#black bullet anime plot summary

[aspiring-holistic-otaku]

Season 3 Ramble #8 - A is for Anime(solo reprise) ver.3

Hadn't been doing the run-up posting I usually do for my rambles due to work and such but here we are!

How this ramble is gonna go is I'm gonna list my top 3 movies watched this month then top 3 series for same, AAnd now that I actually have a semi decent number of anime under my belt I'm gonna do a quick top ten of both at the end.. after that if you wanna stick around, instead of the usual post ramble ramble, I'm gonna add a bit of the recording I did with the homies, as a sort of prelude and promise that we will have that conversation in future. I really think it's an important and potentially fruitful discussion to have.

But In any case getting into the episode now

TOP 3 MOVIES 

3) Belladonna Of Sadness (1973, 1hr33m, Mushi Production)

Crazy movie. I don't think I can accurately talk about it without it sounding too wHild… I'm still gonna, but I'm gonna open with what Google says about it.

A peasant woman is raped by the local lord on her wedding night. To take revenge, she makes a pact with the Devil himself who appears as an erotic sprite and transforms her into a black-robed vision of madness and desire.

As I said.. wHild… and that's just the summary…the details of the actual movie are like…woah.. but in any case it was great, actually something that'd been on my watch list for a good long while so I'm glad I could actually finally watch it. 

Glazing over the plot which the summary does a pretty good job of covering anyways, the visuals were absolutely stunning. They're by Yoshitaka Amano, probably most famously known for his final fantasy illustrations. For the most part the visuals are done in what looks like watercolor paint, which is just wild in my mind,, like wHy?? He definitely pulled it off though which is even more crazy cause a good amount of it was done in an almost slideshow kinda way which I usually don't like but he still pulled it off…crazy…. Should be kinda obvious from the summary but moderate tw. Still definitely strongly recommend.

Small sidenote - in making this ramble I found out that belladonna of sadness is actually part of a trilogy called animerama,, so now I have 2 more old ass movies to look forward to. Hopefully they're just as good or even better…

2) Lupin IIIrd: The Gravestone of Daisuke Jigen (2014, 51m, Telecom Animation Film)

Ever since I watched my first lupin movie 3 years ago I've been locked in. In fact it was such a good watch that I've limited myself to one a year. Thankfully the trend of awesomeness has continued up to this point but enough premature glazing. 

This movie is basically centered on Jigen, as you can probably tell from the title. Just a point of clarity for those who don't know much of anything about lupin, Jigen is basically the gunslinger of Lupin’s crew. So as this is basically his movie, he's ofc facing off against a gunslinger. The title is so named because this guy, the gunslinger they find themselves up against, makes graves for his victims before killing them. Nobody's ever gotten away from him. In fact he's so good that he uses dice to decide how many bullets he'll use to take out his target. Ice cold mf.

Pretty good action from start to finish though I’m a tad disappointed there wasn't more gun-slinging, though from what I gather Jigen’s whole thing is speed, accuracy and efficiency,, so maybe a barrage of bullets wouldn't have made sense. In any case we get to see all of the crew besides goemon, dry cry as he's my personal fav but still solid. The art direction was great from all angles as I've come to expect. Not too much to say cast wise as on Lupin gang’s side there's a cumulative effect of greatness where every time you see them it's generally a continuation of past interactions, as in there's an obviously rich history there. That being said, the dynamic is still great and from what I've seen, you can pick up any of the movies and immediately love them. But anyways, on the other hand, the main villain/organization felt a bit hollow. Which is something I've come to kind of expect with movie exclusive antagonists in general. It's just a matter of time efficiency. I think when it comes to anime movies, you're generally not watching for the antagonist unless they have to do with the main storyline. Otherwise you're kinda watching to see how the protagonist will beat them in about an hour. Though I will say as far as visuals can speak, they definitely spoke volumes in that sense. Also, given the geopolitical climate we're in, I liked the villain/organization and how they were handled... trying not to spoil too much there but if you so much as peek between the lines you probably get it.. In any case definitely highly recommend.

Side note - every lupin movie I watch further solidifies my decision to get into the series… just watching the movies first for some reason…

1) Mind game (2004, 1hr44m, Studio 4°C)

Honestly,, I don't even want to speak on it for fear of sullying its greatness. It's one of those life changing before and after watches fr. This is something I'd been really wanting to watch since ver.1 when I started getting into Studio 4°C through their awesome anthologies genius party and genius party beyond.

I'm gonna default to the anilist description here which is kinda almost decent relative to the sheer phenomenal amazingness of this movie.. but I digress.. so according to anilist..

Audiences will begin to grasp what they are in for early on, as loser Nishi, too wimpy to try to save his childhood sweetheart from gangsters, is shot in the butt by a soccer-playing psychopath, projecting Nishi into the afterlife. In this limbo, God - shown as a series of rapidly changing characters - tells him to walk toward the light. But Nishi runs like hell in the other direction and returns to Earth a changed man, driven to live each moment to the fullest.

The last bit hints at the greatness of this film. Right there that small difference in speech speaks volumes in my personal world of language. It's not just a movie. It's film. 10/10. absolute cinema.

As I said I don't even want to talk about it too much because I don't think it possible to do it justice through mere words, but I'm gonna put a bit more glaze on it before I wrap up the movie list and move on to series. This movie beat out studio ghibli’s, Miyazaki directed, howl’s moving castle in the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival. Further, this was a debut work for the director Masaaki Yuasa, who would later go on to found science saru studio. I was so moved by this movie that I've decided I will watch everything masaaki yuasa has and will ever direct. 10/10. highly recommend. end of glaze.

hm: under the dog, Mezzo forte, blood: the last vampire, 4°c (sweat punch, short peace from last time)

Top 3 Series

3) Frieren: Beyond Journey's End (2023-2024, 28ep 24m, Madhouse) 

This is something I'd been seeing around for a bit but was intentionally ignoring because for some reason I got it in my head that it was based on this sad little one shot called The hero’s party on their way back home, and I was NOT watching an entire series based on that.

In any case, in talking with my bros recently they all insisted that it was the best anime released in the past year, one of them declaring it was in his top5 all time. So I pushed past my fears and binged it all in a day. V thankful for the bros.

The story here follows an elven mage called frieren and her life after defeating the Demon King and bringing peace to the world.

As you can tell from the summary it's largely a slice of life but it has its fair share of well placed scraps. It fills a certain fantasy gap where you get that day to day rose tinted indigenous peoples’ lifestyle feel, that I think most people would want if they actually lived in a fantasy setting,, not that constantly under threat from dragons and shit usually focused on. And as I said there are some well placed fights. The pacing also felt perfect. Like I almost felt bad binging it because I could tell that once a week watch would've been REALLY good… one of the few series I don't want to read the manga for, I'll definitely be watching weekly whenever season 2 drops..

Great cast though kinda small, pretty brilliant visuals and sound direction. Very very very solid all round, what I'd call supremely balanced tbh. One of the bros put it really well in that he said he has synesthesia so everything has colours for him, and the colours of every aspect of this show came together to paint the perfect picture. Now I don't have synesthesia myself but I could definitely feel, not just see, how well orchestrated it all was. definitely strongly recommend.

2) Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann (2007, 27ep 24m, Gainax)

Yes. It's 2024 and I’m just watching gurren lagann and you'll hear why that is if you listen in to the post ramble ramble,, but suffice to say, you can never be late to true greatness and Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann is definitely in that category. 

Firstly I kinda watched it as a meme seeing as last ramble I focused on the supposed relationship between sacred geometry and JoJo's bizarre adventure… if that sounds crazy then you should listen to the ramble… not that it'll sound less crazy but..yh.. anyways I was vaguely aware that gurren lagann focused a bit on spirals so I tapped in for the meme. 

To summarize the lengthy anilist summary,, In a far away future, mankind lives underground in huge caves, unknowing of a world above with a sky and stars. yada yada yada blah blah blah Simon, Kamina, Yoko, and the small yet sturdy robot, Lagann, journey to the world above and find that the surface is a harsh battlefield, and it's up to them to fight back against the rampaging Beastmen. Pierce the heavens, Gurren Lagann!

Again I'm gonna fall back on the words of another of my bros from the session, I think he had it in his top 10 or 5,, but he said he considers gurren lagann to be a perfect starter anime in that it perfectly showcases almost everything the medium of anime has to offer. Action, comedy, philosophy, slice of life, amazing cast, brilliant visual direction, solid sound direction. etc. the term “starter anime” gets thrown around a fair bit and I usually think it's a rubbish term because of how insanely diverse the medium is and how specific different individuals tastes can be,, so like to say this or that anime is a good “starter anime" never made sense.. but when he said it, that was the very first time I actually thought it made sense..

Definitely super highly recommend, a recommendation to pierce the heavens if you will.

1) Akiba Maid War (2022, 12ep 24m, P.A Works)

Gotta say it was a tough call between this and gurren lagann but it won out for 3 reasons. #1 it's shorter, and that's not a lazy pov, I just personally tend to give more ratings to shorter series in general because I think being able to do something amazing in a short amount of time deserves more props than doing so in a longer span of time. personally.. #2 it was FUNNY. AS. FUCK. I'm coming to realize that when it comes to anime specifically, comedy may be my favourite genre. I can't quite put my finger on why but I think it has to do with how far animation as a medium can push physical humor.. idk.. lastly… idek why I felt the need to justify all this…it's my list… but lastly,, and most importantly. maids. enough said..

The story here follows the dealings of different maid cafes in the town of Akihabara. I say dealings because in this show the maids basically act like Yakuza, having turf wars, extortion rackets and drug trades(just a point of clarity for those who've never heard the term, you've probably guessed but Yakuza are basically Japanese gangsters). In any case this is all under the table as they pay off the police and act the usual cutesy part in front of civilians. That may be a bit of a spoiler but a gif of it was going around a lot last year i think,, with this one maid gunning down a bunch of other maids and it was made to look like an idol rave with the glow sticks and everything + the “twist" if you can even call it that happens in episode 1 so it's not like some major turning point spoilers + "wars” is literally in the title, so with all due respect, you can bite me.. 

In any case, as I said this shit was funny ASF, mainly because of the opposing imagery of maids and yakuza they somehow pulled off perfectly.. like I can't begin to explain how crazy it is to see maids cussing each other out with the most obscene language, fighting it out in the craziest brawls, then turning around and going “welcome home master”. 

Fairly small but very strong cast, all funny in their own unique ways from the hardened criminal type to the frightened newbie. the visuals were great, sounds direction solid, I really really loved the op and ed, cause they just perfectly matched the shows energy. Kinda episodic for the most part but that fit the crazy, “you'll never guess what happens next” energy… Just great overall like wow.. a bit surprised I haven't seen it around more but I realize comedies don't tend to get that much ratings on release, if they do get attention it's further down the line as a “hidden jewel".

But in any case yes. 10/10. definitely highly recommend. please go watch this. have a good laugh, give thanks for life and go see the beauty of the world.

hm: Flying Trapeze, Goodbye Mr. despair (from s2)

Top 10 Movies (no order)

A Silent Voice, Memories (anthology directed by katsuhiro otomo), One Piece Movie 6: Flower Island, Tokyo Godfathers, Mind Game, Ocean Waves, Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind, Sword Of The Stranger, the Lupin movies (just watch all of them lol), Maquia: When The Promised Flower Blooms

hm: Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop, Animatrix, GITS Innocence, Wolf Children, Princess Mononoke

Top 10 Series (no order)

Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann, Akiba Maid Wars, Nichijou, Hyouka, Mononoke, Sonny Boy, Tatami Galaxy(all spinoffs, movies, everything.), Steins;Gate, Dorohedoro, Angel Beats, Durarara!!(all seasons)

hm: Baccano!, Pluto, FLCL up to Progressive, Cowboy Bebop, chainsaw man

[mangaowllsblog]

Case Closed Volume 5 Manga Summary

Case Closed, also known as Detective Conan in Japan, is a popular manga series written and illustrated by Gosho Aoyama. The series has been serialized in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday since 1994 and has been adapted into an anime series, movies, and various spin-offs. The story follows the adventures of high school detective Shinichi Kudo, who is transformed into a child after being poisoned by a criminal organization. He then adopts the pseudonym "Conan Edogawa" and continues to solve crimes with the help of his friends and gadgets. In this article, we will be providing a summary of Case Closed manga volume 5.

Volume 5 of the manga covers the following cases:

Chapter 41-43: The Tragedy at the OK Corral

Shinichi and Ran are visiting a wild west theme park with her parents, Kogoro Mouri, and Eri Kisaki. They witness a reenactment of the shootout at the OK Corral, but things go awry when a real bullet is fired, killing one of the performers. The case becomes even more complicated when the victim is revealed to have been dead before the shot was fired.

Chapter 44-46: The Mysterious Height Difference of 20cm

Conan and his friends are attending a play featuring the famous detective Kogoro Akechi. During the performance, a murder takes place in the audience, and the prime suspect is a woman who was sitting next to Kogoro. The case takes a surprising turn when the suspect is found to be much taller than the eyewitness accounts suggest.

Chapter 47-49: The Ventriloquist's Illusion

Conan and his friends are invited to a dinner show by a famous ventriloquist, where a murder takes place during the performance. The suspect is the ventriloquist's estranged daughter, but the case becomes even more complex when it is revealed that the victim was not the intended target.

Chapter 50-52: The Bus Hijacking Case

Conan and his friends are on a bus tour when the bus is hijacked by a man with a bomb. The hijacker demands a ransom of 1 billion yen and threatens to blow up the bus if his demands are not met. Conan and his friends must find a way to outsmart the hijacker and save the passengers.

Chapter 53-55: The Locked Bathroom Murder Case

Conan and his friends are attending a wedding reception at a hotel when a murder takes place in one of the hotel rooms. The only clue is a locked bathroom door, which the victim was last seen entering. Conan must use his deduction skills to solve the case and catch the killer.

Chapter 56-57: The Alibi of the Black Dress

A woman is found murdered in a hotel room, and the prime suspect is her ex-boyfriend. However, the ex-boyfriend has an alibi, as he was attending a costume party at the time of the murder. Conan must find a way to prove the alibi false and catch the real killer.

Chapter 58-60: The Gunshot in the Sunflower Building

Conan and his friends are on their way to an aquarium when they witness a man being shot in a nearby building. The case becomes even more complicated when it is revealed that the victim was a former detective who had committed suicide two years prior. Conan must unravel the mystery behind the suicide and catch the killer.

Overall, volume 5 of Case Closed is packed with thrilling cases and unexpected plot twists. It showcases the brilliant deduction skills of the main character, Conan, as well as the support of his friends and allies. Each case is unique and keeps readers engaged from start to finish. Whether you are a fan of mystery

[yeahhiyellow]

So in case you don't know, I'm writing a little something called "Everything Wrong With Detroit: Become Human." I already have god-knows-how-many-pages written, and so far it's only bullet points with some brief summaries and maybe 2 or 3 first draft-analyses. That being said, this game is FULL of problems, so I'm sure there are a lot I missed. I'm trying to do a 100% playthrough of all choices (and slowly getting there), and I'm already buried so deep into this game that I know nearly everything about it anyway, so spoilers are fine. That being said, I would like to enlist you fellow dbh fandom Tumblrers (yes I have made that a word now) to help me find every single mistake in this game. I would love input on and examples of:

Technical issues (animations, lighting, textures... all the glitches)

Plot holes

Out-of-character dialogue, actions, etc.

Clunky dialogue

Other articles/videos/posts/any content on dbh's problems

And especially

Unhealthy or oppressive themes portrayed throughout the game (eg. the portrayal of black vs. white characters' violence, the only queer representation being androids used for sex, etc.)

Because those are the things I will be going especially into depth on. However, any and all criticism of the game, even that not listed on here, is much appreciated!

[slutsofren]

Danger Days Chapter 6: Look Alive, Sunshine

summary: the three of you find more questions than answers and the start of a whole new fuckin' problem im so so so sorry

warnings: tw for gore, bloodshed, hurt/little comfort, angst, gunfight, etc

word count: 4,166 she’s a big bitch lol

read on ao3 here / masterlist

“Let’s look around,” Ellie said dejectedly.

Joel walked off on his own, giving the three of you some space. Ellie went through a door and walked down the hall to her right, following it.

The halls and rooms here were void of your previous allies, not a single soul seemed to be here but you could still make out traces of equipment and feel a semblance of sentimentality from your memories. Damned memories tickling at the edge of your mind.

You picked up some papers and read them quickly, hearing Ellie somewhere in another room asking if anybody is there and Joel off to your right in some other room shuffling around. There was still quite a bit of medical paperwork on the hopes of a cure, of somebody like Ellie coming by.

Unfortunately the research was only bits and pieces but you could catch an idea of a project involving infected monkeys. Suddenly you were startled as Ellie shouted, “Yoo-hoo! Fireflies! Cure for mankind over here! Anyone?”

Before you could tell her to stop, Joel reprimanded her. “Let’s keep it down until we figure out what’s going on.”

You looked over your shoulder and saw him savenging around, picking up remnants of med kits, gears, even forgotten bullets and tools. Idly you think hJoel has the right idea and go off searching around too, pocketing the rest of the papers to finish reading them later.

The three of you continue looking quietly until coming to the conclusion there’s not much here.

“You sure this is where they’d be,” Joel asks you.

“Positive. That room over there was my uncle’s office,” you pointed towards an open door. “They must have pushed back further into the building.”

Ellie was the first to walk down a hall, finding it leading across to a landing with elevators and stairs. The man stayed behind for a beat, eyeing you. Likely second-guessing your motioves. Eventually he turned and walked away, following the teen. At the center of it all were large black containers and she kneeled in front of an open one and began to read, Joel joining her in flipping through the papers.

“Nothing useful,” Ellie states, throwing the papers down a bit more harshly than necessary.

“Ain’t nothin’ here but a bunch of medical mumbo-jumbo.”

You reach for some of the books and a binder and flip through them quickly too, noting some words about failed specimens and subjects not surviving an experiment until ultimately being harvested. Whatever they were doing wasn’t going well and they seemed to be feeling the weight of morality on their shoulders. There was an entry logged by some Doctor Anderson about feeling conflicted about torturing humans and questioning if it was worth it.

Shutting the binder quickly and throwing it in your backpack to finish reading it later, your mental dialog cut short as Ellie sighed heavily, “I don’t get it.”

“Looks like they all just packed up and left in a hurry, unless you got a better idea?”

Before you could answer, a loud metallic bang hit from the floor above the three of you. Ellie and Joel looked at each other before she said a bit grimly, “Maybe not all of ‘em left.”

“Stay close,” Joel commanded.

The stairs up to the third floor was behind Ellie and she went up first as you finished zipping up your backpack and tossing it on.

The floor above was more or less the same, open to the central garden in the middle of the building, objects in disarray, out of use vending machines that you’re pretty positive you used to pry open to steal sodas from. All this, but no Fireflies.

Joel went through a door on the left, probably scavenging for more things to find whereas you and Ellie went the scenic route on the outside corridor.

“What do you think happened?”

“Considering they had enough time to pack up research,” you pointed at some boxes, “they must have left willingly.” You shuffled through some more papers, looking for a clue. “But the question is, why leave?”

Ellie walked inside a door and followed the path of some wires that lead to an old flood light, “There are no bodies. That’s good, right?”

“If we find out where they went,” came Joel’s voice from behind you two.

