#his full story doesn't come until much later though

[supermarine-silvally]

Questions 1 through 15 from the relationship asks for Yara and Ace, maybe? 💚

Aaaahhh tysm Dolly!! This genuinely made me feel so much better to type out!

1)How did they meet and what were their first impressions of each other?

They technically met on the Whitebeard Pirates— Yara had joined Whitebeard’s crew about two-and-a-half years or so before Ace did and had worked her way up from apprentice to full crewmember by the time that Ace and the Spade Pirates got into their initial clash with Whitebeard. Speaking of which… It’s so funny to look back on it but Yara HATED Ace at first because of his repeated attempts to kill Whitebeard, her captain/surrogate father. A lot of the Whitebeard Pirates weren’t bothered by Ace, knowing that he wasn’t nearly strong enough to hurt Whitebeard, but Yara was. She treated him as if he had the plague and wouldn’t go near him or talk to him. That started to change once Thatch roped her in to helping train Ace’s observation haki and she started to spend a little more time with him, at the same time that he was starting to come out of his initial angry, angsty phase following his initial defeat at Whitebeard’s hands and his battles with Whitebeard transformed from assassination attempts into genuine combat based on mutual respect. Ace on the other hand never had any ill will towards Yara at any point, even when he was shunning the rest of the Whitebeard Pirates’ attempts to reach him. He just thought she was super pretty and cool tbh… also she just gave off Sad Lonely Vibes that reminded him a lot of himself when he was younger, before he had Luffy to take care of.

2) What kind of dynamic do they have with each other?

They have the most black cat/golden retriever energy lmao Ace can be goofy and fun-loving and super affectionate, whereas Yara tends to be a lot more reserved (she’s basically Mihawk Jr, let’s be real lol) but she loves the attention he gives her and she does give him a lot of love in return, in her own way. Mostly through reassurances when he starts to struggle with his self-worth. (I don’t wanna give too much away about Ace’s past but so much of it is genuinely heartbreaking, my poor boy)

3) What do others think of them?

The other Whitebeard Pirates were relieved when they FINALLY figured it out and got together. Marco and Thatch were pretty relentless with the teasing. Whitebeard was happy that two of his “children” managed to find love in spite of everything that had gone wrong in their lives. Luffy adored Yara the moment she offered him a snack (package of dried meat) that she happened to have in her bag and immediately accepted her as his sister (in law)— though he would’ve done so anyways, meat or no meat, as long as Ace is happy.

4) Do they have the same love language as each other?

They don’t, but they know each others’ love languages really well, so it doesn’t ever become an issue. (I think I had it as: Ace— giving: gift-giving, receiving: words of affirmation; Yara— giving: acts of service, receiving: physical touch).

5) Is their joint future bright or bleak?

Well, I can’t say too much without dropping some MAJOR One Piece spoilers, but I like writing them with a bright future where they end up very happy together for the rest of their days.

6) How close are they physically?

Ace is very physically affectionate, which Yara really loves since she’s very touch-starved. He initiates the vast majority of it, but she absolutely soaks it up when he does. She loves playing with his hair and tracing the freckles on his cheeks (she has a major thing for Ace’s freckles. He’s just too adorable).

7) Do they have a desire to protect each other?

Oh, yeah. The New World (the second half of the Grand Line, where the Four Emperors live) is full of danger and they’re constantly getting into tough battles and having to watch the other’s back. Ace is probably more protective than Yara is because of his Big Brother Instincts, but he knows that stepping on Yara’s toes in battle would not bode well for him afterwards.

8) Do they prefer being alone, together, or with others?

Their favourite thing is being alone together! Ace is the life of the party so he’s always happy to be around whoever and Yara prefers being by herself most of the time, so they kind of meet in the middle there lol

9) Do they laugh at each other?

Good-naturedly, yes. Ace does silly things constantly. Yara tries not to laugh, but she can’t help it. He’s just such a goofball and a sweetheart. Even if she’s laughing at him rather than with him, he considers it a major win just to hear her laugh. He thinks it’s the sweetest sound in the world.

10) Who would win in a fight?

Physically? Ahhh I hate to say it, but Ace. He’s ridiculously strong, considering he’s got a Logia-type Devil Fruit and all three forms of haki, including the rare conqueror’s haki. There’s been quite a bit of debate amongst the fandom about just how strong Ace is, but considering he was once asked to join the Seven Warlords at the ripe age of 17 and fought on equal terms with one of them (Jinbe) for five days straight, the general consensus is that he’s pretty OP. Unfortunately for Yara, I’m not sure if she could match that if they ever were to fight seriously.

Verbally? Yara. Every single time. She’s petty and stubborn and won’t hold back from going for the jugular if need be. Ace can also be very stubborn, but when it comes to Yara being angry with him, he folds like a cheap deck of cards lmao

11) Who is a better liar?

Yara. She has a pretty good poker face and if anyone dares accuse her of lying, she turns on the Dracule Death Glare lol

12) Who is a better caregiver?

Yara, because she has a cooler head than Ace does. Whenever she’s hurt/sick, he’ll be zooming around low-key panicking and just wanting her to get better ASAP. If the situation is reversed, Yara is a lot better at calmly assessing just what he needs and delivering it to him efficiently.

13) Who is a better dancer?

Probably Yara, given that she has probably had to pay a lot more attention to stuff like timing and footwork due to her training as a swordswoman.

14) Who is a better cook?

Neither of them really cook but I think Yara would be more responsible in the kitchen. Ace would probably get impatient and try to heat something up with his Devil Fruit powers and end up incinerating it in the process.

15) Who has better fashion sense?

Yara. She’s a Dracule. It runs in the family.

ask game here!

One Piece nakama: @auxiliarydetective @oneirataxia-girl @xoteajays

[midnight-in-town]

My take on Sir Crocodile's past, including the possibility of the CrocoParent theory

(Because I can't help thinking about it, in the midst of Kuma and Bonney's heart-wrenching flashback...)

Crocodile is one of the few Warlords we still hardly know anything about, but we're bound to know about his past at some point (same for Mihawk with whom he's currently working, as well as Moria who stole like half (?) of the Rocks Pirates' corpses), starting with the panel that launched all the theories, back in Impel Down :

Thanks to Kuma's flashback, we know Ivankov used to be a slave to the Celestial Dragons up until God's Valley. As for what happened at God's Valley, we don't know the full story yet but what we know is that...

...the Rocks Pirates were defeated and disbanded by the alliance between Garp and Roger. Some (?) of them were cloned by MADS (like Stussy for a still unknown reason) and Roger then became the next biggest threat of piracy.

Their leader's name was Xebec and other people have already explained that it possibly is related to Sebek/Sobek, an ancient Egyptian deity represented either in its form or as a human with a crocodile head. And, as we all know thanks to the Alabasta arc, Sir Crocodile is strongly associated with Sobek/Sebek too.

From there, it's not a stretch to imagine that Sir Crocodile is Rocks D. Xebec's child and was also present on God's Valley, which is how Crocodile and Ivankov possibly first "met". Ivankov witnessed Rocks' defeat as well as his child's survival...

...probably thanks to Whitebeard. Because, considering how the government tracked Ace and Luffy because of their dads, it's clear that any child of Xebec would be hunted by the government just as much and, like he did for Ace, Whitebeard probably saved and offered shelter to Xebec's kid for a while.

Whitebeard saving Croc as a child on God's Valley could be the reason why Croc seemingly hated Whitebeard so much : Whitebeard saving him instead of avenging Rocks, his captain, on God's Valley and then later probably defeated Crocodile, when Croc decided to become a pirate and went after the One Piece, could explain the animosity that we saw during Marineford.

Anyway, because of God's Valley, this could be the secret Iva knows about Croc: he's the surviving child of Rocks D. Xebec, thanks to Whitebeard.

Whitebeard choosing to save him rather than his Captain and then later defeating him could also explain why Croc has strong issues when it comes to trusting others :

Another hint that Croc is related to Rocks is Blackbeard. A popular theory/understanding in the fandom is that, while Luffy inherited Roger's Will, Blackbeard inherited Rocks' (leading to the idea that Rocks vs Garp & Roger will be paralleled with Blackbeard vs Luffy & Koby). This is especially interesting, considering that Blackbeard replaced Croc as a Warlord after he was defeated and sent to Impel Down, which is when they met :

Crocodile also has a lot of "mannerisms" hinting he's a D. He's strongly interested in the Void Century, poneglyphs and the ancient weapons.

Additionally, upon learning during Marineford about Ace's and Luffy's being hunted by the Government because of their fathers, he intervened to protect them...

These acts, outside of the CrocoParent theory (see below), can be explained by Croc's own experience of being hunted because of who his father was, but also by what Ivankov said to Law, who's also a D :

To conclude, I'm a strong advocate that Sir Crocodile is actually Rocks D. Crocodile and he obviously couldn't keep his father's name, in order to avoid being hunted during his entire life by the Government.

But what about the CrocoParent theory?

Well, as much as I'm an immense and dedicated fan of this theory (full explanation here), a part of me doesn't trust Oda to be brave enough to go down that road, even if I'm also eagerly waiting for him to. :D

Whether Croc was afab or amab though, the theory that he's Rocks' kid still applies. The only difference is that, if Croc was afab, then on top of knowing about who his father was, Iva also helped Croc with transitioning, thanks to their devil fruit.

Of course, it's probably through meeting Iva that Croc then came to meet some members of the Revolutionary Army, like Dragon. He gave birth to Luffy, transitioned afterwards with Iva's help and his actions at Marineford (protecting both Ace and Luffy) are not only because he used to be hunted as Rocks' kid, but also because he just learnt that Luffy is Dragon's son and thus his own child. :))

After all, to quote Dragon in the latest chapter of Kuma's flashback...

... "a child is their parents' weak spot" seems to ring to the same bell as Croc's "if you want to protect something, do it right" (like giving up on raising Luffy and leaving him in a remote village of East Blue, to avoid him being hunted by the World Government).

Anyway, long post, sorry about it! I hope we'll know soon about Croc's past. Let me know if I missed some hints ! :D

[cordeliawhohung]

Since you still have to go to a family dinner tonight: what would a family dinner with Simon or Price look like? Do you think they‘d be more talkative around your relatives, or just listen and/or suffer through it in silence? Do they leave room for dessert? And are you staying until the end or leaving as soon as it’s socially acceptable to catch up on much needed sleep? ❤️🌙 - A

Ah yes, family dinners a;skldfj they're fun but gosh can they be exhausting! luckily everyone only stayed around for about two hours, and as much as i'd love to catch up on sleep, i have terrible insomnia, so enjoy these little drabble/headcanons of our boys instead <3

But ah, Price, my love, I have yet to give him the attention he deserves!!!

Family Dinner with Price and Simon

I feel like Price is the perfect gentleman, and would be great to take home to your parents!! Your mother would be instantly smitten with him with that charm he holds and the sweet tone to his voice. Careful, she might try and steal him from you! He gets along fine with your father, though there is this awkward tension between the two of them. Just fatherly instincts of course, but Price is good with the small talk that comes with these type of events.

I can just imagine sitting at the table, Price next to you trying to choke down the bitter taste of wine (because your mother told your dad he needed to lay off the beer) and he smiles as everyone converses. He eats the lavish meal your mum spent hours preparing, and even though he definitely did not save room for dessert, he can't say no to the brownies she baked!

I also imagine that this man is trying to hold your hand at least half the time. Underneath the table, he reaches for your hand and pulls it to rest on the edge of his thigh just so he can rub his thumb over your knuckles. He does it because he loves your touch, but maybe also to calm his nerves. (any man who isn't afraid of his partner's parents is a stupid one.)

By the end of the night your mother is chatting him up, asking what he does for work, how much time he has off, and if he'll be free for another dinner sometime in the future. It's not until the second dinner that Price fully wins your dad over by bringing a small case of beer with him as a gift (but really, he brought it for himself because there's no way in hell he's choking down that wine again).

