#i originally wanted to make both eyes glow but his other eye can't have effects added to it lol

[silvergyus]

best man and maid of honour being absolutely enemies and hating the living shit out of each other

hate sex at the bachelor/bachelorette parties?

"i hate you" - c.bg

pairing: best man!beomgyu x maid of honor!reader

summary: your best friend is marrying the love of her life, but you can't stand her groom's best man, choi beomgyu. his arrival at her bachelorette party sends you into a rage, one that turns into something more heated than just an argument

warnings: hate sex, semi-public sex (bathroom at a club), dubcon (reader and bg are both somewhat intoxicated), pussy job, unprotected sex, pull out method, spanking, mention of hickeys, hair pulling (bg receiving), use of "baby/ princess/ pretty slut" for reader, insults as foreplay?

word count: 2,800+

part one of wedding season

“How original.” Despite being impossibly close already, he pressed closer to you, more in your space. You felt the heat grow between your legs and swore it was the tequila. “Why don’t you tell me how you really feel then?”

“I hate you,” you spat through gritted teeth.

“Then why are you humping my leg?”

I need to know where you’re having Soobin’s bachelor party

Your text sat unread alongside several other versions of the same message. God, he was driving you crazy.

It’s true that maybe you were taking your duties as maid of honor a little more seriously than you really needed to. You’d heard the wedding planner mutter that it was almost as if you were the bridezilla. But is it really your fault if the bride was your absolute best friend since childhood and didn’t have a party planning bone in her body? Her big day would be completely perfect in every way, you were going to make damn sure of it- which meant that you couldn’t kill the best man, no matter how much you wanted to.

----

You’d never been a big fan of Beomgyu. He was Soobin’s best friend. You adored Soobin- he made your best friend happy and always was kind and considerate of you when you third wheeled- but you couldn’t understand why someone so kind, so patient as Soobin would be best friends with someone like Beomgyu. They were polar opposites. Soobin was quiet; Beomgyu needed to be the life of the party. It was grating. He was too rowdy, too silly, too committed to the bit.

And right now, he was driving you completely crazy with his lack of responses.

You wanted this bachelorette party to be perfect, straight out of a movie. Dinner, drinks, tiny penis straws- a night to remember. Your best friend and her entire bridal party were going to pregame at your apartment before heading to her favorite club. Everyone would buy her drinks and make her feel like a princess until she got too drunk to walk. You’d even pre-ordered the Uber for the end of the night.

You’d planned out outfits and accessories and a perfect itinerary. This Saturday was going to be perfect. Only one thing could put a wrench in your plans, and he was currently leaving you on delivered.

----

Several days, many texts and a few voicemails later, Beomgyu finally replied.

Same day. Quit worrying. I have everything planned

Where though? You texted back immediately. But to no avail. He didn’t even open your reply.

“That asshole."

----

The bass pumped steadily through the speakers, a thumping you could feel in your chest. The night was going perfectly. Photos were perfectly candid, drinks were flowing steadily, not a hair on your head was out of place. Everyone’s dresses were shiny and slutty and looked damn good. Everything was perfect. Just as you planned. You were practically glowing- or maybe that was just a side effect of the tequila.

You were just about to snap another selfie with the bridal party when you heard a warbled “baby!” from across the bar. Your best friend’s eyes lit up as she turned around to see her fiance rushing towards her. Soobin, larger than life, appeared as a blur, scooping her up in his embrace and plastering drunken kisses across her face.

You froze. Fuck! What is he doing here?

The bride was whisked away by her husband-to-be, leaving you at the bar, mouth hung open in disbelief. Everything was perfect. How could this happen?

The culprit behind your ruined night slid into the seat next to yours. Choi Beomgyu, a nasty smirk on his face, appeared in your sight. Your blood boiled. “How dare you?” you hissed.

His face didn't change as he asked, “how dare I what?”

“How dare you show up here? You knew this was my choice for the bachelorette party.”

“Watch your tone, princess, it was literally not my fault.”

You scoffed, pissed at his tone and the pet name. “How is it not your fault that you’ve brought the guys here to ruin my girls’ night?”

“You know how Soobin gets when he drinks,” Beomgyu reminded you. The part of your brain that wasn’t swimming in tequila recognized that he had a point. You and your best friend had laughed more than once at the sentimental calls she received from a drunken Soobin, in his feelings after a few drinks and missing his girl. The part of your brain that just drank a margarita out of a tiny pink penis straw didn’t care that maybe Beomgyu had a point, that part of your brain was just pissed off.

Your mouth moved faster than the logical part of your brain as you cursed him out. How dare he ruin your night? Why would he do the one thing you asked him not to do? You texted him, so, so, so many times. Though you haven’t drank much, the alcohol mixed easily with the swirling emotions to take your anger from zero to ten quickly, and it wasn’t long before heads began to turn in your direction.

Beomgyu grabbed your wrist to pull you away from the bar, away from the curious eyes. You were reluctantly pulled along towards the shadows near the bathrooms. His grip on your arm only made your anger burn hotter. Who does he think he is?

He pulled you to a stop in the single-stall restroom, his hand finding its way to your waist. His touch was surprisingly gentle as he looked you in the eyes. “You need to calm down.”

"Why the fuck are you here? I told you not to come here. I told you so many times and you fucking showed up anyway!"

He sighed, leaning back as he did. “I told you; Soobin asked and I couldn’t say no.”

The light caught his dark hair at this angle, shining through his bangs and illuminating his features. Was he always this good looking?

Beomgyu noticed your pause. “That’s it then? Got nothing to say now? After that scene out there?”

You felt the anger in your blood pick up again. “Don’t act like I’m the asshole here!” You took a staggering step towards him in the tiny space as you raised your voice. “You could’ve distracted him!”

He took a step back, away from your advancement. He tilted his head, resting it against the dark red wall. Your temper stilled in your chest as your eyes fixated on his Adam's apple, on the sharp angle it possessed, how it jutted out from his pretty throat. What was happening to you? Why were you noticing things about him?

“You keep doing that.” His voice was low when he spoke, its trembling bass sent a shiver down your spine. You swore it was just the alcohol that made you squeeze your thighs together.

“Doing what?” Your voice was barely more than a whisper. You weren’t sure Beomgyu could hear it over the noise of the club, muffled but still noticeable in the small bathroom.

He moved towards you, caging you in, pressing you back against the cool stone of the sink. “Getting distracted.”

Your breath hitched as you took in his features. His brown eyes stared at you with something burning below the surface. His cheeks were flushed red from his own night of drinking. His full lips were parted just so, and were so, so close to yours.

You watched him smirk, laughing at you. The spark of anger flashed in you again. How dare he laugh at you? Put you in this compromising position? Take you away from you girls after ruining your night? “There you go again. Am I that distracting, princess?”

“Shut up.”

“How original.” Despite being impossibly close already, he pressed closer to you, more in your space. You felt the heat grow between your legs and told yourself it was the tequila. “Since it's just the two of us here," he leaned in so his breath fanned against your ear as he spoke. "Why don’t you tell me how you really feel then?”

“I hate you,” you spat through gritted teeth.

“Then why are you humping my leg?” His voice was deep and mischievous as he asked, dark eyes glinting with a look that made both your anger and the heat between your thighs swell.

You looked down in horror as he lifted the front of your dress to reveal a wet spot on his jeans. “Look baby, all wet just for me.” He was goading you, and fuck, it was working.

“Shut up,” you said again, shoving his shoulders hard so he stepped back. You followed, pushing him against the dark wall once more. Your hands found his collar as you spoke. “You never listen to me! You weren’t supposed to be here! You always make everything about you!” You were pissed, letting the alcohol bring up the feelings you’ve politely squashed down for months. You wanted him to know what you thought of him, needed him to know that you couldn’t stand to be around him. That he was the bane of your existence and this night was the icing on the cake.

But this close you could smell the cologne he dabbed on his throat, a warm, spicy scent that made your head spin a different way than the tequila did. His Adam’s apple bobbed when he swallowed, tilting his head to look at you and it filled your vision. You suddenly felt very hot and a very strong need to bite it, to mark him up.

“Is that everything? Or is there anything else you want to say?” You met his gaze, dark chocolatey, brown eyes rimmed with pretty lashes. Was Beomgyu hot? How had you never noticed him like this before?

His voice interrupted your thoughts. “Because if it is, I’d like to say that you are the most controlling, tight-wound, micro-managing person I’ve ever met. If it’s not your way, then it’s not right.” He grabbed your hands from his collar as he spoke, holding them tightly as he pushed you backwards until your ass met the cool stone of the sink. “Isn’t that so?”

The action threw you off your guard. He was toying with you in a way you didn’t expect. He was always a tease, but this was much more controlling than you’d ever seen him be. “Answer me.”

“Don’t fucking talk to me like that.”

“Or what?”

He stared at you, eyes burning into yours as you held your face fierce. You had no idea how to answer but you couldn’t back down. Not now, not to him.

The tension broke by way of Beomgyu claiming your lips with his, a swift kiss that shook you out of your competition. His lips were soft, slightly chapped as he nibbled at yours, tongue darting out to ask for entrance. His tongue was in your mouth, filling your head with notes of beer and whisky, a sharp contrast to the sickly sweet tequila that still coated your tongue. Fuck, he tasted good, deep and smoky, it paired so well with his cologne. Your head spun, fuzzy and light. You needed him, needed him now.

His hand groped your breast over the tight material of your dress, squeezing not for your pleasure but for his. His actions were rough, quickly pulling down the thin fabric to paw at your bra. You broke the kiss to gasp when his fingers pulled roughly at your nipple, but Beomgyu didn’t stop. His hands continued to squeeze and pull however they wanted as his teeth nipped at the column of your throat. It was maddening.

You tugged roughly at his hair, drawing a whine as you pulled him away from your neck. Through the haze in your head you could only remember that you couldn’t have any hickeys at the wedding. “Suck here.” You shoved his head roughly onto your chest, throwing your head back in ecstasy as his hot mouth found your nipple.