You followed Ellie down the hall, peering into rooms and broken windows to your left. Suddenly there was another noise coming from behind and when the three of you turned, the very same flood light you’d all passed knocked over, lying prone on the ground.

“Shit,” Joel whispered.

“Um… So it’s probably clickers, right?”

You flashed Ellie a look, “Not the time.”

“Right.”

You all held your breath for a few moments, trying to listen until Joel broke the silence, answering Ellie. “No. Clickers don’t hide.”

He looked at you, giving you a once-over, likely weighing the possibility of you betraying him. You responded in kind expression, silently telling him to give whatever plot he has in mind a try.

Wary old bastard, you thought. As if you’d pull a stunt this far into your mission together, even after he began to act lukewarm to your presence.

You took the lead down a tarp covered hall, not really remembering this area much. They probably did push up to these higher levels judging by all the lab equipment left behind.

Digging in your memory, you recalled everybody keeping to the first and second floors in this building to make bailouts quicker. The militia men were on the rooftops to keep an eye out for any stray hunters or other unfriendlies.

Whatever happened on these floors were not from when you kept around.

Your trio came to a corner room that looked as if it were being used as an x-ray exam area, there were large black television-like screens on the wall that had some mangled imagery on them. Whatever it was put a shudder through you. Along the back wall, Joel found an x-ray abandoned on the counter and picked it up, when you and Ellie looked over his shoulder it looked like a skull with fungal growth on it. Like somebody who was infected for quite some time.

“Gross.” Ellie pretended to gag when she saw the photo.

Joel tucked the x-ray away and went on to look around, you followed by looking in the cabinets for alcohol disinfectant. “They had to have left something behind,” you mumbled to yourself as you began to feel the inklings of irritation slip into your bones.

Joel went to another door, this time leading to some room to the right but as he opened it, a screech came and he jumped, “Jesus!”

You drew your pistol from your hip and pointed it outwards, pushing Ellie behind you until you could hear chittering.

Fuckin’ monkeys , you think as you put your weapon down, faintly seeing three monkeys jump out a window on the opposite side of the room.

Ellie walks next to Joel, peeking into the lab he was stepping into and he leans towards her, “Well, at least it aint clickers.”

“Yeah. No Fireflies either,” she steps into the room. She throws her arms open wide, “Well, maybe in all that research they turned into fucking monkeys.”

You try to stifle a laugh but fail, a light giggle leaves your lips. “At least they’re not flying monkeys.”

“Just keep searching, we'll find something,” Joel says, shooting you a pointed look about your banter with Ellie.

The room looked like it used to be a science lab, naturally. The left and back side of the room were lined with metal cages, likely the ones that originally held the monkeys. Otherwise, there were large black countertop tables around, probably where students listened to their lecture and did hands-on assignments. Joel approached one of the tables in the middle, picking up what looked to be a recorder and pressed play.

A male voice clicked on. There were sounds of shuffling and screeches from the monkeys in the background. “That’s four palettes of lab equipment all packed up and ready to go. Now - big question is what do we do with all you guys. They say the tainted batch needs to be put down. You know what I say? I say screw that. Who made a bigger sacrifice than you, right? If anyone deserves to run free out there it’s-. Hey, easy! Agh. Shit. Oh, no. It bit me. Oh my god,” his breath gets heavy and the recorder stops abruptly.

Holy fuck, they were purposefully infecting animals , you think in horror.

“I’m sure glad we didn’t mess with them monkeys,” Joel says. “Did you know?”

You look at him wide-eyed and slack jawed. “Not a fuckin’ clue. I know my uncle was running blood tests and cell regrowth experiments but nothing like that.”

“He didn’t say where they went,” Ellie said, eyeing the two of you. The tension was minorly palpable, whatever small victory you gained in the camradiery field was now likely gone between Joel and you.

“I know, let’s keep looking,” Joel responded.

You fixed your composure and tried to reassure her, “We’ll find them.”

Your small trio followed the room into another, searching that one but finding nothing of interest in the drawers or on the tables. Not even another research binder. There was another door to the right and Joel approached it, trying to push his way in but there was a green metal object keeping it closed. He looked to you, “Hey, come help me.”

Stepping beside him, the two of you pushed against the door, throwing yourselves against it repeatedly to open it until it gave way. Joel gave you a tense nod, a silent thanks as he walked in first, Ellie close on his heels.

It wasn’t until you entered the room did you see it- the body. It looked to have been dead for quite a while, the bones were very obvious but still held together by the clothes wrapped around them. The person was sitting at a desk, facing the window, where Joel loomed over it as if it didn’t bother him and he picked up what looked to be another recorder.

Click. “If you’re looking for the Fireflies, they’ve all left,” a voice said grimly. You recognized it as the same one from earlier.

Ellie looked up from a binder she was flipping through, “Yeah, no shit.”

“I’m dead,” the man continued, “Or I will be soon. Got me some time to reflect.” Joel fast forwards through the tape, “...been years that felt like we were…”

He fast forwards again, “...fucking thing was a giant waste of ti-...”

And again, “...not gonna do this anymore…”

Ellie sighs while you pace, wishing to listen to the tape in more detail later. “Come on,” Joel grumbles as he fast forwards it yet again.

“...looking for the others, they’ve all returned to Saint Mary’s Hospital in Salt Lake City. You’ll find them there. Still trying to save the world. Good luck with that.”

Ellie sounding mildly hopeful looks to both of you, “Do either of you know where that is?”

“I know the city,” he nods before turning to catch you chewing on your fingernails in thought. “You?”

“I- I remember Marlene mentioning it to Regan on occasion but they talked about it like it was abandoned. I’ve never been there.”

“Is it far,” Ellie asked.

“It ain’t close. I mean on horseback-,” he stops abruptly, something catching his attention out the window.

“What?”

Out of the corner of your eye you see it too. Flashlights peeking through the windows. Just as Ellie asked if they were Fireflies, the light shines on them as they stood by the window and Joel pushed her down, ordering her and you to hit the deck just as whoever was on the other end of that light took a shot at you all, shattering the window.

“Shit,” you shout, ducking down to avoid the coming onslaught of gunfire.

Ellie looked at you, “Who the fuck are these guys?”

He looked at you angrily, “Did you lure them here? Is this some kind of trap?”

“Fuck you, Joel Miller! I didn’t.”

He stared you down. “Fine, It don’t matter,” Joel argued, “We know where to go. Let’s get the hell outta here.” He jerked his chin at you and spit, “Lead the way.”

You wiped the initial shock from your system and went into mission-mode, keeping yourself calm and alert. They followed you out of the room, the three of you crouching to avoid being spotted by the new threat through the windows.

Making your way through the anteroom to the office then through the lab as silently and rapidly as possible while crouching. It wasn’t until you reached the x-ray exam room when you were hit in the chin with something hard, knocking you down, dizzy.

Your mind and vision were in a haze but you managed to catch the vague shape of Joel rush somebody, likely the person who knocked you over, through the newly forming tears in your eyes. Fuck , you thought, your face hurting like a bitch.

Ellie yelled something as she went to help Joel, apparently getting the bright idea to take Joel’s machete from his backpack and swinging it wildly at the stranger.

As they fought the man, you shook your head and rose on your haunches, still dizzy. You could make out the faint shape of a second man running up to attack but through your shifting vision, saw three of him. It didn’t stop you from raising one of your dual guns from your thigh holster, taking aim. Breathing in, slowly breathing out, you took the shot when the three men formed a single one.

The loud bang reverberated through the halls, momentarily distracting you from the brawl happening somewhere to your right but soon that silenced.

“What the fuck was that,” you asked nobody in paricular.

“Don’t look like Fireflies to me,” Joel mumbled in reply, hinting you must have been telling the truth.

Together, you all walked down the tarp covered hall from earlier but saw four shapes run past some red smoke on the only way out of the building, likely trying to cut you all off. “Stay back,” Joel said as he flung one of his makeshift bombs at the intruders. After a moment, it went off and sickly screams were either cut short or continued onto a deadly moan.

Each of you hid behind random turned over tables, guns drawn.

Although six of these strangers were down, it seemed there were more as another came in through the right side, taking a shot at Ellie. Joel responded in kind and shot him square in the neck, the blood splattering a nearby wall.

You followed suit and took aim at somebody ducking below a desk much like you. Your aim was a little off because of that damned kick to the head but you got the guy nonetheless. It was messier than you’d like, the newly forming headache was making things much more difficult.

Together with Joel, you took two more men down until you reached the small lobby where the stairs were only to find another flare emitting red smoke. “What the hell,” you wondered aloud.

“Probably to tell the others how to get to where we were, building is like a maze.”

With that, you and Joel look off, making sure to keep Ellie behind you as your group traversed down the steps, finding another flare. Joel heard them before you and raised his gun. You followed as two more men rounded the corner, both being taken down by the bullets you both expelled into their bodies.

Your heartbeat pounded in your ears at the adrenaline rushing through your veins, no matter how much you remained focused at the task at hand. You took a breath in an attempt to ground yourself, following Joel closely behind as he was about to round the same corner, stepping over the two dead bodies when you grabbed Joel, pulling him back as a bullet whizzed by. “Fuckin’ hell,” he gasped.

Taking to the wall you peered out and quickly aimed, letting another bullet rain free. It clashed into the wall behind your target, narrowly missing as the man ducked behind the poor choice of the glass railing. Joel put his hand on your waist, pulling you close as he leaned back around taking his chance on the guy. He must have made it count because soon you heard a soft thud of the body collapsing.

If you weren’t so preoccupied trying to stay alive, you might have noticed Joel kept his large hand on you for a few moments longer than necessary.

Joel left the relative safety of the second floor lobby, nearly running to the exit. You grabbed onto Ellie’s hand as you shoved your nearly empty gun into it’s holster on your thigh, following him. He came to the closed door that led to the next area of classrooms to get you all down to the ground floor but just as he went to open it, it banged open from the inside starling all of you. The force was so strong that it pushed Joel to the glass railing behind him, his body teetering over the edge.

“Joel!”

You dropped Ellie’s hand as you ran to him, trying to get the other man off of him as he choked your companion. By the force and chaos, the rail gave way underneath Joel. As he fell, he pulled the stranger with him.

A scream surely left you as you watched in horror as the two men fell to the ground but it grew louder when you noticed a sickening metal bar poking it’s way through Joel’s stomach, staining red in the sunlight. Beside him, the attacker lay dead in a mangled heap of limbs, his neck at an unnatural angle.

You began to shuffle onto your stomach to drop the distance from the balcony walkway to the ground floor, Ellie close behind you copying your maneuver. Together, you both landed on the ground awkwardly and unbalanced. It was so unbelievably impossible to stay focused as you watched Joel writhe in pain from the impalement as loud banging seemed to invade your senses.

Ellie jumped straight to Joel asking in a rushed panic, “What do you want me to do?”

You couldn’t hear what he said when the double doors burst open, two men with a baseball bat and machete appearing. You grabbed both of your guns, unleashing lead into them with a little more force than necessary.

When you turned back around, you saw Ellie trying to lift Joel. “Don’t!”

You ran to him and dropped to your knees, removing your backpack and began to scrounge around for clean gauze. “You’re only going to create more damage, you old bastard. Stay still.”

With the gauze in hand, you motioned for Ellie to put as much pressure as she could on the frontside of the wound. You tried your best not to jolt him around so much as you tried to assess the entry wound on his back, only to find it was buried in cement beneath him. He groaned, calling out a string of curse words.

“Stop fuckin’ movin’, Joel.”

“Wouldn’t need to if you had good bedside manners. Goddamned brat.”

His small jab at you could have made you cry if you weren’t so invested in keeping the old man alive and with no other alternative to removing the rebar safely from him, you had no choice but to lift him away from it.

You reached into your backpack once more and grabbed a strap of leather you usually kept close by, mostly to fiddle with, and shoved it into his mouth. “To keep you from biting off your own tongue,” you explained while adjusting your position to be directly behind his upper body to prepare and stanche the blood flow from his back. “Although I think we could all use the peace and quiet.”

Whatever comeback he had was cut off as he yelled, muted by the bit. While he was distracted by your words, you had nodded to Ellie to lift Joel straight up. He quickly fell to his knees as he tried to stand, probably ready to pass out from the pain and you padded the entry wound with gauze, holding it tightly.

His words came out weak as he told Ellie, “Just get to the damn horses.”

She looked at you and you nodded, removing one hand to give her a gun. “Do whatever it takes, kiddo.”

She walked in front of you both, her arms held high with the gun in her hand, ready to take on anybody else. She led you both to a classroom and knocked over some wood panels that barely covered a broken window.

“Do you think you can handle it,” you asked him.

He didn’t answer, instead choosing to throw his body over the edge, finding himself on his back once more. “Come on, move,” Ellie demanded of him as you jumped through the window after them. Just as she got him sitting up against a table, another man burst through the door across the classroom, gun ready to fire.

Seeing as you were getting rather low on your own bullets, you reached for Joel’s revolver and threw yourself out from behind the lab table, firing two shots and hitting him in the torso.

“Come on, we gotta get you outta here,” you told him. One look at Ellie and you saw her hands and sweater covered in Joel’s blood, you likely looked the same. Brushing those thoughts away, you and her flanked him on either side, trying to walk him out.

“No, I’m okay,” he moaned. Trying to push you both off him.

“Like shit,” Ellie threw back, “You’re not okay, Joel. Now come on! Fucking walk!”

You kept your free hand up, gun drawn, and Ellie matched your pose to his left. “Down this hall,” you directed, “To the left is the main entrance, we can leave through there.”

Don’t die on me now, Joel Miller , you silently wished, hoped, prayed.

Joel began to sway between you two, his feet were failing beneath him. His body in your arms grew heavier and sluggish with each step making it harder to walk straight. You really tried to keep the gauze at his back secure against the wound but it was hard to do that while also trying to keep him balanced. As you were distracted by assessing the man, he moaned out, “Up.”

You and Ellie looked up the stairs that were against the wall in the lobby and saw two men coming towards you all, “There!”

Ellie raised her gun first, taking shots at random and you did too. It was difficult to do while doing everything possible to not drop Joel but somehow, they too, fell dead along the stairs. On his other side, the teen poked at him out of breath, “I swear to god, I get you out of this, you’re so singing for me.”

You decide to jump in on the joke, trying to lighten the mood, “I think you mean ‘for us’, Ellie.”

Joel coughed a laugh, “You wish.”

Slowly the front entrance inched closer. Ellie left to pry it open and let you two through and Joel let go of you, shoving his body and burst through the secondary doors. He lost his balance and fell down the steps only to see as some other hooded figure with his hands on Whiskey and Callus’ reigns.

Before the straggler could even draw a weapon, you and Ellie took shots at him. Joel’s revolver clicked, notifying it was out, just as the man let go of the horses.

You ran to Joel, lifting him up to his feet. He groaned in pain, “I know, I’m sorry. Just a little longer, alright, cowboy?”

He gave you an odd look as Ellie appeared and she asked him, “Can you get on?”

Whether or not he can is entirely different than if he will, you thought. You were proven right as he jumped up on Whiskey, not even noticing he was getting on the wrong horse.

“Ellie, get on Callus,” you told her as you also swung your leg over Whiskey, saddling in front of Joel. “As for you, don’t bleed all over my goddamn horse. Hold tight.”

A part of you was worried that he didn’t even bother to jab, you kicked Whiskey’s underbelly and Joel’s body slouched against your back, passing out. The fact the warmth that seeped through your body was likely his blood was gnawing against the corners of your mind but you shooed the thoughts away. Together with Ellie, you filed out of the university as fast as you could, not looking back.

[maggotmouth]

          hillo sexthy legends !!   i’m nora and i’ll be writing margo colby n probs sm1 else bcos lets be real, i lack self-control. u can find her pinterest here n some info abt her sexy self below the cut. plot with me on discord ( hot girl midsommar#8664 ) or in my ims !!  x o x

     * CAMILA MORRONE, CIS WOMAN + SHE / HER  | you know MARGO COLBY, right? they’re TWENTY-THREE, and they’ve lived in irving for, like, ELEVEN YEARS? well, their spotify wrapped says they listened to SCRAWNY BY WALLOWS  like, a million times this year, which makes sense ‘cause they’ve got that whole BLEACH WHITE SNEAKERS POUNDING ON A GYMNASIUM FLOOR, USING THE SAME BLUNT SCISSORS TO HACK THE SLEEVES OFF AN EXES T-SHIRT THAT YOU USE TO CUT YOUR 3AM FRINGE, A WALNUT-SHAPED ACHE IN THE PIT OF YOUR STOMACH FOR THE PERSON YOU COULD HAVE BEEN thing going on. i just checked and their birthday is AUGUST 8TH, so they’re a LEO, which is unsurprising, all things considered. ( nora, 25, gmt, she/her )

CLICK ANYWHERE ON THIS SENTENCE FOR SEXII GOOGLE DOC!!

bullet point summary of margo.

—   born margaret but NOBODY calls her that. its colby, coach or margo, and go to the privileged few. margo grew up in the creek commune n then dropped out of school cos of a teenage pregnancy so she was a bit of a cautionary tale back in’t’day (said tht in my yorkshire accent). she now works for summer camps coaching pee wee soccer and pee wee cheer, as well as helping out her beekeeper dad on his honey farm, which is jst north of abernathy creek, and working at scuba on the off seasons.

—  its just her and her dad, and has been for as long as she can recall !! everything she knows about her mum could fit on the back of the weathered passport photo she keeps in her wallet of a stranger who shares her face - her name’s melody, or at least tht was name she used when working as a dancer, she’s from argentina and dropped mag’s dad as soon as someone w more money came along.

—  margo’s father is a beekeeper with his own organic honey company. margo and her dad moved to irving in the early 00s, the summer between grade school and middle school, because her dad had heard about the communal living in abernathy creek and wanted to lend his skills there and live off the fatta the land in a very lenny from of mice and men kinda way.

—  for a few years of middle school margo was bullied for living with the ‘freaks from the creek’, but when they realised how chill her dad was with underage drinking, margo ‘keg-bringer’ colby soon gained popularity among the more renegade students. every so often, the high school parties would happen at her end of town, occasionally with members of the commune even offering the high schoolers a spiritual experience they’d never forget (often in the form of mushrooms) which meant people tried to stay on her good side. to get an invite to a margo colby party handed you a free pass to make up the most ridiculous shit about the commune you liked and nobody else could say anything, because they’d never been to the creek.

—  at school, margo had a lot of ‘behvioural issues’ bcos of undiagnosed adhd, she found it difficult to sit still for hours n write down huge chunks of information n her restlessness was seen as laziness. she was encouraged to do sports, as were most of the kids who weren’t that academically inclined, but she turned out to be pretty hot shit at sprinting, because she grew up surrounded by bee houses and he who runs slowest gets stung, baybeyy!! so yea, in school sports became her LIFE. she was gonna get a sports scholarship to college but ended up dropping out of school in senior year n becoming one of those kids who could have had it all but lost it.

—  she had sex with sutter at a house party when she wasnt really ready because it felt like the right thing to do at the time and everybody else was doing it. she’d attended health class, she’d seen the corny videos. she knew about all the statistics, but she also knew that it had never happened to anyone she knew and the pull out method was basically safer than the morning after pill and way less expensive.

—  a teenage pregnancy knocked her out of the runnings for prom queen and meant she had to leave school early. she didn’t go to college when her friends did, instead she spent the time interviewing potential foster candidates and eating her weight in lindt chocolate while marathoning love island in her room.  

