#but yeah. i consider ghost to be like a robot who has just started to develop sentience and emotions

[moved-to-mettatonsbestie]

You know what. I DO wanna know about the religious imagery with Mettaton. Tell me all about it *laying on my chest kicking my feet up in the air*

@therowansweeps @mtt-brand-idiot

Let us start with his name. Remember that majority of the names in Undertale/Deltarune are very particular, whether it be for a funny joke or something with a dual meaning (ex: Toriel is just Tutorial, Undyne being Undying, etc). The etymology is rather important with characters, and Mettaton is certainly no exception. His name is most likely derived from the angel Metatron, found in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. He was one of the only two humans to attain Heaven in the form of an angel, he was originally a righteous man named Enoch who was gifted with the form of an angel by God once he died. Now, the names being similar could very well be a coincidence, but one must also take note of the fact that Metatron is transliterated as MTT in Greek; which is too much of a coincidence to not be intentional.

So... his name is taken from an angel, which is already an allusion to the notion of deities and religion. Furthermore, this angel in particular is a rather interesting candidate to be compared with Mettaton... Both of these figures were something else entirely before they obtained their true forms, and changed their name along the way. They have even further parallels when you look at the name's meaning and Mettaton's actions. Metatron is most likely derived from the verb memater, which means to guard or protect; very striking when one considers the fact that Mettaton is very much a protector in Genocide/No Mercy Route; he quite literally gives his life to protect the Underground, as a guardian angel would do.

Furthermore, he is quite literally a celebrity, an idol. He even says it himself, he is the idol everyone craves. This is a double entendre, referring to him being a celebrity or figure to look up to, or a literal deity. Deities are all considered idols, they are to be worshipped; the very notion is entirely what his character is about. He loses his humanity, he is no longer a person. Hell, he is not even seen as alive, in his quest to be the true idol for humanity and monsterkind. He is worshipped and adored, yet is it genuine? Do the people know and love the real him? No. He is the heater, the Underground's sexiest rectangle, he is seen as just a robot. He is complacent in this, yet to hide his past and help Alphys he gave his humanity away.

It is a rather cruel twist on the story of Metatron actually... Metatron was given a wonderful gift by his creator, God gave him immortality and the blessing of being truly holy. This transformation into something else was divine, yet the same cannot be said about Mettaton. He was given the body of his dreams, yet it will never come without a terrible cost. His humanity and agency was given away, he even got used for functions he would be completely against; such as his creator giving him human eradication functions to "make him more useful", something the human loving ghost would never agree to until the last possible moments in a Pacifist run. Regardless, Mettaton falls into both the categories of being the idol and being God's pawn, which is rather interesting.

And of course... he is not without true fans either, take Spamton for example. Spamton supposedly spent all of his time praying to an artifact, the very machine that created NEO; which evidently has direct ties towards Mettaton NEO. I honestly never played the Spamton NEO fight yet, so I cannot comment too much on it, however Mettaton is quite literally an overworld being being unknowingly worshipped and prayed to by someone who resides below; this blind faith being found in every religion.

So yeah... Whether it was directly intentional or not, Mettaton as a whole has a decent amount of religious imagery and themes with his character that it becomes rather important to properly dissect him fully. I barely remember writing any of this, he probably possessed me and made me write this.

[ojamayellow]

Earthspark spoilers. It's time for my opinions and theories.

Before I start, I am aware of the writers changing. I will put that into consideration in this. And for the record, I did enjoy Season 2 so far, but I admit it has nothing on S1 for now.

First two episodes were really good, I loved the Breakdad moments, I love Aftermath and we get a glimpse on how the Decepticons have been operating. 2nd episode with the Quintesson gave us some lore and suspense, and I always love a Mo and Thrash tag team. These episodes felt... right for Earthspark, but not as Season 2 starters? If that makes sense.

Hashtag's alt mode is neat, but I miss her chunkiness in robot mode. Made her feel more distinct you know? But I'm with the others saying VAL being an AI in Hashtag's mind is really weird considering what Mandroid did. Maybe she's coping? I have a theory that this VAL might be manipulated in a future episode to control Hashtag, but for the sake of Hashtag's well-being, I HOPE this doesn't happen. (Also, hi Shockwave).

Carnival episode. Is Schloder reduced to an incidental now? I hope not and that he becomes important as well. But also, I figure its a traveling carnival/circus, which makes sense to why we haven't seen this Fairemaestro before, and the little interaction with Swindle shows up 'oh yeah he's a bad guy' already. But you can't just tease a GIANT COSMOS-LOOKING RIDE AND THEN 'OH BTW ITS COSMOS' LAST FEW MINUTES. If Cosmos doesn't show up in later episodes I'll be so disappointed, like...it's freakin' Cosmos! <-Perfect design though. *chef kiss*

I do think the Robby crush on Izzy was cute, but it being involved with the plot felt....eh? It was like, nothingburger to me.

JBAM episode. I LOVED THEM. Jawbreaker has clearly gotten more comfortable with himself and such since Grimlock, but him not taking a hint from Aftermath (who was being direct) reminds me of my younger self. <-Was an insane chatterbox and would not shut up no matter what was said to me.

But the contaminated energon stuff like, yeah callback to that weird bear. Sorry if I forgot, but back in S1, was there a reason GHOST was just leaving it around? I don't remember. And what's with the horrific energon mushrooms, and those poor animals? I know people who are going to be turned off from this show just from that alone, but at least it's 'off screen'? But also Aftermath betraying Jawbreaker hurts, I was hoping he'd like, impress Breakdown with the stolen water BUT NOPE, NO MORE AFTERMATH AND BREAKDAD STUFF. (I know Aftermath was like, not 'what did you just call me' when he was called Son but, cmon!!)

Spitfire episode. I personally think this episode went hard. Gave me Sonic VS Metal Sonic vibes. The fight scenes were really done well, and the tension was so good! To me, Spitfire wanted to be superior but felt inferior when not chosen for the mission, so that desire to be the best consumed her. I'm personally a big fan of this episode, and Alex is awesome. And so was Spitfire, I'm kinda obsessed with her.

Bodyswap episode. Always love a good bodyswap scenario, but somehow this felt... weak. It's plausible for the others to believe Spitfire (as Twitch) had a scrambled processor from the previous episode BUT the fact Wheeljack was the first to catch on? Before a Malto? I'm SO GLAD they referred to Dad2 again but, IDK, feels... strange to me.

Trailer episode. Was kinda nothingburger again? It felt like they needed to add SOMETHING before the horrors of the final two episodes, but maybe I just need to re-watch it because I didn't feel much from it. Optimus was clearly getting aggravated and uncomfortable, which was making me uncomfortable. But also, OPLITA? COMPLICATED? If they don't ever bring this up again I might be a bit...bitter.

And finally, the Witwicky 2-Parter. My anxiety was through the roof here, but I also kinda figured it out early that a Titan was involved. Was still surprised though, and her design is awesome?! But what was making me panic more than anything was Hashtag was going to see Starscream. Yes I know, a one-episode bond may not mean much, but we all had hopes, yeah? Anyway, I love nasty bitch Starscream. It's what makes him Starscream. And I do think what he did was in-character. But it would feel off if Earthspark was someone's introduction to Starscream, you know? This specific one, who's attitude told the audience 'I hate Megatron he abused me so I'd be a better leader than him'. But also...

The scene with him killing the Chaos Terrans was a fucking horror movie. It does a lot when I am SCARED OF STARSCREAM. I wish he didn't do it, but he also needed the shards. If the Autobots/Maltos needed the shards from the Terrans, how would they do it? Would they hesitate to find a safer way to keep the Chaos Terrans alive? Or would there be some sort of urgency? It really makes me think, but Starscream wanted those shards ASAP, he does what he need to do to get what he wants, he's Starscream. A manipulative, traitorous bitch who almost never gets his way in the end.

But you might be wondering, "Kit did you feel like the character development was thrown away for Starscream?" Well, yes and no.

It's really upsetting how Starscream twisted his advice to Hashtag. Truly upsetting. But it also does feel like something a Starscream would do. I keep flip-flopping between "yeah this makes sense" and "um what the FUCK writers". See what I mean by "yes and no?" And Hashtag calling Starscream worse than Megatron AND Screamer taking it as a compliment? Again, very Starscream thing to do, but I think ES! Starscream should've been at least a bit offended?! And out of all bots to call him the worst... Why did it have to be Hashtag? I guess it has more 'meaning', but still...

My theory (or moreso, hopeful thinking) is that Starscream re-invented his advice to Hashtag so he could get detached from her. Starscream had a mission, a personal selfish goal, and he needed to take care of HIMSELF, no friendship. Only comrades willing to follow him, and the Maltos were not those comrades.

My other theory (which I gained from seeing someone on twitter saying this) is that the Chaos Terrans DIDN'T GREY OUT FROM DEATH. Therefore, there is a chance they can return. Maybe something from the Allspark or Matrix or some kinda macguffin will help?! And I sure hope they come back, because they could learn to be good (but still cheeky) and we can bring back the messages and theming from Season 1! Right, right?

As for 'Starscream the child killer'...look, it's upsetting I know. But like I said, selfish goals. And while I am not familiar with every Starscream from different canons, I've met enough versions. Other Starscreams have have committed war crimes, blew up a human hospital, threatened to kill innocents, committed war crimes, wanted to kill everyone to end a war, squished humans in his servos... (yes I know Skybound is more for an adult audience than kids but I'm just saying). War crimes. I am not excusing Starscream's actions here, but when he needs something, he'll do what it takes to get it, for his own selfish goals. It makes sense but I also feel its wrong and I agree with other fans who were quite upset with this scenario. If the Chaos Terrans don't come back I'll be really sad.

Again, I've considered the fact this show has new writers, which is unfortunate. I saw someone on here say that Season 2 (so far) feels like a bootlegged version of S1, which is how I feel about it. I did enjoy the episodes, but they were a bit messy. Also, the lack of Nightshade and honorary family member Bumblebee really made me sad. Was it a script decision, or could they not afford Danny Pudi enough because they used the money on the new cast like Flea? (Don't quote me on like, celebrity net worth here). The lack of Nightshade though is very suspicious though, considering how big of a deal it was for them to exist as a non-binary character.

Side note, Shockwave. I'm glad he finds Cybertron itself more important than creating a New Cybertron, it feels right for him to not care about Earth. But if he going to attempt to lead now? Or something?

If you read this, thanks! If you have any responses feel free to reply or reblog. Feel free to reblog in general, I love hearing opinions and such.

[freshmangojuice]

I know it’s been said before but it still fucks me up that rimmer isn’t Rimmer you know. like yeah he’s a hologram but he’s also just not rimmer. it’s not like he’s his ghost. he’s a computer simulation of the real rimmer based on his memories and personality and everything. you could make the argument that if rimmer had survived along with lister, he would react to things differently and have different opinions because even in the future a computer would still have limitations. it can’t know how he would have grown and developed as a person, it can only guess. I feel like I’m not explaining this well but do you think lister ever thinks that when he’s talking to rimmer. like this isn’t him. the real rimmer is dead. I’m talking to a computer ai right now. I’m feeling very emotional about this

I am also very emotional about this and apparently I have a lot to say about it so bear with.

Firstly, what gets me the most is although the boys act as though our Rimmer is a continuation of the Rimmer that died, he's not. He's fully not. He picks up where the dead Rimmer left off but that doesn't mean he has his soul. And even the Rimmer the nanobots brought back isn't the old Rimmer either. He's basically the same as a hologram except he's made of matter.

And the other thing I wanna talk about is that Lister for sure is cognisant of Rimmer being AI. But if he thinks about it too much he will spiral. That’s why in TPL when cat is being an asshole to Rimmer about how he doesn’t exist, it’s Lister that tells him off. I still think that moment is mostly for Rimmer’s sake, Lister knows he’s sensitive about it and how it can affect Rimmer, but it can also affect him!! He’s basically saying 'shut up don’t remind me that my best friend isn’t technically real!! Because the moment I believe that I’m screwed!'

I think also when he’s younger and Rimmer is soft light it doesn’t cross his mind at all. And if it does, it’s not that huge of a deal because he hasn’t lived like this for that long. Rimmer's a hologram run by a computer and the real Rimmer is dust, what difference does it make?

But by the time Rimmer gets his hardlight drive I think it’s around then that Lister's psyche is affected. Because they’ve been together for several years now, they’re so used to each other. And Rimmer being a hologram is totally normal, just like the cat is totally normal, and Kryten is totally normal. Even though the cat is a cat he's not a human, and Kryten is a robot. But now Rimmer can interact with and touch things, they can share meals if they want, and he’s so much more like an actual person. That's gotta be when it starts to get kinda fucked. The lines blur.

Series VIII is barely cannon to me, but Lister getting to meet nano!Rimmer, the human Rimmer that he used to know- that’s a big deal when you think about it. And we think a lot about the time difference between them and how Lister has all these wild experiences and changed as a man and this Rimmer is just back to how he was when he died and it's so weird for Lister. But what about just the fact that he's real? And the lines blur even more because now it's very clear that the Rimmer he knew was a computer simulation of a dead man. But now the dead man is his bunkmate and that's confusing.

Fast forward to BTE and if you're like me and agree the Rimmer in BTE onward is the original hologram who became Ace, then what the fuck does Lister do with that? He's clearly attached and considers him to be real, he treats him like he's a human being (as much as these two can anyway). But the difference between now and when he was 23 and they were first reunited is now Lister has all this history and confusion with this hologram of Rimmer. And deep down he knows it's AI. But he can't believe that. Because if he believes that Rimmer isn't real, then that means he's so much more alone than he's been pretending to be.

Human connection is what MAKES us. So if you can't accept that this hologram counts as a person, then you have no one. And that makes you no one.

[goodluckclove]

Writer ask game, let's go. 10, 19, 38, and 39 please c:<

Shit. Oh shit, oh fuck.

Okay yeah let's do this, Mushy.

10. Do you set yourself deadlines?

I mean I definitely used to. I've said before that I got my start in National Novel Writing in a Month, or NaNoWriMo, where you write 50k words in 30 days. The org has since proven itself to be less than reputable with its recent scandal, but I still stand by the belief that endurance sprints like that are a great way to get the muscle formed to write long-form projects. And you can just do it too, you don't need the backing of a semi-scammy nonprofit.

But now? Not really. I kind of set goals to keep work moving. I'll be like hope I finish editing by the end of this week. But I very rarely make it a hard deadline with actual...I don't know. Stakes? My brain don't work like that.

19. How do you keep yourself motivated?

I stand by the methodology of giving yourself a little reward after writing sessions, although at this point I space mine out more than I would suggest newer writers to. For me this is usually a fun drink or nice little baked good - I'm especially fond of what I refer to as a medium-fancy cake. Something with mousse. But it can be anything really.

Small breaks also help, although I am less good at keeping up with that. I actually haven't taken a full day off in like three weeks but shh don't tell anyone. I'm also very fond of reading over what I've already written and just enjoying it. Or reading books that relate to my character's interests - I'm reading a very interesting book on bird lore that I know Edgar from Songbird Elegies would love.

38. Weirdest story idea you’ve ever had

My weirdest play is probably Naked Lunch: The Musical, which follows a happy-go-lucky, classic musical lover who gets roped into adapting the essentially grindhouse experimental William S. Burroughs novel into a musical and goes a little insane in the process. He imagines himself befriending the ghost of William S. Burroughs, and the ghosts convinces him that to adapt his work properly he needs to do a lot of drugs and have a lot of gay sex, both of which go very poorly. I think Lin Manuel Miranda is mentioned as an unseen side character that my protagonist sees in the audience and threatens to beat up?

