#i do this sometimes. for some reason. where i know there's an obvious option i wanna pick but i don't do it because i don't wanna be

[front-facing-pokemon]

[llamagoddessofficial]

May I have some Fae Killer dating headcanons?

Fae Killer is... weird

He's extremely hard to get a read on. At least the other Winter courtiers are easy to make sense of - Dust is quiet and serious, Horror is big and scary but shy, Nightmare is regal and refined with an undercurrent of rage. They make sense.

Killer? He's violent, but he's always got a friendly grin. He has the same "who, me?" expression whether he's eating a cookie or murdering someone. His backstory is unknown, changing every time someone asks. He appears to speak genuinely and openly, yet no one can trust a single word that comes out of his mouth. His knack for tricking and stealing is unparalleled, he tricks people out of things as small as their eye colour or as huge as their ability to breathe, all with the exact same 'silly' easygoing aura. He rescues stray cats from the cold and brings them into the castle, feeding them fish and chicken every day, but he also delights in torturing people he doesn't like.

Perhaps the only consistent thing about him is how obviously he's in love with you.

Even before dating him, his affection is blatant. He acts like he wants to be your best friend, your closest confidant, he's always looking for reassurance that he's your 'favourite'. The other skeletons will tell you that he doesn't shut up about you when you're not there. He's constantly outrageously flirting - he seems to show love through stealing from you, taking minor things like your ability to read the word 'strawberry', just so you'll get mad at him (it's obvious he thinks you're hot when you're mad). You're always covered in black marks and he laughs at almost everything you say.

When you do start dating him, he just... stops tricking you. Stops stealing from you, too. There's no warning, and no clear reason; you're just suddenly the only person in any world who's safe from his trickery. You could say something that leaves you wide open and the guy who could steal someone's nose from their face will act like he heard/saw nothing.

He's cuddly. So, so cuddly. It's actually kinda cute, when he's sleepy and aggressively snuggly with you. Kinda feels like he's been starved of affection, and he's making up for it by never letting you go.

No matter where you fall asleep, you'll wake up to Killer cuddled up. Probably a few of his cats piled in as well.

His number 1 goal is to get you laughing. There's always jokes, always remarks, it's so hard to be serious around him because he knows exactly what'll get you giggling. That's worth more to him than all the treasures in Summer and Winter.

He's generally an easygoing datemate, he has outlets for his jealousy. But he takes EXTREME offence to another fae stealing something from you. That means immediate violence.

This man will kill for you. In fact, he'll offer that option alarmingly quickly. Please ask him not to kill for you, for everyone else's safety.

His romantic side is dialled up to eleven. You're always coming home to mood lighting and surprise dinners, he's always taking you to beautiful scenic spots he's found in the Winter realm, he gives you things that remind him of you (typically flowers and gemstones, but sometimes magical artefacts, and occasionally something rather expensive that looks like it was stolen right from the Summer realm).

He's constantly wearing a 'happy' face. But sometimes, in private, the face falls. You can glimpse the part of himself he hides from everyone. If you can still hold him when he's not funny anymore, when the mask has fallen off... then he will burn down the whole world for you.

[lucy90712]

Hiii, I was wondering if you could write some Marc guiu, him at his family party and always telling the reader he loves her and giving her kisses making her shy and hide under his hoodie. x

I’m not sure if that makes sense 😂 but .. yeh

A/n: this is awful I’m sorry 

I have spent countless hours with Marc's family, after he introduced me to them for the first time and we got on well he has taken me to his house when they are around all the time. My family don't live in Barcelona and I don't get on very well with them as I had a tough childhood so being around Marc's family is really nice. Every time I see them they are always so sweet and make me feel so welcome which makes me feel like I belong in Barcelona a bit more. 

Recently Marc has been really busy with lots of matches and training so we haven't got to spend as much time together as we would like. We weren't supposed to see each other until the middle of next week as Marc had a match yesterday and then his family were holding a get together for some extended family which he was going to. I wasn't supposed to go to this reunion of sorts as it's supposed to be for family only but after his match last night Marc texted me asking me if I was able to go as his parents wanted to invite me. I made sure that I was actually invited as I don't want to intrude on a family gathering but he assured me that his parents wanted me there as I'm family to them. I could've cried hearing that they think of me as family but those emotions were overtaken by nerves at the thought of meeting Marc's extended family for the first time. 

Marc told me to dress up a little bit and I took that seriously so I sent him about a million pictures of different options for him to pick between and he picked a blue dress which matched what he was going to wear. He loves for us to be matching so we can take cute pictures and so that it makes it more obvious we are together when we are out. Being the gentleman that he is he offered to pick me up even though this party is being held at his parents home where he lives and of course I wasn't going to say no as I'm desperate to see him as I missed him. 

He came and picked me up from my apartment about an hour before the party was supposed to start as he needed to be there before everyone else arrived but he wasn't going to miss the chance to pick me up. He arrived at my door with flowers for no reason just because he wanted to get me flowers which he does quite a lot because he's just the sweetest boyfriend. We spent a few minutes just stood in my apartment catching up on things that have happened since we last saw each other even though we've texted every single day we still love to talk about things again in person. The time came that we had to leave so Marc grabbed my hand and we walked down to his car where he opened the door for me like he always does before getting in the drivers side and settling his hand on my thigh which has become a habit of his when driving. 

Once we arrived Marc's sister quickly stole me from Marc so I could help her with her hair which is something I often do for her when I'm around. The two of us get along really well she often asks for advice from me as I've been through school and know what it's like to deal with all the drama and sometimes we gossip about Marc especially when he's around as we both know he hates it. Today she was telling me how glad she was that I was able to come as Marc hasn't shut up about how much he's missed me and how much he's been sulking about the fact that we haven't seen each other all week which I thought was cute but naturally his sister thought was cringe. 

After a while there was a knock on the door and Marc came in and wrapped his arms around my waist and shoved his face into the crook of my neck. There are times that he can be very clingy but that's usually only when we are alone as when his friends around he's busy laughing with them and when his family are there we always refrain from too much pda. I'm not a huge fan of pda in general but especially around Marc's family as I don't want them to feel uncomfortable plus I hate people knowing the way we interact in the privacy of our own places. As much as I hate it on a normal day it felt nice to have Marc close to me tonight as I've really missed him this week. 

"Can I have my girlfriend back?" Marc asked 

"If it means you stop holding onto her like she'll disappear if you let go then go ahead" his sister laughed 

That was all Marc needed to pick me up over his shoulder and carry me back downstairs while I protested. I was so worried that my dress was too short and that I'd flash his family despite me having shorts on underneath but luckily none of them were in the living room when he reached the bottom of the stairs and put me down. Just as we got downstairs the doorbell rang and people started to arrive Marc's parents welcomed people in and then Marc introduced me to everyone as they came to greet him. Meeting this many new people makes me nervous usually but after meeting the first few people I relaxed quite a lot as they were all so nice. 

Everyone sat outside talking and eating the food that had been ordered I sat on my own out the way watching as Marc talked to some of his aunts and cousins. I assumed he was talking about football and his recent matches as that seems to be what everyone knows about. He smiled at me mid conversation and then he beckoned me over so I got up and joined him. Within seconds he had his arms around my waist as he got me to stand in front of him so I could join the conversation. As I talked with his aunts about my plans for the future and university Marc pressed the odd kiss to the top of my head or my temple which made me blush every time but I tried to keep the conversation going. 

Over time more people joined the conversation and somehow I ended up sat talking with all of Marc's female relatives. Marc stayed by my side the entire time he didn't really say anything but he kept and arm around me and pressed kisses to any part of my face he could reach whenever I wasn't talking. He also whispered lots of compliments in my ear and told me how much he loved me over and over again. I know he was doing it because he's missed me and he's feeling clingy but it feels like he's just trying to make me blush in front of his family. 

"You two are such a sweet couple" one of Marc's aunts said 

"You remind me of when I first met your grandfather although he stopped once we were together it's nice to see young love" his grandma said 

"You better not let her go Marc girls like this don't come around often" his cousin said 

"I don't think we have to worry about that he always wants to see her and he's always talking about her" his sister complained 

"They are very sweet together I'm glad Marc found someone like y/n she's such a lovely girl and they make such a lovely couple" his mum said 

All of these compliments made me feel really shy. Compliments in general make me feel shy but hearing so many people say nice things about me and my relationship made me want to crawl in a hole and never come back out. I could feel that my face was on fire so I know I looked like a tomato. I hid my face a little in Marc's chest as I didn't want his family to see how much just a simple compliment makes me blush. Marc just smiled at me as he always says he thinks it's cute how shy I get but right now I wanted to wipe the smile right off his face but I can't. 

The rest of the night was a lot more chill as I spent most of it just with Marc until everyone left and he gathered some things so he could stay at mine. I was exhausted after spending all evening talking to people so we both got changed and got straight into bed. Marc got in bed after me but as soon as he was under the covers he was already pulling me close to him so I was resting on his chest as that's his he likes us to sleep. 

"Thank you for coming today I think it's pretty obvious but my whole family loves you so you are more than welcome at family events from now on" he said 

"I'm glad they all like me I always worry about what people will think of our relationship" I said 

"Well you don't need to worry about it everyone important in our lives thinks we make a good couple so if anyone else thinks any different they don't matter" Marc said 

"You need to stop saying things that you know will make me blush" I laughed 

"But you look so cute when you blush I love when you get all shy because then you hide your face in my chest and that might just be my favourite thing that you do" he said 

I didn't know what to say to that so I just kissed him and settled down to go to sleep while thinking about how nice it is to have a second family who love me more than my own family and a boyfriend who treats me so well.

[akutasoda]

my eternity

synopsis - maybe an eternity couldn't last forever, especially when it's worlds apart

includes - dan heng ft express crew

warnings - gn!reader, reader is based off raiden shogun (genshin), bittersweet angst, fluff, some comfort, two socially awkward people try to express feelings, wc - 2.7k

a/n: this was requested by @supernerdycookietrashblrr! sorry this took so long hope you enoy! (i got very carried away)

you were the designated 'protector' and leader of your homeland. one filled with many traditions and people from all walks of life, but none had the knowledge to know that you were rarely actually there. in fact, the place you preferred to call your home was one you fashioned yourself, the plane of euthymia.

it was where your consciousness and physical body existed in hopes of achieving the eternity you yearned for. and in your place roamed a puppet. a puppet in your image that ruled your land for you, one that could not age or be weakened and therefore the most efficient way of ruling.

however, sometimes the endless sky in the plane of euthymia became tormenting, rather tiring and that's when you ventured outside the realm. most of the time, you'd enter in the place of your puppet who then was placed inside the plane - switching places until you got bored of the real world again.

however things seemed amiss this time. something in the plane shifted the wrong way, and because the plane was practically made from your conscience it burdened your mind and ruined any train of thought you may of had. your initial thought was that something must of happened outside of the plane and so you would leave to investigate.

but instead of being greeted by the scenery of your homeland, you found yourself within a library? it had the smell of old books and such but it really paled in looks. it was rather odd looking but the most questionable part was if you looked down and noticed the bundle of blankets and pillows.

for obvious reasons you were on edge. so as you cautiosly approached what you assumed to be the door out, it opened. and in having no time to draw your actual sword, you settled for the easier option. in mere matter of seconds, your polearm ghosted the side of a dark haired males neck.

the express was currently docked at the space station. himeko insited on doing a basic maintenance check after encountering a rather rough journey and dragged welt along for assistance. march had claimed to go for a walk to 'stretch her legs'. and so dan heng remained alone with the conductor who seemed awfully chatty about the most recent voyage.

so when an abrupt noise occurred - seemingly from the passenger cabins - pom pom practically shoved dan heng toward it and shut the door behind him until he found the answer. they were always scared easily. dan heng didn't expect much at first - perhaps something had fallen over somewhere. but he would have to see out his endeavour in 'keeping the conductor safe' regardless.

but it became a bit more alarming when he heard faint, rather slow, footsteps originating from the archives. perhaps it was one of the ghosts pom pom always claimed to see but did they even make footsteps?

warily he walked towards the archives, and when he finally pushed aside the door, the last thing he expected was the edge of a polearm immediately being raised to his throat. he caught your eyes rather quickly and felt rather intimidated by the sheer power you seemed to hold.

but what caught you off guard was when your polearm was violently shoved aside by the his own. he hadn't quite deemed you a threat yet, but first impressions weren't putting you in good favour. he moved forward with his own skill, trying to push you into a situation of hesitation - that way he figured answers may be more likely.

but he seemed to underestimate just how much skill you had because with one quick movement not only had you dodged his attack but yet again held him in a unfortunate circumstance. but before a word could even be spoken you felt a few pairs of eyes bearing into the back of your head.

'the conductor informed us that something was amiss', it was a rather low voice, one that suggested age and he continued 'drop the weapon and release our crewmate'. you let yourself up with little hesitation, in yet another quick move you turned and pushed the person you were holding to his friends, supposedly.

you could now see exactly who was confronting you know, an older man with glasses, a younger woman with striking red hair and a rabbit? 'whats everyone doing down here?' a rather cheery voice called out as footsteps became louder but before they could answer the newly arriving pinkette, you spoke.

you weren't one for combat surprisingly. sure you'd engage in it and if something wished to make you their enemy you'd gladly diminish their hopes of living. but you were wise to not resort to unnecessary violence, unless you really had to. and so you explained you meant no harm, you simply were startled by your abrupt arrival by no knowledge of your own - you also didn't like sharing.

you were met with the group opposites collective look of confusion before the red haired woman spoke. 'you have no recollection of how you got here? my, that's tricky' she paused before looking around 'why don't we talk elsewhere, please follow'.

you oblidged and followed the cautious group into a more open room. it seemed to contain a communal seating area which the woman insisted you sat down upon. she smiled before addressing you again and asking for your name. you felt no obligation to tell complete strangers your name, so instead you told them your puppets.

the conversation became rather one sided after that. the woman, you know knew as himeko, lead it with the man, welt, occasionally chiming in. you weren't one to share information, let alone to complete strangers and so the only information that you let them know was your puppets name (which they thought was your actual name) and that you aren't from here.

and unfortunately for you, that was most of the information they needed. between most of them they could easily figure out that something had happened to bring you into their world and somehow you needed to get back, however no body had a clue how to do so. after all the universe is vast and perhaps endless - but that meant it would contain the answers.

himeko dismissed herself and the others claiming they needed to discuss something before leaving you alone in the room. your briefly considered trying to enter your plane of euthymia and exiting again but two things stopped you - one, it may just bring you back and two, if your puppet was still in your homeland then atleast until you could get back, things wouldn't seem amiss to your residents.

and while you were thinking, the group re-entered. himeko yet again smiled before saying 'while we may not been a great help now, should you choose to join us, you can travel with us and perhaps have better luck in returning', she glanced over toward dan heng and nodding before turning back 'we are all perfectly fine with whatever decision you come to, but to note that it was him who suggested this in the first place'.

you glanced over to dan heng and he looked away, only looking back when you turned back to himeko. you couldn't help that agree that your chances of returning home would probably increase if you joined them and besides, you didn't have to form any connections with them in you did.

you weren't exactly the friendliest but it was for your own reasons. so you agreed. while you weren't exactly the most friendly and approachable person, you figured that your best chance on returning home would be to travel with these people, and they never said you would actually have to become their companion.

the only condition himeko explained to you was that because they travelled to help those that need it, if the occasion should arise then you should help them. she would also note that you probably have no issue in conflicts due to your unfortunate first encounter. which you found fair afterall, an eye for an eye.

it was safe to say that the atmosphere became rather uncomfortable to start with. himeko and the conductor granted you a spare passenger cabin until otherwise and that's where you spent most of your time. occasionally himeko or march would come and try to get to know you better but ultimately be met with a wall of silence.

however something you found valuable you heard from march was that the archives were accessible to all passengers. knowledge is proof of eternity, all things that have come before recorded down and passed along. so you decided to maybe spend some time exploring such archives.

however what you didn't really anticipate was how different the information seemed to be stored as. in your homeland everything was stored through scrolls and books or even word of mouth. but it all seemed so much more mechanical and modern. fortunately for you, in your confusion dan heng decided to return to his room.

you two hadn't talked at all since the day you arrived, so reasonably there was a bit of tension in the air. however dan heng could pick up on your confusion and pushed aside any awkward air to ask if everything was alright. you simply claimed that you were a bit confused by the archive.

'would you like some assistance?', the words came out his mouth before he could even process them, but you simply nodded and before he knew it he found himself beside you showing you all the records and such he kept organised.

you thanked him and excused yourself as you realised how long you had actually spent in the archives. he nodded before adding that you were free to visit anytime and then you left.

you didn't really sleep. you either didn't bother as in your search for eternity you didn't want to indulge in such trivial matters or you were on edge. this time, sleeping didn't really appeal to you as sleeping knowing people you barely knew surrounded you was unpleasant.

so you decided to re visit the archives. you found exploring this new world may be beneficial to your return and plus you could decide if it would be a enemy to eternity. so as you pushed open the door, you walked in and carefully closed it behind you as too not wake the other residents.

but whag you hadn't anticipated was that odd bundle of blankets and pillows now supported a body. upon squinting your eyes you recognized ot as dan heng, maybe you should return in the morning-

dan heng shot up and immediately pressed a hand to his head to wipe away any sweat he had. it was another nightmare, he didn't know why he bothered to try and sleep when that was all that tormented him. he raised his hand infront of himself trying to stop the shaking and level his breathing, then he looked to you.

his brain only recognizing your presence when he calmed down slightly. he simply said 'couldn't sleep well? or is there something you need?', he shoveled the think blanket of himself as he shakily stood up. you were no fool and knew he didn't want to talk about whatever gave him such a reaction so you simply shrugged and said you couldn't sleep.

he sat in front of the main screen and looked behind at you before saying 'wan't to read some old logs with me?'. well that was what you were here to do originally so you walked over and sat beside him. you two spent the rest of the night having dan heng recount the tales of the express and all the various logs added.

and before either of you knew it, it was morning. time seemed to pass quicker than usual afterwards however. you spent more time with dan heng and found yourself reluctantly letting him get closer to you than you would've liked and it appeared he felt the same. unfortunately neither of you wanted to push the other way despite your body screaming that this was a bad idea.

you both knew that as well. sooner or later you would have to return to your homeland. the bond that was forging would be cut short and mercilessly and you both would become yet another memory for eachother. yet neither of you could bring yourselves to stop it now before it could hurt either of you.

but it seemed time would be cut ever shorter for you. the express crew still had no leads on how to return you to your original realm but answers needed to come quick. your body wasn't reacting well to being outside the plane for this long - you had spent so long inside the plane of euthymia that your body adapted to its conditions.

but maybe the new universe was also taking a toll, you felt no longer like yourself and sometimes during the day your body would practically seize and you felt like a spectator to your own body, not the host. and the crew recognised this deteriorating condition - also chalking it up to long exposure to somewhere that wasn't your homeland.

and before any more tries to find answers could happen, you worsened even more. your body began aching and you really couldn't control your actions so you tried a last resort tactic. you placed yourself back inside of the plane of euthymia and could immediately regain control of your body.

but relief became confusion as you hear march's scream from behind you, turning round to see that you had accidentally brought the express crew into your plane aswell. you wanted to explain and help them back out into the express but the presence of your puppet became your biggest concern.

you turned round to confront your puppet and before you knew it the express crew had stood beside you. your lack if sharing now put them in danger and despite this they offered help. from your body language and maybe the polearm in your hand they could tell what you were going to do.

but you refused help, it was your puppet after all. you created it and so you knew it's weaknesses, this shouldn't become an issue. except it did. the express, especially dan heng, could only watch despite wanting to help as you fought with yourself.

but now you were slowly losing the rational parts of your brain, but before you knew it you had defeated your puppet. but your bodyy seemed to know possess a body of it's own as you became something that was not quite yourself, deciding for you that the express members were enemies of eternity.

you didn't mean to attack them, and they didn't mean to attack back. they wanted to help you desperately - despite your lack of interaction with most they still came to cherish you as the temporary addition to their little family. even if you didn't share, they didn't care. but now they wished you did share more often.

the fight was exhausting for both parties. you wanted to stop, to npt destroy the companions you reluctantly built over the time you'd spent with them but your mind and body weren't cooperating. and dan heng wanted to help you more than ever.

and because he hadn't pushed you away, he hadn't refused himself entirely in building a bond with you he knew how to help. he ignored the shouts for him to stay back as he had faith you wouldn't hurt him. he knew that you were still in there and he'd be dammned should he not help.

you fought so hard to not attack him. to not damage yet another relationship you had built and instead let him get ever closer. and even now as your body fell back to its original state, you could grasp why you subconsciously let him get closer even if you knew he'd leave eventually. because now you still had no way home. and as dan heng laid his head upon your shoulder, you could only think on why you shouldn't indulge in this comfort a little longer, even if this eternity was not possible.