—  she had a son, who she passed off to someone else a couple of towns away.  it was a closed adoption which seemed like the best idea at the time, but she now wishes she had access to his life.

—  after peaking in high school and jumping between jobs for a few years, she got a more permanent role at scuba which she loves with all of her heart and soul, but unfortunately a bar job doesn’t pay the rent.  

—  she works at summer camps coaching  junior soccer and netball on the side. she’s extremely competitive and takes it very personally if her team lose. the kids all call her, coach colby n write her longwinded letters about how they’ll never forget this summer camp before they go back to their suburban picket fence houses n she keeps all the letters in a drawer n takes them out to read when she’s feelin depressed.

—  enjoys surfing and worked for a number of years on resorts like mila kunis’ job in forgetting sarah marshall. she went on to work 18-hour days as a stewardess on luxury yachts which is a part of her backstory i added after watching season one of below deck because i guess i really am that fucking impressionable. met most of her surf friends doing tht but said she’d never in her life do it again bcos it was mostly just picking up after rich white ppl for shit pay. she came back to irving n thats when she started doing the summer camp jobs so she could move out of the creek n get her own apartment. 

—  she never actually finished senior year so she’s currently going to night school at the community college to get through her exams and is trying to save to go to college or open university. she wants to major in criminology. she’s super ambitious but also super adhd so she fluctuates between thinking she can achieve anything to just feeling like a failure n thinkin whats the point

—  used to shoplift to feel joy and as an act of resistance to her hippy commune routes, but now sees herself as a reformed, bin-diving freegan (sims 4 eco living can i get a hell yaaaa). also she thinks it’s totally wrong to steal when you have enough money and clearly don’t need to steal to survive, ppl risk imprisonment for basic necessities, so for her to do it for a brief thrill and some new shades felt a bit derogatory

—  was raised jewish. became a vegetarian as a child because it seemed, at the time, easier than having to explain which foods she was and wasn’t allowed to eat together, so she just cut out meat entirely. still a vegetarian now and dabbles in veganism, although its become less about not eating certain meats in the milk of their mother and more about her global impact / carbon footprint

—  nurses little animals to health in her garden. has a hedgehog name OJ short for orange juice not the other one filthy pig. her and her dad have always been huge animal rights activists and existed on a vegetarian diet. the only one in their house who isn’t vegetarian is their cat, auggie. (short 4 augustus gloop)

—  has a lot of stupid ass stick and poke tattoos. there was a phase during her years as a barmaid where she wanted to train as a tattoo artist n would mostly practice on herself or any friends who would let her

—  she doesn’t form many long lasting friendships cos she tends to be super excited when she makes a new friend and just see them all the time but then it wears off and she can ghost a bit. she’ll always coming pinging back but she’s not the most predictable or loyal friend, sometimes she’ll sleep in your house every night for a week and then you won’t even get a text from her for a month. her best friends are elderly neighbours and houseless people she meets when volunteering at the foodbank. she thinks they’re more authentic than most of the ‘fake posers’ she meets down the vela pier

—  calls herself a butch lesbian but still has sex with men when she wants validation. sexually attracted to some men, especially effeminate men, but only romantically attracted to women. very possessive of the gals in her life.

—  stopped giving a shit about getting older or adhering to anyone elses bullshit standards, realised it was all fake p much as soon as she dropped out of school and one by one her friends just stopped texting her

—  lives in one of the lofts in port apartments. it’s open plan with rugs and lava lamps everywhere. she has a palette bed. its all very ‘sustainable chic’. like, oh wow, a pallet bed that im supposed to think you made from scratch but i KNOW you got it  off ebay because you thought it looked trendy

—  constantly says shes poor but still buys clothes from urban outfitters. sus.

—  frequently found at fannies flirting with the cute bisexual bartender with a choppy black bob.

general vibe / personality

vibrant, vulgar, self-absorbed, tenacious, veers bewteen apathetic and dogmatic, temperamental, flighty, unreliable, magnetic, charismatic, passive aggressive, likes to play devil’s advocate, takes the moral high ground. estp and a leo

likes: 70s music, john wayne movies, black mirror, philosophy, cowboy chic culture, dc comics, the smell of locker rooms,, deep red lipstick, lacrosse sticks, smoking weed from a bong, dogs, karaoke, pet rats, kate moss, late-night strolls, hawaaiian shirts worn open over a bralette, skinned knees, thai food, picking the apples at the very top of the trees, zip-lining, cigarettes, the idea of pegging but not the practical application of it, decorative lamps, LGBTQ+ pin badges, worn-out furniture, twangy electric guitars.

dislikes: girls who call other girls ‘pick me’ girls, woody allen movies, mental mathematics, wealthy children, quentin tarantino, ironing, institutionalised misogyny, the imaginary future, french literature, ‘dump him’ feminism, wes anderson films, spoken word poetry nights, college-educated bar staff who act like they’re better than you,  indie softbois, the general mentality of cheerleading squads.

aesthetics

orange peel, the smell of bleach, skeleton drawings in the margins of a journal, thumb holes poked through the cuffs of your sleeves, bleach white sneakers pounding on a gymnasium floor, setting dumpsters on fire for the hell of it. a hit flask of vodka decorated with hello kitty stickers, split knuckles, alien conspiracy theories and sci-fi paperbacks, doc martens with fraying laces, a child in an oversize bee keepers suit, scabbed knees, not eating your greens, smiling with a mouthful of blood, and piercing your own ears with a safety pin when your dad wouldn’t take you,  a tennis racket you punched through in a fit of temper, feet pounding the earth until your soles bleed crimson, sleeping in a cherry lip balm and scrunchies to keep the wild locks from your eyes.

hoo boy this is getting LONG AS FUCK but here are my wanted plots

wanted plots

ok margo’s been in irving since she was like 10. she’s quite a vivacious person?? she dresses completely instinctively without any sense of cohesion so she stands out. a guy once told her she was wearing the ugliest outfit he’d ever seen and he thought that was so cool and brave of her. but anyway where was i going.. she grew up in the abernathy creek so stuck out like a sore thumb,,,, maybe ppl who were super interested in the creek or maybe poked fun at her bcos of it idk.....

b4 she dropped out, margo used 2 b in with the cool kids at school bcos her dad would buy them booze and rarely ask for the money. maybe a fun plot cld b with some of the ‘it girls’ she used to hang around with b4 she got pregnant n dropped out and they all went off to college n stopped texting her.

frinds !! unlikely friends !! toxic friends !! some1 she feels like she knew before irving ???

since margo literally can’t differentiate between romantic and platonic love, she’s got off with so many of her mates, so i want awkward friendships where they nearly dated, or exes that have now just turned into weird friendships. fwbs. enemies with benefits. all the angst. all the slow burn mutual pining we hate each other narratives

locals who play sports. margo wld be all over community soccer n take it way too seriously. maybe ppl she plays hockey with. girls who she’s like, weirdly intimate with but its not a thing cos the other girls straight !!! what do u mean !! aha just fun !

she works part time at scuba. i want a mate that just goes and sits in there talking to her until her manager gets angry.

she's also a surf instructor and occasionally works as a lifeguard!! gal has like 7 jobs ik but regular swimmers hmu

ppl she coaches at the gym !! she wants to be a personal trainer

i reckon she might have recently started meditating to try and calm down her mind cos its always bustling with thoughts, n i think she’s p interested in buddhism so if anyone’s a buddhist hmu

someone she’s trying to make a zine with on female empowerment and women in film and art, etc. just a very feminist zine. 

TLDR:  angry sports gay, former high school track prodigy turned drop out, who likes feminist literature, wearing leather jackets over slip dresses, and smudged red lipstick.

this was so long !!! im sorry !! if you’ve read this far have a biscuit, love x

[hirazuki]

Ooo I'm curious about your hot takes on the Inuyasha reboot after reading your tags 👀

Ahaha, where to start XD Idk if they are hot takes, but here are my thoughts in bullet point form for coherency, I couldn’t figure out how else to organize them. Under a cut, as usual, because it got lengthy... as usual :D

We are 13 episodes in, and I still have no idea wtf is going on or what the series is actually about. And yes, I’m aware that we didn’t know of Naraku’s existence or of the overarching plot until at least episode 16 of that series either and Inuyasha was still very episodic in nature at that early point too, but here’s the thing: Inuyasha did not build upon a pre-existing series. For better or for worse, Yashahime has certain expectations to live up to that the original anime didn’t, by virtue of its being a sequel. Unfair? Maybe, but tough; that’s what happens when you make a sequel. Additionally, despite us not knowing The Main Plot™ of Inuyasha until later, the basic framework for it was laid out clearly by... episode 2? I think? Find and collect the Shikon Jewel shards. Boom, done. Were there distractions or fillers? Sure, but you never got the sense that the characters simply up and forgot about the shards. Even in fillers, the shards often made some kind of appearance. With Yashahime, there’s like three potential storylines going on: 1. The most obvious: most of our main cast from the OG is missing; where are they? Apparently no one in-story cares! :D Inuyasha, who’s that lol. I’m all for a sequel focusing on the new generation with cameos of the old crew; after all, they already had their own series. But this is like... no one cares about them? No one talks about them? And the more characters go about not mentioning them, the stronger their absence is felt. Like, for instance, Kaede knows Moroha is InuKag’s daughter. Moroha grew up on her own, doesn’t know her parents. Kaede doesn’t mention them to Moroha, doesn’t even spare a passing thought about them for the audience’s benefit, Moroha doesn’t ask. Kagome’s family in the present day meet Moroha, recognize her as Kagome’s daughter and... say nothing??? Souta shows Towa Kagome and Inuyasha’s old photos, but doesn’t say a word to Moroha?! Like. It makes no sense. By people not even acknowledging their existence, it makes the fact that they are nowhere to be found even weirder. Also the new gen girls don’t care about their parents or finding out who they were/are... like, okay, it would maybe be in character for one or two of them, but all three don’t give a fuck??? 2. Kirinmaru/the rainbow pearls: Idk how familiar you are with the story, but similar deal with Naraku and the shards here. Kirinmaru is being set up as the villain, still a mysterious figure; our new gen trio is supposed to collect the rainbow pearls that... some of his henchmen have? Or he is after them? Or is that Riku? Unclear. ANYWAY the new gen girls often forget all about the pearls’ existence :D 3. Setsuna’s memories: Setsuna’s dreams have been stolen by the dream butterfly and they need to get them back, because without her dreams she has no memories and is unable to sleep. Cool! Finally a solid, easy-to-follow plot line! Except wait! Towa, who supposedly made it her goal to get Setsuna’s sleep back, forgets all about it! All the time! Like, none of them make an effort to look into this other than being like “oh yeah, know anything about the dream butterfly?” to random folks every now and then. The Inugang back in the day was putting some grad school level research towards their goals, just saying. It just feels like everything’s all wishy-washy and there’s nothing really solid tying the series together. People just remember shit exists when it’s convenient.

.

Character development is MIA. I’m not expecting ground-breaking char dev in 13 episodes (though I do know 12 episode series that were phenomenal in that regard), but like... I do expect the series to focus on building the dynamics between the main three characters. So far, the series is more focused on teasing the audience with glimpses and promises of the OG cast instead. The creators are using nostalgia and bait (esp of a certain pairing) to drive interest in the series, rather than developing the new characters as fully-fledged characters for their own sakes. 

.

Moroha is was the only thing I actually liked about the series. She is a little spitfire and you can somehow instantly see both Inuyasha and Kagome in her, while she also remains very uniquely herself; I have never seen such a successfully developed main pairing child in any series. She featured quite prominently in the first few episodes -- and unlike both her parents, she’s got a great memory and knowledge of lore -- where she balanced funny moments with badass fighting moments and being the token supernatural encyclopedia. It was great! And then... they’ve like... forgotten her. She’s been left behind so many times by the twins. She’s the butt of every joke. She’s become the type of comic relief that’s, well, insulting. More like a buffoon than anything else. And it’s basically all for the sake of giving the floor to Towa :/

.

Setsuna is okay. Not offensive, but unremarkable. She’s got her dad’s personality but like way toned down due to her different growing up circumstances, which is nice, but like... I feel she isn’t given any room to grow or breathe or anything. She’s also basically there as a device to enhance Towa’s development.

.

Towa... oy. I tried to like her, I really did, but she just doesn’t work for me. They set her up having a very Kurosaki Ichigo type deal with beating up bullies and getting into trouble at school and shit -- I’m fine with that. That’s cool. Esp if it’s linked to not feeling like she fits in bc she’s a hanyou? Awesome. Except once she travels back in time to the feudal era it’s all “Oh killing is bad you shouldn’t kill people” and “even though they attacked me I can’t possibly hurt them” and “you need to empathize and talk things out” and “friendship is magic” and shit. It feels like she had a personality transplant, it literally makes no sense. Her design is totally nonsensical too -- out of everyone at her school, she’s the only one dressed in a bright white suit? Do protags not wear the school uniform? Someone should tell Kagome lmao. She’s a pro at hand to hand, and she can absorb demons’ powers and fling them back at them like a personified Tessaiga, and she has a lightsaber sword, and she’s immune to miasma, and -- like... you get it. It’s too much. It’s way too OP for the type of universe that Inuyasha/Yashahime is set in. She’s hanyou for fuck’s sake; remember all the training Inuyasha had to go through? When he couldn’t lift his sword? When his sword attacked him? Sango, Miroku, Kagome, even Sesshomaru all had trouble with their weapons and had to work to become stronger. But Towa? Nope. Towa is straight out of the Yas Queen/Girl Boss manual, so she gets a free pass on everything.

.

UGH they are doing the VLD/bad writing thing where things happen (like, BIG THINGS) and none of the characters actually react to them. Or stuff happens and there are no consequences. No one ever talks about anything. It’s wild.

.

Everyone has amnesia!! :D People either don’t know or don’t remember anything or anyone. People who absolutely should know things all of a sudden magically don’t know them. Like, Kohaku -- traveled with an undead priestess, spent years in the company of demons, traveled with Sesshomaru... and yet had NO CLUE that Setsuna is Sesshomaru’s daughter or that she is hanyou, despite her living and working with his team of demon slayers all this time. Like... how, man. How. And Kaede! Don’t get me started. Since when does she perpetuate random demon-boogeyman type stories as facts? Demon children will kill each other in the nest so that only the strongest one will survive, therefore Setsuna must have killed Towa when they were infants. O_O What are they, sharks? Has she been hanging out with Kisame? Wtf?? And she’s speaking about Sess’s kids as though she doesn’t know him or anything about him, when she has had Rin under her roof all these years. It just makes. no. sense.

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Things that happened in the original series are happening again now! Because that’s the best we’ve got, recycled plot elements wooo! No, but really, characters that died or things that were resolved in Inuyasha keep coming back. Why? What was the purpose of bringing back Kinka and Ginka? To have a foil for Towa and Setsuna as twins? Someone please tell Sunrise they can just create new characters. Like, it’s one thing to have call backs to the original or cameos, references, whatever. But like... this is entire (dead) characters and interactions.

.

No one knows how long it’s been since the original series ended. Fans initially heard 20 years from promo material, then “over 15″ and “10 years since” in-series regarding two different events, and now in a future episode summary we’ve gotten 18 years since Hosenki II gave Inuyasha the black pearl. But like, which black pearl? Because the one in Inuyasha’s eye doesn’t exist anymore, but Hosenki II had told Inuyasha that it would take 100 years for him to produce one. So, are we retconning that or where the fuck did it come from? Also, this doesn’t help one bit, it just confuses things even more. Back to the point, though, we have no coherent timeline or real frame of reference whatsoever, and I’m betting it’s in large part to keep the mystery of who is Sesshomaru’s wife going, as it keeps Rin’s age very vague. Everything is vague and mysterious in Yashahime, to the point where no one knows what’s going on, in fandom or in-story even. It’s kinda like how too much plot twist/shock reveal ruins a story, too much mystery does the same. It’s insane that both shippers and antis of that ship can lay equal claim that the “18 years since” announcement works in their favor.

tl;dr: Idk man, Yashahime is a clusterfuck of a series. Even if the mother of Sess’s twins is either of the characters I ship him with, I will still not like the series. There’s no saving this writing. Every episode feels like this:

[omegafrisk]

omegafrisk is om-over-frisk, apologies, and unreleased stuff

i want to preface this by saying that every time i admit to a mistake i get people trying to minimise it. if you’re getting ready to do that, please don’t. it makes me feel terrible. even if you don’t agree with how i feel, i violated my own morals, and that means a lot to me!

so, omegafrisk is definitely over. it’s partially that i was in a bad bad place when i started this comic and it’s always gonna be tied to that for me, partially that i’ve just become a much better writer since then and i’d have to reboot the whole thing to be satisfied with it, and partially just that i’m not into undertale enough to make a whole comic anymore.

and speaking of being in a bad place: letting that bleed through into my writing is what i want to apologise for. i’ve come to realise i was a victim of grooming when i started this comic (and as i continued to write it). it messed me up, and i wrote messed up stuff because i just didn’t know better. the child gore, the flippant use of suicide, the extremely inappropriate jokes about kids, probably other stuff i don’t remember - it all disgusts me now. i’m so sorry i put that out into the world and that it took me so long to address it.

i thought about password protecting this blog and shutting it down altogether, but i’ve decided i won’t do that. after wrestling with tumblr a bit i think i’ve deleted  the worst stuff, but if you think there’s anything else i should get rid of please bring it to my attention through IM, or through the submit box if you’re shy (you can submit anonymously if you log out).

again, don’t defend me. if you don’t agree keep it to yourself. i will block you if you try to minimise this.

heavy stuff out of the way, onto the content, which i’m sure most of you are much more interested in.

ABOUT THE STORY

i thought about releasing my entire plot outline, but... it sucks. that thing predates mad mew mew. it’s terrible. there’s barely even any detail. whatever you’ve come up with yourself is more interesting.

i do have plenty of stuff to share though! this summary got long as hell, so the rest is going under a cut.

since it’s so long, i’ll put the one thing i am mostly happy with here (obviously sui/child death implications):

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1modE5IQiwNIwRPHBBkwADAEbPttbpIzJBWFaBZlvYHY/edit?usp=sharing

this is the script for an ask i was planning for ages. first written in 2016 apparently?? with the help of the fantastic emouse. it’s a look on what was going on in the original timeline while frisk and chara were off gallivanting through spacetime.

the one thing i’m not pleased with is i don’t think it’s totally ic for flowey to start resetting again. i left it in though ‘cause i don’t feel like updating it.

another thing i’ll leave you is the playlist of instrumental themes i collected for chara and frisk, which i don’t think i ever released. this must also be from about 2016.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVSr-S6q61wCF5IFuBO2Ipl0Nb-u3r4xo

it starts out with frisk’s themes, life/universe and high score are shared themes, and after that chara’s themes begin.

summaries of the rest of the event and the ending under the cut!

