glass of- well, something. Lyra isn’t quite sure what, but it’s something the adults drink. Particularly “in trying times” Bernie Johansen, the pastry cook, had told her once, and then he’d laughed when she asked if it was some kind of medicine. Whatever it is, Asriel takes a large sip out of it before he looks back to her. 

“As much as those scholars try to teach you, I suppose outdoor survival courses wouldn’t be their first priority. With how wild you are, perhaps it should be,” he says, and Lyra isn’t sure if it’s supposed to be an insult or a compliment. 

Asriel picks out a book from a rucksack he’s placed on the floor. To her surprise, he then comes over to her in front of the fire and sits down next to her. It’s strange, she thinks, to be on such an even level with him. She hasn’t seen him in at least sixth months, and this wasn’t exactly how she’d imagined their reunion going, but it’s still nice. Her eyes dart over to Stelmaria, who’s settling with closed eyes by the side of the fire. She doesn’t look all that wet from the rain, but Lyra knows that Pantalaimon is cold, with the way he’s wrapped around her shoulders as an ermine again, and so she imagines the snow leopard must be too, despite that thick fur. 

“Lyra, are you listening?” 

Her uncle has her attention again as she looks up at him, clasping her cup of tea with both hands and taking a sip. Her eyes are wide and he looks tired. He’s always ferocious or determined. She doesn’t know if she’s ever seen him tired before. She nods, and he sighs. 

“Good. Now, you know very well that you’re not supposed to go far away from the college,” he starts, and there's an exasperated tone in his voice that makes it clear that he believes it to be an inevitability that she will anyway. Usually he’d have given her a scolding. Lyra hides her grin behind her cup, though with the look he gives her, she can tell she wasn’t successful. “But if you’re determined to be a disobedient wild cat of a child, then at least you could do so without risking your life. You can read, yes?”

A strange question, and Lyra has to fight the urge to roll her eyes. She tends to go quiet in the presence of her uncle, but right now it’s a little bit of a relief, to not have to speak. He seems to be able to get her meaning anyway, because of course she can read. If only to be able to read his postcards.

“Excellent,” he continues and places the book he picked out before in front of them. To Lyra’s surprise, it’s a notebook - a very nice one, in leather. And it’s completely empty. There’s a pen in his hand. “Then let’s make sure there are no repeats of today’s stupid mistake, shall we?”

What follows is the strangest lecture Lyra’s ever received. Lord Asriel is the one writing and drawing, though he shows it to her as he goes about it. He teaches her about how to find her way if she’s lost in the woods - look for the direction of anthills - how to leave trails that won’t be destroyed easily, what marks to leave. He also teaches her about what berries she can and can’t eat, which mushrooms she shouldn’t touch and what snakes are venomous. Lyra doesn’t think she’ll go out into the woods any time soon - the image of being crushed underground is still haunting her - but if she ever did, she’d be a lot more prepared for it. 

Somewhere halfway into his speech about how to find the nearest source of water, Lyra nods off, though she’s tried her very best to stay awake. When she wakes up again, briefly, it’s as Lord Asriel puts her down in her bed. She tries to say goodnight, but she’s not sure if she manages before falling back asleep, Pan curled up next to her. 

--

The next morning she wakes up, and she feels unusually warm. Glancing around her, she notes that this is because she has double the amount of blankets than usual. It’s with certain surprise she realises that her uncle must have given her his. The thought makes her smile, but not as much as when she turns to her nightstand and spots the leather-bound notebook lying there. She reaches out and grabs it, opening the first page, the one before all Asriel’s notes about woodland survival. 

To Lyra. So that she’ll live to reach the age of nine, for which this was a birthday present. Regards, Asriel.

It’s short, but more personal than she’s used to, and Lyra grins wider than she remembers doing in weeks. 

Later, she finds out that Lord Asriel already took the train to London early that morning. While that does fill her with some disappointment, it’s not as harsh as it usually is when he leaves without saying goodbye. She stays inside the whole day, the scholars having given her the day off, and she spends it reading through her uncle’s notes and looking at the quick sketches of leaves and mushrooms. When the time comes to sleep again, she clutches the book to her chest, as if she can soak up the words into her skin. 

