#headcanon status: demolished :(

[multitrack-drifting]

VOX USED TO BE A CULT LEADER??????

VOX USED TO BE A CULT LEADER

WHY AM I ONLY LEARNING THIS NOW

eh makes sense i guess

[le-ki]

But really, imagine if Belos made it to the human realm before anyone stopped him. Imagine his 400 year old ass having to navigate late 2010’s-early 2020’s on his OWN. He already managed to get hit by a car once as a goop creature.

[suiana]

Can we get a delinquent yandere fic?

I love your writing so so much, I can’t get enough of it!<3

sounds super interesting! btw I'll be doing headcanons instead of a fic because headcanons are more of my speciality 🥲 I'll try writing a fic soon though

✎ yandere! delinquent headcanons . . .

✎ warnings . . .

― violence, possessiveness etc.

(gn! reader x male yandere! oc)

✎ yandere! delinquent who absolutely hated your guts. fucking hell! why did you, the student council president, have to always interfere in whatever he's doing?! don't you have better things to do???

✎ yandere! delinquent who always has a scowl on his face when he comes to school. god damnit! why were you the one on duty checks almost every single day?? you keep making him tuck in his shirt and it looks fucking nerdy! you're such a pissy president, god!

✎ yandere! delinquent who always lands himself in detention because of his violent actions against you. but he didn't expect you to be so strong? how can you, a tiny and annoying president, block his slap??? he's so much bigger than you too??? how do you have so much strength in your body??? why does he find it sort of hot??? must be the hormones...

✎ yandere! delinquent who fell for you after you absolutely demolished him in a taekwondo match. what the fuck?! how the hell did you manage to win against him?? you even have a black belt??? that's so hot???

✎ yandere! delinquent who doesn't really hate you that much anymore. he starts treating you with more respect and a hint of gentleness. he still hates you but not like he used to. when I tell you, this delinquent absolutely LOVES people who are physically stronger than him

✎ yandere! delinquent who is always requesting for a rematch. like he would literally just barge into your class in the middle of a lesson to get you to fight him. and then he gets humbled. badly. it's a vicious cycle unfortunately. delinquent must be a masochist or something...

✎ yandere! delinquent who is always rejecting the idea that he fell for you. he just finds you interesting, that's all! he's a big tsundere.

✎ yandere! delinquent who, despite claiming he has no feelings for you, is always beating up people who are infatuated with you. why does he feel so much rage when someone other than him likes you? it's cause you like them dumbass!

✎ yandere! delinquent who tries to impress you by showing off new skills during your rematches. he thinks it'll win against you but he's horribly mistaken. like, hah! take that president- *gets pummeled down by someone way shorter than him*

✎ yandere! delinquent who now looks forward to school, his daily detention sessions and your frequent taekwondo rematches. god, you're so hot??? just fucking beat him up already???

✎ yandere! delinquent who always wants your attention on him at all times and uses his status as the school's troubled delinquent against you. like, hello??? he's causing, uh, trouble!! he never thought he would be this needy for someone he supposedly hates...

✎ yandere! delinquent who threatens everyone who tries or even thinks of hurting you. like, only he gets to do that to you! got that? though it's usually him that gets hurt but whatever.

✎ yandere! delinquent who is just so in love with you but totally rejects that idea. you're just his cool sparring partner...who's super hot...and sexy...wait, why's he thinking about you like this?!

✎ "oi president! I demand a rematch! right now!"

[shions-chin-scar]

do you have any sad headcanons about shion?

A few, yeah!

- Has a massive inferiority-superiority complex with an absolute zero in self-worth. No one who's actually confident goes around babbling about how much stronger and better they are than everyone around them. And remember how it's mentioned that he dislikes "cocky bastards" in the character book? Take that as self-loathing or insecurity, but either way it's well-known that people tend to dislike traits in others that mirror their own least favorite traits.

- Related to the above point, the main way Shion tries to increase his self-worth himself is through comparison with others. He looks up to Izana as an ideal to reach for, while also being immensely frustrated that he'll never be on his level (see: his conversation with Rindou in the charabook). He demolishes opponents without mercy, with a brutality that we've seen shocks even his own gang members, because it gives him proof that he actually has worth - more than those weaklings he's just beaten at least. He’s stronger and strength equals worth in the world of delinquents/gangs. His enjoyment of fighting isn’t just about the process itself (though he probably enjoys the adrenaline rush that comes with it), it’s about the validation.

- Thrives on praise and the admiration of others, so he constantly has to act tough, look good, and prove his worth. He can’t stand the idea of being left behind, forgotten, or dying useless and unwanted, which is why he always overcompensates in every direction. He's also very easily manipulated because of this.

- The reason why he cares about Tenjiku so much is because he's never felt like he had a place he belonged before. The gang didn't just give him a status and power, it gave him comrades that came from similar circumstances as him. Tenjiku is his safe haven, something he can fall back on and be sure and certain of the safety net available. Nothing was the same after it got disbanded.

- Was "raised" by a single, shitty dad. I'm sorry but his behavior just screams daddy issues to me. Said dad didn't visit him once during his time in juvie when he was 13. Shion ended up moving out (running away) when he was 16. He now lives in a small, run down apartment, but rent is cheap and no one bothers him aside from the landlord.

- His humiliating defeat against Mikey as the Black Dragon leader took a huge toll on him because not only did he lose his gang and leader position, he disappointed Izana, the person he admires most in the world. He was eager to prove himself during the opening match against Toman years later because it was supposed to be his "redemption".

- Was the one who took Izana's death the hardest aside from Kakucho.

- Has had several flings but no actual relationship by the time of Kanto Manji Gang. It's not that he's against it per se, he's just... very difficult to deal with. Of course that just reinforced him in his idea that he's inherently unlovable, which shows up on the surface as "no one is good enough for me anyway".

[erikahenningsen]

Do you have any Regina headcannons?

Yes that girl lives rent-free in my brain

I subscribe to the lesbian Regina starter pack headcanons like she only takes Aaron back because she has a crush on Cady and is jealous, she had feelings for Janis at some point (especially because she kept the rainbow pin), etc

I have mentioned this before but I think Regina figure skated when she was younger, and I now accept her having done gymnastics as part of canon. I think she probably quit around level 7 or 8.

Lacrosse Regina is canon to me I think she joins in her senior year

I wrote a throwaway line about her having a horse in a fic but I think she did express interest in horseback riding at one point so her parents bought her a horse but Regina smelled a barn for the first time and turned around and left

She was traumatized by the bus—she tries to hide it but she has nightmares and panic attacks and is sometimes afraid to go into the parking lot. She also has chronic pain.

Regina and Shane are very close friends and remain so after high school. He's the first person she comes out to.

She also becomes close with Damian post-canon

Regina has a near-perfect GPA but is very "what, like it's hard?" about it. She wants to go to law school. If debate club wasn't for nerds she would demolish anyone in a debate.

She is deeply insecure about literally everything but especially her body/appearance and craves assurances but doesn't know how to communicate that

Her relationship with her mother is strained at best and downright hostile with her father (I will continue to demonize this man in every fic despite his .5 seconds of screen time)

The movie shows her having seemingly no hobbies but I think she loves to read and, according to Taylor Louderman, she plays the sims

She's a touchy-feely drunk (e.g., her high at spring fling licking Cady's head) but will bite you if you try to hug her when she's sober. Except Cady. Cady is allowed to play with her hair but you can't tell anyone.

I always find it interesting to reverse the typical canon power dynamic in intimate settings—like Regina has such a dominant personality but it's rooted in her need to control things in her life (friends, status, her weight, etc) so I think when she is with someone she trusts she'll hand them the reins and let go. I'm specifically thinking of the Cady/Regina dynamic here.

[pensoluv]

@sweetstrawberrybabe’s request!

SAGAO AU’s malewife fluff!

Romantic malewifeness headcanons of DICKZ (Diluc, Itto, Childe, Kaeya, Zhongli) and Thoma.

𝐷𝑖𝑙𝑢𝑐

⁃ Shy but will absolutely ask for permission to kiss you in public, when he sees any extremely disrespectful ogling happening

⁃ Will be your service dom at home

⁃ His malewifeness comes out like a glorified butler of the cult

⁃ Will dress in whatever you choose for him as he works

⁃ Cleans your personal things up and leaves the rest to the other professional members (e.g. Xiangling, Noelle, Ganyu)

⁃ Worships you as the gentleman he is

⁃ Knows better than to flaunt at the cult

⁃ Secretly proud whenever you praise him publicly

⁃ Would demolish Barbatos’s statue to replace it with yours if needed

⁃ Kisses your hand the most, kneels a lot for your reverence

⁃ Initially awed and all blushy when you as his Creator chose him as your s/o

⁃ May have accidentally beat up a drunkard for disrespecting you at his tavern

⁃ The cult is okay with him existing, even though they are envious, since he’s decent enough. Respectful man makes the cult tolerant of him.