Simon? Well, he's certainly a gentleman, but your mother does not like him in the least. What's with his mask? Sure he took it off at the table, but he looks like a criminal! (i feel like he would remove his mask for a dinner with parents because there's no way this man would just sit at the table and brood lmao). And what's with that tattoo peeking out beneath his sleeve? He's more of a brute than a boyfriend )))):

Your father, on the other hand, laughs at least twenty times that night due to Simon's dry, and flat humor. It's the type of jokes that gruff old men enjoy and the puns dads harass their children with. Your mother doesn't start warming up to Simon until later in the night. He's been quiet and reserved the whole night, not really speaking much about himself, and really, you've done all the talking for him. Eventually, something sort of clicks in Simon, and he goes off on this ramble about you of all things. A funny story of a mishap back at the flat, or maybe some milestone in your life that you had forgotten to tell your parents. Seeing you through his eyes makes her soften up a bit.

Like Price, Simon stuffs himself full, as he's never been one to turn down a home cooked meal (especially because, let's face it, i doubt the man is all that great at cooking) but he has to politely decline your mothers delicious pie because of it ):

By the end of the night, Simon sneaks off to the kitchen at some point to do the dishes. You find him there, sleeves rolled up, that terrible tattoo (according to your mother) on display and shiny with soap and water, and you chuckle and tell him he doesn't need to clean up. He retorts by saying it's the only proper way to thank someone for a meal. (i'm dying on this hill that acts of service is his love language) Your mother walks in on the two of you, Simon covered in more water and soap than should be humanly possible (no thanks to you) and when she sees the smile on your face and the giggles rumbling through your throat, well, she's sending the two of you home with the left over pie and the request that you two return sometime soon. (:

[bonny-kookoo]

Jungkook x Reader/ Yoongi x Jimin

𝓢𝔀𝓮𝓮𝓽 𝓣𝓸𝓸𝓽𝓱 [Teaser]

Yoongi and Jimin are each proud owners of hybrids, and these days, slowly falling in love with one another. And everything could be so perfect- if it wasn't for you absolutely resenting Jungkook- for no reason?

Tags/Warnings: Human!Yoongi, Human!Jimin, Rottweiler hybrid!Jungkook, Cat hybrid!Reader, Enemies to friends to lovers, mentions of past traume, some Yoonmin here and there oops, Main story focus are MC and Kook though

Length: ~850 words

Read Here!

♥━━━━━━━━━━•.♡.•━━━━━━━━━━━━♥

"But she hates me!" Jungkook complaints, as he stands in the cabin Yoongi is currently unloading the groceries in. "There's no way she'll sleep in the same room as me." He huffs, and Yoongi sighs.

"Well, she has to learn. I already talked to Jimin about it-" He says, putting everything into a box that doesn't have to be stored in the fridge. "-and he agrees that he's spoiled her quite a bit until now. She needs to learn to be a bit more independent." He explains calmly, though he's internally very well aware of your distaste for his dog hybrid. He knows exactly why- but he also respects Jimin's decision to not tell Jungkook anything about your past trauma, claiming that that's something you need to tell, no one else.

And Yoongi agrees with that- but he also feels for Jungkook, who's been really trying to make you warm up to him. He already struggles to find friends due to his intimidating hybrid side and sometimes rather chaotic personality. Seeing you so defensive against him does clearly hurt, no matter ho much Jungkook tries to play it off.

But for once, Yoongi also wants to be a little selfish. He wants to spend time with Jimin, alone time away from you both, just to properly figure out where he truly wants this to go from here on out. It's why he's organized this trip in the first place. To find out if this could truly work out.

And he fears, deep down, that it won't. Because if you and Jungkook don't get along, there's no way Yoongi can ever be happy with Jimin.

A few hours away from the Cabin Yoongi and Jungkook are already setting up, you're pouting next to Jimin in the car, slumped down and with your arms crossed. "Making that face won't make me turn around, princess." Jimin says, voice light- but inside, he's torn. This is going to be tough for you, considering that you're gonna have to stay with Jungkook during the night- and the poor dog hybrid has no idea that you don't actually hate him. You don't hate at all, in fact.

Your defense mechanism when confronted with something you fear however, is to lash out. And that is most of the time taken out of context, making you appear rude and arrogant, when in reality you're just trying not to seem weak or vulnerable.

Because in the past, that would immediately make you the perfect target. Pushed aside and scolded for everything that wasn't ever your fault in your first home, used as a punching bag for other hybrids in the shelter later on, you had to somehow make up a tough façade so you wouldn't end up in those positions ever again. You learned to keep yourself safe by being the one who bites first- and it took Jimin years to truly gain your full trust.

He fears that that's all you can do though. That he's going to forever stay the only person of comfort for you.

And that's an issue. While he himself had been a bit defensive about his treatment of you with Yoongi, he knows that the older man is right. Jimin has been wrapping you in layers of bubble wrap, has spoiled you and nursed your bad habits into what they are today simply because he always saw the scared, shaking hybrid back at the shelter.

But that's not you anymore. You technically have no reason to be scared of anything anymore- but Jimin understands now, after talking numerous times about it with Yoongi, that he's partially at fault for your lack of social skills.

Jungkook had come from a good household- had been raised well, so Yoongi had never really experienced anything like Jimin did with you, but nonetheless, his advice still counts, and is still valid.

You need to learn at some point. You have to realize that there's nothing to fear anymore- and that Jungkook isn't an enemy ready to eat you alive in your sleep.

"Come on, stop pouting now, hm?" He tries, running a hand over your head once at a red light. You just look out the window. "Is Jungkookie that scary?" He asks, and you shake your head.

"He's dumb." You deny, putting your legs up and onto the seat.

"Hey.!" He scolds gently. "Jungkook isn't dumb. He's trying hard, okay? You could be at least civil with him, sugar." He tells you, and you sigh at that, leaning against the door.

"I don't want to." You say defensively, tail angrily flopping around. "You just say that because you wanna be with Yoongi." You huff.

"Partially, I admit that." Jimin nods. "But I also agree with him that you need to be nicer. Jungkookie is really trying to be friends with you, you know?" He sighs.

"I don't care.." You mumble to yourself, angrily looking out the window. You know that Jungkook isn't a threat- but he's still scary to you. He's tall, and a lot of muscle, and he's loud, and energetic, and just.. scary. Intimidating. Potentially dangerous. And that potential alone is enough to make you feel threatened.

Jungkook and Yoongi are currently ruining your perfect life you had with Jimin. So you've got enough reason to be absolutely pissed.

[lu-is-not-ok]

Everything you need to know from Leviathan

First things first: this is Not a story summary of Leviathan. This is merely a collection of all the pieces of characterization, backstory, and worldbuilding that I believe is or will be relevant in Limbus Company.

I encourage everyone who has finished Library of Ruina (or doesn't care about spoilers to that game) to read Leviathan yourselves, as I will be skipping over most of the actual plot of the novel.

Also, due to the nature of Leviathan as the direct sequel to Library of Ruina, some endgame spoilers to that game will inevitably come up. That being said, I will try my best to keep those spoilers as minimal and vague as possible.

Preamble: Done. Let's get into this. Something something long post warning ahead. It's also kind of chaotic and borderline incomprehensible. If I missed something then, uh, whoops.

Event Timeline:

The end of Library of Ruina directly causes an event dubbed "the first miracle" by some, and "the second passing of White Nights" by others, during which the people killed in the Library would begin returning to the City as if nothing happened.

An orphanage in the Backstreets of District 22 (V Corp's) was at the epicenter of this event, being destroyed in the process and causing the Ring to take interest in the children raised there.

The events of Leviathan follow half a year after this event, and seem to take place over the course of at least a few days. It's as of yet unclear how much time has passed between the end of Leviathan and the beginning of Limbus Company.

Vergilius:

Vergilius comes from District 22 (V Corp's), a Nest filled with wide water canals and boats that make use of them, making it somewhat reminiscent of Venice.

Vergilius used to be the operator of a highly-experienced and skilled Fixer Office. The lowest Grade Fixer at that Office is Grade 3 until a rookie joins them during the events of Leviathan. This Office seems to be dissolved by the end of Leviathan after half of the Fixers working for it die.

Vergilius's title, the Red Gaze, is a stealth pun in Korean. The word used for Gaze is a homophone to the characters used in an epiphet meaning Immortal Poet.

The red eyes Vergilius is named after appear to have a certain kind of aura to them, which causes him to draw attention to himself and be easily recognised. For missions where stealth is involved, Vergilius has a special pair of glasses to make his gaze less recognisable.

Also, Vergilius owns whole-ass calling cards with his Fixer title and a portrait in a Roman-inspired style.

As a Color Fixer, Vergilius is extremely strong and fast, being able to crack the ground underneath his feet when running at full sprint and literally cut through buildings. In fact, Vergilius's body is heavily augmented with artificially woven muscle fibers, which Vergilius compares to hydraullic cylinders and motors in how it feels to use them, though they're not literally mechanical. Despite that level of power, he's noticeably less experienced or skilled than another Color Fixer seen in Leviathan - Iori, the Purple Tear.

Speaking of her, Vergilius appears to know quite a bit about her, including her name, what happened to her in Library of Ruina, and what one of her goals is. She's also implied to have taught Vergilius a technique called Shin that gets introduced later in Leviathan. Also, Iori calls him a junior, implying a difference in either age or experience between the two. Oh, and he also knew Roland.

In addition to knowing those people, Vergilius appears to have also known Carmen before she died. He recognises the nickname Carmen uses for him within the Light as the one she used for him back when they knew each other. Also, back then, Vergilius's weren't as they are now, implying they've known each other before Vergilius was a Color Fixer.

For some time during his work as a Fixer, Vergilius has had the ability to sense "Flow". A fate-like pressure that he sees as trails of shadows and light, pointing him towards a destination he doesn't know. It's a force he notably struggles to resist, only being able to by following dim Flows, rather than the slow but bright Flow. However, doing so merely brings ruin to Vergilius's life, as the dim Flow inevitably guides him back to the slow Flow.

For ten years, Vergilius has been visitting an orphanage in the local Backstreets, donating money and goods and spending time with the children there. He even keeps an old photograph of him with all the orphanage's residents on him.

Before he found the orphanage for the first time however, Vergilius would go on rampages and kill people he believed were contributing to the horrible current state of the City. One of those rampages involved the slaughter of a whole Syndicate, the leader of which was Lapis's father. It's heavily implied that all the children within the orphanage landed there as a direct result of Vergilius's actions.

Vergilius is consistently shown to be stoic and emotionally distant, yet deeply caring underneath his aloof exterior. This is most clearly shown through his relationship with Garnet, the previously mentioned rookie who was raised at the previously mentioned orphanage. Though Vergilius denies Garnet's claims that he raised him, and regularly thinks about how Garnet's sentimentality is going to get him killed, yet he also can't help but feel proud of Garnet in moments where he truly shines, care a lot about Garnet's safety, and feel horrible guilt when he fails to protect him.

Back during his rampaging days, Vergilius is unable to show mercy, with his "attempt" to do so involving giving the last survivor a cut that would let them survive for a few hours, in gratitude for giving him a code to the door. Inversely, current day Vergilius appears to have softened, as his gladius has a heating mechanism that immediately cauterizes the wounds it inflicts. This ensures non-fatal wounds remain not fatal, even if leaving his target alive could cause him issues later on.

Vergilius's motives for taking care of the kids at the orphanage despite being the one who orphaned them are as complex as they are layered. Guilt is clearly a part of that, as Vergilius believes there's no reason for him to see Lapis again when Garnet offers to take him along for his meeting with her. Another part of it might have been Vergilius secretly wishing that one day, one of the kids would realize what he'd done and take their retribution... however it's unclear how "canon" that particular motivation is due to it only being brought up in a vision of a Mirror World. The orphanage was also a reprieve from his former reality filled with wails and begging for mercy. It was a place of warmth, filled with voices of delight waiting for him every time. At the same time, it was a source of hope for him. A place where he could redeem himself, to raise children who could live with the heart he couldn't have, and who could potentially change the City with their virtues alone. All of these motivated Vergilius to cover up and forget about his true goal. One he's been actively burrying during his visits at the orphanage.

That goal? Redacted from the viewer. The first explicitly set up mystery in Leviathan. However, we know that it is directly tied to how Vergilius wishes to change the City.

Vergilius believes that the City is deeply wounded, with its injuries having festered for a long time. He believes that the way to change it is to continue spilling blood, never letting it dry out. To try and pierce through the City's thick shell into its wounded core. When describing the world he wants, he says it's "a world that can only be understood once you feel it with your whole body".

