#he’s probably actually a good boss to his minions

[adorablebanite]

Were your Durge/Tavs inspired by characters from other movies/shows/literature?

Lilla's neither; she's more of a "side character," but here are her biggest inspirations!

Judge Anderson (DREDD): Lilla is a Knowledge domain cleric - supported by her Patron Bane (introduced by Gortash, of course). Anderson can read minds, and Knowledge clerics have the same ability, as well as other Banite-adjacent abilities like Command, and Dominate Person. She's obviously going to be different than the other Banite cleric NPC's in game, as her job is to specifically protect Gortash (she protecc but also attacc).

I wanted her to be bookish, prim(in public👀), and an over achiever - essentially a prime example of professionalism, as the boss is trying to be a politician 😈

I really like Judge Anderson's innocent competence, so I wanted to keep that Lilla's front-facing demeanor; even when her arc does stray away from the good moral alignment after being hired on by Gort - in which her moral alignment clearly gets influenced by him, but she realizes later it's literally just in her blood to be a Banite!

---

Lee (Secretary) -I love the innocent-to-confident character arc, (as you can probably see by the Judge Anderson arc as well,) but let's be real, Lilla was originally created for a smut so I could waggle my brainworms, and the Secretary holds a special place in my heart.

The movie greatly inspired Awaiting Further Instruction, and I really enjoyed having Lilla go through an adventure of finding her nature, with the help of Gortash, of course. You've got the pathetic Dom, and the pathetic Sub, and while they're both actually pathetic, they find a security in each other's world that even though it's unconventional and twisted, it brings them comfort.

---

GoGo (Kill Bill): obviously vastly different from Anderson, so you can kind of see how the arc goes - and while I don't make Lilla nearly as sadistic as GoGo, she still does have a little streak of it when it comes to anyone who is threatening, insulting, or impeding Gortash in whatever way.

Lilla's demeanor can quickly switch from prim/professional/sweet, to taking personal pleasure in dispatching a rival for Gortash, depending on the level of the crime. Like him, she has a personal perception of justice that greatly aligns with his, and if she has been sicced on someone who has wronged him, she will sentence them accordingly. This can range from playful banter/underhanded threats and blackmail, to abruptly decapitating a goblin mid-sentence because he said something uncouth about Gortash.

My vision for her was the "loyal sidekick of the mob boss," and I find it extremely fun giving her a more interesting role than "yes master, no master," specifically for smut purposes.

---

Scleritas Fel (BG3) : LOL Yes, my initial idea was: "Why can't Gortash have a little minion like Scleritas Fel?" And here we are 😅🫣

I didn't want to rip off the concept of Scleritas directly, but Lilla is still intrinsically tied to Bane because he made her - not like Bhaal made Durge - but more of a "secret, experimental ritual commissioned by Bane, conducted in the outskirts of Calimport where some Banites conceived a person designed to seek out and serve his Chosen, but she ended up being too loveable and the Banites couldn't stand treating her like Banites should, so they wiped her memory, sent her to an orphanage, and offed themselves in shame," kind of way.

Obviously Bane was also ashamed by his botched experiment, so they have a shaky relationship, but that's all been settled in the fic 😇

Ultimately I wanted to write something fun for Gortash - and give him something nice! Lilla is very nice, and likes him very much (bordering on obsession), and is actually very useful in many ways beyond smutty silliness! She does a lot of research, spies, transcribes, organises dossiers/blackmail material, and pretty much oversees his political campaign and businesses (legal and otherwise) while he does the big-boy-chosen work.

I'll do one about Destri (Durge) soon too 🥰

Now that I've prattled on, I'd love to hear about other people's inspiration for their OCs, if they have them!!

@melvinthedepressedrobot

@kaava

@obuoliukai

@walkerdraws

@ennissg

@beecreeper

@newtia

@sankttealeaf

(I have to rush now but I want to hear about everyone so please tag me if you end up doing this and you're not already tagged so I can see it!! 🙏🙏🙏)

[bisque-firedvampire]

You know what would be a fun isekai setup?:

Ok, so a pre-hrt trans lady gets one of those “run over by truck, but gets their heart’s desire in a new world” deals. The new world is just like her favorite video game, which is a castlevaina esq rogue like, and she gets to be the beautiful heroine right from the start! She knows how the game works so she goes right off to the castle. Unfortunately the game is actually a lot harder in person. Every time she dies, she gets mocked by the bbeg vampire lord. She dies so often that she starts to notice that he’s actually quoting other bad guys from different real world media. eventually she fights her way all the way up to his lair to confront him … only to figure out he’s also a previously isekai-ed nerd, just like her! They hit it off once he figures out that she knows his secret. But unfortunately they find out pretty fast that they actually disagree on a lot of nerd stuff… so hilarity ensues.

That all happens in the first episode. But what’s even funnier, and wouldn’t be found out until later on in the season, is that he actually knew her in middle school, and even had a crush on her at the time ! But she doesn’t remember him, because he was just a little trans-masc egg and still presented as a girl when they were in school. Also she didn’t really know what to do with girls at the time, she was very convinced she might be gay (was also an egg at the time) so didn’t pursue any.

So do they still have chemistry? Can they get over their nerdy differences? Will someone please help the poor villagers understand what’s going on?

Call it: “oops, my villain is a fellow nerd?” Or something like that?

It would be comedy, romance, and tragedy (how do you think they both got isekaied? Plus, eventually a vampire has to do what vampires have to do…)

[supreme-leader-stoat]

You're fresh out of college and looking for a job. Everyone is hiring. Nobody who's "hiring" is actually hiring. You finally get a call back from somewhere you barely remember applying to (though the voice on the other end sounds synthesized). You pull up the job listing again real quick. The company name and the fact that the listing is for "Minion" are kind of concerning, but you know what, you've interviewed with enough evil corporations by now, you can handle one wearing its true colors on its sleeve. At this point it's a matter of making rent or moving back in with your parents, and as much as you love your family, you can't imagine spending another summer dealing with your brothers' antics. You agree to the interview.

The man who greets you is an enthusiastic older German(?) man who's either way too into cosplay or just that committed to the bit, judging by the lab coat. He made cookies. The tray of cookies is proffered to you by a ten-foot-tall robotic caricature of a 50s businessman. You take a deep breath to calm yourself. You bite into one of the cookies. It's delicious.

You ask the boss about his business model. "Oh you know, a little of this, a little of that, I bounce from project to project a lot." He mentions that his end goal is becoming the undisputed ruler of the surrounding counties. "Really? Not the whole world?" you ask. "I like to set realistic goals," he replies.

As he gives you the tour of his "evil lair," ingrained instincts are screaming at you to report this guy to some kind of authority figure. You remember the salary. You decide that you can always bust him after getting your first paycheck.

The boss asks when you can start. Caught off guard, you say "tomorrow?". Your boss(?) says he'll see you then.

On the way out, you bump into your stepbrother's girlfriend. Your boss introduces her as his daughter. You both silently agree to sidestep the subject for now and act like this is your first time meeting.

You show up to your first day of work. Your boss is putting the finishing touches on a giant machine that was definitely not there yesterday. You are nonplussed. You ask him what it's for and he launches into a convoluted explanation involving his parents always forcing him to put his shirts on backwards so the tag was in front. You think he should probably talk to a therapist.

Your brothers' exotic pet breaks down the wall. You stare at him. He stares at you. Incredulously, you say his name. "Oh, good, you two already know each other!" your boss says. You mention that you used to live with him. "What? Perry the Platypus, you never mentioned having a roommate."

This is what I like to imagine Candace Flynn's life is like, post P&F.

[macabrecabra]

Now can't have the Silph Bros having a gang without the prominent members of it! Introducing the Nightshade Mafia members under the direct command of Ghast, formerly Hauts' underlings.

Exception is Hund. Hund is only ever with Gen 100% because he's the 100% competent good boy.

Read more for more info and some design notes on each!

Hund VonDoom (Hounddoom)

The ever loyal butler, bodyguard, and all around the one person Gen tells everything to, Hund is often regarded as a member of the family for how he is always with Gen. He is a silent sort, never speaks unless spoken to and follows orders faithfully without question. Probably the only person Gen trusts without a second thought.

The question most have is if Gen and Hund are actually a couple or not which is hard to say as Gen says nothing about it and Hund is a quiet judgmental look to all. However, it can't be understated that no one probably knows Gen best than Hund.

Design Notes: I just imagined this bodyguard of Gen who hides the lower half of their face in their collar, giving them a kind of stern and mysterious look as a minion. Hounddoom because they are good boys and Hund would def have that guard dog vibe!

Kofco & Whezle Smogbur (Wheezing)

With the strange evolution of pokemon without humans about, the Wheezing evolution has taken a turn! Usually the two parts of Wheezing are surgically removed, leaving the two as close brothers. Such an ascension is seen highly in the Koffing community, thus Kofco and Whezle command some level of respect among their fellows.

The two have a rough and tough street-wise attitude and like to think they are the big pokemon on the block, more than willing to get into a scrap and show people who get in the way of the mafia who's boss.... until things get sticky, then they are both looking for the door in a blast of gas attack.

Design Notes: When I started to design their outfits, I kept thinking of Jasper and Horace from 101 Dalmations and the style of clothing they wore and it just really stuck in my head! The tiny hats on their heads was just the icing on the cake <3

Arbel Jessic (Arbok)

Arbel is a classy snake who is in the criminal business to satisfy her lavish spending habits and get access to all the best fashion at a discount. She is not above getting her hands dirty or taking charge of her dumb co-workers is need be. Can be the voice of reason at times in the group, tampering down the chaotic leanings that can happen. She is looking for love and loves to date in her free time, looking for the one.

She can be a bit vain though and when someone makes a comment about her looks she doesn't like, she will be quick to anger and to lash out. She gets along best with Victor in the group, mostly because Victor doesn't know what she is saying half the time... Design Notes: I was channeling Jessie from Team Rocket when making Arbel, just wanting a strong lady in the gang and just really brought the design together in the end <3 the patterns she has is different than official Arbok art as I feel each Arbok has its own special markings!

Victor Belkavitch (Victreebel)

An immigrant from another region, Victor came to Kanto for a new start in life and to take care of his very large extended family of cousins, nephews, grandparents, aunts, and uncles that followed after him. He fell in with the Nightshade Mafia for his impressive work in a bar shootout and has been with them ever since as the pay is good and he does not have to talk much. He is still learning the local language of Kanto and struggles at times with things.

He is the largest one in the gang and can brute strength a lot of things. Loyal to his co-workers whom he treats as family, he is a dependable sort and not above sticking a fight out to keep others safe. Also he is of a pokemon kind that is not above swallowing things whole, including other pokemon when ordered.

Design Notes: As soon as he was named Victor, his design of leather jacket and dark jeans was set in stone as a nod to the dress of gangs/mafias that are found in Eastern Europe. A hat didn't really fit as he had that leaf to be his hat. I just like Victreebels....

Wolbert Buffet (Wobbuffet)

They have been the mafia since it was form as a best friend of Hauts. They actually have the other half of Hauts' hat so between them is the whole hat which means a lot to both of them. Wolbert can come across as rather energetic and a bit absentminded about things, more emotional than most, but more than willing to take the brunt of an attack without hesitation. They took news of Hauts' death hard but remained in the gang to keep an eye on Ghast and make sure he doesn't get into trouble.

They really want to help Ghast in leading the mafia, but they themselves aren't really good at leadership things as motivating people is hard. They just yell loudly and act like they have an idea of what they are doing most of the time. They really shine when it comes to being in a fight or having to get through doors with their sticky fingers.

Design Notes: Wolbert was, by far, the hardest one to design of the gang. Wobbuffet has a simple design that I had to translate into a more anthropomorphic style. Also it felt better with their body type that they probably favor dresses or skirts, so they got a blend of a suit and skirt! Also no shoes, but nice socks!

Gilliad Gligland (Gligar)

Gilliad is the new face on the block and the only one of the mafia who never knew Hauts. Ghast has adopted them as their best friend as a result, teaching them how to be a real ganster! Gilliad is a tad gullible as a result, believing everything they are told. still green about the gills, they get really scared by being in situations and stumble a lot. He's still learning!

Design Note: Given that Gligar has the webbing for gliding, it felt important that their outfit gave them access to their ability naturally and that clothing was designed around them. It is something I'm keeping in mind with designs to take in the pokemon's anatomy when humanizing them! Also having a goofy friend for Ghast was key, so they share similar fashion and being goofy little boys!

[agent-yolk-writes]

Friends Like You and Us - Venom!Reader - Chapter 9

I...still have a lot of catching up to do since I'm updating the main story again. Thank you for your patience!

