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zeetasposts · 4 years ago

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The Little Bee

Fandom: Ikesen

Pairings: Nobunaga x Reader

Genre: Fluffffff

Words: 1400+

Comments: Eeeeep whoop whoop! Kame's birthday! Happpppy birthday! eeep! Happy birthday@kamesama Happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Kame la da dee dooo! The cutest little bee of all, wishing ya the best day❤❤ ❤😳🥺 Hehee hope you eat way more cake and candy than you probably should! 🥺😳Love ya loooooooots and lots❤🌈

.*:・’ﾟ:｡.*:ﾟ･’ﾟﾟ:。’ .*:・’ﾟ:｡.*:ﾟ･’ﾟﾟ:。’･ﾟ｡.*:・’ﾟ: ｡.*:・’ﾟ:｡.*:ﾟ･’ﾟﾟ:。

You awoke that morning not to the quiet morning cuddles and kisses you were accustomed to, but to a morning filled with chaos— not that you minded a little chaotic energy, being the leading supplier of that— but still. From the moment your eyes fluttered open, you had been pulled from one direction to the next, neither leading to the warm, strong arms of the man you loved— Nobunaga.

A dejected sigh left your lips; he promised to spend the day of your birth with you, yet where was he now? No doubt he too was dragged away at dawn to deal with the madding admin part of ruling the world, much like you were now being drawn from bed to do some menial tasks.

You accepted your fate reluctantly; after all, there was little use for moping around, mourning the loss of your morning cuddles. Especially when the warlords were breaking down your door trying to get your attention.

Ooh, what you would give for an energy drink— vitamin B shot— Espresso— pretty much any form of liquid energy that didn't include the vial substance Nobunaga managed to secure as a caffeine substitute from the Western traders. As much as you appreciate your boyfriend's efforts, no amount of matcha tea could give the same buzz and hype as your beloved energy drinks.

Nevertheless, you let yourself be dragged off to help solve problem after problem— slightly grumpy for not having the time to enjoy said vial caffeine substitute, and the opportunity to wake up slowly and enjoy the sight of the rising sun.

Hideyoshi was the first victim subjected to your grumpy edge, being the one to throw open your door moments after you called out to the other side. With an apologetic smile, he put you to work, thus starting your daily duties.

Thrusting a bag of coins in your hands with the instruction to buy more sugary candies— you smirked at him knowingly; he must have discovered the aftermaths of the nightly raid. "Sure," was all you said with a shrug and flick of the wrist. You were positive that this menial task and early morning wake up call was revenge for the nightly heists.

Bag of diabetes secured, you started taking a slow stroll back to the castle, only to be swept off your feet by hurricane Masamune. Ahh, your chaotic brother in arms, of course, you welcomed the bit of excitement after the boring market trip. And excitement he brought, as it wasn't long before the two of you raced through the plains engaged in some friendly competition. High stakes and high reward just the way you liked it.

With cocky smiles and beaming eyes, you looped back to the stables riding like the wind and securing your sweet, sweet victory. "Masa, my man, I believe we had a deal," came your ever-growing smirk and outreached hand.

"You drive a hard bargain kitten, but fair is fair," he grinned like a wildcat, pulling the imitation sour patch candies from his sleeve— although something in the way his blue eyes beamed gave him away. He let you win— and he knew that you knew, that he knew, although before you could challenge him and make yet, another friendly wager, the resident sunshine came skipping up the cobblestone path toward the stables.

"Ah, I've been looking for the two of you," he beamed in pure, unfiltered sunshine.

"What's up, sunshine," you chirped, throwing a handful of the sour candies in your mouth and pulling your face involuntarily at the taste. Masamune had done wonders perfecting the recipe, striking that perfect balance between sweetness and sourness with the perfect amount of tart kick.

This is how you now found yourself at the kitsune dubbed snakes home, finally able to enjoy your first warm beverage of the day. The banter and teasings were the same as always— flung into every direction, and floating like a cloud over the head of the innocent Mitsunari.

It wasn't before long that a summons had arrived, demanding the boys' attendance at the nightly war council— an invitation that naturally extended to you, albeit more of a command to attend than a suggestion.

You hung back as the other warlords entered the room before you. You felt a little disgruntled, not by the fact that your birthday had been forgotten but rather over the fact that you had not seen Nobunaga for three days now. Up before dawn and back well after dusk— long after your dreams had stolen you away for the night. With a sigh, you plaster a smile onto your lips and open the door to be greeted by the mighty cheers and happy birthday wishes.

And in the centre of the festivities, only one stood out to you; only one could draw in your gaze like a moth to a flame. "Fireball, come", his low voice rumbled with an easy smirk on his face as he stretched out his hand towards you.

He didn't even have to ask you twice as you crossed the room in an instant and deposited yourself straight into his lap. His arms closed around your waist, pulling you impossibly closer and touched his lips to your forehead. You let go of a contented hum finally in the arms of the man you loved the most.

"I missed you, fireball," he spoke, red-eyes gleaming with affection. His expression soft and loving as he leaned down to nuzzle his nose with yours.

"I missed you too," came your reply, followed by a playful nibble of the tip of his nose, causing a roar of laughter to erupt from his chest. The two of you were in a world of your own, utterly unbothered by the banquet happening around you.

"I have something for you, my little bee," he spoke up once more, lips forming a wide smirk.

"Oh?" your eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Close your eyes," he commanded, calloused hands coming up to cup your cheeks. His carmine eyes gazed into yours, waiting for eyes to flutter shut— instead you stared back at him challenging, before his impatience got the better of him, moving his hands over your eyes.

Once the flutter of your lashes was felt, marking the telltale signs of eyes being sealed shut, he reached behind him to retrieve the birthday parcel. Carefully examining your face to ensure the surprise would go unseen for a few moments more, he gently placed it down on your lap.

"Can I open now?" you asked with an impatient excitement.

"Yes, open," he wore a satisfied smirk, chin tilted in the air with confidence. You wasted no time as you quickly opened the parcel, and when you saw the contents inside your breath caught in your throat. You lifted the matching black kimono to spot the delicate detailing of tiny bees between the spider lilies. It was then that you noticed, he, too, was wearing a new Hoari, littered with matching bees. Your heart melted at the sight.

The silence from you made him fidget, head tilting to the side and smug smile faltering for a brief moment as he spoke with a tinge of uncertainty, "I trust this gift pleases you."

Despite the cold rumours surrounding the man, you knew better. You knew the real Nobunaga, the boyish and at times childishly silly man he was.

A bright and brilliant grin made its way to your face as you threw your arms around his neck in a crushing embrace— relief flooded his chest— nose nuzzling into the crux of his throat before scattering kisses and playful nibbles to his sensitive neck, jaw until finally lips. He flinched at the sensation, and your grin widened, knowing precisely what you had done.

"I see my fireball is as bold as ever to launch such a stealthy attack," his hands roving over the curves of your body to find the places you were most ticklish, to return the attack in kind. It wasn't long before a flurry of laughter erupted from you." Nobee-naga! Stop!" came the breathless laughs.

He ceased his attack and raised a brow at the new nickname given, "No-bee-na-ga", he repeated slowly.

"Yes, Nobeenaga!" you exclaimed once more, exuding confidence, "the cutest bee of all," you concluded, throwing your arms around him and lacing your hands behind his neck.

He smirked, a dusting of pink rising to his cheeks at the new nickname given. "You're the cutie," he repeated the endearment learned a few days prior. Before you could continue your playful banter, he caught your lips in a final kiss before standing up with you in his arms.

"Now, I believe I promised to spend the evening with my little bee," his husky voice whispered in your ears, sending shivers down your spine as he carried you to your shared room to celebrate the remainder of your birthday to the fullest.

#ikesen nobunaga #oda nobunaga #nobunaga oda #nobunaga x reader #ikemen sengoku nobunaga #nobunaga fic #Kameees birthday!#whoooooop #whooooop!#Birthday week continues!

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psyga315 · 4 years ago

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Raven is the ultimate villain of RWBY

Raven Branwen has one of the shortest screen-time of any character in RWBY and yet is one of the most important characters in the show, if not the most important. People out here are talking about whether Ironwood is the true villain of RWBY, but in reality, the real mastermind behind it all is Raven.

See, we first see Raven at the end of Volume 2 where she saves Yang from Neo. Noble deed, right? Well, it’s revealed in Volume 3 that this is just part of her twisted Darwinist ideals and that she only gets to be saved once before being left to fend for herself. Shortly after Yang finds this out, the Fall of Beacon happens and Yang loses a limb, prompting Blake to run because of her guilt and thus shattering one half of Team RWBY.

The worst part? Raven was there.

Qrow: Did you know Yang lost her arm?

Raven: That's not—

Qrow: Rhetorical question, I know you know. It's just obnoxious that you'd bring up family and then carry on like your own daughter doesn't exist.

“Well, that’s him responding to that scene where she was seeing Yang in her bedroom”. Yeah, but then you remember that Raven has a Semblance that allows her to teleport to her whenever she wants. This was how she saved her from Neo. She also knew Beacon was going to fall and did nothing about it.

So, in other words, Raven knew people would die. She knew Yang would be threatened. She knew she would get injured or worse.

But she chose not to interfere because she already did it once.

Fast forward to Volume 4 and we see that RNJR headed to the destroyed village of Shion and as a result, prolongs their quest to Haven by a lot, prompting a run in with Tyrian, Qrow’s near-death experience, and almost getting killed by the Nuckelavee.

And guess who’s responsible for destroying Shion? That’s right. Raven.

Raven: I lead our people now. And as leader, I will do everything in my power to ensure our survival.

Qrow: I saw. The people of Shion saw, too.

Raven: The weak die, the strong live. Those are the rules.

Qrow: Well, you've certainly got someone strong on your side. I've seen the damage.

Raven: (turning away) We couldn't have known the Grimm would set in as quickly as they did.

Raven is proud about destroying Shion until Qrow brings up that the village is destroyed, then folded and blamed it all on the Grimm when their attack is what led them to Shion in the first place, as pointed out in World of Remnant:

That's not all. These raiders will often wait for a town to be at its weakest—maybe after a Grimm attack or while its fighters are out hunting before finally moving in at night and striking. Bunch of jerks.

Worst part is, if the Grimm haven't attacked before, you'd better be damn sure they will now. And you can't exactly have bandits raid your town without at least a few negative emotions.

What makes this worse is that this slowing down of RNJR allows the villains ample time to set up their plans, such as talking with Lionheart or hunting down the Huntsmen in Mistral. Had the group been at Haven sooner, then they perhaps would have gotten an edge in Haven instead of being at the mercy of the villains.

But by far, her worst crime comes in Volume 5, where because of the fact that she’s harbouring Maiden powers, she’s targeted by everyone, including the villains. So, she cuts a deal with them and sets up a battle that nearly kills Weiss (!) and ultimately ends with the death of Lionheart and the technical fall of Mistral (since the Headmaster is dead and we see that the Haven-based teams had to go to Vacuo because of it), with the Relic of Knowledge being out in the open.

Playing devil’s advocate for a second, since Raven gave the heroes their best shot this entire Volume, as rather than letting the White Fang blow up the CCT under their noses, they got involved in the battle and had the plans fall out in the open. Granted, had Cinder, Raven, and Vernal stayed up for a bit longer, they would have been proper fucked, but hey, it’s still their best shot.

However, Raven then opens the vault and brings the Relic of Knowledge out, never bothering to place it back or even leaving it be. This means that the group have to bring the Relic to Atlas and inadvertently making it priority #1 for Salem.

Why does this matter? Because Salem moved her forces to Atlas (either by her command or because of their own personal vendetta against Ruby) in the midst of a critical event: the election. Had the villains not been there, not only would Robyn have clearly won the election (and thus would work closely with Ironwood the legal way like she says in A Night Off: “If I get elected tonight, we'll all have to learn how to get along.”), but Ironwood’s name wouldn’t have been dragged through as badly (from Sparks: “Not really worried about my public image, but it is causing unrest. I think someone's trying to frame me and, by extension, Atlas. And it's working.”).

As such, Jacques wouldn’t have won (and the Heating Grid wouldn’t be shut off), no one in Mantle or who’d be a Winter Maiden would have to die, and Atlas wouldn’t have had to fall next. Jury’s out on whether Ironwood’s or Robyn’s plans would go off without a hitch, but that’s another story for another day.

And this is all because Raven thought it’d be the most brilliant, tactical idea of taking the Grimm-attracting Relic with her.

It’s amazing how, even though we haven’t seen her since Volume 5, her actions still drive RWBY’s narrative. Literally, every bad thing that’s happened in RWBY since Volume 4 (and some bad things in Volume 3) happened because of her.

#RWBY #Raven Branwen

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jawsofhakkontranscript · 4 years ago

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Ameridan’s End: Assault the Jaws of Hakkon

(Previous quest - On Ameridan's Trail)

Main questline: Ameridan’s End: Assault the Jaws of Hakkon

This is the first part of "Ameridan's End" questline.

Characters involved: Svarah Sun-Hair, Lace Harding, Bram Kenric, Gurd Harofsen

Preparations are in place to wage assault on the Jaws of Hakkon and search for Inquisitor Ameridan.

Part 1: Speak with Svarah Sun-Hair

Svarah: When you are ready, you have our blades, Inquisitor.

Dialogue options:

Special: Hakkon connects to Ameridan. [1] (If both “Storvacker Caged” and “What Yet Lingers” have been completed.)

General: Let us begin the assault. [2]

[1] Special: Hakkon connects to Ameridan.

PC: You said that the Jaws of Hakkon first tried binding their god in mortal form hundreds of years ago?

Svarah: What of it?

PC: In our search for Inquisitor Ameridan, we learned that he came here to fight a great dragon 800 years ago… A dragon that came from the mountains with Avvar warriors to attack the lowlands.

Svarah: (Laughs.) Your last Inquisitor must have fought well to stop Hakkon himself! [3]

[3] Subsequent dialogue options:

Investigate: This is all right with you? [4]

Investigate: Does this happen often? [5]

[4] Investigate: This is all right with you?

PC: You're not bothered by the idea that our Inquisitor killed your god?

Svarah: He didn't kill him. That would have been easier. Whatever fight your Inquisitor finished, the Jaws of Hakkon started. I find no fault with a warrior defending his people. [Back to 3]

[5] Investigate: Does this happen often?

PC: Do the Avvar gods take mortal form on a regular basis?

Svarah: No. The gods belong in the land of dreams. Whether it is their wish—or some augur's—that brings them here, battle-tears will be shed. The skalds say the Lady of the Skies took mortal form when Tyrdda Bright-Ax first led the Avvar to the mountains. They say many things about Bright-Ax and the Lady. [Back to 3]

[2] General: Let us begin the assault.

PC: I'm ready to attack the Jaws of Hakkon.

Svarah: Good. They will pay the blood-price for what they have done.

(Kenric and Harding enter the Thane's hall.)

Svarah: Your skald and your scout are here. We can plan the assault.

Kenric: Oh, I like the sound of "skald." It's more dramatic than "professor."

Harding: (Coughs.)

Kenric: Yes, well. Everything we've found about Inquisitor Ameridan suggests that he never emerged from that Tevinter fortress.

Svarah: If that is where your Inquisitor defeated Hakkon, that is where the Jaws of Hakkon must perform the rite to free him. [6]

[6] Dialogue options:

General: We can stop them. [7]

General: Or hopefully not. [8]

General: We have a target. [9]

[7] General: We can stop them.

PC: Inquisitor Ameridan saved the lowlands from an Avvar invasion. We cannot do any less. [10]

[8] General: Or hopefully not.

PC: Ideally, we stop them before that. I'd rather not fight an Avvar god if we don't have to. [10]

[9] General: We have a target.

PC: Good. We know where to strike. [10]

[10] Harding: You really have no problem with us killing your god?

Svarah: Gods cannot be reborn until they die. (Laughs.) Hakkon needs a good rebirthing.

Harding: If you say so.

Svarah: With its ice-wall melted, the fortress is open to attack. We must strike soon, before our foes recover.

Harding: They're already trying. I've got most of our forces defending the shrine from Hakkonites who want to restore the wall. [11]

[11] Dialogue options:

General: We're going to take losses. [12]

General: I'm open to ideas. [13]

General: A siege seems unlikely. [14]

[12] General: We're going to take losses.

PC: The fortress was built to be defensible. It's going to cost us a lot of people to take it.

Svarah: Why? [15]

[13] General: I'm open to ideas.

PC: If anyone has suggestions, now is the time.

Svarah: What gives you fear, Inquisitor? Is this not the battle you wanted? [15]

[14] General: A siege seems unlikely.

PC: We don't have time to drag siege equipment through the forest to take down those walls.

Svarah: A siege? Bah! We have no need of rock-throwers and rams. [15]

[15] Kenric: I am no warrior, but with Lady Harding's forces defending the shrine and no way to breach the walls...?

Svarah: (Laughs.) Lowlanders. Why not climb the walls?

Harding: Your warriors can get over those walls before the Hakkonites stop them?

Svarah: This is not a war, Stone-Daughter. This is a raid. We strike at night, clad lightly. We climb the wall and open the gate from inside. [16]

[16] Dialogue options:

General: We are in your debt. [17]

General: I guess this is our plan. [18]

General: Let's move. [19]

[17] General: We are in your debt.

PC: If Stone-Bear Hold can open the gates, we would be grateful.

Svarah: The Jaws of Hakkon have been bugs in my bedroll for months, Inquisitor. We owe you thanks. [20]

[18] General: I guess this is our plan.

PC: Well, then. Unless anyone has something that sounds easier than climbing the walls...?

Svarah: I would not offer what I could not give. It will be done. Perhaps my climbers will earn themselves a legend-mark! [20]

[19] General: Let's move.

PC: Agreed. How soon can we attack?

Svarah: As soon as the sun sets, Inquisitor. This will be a good night. [20]

[20] Harding: Inquisition forces will feign weakness near the shrine. That will draw some of them away from the fortress.

Kenric: Not too many, I hope.

Svarah: Yes. Save some for us!

Harding: (Nods.)

Part 2: Assault the gate.

(The Inquisition’s soldiers and the warriors from Stone-Bear Hold gather in front of the gate of the Tevinter ruin.)

Parve: Right, Inquisitor. Hask and I will climb over.

Hask: I'll be there to catch Parve when he slips.

Parve: 'Course you will. You'll be behind me, after all.

(These two are the same Avvar men who participated in the Test of the Lady - the climbing contest used for settling disputes - that took place when the Inquisition first arrived in Stone-Bear Hold - see “Avvar Allies” main quest.)

Hask (to Parve): 'Ware the guard.

Parve: I've got him.

(The Avvar sneak ahead and start climbing over the walls of the fortress. Meanwhile, the Inquisition leads the assault from the front to distract the Hakkonites.)

Male Hakkonite: There! It's the lowlanders!

Female Hakkonite: Kill the Inquisitor! Death to her/his hold, for Hakkon's glory!

(Storvacker joins the fight.)

Party comments:

Varric: Storvacker, good to see you again!

Dorian: And we have a bear. Hooray!

Sera: Eat them, not us! Got it?

Cole: I'm happy to see you, too!

Svarah Sun-Hair: Greetings from Stone-Bear Hold, you shit-eating goat-lovers!

(The climbers continue scaling the walls.)

Parve: Watch your grip. It slips a bit.

Hask: Bah, you can't grip anything more challenging than your mother's teat.

Parve: (Grunts.) I was aiming for his throat. We'd best hurry.

Hask: Nicely done.

Parve: Be ready, Inquisitor!

(The gate is opened from the inside by the climbers from Stone-Bear Hold.)

Hask: Lady take you, goat-lovers!

Parve (to the Inquisitor): As you please, Inquisitor.

Hask: I'd not tarry. More will be coming.

(Walk through the gate and defeat the Hakkonites defending the battlements.)

Party comments:

Cassandra: The Avvar were true to their word!

Iron Bull: Nice work, Stone-Bear Hold!

Blackwall: Your Avvar friends pulled it off!

Varric: Our Avvar friends came through!

Svarah Sun-Hair: We have your back, Inquisitor! Fight well!

Part 3: Find Inquisitor Ameridan’s resting place.

(Walk towards the Tevinter ruin.)

Party comments:

Cassandra: No sign of the dragon. It must be in there.

Cole: She doesn't want to be him. He doesn't want to be chained. Tied together, wracked and raging.

Solas: The ritual must be underway. There is a great deal of magical energy coming from the bottom of the crater.

(There are ice wards in the field between the gate and the main building. If destroyed, they freeze everyone in the vicinity.)

Party comments:

Dorian: Watch the wards! We can't afford to be slowed down!

Vivienne: Watch out for the ice wards! We cannot let them slow us!

Sera: Pissing freezing magic!

Solas: Beware the wards! They will sap your strength!

(An ice ward is destroyed.)

Party comments:

Cassandra: The ward is destroyed!

Iron Bull: How do you like that, frosty?

Blackwall: That should end the wards!

Cole: You can't freeze us!

(Enter the Old Temple. The interior is covered in frost.)

Party comments:

Vivienne: This frost is magical in nature. If we do not make haste, we will freeze to death.

Cassandra: This cold is magical in origin. It will kill us if we do not hurry.

Sera: We stay here, our bits will snap off. Get moving.

Solas: The cold is magical. It will kill us if we do not hurry.

Cole: This isn't real, but it still hurts. We have to be fast.

Dorian: Even colder than usual. This is magical. We need to keep moving.

Varric: This isn't natural. We'd better hurry, unless you like freezing to death.

(Stay by the fire to warm up.)

Party comments:

Sera: Better, right? Might even keep our toes.

Iron Bull: (Grunts.) Cold's not so bad here.

Varric: The cold isn't so bad here.

Cole: Yes. False cold, but the real fire keeps it away.

(Gurd Harofsen begins the ritual.)

Party comments:

Varric: We should probably hurry. There's no good kind of crazy ritual chanting.

Vivienne: They are performing the ritual. I suggest we hurry.

Solas: We must hurry. The ritual to free the spirit of Hakkon is underway.

Dorian: Sounds like they've already started the ritual. Best hurry, then.

(Gurd chants the Song of savage Hakkon.)

Sing the song of savage Hakkon, born in battle, bloody bladed.

Wintersbreath to wrack the lowlands, cold to cut and kill the hated.