After a talk with Carmen, Vergilius effloresces into his E.G.O, which allows him to wield blood as both a weapon and armor. It also allows him to become one with pools of blood, however he would be unable to leave them if they were to dry while he's inside. However, the usage of his E.G.O is limited by the amount of other people's blood he has available to him. If he were to run out, he'd be forced to use his own, dying painfully in the process.

Also, Vergilius keeps coming up with one-liners when beating people up. It's kinda funny.

At the end of Leviathan, Vergilius is invited into Limbus Company, being promised to give him Lapis (who had been replaced by Charon) and Garnet (who has been reduced to a tiny glowing jewel) back. Thinking back on his past, Vergilius accepts, though the story ends before we get to see the exact terms of his employment.

Charon:

Previously, Charon was known as Lapis, and was one of the kids at the orphanage Vergilius would regularly visit. She was especially close friends with Garnet, who would later become a Fixer and join Vergilius's Office. In fact, Garnet notes how Lapis wouldn't usually open up to anyone but him, and when they did talk she would often talk about Vergilius. She's also noted to not be a fan of studying.

Lapis ended up at the orphanage after Vergilius killed her father during his slaughter of the Syndicate he led. While we don't get to know much about her father, we do know he cared deeply for her, to the point his last words were calling out her name.

In a flashback to her childhood, we learn that Lapis would always suck on bitter candy as she's able to preserve it and suckle on it little by little, whereas sweet things melt away much sooner. She follows this anecdote of hers up by revealing her wish to "try all the flavors in the world" when she grows up.

After aging out of the orphanage, Lapis got a job at a fruit-harvesting company. During the events of Leviathan, Lapis has decided to meet up with Garnet at a private location. However, the area turned out be occupied by Syndicate members, including that of the Ring, and Lapis was kidnapped to be used in the Ring's experiments with Mirror World technology.

At the end of Leviathan, Lapis turned out to be the only of the "gems" to have survived the experiments. However, she did so because she was the only successful one. Her former identity was completely erased, replaced by that of Charon. Initially, Vergilius is hesitant to make contact with her, feeling like keeping his distant will save both of them from pain. However, he relents when Charon finds a still living piece of the jewel Garnet had turned into.

Gubo:

Gubo is one of the researchers at N Corp, and during the events of Leviathan he comes to an auction held by the Ring for the sole purpose of gaining access to their Corridor and retrieving Aseah.

His connections to a Wing allow him to casually bid 10 billion Ahn like it's nothing. Gubo is also notably frustrated when the auctioneer appears to be breaking their own rules, trying to convince them that doing so would put their gallery in ill repute.

To enter the Corridor despite his failure at the auction, Gubo is willing to sacrifice the lives of the people that had accompanied. Notably, Vergilius is able to tell that Gubo did no fighting himself due to his appearance, reckoning he merely hid while others fought in his stead.

Gubo is someone who's willing to keep himself calm and composed regardless of the situation. He's constantly calculating ways to reach his goal, willing to do anything and pay any price to do so. However, that composure is said to reflect insecurity, obsession, and yearning. He is shown to take some ridiculous risks in pursuit of his goals, attempting to attack Vergilius twice despite being clearly outmatched against a fucking Color.

Despite N Corp being at potential odds with the Ring, due to them kidnapping Aseah, Gubo doesn't act hostile towards the Ring's members outside of getting rid of those who were directly standing in his way.

Aseah:

During Leviathan, Aseah is the main researcher working on the Mirror World technology for the Ring. He's specifically working on modifying and tuning an invention made by Young-Ji, the Glass Window.

By that point in time, Aseah had already joined N Corp, however the Ring kidnapped him to use his knowledge for their own gain. Despite such seemingly dire circumstances, Aseah does not seem bothered to be working for the Ring in the slightest.

Aseah is a cold and usually emotionless individual who only cares about his research. In fact, he only ever shows emotions, specifically passion, when realizing he's made a breakthrough or describing how the technology he's researching works. He's easily swayed to risk other people's lives for the sake of pushing his research even further.

One of this main motives for using the Glass Window is to create a Singularity to surpass Yi Sang's creation, as well as any other competing technology of this kind. Despite his self-imposed rivalry with Yi Sang, Aseah still calls him a friend.

At the end of Leviathan, Aseah is successfully retrieved by Gubo . However, a question is posed: for both to get back out of the Corridor, Aseah must be able to know how to navigate it. If that's the case and he could have escaped this whole time, why didn't he? He must have had reasons to not fly away, even though his cage was wide open. Add that to the mystery counter.

Limbus Company:

Limbus Company shows up at the very end of Leviathan, being a new enough Company for Vergilius to have never heard of them before.

A Special Operations Team from a department called LCA raids the Ring's lab, specifically searching for Vergilius. A woman with hair that seems white from far away, but appears graysih close up, approaches him. This is revealed to be Faust, and she's the one who gives Vergilius an offer.

Work for Limbus Company, and we can bring Lapis and Garnet back.

The Ring:

The Ring are a Syndicate that are said to only believe what they see with their own eyes, and are dedicated to the creation and display of various types of art. They also hold auctions for various pieces.

Some of the Ring's art falls within our understanding of it, such as paintings and sculptures. A large amount of it however includes acts of extreme violence or otherwise cruel behavior.

Many of the lower-ranking members of the Ring and Backstreets residents under their protection are considered to be akin to students, being graded on their pieces and taking art exams. While the Ring does allow resits on their exams, flunking too many times will result in death. In such an environment, a lack of inspiration causes people to have mental breakdowns.

As far as we've seen, the Ring hold two different types of art galleries, which I'll refer to as Syndicate-facing and Public-facing respectively.

Syndicate-facing art galleries are structured more like schools, complete with classrooms and suspicious "art" exhibits within the halls. One of those exhibits we see are "statues" of people with animal heads. However, these statues are actually sill living people that are forced to stay completely still under the threat of violence, or "scolding". Oh, and those people also had their mouths and ears sewn shut. This particular exhibition is revealed to be a part of a test that the Ring was holding that night.

Public-facing art galleries look more akin to modern art galleries we'd see in our world, and their lower floors are accessible to pretty much any public person. These floors are filled with more standard types of art, like paintings and sculptures. The top floor of these galleries is considered the VIP floor, where auctions are held and the true disturbing nature of the Ring is shown to the guests there.

During the auctions, every participant has a veil put over their head, and they are to bow in respect when the one holding the auction enters the stage. The art pieces sold on these auctions can be anything from paintings of real slaughters that took place in the City, to objects made out of or containing pieces of actual people, to straight up dancers stuck eternally dancing in glass stages in which time flows slower. Additionally, the person who wins the bid on the "meister's most cherished work" will be allowed into the Ring's Corridor.

At the time of Leviathan's events, the Ring not only has access to the Corridor, but also Mirror World technology in the form of the Glass Window.

A secret research lab was kept hidden within one such Corridor, where the Ring would test Mirror World technology on "gems" - young people who came from the orphanage at the epicenter of the Miracle. These experiments involved these people experiencing many Mirror Worlds at once within their mind, with those people physically shattering if pushed too far.

The Ring's goal with their research of the Mirror Worlds is to open as many Rifts to as many of them as possible, with one of the high-ranking Ring members saying they wish to open ten thousand rifts at minimum.

This plan appears to be thwarted by the end of Leviathan. It's vaguely implied that N Corp and/or Limbus Company seized the tech in the Ring's possession, leaving it unclear if the Ring still has access to it currently.

Over the course of Leviathan, we learn of two different high positions within the Ring: Docents and Maestros. Each can be identified by the kind of ring they wear on their ring fingers. Also, all of the ones we've seen thus far are gender non-conforming as fuck.

Docents are responsible for taking care of and monitoring the art galleries. Notably, they are responsible for guiding guests and giving lectures on the lower floors of their public-facing galleries. These lectures appear to involve explaining the ideals of their Maestros. Docents wear two-coiled rings that extends down the top of their hands and coils around their wrists.

Maestros are responsible for holding the auctions and appear to have a high amount of control over the Ring's actions. They wear three-coiled rings. They also notably act a lot more according to what they believe is true art, as opposed to the Docents who can still be swayed by money and social standard. As an example, Maestro Jumsoon decides to give his most prized artpiece not to the person bidding billions of Ahn, but to the person who convinces him they can complete the piece due to being personally involved in what it represents.

N Corp:

The physical location of the Ring's secret lab appears to be within N Corp's District. However, due to its entry point being connected to the Corridor, it's unable to be accessed from outside the Corridor.

One of N Corp's main source of income and culture are so-called suicide vending machines, or vending machines that dispense canned experiences that specifically allow a person to experience suicide. This bit of technology is considered both amazing and condemnable, and is said to be one of the main reasons people move to N Corp's Nest.

N Corp Taboos are upheld vehemently. Recorded footage of that secret lab, even without knowing it's located in N Corp, would result in Taboo Hunters being sent out over the breaking of the Nest filming taboo. They are highly efficient, going after everyone who had seen the recording before finally retrieving the footage.

M Corp:

M Corp's full name is MDM Enterprise. In Leviathan, we see M Corp do business with the Ring through delivering their product to them - an entire moonlight stone.

A moonlight stone delivered in a massive box filled with a flesh-like cushion around the stone. Opening the box requires using an unlocking mechanism composed of multiple various levers. Everyone present in the same room as the box during its opening are required to wear ear plugs, while those actually opening it also require airway protection. Upon being pulled open, the stone needs to be cut out of the flesh cushion using a knife.

If sufficient ear protection is not worn during this process, the sound the stone emits while being forced out of its container will cause all that hear it to experience a "wave of hiraeth". This is shown as a sort of dissociative state where the person rambles about the ocean being their home and family, and how they need to return to it.

The moonlight stones themselves appear similar in shape to large pearls. The Ring appears to use them by putting them in translucent containers, where the stone is attached to multiple electrodes and tubes for a yet unclear purpose.

The Light:

After the second passing of White Nights, people would begin transforming into forms similar to cocoons or eggs. This happens when a person becomes aware of how unbearable the world around them is, causing them to retreat from reality.

When seperated from their bodies, people establish their... Redacted. Yet another mystery. However, it's implied to be something along the lines of the ideal world they wish to create, or the dream they wish to make true. If they manage to set this Redacted and endure the process, they can be born anew as a Distortion (or potentially with Effloresced E.G.O). If they can't their bodies are seized by their sins, resulting in the creation of a Peccatulum.

This process is pointed out as being different to the process of Distorting that we're used to seeing, though it's not yet unclear to what extent.

The inside of the Light as utter stillness, shimmering as if somethered in light. When someone is inside the Light, Carmen attempts to guide them towards a specific conclusion, acting kind and trying to absolve them of any guilt over their actions, while showing an utter lack of pity or genuine feeling. She's able to see past the facades people put up, directly looking into what they have been through. She uses that knowledge to direct people towards realizing their true desires and wishes.

Carmen is able to meet and talk with people whose hearts "crack". Who are too overwhelmed with their emotions in the moment. When she discovers a person's true wish has been buried and hidden away, she acts as if the act is so painful that it hurts her by proxy. She uses this opportunity to offer these people the power to create they consider right, one only for their own eyes.

She claims that she's helping everyone paint the City with their own colors, much like the Light, in which all colors perfectly blend together. When it's pointed out to her that doing so would be impossible, due to everyone's colors being different and thus it being impossible for them all to exist together in perfect harmony, Carmen responds by saying everyone should be dedicated to protecting and fighting for the sake of their own world, even if it means fighting the entire world itself.

Carmen describes the process of Distorting or Efflorescing E.G.O as becoming a "self unbound by the eyes and standards of the City", with Carmen attributing the latter to being Ayin's idea. Carmen says that she believes the final destination of everyone's ambitions is Love, specifically unconditional Love towards oneself, as the only person that can truly understand and love them is themself. This is where Carmen and Ayin come into conflict. Ayin believes people should be able fight using clothes and tools, holding the human form in high regard. Carmen, on the other hand, sees that as unnecessary moderation, and argues one should express their love through their body, so that it and their heart can become one.