A WRINKLE IN TIME

i can at least summarise the rest of the event i had planned. mettaton was about to turn the tables on everyone by having a camera crew burst through the ceiling (which were gonna be some people’s cameo’d ocs). he’d broadcast the debate over who got the soul live to try and bully everyone into giving him it. he had some fair points - he’s the only one of them that’s literally indestructible (at least to monsters and small children) - but both asgore and undyne were determined that they would be the ones to take it.

flowey would then pop up with his own plan. he’d kill everyone in the room except for charadyne (and mettaton just because, again, indestructible to magic). it would’ve been a cool little animation that scrolled past everyone’s shocked faces as bullets appeared behind them with that jarring sound effect they have in game, then cut to black with a cacophony of them all turning to dust.

this was all to force charadyne to load their save. he thought they’d be able to load to before undyne absorbed chara’s soul, which would be impossible as that moment would’ve been undyne’s first save point. (i’m only now realising the hole in this - surely he would’ve known that after his fusion with chara? but wait, he didn’t know about resets until he was revived, can beasts just not save? fucking undertale man)

regardless, chara and undyne would try to reset to, in chara’s words, “the last time you were... filled with... determination”. i wanted to do an animatic to half of [this song]. sweet chimes as undyne rifles back through her memories for that moment, building up to her getting ready - a blast of sound as it rips the timeline to shreds.

chara’s soul is so fragmented, only exacerbated by being in a foreign timeline, that they can’t reset properly. i was thinking of styling the catastrophic glitch that resulted after an undertale corruption because those things scare the shit out of me and also can be fucking hilarious. love me some comedic horror.

chara and undyne would eventually figure out they had to leave the timeline and manually straighten it out. because it was knotted. it was wr. there was a wrinkle. in the timeline. a wrinkle in time. because the event is called. it’s c. a wrinkle in time

that’s where i was hazy on details - you can see just how much was made up as i went along. somehow, they’d be separated, and undyne would have left enough dt in chara’s soul that they’d be able to go down to the human village and yoink some souls from the mausoleum there. (i had worldbuilding stuff around that - the soul jars used in the underground are based off what humans use for burial in general. burying your body in a grave = having your soul stored in a mausoleum. there’d also be equivalents to cremation and such)

i hadn’t really thought much about that - the actual idea was that chara would find their old house and we’d get a flashback sequence about their backstory (eugh, glad i didn’t get around to that). and then, idk, the mausoleum would be empty or something? i didn’t think about what might happen if they were actually able to get all those souls. that is to say, i didn’t think about the story implications - i totally thought about chara becoming a cool shapeshifting rainbow beast because i’m like that.

THE ENDING

rest assured there was gonna be a happy ending. chara and frisk were gonna have a big cool battle bursting through various timelines where frisk tried to talk chara down and chara tried to kick frisk’s ass. at the end, frisk would’ve given up and let chara kill them. but chara wouldn’t have been able to. as viciously as they attacked, they could only do a single point of damage - they and frisk are both made of magic now, and magic works on emotion, and chara cannot truly hate frisk enough to end their life.

so they would’ve made up, broken the barrier in their original timeline together, and lived happily ever after with no more resets.

i remember daydreaming an animatic of the two of them trying to break the barrier, stumbling a few times and gradually achieving synchrony, to [this song].

you might notice i don’t mention flowey here. i was kind of struggling to figure out what to do with everyone else in regards to like, actual methods of character development. i had some ideas about chara bringing wrinkle-in-time flowey along with them on their adventures and him somehow getting his memories spliced with og-timeline flowey’s near the end but didn’t really think them through.

here’s a shittily-sketched old concept of what i might’ve done with him though:

not exactly my most beautiful work but it’s all you’re getting. it’s just visual notes, so i didn’t think it through much.

i daydreamed a lot about a cute ending animatic to [this song]. i don’t remember my thoughts well enough to summarise, but i hope you can come up with something cute yourselves!

aaand that’s all for this post. thanks for reading!

[breaniebree]

Can you share your journey as a writer? How the idea of writing fanfics came into your mind? Do you have other own fiction too? Also how do start a particular fanfic? As in do you make notes, timeline or character sketches and stuff or do you just go ahead and write and then make notes on facts?

What an interesting question -- thank you for asking!  This is literally going to be a novel response (letting you know in advance LOL)

My journey as a writer... I guess I always wrote things down, started as a child when I wrote in a diary and then as I got older I wrote a little poetry, none of it very good (though I wrote a poem when I was twelve to describe the loss I felt when my Nana, my great-grandmother died, and my aunt read it aloud at her funeral).  I wrote a few short stories, just little things, prompts from teachers in school and such and then one day I decided I wanted to write my own story.  But funnily enough, it actually came about through fan fiction.  

I used to love this book series back when I was ten called Trash by Cherie Bennett, and I was completely in love with the characters Chelsey and Nick, and when Jazz claimed that she was pregnant and Nick was the father and it did ended on a cliffhanger and I didn’t have the next book, I remember writing my own version of what happened next -- God, looking back, it was probably terrible, I definitely don’t have it anymore.  Pretty sure the book series isn’t that great looking back at it now, but when I was ten, it was great! LOL.  I also wrote a side story for Demetrius and Karma, so even then I guess I branched off into subplots.  When I was fourteen, I started my own original series, which I am still currently working on and probably will be for the rest of my life if I’m honest -- it’s changed over the years, but the characters and my ultimate goal have stayed the same.

How did writing fanfiction come into mind?  

Well, with Harry Potter, it was because of my friend Chris.  We used to talk on the phone every single night after school for hours on end and after HBP came out and Harry and Ginny were FINALLY together only for him break up with her, I was so livid that I had to wait to find out what happened!  I remember Chris and I debated what would happen in the last book for ages and one day I must have ranted too much because he told me to go write my own story if I didn’t want to wait, so I did.  

I was seventeen and it was Harry Potter and the Prophecy Fulfilled: Which looking back at it now, I think it’s not exactly the greatest story lol and you can definitely see where I’ve improved since then.  After finishing HPPH, I ended up still having different ideas, all Hinny, and went on to write a few one-shots: Almost Too Late and Beautiful Mess.  Then I started writing A Different Beginning, which turned into my Beginning series: A Different Beginning, A New Beginning, Why Don’t We Just Dance?, Life Is Fickle Like That, Graduation Party, and The Reunion.  Those of you who have been reading my fanfiction since the beginning know that I originally posted the above stories on SIYE between 2005 and 2007 and had then completed (except for the second half of Life is Fickle onwards before Deathly Hallows was published).  I didn’t start posting on fanfiction.net until 2008 and only recently on Ao3.  Somewhere in between writing the Beginning Series, I also wrote a few other Hinny one-shots including The Greatest Gift, She Never Lets It Get To Her Heart, I Loved Her First (actually Arthur POV, which I later incorporated into the Beginning Series), The River (which is a standalone but also can be read as part of the Beginning Series), When the Sand Runs Out, and then the mini-series Padfoot’s Advice (Late Night Talks with Padfoot 1 & 2, Padfoot’s Advice, and Secrets from the Past).  Then I wrote the short Hinny/Romione story: The Trouble With Secrets and was inspired to write a Jily series, which I did with Crazy Little Thing Called Love, which could technically be a prequel to the Beginning Series as I kept some of the story similar.  I also wrote a Jily one-shot called Flowers and another Hinny one-shot called I Don’t Like Your Girlfriend.

I didn’t plan on writing any more fanfiction as university became busy, but then in 2017 I started writing these little Missing Moments for Harry and Ginny both before HBP and then during, and then after.  I just sort of compiled them on my computer for a while, wondering if it would turn into a story or not and then the idea came to me one day for A Second Chance after seeing some fan art of a five-year-old-Harry in sunshades and a leather jacket while riding a child’s motorbike next to Sirius in the same outfit and the next thing I knew, this story just pored out of me in February of 2018, I had the first twelve chapters written by March and another five by April.  I started posting the Missing Moments compilation, added a few more things including the Remus and Petunia scene from ASC and kept writing A Second Chance and in May, decided it was time to share it and uploaded the first twelve chapters.  

By the time I realized it was going to be a long one, I knew which characters I would sacrifice and how it would end, but how I was going to get there I still have no idea.  I’m not a writer who methodically plots.  I have a few general bullet points at the end of my current WIP chapter and that’s really it.  I add to it occasionally as I go, but mostly, I just write as I go along.  I can’t tell you how many chapters it will be or how long it will take me to get to the next section because frankly, it’s constantly changes.  I do not write in chronological order, which means I am often writing anywhere between 2-6 chapters at the same time depending on what scene has drawn my attention.  I might write something today that fits in the chapter I am currently working on and then by the time I finish writing other stuff, I realize that it doesn’t really fit there and stick it ahead into the next chapter or ten chapters from now.  I write where my heart takes me and where my creativity flows.  

I rarely ever work on more than one story at the same time, though I did write the short Newtina one-shot for my friend Heather as a Christmas present in 2018.  She requested it and I couldn’t write it, I found it so hard as I like them but it’s not characters I loved enough to write so I did it with a Luna spin-in, which I found helped.  I never take writing requests so this was very different for me, but I think it turned out cute: Say Love, ‘Cause We Got All the Time in the World.  I only recently uploaded it a month or so ago because I found it on my computer LOL.

Do you make notes, timeline or character sketches and stuff or do you just go ahead and write and then make notes on facts?

Once I am into the story, my notes are EXTREMELY detailed.  I do have a time line and separate documents for the following:

Character lists and family trees

General notes on: Political stuff, bills I’ve written, the sacred 28 document I wrote, tattoos mentioned, important dates, moon cycle dates of Remus’ life, classes I’ve invented (what they are about, who teaches them etc), textbook list per school year, notes on each Animagus form and information about their animals, actual time tables I wrote up Monday to Friday for Harry’s third/fourth, and fifth year, details of Zee and Tonks’ engagement rings, history and outline of Dante’s circles of hell with notes on how to incorporate into story, notes on pregnancy, character’s wands, geographic locations of characters, and any other little notes I think are important but don’t belong in the bullet points at the end of my current WIP chapter

History and ancestry of each family (from Harry Potter Lexicon, Pottermore, Harry Potter wiki, and my own personal creations).  This also includes manor information for Potter, Black, Longbottom, Nott, and Malfoy.

Hogwarts lay-out including stuff I’ve added or made up

Ministry of Magic departments and people (known and created)

List of spells (including ones I’ve made up and which chapter and which character introduced it to who)

List and pictures of Sirius’ motorbikes with information on each one

List of Pensieve memories and marauder moments (crossed out which ones I’ve shared already, some are written and waiting to be used and others just a general idea)

Terms and phrases from different languages I’ve used in the past

My playlist of songs I have mentioned in the story

An entire document dedicated to Operation FUVP including a Voldemort timeline which I have now shared in the story itself (also includes when and where each character found the Horcruxes)

A list of some of the recipes I mentioned, and 

I have a 72 page document that is literally just detailed chapter summaries to help me remember what the hell I’ve written LOL (also highlights introductions to new characters in a different font colour to help me find out when people were introduced).

Hope this answers your question -- thank you again for asking!

[thecleverdame]

Sleepy Hollow - Chapter Nine

Series Master List

Pairings: Sam x Reader, mentions of Dean x Jo

Summary: In 1799, specialized police constables Sam and Dean Winchester are sent from New York City to a small town called Sleepy Hollow to investigate a series of murders. Approached by the town’s council, the Winchesters discover the local residents believe that the murders are the work of a deadly Hessian horseman whose head has been mysteriously chopped off. With help from the beautiful Y/N Van Tassel, Sam Winchester’s investigation takes him further through the dark wood where more murders have been occurring. What Sam does not realize is that the mysterious Horseman is being controlled by someone in a sinister plot to kill the most suitable men in the village.

Warnings: Canon-level violence, murder, smut, horror, gore and a little fluff for good measure.

Words: 40k

Beta:  ilikaicalie

This series is completed. You can read it on my Patreon for a monthly pledge of 2.50. This pledge includes early access to all my stories and Patreon exclusive content.  >> CLICK HERE <<

-

The Forest Brom, Theodore, and Glen are on patrol. Brom is particularly proud with his new rifle. They can hear a horse crashing invisibly through branches, the sound of hooves, but can't tell what direction the sound is coming from. “Split up!” Brom shouts, “He won't get away.” The three of them gallop off in three directions. They hear the sound of deep rumbling, the same sound heard before Jonathan Masbath was murdered.

Killian’s Home

Killian, Thomas, and Beth, Killian's wife, have finished supper in their small kitchen. Beth is clearing plates as Killian picks his teeth with a knife. There’s a faint sound in the distance. The glasses on the table shiver audibly. Killian notices, watching but the phenomenon promptly stops.

Thomas gets down from his chair. He goes to the fireplace to light a tallow wick, which he takes to the next room. Thomas plops on the floor and lights his magic lantern: a lantern with an outer sleeve of glass painted with silhouettes of lions and monsters. He turns the lantern, watching the wall where the shadows are cast. He roars for them, imagining them real and having a grand time. Beth comes back to the dining table for the last of the dishes. “Don't pick your teeth. You teach Thomas bad habits,” she quips. Killian pulls her to him playfully. “I am a bad habit. There's nothing for it.” “Oh isn’t there.” She smiles, kissing her husband. -

In the forest a mighty Brom rides his black horse, hooves pounding the ground. There is thunder in the distance and the horse stops and Brom looks skyward. All around the wind halts. A dead silence falls. Distant hoofbeats can be heard in the silence. Brom takes his rifle from his shoulder and rides toward them. - Behind where Killian sits the mantelpiece stones pulse, breathing. Demonic faces form, then disappear as the wind screams like an angry beast. Thomas continues his fun, shadow animals circling him as his mother enters his room to join him. The magic lantern suddenly stops spinning. Shadow creatures freeze. Beth looks up, noticing the ferocity of the wind as the smile leaves her face. The entire house creaks and groans. Killian stands, looking up. The house groans again, then suddenly the wind ceases and there is nothing. “Beth…” He calls a warning. Beth picks up Thomas. The magic lantern shadow creatures begin spinning anew, quickly, around and around. With a roar, the fire flares. Killian looks, and in the leaping flames, he seems to see the illusion of a face molded out of flames. Behind Killian, the door splinters inward. The Horseman steps in, a battle ax in each hand as the wind blasts behind him. The door to the other room slams. Killian grabs a chair and hurls it but the horseman swings, smashing it aside. “Beth, run!” he screams.

Beth holds Thomas as she backs away from the closed door as they listen to Killian yelling from the kitchen, get out! Killian grabs an iron poker from the fireplace, swinging it to fend off a blow from the Horseman. The Horseman swings the other ax and Killian ducks as the ax cracks fireplace stone, throwing sparks. Killian lunges, jamming the skewer into the Horseman cutting clean through the Horseman's back. The Horseman swipes with the flat of one ax, pounding Killian aside. Killian hits the wall, bashing his head and wilts to the floor. The Horseman pulls the skewer out of his body and throws it aside. He lifts Killian by the hair with one hand, brings back the ax in the other hand.

Beth kicks a carpet of Thomas’s room aside to reveal a trap door, lowering Thomas to small stairs leading to a crawl space under the gapped floorboards. Thomas is crying loudly and Beth puts a finger to her lips. “Hush, hush, my love. Quiet as a mouse, now.” “Mother.” He cries, small and trembling. “You must hide,” she shushes him one last time closing the trap door, frantically replacing the carpet. The room's door flies open. The Horseman strides in, carrying Killian's severed head and Beth shrieks. Beth's screams end quickly. Her body is heard hitting the floor above. Thomas sees the shadow of Beth's head rolling across the gaps in the floorboards above him, coming to rest with her hair showing, hanging down in the gap as the Horseman walks the length of the room. The Horseman places the heads in a sack, cinching the it shut. Then stands, long, silent. Thomas cowers, trembling and quiet as the Horseman falls to his knees. He starts to chop at the floor with both axes. Chopping, chopping, chopping, making quick work of it. A hole appears as debris falls. Thomas looks up, screaming as he tries to crawl away. The Horseman's arm shoves through from above, grabbing Thomas and yanking him up through the hole.

Killian’s Farm - Outskirts Brom rides from the forest. Ahead, at Killian's house, among scattered homes on the outskirts of town, an evil steed steps up as the Headless Horseman walks out with his sack of heads. The Horseman ties the sack to his saddle and leaps up. The Horseman ignores Brom. But sadly, Brom refuses to be ignored. He puts his reins in his mouth, aims his rifle, firing at the horseman with a might crack! Boom, the slug blows the Horseman off his stallion, exploding. The Horseman's smoldering body is left face down. Brom halts his horse, climbing down, pleased with himself Until the Horseman moves. Brom backs away, satisfaction diminishing and the Horseman rises to his knees. Brom falls to one knee, begins reloading. He fills the gun from his powder horn. The Horseman stands, unsheathes his sword and turns. The blast has exposed rotten flesh and maggot-infested muscle. Brom readies his ramrod, but there's no time. He rises, hefting his rifle, straight at the Horseman with a yell. The Horseman is on him but Brom swings the rifle, blocking. The battle is on, with Brom fending off the Horseman's sword with the rifle - CLANK - CLANK - CLANK Across the field, Sam and Dean arrive upon the scene of the fight. Gunpowder rears back knocking Dean to the ground as Sam charges toward the action. The Horseman makes a backhanded swing, knocking Brom's rifle away, sending Brom to the ground. The Horseman walks away from Brom who pulls a knife and throws it. The knife blade goes through the Horseman from back to front, like a spear thrust through a smoldering sack of rotten flesh. The Horseman pulls Brom's knife, blade first, from his chest and turns upon Brom. Brom scrambles up, fleeing, running toward Killian's. The Horseman throws the knife with precision and it embeds in Brom's thigh as he strides closer. Sam closes in, pulling an unlit lantern off his saddle. The Horseman changes his sword grip, blade open, plants one foot on Brom's back, raising his sword to skewer. Sam arrives at full gallop, smashing the lantern into the Horseman, effectively knocking him off of Brom. In the distance, Theodore and Glen arrive on horseback. They halt where they are, watching in amazement. Brom runs, limping to Killian's house, a goal in sight, there are farm implements propped there. Brom grabs scythes with long curved blades, one in each hand. The Horseman rises up, on a mission.

Sam leaps off his horse, running to Brom's side. Once more, the Horseman turns away. “I'll get him!” Brom yells, grabbing for Sam’s pistol. “Wait! Don't you see? He's not after us!” Sam shouts, grabbing for his gun back. Brom shakes himself free and fires. The bullet rips through the horseman’s stomach to reveal putrid innards. The horseman turns back, locked onto Brom. “He’s not after us!” Sam shouts, grabbing Brom and trying to pull him along. Brom throws the pistol at the Horseman.

Across the way, Theodore looks to Glenn, turns his horse and flees. Glenn follows Theodore away as Dean rides closer, praying he arrives in time. Brom steps up, scythes ready. He and the Horseman go at it. Brom blocks the ax and sword, deflecting blows. Sam grabs a long-handled sickle, circles them, swinging the sickle as the Horseman blocks his efforts. The Horseman battles both men at once, catching blows, countering every strike, the sounds ringing out into the night. Sam's sickle is knocked out of his hand. Brom catches the Horseman's sword in one scythe, catches the ax handle in the other scythe, but the Horseman flatfoot kicks Brom, sending him down. Brom picks up Sam's sickle and swings it, the blade embedding in the Horseman down to the hilt. “Now you've pissed him off,” Sam yells, but Brom will not listen. The Horseman drops his ax, grasps the sickle handle. The handle slams Sam away, hitting the ground. Sam crawls, shaking off the blow. The Horseman staggers, trying to pull the blade from his body. “We cannot win this.” Sam pleads for Brom to have some sense. Brom yanks Sam to his feet and grabs his scythes. As they flee, Sam grabs a wood-splitting ax from the stump where it's embedded. Behind, the Horseman manages to extract the sickle, drops it. Brom and Sam head toward the covered bridge that leads across to the town square. The Horseman strides after, retrieving his ax on the way.