Meet the might of Mountain-Father, crush the creed of Korth the callow.

Leave the Lady lost and lonely, scour the skies of spirits sallow!

Gurd Harofsen, called the Cutter, wyvern-slayer, lowland-bane

Begs of Hakkon, bring his body bloody blessings, cold and pain!

(The chant ends.)

Party comments:

Vivienne: The barbarian is allowing himself to be possessed by Hakkon!

Solas: The Hakkonite leader is calling the spirit of Hakkon into his own body!

Varric: Harofsen's summoning Hakkon into himself!

Dorian: He's summoning Hakkon into his own body!

Cassandra: Is he insane?

Iron Bull: Who does that? That's a terrible idea!

Blackwall: He's mad!

Sera: Don't care. Stupid gets arrows.

(A dragon can be seen in the distance.)

Party comments:

Sera: There's the dragon! It's... frozen or something?

Cole: The dragon. She's stuck, still, a statue. Hakkon is angry inside her.

Varric: There's the Hakkon dragon! At least it's not moving yet.

Iron Bull: There's the dragon! Long as it holds still like that, we should be all right.

(The fight begins. Gurd continues the ritual while being protected by Hakkonites.)

Party comments:

Vivienne: Hakkon is invulnerable until we disrupt those around him!

Solas: We cannot harm Hakkon until the ritual is disrupted!

Cassandra: We must disrupt the ritual first! Then Hakkon can be harmed!

Dorian: We have to take out the others! We can't hurt Hakkon until they're out!

(Gurd summons the spirit of Hakkon into himself and transforms into a revenant.)

Gurd: Face me and die, Inquisitor! Your predecessor could not stand against me. You shall fall as well! I am the cold bite of winter! I am Hakkon reborn! Death to the lowlanders!

(The revenant casts powerful ice spells.)

Party comments:

Sera: Ranged, right? Too cold up close!

Cassandra: The cold is worse near the creature!

Blackwall: The cold gets worse the closer you are!

Iron Bull: Careful! Cold's worse up close!

(During the fight, the revenant freezes the braziers as he loses health.)

Party comments:

Vivienne: He's putting out the fires!

Varric: Watch yourself! He's putting out the fires!

Dorian: The damn thing's dousing the fires!

Solas: Be careful! He's dousing the fires!

(Next quest - Ameridan's End: Talk to Ameridan)

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rpmemesbyarat · 4 years ago

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RP Meme from " Nagah" & "Nuwisha" & "Ratkin" & "Rokea" in "Chapter Two: The Changing Breeds" from the World of Darkness "Changing Breeds" book (20th Anniversary edition)

A few maintain ties to their old human lives, but even then they need a tight network of allies to maintain an illusion of normalcy.

To preserve secrecy, the cult reveals only a few hints about their existence before the outsider formally agrees to join.

Preserve the Sacred Secret at All Costs

Punish Those Who Betray Their Duties

Never Hunt Alone

Remain Humble

Abhor Imbalance

Strike Against the Corruptor if the Opportunity is True

Without information networks and clean-up crews, the assassins would be much less effective as a whole.

Cover your eyes

Try a bite of this apple

May I see your gun?

He may also be able to notice patterns when there should be randomness, order where there should be chaos, and times and places where these forces are out of balance.

The human will be oblivious to the serpent being there, even using rationalization to deny its presence.

Such simple tricks are generally all a truly skilled assassin needs.

Every other word out of her mouth is a falsehood, no matter how innocuous or simple the truth.

If these are mixed with the drink before it is converted it can make a poison that only affects the target.

Yes, we killed them. Another casualty of our past.

I wonder what the world would be like had we not been so stupid.

You are entirely repugnant, awful, scurrilous creatures.

We watch when you enjoy your work, in case you do so too much.

Dancers and mystics? What use were they?

You forget that others swim, down deeper than even you go.

We know what you do to one another when you think nobody else can see.

Weak and useless.

How would a dancer help me survive?

Let a Fool Die a Fool’s Death.

Teach Those Who Need Teaching a Proper Lesson

Be Subtle

Think, Then act

Sure, the victim won’t feel the benefit of the lesson for long, but his friends might learn as they wonder how they can avoid the same grisly fate.

Thankfully, this is quickly followed by the realization that their fun with comes a responsibility to teach and to make their pranks meaningful.

Even the noblest individuals can be brought low by public embarrassment.

Sometimes the best tricks need the target to sleep through anything.

After all, close friends and lovers know just where to stick a dagger to make sure it really hurts.

Over the next 24 hours one of them will suspect betrayal by the other.

With the cackling of laughter she can swap good fortune for bad, twisting the strings of probability and fate between her fingers — though she has no control over the outcome.

True love comes in many forms.

You came over here all high and mighty and now you’re sorry?

Say you’re sorry by doing something useful, maybe?

I cannot help but have a modicum of respect for someone who laughs in the face of certain death, even though I would be the agent of that death.

Let them test every rule, as long as they do not test my patience.

Yes, you got fucked. Yes, it was worse than nearly anyone else. But it’s time to wake up, now.

You laugh at everything. Marry me.

They sabotage infrastructure projects, booby-trap new municipal developments, and generally cause large-scale urban destruction.

They cannot stand toe-to-toe with their foes and expect to survive the encounter.

Survive so that you may breed.

Respect strength and exploit weakness.

Conflict breeds strength.

Build, steal, and suborn to strengthen your breeding grounds.

Trust your own kind before you trust outsiders.

When someone is responsible for injustice, make sure someone pays.

Some follow various twisted versions of apocalyptic human religions, others fervently believe conspiracy theories involving the end of the world, mystical coincidences, or simply the obvious truth that global warming, rampant pollution, and humans’ desire for fossil fuels could spell the end of the world.

They find space in various odd corners of cities, taking over cheap apartments or squatting in abandoned buildings.

Anything’s better than being alone.

I will defend our breeding grounds against all threats, physical and spiritual.

I shall seek revenge against those who prey upon my kind.

I will survive so that I may breed.

I must respect strength and exploit weakness.

I shall grow stronger through conflict.

I will learn from the mysteries of the spirit world.

I will revel in the visions the spirits grant me.

I will build, steal, and suborn to strengthen my breeding ground.

I shall nurture, instruct, and aid the young.

I will trust my own kind before I trust outsiders.

When someone is responsible for injustice, I will make sure someone pays.

Some are inclined to violence, others lose themselves in strange dreams and bouts of insanity.

These creatures are deformed, sterile, and a source of shame to their parents.

They know many secret methods of traveling from city to city.

They excel at stealth and subterfuge, knowing how to kill unseen, and also how to lead a pack against larger and stronger enemies.

They excel at hunting and fighting underground.

You are certain you will triumph in grandiose ways and want everyone to hear about your coming glory.

This is likely to involve a mixture of electricity, packs of store-bought batteries, energy drinks, illegal drugs — or a fusion of all of the above.

Stop holding yourselves back.

You know what it’s like, you feel it every day.

You aren’t slaves, stand and fight!

Rise up and seize what is yours!

Sometimes, they go too far, but even when they do I wish we had their strength of purpose.

You’re kindred spirits as far as I can see.

You want to fight, I can smell it. We’ll fight with you.

Small, smelly, and spoiling for a fight.

They throw themselves into battle too quickly, but we need their energy.

You want to know a secret? Come closer.

Knife? What knife?

We have seen too much sickness to spend our time with bringers of plague.

I spoke with one and learned much, but it is a feat I do not wish to repeat.

Some organized raiding parties that sank human ships.

These efforts were short-sighted, disorganized, and, ultimately, doomed to fail.

Their attacks did provoke a reaction, although it was not the intended one.

This organized killing was new to them, and driven by a largely unfamiliar emotion; fear.

Your twisted plans waste time.

Talking is not doing.

They have secrets, but it is not worth the effort.

Do not fear them, for you will never see them.

You remember us.

You think you know us.

We do not remember how we were. We change. We survive.

#rp meme #rp memes #rp starters #roleplay memes #roleplay meme #roleplay starters #world of darkness #changing breeds #owod #werewolf the apocalypse #wererats #ratkin #nuwisha #nagah #rokea #weresnakes #weresharks #werecoyotes

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the-final-sif · 6 years ago

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Actually, now that I’ve talked about my headcanon that Katsuki was kidnapped several times as a child, let me talk about a complete random scene/story arc inspired by that and the fact that Katsuki + Izuku + Shouto are all interning with Endeavor now.

Overhaul breaks out of jail and gets his arms back somehow. He’s gone quite a bit nuts. A lot nuts. He’s surpassed ‘focused villain trying to do one thing that he sees as right’ to more of a ‘just want to watch the world burn’. To that end, he sets about getting a team together to catch a certain group of meddling heroes, and to rekidnap a certain child.

A second hideout raid of sorts is planned and goes down, only this time, it was a trap. Izuku/Shouto/Endeavor/Hawks/Kirishima/Tamaki/Fatgum/Tsuyu/Ryuko/Ochako were on the raid team and were caught. Aizawa who was watching over Eri while she had a playdate with Tsuyu’s younger sister, Satsuki, are all also captured. Overhaul had a very specific team set up, knew about them in advance and planned out counters for each person. Alongside that, he used his quirk to create a giant beast like robot that’s made of metal able to withstand even Deku’s punches and Shouto/Endeavor’s flames. Said robot is roughly modeled/made to take on the LOV’s nomu, but non-organic. Notably, Katsuki wasn’t on the hideout raid team (or aware of the raid), because he had a Obligatory Family Trip planned on the same day and so wasn’t at the internship then.

Izuku had managed to put in a distress call before he was taken down, but all the heroes + victims were moved to a different location afterwards in an old long abandoned hideout in the middle of the woods, and there’s about no chance of anyone tracking them down any time soon.

So that leads us into the main scene. The heroes are all captured/restrained up near Overhaul whose ranting on about using Eri to destroy the world/destroy quirks once and for all and then rule over it with a robotic army which is the only thing he considers “clean” anymore. Meanwhile, Eri and Satsuki are down in a different location in a cell of their own (to prevent the heroes from comforting the children), and there’s a camera system in place so the heroes can see the helpless children.

Overhaul demands Eri be brought to whatever Evil Machine he’s devised, and one of his goons goes to get her, but Satsuki fights back against the goon and actually does a pretty damn good job of it. Which leads to Overhaul demanding that the goon kill her.

There’s nothing any of the heroes can do. Satsuki fights back as best she can, as does Eri, but they’re both only 6 years old and Eri’s quirk isn’t working. They struggle, but it’s looking hopeless, and Aizawa tries to tell Tsuyu to close her eyes because he knows what’s about to happen next.

And then the entire dungeon the two girls are in shatters.

Everything is chaos for the next minute as Overhaul tries to figure out what the hell just happened, getting his cameras back in order until finally he gets a visual and contact with one of his goons just before they get taken down and it’s Katsuki.

He’s in a flannel, regular pants and his combat gloves, very clearly confused/pissed off/not prepared for whatever the hell is going on here, and it takes them awhile to figure out what’s going on.

As it turns out, Katsuki has been hiking a trail near this hideout since he was 4 years old. His family drags him up to a nearby location to visit some extended family, he has 0 interest in doing that, so he goes and hikes/camps along a trial instead. Every year he hikes this fairly long trail, and every year he sees this weird abandoned building that he’s gone to explore a few times, and every year the first thought in his mind is ‘Man, that place looks exactly like a villain hideout’.

Then this year, he comes up on it, minding his own business with his headphones in, and he sees the building active again with people with weird masks running around in it, and he’s got a super bad feeling in his gut that just slams into him and he goes ‘Alright, fuck it.’

So now Katsuki is here, he grabs the kids and gets them to a semi-safe location, getting info from them and trying to understand what’s going on. Once he gets it, this turns into a game of him keeping the kids safe from Overhaul, taking down his goons as he goes and working his way towards where the other heroes are. Only, we’re going with the aforementioned headcanon that Katsuki has been kidnapped a bunch of times as a child and never realized that wasn’t normal. This leads to the heroes watching him on the cameras with an increasingly pissed off Overhaul as he walks the two children through how deal with being kidnapped as if these are normal everyday life skills.

Overhaul really, really wants him dead, but unfortunately his team was handpicked to counter the heroes who he’s already captured, and he wasn’t counting on Katsuki showing up. Katsuki’s quirk is flexible and very destructive + Katsuki’s combat skills means he’s pretty much a worst case scenario for Overhaul. Even worse, Katsuki successfully took down the com lines so there’s no communication through the scattered goons, and Katsuki played in this abandoned hideout as a child so he knows his way around it.

Ideal things happening during all of this:

Aizawa torn between being overjoyed that Katsuki saved Eri and then horrified/so done with this child as he walks Eri and Satsuki through how to use knives and grenades.

Katsuki being confused that neither Eri nor Satsuki know how to use a knife.

“Okay, did I have a weird childhood or did you two have a weird childhood. I can’t tell.”

Katsuki gives both children knives, and gives Eri a second knife when she loses her first one (and by loses I mean it ends up embedded in a bad guy’s shoulder)

Izuku keeps pulling notebooks and pencils out of seemingly thin air since Katsuki is openly discussing his quirk/aspects of it with the kids as they make their way through the base and by god he needs to write it down. Overhaul keeps taking his notebooks/pencils but the moment he looks away Izuku somehow has another set.

Katsuki keeps mentioning offhandly things from his childhood and the more things he mentions the more all the other heroes are like “????????”

Finally, Overhaul realizes there’s no chance of his guys taking down Katsuki as Katsuki finishes off the last or second to last one, and so he unleashes The Robot.

By this point, Katsuki already called for backup, but it’s at least half and hour out. He sees the robot and he’s like “Ah fuck.”. Eri and Satsuki already told him a little bit about it and particularly that it’s built to withstand anything short of a nuclear weapon. Not to mention it’s decently fast/agile.

And then when Eri is hurriedly relaying all this to Katsuki, she mentions that Overhaul built it himself.

Katsuki: “Wait like, he actually designed and built it. Overhaul’s the guy with the weird purity/evolution obsession right? He made this? Not somebody smarter?”

She confirms and Katsuki is suddenly No Longer Worried: “Okay, you two chill here, I got this.”

So then he goes to fight the weird beast robot, and nobody’s really sure what he’s planning. As he starts fighting it, he seems to be blasting it’s head into stuff a lot/slamming it around, but that’s not doing any actual damage, right?

Wrong.

See, Overhaul’s somewhat of a moron who put all of the robot’s processing/”brain” into the head area, because that’s how things are supposed to be in his mind. Katsuki figured the guy would probably pull something like this, and so he gives the robot a bunch of repeated strikes to the head area/knocking it around. Because even if the outside is super tough, that kinetic energy still travels through and can do damage to delicate circuit boards.

In layman’s terms, he gives the robot a series of minor concussions until it adds up.

The robot starts to malfunction, going somewhat rouge/pausing/getting stuck places/etc. But it’s still not destroyed and the heroes aren’t sure what Katsuki’s planning next. Katsuki is quite sure of what he’s planning next though. He lures the robot outside and then traps it in place with some large rocks or some rope or something. It’s not going to hold it for very long, but it’s enough to keep the weakened robot in place.

Then he takes aim with one arm as if he was doing an AP shot.

Everyone (heroes and Overhaul included) are kinda like ‘okay what the heck’ because even Katsuki’s strong blasts aren’t enough to really damage the robot’s exterior. Why would trapping it change that?

Then blue starts to spread up Katsuki’s arm along his veins, his hand starts to crackle and there’s 1-2 seconds of “wait WHAT” before Katsuki unleashes a blast on par with that of a small nuclear weapon. The explosion is bright blue, narrowed down to a fine point like Katsuki’s regular AP spot, but once it hits it’s target, it explodes outwards disintegrating the robot and taking out a good chunk of the surrounding land. The whole hideout is shaken to it’s foundation. Windows shatter, some cameras crack, and when the dust clears, Katsuki’s standing tall.

His left arm is still covered by that spiderweb blue though, and it’s hanging limply at his side.

Okay, so this is 90% me making up science but shhhh

So as the heroes quickly learn as an exhausted/barely on his feet Katsuki stumbles back to the kids who of course have questions, this is apparently something Katsuki has been able to do since he was 6.

He calls it “Blue Core”, and it makes his explosions super powerful by pulling nitrogen from the rest of his arm/blood stream/flesh and stocking it all up.

However, he basically never uses it because it comes at a really high cost, namely it takes several seconds of charging, does a ton of collateral damage, and by using it it takes whichever arm he used out of commission for at least the next 24 hours. He can still use his quirk a little with the other one, but it’s heavily weakened.

Obviously he can’t use this in training either, so he never thought to mention it to his teachers.

The heroes + Overhaul just watch stunned for like a solid minute as he starts making his way towards where the heroes are being held hostage with the kids because what the fuck.

Finally though, Overhaul snaps out of it and goes to fight the weakened Katsuki. The kids hide when Overhaul comes out and he throws Katsuki against a wall or something b/c he’s heavily weakened and can’t really fight with his quirk anymore, and then he struts over to him monolouging and ready to claim victory as Katsuki is laying there, slumped over and barely breathing.

And then the moment Overhaul gets close to him, Katsuki is up in a flash and the heroes can hardly even see what happened, but the next thing they know Overhaul is on the ground screaming bloody murder clutching his eyes and Katsuki is holding a blood stained knife. Then he gives Overhaul a curb stomp and he is OUT.

It should be noted, this is not any of the knives that he gave to Eri/Satsuki.

Someone, maybe Aizawa: “How many knives does he have???? I thought he was hiking????”

Shouto: “Oh yeah, at one point during the remedial courses we were babysitting kids together and he mentioned to me that he had 7 knives that day, and I honestly couldn’t tell if he brought more or less knives than he normally carried because of the children. Still not sure actually.”

Izuku: “I know he usually carried around 4 knives when we were kids but part of that was he had limited areas to hide them back then.”

Fatgum and Tamaki are both completely baffled and trying to fit this guy they’ve just been watching with the person that Kirishima described Katsuki to them as.

Anyways, so then Eri & Satsuki get the keys and go to free the heroes which are fairly close by while Katsuki guards Overhaul to prevent him from pulling a ‘gotcha’ on them. And also because the heroes are up a flight of stairs and Katsuki physically cannot walk up them right now.

It’s very emotional as Eri rushes to Aizawa and Satsuki rushes to her big sister who is now crying. And then the group heres a noise and all eyes go back up to the camera screens which are still somewhat up and running, currently focused on where Katsuki and Overhaul’s battle went down.

Turns out, before this whole mess started, the LOV sent Dabi to go take care of Overhaul because He Cannot Be Allowed To Have Arms, Goddamnit We Were Making A Point With That.

But then Katsuki went ahead and did Dabi's job for him, so Dabi radioed back to Tomura and Tomura changed his objective to "You know, while you're there anyways and he's weak, might as well grab the kid."

There’s two endings to this:

The door to the room Katsuki is in swings open and fucking Dabi waltzes in probably saying something like

"So, is this a bad time?"

Katsuki turns to look at him and in the most done, tired, angry, voice: "You asshole."

After drugging Katsuki somehow (because unlike Overhaul, Dabi is not stupid and isn't getting with 10 feet of Katsuki without being damn sure he's down for the count), Dabi kidnaps Katsuki for the second time and the two of them are teleported out of the area about 10 seconds before Aizawa/the other heroes are freed just barely too late to do anything about it.

This ending would mostly be because I'd want Dabi and Katsuki to have back and forth banter of Katsuki being so 110% done with everything and Dabi being like:

"Yeah, I'll admit, this is kinda a dick move and the universe definitely has it out for you today."

"You don't get to say 'the universe has it out for me' when you're the one kidnapping me asshole"

And also because it sets up some serious hurt/comfort.

or, ending 2)

Katsuki stumbles his way over to a doorway on the other side of the room to go grab some rope so he can tie Overhaul up. He opens the door, and Dabi's just standing there, having been about to open the door so he could capture Katsuki.

They just stare at each other wide eyed for several long seconds before

"Is now a bad time-"

And Katsuki slam's the door shut.

"N o !"

He takes five seconds to just stare at the door being pissed and then is like "No, fuck this, I have dealt with enough today." Then he proceeds to barricade the door as he goes through various forms of the words 'No, nope, fuck that, not happening', still exhausted and beaten up and done but 100% N O T H A V I N G T H I S.

The heroes get down there to help and and they search for Dabi only to discover on the camera footage that after Katsuki slammed the door on him, he apparently thought it was so funny that he just kinda shrugged, turned around and actually fucking left. Because, you know, his main objective was already completed, and he didn’t really feel like going the extra mile today.

All of this is on camera too, so it quickly spreads as a meme, along with other choice moments from the whole hideout fight including several ‘vibe checks’, one of Satsuki throwing a grenade into the face of on of the goons that was harassing her before, and also ‘knife check’ becoming a thing.

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salt-warrior · 4 years ago

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WHEN EARTH TURNS TO ASHES

Masterlist

Chapter Eighteen: The Dawn of Human Suffering

Light snow was beginning to fall under the cover of a purple dusk, but Kai didn't feel the edging bite of cold. The five friends stood huddled together in a tight circle, humbly awaiting for the absence of the sun.

Cress had told them that the night sky would be better to summon Her because the gray realm is closer to the middle realm when the sky is dark. It all had something to do with how ghosts become more active within the cover of twilight and human fear.

A determined Cinder stood beside Kai, her slouched form shivering against her crutches. She held an old, worn envelope that contained the key to summoning the ghost of her mother. Her expression was stony and undecipherable, though Kai could feel nervous energy bouncing off of her like an electrical current.

"It's almost time," Cress observed. "We should come up with some sort of game plan for what we'll do once we summon Her."

"Wait," Thorne intruded, "won't we just summon her, burn the bracelet, and be done with her?"

"Essentially, but there are still some minor details that we might want to go over," Cress admitted, blushing as she looked at Thorne. "She might try to talk to us. She could attempt to hurt us, although I believe that we have to say the trigger words for her to be allowed to even touch us."

"It sounds like a horcrux," Kai said, earning a stare from each of his friends. "You know, in Harry Potter?"

"Anyways," Cress continued, ignoring Kai's words. "We need to be prepared for all the worst case scenarios."

"Worst case scenario, all of you run," Cinder said. "She'll stay with me, and she also won't hurt me. I only need Cress to say the magic words and then you can all leave."