It was good, so good. Beomgyu made sweet noises against your skin when you pulled his hair, lightly in comparison to the rough tug that brought him to your chest. His mouth was good, but all the attention to your chest left you feeling needy in your core. You pulled his hair again, forcing his pretty lips away from your aching nipple. “Are you gonna fuck me?”

He rolled his eyes, mouth slick with his saliva. “Always so demanding.” He lifted you onto the ledge of the sink, fingers ghosting up your inner thigh. “Does this pussy need something?”

“Shut up and fuck me.”

“No,” he said, mischievous glint returning to his eyes. “Ask me nicely.”

You scoffed. As if.

But he held your gaze, challenging. You looked down to see the tent in his pants, clearly he wanted this too. But he didn’t budge. “Ask me nicely or I’ll leave you here like this.”

“Fuck you.”

He cocked his head. “Is that so?” His movements were quick as he turned you around so you stood, front plastered to the sink ledge. His hands reached beneath your dress to pull down your soaked panties, leaving you exposed, pressed to his back and facing yourself in the mirror. “If you’re not going to ask nicely, then I’m not going to fuck you.” His voice was a low growl in your ear.

A hand held your chest as you felt him unbutton his pants, actions sloppy and uncoordinated with one hand. You bit back a moan as you felt his hot cock press against your ass. He pushed it against your folds, nudging your clit and making you whine.

“Just this until you beg for my cock.” He thrust against you, cock gathering your drooling wetness and gliding, frustratingly smooth against your sensitive core. It wasn’t enough, couldn’t be enough. His cock felt delicious and hot against you, but it didn’t slip inside. You arched back, aching for him to be inside. He chuckled at the motion. “So desperate.” His hand slapped your ass, the sound loud in the tiny room. “C’mon, use your words.”

You shook your head, not wanting to give in, to let him win. He continued to thrust against your pussy, making a mess of the both of you. The tip of his cock snagged against your entrance and you moaned loudly, hanging your head as you gripped the cool stone sink in an attempt to ground yourself. 

He laughed at your display, hand finding your chin and forcing you to look at yourself in the mirror. “Look at yourself. Such a pretty slut for me,” he groped your chest as he whispered. The dual sensations of his tip brushing against your clit with every thrust and his fingers pinching and pulling at your nipples was driving you mad. You needed him, you couldn’t stand it. Paired with the soft pants and almost-hidden moans from Beomgyu behind you, you were stuck maddeningly on the edge.

“C’mon, say it. Ask me. Tell me you need my cock.” He smacked your ass again, pushing you into the sink and breaking your defenses.

“Please! Please Beomgyu, please give me your cock! Need it so bad, fuck, just put it inside.”

His smile was devilish as he kissed your throat. “Now, that wasn’t too hard, was it?”

He didn’t let you answer before pushing his cock fully inside you. Slick with your wetness, he went in smoothly, earning a loud moan from you at the sudden fullness. He groaned along with you, eyes crinkling shut as he took in the feeling. “God, this pussy.”

His hips snapped into you messily. Both of you were already so close to your peaks, there was no way that this would last long. His cock hit that spot inside of you perfectly at this angle. It was a sweaty mess of slick and pleasure and you weren’t sure how long you could hold off before crashing.

“Beomgyu,” you panted his name. “I’m close.” His hand reached down, finding your over-sensitive clit and pressing down roughly. “Don’t- don’t cum in me.” You grabbed his hand that gripped the sink. He nodded against your hair, not looking up.

“Cum on my dick baby, cum on my dick and I’ll cum on your ass.” You nodded, anywhere but inside.

He shoved his fingers in your mouth and you sucked, coating them in your spit. They returned to rub quick, hard circles on your clit. Your orgasm struck you like lighting, hot and heavy it poured down on you, splitting your fuzzy head wide open. Your legs shook against Beomgyu and before you were fully through your high he was pulling out to shoot his load across the bare skin of your ass.

The two of you stood there, leaning against the sink for support as you panted, coming down from your highs. Beomgyu’s forehead rested against your back.

You weren’t sure how much time passed before he shuffled away, still close, but not pressed against you. “We should,” you began. He was still beautiful, even after your cloud of rage-induced lust had faded. You cleared your throat. “We should, um, we should probably clean up. Go find everyone.”

His voice was husky when he spoke. “They’re probably wondering where we are.”

Your gaze lingered on him for a little too long before you replied softly, “yeah, probably.”

author’s note: this is a work of fiction not meant to accurately represent the idol. please do not repost.

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[rachiebeee]

some Leo headcanons I have

Leo doesn't know what day his birthday is. He knows its in July, but he hasn't done anything on it since he was 8 and he used to act like it was/wasn't on certain days based on how well they went (he thinks its the 7th, but he hates the number 7 so he ignores it).

Leo has stolen and crashed a police car. He will do it again.

Leo's mother and Aunt Rosa both had dreams from Gaea that told them Leo was going to kill Esperanza, but Esperanza took it as an "he'll do it on accident bc he doesn't know how to control his powers" and Rosa took it as "It's a sign from God and this child was sent by the devil".

He's asexual biromantic, but in love with the idea of being in love.

He learns a form of script-based magic - the same thing that is etched on each stone used for the Hecate cabin. Jo is his teacher, but when he visits camp all of the Hecate cabin are happy to help him too. He views it as a code instead of magic, and only ever uses it in the things he builds because he forgets it can be useful on its own.

He's a Fall out Boy stan. Loves all types of rock too, but FOB was his gateway into it.

Every time he went to a new school if they had a music program he could join for free he would. Originally he'd just choose a new instrument every school, but on his third try he learnt drums and decided to stick with it.

HIs eyes look like yooperlite while it's glowing, but more like burning coals while he's using his powers.

On that note, Leo's body temperature can be way hotter than the normal person's. On a normal day where he's fine in everyway, he's hot but not hot enough for people to think he's feverish. When he's excited his temperature rapidly increases, as it does with stress. When he forgoes sleeping his body forgets to regulate his temperature, which leads to him either going very cold or very hot.

He can't really get fevers at all really. It's also very hard for a lot of illnesses to effect him because half the time he burns it up before he even knows its there. When he does get sick it's really bad though, because his immune system is actually pretty weak.

Related to that, he is the only known person who can currently be a theoretical host to a thermophile virus. Not that he would, but it is a thought that has crossed his mind.

He has a hobby of making little robots. He makes Piper a bronze eagle one as a present and he slowly starts to make them for his friends

Annabeth gets a cat because he thinks she has cat vibes and an owl would be basic. Percy gets an otter because Leo did not want to think about making a robot fish that works well out of water. Frank gets a chameleon as a joke, but he makes it so it can turn into a small dragon too. Hazel gets a snake, again for the vibes. Nico gets a lizard. Just like, a nondescript lizard. He makes Reyna a bronze dog to "complete the metal set", but it's based of a Molossus of Epirus instead of a hound. Jo and Emmie get matching gryphons, and Georgina's little robot is a llama. Leo makes himself a wolf in honour of Jason.

On the topic of making things, Leo also gets really into all forms of metalsmithing. Which includes making jewellery, which leads to him getting a lot of piercings. Piper does too, because they went to go get the piercings together. He loves giving people little friendship bracelets, and charms, and ornaments. He makes people themed cutlery sets.

His love language is gift giving, if it's not obvious.

He stays in contact with Apollo, but in order to not upset Zeus they frame it as 'music lessons'. As the inventor of the Valdezinator (and its best player), it's a pretty good excused. Leo does make new instruments occasionally when they feel like they're pushing the 'lesson' excuse.

They fr just gossip during them though, and then give each other a scuffed form of therapy. They go from talks about petty drama to unanswerable philosophical discussions to jokes that make no sense.

[666writingcafe]

Exam Prep, Part One

Barbatos

"Your professor has informed me that lately you have been struggling with the lab portion of your seductive speechcraft class," I calmly tell MC, who sighs.

"I can block advances just fine, but actually trying to seduce someone is proving to be quite difficult," they explain. "I don't feel like I'm sounding genuine, if that makes sense. I mean, I never had that much luck with it in the human world, and it seems like I've not had to work super hard here, which still baffles me, but that's a topic for another day." Interesting. I didn't realize they were that introspective. Most humans aren't.

"If it's any consolation, you're doing better than some other demons."

"Like Levi?" I allow myself to smirk, amused by their observation.

"Exactly. Leviathan either can't bring himself to seduce anyone at all, or he pulls from existing media and provides out-of-context lines that don't fit the person he's talking to. From what I've heard, you at least are trying to be original. We--your professor and I--just think that there's room for improvement."

"Of course."

"So, for today's session, I want you to try to seduce me." Of course, that's the moment Diavolo decides to walk past the room MC and I are in. My back may be turned to him, but I can still sense his energy.

You may watch, but do not disturb us.

Understood.

"What?" MC asks, appearing both confused and terrified.

"I am one of the oldest and most powerful demons in the Devildom. If you can manage to produce some sort of effect on me, then you'll pass your exam with flying colors."

"But I don't know that much about you."

"A demon never has a lot of information on a particular human when they first encounter one, but they can use past experiences and context clues in order to be successful."

"I see." In order to ease their nerves, I kindly smile at them.

"Just try the best you can." MC closes their eyes and begins one of the breathing exercises that I taught them.

Why are you doing this? Diavolo just can't resist the urge, can he?

Their power is heavily tied to their emotions.

That isn't what I'm talking about, Barbatos.

Would you rather I have them seduce you, Young Master? Silence. Excellent.

MC opens their eyes, and immediately something seems different about them.

"You do so much for Lord Diavolo, the brothers, and the Devildom at large," they state. "Any other person would have gone insane from the sheer amount of responsibility, and yet you stand here before me with a cool, calm demeanor."

"Practice," I respond.