Brom and Sam start across. Sam must help support Brom as he limps beside him. Behind them, the Horseman picks up the pace, closing in fast. Inside the bridge, Sam and Brom are halfway across. Footsteps pounding behind them. Sam glances back and to his surprise, the Horseman is not behind them. Sam and Brom look up. The pounding feet are on the roof, passing over. Ahead, at the mouth of the covered bridge, the Horseman leaps down, spinning in midair, lands, crouched. Sam and Brom halt as The Horseman rises. Sam releases Brom and moves forward, gripping his wood ax in both hands, swinging the ax downward... The Horseman swings his own ax, splintering Sam's ax handle. The Horseman, ax in one hand, sword in the other, turns upon Brom, and in pulling Brom aside out of the path of the sword, Sam receives a sword-thrust in the shoulder, which makes him scream in agony. The Horseman lifts his sword arm, throwing Sam and withdrawing the sword in one motion as Sam tumbles to the ground.

“Dean!” Sam yells, clutching his shoulder, blood running from between his fingers. Brom moves forward with the scythes. The Horseman sets upon him with incredible ferocity, battling Brom back, striking so hard and fast it's hard for Brom to keep blocking. Sam tries to get up, but falls knowing he’s of no help now. He watches as the horseman knocks one of Brom’s scythes away, taking another swing, sending Brom spinning in a spray of blood. The Horseman stands over Brom's body, chopping with his sword.

Sam’s vision begins to blur as the horseman approaches, now at the specters mercy. He’s ready for a final blow but it never comes as the horseman strides past him. “Sam!” He hears only his brothers voice, and a hand pressing over his wound as he loses consciousness.

[inkribbon796]

Arkham Mysteries Ch 1

Summary: Whispers of a horror time forgot and monster fueled by twisted magic The district of Arkham is home to powers old as the birth of the universe, and as new as modern technology.

In a little town outside of Gainesville, Florida children and adults go missing. Little Remus Prince becomes another childhood statistic, but he does not die like others before him.

A/N: Blood and gore warning! It’s Remus’s birthday and here’s a Lovecraft Au and there will be death in this one, but not to Remus or Janus. They are my babies.

Guess who’s getting back into the Lovecraft mythos after Color out of Space? It’s me, I love cosmic horror. So because I was bitten by some plot bunnies after that short I did during Darkstache Week, I wrote some more. When will I update this? Hell if I know maybe every third week, maybe once every two months. It depends but all of them will be compiled here instead of linked together shorts. Enjoy.

Chapters: 0, 1, 2, 3, 4

Chapter 1: Snake in the Grass

It was a humid August day, the dusk of a new moon was about to rise up into the darkening sky.

Remus angrily kicked the wild flowers, angry as he tried to blink the tears from his eyes. He just wanted to play with Roman and his friends. But Roman always acted like he was the literal plague and at best ignored him, or at worst, pushed him away.

So he was walking around the woods behind their house, angry and sad, when he heard something.

Remus stopped, the sound was like a sob of pain mixed with some type of high pitched hiss of frustration. Looking around a bit for a good sized stick and immediately went to check the source of the noise.

Climbing over a downed tree trunk, Remus almost stepped on top of someone lying in a net trap, the boy’s arms trapped to his side, little metal studs painfully digging into his side and arms. What froze Remus wasn’t the fact that there was another kid lying in the trap, but that they didn’t have any legs. Instead there was a long yellow snake tail, patches of green scales like freckles on his body.

The snake boy immediately looked at Remus and hissed at him, one eye a dark brown, the other a bright yellow.

Remus just stared at the boy, so captivated by the sight of him. The snake boy then looked in another direction and gave a desperate hiss, almost screeching out. It was enough to shake Remus from his trance and he started working to get the boy out, almost getting bitten in the process.

It took a little bit and the boy started helping the instant his arms were free. Afterwards he let out an indignant hiss at the trap, as if screaming at it.

“So pretty,” Remus couldn’t help himself and touched where the boy’s legs should be. His scales were cold and smooth instead of slimy. Running down the snake boy’s spine was a short ridge of brown, white, and black feathers that bristled at the touch of Remus’s hands.

The snake boy started and dragged him into the tree stump, there was a hole that had been made by a couple animals before them. It was full of mushrooms and bugs and Remus was instantly enchanted by them.

“Ooh, this is one’s slimy,” Remus said.

The boy slapped his hand over his mouth. “Shhh!”

Remus noticed the palm of his hand had some scales on it and in a typical Remus fashion of not thinking and wanting to see what something tasted like, licked his hand. It tasted like blood and swamp mud.

“Ugh,” the snake boy hissed.

At that moment, four men came out of the bushes, making the boy press Remus closer to the squishy bottom of the rotting tree trunk. Remus watched in amazement as the bright yellow scales started to turn a mottled brown, successfully camouflaging him with the tree, and Remus with the tree in the process.

“The fuck he go?” One of men snarled, Remus finally noticing that the men all had rifles.

“Couldn’ta gone far,” one of the others reassured. “Look at all this blood.”

Remus noticed a particularly sharp stone lying in the trunk. He grabbed it and braced himself to lunge out and stab the hunter who was wandering closer to the mouth of the trunk.

There was a loud growling hiss and the men all turned away from the trap.

“What was that?”

“Probably a mama looking for her baby, with any luck.”

“Stay quiet,” the snake boy whispered. Then he let out a hissing caterwaul.

Remus heard the sound of a rifle being cocked back, he readied his little stone as someone knelt down and looked at the two of them. His eyes traveled around the hole until he noticed them.

“There you are,” he smiled.

Remus screamed and drove the stone into the man’s face. He screamed, the rifle fired, almost hitting one of the other hunters.

Suddenly the hunters had worse to deal with than a small child with a sharp stone and an injured naga in a tree trunk. Six large nagas, each twice the size of a human, surged out of the tree line, moving impossibly fast. The small yellow snake boy surged out of the trunk and wrapped around Remus, coiling his tail around him and forcing him to drop the stone. Remus watched as the four hunters were attacked, bullets bouncing off hardened scales like tiny pebbles.

Their screams were burned into his mind, grown men strangled until they were unconscious and then tied up for a better purpose.

The largest of the six nagas slid over to the two boys, Remus’s new friend’s coiled muscles tightening around Remus just a hair tighter. She just stared at them and the naga boy hissed warningly at her.

That got an amused chuckle out of her, she lowered down closer to  his level. “What do you have there, little Janny?”

“Mine,” Janus hissed, still protecting Remus.

“Little hatchling,” the serpentine humanoid smiled in such an odd way that made Remus reflexively giggle a bit, almost like his soul was trying to leave his body. “He’s a bit too big for you to eat.”

“You’re pretty,” Remus smiled, starting to reach out to touch that long, pretty black hair.

“Mine,” Janus hissed, coiling a bit tighter around Remus, hugging Remus so that the boy’s arms were pinned to his body. “I want to keep him.”

The woman looked behind her, talking to one of the other nagas in a language Remus didn’t understand, but it made this brain feel fuzzy. He liked it, giggling a bit. The other nagas laughed and Janus the naga let out an angry huff.

“May I speak with your pet?” The larger naga asked Janus. “I promise not to eat him.”

Janus began to uncoil himself, but kept a hand on Remus’s arm.

“Hello little monkey,” she greeted.

“Hello, ma’am,” Remus greeted politely, giving a toothy smile.

“Such a pleasant little thing,” she hissed lovingly.

“My momma says I’m a little monster,” Remus smiled confidently, a huge smile on his face.

“Hmmm,” she hissed, curling his hair behind his ear. “Really? What type of monster?”

Remus shrugged, his hands going up a bit, “She never told me, ma’am.”

“Would you like to come with us?” She asked. “We’re having a party to celebrate, we’ll eat your friends.”

“They’re not my friends,” Remus told her, picking up the still-bloody stone. “I stabbed one.”

“You are just a delight, aren’t you, little monkey?” She chortled.

“I don’t want him eaten,” Janus told her.

“We won’t,” she promised, and Janus dragged Remus along to follow the group. He followed them into a cave that led out into a cavern with a hole carved into the ceiling. So that when the moon was highest in the sky it would be visible, regardless of the time of the year.

There was a group of thirty snake people, but only one other child, and they instantly tried to bite Remus when he got close. Janus hissed at them and then dragged him away, presenting Remus with a little necklace made of leaves, flower stems, and sharp stones that caught the light of the moon.

For the first time in Remus’s young life he felt included in something, that he was wanted. More wanted than anyone or anything had made him feel in his life

As he sat, watching a ceremony that would culminate in four people being strangled and ripped to shreds to be eaten, blood covering a stone altar whose purpose Remus’s young, yet untainted mind couldn’t fathom.

Truthfully, Remus’s fate wasn’t to go home when he met Janus, but he wouldn’t fight the nest’s decision. He was already home.

~::~ 13 Years Later ~::~

Remus was humming a little tune to himself, holding a large stick that looked more like a mace with several nails and sharp objects driven through it.

“Hey, buddy,” someone suddenly behind Remus called out. He was armed. “It’s too dangerous for you to be here. ‘Sides it’s private property.”

Remus turned to look at him, itching the edge of his mustache. “Huh?”

The man could almost feel like something was wrong, like a particularly smart fish looking at a flashy lure. But he couldn’t exactly place, but he looked at this young man half his age, staring at a patch of swamp as if he planned to swim in crocodile-infested water.

“You shouldn’t be here, you have folks I can call?” The man asked. “This area’s full of gators.”

Remus let out a full body chuckle, smiling at him. “Oh I’m planning on it.”

Somewhere behind him the man heard the rustling and snapping of twigs. He started to check his gun as he turned to look behind him, seeing a dark shadow moving somewhere in the distance.

“Hey!” Remus shouted, running towards the man with his mace, the man cursed and started to raise his rifle towards him.

The man barely was half turned when something large slammed into him from the direction he’d just been facing. He was knocked to the ground, gun flying to the ground, discharging harmlessly into the forest. The man screamed as he felt something like a snake coiling around him but a flawed hand at his throat, ripping at the soft flesh of his throat to kill him even faster.

Remus stepped closer, his mace hiding behind his back like it was a surprise. He smiled as he kicked the rifle into the small, nearby swampy lake.

The man was weakly fighting as the large, yellow serpentine body continued crushing and constructing. Words bubbles in his throat but because of his state he couldn’t make words.

Remus leaned in, stroking Janus’s side as he spoke to the man, “Shhh, don’t fight, it prolongs it, and I hear a brain hemorrhage sours the taste.”

He finally took a couple steps back and leaned on his mace as he watched.

Janus’s victim didn’t last much longer the claws mixed with a crushing strength of serpentine muscles against a human rib cage . . . well, it would have been laughable to even admit he stood a chance.

Because Remus was standing close enough, but not close enough to be a threat to an apex creature’s newest meal, he got blood spattered on him as he watched another human die.

After Janus was done feeding, he looked over at Remus, his iris narrowed slits.

“How was he ma moitié,” Remus grinned, waving his fingers at the naga.

The yellow naga slid over, coiling loosely around Remus and leaning down to kiss him. Remus felt all the tension leave his body when their lips touched.

“You did wonderfully,” Janus praised, tracing the bottom of Remus’s face.

Remus let out a giggle cackle, jumping up excitedly, “Do we have to head back to the nest? It’s been ages since I stretched my legs.”

“Well we do have a bit of time,” Janus smiled. “Can’t let my favorite pet go stir crazy.”

The human let out a wild giggle that reeked of madness, “I’m your only pet, Dee.”

“True,” Janus’s right eyebrow arched. “I do always like to keep you on your toes. Let’s go before I fall asleep.”

“Yay,” Remus scrambled over part of Janus’s body, already starting to scramble down the path. As he walked, taking a long, slow stride, the nearly silent sliding of a large snake in the forest turned into the soft footfall of feet on dirt.

Remus turned around to see Janus following him, walking backwards, the naga looking human but with an air of not looking quite right. The left side of his face and hands covered in green and yellow scales. He left out a trilling bird call, hissing through his teeth. “Always such a looker ma moitié.”

“Focus on the road, I’d love for you to trip and gash your head open,” Janus’s hiss was almost a warm purr.

“I walk just fine,” Remus laughed, right before tripping over a large rock. Janus let out a higher pitched laugh.

Remus groaned a bit at the sharp pain in his ankle, but smiled at the laughter from his serpentine boyfriend. The nagas were a sadistic bunch, and Remus could only feel a similar giggle bubbling from his body, it felt so good to hear Janus laugh.

Janus let out a warning hiss right before someone’s voice said, “You boys okay?”

Janus quickly turned the left side of his face to hide his scales, burying his hands in his cloak. An older woman was coming down the trail.

Jumping up, Remus stood in front of Janus, “Oh we’re fine, just tripped is all.”

“Oh, I just heard some screaming is all,” she said. “I was just worried, is all. Do you boys live near here?”

“Yes,” Remus answered, trying to hide his nervous giggle. “Just moved in, city life is so stifling.”

The old woman just smiled, “It’s so good to see young people moving back into the village.”

“Yeah, well,” Remus smiled. “We’re okay, do you need help back to the village?”

“What are you doing?” Janus hissed demandingly, the hairs on the back of Remus’s neck stood on end in dangerous discomfort.

“Just trust me, it’s a town,” Remus whispered, and walked over to the woman.

“Aren’t you a nice gentleman?” The older woman smiled, but squinted her eyes a bit when he got closer. “Have we met before?”

“Maybe?” Remus shrugged, starting to head in the direction the woman had come from.

“Yes, you’re Miranda’s boy, always such a sweet boy,” she smiled pleasantly as something painful began to boil in Remus’s heart. Something that the human thought he had killed and buried years ago.

“I thought you went off to the big city?” She asked.

“Surprise?” Remus grinned, she smiled back.

They walked for a bit, the woman talking and Remus trying not to scream and alert more humans. Janus was just silently watching him, following at a distance, still looking human enough to fool most actual humans. Eventually it was all over, the woman lived towards the edge of town and Remus waved her goodbye, refusing to come inside. He felt like his skin was trying to crawl away from him.

Finally the door was closed and Remus stared at the town, barely visible through the trees.

“Are you quite done?” Janus huffed, clearly angry.

“Where are we?” Remus asked.

Janus was quiet for a second, clearly upset and angry. “I don’t know, we try to stay away from this place, it��s too big for us to take.”

“Why stay away? You could glut yourself on this town for decades and no one would know.”

“Because I found you near here,” Janus commented.

Something uncomfortable stabbed at Remus’s heart, of a small boy whose only playmate never wanted him around.

“Let’s burn it to the ground,” Remus growled maliciously.

Whatever reaction Janus expected from the human, it clearly hadn’t been willful arson.

“It’s unsafe, our nest is too close,” Janus warned.

“We’re due to move again, and the new moon is coming up, the Grand Leader was complaining yesterday about not having enough sacrifices,” Remus’s grin was impossible to wipe off his face, he gestured to the town in the distance. “Here’s more than we could ever need. Yig would be so pleased.”

“Enough!” Janus hissed, his features more monstrous. The naga grabbed Remus by the arm and began pulling him back to the nests. “What have we told you about invoking his name? You are still human, never forget that!”

Once they were far enough away Janus turned back into his proper form. “You are not leaving me, you swore to me with your own blood. You are mine, Remus, those filthy humans can’t have you.”

“I don’t want to go back, I want them dead!” Remus shouted back, bravely looking into the naga’s eyes. “I want them all dead.”

Janus seemed to calm down a bit, stroking the side of Remus’s face. “Yes, of course. I’ll talk with the others, but I’m not making any promises.”

Remus leaned into the touch, trying to calm the bloodlust inside of him. He would be back, with or without the Grand Leader’s permission. The town would burn, and maybe the smog in his heart would finally lift.

He followed his love back to the naga nests, he’d find his brother again and wet his blood on the new moon altar.

Or he would die trying.

[the-walking-memelords]

A2 - A Sequel to Allegiances: Chapter 1 : VvvvV

Hello, my lovelies! It is I, your third favourite writer here with the long and highly-demanded sequel to "Allegiances" that I am releasing today, December first, the 1 year anniversary of my posting of the original fic on Ao3! 

Haven't read Allegiances? Read it here!

Tumblr | Ao3 | Wattpad Word Count: 1894 Pairings: Clementine/Louis | Ruby/Aasim | Brody/Mitch

Rating: M for Graphic Depictions of Violence, Major Character Death, Past mentions of Abuse/Trauma

Summary:  Five years have passed since Clementine won her freedom against the plot of the Delta, but trouble always seems to find a way to catch her. 

Because after all, 

the war didn't end with the Delta.

Read it on Ao3!

Read it on Wattpad!

Sunlight filtered through the multicoloured trees as autumn once again. The bright orange and yellow leaves swirled in the chilled breeze and danced along the walking paths. This was the fifth autumn since AJ had come to Ericson’s Boarding School for Troubled Youths. The time before was not something the boy liked to think of, but occasionally his subconscious would remind him of his days that were numbered. But AJ couldn’t think of any of that right now.

The forest was no place for idle thoughts.

Alvin Junior, now nearly eleven years of age, walked along the trail alone with an aged bow and arrow in hand and Clementine’s hat upon his head.

AJ crept past the trees being careful not to step on any leaves or twigs that may give away his presence. The safezone was far behind him, not that anyone abided by that old border anymore. Louis and Aasim were off in some other direction hunting for some extra trading material. The late afternoon sun began to drift lower in the horizon, signalling the end of their hunt if they wanted to be home before dark. AJ knew he should be heading back to the meeting point, but the fresh tracks he followed promised a find worth a scolding from Clementine.

Where are you, deer?

The tracks he stalked moved off the path to a sparse area of the forest. The boy halted still as stone, listening. He didn’t dare blink when movement caught his eye. Not the stumbling gate of a monster, but a smooth, deliberate turn of an animal traipsing along its way. Hiking up the sleeves of his oversized blue hoodie, AJ bit his lip and rubbed his thumb along the rough wire of his bow before slowly nocking an arrow. 

He moved downwind from the deer, moving silently across the terrain as she slowly got closer and closer. The animal had a pristine coat. Unstained by blood or scars from encounters with the undead.

He must be a fast one.

 AJ knew if he missed it was unlikely that he would get the chance for a second shot. 

The sun stung his eyes as he quickly adjusted the brim of his cap and took aim. The stiff wire was difficult to pull back. Part of him wished he could just use his gun, but bullets were getting harder to come by as the years went on.

“Just for emergencies.” Clementine had reminded the boy as he tucked his revolver into his back pocket before setting off with Louis and Aasim.

The deer let out a half-startled grunt as it seemed to sense AJ’s presence, turning swiftly to face him a second before taking off. The deer was fast, but so was AJ. The boy released his arrow which missed its mark of the animal’s neck but lodged in its side, staining its light brown hide with fresh blood as it shrieked and fled.

AJ swore internally as the animal quickly lost him, leaving a trail of crimson drops behind. Now he just had to find it before the monsters did.

His frustration grew thicker with did the foliage as the boy followed the red smears, branches scratching at his face as he raced along. The bushes suddenly broke into a small clearing where AJ finally found his prey. 

The deer lay dying in a patch of grass scattered with wildflowers as if it sought out something peaceful before it’s inevitable end. It’s breathing was rugged and forced, clinging to every bit of life it had. The sight made AJ a little sad, guilty even, knowing he had done this. Killing animals always tugged at his heart a little, but he knew he had to do it so his family could eat.