"But won't she catch on fire?" Thorne asked, his voice hesitant to ask the question.

Cress shrugged her shoulders and held her head high. "We don't know; but if I do, just try to put me out fast."

A hush fell back over the group at Cress's words of bravery, but all Kai could feel was his own resolve. Kai looked at everyone huddled together, and wondered how on earth his life had gotten to this point. Less than a month ago Kai was a simple college student at business school. His best—and only—friend was Carswell Thorne. He didn't believe in ghosts. He wasn't ever at risk of dying. He wasn't in love with a girl who saying 'I love you' to could get him killed.

Kai wasn't entirely sure what his life had been leading up to. He enjoyed business school, but it wasn't his passion. Kai wanted to see things, and learn, and meet new people everyday. His father had given him all that he could offer, but Kai only wanted that which wasn't his. Kai was facing a situation that could lead to death, and all he could think of was his regret. Now was the time to redeem himself.

I could hold the entire world in my hands, Kai thought. Yet all I want is to hold Cinder. All I want is Cinder. She is the world. She is the one. She is the reason to everything, and now I know why Channary would do everything in her power to keep her safe.

"Cinder," Kai could feel his heart choking him with all the words he could not say. "I... I..." I love you.

"What Kai?" Cinder asked, tilting her head to the side. She looked so young, so beautiful. Kai felt an ache within him. His entire being was drawn to her, and he couldn't control it. The prospect of dying had his heart making a deathbed request: to kiss her. "What is it?"

Kai took a step toward Cinder. He reached his hand out towards her and placed his fingers against her frozen cheek. Her eyes widened in surprise, though she did not draw away from him. Kai took this as a good sign and brought his other hand up to her face.

Cinder regarded Kai with questioning brown eyes that made him want to write poetry. It was as if the whole world had gone silent and they were the last two humans left on earth. Blood pounded in Kai's ears, and the muted wind blew Cinder's messy hair around her face.

"Are you okay?" Cinder asked. Her eyelashes fluttered with the falling snow. Her lips were slightly parted and chapped from the cold— and Kai couldn't stop looking at them. Her uninjured hand left its crutch to rest against Kai's hand, her icy fingertips made him shiver. "Kai?"

The pull towards her was agonizingly strong. He wanted to kiss her, but he knew he couldn't. He didn't want to screw anything up. He could get them all killed, but what if they were already doomed? Someone would have to say the words, and Kai was done watching everyone else get hurt.

Kai leaned in and brought his lips gently to Cinder's. She tensed for a moment, then relaxed and kissed him back. She wound her fingers into Kai's hair, and he brought his free hand down to her neck. He could feel the blood pounding through her veins, and could taste blood and ice on her lips. A burning sensation rushed throughout Kai's body; he could have kissed Cinder for the rest of his life and been perfectly content.

Cinder was the first to break away, dropping her hand back to the handle of her crutch so as not to touch him. She appeared frazzled, but not agitated. Kai's lips were cold without hers, and he hurt as though he had been stabbed where her fingers no longer rested. His anguish burned in his eyes, and he couldn't let go of Cinder. He couldn't let go of her.

"Cinder," Kai whispered, but she wouldn't look him in the eyes. He no longer cared where he was or what he was about to do. He couldn't care less if the whole world had just been lit aflame; he didn't care if he was about to be lit aflame. "Selene," Kai croaked.

Cinder froze, her eyes large and afraid. Tension boiled around them like a pot of water over a flame. Kai couldn't hear his friends speaking around him. He couldn't see Cinder's silent warning not to say it. He didn't feel her shove him away. The only thing he knew where his lips whispering the words he had wanted to say for weeks. The words were his destiny and fate.

"I love you."

And that's when Kai burst into flames.

***

"Kai, no!" Cinder screamed as she watched a lightning bolt of fire strike Kai's body from the heavens. He was a blazing human torch, sending beacons of light up to hell cast sky— he was the dawn of human suffering.

Around Cinder, her friends echoed her cry. An anguished scream reverberated throughout the wooded area, harmonizing with a predatorial growl. Cinder knew that sound, for it haunted her every dream. It was the sound that she heard when she was alone with her thoughts; it was the background music of her brain.

The smell of burning hair and flesh bore into Cinder's senses. She collapsed to the ground, her entire body trembling with the shock and memories. Her body was out of her control. She could no longer help Kai. She never could. In the end, she was only ever intended to hurt him.

Her friends weren't so helpless.

Thorne charged at Kai, a determined glint in his horror-struck eyes. He tackled Kai to the ground, bringing him in rolling circles across the snow. Kai continued to shriek with the agony of being burned alive, but the flames were beginning to die.

Cress ran to Kai and Thorne, pulling off her coat and beating Kai with it in frantic motions. Iko moved to Cinder's side, telling her to breathe. Spots of black danced across Cinder's vision with the red and orange of the torch that was once a boy. Her throat appeared to have closed off, because no matter how hard she tried, Cinder couldn't bring oxygen into her lungs.

Panic rushed through Cinder, heavier than she could have imagined. She clutched at her chest as the hyperventilations became too intense. She could no longer see Kai, but Ran. Ran was aflame, and Cinder could only watch as his flesh became a blazing meal for Hell.

Then Ran became Peony— peaceful as she silently bore pain that can only be aroused by fire. They were burning, burning, burning. Everything was on fire. The earth had erupted into violent flames. Hell had been cast upon the face of the world and nothing could be seen except the dancing forms phoenix's turning the earth into ashes.

And now Cinder herself was burning. Her skin steamed and peeled off in layers as the inferno consumed her body; but the worst part was the smoke.

Smoke, smoke, smoke. It blinded her. It choked her. It drowned every sense she possessed as a human being. She could no longer see the flames, but the wispy ladies of fate dancing in front of her eyes. Nothing existed anymore except for the smoke.

Smoke

But this time Kai wasn't there to save her from the storm of flames and smoke. Her hero had been struck down by a blade of kryptonite, only it was Cinder who had stabbed him.

"Cinder," Iko screamed somewhere within the smoke. "Cinder, breathe!"

But Cinder couldn't breathe; not with all of the smoke.

"It's all going to be okay, Cinder. Just breathe." Iko shook Cinder, but Cinder still couldn't see Iko. How was Iko still breathing? Cinder wondered.

"It's not real, Cinder," Iko yelled. "It's not real. Just breathe. Breathe in and out with me, okay?" Iko's voice pitched higher.

How can she still breathe? Cinder thought. How come I'm the only one choking?

"Cinder, IN!" Iko screeched. Cinder tried to suck in, but all she could inhale was smoke.

"OUT!" Black sludge spewed from her mouth.

"IN!" Rolling clouds of stormy fire raided her lungs.

"OUT!" A thousand cigarettes worth of smoke swirled from her mouth. The sky was no longer black, but dark gray and stormy.

"IN!" Ice bit at Cinder's lungs with vicious ferocity.

"OUT!" Golden eyes were staring at Cinder, and blue braids were tickling her frozen face.

"Iko," Cinder croaked, weak and tired from all the smoke— but the smoke was gone. "Where'd all the smoke go?" Cinder slurred.

"Kai's gonna be fine, Cinder," Iko said, which didn't make any sense. Was Kai the one making the smoke? Where was Kai?

Cinder was just about to ask her questions, when a long lost voice spoke instead.

"Selene?" Channary cried hysterically. "What are you doing to my Selene?" The woman was tall, thin, and severely burned. She had a face which had once held beauty and charm, but had lost all of its glory.

"Mom?" Cinder wheezed. "Mom, mom stop. Don't hurt them."

Cinder pushed herself off the ground, no longer tired. There was no smoke in the air but a thin trickle swirling up from a small form on the ground. Cinder had not been choking on smoke; she had been drowning in memories.

"My dear Selene, are you alright?" Channary asked with concern. "I won't let them touch you. I will not let anyone else hurt you."

Channary rushed forward, as if to hug her daughter, but her hands went straight through Cinder. A shiver ran down Cinder's spine, and she recoiled from the loving touch. "Selene?"

"Don't hurt them." Cinder panted, taking a step back from her mother. Out of the corner of her eye, Cinder could see Cress and Thorne gently touching a motionless Kai. He was no longer on fire, but his skin was red and blistering. "Just don't hurt them anymore, mom." Cinder drew the bracelet from the envelope still clutched in her injured hand. "Stop hurting me."

A cry of anguish burst forth from Channary. "Hurt you? I would never hurt you, my princess!" Channary threw her body towards Cinder, but there was still no contact. "All I've ever wanted was to protect you; first from the bad men, and now from them."

"And you did protect me from the bad men, mom. You saved me," Cinder soothed, sounding more like the mother who was trying to calm a confused toddler. "But these people aren't trying to hurt me. They're my friends."

"That's what they always say," babbled Channary. "They make promises like jokes. They tell you they love you, but then they only hurt you. No one can be trusted."

Cinder reached for her dead mother, but still no contact was made. It hurt to see her mom like this: dead as the corpse she had identified, but still as crazy in life. She remembered a time when her mom had been healthy, strong, and sane, but it was nearly a dream. Cinder's childhood was gone, and it was about time her mother was as well.

"Mom, they're not going to hurt me. No one has hurt me except for you." Cinder's voice cracked on the last part, and she felt her eyes sting. She needed to distract her mom from the others. She needed to hurt her— to kill her. She didn't want to do it, but it was of mice and men.

Channary wept desperately; just like she had the last time Cinder saw her. Cinder could barely understand her through the sobs. "I... I have... never... hurt... princess... never... my... princess... never..."

"Mom," Cinder stood as close as she dared to the crazed ghost. "I know you didn't mean to. But I was only a kid. You were supposed to be there, but you weren't. You said you would come home, but you didn't."

Cinder could see Thorne gingerly lugging Kai up with the help of Iko. They got him into a fireman's carry, and began to lug his broken body away.

Cress was out of sight, but Cinder knew that she must have been preparing the fire. She was always there. Cinder only wished she had given Cress more credit before and not been so quick to assume.

"I couldn't come home, my love. I couldn't help what happened. They... they caught up with me. They killed me. I tried... but I failed." Channary shed silent silvery tears. Her body looked as real as Cinder's, her tears being the only visible giveaway to her true form.

"I know you tried, mom," Cinder said. "But I can protect myself. I can choose who I love and not get hurt, mom."

A cool laugh echoed from Channary. She wiped her tears out of her eyes, and smiled down on Cinder. It was the first time Cinder had felt like a child in nearly fourteen years. "My dear Selene, you innocent child. Love is a conquest, love is a war," Channary giggled "And don't think I've forgotten about your little friends."

Cinder's blood turned to ice as Channary spun around. She snapped her fingers in a simple motion, making Iko, Thorne, and Kai collapse to the ground.

"No!" Cinder screamed. "Stop! Don't hurt them!" Cinder could feel the panic welling within her. All of her friends were about to die, and it was all her fault. At least her mother hadn't spotted Cress. "Please," Cinder whimpered.

"Ah, my princess, I'm sorry. Children always think they know best, but that is why we have parents. Believe me; mommy knows best." Channary smiled at Cinder in a sickly sweet way that made Cinder want to punch a wall.

A crackle of leaves sounded behind Cinder, and she felt her heart drop. Channary turned and spotted Cress' small form, her wicked grin growing wider.

Another snap of fingers, and Cress was collapsed on the ground, completely helpless. Cinder could feel her mounting horror at the vision before her. She could feel another panic attack welling inside her mind and chest. It was all of her worst memories and nightmares coming to play like a horror movie.

"Which shall I save you from first, my dearest Selene?" Channary hummed gleefully. "Which shall I rescue you from first, besides the most dangerous one. Luckily I already struck the little fiend who dared to hurt you."

Boiling rage bubbled violently inside of Cinder, canceling out the panic. She couldn't believe that anyone could ever call Kai a fiend. He was all of the goodness in the world. He had saved her from a fate of flames, and yet her mother wanted to bestow that same destiny upon him only for loving Cinder.

"Who shall it be, my princess?" Channary chuckled. "Who shall it be? Who shall it be?" Channary was spinning in circles like a little girl playing Ring Around the Rosie. "Who shall it be? Who shall it be? WHO SHALL IT BE?" Channary screamed, flinging her sharp body to and fro.

"Me," Cinder snapped.

Channary stopped her childish spinning. She stared at her beloved daughter that could have been her identical twin. They had the same brown hair, thinned by hardships and fire. They were both thin and bony from lack of love and care. They both had the same scarred bodies that had been caressed thoroughly by fire’s mistress.

"What did you say?" Channary asked.

"It shall be me." Cinder said, taking off her coat and unravelling the cotton bandages covering her scarred hand. They had healed well and fast, but she would always have the shiny pink flesh of scar tissue.

A shriek of agony came from Channary as she fell to the ground at Cinder's feet. She tried to clutch at Cinder's mangled hands, but her fingers went straight through Cinder. She sobbed with a saddened passion that was hard to watch.

"It shall be me," Cinder repeated, "because I've caused myself more pain than anyone here. I've only been hurt because I love you." Cinder paused only a moment before yelling, "Cress, now!"

Flames lit the ground in an instant, spilling light and warmth across the dark landscape. Channary leapt to her feet in outrage, but it was too late; Cinder had already thrown the bracelet onto the smoldering fire.

"No!" Channary screamed as her body began to melt. "No! My princess, my love, why are you doing this to me?" Channary sobbed in anguish, her skin smoking and peeling away from the bones. "I'm your mother!" Channary yelled. "Why must you hurt me, Selene? What did I do wrong?" Channary's body was nearly gone, but her voice still fought to be heard until there was nothing left of Channary Blackburn.

Cinder stared at the boiling tar-like mush that had once been her mother's ghost. "Everything," Cinder whispered. "You did everything wrong." Cinder's eyes stung. "But I still loved you."

A sob burst from Cinder, and she fell to the ground. Sorrow and grief for her mother spilled forth in the form of hysteria. She felt nothing and everything all at once. She felt gratitude and regret. She felt freedom and confinement.

"Mom..." Cinder cried. "Mom... mommy... I'm... I'm so sorry... mommy..." Cinder's hands reached for the place where her mother had been, but she was gone. "Oh, mom," Cinder whimpered.

"Cinder," Cress snapped, sounding surprisingly sharp during Cinder's moment of weakness. "We have to go, Cinder."

"My mom..." Cinder cried, knowing she sounded like a child but not caring. She had lost the final pieces of her mother, and it hurt more than she ever could have imagined.

Cress wrenched at Cinder's arm, trying and failing to pull her from the ground. "Cinder, we have to go now."

"Cress," Cinder whispered. "Why?"

It took Cress a moment to answer, and that's when Cinder remembered what had happened. The fire. The boy. The three words. A sacrifice that should never have been made. Cinder's grief took only an instant to transform into panic.

"Kai?" Cinder asked.

Silence.

#when earth turns to ashes #wetta #a burning world #prince kai #emperor kai #linh cinder #marissa meyer #tlc #the lunar chronicles #lunar chronicles #carswell thorne #cress darnel #iko #channary blackburn #kaider fanfiction #kaider #tlc fanfiction #salt warrior stories

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justmyimagination92 · 5 years ago

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Why Kylo Ren/Ben Solo and Theon Greyjoy are similar, beautifully grey and real characters that represent overcoming abuse and manipulation and it makes no sense to love one but hate the other, a thread:

*Disclaimer* I have only watched the GoT series & SW movies, I have not read the books or comics for either series but I have done research into both so anything I’m pulling that’s not from the movies or show has been taken from research/information I have gathered from others who have used these sources for their own opinions/arguments/statements as well as from a GoT class I took my senior year of college

Life of Mental/Physical Abuse:

They both had mentally abusive upbringings which is obvious to say has a huge effect on your development and how you perceive the world around you. Theon was the youngest of 4, known to cling more to his mother and not care as much about the ironborn mentality of piracy and raiding as his older brothers did. He was constantly tormented and bullied by them for it as well as feeling neglected by his father for “showing weakness” which made him feel like he didn’t belong and wasn’t accepted in his home. He was then sent off to be Ned Stark’s ward (prisoner) and would be executed if Balon tried to rebel against the throne again. This knowledge is constantly hanging over his head and threatening him even though he makes the best of the situation, especially by finding a brother in Robb. The North and most of the Stark family don’t accept him despite his best efforts in trying to do his best while also missing the Iron Islands and not being able to fulfill his right as the heir to the salt throne

Ben has been mentally abused since he was in his mother’s womb. Palpatine has been in his head since he was conceived, trying to seduce him to the dark because he knew the power Ben would possess from his family. Now were his parents abusive towards him like Balon, Maron, and Rodrik were to Theon? No. But they were afraid of who he could become which definitely drove him towards becoming what they were afraid of to begin with. He felt isolated and alone. Aside from questioning why his parents were afraid of him with no explanation (making him feel like he was some sort of monster), Han was gone the majority of his upbringing and Leia was building the New Republic. He was often left with droids to watch him, further developing his isolation. There’s also apparently an instance where a droid fantasized about killing him and how they’d be able to cover it up? Eventually, L&H sent him off to be trained by Luke due to their growing fear of him becoming like Vader, but he didn’t know because they never told him Vader was his grandfather. He ended up finding out later on when it was announced at a senate meeting that was broadcasted on the holonet. (Keep in mind he’s consistently being mentally tormented and tempted by the dark but fighting it off)

Loss of Identity:

I think you can argue that Theon and Ben have struggled with their identity their entire lives. Before Theon was taken to Winterfell he already felt like he didn’t belong. Then he does his duty as Ned’s ward, placing him in the midst of the rest of the Starks and trying to figure out his place without stepping out of line but also wanting to fit in as best as he can. After Ned dies and he’s at war with Robb he is able to return home to persuade Balon in lending his fleet to help Robb. Balon refuses and now Theon is stuck in deciding if he should help Robb or win over his father and take back his place as a Greyjoy. He leads an attack at Winterfell, betraying his loyalty to Robb, killing two farm boys that all of Westeros believes is Brand and Rickon, which leads to him getting overthrown by the Boltons taking Winterfell back, putting him in the hands of Ramsay who tortures him mentally, physically, and spiritually to the point where he takes on the persona of Reek and truly believes that’s who he is, who he was meant to be and who he deserves to be

Ben has also had this lifelong struggle. He’s tried to follow what his parents have taught him while fighting everything going on in his head. He looked up to his dad and wanted to be a pilot like him despite Han being gone a majority of the time. Not to mention just the pressure he faced with being Han & Leia’s son as well as Luke Skywalker’s nephew. But he could sense and sometimes hear his parents discuss their fear of who he is/who he will be. He was under the impression that they thought he was or could become some sort of monster and gave him no explanation on why they would think that and then was sent off to train with Luke (when there’s no real indication that he wanted that, he just voiced how he wanted to be a pilot) Luke could sense the same darkness in him as H&L but instead of helping him and having a conversation about it he decided to sneak into Ben’s tent one night and kill him before his fears came true. Ben awoke to his own uncle standing over him with an ignited lightsaber about to strike him down. Yes, Luke regretted it the minute he ignited it but it was too late, Ben was awake and betrayed. What he didn’t do (but the galaxy thought he did) was destroy the Jedi temple and the rest of the padawans, a higher power (most likely Palpatine) did and Ben was upset about it and he didn’t want them all to die. He felt like he had nowhere else to go and succumbed to the voice that had been tormenting him for 23 years (but in a way was the only consistent thing in his life) and went to Snoke. He felt unwanted, untrusted, and doomed to become this awful being everyone around him thought he would. He took on the persona Kylo Ren and allowed Snoke to continue to torture him mentally and now physically and spiritually to ultimately turn him into Snoke's chess piece to take over the galaxy

Path of bad decisions driven by the need to please their abuser who gives false hope of a home:

Parts of this are redundant but they both have made some terrible decisions that were heavily influenced by the manipulation of their abusers and a need for a sense of acceptance and belonging. Theon wanted to please Balon and later Ramsay, Kylo wanted to please Snoke and his grandfather (who we later find out was all Palpatine). The majority of deaths that Kylo is blamed for were under Snoke’s orders and Kylo was either unaware they were happening or tried to prevent them and resort to other solutions to get whatever it is they wanted. He killed his father because he was convinced it would make him stronger and reach his potential on “who he’s destined to be” when really it tore him apart and destroyed him,

similarly to how Theon felt after he killed those farm boys and saw what his actions had created for Winterfell and Westeros

Acceptance of “who they truly are” through self-hatred and regret:

Through this they come to terms with their actions and the destruction that has followed from those actions. They believe they deserve the pain and suffering they’ve had their whole lives. Theon is constantly saying how Theon is dead, he’s Reek and he deserves to be. Ben states how Ben is dead, he’s only Kylo now and that he deserves to be seen as a monster.

Needing help to be pulled back to their true selves:

Their inner conflict is clear through both of their journeys and it’s clear that others can see that. They need help to be pulled in the right direction and reminded that they’re not the person they think they are. Yara comes for Theon when everyone else has given up on him. He’s her brother and regardless of what he’s done she still cares for him and believes in him. However, even the love of his sister can’t persuade him or break the abusive turmoil he’s been suffering and he stays with Ramsay as Reek.

Then Sansa comes, someone he has grown up with and cares for. She learns the truth that he didn’t kill Bran and Rickon. She knows who Theon really is and she brings him back, she needs him back and gives him the strength to do it.

Similarly, we see Han trying to bring Ben back in TFA, and like with Yara and Theon, it doesn’t work. He believes Ben is dead, that his family gave up on him and he did too so he can only be Kylo now. And as we see later on, the act of killing Han only made it worse and caused a deeper pain and regret to Ben as well as the conflict on where he lies in the force. In TLJ we see this and how Kylo seems to be chipping away from coming to terms with everything he’s done.

(I would also like to point out that in TLJ Ben couldn’t kill his mother and it’s stated that had he noticed quick enough he would’ve stopped the blasters from hitting the bridge) He gets a connection with Rey, who at first wants nothing to do with him and sees him as the monster he thinks he is. But similarly to Sansa, she finds out the story Luke told her about him destroying the Jedi Temple was a lie and from then on they’re able to console in one another and understand the pain and isolation they’ve both felt their whole lives.

When Luke refuses to go back and help Rey and the resistance she takes it upon herself to go and fight to bring Ben back to the light because she can see that he’s still there.