⁃ Negotiates with the cult to be peaceful, using his wine, for your sake

𝐼𝑡𝑡𝑜

⁃ Practically snuffles you in bear hugs

⁃ Gets poked by Sara because he’s often oblivious of the cult members glaring daggers at him

⁃ Malewifeness comes out in him dressing his buff form in a maid dress

⁃ Will bend over… and clean the house as you ogle at his beauty

⁃ Got into spars with the others, but he’s too wholesome to know it’s unhealthy jealousy

⁃ Will kick a kid’s ass if they upset you, his glorious God/Goddess s/o

⁃ Attempted to be submissive to persuade you to work out with him, fails but amuses you

⁃ Takes advantage of your love for him to stop Sara from hunting him down, for his writing on every public announcement board

𝐶ℎ𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑒

⁃ He’s in charge of your meals, with his cake and his amazing cooking

⁃ Top-tier househusband energy

⁃ Will surprise you with humongous seafoods and cook you way more than expected

⁃ Xiangling lets him in the kitchen because he’s good enough, and because you favour him

⁃ Will wear an apron gifted by Teucer

⁃ Defines malewifeness

⁃ Cuddly and may have gotten his arse kicked by the Travelers for trying to fight you

𝐾𝑎𝑒𝑦𝑎

⁃ Does pda with you on purpose to gloat around the cult, with consent of course

⁃ Nearly died after he did that

⁃ If he ever cooks for you, expect him to be naked minus the apron

⁃ Tries to make you horny without physical contact, partly because the cult would kill him for fondling their God/Goddess

⁃ If you’re ace, expect reduced or none of horny teasings, because he respects your preferences

⁃ Will try to make you straddle him (depends on innocence of your mind-) as he carries you around

⁃ Carries you for exclusive skinship (he’s smug that only he gets to do these to you)

⁃ Bratty and will mess up the food if it means you’ll give him more attention

⁃ Xiangling bans him from the kitchen

𝑍ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑔𝑙𝑖

⁃ Do not let him handle your collective finance! Even if he’s your husband.

⁃ If he decides to be your in-house spouse, he’ll brew tea before you return home.

⁃ Worships you so much you’ll have to remind him to chill out

⁃ Never lets you forget your diety status and how grateful he is that you’ve chosen him among the acolytes

⁃ The cult tolerates him, maybe slightly more than Diluc, since he’s the parent of the cult

⁃ Parents the kids like their grandfather for you

⁃ You feel like the grandparent of the cult by association

⁃ Will pick up pole dancing if you so wish of him (call me if you want, call me when you need intensifies)

⁃ Would let you humiliate him if you want to, only you (sexually or not)

𝑇ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑎

⁃ Even better than Childe in terms of malewifeness

⁃ The cult is more than okay with him, since he’s the type to treat your family (the cult) as good as possible

⁃ Does all aspects of malewifeness to 110% perfection

⁃ Cleaning? Flawless. Cooking? Quite nice. Babysitting? Great, the kids love him. Housekeeping? You know it’s his specialty.

⁃ Gets flustered easily and you take advantage of that

⁃ You might’ve used your God/Goddess status to tease him with potential kinks

⁃ He’ll be the perfect husband you’ll ever want to have

⁃ More submissive around you, in a positive way

⁃ You’ll have to be the nicest to him to make him a happy spouse

⁃ Unintentionally seduces you when he worships you with his wide eyes and pretty hands on his knees

[theminimani]

TELL ME ABOUT FOSTERED CLOTTED PLS

OFC

I've already spammed you with headcanon but I'LL ELABORATE MORE

Basically, it happens after chapter 3, the heroes of light, The Republic is destroyed, houses, buildings and statues are demolished and basically the entire place is wrecked. Clotted cream, as the consul, have more responsibilities on his shoulders since Elder Custard ran away and with all the shit that happened with two elders who got fired, he have too much duties.

And luckily, the ancients noticed that.

So for a few time, they stayed in the crème Republic, helping the boy and btw, trying to know him more (well mostly pv and holly since with DC it's still awkward). And the more they stay with CC, the more the parents instincts parents kicks in (Clotted cream just told them that the house Custard have really strict manners since in this au, he developed Circle of abuse alongside with Impostor syndrome and zero self-preservation-).

Eventually, when Clotted cream went to the Vanilla Kingdom, the Polyancient just decided to tell him "We're adopting you since your father went away" or something like that (PV and DC can't help but have a burning sensation to throw this Elder off a cliff). Of course, Clotted felt surprise and mostly worried about his father if he came back to the Republic only to realize that his son got adopted by the ancient.

Because if that, they have made a deal (kind of-) : Clotted wasn't being adopted but Fostered only when he isn't in the Republic and when Light cream is busy (she became an elder in this au with the help of Grand madeleine and Oyster. Yeah I'll explain later-) and Clotted cream, a little bit perplexed, accepted

So now, this boy have four parents which is a single mom and the litteral ancients heroes (golden cheese would probably just accept it if PV told her)

I'm sorry it's very long and probably a weird explanation but I hope you've understood :')

[genshin-scenarios]

Hiya! I’m Ven, and if it’s okay, I’d like to request headcanons of Xingqiu, Chongyun, Xiao and Kazuha with a s/o who dies in their arms because they took on a commission that they thought they could handle, but they couldn’t?

A/N: Added the other request screenshot since the ideas for Xiao are similar 🙏 hope that’s alright! Also hi Ven! Your name sounds familiar and I think I might know which blog you’re from... 🤔 but regardless if I guessed that right, ty for your request and sorry for the delay!

Warnings: Reader death, themes of grieving and death, angst.

Oh, everything shatters.

He has to be stopped from sueing or shutting down the adventurer’s guild for this - for the first time, Xingqiu absolutely loses his composure, and it’s not shouting or volatile anger; it’s steely, sharp, and cold, where even those who may not know his status wouldn’t dare to speak up against Xingqiu, whose eyes are burning in molten gold, intense enough to rival seven suns.

He doesn’t return home until much later, instead tracing back his steps to the places you’d last went with him, or where you liked to visit.

Archons, he’s. He feels so empty - much of his tears were shed when you’d been in his arms, but he’d held strong for you even then.

Now that he finally returns to his room, and notices the manuscript he’d been writing about the two of you. He picks it up and goes to lock the door of his room - but Xingqiu doesn’t even make it further than that, instead sliding to the ground as he hides his face between his knees. He feels it - the lack of you, of being able to see you tomorrow - or ever, again. It finally crashes down on him, like the unravelling of an illusion, and he fully allows himself to sob to himself in grief.

‘If only he had been there. If only, if only - but that isn't going to bring you back, is it?’ He could have mountains demolished in his grief if he wished, but nothing could return what mattered most.

It took the efforts of many, many people to get him to leave your side.

His cognitive positivity goes crazy, but that’s the last thing on Chongyun’s mind as he’s focused on you. Every breath you draw makes him feel like he’s losing his own, and he’s so, so terrified of losing you that it’s all that’s running through his mind - your injuries, your weak smile, the “I’m sorry”s you’re barely able to whisper. Chongyun shakes his head as he takes your hand, wishing that he could somehow transfer part of his own vitality to you as you start to lose your focus...

Chongyun almost collapses from the emotional toil of it all, turning feverish and desperately trying to process this all in a way that made sense, but of course it doesn’t - how would a world without you in it ever seem right to him?

Everything he does reminds him of you, and more often than not Chongyun thinks he hears your voice chatting in the distance or laughing with the locals. He sees someone with a similar appearance as you and almost calls after them with your name, but the syllables never make it out completely, leaving a bitter taste in his mouth.

He often visits to clean your grave, leaving flowers and meditating by it for hours - yet even if he may seem calm on the outside, Chongyun isn’t able to clear his head at all.

‘To think that I’m finally haunted by something, and that’s the memory of you...’

If he could break through the barrier between the living and dead to bring you back, Xiao would.

But like the loss of many loved ones in the past, Xiao is all too aware - so bitterly aware, that it is not his place to do such a thing. To do so would go against the very nature of life, and for that he felt the most helpless he has ever been. His powers and weapons were nothing here.

That thought makes Xiao loathe the world for a moment, but he knows it's nothing more than a passing victim of his anger. No, the true object of his loathing was himself, for how dared he say he’d be there when you called? How dared he be foolish enough to say that he’d protect you?

He wanted to shield you from the demons of this world. Yet for with the unfortunate wisdom he gained over time, Xiao knows that he could never do such a thing in its entirety.

You were kind, and wonderful, and the one good thing that he’s ever dared to embrace in so, so long - and now you were gone.

He does blame himself. Not only had he not been there to protect you, he must have messed up so, so badly for you to not even utter his name until your last moments.

If only he wasn’t as aloof, or cold, or afraid of being more vulnerable - if only you had felt you could rely on him more, this may have never happened.

Please, please-- Not again. Not you. Why was it always those closest to him, but never himself?

It’s numb, and his senses hyperfocus on you and his immediate vicinity. Kazuha cuts down the enemies around yourselves before carefully cradling you and bringing you to a quieter place. You were still breathing, though barely, and with his experience as a wandering samurai… he knows you were fatally wounded. He knows that no healing could…

The least he could do was let you rest somewhere more beautiful than he deserved to set foot in, but he would continue to if only to pay respects to the one he loves - still loves, and will continue to love - and if only because of a selfish want to be close to you again, to feel your presence where it’s more tangible.

Kazuha can't bring himself to create poetry for a while. You used to love it after all, but you're not here. He can’t hear your laughter or witness your fond gaze any longer, even if the memory of it was imprinted in his memory, fresher than morning dew but colder than ice as it hits him once again that this scene would never host your warmth once more...