"You have most people fooled into believing that this life is easy for you, but not me. I know that you work a thankless job that forces you to put everyone before yourself." They're glowing, which isn't entirely unusual for them, but the color's different this time. It's not completely white like it normally is.

"Deep down, you want someone to take care of you. You have been forced to hold yourself up for so long, and you are utterly exhausted. You feel completely alone, like there's not a single soul in the entire universe that would want to take the time to get to know who you truly are." As they step closer to me, I can see spots of pink mixed in with their white light. I don't know how, but I think they've managed to tap into a portion of Asmodeus's power.

"I want to help you, not because I want anything in return, but because I care deeply about you. You deserve to have someone love you unconditionally." MC gently grabs my hand and leans closer to me. "All I ask of you is to let me in. Allow me to grow closer to you, Barbatos."

One might expect MC to take the opportunity to kiss me, but instead they remain still, staring into my eyes. My heart begins beating faster, and I find it harder to focus on my surroundings. In this moment, I finally understand why everyone seems so enamored with MC. I don't even have a pact with them, and yet my mind is begging them to give me an order to follow.

As MC steps back, the glow emanating from them begins dissipating. They're returning to normal.

Why can't I?

"Barbatos? Are you alright?" Shit. I'm on duty. They're not supposed to see me in this condition.

"You'll do just fine, MC." My voice sounds hoarse, and I have no idea why.

Someone's caught feelings.

I would appreciate it if you didn't tease me, Young Master.

But I'm not wrong.

That is irrelevant.

[adarkrainbow]

what exactly is 'the bad “woke movement'. you mean Disney's attempts at political correctness in their casting choice? describing it as "woke" is a serious misuse of black slang.

I was a bit confused at first since I have switched the subject out of the Disney Snow White controversy some times ago.

I am sorry to inform you that the use of "woke" as a deragoratory term to designate the people we once called ironically "Social-Justice Warriors" is actually not a "black slang" anymore. In fact I didn't even know it was supposed to be a "black slang" originally, my perception of it was that it was originally a term that was created on the Internet in a positive way, to designate people that were actually fighting against all sorts of discriminations and social problems, and opening their eyes to the wrongness of societies and modern age... Only to then be switched, by the Internet itself at first, and then by the media who took the word back, to be used as a designation of extreme social-justice warriors, or people who'se extreme self-righteousness, mixed with either hypocrisy or just ignorance, resulted in them coming of as a more mad or harmful than helpful.

If you do not like me using the term, unfortunately for you you'll have to go after pretty much every American media, then after after European media - and I am not even counting the politics of both America and Europe! The term "woke" has left its Internet-exclusivity a long time ago, and now is used even in non-English speaking countries (such as France) to designate the extremes to which some people or groups carry on the "social war". Now the thing to be careful of is that many extreme-right or very hateful people will use "woke" as a way to degrade or humiliate rightful defenders of things such as feminism, transgender rights, homosexuality, etc, etc... So I want to insist: I am not susbscribing to any extreme-right ideology, and I know very well they are using this term for their own negative agenda.

But I am not of the extreme-left either, and as someone who saw very well the dangers of any kind of extremes, I have to recognize that there is indeed a bad, extreme "woke" movement, that ranges from the ridiculous to the hateful. It exists. To imagine that all fights for the right reasons are done with the right means is to be too naive.

A very recent case - which is not woke, because it isn't about social justice or social blights, but about ecology, however it illustrates VERY well the stupidity and hypocrisy of some of these modern extreme groups. In France there is an extreme ecological group that has been making a lot of noise and some extreme actions to alert people and authorities about climate change and asking for something to be done. Interesting, right? Good, right? Except that their actions are VERY dubious in effect. For example some times ago they did protests related to, I think it was the droughts and water supply handlings? I can't recall exactly the why of the protest - but they did so by destroying entire fields and putting several farmers in difficult position because they had their entire crops gone. It wasn't some big mass-industrial farming, it wasn't genetically modified stuff, it was just your regular farmer with his fields, and he had his whole crops destroyed by the group's protect - which wasn't even aimed at him (if I recall there was something about them mistaking his field for another nearby, or something). Now my memory of this case is very blurry as you can see - but one other case popped up just two days ago so I can clearly tell you the problem this time: a few days ago, the group protested against the instalation of a toxic waste disposal site near a city and precisely near a river that passed by the water's city. To protest that and alert the city's citizens, they poured tons of products in the river's water that turned it bright, glowing green - to show them the fear of toxic products reaching them by the water.

But what's the twist of the story? To make the water bright green, they poured ACTUAL toxic chemicals and colorants in the water, which resulted in killing numerous fishes of the river. It went viral on the Internet, the whole "ecologists kill fishes" thing, but it shows how by ignorance (here ignorance of the toxicity of the products you use), those who fight against pollution become the pollution-makers themselves.

Now, that was not related to social things so "woke" isn't to be applied to them - but it is a good illustration of how fighting one extreme can lead to another. But if you want a case of "bad woke" actions I have a perfect one for you - which is from before the term "woke" was taken back by the media. It was something that happened in the French part of Canada (and in general when you want some misguided and extreme woke behavior, you can go to Canada, they are very talented here at misguided good actions). It was a gesture done by Christian (Catholic) religious groups, related to the whole dreadful rediscovery of the horrors of the special so-called "schools" they had prepared for First Nations kids. You know, the ones with mass graves and such. To show that they wanted to bury the past behind them and reject the discrimination of Native-Americans, they decided to collect all sorts of old classics of French childhood literature that had depictions of First Nations people deemed offensive (for example Lucky Luke and Asterix comic books)... and they burned it in a huge bonfire.

Of course, thats CERTAINLY the best way to prove you want to help the people you have persecuted and killed for so long: do not give them money, do not change the laws, do not actually do something for them, just become book-burners! That's CERTAINLY going to help and that's CERTAINLY going to make you the "good guys".

You see what I mean by the "bad woke" movement? It isn't a movement in itself, but just the extremes these attempts at "good" and fighting against discrimination can lead to. Sometimes to the point of just coming off as a new form of discrimination. Another case, that was in France, and done in Paris. I personally think that it was a dubious idea, and maybe someone will disagree with me, but it was a project brought forward - to handle the help provided to rape victims. The whole idea was that man should be banned of all groups, organizations and help systems brought to rape victims, because in the politician's words, women had to stay between themselves, and rape victims had to cut all ties with men to get better. Another similar dubious "woke" incident (it happened, just like the one above, in Paris, because Paris recently went through a wave of bad-woke incidents and propositions thanks to the local government in power), was when a "set of safe space" was created, from which men were banned - all men - and which only welcomed... "Women and transgenders". The phrasing and formula might seem weird, and that's literaly how it was said, and it took not a long time to understand the problem: it welcomed all transgenders, and all women, but banned all men. Aka: transgender men either had to be banned from it, because they were men (so they lied upon saying they welcomed all transgenders) ; either they were allowed in, but thus not recognized as actual "men" and still considered women.

You see how there's some good intentions buried down there, but in effect it is twisted and warped in another form of discrimination?

When it comes to my worries about the new Snow-White movie, it isn't about an active, harmful, reverse-discrimination type of "bad woke". But I do fear about the "accidentally harmful" and "plain ridiculous" bad-woke. To handle the idea that a character named "Snow-White" is black is something that needs carefulness and intelligence - and Disney's had the bluntness and grace of a hammer wielded by an angry bear recently. I have one precise fear for example that I keep repeating around: if they choose to still refer to Snow-White's name as a reference to the fact she has a lighter skin and thus is beautiful because of it, and given they have chosen an actress with a light skin tone - it can result in a scenario enacting "colorism" fully. Aka, a practice and set of worldviews put in place in the slavery and discrimination-era America, about how the lighter the Black person's skin, the "better" and more "beautiful" they were. This resulted in practices such as putting "lighter" Blacks above "darker" ones, for example choosing Black people with light skin to oversee "darker" slaves and the "lighter" ones being given a less harsh treatment than the others.

Its a whole another cesspool of discrimination born of the horror that was America in this era - but it is still something that Afro-American people fight against and dislike today, and something many media have been accused of doing by putting "lighter skinned" Black characters in the position of "prettier" or "better" characters than "darker skinned" ones.

No need to tell you the whole dwarf issue is also a big "bad woke movement" move on the part of Disney. To answer to a loud minority that thinks the dwarfs roles in Snow-White is backward and insulting, they simply decide to erase them from the story... Despite the role of the seven dwarfs being something that many actors with dwarfism enjoy and defend because it was often their first entry into the acting world, and despite the fact that the original Disney seven dwarfs were positive and complex characters that were far more compelling and powerful than many other Snow-White adaptations (in fact, that's the problem, the reason the dwarfs are seen as "backwards" today is because so many post-Disney adaptations reduced them to goofy, joke secondary characters as flat as a cardboard cut-out). There are tons of ways of making the dwarfs strong and badass and cool and powerful characters - and it has been done before. (Just remember how the dwarfs in the original Disney movie are the only ones who stand up to the evil queen, and the only ones who make her VISIBLY AFRAID as they hunt her down to kill her in revenge).

So we come with the mixed and complicated result we have: Because a role is deemed "problematic", it is erased and replaced - but as a result, erasing an opportunity for actors with dwarfism to become famous and appear in a big blockbuster seen by millions is perceived as discrimination against said actors with dwarfism, as they are replaced by so-called "normal" people. They could have simply worked on making the dwarfs' characters a badass role the actors could have had no shame of playing, and they could have just gone wth what the original movie did - make the dwarfs the true heroes and protagonist of the tale. But they rather decided to close the door and make actors with dwarfism even less visible on screen.

I hope it clarifies my whole position on the subject.

[snow-143]

The Truth Untold | Kim Taehyung

Four- Moon (1.3k words) |

'TATA! Look at all the pretty flowers.' I move through the surprisingly blossomed field with awe. 'You should paint it.'

