#like all those writers of old who were lonely as alive but remembered in death

[probablyaseamonster]

My paranoid ass, thinking I'm gonna get murdered at any time any time I go outside but even sometimes within the house, getting back into TMA because "nooo, it won't affect me" *pointedly doesn't listen to s1 episode 3 on rebinges*

Goes to the bathroom at 1 AM (the night is the only time I'm actively safe that's my excuse), housemate left the window open (not such an issue now that it's spring), *fucking distorted noise that seems logically to be emanating from a car but is NOT A FUCKING CAR SOUND IN ANY SETTING and also sounds stupidly fictional like a common SFX to boot*

"Ah, so this is when I get killed. They gonna frame this as a suicide aren't they. And goddamnit my hair is doing the anime mom thing I explicitly do Not want to be the fridged trope but I guess my protests were always ignored. I wonder if I have time to write up a will or if they're coming any second"

And being CHILL about that shit-?

[mrs-ulysses]

a love letter to Hozier

Dear Andrew,

I spent the summer thinking I might have been a lesbian, but then I got your last album and fell in love with you.

I’m writing this because I’m a writer. I pitched the idea of an essay about having a celebrity crush to my friend, explained the crush and she said, well, you should write him a letter.

I’m 31, so I wasn’t ready to have a crush on a singer I’ll never see in my life. I feel like a teen, and I don’t like it. Maybe because it reminds me of how old and lonely I get. My friend says, but Sasha, it just means you’re alive, and your heart is finding ways to feel something.

The line between acting honest and acting crazy is a thin one, especially for women, but hopefully I’ll walk the line. 

What not to love about you, though? A tall man with a halo of golden hair; a man who says “capitalism is a cult”; a man who supports the weakest; a man who sings of love that wins over death. The embodiment of everything I ever wanted in a man. What a sweet unrest it brings.

The algorithms of social networks are kind to me: they show me more and more videos from gigs and interviews. I feel shy when I see your face, or hear you speaking. I’ve always been the invisible one, a quiet admirer, mesmerised by the beauty. If we were in the same room, I’d probably try not to look at you at all costs, as if my love is a beam of light, and, reflected from you, it’d burn me down.

As you said in an Q&A I watched the other night, one can’t truly experience love without experiencing the sorrow. When I feel the love, I’m scared; I can sense the destruction this feeling promises. 

I had a dream this week; don’t worry, it’s a decent one. We were together and I was sad, and you tried to comfort me; the moment i’m trying to describe is quite hard to grasp: I woke up with the feeling of a soft breath on my neck and the electric sensation of beard touching my skin. 

It was so real, surreal. It never happened, but I remember it.

I’m an amateur of love, but a pro at heartbroken.

There’s a difference between knowing and being. I’ve always been in the knowing team, but this year I rejected knowledge: it felt exhausted. This letter is my attempt to be.

I’ve been identifying as queer for a couple of years. The word queer is handy because it allows me to not provide any explanations; it’s a way to quickly say “I feel like an alien here and still I am painfully aware I’m human”.

I’m trying to figure out who I am, and I think I am a possibility: a possibility of many different lives. 

I’ve never understood—and always admired—those who are just sure about themselves. How can anyone declare themself to be any one thing, and not the other? I support it, but I know I can be both, given the circumstances. I am both.

I think, loving someone is not about their sex or gender; loving someone is about the soul alignment, and maybe a bit of fate. Loving you and listening to your songs helped me to pave the way to myself, the one I lost in three last heartbreaks.

Having a crush on an unfamiliar person can be considered comfortable: I easily can avoid the content I don’t like and consume the content I prefer: where you sing certain songs or your hair is of certain length, or, or, or. I can cherish your explanations of your own lyrics, and ignore something else. Maybe I don’t ignore anything now, but nevertheless it is an imaginary relationship, a true love towards an imaginary person. 

But aren’t all persons around us imaginary? Don’t we always ignore the boring stuff and highlight the great stuff about those we love?

The paradox of love, I think, is that we usually fall for people who are very similar to ourselves, and yet meeting them unlocks some doors in our hearts that we were unaware of. So we need to inhabit ourselves again, and we see these people as our best guides. If life is a journey, we’re not the travelers, but the place that’s being traveled.

I decided I want to explore this crush; one of the most interesting parts of it is the end. When will it happen? How? Why? Right now I can’t believe that at some point I’ll stop sing along to Take me to church, or cry to Francesca (I have a 4’ video of myself crying to it, and still do cry, even when in public). I was walking with my headphones on, and thought: what if it is happening right now, as I’m listening to the Son of Nyx? And I felt frightened. I don’t want this feeling to go. But I’m still mesmerised by your smile, I checked. I still smile back.

Will all my love,

Sasha

[firstprince-history-huh]

Here's some Lone Star questions for you for nice ask day/weekend!

Suprise, Tim Minear has put you in charge of LS! (In a perfect world where everyone gets paid a fair wage for their work.) What's next for Tarlos besides the Gabriel of it all?

If you could bring one past character back, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

You get to do a crossover with *any* other show, past or present, what show would it be?

Pick a special episode: Valentines day ep, Halloween ep, Christmas ep, musical ep, animated ep, AU ep (like Mateo's sitcom dream)

You get to delete one thing from the show's history without it messing anything up, what do you get rid of?

Pick a celebrity guest star. What would their role be?

Firefighter TK or paramedic TK?

For Carlos: Officer Reyes, Detective Reyes, Ranger Reyes, or something completely different (non law enforcement?)

Flashback episode for TK's life in NYC (pre Alex), or a flashback episode of young Carlos growing up on the ranch (including his friendship with Iris)

A (new) work partner for Carlos or a new recruit at the firehouse?

Buttercup or Lou II?

TK's cousins or Carlos' sisters?

Andrea calling TK mijo or Owen calling Carlos son?

Reyes-Strand or Strand-Reyes?

Hey! Thank you for the ask! I'm so sorry for the late reply!

Oh what if Tim put me in charge of LS! I'm no expert on the matter, but I would love to think what I would do if I'm the showrunner/main writer!

Re: Tarlos, I would just love to see the normal domestic life at home & just them interacting at scenes!

One past character: Gwyn/Gabriel. Although I know that both their deaths were pivotal moments for their sons, but I just miss them so much!

Crossover: Schitt's Creek & RWRB. Although I know RWRB is book/movie, but a couple days ago I remember seeing this post on my dash, idk who posted it. It was about a RWRB x Schitt's Creek x 911 LS crossover & that sounded AMAZING!

Special episode: Any of those holiday-themed ones! I would love to see all the 126 shenanigans & the holiday-specific calls they would get!

I don't think there's anything I want to delete from the show!

Celebrity guest star: As Ronen said (at Paris this year, I think), JPK! I don't have a specific role in mind, but i would like to see her character interact with TK!

TK: Can I say both? Switching to paramedic was wonderful character development for him, but i kinda miss firefighter TK!

Carlos: Although Detective/Ranger would be a great career promotion, as Tim mentioned sometime during/after season 3, Carlos not being an officer & having a different rank would mean he won't be on scenes as often. And I want to see him on scenes. So Officer Reyes it is.

Flashbacks: I wanna see both! NYC TK (pre-Alex) & young Carlos growing up on the family ranch & how he became friends with Iris!

I kinda wanna see more of Carlos's work partner Lexi Mitchell. So no new partener, but more of his old partner!