As time goes by it does get better; Kazuha sees your smile in spring, your temper in the glare of the sun, and your voice in the winds that he travels with. He believes in the connection you both shared, which helps him take a step forward, continuing the life you’d have wanted him to continue enjoying...

[romeave]

MCD Zane Headcanons for @romeat

(tw religion)

- zane served as an apprentice to the previous high priest for a few years until they left suddenly to pursue science and grow a sick mustache

- zane and garroth are less than a centimeter apart in terms of height, but garroth's build and hairstyle makes him appear taller than zane

- zane might not have viewed vylad as a brother, but he did serve as an optimal guinea pig. most of zane's childhood expieriments were vylad tested until zianna eventually noticed.

- primarily he/they

- zane has magicks!!

- bday is 19-6, the date of his first ever appearence in anything ever

- yeah sure rebirth zane is cool and all but i personally subscribe to the og zane method of appearing kinda harmless and whipping out the evil when necessary. public perception is important to the high priest of that goddess who's whole schtick is healing and being good.

- due to garte's political pawn over person parenting strategy, zane sucks at forming connections with others and socializing outside of buisness matters.

- zane found esmund's relic when they were twelve or thirteen.

- "Zane Killed Prince Garroth" is a semi-popular conspiracy theory in okhasis, especially among non-zane stans.

- owns a fainting couch.

- even though his morals are lacking, its still zane's duty to uphold the standards of an Irenian priest. Every rule break is either a last resort that he has a solid excuse for (ex. the eastern werewolf tribe's plan to assassinate zane was treason against the alliance, and conspiracy against okhasis/irene hereself! there was NO other option but to set the while village on fire and stab everything in sight, just in case :3) or done with no witnesses who can snitch and be taken seriously (ex. falconclaw)

- zane doesn't have any house staff. he's generally a neat person, his house isn't big enough to warrant it, and its an easy way to ward off snooping.

- one of the major reasons zane is so infatuated with irene (and the divines in general) is because of the whole "unconditional love" thing. he's not sure why but the notion of some higher power who genuinely cares about your wellbeing with no consideration to her personal gain, who doesn't use love and affection as a weapon to mold you into what she wants you to be and demolish every little trait she doesn't like, who doesn't use her status as goddess to turn you into her own personal pawn, and wont totally abandon you to fix every single problem facing your family/village/region because she doesn't want to take responsibility for anything is nice in a way that he can't really describe, nor wants to unpack right now

- attention whore <3

- the two guards who are always standing behing him ended up getting married and settling down a few years after zane dissapeared into the void. they have a cat, so its like zane never left in the first place

- left handed

- weak constitution

- zane used to routinely straighten his hair, but stopped once he got more invested in the irene project and that war with scaleswind/pd started picking up

- has either the most or the least common sense in the room at any given time, no in betweens

- imitates the Lord of Scaleswind for funsies

- zane only knows what his funky cursed jewelry does 60% of the time, and whether or not it'll work can only be done through experimentation.

- funky jewelry that zane's tested and deemed perfectly "uncursed" and safe for general use are repurposed as actual gifts. sometimes he is wrong, like that time he gave away werewolf creating pendent that he deemed a safe dud because "i pricked my finger a few months ago and nothing happened"

- used to keep all his notes in garroths room when they were younger and lived with their parents. garroth spent a good chunk of the year at the guard academy, so there was plenty to time to rip up a floorboard or make a false drawer bottom without getting noticed.

- "lost" his communication amulet a few months before coming to pd, so he's not allowed to leave okhasis without guards. garte refuses to let him make a new one because "losing a communication amulet that can contact the entire okhasis elite is a prime example of how irresponsible he is" and he "has to earn trust" and "daughter of pikoro" and "takes after his mother" and "this is exactly why garroth is the hier"

- aaron stole it

[natequarter]

Susan for the hc meme 👀👀

Headcanon A: realistic

having left gallifrey before her full initiation to time lord status, susan can't regenerate, and the time lords don't trust her enough to grant her a regeneration cycle. it's an odd sort of limbo - too time lord for the shobogans but too renegade for the time lords.

that is, assuming she's gallifreyan at all.

Headcanon B: while it may not be realistic it is hilarious

she has a pet squid that can breathe air. it's called larry

Headcanon C: heart-crushing and awful, but fun to inflict on friends

she's the timeless child. (or the other's granddaughter, or some random kid the doctor chose to take with him, or a genuine lungbarrow cousin... yeah at this point who knows.) the doctor (during s6b) adopts her, she regenerates into a young body and represses her memories, and lives under the first doctor's care. probably.

Headcanon D: unrealistic, but I will disregard canon about it because I reject canon reality and substitute my own

to begin with, she kind of sees ian and barbara as pets - cute and fluffy, but not very smart. then they introduce her to chess. barbara is a chess fiend and demolishes her for nearly three full games.

(link)

[standingonnewgrounds]

Since ‘Friday Night Funkin’’ headcanons on Ao3 is set to be demolished, how about I repost some of its ‘chapters’ here with some few format changes?

Actually, it’s more like recreating those chapters from scratch.

Let’s begin with Hank.

…

Name: Hank J. Wimbleton

Species: Crossling (headcanon name for grunts), second generation

Age: 21 (post RfM), mentally around his 40s

Pronouns: He/They (demiman? Non-binary?)

Height: 3'6 (grunt/crossling form), 6'2 (if transformed into a human)

Sexuality: Asexual and aromantic

Birthday: September 22

Headcanons

As he is born without a handler (basically a crossling equivalent of a parent), he didn’t learn manners, and is pretty blunt on his words and insults.

As a result, he can be brutally honest, and doesn’t like to lie.

Acts like a grumpy middle-aged man. He’s 21.

Then again, all crosslings are born as adults.

Hank never learned how to cook before and during the events of this version of Madness Combat.

Well, that is if you don’t count him ‘cooking’ instant noodles. It’s pretty decent.

Likes to blend things on a blender to a pulp. Even things that were never meant to be blended into a pulp.

The reason for that is because ever since he had his jaw ripped off and replaced with a metal one, he can’t eat hard foods lest his jaw hurts. Soft food and liquids (like soup and smoothies) are the only things he could consume anymore.

His favorite food (and probably the exception to the soft food only rule) is hotdogs.

Also thanks to the metal jaw, he can’t speak certain sounds.

Then again, he doesn’t talk much. If he can, he tries to use body language to communicate.

He’s learning sign language, though.

Touching the halo on episode 9 (events differ in this AU but it still applies otherwise) not only gave him the power to defeat the Auditor, but also gave him telepathy.

Hank is a visual learner. He watches someone do things, and chances are, he would learn something from it.

“The J stands for Motherfucker” is a rumor that has been spread around Nevada. He doesn’t confirm it, but he doesn’t deny it either.

It’s actually “Jolly,” by the way. It’s funnier that way.

Probably autistic.

Definitely has C-PTSD thanks to the events of Madness Combat.

Warning: denial, depression, suicide mention, and some other stuff. This gets pretty dark, and I thought that was only reserved for the consequences section of things!

His denial of things and the surrounding stigma against him probably made him think that he is just a machine made for killing and obeying orders, and nothing else.

He successfully convinced himself that he does not care for anything and anyone when that is not the case.

He tells himself he doesn’t care about anything except for killing, even though the truth is that he does care.

Which led to… well, betraying Sanford and Deimos, even though his inner self is yelling at him to not do it.

But… truth is, he hates that he is nothing but a machine. He figured that he should die once and for all and make sure he won’t be revived again.

And so, he wanted to destroy the world to end his—and everyone’s—suffering.

Consequences

Basically, things that are not headcanons, but rather, information about the SoNG AU version of the character. It is named as such because these facts are the results of me using my Friday Night Funkin’ headcanons to create this world.

If you have seen Madness.exe/988, you know how that turned out, but we aren’t talking about that.

After that, he has somewhat changed to the point where he starts to accept that he cares for people.

He is still suicidal, but it’s a good thing that the Status Quo is on suicide watch duty as a secondary mission.

And then a young Boyfriend pops up. He was given a mission to protect him and make sure he goes home.

The experience made him a bit more humble and caring, to the point where he can consider the little human as a friend.

Frankly, he missed the little human when he finally came home.

To be honest, I’m not sure if the events of Hank’s week is going to be canon. Then again, I don’t know what it’s about, but it’s likely that it has something to do with DD hiring him to kill Boyfriend after Pico refused to do so.

But here’s the thing: after everything, Hank decided to stop killing once and for all.

Anyways…

Very curious about the world outside of Nevada.

Mesmerized about everything that was rare—or don’t even exist—in Nevada, but common in the outside world, like colors.

Favorite color is sky blue, mostly because of the color of the sky in daytime.

Doesn’t tolerate racism against their species, mostly because he feels guilty for giving them a bad reputation and the negative stereotypes of being either incompetent or violent.

“Yeah, us crosslings are territorial creatures, but that doesn’t mean we can’t coexist in peace!”

[fire-lady-ilah]

Sideburn Squad + June Headcanons

(Under the break, because there’s a lot.)

All

Lu Ten have been friends since they were children. Lu Ten was 5 and Zhao was 7 when they first met and became friends at the Royal Fire Nation Academy for Boys.