[justxtalking]

my thoughts on this hxh ABCD mess

Being a Togashi fan is such a roller-coaster of emotions. I think I went through all the stages of grief in only one day.

Half of me believes he's trolling.

To be honest, it's better to just take it with a light heart. Togashi is known for joking around about himself, his health and his own story. (I wasn't in the fandom at that moment, but I wonder how everyone reacted when he said everyone was going to die). I consider ending D to be so uncharacteristically him for so many reasons I could talk for hours about it. I find it ironic how he gave a stereotypical-shonen-like ending when he talked several times (even in this interview) about how he likes to surprise himself (and his readers) when he writes. Some other times he explained he likes to play with these shonen stereotypes and just do something different. I mean, he's been doing it since the beginning of his career.

And I'll be honest, ending D sounds like a mockery of shounen.

(And I feel a bit dumb taking this so seriously if he's joking.)

(Though, this also may be the case of "the boy who cried wolf" and he's actually saying the truth this time.)

The other half of me thinks he's being honest.

If he is actually giving us a back-up ending, I find it incredibly sad. Not only because of his health, but also because he felt pressured enough to give us an ending, no matter its form and no matter if it's an ending he doesn't even consider anymore. He shouldn't have been on that position.

It is important to take into account that this is not an ending he wants or even considers anymore, it is an ending we can take if he's not able to finish HunterXHunter. We need to realize there's a lot of circumstances we don't know about or may not be considering for him to give us this ending as an option at that moment. And what type of ending too.

I seriously want for him to be able to finish Hunter X Hunter the way he truly wants, not worrying about anything else. He's thinking about three plausible scenarios that may see the light of day or not. And no matter what he ends up choosing, he should choose whatever he wants. It's his story, no ours. And it may even be his last story (I know it's sad, I want him to keep on writing forever, but it's true). Honestly, a part of me wants him to choose the A scenario because that's where seems to be less drama, but actually I want him to choose the C scenario. Even if that ending is Gon married to a lizard with beautiful lizard-babies in the Dark Continent. And that's because that ending is what he would actually want to do with the story.

(I really am curious about it, though. I know I wouldn't be able to guess even in a million years, but I'm still curious. And I so want to read the whole interview and see the whole episode, since there were more questions about other things.)

For the shippers

I know this feels like a punch in the gut or something even worst. I felt it too. And it's totally valid to feel like we do and not agreeing with ending D. Even as a non-shipper because what do you mean, Gon did what?

Everyone who follows me knows I'm a proud Killugon and Leopika shipper. And I will keep on being one even if Hunter X Hunter transforms into Boruto and I have to see Grandpa Gon (the more I say it, the more it sounds like a joke).

Honestly, I always considered the gay ships were never going to be explicitly canon.(Kishimoto traumatized me). Not because of lack of material, but because there's a whole context and a lot of external circumstances we sometimes forget about (and Kishimoto traumatized me). There was a reason why Togashi couldn't make his queer manga in the 90s, which, I'm sorry, I don't consider it to be that long ago. And there is a reason why he can't explicitly say that characters like Pouf or Hisoka are gay (despite being totally obvious and them being villains).

I still find it admirable how Togashi included so many queer elements in his stories and got away with it. And he's a mangaka that does shonen. And not just any shonen, a battle manga in Shonen Jump. (He included a trans man in Level E and made him transition. The way Togashi explains some things about this character may be a bit problematic, but Togashi still did this). And those queer elements are still there and are still as canon as when he wrote it the first time. Pouf is as gay as he is dramatic. And Ging and Pariston still have that sexual tension (and I'm 100% sure they fucked or they are going to fuck in the near future or both). And Killua is still the queerest boy I've seen in the longest time.

Sometimes, I think there's a possibility of Killugon being canon. But only because of Togashi's history and tastes. He may feel a bit rebellious and just go with it, he's so unpredictable that I'm always expecting anything and everything from him (I mean, he did what he did with Hisoka and Illumi and so many other things). However, he's an introvert, I'm not sure if he actually wants the attention he would get if he actually goes with it. And that is something we should also respect. (I do think the most plausible option is Killugon to be as ambiguous as they are now.)

In relation to ending D, I don't think we should worry that much. At the end of the day, it is an ending he doesn't consider anymore. (At least we can sleep well knowing that the ending he wants to do doesn't have to do with Grandpa Gon). What's important is what he writes and does in the manga. That is what speaks louder than anything.

Though, I do think it's going to be a pain in the ass interacting with other fans. I'm not looking forward to it. (At least they are going to stop saying that Kurapika will die, I hope!). What I'm looking forward to is the new Killugon content in the fandom.

My personal take

Gon =/= Ging. I could say a lot about this, since one of the things I love the most about Hunter X Hunter is what he did with these two and Gon's arc, but I think this is clear enough.

So!

After saying all of this, I think the only thing we should consider as canon is the manga. If he doesn't write it, it didn't happen.

If he's saying the truth, he may be thinking about how to finish Hunter X Hunter sooner or later. Even though so many fans say that they want an ending, I feel like we are not ready. Not even for Gon marrying a lizard and having beautiful lizard-babies in the Dark Continent.

I hope I was coherent enough. I have no answers, only thoughts and thoughts! I feel like we can only speculate and ending D is so confusing because how did we even get there?

I may be going through all the stages of grief again tomorrow, but I wanted to share my thoughts (at least partially). I may erase it if I feel too uncomfortable, but yeah!

Conclusion: Let's just take it with a light heart and wait to see what happens! (I know it's hard).

[dairy-farmer]

Ok so obviously we all love when lots of people love Tim, especially when it's a rivalry thing where they keep trying to steal Timmy for themselves. But! This is almost always between the Bats: Bruce vs Dick vs Jason vs Damian. But have we considered... Damian vs Ra's?

Damian may have started out not liking Tim much, almost exclusively because of the whole 'favored heir/protege/general succession crisis' thing and Damian's jealousy. But Tim is just such a magnetic person, drawing people to him easily (Damian remembers a rather funny incident where Tim laid into a villain about how their stupid plan hinged on Tim trying to solve everything by himself, and how Tim isn't Batman - he actually has friends! And isn't afraid to ask for help!) that Damian can't help but start to genuinely like him.

And then one day Damian either notices the little gifts and trinkets that seem to appear addressed to Tim from Ra's, or one of his old friends/acquaintances/spies in the league mentions how obsessed Ra's is with Tim (even joking about how it's unclear whether Ra's wants Tim to be his heir or birth his heirs.) and Damian is like 'Wait, that was an option?!?' mixed with a good dose of 'How dare Grandfather try to steal Timothy away from us!'.

So now Tim is being hunted courted targeted by two Al Ghuls. Suddenly, Ra's 'thoughtful' gifts of lingerie and only slightly poisoned/drugged chocolates are being intercepted, and his dear grandson had started making romantic overtures towards his Detective. And poor Tim is caught in the middle (although Damian throwing his hat into the ring isn't that bad; at least he isn't trying to drug him or excessively sexualizing/objectifying him 😑).

Ra's shows up in Gotham for a 'friendly' chat with Damian, and the whole thing is very uncomfortable and vaguely terrifying for everyone watching: just ice cold smiles, an incredibly charged staring contest, and pointed comments, very thinly veiled threats, and double and triple entendres aimed at Tim.

Ra's :"I am the leader of the most powerful assassins in the world, with incredible wealth and power!"

Damian : "As a Drake-Wayne, Timothy will be one of the most powerful people in the Americas, let alone the world, and without having to be connected with killers - people that anyone who truly cares about and values Timothy knows he does not wish to be associated with."

Ra's : "I doubt our dear Detective had much interest in an untested child."

Damian : "And you think he'd prefer an ancient relic such as yourself?"

Ra's : "... Listen here you little -!"

Damian : "Careful of your blood pressure... Boomer."

Tim: "Do I get a say in this or...?"

Dick makes a joke about Damian 'licking Tim to claim him as his own, like Tim's a doughnut or something' and Jason goes straight for the 'at least neither of them has pissed on you yet to mark their territory'.

This goes on for a couple years, with Damian and Ra's constantly trying to one up each other. Damian will get Tim tickets to a concert he's been dying to see as well as offering to cover his patrol routes so he doesn't need to feel guilty about going, and Ra's will retaliate by delivering some evidence that Tim needs to break up two international trafficking rings. Ra's will send Tim proof that Captain Boomerang had been... dealt with, and Damian will orchestra the very public humiliation of Lex Luthor (Tim had recently complained that Lex had upset his best friend Kon, so he was ecstatic. [The only reason Damian isn't suspicious of Kon and Tim's relationship is that he is aware that Kon is 'terminally straight' and the one time someone suggested they were together they both pretended to throw up.]). And on and on.

One day, sometime in the future, Ra's gets a text with a picture and short messages. The image is a tasteful selfie showing Damian -shirtless and a bit sweaty- propped up in bed with a sleeping Tim laying on his chest -hair mussed and with some very obvious hickies. The message simply says "I win".

~🦇❤️

😭😭😭😭 damian being petty enough to send a selfie after he fucked tim

it has so much palable energy and im able to picture it so clearly because it reminds me so much of this !!!!

😭😭😭

[iwritenarrativesandstuff]

P5R Random Thoughts #3: Annoyance, Anger, and Conviction

Or, just a couple more random thoughts about Joker.

I actually do enjoy that Joker seems to sometimes get genuinely frustrated with his friends' antics - I don't know if it reads that way to anyone else, but a combination of his dialogue options and character model body language definitely reads that way to me.

He's gotten mildly annoyed with Ryuji's loudness on several occasions - often having dialogue choices that are essentially some variant of "keep your voice down!" Much as Joker feels what I suspect is quite a lot of gratitude for Ryuji's unflinching support and passion (he was his first friend in Tokyo, after all - no deal, just friendship), his dialogue options also become a lot more passive aggressive during early Kaneshiro arc - and small wonder, because Ryuji's eager carelessness actually did get them caught; thankfully by Makoto, and not law enforcement. Of course, he still cares a lot about Ryuji; I think he's just a little frustrated right now.

He's usually pretty chill with Morgana bossing him around - for what reason, I honestly couldn't tell you, but he does pretty much anything that not-cat recommends. However, when Morgana spontaneously invites Yusuke to stay with Joker without asking him, Joker kind of "!!" and looks at him. It's then followed up with everyone deciding to invite themselves to Joker's place, again, without asking him and Morgana encouraging it. The scene ends with Joker straight up elbowing/jostling Morgana in the bag after everyone's left for Leblanc. Pfft.

He tells Yusuke to hurry it up in Mementos when he gets too in the zone... and much as you can't rush an artist, they do near immediately get jumped by Shadows after that, so, you know, he does have a point.

Even with Ann, Joker frequently sweatdrops at her kind of out-there ideas of how to strengthen her heart. While I wouldn't call it annoyance, per se, there is at least one scene I can think of where two of the options straight up shut her down, and the last is basically a sarcastic "good luck with that", which Ann proceeds to take at face value as encouragement, leading to Joker sweatdropping once again. Lol.

So many of these are basically the equivalent of Joker going >:( at his friends and them typically completely not noticing which is funny as heck.

Also, because I'm the kind of person who loves to read into things, I think it can tell us a little more about Joker. What actually frustrates him here?

Drawing attention to the group in the real world - something he actively tries to avoid, at first, because of consequences for him, and then, because it puts the thieves at risk

Getting himself and the group into unnecessary trouble - so we've got two instances of Joker being mindful of potential consequences

People getting invited over without being asked first - this one's a little ambiguous as to why. Could be a simple courtesy thing, could be related to Joker's earlier obvious discomfort with people getting in his personal space without permission, could be that he likes his privacy. Personally, I suspect he's actually somewhat embarrassed and a little concerned about what his friends' reactions will be to where he's staying - I do have some reasons for this interpretation but ultimately, no matter what reason you ascribe, he's definitely not initially happy about this spontaneous invitation by Morgana.

I think we can even condense the first two and say that Joker seems to be a little more focused on outcomes and consequences than much of the rest of his group, who (before Makoto joins) very much people who act in the immediate moment. He's not quite on par with Morgana's brand of pragmatism, but he does seem to always be at least thinking ahead.

There are a few exceptions, however.

Joker's actual anger is something he is evidently not good at hiding. He has an excellent poker face, but his eyes and, apparently, the way he speaks give it away entirely. To hide his anger, he outright has to not say anything and obscure his face. That actually does not seem like someone who is especially good at hiding strong emotions, even if he can school the rest of himself.

Ann, of all people, has to make excuses for his obvious disdain towards a cop. Every single dialogue option is some flavour of snippy comment. His character model continues to stare directly at said cop, even after Ann interrupts.

He is not thinking about consequences here. Joker fucking hates cops, and he is either very bad at hiding it - or he has no desire to. A very similar thing happened with Kamoshida too. He has nothing but disdain for abusers with power and authority over those they hurt. He also outright doesn't trust the justice system at all after seeing how it failed him and so many others ("They do more than the cops" <-hello. on live tv no less.).

And this leads to something else that's actually a fairly interesting facet to his character that I'm curious to see if it'll get acknowledged in some way.

For the most part, despite the Metaverse confidence and flashiness (which I feel isn't a great metric anyways - all the thieves are like that), Joker responds to most compliments and successes by either complimenting the whole team in turn, or brushing it off as luck or not a huge deal. This is likely in part a cultural thing, but when it comes to genuine appreciation being shown, he does seem to have some semblance of humility about it all - which is why it's almost hilariously shocking how pushy he can be about helping others.

He chases after Ann because she's upset, even though initially she told him not to. He corners some of the students getting exploited by Kaneshiro and won't leave until they tell him the details, even resorting to playing into the rumours about him so that they'll talk. He overhears his confidants in some kind of trouble on several occasions and near immediately asks them about it, and then continues to bring it up if they don't elaborate. It's notable that these instances are some of the few things he decides to do himself, without Morgana's explicit encouragement. I suspect a lot of this is because he has so little faith in anyone else to do the right thing - he has no trust in the justice system, and most adults don't seem to care. But Joker cares, and he will listen to what happened, and he will do something about it, and he will help, and he does so by refusing to let up - he does not wait for someone to ask for help necessarily, he just kind of goes and does it. It's not like I can't see the rationale here, but it's also, kind of, a little bit... presumptuous, in a way.

Again, it's a fascinating contrast with his typical (at least apparent) humility, and his kind of wishy-washy dialogue from early game - Joker has always been firm about this.

The official forming of the Phantom Thieves at the buffet is a scene that really caught my eye for this. Again, much as Joker has the same level of anger as his friends, his answers are still largely "probably"s and "maybe"s. He "hadn't even considered" continuing to act as Phantom Thieves. But interestingly, there is one dialogue option that is stated with none of the usual hesitancy or vagueness - "I want to help people". <- It's the crux of his awakening. This is Joker's true conviction. And he's willing to do anything, be whoever he needs to be, to see this through. He wants to help. He can't bring himself to look away.

Asserting the Phantom Thieves' brand of justice is a conviction that arises later on through proof of the effectiveness of changing hearts, and as a natural extension of his growing familiarity and confidence in their methods. Joker nearly always needs a little push to get started, but once he gets going, he's kind of relentless. He doesn't seem to be truly all that angry with either Makoto or Akechi for their questioning of the thieves' justice (barring his initial reaction), but he does, again, get annoyed at the assumption that the thieves are somehow a threat to people who aren't inflicting harm onto others - Joker says the thieves only target "criminals", implying that even though others may see them as criminals themselves, Joker does not agree. And when Makoto winds up joining them, there appears to be no residual hard feelings from him - she's like them, and she's come around.

It's likely too soon for me to state with any certainty, but I do think that's what Joker is hoping for - that people will come around if he gives them undeniable proof that they help instead of harm. Every character has at least some "selfish" motive to being a Phantom Thief, in addition to the shared goal of providing courage for those left abandoned by society. Ryuji wants positive instead of negative attention for once, Morgana wants his memories, Ann wants to alleviate her feelings of guilt surrounding Shiho, Yusuke aims to understand the human heart, and Makoto wants to feel useful and needed. What about Joker?

He started off this story just trying to help. No one believed him. He was punished for "hurting" someone and there was nothing he could say or do that would convince anyone otherwise. It was his word against society's. And when the Phantom Thieves' motives are brought up, it's the same questions: aren't they going to hurt people? Aren't they dangerous and untrustworthy? And this frustrates Joker in a similar way to the rumours surrounding his own arrest, but now - now he has proof. Proof that they helped, proof that this works. It's undeniable, to him, that real good is coming of this. And so now he has a leg to stand on; he can actually argue his point by saying "the Phantom Thieves aren't like that; look at the people they're helping, and how the people who should've done something can't do half the good they do". It's no longer his word against the rest of the world. He's counting on people being unable to deny what they are forced to witness.

In a way, Joker now has grounds not just to plead the Phantom Thieves' justice... but also his own innocence and good intentions. His defense of their justice is also, I believe, a defense of his own ego, to an extent.

[howtofightwrite]

Professional Monster Removal

So, you've been hired to clear out a monster (or monsters) infesting a building in (or around) a modern city. What do you do?

The first problem is that you can't trust what your client tells you. Not in the sense that you think they're intentionally lying to you, but rather, they don't know what they're talking about.

If they tell you it's a vampire, that's basically meaningless. As myths go, vampires are more of a catch all for a staggering number of monsters from folklore, and while you wouldn't want to deal with most of those critters, your options for disposing of them (or even identifying where they are in the building, and assessing how dangerous they are) are far more picky. It's a bit like working as a normal exterminator and when you ask what the client needs removed they only offer, “it's furry.” Yeah, that's not helping anyone, buddy.

Werewolves aren't much better. The modern bipedal wolf monster is basically a Hollywood invention, dating back to the mid-20th century. There's absolutely no folklore support for it. That doesn't mean that in your world that flavor of nine-foot tall snarling deathbeast isn't a reality, but it's going to be hard to research. More often, werewolves were humans who took the form of a wolf, usually through some form of magical ritual. Knowing what that ritual is would be critical to identifying and eliminating them. Of course, this does come with the problem of leaving behind a very human looking body (in some cases), and that could be an entirely different problem, depending on exactly how well job is.

If they tell you it's a demon, that's almost more worthless than telling you it's a vampire. First off, there is no way to know that they've actually got a demon, and not just some random spirit. If they do have a demon, I hope you've brushed up on your advanced theology, because this is going to get extraordinarily messy. And, there's a very real danger that whatever you've run into has the capacity for completely unmaking small parts of reality. Or it could just be an unusually malicious house cat. Really, demon is even more of a catch all term for, “something we don't understand, but we're pretty sure it scares us.”

If it's fairies? Run. Just run. You're not getting paid enough for this, they can have their deposit back. It'll be fine. They're smarter than they look, and way more malicious and vindictive than you realize.

Just walking away is also pretty good advice for any esoteric, “list of rules,” you may get handed. Sometimes, this is pretty obvious safety considerations, like don't wander around in darkened rooms while the critter is loose, but when you start seeing things like keeping to a schedule, that's a very good sign that, either, whatever you're dealing with is sophisticated enough that some simple rituals and a catch pole will not get the job done. Or, alternately, someone (probably your client) is using you as bait,  or planning to feed you to the critter. This overlaps pretty strongly with the warning about fairies above, the Venn diagram isn't a perfect circle, but there's a lot of overlap.