This episode takes a step back to explore Reader and Venom's relationship, but the next chapter should bring us back.

Masterlist

Previous Chapter

AO3 Version Here

NOTIFICATION: DAILY BUGLE (2) PDNY Chief on the headless, handless body discovered last night: “We will catch the person who did this. We will give this innocent victim the justice they deserve.”

Hottest Spider-Man merch and memorabilia available to purchase right now, just in time for Christmas!

~

At the end of the day, no matter how you look at it, you’re going to need help.

You’re going to need Spider-Man’s help, specifically. 

Granted, it’s going to be a little awkward since you’re going to a professional superhero with what’s essentially their ex in tow. Will you unintentionally open up old wounds? Probably. Is there a chance Spider-Man might see you as a villain rather than an innocent bystander with unnecessary baggage they want to get rid of? Most likely, but that might be the anxiety talking.

Then again, how were you supposed to track down your friendly neighborhood hero? Signal him with a floodlight into the sky with a spider on it? Actually, that might be a good-No...no, it wouldn’t now that you thought about it. It’ll just attract unneeded attention from everyone except the said hero. Venom mentioned that he developed something from his former host, something that detects, to a degree, the potential danger that’s nearby. If both you and Spider-Man go out on patrol tonight and sense something, it’s possible that you could ‘accidentally’ bump into each other. This is genius!

As much as you want to get the tea on him, school comes first. Besides, whoever’s behind that spider mask would love to enjoy having some normalcy in his life before some high schooler (you) barges in with their alien former host under their skin. Either way, you wouldn’t mind skipping out on club duties. It’s a good compromise, in your opinion. 

Speaking of which, school just couldn’t drag out any longer than it already is. It sucked that everyone in the hallway might be staring at you as if they knew who you had for dinner against your will last night. It wasn’t your fault. Kyle had you cornered when it was dark and-

The screech of the bell made you jump. Damn, was that bell always so loud? What time was...oh yea, it’s lunchtime. There’s no doubt in your mind that the most popular girl in school, Stacy Adams, would be looking for you. It didn’t help your case as you overheard two of her minions talking to each other about how worried their boss is since her boyfriend suddenly ghosted her. Sucks to say that’s not the only kind of ghost he is now. 

Your best bet in being undetected by Manhattan’s own Plastics is to hide in the third-floor bathroom by the physics labs. Just you, your body co-pilot, and the “hamburger” you refused to eat based on recent events in your life. Venom was more than happy to eat it, but he quickly spat it out after the first bite. Why did you bother even buying lunch today? Did you hope that some attempt at sleeping and one swig of mouthwash is going to wash away the taste of Kyle (or the robber in Koreatown, or the drunkard on Tenth Avenue, or the creep that followed you into the subway station in Harlem, or….) overnight?

With an annoyed sigh nothing better to do to occupy your thoughts, you use your free hands to take out your phone and open up Twitter.

You remembered your good friend Hannah is a very avid fan of Spider-Man. She practically knows almost everything about him. She's good with data gathering, but not the investigative logic needed to piece together the entire puzzle. Her side hustle is running a Twitter page dedicated to pinpointing Spider-Man’s exact location, kinda like Manhattan Bird Watch. And to think she’s doing this manually without a bot. If it wasn't for the five other accounts that have been established years ago dedicated to spotting him more accurately and her lackluster posting time, there’s a possibility she might’ve been verified by her hard work alone.

You, on the other hand, were indifferent to superheroes. You never really found the need to insert them into your life until one literally inserted his life into you last week (Does he count as a ‘hero’ though?). So now you have to keep an eye on Hannah's guesstimations and figure out how you can remove an alien parasite out of you with your organs still solid and intact. At the same time, you’re keeping an eye out to see if there’s any suspicious activity that would warrant the webbed hero’s intervention.    It’ll be hard to do some galaxy brain predictions while Venom’s currently biting your liver in retaliation, but it’ll work out somehow. Maybe. 

“We are not a parasite! Apologize!” Said the parasite.

“Quit chewing at my organs like a dog toy and I will.” You shot back irritated. “I can’t juggle between thinking and trying not to be eaten alive here.” You weren’t surprised when he nipped your kidney for that retort. 

After constant flicking back and forth from Twitter to the map app you made a broad assumption that he’s currently on a course heading to either Manhattan or Brooklyn. You don’t have any idea what could be lying in either location, and nothing that’s currently trending could help you outside of the latest ‘is over party’ filled with idol fancams. He’s obviously not going to drop his location on every tweet on his verified account.  

“Aaargh. Why is everything so difficult?” Your whines echo in the bathroom. “He’s either in Coney Island or Long Island, and I don’t think he’d be hanging out in his vineyard out on the forks with nothing to stick on.” A pause. “...Does he even own a vineyard?”

None that we know of.

Letting out another frustrated groan, you continue your search on the web. As you expect, it’s as misinformed as you can expect. Some even claim he’s in Japan. What kind of ‘friendly neighborhood hero’ would he be if he was on the other side of the planet? Ugh, this is so frustrating. At this rate you might as well go out...and…..find him…

If you can’t go to Spider-Man, then your only option is to bring Spider-Man to you…hold on.

You glare at the tendril. “Stop putting thoughts into my head.”

“It’s our head. We share the same thoughts.”

“Alright, then what number am I thinking of?” Hopefully, he doesn’t pick 421. 

“421.” Damn it, he’s good. 

There is a certain risk of being the problem rather than solving them. Yeah, there are villains and then there are supervillains. Yeah, Spider-man can take on villains, but it’s the supervillains that will most likely take priority over everything so the city doesn’t topple to its knees overnight. Hell, you even had to do evacuation drills for this scenario!

The shrill of the period end bell brings you back to the current day. Cursing at the outdated machine, your companion sunk back into your body as you exited the bathroom. Rather than paying attention in class, your focus went to trying to iron out how you can cross paths with the man in red and blue spandex.

~

By the end of the school day, the antsy feeling inside you was getting harder to contain. Are you nervous? Excited? It’s hard to tell at this point. The idea of seeing Spider-Man, like actually seeing him up close and having an actual conversation with him...it’s giving you the chills. You’ve never been this worked up over a superhero before. Hopefully, Hannah doesn’t bring up how much you’ve changed in the past two weeks. 

God, where do you even start? Where do you go first? There’s so much happening in the city that trying to find where Spider-Man is going to end up makes finding a needle in a haystack child’s play. 

You could use a knish right about now. Can’t track a spider down on an empty stomach. 

~

NOTIFICATION: DAILY BUGLE (2) PDNY baffled in figuring out the identity of the decapitated victim. Skeptics say this is related to attacks with similar MO in the past weeks. 

Today’s Poll: Do you believe we’re witnessing the beginning of a new villain?

~

“Excuse me, have any of you seen Spider-Man recently?” While it is a polite and straightforward conversation starter, it’s technically not the correct way to start a conversation with some obviously shady people. Well, to be fair, you did follow them into a secluded area that was clearly off-limits. Logically, they would’ve bumped into the hero you’re looking for.

Now here you are, head in your hands in a warehouse painted ceiling to floor in blood and viscera. Is it worth mentioning that the head that you’re holding in question isn’t even your own?

“God...damn it.” You sighed as you threw the body part somewhere behind you. You didn’t have the appetite to eat it now. “I didn’t think this through.” You groaned as you buried your actual head into your very bloody hands. 

“We couldn’t help it.” Venom tries to assure you. “We need the strength to find him again.”

“But-ughh.” This is what you get for being the host of a brain-eating parasite, you supposed. "We gotta find an alternate energy source."

You get flashbacks to last night’s incident. You could remember getting out of your club meeting pretty late, and being followed home by the most popular girl in your school’s boyfriend right after. Everything was a blur after that. Vague memories were practically a slideshow in your mind. You remembered running, but hit a dead end. You could recall the menacing shadow that could only belong to an athlete. Then a headless body drops to your feet, and your stomach needing an emergency exit...

Ugh. You could feel your head starting to hurt just thinking about it. The damage has already been done, and you’ll get locked up sooner or later. It’s not like you’re eating people on purpose (yeah you are). This is why you need Spider-Man’s help.

He can show you how to apply discipline, how to control your power, and maybe...fight alongside him?

“Stop it!” Your voice echoed. “We’re getting sidetracked. We need to find the damn guy first!” Oh no, are those police sirens you’re hearing? You’re starting to hate the high pitch wailing of the horns recently. Better get out of here before you get a taste of undercooked pork. 

~

NOTIFICATION: DAILY BUGLE BREAKING: Police discover a gruesome scene at warehouse with known connections to the Manfredi Crime Family. Rival families deny any involvement. 

~

After cross-referencing Twitter, it’s safe to say Spider-Man is estimated to show up somewhere nearby. Emphasis on the ‘somewhere’. Rather, it’s more of a toss-up between either East Midtown or Upper East Side. In an effort to keep your feet on the ground a little longer, you had an idea.

“Well I can’t roll up in the same space as your ex without knowing anything about him. Let’s make a quick detour, I know a place.” And so here you are at Midtown Comics.

It was the hottest spot for all things superheroes. Hannah dragged you to this place on more than one occasion. It’s super popular and it gets packed all the time. While a second store was established in an attempt to alleviate the issue, the appeal of even stepping in the flagship store as if it was a holy site attracted tourists in droves. Hell, it’s getting dark out and there’s still a sizable crowd in here. 

You couldn’t help but gawk at the sheer amount of merch for this web-slinging hero. The fact you can plaster his face on just about anything...you couldn’t help but wonder how much of a profit this guy gets on royalties alone. He has to own a vineyard with that money. 

As you looked around and flipped through some comic book pages here and there, you couldn’t help how quiet Venom got when you showed up. You would hope he would give you some kind of inside scoop, maybe a walk down memory lane when you looked at some prints, but voiceless commentary tells a lot.

You, uh, okay there...buddy? 

What you got in response was, in your interpretation, some form of a grunt. Oh, that might be bad.

Is this too much? I knew I should’ve gone to Kino but-

Not it.

“Huh?” You voiced your confusion, causing some customers to look at you. In an attempt to save face, you covered your ear as if you were adjusting your earbud. “What do you mean ‘not it’?”

Doesn’t feel right. We don’t know why.

Well...that certainly comes at a surprise. Then again, you are looking at artistic interpretations of his ex rather than the real deal. It would make sense to feel weird, you thought. Then again, what other superhero swings around NYC in red and blue spandex? You honestly had to think about what else you could or were going to say. Although, you did note a nervous feeling in your gut despite not experiencing it personally.

Suddenly, you felt the hairs on the back of your neck stick up. Then that strange experience you had a few days ago started happening again. You only had a few seconds to brace yourself before the world started to shake. 

A loud explosion rocked your ears. Gasps and shrieks filled the store. Lights began to flicker in and out as books and other items fell off the shelves. You half processed a hardcover book hitting your head during what you can only describe as a seizure. And just as quickly as it happened, it stopped. One hand reached for the impact spot while the other used the shelves to push you back up.

Holy shit! What was that? You thought, followed by, I have to get out of here! 

That feeling in your gut came back twofold. The tingling sensation from your neck doesn’t feel like it’ll go away soon. While you were getting used to the sporadic occurrences of the earthquakes, you couldn’t shake off the feeling that something’s different. Oh no! Could someone be trapped under some rubble outside?

With no time to waste, you barreled out the store and clambered up the closest wall to scout out the immediate area. There have been some things that have toppled over not to mention several cars piled up near Times Square. It looks like nobody got seriously hurt thankfully. You could hear emergency vehicles echoing throughout the city. While there isn’t anything that sticks out like a sore thumb, you still have that gnawing feeling in your stomach. 

“I wonder where Spider-Man is?” You thought aloud. According to the news, he would drop in to assess the damage before doing what he needs to do then dip. He should be here any moment but...where is he? Guess you should check Twitter. 

A barrage of notifications greeted you as you reached for your phone. As you open your lock screen, you can see messages from Hannah that sound very distressing. Incomprehensible even. It was hard to read them as they kept coming and coming. Is she okay? This isn’t like her at all. 

Unfortunately, the cause of Hannah’s distress texting decided to make itself known on your phone. While you could feel your heart drop, the rest of your body froze when a news notification emerged in the sea of texts.

NOTIFICATION: DAILY BUGLE BREAKING: New York’s Hero Spider-Man has died. His identity revealed to be grad student Peter Parker, 26.

“N-No…” Your voice was so small. Your phone slipped from your hand and dropped to your feet. “This...This can’t be…” The denial was only shot down by more and more news notifications popping up.

The next moment you could remember was staring at a TV display somewhere in the city. You watched helplessly as the reporters struggled not to cry on camera as they explained that Peter-no, you have no right to call him that after your search for him came to naught. They explained that Spider-Man succumbed to his injuries caused by the current earthquake that toppled several buildings in Brooklyn. 