“We’ll show him, Pan,” she says and Pan glances up, a sleepy house cat curled up next to her on the bed.

“Show him what?”

“I’ll make it all the way to age ten. By that time, I wager I’ll be an expert, and he’ll have to move on to teaching me about surviving in the North, where there en’t no anthills. After that, he’s sure to bring us with him next time he leaves, don’t you think?” 

Pan mumbles something vaguely pessimistic and Lyra ignores him, as per usual. She falls asleep clutching her notebook and imagines going on a grand adventure in the North, where there’s less mud, and certainly no uprooted trees out to kill her. Besides, if there were, her uncle would surely be there to save her. Lyra, however, is determined to not let that happen. Next time, she’ll make him proud by saving herself.

[aftermathdb]

DEATH BATTLE Review: Ganondorf vs. Dracula

Denizens of darkness duke it out in a duel to the death to determine who is the true duke of the dark power.

Sidenote: Really sorry if this feels blunt or rushed, but I lost the first draft and I got really mad about it.

Ganondorf′s Preview.

So, everything started when the Demon King demise wanted to destroy the world, and was stopped by the Hero and the reincarnation of the Goddess. In his rage, he cursed them to feel the manifestation of his hatred come to life.

The hero and the princess would be forever locked in battle with a being known as Ganondorf.

Ganondorf had a lot of teachers to help him out with the magic stuff. From energy bolts that would make for one intense game of tennis, to your usual dark magic shenanigans, Ganondorf has it all.

Ganondorf’s got an arsenal to boot!

From swords, to maybe two, ad sometimes on horseback, Ganondorf is skilled with a blade.

However, Ganondorf is much more famous for his piece of the Triforce, the Triforce of Power.

With this, Ganondorf gets an immense power boost… Because, you know… Power.

Thankfully, that boy in green had defeated him.

It’s moments like these that are going to make watching these two trying to kill each other in the series finale all the harder.

Thankfully, Ganondorf isn’t that invincible. Sure, you can hurt him with regular weapons, but it usually takes a holy weapon to really put him down.

It’s like Pokémon type effectiveness. Yeah, you can bring him down with non-holy weapons, but it’ll be a pain to do.

Ganondorf once survived his castle falling on top of him. By the size of it, annd accounting for a hollow interior, that equals a little over 11,000 tons.

If a castle falling on top of him isn’t enough, then a castle exploding on him would.

Using the size and accounting for Violent Fragmentation, the hosts have found that this equals

Just under 2 Kilotons of TNT.

It’s also worth noting that Ganondorf has defeated Link in at least one timeline. And Link ca dodge lasers, putting him at about 11% the speed of light.

After so may stabs, slashes, and seals, Ganondorf is onne hell of a guy to go up against, and he won’t stop until he brings about your demise.

Dracula′s Preview.

So for Dracula’s preview, we basically open with a Wiz and Boomstick segment regarding Dracula’s origin story and how God works in the Castlevania universe. Also, I’m aware that I misspelled Matthius’ name, I just can’t be bothered to go back and fix it. I was off by one instance of the letter “t”. So sue me.

No need to worry, I have it all listed down. Goth kids don’t have to worry, because I took notes for them.

Anyways, much like a certain other character whose original rival I want to see in a DEATH BATTLE, Matthius rejected his humanity, and became a vampire.

(Johnathan Joestar vs. Leon Belmont, when?)

So after becoming Dracula, Matthius spent the rest of his time being… pretty chill actually. Guy even found a woman to love and had a son… Until a rerun happened, and his wife got killed by a bunch of religious nutjobs, sparking a war he would wage against the God they worshiped.

Ad Drac doesn’t have to do it with just some bog-standard vampire powers. He gets power from Chaos himself, giving him all sorts of superpowers.

Aside from the usual set, Dracula has necromancy, soul manipulation, alchemy, and a bunch of demonic transformations. Like to the point that it can become a running gag.