“I’m sorry.” He whispered as he pulled out his knife, slowly moving towards it to end its misery.

A muffled snarl came from AJ’s left. A walker with a bandanna tied around its mouth wandered into the clearing, paying the boy no mind as it stumbled towards the bigger meal.

“That’s mine.” AJ scowled as he kicked the walker’s knee hard, sending it sprawling to the ground. Without a moment’s hesitation, he jammed his knife into the walker’s skull.

The boy smirked, glad he hadn’t fallen out of practice in the month or so since their last walker sighting. Perhaps it had to do with the explosion, or travellers passing through more frequently, but the monsters have mostly gone away around Ericson’s. Clementine said when they got to the school, things were going to get better. And she was right. Both the human monsters and the monster monsters had gone away.

AJ looked down at the bloodied knife in his grip, and back over at the wounded deer, electing to use his bow instead incase it got feisty. Stepping through the soft grass he aimed another arrow at the deer’s eye before another growl caught his attention. Shifting his aim he sent an arrow flying into the eyesocket of the second walker to approach his catch. By the time he looked back down the deer had died on its own. It’s deep brown eyes now glassy and still.

“At least you don’t come back.” AJ said as he retrieved his arrow.

He gave the second walker a second glance, noticing something familiar. The boy squinted as he ran his hand over the red fabric tied over its jaw. The fabric was cold and wet. Black ink smeared under his touch as he traced the odd symbol painted on.

One long spike on each side with three shorter ones in the middle. Spikes pointed down like teeth. The formation reminded him of this one sassy expression Rosie would make when she wasn’t getting as much attention as she’d like. The teeth were painted on the cloth over the walker’s actual mouth. 

Is this supposed to stop it from biting people?

Doesn’t seem like it would work.

Why not just kill it?

The setting sun reminded AJ that he didn’t have time for this, but once the boy’s curiosity was piqued it was hard to ignore. Running back to the first walker, he checked the bandanna again and just as he suspected, there were the teeth, though older and more faded than the second.

Just like the other one.

Where they part of the same group? 

But they look so old and the other pain was new...

A skeletal hand brutally digging into his shoulder jolted him out of his thought. AJ whipped around just as the walked pinned him to the ground. The boy pushed his arm against the monster’s throat as its jaws snapped just inches from his face. Unlike the others, this one had nothing holding back it’s lethality.

AJ reached for his knife as he felt himself coming closer to being overpowered, just for his fingers to merely graze the handle as it laid out of reach. 

This is an emergency.

AJ snaked his hand under his back and found the cool metal of his revolver, wedging it out from under him and bringing the barrel to the monster’s temple and pulling the trigger. Blood and brain matter sprayed across the boy’s face and she sounds of the forest were immediately drowned out by an intense ringing in his ears as he threw the walker off of him, taking a moment to lay in the grass and catch his breath. He sat up as the ringing faded, replaced with the scattered chirping of birds and faint moans of what that gunshot just summoned.

Multiple shadows moved among the trees, far too many for one kid to fight. AJ cast a final apologetic glance to the deer he knew he couldn't drag back with him in a timely enough manner to escape the dead, and fled back in the direction he came from.

Anxiety turning to fear as the evening chill settles on his skin and the sunlight spread thin across the land, shadows taking over and hiding all that lurked among the forest. AJ’s heartbeat picked up as he ran. Eventually, the trees turned to all tall dark pillars, indistinguishable in detail. Dodging past one after the other until one dark mass failed to dodge him. 

The impact was solid but softer than a tree, both parties well backwards as AJ quickly brandished his knife.

“Easy there, little dude.” A familiar voice said worriedly.

“L-Louis?” AJ’s iron grip loosened enough for Louis to take the blade from him as the boy heaved, trying to catch his breath.

“I’m here. I gotcha.” Louis put his arm gently on the boy’s should as he pulled him into a hug. 

“Let’s get you home.”

AJ gripped the sleeve of Louis’ worn down coat as he stood. AJ couldn’t believe he still wore that thing, as stained and torn as it had become over the years. Though he supposed Louis hadn’t changed much over the years like some of the others had. His dreads were a bit longer which he mostly tied back in a ponytail, but leaving those same two dreads to hang in his face. He was still easily a head taller than, a fact he periodically reminded her about by resting his elbow on the top of her head.

“Where’s Aasim?” AJ asked as his breathing slowed.

“He’s waiting at the meetup spot, let’s go find him.” He said with a smile.

Leaves crunched under their boots as they found the dirt path once again. With the sky darkening by the minute, they began to head back.

“What the hell were you still doing out here?” Louis asked.

“We’ve been looking for you forever, and then I heard the shot. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t starting to freak out”

“I’m sorry.” the boy said, looking down guiltily.

“I was following a deer. I thought if we could kill it then we’d have food for a few days, or maybe  Layla would trade us something cool for it.”

“A deer, huh?” Louis chuckled.

“Now tell me, AJ, how you were planning to drag a whole-ass deer from the middle of nowhere to the meetup point?”

“I thought if I could get it to the path you’d find me and help me carry it.” AJ sighed sadly at the lost catch.

“It’s walker food now though.”

A figure stepped out onto the path a ways in front of them that caused them both to freeze for a moment before letting out a breath at the wave of their friend Aasim.

“Thank god you found him.” Aasim said in a serious yet relieved tone.

“We gotta head back while we still have a little daylight.”

The three of them began to hurry back hoping the walk back would be as uneventful as the walk there.

“You’re not gonna tell Clem I went off on my own, right?” 

“I won’t tell if you don’t.” Louis knew he’d be in the same amount of trouble as AJ if Clem found out he allowed it.

“Details or not we’re all in deep shit when we get back.” Aasim sighed.

AJ smiled, knowing the lecture he was going to get from ruby when they returned, but that smile quickly faded, knowing he had is own lecture waiting for him from Clementine.

Maybe the deer wasn’t worth it after all. 

[tigerlilynoh]

Almost Got ‘em

Written for the 2019 @spnsummergen. Rating: G Featuring: Original characters, and a couple familiar faces Word Count: 3,143 Warnings: foul language Author's Notes: The prompt was “Early season - demons in hell plotting to take the Winchesters down.” I was immediately inspired by the Batman: The Animated Series episode “Almost Got ‘im.”   Summary: Deep in the depths of Hell, a group of demons discuss the two latest pains in their collective ass: Sam and Dean Winchester. Rumor is that the brothers had found the Colt and even killed a demon. Of course, rumors are just big talk— yet a pair of demons patiently listen; their plan is already in action.

Two figures made their way through the halls of the third lowest dungeon in Hell.  As they walked the jagged stone walls seemed to close in around them, but their petite, female forms prevented the blade-like rock from tearing at their temporary flesh.  Even if they were injured it would be of no importance; they were demons and there was a meeting that they very much wanted to attend.

Both were wearing lean, blonde women who might’ve been mistaken for sisters, but that was the limit of their outward similarity.  The slightly older of them wore a gauzy, white dress that, when combined with her delicate steps, gave her the air of a drifting spirit.  Her partner was another story.  The younger demon’s black combat boots thudded with every step, announcing her presence.  Her attire was entirely leather—the cow sort, not human—dyed dark enough to hide spilled blood.

Neither of them said a word as they approached the auxiliary dungeon rumored to be containing an unusual sort of rendezvous.  The pair didn’t have anything more to discuss for the moment.  They both knew their immediate goals, responsibilities, and when push came to shove, which of them was in charge.  They damn well better have known.  Between the two of them, they’d spent over a decade putting their respective pieces in order and double-checking their work.

When they reached the unmarked door that they’d heard whispers about, the demon in the white dress pushed it open without hesitation.  She stepped through the door with an unassuming demeanor.  Her colleague followed her, studying the contents of the chamber with a wary eye.

Inside there were eight lesser demons standing or sitting around a storage room.  Three racks had been laid out flat, then pushed together to create an improvised conference table.  Five of the occupants were perched on crates of acid, steel nails, and other implements of pain.  The remaining three leaned against the far wall, cautiously keeping some distance.

A brutish-looking man with pasty skin, a pronounced brow, and stringy black hair glared at the newcomers from the opposite side of the table.  He stared with the intensity of someone who had taken charge—he certainly didn’t hold any noteworthy rank as evidenced by his badly calloused hands that hinted at many decades or centuries of wielding a whip, the shoddy ones meant for working souls.  

In a low growl he asked the two women, “What do you want?”

“We heard that this is the place to be if you truly hate the Winchesters,” answered the elder one.

He stared at them for a moment before replying, “Get inside and shut the fucking door.”

The pair entered, closing the door behind them.  From the way that everyone turned their attention to a stout demon sitting on a box labeled ‘spiders’ they assumed that it was his turn to speak.  The two women settled themselves on a non-technically-iron maiden that was lying along one of the walls as if it were a bench.

The stout demon resumed addressing his audience.  “So then I tore the cow apart—six chunks, big ones but still enough to spread around, and some smaller hunks.  You don’t want to waste it by piling the whole cow in one corner of the room.  You might as well not bother cutting the damn thing up—Anyway, I hung pieces of it throughout the house.”  The sound of scuttling inside the box he was sitting on filled the room as he fumed for a moment in anger.  “It’s a classic omen!  It’s a horror!  And the older of the brothers makes a joke about hamburgers!”

“So disrespectful,” muttered a female demon with hollow eyes and frayed white hair.  Several demons nodded in agreement with her comment.

“That kind of work takes time,” complained the portly demon.  “I’m not a high-caste demon.  I can’t just wave my hand and make things move.  Do you have any idea how long it takes to cut up a cow?  And the first cleaver broke and I had to find a store—”

“Was it a vegetable cleaver?” asked the lean demon with a mangled left arm and long, frizzy brown hair sitting next to him.  When he looked up at her face in confusion, she rested her hand on his thigh, then said in a soft voice, “Milmont, sweetie, two kinds of cleavers.  Vegetable ones aren’t made for bone.”

“I don’t fucking believe this,” muttered a red-haired demon.  He was dressed like Billy Idol but his rosy cheeks undercut the attempt at an edgy look.  “Did you fight them or not?”

“I fought them!” Milmont replied indignantly.  “I had a knife—”

“Paring or bread?”

“—and I swung at the older one’s neck.”

One of the demons standing in the shadows noted aloud, “Swung means a miss.  You got your ass kicked.”

The stoat demon flustered a bit before reluctantly explaining, “He shot me in the chest with rock salt and hit me in the face with his gun—” 

“You fell on your ass,” guessed the red-headed demon.

“The younger brother can perform an exorcism really fast,” Milmont said while shifting, jostling the box of spiders.

“You shouldn’t have gone after them,” said the brutish leader of the group.  “You’re too weak.”

The stout demon glared as he hissed, “I have every right to go after the prey I choose.  I’m allowed to prove myself!”  He waved his hand at the rest of the room as he asked, “How many of you have been exorcised by them?  If you’re here bitching about the Winchesters on your weekly one-hour break, yeah, I’m guessing they made you look like an idiot too.”

Several of the demons nodded in acknowledgement of the point or murmured agreement.  The leader let out a small grumble as he reached into an open crate next to him.  He pulled out an unlabeled bottle containing reddish-tawny liquid, then yanked the black cork from it with his teeth.  After taking a swig, he handed it to Milmont.

“Corceo.”  The stout demon toasted him before having a sip.  

“You’re lucky that you were only exorcised,” the hollow-eyed woman told him while reaching out, wordlessly asking for a drink.  Milmont passed it to her and she took a sip before continuing.  “Rumor has it they possess the Colt.”

“Dajhila, they don’t have the Colt,” replied the demon with the bad arm.  “I brawled with them ten days ago and they didn’t shoot me.”

“Maybe you aren’t worth the bullets?” jabbed the rosy-cheeked punk.

With her good hand, she picked a knife up off the ground and stabbed it into the wooden table in front of her, inviting him to fight.

Corceo, the leader, hit the table, drawing everyone’s attention.  “Tisha, don’t carve Frey a new asshole.  He has plenty already,” he joked, earning a chuckle from one of the demons watching from the wall.  “The fact is that they had the gun.  They killed Tom.”

“Tom was an idiot,” huffed Frey.  “The only reason he wasn’t wading through viscera like the rest of us was because he was Azazel’s son.”

“Apparently he was attacking Sam, and Dean shot him,” Dajhila explained.  “There were witnesses.”

Frey shrugged indifferently at Tom’s death.  “Silver-spooned nepotist should’ve been the one to get his ass beat before he got shot.”

“I’m fine with the younger Winchester getting that bludgeoning,” interjected Tisha.  She snarled, “You know that little shit is a psychic?  I was so close to killing them.  It took me three weeks to lure them to this abandoned insane asylum.  I’d murdered twenty people in there—six hunters came before the brothers finally took the bait.  That’s the shit I had to deal with in order to roll out the red carpet for those thick-brained, underwear-model-looking—“

“They aren’t that good looking,” said Milmont.

“They are,” countered Corceo.  “Now let her finish or I’ll tear your fucking tongue out.”

Dajhila with the hollow eyes quietly said, “We should’ve kept the talking stick.”

Frey held up the pointy, splintered remains of a blood-stained wooden dowel that had evidently been used to stab someone.  The woman shrugged, conceding that it had worked better in theory than in practice.  The red-haired demon tossed it aside, grabbed the bottle of alcohol from where it had settled on the table, then gestured to their current storyteller.

Tisha waited a beat to see if anyone would interrupt her before continuing.  “I swear on my life, that Sam kid really is a psychic.  They knew it was a trap.  I’m sitting there with a semi-automatic rifle—I’m not fucking around—and all of a sudden the sprinklers are raining holy water.”  Her lips curled downward at the memory as she snarled, “Sam used a megaphone from the parking lot to exorcise me.  I only got to see their faces as my cloud was getting dragged back down.”

“Jesus,” exhaled Frey.  “A megaphone… and you had a rifle.”

“What weapon did you go after them with?” asked Tisha.

He thought for a moment before finally admitting, “A big rock.”  Everyone stared at him for a moment, then burst into laughter, so he added, “Sometimes simple is best.  We’re stronger than them and there was a big rock right there that I could throw—  It was a tactical decision.”

“With genius thinking like that, it’s no wonder we can’t catch a break against them,” said Corceo.

Dajhila commented, “The only good news is that the dad, John, he died two months ago.”

“John Winchester, hunter savante—  That piece of shit finally dropped?”  Milmont looked around, eyes wide with excitement.  “What did ‘im in?”

“I do not know.”  The hollow-eyed woman crossed her bony arms.  “Margot, down in processing, says his file is classified, but it is there.”

Frey leaned forward with interest.  “File—  We got him?  Fucker isn’t playing a harp?”

“In the pit as we speak,” she replied smuggly.  “Rumor is that Alastair’s working him personally.”

“Alastair?” asked Corceo.  “They’re breaking out the Grand Torturer himself for a Winchester?”

Tisha nodded slowly to herself as she put together a few pieces.  “Well, he is classified.”

The two women silently observing from their place on the iron maiden exchanged a knowing glance.  The one in leather subtly placed her hand on a bulge by her belt that was obscured by her jacket, but the woman in the white dress discreetly shook her head and gestured for her to wait.  At the order, the younger demon gave a quick roll of her eyes before relaxing her posture.  By the time they’d turned their attention back to the meeting, the conversation had switched back to discussing different methods of pursuing the still-living brothers.

“Dean is a hedonist,” commented Dajhila.  “Take a meatsuit with a figure as an hourglass and lay yourself in his path.”

Tisha raised an eyebrow.  “You really think he’s going to fall for something like that?”

“He’s young and proud.”

Tisha countered, “He’s a paranoid with low self-esteem—“

“Here we go,” muttered Milmont.

“—You all think they’re heroes out of a fucking Greek epic, but they’re just men—feeble, petty little things—“

“Little,” Frey scoffed.  “Have you even seen them?”

Tisha slammed her fist on the table.  “They are mortal children, too absorbed by their grief and self-pity—Yes, they are little, but that makes them paranoid, partially-psychic, sneaky cunts who use megaphones.”  She paused a moment to look around the table at the others, then said, “And maybe they don’t have it now or maybe I wasn’t worth the bullets, but they know about the Colt.  They know how to kill us—  Kill, not exorcise.”

After a brief, pensive silence, Milmont asked, “When was the last time you heard of one of us getting killed?  Cain going nuts and turning traitor?  That was almost 150 years ago—Earth time.”

Corceo nodded.  “Half the crew in my dungeon wasn’t even turned back then.  The sniveling pups thought we were immortal until they heard the news:  the fucking Winchesters killed Tom.”

There was a grumble of shared frustration at the indignity.  Humans had managed to kill demons, for the first time in over a century—and the bastards hadn’t even had the decency to stick around long enough to be killed in return.

“We have to stop them,” said Milmont quietly.  

Frey scoffed.  “Have you been listening or are ya’ as dense as iron?”

“Oh, choke on a ball of blades,” Tisha hissed.

The red-haired demon waved his arms, sarcastically miming fear.

“Save it.  The enemy is up there.”  Corceo waited to see if anyone would interrupt, then continued.  “I’m tired of all this theatrical, solo bullshit.  We murder them in their sleep.  If they salt the door, we use guns.  If they ward the building, burn it down.  Fucking drive an oil tanker truck into them—this is war.  So how do we find them?”

Milmont replied, “Since their dad died, my denmate, Bahshin, spotted them a few times with another hunter:  male, middle-aged, reddish-brown greying hair and beard, baseball cap, one of those grizzled sorts.”

Tisha nodded.  “I know the one.  His name is Bobby—don’t know the last name.  I’ve run into him and his partner a few times.  He sticks to the north central U.S.  Rural looking, lots of plaid.  He had an old truck.”

“Fucking hick hunters,” muttered Frey.

The woman in leather sitting along the wall wordlessly withdrew a small notebook and pen from her pocket, then wrote down, “Margot:  soul processing department grunt,” and “Bahshin:  den-dweller, has an Earth pass.”  

Corceo eyed the two silent newcomers from his place at the table.  “Taking notes?  Dainty little things like you gonna go gunning for the big bad Winchesters?”  He laughed.  “Well get in fucking line.  You come here, don’t say shit, and crib off our hard work—  How close have you come to offing them?  What makes you so cocky you’re gonna be the ones to kill the bastards?”

The woman with the notepad gestured to her partner, inviting her to address the challenge.  The demon in white stood up and smiled, unconcerned by the hostile attitude of the others in the room.

“We haven’t tried to kill them,” she replied.  “And we have a plan, the likes of which history has never seen.”

“Ready to shared with the class?” Frey asked.  “What brilliant plan are you two peons gonna try?”

“We’re gonna give them what they really want.”

Corceo’s eyes passed over the two women.  “A pair of eager-to-please blondes in suggestive clothes?”

The woman in the white dress corrected him.  “The only one we’re eager to please is our lord, Lucifer.”

A few of the demons chuckled at the absurd statement.  Lucifer was a fairytale, as much as God and angels were to the humans.  

“I’ll bite.”  Corceo’s mouth curled into an amused grin, punctuated by the occasional barbed fangs.  “What are you gonna give them?”

“We’re gonna make them heroes.”

The demons around the table laughed outright at the reply.

“You’re going to make them heroes?  Those hunter bastards know about the Colt.  They killed Tom.  They’ve been exorcising us.”  He placed his hands on the table and stood up, ready to confront them.  “The Winchesters aren’t scared of us—not the way they should be.  We’re demons.  That still means something.  So I don’t know what crazy scheme you’re thinking up, but it isn’t happening.  They don’t get to be heroes.  They die.”