Now, this doesn't mean you should ignore your client, but it does mean, you're going to need to do a lot of footwork after they hire you. This is not the fun kind of research. If they say vampires, you're going to need to be conversant in the many, many, vampire myths throughout human history. Sometimes you can shoot them. Sometimes you need silver and garlic. Amusing, on the cliché of, “forget all you know about vampires...” there is one element of folklore that actually doesn't exist; vampires don't need your permission to enter a dwelling. Now, a lot of vampires are extremely obsessive compulsive (yeah, this is the hilarious moment where you realize Sesame Street's Count has a legitimate grounding in folklore), so, they may want that invitation for psychological reasons, but it's not a mystical barrier that will protect you. Get them angry enough and they will forget themselves, cross the threshold, and rip you to pieces. (Though, in some cases, churches and temples may repel them. It goes with the holy symbols thing in general.)

That said, the holy symbols isn't specifically a vampiric vulnerability, more just a general ward against monsters, when it pops up. So, this is one to be very cautious of, but it can be useful in a lot of situations if you're receptive to that.

When you're doing your initial walk through, of the residence, keep an eye out for certain tells. You'll pick this up with practice. The direct signs of the critter are always nice, but finding secondary evidence of regarding the site's residents shouldn't be ignored. Keep an eye out for large amounts of esoterica, evidence of objects having been recently removed from the site (or recently added to it), evidence of ritualistic practices (often these will originate from the human residents themselves, rather than the critter, but, obviously, that's not always the case), and other anomalies. You're not just looking for tufts of fur, or forensic evidence, you also need to know why the critter is there.

So, you've identified your pest, hopefully. Under the best possible circumstances, you should now have a roadmap for dealing with these things. Here's the bad news, in some cases, that won't actually give you any tools to deal with it. A distressing amount of folklore will tell you how to avoid dealing with the critter in the first place but then washes its hands of what to do after the critter has been provoked.

Worse, and more frustratingly, folklore will sometimes give you bad information. Yeah, the biggest problem with folklore is, the more dangerous the critter, the less reliable your information will be. If someone offers you to clear out a nest of crawlers, my advice would be to not do it alone, and don't get too attached to the people you work with. There is no reliable folklore on those things, and 99% of the, “lore,” that does exist is internet fiction, written by people trying to spook each other out. As for sifting out that last one-in-a-hundred? Good luck.

This brushes against a related topic, you cannot trust research you pull off the internet. Obviously, things are a little different when you're digging through well documented myths, but when you start getting into more esoteric topics, the signal to noise ratio hops off a cliff. This doesn't mean the internet is useless, it can be useful for a brief overview (if you have the time to sort things out), and of course it's amazing for communicating with your colleagues. However, expect that when you need to dig into local folklore, you're going to need to spend time in the city's libraries, digging through books no one cares enough to scan and post online. For the most part, newspapers have been saved and uploaded, though if you're in the middle of nowhere, you might run into a small town paper that hasn't kept up to date.

So, what do you need to do? Remember that your job is to remove the errant critter from the site, not necessarily kill it. (Try to avoid those stipulations when you can. It can result in really unfortunate situations when you're dealing with something that literally cannot die.) Prioritize elimination in cases where the creature cannot be moved, or will return to the site regardless what you do, but remember you're getting paid to remove it, not to play hero, and you're certainly not getting paid enough to die over a spelling error in someone's circle of protection.

This brushes against a (hopefully) rare problem; amateurs. Yeah, it doesn't matter how much research you do, if your perfectly baited trap gets trampled by some bumpkins who broke in with shotguns and flashlights because they heard some monster was on the loose. Mercifully, these guys are a self-solving problem more often than not. If the critter kills them, then they're not your problem. In some rare cases, amateurs can even be useful, either as bait, or as a new vessel to get the critter off the site and make it a problem for someone else. If that sounds callous, remember that between their poor trigger discipline, misplaced hero complex, and unpredictability, they're more dangerous to you than the monster you're trying to evict. Sure, a century old specter that preys on hope is going to be harder to kill, but these guys are just dumb enough to shoot you in the head if you startle them. Or if they get it in their heads, somehow, that you're the one responsible for the infestation in the first place.

If you're, “lucky,” enough to get repeat business, that's probably a bad thing and the client is not going to be happy about it. In these specific cases, (assuming it's actually a new critter, and not a case where the original one wandered home after being released somewhere distant), your priority changes to identifying what brought the creature back here. Some critters are extremely territorial, and will return home no matter what you do (these are times when you really do need to find a way to permanently eliminate it.) However, if various critters of the same variety found the place appealing, presumably independently of one another, then you need to identify why. Again, this going to take some research, and you might even need to bring in a specialist (if you have access to one.) These kinds of situations can be really frustrating because the client is likely to be pissed with you over the new infestation, and believe its due to your incompetence, not because they didn't disclose critical information the first time round.

Checking city records regarding the place, even land claims and the history of a place become significantly more important on a return visit. (Now, if you're being thorough, you should have checked this the first time, and sometimes you'll even have time to, but if we're being honest, that stuff is rarely relevant, and you won't often have the time to dig through city records.) On the bright side, in the 21st century, a lot of those kinds of records are now available online, and free, so the days of wandering around in some sub-basement of city hall are (mostly) a thing of the past.

This is just napkin math, but figure that about one in four infestations can be traced back to a human cause. Either someone moved into the critter's territory and it's trying to drive them out, someone did something “very bad” and now they have a critter focused on them, or (worst of all), someone deliberately brought the critter here, lost control of it, and now wants you to remove it. The first two can result in repeat business if you simply remove (or even eliminate) the infestation, first time around. The third can also result in repeat business as well, but with a critical tell, the client's going to be fine with bringing you back. This isn't necessarily a red flag, but it is something to be cautious of.

Note that, in cases where the critter is focused on hunting down a specific individual, it may be in your best interest to simply stay out of its way. Actively helping the creature is a major liability risk, as you'll now be implicated in their death, but again, your job was to remove the creature from the site, and if that's accomplished, you can point to your contract and move on with your day. Similarly, getting in the  critter's way can be a very bad idea. That said, there's no guarantee the critter will voluntarily leave after it's managed to satisfy whatever's driving it. So, this becomes just one more consideration you need to weigh.

So, what do you do? Pay attention to the details, identify the critter, use that information to formulate a plan, and never forget that you're not getting paid to die on the job.

-Starke

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[vodika-vibes]

Omggg I was melting from flirtatious Seventeen, I love him being a shameless flirt 😫 Could you please do one where reader is very self conscious and just doesn’t see what 17 sees so she thinks he’s just messing with her when he says suggestive things? Maybe reader has an obvious crush on him so she assumes that because 17 knows he just flirts with her to embarrass her or try to get with her. Sorry if this is really long and specific😅, we all love everything you do btw! Thanks!

For Them

Summary: Alpha-17 has been driving you insane for ages now, and that mixed with the stress of your current responsibility is just too much.

Pairing: Alpha-17 x Reader

Word Count: 1358

Warnings: Kaminoans are assholes who experiment on babies

Tagging: @trixie2023 @n0vqni

A/N: So...I kind of went a little off the rails on this one. I had a plan, and then I started writing, and I got distracted by clone babies. Sorry.

Sometimes you hate the fact that you’re so easy to read. If you were just a little better at hiding your emotions, you wouldn’t be in this situation. Well, you hope you wouldn’t be in this situation.

After all, if your crush on Alpha wasn’t so obvious, he wouldn’t have any reason to tease you so much, right?

Because there’s absolutely no way that he means what he says when he flirts with you, or makes those suggestive comments to you.

Best case scenario he’s just trying to get into your bed for a bit of quick fun. Worst case scenario, he’s trying to humiliate you. And if you didn’t need this job so badly, you would have transferred out to somewhere else.

Tragically, this job is the best one for you at the moment, and you can’t just leave the cadets-

You purse your lips as you focus your attention back on your datapad and the information on the screen. You need to focus, you can’t afford to be distracted by Alpha right now. The Kaminoans decided to play with the genetic makeup of some of the tubies, and it’s a whole thing.

Three of them are albino, which comes with its own host of health issues that need to be mitigated. Two were born totally blind, and another three are going to be blind unless you figure out a way to keep their immune system from attacking their eyes (honestly cybernetics for all five of them will probably be the easiest option, after all no one’s figured out how to keep human’s immune systems from attacking their eyes), and one was born without the ability to use his legs.

Honestly, the urge to take all 9 of them and flee Kamino is getting stronger with every passing day, but as of right now, there’s no way for you to get them off Kamino without drawing the ire of several very dangerous men, Alpha at the top of the list.

You push your fingers through your hair as you scan the medical data coming from CT-238-765’s (his name is Grim and you’re pretty sure you love him) cradle and you scowl. He’s never going to be able to walk. Maybe with surgery-

“If you keep scrunching your face up like that, you’re going to get wrinkles,” A deep voice says from the door, and you yelp and your datapad tumbles out of your hands.

You whip around, your eyes wide, and then you press your hand over your heart, “Don’t do that!”

Alpha-17 grins at you, “Did I spook you, mesh’la?”

You scowl at him and duck down to scoop the tablet back into your hands, turning the screen away from the larger man so he can’t see just how bad these tubies are, “Did you need something?”

He drags his gaze down your body, and you fold the datapad over your chest as you fight the urge to shift uncomfortably. His grin broadens, “Yeah, I can think of a thing or two that only you can help me with.”

Your face burns, “There are babies in the room,” You hiss at him.

“They’re too young to understand what I’m saying, sweetheart,” Alpha replies as he enters the room properly, and peers into one of the cradles, “Honestly, I could probably bend you over in here and none of them would even know it.”

You sputter, “You…you don’t know-that’s totally inappropriate-”

He laughs, and moves to peer into Grim’s cradle, and you immediately move to put yourself between Alpha and the infant, without thinking about it. “You’re not allowed to handle him. Technically, you’re not allowed to handle any of the babies. Remember?”

Alpha rolls his eyes and lightly nudges you to the side, “The rule was only enforced when the Prime was alive, which he’s not.” You move to the side as he nudges you, curse you for being so weak in his presence.

“Only because everyone else is afraid of you,”

“You’re not.” He grins at you, “You want to fuck me.”

Your face burns, and you glare up at him, “There. Are. Children. Present.” You hiss at him.

“Yeah, yeah. So you’ve said.” He regards Grim silently for a moment, “Also, that wasn’t a denial, gorgeous. Why isn’t he moving his legs?”

“He’s fine. And I’m not going to sleep with you just so you win whatever twisted game you're playing with me,” You snap, though you keep your voice quiet, “And don’t touch-” You sigh when Alpha reaches into the cradle and pokes the infant’s foot, and he doesn’t react.

“The fact that you think I’m  playing a game with you is hurtful, gorgeous.” Alpha replies, a frown crossing his scarred face as he looks down at the infant, “He can’t feel his legs.”

“He’s fine.” You say, your voice pitching a little higher in sudden panic, “They’re all fine. You can’t tell the longnecks. You can’t. They’ll decommission them.”

“Wait, wait. Hold on,” Alpha looks at you, suddenly no longer interested in teasing you based on the look on his face, “What…there’s something wrong with all of these tubies?”

“Winter, Snow, and Cin-” You motion to the three at the end, “Are all albino. The five in the middle are either blind, or are going blind, and then Grim here-”

Alpha holds up his hand, “What happened?”

“The Kaminoans were playing with their genes.” You say bitterly, “And now these kids are the ones who will suffer for it.” You carefully remove the monitors from Grim’s legs, and attach them to a different baby's legs, altering the data just enough.

Alpha stops you, “How long has this been happening?”

You shrug, “You know that CF-99 exists,” You point out, “They’re not the most popular because they’re assholes, but-”

“We’re all genetically predisposed to be assholes,” Alpha says dryly. His gaze lingers on the babies for a moment, “So, what’s the plan?”

“What?”

“For the tubies.”

You stare at him, “Um…so for the five that are blind, or going blind, I’m planning on making arrangements for them to get cybernetic eyes. As for Grim…I’m working on it-”

Alpha hums thoughtfully, “I have a better idea.”

“You do?”

“Yeah. How do you feel about taking the Tubies and leaving?”

You sputter, “I can’t raise 9 babies on my own without a job-”

“You won’t be raising them alone,” Alpha replies with a roll of his eyes, “I’ll be going with you.”

“...what.”

He looms over you, and you’re very glad that you’ve never been intimidated by Alpha, for all that he flusters you to high heaven. “You think I’m playing with you. That I don’t mean every word that I say to you. Maybe you have cause for that, I’m not going to judge. But I do mean every word, and if I have to run away with you and these kids to make you believe me, then so be it.”

“But…what about your other brothers?”

“They’ll be just fine without me.”

“But-”

“Yes or no, cyar’ika?” Alpha interrupts, “Do you want to ensure that these kids, kids that you named, have a proper life? Or do you want to run the risk of your manipulations getting exposed? And that’s not me threatening you. That’s me pointing out that you’re not going to be able to hide your lies forever.”

Your hands shake, “Of course I want them to grow up happy and healthy, but this is…”

Alpha stares at you and you squeeze your eyes shut for a moment, thinking hard.

“Okay. Okay, but we have to be quick about it. If we get caught-”

“Don’t worry, cyar’ika. I can make sure that we don’t get caught.” He ducks down and brushes his lips against your temple, “Just be ready. We’re leaving tonight.”

And then Alpha is gone, leaving you alone with the 9 babies that you’re about to risk everything for. You sigh and turn to Grim, who looks up at you through big brown eyes, “You’re lucky I love you, kiddo.”

He flashes a toothless grin and grabs your finger, and you melt a little bit. You suppose it’s worth it.

[gay-dorito-dust]

billy batson relationship hcs?

Another lad who’s absolutely boyfriend material even though he might not think it.

Billy, with his obvious abandonment issues, would probably need a lot of reassurance that you weren’t going to just up and leave him in the middle of the night over something inconsequential. After all Billy is just a lost boy in need of a lot of love and affection but he’s scared to admit it out of fear that he’s just only giving people a reason to leave him; He just doesn’t want that to happen to you so he tends to cling on to you tight and hopes you don’t slip through his fingers like sand.

Billy would be that one audio from tiktok I heard ages ago that went something along the lines of; ‘loving someone is to show them your most vulnerable self and pray to god that they don’t break your heart.’ Which I think describes what Billy would be like in a relationship. He’d show you his most vulnerable self, bearing all his scars and wounds before you and praying that you didn’t end up crushing him in the process.

Which you damn well don’t because all you’ve done was hold him as though he were made of cracked porcelain, your hands mending him back together through the art of Kintsugi. You kiss all his scars and ailments whisky calling them the stars that litter his skin. You treat him with a gentle kindness that he wasn’t use to before and once he got a taste for it, he never wants it to go away…even if he does suck at asking for affection within the first few weeks of dating.

An couple of examples of this would be that if Billy were to want a hug, he’d stand nearby all fidgety, running his hands over one another as his eyes were down cast to the floor in an expression that would have one think that he was upset but in reality he was mulling over in his head how he was going to ask. You, somehow seeing through this, would smile and open your arms for him and watch in amusement as he would shuffle into your arms and feel him melt in your embrace.

When he wants to hold your hand, he’d subtly brush his hand against the back of yours a couple of times before you get the hint and grasp his hand, always making sure to intertwine your fingers with his and squeeze tightly so he knows that this wasn’t some figment of his imagination.

Each and every time he’d do this you always say to him, ‘don’t be afraid to ask, I’m not going anywhere anytime soon. I’m here to stay.’

Ever since then Billy, whenever in need of comfort, would just flop himself onto you and it didn’t matter where you were during then because for how long he wished, you were stuck within his embrace but you weren’t complaining, He gives the best, most protective, warm and safe hugs you’ve ever experienced.

Protective, devoted and overall loyal. These three words are the best to describe Billy as a boyfriend. He’s naturally protective over you and tends to get overly worried about where you are when you haven’t returned his texts in the past 10 minutes, which causes his mind to overthink of all the bad that could possibly happen, and he’d soon be out that door faster then anyone can say Shazam. Freddy would have to be the one to give him peace of mind whenever this happens but it’s all effectively fruitless with Billy because loosing you wasn’t an option he was willing to consider ever happening. So I wouldn’t be surprised if he uses his alter ego to check up on you to make sure you weren’t in any real danger.

Loyal- Billy is as loyal as they come, if not the most loyal of even the most loyal of people, and he -much like Freddy- would rather be in your corner no matter what. He prioritises your happiness and well-being over his own sometimes and you have to remind him that being in a relationship is of the responsibility of both people, not just one. Still Billy would make sure your happy with him no matter what, even if he’d have to make a goof out of himself, he’d do it for you within a heartbeat.

Billy’s love languages -in my opinion- are quality time, words of affirmation and acts of service. Though the words of affirmation don’t come until he’s comfortable with himself and the relationship but it does happen.

He’d do small thing for you to express his affection even when he’s probably told you how much he appreciates you the day before, he’s got a massive heart that withholds a lot of love that’s just impatiently waiting to be shared. He’d make you a drink in the morning, tuck you tightly in bed at night, hold your bag for you, help you with any form of workload, make you light snacks when you forget to eat, carry you to bed when he finds you asleep in an uncomfortable position that would most definitely given you a crooked neck and a scream back.

He’s a bit of a nerd so if you were into all that superhero stuff like he is, then you’d for sure have debates on who the better superhero was or who had the coolest suits, weapons, powers, sidekicks, etc. it was just a fun way of bonding for the both of you outside of gaming, going on little arcade dates and movie nights and the like because it gave you all the more reason to hear his impassioned words. He looked youthful when he does so, his face clear of any and all worry and frown lines that seemed to have permanent residency on his face.

He adores you wearing his clothes and if you were to ever give them back, they suddenly become his favourite article of clothing because of how your scent clung to the fabric, subtly giving them back to you when they stopped smelling like you as a silent gesture for you to keep doing it because he loved having a part of you with him when you can’t be together physically.

[lxmelle]

The currency of love

I sometimes read things on social media about how some fans are upset that Gojo didn’t mention his students in the afterlife. To the point where there comes theory after theory over why he will come back to life.

I get it. I do. It’s understandable. Not only for those who think the strongest should win, but also those who wish to see their beloved Gojo sensei show love to his students. Amongst other reasons of course.

I somehow also see how this desire for his resurrection comes at the expense of Gojo who clearly didn’t seem to want to be back to life in 236. Is it really loving Gojo to want him back to life to have that burden all over again? And idk, why is there really a doubt that he cared? Does he need to be revived in order for this to be demonstrated? I guess there is a wish for it to be confirmed more, like they need it mentioned aloud / shown more.

I mean, I do get the desire for it to be validated, just as I also love the feeling of seeing Satosugu moments.

However, I do want to bring to attention the factor of how there are many ways in which love is expressed. Just as much as there are many different types of love.

I’ll be brief.

For Geto, his whole CT is about self-sacrifice Currency of love. For Gojo, he was born to be Strong and this was a Currency of love for him. (There are obviously different currencies, but I won’t elaborate further for the purposes of being as succinct as possible)

Geto - self sacrifice. I’ll work hard for a purpose, swallow cursed balls, commit sins, create a new world meticulously, sacrifice my love and myself.

Gojo - strength. Get strong, find strength, be selfish. Protect, save. And literally, his body was given up for others to inherit. Like a businessman gifting his empire to his kin. If that’s not a form of love then what is? How can he come back to life if that isn’t even an option once you’re dead? Going North is NOT COMING BACK TO LIFE.

The fact that Gojo worked with others like his students to create a plan of action speaks volumes. He pushed himself hard in the battle : to look cool and be a good example for them, mentioning them, including them openly in his words to Sukuna - as if to say, “look closely! This is how you do it. This is how you be strong. Fight with all that you’ve got. Be victorious.”

Obv it’s different to the love between him and Geto - because love for others like children and students will never replace that or your life partner / soulmate. It’s just different. It cannot be expected to be the same. His question to who he was (strong or himself) had been answered: he is both, but he wanted to be human, lived mostly like a human, and being human in the afterlife meant being who he was (so he chose South).

I don’t know why Gege didn’t write Gojo talking about the students. But, I think it’s pretty obvious that Gojo cared and gave the battle his all... and gave his students his all too.

Geto’s family inherited his will. His currency of love.

Gojo’s family inherited his weapon. His currency of love.