I LOVE BUTTERCUP & LOU II BOTH!

More of the both, the cousins & the sisters!

Andrea calling TK mijo & Owen calling Carlos son, BOTH!

Strand-Reyes or Reyes-Strand: I kinda like both. I've always been team hyphenate.

I absolutely loved this ask so much! I enjoyed it so much! And once sorry for the late reply!

❤❤❤❤❤

[tomurasprincess]

Kinktober Day 24: Monster (The Asylum)

Day 24: Monster Title: The Asylum Pairing: Mothman Shigaraki x Reader Word Count: 3.1k Warnings: Noncon, monster mind control stuff, oviposition, cumflation, belly bulges, breeding, forced orgasms, some slight descriptions of gore and blood, yandere Note: The Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum is a real place, although parts of what I wrote is fake, mostly the part where they close down a second time in the fic. IRL, they’re still open and doing tours. Tagging @ichor-and-symbiosis​ and @kazooli​ as two of the OG Mothura writers 👀

Sequel: The Brood

Kinktober Masterlist

You’ve always loved urban exploring, going to old mental asylums and hospitals to look around and see the decay of places that used to be so bustling with people. You especially liked the places that had tragic pasts, the ones where horrific things occurred. It sounds morbid to anyone you talk to about your interests, but it was the truth. You’ve always believed in monsters and ghosts just out of sight of humanity, lurking in the dark corners of abandoned places.

That’s why you instantly planned a trip to the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum the second you heard about it. It had been abandoned years ago due to extreme abuse of patients. A historical society had moved in later, renovating the place and making a history tour of it that also did ghost tours at night.

But even they ended up abandoning the place due to the fake ghost tours apparently starting to become real ghost tours. People began to see creatures out of the corner of their eyes, something they said was much larger than a human, with wings on its back and piercing red eyes.

It was initially dismissed as overactive imaginations, people who wanted to see ghosts so badly that they were seeing things that weren’t there. Or people who just wanted to start tall tales  for attention and were flat out making things up in order to scare the rest of the group.

But then the disappearances started to happen. It was almost always young women who got separated from the tour group, although a few times it was a boyfriend and girlfriend who got lost together. The tour guides scoured every inch of the asylum looking for the missing people, but they found no trace of them. At first it was dismissed as the people getting scared and running off without telling anybody.

Until one day, a regularly scheduled tour group stumbled across the bodies. Not the bodies of the missing girls, but their partners. They were viciously torn apart, with limbs scattered all over the room. Their blood covered the walls, the floor, even the ceiling of the room. The women were alive but traumatized, rocking back and forth in a corner of the room absolutely covered in blood, none of which was their own.

They told the same tales that the rest of the people did. They were captured by a monster, around 8-9 feet tall, with large moth-like wings and red eyes. The creature was surprisingly gentle to them, they said, at least until they saw that they were with someone. The creature had become enraged, tearing their partner to pieces as they watched. They knew for certain that they would be next, their eyes squeezed tight as they waited for their death.

But the creature did nothing, simply turning away and leaving the room like they were not what the creature wanted.

Although everyone agreed that something horrible had happened to the young women, none of them believed their story. They had stayed in that room for several days, covered in the blood of their loved ones, not knowing if they were ever going to make it out. Of course they were traumatized, thinking they saw monsters. But monsters aren’t believed to exist, and so everyone began to look for a human murderer that was never found.

The asylum tried to recover from the tragedy, but it was never able to. The amount of bad press they got for having lax safety standards and not taking care of their tour groups caused everybody to stay away. Finally, having no other choice in the matter, the asylum had closed.

When you heard this story, you were over the moon excited. Not just a historical landmark, but also a place with a possible real life monster sighting. Nothing was going to stop you from going there and seeing the place for yourself.

And now here you stand, in front of the building with a backpack full of supplies slung over your shoulder. You had your phone, flashlights with spare batteries, a spare change of clothes, matches and lighters, even a rope and various other tools should something happen inside of the building.

And so, with a deep excitement bubbling up in your stomach, you find your way through a hole in the fence and walk through the front door. The first thing you see is the reception desk with various odds and ends left over from the closure. There are even still brochures describing the various types of tours and listing prices.

You walk down the first corridor you see, going past various closed off rooms that look to be basic examination rooms. There is surprisingly little decay, mostly everything still looking rather clean and intact besides a thick layer of dust and cobwebs covering everything. You’re a bit discouraged but decide to continue on to see if things get more interesting.

After all, the murders occured in the basement, and you’re not anywhere close to that yet.

Soon you find yourself in the medical ward where the patients were kept, and you instantly realize one of the reasons this hospital was so nightmarish. The rooms are even smaller than jail cells, leaving barely enough space for patients to lay down in. There are so many rooms of that exact size that you wonder how the staff could accurately take care of the amount of patients there had to be. But you remember your research, remember the fact that they couldn’t.

That was why so many brutal procedures were performed such as lobotomies, in order to keep the peace at the asylum and make things easier for the doctors and nurses. You give a quick shudder and begin to move on, feeling a strange sensation that you desperately want to get away from.

The decay gets worse and worse the closer you get to the basement, rust and decay beginning to cover every surface you see. You walk past some of the surgery rooms and feel horror at the utensils and instruments you see in them. The historical society tried to keep things as accurate as possible, and as such, they had kept most of the equipment that you would see back in those days.

You’re beginning to wonder if this is a good idea, as that strange sensation continues to worsen and worsen. You realize with a start what this feeling actually is.

It feels like someone is watching your every movement. You whirl around, shining your flashlight in every direction as you try to see what’s watching you. But there’s nothing but darkness and the decaying walls of the hospital. You shake your head, laughing quietly at the fact that you’re spooked out by a few weird shadows and an odd feeling.

You’re not going to let it stop you from your goal, however, and you continue forwards until you get to the doors of the basement. The feeling here is overwhelming, simultaneously telling you to run and move forward all at the same time. The conflicting emotions leave you off balance and light headed, and you reach your hand out instinctively when you sway on your feet. You touch a section of the wall and instantly pull your hand back.

The wall is warm, not cold like it should be. A sense of unease crawls up your spine, and you decide then and there that it’s time to go. Making it to the basement is not worth this, whatever it is you’re feeling. But then you hear a soft humming and the flapping of wings, coming from deep within the basement of the hospital.

Instead of being terrified, however, you feel entranced. It’s one of the most beautiful things you’ve ever heard, and it’s calling you. You open the basement door without even thinking about it, walking down the stairs in a dreamy haze. You don’t even pay attention to how heavy the rot here is, how the walls are entirely blackened by decay that spreads out like veins on a body.

You don’t pay attention when the door slams closed behind you, locking you in with whatever is calling you closer. All you can think about is getting to that beautiful sound, that lonely haunting call that seems to burrow deep into your brain. You walk as if you’re in a trance, turning corridors that you’ve never seen before but somehow know where they’re going.

Finally, you get to a door that is deep within the bowels of the basement, a bright red door that seems to beckon you inside. You push open the door with no hesitation, walking through and letting it close behind you.

And you finally come face to face with the creature. He is about 9 feet tall, towering over your small form. He’s not overly muscular, but he has a thin wiry look to him that says he is deceptively strong. His red eyes bore into you like they’re staring directly into your soul. On his back are two massive wings, spread to their full wing span and utterly gorgeous.