“They’ll die when we—” She gestured to her partner “—say they die.”

“Looks like we have something of a race on our hands.”  Cerceo walked up to her and stood so that they were only a few inches apart.  A head taller than her, he glared down at her before hissing, “You think you can beat me to them?”

Her eyes turned white, causing his jaw to drop.  “Child you’re busy boasting and we’re on step fifteen.”  Lilith waved her right hand, locking the door to the room.  In a quick backhanding gesture, she threw Corceo against the far wall, then turned to look at her companion.  “Ruby.”

Ruby stood up and smiled as she drew her knife from the holster on her belt.  She systematically worked her way through the room, killing the others while her partner held them in place with telekinesis.  Afterward, she placed the bodies on the table, then rested her palms on the topmost corpse.  A few lines of Aramaic later, blue flame engulfed the bodies, destroying the evidence.

While watching the fire, Lilith asked, “Is Meg ready?”

“She’s still running recon on the other children.  In terms of pressure points so far:  four have lovers, eight of them are close to a parent, and we have a few like Sam where the sibling could be an incentive.  As of yesterday, she was watching the stoner with imprinting telepathy to figure out his achilles’ heel.”  Ruby wiped her bloody blade on the sleeve of her jacket to clean it while asking, “Did you take care of Crowley?”

“I encouraged several of his aides to let a few deals lapse.  Numbers are down.  He’s dying to get a big deal.”  Lilith looked at her.  “The second Dean Winchester’s soul comes across his desk, he’ll sign off on the contract just to get his name on something.  The grubby-fingered broker didn’t check the fine print on John; why should the son be any different?  I’ll hold Dean’s contract and the moment he bites it, he’ll get expedited delivery to Alastair’s dungeon.  No official processing.  No gossip—”  She gestured to the smoldering remains of the demon who had accidentally outed Margot as a leak in the processing department.  “—No mistakes this time.”

Ruby huffed an unamused laugh.  “The two of us sure as hell won’t have time to clean up any messes once this show gets rolling.  Round one we could afford to have things go a little sideways.  Once we pop up on Sam’s radar, that’s it.  We’re in, and I’m not coming back downstairs on a fucking milk run.”

“It will all turn out,” Lilith assured her.  “Our lord wills his return.  He cannot be denied.”

Ruby didn’t reply to the pious statement.  Instead she studied the charred racks in front of them.  “I know he’s your mentor and we couldn’t have done this without him, but Azazel can’t survive this.  You know that, right?”

Lilith nodded.  “When he finishes aligning his pawns, he’ll throw the fight.  He knows how important it is that Sam’s anger be directed solely at me.  That means clearing the field for the next generation of nemeses.”

“Don’t worry,” Ruby placed her hand on her partner’s shoulder.  “When I’m done with him, Sam will be foaming at the mouth to kill you.”

“I envy you,” Lilith sighed.  “You’ll live to see our lord.  It’s going to be beautiful.”

--------------

If you enjoyed this story, check out my Sam/Ruby Fic Masterlist or my Full Fic Masterlist.

[rangerdew]

read no. 6 its really good

there’s a lot to cover here but mainly im just gonna put some bullet points out there and also use my Bad Anime to Good Anime rating scale for it 

SUMMARY (you might wanna skip this if you dont want spoilers for the premise)

- No. 6 is one of six utopias built after the whole world got wrecked. it’s essentially a perfect city, suicide rate 0, everyone gets to die peacefully, theres no illness or discontent. sketchy amirite

- Shion (who is the protag, and also who currently has brown hair at this point in the story) is one of the geniuses weeded out by the city and in the process to become an elite 

- at age 12 during the dead of night, he meets Nezumi, fellow twelve-year-old, rat man, and wanted criminal. this encounter may change his life forever. fast foward six years and the main story begins. 

- trust me theres a LOT more after that like. at first i didn’t think it was so promising either but they really knocked the wind out of me. it was like expectation vs. reality except in this situation the reality was better 

MY TAKE ON THE PLOT/CHARACTER WRITING: 

- its good. it keeps you engaged, its easy to understand, at one point they went All Out on Exposition but most of the time the storytelling is very good. it keeps you engaged. there was a bit that wasnt fully explained but the emotional impact still stood 

- it’s like. not one of those Long Ongoing ones its short and sweet like. id compare it to maybe gravity falls length 

- the story was pretty unique. i mean it was sort of like a dystopia novel but it was done in a pretty cool way in my opinion

- i mainly read this story for its ABSOLUTELY AMAZING character development this shit was INSANE. watching the characters change and go through challenges throughout the story was fascinating and really well done. the characters are all super fun to analyze 

- canonical gay relationship that isnt weirdly sexualized like black butler’s stuff or just subtext/teasing the audience. they actually go through with it its Canon and its treated with just as much respect as any straight relationship in manga 

- nb character/ambiguously gendered character

- [SLIGHT SPOILERS] pro revolution hell yeah

WARNINGS

- lots of corpses

- if you have any sort of tw with bugs, tread carefully bc they’re one of the driving plot points, even if they don’t show up that much

alright heres the promised rating

if i had to compare it i’d say its on tokyo ghoul level except i like it better than tokyo ghoul. thanks for coming to my ted talk

[mind-reader1]

Queen of Hearts (Ch.21)

Drake x MC (Emma Barnes)

TRR AU: What would happen if Emma loved Drake but had to marry Liam?

Catch up here

Warnings: NSFW, maybe some cursing? Honestly I don’t remember

Note: I just found out my grandpa has cancer and won’t be doing treatment. In addition to that, I’ve just got a lot of shit going on right now, things are scheduled to post every Tuesday/Thursday and Saturday, but I don’t know how much I’ll be on here. Please be patient with me. If I don’t interact with you or post or comment or whatever, I promise I’m not ignoring you.

Word Count: 2,990

Summary: Worst nightmares come to life for one of our poor babies, I’m not cruel enough to put you through two funerals so there’s only one. 

Chapter 21: Mirrors - Justin Timberlake

'Cause I don't wanna lose you now

I'm looking right at the other half of me

The vacancy that sat in my heart

Is a space that now you hold

Show me how to fight for now

And I'll tell you, baby, it was easy

Coming back into you once I figured it out

You were right here all along

It's like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me

I couldn't get any bigger

With anyone else beside of me

And now it's clear as this promise

That we're making two reflections into one

'Cause it's like you're my mirror

My mirror staring back at me, staring back at me

Yesterday is history

Tomorrow's a mystery

I can see you looking back at me

Keep your eyes on me

Baby, keep your eyes on me

Drake stood frozen, staring at the coffin in front of him, he’d barely been making it through the days since that night. He felt empty, broken, his other half, his better half, his whole world had died in his arms. He couldn’t protect her, he was too late, Liam blamed him to make matters worse. He had lost both of his best friends now, he was alone at court. He couldn’t even see her one last time, it was closed casket because the damage had been too extensive, no one wanted the people’s last thought of Emma to look like that. They put up Drake’s favorite picture of her, she was all dolled up for a ball, looking over her shoulder at someone laughing because of what they’d said, her long blonde curls cascading down her back. It killed Drake to look at it, his heart shattering a little more every time, though he didn’t even think that was possible, but he still couldn’t bring himself to look away. Looking away meant that he had to look at the coffin, a reminder that she really was gone forever. One by one her friends came and dropped a rose and some dirt into her grave, whispering goodbyes. Drake went last, dropping in a sunflower, since that was her favorite, he dropped more tears than anything though. He couldn’t believe this had happened, after everything. He had taken a bullet for her the first time, if he had just been sleeping in her room that night, they wouldn’t be here. She would still be curled up in his arms, safe, breathing deeply with her head on his chest. Drake fell to his knees, his whole body wracked with sobs and guilt, he had promised to protect her, to love her forever. They were supposed to have forever together though, now he would have to spend forever alone.

Liam had found comfort with Olivia and frankly, Drake hated his guts for it. He claimed to have loved Emma, but so quickly moved onto Olivia, getting the kind of support he so desperately wanted and needed. Sure, everyone missed her, but no one understood Drake’s pain, he couldn’t even put in into words. The closest he could come to describing it was soul crushing oblivion. He didn’t even know how to begin to live life without her, she had completely turned his world upside down and set it on fire just to leave him, to deal with the cleanup. He couldn’t blame her though, she had only gone down to the vault because she was trying to solve the mystery, protect her friends, protect him. He got back to the palace and peeled off every piece of his all black suit he had bought just for this, he wanted to burn it, he hated it, hated everything it represented. He caught a glimpse of a picture sitting on his desk, it was a picture of them from New York, before Liam had proposed. He had handed her a stuffed animal, she smiled down at it, squeezing it in her arms, Drake was smiling down at her, the happiest man alive in that moment. He flipped the picture face down, grateful for Maxwell’s stupid scrapbook, without it he wouldn’t have any proof she had ever chosen him. Wandering to her room in a drunken stupor he found it was cleared out already except for the same stuffed animal on her bed. Sitting there, just waiting for her to return. Drake collapsed again, unable to see through the flood of tears running down his face, broken glass in his hand from the bottle of whiskey he had been carrying. He reached out to the stuffed animal clinging to it, holding it against his heart as if he could somehow will her back to life.

“You asked me to love you till the day you die, well that wasn’t supposed to be until we were old and grey! I don’t know how to do this without you Emma.” His words were muffled into the bear, it still smelled like her. Warm vanilla, a hint of strawberries and fragrant flowers. Normally it was heady and intoxicating, Emma’s skin brushing against his, this time it only brought him a little comfort, aiding the alcohol in numbing the pain to a dull ache in his heart.

“Don’t move!” Emma opened her eyes to find Mara standing there, having already disarmed Justin, leveling his own gun at his chest. She was bewildered, checking her body to see if she was still solid, still alive. She was on the floor, she must have passed out, her head throbbing, a large bump forming where she must have hit it.

“Get the fuck away from Barnes!” Liam and Drake came rushing down the stairs, Emma breathed in a sigh of relief when she saw them, she was safe, she was indeed still alive. Lucretia still had one trick up her sleeve though, taunting Olivia once more about not knowing her past. She leaned against the wall and a large crack opened, the ceiling beginning to collapse around them. Mara grabbed Lucretia before she could get away, but Justin was quicker and disappeared into the dust. Liam rushed in and Emma thought he was going after her, but he pulled Olivia out and Drake grabbed Emma just moments before the ceiling collapsed where they had been standing. Drake enveloped Emma in his arms, she breathed in deep, inhaling his familiar scent of leather, whiskey and aftershave. One of his arms held her flush against his body, while his other gently stroked her hair, whispering soothing sweet nothings in her ear. Seeing that gun leveled on her brought him back to the homecoming ball, he thought he was going to lose her again, and he knew he wouldn’t survive that. Drake looked over at Liam, expecting to see a pang of jealousy on his friends face, instead he smiled softly, Liam was too focused on Olivia to even notice them. Olivia was tough, but she was visibly shaken by the encounter, Liam gently rubbing her arms and talking to her in hushed tones. Maybe there was hope for Liam after all, Drake thought. They escorted the women to their rooms, Drake stopping outside of Emma’s door, the charade was up. Mara and the rest of the guard now knew about them, not that it was a well-kept secret, but it was confirmed now. He tried to leave Emma, but she yanked his hand back, refusing to let go.

“Drake. You can’t leave me, not now.” He glanced nervously at Mara, but she kept her eyes ahead. He nodded and followed Emma into her room, holding her, gently tracing small circles on her back to try and help her fall asleep. He ended up falling asleep first, every time Emma closed her eyes she saw Justin pointing the gun at her, the vision of Drake haunting her every thought. They traveled to the palace the next day, everyone still shaken by what had occurred in the vault, Lucretia being transferred to a secure location where she could be interrogated. Drake refused to leave Emma’s side, both of them scared that Anton was lurking around every corner. She couldn’t bring herself to tell Drake about it, she knew it would hurt him than he already had been, she could feel Drake’s pain in that vision, she knew neither of them would be able to survive losing the other. She couldn’t let him out of her site until Anton was found. Olivia hardly left Liam’s side, needing the comfort more than she cared to admit, and trying to figure out a way to annul her marriage to Anton. After a week, Mara had a security briefing ready for them, everyone meeting in one of the dining halls. Maxwell blamed himself, the Beaumont’s had been the one to hire Justin, but the truth was he had fooled everyone and so there was no one to blame. Anton saw an opening to get close to the Royal court and he took it.

“I shudder to think what could have happened if he got to you before you and Emma are married before there’s an heir.” The weight of Regina’s words hitting everyone, she didn’t know about Drake and Emma, they hadn’t had the heart to tell her as she and Constantine were so excited for Liam. They would need to be married and produce an heir quickly if Anton wasn’t caught. That put even more pressure on her, and pressure on Drake, all of them would be forced into the role of parents even if they weren’t ready. Even if they hadn't figured out how it was going to work long term.

“Yes, that’s concerning.” Liam mumbled.

“It must be the reason for ancient ascension laws, to counteract schemes like this.” Olivia flinched at Regina’s words, even if she wasn’t behind this, she couldn’t help but feel responsible as it was her husband and aunt plotting it all without her knowledge.

“What’s the plan then? How are we going to stop Anton from attacking again?” Emma was still anxious, she wanted this whole ordeal to be over with.

“Your duchy. We haven’t yet been on the tour and I doubt they will be expecting us to go there.” Everyone nodded their approval, Emma was excited to see her duchy finally, Valtoria. On the drive there, Emma found herself daydreaming about what it would look like. Was it grand? Was it quaint and homey? Nothing she could dream up compared to it once they finally arrived. She squeezed Drake’s hand as she looked out the window, a gleaming lake spread out in front of them, a luscious forest at the edge of her duchy, and a large, but simple estate designed to look like a castle in the center of it all. Before they could get two steps up the drive, a woman dressed in a suit greeted them, introducing herself as Gladys. She showed them around the estate and grounds, Emma’s duchy had it all. Stables, a menagerie, the beautiful estate, a lake, and of course the forest. In the grand hall though, Emma was blown away by the throne’s beauty, but it left a sour taste in her mouth, a reminder that she would have to sit on a throne beside Liam instead of on Drake’s lap as they curled up together in the room around her. Gladys ended the tour with the master bedroom, she wanted to show just her and Liam something, but Emma insisted everyone stay. If it was something meant to be private, she wanted Drake there with her. Gladys led her and Liam out to a balcony before quietly stepping away.

“I believe this is for you and Drake.” Liam whispered before slipping away, Drake joining her there on the balcony, looking out over her duchy. The hills turned into mountains, the lake going as far as the eye could see.

“It’s perfect.” She breathed out. Drake grabbed her waist and pulled her close to him.

“I could see this being our home someday. After the press has died down, you and I can slip away from the palace and live here, returning when we’re needed.” Emma’s heart ached, she wanted nothing more than that with Drake, but it felt like it would never happen, like it was all a fantasy.

“Drake, my home is in your eyes, your arms, your heartbeat. You’re my home, it doesn’t matter where we are. I love you.” He leaned down to kiss her softly, resting his forehead against hers. Sometimes he still didn’t believe she had picked him, that he could have gotten so lucky as to have someone as amazing as Emma love him.

“I love you too Em.” Later, her friends spread out as they explored the rest of the estate, Emma found Drake out in the stables, she knew it was where he felt calmest.

“Hey you.” He turned and smiled, continuing to brush one of the horses.

“This place is huge Barnes. A little overwhelming.”

“I know what you mean, I feel like I’ve barely seen any of it, even after the tour.” Drake turned to her with a mischievous grin on his face.

“Feel like taking a private tour with me?”

“I think you already know the answer to that.” Drake saddled up the horses, he and Emma riding off into a forest trail. They followed the trail to a clearing by a large lake, Emma and Drake jumping off their horses.

“It still doesn’t feel real.” Emma looked at Drake confused. “I can’t believe that you chose me, that this is all yours, that you’re still the same woman I fell in love with despite it all.” Emma smiled and grabbed Drake’s hand, giggling as he spun her around so her back was to him.

“It’s ours Drake, no matter who I’m married to, everything I have, including my heart will always belong to you.” Drake began swaying and kissed her, he felt reassured by her words, he hated that he let his fears keep ruining moments like this for him. They broke away breathless, Emma very aware of his hands now lingering on her hips.

“It still feels weird Barnes.”

“We could always build ourselves a cabin here, add a porch where we can sit in our rocking chairs and stare out at the water.” Drake began kissing down her neck, pulling on her ear lobe with his teeth, his hot breath tickling her ear.

“I like that idea Barnes.” His hands wandered down her leg, and back up, his nails and rough calluses dragging against the sensitive skin inside her thighs. He slowly unbuttoned her pants, Emma gasping as his hands slid into her pants, teasing her over her thong.

“Drake.” She tried to turn to face him, but he held her in place, his hand pushing her panties aside to tease her clit. Emma moaned and leaned back into Drake, his bulge pushing against her. Emma lost herself in his touch, Drake too focused on the sound of Emma’s moans to notice that the sun had gotten quite low since they left.

“Drake.” Emma was so close, he knew it too, they were so focused on each other, they didn’t hear the horse approaching.

“Emma, Drake, we were wor-Oh!” Emma and Drake jumped apart, Liam staring at them with a scowl on his face. Emma turned, her cheeks bright red, as she buttoned up her pants.

“I, um, well everyone was worried because we couldn’t find you and then noticed some horses were missing. We should head back before it’s too dark.” Liam turned to ride away.

“Liam!” Emma called after him, but he was already gone. She turned to Drake and sighed, they could never seem to get the timing right.

“I guess we should go.” He helped her back onto her horse and followed her, heading back towards the estate. Emma slept alone that night and for the first time since Lythikos she got a good night's sleep, but Hana was pounding on her door early the next morning. She had invited her parents to the lighting festival tomorrow and they had accepted, she hadn't seen them since she blatantly disobeyed them, she was worried to say the least. They walked down to the boutique together, Emma attempting to calm her friends’ nerves. Bertrand was late, but he already had the perfect dress picked out for her as always. It was meant to represent her house sigil, a phoenix. It was a high neck, blue, orange and red hues all mixed together with gold swirls accenting her chest. A long cape flowing behind the dress, it even had a matching hat, but she felt absolutely ridiculous wearing it so she left it at the boutique. Emma tried to leave and go check on last minute preparations, but Bertrand followed her around, lecturing her about anything and everything he could think of.

“Are you going to lecture me about safe sex too Bertrand? Or do you think Drake and I are responsible enough?” She snapped, Bertrand's eyes grew wide as Emma's hands flew to her mouth, realizing what she had just said. As if it couldn't get any worse, Drake chose that moment to walk into the room. Bertrand didn't know about Emma and Drake, he'd be pissed, cat was out of the bag now though.

“You slept with the commoner?! Are you trying to ruin the Beaumont house name? What about Liam?”

“So, I'm not good enough for Emma because I'm a commoner, but you're somehow good enough for my sister?”

“No, I, that's not what I meant Drake.” Bertrand was scrambling for the right words.

“I love Drake and that's never going to change no matter what anyone thinks. Liam and I have had an arrangement since New York. I'm marrying him to keep my friends, the people I love, and Cordonia safe. You of all people should know that status doesn't matter! It wasn't fair of you to place the responsibility of keeping your house afloat on me, you got what you wanted anyways, so just leave us be Bertrand.” he stood there for a moment shocked, Emma had never spoken to him that way, no one ever had. He shuffled away, and Drake turned to Emma.