Taking a stand against their abusers, specifically to help save someone they love:

They both go against their abusers and take a huge leap towards taking back their true selves. Theon wants to help Sansa and she gives him a few chances too, for example with the candle but he ends up telling Ramsay. However when Ramsay is gone Sansa is crossed by Miranda and even though he’s still filled with fear and conflict, he throws Miranda off the ledge to save Sansa and finally defies his tormentor and everything that he’s done.

Kylo retrieves Rey when she lands on the capital ship and takes her to see Snoke. In the elevator they both state how they’ve had a vision of seeing them by each other’s sides. Kylo takes it as Rey joining him in the dark but Rey sees it as him reclaiming who he was supposed to be and even refers to him as Ben which he responds to.

(for the majority of knowing him she called him Kylo, monster, etc but since they touched hands and she saw the conflict she now sees him as a real person and more importantly Ben) Snoke wants Kylo to kill her in order to reach is full potential since killing Han only made him question the path he was going down even more. However, he tricks Snoke and instead kills him instead of Rey, destroying his abuser and saving Rey who is the only one he’s ever been able to connect to.

Reclaiming their identity:

Even though they have someone in their corner, believing in them and helping them to come back to who they are, it takes time. Theon stays with Sansa until they cross paths with Brienne and Podrick and knows she’ll be safe with them. He then heads back to the Iron Islands to join Yara and help her however he can. He still feels as though he’s Reek and doesn’t deserve any redemption or to be trusted/loved.

Overtime those who still believe in him and given time to heal he reclaims himself as Theon Greyjoy, not even the one from before, but a better and stronger man because it’s who he chooses and wants to be. He saves Yara from Euron and goes back to Winterfell to help fight against the dead. He protects Bran at the Weirwood tree bringing it back and trying to rewrite his wrong when he took Winterfell from Bran and caused him to abandon his home. Even though Arya is the one to ultimately save Bran by killing the Night King, she wouldn’t have been able to without Theon and his sacrifice.

Now Kylo’s is a little different and his journey back to Ben takes a few more steps. Killing Snoke was supposed to be him reclaiming himself and finally getting rid of the demons that have been haunting him his entire life. But now we’re aware that Palpatine created Snoke and was the one who has been in his head the whole time so really those voices are still there, abusing and tormenting him to do what they want. Except now he has something more to fight for. He knows Rey believes in him and they have a bond, a force dyad, that hasn’t been seen for centuries. We don’t get to see much of how Supreme Leader Kylo Ren deals with First Order affairs but I would assume it would be different from how Snoke handled it considering (as stated earlier) Kylo tried to get what they needed in the easiest way, preventing as much unnecessary harm or death. (I also would like to point out that at the beginning of TROS we see Kylo in Mustafar and all of the people he’s killing are Vader cultists so they were bad beings) He then travels to Palpatine who reveals it’s been him all along in his head and Kylo threatens to kill him, but then palp shows his army he’s been creating, how it could be Kylo’s, and reveals who Rey truly is. Palp wants him to kill her and he tricks him into thinking he will when really he chases her around to tell her this information as well as see if it’s true and to prevent her from getting killed. They fight a lot but it’s always Rey initiating it and Ben defending himself when he needs to. He gets distracted during one of their fights because Leia is reaching out to him and in the process, Rey stabs him with his own lightsaber (death of Kylo Ren) but ends up healing him and tells him that she did want him, the real him

He then has a vision of Han and basically reenacts what happened in TFA but has it play out how he wished it did the first time. He is now truly Ben Solo and goes to Exogal to help Rey and defeat Palpatine. After Rey kills Palpatine she dies and Ben comes back (he was thrown down deep pit) and transfers his life force to her to save her. Like the situation with Theon, if Ben wasn’t there Rey wouldn’t have been able to defeat Palpatine and save the galaxy.

Only got to live in peace with themselves for like 2 minutes:

They both get complex, intriguing, and beautiful arcs of redemption that represent realistic struggles of life and grey morality that people face throughout their lives. But they both end with a terrible message that the only way to fully redeem yourself from past mistakes, bad decisions (even if it was influenced by a life of mental/physical abuse) is to sacrifice yourself.

Theon sacrificed himself to save Bran and the fate of Westeros and was only able to be at peace with himself for about the last 20 seconds of his life because Bran forgave him, told him he was a good man and confirmed the type of person Theon really is and always wanted to be.

he deserved to feel this way for a MUCH longer time and continue to heal and grow and live a life that gave him much more peace and happiness (preferably with Sansa 😏) but instead he only gets to feel good about himself for the first time in his life and have it only last for a moment.

Once Rey defeated Palpatine it’s safe to say that the voices stopped in Ben’s head. There’s no more tormenting, persuading, or taunting. He climbs out of the pit to find Rey dead (his literal other half) and channels the rest of his energy to bring her back and it works. Similar to Bran, Rey confirms her joy and acceptance of Ben being back

and he would’ve been fully content with that, but Rey kisses him and he smiles for the first fucking time we’ve ever seen. His mind is at peace, Rey is alive in his arms and for the first time he is truly happy. And then he DIES.

Who knows what would’ve happened to him and how the resistance would’ve reacted, but he deserved the opportunity to atone for the mistakes he made, live life with a clear mind, as well as continue to be the other half of Rey that brought balance to the force and galaxy.

Bonus:

They both deserve to be with the only person that fully understands them and their pain and can grow, heal, and live in peace together.

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steveng-rogers · 5 years ago

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Hostie and Wine PRIEST AU(happygowriting kinktober day 1=Food Kink )

Pairings: Stucky(StevexBucky), Dandy(DaytonxAndy), slight Ducky(DaytonxBucky) Dark-ish!Steve and Andy. College boys Bucky and Dayton.

Rating: M+ (to be clear that is Mature, meaning if you’re under the age of 18 DO NOT READ or INTERACT)

Word Count: 4,143

Warnings: Explicit, 18+ ONLY. M/M. Heavy blasphemy kink. Food kink. Restraints, gagging(not too heavy). Dirty talk, mild degrading. Alcohol. Demonic chants(not too weird, translation will be at the end of the fic) the real warning is the bad Latin. Blowjobs, hand jobs, anal sex, male giving and receiving. Praise kink. (If there are any thats not listed and you think I should list, let me know)

Summary: Harmless fun for Bucky and Dayton turns into a fantasy filled night with the help of father Steve and Father Andy.

A/N: I used CPDV(Catholic Public Domain Version) translation of the Bible because it’s easier to understand. I don’t know any Latin, so what you find here is google translated. Don’t repost this anywhere unless you have asked me for permission. I worked very hard on this :) thankyou for curtisbb for proof reading this and happygowriting for providing this awesome prompts.

Morning Sunday mass, early, boring, and so hard to pay attention to. It’s

their day off and if it were any other colleges, they would be in bed and do

whatever they desired. But being in a Catholic private college means they live

under a strict rule of Catholicism and their many masses and some might say

“rituals”.

Dayton White and Bucky Barnes are now sitting on the third row from the

altar. Not stiff enough to sit on the very first row and not rebellious enough to

sit in the back row like those hooligans. Plus they have enough heads to keep

them from getting in trouble from talking to each other and from here they

have enough distance between those heads to steal glances at their new

priests. That is exactly their topic of whispers for almost three weeks now.

They look at each other, giving each other the “eyes” when the Bishop is

trying to use slang or use any remarks to be funny.

“In our reading today we learned that Jesus was brought out by the spirit to

be tempted by Satan. Now as you all know Jesus was or rather still is the OP

(Over Powered) man and God. He refused to be tempted you see..”

Dayton rolled his eyes, really OP? “What is this? A video game convention?”

Bucky laughs quietly at Dayton’s comment, making sure to bow his head so it’ll

look like he’s coughing or something. Dayton smirks and pat Bucky’s back to

make it more convincing to others that are watching. The angels and the

heavens are not the only ones who've been watching the two, there are two

pairs of glistening blues who already set their eyes on them. They know their

ticks and their subtle coded movements.

Dayton felt the burns of their stare and because he is Dayton White he

dares to look at the two priests. Father Andrew Barber holds up a finger to his

lips, ever so subtle and quick to tell him to “hush” and Father Steve Rogers on

the other side of him, just raised his eyebrows at the younger men. Dayton

nudges Bucky’s elbow and points with his chin to them. He looks up, a little too

quickly and finds Father Steve already looking at him. They look away and

back to the Bishop. Both of the young men feel the cold shiver running down

their spines, making them clutch the matte black blazer of their school’s

uniform tighter around their body. Something is amidst. Something dark.

“And just like Jesus said in Matthew 4 verse 7, you can say to Satan that

they cannot tempt you for you are a child of God and your faith will save you.”

When the time of the communion came, their favorite part. They wait for

their turn and go in line to receive their hostie and wine. The body and the

blood of Jesus.

Father Andrew holds out the white, round hostie and Dayton submissively

opens his mouth to receive it. And father Andrew places the hostie in Dayton’s

mouth and gives a light pressure on his thumb as it reaches the top of

Dayton’s tongue. Bucky on the other hand is on his way to receive the wine

from none other than Father Steve. Father Steve extends the gold chalice to

Bucky and Bucky couldn’t help but to lick his lips. The wine is not the one he

had in mind to satiate his thirst and father Steve saw that in his eyes. So he

tips the chalice to Bucky’s mouth, his index finger brushes lightly against

Bucky’s lips as it was so strategically placed on the outline of the chalice by

father Steve.

No one noticed when these exchanges happened, for they are subtle and

very easy to miss. But for the four of them, it leaves them breathless and

wanting more, so much more.

Long after the mass was done and dinner was served, Bucky and Dayton

decided to lounge around their common room. Dayton is sitting on the sofa,

close to the window, catching up on some assigned reading and Bucky is

sitting close to the fireplace finishing up his essay. After hours, both boys grew

bored. Their minds start to idle and they can’t seem to concentrate on their

task. And the saying goes, “An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.” Usually

Dayton is the one who would come up with things to do, but today Bucky came

up with something. Rather devilish.

“Dayton.” Bucky closes his laptop and sits towards his bestfriend, a playful

grin on his face.

“What is it?” Dayton looks up from his book and raises his eyebrows at him,

clearly interested.

“You know when the priests and church staff go to sleep right?”

“Yeah, around 9 oclock. Why?”

“What do you say we steal some hostie and raid the wine cellar?” Bucky

suggested and Dayton just shakes his head, impressed at how reckless Bucky

is being right now.

“No and you know why.”

Bucky stood and went over to Dayton. “They’re not yet blessed, so we'd only

be guilty of stealing. Plus the confession room opens tomorrow and you know

who is going to be there.” Dayton thought about being alone in the room with

father Andrew and he’s sold.

“Okay fine, you got me. If we get caught, you’re taking the blame.”

“Alright so you’re calling cauliflower?” Bucky said their code word and

Dayton gave him a nod. The plan is locked and loaded.

Around nine oclock, the two best friends waited until the light on their hal

l was dimmed. Then Bucky leads them to a room where the unblessed hostie

are made. Dayton waited outside while Bucky went in to snatch some bags of

hostie, sure they tasted like nothing but when you’re tempted the devil will help

you indulge.

Then out of the corner of his eyes, Dayton saw two figures walking towards

where he is at. It was so dark and Dayton can only see dark shadows and by

God, if these are ghosts he’s gonna make a run for it. Then as they walk

closer, Dayton can make up the outline of a face and oh. Oh. He knows that

beard, those broad shoulders, and the cross necklaces. It’s the twin priests.

They were too busy arguing quietly until father Andrew saw him and father

Steve followed his gaze.

“Mister White? What are you doing out so late?” Father Andrew raises his

eyebrows in question and Dayton can feel his palms getting clammy.

“And where is mister Barnes? You two are usually together, are you not?”

Father Steve asked as he looked around for Bucky. Dayton smiles nervously

and reminds himself to be calm.

“Oh well, Barnes and I are looking for uh..” He trails off as he hears Bucky’s

footsteps getting closer to the door. “Cauliflower!” Dayton exclaimed, loud

enough for Bucky to hear and the footsteps stopped abruptly.

“Cauliflower?” Father Steve and Father Andrew look at each other and back

at Dayton.

“For what?” Dayton cursed in his heart, damn it. “For a project that we’re

working on.”

“Well, I better not find you in the confession booth tomorrow confessing

about this lie. Or they will be severe punishments.” Father Andrew

emphasized on the word punishment and that sends chills throughout Dayton’s

body.

“Yes, father.” With that the two priests left him there and once they’re out of

sight, Dayton exhales and knocks on the door for Bucky to come out. “Oh my

god, you look like you’ve seen a ghost.” Bucky laughs with the bag of hostie in

his hands. “Shut up, we almost got caught.” Bucky grins and throws one of the

bags at Dayton. “But we didn't, so come on. One more stop.”

Dayton went inside the wine cellar this time and Bucky was outside, to look

out for them. Once they got the goods, they head back to their dorm room

completely unaware that they’ve been followed.

The clock strikes midnight and the two boys are enjoying their wine and

hostie in their dorm room. They’ve spiked the wine with vodka, a gift from their

Russian friend Pietro. They’re a giggling mess, the slight buzz was a nice

feeling, and the tasteless hostie somehow is sweeter in their mouths.

At exactly 12:12 am, the door opened and the boys were met with large

figures standing on the door. “You didn’t lock the fucking door Barnes.” Dayton

glares at Bucky, who is now looking up at father Steve. “I’m sorry..”

“What do we have here?” Father Steve crouches down and grabs the

opened bag of hostie from Bucky’s hand.

“This doesn’t look like a cauliflower, does it?” Father Andrew asked as he

inhaled the tip of the wine bottle.

Bucky and Dayton weren't sure on what to do other than to look up to the

two men. “But you knew that Dayton and Bucky?” Father Andrew looked into

their eyes. Both boys look down, shame burns the words out of their mouths.

“Come on, you two are smart right? Use your words.” Father Steve edge on.

But they can’t even whisper a word out. “Get up both of you.” Dayton can feel

his legs wobbles as he slowly stood. Bucky was not much better because he’s

still on the ground.

“Bucky.” Father Steve warns and Bucky immediately stands. “We can expel

the both of you for this. Do you want that?” Father Steve said, tilting Bucky’s

chin up to look at him. Both boys shake their heads. “Didn’t I say use your

words?” He warned them, annoyance laced his tone. “N-no father.” Bucky

managed to stammer out.

“Please we’ll do anything to not get expelled.” Dayton finally spoke. “Hm

anything?” Father Andrew hums as he locks the door behind him. “Yes, father

Andrew anything.” He stalks over and stands in front of Dayton. “Call me

Andy.” Dayton swallows the lump on his throat and nods. The older men

exchange a knowing look to each other and when they turn their heads to the

boys, the pupils in their eyes grow dark. The younger boys gasp, prickles of

arousal dance down their bodies as the men extend their hands out to them.

Steve snakes his arm around Bucky’s waist and Bucky voluntarily steps

closer to him, pressing their bodies together. Andy runs his index finger down

Dayton’s jawline slowly, eyes following Dayton’s lips.

“Kiss me.” They whisper to the boys with their lips so temptingly close to

them.

Bucky and Dayton close their eyes and kiss them. Dayton almost whimpers

when Andy returns his kiss, so demanding his kiss was. He kissed Dayton so

deeply, almost as if he wanted a taste of the wine he’d been drinking.

Bucky inhales deeply when Steve kisses him back, so soft as if he is to savor

Bucky’s lips with his. He wraps his arms around Steve’s shoulder, one hand

running through his golden locks and he tugs as Steve bites down on his lips.

That earned Steve a hopeless moan from Bucky.

Andy backs Dayton to his bed. His lips find its ways to Dayton’s neck as he

pushes him down to his bed. “Been wanting to taste you. Ever since you lick

my finger on our first communion. You know exactly what you’re doing to me.”

Andy whispers with his thumb brushing against Dayton’s lower lips and he bites

down on his thumb teasingly. “ ‘course I do father, had to lay my claim on you.”

Andy chuckles, dark and deep as he tugs Dayton’s white button down off.

Steve has Bucky’s legs wrapped around his waist as they kiss hungrily.

When Bucky lays down on the bed and looks up, Steve’s black button down

was already half opened thanks to Bucky’s wandering hands. Steve ripped his

shirt open and maybe it’s the alcohol, but Bucky lost it as he looked up, seeing

Steve’s bare chest and the little sun tattoo just underneath his left collar bone.

He groans and moans out, “Daddy.” Steve smirks down at him. “Oh? You’re

daddy’s boy huh?” Bucky’s face flushed red, pupils blown darker than the new

moon. “Hm.” And he nods. Steve huffs, hand palming Bucky’s crotch “Use your

words Bucky.” He gasps out, “Yes! I’m daddy’s boy.”

Andy pulls down Dayton’s pants along with his red briefs, then he starts to

stroke his length drawing sweet little noises from him. “You’re already

throbbing baby. What happens if I put my mouth on you hm? Are you gonna

cum right away like a horny teenager?” Dayton groans in protest. Sure he had

been deprived of this kind of fun, but that doesn’t mean he and Bucky hadn’t

fooled around or that he was an inexperienced virgin. “Why don’t you find out

mister Barber? Put your mouth around me and I’ll prove to you how

‘inexperience’ I am?” Dayton smirks, he can see a flash of anger on Andy’s

dark eyes. “You think you’re in charge here? Oh I don’t think so. I am and

you’ll do as I say.” Andy pulls his belt off his waist and runs the metallic tip on

Dayton’s bare chest, making him tremble. “I told you there is going to be a

severe punishment if I caught you and here we are.”

Bucky was bare as the day he was born, a quivering, and a flushed little

thing Steve thought. “Play with yourself sweetheart, imagine it was me just like

you’ve been confessing in the booth.” Bucky bites down on his bottom lips,

trying to contain his moans as he slides his hand up and down his own cock.

Steve grabs the bottle of wine and takes a huge swig out of it, palming himself

as he watches Bucky play with himself. “Don’t bother being quiet, come on let

daddy hear how good you sound .” Bucky’s toes curl as he moans out Steve’s

name. “O-ohhh S..S-Steve, daddy please touch me, touch me.” Steve takes

another swig of the wine, then he leans down to kiss Bucky, filling his mouth

with the red liquid. “Good boy, keep going. Keep touching that pretty thing.

Make daddy proud.” Bucky is a sucker for praises and Steve amplified that,

with his husky and soft voice and Steve, he goddamn knows it.

Dayton’s hand is now all tied up to the upper railing on his bed, his fingers

bare down on his palm, making his knuckles white as Andy toys around with

his nipples. “Don’t you make a fucking sound. Or I’ll edge you and make you

watch your best friend get fucked like you wanted while you’re here,

pathetically begging for me to make you cum.” Andy sits up and takes his

black button down off him, showing off the little moon tattoo under his left collar

bone and that makes Dayton’s mouth water at the thought of having his mouth

all over that tattoo. “Maybe I like to be edge Andy, won’t be the first time I

watched my best friend get his way.” Now that was a mistake and Dayton was

too late to pull back. Andy fished out his white, clergy collar, and enfold it

around Dayton’s jaw, muffling his mouth. The priest breaks down the hostie

into smaller pieces, placing it down Dayton’s chest to his happy trail where the

skin glistens with Dayton’s precum. “I want you to remember that verse from

Luke 22nd, about the last supper. Recite it, the last of verse 19.” Andy pulls

down the collar just a little so Dayton could talk. The younger man breathes

heavily as he tries to remember it. “This is my body, which is given for y-you.

Do this as a commemoration of me ohh...” Andy growls as he licks and eats

the white pieces of hostie along Dayton’s body. “Good, good boy.” He coos

softly, putting the collar back on to Dayton’s mouth.

Bucky almost came under Steve’s watch and of course, Steve being the

sadist that he is pulls his hand away. Bucky whined, closing his legs to hide his

painfully hard on from Steve. “No sweetheart, keep it wide open. I want you to

recite the memory verse I have given you. Come on I’ll help you, Luke 22nd,

the last of verse 20.” Bucky’s wine stained lips quiver as he struggles to

ground himself, Steve is all but smiles and proud because he knows Bucky

could do it. “This.. uhm chalice is the new covenant in my blood, which will be

shed f..f-for you.” Steve opens up Bucky’s jaw and pour the remaining of the

wine into his mouth. “Drink sweet boy and don’t waste a single drop.” Steve

commands him and Bucky gulps it down like he was told to. Before Bucky

could finish, Steve wraps his hand around Bucky’s neck and squeezes it,

enough to make him gasp and then he kissed him like a starved man. His

other hand, strokes Bucky’s cock making the younger man moan into their

kiss. “Bucky, sweetheart. Cum on my hand. You deserve it, for being so fucking

good to me.” He whispers as he licks the droplets of the red liquor along

Bucky’s lips and like the command of God, Bucky moans out and came all over

the priest’s hand. “Ah! Steve-oh god, da-daddy..ah.” Bucky’s whole body

trembles as Steve strokes his cock some more.

Andy and Steve are prepared to have this moment with them, have been

planning it for months, and it’s finally here. They came willingly, well one of

them certainly did. They glances at each other as they grab the small pack of

lube that they’ve brought with them. Once they’ve stripped themselves naked

and on their knees above their chosen ones, the twins starts to chant

something like prayers under their ragged breaths.

“Satanas Domino, per gratiam tuam

Concede mihi precor te

Ut ad virtutis in

Mente consipere ac reddere

Quam ad facere cupio.”

Steve teases the rim of Bucky’s hole and he shudders, still sensitive from

coming too hard. Steve hush him quietly as he slides his lube coated fingers

into him. Stretching him open and getting him ready for him. “Barely put up a

fight with me. Was I always the subject in your wet dreams Bucky? Those

things you’ve confessed to me in that dark booth, all me huh?” Bucky thought

he was being subtle, but the shame of getting caught shot arousal to his dick

and he tightened around Steve’s digits. “Answer me.” Steve demands and

Bucky whimpers out, “Yes, yes. ‘S all you Steve.”

Dayton is painfully hard, he wanted to protest, but his mouth is stuffed and

not in the way that he likes. Andy chuckles darkly at his attempts and without

warning he drips the cold liquid of the lube on Dayton’s red rim and that earns

him a choked out moan from Dayton. “You’ve finally found your match?