Spinning around I take it all it, the fresh scent of all the flowers combined tickles my nose causing me to sneeze.

Hearing Tae giggle at this I try to glare at him, but it's not long until I'm joining in.

'You're still calling me that really?' he asks trying to look annoyed, but his eyes are crinkled at the edges with fondness. 'We both know you love it.'

I turn my back on him. When I hear him scoff I continue to look around choosing to ignore him.

Trust falling into the flowers the air is forced out of me. 'Ouch'

Kind of embarrassed at his cackle, I decide to ask about him painting again, 'So what do you say?'

Not hearing a reply I sit up but instead of him being where I originally thought he was right in front of me, kneeling down with his phone in his hand.

'What are you doing.' I breathe out knowing he can probably feel my breath on his face at how close we suddenly found ourselves.

Instead of moving back like I expected him to do, he looks down at my lips, 'What do you want me to be doing?'

Having no idea how to respond to this I also let my eyes wander down to his lips hoping they'd portray exactly what I want.

Fighting the urge to close my eyes I watch as he tilts his head in closer, at this point I can almost taste the cherry lip balm he stole off of me this spring and has worn every day since claiming it makes him feel closer to me.

Getting impatient I decide to just close the space myself knowing if I left it to him we'd be here for far too long.

This takes him by surprise but when he catches up he starts gently kissing me back, keeping the pace slow and sweet.

Despite his body fully covering me from the sharp November air goose bumps still cover my body.

Pulling back I watch as he chases my lips. Cute.

Giving him one last peck I pull back completely to both of our dismay.

As much as I want to continue this was my first kiss and I don't want to rush into it all at once.

Seeing his distressed face I give him a reassuring smile, so he knows I don't regret it.

Respecting my choice he moves to sit on his heels. He looks so beautiful like this. His hair messy, cheeks flushed and smile bright under the golden rays of the setting sun.

His skin glows as he avoids my eyes focusing on the distant trees instead.

Joining him in this before my staring breaches the level of creepy, I watch the sun steadily disappears into the withering trees creating a streaky effect of light over the field.

'It's beautiful.' I sigh out feeling completely content at this moment.

'Yes it is.' I barely catch this because of how quite he says it, almost as if it wasn't meant to be heard.

Turning to him, I stop breathing, noticing that all of his attention is on me. When I finally do breathe it comes out as heavy mist, my warm breath mixing with the chilly air.

Deciding the moment is too weighted for me right now I clear my throat.

'We should head back soon.' despite my words indicating otherwise I really don't want to leave. Everything's so perfect right now. I can't shake the feeling that once we leave tonight everything's going to fall apart.

'Just a little longer? Please.' easily agreeing I settle myself into the field.

-----------

A little longer turned into the whole evening and now the moon was high in the sky and surrounded by glistening starts.

At some point we had gravitated towards each other and now were lying down besides each other hand in hand.

'Why do you still call me Tata?' I’m startled by the sudden noise breaking the streak of silence we had set.

'What?'

'Why do you call me Tata?'

Thinking about it for a minute, I decide to be honest instead of the usual teasing id give him. 'Because its something that's just mine and yours.'

Finally, looking at me, he asks me to elaborate. 'No one else calls you it, it's just mine and your thing. No one can take that from us.'

Looking into my eyes he uses his free hand to move the stray hairs across my face behind my ear before resting it on my cheek.

'I want to give you a nickname too.'

'Go for it.' our voices are soft, careful not to puncture the serene atmosphere we've set.

'Mhh. What about moon?'

Laughing I question why.

'Because its beautiful just like you.' he smirks obversely proud of himself. 'C'mon be serious.’ I push his hand off my face causing him to lay down flat on his back again, looking up at the moon.

'Some people believe that the moon represents our deepest desires that we only let be seen at night. The moon shines light on us as humanity lets out its secrets they'd never let another human see. Never judging just observing. You're my moon.'

Growing shy now I cover my face as his head slowly turns to me. 'God you're so cheesy.' I laugh trying to school my smile. However, I can't hide the light dusting of pink across my face.

Seeming to love affecting me like this he rolls onto his side moving my hands away from my face, 'Stop you're embarrassi-'

I'm cut off by his lips.

This time its more intense, less unsure than before. Kissing him back a tug my wrists from where he had pinned them down, using them to run through his hair.

Scraping my nails gently over his scalps he groans and pulls back. 'So cute, couldn't help myself.' he mutters before going back in.

'S'getting late.' I sigh into his mouth, not wanting to stop but knowing ill get into trouble if I'm much longer.

'I know just, don't want to stop.' It’s almost incomprehensible but I just about make it out through my foggy brain.

'Neither.' I punctuate this with a tug of his hair.

We both seem startled by the sound he makes. Finally, drawing back to laugh.

Sitting back up straight he clears his throat.

We settle back into the silence seeming to both agree to risk staying a bit longer.

It's too good right now, I can't even think of the consequences yet.

'The moon is beautiful isn't it?'

He says this without even looking at me which makes me question if he even meant what I think he did.

Instead of questioning him and possibly being let down I just nod my head with wide eyes.

'We should really leave now...' my voice is sad as I sit up.

'You're probably right.' he joins me.

I look down upset that we can't just stay in our little untouched paradise forever.

'We can always come back though.' he reasons to cheer me up.

'You promise?' I ask hopeful.

'I promise.'

'You've got to pinky promise.' I smile at him.

'Is that so?' he teases.

'Mhm. Thems the rules.' I stretch my pinky towards him.

Locking it with his he whispers a pinky promise.

Giving him one last kiss I stand up and start running. 'Race you home.'

'You're on moon.'

prev | m.list | next

—————

a/n: cute little flash back to give some in sight on how their relationship was.

also for those who don’t know ‘the moon is beautiful isn’t it’ is i love you in japanese- so he’s basically calling her beautiful and saying he loves her :)

tags:

@turnthepageandbeburnt

@blackswan18

[paladin-lynx]

"Are you a new ally...or a new storm?" // "Even true evil can be concealed by the right guise."

I finally got my hands on Genshin models in MMD! This picture is a bit rough and I might re-do it at some point, but I'm pretty happy with this attempt, so I thought I'd share. Evil Kaeya, anyone?

Click on the picture for better quality!

The first quote is from Kaeya's introductory cutscene and the second is from a scene with him in the Genshin manga.

Credits (and Kaeya spoilers about my inspiration for this picture) under the cut.

I was inspired to make this by the theories about Kaeya secretly being the king/prince/ruler of Khaenri'ah. I adore Kaeya as a character and the potential of him having to choose whether to be a hero or a villain...I can't wait to see where his story goes.

Credits

Kaeya model by miHoYo, DLed from xCallme-Luxx

Festering Desire model by miHoYo, ripped by Ailephi and lukatoni5, DLed from CherryPieWithPoison

Crows Crown model by o-DSV-o and Notegain

Pose by me

Background: 1_tk-wired

Effects: ObjectLuminous, SelfFreeze, o_SelfOverlay_Blur, o_Vignette_HQ, Scale

[beels-burger-babe]

The Day You Became The Strongest of Them All

***Now, @kittykitkatstrawberry, I'm not going to lie. I have never watched Invincible and kind of didn't know what to do with this request at first. For me, part of the charm of MC is that they are mortal and powerless and normal. So I was a bit lost with this one at first. But then I thought, "okay but what if something happened that gave MC all those powers for a very short period of time?" So will this fic be exactly what you wanted? Probably not, and for that I'm sorry. This is what I was able to come up with though, and I hope you like it!*** Summary: After an incident with Solomon, MC suddenly has a crazy amount of powers and abilities. They think this is amazing! Not all of the brother share that sentiment, however.

You gasped and blinked at Solomon as the two of you stared at each other with side-eyes. In Solomon's hands was a large, empty beaker. Why was it empty? Because the magical contents of unknown effects that it once contained were now coating your front. "Sol-Solomon?" You stuttered in fear, not knowing what was about to happen to you.

The wizard slowly began to walk towards you while holding a towel. "Okay. Don't panic. Everything will be-"

You shrieked as you noticed your hands begin to glow fluorescent pink. "Solomon!!! I'm glowing!!!" You waved your hands around trying to get it to stop, but the glowing only grew brighter. You flicked your hands forward violently and yelped as a burning bright ball of energy shot out of them and exploded against a wall. You and Solomon went silent as the glowing stopped and stared at the shocked at the burn mark on the wall. The door was thrown open causing you both to whip around as Mammon rushed in. "MC! I heard ya screamin'! What's goin-" Mammon's eyes widened as he stumbled back and gaped at you. "M-MC. Y-You're...You're floating." Both you and Solomon quickly turned your attention towards your feet, and sure enough, you were hovering a good twelve inches off the ground. You looked over at Solomon and smiled brightly. "I'm a superhero!" *** Everyone watched your laughing form as you flew around the student council room. Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose and glared at Solomon, who was shamelessly taking notes of the effects the potion had on you. "So you're telling me," Lucifer growled, "that you spilled a potion that you had recently made, but had not yet tested, all over MC and that you don't have any kind of counter for said potion yet, meaning that these effects, which we've still no idea how potentially harmful they are, are irreversible?" "Yes, that about sums it up," the wizard smiled smugly at Lucifer before looking up at you. "MC! Do a backflip!" You let out a whoop and did as told, laughing brightly at the weightless feeling that filled you.

Levi was basically bouncing in his seat. "I don't see why you're all freaking out! We are getting to witness MC's protagonist origin story! Do you know how long I've been waiting to be a part of an adventure like this?!" he looks at Solomon with a crazed look. "Can you replicate the potion? Would I be able to use it? I-I mean MC can't go about saving the world on their own. Even Henry had the Seven Lords. Th-They're gonna need a sidekick." You gasped and leaned your arms onto Levi's head. "Oh my god, Levi, you're a genuis! We can be a dynamic duo! You can make us costumes and everything!" Lucifer's headache grew as the two of you began rambling about your ideas and future heroic deeds. Asmodeus giggled and leaned towards his oldest brother. "What's wrong, Lucifer? Don't you want to see MC in a tight, spandex leotard, while they're dripping with sweat from the exhaustion of saving a damsel in distress? Because I most certainly do," a faint red hue dusted Lucifer's cheeks.