[justanothersanjilover]

One Piece Modern Gym Au Wip (Part 10)

Zoro walked into the room first. He could hear someone rummaging in back, and saw someone bend over a few boxes, but paid no actual attention to it.

„So, where is it?“ He asked and looked for a machine.

„In the back,“ Nami answered and gestured for him to got see for himself. „I think you‘ll know what wrong when you see it. I have to go back.“

And with that, Nami left and closed the door. Zoro spun around as he heard the clicking of the lock.

„Oi! Witch! What are you doing?!“

He walked over and pulled on the door but it didn’t open. He let his fist hammer against it, but Nami didn’t come back.

„The fuck is wrong with you?!“ He yelled against the metal in front of him.

„Z…Zoro?“

The voice behind him made him freeze. Of course! Anger bubbled up inside him. Of fucking course!

„Was this your idea?“ He grumbled without turning around.

„What? I don’t…“

„Wasn’t it enough for you to come to Luffy’s place? Now you getting Nami involved? And for what?!“

„Zoro, I think you don’t understand! Let me…“

Zoro wiped around marching right into Sanji‘s space - but this time Sanji didn’t move. He stood his ground, starring Zoro in the eye. He wouldn’t back down! Not this time!

„Fine! Tell me! That the girls are right! That I‘m disgusting! That I‘m an idiot for doing it! Say it to me and then leave me be!“

Sanji looked irritated. What was he babbling on about?! The girls talked about another girl, not a ma…Oh…Oh! Sanji‘s eyes went wide. Oh shit! Why hadn’t he caught up on that earlier?! Fuck!

„Zoro…“

„Get it over with! There is no one stoping you!“

Now Sanji scoffed and took another step toward Zoro, closing the little distance they had left.

„You are an idiot!“

„I,“ Zoro started to scream - started to defend himself - and then stopped as he realized he didn’t have to. „What?“

„You‘re a fucking idiot!“ Sanji jabbed a finger against Zoro’s chest. “You actually thought this whole time, that I’m on the side of those two girls?! Even when I didn't know what exactly was going on in their conversation! I didn't even know who they were talking about, you oaf! You’re such a dumbass!”

Zoro stared at Sanji in disbelief. This whole time, he thought he had poked fun of him when he said he didn't know any new girl coming in. Wasn't it obvious they talked about him? Wasn't it obvious that he…that he’d undergo some surgery? Did he really pass that well?

“You mean…you didn't…you haven't noticed?” Zoro asked, almost to quiet for Sanji to hear.

“No! I didn't! How could I? Do you look in the mirror sometimes?!” Sanji smacked his head lightly - almost playfully. “You look so buff and mannly…how should I know?!”

He took a deep breath and a step backward to calm himself and distance himself a bit from Zoro.

“Listen, I’m sorry I made you think that I was making fun of you. That wasn't what I wanted. I really just wanted to know who they were talking about - mainly to tell that person not to listen to such idiotic words. Those girls? They need to drag others down to feel good about themself. They aren't worth your time, okay? Don't let them drag you down!”

Zoro stared at him for a solid minute and tried to understand what had just happened.

“You…you don't think I’m wrong for getting the surgery and taking hormones?”

Sanji chuckled and shook his head.

“Why should I? You are as you are. What would be the other option? You being depressed or…suicidal? I saw what dysphoria can do to a person - you are not the first trans person I met. That's why you’re so fucking dumb! If you had said anything about it, all this drama wouldn’t have happened! Did I give you any reason to think that I’m transphobic?”

“No…I just…I assumed you maybe are…the way you view women. I haven't met a guy that's not some kind of transphobic or homophobic with that attitude.”

“Well thank you very much for putting me in the same box as those assholes! You don’t even know why I treat women like I do.”

Sanji crossed his arms in front of his chest and looked to the side.

“I’m sorry…” Zoro mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Pardon? I couldn’t understand you.”

“I’m sorry, okay? Fuck, I really messed this up, didn't I?”

Sanji smiled and bumped his shoulder against Zoro’s.

“I give you another chance if you help me sort the boxes Nami needs to get over there.”

“Alright. Don't want you to exhaust yourself and get sore muscles from working too hard,” Zoro teased.

“Asshole!”

“Idiot!”

After shoving each other and giggling, they got to work. The boxes were sorted and put on the other side of the room in no time. It took Nami almost an hour to get back and open the door.

The picture she got was quite something. Zoro sat against the wall, legs crossed in front of him. His head hung low because he was asleep. Sanji was pressed against his side, arms crossed over his chest, head resting against Zoro’s shoulder. She smiled softly while taking a picture with her phone.

prev | next

First Part

[silentglassbreak]

Fragmented

Noah Sebastian x OFC

Please don’t hate me…but it’s gonna get worse. 😬

Warnings: Nothing crazy, just a lot of wanting to rip your own hair out.

+It goes without saying. This is a work of fiction. My words are mine. Plagiarism is a crime.

Taglist: @flowery-mess @lma1986 @myownthoughts12 @poisongirl616 @missduffsblog @reidsblessing @malerieee @jilliemiw86

Part 3 - Drowning

One thing I’ve always prided myself on, is my innate ability to avoid an issue as long as humanly possible. Maybe that’s not a good thing? Maybe it’s just delaying an inevitable issue? That being said, in this particular situation, my problem was a person, and her name was Rachel.

So, naturally, I was avoiding her like the mother fucking plague.

I’m only a human, and a man, at that. I am not blind, I see the issue at hand. I’m attracted to her. And that’s a fucking problem. I could go down the list of reasons why that is a problem, and I have, hundreds of times, over the last three days. However, I decided very quickly after our last encounter that the best possible option was to keep a wide enough distance, not be obvious about it, and survive until I made it back to California and in the arms of the only person I know can make the problem disappear.

I had this plan, and although, with all of my certainty, I knew that it’s not the best one, to see Mileena after the show in San Diego, and have some very serious PDA in front of everyone.

Now, that wasn’t out of the norm for Leena and I, as it was pretty clear to everyone that we were wild for each other. So badly that the other members of our group were sometimes uncomfortable by it.

Then, once I had Mileena to myself, before I allowed anything fun to happen, I would tell her.

I would tell her about Rachel; my giving her a ride home, her answering the door nearly naked, inviting me in to her room.

Might leave out the part where I jerked off to her face, and body, and black boy shorts that barely covered her.

That was what I would take to my grave.

So, imagine my chagrin when Rachel spent the three days following the excursion trying to fucking corner me.

It started with a text I woke up to.

Rachel: Noah…can we talk?

Absolutely not.

The next text came once we were on the bus, and I was safely locked into my bunk.

Rachel: Are you asleep?

Yup.

Then, once we made it to the venue in Atlantic City, and were finishing up the M&G, the next one came.

Rachel: Noah, I really need to talk to you before the show. It’s important.

I sent Nick to go find her, to see if it was a tech issue. I hardly felt like I could handle that again, with all of this other nonsense swirling around in my head. It wasn’t, and she asked where I was.

Nick, none the wiser, sent her to the green room. When I saw the door open, a flash of blonde hair behind it, I slipped into the bathroom.

I heard her sigh heavily, and then the next text came in. This one gave me pause.

Rachel: Well, clearly you’re avoiding me, so I guess I’ll just text you. I just wanted to tell you that I am so fucking sorry. I wish I could say I don’t know what came over me, but I do. Alcohol and absolute insanity. Noah, please believe me when I tell you that I know you are in a relationship, and respect the hell out of that. What happened last night will never happen again. I just don’t want this to ruin our friendship or work relationship. Hopefully this text makes you open to talking after the show.

By this time, I had long since turned my read receipts off, and just stared at the message.

I almost replied. Almost. But, my sane mind taking over, slipped my phone back into my pocket instead.

We didn’t stay at a hotel. Rather, we showered at the venue, and were back on the road within two hours after the show had ended. We had an painfully long drive back to San Diego, so we had to get moving fast.

I laid in my bunk, headphones blasting Sleep Token’s latest album, and was feverishly texting Leena.

I had hoped she hadn’t picked up on my extra-neediness since the night prior, and just chalked it up to me being homesick.

Leena: Addie is walking more. She took twelve straight steps today without falling down!

Me: Oh FUCK YEAH. My little fucking rockstar!

Leena: She misses you so much.

Me: I miss her too. I miss you both more than life itself. But after SD, I’m done touring for at least six months. Probably will never tour again so I don’t miss you guys so much.

Leena: Oh you’re so cute when you lie.

I couldn’t tell if the text was cold or not?

Me: I’m serious. I can’t do this shit without you guys. I’m missing so many of Addie’s milestones.

Leena: We’ll see baby. And I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ve got to get some sleep. I love you, Noah.

Me: I love you more, Leena.

Leena: Promise?

Me: Always.

I had been catching up on the newest season of Stranger Things when I noticed the bus was quiet. I checked the time and saw it was nearly 3AM. I heard and felt no movement about the hallway, so I carefully slid my bunk door open, and hopped out. I was dying for some water and had to pee something fierce.

I froze coming to the end of the hall, noticing a blue light emitting from the couch in the front. I realized quickly it was Folio, and took a relieving breath. I approached him, but he didn’t acknowledge me.

“Hey, late night?” He was staring at his laptop screen, clicking away at the keys.

“Mmm.” Was the only response I received.

I decided disturbing him was probably not the best idea, so I slipped into the bathroom silently. When I stepped back into the hall, he was no longer seated, and was standing at the fridge with the door open.

“I think Nick ate my fucking lunchable.”

I snorted, reaching in next to him for a water bottle. “Probably.”

I cracked the cap and took a long pull. Folio eventually closed the door with a huff, and looked directly at me.

“So,” His eyes were oddly serious, not something I see much in Nick Folio. I raised an eyebrow.

“So?”

“Are you and Rachel just not speaking anymore, or…?”

I felt my heart drop down into my feet, my stomach simultaneously wrapping in a tight knot.

“What do you mean?” I kept myself cool.

“Well, she’s been asking for you, and we keep sending her your way, but she somehow never seems to find you?” His voice had a deadly evenness to it that made my skin crawl. Unless he lived in my brain, what the fuck could he possibly know?

“Well, it was a busy day.” I took another swig of my water to hopefully hide my uneasiness.

He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes. “Yeah? I guess.”

I nodded, hoping that was the end of it. Until he spoke again.

“You guys seemed friendly at the club the other night.”

That was it. Put a bullet between my fucking eyes.

Despite all of my efforts to hide the absolute terror I felt, I knew instantly that it was showing through. He raised his brows in response.

I tried to answer, but choked a little on the residual water in my mouth. I cleared my throat and closed the bottle.

“I just gave her a ride, dude.”

Nick eyed me from head to toe, not buying it.

“Yeah? Cause she seemed real sure about what was going to go down that night. Then you disappeared for an hour.”

My eyes blasted open. “What did you just say?”

Folio tossed his hands up in defense to my sharp tone. “Listen man, I’m no snitch. Not saying I’m going to go crying to Leena about it, but you may not want to shit where you sleep - you get me?”

My jaw had hit the floor, broken through the bottom of the bus, and was tearing along the Indiana asphalt beneath us,

“Folio, you’ve fucking lost it, dude!” He shook his head in amusement, clearly not believing me. “Nothing fucking happened with Rachel! I gave her a fucking ride. That’s it!”

My voice rose, so I instantly brought it back down, not wanting to alert the six other people sleeping.

He nodded then, his body language changing slightly. “Yeah?” He put his hand out to me, fist pushed forward. “On God?”

I bumped his fist. “On God, Buddha, Odin, or whatever other deity. Nothing fucking happened.”

He sighed. “Okay. I believe you dude.” I sighed in relief. “But Noah?” I glanced back up at his face. “If you’re telling the truth, then you should know, she said some pretty graphic shit about you at the bar. Claiming she had you wrapped around her finger, and she could get you into bed. Even with Mileena in the picture.” He glanced knowingly down the bus hallway.

“Watch out for that, dude. I thought Rachel was cool. I might’ve even had a thing for her. But hearing the way she talked about you? Something ain’t right.”

-

The salty, warm air of San Diego wrapped its arms around us as we stepped off of the bus at the hotel. It was refreshing, being so close to the finish line. Aside from my own bout of homesickness, I could see the guys were exhausted, and we were all ready for the post-tour coma, and being in the comfort of our own homes.

The hotel check-in process was tedious. Rachel stood at the counter, handing out keys as the attendant handed them to her.

“Nick.” He snatched his and walked back over to where I stood, waiting. “Folio.”

He took his card without looking at her. Something told me he was a little more than salty about this entire debacle.

“Jolly.” Only one left. “And, Noah.”

When my fingers took the key, her head whipped over and her eyes pierced up at me. I averted my gaze, plucking the card out of her hand, and intended to head to my room immediately.

“Hey! Who let these misfits in here?!”

Everyone’s heads whipped around, looking for the source of the voice. Her eyes were the first thing I caught, a day-breaking smile tearing across my face.

Mileena and Laura were walking through the lobby, waving at us. As soon as Mileena saw me, she broke out in a run. She always did when we were away for so long. It was one of her hopeless romantic traits that I indulged in at every opportunity.

I immediately unshouldered my backpack and began jogging toward her. Her body slammed into mine with only a force she could accomplish. My arms instinctively wrapped around her, securing her right into place against my chest.

I immediately got a face full of her midnight black hair, the scent invading my senses. She smelled like rose hips, fresh brewed coffee, Addison, and home. An overwhelming sense of ease washed over my skin.

Jesus fucking Christ, I love this girl.

She pulled herself back far enough to press her face against mine, her lips mashing mine in a frantic attempt to get as close as possible. My own fought back, nipping her bottom lip, before hers turned up into a smile.

“Thank fuck. I have been dying.” I croaked out.

Setting her feet on the ground, her arms snaked around my midsection, between the lapels of my jacket, burying the side of her face into my chest.

“Not as bad as I have.” Her words were a mumble.

“Look, we get it. You love each other. All star-crossed and shit.” We turned to look at Folio, who was smirking. “But do the rest of us get any love?”

She pulled away from me then, quickly wrapping Folio in an airtight hug. “Ah, I missed you too, punk.”

He chuckled at her and let her go. She made her rounds, even giving Rachel a one-armed embrace, which is when I noticed the look of humiliation on her freckled-face. Standing against Leena, my brain seemed to snap right back into place.

There was no contest. Mileena was stunning. Drop fucking dead mouthwatering. Rachel was…not.

After she made her way back over to me, I slung an arm easily over her shoulders, pulling her close enough to press a soft kiss on the top of her head.

“I thought you guys weren’t coming until tonight?” Nick was standing questionably close to Laura, which caught my eye immediately.

The latter shrugged, and pointed to Leena. “She showed up at my house at 9AM, insisting we leave sooner.”

“Best decision, honestly.” Was all I added.

We all began our trek toward the elevators, stepping in together. My room was on the second floor, so Leena and I stood at the front.

“Guys, I, uh, get you haven’t seen each other in three months, but,” Jolly’s voice was awkward. “we’ve only got like an hour until we have to head to the venue for sound check.”

The doors opened, and I nodded to my friend, acknowledging him. I then turned my head back to my girl, now standing outside the elevator, and flashed her a devilish grin.

“You better fucking run.”

-

Mileena has this way of moaning, and I can’t exactly describe how this is even possible, that sends a legitimate shiver up my spine. It’s chemical, the way her voice raises pitch and cracks at the end. How sometimes it’s my name rolling off her tongue, or just an incomprehensible noise, that makes me coil up and breath ragged. She has me by my fucking hair, and shows no signs of letting up.

Her eyes are always so wet, pleasure-soaked tears spilling down her cheeks, when she’s looking up at me whenever I’m burying myself inside of her.

She looks at me, not like she loves me, but like she knows me. Like she needs me. Like I’m the entire fucking universe and she is just spinning helplessly in some uneven orbit. It’s fucking unbelievable.

So when I finally reach my end, and am collapsed on top of her, fighting for air, I’m also peppering soft, affectionate kisses on her neck while she giggles tiredly.

“You’ve been so warm and fuzzy lately. I’m into it.”

I snicker into her skin, blowing warm air across her throat. “Can you blame me? I’m fucking obsessed with you.”

She sat up slowly, pulling herself away from me.

“And I, you, my love.” She stood off the bed, eyes searching the floor for her panties. “It just kind of came on suddenly. You sure you’re okay?”

She was concerned, which caused a lead brick to form in my gut. It’s guilt. I feel guilty.

“I mean, I’m fine.” I tried to waive a nonchalant hand to brush it off, but she still quirked her eyebrow the way she does, telling me I’m not getting away that easy.

“Yeah? Not very convincing there, Sebastian.” Her tone is playful, but there’s something under it.

“Just been a weird couple of days.”

She was pulling her leggings on. “How so?”

She was still so casual, but I know Mileena. She needed to know.

“Well-“ But before I could continue, there was a a loud banging on the door.

I fully expected to hear Jolly, or Nick, but instead, Rachel’s high-pitched whine came through the door.

“We’re leaving in 5 minutes, Noah! With or without you!”

I saw the face Leena made in response to the thick attitude laced in Rachel’s voice. “Damn, I wonder what’s got her so crabby?”

I sighed, and turned my back toward her while searching for my shirt. “Who knows.”

Soundcheck took way too long today, having to continuously stop for minute inconveniences. One of the laptops crashed, so we were at a complete standstill for about fifteen minutes. In that time, Nick and I decided to take a second look at the set list, trying to switch things up.

“Guys?” We both looked up to see her, galloping toward us, a stressed look on her face. Rachel was wearing a low-cut tee today, with black cargo pants and army boots.

“Listen, this computer is giving us a hell of a time, and I just don’t trust it. Would one of you run out to the bus and grab the backup?”

Nick stood up straight and gave a military salute, before jogging off the stage toward the side door. I chuckled and shook my head, looking back down at the clipboard in my hand.

“Changing it up tonight?”

I scanned the paper over and over, not looking up at her. “Thinking about it.”

“Why not play a song you haven’t played in a while?”

I looked up at her. “Like what?”

She pursed her lips, thinking. “Worst in Me?”

I shook my head. “Song blows live. Plus, we haven’t performed it in years. I doubt any of us even remember how.”

“Well, you pulled off The Fountain a while back.”

The sharpness of her tone struck a cord, so I dropped the clipboard on the amp I sat on, and stood up.

“We did.” I stood tall. I felt challenged.

“So why not play something else from that album?”

Her eyes had something in them. It almost looked like malice.

“Because we only played that song for a very specific reason.”

She scoffed. I almost couldn’t believe I heard it, but there it was.

“For Mileena, right?”

This made me narrow my eyes. Folio was right, something is off about her.

“Yep. For Leena.” My words held no room for argument.

She nodded her head slowly, lolling her tongue around between her teeth, before turning on her heel and walking toward Nick, who had re-entered with the computer in hand.

Something in the pit of my stomach burned, in a very bad, terrifying way.

What the fuck had I gotten myself into?

-

The show ran relatively smoothly. Mileena and Laura stood at the rails, making it easy to come undone more while she watched. We had a good time with our set, goofing around and enjoying ourselves.

After, I made no effort to hang around the green room. I was tired, and all I could think about was Leena, in sweats, wrapped in a hotel comforter, braid in her hair, stuffing her face with a burrito while we watched Stranger Things. It sounded heavenly.

Evidently, the rest of the crew felt similarly, as everyone decided to journey back to the hotel together. It didn’t take long, a short ride over from the venue. I had opted to ride with Laura and Leena, nearly bouncing out of my seat while we talked about the show.

“The crowd was fucking awesome tonight!” I say in the middle of the backseat, leaning between the driver and passenger’s seats, my arm draped over to hold Leena’s hand.

“It’s because we were there.” Laura was confident in her statement, which made Leena and I crack up.

“Oh definitely. You screaming ‘Fuck it up Folio’ really got’em going Lo.”

The ride was easy, and even fun. It helped me ignore the growing anxiety in my stomach.

I had been trying to push it back to the depths of my brain, the conversation. I knew it had to happen, but I couldn’t decide when. Originally, I had planned to tell her when we got back to the hotel; rip the bandage off, so to speak.

My selfishness wanted to wait, have a nice, relaxing night with her before we got home, and I gave her the full rundown.

The scariest part of it all? I had not a clue how she would react.