Zhao became friends with Cadet Jee when he joined the military at 18. At that point, Jee was 3 years his senior at 21, though he had joined only the year before. They met in firebending training, where Zhao had already been moved up in level by the second day under Admiral Jeong Jeong’s appraising eye.

Zhao is a much better firebender, but Jee absolutely demolished him at pai sho. And poker. And mahjong. And any game, really.

Lu Ten remains in the palace until he turns 18 but at 17 he meets a young bounty hunter of the same age at a bar he snuck out to. He arm wrestles her (loses) and challenges her to a drinking contest (loses again) before deciding to acquire a second best friend.

At 18, Lu Ten is assigned to the same training camp as Zhao (which is very nice for the two young lovers) and, well, if a bounty hunter is found in the neighbouring town’s inn more often than not, who’ll complain?

Lu Ten becomes fast friends with Jee (who is now 23 and very much feeling Too Old For This Shit) after a few games of pai sho. Jee and June enjoy having company while Zhao and Lu Ten are doing their disgusting couple thing.

Lu Ten

Lu Ten loves to paint and paints portraits of each of his friends for their birthday, along with whatever other obnoxiously expensive gift he gives them.

Zhao’s depicts him in some, er, rather passionate situations. (Their friends see one with him doing firebending training in the middle of a kick. The other one is given in private and leaves him a blushing, stuttering mess). He also receives a book of poetry written in the Water Tribes, something that’s definitely banned in the Fire Nation.

Jee’s depicts him deep in thought, sat at a pai sho board with a cup of coffee steaming in his left hand. He receives a bag of very high quality coffee (wait, wasn’t this type only grown in Air Nomad temples at very high altitudes?).

June’s depicts her with a slight smirk on her lips as she let a man think for a moment that he was winning their arm wrestle. She receives Earth Kingdom perfume of the highest quality (and if her arms shake as she takes it, remembering faint memories of a noblewoman holding her to her chest, Lu Ten doesn’t mention it). She makes a remark about Nyla hating perfume but she doesn’t reject it.

Lu Ten is also fiercely loyal and protective of his friends. He’s the first to rise and physically put himself between them and the threat, fire curling around his fingers as he restrains himself from clenching them. He never throws the first punch (his father taught him better than that), but he isn’t above using his sharp tongue to make them throw it (Azula may have been encouraged by her father, but she looked up to her older cousin as much as Zuko did).

He also acts as an older brother figure to June specifically, despite being the same age as her. No one is good enough for his bounty hunter adoptive little sister, except maybe... maybe someone he trusts.

Zhao

Zhao is a poet and it surprises everyone and no one. Strangers, should they somehow find out, cannot imagine it. His friends can’t imagine him not constantly pouring over books of poetry, scrawling his own in the corner of tactical notes, and quoting it endlessly in conversation and impassioned speeches. Thus, they’re also unsurprised to find out that he has a set of poems (some from the greats, some from smaller poets, even some of his own) dedicated to each of them. Not only their surface personalities (Lu Ten, brave and loyal. Jee, tired and always watching. June, cunning and sharp.) but who they are underneath (Lu Ten, crying at his first kill. And his second. And his third. Jee, losing all composure the moment someone smelling of sake grabs June’s wrist, a hand leaving a pink— mild but threatening— burn on their throat. June, curled tightly up to Nyla after a rough day, hair always gelled in front of the side of her face).

He isn’t protective, not in the way his friends are. In the face of danger head on he shrinks back. But he is vindictive and more than friendly with the concept of revenge. He sees the way an up and coming lieutenant eyes his Lu Ten greedily and braves his feat of ladypedes to fill the lieutenant’s bedroll with them on their next expedition. A commander yells at Jee and lunges fast enough to make him flinch and oh no, did his house really burn down overnight with all his gold stolen? He didn’t know he lived so close to base. Every man that brushes up against June a little too long finds his coin purse mysteriously missing by the end of the night.

Jee

Jee is quiet and has the patience of a saint, most days. But even he can only stand babysitting royalty in silence so long. So what if he’s the one that sneaks alcohol onto base and drags his friends into the storerooms, drinking the two younger men under the table? They need their egos a little beaten and Jee needs a drink.

As the oldest, and also the only member from complete peasantry, Jee has to teach his friends a lot of basic skills.

How Lu Ten didn’t even know how to make his bed in the barracks properly, Jee didn’t know, but he taught him anyway. He didn’t laugh at him, he just guided his hands into making the crisp fourth-five degree angles the inspector wanted.

He taught Zhao how to throw a proper punch (no, not like that. Sure, the form is perfect for firebending and for martial arts, but if you want to really win a brawl you have to do it like this). The boy was a little too obsessed with honour for his liking. He understood the status that being born “honourless” gave him, but he was from the lowest of the low. They didn’t care for honour, they cared about survival.

June is most similar to him, but he sees the nobility in her facial structure and the way she doesn’t hesitate to spend most of her money on drinks. She may work for it, but she’s never known the ache of an empty stomach. Still, he teaches her how to barter (no, not threaten, barter) and how to find the best cut of meat for Nyla. The shirshu takes a shine to him almost immediately.

He may be the Dad Friend (he rejects the title verbally and yet wears it with pride), but he isn’t the first to jump in their defence at the slightest insult. He only reacts when he sees something truly dangerous, even if he knows his friends can handle themselves. And if he’s quicker to lash out on drunks that touch one of his friends, they don’t comment.

June

June proudly proclaims herself the primary holder of the group brain cell. She spends the least time with the rest of them, but she’s also uncannily perceptive. She sees the way the already tipsy teenager held himself with a straight spine and clothes made of a little too fine of fabric. She sees the way he leans in at the slightest hint of friendship and she can’t help herself from doing the same. She recognizes the way Zhao’s eyes glint whenever someone insinuates that he’s inferior, even if he bows his head as a subordinate. She watches from the top of a building she shouldn’t be on as he chases Jeong Jeong like an eager child, desperate for approval and love. She makes eye contact with Jee, the only one that sees her watching, and something like an agreement passes between them.

She takes her bounties all while she hangs around the training camp. It’s longer than she’s stayed in one place since she was just a child and her life was a lot more stable. She takes her first life when someone confuses bounty hunter with assassin and tries to pay her a near boatload for her Prince’s life (she takes their gold too. She isn’t above robbing a corpse).

She’s protective too, though she would never admit it. She mocks Lu Ten with a smirk on her lips at his temper, but she slips into the shadows to drag the very man that threatened their group into the alleyway, a poisoned dagger to his throat. Someone may threaten her family, but they only get that chance once, she makes sure it never happens again.

Even after Lu Ten dies and her group fractures, she keeps tabs on them. She finds a stowaway on Prince Zuko’s ship and she finds a friend again in a bar soon after. They have a drinking contest and an arm wrestle but it isn’t the same, just the two of them. And in the end, it’s just June.

[ddagent]

Any headcanons for Jaime being smitten with sworn sword Brienne?

Of course! 

Lady Brienne is present during the King’s arrival at Winterfell. She is at the back of the greeting party; not quite family, not quite household staff. She is disappointed that Lord Renly has not joined his brother North, although secretly does share the opinion that Ser Jaime is the most beautiful man in all of Westeros. 

At the feast, Brienne is seated in her house colours. Unfortunately, she is humiliated by the King, who talks about her father’s continual failures at finding her a match. The Queen is equally cruel. With her lady’s permission, Brienne leaves the feast early, bumping into Jaime upon her departure. He barely gives her a second look. 

The following morning, Brienne is training with some of the Winterfell squires and releasing some of her anger over the previous night. Jaime, on his way to a rendezvous with Cersei, finds himself intrigued by the knight demolishing so many Northern men. He is even more intrigued to discover that she is a woman. 

After some back and forth, Brienne challenges Jaime to a fight. He dithers, knowing Cersei is waiting, but is taunted into taking part in the bout. Brienne is good, but ultimately Jaime snatches a narrow victory. With the other Kingsguard refusing to spar with him, Jaime suggests they practice together. After all, their status cannot drop much lower. 

With Cersei upset that he abandoned her in favour of sparring with Brienne, Jaime ends up spending most of the King’s visit at Winterfell with the Maid of Tarth. They spar in the morning, both verbally and physically, and he often catches her eye during dinner. Tyrion makes a comment about Jaime finally making a friend; Lady Stark is less pleased with the company her sworn sword has been keeping. 

The night before the King’s departure, Brienne avoids the feast and bathes in the hot springs. Jaime tracks her down; reminding her of his vow of celibacy when she complains about his joining her. As they both soak in the springs, Jaime realises he has made a friend and makes the bold choice to tell her of Aerys, thinking he will never see the Maid of Tarth again. 

Of course, the Starks still suspect the Lannisters of murdering Jon Arryn. Lady Catelyn asks Brienne to travel south with her daughters to protect them and Ned. Brienne is not entirely pleased to be going to King’s Landing, although she will get to see Lord Renly. Jaime is...surprisingly pleased. After all, there’s no one decent to spar with in the capital.  

[pinktwingirl]

How Loki Met Squirrel Girl

Hey guys! This is a brief one-shot that ties into my Endgame rewrite. Basically, it goes deeper into my headcanon that the girls who got a picture with Thor in Ragnarok were Squirrel Girl and Nancy, and how Loki came up with his plan to be resurrected. A tad confusing, I know, but I hope you enjoy! :)

             “I swear I left him right here.”