The creature makes a small chittering noise as he motions you towards him, and you follow like he’s a puppeteer holding your strings. He pulls you tightly into his body, burying his nose into your neck and taking a deep whiff of your skin. His hot breath on your sensitive skin pulls a shudder from you. and he tightens his grip as if he’s worried you’ll get away.

A long tongue pokes out of his mouth, licking at the pulse point that is frantically beating. “Mine,” he groans into your skin, sharp teeth grazing you. “Mate.” You’re lifted up off your feet before being laid down on the ground, hips in the air and face down on the floor. He rips your pants off easily, leaving your panties on as he lowers his head down. You feel a flash of embarrassment as he sniffs them like he sniffed your neck, groaning again as his tongue drags across the wet abric. “Fertile,” he whispers as he pulls your panties aside, “fertile mate.”

The haze parts from your mind long enough for you to feel a sharp flash of fear, and then his tongue is lapping at your folds and the fear is quickly chased away again. You dig your nails into the floor as you feel him work his tongue inside of you, using it to fuck you like a cock would. You gasp when he hits your cervix with his tongue and keeps going, wiggling against the barrier like he’s trying to break through it.

Something in his saliva causes your body to heat up and your muscles to loosen enough for him to batter his tongue harder against you and push through. Your scream echoes through the walls of the room, but not of pain. Instead, a fierce pleasure overtakes you as your cervix gives way to the creature’s tongue, allowing him to enter into your womb.

The feeling of this tongue wiggling around in your empty womb causes you to tip over the edge and cum around the creature’s tongue as he eagerly laps at your juices. He withdraws his tongue, causing you to let out a whine of disappointment, only to be surprised when you feel something prodding at your entrance. It doesn’t feel like a human cock at all, with ridges and bumps along the length and much thicker than a human cock would be.

You have a single moment to wonder how it will fit inside of you before it’s pushing in, stretching out your tight outer ring of muscles and causing a sharp burning in your lower stomach. You whine and try to pull away, only for the creature to let out a snarl as claws dig into your hips, causing your blood to drip down onto the pavement.

Even though there is no pain, only more pleasure, you learn your lesson and don’t try to move away as the thick cock slides even further into you. It’s so much thicker than anything you’ve ever taken before, and you’re shaking like a leaf when he finally bottoms out inside. You think he’ll start thrusting like a human male would, except that he doesn’t.

He keeps pushing, humping into you with sharp movements designed to force your cervix open even further. You squeal as the cock makes it past the barrier, burying deep inside of your womb. You glance down and let out a choked sob at the bulge in your stomach where the tip of the creature’s cock is.

“Pretty - pretty mate,” the creature says hesitantly, rolling his hips experimentally into you and drawing a groan from your throat. “Tomura,” he adds, and it takes you a second to realize that’s the creature’s name.

“Tomura,” you murmur, and the creature chitters happily at the sound of your voice saying the name. You try to think of something else to ask, maybe even to beg to be released as the haze seems to clear a bit, but Tomura begins to hum again, and you instantly smile in bliss as all of your concern fades away.

You feel something else pushing into your entrance, and it takes a long moment to realize what it is as you feel it slip up your stretched out tunnel.

Eggs. The creature is filling you with eggs. Instead of being horrified, however, you moan as they continue to move inside of you. There are multiple eggs at once, small and gooey, and they coat your insides with wetness as they make their way to your still stretched out cervix.

You feel them pass through the opening to plop down into your womb, and you cry out and cum hard, pussy wildly fluttering around Tomura’s cock. He lets out a deep grunt of pleasure as he rocks his hips against you, and you feel more eggs pushing into you. This time, a few of them get stuck against a spongy spot inside of you, and you scream out your orgasm, legs shaking and eyes rolling to the back of your head.

“Fuck, oh god, shit, Tomura - “ you babble mindlessly as more eggs push into you, “it feels so good, why does it - “

Before those eggs can push fully in, there are already more entering you, and you feel so incredibly full. They drop down into your no longer empty womb, wringing another orgasm from your tired body. The skin of your stomach is stretching, making you look bloated, and Tomura still isn’t done.

You lose track of time completely, only aware of your body twitching and convulsing as more and more eggs push up into you, settling into your womb with the rest of them. Your stomach already looks 9 months pregnant, and you can barely hold yourself up.

Tomura sees this, and he gently picks you up and lays you down on your back. “Pretty mate,” he leans and kisses your forehead, “look so good with my children. Our children.”

“Oh god, no more, please no more, I’m so full Tomura,” you whimper as more eggs push into you. “Please, so full - “

Tomura hums softly at you, and you smile with bliss as the final eggs plop down into your womb.  His movements become more savage, thrusting hard into you as he grunts and groans. The force of his thrusts has you sliding up, breasts bouncing and your belly jiggling. The feeling of the eggs moving around inside of you has you howling out your orgasm, blackness dotting the edge of your vision as you almost lose consciousness.

Finally, Tomura is finished, and his cock begins to twitch inside of you as hot ropes of cum fill you up, shooting directly into your womb where the eggs reside. You sob as you watch your stomach bulge out even more as the creature’s cum fertilizes the eggs inside. You can no longer see the dents and valleys of the eggs along your stomach, and you reach down to gently run your hand over your bloated stomach.

You can feel the eggs through the barrier of skin, and it causes your eyes to roll back at the pleasure. Tomura gives a soft, happy chirp as he places his hand over yours on your belly, rubbing it gently. He pulls out slowly, causing a mixture of your cum and his to gush out of your now gaping pussy.

He reaches down to pick you up as he walks towards a door in the back of the room that you hadn’t noticed before. You’re shocked by what you see when you walk through. It’s an utterly untouched room, still looking brand new and with none of the decay that covers the rest of the basement. There is no bed, but there is a pile of clean blankets and pillows in the corner, piled up high and in a circle.

A nest, you realize. It’s a nest. For you. He tucks you in gently, chirping again as his clawed hand runs over your pregnant belly. “Mate,” he says happily, “my pretty little mate.” He stands up and walks towards the door, turning to you one last time as his gaze narrows and darkens just a bit.

“No running. Don’t want to have to tie mate down.” He continues to gaze at you, as if waiting for something.

“I won’t run,” you say quietly, and the dark look on his face is gone instantly as he beams at you.

“Good mate, good.” And with that, he’s gone.

With his absence, some of the haze lifts and you’re able to realize the horror of the situation you’re in. Nobody knows where you are, and you’re trapped. Even if you wanted to run, you don’t think you could with how large your belly is. No escape and no help coming for you, and the creature already seems so possessive of you that he’s not going to let you easily escape.

If only you had listened to your instincts earlier, if only you hadn’t been so fascinated with the grotesque, if only you had simply chosen to stay home.

You’ve always believed in monsters. You just never thought you would find one.