Now, much like old ‘Dorf up there, Dracula also had his castle drop on top of him.

That’s the literal Castlevania, by the way. Using the game’s official artwork, that means that Dracula was crushed under over 2,000,000 tons of rubble.

With all that power, he’s pulled off some crazy things.

Not only does he command Death itself, but he’s destroyed entire towns, created black holes, and all sorts of crazy stuff.

His hubris might get him in trouble more times than not, but Dracula is one hell of a fighter.

So long as evil exists, so will Dracula.

The Battle Itself.

SFM Animators David Ficher, Doovan Hohdan, Daitomodachi, and Devil Artemis are on animation. Ganondorf will be voiced by William T. Sopp and Dracula will be voiced by Steven Kelly. The Dark Lords by Brandon Yates, and audio is led by Chris Kokkinos.

So after all this time, we finally have a fight story for a 3D battle again. It’s about time.

So, it’s your typical stuff. Ganondorf wants Dracula’s castle, and old Drac is’t having any of it.

And right off the bat, we have fanservice. Really good fanservice.

So, Ganondorf goes in for an attack, but not only does Dracula dodge, he manages to bitchslap Ganondorf!

I have a screenshot of this without the borders by the way. Check out the Deviantart page to check it out if you want to use it as wallpaper.

And Ganondorf’s face here is just so great! He just looks so incredulous that someone would bitchslap him. I never knew that Ganonndorf being bitchslapped was something that I either wanted or needed, but now I know. I got me a new running gag for the fic.

Ganondorf and Dracula have a quick back-and-forth to try to gain advantage. But try as they might, speed isn’t going to be a way to pull that off. Nor will dark magic either.

This is one hell of a Halloween episode.

And Ganondorf proves his point by just going inn for the kill in 5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Yeesh, that’s brutal. But you want to know what’s eve more brutal?- The fact that this isn’t the end.

So, Drac goes Beast Mode, and starts dominating the fight again.

So Ganondorf responds in kind. Or rather, Ganon responds in kind.

God, this fight is just so full of fanservice.

After another quick blowout, Ganon pins Drac to a wall, and the latter just up and decides to end it.

And the castle blows up. Because it’s these two.

Yeah, (real) finishing blow in

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

Verdict + Explanation.

So, right off the bat, they were about even in dark magic. But there are a few things that set them apart that gave Dracula an edge. Like soul manipulation. Ol’ ‘Dorf didn’t really have a solid defense against that.

But the difference in durability is pretty clear cut.

Compared to Ganondorf’s surviving the castle blowing up to how Dracula can survive a meteor to the face. That’s over a thousand times the amount of force that Ganondorf could survive.

And Dracula has plenty of ways to detach Ganondorf from his power.

And Dracula has access to holy magic too.

That Holy Nuke is better than swinging a sword around, which was admittedly the very few ways for Ganondorf to net a win.

Surprisingly, Ganondorf was underpowered to the might that Dracula has. Drac has the power of Chaos, which is a whole universe. Compared to the power of the Goddesses, that’s quite a lot.

The best way (according to Wiz) is to look at it from the idea that they’re both using batteries to fuel their powers.

Overall impression.

If it took this long to get a Halloween episode, then it was worth it. This has a great blend of horror, humor, and action. Especially with that Dracula bitchslapping Gannondorf scene.

I should make a gif of that later.

Regardless, I really liked this one. The animation is gorgeous. I know I throw that word around a lot around these parts, but this is some top-notch stuff. I’ve only seen one of the animator’s prior works before this, and I can say they make some good stuff. If it means we can get some great fights like this one again, I wouldn’t mind seeing their names again.

9.1/10.

Next Time…

Sweet. Some psychics settle serious simulation of violence.

Get ready for a psychic showdown!

Is there a fight that you want me to review? - Send an ask/request, and I’ll look into it!

Do you want to read my fanfic based around DEATH BATTLE itself? click here!

Thank you for reading, and I hope to see you next time for…

A Psychic Pounding…………… Wait…