              Loki frowned and folded his arms as he and his brother overlooked the wreckage of what used to be – what was it? – “Shady Acres Care Home.” In his studies of Midgardian culture, he’d learned that some mortals took their elders to large group homes when they could no longer care for them themselves – a perfect place to keep a delirious, enchanted Odin at bay while taking his place. Surviving Kurse’s stabbing had been a sheer stroke of luck, of course, but he couldn’t think of a more perfect opportunity to keep Thanos off his trail. After he’d failed to conquer Midgard and deliver the tesseract to the mad titan, he knew it was only a matter of time before he and his Black Order came for him. But if word got out that the God of Mischief had already died… well, Thanos wouldn’t bother searching for a dead man, right?

              In truth, Loki utterly despised living as Odin. Heading the old man’s councils day in and day out was unbearable. He wasn’t like Odin. He wasn’t like Thor. And he never would be. So he tried to make life a little entertaining. Hosting feasts, putting on ridiculous plays to entertain the people and keep them happy… for his own amusement, he’d even erected a giant golden statue of himself so he could watch everyone who’d dismissed the lesser prince in life now pretend to love and worship him in his death. But then, of course, Thor just had to return and put an end to all of that. Well, at least he didn’t have to walk around with gray hair anymore…  

              Thor raised an eyebrow, giving the wreckage in front of them a skeptical look. “Right here on the sidewalk, or right where the building’s being demolished? Great planning.”

              “How was I supposed to know? I can’t see into the future; I’m not a witch.”

              Technically, that was only partially true. Before her death, Frigga had dabbled a little in teaching Loki the art of foresight, but his abilities were far from fully developed. Besides, how would he have guessed that this building might no longer be here in four years?

              Thor glanced at Loki’s all-black suit. “No? Then why’d you dress like one?”

              “Hey!”

              Before Loki could retort further, he heard voices nearby.

              “Oh my god, oh my god, I can’t do it!”

              “Just ask him!”

              He turned to see two young girls, one with dark skin and curly black hair, and another with braided reddish-brown hair approaching Thor with a… what did mortals call that strange device again? Oh, right. A “cell phone.”

              “Hi!” The curly-haired girl said. “Would you mind taking a picture with us?”

              Thor smiled. “Oh, sure.”

              Loki rolled his eyes as the girls giggled and posed with Thor for the picture. Great. So even on Midgard he couldn’t escape the hordes of women swooning at his brother’s feet.

              Before she left, the girl with braided hair gave Thor a sympathetic look. “Sorry to hear that Jane dumped you!”

              As Thor began some half-assed explanation of how he had done the dumping, not Jane, Loki’s senses seemed to jolt with a warning. He glanced after the red-haired girl as she walked away. There was something… strange about her. Something he couldn’t quite place…

              Just as Loki gave his brother a reassuring pat on the back, he felt something scurry over his feet. He looked down to see a gray squirrel chittering at him. Using his power of all-speak, he’d gathered that she was asking him for a bite of food. He scowled at her. “I don’t have anything. Go away! Shoo!” The squirrel gave a few angry mutters before running away.

              As if that wasn’t irritating enough, Loki then felt the beginning of a portal forming under his feet. One thing after another…

Thor’s eyes widened. “Wh-What is this? What are you doing?”

              “This isn’t me…”

              Loki yelped as the portal opened and he fell through. He kept falling, falling… with no destination. He couldn’t see anything at the bottom – it was just an endless black pit. Clearly, whoever was doing this intended to keep him here for a while. Wonderful.

              With wave after wave of wind flowing around his body, he sensed something small on his back. He hadn’t even noticed it earlier, but now…

              Loki fought the current to reach his arm back and take the object off to examine it. It was a… tracking device. Barton had showed the mortal contraptions to him while he’d been under the duress of the mind stone. But how…?

              His eyes widened. That… that squirrel. It had been near that girl with the red hair. Had she… had she trained the creature to place it on him? Could mortals even do that? Loki shook his head in amusement. He thought those girls hadn’t even recognized him. Clearly, he’d been mistaken.

              Normally, he would’ve brushed the incident off as the reckless endeavors of a mortal who was clearly in way over her head, but this time, he wanted to know more. He couldn’t help but be intrigued by this strange girl, and besides, he clearly didn’t have anything better to do in the meantime. As he continued to fall, he closed his eyes and performed the enchantment for the vision of foresight. Who was that girl? What was going on?

              Norns, give me truth… he silently pleaded.

              It was only an image. A single image that flashed in his mind. But it shook him to his very core. Because what he saw was impossible. Or, at least, it should have been.

              He saw himself in the past, freshly wounded from the battle of New York, on a small, deserted planet, clearly a hiding place from Thanos and his army. But he wasn’t alone. That girl was there too. And she was wielding the tesseract, defending him from the Other.

              Utterly dumbfounded, Loki racked his brain for answers. How could this be? Could mortals truly grow so advanced that they could alter time? But why would they do that? And for another thing, how could that mortal girl ever wield the tesseract? An infinity stone had enough power to level planets, yet that girl was holding the tesseract in her hand, controlling its power, almost as if it had… chosen her to do so.

              Setting aside his initial shock, he closed his eyes again to concentrate on the image further. Ah, but this was no ordinary mortal girl, was it? It seemed she was part-squirrel, of all things, and this oddly gave her enough strength and resilience to match even Midgard’s super soldiers. Well, that would explain her little companion.

              A sudden sense of urgency loomed over Loki as the realization of what this all meant dawned on him. There was only one thing that could drive Midgard’s defenders to such extreme lengths. Whatever Thanos was planning would soon be put in motion. The Avengers would be forced to alter space and time in order to reverse it. And somehow, by an inexplicable twist of fate, this strange mortal girl he’d come across was in the center of it all, along with his past self.

              The further he fell, the deeper he formulated his plan. Soon, there would be no escaping Thanos. This time, the God of Mischief would die for real. But perhaps… not permanently. After all, if a Midgardian could control an infinity stone and survive, what was stopping her from using it to revive her new friend? Perhaps one day, his past, present, and future would intertwine to return him to his brother once more. It was a long shot, pinning his only hope for resurrection on a mortal… but if this strange day had taught him one thing, it was that anything was possible.

              Now if only he could get out of this endless loop…

[carewyncromwell]

Cinderella AU time again at last, baby!! Let’s do this!

Florence’s “Christmas Witch” is inspired by Italy’s Le Befana, who like Santa Claus/Father Christmas and his many variations serves as a holiday gift-giver to young children. Given that in this universe, Florence is more favorable toward magic than its rival nation Royaume, I figured them having a similar tradition was appropriate.

The background depicted in this picture is based on this window from a guest apartment in the Chateau de Chambord in France, though of course this is the outside of such a window, rather than the inside. Damn it, do I hate backgrounds with a burning passion. XD;;

In my headcanon, Orion suffers from anxiety. Anxiety disorders aren’t uncommon among children who were raised in orphanages, and a common visual cue for anxiety is clasping one’s hands in front of them, which Orion does constantly in the game Hogwarts Mystery. Plus two types of therapy prescribed for dealing with anxiety are meditation and regular physical activity (like Quidditch! :D). For safety, though, I also want to put in a trigger warning for this part -- be advised that there will be some discussion of PTSD and war-related trauma, around the middle of this.

Previous part is here -- full tag is here -- Katriona “KC” Cassiopeia belongs to @kc-needs-coffee -- and I hope you enjoy!

x~x~x~x

The morning after Royaume’s Winter Festival, Skye was surprised to find Orion in Florence’s palace library. Admittedly he was balancing on one foot with one leg crossed over the other on the step near the top of a tall ladder while reading, which was very typical of Orion -- but the book was a very thick volume on the weaving of various fabrics, and he was devouring it with intense interest while vaguely humming a tune under his breath that Skye didn’t recognize.

“Oh willow, willow, willow...willow...”

Skye cleared her throat to try to get the Prince’s attention. “Hey...Orion?”

Orion, however, was too focused on what he was reading. It took Skye striding over, stating his name twice more, and finally giving the ladder a light smack to get his attention.

“Orion! Mind coming back down to Earth for a minute?” she said, her voice oddly tense. “I need to talk to you.”

Orion stopped humming and looked up from the book at last, his expression rather pleasant.

“Skye...you’ve returned from the front.”

Skye frowned. “Yeah...Dad’s nearly recovered from his injuries. Penny Haywood wanted to thank you for the herbs you picked up.”

Orion inclined his head slightly. “I’m glad to hear your father’s condition has improved.”

Skye nodded, looking faintly guilty.

“...Orion...I’m sorry about what I said the other day,” she said uncomfortably. “I was just so worried about Dad and his troops, and you being all wrapped up in this girl who works for the enemy...it just...it rattled me, I guess.”

“Florence and Royaume should not be enemies for all time,” said Orion patiently. “If there is to be peace, the mistakes both sides have made in the midst of the War will have to be forgiven.”

“I know,” muttered Skye. “And...well, I know how you feel about the War -- about war and fighting in general. It just feels like what you’re doing is so slow, and people are hurting, and...”

She hung her head.

“I know it’s no excuse, for what I said, but...I am really sorry.”