✧༝┉┉┉┉┉˚*❋ ❋ ❋*˚┉┉┉┉┉༝✧

Kinktober: @thewheezingwyvern​, @vixen-scribbles​, @katsukisprincess​, @hisoknen​, @trafalgar-temptress​, @leeswritingworld, @burnedbyshoto​, @bakugotrashpanda​, @dee-madwriter​, @kittycatkrissa​, @reinawritesbnha​, @yanderart​, @dabilove27​, @anxietyplusultra​, @flutterfalla​, @angmarwitch​, @nereida19​, @babayaga67​, @fromsunnywithlove​, @dabis-kitten​, @bakugos-cumsock​, @yumeneji​, @the-grimm-writer​, @iwaizumi-chan​, @slashersheart​, @bunnyywritings​, @bakarinnie​, @angie-1306​, @lalalemon101​​, @videogameboiwhowins​​, @f4nficbaby​​, @tenkoshimmy​, @baroque-baby​​, @bbyspiiice​​, @thirstyforthem2dmen​​, @blissfulignorance2000​, @bluecookies02-main​

[alberivh]

the unknown contract

summaries: an old tale of zhongli and his past lover, who’s known to have an unordinary contract between their noble family and an unknown villager. Which only lead zhongli to choose his final decision for the sake of his lover.

characters: zhongli x fem! Reader

Warning & Mentions : Major Character Death, Heavy Angst, slight comfort/hurt, implied Tuberculosis, Mentions of Curses.

PS : you’re the ‘young-lady Hua’ , Hua is the clan of your character :D

A/N : i actually have wrote this before but i couldn’t manage to finished it, so i decided to make a short version of it. Also, i actually hate this because i have a really bad writer-block right now, but i Hope you all still like it !!

the wind of the fall have occurs their way to liyue. It was pretty cold indeed, especially because it was unexpected for them to have a fall-break in the middle of the festival. zhongli managed to escaped from the crowded area of liyue’s harbour midnight-fall festival. still, At the end he never finds a way back to the small inn he always adore since the past of an old liyue.

He still remembers the first meeting of the young-lady hua and himselves. She is..unexpectedly not a professional at making a friendship contract. Though, i find her quiet the charming one.

“please mr.unknown, be my friend! I’ll promise i’ll gave you the tea you’ve just sipped for free till the day i got kicked out from this inn!! oh and yes, here take the flower! These glaze lilies are a product of our friendship alright, mr. Unknown? Let this be a contract for both of us”

even if it were still in the middle of the autumn, her smile brighten zhongli cold gaze to a warm melt of the sun. Mr. Unknown, such a nostalgic phrase zhongli could ever think. As This were, the first contract of the Young - Lady Hua and the eternal Geo Archon, Morax.

3 months and 15 days have past since zhongli first meeting with the Young Lady Hua. They both have fell in love and it’s time to confess their connection. but how should a young lady of the richest noble clan from liyue able to confess her love without feeling any guilt..? How should an unknown man confess his true feelings to her who still hides the facades of her family in her hands? Many questions popped to their heads, but none of them could ever open the topic.

“younglady- ah-i mean (name)..excuse my tardiness, can i ask y—“

“Mr. Unknown..have you ever heard the rumors of the Hua Clan..?” , she cutted through his words. Maybe there’s something to be told before she confess, wouldn’t it?

“i guess you don’t know..huh..”

silence pierce the atmosphere, and a sigh from the Young Lady crossover it to change this Mr.Unknown mind.

“There’s an old tale where the first descendants of the Hua Clan, My great great grandfather, have made a contract with one of the God’s..it was painfully obvious that it wasn’t a great idea…well Mr. Unknown, do you know the body of the contract..?”

“i- never knew anything about this..milady-i mean (name) so what is it?” , concern yet anxious to know. This Mr.Unknown still put his pokerface while asking such a question to this pathetic-looking young lady.

“well mr.unknown..my grandfather cursed all of the descendants for living our lifes with old-money that he have worked for since ages..so he signed the contracts with the god’s, he wrote in the contract..let the descendants of my clan, women and such, suffer from blood and disgust at the age of 25 to the 3 months of living..”

“And this year..i’m going to be 25..and i’ll be the descendants of this disgusting clan..so, mr unknown, would you still love me until my time has come..?”

such a tragical plea to appear and such a confess to be heard. Zhongli only wanted to despised her now, how can she live with this even after she knew how her time has been predicted ever since the generations? How can she still smile at him even after she knew she was about to die? Just how.. zhongli wanted to hide his face, he feels like he did nothing but being a burden to your facades.

i shouldn’t have met you.. i don’t wanted to troubled you..

He is a god. yet he still couldn’t forgive himself for not being aware of his mortal contracts with the unknown. How can he even managed to tell her the truth after he knew how much of a failure he is?

“mr. unknown, let’s ran-away from here and live together till the 3 months of my life..i love you mr.unknown..so please, let this be my next contract with you..i—”

“lets go, i’ll be staying with you..i’m not wasting my time here, so please my love..stay with me till the contract has come to an end.”

This unknown man have hugged his lover for the first time. The warm of his lover felt like a melt of an ice for him, it was painful yet so beautiful for him to feel her now-frail presence..how can he never feel this in the past? Was he really just a-lone-god..?

1 week after their confession. Blood starts to spilled out from the young-lady mouth. it was a textured blood, which you could only found as a symptoms of the ‘consumption’ the book in liyue’s folklore has ever wrote. It was..dark and painful to vomit.

happy birthday to myself..the Lady of Hua.

She haven’t even told Mr. unknown about the symptomps she just suffered. It’s not the right time she thinks. Still, there’s a slight of suspicious look came from the sight of his lover.

2 weeks and 3 days have past since her birthday. Zhongli haven’t found any evidence to proof his suspicions and worries. Though, he founds something on her shirt..a cough of blood. Even at the end, zhongli couldn’t managed to bring up the subject nor if he had the braveness to approach the subject.

“..she’s still alive”

And the Third week has came. Zhongli couldn’t find his lover anywhere around the harbor. thinking she was abducted by the elder of the clan who have caught the glimpse of her structure. He rans through Mount Tianheng and The Crowded area of the Harbor for hours now. Still he doesn’t found any clue surrounding your existence.

he found her. Lying in the back of the crowded corridor of the Harbor, Slightly Unconscious. Many soft-red dry scars have been spotted near her wrist and legs, it even worried him more than before.

“love..are you awake..?”

and a blood cought out from her mouth. As chills ran from zhongli’s spine, he carry out her body in a bridal style so this young-lady of his could feel his presence, beside from her suffering from something she couldn’t control. The blood she vomitted are now became a droplets of rains in zhongli’s hands. How come it drops as if it were never stopped?

Zhongli rans to the inn as fast as his mortal body can. He doesn’t wanted to waste his time searching for physics, because he knew deep inside, the citizens of the harbor have been looking for this young-Lady and her ‘kidnapper’ after the clan have decided to gave 1 million mora of their fortune to the founders of the-now Lady Hua.

“mr.unknown..i really..i really, don’t want to die…”

“hold onto my arms love..we’ll be home soon, so take your time to rest your body here” , zhongli started to panicked after he saw his lover now-sorrowed eyes. It was painfully beautiful how she look so comfortable in arms of the unknown as if it were her habitat to be familiar with those the faith reserved for.

Heavy breathing came past onto her mouth, and wind guide her to her frail word.

“Mr. Unknown..all i could ask is for you to..love me and forgive me..– i love you..”

“i love you..and i despised the fact i couldn’t met you sooner..”

“I love you..”

and the words she said are now just a memories of zhongli’s past. It’s the last thing he ever heard from his lady after she cough out the last droplets of blood. she doesn’t escape the last 2 months of her life, but she still smile at me. She is a disguise of my old lover.

The glaze lilies they both sworn to each other as the ‘first contract’ of their relationship are now left as a petals of remembrance zhongli has treasured for ages.