You try not to acknowledge the reflection in the window. Those weren’t tears running down your face. The owner of that defeated look in their eyes isn’t you. But man, you look so tired.

“What am I going to do?” You croaked, peeling away from the display. “I couldn’t even track him down properly. How was I supposed to know he was in Brooklyn?” Worst of all, you’re starting to fear that Venom might not see any use for you after this spectacular failure. “What do you think?” Instead of a backhanded remark, you get...nothing. For a minute, at least.

“Not him.” He replied.

You couldn't have but blink. “What?”

“That’s not our Spider-Man.” A tendril emerged from your shoulder. He glanced at the TV before looking at you. “He was younger, we think. No ‘grad school’. Darker hair too.”

And that just adds the finisher to the wombo-combo series of events you still have yet to process. Your head hurts for a variety of reasons. All you want is to crawl into bed and hope all of this was a bad dream or some kind of hallucinogenic drug made by a mad scientist that's in the air. Anything that chases away the inevitable thoughts of your actions being for naught. 

You try to find your way home. The only things you could feel were the tears running down your face and the headache you’ll have by the time you get to bed.

Hopefully everything will return to normal tomorrow and you can try again. 

~

Unfortunately, it was all still very real. Even as you watched the funeral procession from a nearby rooftop, your entire body was buzzing.

A huge crowd dressed in red and blue gathered around the cathedral soaking in the eulogy given by the widow of their fallen idol. The speech itself was beautiful and inspiring. The weight crushing down on your shoulders seemed to dissipate for a moment. You were hopeful that the world was indeed counting on you, but you were quickly crushed by the reality of the situation. This isn’t helped by the tingling feeling in the back of your neck. It wasn’t too much of a concern, but it’s going off just low enough that you could ignore it if you don’t focus on it.

Somehow, someway, Spider-Man wasn't the ‘one’. Yes, it is Spider-Man that you're looking for, but the only one that exists is, well, no longer existing. 

“I’m so tired.” You said mindlessly. 

“We know.” 

You let your hands run down your face in frustration. “What am I going to do now?” 

“What are we going to do?”

“...Ugh, yeah. Fine.” 

You stood up and left your spot. This was getting too much for you. The headache from last night hasn’t gone away either. No amount of pain medication (that is quickly rejected back up by your partner) could do the trick, so you've resorted to ineffective temple rubbing. With that said and done, you picked yourself up from your ledge. As you did, the weird feeling in your neck was…pushing you. It wouldn’t reprimand you from going another direction, but it encouraged you when you did follow its guidance. Is this the famous sixth sense Spider-Man was said to have? Only one way to find out!  

And so, you found yourself standing outside Brooklyn Visions Academy the very next day. With your companion dressing up as one of the standard uniforms you saw, you enter the charter school with shaky steps as you find someone that can help you with your current predicament. 

[ordinaryschmuck]

Finished the main story campaign in Spider-Man 2

What I liked

There were some AWESOME action set pieces. Sandman's boss fight, the prison transfer, Kraven's den, chasing Black Cat, and hunting the Lizard just to name a few.

The swinging is still fun and I LOVED the web-wings. There are times when I go in for a glide, hoping to get to the checkpoint without needing to swing. It's more addicting than it should be.

LOVED Kraven. Probably the best adaptation of him yet with an interesting motivation that makes sense for a character like him.

Miles' little story with Mister Negative is ALSO interesting, and I like how it ended, especially with what they do with Martin in the end. It's pretty good.

The boss fights are a huge improvement, adding in a health bar that lets you know how far along you're kicking ass and making each fight feel like a battle WON. It's frustrating that I got MY ass kicked more times than not, but each time I finally beat the boss it I EARNED that victory.

That brief moment where I was killing people as Venom was super fun in a sick way. PLEASE make that Venom Spin-off game, Insomniac. We want you to just for gameplay alone.

Peter giving into the madness of the symbiote is handled pretty well. It DOES feel like he becomes a little more evil quicker than he should have, but I blame that on me going through the game's story mode and actively avoiding the side missions until I finished the campaign. Everyone's gameplay experience is different and something that feels fast in the story might not feel as fast to others.

MJ's stealth missions are actually pretty exciting this time...a bit bullshit that SHE can take care of certain goons, but at least I'm not wasting time hiding anymore. And that final mission with her was surprisingly fun and intense.

I liked those prequel scenes of Peter as a teen. Really sold how young he was when starting out as Spider-Man.

What I Didn't Like

THAT GOSH DANG PARRY SYSTEM! I'm willing to blame my own lack of skill for this, but I HATE parrying. I almost NEVER get it right, and it sucks when fighting foes where parrying is a requirement to beating them. And it's extra bullshit when the game throws in attacks you HAVE to dodge and get super FUCKED when you parry instead. It made combat more frustrating than fun, and actually hurt my enjoyment in the combat, which I INTENSELY enjoyed from the first game and the Miles Morales spin off.

And don't even get me started on those horseshit checkpoints! Every time I start over, I am filled with DREAD that I have to do all that annoying difficult shit all over again because I didn't get to this exact point the game wanted me to get to.

It doesn't make sense that Kraven has goons. He works best as a solo act and I don't get what his minions get out of working for him. I know it's to give us more people to fight against, but it doesn't work for me.

Norman Osborn is surprisingly underutilized in this game? Like, with how much of a prominent role Harry has, there's not much of a need for Norman, nor a valid reason to be there other than get pissed off over what happens near the end. It feels like his character was an afterthought, which is strange for someone who's meant to be the Green Goblin soon.

Harry's character...gets worse the more the game goes by. He started out interesting as someone both clinging to the past and trying desperately to pick up his life right where he left it. But as the game goes on and it tries to push this...idea with him, it doesn't really work as there's not enough time to properly develop it. It was a good idea with not that great of an execution.

Miles' suit...I don't hate as much as the rest of the people who played the game, but I do think it's nonsense that Miles made it while the city was being destroyed. Yeah, Peter made a new suit in the end of the last game, but there you can argue that it's for practicality purposes in order to get the upper hand against Doc Ock. Miles just made a new suit because he thought it looked cool...It does not.

AND WHERE ARE THE AVENGERS?! It didn't make sense that they didn't show up in the first game, and it makes even LESS sense now! Like, you really expect me to believe that NONE of the Avengers were available at the moment? NONE?! Not even Hawkeye?! At this point, I expect the third game to end a similar way Peacemaker did, where Peter and Miles are carrying away a bleeding out MJ after this big apocalyptic fight, and the Avengers show up JUST as its over only for Peter to go, "You're too late, assholes!" And now that I say it...that would actually be pretty funny. But it's still nonsense that they're not there!

And that's about it. 8/10 game, not as great as the first one, but still pretty fun.

[praxieserver]

🎹 💀🍎 for Azi 👁👁

AZI! For reference, this is Azi, full name Aziraphale Page (soon to be Aziraphale Page-Pearce). Basically I gave danwil an ambiguously gendered bird child. They use any pronouns so go crazy!

Now to the questions!

🎹 - Do they have any hobbies?

Wilson has probably played the violin for them, and they've probably asked him to teach them, so they probably play violin. Actually between the 2 of them, Azi used to be the only one that played the violin, but I also liked the image of Wilson playing the violin, so now there's 2 motherfuckers who woefully play the violin when they wanna angst.

Unironically probably enjoys reading. Not like as book connoisseur, but like. Just reading. For fun. She'll sit on and armchair and read the newspaper like an old man and go "Ah yes. Peak entertainment."

She does the usual Hogwarts shenanigans such as duelling, going into the forbidden forest, making a club to ship your teachers with, the works!

Lastly, he probably also cooks fairly well due to Daniel's influence.

This is all prone to change aince Azi isn't as well established of a character compared to Wilson yet, but thats what I have on them at the moment! :]

💀 - Does your OC have any phobias?

Again, core character aspect I haven't thought through that well yet. However.

She probably has a very strong dislike of the feeling of not being in control/having no agency. (Like father like son amirite guys kekeke—)

Basically intheir Traumatic Backstory™, they're robbed of their personal agency, denied of their humanity, played as a puppet. So after escaping that, she'll definitely place a huge importance in being in control. Thus they'd probably have a really deep-rooted hate of the prospect of being pulled along a string/being caged/being used. This sort of manifest in an interesting matter since they end up coming off as manipulative themselves. As a little kid it's more them bossing around their 'minions' so they can make their favorite teacher slash canon but it probably gets a little more concerning with age. Nothing that bad though. Probably.

I phrase it more as something she hates rather than something she fears, but I feel like she just hates it more than she fears it. It's something she's willing and ready to face, even if scary.

So, for something she fears more than she hates: Showing vulnerability to someone she trusts, but getting that vulnerability taken advantage of.

🍎 - What is the OC's relationship w/ their parents like?

Very close and very good! Because Daniel as a single father who is also a good father is super sexy.

Ok but in all seriousness, they love Daniel lots. They're extremely grateful for him since he's the one to save them from their abusive situation, so she's uber protective of him and wants to return the favor of Daniel taking her in and caring for her. In the "Hey! Only I'm allowed to talk shit about my Dad!" kinda way. She thinks Daniel's a bit overbearing (and to be fair, he is) but she'd sooner peck your eyes out for so much as breathing at him funny than hating him for it.

They have that Parent Trying to be Strict and In Control vs Silly Shithead Asshole Kid kind of dynamic going on basically.

With """""Uncle Wilson"""""" who is definitely not having a decade long will-they-won't-they dance with Daniel that Azi definitely doesn't see at all, they're a menace as a pair. A pain in Daniel's ass. And face. They've drawn on his face countless time while he's asleep. They're also a pain to house, having nearly burned his kicthen down multiple times.

Wilson is more or less the fun """""uncle""""" to them and she lets her get away with things Daniel doesn't. He's basically a second father to her and a part of the family. And in fact she will get him into the family by making him marry her dad. Modern problems require modern solutions.

[andyswritingandfandomblog]

The Trials of an Evil Minion

I will probably make a part 2 of this one later on because I love villain/hero stories.

Minion drew the short straw that day, so he had to do the coffee run that morning. He was in line, clutching the list of orders, thankful that at least the boss with a plain coffee kind of guy (seriously, Janice, who drinks a caramel mocha half-caf latte with extra whipped cream! It's just sugar at that point) when it was time to give his order.

As he handed the list to the barista, because he was not going to repeat all that five times, he was taken aback.

He stumbled through the order, his mind racing. The barista looked and sounded just like... but it couldn't be her. Why would the hero be working as a coffee barista?

The hero was the enemy and (not so secret) obsession of the villain, his boss.

The sound of his name broke through his musings. He rushed up to get the order and gave the barista a hurried thank you and a generous tip.

On the way to the office, he wrestled with what to do. He wasn't 100% sure that the barista was the hero, but he also knew the boss wanted to find out the hero's secret identity.

Though no one actually spoke about it, they all knew that the boss with a little obsessed with the hero. She seemed to genuinely want to help people, not just be celebrated as a hero, like many of the others who wore the mantle. She also would verbally spar with the villain, not just start punching or sprout motivational speeches.

When he arrived, he dropped off the coffee order at Janice's desk. "What are you doing? You're supposed to be the one to deliver these," she said, annoyed.

"I have to talk to the boss," he replied, "It's about Hero." A crush was heard, followed by the boss's office door being ripped open.

The villain suddenly appeared in the doorway, "What about Hero?" he demanded, his eyes wild.

"I think I saw her," Minion said, wondering if this was a good idea or not, "she was working as a barista at the coffee shop. She looked just like the hero and even sounded the same", he quickly added, getting more nervous by the second.

The villain stared at him for a few moments, before saying, "Come in."

Minion still wasn't sure if he had done the right thing.

[twitter-today]

Seeing that Elon is speedrunning Twitter's downfall at a rate much faster than any one of us has expected, do you think that he is crashing Twitter on purpose to get out of having to pay off his loans? I don't really get bankruptcy, but if Twitter goes bankrupt (as opposed to Elon Musk declaring personal bankruptcy) will he effectively have written off his $44B debt without impacting himself too much?

Honestly, I don't think it's intentional. I think Musk operates mostly as a con-man: He needs acolytes that believe his messianic message to operate, so he doesn't get any push-back and rules as a king-god over his companies. At the end of the day, the only reason he's "the richest man in the world" is Tesla being massively over-valuated, in part because he has been lying publicly about the company's future (no, there won't be full autopilot by the end of 2023, he has been promising it 'by the end of the year', quite literally, since 2014) but somehow he has convinced a good chunk of the public opinion of him being a genius that could make his outrageous claims actually possible (spoiler: They aren't). And the side-effect of that is that he has been surrounding himself only with minions for years and he has probably been disconnected from the reality outside his circle of yes-men for years.