Mammon sputtered at Asmo's description and crossed his arms. "Well I don't like it. How do we know that this ain't, I don't know, slowly killin' them from the inside out, or that it won't turn them into some kind of a monster? We don't even know what all the abilities the potion gave them are!" Levi paused his rambling and turned the Avatar of Greed. "If MC becomes a superhero, you can sell all kinds of merch about them. People love superheroes. You'd be rich." There were dollar signs in Mammon's eyes as he grinned widely. "Why didn't you say so earlier! I'm in!" Belphegor scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Of course you are. All concern and rationale go out the window the moment money's involved. Greedy scumbag," he eyed your flying form wearily. Obvious concern filled his expression as he kept his eyes open, watching for any signs of pain. Beel frowned as he kept his eyes fixed on you. "Mammon was right though. We don't know how this could affect MC." Satan watched you skeptically as he held a hand under his chin. "We could run some tests? Try and figure out what their powers are?" You and Levi gasped in unison. "That'd be so cool!" You flew towards the middle of the and started waving your hands around like you did earlier, attempting to recreate the blast of energy. "I'd just pow! And wa-pow! And-" You yelped as a particularly strong blast shot out of you and sent you flying back into Beel's lap. "Ow." You groaned. Beel huffed and held onto you as he looked you over for injuries. "No tests," he grumbled firmly. Satan chuckled and shook his head. "Well, no tests as reckless as that performance. I was thinking something a little more controlled. Who knows how far your abilities go. For all, we know you could be stronger than Solomon or even Lucifer at the moment." Lucifer scoffed at the jab. "As if that could ever happen." You narrowed your eyes at Lucifer and wiggled out of Beel's grasp before flying angrily over to Lucifer. "You listen here, Mr. Morningstar! You have no idea what I'm capable- Aah!" You shrieked as a burst of pain-filled your stomach and gravity suddenly hit you full force. Nobody had time to react before you were slammed onto the ground. Beel, Belphie, Asmodeus, Satan and Mammon rushed over to you to make sure you were alright, frantically looking for any cuts, bruises or even signs of internal injuries. Meanwhile, Levi was whining into his arms, mourning the superhero that you could've been. Lucifer merely grinned. "Well since the potion has seemingly worn off, unfortunately, it looks like I'll never find out," his expression became more serious as he addressed Solomon. "Do us all a favour, and never do anything like this again, or I swear, you will regret it."

***Yay! So it wasn't all that long, but here's just a nice little crack one shot that I hope you enjoyed! Thanks again for the request @kittykitkatstrawberry! It was a lot of fun.***

[novamirmirsblog]

I am not a woman, I'm a God (17+)

If I can't have love I want power pt 2

If I can't have love masterlist

Word Count: 1640

Genre: dark I guess?

Request: no

Warnings: none? (atm anyways)

A/N: I'm not too happy with this chapter so it's subject to change BUT the next couple chapters should pick things up a little :3 OH and the next chapter might contain smut (Idk yet - I'll try to edit this when I've written the next chapter)

1737 - The middle

The revenge was sweet and drawn out. The redhead and her long-time friend had made sure of that. They let you finish the duke off but not before they had their fun. The two women were gorgeous, both with red hair that would make any woman jealous. The green-eyed woman had hair like a wildfire and the blue-eyed woman had hair the colour of a deep red sunset. Liking women was wrong but you weren’t sure these two counted as women – they certainly weren’t human. Wanda, the one with sunset hair, tortured your husband mentally, angry whisps the same colour as Natasha’s hair crawled in through his ears and buried themselves deep within his brain. While this was happening, Natasha was peeling layer after layer of skin off him with her razor-sharp nails. You weren’t sure if you could even call them nails – not when they looked so much more like claws. While Wanda was exploiting your husband’s deepest darkest fears, Natasha was calmly explaining to you which tools to use where so you could cause the most pain. Apparently pain and torture was an aphrodisiac for them because the two demons decided to show you what you had been missing out on due to your husband’s lack of skill.