Effectively, Carmen is trying to guide people to only caring about themselves and their desires, disregarding everything around them. She does so through a "friendly, yet ruthless pressure", by offering the seemingly perfect solution of absolute self-love at the cost of being blind to one's reality. She knows what the "right" choice is, and will be disappointed if one were to choose the other option, but she won't stop anyone from pursuing their desires even if their way is different from what she's envisioned.

...There is a purpose to it all. A goal Carmen has for herself. After all, she's a person too. It's another bit of information that's redacted, setting it up as yet another mystery, but we do have a hint towards what it could be. Somehow, a person who was given power by Carmen failing to fight for their wish appears to contribute towards Carmen's personal purpose.

Speaking of that, Leviathan reveals another, more violent way to defeat a Distortion. By proving the fundamentals of a Distortion's beliefs wrong, by breaking the foundation upon which their wish was built, the Distortion begins to fall apart. With nothing left to its form but vague concepts, an Abnormality is born, tearing out of the Distorted person's body and killing them instantly.

Peccatulae:

The Peccatulae are the result of the process enabled by the second passing of White Nights, in which a person retreats into a cocoon-like form upon finding the world too unbearable and faces an ordeal within. If the person fails the ordeal by not being able to find a wish for which's sake to return to their world, their body is left to be fed on by their sins. This results in their bodies transforming into manifestations of those sins - the Peccatulae. Once this transformation takes place, it cannot be reversed.

Peccatulae are not Distortions, as they are what happens when one lacks the strong desire needed to either Distort or Effloresce E.G.O. They are also not Abnormalities, as unlike them the Peccatulae can be killed.

The Peccatulae visually lack any humanity they may have had before the transformation. At the same time though, the cries they let out are compared to that of humans burdened by life, by the sin of bearing sin.

Those cries are also seemingly able to affect one's mind, causing memories associated with the Peccatulum's Sin Affinity to resurface.

The Glass Window:

The Glass Window is a piece of technology created by Young-Ji, which was co-opted by Aseah and studied by the Ring. This technology is considered to be a Singularity by Wings and Grade 1 Fixers.

The main function of the Glass Window is superimposing Mirror Worlds onto whatever is viewed through it, though in a blurry state. It's noted to be less stable than Yi Sang's Mirror technology, but in exchange it's capable of superimposing a much larger number of Worls at the same time.

The amount of Mirror Worlds and their intensity can be controlled through modifying the Glass Window's Refraction Rate. A higher Refraction Rate allows more overlayed Worlds to stack, at the cost of "yielding more of one's heart to the Glass Window".

Surviving high Refraction Rates without physically shattering involves attaining focus - a process involving perishing one's heart without killing it.

Most weapons cannot damage the Glass Window.

The Corridor:

The Corridor is a piece of technology that the Ring owns during the events of Leviathan. It's a liminal, seemingly-infinite space that can connect to places all over the City. As long as the area they wish to link has an exit, a matching entrance will appear within the Corridor.

Many of the doors within the Corridor are locked using mental locks, to be able to enter them one needs to think specific mental keywords as they attempt to open the door.

Inside the Corridor itself, electronics such as video recorders and ear pieces appear to malfunction.

Despite the Corridor being a mostly linear space, the complex and intricate rules by which its passages connect make it more than possible to get lost within. As such, navigating the Corridor is usually done when accompanied by a guide.

To navigate the Corridor by oneself, one needs to always remember two things - their starting point, and their destination. Knowing those two points will allow one to be able to find their way by feeling which directions to take. This is due to a phenomenon called Reversion of Causality, a phenomenon which some Singularities take advantage of as well.

Breaking through a wall in the Corridor leads to a massive hall made of constantly shifting purposeless surfaces lined within even more purposeless doors. Staying within this outer hall is dangerous, as one would become stuck here if the doors within the Corridor reassembled themselves.

Shin and Mang:

Shin is a technique Vergilius learned from (who's implied to be) the Purple Tear. Shin involves completely relinquishing the control of one's body to one's mind, specifically one's memories and the feelings associated with them. When Shin is used, it causes glowing rings to appear around the weapon (or body part if weaponless) one is using to fight. The glow of these rings is constantly emphasized to be that of the moon.

Vergilius describes Shin as "the power of Light", and "the power of sin".

To use Shin, one needs Mang (referred to as luna/lunae when not a proper noun), often multiple of them. Using Mang is described as filling onces emptied minds with dense and heavy memories, then letting the lunae of these recalled feelings guide one's movements.

Random Miscellanous Bits of Info:

It's a tradition in District 8 (H Corp's) to gift apples on Christmas Eve, to wish the giftee a peaceful night.

Cellphones in the City seem to be at a stage in-between Iphones and slightly older smartphones. The screen only takes up roughly half of the phone, but it appears to be a touchscreen due to the lack of mechanical buttons.

Related to that, payphones also exist in the City. The District the payphone is in gets shown to the one recieving a call from one.

The Seven Association holds seminars for new and aspiring Fixers that teaches them the basics, such as information about major Syndicates, Singularities, spatial awareness, etc. The Seven Association also holds Fixer qualification tests.

Higher education is something one can pursue in the City.

There are still video recorders that use videotapes in the City.

Cognition-warping ID Cards are a thing within the City. However, they are noted to only be useful for brief deception.

One of the canonical Mirror Worlds is literally our world.

Airplanes don't exist in the City.

[ddejavvu]

hi hi! mvm with dbf!hotch & maybe just a teeny fight about jealousy breaking out between you both? with silent treatment from you and hotch being all sulky about it hehehe i think it’d fit him tbh

today is multiverse monday! send me any au you can think of :)

(sfw blurb, but reader is over 18)

You specifically wait until you hear Aaron's voice from downstairs requesting a drink to flounce down the staircase. You're in a top that's too tight to pair a bra with it, so your tits bounce with each step you take. Aaron looks up when you come down, eager to chat with you after you'd ignored his six calls from the past three days, but his eyes darken at the sight of a purse on your arm.

"Dad, my friends are here." You call into the kitchen, keeping your eyes away from Aaron.

"Okay, honey." He turns to smile at you, "Remember, any later than midnight and you have to take an uber home. And don't bring anyone home with you!"

"I know the rules," You drawl, hopping slightly to fit into your heels as you rush for the door, not sparing Aaron a single glance, "Bye, dad!"

Aaron watches you leave with a heavy sigh weighing on him that he can't release. He doesn't want your dad to be suspicious, especially not when he's in the wrong. You'd spotted him out to lunch three days ago with a woman, just a journalist who'd been interested in reporting on the BAU and their history. But to you she was competition, a woman closer to his age that he was able to publicly spend time with. He doesn't blame you for being jealous, and a bit self-conscious, but he wishes you'd let him tell you the full story.

"She's going out more lately," Your dad sighs, handing Aaron his drink as he sits down with his own.

"Mm," Aaron hums, nodding as he stares at the ice in the glass, "Drinking?"

"Yeah. 'S fine, I guess, she's old enough. Doesn't mean I have to like it, though."

"Yeah." Aaron nods, raising the glass to his lips and staring at the carpet instead.

"I wish she'd just tell me who she's seeing," Aaron nearly chokes on his drink as your dad continues, sipping from his own glass, "I know there's someone, that much is obvious. She's been happier lately, or- well, not lately, but a few days ago she was fine. And her clothes are wrinkled when she comes home, and she's been weird about her phone lately. She jumps at the thing like it's a winning lottery ticket anytime it buzzes, and then smiles like an idiot at the screen."

"You'd make a good profiler," Aaron quips, but secretly wishes he doesn't get any better of a profiler, "Probably some guy from her university."

"I can only hope. Hey, maybe she'll marry rich." Your dad jokes, knocking his knee into Aaron's. The man fakes a laugh, then adjusts his shirt sleeve so that his Rolex is covered.

Once your dad turns on the television, conversation is limited. Aaron uses the time to take his phone out of his pocket, and is met with an unsurprising lack of texts from you, so he types one himself, stomach sinking as he does.

We need to talk. Ignore your dad's rule, I'll come pick you up no matter how late you stay. Please be safe, and please don't fall in love with anyone else.

[kaleldobrev]

To the Rescue (3) — Take Me Back Series

Pairing: Sam Winchester x Fem!Reader

Series Summary: After making a deal to bring you back, Sam doesn't see you until years later when your paths cross during a case

Original Prompt: Requested by anonymous | Hi, I just joined Tumblr and came across your blog, it's wonderful! I'd like to make a request, something between Sam and reader. The reader dies and Sam makes a pact to bring her back, but she comes back without remembering him and the hunting life. He thinks it's best to stay away from her. Years later they meet and she falls in love with him all over again, and when they kiss she regains her memory. Do you like it?

Chapter Word Count: 2.7k

Chapter Warnings: Cursing (8x), Minor Character Death

Authors Note: When I originally wrote this it was 1.2k. With editing it turned into 2.7k | One more part after this folks! Sorry for the cliffhanger in advance | Flashbacks are in italics | If you liked this, don’t forget to like & reblog. I really appreciate it! Feedback is always welcome ♡

Pulling up to your house, Sam felt as though his stomach was in knots. It wasn’t like it was the first time he had seen your house, but this time it was different. It wasn’t just a normal driveway he was used to doing to make sure that you were safe every once in a while.

“You okay?” Dean asked, snapping Sam out of his thoughts.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m…I’m fine,” Sam lied.

“Alright,” Dean began, opening up his glove compartment and taking out his gun. “Let’s go boy wonder,” he grinned.

Walking up to your front door, the biggest sense of dread starting washing over him as he started to think that maybe something was wrong. “You know, I don’t think she’s home. She usually parks her car in the driveway.”

“Maybe she actually parks inside her garage?” Dean suggested.

Sam looked at him, full well knowing that you wouldn’t be able to park inside your garage — it had too much stuff in it to park your car. It was more of a storage unit than anything. “Trust me on this one.”

“Wow, you really do stalk her uh?” Dean grinned.

“Not stalk, just concerned,” Sam corrected.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever helps you sleep at night,” Dean said, patting his brother on the shoulder. Y/N would help me sleep better at night, Sam thought.

Taking a small deep breath, Sam knocked on your door, hoping that you somehow broke your pattern of parking in the driveway. It had been a couple of weeks since he’s done a drive by, so maybe you did have enough room in your garage now; but knowing you, you hadn’t cleaned it out.

“She’s not here,” Sam said quickly, and he turned on his heels about to leave your front porch. But Dean stopped him, grabbing onto the back of his jacket to bring him back. “What?”

“You don’t wanna check if she’s inside the house?” Dean asked. “What if she’s —”

“She’s not here Dean. Trust me,” Sam said, his voice a little stern. “The more time we’re here, the less time we actually have to go and find her. Now let’s go and check the shelter. I’ll try and call her on the way there.”

Dean went to open up his mouth to protest, but he knew that his brother was right. “Alright,” he agreed. As much as he wanted to check if you were inside the house, Dean trusted Sam when it came to his gut feeling; especially since this was concerning you.

You didn’t know how long you’ve been tied to this chair, but it felt like hours at this point. Mel or whatever her name actually was just talking your ear off; and it wasn’t even remotely about the deal, but just random little stories about her time here on Earth. If you weren’t currently tied to a chair, there was a part of you that would have actually found her stories to be quite interesting. “I don’t know, I love being a crossroads demon but at the same time, I feel like I could really bring some value to the team if Crowley trusted me more. What do you think?” Mel asked.

“Honestly, I have no idea,” you admitted. “I mean, I’d love to commend you on your work ethic but uh, I’m a little bitter right now,” you said.

Mel laughed. “Fair enough,” she grinned. “But, if you had to give me like a recommendation, would you say I had a good work ethic? I mean, I was your right hand for almost four years here.”

“Again, don’t really wanna commend you when you currently have me tied to a chair in my own shelter,” you stated, your voice radiating annoyance.

“You know, these past four years have honestly so eye opening,” Mel begin. “I can really see why Sammy wanted to marry you.”

“I’m sorry?” You questioned.

Mel went to open her mouth to answer your question, but there were two doors slamming in the distance. And her smile turned into a slightly mischievous one. “Looks like lover boy and big bro are here to rescue you!” She exclaimed and looked at her watch briefly. “About damn time too. I was starting to get bored.”