And as a gift for their 150 years worth of memories and which could only past as 3 months of relationship, zhongli bought a gift. It’s a proposal ring he couldn’t managed to bought back then, it’s a ring of promises and swear. He uses it in daily basis, even hu tao recognize this special ring he always use when he met the clients of the parlor or when he ran some errands for her.

love..your tombstone are now just a sand of remembrance but here in this ring, i could still remember your presence..

my name is now zhongli and not the unknown.. but dear, i wish i could still hear your phrases when i recall your name again..

[lamelinam]

The maid and the Cat, Ren and Akira: some musings

What gloomy love brightened the half-lives of the Sohmas’ most Cursed ones?

I often wonder what the relationship between the former Cat and his attendant would have looked like, twisted and sad as it must have been. Precious little is shown about those two, and only through Kazuma’s pov. We know she took care of and pitied the Cat, to the point that she even slept with him and bore his child. This is not unlike Kureno’s relationship with Akito. She might have treated him with the same kindness and devotion, distant, perhaps harmful, yet selfless.

Selfless? I think another way to extrapolate on the story of Kazuma’s grandparents is with Ren and Akira’s relationship.

Many great meta writers have already pointed out that those who fill in the positions at the extremes of the Sohma hierarchy, the Cat and God, or in this case the Cat and the idolized, deified family head, are foils to each other and are the ones that are dehumanized and isolated the most.

But now I think that you can also compare the way the previous Cat and Akira both chose ("chose" being a relative term in the case of the Cat) a romantic partner.

(Akira wasn’t God, but as the family head, he was worshipped just like Akito. His sickness also contributed to making him stand apart. Not only was he kept inside the compound because of his frailty, the hold that death had on him blessed him with this ephemeral, divine aura. “Was it the sorrow that befell him at such a young age that gave him that otherworldly beauty?»)

Both Kazuma’s grandfather and Akito’s father were doomed, Akira to die an early death, Kazuma’s grandfather to live the life of a living dead. Both were buried alive in the Sohma estate, either at the outskirts or at the center of it.

Both reached out to their progeny. (But Kazuma rejected the offered cake, and will endeavour to atone and honour his grandfather’s memory. Akito clung to every memento she had of her father and will need to learn to let go of him.)

And both the previous Cat and Akira found some measure of comfort in the affections and arms of their female caretakers, Sohma servants who saw their loneliness and expressed their compassion, though not in a particularly healthy way: Kazuma’s grandmother acting out of pity, Ren out of obsessive love.

It’s interesting to me how their respective position was reflected in their partners’ feelings : the imprisoned, despised Cat, Kazuma’s grandmother looked down on. The respected, otherworldly beautiful Akira was adored by Ren.

Kazuma sums up his grandparents’ relationship thusly:

Those correspond to the main "duties" that a wife is traditionally supposed to provide her husband.

The day-to-day caring.

Childbearing.

Attending their husband’s deathbed.

Obviously Ren wished she could have skipped the second one and be there for the last one. (I headcanon that she had prepared her last words years in advance, finding small pleasures and comfort, on the back of the wave of despair anticipating Akira’s death, in rehearsing the declarations of passionate love she would address to the dying man.)

The Cat’s companion attended her partner’s deathbed, seemingly very composed, even cold, as seen in Kazuma’s memories, while Ren, deprived of her husband’s last moments, that she felt were “stolen” from her by Akito (in reality by the maids :@), was mad with grief.

"The only one who can save him"

Those parallels make me wonder whether or not the Cat’s companion might not have developed a saviour complex, like Ren, both believing that they were the only one able to save this lonely, condemned person they were taking care of, and relishing it.

“I love you” vs "I pity you"

On Ren’s side though, it seems that she believes she truly saw Akira, as the person hiding behind that otherworldly aura, filled with sadness and fearful of death. Seeing that Akira agrees with her ("Ren noticed I was lonely"), fought against the Sohma leaders and regretted on his deathbed that he and Ren couldn’t reconcile, I believe this is not a delusion of hers. Her love was genuine and passionate, and she and Akira were happy. Unfortunately, that happiness didn’t survive her pregnancy, for she was also jealous and obsessed.

Kazuma supposes that his grandmother believed that she was doing something good. I wonder at her expression. It is shadowed, enigmatic. Is it a smirk or not, is she sad or not? i wonder whether she was selfless in her pity, like Kureno, or selfish like Kagura, perhaps feeling better by «sacrificing» herself in associating with the Cat for the sake of a miserable soul.

(Whatever you can say or imagine about her, Kazuma doesn’t seem to suffer from the stigma of being the Cat’s grandson, nor does he bear any trace of an abusive upbringing - in fact, he was among those doing the abusing - or even the echoes of the previous generation’s, so my guess is that she was an okay mother and grandmother... which would have made Kazuma’s disappointment and hurt at her words all the sharper... Like Tohru thinking of the zodiacs members she finds so kind and adorable secretly looking down on someone else she realizes she cares about more than she thought.)

There is no way to know how the Cat reacted to a pity-love. But considering Kureno and Akito’s relationship, this might also have been but a superficial balm, and potentially just as hurtful. Then it depends on the interpretation. Kureno’s pity cocooned Akito and kept her from moving forward, but the Cat was condemned anyway to an eternity of imprisonment. Moving forward was forbidden to him. And if his self-worth was already completely destroyed as his role and his treatment are meant to do, he might have just felt grateful towards the attendant. There’s no way to say for sure whether he would have been hurt or not by the truth, and I don’t know which option is the saddest!

... but I know what could be sadder. Because is the maid entirely to blame? We know that in Fruits Basket, love requires a measure of selfishness. The one cursed with the Cat has no self, no existence, no wants and no future, and they accept this fate. They believe they deserve it. (Which is why the Cat's Room doesn't need bars in the manga, nor locks. Rin was under lock and keys because either Akito didn't completely trust her to keep her word or she didn't want someone to discover her.)

It would be very difficult for someone to fall in love with a person who has renounced to everything, perhaps including love. Because who's to say that the Cat loved the maid too?

Recognition vs indifference

How depressingly fitting that we don't even learn the Cat's name, while Akira’s is remembered by all and echoes back and forth in the later part of the story.

Ren marrying the Sohma family head was such a big political deal it provoked a family schism. The Cat’s story with the maid gets completely ignored. It is probably known, just not "officially recognized", says Kazuma. Like everything related to the Cat, it was relegated to the back of the minds, in the dusty closet of the things that are uncomfortable to think about but that you tolerate if it doesn’t upend your little world-view. Ugh, some maid is being inappropriate with that monster! Well, as long as she doesn’t free the loathsome creature, who cares. (And she wouldn’t, because she’s no Tohru.)

In contrast, the maids of the main family thought that Ren was stealing Akira from their grasp. Ren didn’t seem to care for the family, and in a way, her love allowed Akira to also escape from them, "snatched away" by "that woman”, for the old attendant. Unlike the Cat’s attendant, Ren felt like a threat to the Sohma strict hierarchical system. (Fortunately, God will be born to bring back the right order of things, phew! Certainly she he will accomplish what Akira-san was momentarily too misguided to do and rid us of that woman!)

Inheritance.

Both women's profession of their true feelings deeply marked their progeny and the way they view relationship, whether personal or not, romantic or filial.

While her mother affirmed that "a woman only needs one man", Akito leaned on the love of the zodiacs ; Kazuma viewed and loved Kyo as a human and dreaded that his son would find himself in the same situation as his grandfather but also with the same kind of companionship. (His reaction to Kagura speaks of a long-held anxiety). But Ren's hatred for Akito coloured the way Akito interpreted her words, while Kazuma’s grandmother’s declaration shook Kazuma, his personal relationship with his grandmother notwithstanding.