That was almost 200 years ago. Wanda and Natasha had given you great gifts, allowing you to have a much longer life, giving you cat-like reflexes and godlike powers. Perhaps your favourite was the enhancements they gave to your voice. People were suddenly compelled to do whatever you suggested they do and the rush it gave you was unexplainable. These gifts were not free however and yet the price was one you willingly paid repeatedly. Especially because it meant spending extra time with your two favourite demons. You were there to cause chaos and have fun which was ironic considering Wanda was a chaos demon and Natasha was a succubus but perhaps that’s why you did what you did. Perhaps it was because you were made by them and therefore must serve them in every way imaginable.

~~~~~

You had watched your siblings grow from afar and made sure every single villager who ever even looked at them wrong suffered. When you were with Wanda and Natasha, it felt as if everything just fit into place. It was strange and you felt as if you shouldn’t miss them – they killed and tortured your husband in front of you, gave you gifts that meant you couldn’t live a normal life and coerced you into sex that you weren’t sure you wanted; yet you still wanted them.

Your story was told countless times and the more times it was told, the deeper the truth was twisted into a legend, a tale mothers told their children to keep them away from the forests late at night. You were turned into a martyr, a victim of the horrible cruelties the evil creatures of the world could bestow onto innocent girls.

You were anything but.

If the storytellers could see you now, they would burn all mentions of your story. You were a problem child, a bad example and you had two of the most powerful demons wrapped around your little finger.

A few years ago, you had mentioned to Natasha and Wanda one evening that you were bored. That’s how you found yourself currently being shot at.

“Natty I’m bored.” You whined, throwing yourself dramatically over the bed. History was going through a dry spell; people weren’t doing anything interesting and there weren’t enough opportunities for you to wreak havoc.

“Natty” Wanda mocked “Our princess is bored.”

“Well, we can’t have that now, can we?” Natasha moved to hover over you, Wanda placed your head in her lap. Natasha’s tail flicked with a cat-like manner before it slithered between your legs.

You grabbed her tail and she let out a moan “Not now Natasha. I’m serious. If I knew living forever was going to be this boring, then I wouldn’t have done it.” That wasn’t quite true, you enjoyed being theirs to use but you were getting restless.

Natasha rolled her eyes, leaning up to kiss Wanda instead. You waited a few moments for the two demons to stop their make-out session, but it didn’t look to be ending any time soon. You rolled out from underneath Natasha and untangled Wanda’s fingers from where she was massaging your scalp.

“Awe come back baby.” Wanda broke the kiss and made grabby arms at you. For a supposed demon, she sure was soft. “I promise we’ll make things more fun.”

Natasha rolled her eyes again “You’ve gone soft Wands.” Although Natasha huffed and puffed about how ‘soft’ Wanda had gotten, she seemed to have a slightly less hardened heart when she looked at you.

You were no longer bored but you were being shot at and while it couldn’t kill you, it sure did sting. Perhaps going after Dick Turpin’s loot was a bad idea but what can you say? You wanted to live a little. All you had wanted was a pretty horse you had seen him steal but nooo – he had to keep them all for himself. You had managed to escape Mr Turpin himself but one of his lackeys just wouldn’t give up. Rather than continuing to run, you decided you may as well get a quick meal.

“Hello darling.” Your voice echoed from all around, you watched as the man trying to kill you frantically whipped his head around.

“Who are you? Come out now!”

You let out a low, predatory chuckle.

“I’m the poor little martyr in all your stories.”

“No. You can’t be- that’s impossible! You should be dead!” You watched as the man continued to spin around and around in circles, watching him trip before revealing yourself.

“I am ancient. I have seen empires rise and fall. I have seen kings and queens and holy men enter the world and I have seen them leave; and yet I am nowhere near as old or as powerful as the women who made me the person I am today. While I watched preestablished civilisations crumble, they were reminiscing the time they created them, all while burning them to the ground. Some call me the end but they are mistaken. They are the end. I am your warning. I am the only kindness they will show you. Trivial things such as death do not concern me.” As you finished your speech, Natasha and Wanda’s comforting aura surrounded you, the dark mist embracing you before forming the two women.

“Couldn’t let you have all the fun now could we dove?” Natasha’s voice rumbled out against your neck, biting it lightly.

“You have to share.” Wanda cooed, lifting your chin up to face her as she captured your lips with hers.

The idiot who you were about to kill and feed on decided now was a good time to make their escape. Luckily, Wanda had other plans as her red magic bought the squirming meal back to you.

“Go away. I want to eat. It’s been so long.” You pouted, making your way back to your meal. It was a little annoying that to continue living in your young body that you had to drain the soul from another person, but it was worth it.

“But if we leave then who’s going to do all the heavy lifting?”

“And who will dig the hole in your garden?”

“Or put the body in the hole?”

“Or-”

“Okay! I get it. Fine. But just hush, okay? I like to eat in peace.” You grabbed the man and kissed him hard, feeling his soul merge with yours before it was consumed by the darkness.

“I don’t know why you always have to kiss them to feed” Natasha bit out, moving away from you with Wanda, voicing her unhappiness at you kissing someone else when only she should be kissing you- her and maybe Wanda.

“Well, it wasn’t me who made her feed that way.” Wanda whispered back

“Are you suggesting this is my fault?” Natasha’s voice got low and dangerous, and you felt the forest drop about 10 degrees.

“Well that’s how you feed isn’t it?” Wanda’s eyes glowed and a wind picked up.

You pulled away from your meal, the faint glow of his soul swirling around your mouth and eyes. “Want to share?” The forest rose back to its original temperature and climate as Natasha kissed you, absorbing small remnants of the soul. Wanda wrapped one arm around your waist while the other snaked up to your neck, her teeth lightly biting and sucking along your shoulders.

“I think you forget dove” Natasha broke the kiss to growl at you

“We’re in charge here. If we wanted to share, then we would share.” Wanda finished off for her.

It dawned on you that perhaps this was about more than just the meal. They were jealous.

“Are you two jealous?” You laughed, not at the situation but at their reactions. Wanda bit you harder and Natasha just glared at you.

“Of course not. Why would we be jealous of some silly insignificant dum-”

“Baby…” You reached up and placed one hand lightly on Wanda’s horn and the other on Natasha’s cheek, effectively stopping Natasha’s rant about how unjealous they are. Wanda moved from where she was standing behind you to stand next to Natasha. “You both know that if I could live off Demon energy then I would, but I can’t.”

Natasha and Wanda shared a look, having a silent conversation in the space of seconds before turning their attention back to you. “That’s not necessarily true love.” Wanda said.

“It will be painful but…well demons aren’t born. They’re made.” Natasha explained.

“And if you wanted to…”

You didn’t even hesitate before giving your answer. “Yes.”

Taglist:

@lucydiibi

[spacesuitsforemergency]

The Rise Of Iron Maiden

Chapter 3: We’re in the Endgame Now

Originally Requested by: @amateurwriterbigdreamer

Previous Chapter: So, You Want to be an Avenger?

Next Chapter: Failure to Launch

Word Count: 3.2k

Warnings: hella angst

A/N: get ready, this chapter is The Snap

“Oh yeah, you’re much more of a Thanos.”

You watch as a huge purple guy slowly approaches Doctor Strange, taking more of the 4 Infinity Stones glowing in the gauntlet on his left hand. You look to your dad and Tye, waiting for the signal.

This was it. This single fight would determine the fate of the entire universe. You and your teammates were all anxious and had a huge weight on your shoulders, one that you were all probably too young to carry.

Blue Beetle was hiding behind a broken wall with Star Lord, El Dorado and Spider-Man were watching Thanos and Doctor Strange from above, waiting for their turn. Drax and Mantis were waiting for their signal from farther away, and you, Iron Man and Apache Chief we’re waiting for the perfect moment from above.

“I finally rest... and watch the sun rise on a grateful universe. The hardest choices require the strongest wills.” You turn your attention back to Thanos, who had been going on a tangent about his life story or whatever. You didn’t care.

“I think... you'll find... our will... equal to yours.” The doctor stands and summons his mandalas, crouching into a fighting stance.

“Ours?”

“Now!” Iron Man tells you, and you activate your boosters, both of you sending a huge chunk of wreckage barreling towards Thanos. Apache Chief shuts his eyes in focus, before his astral form begins to grow. Once he’s big enough he brings his fist down onto the rubble, effectively crushing Thanos.

“Piece of cake, Quill.” You follow your dad back down to the surface, eyes glued on the pile of wreckage.

“Yeah, if your goal was to piss him off!” Star Lord emerges, triggering his mask as he jumps over the wall. Blue Beetle flew up to hover beside Apache Chief, everyone watching as Thanks erupts from the rubble.

The red Stone starts to glow, and the rocks around him morphs into a swarm of bats. He sends them towards you and Iron Man, driving both of you away from the fight.

Spider-Man jumps down and webs Thanos’ eyes shut, El Dorado teleporting down and punching him in the face. Drax charged at Thanos knee-sliding behind him and slicing at his tendon. Doctor Strange and El Dorado jump through a portal, attacking Thanos with beams of golden energy. Drax runs at him, but it quickly punched back through a wall. Thanos then turns to Doctor Strange and El Dorado as he rips the webbing from his eyes, kicking them away.

Star Lord and Blue Beetle fly towards the surface, keeping above to shoot at Thanos. The purple Stone now glows, and balls of energy are shot at the two. Star Lord deactivates his boosters, now jumping from platform to platform, courtesy of Doctor Strange. The last one is right above Thanos’ head, so that Quill can slap a mine to his back. He grins and jumps back into a portal, flipping Thanos the bird as he does.

“Boom!”

The mine explodes, knocking Thanos to his knees. The Cloak then wraps around the gauntlet, not allowing him to close his fist to activate the Stones. He then throws portals for Spider-Man, El Dorado also teleporting around him as they both punching and kicking at Thanos to distract him from focus. He grows irritated, grabbing Spider-Man by the leg and using him to knock El Dorado back, before throwing him into the ground. He then throws him at Doctor Strange, also bringing him down. He tears the Cloak off of the gauntlet, but before he can even move Iron Man and Iron Maiden bombard him with blasts from your hands. Thanos activates the purple Stone, shooting a beam at Iron Man, sending him far back once again. He then aims for Apache Chief, who had begun running at him. Tye screamed in pain as his astral form dissolved, and you dive to catch him before he hits the ground. You fly up and out of danger, trying to come up with a next move. Suddenly a ship hurtled towards the planet, crashing into Thanos and burying him in rubble. You watch as a woman with purple and blue machine-like skin emerges, charging at him with a long sword.

“Do you know her?” You ask Tye, who’s still recovering from the blow.

“Not that one.” He shook his head weakly. “What’s the next move?”

Your attention snaps back down when you see glowing orange bands pinion the gauntlet. Drax then slides in, holding him down by the knee.

You rocket down to the surface, setting Tye down with Jaime and wrap yourself around Thanos’ other leg with Drax. Star Lord tosses down an electric trap, pulling down the titans other arm. Spider-Man swings in, webbing Thanos’ chest and wrapping it around, digging his Iron Spider legs into the ground to brace himself. El Dorado then teleport above Thanos, holding Mantis. Once she’s on his shoulders and holds his head he teleports over to help Spider-Man hold him down on that side by his webbing. Iron Man finally lands, pulling at the gauntlet with Doctor Strange.

“Is he under? Don't let up.” Tony asks Mantis.

“Be quick. He is very strong.” She whimpers, clearly struggling to hold her focus. Apache Chief then walks up to touch her arm, focusing on being calm and clearing his mind to help her keep hold.

“Dorado, help! Get over here!” Iron Man orders your boyfriend, who hands off the strands of webbing to Spider-Man. “She can't hold him much longer. Let's go!”