Somehow you know only I can make you like this, you came with me with your

inappropriate comments thinking that I might blush and came again wishing

that I do them to you.” Andy slides his digits in and made a scissoring motion

inside him, Dayton bites down on the collar trying his hardest to be quiet. Andy

adds to the torture as he licks and sucks on the top of Dayton’s cock.

“Mmmph-Andy!..”

They toy and play around with the two for what feels like hours. They want

them savored and teased like Satan did to Eve in the garden of Eden.

Steve strokes himself and with Bucky all ready for him, he slid inside him

slowly. Bucky immediately tightened around him, feeling every veins on Steve’s

cock. “F-fuck Steve.” He moans desperately, cock already twitching and

wanting to cum again. “By God Bucky, don’t you cum before I tell you to.” Steve

sets a slow pace until he’s all sheathed inside him. “Fuck. Oh yes, all hot and

tight for me. All for me huh Bucky? Goin to fuck the sweet sin into you.” Bucky

wraps his legs around Steve, hands on his back with his fingers clawing at the

older man’s back. Steve’s words, his cock, and the way his hand squeezes his

legs made Bucky desperate to let go, but he can’t it all feels so good and all he

wanted is for Steve to have him like this for the rest of his days. “Daddy oh

god, ngh- please fuck me, harder Oh!” Steve grabs the headboard and starts

to fuck him slow and hard, making Bucky feel every inch of him.

Andy has Dayton’s legs on his shoulders as he keeps teasing him, sweeping

the tip of his cock and slowly putting it inside Dayton but not quite fucking him.

Dayton let out a frustrated, pushing his hips down to seek more of Andy.

“Darling you’ve got to earn it, you know that don’t you?” Tears slipped down

Dayton’s flush cheeks, he’s so unbelievably hard and he hasn’t cum in the last

hour. He’s aching and desperate for Andy to just fuck the daylight out of him.

Andy took the collar off Dayton’s mouth, wanting to listen to Dayton’s pleas

more clearly. “Andy please, you’ve tortured me enough, ah-I can’t please.”

Andy smiles devilishly, kissing Dayton’s wet cheeks. “Can’t what hm? Take it

anymore?” Dayton nods, his walls finally crumbling down under Andy’s touch.

“I love hearing you beg. That honeyed voice of yours darling.” Andy gave

Dayton what he'd been pleading for and Dayton swore he saw the halo on top

of Andy’s head as he felt the delicious stretch on his hole. Dayton’s hole

swallows Andy’s dick almost all the way in and Dayton is already a whimpering

mess under the priest. Andy pushed in some more till he bottoms out, making

Dayton cry out in pleasure, “Jesus-ah! Andy, A-ah Andy.” The said man starts

one unrelenting pace as he pressed Dayton’s legs up to his chest to fuck him

deeper. “Sweet heavens, you felt better than I’d imagine. Look the way you

take my cock. Like a good fucking whore.”

Steve fucked Bucky until he’s on his third orgasm, Bucky is all but a writhing,

sweet thing under him and Steve hasn’t even come once, but he’s so

goddamn close. Steve’s hand closed around the metal railing of the headboard

as he moves his hips hard against him. “Steve, Steve oh daddy. Fuck, fuck. ‘S

too much.” Bucky whined, high pitched and breathy and that edged Steve on

even more. “Almost sweetheart, daddy’s gonna cum in you yeah? Fill up that

sweet ass of yours and make you cum again.” Bucky clenches around Steve,

making Steve bend the metal in his hand. He rams his hips harshly as he

finally spills his seed inside Bucky and Bucky moans lewdly as his own cock

twitch and he came for the fourth time. “Ouhh daddy. Steve hahh.” Steve holds

Bucky close as he rides his high, his hand loosened around the metal and he

moans deeply in Bucky’s ear.

Andy has Dayton on all fours, his reddened ass in the air and his face all

flushed against the pillow. Andy spanks Dayton’s ass as he rails him from

behind, making Dayton whined all high pitched into the pillow that he’s

clutching. “Fucking Christ Dayton, darling look at you. All nice and fucked out.

Want me to cum inside you hm? Fill you nice till all you can feel is me?” Andy

whispered in Dayton’s ear with his deep voice that made Dayton shiver. “Yes,

yes. Give it to me. Fill me up, fill me up -ah!” Andy rams that sweet spot of

Dayton’s as his hand snakes down to pump his cock. “Cum Dayton, you’ve

earned it. Be a sweet boy for me darling, make me fucking proud.” Dayton’s

mouth falls open, but not a whisper of word comes; instead his ass clenches

around Andy’s cock as his cock shoots out hot, white cum on the sheet

beneath him. “Yes, there you go sweet boy. You’re my sweet boy, keep coming

baby.” Andy gave a couple of hard thrusts till he came inside Dayton, his head

falling upward like Cain did when he worshipped God. Andy growled deep and

hoarse as he filled Dayton up, Dayton hums sweetly as Andy leans down and

kisses down his back.

The twin cleans their partners up with warm towels, making sure they’re

going to be comfortable come morning. The clock strikes 3 am and the two

priests quietly slip out of the dorm room. Their eyes gave out glints of red, a

devilish smirk painted across their lips as they walked side by side. “Who

would’ve thought?” Steve chuckles. “You know what he said, fruits taste better

when they’re forbidden.” Who would’ve thought that demons only prey on

beautiful women? They prey on beautiful men too.

Translation of the Latin piece: Lord Satan, by your grace, grant me, I pray thee the power to conceive in my mind and to execute that which I desire to do.

#StevexBucky #AndyxDayton #Steve Rogers x Bucky Barnes #andy barber x dayton white #stucky #dandy #Stucky AU #dandyau #ducky 🦆#daytonxBucky #Steve Rogers #Andy Barber #Bucky Barnes #dayton white #twinandyandsteve #happygowriting #letsgetkinky2020 #kinktober2020 #happygowritingprompts

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aion-rsa · 4 years ago

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Jupiter’s Legacy: Choreographing Superheroic Stunts

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This article is presented by:

Stunt teams are some of the hardest working people in the industry. They literally put their lives on the line just to entertain us and yet there’s so little acknowledgement of their contributions. There is no Oscar for stunt work, but there should be. Netflix’s adaptation of Jupiter’s Legacy has secured one of the industry’s hottest stunt choreographers, one who is no stranger to superhero action, Philip J. Silvera.

If you’ve read Jupiter’s Legacy already, you know Frank Quitely’s artwork leaps off the page, splattered with intense moments of sanguineous bloodshed. Quitely’s graphic style is a perfect fit for Silvera, who says he’s always been inspired by the visceral violence of films like Goodfellas and The Godfather Part II.

“My action in the past has always had a bit of a lead pipe brutality to it,” confesses Silvera with a grin. Who better to choreograph the huge superhero brawls of Jupiter’s Legacy?

School of Hard Knocks

Stunt work has always been Silvera’s destiny. “I always wanted to do stunts, since I was a kid.” Silvera’s father was a boxer who was just about to go pro, but his fortune took a bad turn after he broke his arm and leg. Nevertheless, Philip inherited his father’s fighting spirit. After starting his martial arts training in Karate, Silvera switched over to a Shaolin-based system of Chinese Kung Fu, which he studied for about 20 years.

Silvera got his first break in 1997. He was competing in a martial arts tournament in New York City when he was approached to do an off-Broadway show called Voice of the Dragon: Once Upon a Time in Chinese America. It was a groundbreaking show from maverick playwright and noted jazz composer Fred Ho. Silvera describes it as “a bit of an urban Peking opera, really a martial arts ballet.” The show demanded he play a character, do martial arts, fight, fall, and flip on stage in front of a live audience.

As Silvera got deeper into the stunt world, his training diversified to accommodate a wider variety of roles. He studied Kali stick fighting and even trained with Cecep Arif Rahman (The Raid 2, John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum). Beyond his film work, Rahman is a genuine master of the Indonesian martial art called Pencak Silat. As a stunt coordinator, Silvera must keep pushing his training forward so he can meet the demands of his next project. “I just constantly want to keep learning different things and evolving.”

Silvera began officially working as a stuntman in movies and TV in 2005. You must work your way up to that director’s chair, and in the stunt industry, that means you’ve got to pay your dues and take a lot of hard knocks. By 2010, he got his first action and fight choreographer credit with Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II. That was followed by several coordinator roles on more video games like DC Universe Online, Batman: Arkham City, and Star Wars: The Old Republic. After an uncredited role assisting with the fight choreography in Iron Man 3, he received his first credited movie fight choreographer role for Thor: The Dark World.

Changing the Game

However, it was his work on Netflix’s Daredevil that caught the attention of both action and superhero fans. Silvera served as the Fight and Stunt Coordinator for the first two seasons of the series, and for action connoisseurs, he built a choreographic trademark for the show: the one-take fight scene. In Daredevil’s second episode, Silvera orchestrated a showstopping one-take hallway slugfest and every fan of fight choreography took notice. That scene propelled action in streaming TV to the cinematic level of big screen fight choreography. “I think most people would be surprised to hear that we designed that one-shot sequence in Daredevil in a day and a half,” Silvera says.

Silvera followed up that hallway fight with a one-take stairwell scrap in season two (an episode directed by Marc Jobst, who also directed two episodes of Jupiter’s Legacy). Hallway and stairwell fights comprise two of the three most common settings for extended fight scenes (the third being warehouse fights – there’s an innumerable amount of these in actioners because it’s just easy and cheap to find warehouse locations). Hallways serve as a device to narrow the playing field when one person must take on several opponents. The width of the hallway restricts how many adversaries can come at the hero at a time. Silvera’s Daredevil hallway fight is held in the same esteem as the epic hallway fight in Chan-wook Park’s Oldboy and is considered by many to be the greatest TV fight scene to date.

Stairway fights showcase technical expertise. The footwork must be precise because one misstep can result in a devastating ankle twist for any stunt person. Additionally, falling down stairwells isn’t easy. It requires top notch stunt people to stage safely.

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For Silvera to deliver such high-level fight choreography for the small screen was groundbreaking. Until the rise of streaming, most TV shows were more reserved with their action because it is a longer haul. A feature-length movie might contain half a dozen fight scenes, at best. An action TV series might stage that many fights in just two or three episodes, with plenty more over the course of the season. This takes an incredible toll on the stunt team, which is why many martial arts-themed TV series gas out before the season finale. This is what made Silvera’s work on Daredevil so revolutionary at the time. Now, a half decade later, many TV shows have upped their action game, but they owe a great debt to Silvera and his team. “I really enjoyed bringing Daredevil to life. Charlie Cox was amazing. That was a pleasure working with Steve DeKnight on that show.”

Since then, Silvera has tackled several super powered action icons for the silver screen, like Deadpool, Terminator: Dark Fate, and the Jaegers in Pacific Rim: Uprising. Silvera has fond memories of sitting down with director Tim Miller while working on Deadpool and Terminator: Dark Fate and setting the parameters of superpowers in combat. “It’s always that they’re really good at this, but what’s their weakness?” The audience will accept superpowers if the film stays consistent within its constructs. For Silvera, it’s about finding a new challenge in every sequence. “What I try and do is always make it super relative to the characters and then make it so that the audience can feel something when they watch it.”

Super Fights

Spanning eight episodes in Season 1, Jupiter’s Legacy allows Silvera the space to stretch his choreographic legs. “I believe the action on our show pushes the story and the characters forward, as much as it does on any of the other shows I’ve worked on in the past,” Silvera says. “And I’m super excited to see what fans think of the storytelling, the nonverbal storytelling, that happens within our action sequences.”

Non-verbal storytelling lies at the very heart of every action choreographer. The fight scenes are the climax of the story and that unspoken dialogue of conflict must rise to that or else an actioner will fail. “Nonverbal communication,” stresses Silvera, “like The Empire Strikes Back, the scene that happens between Luke and Vader.” His passion for the Star Wars franchise led him to direct “Star Wars: Scene 38 ReImagined.” It was a reworking of the first lightsaber battle we ever saw – Obi-Wan Kenobi versus Darth Vader. Silvera spliced together footage from Star Wars: A New Hope with new fight footage. Doubling for Obi-Wan was Dan Brown (Black Panther, Spider-Man: Far from Home). Vader was Richard Cetrone, who was Ben Affleck’s stunt double in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. “Both are seasoned stuntmen in this business and have been around for a while,” adds Silvera.

“Scene 38 ReImagined” was a huge success with over 33.5 million views on YouTube. “That was a bit of a test for myself, as a second unit director and a first unit director,” says Silvera. “I wanted to see if I could add the emotional content into a sequence, that you know the character’s full story from beginning to end.”

From Comics Panels to Movie Frames

Choreographing superheroes has its own unique rules. A still comic panel is one thing. Setting that action into motion is another thing altogether. While comics are akin to storyboarding, when it comes to fights, a few panels describe that action. It then becomes Silvera’s job to unravel that into a fight with a dozen or more beats.

One of his favorite examples for Jupiter’s Legacy is the “Hilltop” sequence. In the original comic, it’s a ferocious battle told over only four panels. Silvera saw that raw brutality and constantly built on that mindset with his choreography.

“Those four panels really set the tone of our show and you’ll see that in the first episode.” He’s especially proud of this Hilltop sequence, as well as many other favorites. Two more sequences that he mentions with special pride he dubs “Tokyo Alley” and “The Vault,” but Silvera won’t elaborate on those cryptic titles just yet. “I don’t want to give away too much.” Fans who’ve already read the comic can probably guess what he’s talking about. “It starts off big and it stays that way up to the very end.”

And for those fans familiar with Frank Quitely’s spectacular art, Silvera adds “We do our best to match those panels and the emotion that he puts into them. He really set the bar for us. And I think we met it.”

Superhero Boot Camp

As with many casts, most of the Jupiter’s Legacy actors have minimal background in martial arts or stunts. However, Silvera prefers it that way. “You get to figure out their characters and their movement in a different way.” He’d have ideas for them and then see something natural come out of their body language, which he would cultivate into something new and exciting.

The cast was put through vigorous training where Silvera says they all worked extremely hard. “Literally a month of bootcamp with the lead actors training every day with our fight team and fight coordinator.” The cast would come in and work on basic movements and fight drills. “And then they would ride the wire for hours because there’s a lot of flying in the show.”

As Supervising Stunt Coordinator, Silvera is quick to credit his fight and stunt rigging team. Micah Karns is the fight coordinator and Jayson Dumenigo is the 2nd Unit Stunt Coordinator and Key Rigger, a critical role for a flying superhero show. The threesome has worked together since Daredevil and teamed up again for several successive projects including Deadpool, Terminator, Pacific Rim, and Love, Death & Robots.

cnx.cmd.push(function() { cnx({ playerId: "106e33c0-3911-473c-b599-b1426db57530", }).render("0270c398a82f44f49c23c16122516796"); });

“We have such a tight workflow at this point, from the years of us working together, that we know how to expedite things,” Silvera says. “We know how to keep up the pace. And we’re definitely doing seven days a week on this show.” The stunt team worked hand-in-hand with the cast for months to achieve the action that they wanted. “I’m super excited to see them and what they did come together on screen.”

The post Jupiter’s Legacy: Choreographing Superheroic Stunts appeared first on Den of Geek.

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featherquillpen · 5 years ago

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Dæmorphing Drabble: “Remainder”

In which Nora has so many more pieces of the puzzle, but she still can’t make it all add up. A Dæmorphing drabble I wrote last year, totally forgot about, and just rediscovered on my computer today.

Nora had never liked camping.

She was always a neat person. She hated having to get up in the middle of the night when it was raining, and the wind was howling, to walk through the mud to the composting toilet. She hated how Euclid’s paws would get stained brown with mud.

One of her first nights in the valley, she got up to use the toilet. It wasn’t raining, but in the middle of the night she heard animalistic screams and struggles. Nothing human, nothing animal, nothing from this earth. She went running into the yurt and found Peter. She shook him awake and gasped and trembled. Euclid whined and hid under the bed. “What is that?” she whispered.

“What’s what?” Peter started to mumble. As he came awake, he heard the sound too, and clutched at her. “Ah – um – let’s ask Marco.”

Nora had always liked Marco from afar, the way you like the class clown in your school who would never look twice at you, or a funny celebrity. She admired his resilience and humor, but knew that she would never really get close. He wouldn’t allow her to. Now she had some inkling of why. She hated to wake him up; he never seemed to get enough sleep, always some shade of gray beneath the brown of his skin.

“Marco? Do you hear that? What’s going on?” Peter said quietly. Mirazai was red and yellow with alarm inside her tank.

Marco came awake so suddenly, it was like an incandescent light coming on, blindingly bright. Diamanta came loose from around his neck and reared up, ready to strike. “What? What’s going on?” Marco said, instantly alert, looking around.

“What’s that noise?”

“Oh. Oh, that. Don’t worry about that. That’s one of Toby’s raids.”

“What? One of – Toby – that’s the leader alien, right?”

“Hah. Yeah. That’s the boss alien in charge. Her people, the Hork-Bajir, they’re slaves of the Yeerks. She leads the warriors out on raids to free them. When they come back, and they scream and struggle like that, that’s the Yeerks in their heads trying to get out. They won’t. Trust me. The screaming will be over soon.”

“What, they torture them? What are they doing?”

Marco gave his father a flat look. “Starving them out. Or, well, I don’t know exactly what she does, but I assume she’s starving them out. That’s what we did when Jake was taken prisoner.”

“Jake was –”

“Yeah. Not a nice story. But it’s what we have to do when someone’s taken. It’s the only way to be sure. Unless you can convince the Yeerk to leave on their own, but that’s not exactly easy.”

“So that’s how all of them got free? Screaming like that?”

“Well, most of them. Jara and Ket managed to escape without their Yeerks – it’s complicated. And then there’s ones who were born free, like Toby. But most of them, yeah.” He cleared his throat. “So, uh. Can I go back to sleep now? Didn’t really get my beauty sleep last night.”

“How can you sleep with noise like that?” Nora said, holding Euclid in her arms.

Marco shrugged. “I’ve slept through worse. You’ll get used to it.”

Nora didn’t really want to get used to it, but maybe she didn’t have a choice.

Living in the valley was horrible and scary sometimes, but what really got to Nora after a while was the boredom. She did everything she could to help. She cooked sometimes for the humans in the valley. She helped organize the pantry, but she felt like the others were humoring her when they let her do that. She’d help keep the fire burning in the fire pit, find kindling and stoke it. She wasn’t really the best at that.

When she mentioned being bored to Robin – one of the people who’d been in the valley longer, one of those strange people who seemed to be sympathetic to the Yeerks, terrible brain slugs who’d taken Eva away and ruined Peter’s life and so many others’ – he said, “Try talking to the Hork-Bajir. They’re interesting. They’ve always got something to do.”

“Aren’t they, um – I mean, they don’t seem to speak English so well.”

“Eh, they can get along,” Robin said. “Give it a try. You’re a teacher, right? You might like Kam Jedet, one of the teachers here in the valley. See what he has to say.”

It could be hard to find the Hork-Bajir sometimes. They were always up in the trees. Nora had never been bad at climbing trees as a kid, but when Euclid settled as a poodle, that made it a little harder – she got slowed down by having to carry him in one arm. So really, what she could manage were low branches, leaving Euclid on the ground straining at the edges of their limit.

Eventually, she did find a Hork-Bajir teaching a group of their children. The children were weirdly cute compared to the terrifying adults. Their blades were stubby still, and didn’t look like they could cut anything. They were clumsy and uncoordinated in that charming way of all young things, human or animal, stumbling over their own tails. They were already better in the trees than Nora could ever be, even if Euclid had been one of the most nimble of animals. Nora couldn’t understand most of the lesson, but she caught the words “good touch” and “wrong touch.” What was that about? she wondered silently to Euclid.

When the lesson was over, she went up to the teacher. She said, “Are you Kam Jedet?”

He – Robin had said he, right? – said, “Yes,” in that deep gravelly voice all Hork-Bajir seemed to have.

“You’re a teacher,” Nora said.

“Yes.”

“I’m a teacher, too,” said Nora.

“Ah,” said Kam.

“What were you teaching the children just then?”

“Freedom lessons,” Kam said.

“What are freedom lessons? That’s not a subject I’ve ever taught.”

Kam looked surprised. “No freedom lessons?” He blinked. “Ah. Humans are free. Not like Hork-Bajir. No freedom lessons.”

“Lessons on... how to be free?” Nora said.

Kam swung down from the tree, which spared Nora from having to crane her neck up to look at him. “Yes,” Kam said. “Yeerk teach Hork-Bajir how to be slave. Say yes to Yeerk in head. Be slave. Do not try for free. Hork-Bajir learn how to be free. Good touch, no wrong touch. Listen to head. Listen to hearts. Know what Hork-Bajir want.”

“I think I get it,” Nora said. “Maybe. It seems important. I don’t really know how to teach freedom lessons, but I taught math, before I came here. For human children.”

“Math?” said Kam.

Oh boy, Nora thought, giving Euclid a look.

He gave an encouraging yip. Go on.

“You know, how to work with numbers. How to count, add, subtract, multiply, divide.”

“Ah,” said Kam. “Yes. Numbers. Important. Kam not know much of numbers. Nora want teaching?”

This is insane, Nora thought to Euclid. She almost imagined that in Marco’s voice. Am I really offering to teach math to alien kids right now?

Euclid said, The kids are getting freedom lessons. They need math, too. That’s how you build a free society, how you manage your resources. How you know what you have and what you don’t.

“How much English do the kids speak? I don’t know your language.”

“Bek Mashar teach English. Watch Bek teach. Learn how Hork-Bajir learn English,” said Kam.

“Okay,” Nora said. It only made sense that she’d have to do shadowing again, to learn again how to be a teacher. “Okay. I’ll follow him and see what he does.”

After her math lessons, students liked to stick around and ask her questions. Some of them just asked about humans and what they were like. Some of them asked questions about other subjects. Some of them became interested in some version of engineering or science – she often didn’t know the answer to those questions. She wished she had access to a library, a computer, anything to satisfy their endless curiosity. Sometimes they asked personal questions and often she would say, “That’s private,” and they respected that, because they learned to in their freedom lessons. Nora came to appreciate those more and more every day.