So what I think is that he actually expected some resistance from the twitter employees. In part, that's why he came down so hard at them, firing half the staff just a week after landing: That was a power move, trying to scare those who weren't going to be willing sycophants. I think he expected the surviving 'tweeps' to be a mix between "musky boys", enthusiastic about the chance of working for him, and non-so-enthusiastic-but-scared-of-losing-their-job everyone else.

But what he's finding out is that very few people were enthusiastic about him as a boss, and his power moves, instead of inspiring fear, inspired rage. And now ... he may be running the company with just a few hundred employees. Without any kind of knowledge transfer from those who left.

I think he VASTLY overestimated his capacity to 'get people in line' behind his plans. And now he has caused a problem he may not be able to solve.

[bigbrainkatrina]

Why Do You Even Like Me? - a Kim Possible/Shego fanfic

Having a crush on Kim Possible is embarrassing. Shameful. Career ending. It’s just not okay.

But looking at her right now? Shego can’t help herself.

Having a crush on Kim Possible is embarrassing. Shameful. Career ending. It’s just not okay.

But looking at her right now?  Shego can’t help herself.

Drakken’s plan is simple: Lure Kim Possible away to her silly frilly Prom Night with a boyfriend that is  actually  a minion planted by Drakken, giving Drakken free reign to take over the world, and the whole time something has just been  gnawing  at Shego.

Shego  hates  Kim’s boyfriend. He’s just, like, such an asshole.  Such  an asshole. She deserves better. Much better. Like her. Except as a girlfriend. Drakken should have planted Shego as the fake girlfriend, but no, that’d be sad. She could never.

She’s waiting in the shadows right now, Kim is in her battlesuit. She thinks she’s rescuing her boyfriend, Eric, actually Synthodrone 901, from Drakken’s clutches, but he’s about to betray her. He’s going to break her heart, and it’s not cool. Kim was just panting moments ago, bruised and bloodied from her last fight with an armada of ninjas, and now her face is lighting up with unrivaled joy. She’s running to wrap her arms around her fake boyfriend’s neck. 

She’s so  beautiful  when she looks happy. Kim  deserves  to be happy. So Shego makes the choice, and she blows Eric open through the stomach. Kim screams, Ron screams, and Eric screams. Shego sprints up to where the three of them are, holding her hands in the air as green acid pours out of Eric and he promptly deflates to the floor.

Kim looks at Shego, wrinkles under her eyes. Her chest is heaving again, jaw clenched, she’s in shock probably. “What… just happened?”

Shego takes a deep breath. Drakken’s going to kill her when he finds out. 

“It’s a long story, Princess.”

~*~

Shego really doesn’t like defeating her boss—er, Dad, Drakken’s her dad—but she does enjoy seeing Kim’s satisfaction and relief when the whole operation goes boom. As the cops drag Doctor D off, Shego walks up to him and holds the police van’s doors open. “Dude, that plan was seriously messed up.”

Drakken just looks away, so wounded. 

“I’ll break you out in a week,” Shego whispers, and that gets his attention. “But we need to talk about boundaries, this was over the line. Okay, ciao.” She struts off to where Kim and Ron were just standing and—well, it’s just Ron. 

“Where’s Kimmie?” Shego asks, feeling sort of awk around just the Buffoon, and maybe a little self-conscious.

“She’s just explaining what happened to the police,” Ron gestures over to Kim doing just that. “They, uh, don’t really get why they aren’t arresting  you , heh heh. And tee-bee-ache, Sheegs—”

“Don’t call me that.” She is  so  not interested in developing a bound with this dope.

“—okay okay, worth a shot, but I don’t really get it either?”

Shego frowns. What is she supposed to say? Well, probably the truth? No, no, that’s weird. Super weird. No thanks.

“I just, uh, ya know, this plan just seemed kinda messed up. I feel uncomfortable being involved in something that would hurt Kimmie like that.”

Ron blinks. “I’ve just never seen you be so soft, Shego. What’s your deal, man?”

She snaps. “Hey man, chill out, I got my own biz, okay?” 

But of course Ron doesn’t leave it there. So. Annoying. She needs to be cool though, this guy is Kimmie’s best friend.

“I’m just sayin’. I mean like, you beat Kim up all the time, why was tonight different?”

Shego’s jaw clenches. She can’t hold it in. “Because he was messing with her head you idio—”

“ Hey! ” Kim cuts in between them, touching both of their chests to push them back. “Oops, bad touch, Shego, sorry.” 

Yeah, Kim just touched Shego’s boobs by accident. Maybe Kim is a little too comfy with her. Kinda weird. 

Blushing, Kim continues, “I don’t know what you’re fighting about but calm down, both of you, okay? Tonight’s a good night, I… really really want tonight to be fun somehow. That sucked so much, and… you guys feel me?”

Ron looks at Shego darkly and nods.

Shego sighs. “Well, I hope you guys have fun at your Prom thing tonight, I’m gonna head out.”

Kim frowns suddenly, wrinkles forming in her forehead, voice getting quiet and small. “Oh? Oh, that’s, that’s okay I guess. Yeah, you had a rough night, betraying your dad and all.”

Shego feels so confused. Why is Princess disappointed? Weirdo. Kim  always  makes things harder than they need to be.

Ron slips in. “Kim, so uh, this is gonna sound so dumb, but me and Shego were arguing about just that. Crazy, huh?”

“You were?” Kim raises an eyebrow.

“We were?” Shego says at the same time.

“Yes!” Ron cries out, throwing an arm around Kim’s shoulders. “See, Shego here thinks that you can’t go to Prom if you don’t go to high school, and I’m telling her  Prom is for everybody  , who cares if you’re homeschooled by a mad scientist? If you chillin’ like the Ron-dog, you can  totes come!”

Shego could slap him. Why is he doing this? Wasn’t he pissed at her a second ago? Why did he change his mind?

“Oh cute,” Kim’s smile crinkles her cheeks, but not too much, like she’s holding something back. “Well, yeah, you can come to Prom with us then, Shego.”

No getting out of it now. Ugh. No, fuck this, she’s Shego! She can be an asshole, it’s like expected of her and stuff—

“Actually, um,” Kim blushes again, fidgeting with her palms. “I want to rephrase that. I was wondering… if you could… um… heh, come to Prom with  me ? Specifically.” There’s an intense uptone as she finishes, like she’s so scared of asking. 

Wait. 

Wait wait wait wait wait wait.

Shego steps forward and points right at Kim. “You…”

“Yes,” Kim says primly.

“...want to go… to Prom. The dance thing.”

“Yes.”

“With  me ?!”

Shego does the same exact uptone.

~*~

This whole thing is just so awkward. Like first off, they ain’t even riding to prom in a car. They are all crammed together on this stupid scooter with Stoppable at the wheel, and they all have to hold each other’s sides like it’s a conga line. Shego likes the idea of holding Kim’s hips, or better yet, having Kim hold hers, but like, no no no. 

Kim should hate Shego. This is dumb.

Then there’s the matter of the dress. Apparently Shego can’t just wear her evil catsuit to prom.

They stop at a near empty thrift store in a small town along the way, with Ron waiting at the door, beating his foot like a rabbit, staring at his watch and putting on a show. “Five minutes ladies!” 

He’s kinda endearing though. Shego grabs at the first thing she sees that it’s in her size, she doesn’t even really know what color it is. “This is good, let’s—”

“Whoa, whoa, hold on, sailor,” Kim chides, digging her whole body into the circular rack, hips sticking out and bopping up and down with her voice. “Why are you rushing?”

“I dunno, it’s just a dress,” Shego shrugs. “It’s not a big deal to me, and hey—it’s pink, my favori—”

Kim’s hips stop bopping.

“—okay okay, I can’t wear red, totally clashes with my skin,” Shego sighs, putting it back. “We need to hurry though, Princess. Prom ain’t all night—”

Kim jumps out of the rack with five dresses balanced on arm. “Okay then, go go go go go go!”

They go through the dresses pretty fast, with Kim waiting outside the dressing room stall.  

“One minute one minute!” Ron claps his hands together. 

One minute, okay. Shego can deal with that. She only got through four dresses, but that’s fine. Number 3 is black and cool and cheap, totally good enough for Prom. But before she can even get out of the stall with Number 3 in hand, Kim grabs her by the shoulders and pushes her back into the booth. It actually kind of makes Shego laugh, Kim is just like,  so  intense over this. 

“What’s so funny?” Kim asks, hands gripping Shego’s shoulders like twin vices.

“You, you crack me up sometimes,” Shego chuckles.

“Oh, really?” Kim blushes. “A-anyways, I wanted to say I really want you to try on this last one, it’s kind of my favorite and I know you’ll look so cute in it.”

Shego slumps and puts on a very serious face. “Kim.”

Kim just pouts and aaaaah! It’s so cute, dammit. Serious face always works on Dad. “Alright,  fine  , I’ll try on—” She picks up the final dress, and it  is  pretty damn cute. 

It’s dark green with a cute floral print all over it, and very soft looking but—ugh, it’s one of these dumb zip-ups with the button on top. “—no no no, Princess. We got less than a minute to get out of here and those things take  forever  to get on.”

“Ron can shove it and give us an extra minute, he’s just being silly,” Kim says, picking up the dress. “Um, and—it’s—it’s not that bad if you have, someone, h-helping you. Is that okay?”

Shego blushes lime when she’s embarrassed, which makes Kim laugh. 

The first thing that comes to mind is she’s down for it as long as she gets to see Kim change too, but like, that’s dirty. And way  too forward. Because, ya know, this is their first date and—

—no no no! This is  not a date. This. Is. Platonic. Yeah. Kim only asked for Shego specifically because she knows Shego’s a better dancer than Naco Boy over there.

“Y-yeah, that’s fine. Just be quick, alright?” Shego sighs and Kim squeaks with excitement, moving fast. Thankfully, Kim spends no time ogling, she’s very focused on getting Shego into this dress in the most comfortable way possible. 

It’s still kind of weird being in just her underwear in this cold room for precious seconds, with some hyper girl blurring around her body. But Kim is just so respectful, it makes her feel so… so… safe? Kim needs to stop, because Shego is just so smitten.

When it’s done, Kim spins Shego over to the mirror and—wow. This dress is  perfect . It’s sleeveless, which shows her well-toned arms, and it cuts off really low, showing some serious leg. The dark green brights out her skin tone in a very spectacular way, the floral print masking it enough that it’s not too much.

And… it has  pockets . Shego finds herself smiling and gently elbows Kim. “Alright, you win, Possible.”

~*~

It’s so… loud. Lights are flashing, music is booming, and people are sweating. Everyone’s on their feet dancing and Shego just feels so… out of place. Like sure, she’s crashed supervillain parties before and they were way more rad, but she knows literally none of these people aside from Kim. (Ron doesn’t count.)

That’s not even acknowledging the fact that she’s even  with Kim. Sure Kim has been really nice to her tonight, but like, this could just be vengeance. Ron argued with her, Kim is probably still upset over Eric, maybe neither of them forgave Shego and they’re just playing her up, getting her all soft and shit. They’re smiling at her because they’re holding in laughter. Ha ha, Shego has a crush on Kim, so funny.

There’s a strain on Shego’s arm and she dimly looks up to see Kim holding her hand, looking back with so much concern. Because her dumb scheme is falling apart.

“You alright?” Kim asks.

Shego swallows and thinks for a moment. She just stopped her Dad from taking over the world with his greatest plan ever—because a sad face from Kim makes her weak at the knees. It’s happening again too, Shego’s crumpling.

Well not this time, baby.

“You thought you could fool me, didn’t you?” Shego sneers, eyes narrowing into slits. 

“Wh-what?” Kim gets closer and Shego immediately backs up. At least Kim takes the hint and drops the hand hold. “What do you mean  fool you ? D-did I make you uncomfortable?”

“Drop the act, Princess. Your vengeance is done. I look like an idiot. See ya.” She turns on her heel and peaces the fuck out, taking long strides under these dumb balloon arches, the music fading more and more. She stops at the edge of the campus and looks back, cursing herself for looking back. She kinda wants Kim to chase after her. But no one is coming.

She takes her heels off and finds somewhere to sit so she can think.

~*~

Shego ends up in a forest clearing, sitting on wet leaves, back to a tree trunk. Everywhere else was covered in fallen Li’l Diablo bots that will get picked up tomorrow probably. Just seeing them pisses her off so much. 

Shego thinks for a moment and feels blind fury, and she doesn’t want to go there, not in a forest. She feels her arms twitching as they try to hold back her power, but it’s coming. She’s sparking and glowing. 