Orion’s black eyes softened. “It’s already forgiven and forgotten, my friend.”

Skye looked very relieved. Her face burst into a smile.

“...Thanks, Orion. I gotta admit, I...kind of want to meet this ‘Lady Cromwell’ now, after everything you told McNully and me about her. She sounds a bit too good to be true, but...well, I never really thought I’d ever hear of a Royaumanian defending magic...especially one of their courtiers.”

Closing the book in his hands with a quiet snap, Orion lowered the leg he had bent beside the one he was balancing on.

“Fortunately I think you’ll have the chance to do so very soon,” he said with a smile. “Last night was an unquestionable success.”

He leapt down the rungs of the ladder with alternating feet, all the way back down to the floor with a light thump.

“I went to the Winter Festival and met the Prince of Royaume himself.”

Skye gave a start. “You what?”

Orion was beaming from ear to ear. “It was all thanks to Carewyn, appropriately enough. She was the one who arranged it so that he could sneak out of the palace disguised as a peasant and attend the Winter Festival, even with the King and Queen keeping him so strictly contained. Prince Henri himself even said as much, that it was all Carewyn’s doing. Imagine...because of her, the two princes of rival nations were able to meet on completely neutral ground as equals. And now that we’ve been introduced and I have a better fix on Prince Henri’s character, I have a great opportunity to open negotiations in full.”

Skye looked rather impressed, even as her face twitched with discomfort.

“That’s...smashing, Orion,” she granted halfheartedly.

Orion raised his eyebrows curiously. “I would say so...but your aura doesn’t seem to agree with your words.”

With a deepening, guilty frown, Skye reached into the hanging pocket attached to her faded blue skirt and took out a sealed letter, which she handed to Orion.

“The King asked me to bring this back for you,” she said lowly, as Orion opened it and began to read. “He’s requested you and McNully to join him at the front.”

Orion’s face had lost all of its pleasantry, leaving it very stony and unreadable, as his black eyes scanned the letter once, twice, three times.

“McNully’s gone to get the coach ready,” said Skye lowly. “He said that he’d meet us just inside the castle gate.”

The ride from the Florentine royal palace to the battlefield at the northern-most border of Royaume and Florence was a stressful one. Once anyone exited the capitol’s walls, the War was immediately much more visible, since most of the War was fought on Florentine soil. Plus many of those magicians who specialized in casting spells were encouraged to settle closer to the wealthier hubs of the country, so that they could cast temporary illusions to obscure certain buildings whenever the opposing army got too close. That was how people such as Florence’s court magician, Severus Snape, had attained such a respectable status.

Orion spent the entire coach ride sitting with his legs crossed, his hands clasped tightly in his lap, and his eyes closed so he could meditate. Despite his eyes being closed, however, when they arrived at their destination, he could hear the shrieks of wheels on old wagons, the whinnying of unsettled horses, and suppressed moans of pain, and he could smell the burnt wood, gunpowder, and indescribable smell that could only be labeled as “death.” Even just the sounds and smells brought all the memories flooding back -- his and his mother’s house set ablaze...the rearing horses with Royaume blue and red on their saddles...the deafening explosions and the gray ash that rained from the sky...his mother’s light-less eyes and his own labored breathing and clutching, shaking hands...

Orion had never been blind to how run-down much of his country was, but its problems only became more apparent the closer one got to the border, and especially to the war front. Every building was brand-new and cheaply built, for they no doubt had been built and rebuilt several times over and their occupants didn’t have the funds to build it back as well as before. And then once one approached the army camp itself, there were just about no buildings or fortresses at all, since it was so hard to keep them from being demolished. Instead all the Florentines really had were tents that wouldn’t stand up to most any elements. In the freezing cold of winter, many had been crowded under groves of trees, in a vain attempt to try to protect them from the snow that had buried their neighbors, and there were large bonfires set up everywhere where the soldiers gathered, just to warm their bundled hands and feet. One small fire featured a cooking pot and some sort of foul-smelling soup -- it took Orion a moment to realize the smell was burning leather.

It was tragic to think of how many men back in the Florentine capitol like Lord Malfoy had become very rich because of the increased danger of shipping goods through war zones, while the men who actually had to stay in that war zone had to cook their own boots and eat them for sustenance.

Orion did not open his eyes even when the carriage came to a stop. It was proving harder to find his center of balance when the smell of gunpowder outside made the memory of terrified screams and crackling wood pound against his eardrums.

Inhale. Exhale. Let go. Find your center. Balance.

He felt someone lightly touch the top of his clasped hands. When he opened his eyes, he saw that it was Skye.

“...We’re here,” she mumbled. Clearly she knew she was stating the obvious, but didn’t know what else to say.

Orion looked from her to McNully sitting next to her, his eyes very dark even though his face was rather unreadable. McNully looked very grim as he slowly opened the door to the coach. As soon as he did so, someone outside announced very loudly,

“Presenting his Highness, Crown Prince Cosimo Amari VII, heir to the throne of Florence!”

With a swallow, Orion slid his legs down to the floor and, unclasping his hands at last, he hoisted himself up as best he could, took hold of the door frame, and climbed out of the coach. He held his head up high and didn’t shrink, but his eyes were rippling turbulently like oil under candlelight as they surveyed the barren landscape.

Men by the dozens were being carried away on stretchers toward a large off-white medical tent -- even more were being carried away from it or, worse, not even coming close to it at all, for it was already too late. They were too badly injured for Penny Haywood’s potions to save -- for as powerful as magic could be, life and death were inevitable things. The gray-haired flower witch who’d given Orion the charm around his neck had told him so, the Prince recalled, as his hand absently came up to trail over the circular pendant. He’d asked her if she could stop someone from dying, and the sweet grandmotherly woman had looked upon him with an incredibly sad, pitying look.

“Death isn’t something anyone can stop, I’m afraid. One can put it off, certainly...I’ve been able to give people some extra time with my potions, but only by putting in a lot of my own time and energy. And even after putting in that time and energy, there are still plenty of people who I couldn’t work fast enough to help. That’s one of magic’s Chief Principles -- potions take time, but their effects last longer.”

The Prince of Florence tried to bring the cooling, calming sensation that had accompanied the charm around his neck when the woman had first given it to him back to his mind, as the smell of death that hovered over the camp made his heart chill and his stomach churn.

Orion could sense Skye climbing out to stand beside him, and not long after, McNully had lowered himself into the wheeled chair the footman detached from the boot of the coach. By the time McNully and Skye had joined him on the ground, a royal entourage had approached them, introduced by the captain who’d announced Orion’s arrival --

“Presenting his Majesty, Cosimo Amari V, Master and Commander of the Florentine Army, Lord of the Southeastern Sea, King of Florence!”

An older man about Orion’s height with a short mane of graying dark hair and just as strong of a jaw strode forward. Although he greatly resembled Orion visually, however, their physical attitudes couldn’t be any more different: as relaxed and modest as Orion was, the King of Florence appeared traditional and proud. They did, however, both appear quite detached, in their own way -- Orion because he didn’t want to be on the battlefield at all, and the King because he seemed to not be entirely sure how to address his adult son. But frankly, considering that Orion had been snatched out of poverty and made Crown Prince just to replace his older half-brother, Cosimo VI, after he was assassinated by the Royaumanians earlier that year, that wasn’t completely surprising.

“Cosimo,” the King greeted him formally. “Good that you’re here.”

Orion didn’t respond, his face close to impossible to read as he clasped his hands in front of him again.

The King’s emerald green eyes scanned his son’s face briefly before he brought up a hand to take hold of his shoulder and lead him further into camp.

“Come -- we have much to discuss...”

Skye and McNully followed Orion and his father to the largest and brightest white of the tents, pushing the flap with the official Florentine gold-and-green-flower emblem aside to walk inside and gather around a large table. There was a large map laid out on it with many dark green and blood red miniatures and model canons scattered across the surface. Skye’s father, General Ethan Parkin, was also present -- he had to sit in a chair rather than stand like almost everyone else due to him missing a leg and being forced to lean on a crutch, but he sat up very straight with boastful levels of pride. Once he, his generals, and the Prince were all gathered around the table, the King immediately set about discussing McNully’s newest military strategy, which would involve splitting the army in half so as to covertly attack Royaume’s forces from two directions, so as to not only better pinpoint where their canons were currently positioned and avoid them, but also to prevent them from retreating.

It soon became apparent to everyone in the King’s tent, however, that Orion was not in the mood to discuss any of this. He stayed quiet for the majority of the meeting, clasping his hands in front of him, and his eyes remained on the far edge of the map on the table, far away from the battlefield. In his mind, he tried to find his center, even though the sounds of the anxiously whinnying horses outside brought back the memory of the ones that had nearly stampeded him so many years ago, when his part of town was set ablaze.

Find your center. Find balance. Find peace.

Carewyn’s soft, content face as she sang under the willow tree beside the Royaumanian palace moat rippled over his mind, and he felt his heart rate slow.

“Oh willow, willow, willow...shall be my garland...”

Orion tried to stay there on that lake bank in his mind as the King discussed how essential it’d be to prevent any Royaumanians from getting in or out of their camp during their siege -- for, as General Parkin pointed out, if any help arrived, then it would prevent the Florentine Army from wiping out their enemy and ending the War. McNully himself looked rather unsettled by the thought of “wiping out” the enemy and was quick to say he’d only intended for the Royaumanians to be fenced in, like in a game of chess, but the King of Florence clearly didn’t think it was enough.