Today, little Franaj, Toby Hamee’s little sister, stuck around to ask questions. She asked, “Nora has baby? Like Jara and Ket have Franaj?”

Nora’s heart ached. Euclid whined and licked at her hand. “Sort of,” she managed to say. “My husband Peter has a son, Marco. He’s one of the Animorphs. He’s not really my baby, but my husband loves him, so I feel a sort of – connection.”

“Hearts family important like egg family,” said Franaj. “Kam say in freedom lessons.”

“Yes, of course. That’s right,” said Nora.

“Nora has baby Marco,” said Franaj.

Nora shook her head. “Not really. Your sister Toby – she has parents, your parents Jara and Ket, but she’s not their baby.”

“Yes,” said Franaj. “Toby is grown up.”

The way she heard Marco and the others talk, Toby was born in this valley only a couple of years ago. She was far too young to be grown up. But then again, Marco was far too young to be grown up, and he was nearly sixteen.

“Sixteen in a few days, right?” Euclid said quietly. He was right. What were they going to do to mark his birthday in a place like this? She’d have to talk to Peter about it.

“Right,” Nora said. “Toby is a grown up. So is Marco, but their parents can still worry about them too.”

Nora did worry about Marco, but he would have hated to hear that, if she had ever said it out loud.

It wasn’t much of a birthday party. Nora might have forgotten about it completely if it weren’t for Melissa, who kept track of the dates in a notebook of hers. The rest of them didn’t exactly have calendars or computers or contact with the outside world, so how would they know? Certainly Marco himself didn’t seem to know it was his birthday.

Nora tried to bring it up with Peter. He’d been busy, spending hours away from the valley. At first he didn’t want to talk about what he was doing. Finally, he admitted, “I’ve been working on a Yeerk Pool.”

“You’ve been working on a what?” Nora said.

“Estrid has to test the virus before we use it. We’re going to have to – keep Yeerks. For her to test on,” he bit out.

Nora thought about that for a second. It wasn’t a nice thing to think about. “They’re our enemies,” Euclid said, as much to convince me as anyone else.

“Yeah,” said Peter, looking down at his hands. “Sure.”

“It’s Marco’s sixteenth birthday tomorrow,” Nora said. “Should we do something? I feel like we should.”

Peter laughed hollowly. “What could we possibly do? It’s not like he can take the day off.”

“We could give him something nice?”

“Bake a cake? We barely have enough supplies as it is, with all the morphers doing supply runs.”

“I can ask the children if they know about any berries we can pick.”

“All right,” said Peter. “I guess that’s the best we can do.”

“We’ll go berry-picking in the evening, then. When you’re done with... work.” Of course, Nora had work too, teaching children, but she figured she found it a lot more comforting than Peter found his.

Marco ended up having to leave early on his birthday to go to Sacramento – something to do with the governor. “Well, at least they're finally telling the authorities about all of it,” Nora said.

“Yeah. If Governor Hernandez is still, you know, free,” said Peter.

When Marco got back to the valley, late that same night, he was shaking with exhaustion. Nora and Peter decided they’d only be tormenting him more to make him go through with some kind of birthday ceremony, so they saved the berries for breakfast when he woke up. “Hey,” said Peter, putting the bowl in his hands as soon as he was awake enough to take it. “Happy sweet sixteen, Marco.”

Marco rolled his eyes. “Sweet sixteen is for girls, Dad,” he complained. But he ate the berries anyway.

Neither of them ever told him it was Nora who’d picked them.

#animorphs #daemorphing #my fic

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keldae · 5 years ago

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Drastic Measures -- Chapter 29

“Your brother told us part of what had happened to you,” Lana shook her head as they walked down the killik tunnel, leaving the rest of the new arrivals from Dantooine to scatter into the rest of the cell, “but the full story is even more insane.”

“Tell me about it,” Xaja muttered. “I’m considering switching career paths and becoming an author.”

Lana’s lips twitched in a smile. “You would have to market this as fictional, I'm afraid. No one would ever believe it to be true.”

“If I hadn't just lived it, I wouldn’t either.” Theron looked over at Xaja and lightly nudged her arm. “As co-star of your future bestseller, do I get royalties?”

Xaja laughed as she followed Lana around a curve in the tunnel, opening up to what seemed to be the main command hub of the base. “Naturally. Hopefully this story gets a happy ending.”

“We’ll do our best to make certain that happens,” Lana reassured the Jedi with a smile. “Keeping you alive and out of Arcann’s hands is our goal.”

“And pissing Arcann off with our continuous survival is my current objective in life.”

On Lana’s other side, the Zakuulan officer she had introduced as Koth Vortena grinned. “That’s a good objective to have. Assassin or not, you’re all right, Outlander.”

“I do my best,” Xaja smirked, deciding she liked Koth already. Her first instinct upon Lana introducing him as a Zakuulan defector was one of caution and worry, but within a few moments of meeting him, she and Theron both relaxed. She resisted the urge to ask what had driven him away from Zakuul. That could wait… for now.

Beside her, Theron lowly whistled as he looked around the base. “I knew there was a cell here, but I didn’t realize it was this expansive. This is all Thunder’s network?”

“To the best of my knowledge, most of it is.” Lana nodded in confirmation as she led them up the ramp of one of the larger command platforms. “We’re reconvening here to plan our next movements. Thunder still has assets across the galaxy, but they’re remaining in place for the time being.”

“Any thoughts as to those next steps?” Xaja asked as she flopped into a metal chair beside a table covered in datapads and flimsi pages.

“Take stock of our losses from Dantooine; determine how many of us can still move freely without attracting a legion of bounty hunters; and then find a new location to serve as headquarters. Thunder has indicated that they want to increase the rebellion’s power base, which will mean more resources than we can accumulate by having several scattered little cells. Tatooine served as the last major base, but with your brother attacking the Star Fortress bunker there, the system’s now too dangerous for us to hide in.”

Xaja felt a little burst of pride that Korin, her renegade, responsibility-dodging brother, had led the strike team that landed such a successful hit on one of Zakuul’s most visible assets. Being an active leader in the rebellion might make a responsible adult out of Korin yet. “But between that hit, Theron and I dodging capture this long, and the loss of the Zakuulan forces on the ship on Dantooine…”

“He’s gotta be furious,” Theron finished with a grin, leaning against the table beside Xaja. The bond rippled with a feeling of smug satisfaction.

A grin pulled at Xaja’s mouth, only to fade at the thoughts of what could come of Arcann growing vindictive. “Is he taking it out on anyone else?” she asked. Stars, if he was anything like Darth Angral had been…

“Not yet -- or at least, not as far as we know.” Koth sat down in another chair and scrubbed long fingers across his goatee. “Besides the attack on Dantooine, and reinforcements arriving as we were leaving Tatooine, nobody’s heard of another conflict recently. My crew -- they deserted with me when I left Zakuul — they’re keeping an eye on things from a distance.”

“There are still Eternal Fleet ships stationed at Coruscant,” Lana added. “And after learning you had been on Dromund Kaas, Arcann sent some of his forces there to investigate. But with your brother having fled already and Acina having no idea about you being on the planet, the pressure has lessened there… from Zakuul, at any rate.”

“Last I’ve heard,” Sorand added as he walked up the ramp, having been held back by Shara and Corey for a few minutes. “The tensions between the Republic and the Empire are escalating. Saresh is calling you both traitors to the Republic — sorry about that — and claiming you’ve been working with me since the Revanite crisis. Which technically isn’t wrong…”

“The schutta ,” Xaja hissed as she felt Theron settle his hand on her arm. “She’s saying that publicly?”

“And kriffing over any chance you might have had of being able to disappear into the Republic,” Sorand muttered as he frowned down at a datapad in his hands. “From what I’m reading, it’s full-blown propaganda. She’s probably hoping for any loyal citizens who see either of you to turn you in as traitors.”

“Which gets Arcann off her neck,” Theron muttered. “The Empire?”

“While she might, in other circumstances, do so, Acina’s acting thoroughly insulted by the notion that she would ever have an allegiance with a Jedi.” Sorand rolled his eyes. “Besides naming me a traitor, and putting Lana and Dad about a step below me on the most-wanted list, she’s made a comeback at Saresh along the lines of calling her a slave-race coward who can’t admit she can’t find two high-profile war heroes-turned-traitors.”

Xaja winced at that. Theron’s own cringe echoed along the bond as he spoke up again. “Dare I ask what Saresh said in response to that?”

“Probably not,” Koth commented. “But if this keeps up, it’s going to turn into a galactic-stage catfight.”

“I’d find that more amusing if we weren’t stuck in the middle of it with Zakuul tearing the galaxy apart looking for us,” Xaja muttered.

“Both Saresh and Acina will be hesitant to go to open war,” Lana interjected with a frown. “With Commander Malcom walking away from the Republic, and Acina missing the two top assets in Sith Intelligence and one of the surviving Dark Council, they’re both strategically crippled. And that’s without mentioning how few Jedi remain, or how many soldiers from both sides have followed their chosen leaders into rebellion.”

“They just have their own fleets and militaries, and more resources to their names,” Koth grumbled.

“But while they’re threatening each other with said fleets,” Sorand started, “this is the perfect time for the resistance to vanish. Considering we’re not sure how long Alderaan will be safe, I feel like we should find a new base soon. Arcann’s not going to greatly care about the Republic and Empire clawing at each other, not while he’s still looking for you two.” He nodded at Theron and Xaja.

“There’s too many high-value targets here, and too many civilians who could be endangered by us,” Xaja muttered. “Worst case scenario, how long could the resistance keep running?”

“Perhaps another few years. But I’d rather not see it come to that.” Sorand hummed in thought. “The galaxy is vast enough that we should be able to find an unpopulated planet, or one with a low population. Perhaps Rakata Prime?”

“Force knows there shouldn’t be too many live Rakata left there after Revan bombarded the place,” Xaja said.

“Not Rakata, but there have been Republic historians exploring that world since the fall of the Revanites,” Theron spoke up. “Not to mention that it’s near to the Core.” And too close to Coruscant went unspoken.

“That one ice ball from hell -- Hoth, maybe?” Koth offered. “Distant Outer Rim, and nobody sane goes there.”

“Aside from both Imperial and Republic forces trying to raid the starship ruins, and pirates crawling all over the place. Rumour has it there’s a new Star Fortress being constructed in the Hoth system as well.” Lana frowned at her crossed arms, then looked up. “I don’t suppose there are any other abandoned Jedi planets like Tython to be reclaimed?”

“If Ahch-To or Ossus had been found, it would have been all over the Holonet by now,” Sorand mused, running a hand over his own scruff in thought. Xaja barely had time to be surprised by the fact that her brother seemingly was familiar with Jedi history, or to remind herself that his academic leanings and his insatiable curiosity about the Jedi would have pushed him to learn all he could about the near-mythical Jedi worlds. “Yavin is the only other system I can think of that might work, but it’s uncomfortably close to Imperial territory. It’s something we’ll need to think about while we plan our next moves. Maybe we can find an uninhabited moon somewhere.”

“Cipher Nine may also have contacts who can help us,” Lana suggested.

“That wouldn’t surprise me. I swear my father knows at least half the galaxy, and there has to be a decent number that don’t want to shoot him… somewhere.” A grin flickered across Sorand’s face for a second. “When he gets in, I’ll talk to him, see if he has any suggestions.”

That was a reasonable strategy. Xaja was pretty sure Sorand wasn’t exaggerating the claim of how many people their father knew. And Force knew the old spy could be… persuasive. “When is he expected?”

“Within the next couple of days, I think.” Sorand straightened up from where he had been leaning against a console. “Anything else that anyone wants to discuss right now?”

Silence answered him for a moment before Koth shook his head. “I dunno, I think that got just about everything important. I’ll send a ping out to my crew on Asylum, see if they’ve got any leads for uninhabited planets they’ve found.”

“Thank you, Koth.” Lana stood up and gave Xaja and Theron a smile. “Corey’s been in contact with Mandalore; I had best check in with her latest updates. We’ll have a chance to catch up soon.”

Theron nodded as the blonde Sith took her leave of the platform, then looked back at Koth. “So, former Zakuulan Navy, huh?”

“Yep. Captain and only decent pilot in my crew…”

Xaja looked away from the conversation, making eye contact with Sorand. He subtly nodded, indicating the far corner. She rose and fell into step with him as they stepped off the platform, leaving Theron and Koth to talk.

As soon as they were out of earshot, Sorand let the worried frown show on his face. “You said things wound up… complicated?” he softly asked, touching his forehead. “You feel… better, almost like normal.”

Xaja nodded. “The Dreamwalkers had been wiped out,” she quietly answered, and saw Sorand’s shoulders slump at the news. “There were other Voss healers who helped me as much as they could.”

“But…?”

“He’s still in my head.” Xaja shuddered as Sorand sighed in worried disappointment, raking a hand through his hair. “They think they’ve managed to suppress him for the time being.” She hesitated, worrying her lower lip for an instant. “You know that bond I had with Theron before…?”

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Annya froze as her boot touched down on the duracrete floor of the Republic-friendly spaceport. Ignoring Jonas bumping into her back, she stretched out her focus, closing her eyes. She could pick up on Jakar Forseti’s nearby Force-signature as he landed the Balance of Justice, and could recognize a few Organa civilians whom she’d met on earlier visits. But right then, she didn’t care about that.

It was what she could sense a couple of kilometres distant that demanded her attention. Her brow furrowed slightly when she recognized her aunt’s presence — what the blazes is Aunt Mairen doing here? But that was quickly put to the side, to think about later.

A slight nudge confirmed Xaja’s presence, and Annya grinned as her cousin reached back, just able to feel the other Jedi’s delighted surprise. She lightly pushed again, getting a read on her cousin’s well-being. The younger woman felt alright — no flares of pain, no lines of grief or rage. There was a strange darkness clouding part of her signature, and beside that, a small thread of light that Annya was pretty sure hadn’t been there before. But that was something to worry about later. Xaja wasn’t physically hurt, and if she wasn’t being consumed by grief, Agent Shan had to be here too.

She turned to face a confused-looking Jonas and gave him a delighted smile. “Xaja made it. She’s here. And I’m pretty sure Theron is too.”

Jonas’ eyes widened in relief as he let out a breath. “Good!” He nodded before his eyes narrowed dangerously. “Theron better be here. That asshole has a punch coming that he deserves.”

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Xaja suddenly fell silent mid-sentence as a bright Force-signature she knew made itself known only a short distance away. Ignoring Sorand frowning in confusion, she reached out, and felt a familiar nudge pressing against her mind. Joy flooded through her as she recognized her cousin, a delight she could feel echoed in the Force.

She turned her attention back to the present as Doc made his way over to her and Sorand. “Annya’s here!” she exclaimed, turning to Doc with a happy smile.

“Annya? That cousin of yours on Corellia?” Doc grinned. “Hells, today’s full of good news, Red.”

Sorand blinked in surprise. “Wait — we have another cousin?”

“Yes! Annya is a Green Jedi who—” Another presence made itself known on the planet surface; the recognition of that presence sent shock flooding through Xaja’s veins, her words dying in her mouth again. Impossible! He was killed months before Zakuul hit… unless he…

Shock turned to confusion, then joy, then what could be best described as indignant fury. “I’m going to kill him,” Xaja hissed. She ignored Theron’s sudden confusion over their bond, or the slight hint of subtle, smug amusement from the new presence.

Doc frowned for a moment before his eyes widened knowingly, a grin appearing under the mustache. “Only one person would make you react like that, Red. Jakar isn’t dead after all?”

“Not yet, he’s not,” Xaja growled as she turned and began stalking toward the central hub of the hive, still inwardly debating if she was going to hug the Barsen’thor of the Jedi Order before strangling him.

Behind her, Doc took a step to follow, stopped by Sorand’s hand on his shoulder. “Not to interrupt,” the Sith slowly said, “but would you mind explaining what the Hells that was all about?”

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“I’m relieved you’re all right,” Senya said as she walked through the killik tunnels with Satele, their bootsteps echoing in the cave. “From arriving here and realizing nobody else knew where you were…”

“I’m relieved to be alive too.” Satele smiled and offered Senya’s arm a squeeze. “I was pleased to hear you had made it here with no problems.”

“None to speak of,” agreed Senya. She gave Satele a sidelong look as they walked for a few paces further. “While I was here, I did not find a way to heal my children, but I did learn something about… about your son.”

Satele’s eyes were cautious when they looked back at Senya, but she did finally nod. “So you know who he is,” she finally said. It was a statement, not a question.

Senya nodded. “I hardly blame you for keeping that quiet.”

“I am not convinced that he was planning an attack like what Arcann claims.” Satele pursed her lips as the two women rounded a corner in the tunnel, coming across a busy crowd. Apparently more rebels had just arrived. “I don’t know what he was doing there, but terrorism wasn’t on his agenda. It’s not his style.”

“It could be argued that freeing someone accused of regicide is terrorism,” Senya commented.

“I’m not sure that he would care in that respect.” Satele strained to look out over the crowd. “Not when he was…” She paused, a frown marring her features. “Watching him after Master Taerich was declared killed in action… I didn’t know if he would ever be happy again. He was devastated.”

Senya slowly nodded as she followed Satele’s gaze. Her eyes landed on a handsome young man in a bright red jacket, currently talking with Captain Vortena and Lord Beniko— Lana, as the Sith had insisted on being addressed. She knew his face well from studying the bulletins, but seeing him in person, she could see now how much he favoured his mother in terms of appearance. He certainly didn’t look like the type of person to orchestrate a plan to blow up an entire city, especially not when he smiled and his amber eyes softened.

A commotion off to her right stole her attention. Turning away from Satele’s son, the Knight focused immediately on the girl who had reportedly murdered Valkorion. Senya’s first impression was of brightness — vivid red hair, a blazing, almost-familiar presence in the Force, and a delighted smile as she ran to embrace another redhaired woman in Jedi clothing who had entered the cavern. She certainly didn’t resemble a coldhearted assassin. If anything, her bright presence almost reminded her of Vaylin… or how Vaylin had been before she had been taken to Nathema.

The former Knight of Zakuul sighed and dropped her gaze from the Jedi girl. “I can’t blame you for not telling me their names,” she quietly said, low enough that Satele had to strain to hear her. “I can hardly judge.” She took a shaky breath and looked at the former Grand Master, watching the Jedi’s eyes go wide with shock at her next words. “Not when my son is the one hunting them down.”

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Fury raged through Arcann’s veins as he stalked back and forth in front of the Eternal Throne. The next person to deliver bad news to him was likely to be thrown off the walkway, run through with a lightsaber, or perhaps simply crushed to death with the Force.

The teams sent to Tatooine turned up little more than exhaust fumes from the departed rebels. The inept Paladin had been far too slow to catch the resistance as they fled from the Fleet. For all that Arcann knew, Thunder themselves had been in that base, escaping before they could risk capture. Taking down the reputed coordinator of a sizable resistance group would be almost as great a boost to morale as capturing Taerich or Shan.

And that was another subject that enraged him. The few fragments of data collected from the ruins of the Dantooine outpost hinted that the two fugitives had been there; the former Jedi Grand Master had been confirmed by the presence of her personal ship. And yet, the Eternal Fleet patrol ship and its entire crew had been destroyed. He was still no closer to knowing who was responsible.

Had it been the Republic, coming to save their precious Jedi? The Empire, seeking Jedi playthings and not wanting to share? Imperius, or forces loyal to him, rushing to aid his Jedi sister and her people? Thunder’s forces? Arcann scowled behind his mask. There were too many options, too many variables, and not nearly enough answers.

“Brother.” Vaylin’s voice finally cut through the cloud of rage in Arcann’s mind. Judging from her tone, and her raised eyebrow and crossed arms, she had been trying to get his attention for some time now. “If you’re done stomping about for now?”

“There had better be an update,” Arcann growled as he stormed back up to the Throne, practically throwing himself into the seat. One eye glowered up at her. “What do you have?”

“Republic agents were seen on Dantooine, going through the ruins. Judging by the communications we were able to intercept, the poor idiots had no idea the outpost was even there.” Vaylin shrugged. “Clearly the Republic is even more inept than we thought, or it was a classified black-ops mission of sorts.”

The Republic, by all accounts, did have a few elite black ops teams who had survived the war and occupation. They had not been a priority of late, but Arcann filed that notion away for later consideration. His thoughts then lit on the one completely capable Republic commander he knew. “And Commander Malcom?”

“House Organa claims he’s been an honoured guest at their estate on Alderaan, this whole time. The spaceport records seem to support the claim.” Vaylin shrugged. “I suppose he really doesn’t care about his bastard son. Or he’s as stupid as the rest of the Republic and didn’t know about the Jedi outpost, or where Shan was last reported.”

That sounded like something Valkorion would have done, had he been in the same position as Malcom with the knowledge of where his offspring were. But if the Republic’s intelligence services hadn’t known about the Jedi hideout, perhaps the former Supreme Commander simply hadn’t known, either. “Has he been seen by any of our people?”

“He’s withdrawn into the castle after hearing about the raid.” Her voice was thick with contempt as she continued, “He’s reportedly in mourning .”

That was definitely not something Valkorion would have done. Arcann shrugged to himself. Malcom was clearly weak. “Anything else?”

“Still no news from the Empire regarding Imperius. But I do have one more little thing.” A smile pulled at Vaylin’s lips. “A diplomatic envoy from the Republic has contacted our diplomats, requesting parlay. Apparently the Senate believes that, since Satele Shan’s ship was on Dantooine and her body wasn’t, she was taken prisoner.” For a moment, the smile vanished in a frown. “Of course, this could be terribly awkward if news gets out that we don’t have her.”

“If news gets out,” Arcann said, grinning under his mask. This, he thought, could be a useful advantage. If Taerich and Shan had been on Dantooine, they had to know that the Grand Master wasn’t a captive. But the Senate didn’t need to know that, and it was doubtful Taerich or Shan would be in contact with the Chancellor. Then again, if the two fugitives hadn’t been on Dantooine at the time of the attack...

Yes… yes, he could use this.

#Drastic Measures #Kel FINALLY updates!#SWTOR fic #KOTFE AU #Theron/Xaja #OTP: until the stars burn out #Theron Shan x Jedi Knight #filler update is filler #but recaps and reunions and scheming -- oh my!#meanwhile on Zakuul...#Arcann is Emperor Grumpypants #I have spoken #and the confessions come out!#Senya and Satele will get to bond over their respective miscreant offspring

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razorblade180 · 6 years ago

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Lasting Embers pt21: Wariness of battle

[Menagerie]

*Blake still on the phone with Yang. Sun and Ilia are in the room.*

Sun:So, what’s the situation?