She moves fast, setting up a bonfire that won’t catch on anything and start a forest fire after using her powers to dry it out, and gets it burning with her plasma. It’s kinda cool seeing the green light illuminate the clearing a little. She leans back and still—her thoughts just go to anger. 

So she screams, or rather, she roars into the night and pounds the bark behind her, smudging the eyeliner Kim put on for her. Damn. She wanted to take a picture of that, no one’s ever done her makeup before and… no, it was probably dumb makeup to make her look dumb and—

Leaves rustle. Shego jumps to her feet, power springing to her hands and without even thinking she lobs the plasma bolts—

—diverting them at the last second as she realizes who is standing by her. The plasma hits the leaves. Thankfully, they don’t catch because of how damp it is out here. But there’s Kim, illuminated in neon green, hugging herself, Ron’s mission outfit layered over her sparkling blue dress (the dress’s fabric pushes out from the waist of the cargo pants). 

“How fucking long have you been following me?” Shego snaps. “Go away.”

Kim flinches. “I will if you want me to. And um, I don’t know, a while? I wanted to make sure you were safe… I guess I—I guess I messed up. Sorry.”

Shego falls back to the ground and grumbles. “You can get closer, it’s fine. You’re probably cold, huh?”

“Yeah,” Kim nods, sitting a full two feet away from Shego. “Ron explained it to me a little bit, he said that he thinks that kinda stuff too, about people making fun of him by pretending to like him. But that’s not… c-can I get closer?”

Shego groans and allows it. Kim scuttles over and slides in next to her, relaxing immediately. Even in this dumb outfit she must have thrown together in ten seconds, she’s still pretty cute. It’s the distress in her eyes. It’s becoming quickly apparent to Shego that she really screwed the pooch on this one, but she doesn’t know how to, like, own up to it.

“It’s my fault,” Kim continues. “I haven’t been direct with you at all because I’m nervous, and I can see how—”

“I’m sorry,” Shego says in a husky tone, and takes Kim’s hand very tentatively. This time she wants to appreciate Kim’s touch. “Shit, you’re freezing.”

Kim nods, and Shego notices how her teeth chatter. 

“Let me hold you for a second, I can warm you up enough so you can stomach getting out of here.”

Kim nods and slumps into Shego’s arms. They stay like this for a while, not saying anything.

“I know a place where we can go,” Kim mutters when she feels alright. “To talk.”

~*~

Bueno Nacho is definitely in disrepair after the Li’l Diablo bots were destroyed, but hey, the heating works. Kim slips out of the black turtleneck and sits in one of the booths, quiet. 

Shego sits across her, not really sure what to say. 

“Shego, I asked you to come to Prom with me because… I like you.”

Shego looks up. “Why?”

“ Why ?” Kim repeats. “I mean, you’re funny. You always seem like you’re in control of your life, you’re super smart probably. And I think—you’re fun.”

“Fun,” Shego repeats. “I don’t get it. How am I  fun ?”

“Well, whenever we fight, you have fun, I have fun, it’s a good time.”

Shego draws back. That’s true. She never fights Kim with the intention of destroying her, she just wants it to be a show. It’s really cool seeing the shit Kim can pull off when pushed to her limit and beyond. 

Shego clutches her elbows and looks away. “I like that when someone punches you down, you always get back up. I wish I could do that.”

Kim sighs. “You could get up right now?”

Shego snorts. “This is so dumb, we’re both sitting here, like,” her voice deepens into a typical dumb idiot impression. “ I like you because you have pretty hair, and I like you because you’re good at running , like what are we, ten years old?”

Kim giggles. There she is.

Shego looks back with a wry smile. “So you  like me?”

“Y-yes,” Kim flushes. 

Shego raises an eyebrow playfully, and purses her lips. “So do you  like  me or  like like me?”

“Um,” Kim’s cheeks glow even brighter. “I think I made it kinda obvious—”

Shego gets up with a burst of energy and takes Kim’s hand, pulling her out of her seat and catching her against her chest, Kim’s head bent up towards Shego who looks down. 

“Let’s dance, Princess.”

~*~

Prom is so fun the second go around. It’s Shego’s first time having fun at a party without needing to drink anything. Kim just has this energy that keeps her going. She dances so hard, and her moves are so sloppy it’s hilarious, but she just loves doing it. And Shego likes dancing with her and laughing along.

Ron even cuts in a few times, doing some really dumb nerd shit, like the Charleston. Usually, Shego would be pissed but like, it’s just fun. 

She only gets nervous when the slow dance music comes on. They both reach for the other’s lower back and blush. Kim moves her hand up and grabs onto Shego’s shoulder, squeezing in close to her as they slow spin around, guided by the sway of their hips. 

It’s impossible to ignore Kim now, she’s literally in her face, consuming her vision, and staring at her so dreamily. It’s maddening, and making her sweat. So Shego just goes for it, she moves in and kisses Kim so softly. It’s electric, it feels so good and—

Kim slips away after a few seconds and their foreheads slide together. 

“You alright?” Shego asks, a little concerned.  “I misread, I’m sorry, I—”

“I just need a second,” Kim takes in a very theatrical breath and looks back at Shego with light in her eyes. “It’s been a long night. Let’s keep going.”

Kim gently comes in and kisses Shego, again and again and again and it’s so unreal. Any minute now, it feels like Shego’s going to wake up, but the dream just keeps on going.

Ugh, so corny. Kim really brings that out in Shego.

When the song starts to fade and the lights flicker back on, Shego leans into Kim’s ear and whispers. “So my Dad is kind of in jail now? His mooks are probably mad at me, would it be okay if I crash with you?”

~*~

Shego waits on Kim’s bed while Kim meets with her parents downstairs. Kim figured that bringing a supervillain into the household might make things complicated. Apparently her Dad is like, super protective. So Shego busts in through the window and waits like Kate Winslet does in  Titanic , just with her clothes on. She feels like it’s a funny bit.

Five minutes later, Kim slips into the bedroom and shuts the door behind her, locking it, and gasping in relief before she even notices Shego. “You’re so precious..”

Kim rolls onto the bed besides her, voice dropping to a whisper. “This is going to be really complicated, isn’t it?”

Shego gives it a second, appreciating the concern on Kim’s face, how she bites her lip and her eyes brow knit together. Finally, she whispers back. “Whatever. We’ll make it work. Yo, do you have some jim jams I can borrow?”

“Yeah,” Kim gets off the bed and digs into one of her drawers, coming back out with some sweatpants and a tank top. She tosses them over in a neat pile. “Bathroom’s down the—oh right, you’re a stowaway. Um. We can just change in here I guess, uh, no peeking.”

A few minutes later they’re both wrapped up in bed together. Shego feels sort of cheated; Kim’s wearing this super cute flannel get-up that makes Shego want to start kissing her again, but no, definitely not in bed, and not  that yet. They need to take this slow.

“This is so surreal,” Kim says, lips just inches from Shego’s. “I… never thought you’d be here in my room like this, as my, um, girlfriend. I’m really happy, today was like,  so shitty. But somehow this was the best night of my life.”

Shego finds herself smiling like a dope and shakes it off fast, tickling Kim’s chin. “Better get used to it, Sunshine.”

Kim smiles and closes her eyes, nestling closer to Shego, one of her legs slipping between Shego’s, one of her hands intertwining with Shego’s somewhere. Her lips smack a few times and she dozes off so peacefully. 

Kim breathes so softly, and is just so cuddly. Shego always kinda knew Princess would be like this, but… it’s bizarre laying across her living it. This shouldn’t be happening. Shego was part of a scheme that night to break Kim’s soul. Regardless of what Kim will eventually say to justify it, Shego is accountable to that.

But she also earned this. She made Kim happy, and Kim feels  safe  around her. Well, Shego kinda feels safe around her too. She chances resting one of her arms around Kim’s back in a hug, and lays back, knees drawing in slowly as she dozes off. 

“You are such a gift,” Shego whispers.

And to her horror, Kim mumbles back with a manic yet cute grin. “I know. Still awake.”

“Oh. Uh. Heh heh. Heh. Great.”

“Shh,” Kim pulls Shego in and kisses her, noticeably restraining from going too hard. “Go to sleep… we’re okay… we’re safe with each other.”

And Shego believes that. She really does.

She rests easy that night, and many more.

[persephoneflowerpetals]

Just imagine Hades and Persephone going to see Hadestown because they heard it was so good and he actually likes the idea of mortals making a musical named after him. I don't think they would like their marriage being depicted as estranged, but they do like the music and maybe again Hades likes how business minded that Hades is. He would object to seducing anyone other than his wife and despite how he might be uncaring to the dead at times he's not going to exploit them through hard labor because pragmatically the dead aren't in his opinion great workers.

Lol! Yes! That’d be so funny to see!

I’ll be honest, I haven’t seen Hadestown or listened to the full musical yet. I’ve heard a few songs here and there, though. Might try to find a way to watch it online at some point, but yeah lol. I really do think Hades would be really nitpicky about the different representations of himself lol. I also agree that’d he’d be a bit ticked off that that representation of him and Persephone have an estranged relationship and that Hades tries to pursue other women while being with Persephone. Like, he would NEVER lol.

Hades: Why does everyone think we have an estranged relationship?! I adore my wife and she’s just as crazy about me! She’s my whole Underworld! Is it the kidnapping thing? I keep tellin’ people, it was ONE DAY and then I let her go. She chose to come back and stay with me! Sheesh. Get your facts straight, people.

But yeah, I feel like he’d definitely appreciate that they made him more of a business guy, but he’d also be ticked that they made him like a terrible boss that exploits his workers. I think he probably believes himself to be a pretty great boss and is just surrounded by incompetent minions that constantly fail him lol. I think the only souls that have it rough when it comes to Hades are the ones in the River Styx (but literally only when try to drag Hades into the river or they try to escape the river) and the ones in Tartarus (but Tartarus is for the worst of the worst, like there’s evil titans and gods locked up in there with the evil souls in there, so he doesn’t really care what happens to them since they’re supposed to suffer eternal torment). Oh and yeah, Hades isn’t really known to make the dead souls work for him unless they’re alive lol.

[penig]

When I first read Dracula, lo these many years agone (40 or so; I wonder who lives in that house now, where in the winter the cold was cupped inside like something precious and I read curled up in bed at night or in a chair in the sunroom?), I came away astonished at how good it was, yet a bit disappointed by the climax. It seemed anticlimactic to me, raised with cinematic climaxes even in my books; so many pages, so much tension, dissipating on the turn of two sentences into dust and Quincy’s blood on the snow and the minions and wolves sensibly fleeing into darkness as the sunset falls on Mina’s stainless forehead, and Mina didn’t get to use her gun.

Today, I feel very differently about it.

Today I have been crammed full of long, drawn-out, cinematic climaxes. I revolt against them; I begin to think about the lines in the restroom and will the mid-credit scene be worth the sitting? (It won’t.)

Also, today I have participated in Boss Fights many times; and this is how they go.

I played D&D back then, but it was a very different flavor of D&D, all dungeon crawls and party composition shifting randomly depending on who showed up, no continuity to speak of, no goal but to fight the next monster, solve the next puzzle, loot the next treasure, pile up the experience points for that next hard-earned level. It was fun but it had no pay-off, no plot, very little strategy because next session would be entirely different, or even teamwork, because next week Charlie’s parents would be visiting and he wouldn’t be able to come and the DM would have a research paper due so you’d be in a different dungeon with the person currently playing the 12th level monk behind the screen, running a dungeon he’d generated to test a computer program he’d written for his Trash-80. Whether you were fighting a horde of orcs or a Huge Ancient Red Dragon or even the actual BBEG at the bottommost level of the dungeon, you and your ragtag group of adventuring buddies would have at most a patchwork history with the enemy or the rest of the party or the dungeon itself. The thief would listen at the door and check for traps, you’d go in, and you’d do the best you could. And that’s not a boss fight.

No, for a Boss Fight, you have known for some time that you’d be coming up against the BBEG whose evil machinations have been making you tear your hair out since Level 1, whom you loathe with every fiber of your being even if you haven’t ever laid eyes on them before - you, and your seasoned party of close comrades. You know what they can do and you know what each and every one of you can do and you have discussed to death every countermeasure, every contingency. You have poured out your treasure like water to have the right equipment, the right buffs, the right protections in place. You have bribed and intimidated and persuaded and scryed and spied and burned the midnight oil to have every scrap of intelligence it is possible to glean. You have deployed your forces to maximize their effectiveness. Your game mechanic and your rules lawyer have found the exploitable loopholes and closed the loopholes the DM was hoping to exploit. You’re all of one mind. You’re ready.