This comparison isn't about good or evil, neither to judge those characters. Furuba isn’t about that. Obviously, they are not blameless. But it is very difficult to say whether or not Kazuma’s grandmother was wrong to act out of pity if it provided a bit of comfort to a prisoner. And is it surprising that Ren developed this saviour’s complex when it seems she was the only one willing to breach Akira’s isolation bubble?

Anyway, Takaya-sensei is really good at making foils. Either because she does it on purpose or because her characters are so deeply intertwined with the themes of the series the parallels appear on their own. But in this case, I don’t think it’s for nothing that the chapters recounting Ren and the Cat’s attendant stories follow each other (chapters 114 and 115).

Of course, this meta is less an analysis and more suppositions and conjectures (frankly, I wonder if I might not as well have written a fanfic). From the little we see, the Cat’s companion and Ren work as distorted yin-yang mirrors, their differences highlighting the similarities of their situations, from the ugly effects of the inner workings of the Sohma cult to the messed up inner workings of the heart. Genuine but obsessed, jealous love... Pity, perhaps self-serving, in the guise of martyred love.... One thing I can say for sure is that these two both gave me chills in their own way.

[teenwolffan-with-nolife]

The Witch and The Wolf Pt.44

Word Count: 2,497

Characters: Derek Hale, Isaac Lahey, Rafael McCall (mentioned), Chris Argent (brief), Demon!Reader

Pairings: Eventual Derek Hale x Witch!Reader

Warnings: angst, some minor characters death, actual shitty writing

A/N: this is like third-person omniscient sort of but not rly i guess

A/N 2: blech, I still have writer’s block so sorry for this one :/

Masterlist    Series Masterlist

“(Y/N), it’s me, again. Call me back if you get this,” there was the 10th voicemail left by Derek, calling you once again.

Stiles was at Eichen House, Scott, Isaac, and Allison were trying to look for some sort of scroll, talking about exorcising the nogitsune out of Stiles. Derek and Chris sat handcuffed in cells, while the entire police department was out looking for you. The two of them stayed there for the day before being released. Derek still had no idea where you were. 

Your cellphone soon became out of service, no way of contacting you at all. 

“Derek!” Isaac ran into the loft frantically, snapping Derek’s attention away from you for a brief moment.

“What? What is it?” 

“(Y/N)’s a demon,” he started.

“What?” Derek tensed up, clenching his jaw as he uncrossed his arms.

“How do you know?” he asked, running to Isaac.

“Because Agent McCall sent deputies out to go look for her, three of them supposedly died from a heart attack,” Isaac explained.

Damn it, Derek thought.

“Well, we need to trap her,” Derek said.

“How?”

“Help me find her spellbook. There’s a way to trap her until we figure out something else…” Derek started, before frowning.

“What book?” Isaac watched as Derek ran across the loft anxiously, looking for an old book of yours. The only possession of yours left.

“(Y/N) planned out a way to trap herself, until we found a cure. It’s in one of her old spell books, but I can’t remember where it is. It has to be somewhere here,” Derek shook his head.

“Well, let’s say we find the book. Do you have an actual plan?” Isaac crossed his arms.

Derek paused, leaning against the counter in distress before frowning, hearing his phone ringing.

“Hello?” he answered.

“I've been trying to get in touch with (Y/N) for some time now. I found a cure,” Derek tensed up, picking up the call from Deucalion.

He looked at Isaac, before putting the phone on speaker.

“What do we need to do?” Derek asked.

“Here’s what needs to happen…”

---

You walked alone in the woods, humming a soft melody as your eyes were black.

You stopped in your tracks, sensing someone behind you and you raised an eyebrow, turning around.

“Yes, officer?” you recognized his badge.

“(Y/N), you have to come with me,” he started.

“Praefoco,” you rolled your eyes, watching him stop in his words, gasping for air as he fell to his knees.

You laughed softly to yourself, walking away from the collapsed body on the floor.

You had killed four more people, experimenting in different ways you could kill people, with your heightened powers. Everything felt better, everything felt free. You didn't have a single care in the world and you loved it.

You stood in front of the Sheriff’s station, using your magic to listen in as you tried to make out who was in there.

“Just find her. I don’t care what it takes,” you heard his voice, hearing him put the phone down.

He was all alone inside. Half the department was out, looking for his mysterious masked stabber, while the other half was looking for you and other missing deputies. A shame they’d only find their bodies.

You could feel more and more anger flood your veins as you took a step, walking into the empty station.

You spotted Agent McCall, sitting alone on his desk as he looked at the paperwork.

You opened your mouth before taken by surprise, feeling some wrap their arm around your waist, pulling you back.

Your eyes glew black as you pushed him off of you, seeing Derek standing behind you.

“Come with me,” he said.

“Oh, you found me. Great,” you said sarcastically.

“Yeah, I did. Now come with me,” he wrapped a pair of handcuffs on your wrists, pulling you out of the police station.

“What the hell are these? What the hell are you doing to me?” you tried to use your powers, trying to break free, but finding yourself unable to do so.

“Yeah, they're spelled. We’re gonna cure you, (Y/N),” he held onto your arm tightly, walking with you as you laughed bitterly.

“Yeah, not possible,” you rolled your eyes.

“Yeah, well Deucalion found something,” Derek said.

“You’re boring,” you sighed.

He ignored your remarks, taking you to the woods.

---

“You killed four people?” you sat in a chair, your hands and legs tied up behind you. There was a devil’s trap on the ground.

“Is that judgment in your voice, babe?” you scoffed.

“Those four people were innocent,” he shook his head.

“Oh, don’t give me that crap. Like you've never ruined an innocent life before,” you rolled your eyes.

“That's-” he started.

“That bus driver was innocent. That witch was innocent. Paige was innocent. Erica was innocent. Boyd was innocent. Don’t judge me for killing when you’ve killed too,” you glared at him, seeing his face drop slightly as he turned his back to you.

“That’s different,” he said.

“No, it really isn’t,” you made a fake pouty face as he walked over to you, holding a syringe in his hand.

“What the hell is that?” you asked.

He put his hand on your head, pulling it to the side as he stuck the needle into your neck, while you screamed out.

“It’s blood. It’s holy blood, and it’s the only way to cure you,” he replied.

You breathed heavily, slumping in your chair as your eyes glew black.

“You’re gonna regret that,” you yelled.

“Yeah, okay,” he crossed his arms, leaning against the wall as he sighed, looking down at you.

Several thoughts brown through his head, praying that this would work and that you would be okay. He already knew what would happen when you came to, all the nightmares, remembering all the people who you killed as they haunted your dreams.

“Derek,” you whispered.

He looked up at you, raising an eyebrow as he frowned, seeing your eyes water.

“(Y/N)?” he asked softly.

“Derek,” you sniffled.

He tensed up, seeing a tear slip down your face as he ran to you, putting his hands on your shoulders.

“I-I didn’t… I thought I’d need to do that a couple of times, i-is it… are you okay?” he immediately asked.

“Just get these off of me,” you said.

He stroked your cheek softly, before frowning.

Crap, he knew

“Derek, take these off of me,” you said.

“I almost fell for it,” he scoffed, before walking away from you.