“I thought you'd be harder to catch. For the record, this was my plan. Not so strong now, huh? Where is Gamora?” Quill taunts at Thanos.

“My... Gamora...?” Thanos chocked out.

“Bullshit.” Quill scoffed, shaking his head. “Where is she?”

“He is in anguish.” Mantis said, her eyes widening in shock.

“Good.” You growl up at the ugly ass genocidal maniac.

“He’s...mourning.” Tye’s face also drops. His emotions are connected to Mantis’, who is connected to Thanos.

“What does this el monstruo have to mourn?” Eduardo grunted as him, Tony and Stephen tried to pry the gauntlet off of him.

“Gamora.”

You all turn to the woman, whom you still had yet to know the name of.

“What?” Quill turned away from Thanos.

“He took her to Vormir. He came back with the Soul Stone... but she didn't.” She said slowly.

“Okay, Quill, you gotta cool it right now, you understand?” Tony said quickly, starting to panic.

“Ay, calm down, amigo-“ Jaime dehelmets and tries to guide Quill away, but he’s slapped away.

“Don’t, don’t, don’t!” Eduardo shouts at him as Quills face contorted into rage.

“Star Lord, no!” You warn.

“Don’t engage!” Tony snapped. “We almost got this off!”

“Tell me she's lying.” Quill threatened, becoming enraged. “Asshole! Tell me you didn't do it!”

“I...had...to...” Thanos mumbled.

“No, you didn’t.” Quill shook his head as he began to tear up. “No you didn’t.”

“Quill!” Jaime tries to pull him away again, but Star Lord shoved him to the ground.

He raised his pistol, punching Thanos in the face with it as he screamed in agony. Mantis and Tye loose focus and their hold on him lifts.

“Quill!” You, Drax and Tony all shout.

“Hey, stop! Hey, stop! Stop! Hey, stop! Stop!” Your dad leaps at Star Lord, struggling to pull him away as Eduardo is left with the task of prying the gauntlet away.

“It's coming! It's coming! It's coming!” He stutters, desperately pulling it off his hand. “I got it! I got it!”

Thanos wakes completely, head butting Tye and effectively knocking him out. He grabbed the cuff of the gauntlet and tugged it out of El Dorado’s hold, smacking him away before throwing Mantis off his shoulders. Spider-Man leaps after her, leaving only Doctor Strange holding him on that side.

He kicked Drax off his leg and into the alien robot woman and Star Lord, sending them to the ground. He then smashes you into the ground, tossing you over with them. Black spots dance in your vision as you watch Thanos use the Stones to crumble apart a moon and throw it right into your dad and Dr. Strange. You struggle to your feet with the other Guardians and charge at him, but you’re all knocked down again by a field of energy. Blue Beetle and Apache Chief then try to lay some on him, but are both shot far away and through multiple walls by a huge burst of energy.

When the moon crashes into the planet it knocks the gravitational pull everywhere, making everyone loose their balance. You regain consciousness and make sure Spider-Man can handle he unconscious Guardians before you rush to Eduardo’s side.

“What do we do?” You ask as you hover next to Eduardo, who’s accessing the scene.

“I don’t know! Where’s Tye and Jaime?” He asked.

“They got knocked away, they’ll be fine.” You wave it off. “How do we attack Thanos? We need to weaken him.”

“I don’t know! Look!” He points down and you see Doctor Strange performing multiple spells on Thanos, both of them dueling.

“Where’s my dad?” You ask, realizing you didn’t see him among the knocked out Guardians.

“He’s okay, he’s got armor!” Eduardo reassures you.

You both watch in horror as Thanos snatched the Eye Of Agamotto off Doctors Stranger neck, but sigh in relief when you realize he didn’t actually get the Time Stone. He throws Stephen into a wall, knocking him out. You quickly grab a device and throw it into Thanos’ palm, locking his fingers so he can’t use the Stones.

You rocket towards Thanos, grinning when you see Blue Beetle also flying at him. Apache Chief’s astral form emerges in the distance, rising and running over. Spider-Man swings down as El Dorado appears next to Thanos, swinging at him with the alien woman’s giant sword.

You and Blue Beetle shoot at him from above, El Dorado teleports rapidly as slices at him with the sword, Spider-Man swings around and shoots webbing at him in attempt to tie him down, and Apache Chief knocks in punches when he can. You and your team work together to completely bombard the mad Titan, making sure he had no moment of rest. Your heart drops when he rips the device out of his palm, first going for El Dorado.

He successfully grabs him by the throat, hurling him at Spider-Man and sending them back. He then activates the purple Stone and sends a beam at Tye, making him cry out in pain before loosing focus and hitting the ground, knocking him out. Then he drags Blue Beetle down with ropes that looked similar to Strange’s, then the red stone glows. Jaime screamed as the Scarab was ripped out of his back, the Stone somehow holding the power to do that. He dropped Jaime’s lifeless body to the ground, and you think he’s dead for a moment until he weakly reached for Tye’s hand. You’re now fueled with rage after seeing all your friends so hurt, and you hurtle yourself at Thanos. You yell as you use as much power to blast him, only becoming more enraged when it hardly effects him.

He grabs you by the throat and tears off your helmet, but you quickly make a new one and block the next blow. You brace yourself as he goes to punch you, but a red and gold device takes its place in Thanos’ palm, holding his fist open. You both look and see your dad, finally standing.

“You hit my daughter again, I’m gonna lose it.” He threatened him.

“Stark.” Thanos grinned.

“You know me?” Tony asked.

“I do. You're not the only one cursed with knowledge.”

“My only curse is you.” He stayed before launching rockets at him, knowing you’d be protected by your Iron Maiden armor.

When his grip loosens on you, you catapult yourself away from him.

“You shoot, I’ll hit.” Your dad directs you.

“Yes sir.” You nod, activating your blasters and shooting your beams into Thanos as Iron Man pile drives into him.

Tony fights him head on while you blast at him from a distance, still wanting to get the Titan back for hurting your friends so bad. Your eyes look down at Tye and Jaime’s bodies, there hands reached for each other but not quite making it to grasp the others. You see Eduardo and Peter in a pile on the ground, both knocked out. The Guardians are still unconscious, and Doctor Strange is trying to just lift his head.

You fly at Thanos, activating more armor around your fists to hit him harder. You and your dad take turns knocking Thanos around, following his orders as you do.

“All that for a drop of blood.” Thanos pants, sneering up at the two Starks. He then punches Iron Man, sending him pinwheeling. Then he grabs you and corners you into a wall, relentlessly sending blows to your face. You try to block with your forearms, but it’s no use as he picks you up by the head, blasting your guy with the purple Stone. You feel your armor start to loose its ability to recover, unable to keep up with the constant damage. He blasts you back and into the ground, and you lay in exhaustion and defeat. Iron Man sees his daughters body lying still in the rubble, fueling his determination before launching himself at Thanos.

You blink as you try to comprehend the scene in front of you, still not fully conscious. You watch in hopelessness as Thanos attacks your father similarly to how he did to you, tearing apart his armor until it couldn’t repair itself.

“No!” You scream when you see Thanos stab Iron Man’s own piece of armor into his abdomen, walking him back until he sat near Doctor Strange. Then you watch in dread as Strange willingly gives Thanos the Time Stone.

“Y/N...” you hear someone beside you, and you turn to see Eduardo had teleported himself to your side.

“The Stone...” you whisper, trying to reach for it as if you could.

He quickly looks between you and Thanos, before grabbing thrusters from your calves and strapping they onto his. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to your forehead, whispering an ‘I love you’ before pursuing the Titan. He nearly rams right into Star Lord as Thanos teleports himself away, both of them looking around.

“Where is he?” Star Lord demanded.

“Where’d that el cabrón go?” El Dorado yelled.

“Did we just loose?” Quill asked as he looked to Tony, who was stitching his stab wound with his suit functions. Eduardo teleports to you, picks you up then sets you next to your dad. You pull Eduardo to sit with you, leaning your body weight against him.

“Why did you do that?” Tony looked at Dr. Strange in disbelief.

“We’re in the endgame now.” He says ominously, sending chills up your spine.

Your dad stared at him for a moment, until he glances at you and realized the damage Thanos did to his daughter.

“Hey, kid, how many fingers am I holding up?” He asked you.

“Um...four.” You mumble, panting as you try to catch your breath from the adrenaline rush.

“Close enough.” He pushed your hair out of your face, looking at you with worry in his eyes.

“Is Jaime okay?” You ask. “Thanos tipped Khaji Da out of him.”

“What? How?” Tony looked up, watching as Drax helped Peter walk over, the other Guardians staggering towards you all.

“Not sure.” Eduardo said, holding you close to him. “They’re over there somewhere.”

“Something’s...happening...” Mantis said, her voice shaking in fear. You gasp when she disintegrates, and you clutch onto Eduardo’s jacket.

“Quill?” Drax almost whimpers, staring at his friend before he disappears, Peter watching in horror from beside him.

“Steady, Quill.” Eduardo says softly.

“Oh, man.” Star Lord breathed, before also disappearing.

Tye started to carry his best friend over to where he sees you all gathered, tears flowing down the usually deadpan and serious boys face. His eyes widen when he sees Jaime’s eyes slightly open, barely making eye contact.

“Jaime? You’re okay, hermano.” Tye reassured him, starting to fall from the weight of carrying his own body, plus his best friends.

“Tye...what’s happening?” Jaime asks, voice stuttering in fear.

“What do you me-“ Tye asked before looking down, seeing Jaime’s hands crumble into ash. “Jaime? Jaime!”

“I love you, mi hermano.” Jaime stared into his friends eyes one last time, before the ash sifts between Tye’s fingers.

“Jaime?! Jaime! What...no!” Tye sank to his knees, gathering the dust.

“Tony.” Strange said calmly. “There was no other way.”

His disintegrated into the wind, the dust flowing through the air.

“Oh no.”

You look up at Eduardo, seeing dust start to blow from him. You instantly sit up, despite nearly fainting from it.

“Lalo? No no no no no.” You stutter desperately.

“Shhh, princesa. It’s okay, mi amor.” He whispered soothingly, cupping your cheeks and softly pressing his lips to yours. “I’m okay.”

“Eduardo!” You cry out when he crumbles to ash in your hold, staring in horror at the layer of dust now taking his place. “No! Eduardo!”

“Mr. Stark?” You hear Peter whimper in terror. You both look over, Peter hugging himself. “I don’t feel so good.”

“You’re all right.” Tony stood up and rushed to his side, but you’re still paralyzed in shock.

“I don't know what's-I don't know what's happening. I don't-“ Peter stammered, beginning to cry in fear. “I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go, Mr. Stark, please. Please, I don't wanna go. I don't wanna go...” He looked up into your dads eyes. “I’m sorry.” Then, he disappears in the wind.

You see Tye rush over, clutching handfuls of dust in both hands. He looks around, seeing only you three left standing. You stare at each other, too shocked to even move.

“He did it.”

[fluffynin]

I rolled my eye lights as the three humans bickered. When I had Kris tell them to explain the so-called "strengthening" system of these weapons... Well, all three came up with different answers.

Which, with thinking about Kris and I being technically the same being, but so different... Makes sense as we have confirmed all four of us Legendary Heroes come from different Japans, or worlds to be exact.

So why are they saying the other is lying?

"HEY, HEY! CALM DOWN! WE SHOULDN'T FIGHT!" Sansy floated over with Papy, both brothers pulling at the souls of Ren and Motoyasu to seperate the trio.

"yeah. we are kind of up a shit creek without... oh, wrong saying," Papy flinched as he corrected himself.

Huh? Why was... Oh, yeah. My job as the taxi of the River Maze. I wonder if I can still access that place with our current situation. At least if we can get back to the Void, we can vacate any other Gasters who have ended up in there to this world.

Not a fix, but should be way safer than the constant threat of Anomalies trying to eat whatever code they find. Plus, I rather put my trust in other versions of myself than whatever so-called "help" that lousy excuse of a king was gathering. At least if there are other scientists and doctors like Kris and me, we could look into these Waves of Catastrophe properly instead of the half-assed way these humans been doing with summoning who-knows-what and throwing the poor souls into what sounds an all out slaughter.