“This newest batch of drafted soldiers are our last resort. Unless we wish to expand the draft to take all those over the age of 18, regardless of health or status, to take their place, we must bring this War to an end, once and for all. And to do that, our enemy must be decisively crushed.”

He looked up at Orion.

“That is why, son, I’ll need you to take command of the left flank of the army.”

“What?” said Skye and McNully, both taken aback and horrified.

“Your Majesty,” McNully said very quickly and firmly, “I-I fully intended that General Parkin would -- ”

“Believe me, lad, I’d normally be chomping at the bit to do it myself,” said General Parkin with a rather sour expression. “But considering that I can’t even properly stand yet, his Majesty decided it might be a good idea for me to...sit this one out.”

“Prince Cosimo will need to know our army as well as I do,” said the King firmly. “Even when we bring this War to an end, he’ll need to be able to lead them in battle, in order to protect our kingdom. And from what I understand, Cosimo, you’ve been gathering intelligence in Royaume itself for a month now without arousing any suspicion...I believe your flair for stealth would be perfectly suited to the task at hand.”

“I’m afraid I must disagree,” said Orion in a very quiet voice.

The King halted. Orion had looked up at his father out the side of his black eye when he’d first addressed him, and although his expression had been very restrained, his eyes had gone very dark. His hands clasped a bit tighter as he faced the rest of the King’s military officers.

“This meeting is adjourned. Please excuse me.”

He turned on his heel and made as if to leave. The King, however, roughly grabbed his shoulder.

“It most certainly is not,” he said, his green eyes full of both disbelief and urgency. “Cosimo, this is not up for debate -- I require you here, to lead the men.”

Orion didn’t turn around. “...You require my aid, to lead our men in this battle?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” said Orion levelly. “Then should I choose not to cooperate, you will not be able to act on this strategy at all.”

All of the King’s officers looked appalled as Orion left the tent. The King’s eyes grew very wide, flickering with desperation as well as some righteous anger, as he chased after him, stepping in front of Orion to prevent him from leaving.

“Cosimo, this is our chance to end the War once and for all! To bring peace to Florence, to right all of the wrongs the Royaumanians have done...”

“Can one right any wrongs by committing more wrongs of their own?” murmured Orion.

“War is not that black and white, my son,” said the King sharply. The surrounding soldiers were starting to take notice. “Sometimes the ends must justify the means -- it’s something all young kings must learn, and I would prefer you learn it before I’m gone, rather than after making a big mistake.”

Skye and McNully had rushed out to join Orion.

“All people make mistakes,” Orion said softly. He tried to leave for a third time, but the King refused to let him pass.

“But you are the Crown Prince of Florence!” said the King. He was clearly getting frustrated now. “Therefore your mistakes are much more consequential -- when you make mistakes, the people you cherish, that you want most desperately to protect, pay the price!”

His father’s rising volume wasn’t helping Orion’s mood. His anxiety had already been spiking in the tent, but it was only getting harder for him to focus on his breathing with the King continuing to press the issue and the unpleasant, sickening smells and sounds of the battlefield surrounding him.

“Think of your friends, Cosimo,” said the King in a strained voice, “your home, your subjects...”

His friends... Skye’s and McNully’s faces rippled over Orion’s mind, before being joined by KC’s, Badeea’s, the Weasleys’, and Andre’s at the Festival...Carewyn’s...Carewyn rushing up to him at the palace gate -- sighing tiredly and handing him her uncomfortable white heels -- dancing in spirals around him, her red lips turned up in a smile and her ginger hair flying free --

Another battalion was coming through, with stretchers and horses loaded up with wounded soldiers -- the smell of death was suffocating --

“Think of your mother, Cosimo,” said the King. “Could you bear it if any other little boys lost their mothers, the way you did?”

“Don’t talk about -- !” gasped Skye, looking righteously furious, but McNully quickly grabbed her arm to urge her to be quiet. 

Skye’s objection wouldn’t have helped, though. The mention of Orion’s mother, combined with the smell of fire and the sound of horses, brought the images flooding back -- his mother’s light-less eyes -- his own gasping for breath --

Orion closed his eyes, trying to find his center, even as his clasped hands started to sweat.

Return to Carewyn -- return to the lake shore, to her voice --

Carewyn’s brother was on the battlefield, fighting for Royaume -- if Orion charged into battle, could he not end up bringing about her brother’s death? Could he bear seeing Carewyn’s heart broken, upon learning that the only family she had who truly understood and loved her was dead? Could he bear the thought of all that blood being on his hands...the blood of his soldiers and Andre’s -- the blood of Carewyn’s brother -- ?

“This is your responsibility, Cosimo,” said the King, as he seized Orion’s shoulder and squeezed it. “You must lead our men into battle -- ”

SMACK.

To everyone’s complete and utter shock, Orion had actually ripped out of the King’s grip, backhanding his hand away with force.

The King flinched back, looking stricken. Orion stared at his father, his black eyes very wide and devoid of both consciousness and its usual composure. There was no rage or violence in his posture, but his face was very white and his hand -- still hovering in mid-air -- was trembling slightly.

“Forgive me,” he said at once, his voice very soft and unusually fragile. “Just...please, don’t touch me.”

He strode past his father, right over to the coach he’d arrived in. Instead of climbing inside, however, he immediately yanked one of the black horses free from its restraints and climbed up onto its back.

“Cosimo!” the King cried, but it was no use. Orion had already sharply flicked the reins and rode off into the distance with speed.

Orion didn’t stop riding until he’d once again reached the palace gate of Royaume. He ended up tossing off his well-tailored olive green doublet on the way, so as to leave his more peasant-like white undershirt behind. His hair also came loose of its ponytail in transit and Orion didn’t care in the least to try to restrain it again. His heart was pounding so fast and his blood was so spiked that all he could focus on was finding peace -- and in that moment, peace was a person. He just needed to hear Carewyn’s voice...needed to see her face...

Orion tied his horse up not far from the palace and hopped the castle wall. He knew Carewyn wouldn’t be expecting him -- before the Winter Festival, they’d said they’d meet up on the 9th, which was coincidentally after Florence’s Christmas Witch festivities. Even so, and even though Orion knew Carewyn would worry about him getting in trouble, he couldn’t think of the risk to himself. His heart was just too clenched with anxiety for him to place his focus on anything other than reaching her -- even though once he reached the castle, the tension that squeezed every nerve in his body in a vice grip only increased with the knowledge that he had no way to figure out where in the castle she’d be or how to get her attention. As fate would have it, however, as Orion paced through the gardens, clasping his own sweating hands, a familiar tune rippled over the air.

“The sweetest sounds I’ll ever hear are still inside my head...

The kindest words I’ll ever know are waiting to be said...”

The song itself was one even Orion knew -- it was a rather well-known love song in both Florence and Royaume, and one of his mother’s favorite songs when she was alive. But more importantly, the voice singing it was the wonderfully emotional, deep-as-the-sea tone he’d so needed to hear. Orion’s heart gave something like a spasm of relief as he swept around the perimeter of the palace, staying low behind the hedges, until he spotted an open window in a nearby tower where the voice was coming from. When Orion reached the tower in question, he couldn’t stop himself from collapsing against the wall back-first, closing his eyes, so he could just focus on her voice and let it wash over him.

He was suddenly so short on time. The King was so desperate to end the War that he was now open to slaughtering the enemy, if it served that goal. And as confident as the King was that the plan McNully had suggested would put an end to the Royaumanian army for good, Orion himself doubted it would or even could. The cycle of vengeance could only continue ad infinitum until either everything was destroyed or one royal decided to be the better person and stop the fighting. But how could Orion hope to pursue the diplomacy he’d wanted, once the King had done something so ruthless? How could he hope to appeal to Prince Henri or his parents, after such a severe, fresh wound? And Carewyn...how could he face her again, if her beloved brother died because of his own father’s orders?

He needed time. He needed peace. He needed...

“...is waiting somewhere...somewhere for me...”

Breathe. Find your center. Inhale. Exhale.

Orion barely knew what made him do it, but he knew he had to get Carewyn’s attention somehow. So he squeezed his hands, opened his mouth, took a deep breath, and started to sing the words in return.

“The sweetest sounds I’ll ever hear are still inside my head...”

Carewyn had been cleaning one of the guest suites when she suddenly heard her own song echoed back to her from outside the window. She straightened up abruptly.

Who...who is...?

The voice was male and oddly wispy -- the singer was certainly not trained or very comfortable singing, but he still sounded so earnest...almost desperate.

“The kindest words I’ll ever know are waiting to be said...

The most entrancing sight of all is yet for me to see,

And the dearest love in all the world is waiting somewhere for me --

Is waiting somewhere...somewhere for me...”

Carewyn leaned her broom up against the wall and looked out the window. When she looked down, she caught sight of a familiar mane of dark hair and slightly-too-clean white shirt.

“Orion?”

She recoiled from the window at once, her hands flying to her messy ginger ponytail as she looked over her burnt orange and beige servant’s dress. She was in no state for him to see her like this --

She looked into the mirror hanging up on the closest wall and swallowed.