You go in. You roll initiatives. You move, in deadly unity of purpose, you each do your job, you strike, and some of you miss and some of you hit and the BBEG’s minions try to distract you but you will not be distracted and They Are Gone, The Evil is Defeated and most of the time? If you did it right? If the dice aren’t cursed and the game mechanic and the rules lawyer are any shakes at all? The party is unscathed, the BBEG never got off a single attack. Anybody who did take damage probably got it from a trap or a minion, and it was probably a sacrifice move on the PC’s part to enable a bigger gun to get their hit in or to make sure that the PC’s own attack lands with full force on the actual target, denying them any chance of escape, recovery, or retaliation.

And Team Get Dracula did it letter-perfect.

The only reason Quincey died was because the mechanics of the system in use didn’t allow for massive HP accumulation or magical healing. Jonathan straight-up critted his Intimidation rolls so he didn’t have to deal with minions at all; one minion critted on Quincey and got through his parrying rolls and Quincey either didn’t have a mulligan left or decided to use it in a way that ensured he’d reach the coffin, when according to the mechanics evading the crit would have cost him either a precious round of movement or the to-hit bonus he was counting on to make the heart-strike.

 And Mina didn’t get to use her gun but that’s okay, because she knows, and they all know, but no one will say out loud, that if the plan didn’t work, if it came down to her using the gun, it would have been part of failing, or at best of Pyrrhic victory. In the circumstances of this combat, Mina was the weakest link. If the sun had gone down on Dracula, odds are good that his first act would have been to exert (or try to exert) control of her. She was inside the protection of the holy circle which might or might not have worked to protect her. She was bait, and distraction, and part of a Hail Mary play, and she knew all about that. She was the game mechanic and Van Helsing was the rules lawyer. Probably she had a Charisma-based feature that allowed her presence to provide bonuses to die rolls. She had done her bit in the planning and organizing and information-gathering stages. I have been in the Mina position and let me tell you, the satisfaction isn’t any the less for not having had to roll a single attack.

This time around, I am satisfied.

[melancholysway]

Serendipity (2007!Raphael x Fem Reader) 3

CHAPTER III: There’s Something About the Nightwatcher

Chapter Key:

--- = a flashback is happening or ending

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ or ====

= perspective change

~ = small time skip

Casey didn't feel like playing vigilante tonight.

He was more interested in sleeping in cuddled next to April while she forced him to watch chick flicks with her until they fell asleep. But, he hadn't been out busting skulls with his buddy Raph in a few, so, tonight was the night.

He told April he was going out with Raph to do "guy stuff," and she simply nodded her head and took this as an opportunity for some personal girl time- ie; having the whole bed to herself for once until Casey got home.

He met up with Raph on the rooftop (Raphael doesn't bring his Nightwatcher gear everywhere he goes, so he made a quick stop back home to grab it), actual Raph, not Nightwatcher Raph. He had gotten there early enough to where he got to see his friend before he put on his gear.

"Sup, man?" Casey waved to his good friend as they did their handshake. Out of all the turtles, Raph was Casey's all-time favorite. Whenever he was with him, it was good vibes and good times.

Casey hadn't had a friend like Raph in a while. Sure, he had other friends, but on an emotional level, they didn't compare to Raph.

Contrary to what many people think about Raph, he's a good listener (when he wants to be.) He gives good advice and doesn't sugarcoat shit. That's why Casey preferred venting to Raph. He knew he would give him the truth and nothing but the truth.

---

"You should let 'er do 'er thing, Case." Raph stood from the ledge of the roof, circling while looking at the skylight and full moon.

"But-" "No buts, this is probably important to 'er, and she'd probably like it if you were supportive." Raph retorted, crossing his arms and looking at his friend.

You see, April had gotten a job at Winters Corp, and that meant traveling far and wide for different artifacts her boss, Winters, requested. When Casey heard about it, he freaked out and sort of jumped the gun, because he thought that meant she wasn't coming back; when in reality she would only be gone a few days out of the month.

"She'd appreciate ya if ya were supportive on dis," Raph stated "Ya don wanna hold 'er back from being successful, Case." Like always, Raph spoke facts. Casey didn't care how many times Leo complained about him, Casey knew the real him, and he had brotherly love for Raph.

It took a lot for Casey Jones to admit when he was wrong, which is probably one of the reasons why he cliqued up with Raph immediately after he had first met the brothers, they scarily had a lot in common, and April started to joke that they were conjoined to the hip.

"Ya know what..." "What? I'm right? When am I not?" Raph interrupted Casey and smirked. Casey gave him a fist bump and a quick thanks as Raph got his Nightwatcher helmet on, and they began their night of stopping crime.

---

"Hey, Case!" Raph replied as he grabbed his Nightwatcher helmet sitting off to his left side. Raph was particularly excited about tonight, he had been cooped up in the lair for 2 days straight, and he was happy to finally get out and get some fresh air.

They started on their usual route, first looking up from the rooftops, and jumping in to save the night from gangs, thugs, or anyone in between. They had just gotten their 5th criminal tied up with the cops arriving momentarily until they heard a commotion from a nearby alley.

"Ya hear that?" Raph asked through his helmet, looking in the direction of the noise. He wasn't sure what- or who it was, exactly.

The pair had jumped a few rooftops to get to the source of the noise, and it was clear what was going on.

"You little bitch!" Screamed...Hun? Raph and Casey were able to make out the leader of the Purple Dragons, and the sight was not a pretty one. A young, h/c girl is surrounded by Hun and his minions, she's on the ground after getting pushed by Hun, as he starts kicking her side. Raph takes a sigh of relief, from the ripped shirt on the ground and her getting out of Huns' grip, they had come just in time before she was no longer able to defend herself before being violated.

"Ready, Case?" Raph and Casey quickly sprang into action.

First, Raph handled Hun, the sudden surprise of Raph- er- The Nightwatcher and Casey, as they pounced on one gang member to fight, stunning the other one in the process.

Raphael handled Hun, and between their many fights, Hun was always Raphs choice to fight, he was tall, bulky, and had such a punchable face. Casey on the other hand, handled Fong, and Raph had pushed John in the process of them coming from the rooftop so hard that he lay on his back holding his stomach.

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

It seemed as if time moved quickly. You were pushed, then kicked, and then it stopped.

You saw a dude in a hockey mask and...The Nightwatcher??

The Nightwatcher actually came to save you.

You watched as both of them handled their business, and you couldn't help but notice the way The Nightwatcher fought compared to the hockey mask man. It was more...graceful like he had a fighting style.

You backed up into a corner, watching the fight go down. You couldn't just leave, not yet; until you thanked your saviors. You saw from the corner of your eye as John stopped clinging to his abdomen, recovering from the sudden ambush. He looked at both the Nightwatcher and Hockey mask man, making sure they were preoccupied. His dull eyes made their way to stare at your e/c ones, and he stood up, charging at you.

You weren't able to take on John, but you sure as hell were willing to try. You got up and stood confident, ready to take whatever John threw at you.

"This is all because of you, you fucking cunt!" John yelled as he wrapped his hands around your neck, choking you.

You were caught off guard and pinned to a wall, the flow of oxygen getting cut off. You struggled to breathe and kicked John between the knees. He grunted in response, the grip on your neck getting tighter from anger.

You both were going at it, until he was on top of you, and pulled out something shiny from his pocket.

it was a knife.

a small one, but still probably able to do some, if not a lot, of damage.

He swung it at your head, but you moved just in time for him to miss. Suddenly, John was pushed off of you by Hockey Mask.

"Whew, you oka- Y/n?!" Hockey Mask says your name.

Then, he was pushed by Fong.

But, his voice sounded familiar.

"C-Cas-" You heard John do a terrible battle cry from the right of you, and you saw as he charged at you with his knife, aiming for your stomach.

Just in time, you moved out the way, but not enough, as you felt a sharp pain on your left side.

John was soon absolutely pummeled to the ground by The Nightwatcher, and you quickly put your hand over your wound. You took your now slightly bloody hand away, expecting the knife to be there, however, it wasn't. John hadn't missed which resulted in his knife grazing your side, but it wasn't powerful enough that it caused a bad gash or wound. It was, though, enough for it to bleed and hurt like hell.

Everything went past you after, as you paid attention to stopping the bleeding. It wasn't long until all 3 of the Purple Dragons were out like a light until the cops came (which The Nightwatcher hated because he knew they'd be out of the police station tomorrow morning after being bailed out,) and you had two people to thank.

Hockey Masks' mask was off, and it was who you thought it was.

"Casey? Ow-" You confusedly asked before being interrupted by another sudden pain at your side. Casey grabbed your ripped shift from the ground and applied pressure to your wound.

"You know 'er?" The Nightwatcher asks before looking down at his feet. He had just stepped into the mess Hun and his goons made of your camera.

"Yeah, this is Y/n, crazy cat lady." Casey jokes while out of breath. Even though you're in pain, you smack him upside the head.

"Ow!" Casey whines

"I'm not a crazy cat lady, I only have one." You state. The Nightwatcher seems fixated on you and your wound, as he goes on one knee by your right side.

"Err, 'yer alright?" He asks, he has a gruff Brooklyn accent, but it sounds so...hot.

yes, hot.

You've also heard this accent before. It was when you went to ask Casey if he could watch Stella earlier today. Casey knew The Nightwatcher?!

That explained why Casey was acting so weird the last time you saw him like he was hiding something.

"I-I'm fine, thank you." You managed to say.

Casey’s pressure on your side continued to stay, and the pain you felt subsided. “I have a really good first aid kit at home that April got recently; beats payin' a pretty penny at the doctor, right? Can you stand?” He asks while the Nightwatcher is shuffling in your bag.

You wonder just what his abnormally large hands are reaching for until he pulls out the extra shirt you were planning to bring to Jades to wear the next morning. You stood up with the help of Casey, and you were able to walk fine with slight pain with each step. You winded up stepping over the mess that was your polaroid camera, but right now, the priority was you.

You watch as the Nightwatcher lifts your shirt to examine it, then hands it over to you, avoiding eye contact.

"Thank you," You gently take it from him and put it on after Casey removes the pressure from your side for you to do so. Sudden blotches from your wound can be seen staining the shirt from the inside, however, given the situation, you could care less.

"Honestly, I completely forgot I wasn't wearing a shirt it was so chaotic," You motioned to your body, "so please unsee what you saw." You felt slightly dizzy, and this was Casey's cue to hurry his ass up to his apartment.

The walk there wasn't easy, but you had made it. You insisted that The Nightwatcher did not have to carry you, being you were too stubborn to become a damsel and be carried like some fairytale.

Casey's dead apartment was lit up by a single light switch, and you took a much-needed seat on the forest green couch, as you watched Nightwatcher grab the first aid kit Casey was talking about earlier. While doing this, Casey flipped on the radio he had sitting on the countertop near the kitchen and flipped it to a random station.

While the last song was finishing up (you couldn't quite make out what song was playing) Casey had unwrapped everything needed to patch you up, and his eyes stared nervously at your wound after he had asked you to lie on your back and lift your shirt for him to see. Upon future examination, The Nightwatcher had stated that you needed a suture. It wasn't bad at all, however, while you could easily go to the E.R and get it done professionally, that medical bill would be too expensive for you, and knowing NYC on a Friday night, it was bound to be chaotic in the E.R.

Another thing was that suturing was completely out of Casey's expertise.

Have I mentioned Casey Jones has absolutely no first aid experience other than minor burns and paper cuts?

---

"Case, I'm gonna show you this once, and the second time, you're going to do it." Raphael (after some slight begging to his tech-savvy brother Donatello,) had gotten ahold of the practice suture dummy. It seemed like everyone except Casey knew basic first aid. So, now you know, dear readers, never be put in an endangering situation with Casey Jones, he cannot and will not be able to do anything except stop some bleeding if injured.

Other than being a great listener, Raphael (only when he wants to be) is a great teacher. He shows you rather than tells you how to do something; probably because he prefers being taught that way himself, and that's the way Splinter taught him and his brothers the art of ninjutsu. This had been another one of Raph's qualities Casey liked.

Casey watched carefully as Raphael took the needle through the dummy, swiftly closed up the pretend wound, and tied the knot at the end perfectly. Raph was able to do this with ease, and if he wasn't a turtle, an EMT is something he would see himself doing- since he preferred being relied on to being reliant on others. He was also skilled at this because Donatello (and Master Splinter after some quick consideration,) thought it would be helpful if all brothers knew first aid. Whether it be for a minor cut or a deep wound, they would all be knowledgeable enough to handle something like this. It was bumpy for Raphael during the beginning. He gets irritated easily, and he became irritated by the fact that his fingers were not meant to use such a tiny needle and thread to suture a wound. Don't tell anybody, but Raphael would practice any time he could. He would go into Donny's lab and sit there messing with the practice patient Donny used to polish his own skills.