And my weirdest novel turned play is Bloodletting, which is based from a dream I had when I was detoxing off of weed - I was like addicted, not a casual stoner. I essentially dreamt that someone made me drink their blood and the blood got me high again, and from that point I developed a sort of sci-fi world where street drugs are so potent that they turn the blood of addicts into a new intoxicant that they can then sell as its own drug. I think they can also sell their blood to major medical organizations and have it used in pharmaceuticals. I still like this concept and might reuse it since I can't find the finished play it turned into.

39. Weirdest character concept you’ve ever had

Bloodletting had a romantic couple made up of a drug dealer and the AI house he was squatting in. My second novel had a leitmotif of the characters experiencing a feeling of "static" in their heads that I later on made into a sentient side character. I think I wrote a short play with a cannibalistic Guy Fieri. I started writing another play based around Sonic the Hedgehog where it was planned for Shadow to non-ironically become a rabbi, but frankly if you consider his character I do not think that's too far from canon.

I'm still percolating a project to do either alongside or after Songbird that's like Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City but with an all-robot cast. And the main character eventually transitions from a human-passing robot to some form of non-human looking machine and is much happier for it. Which I'm excited to put to paper.

[evorathesylvurr]

barks and bites and i need to share the hyperspecific lyrics in the angelacore playlist feel free to ignore

angelacore, which is a made up word i use a lot here, is my catchall word for anything that makes me think of Angela from Lobotomy Corporation/Library of Ruina.

do not expect in depth lyrical analysis on why a specific lyric makes me think of angela. this is me dropping a bunch of lyrics from 8 or 9 different songs and saying "see how this is the blue haired robot lady"

There are spoilers for both Lobotomy Corporation and Library of Ruina.

for context: the angelacore playlist was something i started after listening to Language of the Lost by RIProducer which has the following lyrics

I don't need forgiveness I just wanna talk and for you to listen

I thought that I was safe, now I'll never be the same Tossed aside for making a scene Do I know who I pretend to be? Of whom am I a copy? Yes it made me who I am, but I'll never understand Why it had to happen to me

and heres a mix of chorus lines

On my knees, I try to crawl Fire breaking in the walls Calling out for somebody, knowing I'll get no reply

If I'm a robot or a doll Am I anything at all? Maybe a thing like me doesn't yet deserve to know

and the final chorus

Not robot nor a doll I'm not anything at all I'm just an entity finding out the way to go But these fingers and these palms Full of love despite the scars They show indisputably I have so much more to grow Oh, I can change, I can evolve I can get up when I fall I'll live contentedly, I don't need a reason why Standing tall and standing strong I have found where I belong In the arms of somebody, there is no more need to cry

the second song on the playlist is Pathological Facade by Ghost which. yeah. (cw for medicines and medical shit if you listen to it)

A year ago, I was told that I would be a miracle Something theoretical, I guess It's kinda like a psychedelic lie, and yet it tries to be A line between the villains and the rest Nostalgia from a wall of barricaded faded memories Impartial to the carnal scenery Apparently, guarantees are only found peripherally Drinking to a total mystery

Stars always watching from afar, turning who you are In the end, it left me delicately scarred beyond pathological facade Don't you find it odd? Secretarial speaking Go on, praise me like a god

(Stars always watching from afar, turning who you are is not really important to why its in the angelacore playlist but i included it because otherwise it felt weird)

Bye-bye-bye goes the time, turning on a dime Gone without a reason or a rhyme So flip a coin, let's rejoin our family in the mirror world Where everybody's crooked by design

A year ago, I was told that I would be a miracle Something theoretical, I guess It's kinda like a psychedelic lie, and yet it tries to be A line between the villains and the rest The Tower's gonna fall, and you'll silently rebuild it all Knowing someone else would be appalled You're crying as you call out Halt and move on without someone that you think a lot about

then we have fucking Hymn for a Scarecrow by Tally Hall which I have ALWAYS considered this song angelacore.

im gonna try not to post the entire fucking song but just trust me the entire song is angelacore, here is the bit that is MORE angelacore than the rest

You hang around for a living Somewhere between all the land and the sky Being by never forgiving Nobody knows you and neither do I Birds may believe at a distance You wear a grin and keep perfectly still Driven away with persistence I wonder if they have wondered or will ever wonder Ever wonder

Mother Earth's love whispered to me (and it wasn't her fault) Real is a feeling and feeling is real All of you are flowing through me But you wouldn't know how to fathom or feel When the wind blows The wind knows The wind knows Oh, scarecrow Maybe the wind knows Whether you wonder Who's calling your name Shame how nobody knows you Only who wonders if you are to blame

then we have the uncanny x deathbody mashup (gore art tw).

Attuned inside, alluded, denied I feel my breath pressed into contact Undo the seal, the vague and unreal I shouldn't pry, a child sighs and hides away

hold my hand even if i cry i need to feel like i'm human through you hold on tight till the tears run dry the things i see are a dread to undo

All this time, I've waited My death was recreated So this would last forever Accepting agony Cruel indifference, lonely sufferance Returning to a time when I was still alive

and yeah while more of this falls into uncanny i feel like deathbody fits any character who falls into the "i am a robot and yet i do not wish to be" trope (for me, deathbody is a five pebbles song)

talked about this one in the last post about the angelacore playlist but this specific lyrical cover of Satori Maiden ~ 3rd Eye

Stop— Every moment trapped in someone else’s hell: No love is unconditional where there is fear to be found. If that’s the case, then it may be just as well To hide it all away underground. Stop— Though I look away, I’ve seen it all before: Another ugly truth lies behind these cold, brittle locks. Dig even deeper; there must be something more: A last hope at the bottom of the box?

had to stop from posting the entire lyrics to this but GAH its so angelacore. why is angela and satori the same character (they are objectively NOT)

now we have hello world by Louie Zong, which is the shortest little song on the list, but its there.

Hello, world Programmed to work and not to feel Not even sure that this is real Hello, world

next there's JubyPhonic's cover of Dramaturgy

Knew it already fine, misery inside At myself, I would laugh, fallen down behind But I don't know a thing, love or losing, see? So I threw to the side any human in me If I live a lie of shallow words and empty replies "Then what am I?" Hitting the walls of a stage that I couldn’t break Then it stuck to my head, gotta run away Playing out like a scene, posing every lead Near the end of the show, waiting in the wing, see? Run to the front stage, you're all actors anyway No one to watch, you're all part of the play

There’s no one inside me There's no one that's hiding Always been me, empty, a body but nobody here to see

We were young, never bound by a single sin Til before we could see, we were monsters in skin But even if I had tried to move on why can't I leave my past? "Considering it's you, better give up soon" "Cause no matter what you do, you will always lose" And then I was alone way before I knew Blocking every little thought that I couldn't sit through All they want now is safety from what's around Waiting for help but never learning how

The world that I locked out is nowhere to find The people who mocked me are gone from my sight Emotions and feelings are useless to keep The tears that had fallen were not mine to mine weep The kindness and warmth, I can't feel them at all The hands that are offered, I'm scared that I’ll fall The hole dug inside me can't hold any love Instead, you can see me break down from above Hey, remember when you saw that they were nearing their end? And you looked like you were laughing at the pain they were in But what did you see? Oh, really what could it be Well, take a breath 'cause you'll need it, so c'mon, saying

overall the song is very angelacore (because of the whole concept of dramaturgical theory

then we have Dizzy Paranoia Girl by VocaloKAT.

Expectations high from the start I’ll just mess it up “Congratulations, you fell apart” Fuck, I messed it up! They tell me I just need to grow up But I know that they think that I’m not enough Pirouette your view and you’ll see There’s no cure for burnt out and naive

Spinning all around, I think I spun out My fault by default Thoughts racing up and down, oh what to do now? Follow protocol But I hate this, I don’t wanna play ball I just wanna end this once and for all

Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Laugh through every day No matter what I do, nobody has a clue, life’s always been this way I hate hate hate hate this arbitrary game No matter what you heard, you’ll never hear the words nobody dares to say

Stab me with an IV But I know you won’t protect me And I can’t keep on ignoring When you make me wanna bleed Cynicism inbound Common sense nowhere to be found I’ll bottle up the thought that I'd be better off left underground

Think I’m at the end of a road traveled far too long And I keep screaming out the lyrics of this idiotic song Hate me just because I never wanna play along But I don’t wanna live a life where I live in the wrong

and finally, Left Behind Generation by VocaloKAT (s//cide tw according to vocaloid lyrics wiki)

Playing pretend, praying that one day this will end All of us already know the support’s for show, and they all let go Maybe one day, one day We won’t have to take our mistakes to the grave Give your heart and your soul, down to the bone, just to fight alone

So tell us How can we keep on living life? As every other person passes by We cross our hearts and hope to die another million times And if all of the effort was in vain If nothing was ever worth the pain We’ll try again Until the end

So tell me Why I should keep on living life While every other person passes by I’ll cross my heart and hope to die another million times And if all of the effort was in vain If nothing was ever worth the pain We'll sit and obey just to get thrown away

thats everything on the playlist right now. maybe one day I'll do a more in depth lyrical analysis on why these specific lyrics but. i am going to go insane if i do not post this soon.

[tanglefellau]

Y’know I never got far with this and not sure I ever will. But I like the ideas I had. Maybe I’ll write it in long form sometime, maybe not, but hey, might as well ramble to the internet, right?

The idea of TangleFell was an swapped-fell AU where monster souls could form a soul-bond with another, giving some amount of telepathy between the two monsters. These were not easily severed once made… for better or worse. There was some exception where parents and children would have temporary soul bonds that naturally withered as the children grew, but otherwise required two people to be extremely close, whether romantically or platonically.

Being Undertale, of course I started with Sans and Papyrus lol. At first glance, Chain/Sans was meant to look like he was in charge, dragging his brother Papyrus/Lock(jaw) by a leash and collar with Papyrus physically unable to speak out against it due to his jaw being wired shut… But they had a soul bond and Lock was the one calling the shots, mentally manipulating, abusing, and sometimes outright controlling his brother remotely. Chain is the more physically powerful one and is, in fact, captain of the Royal guard!!! Also they were raised by the Snowdin dogs and sometimes this shows up in them being a bit dog-like hehe.

Then I made the rest and oh boy.

The ruins… actually look pretty nice. Monsters generally don’t want to kill you and it’s full of plants (and artificial lights) thanks to exiled king Asgore. He’d try to be nice to Frisk, try to raise them, but, well…

He had a soul bond with Toriel. And Toriel has lost her damned mind. Much like with the brothers, she haunts him sometimes. Enough that, inevitably, he ends up attacking Frisk and forcing them out.

The “Flowey” of this world is Temmie… who is actually Chara. Specifically, Chara ended up as a ghost Mad-Dummy style, but with determination! Though given that magic attacks can still hit ghosts, it hasn’t helped them much except against Frisk, on occasion.

The Temmie village is replaced with Flowey village! And I think these lil guys are my FAVORITES. So you see…

Undyne, the Royal scientist using the hydroelectric power produced in waterfall, naturally experimented with determination and started using the old flowers from the queen’s gardens. Unlike in Undertale where one came to life, the Flowey came to life en masse and, gradually, started piecing themselves back together into having a sort of hive-mind/soul, each having pieces that grew soul bonds with all the other Flowey. This means the Flowey are actually very nice and childish, but dear god they are scatter brained… usually. They managed to rub enough collective brain cells together to escape en masse as well. Which you’d think would be bad given the setting, but they also know if any other are attacked. Yeah, you attack one and have a whole fucking Flowey swarm pop up around you. Monsters learned fast to leave the harmless little weirdos alone. They really like the soil in “Flowey Village” and also visiting Asgore in the ruins. He also loves them. One likes to stay in his house with him in a pot: Buttercup! He was one of the earliest to awaken. Also, instead of Tem-Speak, well… “We Flowey Can shapeshift and emote really well :D”

Undyne, as stated, is the total scientist. She considers Toriel something of a mom, and Toriel funds the science for her own gain. The fact that Undyne does surveillance only helps in Toriel’s very paranoid eyes~ She’s just as enthusiastic as in canon, though in this AU she’s kinda an electric eel mermaid (but still fishy up top? Bleh) like in that she has an eel tail and if she wants to move about on land, she often uses a robo-Walker that she powers with her own electricity! But typically she instead relies on security systems and her possessed robot propaganda machine, Napster (who is also secretly a rebel but she doesn’t know that). Bread and circuses and all that, right?

Alphys USED to be part of the Royal guard, but she started a rebellion in Hotland and intend to overthrow the queen. Unfortunately for Frisk/you, the easiest way to do that is absorbing a human soul. Tough luck kid. This means she’s at odds with her old best friend: Sans… who also hates Toriel by now, but both he and Chain are deathly terrified of her, so they work under her. Alphys is pretty, uh… well not based on a real raptor, but on the Jurassic park versions, long legs and will chase your ass down.

And… Toriel. Well, long story short, it started somewhat Undertale-like, but Asgore’s rage spilled into her and she was too clever by half in starting war against humans and preparing monsters for it. She got paranoid, got some LOVE, and just went progressively more insane. Give her one soul and she’ll leave, but in this AU, other monsters got the fallen human souls first and got the fuck out of dodge.

Finally… Frisk! They start with a bit of LOVE because they got attacked by a monster on the surface. Yeah, some escaped. Yep, it’s bad. But the sheer power of their DETERMINATION melted it. People saw that Frisk “got control” of one and chucked them down to be eaten and, hopefully, usurp control of a monster and help them with the overpowered Super beings coming from this cave. They wanted no part of this.

So… yeah. Might say stuff about plot later, but there ya go.

[leviticus101st]

Leviticus101st makes a roster for Marvel vs Capcom 4

With the upcoming Marvel vs Capcom collection, a lot of people have been hyped for a Marvel vs Capcom 4 and have been making their dream rosters for it. So I thought I’d do the same. 

I will admit my main inspiration for doing something like this is the YouTuber Thorgi's Arcade, who I do recommend ya check out especially if you're into fighting games.

Also, the reason I've been posting like this lately is because I want to get the Death Battle Kick Starter in front as many eyes as I can. So if ya can, please consider donating, it's a common joke all they do is Marvel and DC, so if you like this topic, I think you'll want to back this: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/deathbattle/save-death-battle

I’ll be going off of this image made by Dremmin (@/DreminErryDay) on Twitter for the roster size.

So, that means 30 Mahvel Babies and 30 Capsule Computer Characters.

I’m gonna start with the Capcom Characters, mainly because I want the harder one outta the way first………..Also, I want to get the stupid thing I’m gonna do outta the way.

Capsule Competitors 

Ryu (Street Fighter): No duh. It’s Ryu. Mr. Capcom Fighting Game himself. Ya gotta put him in. However, here’s my stupid plan. Ryu is going to be the only Street Fighter I’m putting on this roster.

Now hear me out, the big joke with Capcom is that they only care about a few of their franchises. Street Fighter, Resident Evil, and Monster Hunter. And those jokes are accurate, it really has just been those 3. I want to give Capcom’s other IP’s a chance to shine.

However, as a compromise to this I will be making it so fighters have costumes that make them different characters. Think Echo Fighters from Smash or the costume stuff in NRS games. The only 

For Ryu, his would be Ken, Akuma, and Sakura.

Not every costume fighter will be from the same franchise, but for Ryu, I wanted to be pretty straight forward.

Chris Redfield (Resident Evil): Yeah, I just want to get the obvious ones outta the way. His three costumes will be Leon, Jill, and Claire. 

Monster Hunter…….(Monster Hunter): I guess we could just make the costumes from other outfits from the series.

Alrighty time to get to what I actually want to do.

Dante (Devil May Cry): We’re not quite out of obvious ones yet. 

Vergil (Devil May Cry): No dur.