Mel got up from her seat, and removed a piece of fabric from her pocket as she walked toward you. “Just gonna place this in your mouth so you can’t warn my favorite boys, okay?” She giggled, before putting the fabric in your mouth, almost gagging you.

As the pair walked into the gym, it was mostly pitch black except for the small amount of moonlight that was currently streaming in from the windows. "Y/N?" Sam called out.

Muffled screaming could be heard, and that's when they noticed you sitting in the middle of the auditorium tied to a chair and with some kind of gag in your mouth. "Just like old times," Dean said, pulling out his gun.

"Except we're saving her, not the other way around," Sam stated, he too pulling out his gun.

"Whatever," Dean mumbled. "Just get Y/N out of here."

"And where are you going to go?" Sam asked, slightly confused as he raised a brow.

"Gonna go see if I can find that Mel bitch," Dean said, slightly waving his gun and grinning.

"No need to find me! I'm right here boys!" Mel called out, her voice singsong like; the large auditorium lights turning on in a matter of seconds. "And there's really no need to have those silly little guns out, so you might as well put them away," she said, appearing behind you now. "I just wanna talk. You know, have a little catch up. It's been such a long four years, and I've been so interested in what my Winchester boys have been up to. Especially Sammy here."

"Nothing really for us to talk about. Considering you've killed five teenagers for really no good reason," Sam said.

“But it was for a good reason,” Mel stated. Both boys looked at her with a slightly confused expression on both their faces. “I needed a way to get you two here. You wouldn’t have came any other way. Well, that’s not entirely true now is it Sammy?”

Sam looked at you, and he could see your expression changing. You were no longer relatively calm, but more confused than anything else. “Either you tell her or I will,” Mel stated, her voice no longer sing song like. “Tell her what you’ve been up to.”

Sam and Dean exchanged looks, and Sam didn’t want to tell you what Mel was insinuating. “5…4….3….” Mel began counting.

“Alright, alright!” Sam yelled out in frustration. “I’ve been watching her for the past four years to make sure she was okay.” He sighed. “Happy?”

“Now, let’s see what Y/N thinks about that mmm?” Mel asked, her hands on either side of your shoulders. “Wanna talk?” She asked you, and you eyed her. If looks could kill, Mel would have been dead.

“Fuck you,” you said, muffled.

“Oh my!” Mel laughed. “The mouth on her! No wonder you were so heartbroken Sammy,” she winked.

As Mel, Sam and Dean were talking, you were carefully trying to untie yourself from the chair, making sure that none of them had seen you doing it; as you were pretty sure that if Mel had caught you, she had the ability to kill you in an instant. Then again, you weren’t quite sure how strong demons were.

“Now, I’d really like to hear what Y/N think —” before Mel could continue her sentence, you broke free from the rope that she had tied your hands with, and managed to tackle Mel to the ground.

“A little help here would be nice boys!” You yelled out, trying your best to keep Mel to the ground; but her demon strength was starting to show, as she knocked you to the ground.

Before she could do anything to you, Dean had his arms around her, holding her back as Sam held out his hand in order to help you up. “Thanks,” you said, taking his hand — a simple movement, but felt so natural.

Mel bucked her head back, the back of her head hutting Dean in the nose; the movement caused him to let her go and he stumbled back. “Fuck,” Dean said; some blood running down from his nose.

“You little bitch,” Mel said through gritted teeth. She went to lunge at you, but was stopped when Sam had shot her. She laughed. “You know bullets can’t kill me,” she smirked.

“No, but they can distract you,” Dean said from behind her. She turned around, and within an instant, Dean plunged the Demon Knife into her.

“Are you okay?” Sam asked, the three of you walking out of the shelter.

“Yeah I’m fine just…confused,” you confessed.

“I’m sure. I’m sorry Mel wasn’t who you thought she was,” Sam said.

“That’s not entirely it,” you began, the two men raised a brow. “Mel…Mel said that I knew you guys,” you looked at Sam now. “She said you wanted to marry me.” Sam and Dean exchanged looks, neither one of them really knew what to say

“What else did she tell you?” Sam asked, not denying your claim; as he was in fact planning on asking you to marry him as soon as the three of you had gotten back from the hunt. It was something that he spent months planning.

“She said that you made a deal in order to bring me back to life. And part of that deal was basically having me forget you and hunting,” you said, your voice having no hesitancy to it. “I know how ridiculous it sounds but…I believe her.”

“Dean, can you give us a second?” Sam asked, looking over at his brother. Dean and Sam exchanged looks, and Dean looked at you only briefly before nodding.

“Yeah I’ll uh…I’ll be in Baby,” he said, scratching the back of his head as he started making his way toward his impala.

“Is what she said the truth?” You asked. “And don’t give me a it’s complicated answer. It’s a simple yes or no.” Sam couldn’t help but let out a half chuckle, as this was a like you had said to him far too many times.

“Yes. It’s the truth,” he admitted. “Four years ago, the three of us were on a vampire hunt in Malibu. You and me agreed to go take out the nest because it was only supposed to be three vamps. But…it turned out to be six instead, too many for just the two of us to handle. That’s when you…”

“Died,” you said, finishing his sentence. “How did I…die?”

“One of the vamps…ripped your throat out…” he mumbled, his voice trailing. “It was my fault I…”

“Hey, hey,” you said, taking his hand in yours. “I may not remember, but it wasn’t your fault okay? I may not remember you, but, knowing you literally barely a few hours, I know you aren’t that type of person. You just…I get a good vibe from you.”

“You shouldn’t,” he stated. “I’ve done a lot of…fucked up things. Things that…”

“Whatever fucked up things you’ve done, I’m sure it was for a good reason Sam,” you reassured him. “You aren’t someone that’s just going to get someone killed.”

Sam just looked at your hand in his; enjoying the feeling. It’s been so long since he had held your hand. “After, why didn’t you try and ask me out?” You asked.

Sam chuckled. “Thought you’d be better off without me and plus, kinda thought something like this was going to happen.”

“Ask her out already please! I miss her baking!” The two of you heard Dean call out. You and Sam turned, and saw Dean with the drivers side window rolled down; Zeppelin playing loud enough for him to have probably been able to hear the entirety of the conversation.

Sam and you chuckled a little, and you looked at each other similar to that of two people in love with each other. “You wouldn’t want to go out sometime again would you?” You asked, softly smiling.

“I don’t know I…” Sam wanted to say yes; he wanted you back in his life, wanted so much to be in your life again. But he didn’t want to risk anything bad happening to you again. “I’m sorry.”

Disappointment washed over you as you looked at Sam. You had wanted to be with him, even though you barely knew him. But according to Mel, at some point, he had wanted to marry you. You had hoped that maybe with her gone, then you two could get to know each other again and have a bond like you apparently did years ago. You had felt something for him; some kind of connection, a kind of familiarity, even before you knew who he was. But, you understood where he was coming from. “Can I at least give you a thank you kiss?”

“Yeah,” Sam said, almost afraid to say yes.

Sam leaned down, and tucked a piece of hair behind your ear. He stared into your eyes, mentally cursing himself for saying no, but he knew that saying no was for the best. You were safer, and you were free. “I’ll always love you,” he told you. “Even if you don’t remember loving me.”

Your lips and his were centimeters apart now, and you didn’t want this moment to end between the two of you. Because you knew, that the second the kiss was over, you’d probably never see him again.

“Take care of yourself,” you said, before the two of you pressed your lips against each other.

The kiss felt natural, a little needy, but gentle. It wasn’t a kiss you would give to someone you would see again, it was a kiss that you gave someone that you would never see again. It was a goodbye.

"Sam, I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe we should wait for Dean to come and help us," you said; as the two of you started walking up to an abandoned log cabin in the middle of the woods; something that you didn't even know Malibu had.

"There's only supposed to be three vamps, I think we'll be fine," Sam reassured you. "We've taken out more than three vamps just the two of us before."

"Yeah but...I don't know, it just feels different this time, I can't explain it," you said, your voice hesitant. For some strange reason, you just had a horrible feeling that something bad was going to happen, but you had no proof. It wasn't like you had premonitions.

"Fuck," you said, a sharp sensation entering your head, as if you just got hit in the head.

"Y/N, are you okay?" Sam asked, concern in his voice.

"Yeah just..." the pain got more intense, and you felt yourself start to lose balance; Sam's hands instantly finding your arms in order to keep you from falling. "My head really fucking hurts," you said, almost strained.

"Let's sit down uh?" Sam suggested, as he started leading you toward the curb in front of the shelter.

"Sammy, she okay?" You heard Dean say, the sound of the impala's door opening and closing. You heard barely hear the sound of his running toward you and Sam, as everything started to sound so muffled due to the intense pain and pounding in your head.

"You know, I don't know what I'd ever do without you," Sam said, caressing your cheek.

"I'm sure you'd be fine. You did just fine before you met me," you said, gently smiling at him.

"But my life is a lot better with you in it," he admitted.

"So is mine," you confessed.

"I love you," he replied.

"I love you too," you smiled.

You didn't really know how you had gotten to sitting on the curb but you now where, Sam and Dean on either side of you. The intense pain was starting to subside, and the pounding was starting to cease. You couldn't tell what either man was saying, as they still sounded muffled.

"Y/N?" Sam asked, his hands resting on your shoulders.

You turned to look at him, and all of a sudden you felt the urge to cry. Your hand reached out and touched his cheek. "Sam..." your voice was low, almost inaudible.

"Yeah?" He replied, his voice as low as yours.

"Take me home," you said.

"Sure," he nodded.

"To the Bunker," you clarified.

Sam looked at you; confusion clear across his face. "The Bunker?"

In the next and final chapter...

He scratched the back of his head before pointing to your side table. “Open up the drawer there,” he said, slight hesitation in his voice. When you didn’t move, he sighed. “Trust me,” he said.

Tag List: @roseblue373 @beansproutmafia @queenie32 @deanwanddamons @missy420-0 @octoberclidan @kidwhofixates @syrma-sensei @k-slla @justletmereadfanfic @deans-daydream @crystal555 @hannahisthebanana @seamlessepiphany @madzzz0797 @livingordeadwhoknows @writinginfear @roskar16 @rachiem4-blog @coldspoons @fuiabarcelos @foxyjwls007 @midorimachisenpaii @sammysnaughtygirl @missscarlettangel @frozenhuntress67 @snakebxtez @crystalandphoebewifey @spnandpj @androah @taraswifes If you'd like to be added to a tag list please follow this link If I forgot to tag you and you wanted to be tagged, my apologies!

[dotster001]

hihi! just in here to say that i love your twisted earth au very much, its such an interesting concept and i love the way you write the characters?!!?!/ and to request some twisted earth hcs with rollo, chenya, and neige!

Twisted Earth Part Six

Summary: non NRCx gn!reader. You are the game. They are real.

A/N: full disclosure, I'm on the English server and have worked really hard to avoid masquerade spoilers. So Rollo's part is based on the snippets I've seen. After I play the event, if I think my assessment is off, I'll redo his part. Also, initially I was going to have Neige be a VA of your best friend, but an anon gave me an idea to have him as a villain. Special thanks to you boo!

Parts: One Two Three Four Five

He is a little like Floyd in that he's always searching for fun. Unlike Floyd, instead of crashing, he just continues to up the silliness stakes. His friends downloaded the game on his phone as an attempt to keep him out of trouble for a while.

And it worked! Kind of!  When he's not sneaking onto NRC campus, or going to his own classes, he's got his eyes trained on his phone. It's the first time a lot of his peers have ever seen him sit still.

He decided you would be the most fun to prank, and the most likely to enable his behavior. Whether this is true or not, if you were real, he'd be dragging you along for the ride. I wish you luck man. If you think you hear breathing or giggling behind you, but can't see anyone, trust your instincts. He wants to see you jump.

He didn't start playing until later so he only has one or two of your cards. He is incredibly jealous of his classmates who have the cards he wants, and may or may not make it very difficult for them to play during event periods so that they don't get any farther ahead of him.

He's been acting ever since he was a child. But he's never gotten a chance to let loose! With this project, it wouldn't be outright clear that Neige was in it at all, so he got to be an antagonistic millionaire's son  in the second book. And he had so much fun! Plus, now he's friends with all these voice actors, who really want to allow him the chance to let loose as the villain. He's so excited for his new opportunities!