Yang:Nora got attacked in the Emerald Forest by what looked like to be at least fifteen cult members. They new when to get her, what time to take out Mercury and Emerald, and also knew about Tenzen despite them being out of the fight for so long.

Ilia:Are Mercury and Emerald okay? Those two aren’t the kind to just simply go down easily.

Yang:They were ambushed and said before they could really do anything they were overwhelmed by grimm. If it wasn’t for Tenzen then this story would have a pretty horrific story. He’s the only reason we even know about the attack; the only reason we made it in time.

Blake:Where is everyone now?

Yang:We’re all at my dad’s house recuperating. Emerald wounds were bad but not life threatening while Mercury is currently bedridden. He got pretty roughed up but he’ll pull through. Nora is up and active thanks to Jaune. Tenzen however, he’s unconscious. Things got dicey for him at the very end. I’m told he’ll be fine. Everyone should pull through.

Sun:Blake, this seems to be way too coordinated to be the acts of a dying cult. Whitley, Jacquelyn, now Nora. I hate to say it but-

Blake:We missed something huge; something detrimental.

Yang:I hate to ask but it would be really nice to have you here. Ruby’s is on edge about this and frankly so am I. Weiss already said she’ll head out as quick as possible.

Blake:As much as I would love to hop on a airship right now I can’t. The festival here is in honor of my return and I have to attend; honestly everyone knowing I’m back is gonna make everything from here on out difficult for me. I’ll show up first chance I get when it’s all over though. I’m technically not in power again yet.

Sun:That role is still on me miraculously. *making a call*

Ilia:Who are you calling?

Sun:All these attacks on families yet I’ve heard nothing from Neo in Argus. It has me concerned.

Yang:Don’t you mean “text?” Last time I checked she wasn’t really chatty.

Ilia:Oh she’s pretty chatty these days. Adam’s eye wasn’t the only thing the creation relic was used for. Neo can talk and next chance you get you should tell Mercury to roll up his pants. Seemed like a fair trade for working in our organization.

Yang:I can see why you were a team leader; you’ve been busy.

Sun:Just making the most of crappy situations.

*a hologram pops up with Neo standing there waving. There’s blood on her clothes*

Neo:Sup boss, I was just about to report in actually. The Arc family was attacked yesterday.

Ilia:WHAT!?

Blake:This just keeps getting worse...

Neo:Relax, everyone is fine. Adrian had a construction job and thought one of the buildings listed seemed a bit off. He notified me about it and sure enough 45 members using it as a place to hide until they captured everyone.

Sun:Why am I hearing about this only now!?

Neo:I’ve been busy being your top operative that’s why!

Ilia:You’re ranked number three; only behind myself and Adam because you’re a bit.....of a wild card.

Neo:Regardless, I’m arguably the best around; especially with assignments like these. My report is late because I moved the entire family to a safe place on the Atlas base then made an identical copy of their house for the cult to raid with my semblances. Shit like that takes time that can’t be wasted.

Yang:*shocked* 45 members? That’s extremely excessive and more than a few stragglers.

Neo:They were all basically fodder. The only reason for their numbers so high has to because either they wanted the family captured in one fell swoop, or they thought that would be enough to stop me. I guess they might’ve feared the military being close by too.

Sun:Where are the members now?

Neo:They walked into the decoy house only for it to be an abandoned building with me inside. All of them fought their hardest but ended up the same; tortured for information and killed. Now they’re buried deep under rubble because it “just so happened” that building was set for demolition and destroyed by Adrian. Simple as that.

Blake:You tortured and killed 45 people....

Neo:infiltration and information gathering is why I’m ranked so high. Not to mention I did it all alone. I’m a wild card for sure. I’m sort of a badass.

Sun:Focus Neo, what did you learn?

Neo:Nothing important; like I said they were fodder. Given orders by some boss they don’t even know the name of. I thought they were bluffing but annoyingly they were all just pawns. Not even an actual member here looked like they could lead for a second or even the grimm using type. Now someone like that might know something of use.

Ilia:What are chances any of your assailants are still alive Yang?

Yang:Surprisingly, exactly one. He lead the attack and Jaune wanted answers to. He isn’t saying anything though; he’s been trained real well or still in too much pain from his broken legs.

Neo:I bet I could get him to sing like a bird if I had a moment with him.

Yang:More than welcome to try. Frankly I’m tired of looking at the guy and I don’t have the stomach to do what you do.

Neo:Well you might have to because unless you ship him over here I can’t leave. The Arc family is safe for now but I don’t them alone.

Ilia:They won’t be, I’ll take your spot and you can go to Atlas to catch a ride with Weiss to Vale.

Sun:Are you really okay with that? You just got back.

Ilia:Eh, this is very important. Besides, festivals were never really my scene anyways. *smiles*

Blake:I guess it’s settled then. Let’s keep everything about this between us for now. That includes Adam; I don’t want him involved in this if I could help it.

Ilia:You’re the boss. Well, former boss. *leaves* I’ll pack my things and head out.

Neo:I’m gonna go clean up. Blood takes forever to get out. *hangs up*

Sun:Sigh, this sure kills the festive mood a bit. I’m gonna triple check all set ups and just make sure everything stays peaceful for tonight. *kisses Blake and leaves*

Yang:You want to keep Adam out the loop?

Blake:You can call me soft or sentimental but I don’t want him wondering around the world more than he needs to. His family really missed him.

Yang:I know how that goes. This whole thing is gonna blow over right....?

Blake:We can only be so lucky. Be safe alright?

Yang:You too Blake, I’ll call back later. *hangs up and starts walking through her childhood home*

Despite the countless years, things remain the same. From the scuffs on the wooden floor to the photos on the wall leading to her old room.

Yang:*slowly opens the door to peak in on Tenzen.*......

Tenzen:*laying in her old bed asleep. A purple bruise across his nose and on his left cheek. Bandages across his bare chest and slightly bruised ribs*

Yujin:*sitting by his bed on the floor. Placing the bracelet he gave her back into his hand and holding it tightly* I think you need jade dragon luck more than I do right now....

Yang:Sigh.....

Jaune:*behind Yang* She’s not gonna leave his side until he wakes up you know? Hopefully it won’t take too long.

Yang:Can’t you help speed up the process a little? I mean the kid still has some pretty bad bruises.

Jaune:Tenzen’s semblance and mine don’t really compliment each other. I’ve done all I’ve can for now; natural rest is the best thing for him now.

Yang:How’s our special guest?

Jaune:See for yourself *gestures outside*

*Jericho tied against a tree as he’s propped up on the ground as the remaining friends and family of Yang rest outside*

Nora:*watching him like a hawk*......

Jericho:You know is this really necessary? *looks at his crippled legs* I couldn’t escape even if I wanted to. You worried I might almost kill you again.

Ren:Talk to her again and I’ll snap your neck.

Jericho:That would make you really bad at interrogation. I guess your mind has gotten weaker with your body.

*Before Ren gets the chance to walk over to him he’s stopped by Nora. Quelling his anger and preventing him from doing anything he’ll regret*

Jericho:Honestly both of you are a little disappointing. I thought huntsmen where supposed be honored by civilization and feared by villains. I don’t feel very afraid of-*cresent rose wraps around the tree as the blade presses against his neck*

Ruby:If you’re gonna talk then it better be about something valuable. Otherwise I’d recommend you keep quiet.

Jericho:So the Red Reaper finally speaks. I’ll admit that you are the only one that’s worth being afraid of around here. After all, you’re the only one here with nothing to lose. *smirks*

Ruby:*adds more pressure, cutting his neck slightly*

Jericho:Ooo did I strike a nerve?

Tai:Don’t let him get to you Ruby.

*Jaune and Yang finally come walking out the house. Jaune’s sword drawn and ready to strike*

Jericho:Someone looks a little-AH!!

Jaune:*stabbing his leg* I can understand a lot of things like attacking people who are actively going after you. But please explain why the hell I was just told my family was almost murdered?*digs the blade in*

Jericho:*grits teeth* Hehehe so I guess that means they screwed up the job. How *spits blood* unfortunate.

Jaune:Honestly what the hell is wrong with you bastards!? Why rope kids into this? Why go after distant relatives and people who don’t know anything about how the world really works.

Jericho:Aren’t you supposed to be the smart one? Can you truly not grasp the simple concept of our warfare? I know one of you probably gets it as clear as day. *looks at Raven*

Raven:....Sigh, it’s psychological and emotional torture. However, I’ve never known anybody to commit to that kind of tactic for over a decade.

Jericho:True but what choice do we have? You’re all too damn strong for your own good. No well we could move the way we want to when you people are at your best. So we use fear.

Ruby:*stares him down* No one here is afraid of scum like you.

Jericho:Mmmm such hate in those eyes. We aren’t trying to make you afraid of us my darling, you’re fear lies in living another day knowing things will never be the same.

Everyone:......

Jericho:Does it haunt you often? Knowing tomorrow is another day without the intimate love you once had? The mentor’s warm embrace you grew up with ripped away from you? Are you even sure how they died?

Ruby:*eyes slightly soften as she takes a step back* What are you going on about.

Jericho:It’s a simple question I know you’ve had to talk about. I bet you like to think it was as painless as possible but that’s impossible to know. The screams of your late husband as he burned alive, or maybe it was quiet gasps as he crushed by the debris of your burning home.

Ruby:Shut up.....

Jericho:Did your Uncle put up a valiant fight and almost won? Not likely, he probably screamed as the grimm ripped him apart and dragged him into his flames! Both of them wishing you were there to save them. I bet silver eyes would’ve saved them!!!

Ruby:I SAID SHUT UP!!! *she drops to her knees crying and covering her ears*

Yang and Tai:Ruby!!! *rushes to her side*

Jericho:Oh she looked so dangerous just a few minutes ago and now look at her; far from her best.

Jaune:.....

Jericho:Loved ones, children, family, and friends. It doesn’t matter how strong you are when you have these ripped from you. Knowing that you’ll never see their face again eats away at a persons mind. Awake, asleep, everyday life, or on the battlefield of war. Even just a close call messes with people’s head. *looks at Ren* ever wonder how much your wife might blame herself for your condition? Seeing you in pain everyday thinking how she should’ve been better.

Nora:*stares at the ground clenching her fist* Someone shut him up already please.....?

Jaune:*walking over to him*

Jericho:Have a said too much? Hehehe I didn’t even get started on how this involves all of your kids.

*Everyone freezes in place for a moment*

Jericho:You do everything for them, including leave them. Believeing it’s the best option to stop people like me. Praying you don’t come back home to find them dead and not even by us. Ten years is a long time, any natural disaster could’ve happened. A simple car or mugger is all it takes and next thing you know is the person you fought ten years for died seven years ago. These plans all of you make are simply the works of people clinging on to what little hope they have. Stop us all you want; when the fighting is over you gotta live with what you lost until you die and-

Yang:*picks him up and slams him against a tree. Her eyes a deep blood red* You can stop spouting all of your crap now. You’ll have plenty of time to talk later when our friend gets the information we want out of you. Then all of us can finally move on from this nightmare!

Jericho:Are you *cough* sure you want to know how many of us are left? It could be 50 or it could be 500. Do you think you can take another indefinite journey; I wonder how your daughter would feel about her mom leaving again?

Yang:.....*drops him*

Jericho:HAHAHAHA! Oooo boy! If she doesn’t hate you now then she’s definitely going to after that! So much for coming home to loved ones; if you both live long enough to see each other that is!!! HAHAHAHA- *knocked out by a punch from Jaune*

Jaune:The moment he wakes up....knock him out again. I don’t wanna hear his voice for the rest of my life. *looks around at everyone*

Ren holds a crying Nora in his arms to comfort. Both of them obviously shaken by the man’s words. Raven proceeds to hug her daughter who’s eyes still haven’t calm down her body heaving out rage and fear of the future. Then there’s Ruby, wailing and trembling on the ground until she can barely breath. Tai holds back his tears as he holds his youngest daughter close to him. The sun is finally going down but nobody seems to care. It helps hide the pain on their face. So Jaune doesn’t say anything; he just walks back upstairs to Yujin.

Jaune:*peeks through the door*.....

Yujin:*Fast asleep and still clinging to Tenzen’s hand*Zzzzzz

Jaune:*picks her up and places her in bed* sleep tight*

Yujin:*barely awake* Dad? Hey, how is everyone doing?

Jaune:They’re....they are doing just fine. Gets some rest okay? *kisses her forehead*

Yujin:Alright dad; feel bad though. Not like I’ve been doing much. *yawns* at least.....it’s almost over....*passes out*

Jaune:........*tears well up as he leaves the room* Damnit *sniff* stay strong Jaune. You have to be the strong one right now. You have to keep things-*looks at his wedding ring*.......

*he slides down the wall and just sits on the floor*

Jaune:For crying out loud *tears finally start running down his face* she’s gonna leave again isn’t she?

#rwby #sun wukong #lie ren #nora valkryie #renora #ilia amitola #rwby neo #neo politan #jaune arc #blake belladonna #yang xiao long #taiyang xiao long #raven branwen #yujin xiao long #lie tenzen #rwby blacksun #rwby dragonslayer #rwby lasting embers #ruby rose

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askmerriauthor · 6 years ago

Text

Pokemon SwSh Thoughts - Post Game

So I’ve finished Pokemon Sword’s primary content. All that’s left is to finish up the PokeDex and drive myself insane trying to whip up all the variations of Alcremie. That, and delaying buying an online subscription for as long as possible before I bother with trading to get the other game’s exclusives. Here’s some thoughts on the game after the fact:

Pokemon SwSh really needed to come out in late 2020, period. I’ve enjoyed the game so far, but I’ve played it for about a week without putting in too much time/effort grinding and I’ve already done pretty much everything there is to do. I had my Starter leveled up to 100 before I even left the Wild Area for the very first time. The pacing and content depth of this game are pretty much non-existent, whereas the majority of the effort has clearly been put toward refining the competitive combat development. That’s great for those players who really like the battle system, but not so much for those of us who like story and broader gameplay elements.

Pro - Streamlined Gameplay One thing I’ve wanted in Pokemon for ages has been the ability to skip tutorials. I understand the necessity of having them, as every game that comes out is going to be some player’s first and their presence is for that player. But at least having the option to skip them for us old hats would be nice. SwSh does that! I was delighted to discover that the game allows you to bypass tutorials with a simple yes/no prompt when a new element is introduced. How to catch Pokemon, type match-ups, how to heal at Pokemon Centers, and so forth - all the stuff previous games led us through by the nose has been made optional this time around.

I’ve seen some people saying that this game holds the player’s hand too much as it leads us from one gameplay element to the next and doesn’t let us progress at our own leisure. To some degree this is true, but it’s far less egregious than in previous games, such as SuMo. There’s yet to be a good balance between giving the player free reign and giving them enough guidance to ensure we never feel lost, but this has been an inoffensive example as far as I’m concerned. The game does end up feeling rather railroaded, but I don’t necessarily consider that a fault of hand-holding. I’ll get to this matter later on.

Pro - The Style Galar is a very pretty region and the game makes good use of the Switch’s higher capacity to produce excellent backdrops for the player to explore. Many of the Pokemon have charming animations (Falinks is my favorite on this respect). The towns are all really well-designed in terms of visuals, especially compared to the bare-bones looks of older generations. I feel like there could have been more, but what we got is still great.

Pro - Implications in Lore Those of you who know me know how much I love lore and world building. Pokemon, as a franchise, is ripe with opportunity to examine its lore to the most tiny and obscure detail, so any new addition to the franchise is welcome on that front. Galar has some pretty fascinating nuggets to contribute.

I love that the League in Galar, as well as competitive Pokemon Training in general, is treated like a career sport. In specific, I love that this view and practice is exclusive to Galar - I wouldn’t like it at all if the entire franchise shifted to this angle, but it works great for a one-off region. I like that Kabu specifically relocated himself from Hoenn to join the sports league as it doesn’t exist in his home region. The Champion being a sort of major celebrity/superhero, the way Gym Leaders can recruit proteges or even inheritors of their rank from among contenders, the sort of clique all the Gym Leaders have with one another - it’s a really neat dynamic. I also like the notion that actually completing the Gym Challenge isn’t something common and most Trainers who try rarely make it even halfway through. That’s an interesting contrast to other regions where collecting Gym Badges seems almost as a given and the League itself is considered the real challenge, or where the whole endeavor is designed to be finished as a matter of course, like in Alola.

There’s also some really neat additions to the overall lore brought in from the Pokemon Masters mobile game. While its place in canon is questionable, it does specifically mention Galar in a few places. The idea that Pokemon who do not appear in the current Dex are banned from Galar by customs (perhaps identified as potentially dangerous/invasive species) is an interesting one. So is the claim that Iris - the Champion of Unova in BW2 - is a cousin of Leon and Hop. I love it when there are connections amid titles like that as it really helps build a more unified setting.

-Edit-: Darn, apparently those screenshots were fakes. Strike that positive from the list, I suppose.

Mixed Pro/Con - The Availability of Pokemon and the Wild Area I’m not talking about Dexit - I have my own thoughts on that explained elsewhere and frankly don’t think it’s going to end up as bad as everyone is fretting over in the long run. No, in this particular case I’m focused on the availability of Pokemon that are in the game itself.

To put it simply... it’s too easy. I know that filling out the PokeDex isn’t supposed to be a huge challenge, but I’ve gotten the majority of it done - evolved forms, item-reliant forms, gender/size/color variations included - with pretty much no effort whatsoever. I like the idea of the Wild Area in principle but what it ends up being in practice is lacking. It’s too easy to just hoover up Pokemon at a breakneck pace, which leads to other zones and the Wild Area itself becoming pretty much immediately obsolete. I have no need to return to them once I’ve gotten everything I need and there’s not enough general content to urge me to visit again.

The Wild Area itself is a big open sandbox that you can roam around in, which is nice compared to more linear zones in past games. Galar has its railroad routes, but they’re brief (aside from the obligatory overlong water route, which even then is still quite a lot smaller than other regions’ have been). However, it’s just that - a big open sandbox. You can wander through it very easily and even traipse into the “high level” zones without fear because you can see all the Pokemon coming and give them a wide berth to avoid them. There aren’t any obstacles or challenges within the Wild Area itself, and the game makes it supremely easy to find Pokemon even under specific weather/time conditions, which I feel is a missed opportunity. I would have rather the Wild Area been MUCH bigger and more involved, full of places to explore and puzzles to solve. Similarly, I would rather that Pokemon were more difficult to come by as well - that a greater deal of effort would have been put toward tracking and discovering certain harder-to-find Pokemon, with more in-game detective work to find your prize.

Mixed Pro/Con - The Characters The ensemble cast of new Gym Leaders are great - I enjoy the majority of them and frankly want more interactions, more encounters, just more in general. That’s sort of the problem though - I want more. The game itself criminally under-utilizes these characters, especially compared to how much more involved and explored Gym Leaders have been in recent games. There is precious little content using the Gym Leaders here in Galar as it stands and I constantly found myself wanting them to hang out longer and have the chance to learn more about them. Their League Cards are a neat little addition full of interesting tidbits about their histories, natures, and relationships with each other, but I would MUCH rather have gotten to see all that play out in the game itself rather than read it as a flavor blurb.

On the con side of this, however, is the fact that all of the characters are extremely one-dimensional. We’ve been seeing a steady increase in the depth and development of supporting characters in the games since BW onward, with SuMo arguably having the most to date. The overall characterization in SwSh is incredibly lacking by comparison as we don’t get nearly enough time to be with the cast, nor is the cast given the chance to present more than one note per. Nobody has any sort of emotional growth or development. The closest thing to a character arc in the game is Hop’s acceptance of the idea that he’s not going to be the Champion, but it doesn’t have anywhere near as much punch as it could and is over in the blink of an eye compared to how he spends THE ENTIRE GAME repeating the same “I’m gonna be the Champion/Hokage/Pirate King!” spiel every time he’s on screen.

Con - Dynamaxing and Max Raid Battles I’m not really on board with the whole “Mega-Evolution is best! No more gimmicks!” train because that’s just silly to me. Every game has its gimmick and the way Pokemon gradually picks up tricks and traits from its past versions to consolidate into newer titles is one of its strengths. That said, Dynamaxing is worthless and a pointless addition to the game, both in presentation and practice.

The visual of a Pokemon going kaiju is a neat concept and one I was initially intrigued by, but in practice it falls flat because it’s as thin as cardboard. It’s just Mega-Evolution and Z-Moves smooshed together with an additional 3 round time limit tacked on. All it functionally does is buff your Pokemon’s HP pool and add additional weather/status effects to certain attacks, but in some cases the Dynamax versions of attacks are actually weaker/less useful than their base form. In Gym Battles all the way through the final League fight with Leon, I didn’t bother with Dynamaxing because my Pokemon were strong enough to not need it. I could one-shot Dynamaxed Pokemon with ease using a non-Dynamaxed Pokemon and that really shows a flaw in the design if ever there was one. Dynamaxing doesn’t add or improve anything vital to gameplay - it’s just fluff.

Max Raid Battles as found in the Wild Area are even worse. For those of you who don’t know, these are instanced battles against a Dynamaxed/Gigantamaxed wild Pokemon where you team up with three other players/NPCs. If you win, you get a bunch of useful items and have the chance to catch the wild Pokemon as well, which is the only way you can get certain Gigantamax-capable Pokemon reliably.

The issue with these Max Raid Battles is that they’re an absolute slog. In the early stages of the game they’re all super easy to the point that I could solo them and thus gathered mountains of EXP-boosting candies, which let me overlevel my Pokemon beyond reason. Since the whole “your Pokemon is too high level and won’t listen to you” thing apparently doesn’t apply to Starters and special Event Pokemon, I was able to max-level and run rampant across all opposition with my Starter and my special “thanks for buying early” Meowth. HOWEVER. The difficulty scale of the Max Raid Battles increases with your game progress, so by the time I finished the game and went back into the Wild Area, the Max Raid Battles’ difficulty had ramped up. That’s an okay compromise on its face, but the manner in which the difficulty has increased is poor game design. The battles aren’t any harder, they just take longer - the wild Pokemon has more HP, tosses up a few rounds of shields to soak damage at the start and again halfway through the fight, and purges stat boosts from the player and party throughout the battle. It just makes the fights a pain in the ass to get through rather than making them more challenging or fun, and it’s gotten to the point that I don’t even bother with them anymore. They’re just not worth the trouble, not even for the sake of trying to farm EXP candies because, at this point in the game, all Pokemon in the Wild Area scale up to level 60+ and thus are perfectly serviceable as EXP farming fodder themselves.