“That was so hot, and this dress is absolutely stunning on you. If I didn't know better I'd say you were trying to kill me Barnes.” he said trying to distract himself from the anger towards Bertrand rising in him.

“I can always take it off.” She leaned in and whispered. Drake pretended to collapse, and Emma rolled her eyes at him.

“That would surely kill me Barnes because you're drop dead gorgeous.” He leaned in for a kiss, but Emma turned away, noticing Liam entering the room.

Tag List:  @notoriouscs @brightpinkpeppercorn @ooo-barff-ooo@leelee10898@princesstopgun@choicesyouplayandmore@sleepwalkingelite@roonarific   @indigo39@skyila@speedyoperarascalparty @andy-loves-corgis@furiousherringoperatortoad@drakewalkerfics@findingdrake@sue9659@smritysriv@larryssunflower@likethetailofacomet@zaffrenotes@mrsdrakewalkerblog @agent-bossypants @endlessly-searching-for-you   @cgd03

Next time: Get ready for some good smut, since I left ya’ll with that awful cliffhanger and start of this chapter 

[pinkletterday]

Carry On

Fandom: Arrow

Pairing: None. Gen.

Rating: All Audiences

Characters: Oliver Queen, William Queen

Warning: death, violence, Oliver Queen's never ending trauma conga line.

Summary: Oliver's favourite Christmas movie is It's A Wonderful Life. But not for the reason anyone would think.

A/N: I know gen fic and character studies aren't very popular but this is still one of my favourite works.

Read on AO3

Everyone jokes that Oliver's favourite Christmas movie is Die Hard. Only Thea knows that it's actually It's A Wonderful Life.

Beause not only is he a secret cheeseball and a sucker for domestic tradition, but also the idea of your existence meaning so much to so many people, touching other people's lives without ever knowing it, has always called to him.

As the Queen heir he'd been given so many speeches about expectations, responsibility and leadership and none of the direction that should have accompanied them. Which meant he had grown up floundering with a paralyzing terror of fucking up completely and being a disappointment. In typical Ollie fashion he had coped with this by deliberately becoming a disappointment and screw up. Failing by not trying is always much more comforting than trying and failing, because then you'd have to deal with proof of your inherent inadequacy. But then you also have to deal with the fact that you aren't doing much good in the world and the resultant complete lack of self-esteem.

So Ollie, every Christmas, would pretend to be humouring his Mom or Thea but secretly love watching the old black and white movie.

*

After he is shipwrecked, the island doesn't offer time or room for existential crises beyond "are you going to live or not?" All he can think about is coming back home.

And he does - in secret, with Amanda Waller's gun to his head, and it's the nightmare cousin to the movie. Not a world aching for the void of his existence but one left uprooted and devastated by its sudden end and the choices that led to it. It's a hell of a way to realize his life has always had value simply by virtue of continuing in the world. Because a dead man can't affect anything, whether he is a saint or a sinner, but a living one can seek redemption. Mistakes can be learned from, relationships can be rebuilt. The value of a life is in its living, not in an arbitrary scale of cosmic judgement.

That is the second turning point in Ollie's life.

The third one is little Akio dying in his arms. He has finally given his all to one purpose and failed as shatteringly and absolutely as one person can possibly fail. His worst nightmare come to fruition.

Yes, Oliver Queen, sneers the universe. You are fundamentally a fuck up.

What then is the point of continued living? Of trying to go home? Of doing anything? He had chosen to survive. For what? All he's good for is fighting and fucking up. Why is he not dead? Because he's just lucky and there's no real reason for any of it?

Amanda picks him out of the gutter he had drunk himself into and drops him back in hell for the second time. And suddenly, he discovers slavery, magic and a flame-slender hope in Taiana. Not only is the world a whole lot bigger, deeper and more unfathomable than he had ever believed possible, but while he was fucking around trying to find reasons to continue, there had been people gripping the tether of life with both bloodied hands and snarling defiance at pure evil. And those people were being cut down. Taiana, with her gentle hands and fierce hope, begs for death at his hands, and as her neck snaps so does something inside him.

Fuck good and evil and fuck reasons.

He wants blood.

The thing he turns into in Moscow should have scared him shitless. It doesn't. There is an exhilarating freedom in becoming this single-minded, lowering beast that can kill without second thought or remorse. There is only Kovarr and his promise to Taiana, there is only the face of evil and his determination to end it. And if he fails again, well. He and Taiana are both dead anyway.

He is completely at home in the freezing cold, the human scum and the blood and bullets, exchanging favours with the Bratva. His heart is quiet and his mind is alive. Oliver Queen is dead at the hand of Kapushin and it feels. So. Good.

He doesn't realize that this too is childish arrogance. The life of a beast is simple, but man always triumphs over even the most dangerous fangs and claws nature can create because man thinks. Oliver tries to be a beast to end a beast but Kovarr proves to be very much a man and brings Oliver under his heel.

But Kovarr is a man and therefore arrogant and sadistic. He lets Oliver escape.

He has tried being a hero, he doesn't even have to try to be a fuck up and now he realizes that he definitely is not cut out to be an animal. What is he supposed to be, then?

Talia Al Ghul answers. Be a weapon.

A weapon only has a target. A mission, an objective and an end result. Good or bad is not the point, but the fact of its completion.

The rush of endorphins that accompanies each kill bears no relevance to his skill as an archer. The desperate pleading in a man's eyes has no bearing on doing what needs to be done. Failure simply means refocusing his sights.

Accountability, responsibility, initiative. The Queen family name. The sins of his father burns a hole in the notebook against his breast as he leaves Kovarr's corpse behind on the island and swings back to Starling, purpose burning in his eyes.

He has a mission from his father. And finally, after a foolish misspent boyhood and incompetent, selfish youth, he finally has the direction he needs.

He is going to make a difference.

*

He doesn't watch A Wonderful Life that Christmas. It means nothing to him.

*

He learns some important things that year.

First of which is that a man is not a weapon. He can be like a weapon. But there is a significant difference between the two.

A man can be hurt when the woman he loves looks at him in fear.

A man can be faced with equally dire choices and still choose wrong.

A man can fail so horribly that he lets a city collapse on top of a thousand people.

A man's heart can break when his best friend dies in his arms.

It is only his bow that does not weep.

*

Lian Yu is a harsh refuge, but it offers no more answers than it ever did. He's kind of sick of himself by the time Digg and Felicity parachute in to confront him. And they're right. He has to go in some direction from this point on, since going back seems to be going nowhere. He comes back to the city, tries to focus on his family, and the city sucks him back into its greedy maw.

He watches the movie that year, haunted by Shado and Sara. Haunted by himself, really. There was a reason his younger self loved this movie. Who was that younger self? What had it been trying to tell him? Everything seems imbued with meaning and frustratingly elusive.

His mother dies. He's tired. He would like to follow her now. But they don't let him.

They win the city. They lose Sara. Barry wakes up with powers and he suddenly realizes those unfathomable forces he had glimpsed in Lian Yu are about to crash upon the world in his wake like a tsunami, devastating and changing the world order.

And every Christmas he watches It's A Wonderful Life almost religiously, clinging to it like a tether to - what? He doesn't know. The memories of his parents snuggling on the couch beside him, Tommy sprawled at his feet and little Thea on his lap? But Robert had been cheating on Moira even then, Thea had been conceived of Malcolm and they had been plotting terrible things, unbeknownst to him and Tommy. Was any of it ever real?

*

After the island blows up and Samantha dies, William comes to live with him. That Christmas it's just the Queens in Oliver's apartment, even Raisa having gone home for the holidays.

Oliver is watching his favourite Christmas movie alone in the living room, Thea's head in his lap. She's sleeping, fresh from the hospital and still needing rest and care. But they had gotten a small Christmas tree, despite William's lukewarm interest and there are some presents under it.

Oliver hears the soft pad of his son's feet on the hardwood but does not turn around. He continues eating popcorn and watching Clarence and George Bailey.

"What're you watching?"

"Hey, buddy," Oliver carefully turns around. "Can't sleep?"

William shrugs. "You like old movies?"

"Just this one." Oliver waits for William to tentatively sit on the edge of the couch near Thea's feet. "Ever watched It's A Wonderful Life?"

"Nah. Mom said it was too cheesy."

Oliver huffs a laugh. "I guess it is, a little."

"How come you like it?" William looks at him, bemused, as though he cant imagine Arrow Dad liking saccharine Christmas movies.

"Well, I used to watch it with my parents and your Aunt Thea when I was a kid."

"You're not a kid anymore," William observes.

"No," Oliver says, "but the message is still important."

"What's that?" His son's young voice has no business being so derisively bitter. "Be glad you're alive?"

"That," Oliver says steadily, even as his heart aches. "But also -"

The words come gently, as though the knowledge had been safely stored inside him until just this moment.

"It means don't be conceited. That no matter how much you may have fuc- messed up - you still matter. Your life isn't about you - or not just about you. It's about how by just living, well or badly, you change other people's lives. Sometimes for the worse," and Oliver can't help the stab in his heart as he looks at William, "but sometimes you can turn even that around for the better."

"It means everything you do matters," Oliver says, and then forces himself to relax when his son startles at the sudden vehemence, "to other people. And to think about them means to think about yourself too. It means that you matter, William," he has to swallow past the lump in his own throat as his son's eyes begin to shimmer. "You will always, always matter."

He reaches out a hand but William ducks under his arm and buries his soft head in Oliver's shoulder. Sitting under the glow of the tree lights, his son's tears on his neck and Thea's head heavy on his lap, Oliver feels his loves, past and present surround him, the ghost of the boy he was fading into the glowing memory of a Christmas fireside. And something in his heart finally loosens, lightens and tumbles free.

End

[willag42]

Yuri!!! On Ice Fanfic Recs with Reviews  ["A” Authors]

Note: Doing some major reformating of the YOI fanfic rec pages. The pages that include my reviews are now having the posts separated alphabetically by author (see below). I am also creating separate page(s) that allow filtering the fanfics by category. It's a work in progress, but I'm having fun with it.

This page includes my YOI fanfic recs (with reviews) for authors whose names begin with "A".

Note: For any authors whom I don't know the gender, I refer to them with they/them. If any authors wish to correct me, please do so.

AUTHORS REC PAGES: #0-9 -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- Q -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W -- X -- Y -- Z

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Refer to this masterlist for all of my YOI fanfic recs.

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ADreamingSongbird (@adreamingsongbird)

If you’re in the mood for some adorable, wholesome ship fics (friendship or romantic), then look no further than ADreamingSongbird’s fics. The character interactions are sure to leave you with a few extra cavities. I am particularly attached to the close friendship she paints between Yuuri and Phichit. But don’t be fooled, because she is equally crafty at twisting your heart into an agonizing, unrecognizable mess.

#bffs4lyfe

Rating: Gen Words: 10.6k Status: Complete Relationship: Platonic Phichit+Yuuri; (side) Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov Tags: BFFs; Detroit pre-canon; post-canon Yuuri/Victor wedding ❤❤❤❤❤  Summary: Detroit holds a special place in Phichit Chulanont's heart, mostly because that's where he met the boy who would become his lifelong best friend. Wait, no, scratch that - Detroit doesn't hold a special place in Phichit's heart. Yuuri Katsuki does. ❤❤❤❤❤  Review: Did I mention how much I love how she writes the friendship between Yuuri and Phichit? Because I really do.

The Rules for Lovers

Rating: Mature Words: 323.3k Status: Complete Relationship: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov Tags: Fantasy AU; Historical fantasy; Magic; War; Survivor's guilt; PTSD; Falling in love ❤❤❤❤❤  Summary: Prince Yuuri Katsuki has a duty to his country, above all else (his desires, his dreams, and his happiness included), and he knows this alliance will help to ensure the safety of his people. That’s the only reason he accepts Prince Nikiforov’s hand in marriage. The pleasant surprise, of course, is the part where they fall in love along the way. The unpleasant one, well... That’s a long story. ❤❤❤❤❤  Review: This is perhaps my favorite urban fantasy YOI fanfic, using modern technology but mixing in magic and monarchies. There's a lot of political intrigue, attempted assassinations, and murderous plots, which leads to a lot of dark, heavy angst, but the core of the story is LOVE. Warm, heartbreaking, self-sacrificing, but always present. And before all the angst started kicking in double-time, the sappy fluff was at tooth-rotting levels. Yuuri and Viktor are super soft in this story, building a fluffy, innocent relationship. The maturity rating is earned by the dark themes and twisted, manipulative plots by the antagonists rather than anything by the main protagonists. The series also contains a collection of side stories, mosaic, if you're wanting more from this universe. One of the best royalty AUs in the fandom.

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Adrianna99 (@iwritebetterthanispeak)

Prodigy

Rating: Teen Words: 122.1k Status: Complete Relationship: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov Tags: Alternate universe; Alternate profession; Music; Violist Yuuri; Violinist Viktor; Fluff; Angst; Minor injuries ❤❤❤❤❤  Summary: Viktor Nikiforov is the most talented young violinist in the world, so he's understandably devastated when an injury prevents him from playing professionally for at least a year. But when his mentor suggests he take on a student to keep from getting rusty, Viktor finds new inspiration in a place he never thought he would: a violist. Viktor Nikiforov wasn't at all what Yuuri expected, and when he accepts the older man's offer to help him win the most prestigious musical competition in the world, Yuuri gets a lot more than he bargained for. ❤❤❤❤❤  Review: Another fanfic that adapts the series into an alternate profession but makes several unique changes and improves upon the ending of the original series (if you've read any of my other reviews, you can probably guess exactly how it improves upon the original series' ending). That's obviously not the only reason to love this fanfic. The characters are a softer than their original counterparts, including Yuri, who I really sympathized with in the beginning when Viktor decides to take over as Yuuri's mentor. The fic places emphasis on pathos and developing the relationships between the characters. One wonderful aspect is how much presence Phichit has, since he and Yuuri continue living in an apartment together with Viktor in a separate apartment. As such, we get to see a growing friendship between Viktor and Phichit. The romance between Yuuri and Viktor blooms sooner in the story as well. Adrianna99 has written additional short side stories for this series that are also worth a look: Prodigy: Mirror Image, which approaches chapter 2 from Viktor's POV; and Prodigy: Phone Home, which is an extra from chapter 3 where Yuuri contacts his family. If you want to read a story that takes cues from the original anime, but goes its own path, definitely check this story out!

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AlexWSpark (@alexwspark)

Alex has an interesting, softer (but not too soft) interpretation of the characters that I really appreciate. The original anime is a comedy, so it amplifies certain character quirks “4 teh lulz,” but Alex takes care to not over-exaggerate, which can make some characters more likeable (*cough*Yurio*cough*). But don’t worry, Victor and Yuuri are still big pining messes. Alex also takes great care to develop healthy bonds between the characters in their stories, which is always A+++!

The Katsuki/Nikiforov Collector's Edition + DLC (Series, 4 works)

On Online and Offline Love Rating: Mature -- Words: 32.8k -- Status: Complete -- Summary: Gaming/Streaming AU: In which Yuuri and Victor are gamers, head over heels for each other, and hoping to one day come face-to-face. Of course, when two whipped, adorable fluff-balls are involved, shenanigans ensue...

On Bedhead, Bullets, and Bargains Rating: Mature -- Words: 18.2k -- Status: WIP -- Summary: Yuuri (GamerLevelEros) and Victor (GAria_VNikiforov): Gamers, streamers, friends, lovers. Families will unite, love will be spread and, of course, games will be played. But, as their relationship progresses, Yuuri will discover that their time apart carries much more weight that he could've ever imagined.

Our Aim is True Rating: Mature -- Words: 6.2k -- Status: Complete -- Summary: Yuuri (GamerLevelEros) and Victor (GAria_VNikiforov) are THE streaming power couple and as they approach their one-year anniversary, Yuuri decides that it's time to add another life-changing plot twist to his collection.

Katsuki/Nikiforov DLC - A Collection of Tumblr Drabbles Rating: Mature -- Words: 13.3k -- Status: WIP -- Summary: Tumblr drabbles based on HCs/prompts from both myself and followers. ❤❤❤❤❤  Words: 70.4k Status: Work In Progress Relationship: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov Tags: Gaming/Streaming AU; Video games; Mutual pining; Fluff; Dorks in love ❤❤❤❤❤  Review: An amazing gaming AU series with a wonderful light-hearted story where Yuuri and Victor are Ye Ol’ Gaming Gods on Twitch who fanboy one another and live, breathe, and think in game metaphors. Like, seriously, I am deeply impressed with all the corny yet fantastic gaming analogies. It’s like living in a gaming otaku’s head. Gaming fans will understand more of the references, but this is a wonderful series of fics that can be loved and enjoyed by all. If you are seriously a fan of Victor and Yuuri being pining dorks, then you should definitely check this one out!

Unexpected

Rating: Explicit Words: 65.5k Status: Complete Relationship: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov Tags: Canon divergence; Victor knows that Yuuri does not remember the banquet ❤❤❤❤❤  Summary: Banquet AU: In which one impulsive midnight decision leads Victor Nikiforov to Yuuri Katsuki and, of course, everything changes, a.k.a Drunk!Yuuri has no chill, a.k.a Victor experiences #allthefeels. ❤❤❤❤❤  Review: One of the better canon divergence fics I’ve read. This only takes place up through the first regional competition, but it’s able to keep the characters and situation fresh by changing the order of event and have the characters be more mature and likeable. Yuuri’s anxiety still causes trouble, but he is more open to Victor’s presence and they form a friendly bond quicker; Victor is aware that Yuuri doesn’t remember the banquet and reacts with care; and Yurio is way less of an asshole. I love this spin on the story.

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Anonymous

Across the Universe

Rating: Teen Words: 30.7k Status: Complete Relationship: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov Tags: Multiverse AU; Dimension travel; Soulmates AU ❤❤❤❤❤  Summary: In an alternative universe, Yuuri has just won the GPF at Sochi — and he’s miserable. He lost everything that mattered to him several years ago when a tsunami hit Hasetsu, and after throwing himself into his skating, he’s achieved gold, but the win is hollow without others there to share it. Things change when he’s transported to another universe, where GPF champion Victor Nikiforov is about to drown himself in the Black Sea. According to legend, only those with a deep connection can draw someone from across the universe. But Yuuri and Victor have never met before in their respective worlds; perhaps someone out there knew how much they needed each other. ❤❤❤❤❤  Review: I love both the premise and the execution of this fic. In Yuuri's universe, Victor and all of his family and friends from Hasetsu are dead. He's achieved a gold medal in Sochi but his life feels hollow. In Victor's universe, Yuuri was the one who died in the tsunami (though everyone else survive), and Victor is feeling hopeless. In their moment of need, Yuuri is transported across dimensions to Victor's universe, a common occurrence within that universe such that systems are already in place to help such people adapt and create a new life there if they wish or to be sent back. Victor's universe is fascinating in that it's more technologically advanced at that point, despite the year being the same, but competitive skating is trailing with quads still not being a thing. I like the take on how both Yuuri and Victor agree that this is actually a good thing since quads damage skaters' bodies and wear the joints down even more quickly. Yuuri puts on his performances that won him the GPF a few times, but decides to stick to the universe's rules so that he can focus on the performance more. There are a lot of struggles with adapting to the new world, but overall, it ends up healing everyone. As soulmates, Victor and Yuuri eventually find life and love with one another and soothe each other's broken souls.