Mileena was anything but the jealous type. She had watched meet and greets with girls hugging me way too long, interviews where the host flirted with me, concerts where I was literally grabbed by women. It never fazed her. She never let a slip of the eyes, or a twitch of the lips. She always just smiled and told me I was a rockstar. It’s normal.

So she would understand this, right?

Waiting in the elevator was painful. The bus had beat us back to the hotel, and we all ended up, once again, together rising through the hotel. I felt my chest release the breath I had been holding once the door opened. I took Mileena's hand in mine, walking us down the hallway, and headed into our room.

She made herself comfortable, kicking off her Converse near the side of the bed, and flopping down on the blankets.

"Ugh, I'm so tired."

I snorted, pulling my shirt over my head. "Oh, yes. I know you must be so wiped from standing."

She tossed a pillow at me, that I caught and tossed back at her, laughing in the process.

"Listen here, buddy, I've been at home with that demon baby you made, for months!"

I feigned shock, grabbing my chest. "Demon baby? Nah, not my Addie."

She stood back up off of the bed, grabbing her backpack and pulling out her pajama pants.

"Oh please, she's insane, and you know it."

I shrugged. "I mean, she's highly intelligent. She can't help it."

She shook her head and shimmied out of her jeans, but paused before she put her pants on, scrunching her nose.

"Could I ask for a big favor?"

I rolled my eyes dramatically. "Yes, Leena, I'll let you wear my sweats."

She smacked at me with her pants. "No, dork. Can I please shower first?"

I raised an eyebrow. "You want me to join you?" I smirked, sticking my tongue out of the corner of my mouth.

"No." She was abrupt, and my face fell. She let out a sheepish grin. "My period started this afternoon after you left. It's pretty horrendous. Real horror movie shit. I'd rather be alone for that."

I pressed my lips in a tight line and nodded. "Fair enough."

I personally didn't care if she was bleeding, and she knew that, but she did, at least for the first few days, and I respected that.

She tip-toed over to me, and pressed a light kiss on my cheek, smiling sweetly. "Thank you, baby!" She scurried to the bathroom and hollered before shutting the door. "Out in a few!"

I sighed, sitting on the bed, and turned the TV on, flipping to the option for the streaming networks, pulling up Netflix and getting the show ready. I then pulled the fridge door open to see it was understocked, only one water bottle left, and no sodas.

"Babe?" I called from the bed, and made my way toward the bathroom. "The mini fridge is bare. I'm going to run down to the lobby and grab stuff from the snack bar."

"Ginger ale please!" She called from the shower.

"You got it."

I slipped my shirt back on and left the room, making my way toward the lobby. The snack bar was full of food, drinks, and regular amenities.

I grabbed myself a Dr. Pepper, a ginger ale for her, a 3 Muskateers, a bag of skittles, and four water bottles. After telling the attendant to charge it to my room, I was headed back up. It wasn't until after I got off the elevator, plastic bag rustling the only sound around, did I hear the footsteps behind me. I ignored them, continuing my stride toward my room.

"Noah!"

The voice made me stop, and groan loudly. "You've got to be kidding me." I didn't even bother hiding my irritation.

I whipped around, nearly colliding with the body behind me.

"What do you want, Rachel?"

She stepped back, eyes wide. "Gosh, could you at least act like you don't hate me?"

I sighed loudly. "Your room isn't on this floor. What do you need?"

My impatience was clear, and it was meant to be.

"You're still ignoring me! You can't just pretend I don't exist. We work together."

"We're not working together right now. So, technically, yes I can." I turned to walk away, but her hand caught my arm.

"Noah, Jesus Christ!"

I was fed up, wound up, and fucking over this.

"What, Rachel?!" My voice was loud, but I didn't care. She was going to make me be mean to her, but I'd do what I had to, to get my point across.

She took a step toward me. "We never talked after the other night!"

"What the fuck is there to talk about?!"

To that, she looked offended. "Are you kidding? You're seriously going to sit here and act like the night at the club was nothing?!"

"It was nothing! Just because you dreamt up some crazed fantasy in your head about me, doesn't mean that anything that happened that night meant anything!"

She huffed, and I could see the tears welling in her eyes. I felt no sympathy.

"We had fucking fun, Noah! For once, I felt like you actually noticed me!"

My eyes had to mock something like disbelief, because she shrugged, wiping at her eyes.

"We've been working together a while now. I get anything and everything you need, always. I take care of you guys on tour. We spend every damn day together! And after all this time, you just feel nothing?!"

If my eyes were any wider, they may actually fall out of my skull.

"Are you kidding me?!" I took a step back. "That is your fucking job! That's what we fucking pay you for!"

"Oh, and the other night, when you fucking came to my room? That was just part of my job?!" She narrowed her eyes, an anger shining through. "I saw the way you looked at me, Noah. The car ride? The club?" She shrugged. "You didn't feel anything?"

I scrubbed my palm over my face. "No, Rachel! I didn't! I'm in a fucking relationship? What the fuck happened to respecting that?!"

"It's hard to respect when you're shoving it in my fucking face!"

"Shoving it in your face?! Since when does the fucking world revolve around you?!" I squeezed my eyes shut. "For fucks sake, Rachel! You've lost it, or something."

"I know you fucking thought about it, Noah. Tell me you fucking didn't."

For no good reason whatsoever, I was frozen again. Her voice, her eyes on me, she had me fucking cornered. Because if I said no, I was lying. If I said yes, I was an asshole. I wasn't sure which I preferred in that moment.

Her lips curled in a vicious smile. "You did. You wanted to come in that night. You wanted me."

She was fucking sick. Insane. Out of fucking control.

I let my voice fall flat and even. "Rachel, I'm going to warn you, you're playing a dangerous game here." I straightened my spine, standing much taller than her. "And I will remind you, I am your employer."

She shook her head. "You going to fire me for telling you I have feelings for you? After you ogled me half-naked? Yeah, that'll go over well."

My jaw dropped. What the fuck? How the fuck did I get here?

I just wanted to lay in bed, snuggle my girl, and eat fucking candy and junk food. I wanted my daughter, and my dog, and my house. I wanted to not be here. I could feel my throat closing.

"Look, I'll give you space. But, just think about it, okay?"

And with that, she turned around and made her way back down the hallway.

I'm not sure how long I stood there, stoic and frazzled, trying to urge myself to move. I was one foot in the grave if I didn't get ahead of this. I needed to talk to Nick, or Jolly, or Folio, or Sumerian, or a lawyer. I let the gears in my head slowly start again before I finally managed to turn around back toward my room.

I took a deep breath, attempting to gather myself before I slipped the card in and pushed the door open.

"Care to explain that?"

Her voice was hard, cold, concrete. She stood, hair still dripping, my Shippuden tee shirt hanging loose around her shoulders, arms crossed tightly across her body.

"I...I uh," My voice came out stuttered and choked. I didn't have the right words to form. "She...I....We...." It wasn't working. I was trying so hard, but I was stuck.

"Hurry up, Noah. You've got thirty fucking seconds."

I stood corrected. I was already in my grave.

[baradorable]

Marvel is about to introduce a villain called the Krakoan, who is an X-Man gone rogue. It's pretty obvious that this villain is actually Hellion. And people are split on that. Some feel that it's out of character for him. Some prefer him as a hero, or don't want him to have his character ruined, ala Nature Girl or Beast.

But who IS Hellion? If you're willing to sit through my long-ass post about him, odds are you already know and love him. But let's pretend that you don't know who he is. I'll talk about where he started, what might have lead him to becoming a villain, and why everybody will be investing in #HellionWasRight stocks in a few months.

And if we're all wrong, and Hellion is not the Krakoan? Well, no one will give a shit about the Krakoan anymore anyway, so no big deal.

First off, what is a "Krakoan?"

We'll get to that. But for now, you just need to know that the X-Men had an island nation called Krakoa, and it's gone because no one listened to Hellion, despite him being right about everything that has ever happened.

Who is Hellion?

I'm letting you all know right now: this is blatant Hellion propaganda. Everything I said is coming from a place of heavy, heavy bias. But there will be some objectivity, in that Hellion is objectively perfect.

It's tough to summarize Hellion, because who he is has changed over the years. Though some writers might forget this, he's actually a fairly nuanced mutant who has undergone notable shifts in his character.

Introduced in New Mutants (2003) #2, he basically starts off as Draco Malfoy, if Draco was trying to bang Harry Potter.

Julian Keller, AKA Hellion, was a spoiled rich kid from California with advanced telekinetic abilities. Something that will stick out immediate is that he was hilariously petty. Like he would take any opportunity to insult people he dislikes, often for no reason. Half of his dialogue is him choosing to be a jerk to anyone outside of his social group, starting drama, or otherwise being a generic early 2000's bully archetype.

And it was amazing. Seriously, he had some of the funniest lines in the book.

He was so over the top and crude that he ended up being hilarious. He was classist, exclusionist, and a little sexist. When presented with the option of Bullying Others, and Literally Anything Else, he would choose bullying.

Julian was Emma Frost's protege and star pupil, so naturally he shares a lot of that bitchy charisma. When the school was divided into Harry Potter house-style squads, Emma put Julian in charge of his squad, the Hellions. She also let the Hellions pick their codenames. Guess which codename Julian picked.

Emma advised him to be humble after he and his squad won a school competition. What was the very first thing he did once he got the trophy?

You would hate him so much if he were real. He's every 13 year old boy in 2003. Look at him exposing Elixir's affair to Elixir's girlfriend, solely out of pettiness.

I'd post more, but I already hit the image limit. Which is a shame, because I wanted to share the panel of him making fun of Josh for his parents abandoning him.

Hellion's original creators had this to say about him.

Back when we were working on New X-Men, we had a message board called “The Grind Stone” on the site X-Fan. One of the fans there consistently referred to Julian as “shnasty.” That person defined it as a combination of sexy and nasty. Urban dictionary these days refers to it as shitty, hot and nasty. We think that works for Julian, except when we wrote him he didn’t look like shit - not ever. He just acted like it. Once we left, he got a little more disheveled for a while, and probably better embodied the full modern version of “shnasty.” Either way, we think that’s his secret. He can treat you like shit but then turn around and be a gentleman. He sometimes acts like hot garbage but looks fine doing it.

He's catchy, offensive, brutal and gross, but with youth appeal. If his character was just that, then bravo. He's hilarious. He wouldn't need depth to be an icon. He'd just be this little gremlin of a being, showing up and delivering devastating one-liners like some proto-Chanel Oberlin. But that's not all to his character. Despite being a supporting character in a book about teen drama, he was actually a complex character.

He's a great leader and strategist. He could lead a team, he was willing to be pragmatic and bend the rules, and his plans helped his team beat out every other student during that aforementioned school competition. It was a team effort, but Hellion knew his friends' strengths and how to get them working well.

He has a natural charisma that draws people to him. He's the big man on campus for a reason. It's best exemplified in New X-Men (2004) #5, where he sees all the other students turning their backs on a mutant called Wither.

Wither had unintentionally killed his father when his death touch power first manifested. The authorities would come bearing down on the school, looking to arrest him and have him face the law for his actions. It was an accident, completely out of his control, and Wither has been wrestling with the guilt ever since. Now there was a chance that he would be thrown in jail for it.

Wither was vulnerable and in pain, but it seemed like so many people were turning against him. Hellion, who had previously been bullying Wither for his powers, saw the scorn, gossiping and scrutiny Wither had been getting from the rest of the student body. And he had to stand up and say something.

He gives a rousing speech to everyone in the cafeteria, pointing out how many of the people who were mocking him had caused others harm with their powers in the past. He derides them for not helping out of of their own, and that any one of them could be next on the chopping block if they let Wither go without a fight. If they're not willing to support each other, they're terrible mutants.

His radical speech gets one person comparing him to Magneto. And that's not entirely wrong.

Hellion and the Hellions (along with another mutant, Wind Dancer) would work together to try and bust Wither out of police custody. It was a stupid plan that would only create more problems for them, and it would ultimately be worse than what actually happened: Wither would face trial, where he would be found innocent in the murder of his father. Wither would be free and no longer be in trouble with the authorities.

But that's the thing with Hellion: he's passionate. He might will think with his heart over his head when it comes to mutant rights. Especially when it comes to those he cares about. He's quick to take the hostile and violent path if he thinks it's right. Despite being an asshole, he's a bleeding heart who will go to the extremes for those he loves.

Wither and Hellion would go on to have a life-long friendship spanning months, as Wither would leave the school, get statutory raped by an immortal vampire witch, become a villain and die shortly after M-Day.

Hellion was always looking down on humans - and why shouldn't he? They're not part of his social group, he's not really one of them. But while he'd call them apemen and flatscans, he didn't believe in killing. In fact, he was opposed to killing even in self-defense.

That last part would change over time. But that's only because this cruel world stole every last bit of innocence and joy out of him.

Or how about the time the villainous Kingmaker offered him and his friends all their wishes, in exchange for working for him? He and his friends would eventually chose to give up their dreams and stop the Kingmaker's plans, because that was the right thing to do. Because the Hellions are heroes.

Over the years, Hellion would mature as a person. There would be less emphasis on him bullying others, and more emphasis on him enduring tragedies, fighting for the sake of others, struggling with anger and abandonment, and be forced to make more radical moves against the world. While he doesn't look that jerkish spark of his (and some writers would roll him back to a generic bully character whenever the plot called for it), he would become a lot more mature than he was at his debut. He was no longer a high school bully, but an anti-hero of young man with a talent for leadership, a lot of charisma, and big heart that got him into trouble.

Since we're on the subject of friends, let's delve more into some of his relationships. A key part of understanding his character is seeing how he treats others.

Hellion and the Hellions

So New Mutants (2003) and its sequel book, New X-Men (2004) primarily focused on the New Mutants squad. Hellion and the Hellions would be so popular that they would get their own mini and eventually become main characters. But the early books were centered around the New Mutants.

The Hellions are antagonists, the Slytherins to their Gryffindors. Except their dynamic is a lot more complicated than you'd think.

The New Mutants are lead by Wind Dancer, who is also Hellion's first love interest. While Wind Dancer has a huge heart and a knack for bringing out the best in others, the team would fall apart over personal drama. Bitterness, resentment and insecurity would bubble for a long time, culminating in the group briefly splitting up. It would take a lot of work getting them to resolve their issues and be friends again.

This is where the Hellions act as foils. Sure, they might antagonize the New Mutants. Hellion might tease some of them. But the group functions way better as a unit, and they don't have the same interpersonal drama as the New Mutants. They're a cohesive team of friends who support each other.

The Hellions got to star in their own mini, and it delivered on the friendship. In the first issue, we see Hellion picking a fight with airport security for his friends' sake. Instead of going for a more peaceful route, he's quick to order his team and bust out their powers. When Dust chases security down to try and reason with them, he's annoyed that she put herself at risk.

The series is peppered with moments between the various Hellions, which is really nice. I recommend it not just for Hellion, but for the whole Hellions squad. Every one of them is a unique character, and I think they deserve love. There's a reason why New X-Men would revolve more and more around the Hellions.

You won't be surprised to know that Hellion doesn't make fun of fellow Hellion, Mercury, when she's feeling some heartache. Without any sense of sarcasm or irony, he sits down with her and has a heart to heart. No ulterior motives, no gotcha - Hellion is there to support his friends.

One fun thing about Hellion is that he's a huge hypocrite. He will regularly insult others outside his group of friends. But he would rarely hurt his friends, and he'd be the first to defend him. This is most evident in New Mutants (2003) #8, Surge's introduction issue. He's quick to accept his friend Anole's strange mutation and chides Elixir for not being as accepting. In the next couple of pages, he insults a homeless girl, tells her she smells bad and refuses to offer help.

When M-Day happens and Prodigy got depowered, Hellion kicked him while he's down and belittled the guy. He mocked him for being human now. But when he found out that his beloved Wind Dancer is depowered, he tried to comfort her and disregarded everything he previously said about Prodigy. Because Julian holds his friends to a completely different standard than he does others.

He has an incredible amount of loyalty and empathy, but much of that is reserved for his own inner circle. He might be slow to warm up to someone, but once you're in, you're in for the long haul. Unless you really mess up or your name is Josh.

Mutants as a whole are part of that circle, in a way. He won't be friends with every mutant, but he would defend them all with his life. Even though a lot of them don't appreciate his efforts.

Emma Frost

His relationship with Emma is pretty good: she encourages his rowdy behavior because she sees potential in him. He has that same spark, attitude and guile she does. She recognizes that he has the potential to be a great leader, and he does everything he can to meet her expectations. She tends to be lenient on him. She'll bail him out of trouble. When others write him off or turn their backs on him, she's standing with him. But in return, she makes it clear that she expects nothing short of amazing out of him.

Boy, I sure hope nothing ruins this bond.

Prodigy

Speaking of people who don't appreciate Hellion. David Alleyne, AKA Prodigy, was a frequent target of Hellion's bullying. Julian would mock Prodigy for having a lame power [Being able to temporarily absorb skills and thoughts from others around him], and sometimes it would get under David's skin. He really knew how to dig into Prodigy's insecurities and hurt him with them. In turn, Prodigy was always ready to fight back against Hellion and put him in his place whenever he could.

Here's Prodigy's then-girlfriend kissing Hellion, right in front of him.

This is horribly out of context, I just thought it was funny to bring up.

The two would butt heads constantly. Over the years, more tragedies would be thrown at them. They'd mature and function better as a group, but there would always be tension between them, for one reason or another. Both of them are opinionated, and their opinions tend to differ.

Why am I bringing Prodigy up? Prodigy will be a main character in the upcoming NYX book, which is where the Krakoan will debut. The two don't have the most meaningful relationship, but it could easily come into play at some point in the book.

Wind Dancer (Sofia Mantega)

Sofia Mantega was the primary character of New Mutants (2003) and much of New X-Men (2004,) She was the Harry Potter that this Draco Malfoy wants to bang. Sofia was the newcomer to the world of mutants. She was confident, outgoing and stuck to her principals. Despite being very gentle, amiable and friendly, she was strong-willed. She knew how to stand up for herself and others.

Julian and Sofia flirted throughout New Mutants. There was an instant rapport between the two. But that doesn't mean it's all smooth sailings. One of my favorite examples of this comes from issue 3. Julian reached out to Sofia, and she says she liked dancing. As they made plans to go somewhere, Laurie Collins (Wallflower) passed by. While Sofia eagerly makes lunch plans with Laurie, Julian dismissed Laurie and called her a freak.

Sofia responds by hitting Julian's ear with compressed air, making him lose his balance. She and Laurie walked away, leaving him behind.

Sofia knew Julian was a bad boy and a jerk, and she'd stand up to him when she saw him doing something she disapproved of. But she still liked him. She was never afraid to give him a taste of his own medicine, and he loved her for it.

From their first meeting in issue 2, we saw what there were similarities between them. The most obvious would be their powers: they could both fly, and Sofia's power lets her manipulate objects with the same precision as a telekinetic's psychic force.

Like Julian, Sofia was great with people. Unlike Julian, she wasn't one to discriminate. While Julian was quick to brush off and demean Wallflower, Sofia was quick to befriend her.

During class, Julian was quick to tell newcomer David Alleyne (Prodigy) to stay away from Kevin Ford (Wither,) because his powers were dangerous. Meanwhile, when Wallflower worried about how lonely Wither was, Sofia invited him to hang out with them. She dismissed Wither's concerns about his powers. She wasn't afraid to be his friend.

Josh Foley (Elixir), a former Purifier recruit, came to the school after previously turning them down. While Prodigy iwa quick to turn against him, Sofia listened to how Elixir's own family turned against him for being a mutant. She related to him and gave him a second chance.

While Prodigy and Sofia would be co-leader of the New Mutants squad, Sofia was the glue that held them together. However, her caring side did get her into trouble: she followed Julian and the Hellions on a mission to bust Wither out of police custody; she wanted to help, but didn't know what to do and needed some guidance.

Speaking of the Wither incident, it briefly took a toll on Julian and Sofia's relationship. She at first helped the Hellions, but Sofia would ultimately side with her squad and turn against the Hellions, feeling like it was the right thing to do. Julian saw it as a betrayal. It soured their relationship for a bit, though the two would make up in a later arc, when a protective Hellion helped the New Mutants deal with a ghost. He was there for her, even when they were not on speaking terms.