Nero (Devil May Cry): I haven’t talked about how any character would play yet, since all the ones i talked about so far are returning. I feel like Nero would probably hit harder than Dante, but be a bit slower. Maybe more moves featuring his robot hand.

The Arisen (Dragon’s Dogma): All I know about Dragon’s Dogma is that the theme song slaps and The Arisen is a CAC, just make them an all rounder.

Soh (Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess): The game looks cool, so I wanted to include the MC. Give her the multiple mask stuff and let her call out the villagers. Frank West (Dead Rising): The Dead Rising Remake is on the way. It makes sense to include Frankey Westey. Also, we could make his costumes the other Dead Rising protags.

Regina (Dino Crisis): I saw the polls. Of course she’s gotta be in here. Make her all about gunplay and maybe let her ultimate have a dinosaur come outta nowhere. Costume: Ada Wong

Strider……(Strider): The vs games are all he’s got man. Costumes: Kenji, Ronin, and Ibuki

Fiona Belli (Haunting Ground): Make her dog Hewie do most of the attack and she can use running away from the villains from her game as specials and ults and such.

Hagar (Final Fight): Another no duh one honestly. Costume: Zangief

Phoenix Wright (Ace Attorney): I am convinced the only reason he wasn’t in Infinite was budget. Costumes: Apollo Justice and Ryunosuke Naruhodo.

Miles Edgeworth (Ace Attorney): I just thought it was a good idea. Costumes: Franziska von Karma, Godot, and Manfred von Karma

Steve Spencer (Bionic Commando): The vs games are all he’s got man.

Sissel (Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective): Give him some ghost power and objects and stuff and bam.

Mega Man…..uh forget it, yall get the jist (Mega Man): A have to have in here. We can give him costumes for Protoman, Bass, and Roll.

Mega Man X (Mega Man): He’s got to be here vs games are all us Mega Man fans got aside from the collections. Also, we make his alternate skins Megaman.exe, Starforce Megaman, and Volnutt. 

Zero (Mega Man): Competitive players would lose their shit if he wasn’t here. Also, costumes will be MegaMan Zero, Omega, and uh…..OH! Ciel! We’ll go with Ciel.

William Grey (Dark Void): Uhhhhh. Look, I just wanted a variety of fighters okay? I don’t know a damn thing about Dark Void. Uhhh hang on here….He uses high tech gun shit and a jetpack. Just make that into a fighting game character. 

Samanoska Akechi (Onimusha): He’s a cool sword fighter. Leave me alone.

Tiffany Lords (Rival Schools): Rival Schools needs a W man, also I didn’t want to just Akira……..Actually ya know what?

Akira Kazama (Rival Schools): She’s basically the icon of this franchise. Costume: Mai Ling

Ran Hibiki (Rival Schools): Real talk, I’m choosing her because Superhero comics love their photographers. Costume: JJJ

Pyron (Darkstalkers): It’s a Capcom crossover. Darkstalkers needs to be here and Pyron was the big bad of the first 2 games, he needs to be in a big crossover.

Morrigan (Darkstalkers): No dur.

Edward Falcon (Power Stone): I just love this dude’s look okay.

Valgas (Power Stone): I need to start getting more villains. And this dude is just a wrestler with a power gem, he’s perfect.

Dr. Edward Bilstein (Star Gladiator): This dude is literally Darth Vader. Why would you not want this? Costume: Sigma

Mahvel Babies

Let’s just shotgun the returning ones. I’ll only say anything for different character costumes.

Iron Man: War Machine, Rescue, and Iron Monger.

Captain America: US Agent, Sam Wilson, and Bucky Barnes

Spider-Man: Miles Morales, Spider-Gwen, and Silk.

Hulk: Red Hulk.

Thor: Leo

Wolverine: Beast, Sabertooth, and Deathstrike

Phoenix: Ingrid (CFE)

Magneto: Nova

Cyclops

Cable

Dr. Doom

Apocalypse

Ultron: Bass.EXE (Mega Man)

Deadpool: Gwenpool

Dr. Strange: Clea

NOW FOR THE LESS BORING PART

Kamala Khan: WHY WASN”T SHE IN INFINITE?! MY DAUGHTER DESERVES IT! That aside, I feel this one is obvious. Have her be a good range character with a bit of rush down. Kamala’s powers are insanely versatile and I think that’s the best way to implement them into a fitting game.

Morph: Just a heads up, I’m going to be referring to Morph here with They/Them pronouns, while to my knowledge they don’t have this gender identity in the books, I just think it’s good to have more nonbinary rep out there. Also, X Men 97 is goated and Morph is also goated there…..watch X-Men 97.

With that addressed, I want to use Morph because their shape shifting would allow for the appearance of characters we couldn’t put in the roster. And I know that’s possible, because that’s what X-Men 97 did with Morph, have them turn into characters they couldn’t fit into the story for cool references and cameos.

Costume: Axl (Mega Man)

Shang-Chi: The movie is goated. Just give him Iron Fist’s moveset. Costumes: Iron Fist, Chun-Li (SF), and Juri(SF).

Mr. Fantastic: Wow, we really have not gotten the FF into any of these games. Like I know Super Skrull is there, but it's still weird. I’d say make him an opposite to Kamala, make him a bit of a grappler with a bit more strength, but slower.

Invisible Woman: It’s gosh diddly darn Sue Storm, of course she’s on here. I say make her a zoner, that feels appropriate with her power set.

The Thing: Grappler. Wow FF has two grappler’s, I wonder if we’ll have two zoners. Costumes: Mr. X (RE), She-Hulk, and William Birkin (RE).

Human Torch: HOLY SHIT WE DO HAVE TWO ZONERS!

DareDevil: Have him use those sticks he throws as projectiles and him be an up close fighter. Also, when he blocks, have him dodge. Costumes: Elektra, Black Widow, and Ada Wong (RE)

Luke Cage: Make him like Scorpion, have him use his chain to bring opponents to him and have him be able to bring the smack down with good defense and heavy, but slow hits.

Vision: Have him be another zoner, his phasing and flight to get distance, and his laser to blast the foe.

Carnage: Rush down. This feels so obvious honestly. Costumes: Venom, Scream, and Mania

Blade: All rounder with his good amount of weapons. Costume: Donovan (Darkstalkers)

Scarlet Witch: Know Asuka from Guilty Gear. Yeah, just make Wanda do that. Costume: Tessa (Red Earth)

Loki: Trickster, technical fighter.

Kingpin: Slow heavy hitter, but what I wanted Kingpin on here because of an idea I had. Have his supers and ranged attacks be lower tier marvel villains. Costume: Red (Mega Man)

OH MY LORD, I’M FINISHED! THIS WAS SUPPOSED TO TAKE ME LIKE A HALF HOUR TOPS! HOLY HELL!

Let me know if ya want me to do DLC or not….I probably will do it if someone asks, but I’m tired.

[casspurrjoybell-29]

Forging Ties - Chapter 17 - Part 2

*Warning Adult Content*

So everybody was leaving, then and nobody had asked Skye, 'hey Skye, would you like to go on a ship?'

He looked at each of them in turn.

Everett was too busy with his electronic device to notice and he had to lean himself back to look Hamish in the eye but even then none of them asked Skye if he wanted to go on a ship.

The robot brought Skye his chicken and Skye ignored everyone as he devoured it.

Nobody ever invited him places, like onto ships.

He just went places other people were and sometimes they didn't object, like how he'd gone with Slone last night and then come back with him to the room afterwards.

That was the only way to get what he wanted.

If he wanted to go on a ship, he would have to make it happen on his own.

That night, when it got dark and everyone else headed back to the inn to eat dinner and talk about their ship journey, Skye went and retrieved the rest of his stuff from where he had stashed it away in a nook on a rooftop.

It was mostly food.

He would need it for the long journey ahead.

Skye walked along the dock and crept aboard the ship, though he was pretty sure nobody was on board.

He found the hatch that led below deck conveniently unlocked and open and climbed down.

He turned and found himself face to face with a very large, black cat.

A panther, he was pretty sure, though he didn't remember why he knew what a panther was.

"I didn't consider that they might hire a large cat to guard their ship," Skye told it.

"Hello."

The panther offered a dip of its head in acknowledgement.

"You know, Miriam says I have silly little cat teeth," Skye said. "So, we're the same. You should be on my side."

The panther turned and started making its way down the narrow corridor in the opposite direction.

Skye followed.

It stopped outside the door at the end of the corridor and looked at him expectantly.

Skye opened the door. A storeroom. Perfect.

Skye turned, considered the panther for a long moment and then reached out a hand to touch one of its furry ears.

His fingers passed right through it.

Skye often touched people and things he wasn't supposed to but he had never been so thoroughly thwarted.

Are you a ghost?" Skye asked. "It's okay if you're a ghost. A fact about ghosts is that they can't report me for being a stowaway. I think..."

He walked into the storeroom and looked around.

It was a mess, which was perfect.

He could move a few things around, make himself a little nest in the back and nobody would know he was there.

"Are you my mother?" Skye asked as he got to work rearranging the storeroom.

"You're a cat. I'm a cat. Maybe, sort of..."

The panther offered a very deliberate shake of its head.

"Yeah, I didn't think so. Do you ever feel like you miss somebody but you don't remember who?"

Skye found a stack of old, empty sacks and dragged them into his nook to make a nest out of.

"Maybe that's just a me thing. I guess most people would just remember anyone they cared about enough to miss."

The next time he turned around, the panther was gone.

That was the nature of ghosts, Skye supposed.

He wondered if Sera knew her ship was haunted.

********

As Hamish helped Mirriam haul things out to the ship the next morning, he kept an eye out for Skye.

He hadn't been at dinner last night and Hamish hadn't seen him since.

"You haven't seen Skye around, have you?" Hamish asked Miriam as they got the last few things loaded up.

"I wanted to say goodbye before we left."

"I was hoping to check in with him as well but I haven't seen him," Mirriam said.

"That's how he is, though. Unconventional and independent. He doesn't normally spend as much time around other people as he has been with the three of you, so he probably just needed a break."

"I hope so."

"I wouldn't worry about him. He triggers my maternal instincts sometimes and he'll let you fuss over him when he feels like it but he's proven to me time and time again that he's perfectly capable of taking care of himself."

"He may be cute but he's shown me he's competent as well, so I'm not too worried. It's just a shame not to get to say goodbye."

"I'll pass on your goodbyes after I get back from this trip."

As the three man crew consisting of Sera, Everett and the robot got to work preparing to set sail, Hamish found Duran at the front of the ship, looking out over the water.

He wore a peaceful smile and the morning sun bathed both the ocean and his hair with a shimmering glow.

Hamish pressed a kiss against the side of his face as he stepped up next to him.

"Excited?"

Duran nodded.

"I've never sailed before. I suppose that's hardly a surprise when there are so many other things I've never done before but this still feels special."

"I've never done it either. Not on a ship, anyway. A canoe on a lake isn't quite the same experience."

Duran laughed.

"Well, it's something. I wouldn't mind doing that too, some day. I can get too much inside my own head sometimes but I don't want to take any of this for granted or let the joy of life be drowned out by its darker moments."

"We'll find a lake when we get back. Go fishing or something. I like travel, adventure but sometimes a quiet day on the water is nice too."

"I'm starting to feel more comfortable with it," Duran said. "The thought of going back, I mean. When we left, I felt like I had so many emotions bunched up inside of me that nobody would ever understand. But now... I don't know. I think I'm starting to realise that things take time and that's okay. It's okay if not everyone understands me right away. It's okay to take time to get to know people, to get to know myself. It's just... okay."

"It is," Hamish said. "I promise."

Duran rested his head against Hamish's shoulder.

"Thank you. When we left, I felt like I just wanted to be alone. I wanted to escape. You have to understand that as much as I loved Fanner and Danya, my relationship with them was inherently stressful. In the world we were raised in, love is painful. I've never had the experience of just sharing life with other people. For the first time in my life, having friends is just... nice. I hope Slone is eavesdropping because this goes for him, too."

"Always," Slone called out from somewhere else on the ship and Duran laughed.

"It keeps getting better, you know," Hamish said. "There are bad days too but healing takes time and you've only just begun. It gets so much better."

Duran smiled and looked back out at the ocean as the ship took its first lurch forward away from the dock.

"I look forward to it."

[inkspottie]

Hmm maybe 43 with either mike from the laughing at Gregory Au

I also crave angst >:)

FA!Mike belongs to @birdie-ghost

…

He didn’t know how he kept getting in these situations. These moments where he was left helpless and unable to do anything.

It seemed to be a repeating ordeal of him waking up in an unfamiliar place and then left to figure things out for himself.

He was in some random house, in some random city, in the future. He didn’t know how, or why he was here. But he was here.

He was stuck.

And he was worried. Worried for Henry, Stanley, Jeremy…all of them. Were they okay? How was he even going to get home in the first place?

So many questions and scenarios that rattled into his skull, making his anxiety start to grow larger and larger in his mind. Like this ball of twine that was slowly unraveling and making a mess.

He was no stranger to panic, or paranoia.

It loomed around in his mind, this dark cloud that settled in his thoughts. Infecting his very core.

Lolbit did their best to try and swat away any bad thought, but Michael’s mind never stopped thinking.

He sat in the living room of his doppelgänger, this older version of himself with a life, with a family. Not fused to this animatronic, but has a body and feelings and everything in between.

Michael couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. He knew that this version of himself shambled around as a corpse before they were somewhat upgraded into a robotic android like body.

Or at least that’s what he assumed considering how LolBit’s vision saw him. They shared the same remnant and no doubt it wasn’t because he was injecting himself with the stuff.

Only a lunatic would do such a thing.

Michael heaved out a sigh, the faceplates shuddering. He didn’t have the illusion disc on him so it meant he was stuck as this animatronic but he didn’t mind.

It was just the little kid known as Gregory who worried him.

He was pretty much a walking talking child trap, and he just rather not be around kids period. Especially ones that were his…counterpart’s son.

God it was so weird saying that.

Michael was just on edge to say the least. He felt like he was about to snap with all the pressure on him. Didn’t help that he had no contact with anyone. He was alone.

Truly.

“Hey.”

Michael just about jumps a good foot when hearing a voice behind him, he turns his face plates snapping tightly against his skull. His counterpart is standing before him, looking like he’s ready to head to bed.

He even got to sleep, the lucky bastard.

“You doing alright?” Mike asks and the animatronic gives a shrug, clenching and unclenching his hands.

“Just thinking, that’s all.” He admits and Mike just gives a hum, moving to sit across from him. His eyes scan Michael. He feels a bit uncomfortable. At least he wasn’t tied up or handcuffed.

He was just glad he could move freely since he proved he wasn’t a threat. He didn’t want to hurt anyone. He just wanted to go home if he was honest.

If he could even go home that is.

Michael can feel himself slipping, like he’s coming undone. Everything was falling apart. The seams were starting to rip and the stuffing was just falling out.

“Woah, Michael are you okay?”

Michael lifts his head up hearing a tear hit the metal with a small plink. “Ah…it- this happens.” He stammers trying to wipe his face off with a small noise. “It’s gross.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen an animatronic cry like that.”

“Well I’m not…yeah.”

Mike winces, giving a small nod, “Right, I didn’t mean anything by it. I can’t imagine what you’re feeling right now.” The older man rubs the back of his neck, looking a bit awkward.

“I…I’m just worried. About Henry, and the others. I …I don’t know. What if I don’t go back? What if I’m stuck here? I’m not supposed to be here. This isn’t…this isn’t where I am supposed to be.” Michael is rambling, feeling the anxiety starting to run his mouth. He can’t control the fears that are slipping through the cracks.

Mike just listens, carefully. Quietly. “I understand. I mean, I don’t, but…I know it’s never good to be alone in a world, but you’re not. It’s an odd situation, that is for certain. Just know that…you do have a friend. You have me, Jeremy and Gregory. We are all here for you.”