He plays because it reminds him of working with his voice actor friends. Because the cast was so large though, he didn't have a chance to work with everyone.  You and your immediate friend group were not an arc he got to see come together. He thinks that's why he was drawn to you. You were a route that was completely new to him. The novelty, and just how precious of a character you seem to be, keeps his attention, no matter how long he plays.

If you were real, he would wrap you in a blankie and tell you all the ways he loved you until you loved yourself, and could never doubt in yourself. He really really really wants to kiss the tip of your nose. (He can't explain it. It's just an urge he has) 

He has all of your cards but one. It's just the bonus of playing since its release. He's missing an event card where you are dressed in a Halloween costume. He really wanted it too, but it's alright! He can just ask to see the script, that way he doesn't miss the story.

A world without magic? Magicless humans? He is wondering if the Devs got a little glimpse of heaven when they were making this game.

You. You are so perfect. You could be his pure human, who will help him fix this world. After he helped you see the light of course.

(I am so sorry. My image of him is kind of like a psycho)

He plays after a long hard day of being surrounded by flawed mages (himself included). It just eases his spirit a little bit. Not all is wrong with the world.

He doesn't really bother collecting cards. He has what he has and he's alright with it. He gets what he needs from you from the main story, and his late night shower thoughts.

Side note, he does not like other people's fan theories about you. Only his are correct, and he'll fight people on it until they get annoyed and give up.

[the-cat-and-the-birdie]

What makes you know hobie is 18 or above? And not the in the same age range as miles and gwen

Honestly, great question. And the answer is:

I Don't Know Jack Shit. So jot that down.

Additionally, anyone telling you they DO know Jack Shit is a liar. Jot that down too.

[I may go a little Miguel Mode at the end of you know what I mean]

I personally operate under the headcanon that Hobie is over 18.

Why? He says he goes to pubs. You need to be over 18 to do that. The End.

You can headcanon that he has a fake id or simply finds himself in pubs while underage - and that's completely valid. Go ahead. You can headcanon he has a mfing tail. I can't stop you and we haven't seen his ass so maybe he do, who knows.

But my headcanon is just that. And to me - until Hobie's age is clearly displayed and mentioned on screen, then it'll always be a headcanon.

No matter what age you headcanon him as - if you think you KNOW his age, you're probably wrong. And I mean that.

The ATSV describes him as a 'slightly older boy'. Case closed, right? He's a minor then.

Nah, three lines later they say he's MUCH older than Miles....literally contradicting themselves within the same paragraph.

[And the funny thing is - I've seen the artbook used as evidence in the argument multiple times. Even though it literally contradicts itself. And every single time I'm like 'bruh did you even read the full page come on now'.]

Case in point, if you think you KNOW Hobie's age when 1) it's not stated on screen and 2) even the official external material gives conflicting information - you're just wrong. You can't know a theoretical number. And you can't be wrong about a theoretical number.

It's Schrodinger's age.

Example: A character is shown to be in High School. They live in New Jersey where the driving age is 16. If a fanfic writer has the character say "I can't do that, I can't drive yet.", is the fanfic writer canonically wrong? No. Because the character could reasonably be above OR below the driving age, either 14-18. Even if the director mentions the character having a sweet-16 that is never mentioned in the show, it's not screen-canon and the average viewer will not know the character is definitely over 16. Therefore they can reasonable be 15.

"But the director said-"

Don't care. Not weighted canon unless stated on-screen.

Maybe this is a controversial opinion. But if it's not on screen, I can't say it's canon.

Sure, the director may have said in an outside interview that Hobie's conceptually 19-20 -

But a normal person who goes to see the movie, and comes home to write fanfiction isn't going to know what.

They shouldn't have to dig through all conceptual and external content of a specific character in order to be deemed 'acceptable' and knowledgeable enough to write about them.

A person who watches the movie and writes solely based off of what the movie says about Hobie shouldn't be harassed or told they're wrong because they didn't listen to a podcast of a director who's name they don't even know.

There's no pass that says 'Okay you've done enough research about Hobie to write about him, congrats-'

If it's not in the movie, show, book, etc - a fan should not be required to seek out that information to be caught up to speed. External information is supplemental, not a part of the hole.

Also-

If it's not in the movie - It DOESN'T MATTER.

ATSV is a very well written movie. Every line is used for the purpose of telling the story. Especially Hobie's.

They didn't tell us Hobie's age because it didn't matter to the story. And it shouldn't matter to you.

If the writers didn't care enough to take time out to clarify his age, then it makes no sense to spend take arguing about it.

They obviously don't find it important. Because it isn't. It doesn't matter to the story at all.

Hobie's age doesn't matter to the 'love triangle'. Although the film is narrated by Gwen, we largely see it from Miles' point of view. And the 'love triangle' only exists when Mile has no concept of who Hobie is.

Miles doesn't know Hobie. So him questioning a love triangle happens regardless of whether Hobie is an adult or not. Miles doesn't know, neither do we.

The 'Hobie' in the 'love triangle' is an empty-shell of the mystery of who Hobie COULD be. The moment Hobie takes off the mask and we're revealed to the real him - the illusion of who he could've been is shattered for both us and Miles.

Because his age isn't stated, it has no bearing on Miles' perception of him. Miles don't know shit. Neither do we.

Also you people should be fucking grateful GODDAMN WTF

If you deadass beef about this you one ungrateful mfer i swear. Take offense. All offense.

We have a black, attractive, educated, useful, respected character in an animated movie that's available for ANY SHIP with ANY character and what do you people do??? - you argue.

Why? Explain to me why.

You should be happy it's up to interpretation and not definitely stated that you were wrong. At any time the creators could just put it in the next movie and make you look stupid.

You could be out there enjoying any ship of your choosing; with any character you enjoy him with - regardless of age. But no, instead of enjoying the ship that's available to you, you antagonize others.

Sit there and eat your mfing salad you INGRATE

Be grateful we have a character with such free range of shipping. A character that's un-aged and doesn't have a specific gender preference. BE THANKFUL.

You like Gwen x Hobie. Great. You argue with people and harass people who think Hobie's an adult??? - What if Hobie deadass looked in the camera next movie and said "I'm 19 also I'm gay." You'd look dumb as hell.

But they didn't do that. They left it unstated for you to go and enjoy your Hobie x Gwen or Hobie x Miguel or Hobie x whoever the hell.

I'm thankful everyday they didn't say his age because I don't make OCs that go to high school because I'm 24 and hate high school. And guess what, I can do that.

Him and Diane can just hang out on the houseboat all day cause they're grown ass adults with no place to be. Isn't that swell?

Stop playing with me and enjoy the goddamn shipping buffet. Christ almighty

All in all - I don't know shit. You don't know shit. And it's okay to not know shit.

NO UM-AKSCHULLY

Get comfortable with saying "I'm not the authority on this." or better yet "I don't know shit about nothing."

I love him to death, but I am not the authority on Hobie Brown.

For me - I know he said he goes to pubs and I know I wanted to ship him with Diane. Personality wise, Diane is 19. So Hobie is 19.

But I don't know anything about his age. No one does.

I'm just cute and like to share headcanons. Hobie Brown as of right now doesn't have an age. And that's fine. Cause he ain't real.

If you made it this far ummmmmm Here he is. I'm giving you this photo under the condition that you'll act right and enjoy him in a ship of your choosing if you'd like to do that.

Now lets sit here, and eat this ship salad.

[me making sure ur enjoying ur shipping salad]

Bye.

[viviennevermillion]

Al-Haitham and the arts

notes: ever since I saw the akademiya's stance on the arts I had this idea. seeing al-haithham as someone from the akademiya slowly growing to appreciate art especially in relation to his (artist!)s/o seemed like such a sweet scenario

contains: al-haitham x gn!reader

warnings: none

A l - H a i t h a m

Like many people who followed the Akademiya and as one of the most rational people you ever met, Al-Haitham struggled to find merit in the arts. Whether it was music, dance, painting, writing, theatre....he thought it was a waste of his time.

That was until he met you

You loved all these things and Al-Haitham, despite not knowing it yet, loved you. He was unsure of his feelings, trying to stay rational at all times and not ever expecting himself to fall in love with someone. He never bothered looking into love or putting a label on his feelings because he thought that they were distracting him. Yet he knew you had become important to him.

Once you gave him a Radiant Spincrystal with music you liked and told him it was a gift for him. "Oh...", he goes and then looks up to you, "why?"

He tells you that he doesn't listen to music and that he thinks it distracts the scholars but you insist the music is good and Al-Haitham realizes you're passionate about this so he'll listen to it and instead focuses on studying what makes music enjoyable for people. But when he sees you express emotions, sometimes he thinks of these songs and realizes how much they remind him of you.

So he finds himself listening to them when he misses you. When you've been traveling or busy with work. And it makes him feel a little closer to you.

If you show him poetry (either written by you or from a book) he struggles to understand the meaning since they're full of metaphors and also can mean different things for different people. So he's like "I don't really get this." "This is how I feel when I read your papers", you argue. He looks at you with a dead-serious expression: "I can explain them to you again if you'd like to." "No need, I'm good."

If you like to draw he would sit down next to you and glance over your shoulder, his cheek occasionally touching yours. He'd see you draw something and he comments on how concentrated you appear and you're like "well, art takes a lot of focus and technique as well" and Al-Haitham takes a sketchbook and gives it a try. He tries to draw the big tree in Sumeru City and is frustrated when it comes out looking like a squashed potato

Definitely has a new-found respect for your art now

The first time you took him to watch a play he paid attention the whole time and was entertained but he kept asking afterwards why the protagonists made such terrible decisions. You chuckle: "Well....they were in love. Love can make you irrational sometimes."

He nods and is like "Yes, that's how I feel with you." Completely calm.

You almost spit out your drink

For Al-Haitham you knowing about his feelings is not a big deal at all. He knows love can make people act differently than usual and he doesn't want you to wonder about his behavior.

"I- I like you as well", you reply and hold his hand in yours. He looks at your intertwined hands wordlessly and curiously but feels warmth in his chest.

When you ask him whether he'd like to be your significant other he tells you he needs to give the matter some thought and evaluate the pros and cons. Very romantic.

Comes back a few days later and tells you he'd like to engage in a committed relationship with you. He's unsure what to do next so you take the initiative and ask him for a kiss.

Kisses and affection makes Al-Haitham flustered and god he's not used to that at all. He loves it though. He's like "do it again please."

If you write stories or lyrics or poems etc., after getting together with you, Al-Haitham tries his best to get to know your interests more so he dedicates an afternoon to reading your works. You come home to find him at your desk, fiddling with a huge folder and your creations. "What are you doing there, love?", you ask and raise an eyebrow. Al-Haitham doesn't look up. "I am sorting them alphabetically", he explains and you chuckle and pull him closer to you by his arm.

"How about we cuddle instead?", you suggest and wrap both of your arms around his torso and trail kisses down his neck. He can feel goosebumps on his arms. "But I haven't finished sorting the-"

You interrupted his sentence by kissing his lips tenderly. Al-Haitham melts into your touch and presses you closer against him, kissing back passionately and letting out a sigh. You won him over this time. Spends the rest of the evening enjoying your affections and letting you kiss him for as long as you want to. He even puts on some of the music you showed him.

You ask him for a dance. "This isn't an occasion people usually dance in", he remarks and you just tell him you'd love a dance with him. He doesn't understand why but hell would freeze over before Al-Haitham would say no to something as simple as a dance to make you happy. He loves seeing that smile of yours so much.

He has never danced before though, so he steps on your feet a couple of times. You teach him to the best of your abilities and Al-Haitham is always up for learning new things. He even continued trying to draw after his first attempt.

In the end he understands a bit better why you like this because he gets to hold you close

He smiles and kisses your forehead and your cheek. "I love you", he reminds you and squeezes your hand.

But as soon as you go grab some food or take a shower he will go back to finish his folder

Overall he's way more perceptive of the arts now that he's with you. He listens to your favorite songs because they remind him of you. When he hears street musicians, he makes a mental note to take you to see them later, looking forward to that smile of yours that he adores so much. He gives mora to street performers now and takes home flyers from the theatre that he used to throw away when they were handed to him. He tries to improve his drawing skills so he can draw something beautiful for you (he has a long road ahead of him). He also considers taking you to a festival so the two of you could dance there together.