Soon enough, he was able to maneuver using a tiny needle and thread, and his fingers weren't a nuisance as they once were.

"'Ere," Raph undid his work on the dummy and reset it for Casey "Go 'head."

Casey (for some ridiculous reason) shakily started suturing the dummy. Raph watched as his friend's hands carefully tried to poke and puncture in the right places until Casey's hand slipped, and the needle accidentally winded up poking the dummy's chest.

"Well, now he's dead thanks to you."

---

"Gah! Move it, knucklehead!" Raph sighed to Casey after seeing his expression, who gingerly got out of the way for Raph to work his magic. He wished he could be of help to you when it came to patching you up. Your head turned to face The Nightwatcher, as he scanned the sprawled out supplies to find what he was looking for.

"Hey, we're inside. Why don't you take your helmet off?" You suggested. within a second, he responded.

"I'd rather not."

"Aren't you heating up? Are you su-" "I said I'm fine."

You didn't want to pry anymore, after all this was the guy who was going to be sticking a needle in your skin.

After that, it was silent. While he got everything ready, you took this time to really take his presence in.

Now, you understood why people thought he was a bad vigilante, he looked too intimidating. His helmet turned to you, indicating he was staring right at you.

You said nothing. You were taking in his looks.

Up close, you noticed tiny details of his suit and helmet, but you also noticed something else that was abnormal.

He only had three fingers.

Well, that's what you thought in your head. You were a bit confused as to it, and your first thought had been he had 5 fingers, just his glove looked like it only fit 3.

But, you noticed how he picked up the needle that he did have 3.

Now, you've seen a lot of crazy shit since starting college in New York City, so by this point, nothing surprises you anymore. Between the Purple Dragons, the voices from the rooftops at night, and large figures jumping from roof to roof, it was one big clusterfuck of weird.

Needless to say, you could never be bored in New York City, and that was the beauty of it.

"What are ya lookin' at me like I got six heads, ey?" He questioned, slightly uncomfortable that you were staring at him for far too long. You quickly snapped out of what seemed like a spell and cleared your throat nervously.

"Nothing. Just, excited to be patched up is all." You smiled sheepishly, to which you could feel The Nightwatcher roll his eyes at you.

-

Raphael knew that you were studying his hands, although they were covered by his gloves. This is why he never really took people he saved in because if they got too close and got the chance to study him, they would notice he wasn't normal at all just by his armor. However, the exception tonight was because of his pal Casey, who didn't think about any of that when he saw someone he knew in trouble. Raph couldn't complain, though. He would do the same if the roles were reversed.

Plus, Raph wasn't dumb. He never was, he was strategic about everything he did as his vigilante persona, much like how he was without it. He knew that unless someone like April or Casey knew him personally- mutant and all, nobody would know he's a 5'9 mutant turtle.

You watched intently as he started prepping the suture for your wound, you don't think he realized, but he was essentially revealing himself to you just by showing his hands.

However, the needle kept slipping from the gloves he wore, almost falling on the ground a couple of times.

"You're not gonna get a grip on it if you don't take your gloves off." you hinted to him. The Nightwatcher stopped what he was doing and looked at Casey, whose face was hit with a realization.

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

Raphael had to take off his gloves to suture.

He wasn't sure how to exactly weasel his way into convincing you to not look at him while he did it, but he thought up something in his head to wing it.

"I keep my face and body hidden for a reason, ma'am." He replied to your glove removal comment, and you rolled your eyes in response.

"Me seeing your hands is not going to automatically reveal who you are, ya know." You retorted.

The Nightwatcher shifted in his seat. “Trust me when I tell ya, ya don' wanna see. So, close your eyes or sumthin', it helps with the pain." He lied on that last part.

"Don't open 'em or else." Did he just threaten you? If you weren't already skeptical of him, you sure were now.

You decided to challenge him, "Or else what?" You questioned.

"You can suture your own wound."

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

All you saw was black.

Why? Because your eyes were closed. It seemed that the Nightwatcher didn't trust you by any means, and it resulted in also being blindfolded.

The only thing you heard were footsteps that belonged to Casey as he walked around the living room, the reason being was because he was literally no help to The Nightwatcher. He changed the station again to what seemed to be a classic rock station because Paradise City by Guns N' Roses played.

Take me down to the paradise city

Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty-

Take me home, oh, won't you please take me home

"They're playin' my song." The Nightwatcher chuckled slightly. The music wasn't blaring loud, but it was loud enough for it to fill the living room space, almost like some background music. You took note of the sound of his voice, it was no longer muffled. It sounded clear, which indicated that he had taken his helmet off. You were able to hear his voice clearly and smelled the faint scent of spearmint that came from his breath.

Only Casey knows his real identity. Maybe April, too. You'd have to ask her whenever she gets back.

You also mentally noted that he liked rock music, or songs similar to Paradise City.

"I'm startin' now. Try not to move so much or it's gonna fuck me up-and if it hurts too much let me know and we'll take a break, a'ight?" You nodded your head in response and smiled. You were certain it was going to hurt, but you knew that this needed to get done.

You sure felt every single stitch he did, and naturally, you're more sensitive when you can't see. So, it did hurt more than it probably should've. However, you were a big girl and could handle it.

Or so you thought.

"Okay okay, ow!" The Nightwatcher had poked at a particularly painful part, and he immediately stopped what he was doing.

"Nightwatcher guy, that hurt." You turned to him, eyes still closed, and you could sense his gaze on you.

"Sorry bout 'dat.” He apologized, “Seems like it's hurtin' here tha most." The Nightwatcher had been observing your facial expressions and watched your nose scrunch when he reached that part of the suture.

What seemed like forever in darkness had realistically been around 15 minutes. Casey tried his best to explain what you saw, but to you, it just meant he was a vigilante.

You giggled at his antics to explain everything to you, "Didn't take you as someone who'd be the Nightwatcher's sidekick, Jones." The Nightwatcher was finishing up his final stitches.

"Nah," Casey's face wore a smirk, "Rap- err...The Nightwatcher is MY sidekick."

The Nightwatcher tied up and cut the remaining string that was unused, and you felt his abnormally large hands lift away from your skin.

"Yeah right, you're tha sidekick!" You heard shuffling and the sound of leather, and slowly sat up. Casey had given you the OK to open your eyes back up, and the world around you was finally visible. Nothing was out of the ordinary except the now closed wound. It wasn't a pretty sight to look at, and it was 100% certain to leave a nasty scar after the healing process. You noticed that the fully clothed man beside you had his gloves and helmet back on, and you were quite bummed out that you didn’t get to see your savior's real face.

“So uh, what did tha PD’s want witcha?” The man covered in metal asked, “John seemed pretty pissed at ya especially.” Casey took the role of cleaning up whatever mess was made from your wound being tended to, and his curious eyes met yours after The Nightwatcher question.

”I wasn’t expecting you to still be in the neighborhood, plans got canceled?” Casey asked. By this point, both men were staring at you awaiting a response. You remembered what happened before the attack, and you had totally forgotten about Jade.

“No,” you started, “I was gonna stay the night at Jade's. Before I left though, I ran into John- I might’ve given him an attitude.” Casey rolled his eyes at you

“Really Y/n? You know you can’t just be givin anyone around NYC lip.”

“Well, the more you know. Anyways, halfway through I realized I forgot some things and went back home, started the walk again, got pulled into an alley…” You remembered what probably would’ve happened to you had Casey and The Dark Prince not been there to save the night. Shifting in your spot on the couch, you make a mental note to shower them both in thank yous.

“John wanted to teach me a lesson for what I did. They roughed me up, and one of his gang friends went into my bag and took my camera out, then broke it. Hence all the shattered glass that was on the ground…” Casey seemed to remember the small pile of broken glass that was off to the side of the alley, and The Nightwatcher had a recollection of it as well. He wondered if it could be fixed.

”And now here we are.” Finishing, Casey sat down next to you after standing and listening. Both guys were on either side of you, and the raven-haired male put a reassuring hand on your shoulder.

Casey sighed, ”Hey, kid. I’m glad we found you before anything…invasive happened. Sorry that it went down like that beforehand, too.”

“April and I knew how much that camera meant to you.”

”I'm still upset about it, it’s sentimental. But, it’s not your guys’ fault. None of this is any of our fault. I owe you both a great big thank you. So, thank you.” you placed a hand on Casey’s leg and the Nightwatchers. You could feel him tense up extremely, but didn’t protest to your actions.

”I don’t think I would’ve been able to get myself out of that. It means a lot, really. And for what it’s worth, you’re doing a great job of keeping this city safe.” You turned toward the unidentifiable man beside you, and he cleared his throat.

”This is my home, you betta believe I’m gonna keep it safe from lowlifes and dirtbags, girlie.” He replied. Removing your gentle hands from both of them, you looked down at your wound.

The next few minutes seemed to fly by, The Nightwatcher told you how to properly clean it, and if anything opened or became undone, to let Casey know so he can tell him, that way he could fix it. Casey handed you some painkillers that you happily took in hopes of the pain subsiding.

Both Casey and the Nightwatcher suggested that probably walking during the evening, for now, isn’t a good idea, just in case the PDs might still be on alert for you. He said though, chances are they’ll move on to someone new, which made your stomach turn. It seemed like a never-ending cycle of the same shit in NYC. The Purple Dragons have a history of doing terrible things, yet still being able to get away with it.

You took mental notes of both of their pieces of different advice.

”How are you feeling, Y/n?” Casey asked.

”I feel alright, still some pain but, with some Tylenol, I’ll be indestructible!” You joked, “I’m not going to want to work tomorrow morning so, I’ll call out sick. I am getting a little tired, though.”

”I’ll walk you to your apartment,” Casey helped you off the couch to your feet, which you thanked him for.

“Thanks, Jones.” Although you walked slower than usual, you were still getting used to the slight pain with each step when you did. Sure enough, it should be less by Monday, since the weekend was about to be a complete laydown and rest one.

“Thanks for fixing me up, I really appreciate it. You saved me a trip to the hospital; and a couple of hundred bucks as well.” Smiling at the Nightwatcher, he chuckled in response and added in a “No problem,” at the end.

You had wished that you could just know something about him.

You were overpowered with a wave of curiosity.

He had no name, he had no face, he had nothing from what you’ve seen.

He was mysterious.

”Wait!” You turn around before heading out the door with Casey. He gives you a confused look, which you don’t see since your attention is on his partner in crime.

”Is it too invasive if I ask your name? I mean, a first name won’t hurt…and will I see you again?” You asked.

”I have a feelin’ we might run inta each otha again. The name’s Raphael, or Raph.” He had a name.

Raphael.

There was never a better moment like now when someone’s name matched exactly what they were looking at. Although he was fully clothed in his Nightwatcher suit, “Raphael” sounded rebellious-like he took no shit from anyone or didn’t follow rules very well.

“Whateva! Rules are meant ta be broken!” Sounds exactly like something he would say.

“Do ya want to?”

“What?”

”See me again.” Raphael mused, it sounded like a smile curled from his lips behind his helmet, and you couldn’t help but notice.

“Swing by sometime, will you? My pad is diagonal right from Casey’s. I'll treat you to dinner or something at my place. After all, I’m forever in your debt, Raphael. Actually, you too, Jones. Both of you, come over one of these nights, I’ll whip up something good.” You mimicked a bow, but due to the pain resulted in you cringing instead by your actions.

Dinner, huh?

Raph liked the sound of having a nice home-cooked meal that wasn’t from Mikey or himself.

——

It’s already been established in the Hamato household that Leonardo should be banned from all cooking equipment, Michelangelo is the family’s sous chef, and Raphael is a last resort if Mikey can’t/doesn't feel like cooking. Donatello tends to burn things since he’s always multitasking.

———

”It’s what I do…” “Y/n.” You filled in his blank. Raphael had invited you to subconsciously finish the sentence for him, which you had picked up on. You told him your name, and now had a proper introduction to one another.

” I'll see ya around, Y/n.” Raphael gave you a single wave, to which you did the same as you left Casey’s apartment.

-

Once you got to your door and were able to open it, Casey stopped you.

”Hey, promise me one thing, Y/n.” The male's face bore a look that you weren't used to. It was more serious.

”What's that?”

“Promise me you won’t tell anyone about Raph.” The tone and bass in his voice amplified his statement. Casey wasn't one to be serious all the time, so whenever he was you knew that he wasn't fucking around.

You swallowed. ”He’s not normal, is he, Casey?” It didn’t take an idiot to know there was something about The Nightwatcher, now named Raph- that didn’t sit right with you. Albeit the fact that you still don’t know what he looks like, bothered you the most.