Which, oddly, looking at my fellow heroes, they are all so young. Sure, techinically I was once human, but I was at least around Kris's age of about 200 years or so, off a few decades since comparing his now Darkner appearance to what he properly is as a magic skeleton. These three never seen the horrors of war. Hell, with the methods they told me... It almost sounds like they never been in a real...

I clapped my hands together and everyone jumped.

"Huh? What?" I yanked on Kris's sleeve to get his attention to my hands

-I think I figured it out.- I signed and opened up the menus.

Each of the humans said they played a game with similar settings to this world. I, myself, love to play MMORPGs and even got pretty well set up in a guild that got pretty good.

Yet, if I use that as a reference, what if the enhancement methods the trio talked about was not of the games they played... But instead it was the best way of enhancement overall for how the world's operating systems worked.

I noticed glitching and a prompt came up with the question if I wanted to adjust my current and only shield: Small Shield

I confirmed and took in a calming breathe.

I was never really good at this, but I've always done it to myself to keep my LOVe at 1. Plus, I currently have a little EXP to spend from the Anomalies I took out before this mess, so it is worth a shot. All I'll lost is EXP which is a win for me either way.

I touched the gem on my shield and felt myself submerged within the depths of its inner being. A huge web of symbols and lines, almost all dulled out. I went to the one that was dimmly glowed more than the others.

I held out my hand with a spark and pushed into the light. The symbol went ablazed and the flames flickered down the lines to other symbols... And branched into new lines and new symbols. I felt a flood of warmth before my senses returned to reality.

"You okay, Iwatani-san?" Itsuki asked.

Ah, right. I always took much longer than Coordinators. A big reason I never did it to others for payment.

Yet, looking through the menus and manual...

Adjustments and transfering of EXP and LOVe to improve stats and such. As well as new branches that demand... Oh, skulls.

Just what is going on with this weird ass world.

Well, let's focus first on my discovery as Adjustments weren't the only thing added to my menu and manual.

"📖⏺" I let the text boxes float up from my mouth.

"Wha?" Motoyasu voiced the confusion on all three humans' faces. Though, even Kris had a high brow arced.

Seriously? We both speak Wingdings and he never spoke shorthand?

"n says the book records?" Papy translated. "o-kay?" The twin skulls looked at each other with worried looks.

Itsuki and Ren, however, had their eyes widened. Itsuki motioned the air and narrowed his eyes. He nearly fell when something happened on the interface only visible to himself and me.

"Oh! The manual records new stuff as we learn it!" Itsuki grinned. "None of us are wrong, but instead all right!"

"But how?" Ren grimanced at his own menus. "I don't get your methods would work to make our weapons stronger." I motioned to Kris.

"Different operating systems, one unit?" Kris asked with decipering my signs. Oh, good. Was a bit worried as our sign lanuages were a bit different with some words.

However, seemed that got the idea across for Motoyasu and Ren.

"So our weapons act like hardware that can take on various software." Ren said as he gotten a glitchy interface. " Wait... Could this be why we can't work together? Our weapons' original systems conflicts with the others?"

"It would explain why we defaulted to different set ups." Motoyasu crossed his arms. "So to make up for not able to work together, we can share our enhancement methods with each other to increase our strength."

I snapped my fingers and did jazz hands with a grin.

"But, what's your method?" I felt the ice in the trio's glares at me.

"We shared ours, yet you haven't said... Oh, right..." They flinched at my double birdie.

"My method is called Adjustment." Kris translated. "It's a bit hard to explain, so it would be easier if you let me do it. I'm not that good, but it should allow the better users of this the means to do it."

"Wait, this isn't a video game mechanic?" Itsuki asked with a raised brow.

"AH! THAT!" Sansy jumped. "YOU REALLY SURE YOU WANNA TRY ADJUSTING THEIR WEAPONS? THEY AREN'T-"

I tapped my shield's gem and signed.

"They are similar enough. I got it to work." Kris crossed his arms. "But what is this Adjustment thing, dear brother." Kris gave me the "Dad Eyes." I felt my throat tightened into a gulp.

-Explain later. Just think of it as the simple version of what turned you from skeleton to human.- Kris's grimance deepened. -I just never thought I could go in reverse. Usually can get the advance method to work with turning human souls into monster kind.-

"I see. So it enhances the soul aspects of the weapons and users." Kris caught the hint and let it go. "It's magic, so it is a little hard to express it in... Human language?" Kris let out a sigh. "At least from our world, magic is usually more expressive than logically explained. Our kind... Our race of humans are the few able to express magic much like other magical races."

"So... You're mages." Ren said with a nod. "Like how VR is common in my world. In a way, it makes since considering Shields were bad in the game I played."

"Wait, the same for you, too?" Motoyasu asked in shock.

"My game also did Shields badly," Itsuki flinched. "Which makes it worse seeing you in a wheelchair, Iwatani-san. It's like you got no straw at all instead of the short straw."

What? I just raised an eyebrow with confusion.

How was being in a wheelchair bad? Hell, these were the best wheels I had in my life! Custom-made and foldable, perfect for someone like me who uses wheels for ease of life.

"ah, right. humans aren't used to n's type." Papy rolled his eyelight.

"I don't get it." Kris huffed. "Doesn't a wheelchair help increase my brother's abilities?"

"Ah, but we will be in combat." Motoyasu gave me a loot of pity. "How can a crippled person-"

Both twins burst into laughter while Kris glared daggers at the three humans. Ah, right, monster kind is used to having to adapt all sorts of ways to help each other living Underground... Especially after the pollution turned the River into the maze twisted with time and space itself.

"What... Oh," Ren went wide eyed. "Right, a mage. When I think how magic is used in the game... Of course a Legendary Hero specializing in magic would focus on defense."

"Huh?" Motoyasu cocked his head.

"Oh, yeah! Pure mages were always weak to close combat. So, instead of having a staff, you have a means of defense as you lob spells at the enemies."

"Wha? Don't cha mean bullets?" Kris snorted. "Spells are a human thing that lack any expression. Bullets are far faster and effect in combat than chanting stupid phrases." Kris snapped his fingers for a bone bullet to appear and he balanced it on the tip of one.

"B-Bullet?" All three asked before they went pale. "Like in... a bullet hell game?"

I guess one could call my magic akin to a magic bullet hell. I sure know the Eighth Fallen probably saw our fights as such.

"Bullet hell?" The skull twins and once skeleton asked with confused dazes.

Me?

I just gave a devish smile.

"👍"

-----------

Trying to get out of the worldbuilding trap with writing linked short fics. This one came from the sketch above and just snowballed into this. Hope it is enjoyable as it was for me to write this.

PS - Correcting some mistakes.

[ntrending]

These bird feathers are so black your eyes can't focus on them

New Post has been published on https://nexcraft.co/these-bird-feathers-are-so-black-your-eyes-cant-focus-on-them/

These bird feathers are so black your eyes can't focus on them

What do birds and aerospace engineers have in common? Both have invented incredibly dark, “super-black” surfaces that absorb almost every last bit of light that strikes them.

Of course scientists worked intentionally to devise these materials. It’s evolution that brought this amazing trait about in birds. My co-lead author Teresa Feo, our colleagues Todd A. Harvey and Rick Prum and I recently investigated the super-black feathers in some of the most outlandish animals on earth: the Birds of Paradise.

These are resplendent birds native to Papua New Guinea and surrounding areas. Males are brilliantly colored, with complicated mating dances. Females, who are drab and brown in comparison, carefully inspect the ornaments and dances of males before choosing their mate.

We wanted to know more about these birds’ super-black plumage and how it works. What mechanism do these feathers employ to be so effective at absorbing light?

Fanciest feathers, under the microscope

The Birds of Paradise have evolved many remarkable traits, but none are more mysterious than the males’ velvety black plumage.

This black is so dark that your eyes cannot focus on its surface; it looks like a cave, or a fuzzy black hole in space. Using optical measurements, we found that these feather patches absorb up to 99.95 percent of directly incident light. That’s comparable to human-made very black materials such as solar panels, the lining of space telescopes, and even the “blackest black” material: Vantablack, which absorbs 99.96 percent of light.

Normal feathers are flat, and look like fractals; when you zoom in using a microscope, each branch of the feather looks like a tiny, flat feather. Under a powerful scanning electron microscope, we were surprised to see that the super-black feathers look like miniature coral reefs, bottle brushes, or trees with tightly packed leaves.

These tiny, specially shaped bits stick up to form a jagged, complex surface; together they act as microscopic light traps. When light rays strike these surface microstructures, they repeatedly scatter around the shapes and are absorbed, rather than being reflected back to an observer. It’s an iterative process: Each time a scattering event occurs, a portion of the light is absorbed until it’s almost completely absorbed.

Human-made super-black materials such as “black silicon” also rely on what materials scientists call structural absorption. Like the super-black feathers, their microscopic “light traps” are due to a rough surface that scatters light repeatedly, but the actual surface shapes they use are different. Rather than the feathers’ bottle brush shapes, human engineers designed regularly spaced microscopic cones and pits. With almost no exposed flat surface, these structurally black materials are the opposite of a mirror.

MORE ON ANIMALS:

The Birds of Paradise’s super-black feathers are so good at absorbing light that even when we coated them in gold, a shiny metal, they still looked black. That’s because it’s not the inside of the feather making the color via pigment or ordered nanostructures; instead, just as with human-made black silicon, the super black comes from the physical surface structure. Evolution and human ingenuity arrived at the same solution.

Advantages of super-black feathers

But why do these birds have such incredibly dark black patches? What selective advantage caused this trait to evolve? It’s tempting to think that super black somehow helps with camouflage, to keep predators away. In fact, some snakes have super-black scales that mimic shadows between leaves, helping them blend into the forest floor. The snake example illustrates evolution by natural selection—“survival of the fittest.”

But other factors can also influence evolution’s course, including random chance or sexual selection. As my colleague Rick Prum points out in his new book “The Evolution of Beauty: How Darwin’s Forgotten Theory of Mate Choice Shapes the Animal World – and Us,” mate choice is a powerful force driving evolution. In Birds of Paradise, super-black feathers help male birds look more beautiful to a female’s eye.

To understand how, it helps to look at Bird of Paradise mating dances. Males vigorously display their super-black patches to females, making sure that females can’t get a view from the side. This is because these feathers are highly directional, and they look darkest from straight ahead.

And super-black patches always sit around or next to brilliant color patches. A super-black, anti-reflective frame makes nearby colors appear brighter, almost glow. In other words, super black is an evolved optical illusion that relies on the way animal eyes and brains adjust our perceptions based on ambient light.

In the high-stakes game of choosing a mate, a single feather that isn’t quite blue enough could be enough to turn off a female Bird of Paradise. Clearly, female Birds of Paradise prefer males with super-black plumage. As females pick the most impressive males to mate with, those dazzling feather genes are passed on to future generations while the genes of less splendid males, overlooked by females, are not. Sexual selection drove evolution toward super-black plumage.

Evolution is not an orderly, coherent process; evolutionary arms races can produce great innovation. Perhaps these super-black feathers with their unique microscopic structure could eventually inspire better solar panels, or new textiles; super-black butterfly wings already have. Evolution has had millions of years to tinker; we still have much to learn from its solutions.

Dakota McCoy is a PhD Student in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University. This article was originally featured on The Conversation.

Written By Dakota McCoy/The Conversation