He tried to write a short story once. Titled it "A day in the life of the Sumeru Rose" and it just came out like a biology paper. Actually it pretty much was a biology paper. He gets a kiss for effort.

[museum-of-dreams]

A lot of people have been speculating who the character thats going to die is, and I have done some Long, Hard, Thinking, with what has been presented to us in the show and the information that has been given to us.

❗️Potential Spoilers ahead as I give my thoughts!❗️ (also a warning that this is long)

(Also, please be nice. These are just my opinions. Please tell me what you think!)

Some of this is also just me assuming, don't take my word for fact unless proven otherwise.

So I am going to jump right in and say that, while Vivzipop DID state that a major character death may possibly occur in the show, that doesn't necessarily mean the end of season one.

However I will also take into account that they didnt realize a season 2 was happening untill halfway through production of season 1, so they tried to cram A LOT into 8 episodes (and that's why it's so fast paced)

So if a character death IS to happen soon, here are my thoughts, by process of elimination of course 😊

I am first going to start out with Nifty. I know many people are rooting for her to die instead of their favorites. However, that's why I don't think they would kill her off.

To put Nifty in the original main 6 cast just to never touch up on her character, give her depth, or give us her full backstory that lets us connect to her character more. Unlike the rest of the main 6 casters, where we are exploring their personalitys and connecting with them, we don't really get that with Nifty just yet. Her episode is still to come. So, to put her in the main cast just for the purpose of never touching up on her character and killing her off would be very bad writing, why put her in the main cast at all, then?

I don't even think I need to talk about Charlie. She's supposed to be the main character (but that's a talk about that for another day)

Third, I am able to most likely cross off the list is Vaggie. Much like Nifty, she has not gotten her episode yet (however for both Nifty and Vaggie's cases, at the time of writing this the last 4 episodes of Hazbin are yet to realease), however we do know that vaggies story is supposed to be a deep one and there is still a lot to go when it comes to building her character up to the audience and just building in general. So I dont believe it would be her neither.

Fourth that I can pretty much cross off the list is Alastor. With the whole suggested connections to Lilith, there is definitely a much larger plot that surrounds Alastor that will keep the series moving forward. He is too much of an important character to kill off right away.

I will not be talking about Cherri Bomb just yet (however, sence 2 episodes ARE about to release with one apparently being the one she is introduced in, I may edit this later and share my thoughts)

Our last three options would be Angel Dust, Husk, and Sir Pentious.

I am going to talk about Sir Pentious first. Sence, they sped up the pace of the show quite significantly, his character progression has also been a little fast. Sir Pentious wasn't even supposed to be in the main series. He was supposed to be a one-off character for the pilot. However, people just loved him so much, but the idea of his character being anywhere near some sort of impulsive "I must save my friends" moment during an extermination or something similar, would just be bad writing and wayyy to fast even for the paceing the show is currently at. they would have to do it just right.

I do know that Vivzi wants to go somewhere with his character, though, the idea of Sir pentious developing a crush on someone in the show (suggested to be a woman, but not confirmed) is somthing that has been brought up multiple times. So I do think they actually plan on going places with his character. Also, this is NOT by any means confirmed, and just something that I have heard a couple of times, is that the potential major character death announcement was made BEFORE Sir pentious was even planned on being in the offical show (remember one-off character). So, a character was planned to die before he was officially a part of the show. With all of this, I dont think it would be him either.

WHICH LEAVES OUR LAST TWO.

Husk and Angel Dust are both very impulsive and very attached to one another. However, there is a certain character building that goes into stuff like this. And I don't think Angel Dust has this character building.

I dont think it will be Angel Dust because

1. I dont think Vivzie would want to let him go so soon

2. While he is a fan favourite and people do connect with Angel Dust, I don't think his character has been built up for dying just yet. He still has a lot of stuff set up for his character.

3. I think his character is supposed to be all about being in a cycle of abuse, and his character development is getting out of it and healing over time until eventually his soul gets redeemed and he goes to heaven. Yes, he has husk, but that doesn't mean that anything with Valentino (or in Husks case Alastor) has stopped by any means.

When it comes down to Husk vs. Angel Dust, I would say it depends on the next couple of episodes, really. You can argue with husk that he still has not gotten out of his thing with Alastor.

However, I still lean towards it being Husk that dies because 1. I really don't think Vivzi would want to let go of Angel so soon

And 2. His character is kinda built up for it? I can't explain this one all too well, and most of it is personal opinion.

While they have angel dusts character set up to go through rough times trying to escape Valentino. They don't really show this with husk and Alastor. Sure Angel and Husk relate to each other's situations, but most of Husk and Angel in episode 4 (the last 4 episodes are yet to be released at the time of writing this) was mostly Husk comforting angel, he talks about how he regrets his decisions and how he related to Angel Dust, but unlike angel dust, they never really build his character up for any kind of potential attempt to escape from Alastor. While Angel dust has that character buildup, Husks just isn't there.

They also painted husk in a way that was very likeable to a lot of people. For example, if you were to ask someone who their favourite Hazbin Hotel character is, saying Husk is a VERY safe choice. A lot of people are very sympathetic for him. They buttered him up just for us. If anybody is theoretically going to die at the end of the season, it would be Husk.

There are still some unanswered questions of mine, though. My opinion can be changed A LOT by how the next couple of episodes go. Thank you for reading this much!

I will probably keep you guys posted. :]

[princesssarisa]

I'm now reading another of Heidi Ann Heiner's fairy tale collections. Sleeping Beauties: Sleeping Beauty and Snow White Tales from Around the World. Since I enjoyed Cinderella Tales from Around the World so much, I couldn't resist opening another of Heiner's books.

The first part of the book is devoted to the different international versions of Sleeping Beauty, the second part to the different versions of Snow White. This is followed by other tales of "sleeping beauties" that don't fit nearly into either category.

We start with the medieval Sleeping Beauty prototype tales from the 13th and 14th centuries.

*The earliest known prototype of the Sleeping Beauty story is the Norse and Germanic legend of Brynhild (a.k.a. Brunhild, Brunhilda, Brünnhilde, or other variations). This legend first appears in the Poetic Edda, the Prose Edda, and the Volsunga Saga from 13th century Iceland. It also appears in the German Nibelungenlied (although that version doesn't include the enchanted sleep), and its most famous modern adaptation is in Richard Wagner's four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. The figure of Brynhild also inspired the Marvel superheroine Valkyrie.

**The Sleeping Beauty-like portion of the legend is this. The beautiful and strong-willed Brynhild is one of the valkyries, the warrior maiden servants (and in some versions daughters) of Odin (or Woden, Wotan, etc.) who preside over battlefields and bring the souls of fallen heroes to Valhalla. But Brynhild disobeys Odin by saving (or trying to save) the life of a warrior who was marked for death. (The man's identity, why he was meant to die, why she defends him, and whether she succeeds in saving him or not varies between versions.) As punishment, Odin banishes her to the mortal realm, pricks her with a "sleep thorn," and places her in a castle (or just on a rock) surrounded by a ring of fire, condemning her to sleep until a man brave enough to venture through the flames arrives to wake her and become her husband. (In some versions, she has attendants and servants who all sleep along with her.) Many years later, the fearless hero Sigurd, or Siegfried, succeeds in passing unharmed through the flames and wakes Brynhild by cutting off her valkyrie armor (or in later retellings influenced by Sleeping Beauty, with a kiss). The couple doesn't live happily ever after, however: their further adventures and eventual tragic fates are a story for another day.

**Even though it's a well-known fact that in "the original Sleeping Beauty stories," the prince (or his counterpart) impregnates the sleeping heroine and she wakes after she gives birth, no such thing happens in this earliest proto-version. If we assume that this really is the Western world's first tale of a heroine in an enchanted sleep, then it seems as if that sordid detail was a later addition.

*Next in Heiner's book come several medieval French Sleeping Beauty tales, mostly from Arthurian romances. These are the tales where we first see the motif of the heroine's love interest raping her in her sleep and fathering a child. Since few of them have ever been translated into modern English, the book simply summarizes them instead of printing them in full.

**The best-known of these stories, which most resembles Sleeping Beauty as we know it today, is the tale of Troylus and Zellandine from Le Roman de Perceforest, an Arthurian romance from 14th or 15th century France. In this tale, a knight named Troylus loves a princess named Zellandine. Then learns that while spinning, Zellandine has suddenly fallen into a deep sleep, from which no one can wake her. With the help of a spirit named Zephir and the goddess Venus, Troylus enters the tower where she lies and, at Venus's urging, he takes her virginity. Nine months later, Zellandine gives birth to a son, and when the baby sucks on her finger, she wakes. Zellandine's aunt now arrives, and reveals the whole backstory, which only she knew. When Zellandine was born, the goddesses Lucina, Themis, and Venus came to bless her. As was customary, a meal was set out for the three goddesses, but then the room was left empty so they could enter, dine, and give their blessings unseen; but the aunt hid behind the door and overheard them. Themis received a second-rate dinner knife compared to those of the other two, so she cursed the princess to someday catch a splinter of flax in her finger while spinning, fall into a deep sleep, and never awaken. But Venus altered the curse so that it could be broken and promised to ensure that it would be. When the baby sucked Zellandine's finger, he sucked out the splinter of flax. Eventually, Zellandine and Troylus reunite, marry, and become ancestors of Sir Lancelot.

***This tale provides some answers for questions that the traditional Sleeping Beauty raises. In the familiar tale, the king, the queen, and their court know about the curse, so why do they keep it a secret from the princess? Yes, they avoid upsetting her by doing so, but the end result is that when she finally sees a spindle, she doesn't know to beware of it. Why not warn her? And why is there a random old woman in the castle, spinning with presumably the kingdom's one spindle that wasn't destroyed, and why, despite living in the castle does she not know about the curse? (It's no wonder that most adaptations make her the fairy who cursed the princess in disguise.) Yet in this earlier version, there are no such questions: no one except the eavesdropping aunt knows about the curse, because it was cast in private, so no one can take precautions against it. Another standout details is the fact that Zellandine's sleep doesn't last for many years, and that the man who wakes her already loved her before she fell asleep. Disney didn't create those twists after all!

**The other medieval French Sleeping Beauty tales are Pandragus and Libanor (where Princess Libanor's enchanted sleep only lasts one night, just long enough for Pandragus to impregnate her), Brother of Joy and Sister of Pleasure (where the princess isn't asleep, but dead – yet somehow the prince still impregnates her – and is revived by an herb that a bird carries to her), and Blandin de Cornoalha (a knight who, refreshingly, doesn't impregnate the sleeping maiden Brianda, but breaks her spell by bringing a white hawk to her side).

*All of these early Sleeping Beauty tales are just one part of bigger poetic sagas. Maybe this explains why Sleeping Beauty is fairly light on plot compared to other famous fairy tales (i.e. we're told what's going to happen, and then it does happen, and it all seems inevitable from the start). Of course one argument is that it's a symbolic tale: symbolic of a young girl's coming-of-age, as the princess's childhood ends when she falls asleep and her adulthood begins when she wakes, and/or symbolic of the seasons, with the princess as a Persephone-like figure whose sleep represents winter and whose awakening represents spring. That's all valid. But maybe another reason for the flimsy plot is that the earliest versions of the tale were never meant to stand alone. They were just episodes in much longer and more complex narratives.

@ariel-seagull-wings, @adarkrainbow, @themousefromfantasyland

[radiofreederry]

I'm trying to get into comics, any recommendations?

I'm a DC girl so this list is gonna be very DC heavy, sorry.

DC

All-Star Superman by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitely: The book that made me a Superman fan. Beautiful, joyful, self-contained story.

The Flash by Mark Waid: Will make you a Flash fan. Some of the first comics I ever read come from this run. The original run is collected in omnibus format but Mark had a second, shorter run from around 98-2000 that wrapped up a lot of loose ends, and another one around 2008. Those are good too.

The New Teen Titans by Marv Wolfman and George Perez: This book probably saved DC, and it's a wonderful read.

Batman by Scott Snyder: One of the best modern Batman runs, although it suffers from the stink of the New 52 at times.