On a lore side of things, Dynamaxing is really confusing. There’s the whole visual aspect of the Pokemon growing to giant sizes and sometimes changing their appearances, and there’s these massive arenas built to facilitate the whole thing. But the game itself goes out of its way to impress the fact that the Pokemon aren’t actually getting bigger. They just appear to grow in size and haven’t actually physically changed themselves so Dynamaxing is more like a giant hard light holographic projection than anything else? It’s just a really weird design choice to have made and I don’t understand why it was included.

Con - The Writing So, writing is very important to me. It’s literally been my job for the past decade with various game studios. I don’t consider myself any sort of literary snob as I feel there’s a place for schlock right alongside masterpieces - they all serve a specific purpose and fulfill a particular hunger the reader would like satisfied.

That said, SwSh’s writing is abysmal.

Right on the face, there’s not enough of it. The game is criminally short and light on content, which directly impacts its pacing. Remember earlier when I mentioned that things felt railroaded? That’s because there’s not enough story to rest on - it all flies by as fast as can be, forcing the player along a very narrow and brief chain of events that don’t feel consequential at all. Further, the player has no agency in events whatsoever. It’s not the player’s story - it’s Hop’s story. We’re the supporting role to his journey, shallow as that arc may be. Hop is the one who initiates the events of the game without our input as a character and then we spend the entire game following him around, or being pushed into the next event by other characters who are facilitating Hop. At no point is the player ever given the chance to express their own characterization, motivation, or even opinions. Nearly every two-choice dialogue option that appears boils down to “Yes” or “Slightly More/Less Enthusiastic Yes”, which is a huge downgrade from the genuine negative responses and NPC reactions that were present in SuMo.

In terms of overall plot, SwSh has pretty much the same level of depth and complexity as the original Red/Blue titles, and that is as scathing a criticism in this modern age as I can possibly imagine. The whole story is “run in a circle, collect badges, fight vaguely present villainous threat, fight league.” We are actively forced from one gym fight to the next with no time to breathe, no story-focused events in between, and not even any chance to appreciate the gym, its leader, or even the towns they take place in. It’s one and done - once you’ve got the badge there’s no reason to hang around and the story shuffles us along quickly as can be. I mean that literally in some cases - there are hints of a greater plot at hand with Sonia investigating the history of Galar’s legends and the potential machinations of mega-corporate mogul Chairman Rose. But each time those are broached in game play, the game pushes the player off-screen and says “Well, that’s not something you need to worry about. Go get another badge!” I mean, LITERALLY! There’s a point where The Plot begins to kick in where Pokemon begin to spontaneously Dynamax and cause havoc, which is the narrative queue for the player to become involved and for the story to reveal a new facet. But when that happens, Leon LITERALLY says “leave this to the adults, you just focus on your Gym Challenge” and runs off-screen to handle it himself. It would be a good narrative subversion if it led up to things eventually getting out of hand and the player getting roped into things, or the player having the ability to defy such warnings and interject themselves into danger. But that doesn’t happen - the game just forces us to focus on the Gym Challenge alone and keeps all the actual plot of the game off-screen away from us. This is very poor narrative design and game design alike, and it all comes to nothing because we’re forced to clean up everything in the end anyway by battling the villain and legendaries as per usual.

Though I should also point out that there’s no villain in this game.

But what about Team Yell and Chairman Rose, I hear you ask? They’re not villains, both literally and figuratively respectively. Team Yell never really does anything other than act as brief gate locking elements throughout the game until you finish the Gym you’re at, then they bounce off to the next part of the route they’re set to block. They don’t do anything bad and, as it’s later revealed, they’re actually just a bunch of Spikemuth Gym staffers who are posing as hooligans to support Marnie. They’re literally not villains and, once you beat the Spikemuth Gym, they actually become supporting characters who cheer for the player character and help out against the actual supposed villain of the game.

The actual “villain” of the game is Chairman Rose and his assistant Oleana. However, they’re only villains because the script says they are. They don’t actually do anything bad throughout the entire game nor is there any indication that they have some sort of grand master plan. The most we get is some unusual happenings like small quakes and explosions in the distance, but the game never allows us any chance to investigate - we’re just shoved off toward the next Gym each time. So when Chairman Rose is finally revealed to be the Big Bad, it comes completely out of left field and seems to happen for no reason whatsoever. Further, IT IS FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER. Chairman Rose’s plan and goal is never explained in depth - all we get is the vague indication that he believes that Galar isn’t sustainable and there will be an inevitable energy crisis in about 1,000 years, and somehow his EVIL SCHEME will fix it. But, like, even Leon flat-out says “I understand your concern but you’re being hasty, this doesn’t need to be rushed, chill out for five seconds and let’s figure this out reasonably”. Instead Rose interrupts the Champion match and announces his EVIL SCHEME on global broadcast for literally no good reason. There was no dire immediacy that required him to do it right then and there, or in that manner, but the plot needed to move us along so that’s how it goes.

It really doesn’t help that, prior to all this, there’s absolutely no indication at all that Rose nor Oleana are bad guys. They’re just business folk who appear to have nothing but good intentions and support for Leon, with the other adults of the cast all happily trusting them. There is nothing to make them seem suspicious in practice and they offer no reason to doubt them at all, so them suddenly being the bad guys is just confusing. Further, how the player is first introduced to the concept of them being antagonists is easily the most ridiculous logic jump and overreaction I’ve seen since the old Adam West Batman television show. So get this: after a battle, Leon says he’ll meet Player and Hop for dinner to celebrate. Player and Hop wait for Leon, but he never shows up. Another NPC explains that Leon was called in for a last-minute meeting by Chairman Rose (who is his boss and has made such requests of Leon’s time throughout the game, as I feel is important to point out) and apologizes for having to miss the dinner plans. Simple enough sort of situation, right? The sort of thing that any reasonable person would shrug and say “Well, that sucks but okay, let’s go eat on our own then” to, right? So what happens here instead?

The Player, Hop, Marnie, and her Gym Leader brother GATHER A SMALL MOB AND STORM CHAIRMAN ROSE’S BUSINESS HQ, FIGHTING THEIR WAY THROUGH SECURITY.

I mean, escalation much? We all have smartphones - just send Leon a text, for goodness’ sake. I’m playing through these events constantly going “why the hell are we doing this and why is everyone acting like it’s some sort of dire emergency?”. And do you know what happens when we finally kick down the doors to Chairman Rose’s office? We find Chairman Rose and Leon quietly having a peaceful chat, after which Leon apologizes for having to cancel the dinner plans and we all walk out together like nothing happened. It was just this huge, needless overreaction that has no consequence and that neither Rose nor Leon even bat an eye at. We, as the players, learn absolutely nothing of importance and are back on the Gym Challenge immediately with no functional changes to the narrative.

Like... what was the point of that?! How was that the best option to try and put Chairman Rose and his underlings into the role of antagonists for us to oppose?

So what is Chairman Rose’s EVIL SCHEME anyway? Basically he wants to provide Galar with renewable clean energy which... uh... is bad? Somehow? Apparently he plans to use a Legendary Pokemon called Eternatus - apparently the source of Dynamaxing - which is literally never mentioned at any point in the game except precisely when it’s time to fight/capture it, nor does fighting/capturing it have any impact on the story or setting. You would think that the player being in control of a massive Eldritch horror that has UNLIMITED POWER at its disposal would be something of a sticking point somewhere in the story, but no. Eternatus and Rose’s plan are never mentioned until precisely the time you need to deal with them, and once that’s done they’re both never mentioned again. Done and done all in one. No gradual seeding of information, no hints and clues throughout the game, no development of lore - just wham, bam, thank you ma’am and off we go.

Y’know, call me silly but in a game that has undertones referencing climate change, extinction of animal species, and criticisms against capitalism run amok, is it really a good idea to depict the guy advocating for clean energy to be bad? That feels like a missed mark to me.

The post-game plot, should one bother to call it that, is just inane. It basically boils down to a pair of one-shot baddies who show up and say “Ha ha! We’re rich and that means we’re better than everyone! Watch as we cause trouble for vague reasons, get hoist by our own petard, and then fuck off forever! Byeeeee~!” The post-game is completely pointless and doesn’t add anything of value at all. Which, again, compare to older games like ORAS’ post-game expansion content and it’s nothing but a damn shame.

SwSh’s writing is shallow and limited at best, with one-dimensional characters, no genuine conflict or resolution, terrible pacing, and repetitive elements that boomerang around over and over and over again to the point of annoyance. Compared to what we’ve seen Pokemon achieve in earlier titles like BW, ORAS, and SuMo, it makes it all the more obvious that SwSh was not given ANYWHERE near the time and love it needed in development and is a massive downgrade in that respect.

Con - Lots of Style, No Substance To wrap all this up - I enjoyed playing SwSh as much as I did any other early Pokemon game. I think that, as a first installment on a new system, it’s fine. That’s all - it’s just fine. It’s serviceable as a means of establishing the franchise onto the Switch and completing its move off purely-mobile mediums like the Gameboy and 3DS. It’s pretty to look at and has a superficial level of engagement, but its prettiness and level of content very quickly reveal themselves to be only skin deep. Once you get past the initial gloss there’s really nothing to this game compared to the content, involvement, and writing quality displayed in past titles on lesser-powered systems. The towns are all pretty but there’s nothing to do in any of them aside from a Gym battle - there’s no additional fun to be had in each location, making them little more than set pieces. The characters have initial appeal and potential for more, but the game never explores them at all. There’s room for a bigger narrative and interesting story with the elements presented, but no opportunity to actually see them fleshed out. The Wild Area seems big and involved at first, but as soon as you’ve gone around its loop once or twice you suddenly realize how small and compartmentalized it really is, and it lacks any reason to revisit in the end game. The major game play function - Dynamaxing/Gigantamaxing - is little more than a novelty that is basically irrelevant to gameplay itself and, in an absolutely baffling decision by the folk behind the official competitive scene, is actually somehow banned from being used in competitions? Like, not even “we’ve disabled the Dynamax button in online” but rather “if the competitive Pokemon you’ve spent so much time perfectly constructing has a Gigantamax form, it will not even be allowed access at all, so you better have an identical non-Gigantamax version on hand if you want to play”. So, what exactly is the point of even having Gigantamax Pokemon then?

Everything about SwSh seems half-baked. The ideas are there but they aren’t finished. It should have been given much more development time and, having been in the position of the creative/dev team under demands from the shareholders, I completely sympathize with Game Freak’s devs in all this. SwSh is ultimately a weak product but one with a lot of good ideas that weren’t given the chance to really shine. As such, I’ve got rather high hopes for the next installment to improve on the unfortunately thin foundation SwSh has set. Game Freak’s team has given us some amazing Pokemon games in the past and, assuming they’re given sufficient time and resources to make a title to their satisfaction, I have every confidence they’ll do so again.

#pokemon #pokemon swsh #game review #wall o'text #game freak #thank you game freak #hey nintendo - quit breathing down the dev team's neck and stand up to the shareholders for them #spoilers

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edontenti8y3v6v · 5 years ago

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Archero how to farm gems?

These are just some of the concerns I'm asked frequently, so we have actually made it easier for you. Whether you are trying to find a group to assist you level up fast or simply want to learn more about completion game, there are Archero guides to help you succeed of the game. That's because that talent costs zero mana, which means that you must choose the talent.

Which rings to use in Archero?

This would result in the gamer having two various specs of this class to pick from which is very restricting. A few of the special talents that are handy for PvP are Snare, Slowfall, and Marked for Death. What you'll discover here is a collection of collections of pieces with dates varying between the 13th and early 16th century. For instance, take a look at the services on the Archero website. There's no sense in going through all the difficulty to buy the product if you do not understand how to use it.

So if you are a hunter and you wish to make certain that you are getting the very best weapons for your build, you have to go for the best Armsmith in Archero. When you have actually chosen your class and weapon, it is time to discover an Archero guide. The following are two other extremely popular sources of weapons for sale, they are complimentary for your to utilize. They have various classes for leveling up and also several talents to make each class stick out. Because of the fantastic range of special weapons and special specifications available, gamers can discover a lot of equipment that will help them with their play design. I would never trade that for anything. You'll find some out there with a variety of Archero weapons, the one with a lot of being simply the average of the leading 3 or 4 most popular ones.

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The best way to offer these weapons is via the use of online auctions. These are books that will show you how to level up quickly with the various weapon sets and classes.

In fact, the best weapons crafted by Armorsmiths will be those with magics that trigger increased damage, a higher critical strike possibility, a larger amount of stamina, or a higher energy shield strength. The very best weapons will be crafted by one of the Armorsmiths, while the other ones can be crafted by somebody with the sculpting skill of the Weaponsmith. If you have a search for the right list of Archero weapons you'll discover numerous tips in different online article archives.

How to get past abandoned dungeon Archero

The general general rule is that the newer talents are just as great as the old ones. It includes an extensive collection of weapons for sale and tips for offering a range of other products. However, unlike other sites that provide guides, the talent trees lie in their own area, so you do not need to browse through the whole thing to get to them. Archero was initially created for people who wanted to do raids or PvP, but couldn't or didn't have the time to train for that. The guide consists of a customizable character sheet, which you can save.

From that point forward, the Archero website has been my home base for education on how to earn money with Archero. I understand that I got tired of battling the crowd control capabilities on my Shaman, when I could have focused more on damage to get more crowd control results. When selling equipment that is extremely important, it is constantly a excellent concept to offer a variety of choices in the description so that a potential purchaser has something to think of. I was having no luck buying the things I was purchasing. The two best weapons for warriors are the Annihilator and the Blade Flurry. For instance, you'll be able to remove one anger, if you put it to use on your weapons. A common artisan might only have the skills to craft a single weapon, whereas an Armorsmith can craft any variety of them.

For the armor that you make, you will need to have actually the specialized plate armors. I discovered that people constantly seemed to be spending cash on services and products that they didn't require.

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imagineclaireandjamie · 6 years ago

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Hope in Change - Part Three

Part One, Part Two

Murtagh insisted they wait for a while after Roger left the inn to return to the ship. The innkeeper gave Murtagh a signal when Bonnet’s view of their back corner table was conveniently obstructed and the three of them slipped out the back where several of the Regulators were waiting to help with Brianna and Lizzie’s things.

“Where are we going?” Brianna hissed as she followed Murtagh, easily keeping pace. “And who are these men?”

“We’re goin’ to the house of a friend,” Murtagh responded vaguely. “That’s all ye need know until we get there and I have a chance to speak wi’ him and several other acquaintances. Glad as I am to see ye, Bonnet’s interest in ye and yer lad makes me uneasy and I need to change some of my plans to keep ye from bein’ entrusted entirely to strangers.”

Upon reaching their destination, the lady of the house ushered Brianna and Lizzie into her parlor for a cup of tea and polite conversation. Brianna frowned at Murtagh, fully aware and indignant at being excluded from whatever his business might be.

The three men who’d accompanied them from the inn, keeping their distance as best they could to remain inconspicuous, gathered in the kitchen doorway smoking their pipes and casually watching the road.

“Ye’re no goin’ to cancel the raid tonight, are ye man?” the youngest of the three asked.

“We’ll no get a chance like this again,” Murtagh said shaking his head. “It goes forward as planned but I’ll need someone to go in my place.”

“Who’s the lass to ye that she can make ye miss it?” one of the others pressed.

“She’s family and I’ll no leave her till I deliver her safe to her parents’ keeping,” Murtagh explained. “I’ll wait here for word from Abercrombie about the raid. Tomorrow I’ll leave wi’ her and it’ll no be but a few days before I can circle round again to help wi’ distribution. If anyone needs hidin’... I’m sure my forge is bein’ watched but there’s a sympathetic house or two I can get folk inside if there’s need.”

“I’ll take yer place at the head of matters,” the third man asserted. “Abercrombie and the others’ll heed me well enough.”

Murtagh looked to the other two men but both nodded their agreement.

“Then ye’d best get to it, lads,” Murtagh said with a sly grin. “T’would be rude to keep the taxmen waiting.”

The trio disappeared into the night and Murtagh reluctantly turned back to the warmth of the kitchen. Even if his body rejoiced that he wouldn’t be crouching in the cool and damp evening, another part of him itched to take his place leading the raid. Being left behind made him feel… old.

At last he closed the door and turned to find Brianna standing in the entrance to the parlor, watching him closely like she was deciding whether or not to trust him. Too late given she was in one of the Regulators’ safe houses and was under the protection of one of the group’s key leaders.

“Is there somethin’ ye’d like to say, lass?”

Her face softened and she took a few steps into the kitchen. “It’s just… Mama talked about you after she told me about Jamie. She didn’t say much—not as much as she did about Jamie. It’s strange… meeting you now and trying to make it all fit. I didn’t get to spend much time at Lallybroch and Jenny was away. Uncle Ian was… pretty much what I’d expected. But you…”

“A lot can change in twenty years,” Murtagh admitted with a sigh. “Especially when ye’ve been through what I have. I’m no discountin’ what they endured at Lallybroch… But I’ve been captured, imprisoned, shipped across an ocean and indentured, learned a new trade and built a business for myself… I lost many… many friends. Yer mam was one of the for a long time, and yer da… When they separated him from the rest of us when they closed Ardsmuir, I thought they were takin’ him to hang him and that it was the last I’d see him on this earth.”

“Do you think… Are they happy?” Brianna asked. “They’re… together, I know, but is it—are they—like they were before? It was one of the things Mama worried about before she came back.”

Murtagh took one of the chairs from the table and set it near the hearth, then watched as Brianna followed suit.

“Yes and no. I do think they’re happy, but no, it’s no in the same way as before. How could it be wi’ the time and all that passed? Ye’re no the same as ye were twenty years past, are ye?”

Brianna looked worried. “He still loves her though, doesn’t he? I know he left… I know he had a different wife before Mama came back and he chose Mama…”

“Well, tha’s one thing hasna changed—there’s no choice about it, for either of ‘em,” Murtagh chuckled. “It’s funny, what loss can do to ye… It can make ye reckless, make ye ruthless. And then getting back what ye’d thought lost… Makes ye doubly fearful, doubly cautious. Ye ken better then, how much ye took what ye had for granted and ye swear ye willna do the same again for fear ye’ll suffer again the pain ye dinna ken how ye survived before.”

Murtagh looked up to see Brianna staring at him intently. The attention brought heat to his cheeks and he looked away, into the fire.

“What was Mama like?” Brianna asked, her voice quiet. “When she finally told me about Jamie, it was like she became a completely different person. I… didn’t recognize her. Or at least, not all the time. Sometimes she reminded me of how she was with Daddy and the way there was always this… thing, between them. But what she said they did—you did… Meeting royalty and dining at Versailles…”

Murtagh choked on a laugh. “They wore so much powder in their hair ye couldna help breathin’ it in and feelin’ like ye had mud stuck in yer lungs and coatin’ yer nose. And tha’s nothin’ compared to what some of them wore—or neglected to wear… Yer mam didna go in for much of that—couldna to an extent wi’ her condition…” He stopped suddenly and looked to Brianna.

“I know about Faith,” she informed him. “She didn’t say much, but I know…” She cut herself off and shook her head. “I still can’t believe she lied to me for all those years—she and Daddy. I had a right to know.”

“And what about them and their rights?” Murtagh challenged her, albeit gently. “Did yer mam no have a right to her pain? To her grief? When all ye have is memories and hopes, ye guard them. Sharin’ them wi’ those what can’t appreciate them… When tha’s all ye have…” He narrowed his eyes at her. “And what of you? Do ye expect me to believe ye dinna have secrets of yer own? If I asked ye to tell me all that had ever passed between you and yer man from earlier, would ye no keep some of it back or shy from tellin’ a word of it? I didna think so,” he said with satisfaction as she shifted uncomfortably in her chair and wrapped her arms tighter around herself.

“Do I get to ask what it is you and your men are up to tonight? Or is that something you’re going to keep back?” Brianna countered.

“Wi’ the likes of you and yer mam, any time I think to talk of what I’m about, I have to decide is it somethin’ I want to ken how it’ll turn out,” Murtagh mused but Brianna remained silent. “She’s told me of the war to come, but she didna ken anything about the present conflict many good citizens of North Carolina have wi’ our esteemed governor. There’s a group of us objects to the current tax system and how it functions.”

“And you’re going to strike against the governor tonight,” Brianna guessed.

“I’m stayin’ put here waiting,” Murtagh reminded her. “But aye, there promises to be trouble tonight, though wi’ a bit of luck it’ll all be on Tryon’s side.”

Brianna didn’t push for further details and they slipped into an easy silence, both watching the flames in the hearth as they danced and mesmerized.

They must have dozed for when a fervent knocking pulled them back to general awareness, there was barely more than embers left.

The younger man from earlier was out of breath.

“Ye must come quick. There’s a man came to warn us off the raid just as the wagon were comin’ down the road. He said it was a trap and MacMurphy took him as a prisoner.”

Murtagh moved to stand too quickly and had to shake his head to wake himself up fully.

“Did ye get—”

“Didna make our move,” the young man interrupted. “Murph said we ought to be safe rather than sorry and called it off. He’s got the fellow waitin’ for ye to see do ye think he’s one of Tryon’s spies or if ye believe his tale of having been sent to warn ye.”

As Murtagh moved to follow his comrade to whatever room the thwarted raiding party was holding their prisoner, Brianna made to join them.

“You said you weren’t going to let me out of your sight till you delivered me safely to my parents,” Brianna reminded him. “So, I’m coming with you.”

With apparently no time to be lost, Murtagh yielded and held the door for Brianna.

#;mod lenny #Hope in Change AU #featuring: murtagh #featuring: brianna #more familiar faces next installment #and then there'll be some reunions shortly thereafter #(and first meetings)#only a few more installments in this series planned

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