“Ugh, I was close, wasn’t I? But really, that’s all it took? A tear? Weaker than I thought, Hale,” you smirked.

He picked up his book, leaning against the wall once more.

It was going to be a long night.

---

“Why do you care so much about getting me back? New and improved right here,” you laid back in the chair, leaning your head back.

“Improved? People are dead,” he walked to you, holding yet another syringe in his hand.

It was obvious that he wanted out of there. Tired of putting up with your tormenting remarks about him. You never seemed to give him a break, continuously insulting him. He tried to tell himself that you didn't mean it, it was the demon talking. You loved him and you would never say that stuff to him. As time went on, it became harder and harder for him to convince himself. But he still wasn’t going to leave you to suffer.

“Everything that you claim is wrong with me, is entirely your fault,” you said as he froze.

“What do you mean?” he stiffened.

“I lost control because of you. I killed my dad because of you. This whole thing started because of you. Don’t you remember that night? When I came to your loft? Don't you remember what you said to me?” Derek felt instant regret in his heart, remembering.

“You told me you never loved me, we only got together because we were lonely. Well, you were right, Derek. I never loved you. I never forgave you. We weren't meant to last.” 

Derek ran his fingers through his hair, trying to hold in his emotions as he tried not to let your words get to him.

“I didn't mean what I said. I was under a spell,” he started, lowering his voice.

“That spell cost lives. That spell widowed a woman and orphaned her children,” Derek frowned, slightly confused.

“What the hell are you talking about?” he asked.

“Oh, right, I didn’t tell you. Yeah, my dad got remarried! To someone else, and he had some more kids. He left us in the dust, all alone, all fucked up,” you laughed softly.

“You didn't tell me that-” he started.

“Probably because I don’t still don’t trust you,” you shrugged.

“That’s not…” Derek was at a loss for words as he looked down at you.

“You broke my heart, Derek. You broke me. I won’t be able to trust you again,” you looked at him, giving him an annoyed look before smirking.

“Oh, I’m getting to you, aren’t I? You know I'm right, Derek,” you laughed bitterly.

He clenched his jaw, grabbing your head as he stabbed the syringe into your neck, hearing you scream out in pain as he dug his nails into his palm.

He pushed away from you harshly, immediately leaving the room before a tear fell from his eyes, letting out a shaky breath.

She doesn't mean it he tried to convince himself, but it didn't matter. Deep down he knew you were right, he never wanted to admit it to himself. You would be better off without him. 

---

Derek’s head shot up, hearing a loud noise of something crashing. He ran into the house, immediately running to you, hearing someone yelling.

Isaac, he recognized.

You stood over him, as he dropped to his knees in front of you, struggling to breathe.

“(Y/N)!” he ran to you, grabbing the handcuffs before you pushed them away from him.

“I warned you,” your eyes were pitch black as Isaac whimpered softly, falling over to his side, unconscious. Derek could hear a faint heartbeat, knowing Isaac was alive.

You whispered something softly, as Derek struggled to move, finding himself pinned against the wall.

You grabbed the pocketknife, which sat on the table as you walked to Derek slowly.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for so long,” you held the knife against his throat as he clenched his jaw, looking down at you.

“Don’t do this (Y/N). I know you’re still in there somewhere. The real you, not this demon bitch,” he took a deep breath.

“I am (Y/N), Derek. This is me. I’ll save you the trouble of having to see me like this anymore,” he winced softly, feeling the blade break into his skin, drawing blood.

“Yeah, maybe not,” Derek heard Isaac’s voice, as he took a needle, stabbing it into your neck.

You dropped the knife, as Derek gasped for air, falling to his knees. Your eyes reverted back to their natural color, as your body went limp, falling over.

Isaac reached for Derek, helping him up before wrapping his arms around him, taking Derek by surprise. He stiffened first, before wrapping his arms around Isaac’s shaking body.

---

You squinted your eyes, groaning softly as you sat up, looking around cautiously.

Memories came flooding as your eyes watered, remembering everything.

No

“(Y/N),” you heard Derek’s voice as you jumped slightly, looking back at him in shock.

A son escaped from your mouth, before he wrapped his arms around you, pressing his lips to your head, trying to calm you.

“I-I’m so sorry,” you cried.

He remained quiet, his eyes red as he felt a tear stream down his cheek.

“I’m sorry.”

---

Your mind drifted off, remembering the events from the past day as you sat on Derek’s bed, wrapping your arms around yourself.

He lent you a shirt, seeing as all your other clothes were gone.

“Derek,” you said softly as he walked into the room.

He inhaled softly, sitting down next to you.

“Please, just say something,” your voice wavered slightly.

“I have nothing to say,” he whispered.

“I know you do. Just, please,” you begged.

“I just…” his voice drifted off as he shook his head.

“Derek,” you put your hand on his shoulder.

“We need to stop this,” he said, running his fingers through his hair as he turned to face you.

“Stop what?” you said, although you already knew the answer.

“This isn’t good for us anymore, I think we should call it,” Derek’s eyes watered slightly as he stood up, looking down at you.

“Derek, no-” you started.

“I love you, (Y/N), you know that I love you. But, I don’t… I don’t think you’ve ever loved me as much as I love you,” his voice was low as he looked away from you.

“No, Derek, I-I swear that’s not true,” you shook your head.

“(Y/N),” he started.

“It’s not true, you have to believe me. E-Everything I said, I didn't mean it, I swear,” your voice wavered as you looked up at him.

“You didn't say anything that wasn’t true,” he rubbed his eyes as he looked back at you.

“Derek,” you started.

“J-Just listen to me, (Y/N),” his voice broke as he looked at you.

“We don’t work together. We always argue, there’s always something in between us. We tried to tell ourselves we could get past it, but we can’t,” he said.

“We can get past it. We just have a few problems to work out,” you sniffled.

“Do you trust me?” he asked softly.

“W-What do you mean? O-Of course I do,” you let out a soft chuckle, trying to hide your tears as you frowned.

“Don’t lie to me, please (Y/N). Do you or do you not trust me,” he asked again.

“Derek, I do,” you replied, more and more tears streaming down your face.

“Then why didn't you tell me any of this before? About your dad and his family? That it was my fault you killed him in the first place?” 

You bit your lip, holding back your cries as you shook your head, putting your hand over your mouth.

“Exactly. You need to… You need to go,” he whispered, looking away from you.

 You could feel your heart aching, feeling your head pounding as more and more tears rushed to your eyes, blurring your vision.

You pushed yourself out of his room, running away.

---

You knocked at Chris’ door softly, blinking back your tears as he gave you a concerned look, opening the door.

“(Y/N)? Where have you been?” he asked.

Your vision blurred as more tears came to your eyes

“C-Can I stay with you?” you cried softly.

He nodded his head, wrapping his arms around you before leading you into the apartment.

[deans-haunted-baby]

Lately I can’t stop thinking about Adam, like I’m legit crushed over what this show did to him. I know Supernatural was never perfect but the way it treated this character was so damn vicious, condescending and nasty; no different than a high school bully picking on an injured elementary schooler.

He never stood a chance. The thing is I don’t know what it was that made me latch onto Adam so strongly for over a decade. Maybe I could just sympathize and easily relate to his situation of being discarded and forgotten by family members. Or maybe I saw potential in this character and couldn’t fathom why no one else on that writing staff and the SPN fandom couldn’t.