He leans back into the chair looking at Michael, eyes slightly glowing in the dark night. “If it means you have to stay here for a bit. So be it. We’ll figure it out. I mean we’ve been through some weird shit as it is right?”

Michael can’t help but laugh, the sound quieter than usual. He gives a shuddering groan as the fit stops. “Thanks. God this is so fucking weird. Talking to a version of myself. Who has a family, a kid…”

“Yeah, never thought I’d see myself…in a Funtime knock off of no less.”

Michael gives a withered look holding back Lolbit from saying anything about that. He knew Lolbit was testy with being bunched with the Funtime animatronics.

“But…that being said. We are here for you. I know it was a bit bumpy at first but…we have your back.”

The fox animatronic’s purple eyes are brighter than usual as another wet oily tear falls down his snout as he quickly wipes it away. “Thanks…I…I appreciate it. Hopefully I get out of your hair soon.”

Mike just hums, “As long as it takes, you’re welcomed here kid.”

[chubs-deuce]

Hey! I find your au concept interesting too. I think that springtrap and deliah is the only comic in which i saw an attempt at his redemption but i didnt find it satisfying. Agree too whith not liking the mad genious stereotype, i havent read the novels and i sticked to the first games so the later sci-fi elements kind of were hard to integrate. The family dinamics is what intrigues me the most, wihout all the brightness of the surface fnaf story is a big drama after all!

thank you!! I'm super happy to hear that! :DD

Oh yeah I do remember that comic, I found the premise a bit odd but the style pretty charming - never did read it from start to finish though ^^".

Some rambling under the cut ↓, shortening it for the sake of people who are just casually scrolling past this :'D

I did however read the novel trilogy and honestly? It left me disappointed and confused, mostly. It has some good bits in it and were overall an interesting read, but I'm not a fan of the storyline and how the characters were handled :'D I at least don't desire to read them again so I don't think you're missing all that much.

It does elaborate a little bit more on William in them, but considering he's the most inconsistent and illogically acting villain I've ever had to read it unfortunately just fell flat for me. I think they attempted to make him scary through unpredictability, but missed the mark with what actually makes that trope scary :'D.

And same with the relationship dynamics! It's one of the most interesting aspects of this franchise to me, and while I do understand some people just not really caring for it much or being too confused by the evidence to care much I personally could spend hours thinking about and analyzing it, haha.

All the sci-fi elements tbh also really intrigued me actually? I absolutely get why some people found those unncessary or too confusing and didn't like them, but I just haven't really seen another franchise really combine supernatural elements like ghosts and haunted robots and actually apply a system of rules and logic to how they work and comes together the way fnaf did. Remnant being revealed as a major factor of William's potential motives together with his apparent debilitating fear of death in the novels ended up changing my view of him pretty drastically - but in my opinion for the better too.

In my head it turned him from someone with some inexplicable insatiable bloodlust with haunted robots as a byproduct to a desperate man doing anything in his might to run from something as thoroughly inescapable as death, so desperate that he was willing to walk over corpses and commit to unbelievably immoral experiments to achieve his goals of achieving artificial immortality , only digging his grave deeper and deeper in the process as plan after plan backfires terribly, ultimately pulling everyone he knew and loved down with him.

And I tbh really do think that deep down, somewhere, in his own way, he did love his family - at least enough to not want any of them dead (except maybe Michael, it is implied in places that he had a big favoritism problem lmao).

Then you have Michael, the guilt-ridden oldest son who's desperate to redeem himself, picking up after the shattered pieces William left behind... Henry, whose daughter was stolen from him and his life's work not only thoroughly desecrated but also misused for the misery of so many... Not to mention Elizabeth's death, the bite of 83, William's own death and downfall....

There's just so many interesting factors that play into this grim and tragic tale, I could honestly talk about it for hours, haha.

[january31st]

I show up to the party just to leave (Venable x reader)

Summary: After a long time of not seeing each other, your brother invites you to his birthday party.

A/N: Title from Amoeba by Clairo. Her new album is like salt on an open wound, but in the softest way possible, and I love it :'). This has been in the drafts for a month and it was supposed to be a quick one to get me out of a slump :/ oops i guess (also i have no idea what this is or how we got here)

The reader doesn’t know about the whole selling their souls to the devil thing

Warnings: Drug addiction, overdose and hospital mentions. 

Masterlist

~1800 words

The brightness inside Kineros was somehow even worse than outside in the California heat. Its whiteness and clean, modern look took you by surprise, given that your brother’s room back home used to be a mountain of unwashed dishes and dirty clothes, his PC setup the only thing you could look at without getting a headache. 

“This.... is insane Jeff” you said as you took your sunglasses off, squinting very hard.

“I told you! I don’t know what’s so hard to believe about it. The whole multi-million company thing wasn’t convincing enough to make you believe this place is nice?” He said as he led you around to his office.

“Well, I’m just saying that coming from you I expected more of a nerd bunker than a sci-fi spaceship”

“Are your standards really that low Y/N?” he said with his hand on his chest, pretending to be deeply offended.

“Yeah, in the beginning you bragged for months about your Van”

“Oh but you can’t say that a company on the move isn’t cool”

“Sure” you said, shifting your attention to the woman in purple sitting behind the desk.

“Hi, you must be Ms.Venable! I’m Y/N, Jeff’s sister.” You said with your hand stretched out in front of you.

She looked from you to Jeff, and then at your hand, considering whether she should take it or not. Slowly, with the help of her cane, she stood up and shook it.

“And I hear you would be joining us to prepare for tomorrow, although I’ve told Mr. Pfister I have it handled.” She said, shooting your brother a menacing look, but you were too distracted by the feeling of her gloved hand still in yours. Had someone turned off the AC?

“I know Ms. Venable, I just had to show her the place before the party so she would believe it is nice. And by having her help get things ready she would know we didn’t mess things around to make it look better than it is” He said, and when you managed to shift your gaze away from her you noticed how Jeff looked. Someone finally taught him respect?

“If I had met Ms.Venable before, maybe I wouldn’t doubt how nice it is.”

“If you hadn’t left home for so long, maybe you would know more about the company”

“If you didn’t have so much blow up your nose all the time back then, maybe I wouldn’t feel the need to run away!” 

“Awww family reunions are so cute” You turned to the circle door on the left side of the room to see your brother’s work partner leaning against it and looking at you two with a pout.

“Oh… hey Mutt” 

“How is my favourite Pfister doing? I can’t believe how long it has been since I’ve seen you bro!” He said giving you a hug you did not expect.

“Hey! What the hell? Your favourite Pfister? Really? Stop flirting with my sister, asshole” said Jeff.

“I’m not! But it’s true, your sister is the best. Back then before we even dreamt of Kineros, the three of us would have so much fun!” Mutt answered, his arm still around your shoulders.

“Yeah I guess, before you two started your bullshit in between the lines” you said, scratching at your nose.

“Oh, speaking of flirting, how is that girlfriend of yours doing?” Jeff asked.

“Girlfriend? What… Ah. Yeah, well- she..” You laughed “ I swear I can’t make this shit up. Has it been that long since we spoke really?” The topic was making you even more uncomfortable, and you noticed that Ms. Venable was looking at you with an almost curious look? Was it? She was hard to read.

“Well, would you believe it, she fell in love with your dear coke instead.” Jeff looked at you as if he had just broken your favourite toy.

“Yea she just dumped me a while back and hit the streets. I tried to look for her, but she was just gone. I have no clue if she’s even alive.”

“Shit Y/N I’m sorry” Jeff said.

“Are you? Or are you still sniffing lines like a mad man?” 

“Technically not lines no.” He said, smiling at Mutt knowingly.

You took his arm from your shoulders. “So you’re telling me that if I punch your ass right now it wouldn’t be snowing in here?”

When he didn’t answer with anything other than laughter you went on “It’s not funny! None of this is funny Jeff! Not now, and not that time I had to take your ODing ass to the ER! And not on all those times you were in withdrawal!”

He only laughed more, and said “It would be hell if that happened again!”

“Jeff! Have you-”

“I’m terribly sorry to interrupt, but the last of the decorations for tomorrow are just arriving.” said Ms. Venable. And despite her low voice, all three of you went silent.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“You worry too much”

“What?” You asked through the pen you were chewing at, with your back still turned to her from the top of the chair, as you exchanged the regular lightbulb with a colorful one from the box you were holding.

She didn’t repeat herself for a while, as if she regretted saying anything in the first place. The past hour or so you had barely exchanged more than a couple words, her impassive looks making you assume she just didn’t like you.

“You worry too much about him.” She said, her voice loud and clear this time.

You stepped down from the chair placing the white bulb on the box she was holding with one hand. Thinking about your brother now made something clench on your stomach. To hide how hard it was to find an answer for her, you went to write a check on the lighting part of your to-do list.

“How could I not?” You asked.

“I must admit his lifestyle is… interesting. But it seems to have worked to bring this company to where it is today.” She said.

“I know he’s your boss, but you don’t have to doll-up how things are around here. And don’t give him more credit than he deserves, he is cocky enough about it.” after a pause you added “I know that if it were up to him, he would still be assembling robots amidst his dirty socks. It doesn’t take much to realise who’s behind everything that isn’t necessarily robots here.”

You reached for the box she was holding to go put it away, and noticed she was standing as still as a statue. Grabbing it from her with the ghost of a friendly smile on your face you went on, since she didn’t seem to know how to answer you this time.

“He used to say it helped him think and work better. And maybe it does but as his sister I can’t just ignore it and pretend I’m okay with it. He never takes things that matter seriously.”

“Before we got here I- for some stupid reason- actually thought he stopped it. He isn’t like he was before. Something has changed about him.”

“It has.” She said. “I think his dedication to the job put him in his tracks somewhat. Whatever his tracks are” She added with a smirk.

Giggling at that, you said, holding the checklist for her to see “Now that we´re done, how about we go get a snack and talk about something that doesn’t involve dumb and dumber or their tragic hairstyles?”

Fighting back a smile, she guided you somewhere you could eat, and said “I’m glad you don’t have a bowl cut too.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

For the first hour or so Jeff introduced you to random people at the party, none of them getting much of your attention at all. Fancy and famous people, and though it was hard to believe seeing your brother around them- their nice suits next to his striped shirt, jeans and hoodie- you didn’t feel astonished at all. You felt crushed by everyone around you and took every opportunity to avoid dull conversation.

Some of them were surprised to meet you, to see how his casualty wasn’t a trait you shared, and given that you knew this would be a somewhat big party you did, in fact, dress up to the occasion. You decided to wear a nice blazer over a silk lingerie type shirt, straight legged pants and heels, hair slicked back and makeup dark and bold. Anywhere else you would look out of place, but here you managed to melt into the rest of the well dressed crowd. Thankfully that worked to your advantage so you could be away from the center of attention.

On the quick calls you did have, your brother never failed to gloat about his life and how great things were, and a part of you hoped blindlessly that it would mean he left his bad habits behind. Though now as you stood under the coloured lights it was more than obvious that he wouldn’t change, and all the bad memories from his addiction came back to you at once. Overwhelmed by your thoughts and the ambient itself, you made your way to the outside of the building unaware of the tic-toc of a cane following you.

“Where are you going?” her voice pulled you back to reality.

“I don’t know. Just away from this” you said, hand waving in the air. Then you took a second to look at her, as formally dressed as the day before, lilac suit and all, only her expression had changed. Though you knew she would never admit it, her face was contorted in a plea, almost begging for you to stay.

“I thought he changed. I really did. Like a foolish fucking child.”You blurted out.

“You don’t have to leave like this.” She stated, sounding disinterested despite herself.

“I do. I really do.”

“I never come to these events… I hate these people just as much as you do.” You narrowed your eyes at her, waiting for the rest of it, and when it didn’t come you asked “What made you come this time?”

After a long pause she said “I was surprised to meet you. I would never believe your brother had someone as… prudent and sensible in his life.” Another pause. “I’m trying to say don’t leave m-” She stopped herself.

“Then take me somewhere” You said without thinking, looking straight into those brown eyes as they seemed to soften. And for the first time her face twisted into what was definitely, unmistakably, a smile, and all you could do was smile right back.

“Come along then”

[five-rivers]

Danger First

Chapter 4

Hiya @pocketramblr

.

While the other ghosts watched poor Izuku more and more, Yoichi gathered a pile of pillows and beanbags, and a small container of popcorn, then dropped unceremoniously onto the pile, ready to watch a bunch of teens beat the tar out of each other. En noticed this, glanced at him, and did a double-take.

"Since when do you have popcorn? How do you have popcorn? Where did you get it? Have you been holding out on me? Can I have some? I'll fight you!"

"Uh... it isn't real," said Yoichi.

"Neither are we!"

"No, I mean, you can't taste it. Or smell it. It's just a construct. For the aesthetic." Something none of them really bothered with, lately, but Yoichi wanted to put the effort in for Izuku. Even if Izuku probably would never be aware of it.

"But... popcorn..."

"Shhh! It's starting!"

.

The first round was Kouda and Satou vs Yaoyorzu and Kirishima.

If he had to guess, he'd say Yaoyorozu and Kirishima would win. Yaoyorozu's quirk was perfect for setting up quick and simple barriers and traps, and Kirishima's was good for defense as well.

That wasn't to say Kouda and Satou couldn't win as well... Satou had what seemed to be a fairly powerful strength enhancer, perfect for ripping through hastily constructed defenses, and Izuku didn't know if Kirishima would be able to completely counter him.

Izuku also wasn't entirely sure what Kouda's quirk was. His first guess would have been a physical mutation, given his appearance, but thinking back, it didn't seem like he'd used anything like that during the quirk assessment, so those features were most likely vestigial, like Izuku's hair color, which suggested a less physical quirk. It had to be something that could be applied in combat against robots, though. Izuku was the only one who'd passed without villain points.

So, it could go either way.

He could continue to analyze, but his attention was drawn back to the team he'd be facing. Hagakure and Monoma.

A blush rose up in his cheeks. It had to be Hagakure. He still hadn't apologized for running into her during the entrance exam. Hand to hand against her was going to be tough- he could only hope the support department had given her an invisible costume, and she wasn't... well... uncostumed. Again.

But, beyond that, not being able to see her would be a problem. She could get to the fake bomb without him even noticing.

Monoma would be a challenge, too. Given the number of pocket watches on his costume, Izuku suspected he had a time limit for how long he could copy a quirk. But he had no idea how long that could be, and it could be misdirection, too. Izuku certainly wouldn't want to telegraph a weakness like that if he had that kind of quirk.

Another option could be that he could only hold one quirk copy at a time. That'd be trickier for Izuku to deal with. Either way, he doubted Monoma could permanently hold an unlimited number of quirk copies. Monoma's personality was all wrong for that, and he didn't have Iida's engines anymore- unless he could choose to dump quirks? But why would he do that? Izuku's (formerly) quirkless sensibilities rebelled against the very thought.

He was overthinking this. He'd have to assume that Monoma could come at him with any quirk in the class. So. What would be the most inconvenient? All Might's, except Izuku had All Might's, and Monoma wasn't able to use it.

(Oh, and that could be a problem, couldn't it? Could Monoma be able to tell All Might didn't have a quirk anymore?)

Well, judging from what he was seeing right now, Izuku really didn't want him to take Yaoyorozu's quirk. It was sort of terrifying.

Other scary ones would be Todoroki (he'd launched that ball with a glacier) and Tokoyami (a sentient quirk! So cool!) but he thought Monoma would avoid Shouji and Asui (full body mutations). Other than that... Monoma would probably wait and see who did the best, or which quirk would work best with Hagakure's.