Carewyn knew she was being foolish -- Orion was going to find out sooner or later that she was nothing but a servant...but...

She’d liked being a lady, for him. She’d liked being someone he could respect. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust him with the truth of who she was, really, it was more...her being ashamed of herself. She hadn’t had a choice of whether or not Andre or KC or even the Weasleys knew that she was the child of Charles Cromwell’s disowned youngest daughter and a dead-beat merchant with no dowry or prospects. But Orion hadn’t known her. She’d been able to be who she wished she could be, if just for a moment, when they first met...and in every moment after, she found herself that bit more reluctant to put that mask away.

Carewyn wanted to be a brave, noble, graceful, sophisticated lady for Orion. She wanted to be someone he could admire, instead of the insignificant, pathetic, lying fake who’d sold her and her brother’s souls and futures away forever, just to try to save his life. A girl who, truthfully, was no better than her terrible family -- who had brought every bit of unhappiness she’d ever experienced on herself...

Orion started the song again down below, in an attempt to get Carewyn’s attention -- Carewyn, up above, quickly fashioned her hair into a pretty braid in front of the mirror and sang under him as an echo, as if wanting to reassure him that she could hear him.

“The sweetest sounds (the sweetest sounds)

I’ll ever hear (I’ll ever hear)

Are still inside my head --

The kindest words (the kindest words)

I’ll ever know (I’ll ever know)

Are waiting to be said --

The most (the most) entrancing (entrancing) sight of all (sight of all)

Is yet for me to see,

And the dearest love in all the world...

Is waiting somewhere for me... (Waiting somewhere...)

Is waiting somewhere...

Somewhere for...me...”

Once she was finished with her braid, Carewyn quickly dusted herself off and dashed over to the window.

“Orion!” she whispered only as loudly as she dared.

Orion opened his eyes, turning around and looking up at Carewyn with a very soft smile adorning his lips.

“Beautiful as ever, my lady,” he complimented her, inclining his shoulders in a short bow. His hands were still clasped in front of him. “Like the sweet Nightingale that sang for the Emperor.”

Carewyn took several quick glances around, visibly worried. “Orion, what are you doing here?”

Orion raised his eyebrows. “Standing, at present. Though I was singing just a moment ago -- or at least trying to. My voice cannot compete with yours, I’m afraid.”

Carewyn couldn’t completely keep the smile off her face, even despite the concern she felt. Her smile, however small, was like a warm, soothing hand on Orion’s heart.

“You’re lucky that no one else heard you!” Carewyn hissed down with as much reproach as she could manage.

Orion smiled wryly. “Most assuredly. I’m certain that Madam Ali and the Weasley brothers would hardly enjoy my ‘accompaniment’ as well as they do yours.”

The sweat on his hands had gone cold, making Orion actually shiver a bit as he found his body temperature and heart rate finally starting to calm. His smile flickered slightly on his face, creating a much more pensive and murky expression.

“...Will you take a ride with me, Carewyn?” said Orion, very abruptly. 

Carewyn blinked. “What?”

Orion squeezed his own hands together, but tried to keep his voice level and his shoulders straight.

“I realize we’ve made no plans today, and that you are enamored of the work you do at court...but you so enjoy riding your horse, and we’ve not yet taken a ride together, out into the country. There are such beautiful valleys east of here -- perfect for stargazing, I should think, once the sun sets.”

Carewyn’s eyes drifted away, back into the guest suite she was cleaning. The windows weren’t washed yet, and she still had to bring the dirty sheets down to the laundry so she could have them clean in time for tomorrow morning...

Sensing Carewyn’s discomfort, Orion said in an oddly insistent voice, “I’ll wait for you, should you say yes. Whatever you must do, I’ll wait until you are finished.”

Carewyn’s gaze snapped back down to Orion in surprise.

She’d never heard him sound like that before. As mysterious and unreadable as his face was, she could still sense that something was off. Perhaps it was how his black eyes searched her face -- or perhaps it was the tenseness in his clasped hands.

Carewyn knew she was in no state to go riding with Orion in her dusty servant’s uniform, especially when she still had work to do...but truly, she didn’t have to wash the windows today, after having already done them yesterday...and she could always fetch the sheets early the next morning before coming up to the guest suite to change them out.

If something is wrong, I can’t leave Orion to deal with it alone, she thought to herself.

Even if she was only a fake and a liar, Carewyn wanted to be there for him. He deserved to have someone there for him...even if it was just her.

And so with a swallow, she looked back down at Orion with a very solemn, but gentle look.

“...I’ll need to change into something warmer and fetch my horse...but I’ll be down in thirty minutes. Can you meet me outside the gate?”

Orion’s heart flooded with relief that he couldn’t completely keep off of his face.

“I’ll be waiting, my lady.”

[lassieposting]

skulduggery and his wife, for how you'd have them get together?

I’m bored, so. Send me two (or more) characters for a headcanon on how I’d have them get together

AALDKFHSLDKFHSDLKFHSDLKFH WHEN AM I NOT HAVING FEELINGS ABOUT SKUGWIFE

So ive gone into how they meet here, and we left them with skug called back to the front at short notice

He's gone for several months, but he writes to her and she writes back. She keeps his letters under her pillow, tied with a ribbon, and sometimes she cries when she can tell he's not doing well, when he tells her one of his friends has been killed and the ink is smudged where he was crying, or when she can tell his hand was shaking holding the quill. He ends his letters with "thinking, as always, of you, your skulduggery" and she writes back about her mundane life at home, about the patients she's been treating, and which of her friends is being courted and which has just agreed to an advantageous arranged match with a man she's never met. She tries to take his mind off the war, to tell him things that will make him smile, even if he's squatting in a ditch somewhere with his squad, soaked through and starving and scared. She tells him she hopes he's getting enough food, enough rest, that he's not hurt. He keeps most of her letters in camp with his gear, but the latest one gets slipped into a pocket in his sleeve to carry around with him.

And then he comes home. He spends a couple days recuperating with Ghastly's folks, and then rides into town to see Kenspeckle. He wants his blessing to propose, because wifey would appreciate that sort of thing.

This does not go well.

Before he was called back to the front, he courted wifey for a bit, and she was sensible enough to keep him away from her father. Kenspeckle hates the war and the violence, and skulduggery is a soldier, and they're both stubborn, bull-headed men. She knew they would butt heads.

And they do. Badly. Kenspeckle puts two and two together (a wealthy, titled landowner with a reputation for being a rake sniffing round his daughter on the DL + turning up unexpectedly to discuss a situation involving her) and makes five (he assumes skug has gotten wifey pregnant, and is there to offer to pay for their silence) and points the business end of a shotgun at skug's face.

Long story short? No, you cannot marry his daughter. Get out. Shoo.

Halfway back from market, Wifey crosses paths with skug on his way back to ghastly's family's farm. She drops her basket and runs to him, decorum be damned, and hugs him like she never wants to let him go, and skug kind of clings to her a bit bc he hasn't been held for a long time and she keeps telling him "i missed you, i missed you so much, i thought about you every day" and skug takes one look at her face and he's never seen anyone that happy to see him and he just blurts out "marry me?"

Wifey has to have a long and difficult conversation with her father to set straight that no, she is not pregnant, and no, skug isn't what kenspeckle wanted for her but yes, he makes her happy and treats her well and she loves him. Wifey's mother was kenspeckle's soulmate, and she died when wifey was small, so he makes sure she knows what she's signing up for: skulduggery is a soldier, every time he goes away to fight there's a strong possibility he'll just never come home, he doesn't want that heartbreak for her, doesn't want to see her go through the same loss he did. They might only get a few years together. They might get less. And she'd have to carry on without him. Its the most open and honest he's ever been with her about how hard her mother's death was on him.

By morning, he's agreed to let her bring skulduggery to dinner, and to be civil. it's awkward as fuck and wifey mostly carries the conversation, but they're both coolly polite and, against his better instincts, kenspeckle agrees to give them his blessing because he wants his daughter to be happy and she's clearly smitten with skug.

(This becomes the status quo during their marriage. Kenspeckle and skug can't stand each other from the get go. But they're polite for wifey's sake, and for a few years towards the end of their lives, kenspecks even starts to thaw out some, because wifey is happy and loved and he adores the skugbab)

skug introduces wifey to ghastly's family since he's not speaking to his own, and ghastly's mom steps in to handle taking her to the seamstress to get a pretty new dress and some ~special~ nightdresses made (and give poor wifey The Talk when she innocently asks what the point of buying elaborate nightgowns is when the ones she has are perfectly serviceable. Oh honey. They're not fancy for you.)

The wedding is small but lively. Wifey bullies Kenspeckle into his Sunday best. Skulduggery's big brother puts in a short-notice appearance because Corrival pulled some strings to get him leave to come home for the wedding. Skug is solidly no contact with the rest of his family by this point so none of them get an invite, but between Ghastly's parents and Corrival he gets enough parental embarrassment to go last him a lifetime regardless.

Corrival gives a toast that absolutely demolishes skug and has wifey wheezing until she can't breathe. They cut the cake with skug's parade sword and walk out under the sword arch and Hopeless wrangles their unit into doing a military salute with their muskets.

And they both assume they've got the next thousand years to spend together and produce a whole brood of skuglets.

As we know, that's not what happens.