Imo, this was the crux of Julian and Sofia's relationship: they were both popular, charismatic and and good with people. They were passionate about helping those they care about. The difference was that Sofia opens her heart up to more people, while Julian cares more about his inner circle.

The relationship helped to humanize Julian and show that, despite his attitude, there was a lot of good in him. Even if most people couldn't see it. This girl saw that he was a good person and she stuck by him, but she also didn't let him get his way or take advantage of her kindness. And that helped make him a better person.

Conversely, Julian was a fun foil to Sofia. He could give her advice, be there when she needed someone to talk to, and he'd never treat her like he treated her squad. He was a jerk, but he had the purest intentions with her. He was the first student she met at the school, and he was there for her through the good and the bad.

Julian also has a pet name for her: Beautiful. He uses it a few times. And yes, it's important to mention this fact.

It was a very pure, wholesome relationship. Two high school sweethearts who were also on rival teams. Sofia brought the best out of Julian, and Julian bettered himself for her. They butted heads, had their ups and downs, and would let their emotions blind them. But in the end, they loved each other.

Gee, I hope some witch doesn't swoop in and ruin everything with a magic spell.

The two would end up falling out, but they weren't really over each other. After Sofia left the school, we'd see her still dream about being with her friends and kissing Hellion. Meanwhile, Laura would catch Julian muttering Sofia's name in his sleep.

Wolverine/X-23 (Laura Kinney)

"You were dead the second you touched Julian Keller." - Laura, to Lady Deathstrike

When it comes to Laura romances, there are two that are popular with fans: Jubilee/X-23, and Hellion/X-23. Opinions on Laura's other ships tend to range from decent-ish, to mid, to terrible. Hellion/Laura (also known by their combo name, Helix) is, by far, the most popular ship. To this day, 13 years after the pairing was torpedoed, it retains an active fanbase. And they were never officially a couple!

So when Laura first came to Xavier's School of Witchcraft and Mutantry, she wasn't in a good place. She was a former child soldier who was only taught to kill. She was a former teen prostitute who was constantly being abused by others. She had and lost friends. She was forced to kill her own mother. She was barely allowed to feel her own emotions. And right when she meets Wolverine - her father/the man she was cloned from - she's dropped off at a school full of strangers. In the middle of a crisis, where students were being hunted down and killed. Everyone treats her with suspicion and fear, and Emma Frost is doing everything in her power to get her out of the school entirely.

And then there's the school bully. Right off the bat, he was dismissive of her, cracked jokes at her expense, and even teased her a bit. He lets her hang out with his group, but he's not very sympathetic to her trauma. Of course, he wasn't projecting images of her dead mother into her head, so he was better than Emma here.

Things turned around when the students were asked to fight against each other, in order to determine who is strong enough to be on the New X-Men team after M-Day. Emma used this opportunity to try and have X-23 taken out of commission. She wanted Hellion to ensure she got hurt.

Instead, Hellion ended up protecting her. Emma was furious. She picked Surge as team leader over him out of spite, and made it clear that he was very disappointed in Hellion.

Over the course of New X-Men, their relationship would evolve into a close connection. Julian would be protective of her. He would risk his life for her. He pushed his powers to the absolute limits and had Emma break away any mental restraints on them, so he could use them to save her life.

Through her crush on Julian, Laura began to truly experience many of her emotions. All her friends at school helped her process and grow, but the growing romance between these two kids was especially endearing. Despite being partly scared of her, Hellion would stand by her. He'd even go on to call her his best friend. When everyone else treats her with suspicion, or they suspected her of falling back to her violent ways, he was the first one to jump to her defense and see the absolute best in her.

Let's not forget the time Laura was ready to kill her arch-enemy, Karima. She knew Karima was to dangerous to let live, and she told Hellion that they had to kill her. But Hellion declined. He wanted him and Laura to be better than that. Hellion wanted to help break her out of that way of thinking.

Their dynamic sort of shifted as things went on. In that Hellion becomes this sort of damsel in distress who gets horribly injured and needs to be saved by Laura. She even went to Hell with a demon in order to save him. The most notable example of Hellion's Tragic Love Interest-ification is the time Lady Deathstrike shanked Hellion.

Laura totally lost it and beat Lady Deathstrike's ass.

These were two broken people. They suffered so much throughout their short lives. But then they found each other. They were broken together, but they found happiness. They bought out the best in each other, and showed the other that they are more than the tragedies they've endured.

There are a lot more nuances to the relationship, such as Hellion being more accepting of Laura's quirks and insecurities, how some fans interpret their dynamic as a play on traditional gender roles, how Laura was portrayed in their dynamic, how it styles over every other Laura romance. You can ask pretty much any Helix fan about the relationship, and they'll all have different aspects on the pairing. Some I haven't listed or even considered. I'm really just covering the barest essentials.

I just hope no writer comes in and ruins their relationship.

Other Loves: Ships that Pass in the Night

Hellion dated Shark-Girl for a bit, and once flirted with Armor. He also took three of the surviving Stepford Cuckoos to the school dance, at the same time - though he immediately ditched them for Wind Dancer. However, years later, one panel had one of the girls casually mention that they were going on a date with him.

Remember Prodigy's blue-haired girlfriend? She was the homeless girl Hellion had previously bullied. The two would have some animosity over the years, largely due to them being two stubborn, strong-headed individuals. Neither of them liked to take the other's crap, though to be fair, Hellion was usually the one causing trouble. The two would eventually be the New X-Men team together, and they would come to respect and care for each other. While there wasn't an actual romance between them in the main continuity, the two were shown to be married in one future, in the non-canon Battle of the Atom mobile game.

There was also that time he and Diamondback briefly flirted.

Fun fact: Hellion has a thing for powerful women. Women who can take charge, or are outspoken, are in control, or otherwise strong. If they can kill him, he can bed them. While all of his love interests have different personalities, they're all powerful women in one way or another.

Also, Wind Dancer and Shark-Girl are both Latinas. Laura (at the time) and the Cuckoos were also clones, of Wolverine and Emma Frost, respectively. (Well, I SAY clones, but technically none of those characters are clones in the strictest sense. It's a whole thing, but oddly enough they still share that in common.) Point is, the man has a type.

Ready for yet another fun fact: Hellion went on a date with all three Cuckoos at once. At best, Quentin Quire got with only one of them. He managed to officially date that Cuckoo, as opposed to just going on dates. But Quire was also responsible for another one of the others Cuckoos dying, which I feel cancels it out.

My favorite Hellion ship, you ask? Thank you for asking, reader. And to be honest, I don't know. On paper, the tragic romance of Helix is compelling and dramatic. It's very easy to see why the ship endured nearly 20 years later. It'd be a slam dunk... if Hell-Dancer wasn't so compelling, charming and sweet. For me, these two ships are usually neck and neck.

I'm also partial to Surge/Hellion, and a bit of Hellion/Rockslide. There was also a fake leak going around back in the day, claiming something along the lines of Emma hooking up with Hellion and getting impregnated by him. Fans on Tumblr were going mental over it, even if no one took it seriously. I love that for us. I love that for them. Sometimes you don't want a good romance. Sometimes you want to see nuclear fallout. It's like watching MILF Manor, but it's even more gross. You know it's bad and it's not something you would even enjoy watching. But you still want to see the mess it creates.

The Keller Family

What kind of people would create Hellion? Looking at how their son turned out, they must have done a great job. Only super-parents could have crafted perfection, right?

Actually, no. It turned out that Hellion is perfect, amazing, and the best character in all of fiction, DESPITE them.

We got the first red flag when Parents Week rolled around. Julian manipulated his teacher Northstar into getting him out of work duty. He gave a sob story about how his parents don't want to see him, though as Anole pointed out, his parents really didn't come to see him. Julian casually waved this off, stating that his parents were busy skiing in the Alps.

Hellion was not only bragging about manipulating someone, but he was bragging about his parents blowing off their own son to have fun. He only focused on how they're doing something cool and elitist. At that point in time, they had likely not seen or spoken to their son in months. He was aware how the situation would be seen as unacceptable by others, but was seemingly incapable of recognizing it on a personal level.

In the past, his parents spent 10 thousand dollars on Julian's 12th birthday party. Hellion casually stated that L.A. parties hard to compete with, meaning that this type of excess was normal for people in the area. Considering he mentioned "competing" and his parents would be shown to care about their image, I wouldn't be surprised if all this attention was not just about Julian having a great birthday, but also making the Kellers could look good. Hell, when you get to know his parents more, you could argue that his parents only cared about looking good.

They were powerful and had connections, to the point where Hellion was able to casually call up the Department of Homeland Security to help him out. Hellion clearly got his Trust Fund Baby attitude from.

Hellion's parents would debut in the 2004 mini, New X-Men: Hellions. (That's right. Hellion's Hellions book walked so Krakoa's Hellions book could run.) They were immensely disappointed in their son causing a scene at an airport, using their connections to get out of it, and bringing his friends to their house without telling them.

Julian's father was shown to dislike his son's mutation. He didn't like that his son had to go to the Xavier Institute, and he was glad that his son mutation was easy to hide. While he was angry at his son for using his powers and making a scene, it was clear that he only cared about how it affected the Kellers' image.

Hellion's mother was a little more understanding. She was softer spoken. While she compared him unfavorably to his older brother James, she was fine with her younger child walking his own path. But she also sided with Daddy Hellion, because they worked too hard and didn't want their son to risk their assets.

Hellion's parents had cut Hellion out of the will. The family business and all of their money would go to James. Hellion and his friends were welcome to stay at the house, and Hellion was still family. But no way were they letting their twerp kid make them look bad or endanger their comfy lifestyle.

Then they left Hellion and his friends to go on vacation.

The moment Mama and Daddy Hellion left, Julian enlisted the help of his friends to root through their personal belongings to find something to use against his parents. Despite originally telling his friends that his parents were self-made billionaires, he made his thoughts clear to them once they cut him off. No one could make so much money, so quickly.

We got a rough timeline how things went down: they were making about 30k a year, 18 months before Hellion turned 12. Around that time, their company went international and became incredibly profitable. Considering Hellion was stated to be 16 at this time, this means that they became international moguls and billionaires in less than a decade.

So what was the source of their success? It turned out that they used magic to perform a dark ritual, summoned an evil being known as the Kingmaker, and then formed a sort of Faustian bargain with him for all their wealth and power.

Hellion and the Hellions summoned the Kingmaker, at first not actually thinking it would work. But nah, it worked. Kingmaker would offer all of them their hearts desires. But as we covered earlier, the kids eventually chose to give up on their wishes to stop his evil plans.

Hellion's parents were extremely pissed at Julian for running afoul with their benefactor. Mama Hellion reminded her son that they couldn't protect him from someone as powerful as the Kingmaker. But Hellion dismissed him and pointed out how his parents were the ones who got in bed with a villain, and the Kingmaker would more likely go after them, since Hellion and his friends were strong enough to beat him up.

Yet despite being disinherited, being treated like the family shame for being born a mutant, and finding out his parents teamed up with bad people for their own personal gain, Hellion still wanted to be there for them.

Despite Hellion's loyalty, his family would never return it. In fact, this would be the last thing he would ever say to them. Because they would eventually cut him off completely, sell their house and not even tell him where they moved to. They would abandon their son when he needed them most.

At least the other guardians in Hellion's life weren't letting him down, right?

Abandoned!

We have a character who thrives through his connections with others. But what happens when we take them all away?

Just after the Hellions' big summer blow-out against the Kingmaker, M-Day happened. M-Day (also known as Decimation, which should give you a good idea of what it entailed) saw the Pretender (AKA the Scarlet Witch, AKA the Scarlet Bitch, AKA the Harlot Witch) saying, "Haha no more mutants, eunh 😜" and depowering the vast majority of mutants remaining. Their numbers, previously in the thousands (being in around the millions before the Genosha genocide) were now in the very, very, very low hundreds. Cerebro clocked a 91.4% remaining reduction in the mutant population.

To be fair, Wanda was going through some things at the time, and it's not like she was in the right mindspace after others were taking advantage of her mental breakdown for their own personal gain. She was a victim. But to be unfair, it's also the start of everything going wrong for Hellion.

Xavier's school was absolutely wrecked by this. The vast majority of students were depowered, some of them dying as a consequence.

Among the depowered students was Prodigy, and Hellion was quick to swoop in and make fun of him for it. Including stating that Prodigy didn't belong with them at the school, now that he was human. He assumed Prodigy was ready to abandon the mutants now that he could be "normal."

Unfortunately, Wind Dancer overheard what Hellion said. As it turned out, she'd also been depowered by the Pretender. She turned the situation back around on Julian and asked if she was less "Beautiful" to him now, and not worthy of being loved in his eyes. Angry, Wind Dancer stormed off and stopped talking to Hellion.

Once again, hypocrisy. Julian would think that about Prodigy, and he was ready to make things harder for him. Hellion would never see Sofia as anything less, whether she be human or mutant. The thought wouldn't even occur to him. Julian loved Sofia. He'd never hurt her on purpose. But through his own attitude and carelessness, he ended up hurting her the most.

At that time, Wither was also going through some things. He accidentally mangled his crush's arm with his death power, and that drove her further into the arms of Wither's rival, Elixir. Already heartbroken that over the torment his powers had brought him, Wither became more withdrawn.

Hellion was stuck trying to reach out to both Wither and Wind Dancer, but he couldn't be fully there for both of them at the same time. He was unable to reach out to Wither and stop him from running away from the school. They would not see each other again until Necrosha, half a decade later in real time. By then, Wither would be their enemy.

Sofia also quietly left without telling Julian. The two would never even see or speak to her for over 14 years IRL.

But that wasn't the end of it. Tag, one of the Hellions and Julian's best friend, also felt hurt. Julian was so worried about Wither and especially Sofia, he completely neglected to see Tag's pain. He had also been depowered, and was worried he didn't belong with them anymore. Tag, along with most of the other depowered students, would leave the school. He and many other kids boarded a schoolbus and prepared to leave their old life behind.

And then a missile hit the bus, killing all inside. Hellion and his friends would get injured in the attack, trying and failing to save the other kids. Julian was just about to reach Tag and save him, only for the bus to explode and severely injure Hellion for his troubles.

42 children died in that attack. 15 of them were buried in the X-Men' own backyard because even their families didn't want them.

Well, at least the Marvel universe had a ton of heroes who could help out during these trying times. In fact, here comes Carol Danvers to... Oh no, wait. She's just here to try and get the mutants to help her side in the Civil War event. All the other heroes are too busy fighting each other to protect these kids. That's a shame.

At least the government stepped in with Sentinels, who would stand guard outside the mansion and protect the kids. And by that, I mean that they did absolutely nothing and completely failed at their jobs. Because assassins managed to sneak into the school and kill even more kids.

The remaining X-kids would go on to have several misadventures, including getting themselves involved in X-23's life when her old enemies come knocking, fighting a time-traveling Nimrod robot from the future, fighting alongside the adults to save a mutant messiah baby, and getting kidnapped by a demon (NOT the same demon that would go on to stab Hellion, who had already been stabbed by someone else before. Hellion wasn't even involved with this demon adventure.) I won't go into detail over all the horrible things that happened to Hellion and his friend, but know that a lot happened to them.

The kids were technically under the care of the X-Men, but the X-Men were too busy, were spread too thin, and were fighting the world from all fronts to focus on the kids. So the kid were largely left to defend themselves. This is best exemplified when, after the X-Men failed to protect the kids from several attacks, Surge dismisses their help. "We already know how to die."

One issue was dedicated to the kids trying to find out which among them was the youngest. They believed that the youngest of them would become a target, and therefore more likely to be killed. They singled out the youngest kid, but they truly believed that they were all going to die.

I bring this up because this was what the X-Men tragically considered a good day. At that point, a good day was one where nobody died, nobody was tortured, and nobody's soul was torn apart.

And this isn't me exaggerating. The X-Men were openly remorseful about how they failed these kids. They explicitly stated how the kids had serious emotional and psychological trauma. But despite everything, the X-Men cared for their students. They couldn't always be there for them like they should, but they were still their guardians. They would do anything in their power to make the world a better place for them.

So anyway, Cyclops disbanded the X-Men and shut down the school. The kids they previously failed were now scattered to the wind.

Emma left Hellion. As much as she loved him and wanted to keep him safe, she knew she had to keep him away from the X-Men. He needed to be kept away from the fighting and wars for as long as he could. Maybe now he could find some semblance of a normal life and keep himself safe? At the very least, Angel paid for his hotel and food for the time being.

Anyway, Hellion found out that his parents abandoned him, so he had nowhere to go. He was now homeless and had no support system, putting him in more danger than ever.

Hellion would seek out Magneto (not in hero mode at the time) to team up with him. Magneto calls him arrogant, but desperate to please. He refused to take him in and went on to say this:

"Everything you thought you were is gone, and the only thing you had left, the only thing you held on to so tightly was that you were an X-Man. Your teachers abandoned you. Your friends died. Your heart broke. Your beliefs shattered. The X-Men failed you. So, you find me, their greatest enemy. You love them so much that you want to hurt them. But I won't use you, and I won't kill you."

He says that Cyclops had given Hellion the gift of time. He had a moment of peace and a chance to be away from all the trouble, before war would come for mutants once again. At least for now, Hellion was safe.

Then Hellion was injected with the Legacy Virus (mutant AIDS) and used as a hostage in a wicked supervillain plot. Don't worry about it, it was just a small addition to the tapestry of suffering that is his life.

Hellion Was Right

After the X-Men disassembled and anti-mutant sentiment was on the rise, Hellion took a more radical approach to dealing with issues. He'd openly protest on the street, belittle and even attack mutant bigots and haters. He had enough of the X-Men kowtowing and trying to create peace with people who wanted them dead. No more worrying about the silent majority minority of well-meaning humans, no more trying to police their own or trying to achieve co-existence. Hellion was coming more radicalized.

Hellion's radicalization was bad. He resorted to extremes, violence and anger to hurt anyone who got in his way. His actions, while meant to help mutants, were sabotaging relationships between humans and mutants.

But let's be real: there will never, ever be co-existence between humans and mutants. In real life, the drama, threat and isolation mutants face are a big part of the mutant narrative. Take that away, and the franchise seems a lot less viable.

So Marvel will constantly throw in threats of violence and extinction at mutants. It ramped up to insane degrees by the 2000's, to the point where mutants were facing extinction for over 20 years real time, and things were only escalating. Society will only grow to hate mutants more and more.

While Hellion's radicalism isn't necessarily right, Xavier's dreams of peace are objectively wrong. If anything, the X-Men are indirectly upholding the status quo. Yeah, they also prevent things from getting worse (Days of Future Past), but much of their strides end up being undone.

Mutants would almost achieve coexistence with mutants via their nation of Krakoa, in that the mutants basically bribed the world into tolerating them and attacking them less. While Krakoa would reach out and help humans with various matters, and the books would rely much less on extinction events for stories, things were nowhere close to perfect.

I'm going to say it: Hellion was right. The X-Men were wrong. Humans can't be reasoned with so easily. They need to force their view onto others. They need to fight humans for their rights. The only reasons why they don't? Aside from status quo, it's because the X-Men and other superheroes would step in and give some speech about peaceful co-existence being the right path, even though it's hard. Not knowing that things will objectively never get better because Marvel civilians are irredeemable.

Hellion wouldn't have helped mutants with his actions. But he couldn't make things any worse at that point, because the world turned against him long before he was even alive. No matter what, mutants were fucked.

But hey, it's not like mutants can live without humans. Coexistence is necessary for their survival. It's not like they have proof that mutants would thrive without the presence of humans. Yet.

Anyway, Hellion protested and Emma & her Dark X-Men arrested them. Emma betrayed the evil fascist government run by Norman Osborn, blah blah blah, it was all cool because Emma helped him. She also punched him in the face and put him through a lot of shit, but let's ignore that. It's island time.

The Hands Job

So the X-Men decided to make an island nation, where they gathered all the stray mutants they could and offered them sanctuary. This time, was Utopia. Next time, it would be Krakoa.

Hellion would return to the field. He'd fight the good fight alongside the X-Men, protecting mutants and humanity because it's the right thing to do. Despite everything that had happened to him, he still believed in the X-Men's cause. Or at the very least, he wanted to protect those he loved.