However, you had to respect Raphael’s boundaries when it came to revealing who he was, he can’t just go around showing anyone who he looks like.

However, you had a gut feeling that you would find out with time. Which is probably just what Raphael needed: time.

“No." This didn't surprise you. However, normal could mean so many things. What is normal in our society? What bodies are considered normal and not normal? The social element of humanity has played an extreme role on all beings. 'What could normal mean to me?' You thought.

"That’s why it’s important you don’t tell anyone. Not even Jade.” You nodded your head at Casey’s request to keep your mouth shut. Casey and April had done a great job in not telling you or anyone else about him because you never would’ve guessed.

”Does April know about him, too?” You wondered, and Casey shook his head yes.

You never would've guessed they were affiliated with someone so popular around New York City.

You confidently put your pinky out, "You have my word."

No matter what age, a pinky promise is the ultimatum of trust. If one breaks a pinky promise, then they're never to be trusted again nor spoken to.

Casey interlocked his pinky with yours like you both usually did in the past (whether it be to not tell April something he's planned or whenever you gossiped about school,) but this time it was different. His grip was stronger than it usually was.

"I know you don't break your promises, L/n." Jones smiled and sighed, "Have a good night, I'll see you soon." With that, you waved to Casey's retreating body walking toward his apartment door as he gingerly waved back to you.

~

You sigh and lay in your bed with Stella snuggled at the end of your bed. Your wound is covered so it could heal, the painkillers had helped the discomfort from it.

After speaking with Jade to let her know what happened, you assured her that you were okay despite her deep concern for your safety. You stuck to your promise and left out a big chunk of what really happened by replacing Casey and Raph with the police instead.

She was grateful that you were safe, and let you know that if you weren't feeling up to class once the weekend finished, she would ask around for notes from the classes you were missing.

"I should be okay by Monday. Thank you, Jade, I love you. I'll see you on campus." With that, you both hung up.

You scroll through social media for a bit before going to sleep as the soft music playing from your speaker echos through your studio apartment. Tapping on various Instagram stories, you stop on Teddy's. It was of the scoreboard from tonight's game. Home: 25 Guest: 13.

Congrats Teddy! So sorry I couldn't be there to support you, tell me all about it in Physics :D

And...sent.

Placing your phone down and getting comfortable in your sheets about to drift to sleep, rhythmic 4 knocks are heard from the large window a couple of feet from your bed.

It took you a couple of seconds to find the strength to get up from the warmth of your covers, and when you did to see who or what was knocking, you saw a paper folded and stuck between the window to prevent it from flying away.

You look out the window, but see nothing other than the ladder leading up to the roof, and the busy way under you. You make out a motorcycle revving loudly, and a silver figure speeding down the street at the bottom. You knew based on the news headlines of The Nightwatcher's mode of transportation, and this fits the description.

Grabbing the paper, you sit back on your bed to open it up.

"""Got your camera back, but it's fucked up, and I mean FUCKED UP. I'm gonna see if one of my bros can fix it for ya. Take this as a token for not freaking out about what you saw. Appreciate it more than you may think. Stay safe."""

- R

Written in maroon ink, you took note of the handwriting "R" had. It was surprisingly neat, considering he had 3 fingers. It was no doubt this was Raphael anyway, from the initial to his intuition of what you might've seen that was out of the ordinary.

You decide to keep the note and put it in the drawer beside your bed.

Lying back in your bed and wrapping yourself in the sheets, you fall asleep to the thought of the unlucky yet lucky events that took place tonight.

PREVIOUS CHAPTER: HERE

NEXT CHAPTER: HERE

[randomrabbidramblings]

Random speculation about "Rayman in The Phantom Show"

[A bit of story related theories from what we have at the moment. I only know Rayman's lore and abilities in a very superficial way, so if you know more about him and want to add something, feel free to!]

First of all: I find it strange the objective is just to fix Phantom's Space Opera Network's ratings… Will it make this a more open worlded Tower of Doooom? Nothing wrong with that, I'm just wondering if there will be more plot to this than we got told. How could Phantom possibly convince the Heroes to do such a thing after Kingdom Battle? And where would his expected song fit into the story? He seems like he's gone on the good side, so… no Rayman roast? Unless it's a friendly roast? I find Phantom's heel-face turn a bit odd.

[I'm very torn between hoping for him to betray the Heroes at the end and having him as a final boss, or actually having a friendly (or at least passive) Phantom. Both lead to a very fun time, lol. Evil Phantom thinking he got them all while Beep-0's like "I told you guys!" and nice Phantom trying (in vain) to convince the Heroes he's not a villain this time.]

The enemies seem to be all the kinds of Darkmess infested baddies we've already seen in Sparks of Hope and The Last Spark Hunter. They are called "supporting crew" by the narrator, so maybe the place isn't infested with them, unless it's all an excuse to hide the fact Phantom's show has disaster ratings because of them.

There are Darkmess eyes and puddles too, so looks like the DLC is set in between the previous adventures and Cursa is still around. Or Phantom somehow managed to get his hands on some of Cursa's minions, but this doesn't explain the Darkmess.

We can kind of piece together what's happening in this scene: seems like Phantom just made his entrance after the lift scene seen in the trailer (there's its staircase behind him) with Rabbid Peach and Rabbid Mario reacting accordingly. We can also get some info about the environment. It seems to be the entrance we already saw in the trailer. On the corners of the floor there are dirt mounds? Is that dust or sand? Is the building in a desert or just very dirty? In Phantom fashion, like the old theater in Spooky Trails, the place seems a bit run down with ripped wallpaper revealing bricks, torn curtains and glass on the floor. At this point I'm wondering if the problems with the Space Opera Network are due to the Darkmess infesting the place or to Phantom's... very poor understanding of "keeping the workspace free of hazards".

This is the lift Phantom is seen coming out from in the trailer. And of course it's one of the few things not damaged in some way. He has standards! I don't know what's with the green color theme for him instead of blue, but I like it! I imagine this lift connects the various sets we've seen. In this floor there seems to be some minor sets for different shows, like a cooking show with Alkementor, some kind of music show with DJ Cheep Tuna (no more stranded on Beacon Beach, Augie seems to have finally paid him, lol) and one with a red Spark. I think it's some kind of dating game? There are three hearts on the background screen and the floor has the shape of a pink letter.

Phantom in his intro scene and on the poster has three spotlights on him. Probably a callback to the ones that kept him invulnerable in each phases of his battle in Kingdom Battle or maybe they are hinting at another boss fight. Either way, he sure does seem like he's very afraid of ending up like last time with the spotlights following him even when he's inside the lift, lmao. It would be funny if he sometimes popped up in places where physically there shouldn't be any spotlights, but still lights shine on him for some unknown reason

Finally, I wonder if there will be Phantom's backstory portaits like we had with the Wardens. They could explain a lot of things, especially how and why he's apparently not evil anymore. I don't know how they managed a (supposedly) good guy Phantom, but I bet he's going to be very annoying (in a good way, lol) and a very insufferable boss to his crew. Reminds me of another insufferable, drama-causing Rabbid from Spooky Trails we've already encountered.

[riansdiary]

Rian's Diary Entry #4

I've been seeing 11:11 as well. It happened so many times. Probably 10 or more this week. I searched about it as soon as I got it. This literally happens everyday so it's time I learn the meaning of it. I just know it's good because that's what I heard.

Anyway, I have something new. Learn with me! Okay so Rian was looking at the 3d. She was feeling nervous because she thinks that when Dad sat up from lying down on the sofa that he was judging her. This is actually stupid. This is just my old ass social anxiety thoughts and guess what, I don't have them so I won't pay attention. Dad's not looking at you or judging, he's just looking at his coffee, don't care about it. You're done with them, Rian. You healed from it already. So stop and focus on writing.

So some old thoughts were popping up but I observed them closely. Why would I acknowledge and pay attention to the 3d? Girl, stop focusing on that and acknowledging that as the truth! I accepted that my desires are facts so what I'll do is pay more attention to my mind/4d. I will not acknowledge the 3d as real and instead acknowledge and accept that my what's in my mind and the 4d is the real reality.

I will leave the 3d alone and stop acknowledging it. My only job is to give orders and to accept my desires as hard facts so what do we do?

I keep deciding it's done. I keep thinking as the version of me who has it and accept my affirmations are facts and it's done.

Let's leave the 3d alone. Again, why would we check an old newspaper for the present news today? The newly released newspaper is your mind/your 4d. So you know what? I'll laugh at it like I did just now and it feels so good! Hahaha this means I have it now hahaha! I'll stop acknowledging the 3d as real and I'll leave it alone. I will stop paying attention to what I don't want cause I gotta remember what you focus on grows. Turn your head away from what you don't want and keep thinking you already have it and it's done.

The 3d and the how is not our problem. I'm Blair Waldorf, do you know who you're dealing with? These thoughts that I was thinking? They're the haters! Do you just let haters do that to you? No. I'm Blair Waldorf, I'm the crazy bitch around here, Georgina.

Me to my thoughts not aligning with what I want being done: "Um, that's not true. Sorry but no. This ball of thought can't make it to the headquarters of my Inside Out brain. That's a no, sorry." Then I break that ball with a cute pink hammer I have.

You are the one who decides whether it's true or not. I'm the boss and I say I'm rejecting that and it's not true. Finished, go do your job minion. You checked with me and I said no to this one. What are you doing? That's mediocre at best. Do it again! That's not what I want so I'm rejecting that. Get that out of my face!

I continue to do what I'm doing and do what makes me happy. Doing what makes you happy means you're paying attention to what you want and what do we all want? Happiness. Yeah. Doing what makes you happy is turning your head away from what you don't want and distracting yourself.

I know this helped some of you who might have been dealing with what I just dealt with. You're not alone in this but we can't back down now. When the boss says it's done, it's done. Period. It's already done.

Yours Truly,

Lady Rian Whistledown 💋

[itz-pandora]

I really feel the need to not make an anonymous ask just to say how Mephiles fights lmao

Despite Mephiles being treated as a strong and powerful villain, Mephiles is very dependent on his own creations to defend himself

Mephiles has the idea that he won't succeed without someone's help, so he has his fighting methods such as: making someone fight in his place

For example: Silver himself in the original lore

He wanted someone to kill Sonic, even though he could do it, but he thought it would be better to manipulate someone into doing it for him

Example 2

In Shadow's first fight against Mephiles, Mephiles used the help of his minions a lot

Not these Minions.

These Minions.

Although Mephiles made more than 500 Minions fight against Shadow, they were easily defeated, including Mephiles

Another Boss that Mephiles created was this:

Seems strong, but is also easily defeated

Knowing this in mind, let's say he is a coward in fights

But he calls it a strategy, as he takes advantage of these situations to catch his opponent off guard

What does this really work....

And also of course, one of the best scenes that will also serve as an example 3

That even though Mephiles made more than 1000 clones of himself to fight against 3 people, they were also easily defeated

After several examples, it was clear that Mephiles is weak, regardless of how many powers he has, he never won, at least without anyone's help, so the whole game he was trying to get Iblis out of Elise body, because he knew he couldn't accomplish his goals without him

I don't know how the way Mephiles fights will influence Silver in a good way, even though Silver is "copying" Mephiles' way of fighting, they don't give off the same energy

Over time, Silver will learn to fight(and probably much better) without looking like Mephiles, he may notice that his way of fighting doesn't suit him

Mainly because Silver has a strong sense of justice, Mephiles, when he sees that he is losing, runs away so as not to be determined as the loser

- butterfly

OH MY GOD MEPHILES IS SUCH A LOSER IN CANON

TYSM for the info Butterfly!!!

I really should adapt my story more to this info cuz it's interesting (unless his minions are more just treated like Badniks)

(It's hard to get 1:1 fighting outta my stories cuz my DBZ brain activates lol)

I feel like a lot of Sonic antagonists are like this, because the gameplay is very "disposable enemy" based. I'll try to stray away from that for some, but it kinda fits Mephiles. But then again, it makes him similar to Dark Gaia, which idk if I should emphasize or try to cut similarities between.

Oh a random idea I just had was what if instead of making Mephiles having minions like Eggman or Dark Gaia, maybe he could be kinda similar to Pride in FMAB, to emphasize he is made of literal shadows. Idk how I'd execute it yet tho.

I want to include that Mephiles can just, become an actual shadow. My version of Mephiles wasn't sealed away, Iblis was, but since one can't exist without the other, Mephiles was weakened to only be in a shadow-like state. He was kinda like a fly on the wall. He's been around for hundreds of years, and he's got to see awful things mortals do, and that, plus Iblis getting sealed away, is his reason for hating them.

Tysm for the information!!! I shall rotate this in my brain for a bit