He'd have to take Hagakure's quirk into account, too. What if they both came at him invisibly (and naked)? Izuku would die...

Each battle lasted for up to fifteen minutes, not counting the ten minutes the villain team had to set up. That's how long Izuku had to defend the fake bomb. As the defender, Izuku had another handicap. He only had to fail once to fail entirely...

No. Stop that. This was a school exercise, and All Might wasn't going to expell him. Losing would suck, but he'd be together with half the class on that front. The important thing was learning from the experience. And not getting too hurt.

Right. He returned his gaze to the screen as the match started.

.

"We're a sentient quirk, too," said Banjo. "Aren't we cool?"

"He doesn't know we're sentient, though," said Yoichi. "Also, he spent like two months straight gushing about how cool One for All was when we were with Eighth. Didn't you get enough?"

Banjo sulked. "It isn't the same."

"Speaking of Monoma," said En, "why didn't you slap his little grabby hands away from One for All yesterday?"

"Because a late bloomer is one thing, but someone confirmed not to have a quirk suddenly having bone-breaking super strength? Yeah. No. Yagi might have beaten my brother, but that doesn't mean everyone who worked for him is gone. Eight never knew about Garaki at all."

"Way to bring down the mood, En," said Banjo, elbowing the younger ghost.

"The mood was already brought down by the fake popcorn."

.

Izuku wrote furiously in his notebook, trying to record every detail of the match. He pulled one of his gloves off with his teeth to get a better grip on his pencil. He'd need to practice writing with gloves on. He was missing important notes. Speaking of which...

"Can we get copies of these recordings?"

"You should be able to access them through your Ultra Account on the school website!"

Izuku nodded and continued writing. As expected, Kirishima and Satou had gotten into a one on one fight down the hallway from the bomb room. Unexpectedly, however, they had seemed rather hesitant to hit each other. At least, until Satou dumped a packet of white powder (sugar according to All Might) into his mouth and started smacking at Kirishima indiscriminately. Kouda, meanwhile, had sent a small army of mice (animal control! Very cool) at Yaoyorozu, who had responded with mousetraps.

The clock ran out, to the villains' victory.

.

"It was surprisingly hard to hit someone," admitted Kirishima in the debrief.

"We've been socialized to avoid violence," said All Might, nodding. "Overcoming that hesitation is part of our training. As is when not to use force."

.

Next up were Kaminari and Sero vs Aoyama and Jirou.

Kaminari entered the building first, quickly engaging Aoyama, who had been directed towards Kaminari by Jirou. That fight got loud quickly. Sero, meanwhile, scaled the outside of the building with his tape.

Kaminari ultimately defeated himself with his own quirk (that was a pretty severe drawback- maybe Kaminari should consider other fighting styles?), which allowed Jirou to hear Sero climbing up the wall. But Aoyama couldn't get back fast enough to prevent Jirou from being captured by Sero.

.

"I think Kaminari was the MVP," said Izuku. "He did hurt himself, which was bad, but his sacrifice allowed his teammate to safely reach the objective. If he hadn't, um, shorted out...? It would have been better, of course, but..."

Yaoyorozu shook her head. "Sero managed to capture one of the villains and safely reach the bomb. Additionally, he's the one who came up with the plan of attack."

"Ah," said Izuku, "that's- that's true..."

"Regardless, it is a plan that only bore fruit due to teamwork! Excellent work! Jirou, Aoyama, your division of labor was also a good plan, but don't forget the enemies you don't see! Time for our next match!"

.

This time, Asui and Tokoyami were defending against Todoroki and Uraraka.

"Good luck," Izuku said, waving slightly to Uraraka.

"Thanks!" She gave him two thumbs up as she trailed slightly behind Todoroki. "So," she said, as they walked out through the door, "how are we doing-?"

The door closed. Izuku winced. Surely, they had strategized beforehand...

.

"Young Todoroki," said All Might, somewhat sternly, "you... that was certainly an impressive display, but even when dealing with real villains, a hero has to be conscious of the damage they may do. A large number of villains are only minor criminals, or even otherwise ordinary citizens having a bad day."

"That's not what the media says," mumbled Todoroki, though he looked pale as medi-bots carried Asui from the scene.

"The media is full of sensationalists. And even if it weren't, Asui isn't a real villain. There is a difference," he said, very gently, "between going beyond and going too far."

All Might paused. Todoroki hunched his shoulders. There was something familiar about his posture, something that made Izuku's stomach knot.

All Might continued. "It was a good strategy. Against another team, or against real villains, it would have been a more than appropriate strategy. In fact, it was even an appropriate strategy in this case, since you didn't know Asui had trouble with cold temperatures. But when you encountered her in the hall and noticed how poorly she was doing, you should have hit the emergency stop button."

Instead of laying down mode ice when Asui struggled to get free, which was what actually happened.

"Why didn't you stop the match?" He didn't sound accusatory. Just flat and resigned.

All Might made a face and gestured to the screens on the wall. About half of them showed static and the rest blurry shades of white and gray. Like the rest of the building, they had been iced over.

Todoroki sighed. "How much trouble am I in?"

"You aren't," replied All Might. "In trouble, that is. As your teacher, this is entirely my responsibility. I shouldn't have set you against Asui or should have gone over safety concerns more clearly..." All Might paused, his face that of someone who knew they weren't getting their point across but didn't quite know what the problem was. "Injuries are inevitable in heroics and hero training, but you don't want to maim your classmates. Or minor villains, really, if you can help it. So... consider this a learning moment."

"But it was just ice," said Kaminari.

"Cold kills people frequently," said All Might. "People lose fingers and toes to frostbite regularly. Again, for anyone but Asui, this level of ice for such a short time period wouldn't have caused lasting damage, but it is something to be mindful of. Does... that make sense, young Todoroki?"

"Yes," said Todoroki, head bowed.

"All right. Young Uraraka, thank you for hitting the emergency stop button. It showed good thinking and good awareness. Young Tokoyami, your decision to hide the bomb in the basement was a good one, complimentary to your quirk."

Izuku glanced over at Monoma. He had a sinking suspicion he knew what quirk he would copy.

.

After moving to a new building, Iida and Ashido managed to pull a win as heroes from Ojiro and Shouji by melting a hole in the ceiling above the bomb and then jumping through to tag it after Iida confirmed its location with a scouting run. The general consensus of the class was that it was surprisingly clever and out of the box, but that it probably wouldn't have been feasible in real life. Ashido had then sheepishly admitted that she'd come up with the idea after hearing Izuku mumble about it.

This, of course, made Izuku blush. Strawberry would probably bee his nickname from now on.

Better than Deku.

It was his turn to go set up, now.

He was unlikely to be able to beat Hagakure and Monoma at the same time, even if Monoma didn't copy any quirks at all. Assuming they didn't split up, a ridiculous course of action, he'd have to find a way to protect the bomb other than physically defending it.

This was the problem that had been plaguing him all afternoon.

He had to hide it. Then, he either had to hide himself or use his location to steer them away from where the bomb really was. His capture would also lose him the match, so he had to be careful.

He carried the bomb to the top floor. Uraraka's quirk could get them up there, but Izuku didn't think Monoma could handle the nausea. And if he did have a time limit, he wouldn't want to be airborne when it ran out. Sero had demonstrated his quirk could get him up the side of the building, but that had clearly also required a lot of skill in climbing, not just the quirk itself.

Iida's quirk would get Monoma to the top of the building fast, but since he'd have to go room by room... Either way, the top floor would slow them down the most, buy Izuku the most time.

The room he picked was full of prop boxes. Izuku had to rearrange them to completely hide the bomb, and there was a chance Monoma and Hagakure would remember what it looked like before, from the camera feeds, but he hoped they'd overlook it.

He still had time. Next...

The second floor had office equipment in it. Clearly old junk the school didn't mind loosing. Izuku pulled as much of it out into the hallway as he could, his experience from the beach helping him maneuver quickly. He dumped a lot of it into the stairwell. The rest he left in the hallways.

How much time did he have?

Not long.

He ran up the stairs, to the fourth floor, where Ashido had melted a hole in the floor. Here, he had multiple egress points. It would be harder for them to corner him. Also...

He randomly closed half the doors on the floor. He could pretend to be guarding one of them. Delay them. How much longer?

No time at all.

Right on schedule, the air went dry and cold. Izuku, having planned for this, leapt for one of the door frames and held on. A thin layer of ice, not as thick as the one on the floor, crusted over his gloved fingers.

Izuku counted to five, then let his hands slip out of his gloves and dropped to the floor. Then he reached up and tugged his now empty gloves out of the ice.

He inspected the ice momentarily, and tested his ability to move on it. It wasn't as even or as thick as it had been when Todoroki used it, and the surface was a difficult and unpredictable mixture of smooth and rough... but it would become slicker as it melted.

Good. Izuku had predicted this. It made his closed doors and stacked boxes much more formidable obstacles. The ice wouldn't allow doors to open easily, and the boxes would also be reinforced and hard to move.

Izuku was glad for the conversation All Might had with Todoroki. Although it probably hadn't been his intention, the way he had phrased his commentary on Todoroki's freezing strategy had made it seem like an automatic win, given that it wasn't used against someone who'd be seriously injured by it.

Izuku hadn't been sure they'd do it, since it would handicap Hagakure so much. She couldn't walk around on ice barefoot. Unless she had a secondary mutation that made her skin tougher, or less sensitive to temperature- that would be so cool! No, focus, focus.

Monoma wouldn't have Iida's quirk, either with this strategy. Even if was unfamiliar with speed quirks, he would know that high speeds and ice didn't mix... Unless you were a speed skater, Izuku supposed. But Monoma didn't have ice skates- Unless, unless he took Yaoyorozu's quirk and made ice skates. But that would be horribly impractical with this uneven ice, and probably wouldn't work with Iida's quirk at all. So.

He'd probably have Yaoyorozu's quirk anyway. And after that, for this exercise, Jirou's would be the most valuable. With Jirou's quirk, Monoma would be able to locate Izuku quickly.

Another reason to separate himself from the bomb.

They were coming.

He hid himself out of immediate sight, in the room with the hole, on the off chance that Monoma couldn't hold that many quirks.

There was a clatter from the stairwell.

They were coming.

Muffled voices. A louder thump.

"Maybe if you hadn't frozen everything-"

A sort of fwoosh brought an oddly warm breeze and Izuku hissed. Todoroki's quirk must be more than ice. Given his overall appearance... Fire? Izuku was screwed.

Well. Hopefully his precautions would at least get him a good grade.

There were more scrapes and clatters as Hagakure and Monoma forced their way through the stairwell. Then, relative silence.

They were coming.

"I thought you said he was on this floor," said Hagakure, plaintively.

"He must have gotten free," said Monoma.

"Can't you listen for him again?"

There was a pause. Monoma must have responded nonverbally.

"We'll just have to be careful checking everything out," said Hagakure. "The bomb must be on this floor, after all."

Okay. Okay, great, this was good news for Izuku. He eyed the hole in the floor. Part of him really didn't want to jump through. His brain was supplying him with all the things that could go wrong with such a jump. Especially with the layer of ice. Ugh, he should have dragged one of the office desks up underneath it.

Too late now.

Minding his visibility, Izuku crept over to the side of the hole and lowered himself until he was hanging by his finger tips.

It was still a long fall. Monoma and Hagakure's footsteps were growing closer.

He let go.

He tried to hit the ground properly, but his roll turned into a slide, and he hit a wall at a higher speed than he would have liked. Reflexively he grabbed at his left arm. Ow.

He knew this was going to happen.

"He's on the third floor!"

"What?"

"He jumped through Ashido's hole!"

Izuku forced himself to his feet and sprinted towards the stairs. The second floor had more hiding places than the third. At the last minute, something twinged in the back of his mind, and he tried to stop. Tried. The ice made this difficult.

His legs went out from underneath him, and he went skidding down the hallway on his back, taking a mercifully, mercifully, clothed Hagakure out at the ankles. They slid together into the bottom of the stairs descending from the fourth floor, further battering Izuku's poor arm.

He dodged Hagakure's capture tape and briefly considered pulling out his own, but there was Monoma, cautiously coming down the icy stairs.

Icy stairs.

It seemed neither Izuku nor Monoma had fully considered the obstacles that would result from coating a building like this in ice. Todoroki's ability to maneuver easily on this terrain was, in retrospect, a keystone of the 'freeze everything' strategy, not incidental.

He needed to get away.

He pushed Hagakure off of himself (and noted that she was just as muscular as he was) and slid on his knees to the banister. He pulled himself up and slid down the rail, using the ice to his benefit. Using his uninjured arm, he gripped the end of the banister connected to the wall to slingshot himself down the second floor hallway.

... and almost right into a desk he'd half forgotten he'd put there. He dodged it and recovered quickly before scrambling over the other obstacles in the hallway. He came to a scraping halt and tucked himself into the leg well of one of the desks. A convenient bar meant he could keep his feet off the ground and out of sight as well.

Just like hiding from bullies. Only less dangerous and more fun.

How much time was left?

It had taken them about five minutes to get past the desks on the stairs, then maybe two or three to get to the fourth floor? They hadn't been moving quickly, probably because of the ice. Then, they'd been on the fourth floor for another couple of minutes before Izuku dropped to the third, even if it had felt longer to Izuku. The tussle on the third had taken a minute, tops, so he had... Four minutes left? Less, now.

He could win this. He could run out the clock. Maybe it wasn't the most heroic way to win, but he was supposed to be playing the villain, and he hoped Mr. Yagi would be proud of him anyway.

"Show yourself!" called Monoma. "Or I'll freeze you out."

Could he do that? Maybe he had Jirou's quirk at first, but switched to Todoroki's later, and lost access to Jirou's? If only he knew more about how Monoma's quirk worked... It could be a bluff, too. Even if it wasn't, why would he reveal himself? This late in the game, even if he was frozen in place, he could still win.

And winning... it wasn't something he got to do very often.

A buzz signaled the end of the match. "Villains win! Or, rather villain wins? Good job everyone! Come on out for the final debrief."

.

"MVP, MVP, MVP," chanted Yoichi, Banjo, and En, arms slung around each others' shoulders.

"Our boy is MVP!" cried Banjo.

"You know what this means, of course," said Hikage during a pause in the noise. The other ghosts looked at him. "It means, my quirk is the most valuable. The greatest power in the universe is the power of anxiety."

"Take that back!" said Yoichu, throwing an imaginary kazoo at Hikage. "The most powerful thing in the universe is the power of friendship. Everyone knows that!"

"What about those two?" asked Hikage, pointing at Second and Third.

"Unfortunately, the power of spite is also great," said Yoichi. "Even so, they will soon find themselves defeated."

Nana rubbed her temples. "If I hadn't given up on sanity within ten minutes of waking up in here, this would be what did me in."

.

After an intense practical, the next stop was the nurse's office. There, the class found Asui already mostly recovered, and Izuku found out that he had, in fact broken his arm.

"Are you sure it isn't just a sprain? It is broken?"

"A fracture, and, yes, quite sure. But a sprain can actually be worse than a break- many true sprains never quite heal correctly... either way, with my quirk you don't have to worry about it." She pressed her lips to Izuku's forehead. He felt his energy ebb to a new low. "You should talk to Mr. Aizawa about falling techniques. Your body type is more like his than your other mentor's."

"I- I will," promised Izuku.

"Good. You can go get changed, now."

"Thanks," said Izuku, not quite wobbling out of the room.

"Midoriya!"

He almost jumped out of his skin. "A-ah! Uraraka!"

"Sorry to startle you!"

"No, no, it's fine. What is it?"

"Oh, well, Iida and I were wondering if you'd like to come out with use to a café after school? It's nearby and apparently it has discounts for UA students?"