Anyway, a Nimrod Sentinel ended up blowing off his hands.

It really messed him up. Hellion got metal prosthetic hands to and made due by puppeting them with his telekinesis. He had the option of getting mechanized hands he could control more easily, but since he was deeply traumatized by machines, having little robots at the end of his forearms was the last thing he wanted.

To be fair on Rogue, she reached out to Hellion to try and help him. She'd offer to have him go on a trip with her and others to India, though he'd decline. He wasn't in the mood to have people gawk at his missing body parts. Which, fair.

Also, Hellion got stabbed by a demon-possessed Wolverine and Laura had to save him. It's only worth mentioning because Laura peaced out after this.

He was pretty pissed off that the X-Men could always come back from the dead one way or another, yet they couldn't fix his hands. He lashed out at the mutant messiah, Hope, for doing jack shit when it came to miracles. Really busting her balls.

So the X-Men got involved with rebuilding San Fransisco after the whole... everything that had been happening these last several paragraphs. Rogue decided that Hellion should come along and help them with reconstruction. And let's get something out of the way: the X-Men were sending Hellion on a mission while he is was, self-admitted, still on painkillers following his double-amputation. Rogue meant well; it was meant to be a safe, no-action mission where Hellion could get some fresh air and put his troubles aside. And hell, maybe he could have refused the mission at any time. But like??? This child, trained to be a soldier by the X-Men, just had his hands chopped off and was thrown into work while hopped up on drugs.

Just keep this in mind. Hellion had no business being there, but the X-Men thought it was a good idea.

So Hellion was pissed off, bullied Hope for being a shitty messiah, and wantonly blew up debris, endangering everyone around him. Before he could accidentally hit anyone, Omega Sentinel (some human lady with evil robot programming that makes her turn evil sometimes, whatever who the hell cares) turned evil and started beating up all of the X-Men. Just absolutely wrecking them. They had no chance.

She would turn on Hope and a little human girl in the area. Just as Omega Sentinel was about to kill them, Hellion intervened. A miracle happened, and he got a powerup (implied, but never stated or followed up on, from Hope.) He was strong enough beat the robot lady's ass.

And he did. Repeatedly. He lost his temper and just kept viciously attacking her, all while yelling about his hatred of the machines who ruined his life and took his hands. Omega would return to her senses, but she knew it wouldn't last. She begged Hellion to finish her off. She asked him to kill her, before she could turn against her friends and harm them. She wanted to die human.

And Hellion obliged. Omega Sentinel would be left comatose.

At any rate, he saved Hope's life. Considering she would be integral to the very foundation of Krakoa, Krakoa would not exist if Hellion were not around. Hope was also the key to saving the mutant species multiple times. Mutants would have been doomed to extinction if not for Hellion. Yeah, others saved Hope and had way more of a direct impact in restoring their species. But still.

It was a tragic affair, and as Julian recounted the events of the mission to Cyclops, he was clearly shaken up and unsteady. He insisted that he had no regrets and said that he wasn't going to apologize for what he did. But he was clearly not doing well.

Cyclops was pissed because he felt that Julian's level of violence was unacceptable. Also Omega was still a good person, despite being overwritten at the time. She was a victim in all this, too. Yet Hellion didn't even consider any other option but violence and death.

Though it's not like he actually had the luxury of options, considering Omega was annihilating senior X-Men, he only had a split second to save Hope and the girl from danger, and even his victim supported his actions with her dying breath. Hellion lost his temper and was flippant about his actions, but he did the right thing.

Hellion then delivered this take-down to Cyclops, basically saying how Cyclops is a hypocrite who did shit (including killing people!), but apparently it was okay when he did it? Things aren't all black and white, it's not like Cyclops was some crazy psycho who killed and always got away with it. But like... Hellion was right. Cyclops had a very "ends-justify-the-means" attitude at the time. He was a revolutionary who was fed up with the way mutants had been treated. It's just that Cyclops had main character privilege and Hellion didn't.

So yeah, the X-Men were shitting all over Hellion for saving them, an innocent child and the fucking mutant messiah, because he wasn't sad enough about it.

But wait, it gets better.

Hellion Was Right: Omega Sentinel

Hey, remember how everyone shat on Hellion for killing Omega Sentinel? How he refused to apologize for doing what needed to be done, when no one else would? Yeah, the X-Men really chewed him out for being so cool with killing for the sake of protecting innocent lives.

Anyway, Karima would come back as a major antagonist in the Krakoa era, after a future, fully-roboticized version of herself would travel to the past, take over her body and dedicate her life to ending the mutants and humanity. Something she nearly succeeded in, when she helped create the terrorist organization known as Orchis.

Rogue especially took this hard. She crapped all over Hellion for attacking Omega Sentinel in a fit of rage while she was down. She would later assault him over it.

Here's Rogue in 2024, after the X-Men finally defeated Omega Sentinel.

Hellion's only mistake was not finishing the job.

But despite all this, Hellion had morals. He would spend some time debating if he felt sorry for what he did to Omega Sentinel. Which goes against him confidentally telling Cyclops that he wasn't sorry about it. Coupled with this, Rogue going on to say that Hellion felt guilty and wanted to atone, and later stories showing him wrestling with the incident and verbally trying to justify his actions to himself, it's implied that Hellion did, in fact, feel guilty after all.

Also, Hellion would not talk to his friends and classmates about what had happened. After his battle with Omega Sentinel, he briefly passed by his friends. He didn't reach out to them, they didn't acknowledge him. Later, fellow classmate Blindfold would straight-up call Hellion a monster. Hellion was all alone.

Fractured But Whole

Before we continue, let's circle back to Hellion getting a power-up earlier. I said it was implied to be from Hope, performing some sort of miracle. But either she gave him a permanent power-up, or Hellion just unlocked his own natural talent. Because the same run later showed Hellion using his powers to remove an explosion out of someone's body, showing he can mentally manipulate heat and energy on a cellular level. Yeah, fellow X-Man Rachel used her telepathy to spot him, but for those keeping count: Hellion could move energy through people without harming them, move at subsonic speeds, create force barriers, shoot telekinetic blasts, control heat and energy, and work on a cellular level at minimum. Laura once told Julian to create a telekinetic bubble inside of a villain's brain or heart to kill them. Hellion was against this on principal, but he doesn't say he can't do it. Considering he could weave his energy into someone's body and remove a fucking explosion, I'd say it's a pretty safe bet that Hellion could bubble some jerk's brain.

Now keep this all in mind. The X-Men had one of the most powerful telekinetics alive. He was hurt, vulnerable, and becoming increasingly isolated due to the mistreatment and trauma he had been enduring. Which was largely made worse by the X-Men just being inconsiderate assholes. And despite everything that had happened, despite his growing cynicism with the world and his disillusionment with the X-Men, he still worked to be a hero. Surely this is the type of mutant the X-Men would want to nurture, help and encourage.

Anyway, Hellion was probation unless they needed to use his powers for missions.

Okay, Cyclops and friends were a bust. They treated Hellion like shit and degraded him when he needed help. Maybe he could find help from somewhere else?

So Cyclops and Wolverine broke up over (among other things) the ethics of raising child soldiers and letting these kids kill. Cyclops is pro child soldier, and Wolverine was against it. You'd think this might be in response to them letting down their students and helplessly watching as they got gunned down. But they go back to using them once this event is over, so it's kind of pointless when you think about it.

Hellion choose to side with Wolverine during the Schism. He joined the school Wolverine has built. He was still a brash bully, but he was supporting the more idealistic and good-natured path of righteousness Wolverine is offering. Despite Wolverine treating him like shit and his daughter breaking his heart, he believed in what Wolverine has to say.

Wolverine was suspicious of him and threw him into a special class with other troublesome kids, so Spider-Man could spy on them and see which one might be a traitor. Still better than being with Cyclops though. And Hellion even got to go on crime-fighting adventures with Spider-Man, protecting New York!

But then this was ignored and never acknowledged again. Hellion would never talk to Spider-Man again and this whole thing might as well not have happened.

Hellion would become a shut-in. Trapped in his smelly room, he pretty much cut off all contact with everybody. He made it clear to a belligerent, antagonistic Wolverine that he didn't want to be there anymore. But he couldn't leave, since people saw him as a threat and would come after him the second he stepped out. Wolverine takes the opportunity to antagonize the disabled child soldier war hero with PTSD, whose life he helped demolish. Wolverine even said that he didn't give a damn about Julian's troubles, and was only getting involved because people were complaining about Hellion being a ticking time bomb.

One day, Laura came to visit him. Julian was quick to forgive her for leaving him on read for several months after he became an amputee and had his life destroyed. And to be fair, she was going through a lot of stuff on her own, which Hellion recognizes. He did briefly lash out at her in his anger, but quickly corrected himself and apologized. He also grabbed her arm when she tried to leave him without an explanation again - uncool, but he at least checked himself and let go when she told him to.

Gambit got involved to try and protect Laura... by threatening to blow off Hellion's arms and legs, to match his missing hands. Hellion was being an asshole, but keep in mind Hellion is a child soldier who had his arms blown off in the line of duty, and has spent the last few months being mistreated by pretty much every X-Man he has come across.

Hellion was also jealous of Gambit, but also worried that he was a groomer who was trying to put the moves on Laura. He was wrong, of course. But maybe he heard about a certain student named Foxx (aka Mystique,) who tried to frame Gambit a banging one of his students.

Hellion stalked Laura asked around and located Laura at the Baxter Building, where she would be spending the night babysitting Mister Fantastic and the Invisible Woman's two kids. They would get attacked and abducted by the Collector, leading to this whole adventure. It was a thing. Julian helped save her and the kids from dying in the cold recesses of space. Also Julian made fun of the Collector to his face multiple times.

But while this was going down, Hellion showed his insecurities to Laura. He knew she had her own issues, but he didn't know the extent of what she'd been going through. She didn't talk to him about them, and he would have liked that. He felt abandoned, and wondered if him being disabled now was one of the things driving her away from him. But she assured him that she didn't abandon him, and kept watch over him when he was injured and recovering.

When all is said and done, Laura was ready to part ways with Julian. But he didn't want to go without talking things out. He still loved her and wanted to be with her. But she didn't feel the same way and rejected him. Julian lashed out and accused her of being an unfeeling machine - something that would hurt her. She still cared for him, but her feelings for him had changed as the two of them had changed.

This whole debacle is very controversial with fans. Who was right? Who was wrong? How justified were either of them? Was Julian abusive? Was Laura unnecessarily cruel? Generally, people will agree that they both messed up. But who was more in the wrong usually depends on which character you stan more. Hellion's behavior near the end is never really justified, though many people at least understand where he's coming from.

Despite being a Hellion stan, I lean more towards Laura. Despite their mutual feelings for each other, she wasn't obligated to put her feelings aside to take care of him. Her life was also falling apart and she had her own struggles. Yes, she could have handled the situation better. But I don't blame her for focusing on her own life when she was drowning. And it's not like this girl, raised from birth as a tool and still coming to terms with her own humanity, pain and emotions, was capable of dealing with him in the best way, even though she wanted to.

But I can't be mad at Hellion because he suffered way more these last couple of months, didn't have the support Laura would come to have, and, oh yeah, he had his hands blown off by an evil robot. That didn't entitle him to lash out at her the ways he did, but he absolutely didn't deserve to be brushed off. Which is what Laura did, even if it was unintentional.

It was a failure to communicate. They both wanted different things. They had their own issues and that kept them from being there for each other. They were hurt by other people and situations, those warped them and made it harder for them to reconnect. Ultimately, the Laura and Julian we were seeing now, were not the same people they were when they met and fell in love.

I see the vision, but it still feels kind of abrupt and it looks like largely happened just to write out the romance, while not really doing anything to address their issues. It's a story about them growing apart, but not really making it feel like they grew apart. It just looks like Laura is avoiding Hellion even after he explains that her how her behavior also hurt him, but only Hellion's behavior is treated as heinous. And to be fair, grabbing onto someone the way he did, lashing out at them and poking at their insecurities around their humanities, is arguably worse than anything she did to him. But shutting yourself off from someone without explanation, ignoring them when they're begging for help, not showing much concern for their suffering and ignoring multiple pleas to be honest about their problems, is also pretty nasty.

Again, Laura wasn't obligated to deal with his baggage. And it's not like she was in the right headspace to help. But she was involved with Hellion's life and problems, and he was with hers. To ignore this connection was very insulting. Neither of these traumatized, PTSD-ridden child soldiers handled this complex emotional situation well.

So I get it. But the story was written in a way that downplayed Laura's faults and felt like it had to force the issue in order to make it work.

Anyway, Laura would get into a poorly-received, crappy romance with a time-traveling teen Angel from the past. She would also spend hundreds of years in a Vault with Synch as her only companion, where they'd fall in love under dubious circumstances, largely off-screen. She'd forget all this and Synch would accept this, then get back together with another version of Laura, who is also the "real" Laura, and an old MILF. But most fans don't care about old Laura or accept her as the "official" Laura, and she ends up dying, living inside of Synch's head and then dying again. So this whole paragraph means nothing.

But at least we would get a couple shots of Hellion looking at Laura through some bushes like a creeper, just to twist the knife and make sure that the ship was properly killed.

The Fart Cloud

Remember that time the Inhumans unleashed a stupid fart cloud onto Earth in the hopes of activating latent Inhuman genes in some humans? But the fart cloud was poisonous to mutant and started killing them? The X-Men had to hide their numbers in a Hell dimension for safety.

So Julian was poisoned by one of those clouds, and the X-Men totally failed to find and save him when he went looking for their help. Thanks again, X-Men. You're always there when Hellion needs you.

Hellion would visit the Inhumans on their Earth turf. Now dying from the cloud, he was determined to be a martyr. Let the Inhumans witness a person they'd harmed with their actions.

His powers wrecked New Attilan as he lost control over them, endangering everyone around them. Luckily, an Inhuman named Synapse was able to turn off his powers and stop him.

Synapse argued to the ruler of the Inhumans, Medusa, to help Hellion despite the damage he caused. Medusa didn't need convincing though; they were not going to persecute the infirm, and they were going to help this poor, suffering mutant as best as they could. He was going to get the best medical care and they would work tirelessly to see him recover.

Yes. The Inhumans who nearly gassed him to death treated him better than the X-Men. Hellion would be so grateful for their help, he would volunteer at their hospital as an orderly.

Not much would happen to Hellion after this. Despite being told (by everyone) that he was a dangerous mess they didn't want to deal with, Hellion... never really did anything beyond sometimes teasing classmates sometime, briefly date Shark-Girl, and help the X-Men whenever they asked. Many of his cameos consisted of him being in the background, having been beaten up by whatever villain the X-Men were facing.

Also, another fun fact: The X-Disassembled event saw the adults chiding the students as young, inexperienced kids who should stay out of real missions. Which was disrespectful to the kids who rose to the challenge when the X-Men failed them. But at least they weren't interested in using them as child soldiers.

Except one of the adults telling them this was Jean, who has their fellow student Laura as a member on her team. AND she had Laura's 12 year old sister, too. Hellion was notably absent from the majority of this conflict, since his very existence would undermine the adults' message entirely.

Also the school got blown up. It got blown up quite a few times while Hellion was a student. It got blown up so many times, the kids were cracking jokes about it. Surprisingly, none of those explosions were caused by him.

But just because Hellion wasn't active, doesn't mean he wasn't still pulling out Ws.

Hellion Was Right: Etc.

Hellion was right about a lot of things, but I can't sit here and list every single one of them in great detail. So here's a bulletpoint list of his other truths.

During the Utopia era, he knew that humans would eventually round up mutants and put them in camps. We know that happens in a few bad futures. This would also happen during the fall of Krakoa.

He knew the Brood were irredeemable monsters and hated Broo on sight. And in the end? Their only "redemption" was the X-Men to use them as weapons against the terrorist organization, Orchis. They could never truly be saved.

He ended up siding with Wolverine during the Schism, despite him and Logan hating each other. Guess who won the Schism in the end?

Right away, Hellion knew Wind Dancer was a catch. He also had a thing with Laura, dated Shark-Girl, and in an AU he married Surge. The man just can't stop picking Best Girls. He has a supernatural sense that allows him to figure out which girls are superior.

Remember that school competition, and Hellion bragged about how none of the other squads could ever hope to win it again? Shortly after Hellion and his squad won it, the school was hit by the mass depowering event known as M-Day. The majority of students were depowered and many were subsequently massacred by anti-mutant terrorists. Even when the school recovered, they never had these school-wide competitions again. So yeah, no other students would get to win that trophy.

Hellion had been open about his dislike of robots, after they took his hands. Who was behind Orchis? Omega Sentinel. Not only that, the group was primarily run by robots, and they wanted to wipe out all organic life - especially mutants, but they had plans to kill all organic life to preserve themselves. Humans would be their next target, after they finished killing off mutants.

Hellion thought it was weird how Wolverine kept picking up teenage girls as his sidekicks. He joked that Wolverine was a perv, of course Wolverine isn't a predator, he has no ill intentions with those girls, and some of them just dropped into his lap. But it's still pretty sus, even if no one else wants to point it out.

Northstar thought Hellion was making a mistake, picking Emma as his advisor over him. He thought Hellion needed the discipline. Considering Hellion thrived under Emma, she stood up for him when no one else did, and Northstar abandoned him just as the others did anyway... Yeah, Hellion made the right choice in picking Emma.

New Edit: I just saw this post. So you know how Hellion thought mutants should ignore past incidents and accidents, because they need to look out for each other and humans wouldn't judge them fairly? And then the X-Men were all, "NO, we need to listen to human laws!" Yeah, so anyway, the X-Men would basically say the same thing Hellion did, in the Krakoa era. Except now they had the power to enforce their will.

Hellion hated Quentin Quire and beat him up. No explanation needed.

The Gays Love Hellion (And Hellion Loves Them)

So weirdly enough, Hellion has a big LGTV fanbase. Which is weird, because he's from Academy X, not Fraternity X. Why would gay fans gravitate towards a straight, cis, masculine jock who regularly dominates others an- Oh.

Well, it goes beyond that. The X-Men in general have a huge queer audience. But Hellion has multiple factors working in his favor: he's sarcastic and has great quips, he takes after Emma Frost, he's canonically ripped, and he's had his moments of fanservice.

Most importantly, there was that one arc where he was on a beach for a mission. He thought the mission was casual, so he was the only one in swimwear, and nobody told him because they wanted to see him in short-shorts. He's smart, but that scene would go on to imprint himbo energy into the minds of many readers.

Also, he spent the entirety of the Age of X event with his tits out.

I don't find Hellion sexy at all, personally. He's not my type. But he IS a sex bomb. I can see the appeal regardless.

I'm iffy on the femme-y himbo depiction among fans. It's amusing, but I feel like it tends to paint a shallow picture of an otherwise manly, cool, intelligent and tragic character. But Hellion is perfect even if he's a himbo, he's perfect no matter what. I stan the alternate universe black Hellion who was like 5 years old and only appeared in the background of one panel, who may or may not be Hellion at all. He had metal hands, so I like to think he's meant to be Julian Keller.

Krakoa

So the mutants formed a mutant nation, an island paradise called Krakoa. It was this whole thing, it was great, I loved it. I recommend reading House of X/Powers of X if you haven't already. But the tl;dr is that mutants were able to resurrect the dead and give depowered mutants their powers back.

Hellion was given a sanctuary in paradise. The X-Men who had abandoned him had finally given him protection and safety. He had every single one of his deceased friends back, and they were there with him. The days of M-Day were a bad memory, there would be no school attacks, and he wouldn't have to live in fear of M-Pox. If he wanted to, he could die and come back with his hands, fully restored through the Resurrection Protocols.

You know who else came back? Wind Dancer. After fourteen real-life years, the two were finally reunited.

Hellion had regained almost everything he'd lost. All of his suffering was worth it, because he finally reached the light at the end of the tunnel. All the work he put into helping the X-Men, saving Hope and working tirelessly to protect others has paid off.

But if this post has taught you anything, it's that Hellion isn't allowed happiness.