52 by Mark Waid, Greg Rucka, Grant Morrison, Geoff Johns, and Keith Giffen: Might need some onboarding for this one but it's a great read focusing on some of the second-string characters in the DCU and a triumph of collaborative storytelling. Its spinoff Booster Gold series is great too.

Kingdom Come by Mark Waid and Alex Ross: A surprisingly-accessible refutation of the 1990s trend towards darker and edgier superheroes, it's a must-read for the beautiful painted artwork alone.

Mister Miracle and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow, both by Tom King: Tom King's had some big misses, especially Heroes in Crisis, for which as a Wally West fan I should want his blood. He makes up for it when he hits, though. These two titles are his best work.

Secret Six by Gail Simone: A great off-beat title revolving around a small group of supervillains trying to do good. Wish they'd bring this concept back tbh.

DC: The New Frontier by Darwyn Cooke: A love letter to the Silver Age of Comics with gorgeous artwork. Was later adapted into an animated film, which is also very good.

Dwayne McDuffie's original Milestone Comics (incl. Icon, Hardware, and Static), are all very good titles focusing specifically on Black heroes. McDuffie also had a great run on Justice League of America from 2007 to 2009.

Justice League International by Keith Giffen, J. M. DeMatteis, and Kevin Maguire: A great and hilarious book that offers a much more lighthearted take on the DC Universe. There's a lot of focus on more obscure and minor characters which I always enjoy.

Doom Patrol by Grant Morrison and Rachel Pollock: If you've seen the TV show, it cribs heavily from this. A lovely series featuring a group of misfits trying to find their way in the world.

Jack Kirby's Fourth World: Brilliant, esoteric, at times close to incomprehensible. A must-read.

The Question by Dennis O'Neil: A wonderfully cerebral and philosophical series. Denny left reading recs in every issue! See also his run on Green Lantern/Green Arrow, which is a bit outdated but still electrifyingly political for its time, and his seminal run on the Batman titles.

Marvel

Uncanny X-Men by Chris Claremont: One of the greatest comic book runs of all time. Largely defined the X-Men for several generations basically until the Krakoa era. Most X-Men stories on the "greatest of all time" list come from this run.

Vision by Tom King: Hey, it's Tom King again! He wrote for Marvel too. This one's a really good character piece featuring a character who often doesn't get to stand on his own.

Daredevil by Mark Waid: The best Daredevil run, hands down.

The Amazing Spider-Man by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko: The original Spider-Man run is still my favorite. Some great Silver Age nonsense combined with great character drama is what put Marvel on the map, and it's on full display here.

Runaways by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona: A really good series that's mostly self-contained about a bunch of kids who run away from home after discovering that their parents are supervillains.

Fantastic Four by Mark Waid and Mike Wieringo: I sing Waid's praises a lot, but damn can he write. The best run for Marvel's First Family.

Others

Bone by Jeff Smith: An epic fantasy adventure starring three cartoon funny animal characters. My favorite comic of all time.

Usagi Yojimbo by Stan Sakai: Another epic starring funny animals, this time set in the Edo period of Japan. Mostly episodic, so it's really easy to jump into.

Astro City by Kurt Buseik: Another love letter to the Silver Age, and to superheroes in general. Essential reading.

[no-side-us]

The Invisible Man, Ch. 1

Before I get into it, I want to make note of the full title of the story, The Invisible Man: A Grotesque Romance, which is a lot more enticing and evocative and leads to much more imagination for what happens. It implies something at least somewhat disturbing and fanciful, which fits well I think.

Anyways, here are random thoughts I had while reading the first chapter.

There's a lot of references to white objects: the snow, the serviette, his bandages, the muslin, it's all very pale. And the obvious connection is to Griffin's albinism, which doesn't get mentioned until much later (along with his name). If I had to analyze, all of these objects are there to obscure Griffin in some way. The snow covers him, he uses the bandages and serviette to hide his face, and the muslin helps block the view through the window. It's sort of taking the pale features that make Griffin stand out and which he now uses to hide himself, doubly so because his albinism was key to his invisibility.

Also, I had to look it up but a muslin is some sort of fabric which here is used as a smaller window curtain. Like so:

Moving on, the conversation between Mrs. Hall and Griffin about his bandages is just the beginning of all the gossip and rumors which will arise in the following chapters. One moment I like was this exchange:

“He was afraid, one time, that he’d have to have an op’ration—he was that bad, sir.” The visitor laughed abruptly, a bark of a laugh that he seemed to bite and kill in his mouth. “Was he?” he said.

Not only is it just a good line, but knowing what Griffin's own "operation" entailed meant that I laughed along with him at how "bad" scythe boy's accident was in comparison. But if you don't know and you're reading this for the first time, then it comes off as very rude. And Griffin is rude, but in this chapter he's also trying to be polite cause he's in need at the moment, so it's interesting to see the efforts he makes to do so and when it comes through.

Also, he pays two sovereigns (or two pounds) for his room, which is £213.93 today according to the Bank of England's inflation calculator.

Overall, the first chapter is very mysterious. If the book wasn't literally titled The Invisible Man, then we the reader would most likely be as curious as Mrs. Hall as to why this strange person was in bandages and acting so peculiar. I don't think we even see his invisibility until a few chapters in, so we're left hanging for a bit.

Finally, having watched the 1933 film before, I want to say that the first scene of that movie is very accurate to this chapter: Griffin continually staring out the window, pulling down the blinds, telling Mrs. Hall to leave the hat, Millie and the mustard, lines taken straight from the book, it's fun to notice! The film's on Internet Archive if people want to watch. Though be warned, it goes off-book in the very next scene.

[mangoguy]

Kyle Gaz Garrick as Spider-Man!!! P.1

These are just headcanons I will definitely be making more. This idea all started with this post by @homicidal-slvt, which I will admit I thought was like some Spider-Man x Gaz type deal and was very afraid lmao

I took more inspo from Tobey Maguire's Spider-Man since that's the one I'm most familiar with/grew up with. But with the newer ones sprinkled in. Reader will definitely make an appearance sometime soon. I have ideas!!!

(This wasn't edited)

-We all know the story. Dude gets bit by some wackass spider and gains superpowers because of it. But how I imagine Gaz getting bit is that he's still probably in the military (before he met Price), on a mission infiltrating a facility that was thought to house some important Intel but they find themselves in some dangerous room full of experiments of varying degrees.

-THIS is where Gaz gets bit, he doesn't notice anything though maybe like a slight pinch around his neck but he brushes it off, he has a job to do.

-It isn't until he's back on base that something feels off. He's extremely sweaty, shaking like a leaf and looks extremely exhausted.

"You okay Garrick? You look like you're on your death bed..." Someone commented.

"Yeah I'm fine...Just probably need to take a bit of rest," Kyle spoke.

"Alright... just take it easy, okay? Are you going to drive like that?"

"No, I'll just find a spare bunk..." He mumbled out sluggishly before making his way to the barracks.

-He didn't make it very far as he ended up falling on his face. He was quickly rushed into the infirmary.

-Upon waking up a day later, he feels even more different. He can't dwell on it to much as a doctor crowds around him. Telling him he was dehydrated and overworking himself. Was that it?

"You're going on leave Garrick."

"I said I'm fine-"

"No, obviously you're not. You're taking two weeks off, and that's final."

-And that's how he found himself in his flat, forced to take a break, he's grumbling when he's unpacking his bag. When something strange happens. Thwip!

"Fuckin' hell!"

-Web just shot right into his face, he sputters and quickly gets it off. He starts wondering where the hell it came from but he quickly gets his answer. His wrists, they have some sort of faded white on them, not noticeable unless you're close. He starts inspecting it wondering if it's a stain until a longer web shot out.

-He stares at lamp that's connected to him via web, giving it a tug. Seeing if this was really happening and he wasn't insanely overworked like his teammates suggested.

-It moves, he pulls again but harder and his lamp comes crashing down on the floor.

Oh

Oh, no

Comments and reblogs are appreciated!

[bonefall]

How do gatherings look like in your rewrite? I always found it a bit silly that the cats only really talked to members of other clans briefly while waiting for the leaders to start, and then after the speeches everyone leaves immediately. Guess it makes for better drama that way but......i just want these cats to befriend more people outside their own clan

I think they do it to keep scenes focused on the information they wanna impart, but, come on. Let the cats live a little.

In my rewrite, here's how an average Lake Gathering goes! Forest Gatherings were a bit different.

Shellfur arrives with ThunderClan, just after sunset, when the full moon is faint in the sky. Today, they are the first to arrive. Usually WindClan is first, so Shellfur is antsy and worried that maybe Fernstripe won't show up.

So he decides to help Sorreltail and the kitchen crew set up, just to keep his paws busy. They uncover the pot from its fern hiding place and start gathering bowls of lakewater to fill it. Finchpaw is excited to have her last gathering as an apprentice and so is helping enthusiastically, which is tradition.

Flamepaw on the other hand is bellyaching as always. Just before Shellfur snaps at him to remind him this isn't mandatory, WindClan streams in. Now there's plenty of apprentices and kitchen patrollers to help, so Shellfur slips away before he says something mean.

He's been trying to be nicer these days, else Spotfur won't let him see his nespring.

Old friends are brushing up, sharing smalltalk, talking about the weather and how the kits are doing. See, the gathering isn't OFFICIAL until the leaders announce it when all four are present, so Shellfur is trying soooo hard to not immediately split off to hang out with Fernstripe.

That's because Clan leaders want all their warriors on display when each Clan arrives. Some kind of political display. Shellfur can be patient, though, because soon he won't have to hold back his affection for Fernstripe.

SkyClan is next today. They tend to enter in a very disorganized way, the most eager warriors arriving before Leafstar herself. They have a much looser hierarchy than the Forest Four clans.

ShadowClan is usually last, but today they're fourth. Heartstar LOVES her dramatic entrances, so she bursts into the clearing with a running start, bounds up the tree, and orders her warriors forth with a yowl. They charge in a straight line, some of them doing little tricks as they enter. Show-offs.

And last is... RiverClan. No one says, but everyone knows, that this will be Mistystar's last. They typically swim towards the island, allowing the moonlight to shine on their pelts like liquid starlight. But today they have taken the bridge, and the warriors walk gracefully behind their aging leader.

When the leaders call for the Gathering to begin, you must listen to the speeches before breaking off. Shellfur believes this is because it would look bad if no one cheered for their own Clan's announcements.

Once this is done, the Gathering begins in earnest.

Shellfur and Fernstripe listen to a story from Elder Mosspelt of RiverClan, of how she helped Mistystar escape TigerClan so long ago.

Later, Shellfur watches with ardor as Fernstripe is beaten by Rootspring at a game played with little stones and a grid scratched in the dust. It's the first time Rootspring has smiled in a while, but he doesn't know how good Fernstripe really is at Scratchstone. She let him win.

He needs to impress her, so he whispers to Sorreltail to set aside a crayfish from the Paw Soup for her. Sorrel gives him a wink and a coo. Fernstripe loves trying new things... Shellfur does not, but for her, he will have soup with a mud bug.

Time passes. The moon is hanging low. Any leader can call for their Clan to leave whenever they please, but any cat can say the magic words.

"I'll catch up with you later."

That's what he says when ThunderClan leaves the clearing. A few stay behind. Duststripe is one of them, Dewnose is another.

When the leaders are all gone, there's a second Gathering. This is when cats discuss other things, harmless, but codebreaking nonetheless. Honor-siring, goods-trading, sharing forbidden foods like kittypet kibble.

They usually make a second version of Paw Soup together. Someone called it Foot Soup and it stuck. Whatever was left over, plus some extra spices, this one usually has fish and kibble. It's a lot stronger than regular Paw Soup so Shellfur didn't think he'd like it, but he was surprised when he did.

And most importantly, he gets to be with Fernstripe. REALLY be with her, brushing, snuggling, getting actual relationship advice. It's like a safe haven.

But he's truly over the moon today, because tomorrow, he will wake up next to her and they will go home together. This is their last night at the Aftergathering, from now on, they won't be regulars anymore.

Before the moon is gone, so is everyone else. Gone back to their own Clans, where divisions are deeper than chasms. Fernstripe asks him if he's ready. He says yes, of course.