"Indeed! My older brother talked about it frequently when he was a student here!"

"W-well," said Izuku. He looked at All Might, who was awkwardly supervising and directing other students in the hallway to the locker rooms. All Might caught his eye and nodded. "Sure! That sounds like fun!"

.

This would be the last time Shouta would have to nap after school for a while. From tomorrow on, he'd be alternating quirk counseling with Midoriya with hero work. Why did he agree to do this again?

Kan opened the door to the break room. With him came the acrid smell of smoke and hot dust. "Which companies did the first year costumes this year?" he asked, voice dangerously soft enough to impress Aizawa.

"Why?" asked Hizashi.

"Because I want to... talk to whoever thought it was a good idea to give a fifteen-year-old with no training in demolition not one, but two weapons that could level buildings at full charge. I just want to talk."

Judging by the expression on Kan's face, Shouta seriously doubted that.

Kan took a deep breath. "What about your hellions?"

"Don't know. Yagi had them today."

"And you didn't watch?"

"I was in court."

"What's wrong with Yagi, anyway?"

Shouta, Hizashi, and Kan all turned to where Yagi was splayed in a chair. If the scene were a painting, it could easily be titled 'depression.'

"I'm a failure as a teacher and a hero," he moaned.

"Huh?" said Hizashi. "Why?"

"Young Asui nearly became hypothermic, and young Midoriya fractured his arm."

There was a beat of silence as the others waited for him to go on.

"What?" Kan asked. "Is that it?"

[vostara]

I Am Lost - 01

Volume One: A New Guardian Component 01

pairing: - cayde-6 x female guardian x uldren sov - the crow x female guardian (eventual)

blurb: “The woman’s gaze drifts down to look at her hands. She moves her fingertips, intrigued by this odd sensation of feeling, of movement.”

word count: 2.8k+

When Verna awoke as a guardian, she knew nothing about what life is meant to be like as a Lightbearer. And though she has been told that learning about her past is a forbidden endeavor, she can’t help but feel drawn towards discovering who she once was. But her pursuit of the quest is interrupted by the growing chaos, by the Darkness spreading.

Begins with the events of Destiny 1 and will continue up to the current timeline (but hey, it’ll take awhile to get there). Verna is a void-using Hunter.

*This work is cross-posted on Ao3.

01 | … series masterlist

Tag List (Open): @mangovalkyrie

We called it the Traveler, and its arrival changed us forever. Great cities were built on Mars and Venus. Mercury became a garden world. Human lifespan tripled. It was a time of miracles. We stared out at the galaxy and knew that it was our destiny to walk in the light of other stars—but the Traveler had an enemy. A Darkness, which had hunted it for eons across the black gulfs of space. Centuries after our Golden Age began, this Darkness found us and that was the end of everything. But it was also the beginning. — The Speaker

COSMODROME

Old Russia, Earth

A pale orange machine with golden engraving zooms around a wreckage of rusted, disintegrating vehicles. Searching amongst the ruins. He stops to scan a skeleton, slumped over in one of the cars. “Ouch,” he comments, blunt, before flying away. He pauses, looking off into the distance. And then, quick, he speeds off to investigate this new area of interest. Curiosity running strong within his circuits.

His scanner flicks on once again, scrutinizing the debris. “Is it possible?” For a moment, he feels an inkling of hope. His protective shell moves away from his main body—a metallic orb—pushed apart by a glowing sphere of blue light. “There you are!” He says, confirming his suspicions. Excited, the machine puts all of his energy into bringing the skeletal remains back to life.

In its place, a young woman appears. Tanned skin forms, surrounding the broken bones. Dark hair grows, cascading in loose waves down to her mid-back. And with her first inhale of breath, a blush of pink life spreads across her cheeks. Slowly, the woman opens her eyes, and winces at the invasion of light.

“Guardian,” the machine says. He moves closer to her, flying right up into her line of vision. “Guardian?” He repeats.

The woman blinks at him. She feels sluggish, confused. Her mind still busy trying to process the concept of life, existence.

“Eyes up, Guardian!” The strange object says, inching the slightest bit closer to her face.

She tilts her head in curiosity, finally noticing the talking robot.

“It worked… You’re alive!” He says. “You don’t know how long I’ve been looking for you. I’m a Ghost. Actually, now I’m your Ghost. And you…”

The woman’s gaze drifts down to look at her hands. She moves her fingertips, intrigued by this odd sensation of feeling, of movement.

“Well, you’ve been dead a long time,” the robot continues. “So, you’re going to see a lot of things you won’t understand.”

Something yells in the distance, drawing his attention towards it.

“This is Fallen territory,” he says. His optic eye shifts rapidly to glance around the area. He’s nervous, concerned. “We aren’t safe here. I have to get you to the City.” Briefly, he flies away, before turning back to the Guardian. “Hold still,” he says, disappearing.

The woman opens her mouth to speak—tries to call out for the machine to return—but no sound escapes.

“Don’t worry,” his voice says. The sound vibrates inside of her head, and it feels ever-so-slightly unsettling. “I’m still with you. We need to move, fast.”

Almost hesitant, the woman pulls herself up onto her feet. She surveys the world in front of her, overwhelmed by the sight of sparse greenery and spreading decay.

“We won’t survive long out in the open like this,” the Ghost gives her a verbal nudge. “Let’s get inside the Wall.”

She looks beyond the clumps of rusted metal, focusing on a building that’s crumbling in the distance. With unsteady steps, she walks towards it. She stumbles in the dry dirt, gradually adapting to process that’s involved in forcing her legs into motion.

“I didn’t bring you back just for you to die again,” Ghost says. “We need to move.”

Sensing the urgency, she picks up her pace. The woman climbs through the wreckage and jogs the rest of the way to the Wall. She enters through a large hole that greets her with darkness. An automatic light resting on her left shoulder switches on, illuminating the space. She climbs the staircase to her left, ascending up a couple flights of stairs. The woman is cautious as she travels further inside, careful to avoid cutting herself with the jagged, sharp edges of broken metal. She considers grasping onto the safety railings for support, but changes her mind upon noticing that they look as if they could snap between her fingers.

A skittering noise echoes throughout the building, pulling the woman’s attention to the dark ceiling.

“Quiet,” the Ghost says, half a step below a whisper. “They���re right above us.”

Making a deliberate effort to keep her footsteps light, the woman traverses further into the building in search of a way through. Eventually, she opens a door and steps into an open space.

The Ghost rematerializes beside her, and immediately begins to scan the area. “Hang tight,” he says. “Fallen thrive in the dark. We don’t. We need more light. I’ll see what I can do.” He zips away, flying deep into the darkness. “Another one of these hardened military systems and a few centuries of entropy working against me.”

As she stares into the pitch black, a rock of discomfort settles inside the depths of her stomach. Goosebumps bloom down the woman’s arms. She feels something watching her, examining her every move. But she can’t see the source.

The lights flicker on.

And illuminate the swarm of creatures moving across the adjacent bridges and walls. The woman’s eyes widen at the sight, caught off-guard by their six slender limbs, claw-like hands, and glowing blue eyes. The creatures—the Fallen—are dressed in spiked gray and silver armor, with purple cloaks draped over their heads.

The woman emits an involuntary gasp, taking a step back towards the door that she had walked in from.

“They’re coming for us,” the Ghost yells as he speeds his way back towards the woman.

“Yeah,” she responds. And for a brief moment, she is startled by the sound of her own voice. It’s coarse, strained, yet soft, quiet.

“Oh,” the Ghost pauses, stopping abruptly to look at her. “So you can speak!”

“Yeah,” she confirms, though she sounds as if she doubts this herself. Hearing hurried footsteps, she turns her attention back to the creatures that are gaining on them.

The Ghost turns to look back at the Fallen, and then rushes back to the woman. He scans a gate beside her, hacking into the system to unlock it. As the gate rises, he flies through and points a light at an object leaning against a metal crate. “Here,” he says. “I found a rifle. Grab it!”

She runs after him, quick to pick up the offered weapon.

“I hope you know how to use that thing,” he says.

Walking at a brisk pace down the hall, she detaches the rifle’s magazine and checks the amount of ammo stored inside. “You and me both,” she mumbles, clicking everything back into place. A group of Fallen soldiers jump in front of them, and the woman reacts on instinct, lodging a couple of rounds into each of their heads. Another Fallen appears, ready to strike. And, pulling out a knife from her thigh holster, she jabs the blade into the creature’s neck.

“I think you’ll be okay,” the Ghost says, watching as the fresh corpse collapses onto the ground.

The woman looks over at the Ghost, before continuing forward. Rifle raised and ready to fire. After walking through a disorientating maze of hallways and fighting off two hoards of Fallen soldiers, she stumbles into an open space with high ceilings. On the other side, a giant fan is slowly rotating behind a metal grate.

“The Fallen have a tighter hold on this place than I thought,” the Ghost comments. He heads towards the fan and looks down a new hallway. “Just a little bit further. Let’s hope there’s something left out there.”

She follows after him. “You don’t sound entirely confident.”

“I was fortunate enough to finally find you,” he says. “I don’t know how much more luck I’ve got left today.”

As the woman enters the hallway, she pauses to look back at where they had come from, double checking that none of the Fallen were hot on their heels.

All clear.

The Ghost and the woman follow the path. It leads them outside, into another field of rust and ruin.

“This was an old Cosmodrome,” the Ghost explains. “There’s got to be something we can fly out of here.”

“Cosmodrome?” The woman whispers. She takes in the sight, trying to process and understand this ever-growing pile of information.

“Right,” the Ghost turns to look at her. “You don’t know—”

His words are interrupted by the loud sound of something being launched in the distance. The woman and the Ghost whip their eyes towards its direction, watching as a smoking orange light—a flare—flies high up in the air. Gradually, it changes direction, curving towards a nearby tower.

“Incoming!” The Ghost warns, pulling the woman’s attention away from the flare.

A large portal of blue and white light forms in the sky. And through it, a ship appears and starts to descend. With the sound of a faint explosion, another ship flies through another portal. It heads towards them, landing closer than the first.

“Fallen ships!” The Ghost says. “This close to the surface?”

The woman unclips her magazine from the rifle and replaces it with a fresh one. “We should go.”

“Move!” The Ghost agrees.

She sprints across the courtyard, approaching the ship. As she nears, several Fallen leap out of the vehicle. Aiming her rifle, she shoots several of them dead before their feet can touch the ground. Moving at a quick, but steady, pace, she heads closer and continues her task of killing the creatures. Fighting her way around the swarm, she treks through the open courtyard, before entering a new building on the other side.

“I’m picking up signs of an old jumpship,” the Ghost says. “Could be our ticket out of here.”

“Here’s to hoping,” the woman mumbles.

They follow the hallways inside, pausing to kill the Fallen before these enemies are able to spot them. Eventually, they turn a corner and enter a wide, open room with a broken glass ceiling. Across the way, an old ship sits abandoned, collecting dirt and grime. It’s suspended above them, held up by multiple thick cables.

“There’s a ship!” The Ghost says.

The woman steps closer, her eyes glued to it. “It looks relatively intact,” she notes. A cluster of running footsteps storm in through the entrance behind her, and she pivots to shoot the Fallen. Once all is calm, she turns her attention back to the ship.

The Ghost reappears beside her. “Alright, let me see if I can get us out of here,” he flies up to the ship and begins to scan it. “It’s been here awhile,” he comments. “Hasn’t made a jump in centuries. We’re lucky the Fallen haven’t completely picked it clean.”

“Will it fly?” The woman asks.

The Ghost pauses and turns to look at her. “I can make it work,” he says. He turns back towards the ship and disappears as he slips inside of it. After a few moments, the ship’s lights flip on and its engine begins to rumble. Another moment goes by, and then the ship breaks itself free of cables as it raises to hover in the air.

“Would you look at that,” the woman says.

“Okay, it’s not going to break orbit, but it might just get us to the City. Now—about that transmat...”

Through a hole in the wall, several Fallen scurry into the room. “Might wanna put a rush on that,” the woman yells. She swings up her weapon, finger ready to pull the trigger.

“Bringing you in!”

Before she can fire a shot, the woman disappears in a cluster of blue lights. She reemerges inside the ship, disorientated and confused. As she stares at the different levers and buttons inside, the Ghost steers the jumpship out of the building and away from the enemies that are shooting at them.

“Let’s get you home,” he says.

“Home?”

The Ghost turns to look at her, but says nothing in return.

And unbeknownst to the duo, a stranger watches them from a distance.

TOWER

The Last City, Earth

The trip “home” is shorter than the woman anticipates. Though, she was—admittedly—a bit distracted with her face pressed up against the windows of the ship. Eyes glued to the snow-capped mountains, vast forests, clear lakes, and crumbling cities that passed by beneath them. Breaking through the dark clouds of a thunderstorm, the ship is greeted with bright rays of warm sunshine. And, pressing her nose even further into the glass, the woman’s eyes widen at the sight of a giant orb floating in the distance. Below it, a towering grey building glimmers beneath the sun’s light.

When the ship approaches the location, the Ghost switches back on the transmat and teleports the woman down onto the courtyard below. Just as her feet touch the ground, the ship flies away and disappears behind the roof of the building.

“Welcome to the last safe City on Earth,” the Ghost says. “The only place the Traveler can still protect. It took centuries to build. Now, we’re counting every day it stands.”

The woman takes a step towards the balcony’s edge, wanting a better view of the City below.

“And this Tower is where the Guardians live,” the Ghost says, flying towards the main building.

She turns to follow him, but freezes in place. She’s stunned by the expansive entryways, tall pillars, glowing lights, and red flags billowing in the wind. Robots patrol the courtyard, sweeping the ground and collecting stray pieces of rogue trash. A group of children race across the steps, led by a young boy that’s clutching a large black ball between his small hands. As the laughing children sprint passed one of the cleaning robots, it cautions them to be careful and to slow down.

“You keep referring to Guardians,” the woman says. “Is that what I am?”

“Yes.”

“And what does that entail?”

The Ghost hovers just out of her reach, his outer protective shell whirling in circles as he goes through an internal debate. “It’s normal for you to be confused,” he says, looking at her. “I’m sure that all of this is… a lot to take in all at once.”

The woman sighs, “Maybe just a little bit.”

Their conversation comes to a halt.

“Follow me,” the Ghost says, ending the long stretch of silence. “I’ll take you to—”

“Wait,” she interrupts. “I want to… I want to know who I am. Why can’t I remember anything? What even is this place? This… Tower?”

He drifts closer to her, meeting her gaze. “The answer to that is a bit complicated,” he says. “But who you are now is a Guardian, a new Guardian.”

“So,” the woman blinks, “I was once somebody else?”

“Yes and no,” the Ghost responds. “Your body—your face—it once belonged to somebody else. Beyond that, you are completely different.”

“So, you’re saying that I’ve been reincarnated?” She asks, looking down at her hands. The woman examines the bare skin, noticing long scars etched along the outside of her right forearm.

“Don’t think about it,” the Ghost says, nudging her arm back down to her side. “Pursuing knowledge about your past life is ill-advised. Forbidden, actually.”

“Do you know who I was?”

“No.”

“Nothing at all?”

The Ghost stares at her.

But she continues to pry, “Not even a name?”

“Would you like a name?” He asks.

“‘Guardian’ feels a bit… impersonal,” she admits. “You probably have a name, don’t you?”

The top of the Ghost’s shell lowers, as if pulling itself down to represent a frown. “No,” he says. “I’ve only ever been ‘Ghost.’”

“Wouldn’t you like a name?”

“Oh!” The Ghost’s straightens out his shell. And his optic center appears to widen with brewing excitement. “You could gave me a name,” he suggests. “We could… do a trade. You name me and I’ll name you?”

For the first time, the woman feels amusement. “A fair proposal,” she smiles, “Tangerine?”