Krakoa would fall through the machinations of an evil organization called Orchis. Lead by such villains as Omega Sentinel and Nimrod, Orchis would frame Krakoa for crimes in biological warfare and sabotage, wanton murder of humans, and plots of world domination. The whole world stood back and did nothing as the mutants were attacked, scattered across the world and hunted 'till near-extinction. Many people even cheered Orchis on. Some governments even assisted them in making life more difficult for mutants. Mutants were rounded up, jailed, put under inhumane conditions, forcibly injected with "cures," and even murdered.

Where was Hellion during all of this? Well, he was in another dimension. Xavier had sent mutants through portals, per Orchis' demands. They wanted Xavier to telepathically force every mutant off the planet, or Orchis would use biological warfare to wipe out millions of humans. Wanting to spare humans, Xavier forced the majority of mutants through portals, which would end up leading them to the White Hot Room. The strugglers were left to deal with Orchis.

Hellion either went through those portals, or he had been killed during the Orchis genocide and gone through the Resurrection Protocols in the White Hot Room. He'd be there for several months, struggling to survive in a desert with 200,000 other mutants.

Hellion and most other named mutants would return to Earth, thanks to the X-Men. But also the X-Men and the ruling leaders of Krakoa were kind of to blame, since they failed to strike down Orchis earlier, despite them being a known threat. They tried some things, sure. But the plot basically forbade them from making any real progress against them until now. So yeah, the adults let Hellion down again. If they stopped playing by the rules and killed Omega Sentinel, they'd be happier.

Also, Krakoa would still exist beyond this point. Or rather, a splinter of the island nation would exist in the White Hot Room. It was shown that, without any humans or other groups coming down on them, they could thrive and grow as a healthy, enlightened and thriving nation. Mutants had the option of giving up life on their home planet to go to the White Hot Room's and have sanctuary, or stay in the trenches and spend their lives under constant threat of humans, aliens, demons and robots.

Look at Hellion at the start of his journey, and look at him now. He lost his friends, his loves, his wealth, his family, his identity as a leader, and any confidence he had from his body. The only thing he has left is his telekinesis.

The Villainous Path

Little hellions, kids feeling rebellious Embarrassed, their parents still listen to X-Men

So now we have a better picture of Hellion. He's a person with a big heart and a huge sense of loyalty, but he's been constantly let down by people around him. He's been kicked while he's been down, treated like a monster, and had the people he loves most walk out on him. His own insecurities, ego and attitude have held him back. And just when everything seemed to be turning around, just when he had everything he had lost... his home is taken away from him and he's left alone all over again.

You can see why Hellion wouldn't want anything to do with the X-Men after all of this. They took him in, but they treated him like shit and failed him constantly. He was constantly pointing out the truth, but they punished him for it and insisted that he was wrong.

But you can also see why he would have a grudge against a world who supported his peoples' genocide and the destruction of his nation. The same world that largely stood by and ignored his plight during those 2 other genocides he directly endured, and several others he would have been witness to.

Marvel's also on a sliding timescale, where their time passes much slower than ours. So bear in mind, he has probably been active in-universe for 2 to 4 years. 5, if you want to be generous. Everything you have read has been happening non-stop in a very short span of time.

Almost everyone around Hellion is terrible. He literally cannot count on anyone to help him out, because they are either grossly incompetent, unequipped to deal with things, or outright trying to kill him.

If everyone just listened to him, everything would have been fine... Or humans, machines and other heroes would have wiped them off the planet, and things would be even worse. But I choose to believe that Hellion had the right of way. After all, he'd been right about everything else.

Hellion proved himself to be a real hero, despite everyone doubting him. But he has also done things you wouldn't see most traditional heroes do, because he's cynical and willing to do harsher things if it means helping others. At the very least, he's firmly an anti-hero.

There is precedence for having him taking on an antagonistic role and going against traditional heroes. The context was always him doing what he thought was best.

So he could easily work as an anti-villain or antagonist; someone who will take the role of the heel, but still be sympathetic and have the capacity to be redeemed.

Right now, many fans are worried that that Hellion won't be portrayed sympathetically. That he'll be suddenly and drastically changed into a villain, solely there to cause trouble, do despicable things and be defeated. To be a strawman of what he once was. And to be fair, that's a fair worry; we recently saw a mutant, Nature Girl, go from a mild-mannered student supporting character, to a genocidal villain at the drop of a hat. Her character was irrevocably warped to facilitate a story. Anyone who liked her original characterization would be turned off by this change.

Or how about Benjamin Percy's take on Beast? The loveable furball was now a vile, manipulative, genocidal villain who would torture his friends for his own gain.

There was room for these characters to become darker figures - let's not forget how Nature Girl had a small story dedicated to her being painfully aware of the torture Christmas trees go through before they're tossed aside by humans, unaware of the pain they have caused. But these characters went from A, to B to Z. Things jumped wildly and they became extreme caricatures that barely resembled their original selves. And even if Beast did some questionable things in the past, no way would he naturally fall as far as he did under Percy's pen, much less so abruptly.

There's also worry that the Krakoan will be used as a strawman against Krakoa. He'd be used to portray the worst aspects of Krakoan culture and somehow prove to the audience that no, Krakoa was actually really bad and you should be glad that it's gone.

The Krakoan is specifically twisting the dream of Krakoa to rule the masses. I'm not paying too much attention to these, since preview blurbs are known to be inaccurate at times. But at the very least, they make it clear that what he's doing is not meant (out-of-universe, at least) to be an accurate representation of Krakoa. He's an in-universe example of Krakoa being misused and represented.

Despite this, if the Krakoan is Julian, I think he will be respected a bit. One of the writers of NYX, Jackson Lanzing, was asked about Hellion. He had this to say.

I think that's a pretty fair take on him. Lanzing acknowledged that he's not some simple character. Hellion has the potential to be a big player for mutants - for good or for ill - and that stems from him being somewhere in the middle of the Xavier-Magneto spectrum. He has some desire for peace and co-existence, but he's also not shying away from the reality he faces. If they're writing him, I fully expect them to portray this depth and nuance, even if it's on a small level.

They acknowledged his ties to David and Laura. The latter is important because there's a lot they could mine here beyond their romance. Hellion was there to show Laura a life outside of the darkness. He wanted her to be a better person and break free from her past as an assassin. While the writers might focus on the duo's romance, they should at least be aware that it's built on a foundation of seeing past the bad side of someone, and getting to the real, good person underneath.

Further, both writers are now on record as being big fans of Hellion. They not only like him a lot, but they clearly have a grasp on his character. I doubt they'd do something that would destroy his potential for future stories.

I'm cautiously optimistic about Hellion's villain era. I could be wrong and the writers could totally flub it. But for now, things are pointing towards him being treated with respect.

And if not? Well, he'll probably be right anyway. He's the new Cyclops/Magneto. As the saying goes, they were right. And Hellion has already proven that he has been right this whole time. If Hellion is reduced to some baby-eating monster, I would defend him. That baby was probably racist and had evil vibes.

From the Ashes

That's telekinesis, Kyle. How 'bout the power to move you?

The new relaunch will see other books release alongside NYX. And yes, they're going to be notably less popular because they don't have Hellion in them. But with Hellion's new role, who says he can't be a key figure in the world of mutants going forward?

Exceptional X-Men will feature Kitty Pryde and Emma Frost mentoring three new mutants. They'll be protecting these kids and guiding them through a world that hates and fears them, ensuring that they grow up to be heroes. Meanwhile NYX's main villain is likely one of their previous kids they trained, who they failed, mistreated and abandoned several times, who was explicitly stated to be unstable after his experiences on the field and under their care.

These kids are fucked. Hellion needs to come in and save them from the X-Men, before Kitty Pryde ruins their lives with her "help."

X-Men will feature Cyclops and his band of heroes (plus Quentin Quire), acting openly and proudly as mutants. They won't return to their evolutionary era, but they will still but heads with the government and are in a place that might put them in opposition with the mainstream opinion. From the looks of it, they will fight for their rights and do what they feel is right, even if it makes humans uncomfortable, because they need to be heard and- Oh wait. Hasn't Hellion been doing all of this from the get-go? Hmm.

Don't worry, I'm sure Cyclops will tell the Krakoan that his methods are super wrong and go too far, and that the X-Men are fighting for their rights the right way. Hurting innocent people to promote your cause is wrong! Then Cyclops and his team will get a few more innocent children killed before moving on to their next project.

What about Uncanny X-Men? Rogue's leading that team, and Gambit and Wolverine are on it. All three of them owe Hellion an apology. Jubilee's also there. She always busted Hellion's balls for how he handled his relationship with Laura... when she wasn't ogling his ass on the beach. Which was fair, but maybe she could apologize for not being a little sympathetic after his hands got blown off by an evil robot while fighting for their cause.

X-Factor will apparently pit the titular team against an underground mutant revolution, lead by Polaris. Hey, you think the Krakoan might want to get involved with that down the line?

Wolverine has a solo book. He can use the 5000 issues he'll get to beg Hellion for forgiveness. That's almost enough time to make up for how he treated Julian.

Dazzler's getting a mini. And guess who's going to be part of her crew? Hellion's exes, Wind Dancer and Shark-Girl. Wonder how they'd feel about him breaking bad?

And Now?

We wait see what comes next. We hope for the best, expect the worst, but know that this book will be the best of the From the Ashes era, simply because Hellion is gracing us with his presence.

I recommend reading more Hellion stories when you can. This post only touches on the basics. There are a lot of things I had to cut out. There are a lot of things that I missed, or didn't include because I they weren't as important to be as they might be to you. You might read things completely differently, even though I am objectively right because Hellion is perfect and could never do wrong. I might have purposely skewed things to favor Hellion because this post is Hellion propaganda. But whatever the case, you absolutely should follow my boy.

I had a whole section about Hellion's telekinesis. He's a telekinetic in a world filled with telekinetics who ALSO have telepathy and other powers. But he was able to stand out with how he varied in its use - he could create energy blasts and projectiles, fly at subsonic speeds, make things combust on a molecular level, and blast through just about anything. I cut it because I hit the image limit and didn't have enough space to show them, and they need to be shown because his powers are visually distinct. It was either keep them and cut out the tiddy pic, or keep the tiddy pic and cut out the displays of power. And I think I made the right choice.

[maniculum]

Bestiaryposting Plan

So the poll is still running, but I think I'm safe in saying there's sufficient interest, so I'm going ahead and typing up a "how we're going to do this" thing, which I will schedule to post after the poll ends properly. As of the time I'm writing this, over 500 people have voted for the "yes I want to draw things" option, and I had been expecting to get maybe a dozen, so we definitely have enough participants. Let's get started then:

Our Source

I had originally planned to translate an Old or Middle English bestiary, but haven't been able to find a good one -- the best option I was able to dig up only has thirteen critters, which I feel like isn't enough to really have fun with. I was debating the idea of translating a Latin one -- this would have been far more time-consuming since my Latin is terrible, but also I do need to practice it, so I figured it evens out -- when I found a solution that doesn't involve me spending hours and hours on translating.

It seems that when Aberdeen University created their digitized version of the famous Aberdeen Bestiary, they released it under a Creative Commons license. (Assuming I'm reading their copyright policy correctly; I'm not a lawyer.) It does not seem to specify whether the transcriptions and translations they attach to the scanned images are also covered by Creative Commons, but since all of those are already freely available online through their website, I can't imagine they would have a problem with me posting them here as long as I provide attribution (which I am hereby doing right here on this post) and am not using it for commercial purposes (which I am not).

The Aberdeen Bestiary is missing a few pages, but there exists a very similar manuscript, the Ashmole Bestiary (they're sometimes called "sister" manuscripts), which is not missing those pages. And I happen to have a translation of the Ashmole Bestiary in hardcopy on my bookshelf, so I can just use it to fill in the gaps. Edit: whoops, the one I have is the Bodley Bestiary. They are in the same bestiary "family", though, so it still works well enough. (I think that should qualify as "fair use", since I'm only taking excerpts and not using them commercially.)

The upside of using the Aberdeen Bestiary is that it means when I round up all the art of each critter, I can include their very nice illustrations alongside the reveal of what animal was being described.

The downside of using the Aberdeen Bestiary is that since it already is free online, people might be tempted to "cheat" by looking up the entries and finding out what animal they describe. For that, please see the next section...

Guessing the Animal

Guessing what animal is being described is not the point of the exercise. (Feel free to have theories and whatnot, but please keep them to yourself so as not to influence the artists.) If you see an entry and think, e.g., "oh that's describing a raccoon"*, and then you create a picture of a raccoon... well, you could have done a perfectly good raccoon at any point and didn't need this framework to do it. So just don't worry about what animal is meant, and do your best to draw (or paint or stitch or whatever else) based on the description! You're not getting ranked on accuracy and there are no prizes forthcoming, so... just have fun with it.

*Example chosen as something that will, for obvious reasons, definitely not be in a 13th-century European bestiary.

Edit after starting to type these things up: some of these are going to be super easy to guess, though, to the point where I don't know how possible it'll be to block out prior knowledge. Sorry about that.

General Procedure

I'm going to schedule a post every Monday (I'm thinking of queuing them for 6pm Eastern Time) with a new entry. It will be the translation of an entry from the Aberdeen Bestiary with all references to the animal's name replaced by a randomly-generated nonsense word. (Henceforth to be referred to as "nonsense-names". I'm Googling* each one before using them so I don't accidentally generate one that actually means something.) These posts will all be tagged maniculum bestiaryposting, so you can follow that tag if you want to make sure you see them.'

*Later Note: Did you know that if you search dozens of nonsense words within a short span of time, Google makes you prove you're not a robot? Repeatedly?

Anyone who wants to draw the critter being described should do so. (You are encouraged to describe your thought process re: why you've depicted it the way you have.) You can put it in its own post, or reblog the description with an image, or however you want to do it. Then tag your art with the nonsense-name I've given to the animal.This will let me and others find it. (You should probably employ copy/paste there to make sure the spelling is the same, since nonsense words are hard to spellcheck.)

A week after posting the bestiary entry, I'll go through that tag and round up all of the art contributed. Then I'll put the images in a big post (or series thereof, considering how many people might participate), along with an @ and a link to your original post.

If you want...

to not have your work included in the round-up post

to have only a link to your post included and not an image

to have me include a link to your website / other social media / etsy shop in addition to or instead of your tumblr

to have other information included alongside your work

anything else along those lines

... then just say so in your post and I will follow your instructions to the best of my ability.

I will also include, at the end of the round-up post, an image of the creature as depicted in the Aberdeen Bestiary and what it is actually called.

All posts I make on this will be collected at https://maniculum.tumblr.com/bestiaryposting so that people can look at previous ones without scrolling through the tag.

Various Notes

I'm going to trim out any religious digressions in the original entries -- bestiary authors had a habit of adding stuff like "and the raccoon is symbolic of god in such-and-such fashion, which teaches us...", and I just don't think that's relevant here.

The entries will also be presented in a random order. This is because they're sorted into categories in the original text, so if I don't change the order we're going to get stuck with, e.g., a few months of All Birds All The Time.

You should all be aware that the animals described are not guaranteed to be, you know, real. There are several entries describing animals that straight up do not exist -- some of which are mythical creatures familiar to most people, others of which are extremely obscure.

Explanations of the animal's name within the entries will be redacted.

If other animals are mentioned within the entries, they will not get replaced with nonsense-names. Originally, I was going to make the switch globally, so that if, e.g., the entry for "raccoon" read "a raccoon is about the size of a possum", and the random generator had decided that a raccoon was a balzikhear and a possum was a flunggrish, the "raccoon" entry would now read "a balzikhear is about the size of a flunggrish". However, I decided that it will cause more problems than it solves to obscure any comparisons to other animals -- so the name-switch is now localized only to the specific entry. A possum is a flunggrish only in its own entry, and remains a possum everywhere else.

I was originally going to do one post for every single entry, but there are a lot of them and they vary wildly in length & quality. So I've cut it down to exactly 52 posts, meaning that if I queue them up for once a week, this will run for roughly a full year.

Most of that cutting-down mentioned above was done by combining a bunch of the really short entries into categories -- the last half-dozen posts in this series will be group entries. You can choose to make art of any of them that strike your fancy, or do a group portrait, or just ignore them --I dunno, I'm not a cop, do what you want.

I did also directly cut some, mostly domesticated animals because there's a somewhat different approach to them based on author and audience familiarity.

So yeah, that should cover everything.

[redwinterroses]

Boatem, on any given day, was probably gonna be two things:

Obviously, the first was “chaotic.” That surprises no one, yeah? Raise your hand if you’re surprised that Boatem was chaotic. 

See? No hands. It's a thing that is known. You got your end crystals and tree wars and mountains going up over night and ravagers raining from the heavens… Boatem was the home-sweet-home of chaos. And it lived there very comfortably.

But the second trait that Boatem had, on every day that end in Y, wasn’t quite as obvious. 

It was "secretive."

Hah. Yeah, I see your quirked eyebrow of skepticism. Look buddy, I had a bird’s eye view of the whole thing and I can tell you this for sure: the only reason none of those morons got caught out in their big secrets was that they were all too busy being cartoonishly self-conscious to notice literally everyone else doing the same thing.

That thing being, specifically: pretending to be human.

Yeah. You heard me. Human. Pretending. As in: none of that lot are human in any way, shape, and only occasionally in form.

Take Mumbo for example. Dear old Mumbo Jumbo, my personal nemesis—and also the member of Boatem I got to see up close and personal the most.

Lucky me.

He somehow managed to hide it right under everyone else’s nose, which I can only chalk up to years of trusting friendship mixed with a hilarious lack of awareness. His shapeshifting abilities have never been more unstable than they were in Boatem—maybe it was the chaos bleeding through, or the way that world was a bit unstable even from the very beginning… Either way, he turned into a living potato right in front of all of them and they barely blinked. 

A potato.

Night after night I had to listen to him pacing around in his storage room, muttering to himself about how dangerous it was to be a shapeshifter living with a bunch of humans. How he was putting a lot at risk and what fibs he was going to tell to play it off as some sort of joke or prank. I started keeping a scratch tally of how many times he said “Oh dear. Oh dear."

I ran out of space about two weeks in.

But it’s not like any of his neighbors were going to notice anyway. “Living with a bunch of humans,” my big wishbone. 

Human. Hah. Right, like “human” Pearl—the alien who ducked her feathery antennae in her hair any time someone came around, who floated around her base like gravity was frickin' optional? Pearl, who nearly got caught with her antennae out every time someone ran past and jumped like a skittish rabbit enough to raise anyone’s suspicions… Except her clueless Boatem pals.

Or “human” Scar, who never even hides his vexy teeth when he grins, but somehow everyone acts like they don’t notice. Maybe he uses some sort of glamor on them—not like I’d know. Magic is ticklish territory for my type. All I know is that for someone who loudly proclaims to be human—a thing no human has ever actually had to do—he didn’t go to much effort to act like one. 

And then there’s that Impulse guy. I’m not sure what he is, but the one time he got close enough to peck he nearly roasted my tail feathers. Plus it seemed like all you had to do was say his name and he’d just… show up.

Downright creepy if you ask me. Not like no one ever does. Don't bother talkin' to the guy who has a view of everything for 18 chunks--no, just blame him for your dumb redstone door breaking.

Anyway. The one Mumbo seemed most desperate to hide his “secret” from was… that other one. I don’t even like to say his name, to be perfectly honest with you but I know you know who I’m talking about. The wing-appropriator. The merry prankster. The one who watches you with eyes so dark you never know where he’s looking. 

And people say I have beady black eyes.

I don’t even know why Mumbo bothered trying to hide it from Gr… from him. Or why he was trying to hide what he was from the rest of them. Or how they never noticed the extra pairs of wings that would sometimes flutter about, or how he always saw when people were trying to prank him—even if it looked like he was asleep. 

But I’ll admit it was hilarious watching them dance around each other like a couple of hens avoiding a creeper—except both of them were hens and they each thought the other was a creeper. 

Somehow—somehow—none of them ever noticed the others. Who needs camouflage when you've got friends this oblivious? Anyway, come on—we all know none of them would actually care if they revealed their precious secrets.

I kinda hope they never do, though. Five best friends, none of whom are human, all convinced that they're the only alien-vex-demon-shapeshifter-thing-nonhuman in the bunch?

That's a joke even this bird-brain can appreciate.