The Ghost flies around her head, contemplating the suggestion. “I like it,” he says, coming to a halt in front of her face. “My turn! What to name you,” his voice trails off, pondering his options. “Something strong? Pretty? Traditional? Unique? Do you have a preference, Guardian?”

“It’s up to you, Tangerine. That was the deal.”

Finally, he speaks, “What about Verna?”

She quirks an eyebrow, “Verna?”

“You don’t like it?” Tangerine’s shell spins rapidly, nervous. He starts to sink towards the ground, unsure and embarrassed. “I’m sorry, it’s just… it’s the first thing that I thought of. I can come up with something else if—”

She giggles softly, lifting the Ghost back up high into the air. “I like it,” the woman—Verna—says.

A/N: Thank you for reading! While I plan on keeping this story relatively close to the game itself, it will prioritize accuracy for the in-game cutscenes and spoken dialogue, and not any other miscellaneous written lore. This is simply because Destiny has an absolutely massive library of lore and I am simply a graduate student with little free time who has to write a novel for her thesis project.

Also, we'll be seeing some of Cayde-6 in the next chapter. ^^ I was hoping to squeeze him in for this one, but I felt that ending with Verna's name was a natural stopping point.

[sir-subpar]

Where have you been? (1)

*This takes place in the Cursed!Bf au. This is pretty focused on Pico's point of view. Not a lot of shipping in this chapter, but I had a lot of fun writing this. This will be a 2-parter. Btw, swear words.*

Pico had challenged Boyfriend to another rap battle for fun and awaited his arrival. He was late, but they did plan to meet up at 5:00 pm so Pico figured it was just rush hour traffic holding him up. So he waited patiently. Minutes turned to hours, and the sun had set below the horizon. Pico tried to text him, but got no response. This was bullshit. He waited for hours like a fool and now B was ghosting him? If he didn't want to rap why didn't he just cancel? 

Pico grit his teeth in frustration as he got into his car. He began driving to Boyfriend's and Girlfriend's house. His grip on the steering wheel was unnecessarily tight. Sure, maybe he was overreacting a little. It was just a rap battle, but it angered him that B had wasted his time. He could have done something to let him know that they had to cancel. So in the moment, telling him off just sounded cathartic. He muttered random obscenities under his breath, as if reciting how he was gonna tell him off.

By the time he had reached the house Bf and Gf shared together it was dark out, some stars had started making their mark on the blackened sky. Pico could see the living room light was on. Good, they were home. Pico slammed the car's door, then walked up the little path to the house's front door. He knocked on the door and waited. He tapped his foot impatiently. He had spent his whole afternoon waiting for this guy to show up so the idea of waiting any longer annoyed the hell out of him.

 He could hear the door being unlocked and was about to start his angry rant when he saw it was Girlfriend at the door. The look on her face was odd, she looked surprised and… worried? That seemed off to Pico, as she usually opened the door with more enthusiasm no matter who was there. She was wearing a red crop top and black sweatpants, her comfy clothes.

 "... Pico? What are you doing here?" She asked, her tone came off as nervous. "I just wanna ask Boyfriend something." He decided not to yell at Girlfriend, she wasn't the one he was pissed at anyway. "Oh… He isn't with you? He doesn't… live here anymore." 

Just like that, all the anger built up in Pico had just fizzled. Replaced with confusion and shock. And a little bit of worry. "Why doesn't he live here??" Pico asked, what was going on? "Bf and I… we broke up. He left a few weeks ago and I haven't seen him since." She seemed nervous, she avoided making eye contact as she spoke. She left fidgeting with her hair, a nervous habit of hers. 

"So you don't know where he is, huh?" Pico asked, he too, started feeling nervous. 

"I haven't seen him since we broke up. He left most of his stuff here too. Even his phone. I figured he had run off to stay with you but I guess that's not the case." Girlfriend continued. Pico's worry only grew from there. He put his hands in his pockets and awkwardly continued their conversation. "How long has this been going on? Like, when was the last time you saw him?"  Pico had to know. How long had he been out of the loop here? Girlfriend looked him in the eyes, almost shamefully. "Two weeks." 

Pico couldn't help but be shocked by this. "Do you know anyone else he might have talked to? Anyone he might be staying with right now?" Anyone who would know where he is? That was what he really wanted to know. Where could he have gone? Girlfriend shook her head. "No, I don't know who he'd go to other than you. Most people we know don't really like him that much as far as I know." Pico couldn't help but grow more worried. This just wasn't like B… was he in trouble? "Well.. I'm gonna try to find out where he is. You wanna help?" Pico gestured towards his car, thinking they could ask around. Girlfriend averted her gaze, once again avoiding eye contact. "I'm pretty sure I'm the last person he wants to see.." 

Pico couldn't argue with that. Hell, when he and Bf broke up they still kept in contact to some degree. Boyfriend completely ghosting someone was rare, so he must've really wanted to avoid her. "Yeah… I guess that makes sense. Uh, have a good night." Pico and Girlfriend shared goodbyes and went their separate ways. Pico never liked being alone with her, to be honest. It was always awkward, now it was made worse with Boyfriend being who knows where. Pico drove off in his car, contemplating what he should do. 'Maybe I should just call some of B's friends. He might just be staying at one of their places.' He thought to himself. 

Pico had to think about who Boyfriend trusted the most (not counting himself or Gf in this case). He started thinking of people B had introduced him to. 'I have Hex's number, he's friendly, maybe Bf talked to him? It's worth a shot.' Pico scrolled through his contacts until he found Hex's number. The phone dialed for a few seconds, then he heard a robotic voice greet him. "Hello friend!" Hex exclaimed, enthusiastic as always. Pico wasn't really sure if he'd consider himself as Hex's 'friend' per say, but he never disliked the guy. 

"Hey Hex, it's Pico." 

"Greetings Pico! Haven't heard from you in a while! How are you?" 

"I'm alright, thanks. I actually need to ask you something. Could you help me with something?"

"You sound worried. How can I help?"

"I know this might sound random but… is Boyfriend staying with you by chance?" Pico nervously tapped his fingers on the steering wheel. He hoped that by some chance that maybe Hex knew something.

"No, why?" Just like that, Pico's hope was dashed. Despite that, he decided to fill Hex in on the situation. Maybe having another person looking out for B would help their chances of finding him.

"Well, he and Girlfriend split up 2 weeks ago and he just kinda… disappeared. I've tried to reach out to him but he's not responding. Gf said she has no idea where he is."

" I'm sorry, I don't know any more than you do."

 Pico let out a small sigh. "Yeah, I'm worried about him. Hey, if you see him, will you let me know?" 

"I will."

"Thank you, I appreciate it." Pico was about to hang up the phone when Hex said one last thing. 

"Actually, my friend Whitty sometimes hangs out with Boyfriend. I'll call and ask him if he knows where Boyfriend is." Hex sounded hopeful, which made Pico feel a little better. "Thanks, Hex. Let me know what he says."

"Will do! Bye for now!" 

"Bye."

Pico hung up. Deciding to drive home for the time being. He couldn't help but suddenly wonder though… who was Whitty? The name sounded familiar, but he couldn't recall meeting someone named Whitty. Maybe Bf had mentioned the guy to Pico before. Regardless, if this guy knew anything about Bf, he'd take it. 

Pico got home and felt exhausted. He kicked his shoes off at the front door, and dragged his feet as he walked towards his bedroom. He changed into some pajamas and started preparing to sleep. Part of him wanted to stay up and wait to hear back from Hex, but he was tired, and he needed to rest. He'd continue his search after getting some sleep, he decided. Pico pulled his bedsheets over his body, closed his eyes, and eventually drifted off to sleep. 

…

Pico got up the next morning at around 7:30 am. He got dressed, brushed his hair and teeth, all that usual morning routine stuff. Then, just as he was about to start calling more people to see if they knew anything about Bf, he got a call from Hex.

"Hello? Hex?"

"Pico!" Hex yelled, sounding excited. "I have good news!" Now Pico was beginning to feel excited. "I talked to my friend Whitty. He said he saw Bf a few days ago!" 

"Does he know where B is now?" Pico was nervously fidgeting with the collar of his shirt. He wasn't entirely sure why, but ever since his conversation with Girlfriend, he just had a gut feeling that something was wrong. He hoped it was just paranoia. "Does he know where Bf is now?" Pico asked. 'Please say yes.' He pleaded in his mind. "Hang on, let me ask him." Hex replied, then his voice sounded distant. He was talking to someone in person, their conversation muffled. "He said no, but he saw Bf in the same general area a few times last week. Maybe all three of us should go there and look for him together! Like a search party!" Hex sounded hopeful, and honestly it wasn't a bad idea. Pico took a deep breath. This was a good thing, this narrowed the search a bit. Pico reminded himself. "Okay, let's do it." He said, feeling determined. "I'll send you the address so we can meet up. See you there!" Hex proclaimed. "Thanks, I'll be there." Pico hung up, then rushed to get his keys, his gun, and other supplies then got in his car. Hex, as promised, sent him the address. Pico entered it into his phone's navigation system and drove there. It was in an oddly run-down neighborhood, with rundown buildings and dark alleys. He wondered what Bf would be doing there. He honestly didn't like the idea of parking his car in this neighborhood, do you worried that it would get stolen or broken into. So he parkes a little ways away, and walked the rest. It was for the best. 

He walked to their agreed meet up spot. The sidewalk was in poor condition, as well as most of the buildings around him. Cracked and discolored walls, boarded up windows, shattered glass and trash was all over the place. The street alone looked as though the city gave up on it. This whole place was run down. Even one of the street lamps was knocked over, luckily it was the morning so it didn't matter. 

Pico could see Hex's monitor head and basketball jersey from a distance. Said robot noticed him and waved to him. He saw someone else there with him, presumably Whitty. Upon closer inspection, Pico noticed a few things about Whitty. The first being that he was fucking tall as hell! Pico knew that he was short in comparison to most people but even so, this dude was TALL. Pico standing at his full height wasn't even half this guy's size. He had to be close to 9 feet tall. The next thing he noticed was the fact that his head was a bomb. His eyes were orange and glowed. Pico couldn't help but stare at the guy. When did Bf come into contact with this guy? How did they meet?

"Hey." Said the tall bomb-headed man. Pico flinched slightly, realizing he must have noticed him staring. His voice was kind of gruff, but not the usual kind of gruff. It reminded Pico of an electric guitar for some reason. Though he figured it probably was best not to say that out loud. Pico snapped out of his thoughts and finally replied. "Hey, I'm Pico. I'm guessing you're Whitty?" Pico held out his hand to shake Whitty's, the taller man returned the gesture. "Yeah, that's me." When their hands touched, Pico was surprised by how warm Whitty's hand was. It was definitely hotter than his own human hand. Not to mention how smooth his skin was, it felt somewhat like metal, but not quite. He kind of wanted to keep holding it just so he could examine it more, but he figured that would be weird to do to a guy he just met. So he let go.

 "So… you saw Bf around here?" Pico asked, and decided it was time to start their search. "We crossed paths a few times but every time he ran away. He seemed… upset." Whitty explained, somewhat trailing off towards the end of his sentence. He too, seemed like he was worried about Boyfriend. Pico wondered how close they were. "Can you show us where you last saw him?" Hex asked, a question mark appearing on his screen. Whitty nodded "Yeah, follow me." He turned on his heels and began walking in front of them. He seemed confident, like he knew the area well. Pico and Hex quickly followed.

 It was mostly quiet between them, Hex played some simple tune to break the silence. Something Pico appreciated. He felt a little awkward, he didn't know anything about Whitty, but apparently he was a friend of Bf's. He quickened his pace a bit so he could walk next to Whitty, he decided to break the silence between them. "So… how'd you meet Bf?" Whitty looked at Pico with an unreadable expression. "He challenged me to a rap battle." Pico chuckled at Whitty's answer and replied jokingly with "Ah, so the same way he meets everyone." Whitty chuckled. "Yeah, pretty much." He could hear Hex laugh a bit too. It really was the way he met most people. "So, how long have you known each other?" Pico asked. "Hmm… I think months now, almost a year. What about you? You two seem close." Whitty looked at Pico quizzically. Pico rubbed the back of his neck "Aw geez, a really long time. Since we were kids." Whitty's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow. So you're really close then huh? That explains a lot actually."  Pico tilted his head in curiosity. What did he mean by that? "Yeah? Like what?"  Whitty shrugged. "I dunno… B talks about you sometimes. He told me several times that I should meet you. Said he thought we'd get along." Whitty chuckled. "He always looked so happy when he talked about you.." 

Pico couldn't help but feel flattered, but he also felt a little jealous. Bf told Whitty so much, he trusted him. He knew He longer than Whitty did, yet Bf apparently didn't trust him enough to tell him about his and Gf's breakup. Pico tried to ignore those thoughts. Bf, wherever he was, needed him. It wasn't time to be bitter. "Wish we could've met under better circumstances." Pico muttered, Whitty nodded. "Yeah."

Hex then decided to interject their conversation. "Hey Whitty, are we close to where you last saw Boyfriend?" The robot asked suddenly, startling Pico. For a second, he actually forgot the robot was there. 'Oh yeah.. We've been walking for a little while now.' Pico realized that he had lost track of where they were. "Yeah, sorry. It's just around this next corner, we're almost there." Whitty instructed. "Ok!" Hex replied. Pico nodded, observing their surroundings. This part of the neighborhood was… odd. It didn't seem quite as old as the rest of this beaten-down area. It seemed more… recently abandoned. The buildings, though still a mess, seemed more modern in comparison. Like at some point, this was a nice neighborhood, possibly even upper class at one point. 

The trio turned right at the faded crosswalk, about three buildings down the street, they stopped. Whitty turned to face Pico and Hex. "This is where I last saw him. I tried to talk to him but he ran off and I lost track of him." Pico looked at the rundown building they were in front of. Unlike the other buildings in the area, it didn't seem that old. What surprised him though, was the obvious damage. It looked like the building caught fire at some point. The windows looked like they were shattered from the inside. Pico looked through them, he could see the remains of what appeared to be a restaurant. Broken and burned tables, shattered plates and collapsed support beams were all over the place. He could see the remains of broken speakers towards the back of the dining room, close to what was probably a bathroom. Pico took a few steps back and tried to read what was left of the restaurant's sign. Then it clicked.

 He had heard of this place, about a year ago it was on the news because some lunatic blew up the place in the middle of a rap battle. He remembered seeing Boyfriend and Girlfriend escaping the smoldering wreckage on the news. He called them as soon as he saw it and let them stay at his house that night to comfort them. He could vividly remember the look on Girlfriend's face when they watched the aftermath on the news. Complete and utter terror. He had never seen her more scared in his life. Apparently the arsonist was never caught, for some reason. Pico never understood that. It was a restaurant full of people, surely somebody would have seen where he went, right? The thought made Pico uneasy. Why would B come anywhere near this place after that?

"Yo, Pico. You listening?" Whitty's voice suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts. He wondered how long he was zoning out for. "Sorry I- I just got lost in thought. What were you saying?" Pico felt bad. He was supposed to be looking for his missing friend, not zoning out. Pico mentally chastised himself for it before focusing on Whitty again. "I don't know where he went from here, but I don't think he left this side of town." Pico nodded, then looked up at Hex, his monitor was processing something. Pico guessed he was thinking up a plan. Then the monitor showed a map. "Maybe we should split up into different areas" the robot started, his now map that was once his face highlighted three different areas in the neighborhood. "After each of us surveys their area we can check in with each other over the phone." Hex offered. Pico, though he appreciated the thought, didn't really like the idea of the three of them splitting up in a neighborhood like this. Sure, he could take care of himself. Hell, he was an assassin for fucks sake. But even he knew he wasn't invincible. He was vulnerable. Especially in an area he wasn't familiar with. Before he could politely object though, Whitty commented on the plan. "Sorry Hex, that's a no go. This place ain't a good area. If we split, we could get ambushed." Pico was relieved that Whitty agreed with him. "If there were more of us, then we could split up into teams. But it's just too risky to do as is." Pico added, making his stance on the situation known. Hex sighed (or at least did the robot equivalent of sighing), his arms dropped and his now disappointed face appeared on the monitor's screen again. "Ok… this is far less efficient though." Hex replied, defeated. Pico gave him a comforting pat on the arm. "We appreciate the thought, Hex." Pico said, hoping it would appease the mechanical man. Hex smiled and let it go. "Where should we start looking?" Hex asked the group. Pico couldn't help but eye the burnt restaurant. "Let's check in here first." Whitty and Hex both looked at Pico quizzically, but shrugged it off and agreed. 

Pico attempted to open the front doors, but they wouldn't give, the restaurant's double doors were stuck shut. Pico was about to slam into it when he was stopped by a large hand. Slightly startled, he realized it was Whitty who lightly grabbed him. The bomb man gently moved Pico away from the door."I got it." Was all he said before he gripped one of the door's handles and yanked the whole door off its hinges. Wood splinters flew everywhere as the door cracked and broke.  Whitty tossed the door aside with one arm. Pico's jaw almost dropped. 'Holy shit. Either that door was weak or he's strong as hell!' Pico was tempted to comment on it but didn't want to come across as rude so all he did was thank Whitty. Hex on the other hand clapped his metallic claw hands, the metal making numerous "ting" sounds. "Great job Whitty!" Hex exclaimed before walking through the now open doorway. Whitty rubbed the back of his head, seeming a little embarrassed. Pico noticed Whitty's cheeks were slightly glowing orange. Was that how he blushed? "Err.. Thanks. It's nothing." Whitty had to lean down in order to fit through the doorway, Pico walked in after him. 

The three of them spread out a bit to investigate the remains of the restaurant. Pico honestly thought it was depressing to look at. This had once been a peaceful place to take your loved ones to and enjoy food. Now it was just a husk of its former glory. An ashy, decrepit ruin. After a few minutes, they found nothing and decided to leave. Pico felt bad for wasting time in this old building, but he was glad the others were still willing to help. The trio decided to keep looking around the neighborhood, continuing their search for Boyfriend.

…

Hours. They had been searching for hours, and there was still no sign of Boyfriend anywhere. Pico felt his legs getting sore. He hadn't walked so much without stopping in a long time. Hex seemed unfazed, but maybe that was because robots couldn't get sore muscles. Whitty seemed a little tired, but didn't show signs of really slowing down. Pico really wanted to just power through it and be helpful, but his legs were in agony. He needed to sit down. It didn't help that it was past noon and he hadn't eaten much that day. "Hey guys. I need to sit down for a bit, my legs are killing me." Pico admitted, hopong the others would be cool about it. "Okay, let's take a break. We've been doing this all day." Whitty agreed. Hex noticed a bench in the distance. "Why don't you rest over there?" The robot offered, and the other boys agreed. The bench was a bit tall, Pico had to hop on to it. Whitty on the other hand had no such trouble, being the vertically-blessed giant he was. Pico was a little jealous. Pico let out a sigh. "Where the hell is that blue-haired dumbass?" Pico asked rhetorically, he was getting frustrated with this. He was worried, tired, and felt lost. He thought he knew Bf well, but he didn't know him well enough to predict this. "I wish I knew." Whitty added, sounding worried as well. Pico was thinking about what to say when his stomach growled loudly. 

"Hungry, huh?" Whitty chuckled. "Fuck yes, I'm starving." Pico replied. "You know what? I'm gonna get lunch. You hungry?" Pico asked, standing up despite his legs begging him not to. "I'm always hungry, sure." Whitty chuckled again. "I'm never hungry!" Hex happily chirped. That time Pico chuckled. "Well, you could still come with us, even if you don't eat anything." Pico offered. "Thank you friend!" Hex smiled. "Cool." Pico gave a thumbs up. "So… where are we going?" Whitty asked, tilting his head a bit. He stood up, ready to follow Pico. "First to my car. Then I'll drive us to a restaurant or something." Pico explained, beginning to walk towards said vehicle. "Just a heads up, I parked a bit far, but it should only take, like, 20 minutes to get there." Pico warned, knowing the others (or at least Whitty) were tired as well. "No problem friend! Lead the way!" Hex declared enthusiastically. Whitty just shrugged and said "We've been walking for hours, 's not like 20 minutes will kill us." And just like that, they were off.

…

Pico, as promised, drove the three of them to a small diner that wasn't too far away. It was thankfully in a nicer neighborhood. The three sat together at a booth table near the back. Hex had powered off to regain some energy. More or less leaving Whitty and Pico alone.

 "Hey, lunch is on me, k?" Pico stated. He had been paid generously on his last job, so he wasn't worried about meal prices. Whitty seemed caught off guard. "Uh, y-you don't have to do that-" "I insist." Pico bluntly interjected. Whitty again, tried to decline. "I shouldn't- you don't need to do that, really." Whitty stammered a bit. Pico doubled down on it. "I'm not budging on this man." Whitty tilted his head to the side curiously, but still seemed slightly flustered. "Why are you so persistent in paying for both of us?" Whitty asked. Pico shrugged. "I just want to thank you for all your help today. I've been stressed out trying to figure out where B is and I really appreciate you helping us out." Pico said earnestly, he was still really worried about Boyfriend. "I.. You're welcome. I'm not gonna lie, I care about him, and I'm worried for the guy. Last time I saw him, he seemed off." Whitty confessed, rubbing the back of his head. Pico's curiosity piqued a bit. "Off? In what wa-" ''Hello boys! Can I get you something to drink?" Pico was suddenly interrupted by their waitress.  "Oh. Right. We should probably order something haha." Pico joked, chuckling a bit. "I'll take a Coke. What about you Whitty?" Pico asked, gesturing towards the taller male. "I'd just like water, please." Whitty replied, the waitress wrote their drink orders. "Okay. Are you ready to order your meals as well?" She asked sweetly. "I think we need a few minutes." Admitted Pico. "Okay, I'll give you some time to think about it and will be back with your drinks in a bit, okay?" Whitty and Pico politely thanked her and looked at their menus. 

"What're you thinking of ordering?" Pico asked, he wondered what kind of food Whitty enjoyed. "I don't know. I'm still surprised that you're paying for both of us." Whitty responded unsurely. "It's all good man. I got it" Pico gave a reassuring smile. "I just want to warn you that I eat a LOT. I'm not exactly cheap to feed." Whitty warned, embarrassed. Pico chuckled, "I'm not exactly peckish, either." "I really mean it, Pico. I eat more than humans do." Whitty once again gave a disclaimer to Pico. "And I really mean it when I say I'll cover it. Just get what you want." Pico stated adamantly. 

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

"..."

"..." 

"Are you sure?"

"Whitty if you ask me that again I'm gonna smack the shit out of you."

(To be continued…)

(I wanted to write more but this is long so I'm gonna break it into two chapters. The next one is gonna have more angst so I wanted to end this one on a bit of a lighter note

[tricktster]

disappointing how you've distanced yourself from the self-insert skeleton porn but I understand 😔

Come onnnnnn, I haven't distanced myself, I just don't have anything new to say about it. I finished writing it like five years ago! But for what it's worth, since I pick up new followers way too regularly for a blog that's inactive for two weeks and then dumps several dozen VERY LONG posts about my weird esoteric interests over the course of a few hours:

Hi new followers. We don't know each other very well yet, but I think you're cool, and you obviously think I’m worth following... so, in the interest of full disclosure, you should really know that I, tumblr user TST (née TotalSkeletonTrash), started this blog in late 2015 in order to promote Chill or Be Chilled, a 484,012 word (occasionally) explicit Undertale fanfiction, which has (as of right now) 11180 kudos, which, per my calculations, means that it is still the 659th most kudos-ed work of all time on Archive of Our Own.

And while 659th place isn't that impressive as a general rule, when you consider that there are 7,333,763 fics on Archive of Our Own, coming in at 659 on the most liked fics is still this weird point of pride that I can't tell any of my colleagues about for fear of getting fired on account of I wrote a fanfiction where the reader character has sex with Sans "The Skeleton" The Skeleton.

Also, my OC Peter Capra, a 38 year-old, pansexual, extremely wealthy, cis-male CEO of a small renewable energy corporation who just shows up in the story out of the blue in like chapter 60 (and somehow manages to be an obvious self-insert even though I'm exactly none of the above things) - yeah, a solid portion of CoBC involves him being upset about falling in love with Mettaton, who is, for those of you who have not played Undertale, a robot ghost David Bowie/Freddie Mercury.

In spite of all that, even though I’m my own harshest critic and there is a LOT in CoBC that is objectively ridiculous, I can sincerely promise that it’s actually pretty good.

If you are of age, intrigued by that terrible sales pitch, and don't mind the first chunk just being extreme fluff until I got tired of writing what I thought people wanted to read and started writing what I wanted to read - an incredibly elaborate sci-fi/time travel/vaguely-Lovecraftian-horrors-but-minus-the-racism story - you can check Chill or Be Chilled out here. If it’s just too long to attempt, here’s the gist:

Also, if you don't want to read anything remotely related to CoBC because it sounds ridiculous and it is, you can also read the first chapter of High Fantasy, an original novel I've been chipping away at with an absolutely glacial pace for the past few years. I will CW that there are illegal substances involved in this chapter, but I really can't tell you anything else without ruining it. You can find the first chapter of High Fantasy here.

[maxwell-grant]

Do you think The Shadow could/should have an end ? If yes, how do you think she would be ?

I(Sidenote but "The Scent of Death" is one of my favorite Shadow covers, if only because I am deeply in love with the idea of The Shadow meeting with a Grim Reaper who's just casually offering flowers. It's what I see when I look at it anyway)

Not gonna reply how I think it should be, because that goes into some of my plans for the character I don't feel like letting out, but regarding him having an "end", yes. Actually, if you ask me the number one story I want to tell with the character, after of course just telling general Shadow stories the way I think they should be told and stories about the agents, it's the story of how he dies.

Not how he achieves immortality, not the story of how he dies but lingers as a ghost, but dies for real. No second chances, no hidden plans, no successors (I'm very strongly against the idea of the Agents becoming The Shadow or him having bloodline descendants who take the role), no returning from the grave. He gets to, for once, for real, die, and actually stay dead.

I think part of that is because of something that Alan Moore mentioned in his Twilight of the Superheroes pitch. As horribly misguided as that was, I do think he opens it with a very solid idea:

As I mentioned in my introduction to Frank's Dark Knight, one of the things that prevents superhero stories from ever attaining the status of true modern myths or legends is that they are open ended. An essential quality of a legend is that the events in it are clearly defined in time; Robin Hood is driven to become an outlaw by the injustices of King John and his minions. That is his origin. He meets Little John, Friar Tuck and all the rest and forms the merry men. He wins the tournament in disguise, he falls in love with Maid Marian and thwarts the Sheriff of Nottingham. He lives to see the return of Good King Richard and is finally killed by a woman, firing a last arrow to mark the place where he shall be buried.

That is his resolution—you can apply the same paradigm to King Arthur, Davy Crockett or Sherlock Holmes with equal success. You cannot apply it to most comic book characters because, in order to meet the commercial demands of a continuing series, they can never have a resolution.

Whether (The Dark Knight Returns) will actually ever happen in terms of "real" continuity is irrelevant: by providing a fitting and affective capstone to the Batman legend it makes it just that... a legend rather than an endlessly meandering continuity. It does no damage to the current stories of Batman in the present, and indeed it does the opposite by lending them a certain weight and power by implication and association— every minor shift of attitude in the current Bruce Wayne's approach to life that might be seen in Batman or Detective over the next few years, whether intentionally or not, will provide twinges of excitement for the fans who can perceive their contemporary Batman inching ever closer to the intense and immortal giant of the Dark Knight chronicles.

(Another sidenote is that me and my family cried very, very hard at Spock's death the first time we watched it, even knowing immediately he was gonna come back the next movie. It still hits pretty hard just thinking about it)

You can argue whether or not this is a requirement that holds back characters from becoming "true myth", but there's an undeniable power and status that is to be found in stories about The Death of The Hero. It's not just a cornerstone of storytelling but quite often it can end up becoming the most popular and/or critically-beloved story of a long-running franchise character, who of course doesn't need to actually die forever and gets to have it both ways, truly great characters who stand the test of time can have iconic death scenes. And The Shadow doesn't have one. The only time he's ever even died in a narrative was in Andy Helfer's Shadow run, and everything in that run was mostly played as a farcical joke and his death was only the pretext for his eventual return in a robot body.

In truth, it is pretty difficult to imagine The Shadow ever dying, because sure, we can imagine Superman or Batman dying to save humanity or Spider-Man biting the dust after an ungodly exhertion to save lives. Not that The Shadow wouldn't do those things, but he's the kind of character who seems like he's going to inevitably get back up again, like Jason Voorhees who won't stay down no matter what, who's always going to show up in a last-minute jumpscare or a secret plot. Because The Shadow is strongly associated with horror and supernatural, we tend to assume he's never going to die so much as he's just going to retreat to the darkness to come back when someone least expects it.

It's interesting also that, while The Shadow isn't suicidal, he is also much more willing to throw away his own life for the sake of others than you'd expect from a character of his personality type, even in circumstances where he would save more people in the long run by protecting his own life. The Shadow is unshakeable when it comes to death, of those he chooses to kill as well as his own, and on the few instances where Shadow stories have gone deep in his head enough to showcase fears and anxieties, the fear of death or injury is never among them, it's more consistently a fear of failure or a fear of his own worst nature coming to the forefront (in a way, the only thing he really fears is himself). But when it comes to death?

He's been canonically described as a daredevil who welcomes danger (usually by laughing), and he seems to treasure the idea of dying for the sake of something, of getting to go out while fighting and taking a bigger monster out with him.

SHADOW: Cain, that vault door is six feet thick...and when it's shut this vault is absolutely airtight. Even you can die of suffocation. Sit down, Cain. You and The Shadow will be here a long time...forever.

CAIN: I don't believe you! You wouldn't make this insane sacrifice just to kill me.

SHADOW: The Shadow has spent a lifetime fighting crime. There could be no better death for The Shadow than this. I will take with me the greatest archcriminal of all time - The Immortal Murderer

Looking at it from a general perspective, the fact that every Shadow story that makes him immortal usually exaggerates his worst and most toxic traits. even starts to have some grounding to it. Because these are stories that happen past the point where The Shadow would have been allowed death, the death that every human, every warrior, every hero, must be allowed to have. You know how that "you either die a hero" line goes. Well, what happens when your hero, who's already skirting pretty damn close to villainy as is, isn't allowed to die at all? Worse, isn't even allowed to change with the times?

Not that this justifies those stories or how badly they mangle The Shadow's character (because they always come from the idea that he's always been the sadistic jerk they make him into), and I'm definitely not stating that "immortal Shadow" stories have to revolve around the deterioration of his persona (I'm partial to ghost teacher Shadow myself), but the idea is there.

This is part of why my stance on this question changed from "well, yeah maybe that could be a fun story to tell" to "actually, yes, we need a Death of The Shadow story, and it has to be done very well and done to a version that's written in-character, and I don't currently trust anyone to write this story the way it needs to be told. I don't trust myself to fully deliver on this premise either, but it's a necessary idea that's been long overdue."

So, yes, I definitely think The Shadow could, and should, have an end. I definitely think it's something that should be considered by anyone who wants to write the character.