I want you to take a second and absorb these pertinent facts about Adam Milligan that this show put forward. This is not anti-anything this is all the truth so bare with me:

He was the illegitimate youngest child of hunter John Winchester; a man who treated his older sons Sam and Dean like soldiers on his platoon.

Adam only saw his bio dad ONCE A YEAR and it was only to take him to ball games not to train him so that he could protect himself and his mother from (supernatural) threats.

He never knew the existence of his older brothers nor did they know about him because John deliberately ripped those pages out of his journal. Essentially trying to erase any evidence of Adam and Kate.

Because Adam grew up having no clue what was out there or about the “family business”  he and his mother suffered VIOLENT PRE-MATURE DEATHS at the hands of ghouls which Adam STILL REMEMBERS long after being murdered.

Oh and John failed to kill those ghouls, providing them the golden opportunity of impersonating him and his mother so they could kill John and his half-brothers.

Adam was only an 18 year old pre-med studying medicine. Probably wanted to follow in his mother’s footsteps in helping people as she was a nurse.

Because Kate worked nights as a single mother, Adam had to grow up being his own parent at times; cooking his own meals and putting himself to bed.

Adam was ironically born on September 29th (1990) which is also known as Michaelmas aka the Feast of Saints Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. A potential storyline that could’ve gone somewhere but didn’t.

Adam is also by birthright a Men of Letters legacy though his brothers fail to mention that 10 years later.

The last thing Adam was doing while he was in Heaven, designed to look like his Prom, he was kissing a girl Kristen McGee; whom we’ll never know about or if he’ll ever see again.

Adam was ripped out of Heaven against his will by the angels to be used and manipulated as their backup device in the Apocalypse because Sam and Dean refused to comply with their demands.

After being resurrected, Adam was then recovered, kidnapped and held hostage by TFW (Sam, Dean, Bobby and Castiel) where they all took turns mouthing off at this angsty teenager about why he should trust a bunch of complete strangers over those who made him promises.

Adam only wanted to work with the angels in order to stop Lucifer and return to his mother. Highlighting that this character had a sense of justice, responsibility, cared about doing the right thing but also had his own reasons for wanting to save the world.

Sam tried to emotionally manipulate Adam with excuses for why their dad never told him about his family. And actually had the gall to say that him and Dean would’ve looked for him had they’d known he existed so they could be a family. Forgive me if I just laugh at this for a moment 🤣

Zachariah was able to get into Adam’s head because he knew how vulnerable he was. Telling him that trusting the Winchesters would only let him down which *SPOILER ALERT* turned out to be true.

Zachariah tortured Adam for hours before the Winchesters arrived to save him. And Dean was only willing to submit to the angel when Sam was just briefly tortured.

One of the last things Dean says to Adam in 5x18 after he was shocked to see his half-brothers come to his rescue was “Cause you’re family”. Again I have to...🤣🤣

At the moment of their escape, Dean doesn’t even help Adam (WHO’D BEEN INJURDED AND TORTURED) out of the room nor does he care about ushering him to safety. Dean just grabs Sam and hurries out the door. So much for being part of the family.

The last thing Adam screams before before being possessed by Michael was “Dean, help!” and then he hears Dean say “Just hold on!”

Adam, not being Michael’s true vessel yet born from the powerful Winchester bloodline, was able to look directly at the archangel’s true form without his eyes burning out. And this is NEVER explained why.

Dean mentions Adam only a total of THREE TIMES after this happens in 5x19, 5x22 and 6x11 while Castiel mentions it to Sam in 5x21. And Sam, WHO’D BEEN THE MAIN EMOTIONAL MANIPULATOR, just doesn’t give a shit to remember him.

Castiel threw a Molotov cocktail at Michael (who was using Adam’s body) to briefly cast him out which Adam probably felt in excruciating detail based on what Michael says in 15x08.

Sam, possessed by Lucifer, pushed himself and his innocent half-brother possessed by Michael into the cage for all eternity.

Castiel somehow managed to pull Sam out of the cage but decided to leave Adam behind.

After Dean bargains with Death to get Sam’s soul and Adam out of the cage. Only to get just Sam’s soul and leave Adam to his fate. The issue is never brought up again between the Winchesters.

Adam sits a prisoner in a cage with an archangel for 10 years our time but thousands of years Hell time.

Michael most likely protected Adam from some of the horrors in Hell which is why he was able to keep his sanity.

Sam and Dean went to Hell to talk to Lucifer in the cage but continue to ignore Adam’s existence and don’t bother releasing him yet they let Lucifer escape.

Dean also went back to Hell to retrieve Bobby’s soul so he could go to Heaven and again doesn’t even bother with Adam.

Season 10 for Supernatural’s 200th episode, Sam and Dean were reminded by SPN fans putting on a musical that Adam was still in the cage yet THEY NEVER DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT.

Mary Winchester STILL doesn’t know about Adam even though she was reunited with John during the 300th episode. He’s never mentioned during their big family get-together. I guess he never counted.

Adam and Michael are finally set free of Hell only because Chuck threw a giant hissy fit at the Winchesters and opened all the gateways.

The first thing Adam wanted to do as a free man in 15x08 was not seeking revenge on his brothers for abandoning him, but to eat some diner food, change his clothes and get a “little job”

After years of imprisonment, Adam actually befriended the Prince of Heaven aka the one friend he has/the only other person besides his mother who actually gave a damn about him.

TFW trapped, kidnapped and imprisoned Adam and Michael at the bunker in order to force them to help against Chuck.

And Adam, though still angry, hurt and worn out over the situation; chose to help his brothers when there was NOTHING in it for him and successfully convinced Michael to do the same.

Despite how his brothers treated him, Adam STILL believed in their best and vouched that they “always try to do the right thing”

Adam went to Hell a cranky, sassy, angsty, naïve teenager and returned a kinder, wiser, more patient, humble and rational-thinking man who still managed to smile and laugh after enduring centuries of pain.

Dean gives Adam his much due apology for not saving him but Sam doesn’t. In fact Sam doesn’t even bring him up the next time the Winchesters see each other.

Adam’s last words on this show are to Dean and they’re “Since when do we get what we deserve?” and “Good luck” 🤓

Chuck Thanos-snapped Adam’s soul out of existence OFF-SCREEN yet Michael somehow remained in his body.

Adam was 90% of Michael’s impulse control hence why he was so dark in his last appearance without Adam because that’s the only way I can cope with that disgusting character assassination in 15x19

Jack supposedly revived Adam along with everyone else after becoming the new God. BUT his current status now reads “Unknown” instead of “Alive” so what the fuck am I suppose to think now?!

Sam and Dean didn’t even think about checking in on Adam to make sure he was okay before they hit the road on their last solo bro-outing.

If Adam really is alive then he’s doomed to a miserable, lonely existence without his best friend (who’s now dead). Broke, homeless, jobless; his brothers STILL DON’T GIVE A RAT’S ASS after he’d helped them in good faith. He’s legally deceased thanks to the ghouls. And he gets to look forward to demon city the moment he dies cause guess where he’s ending up?

No one remembers him even after he’d returned in 15x08

The car and the dog are more important to the Winchesters than their innocent half-brother.

Okay I realize I just unloaded a whole mountain of salt but this is the full outline of Adam’s tragic story on Supernatural. These writers never cared about him and why? What did he do to deserve this gross treatment from the show’s protagonists or just in general? Why was he even introduced if this was going to be the outcome of it all? I don’t know what’s worse leaving him in Hell (cause at least he had Michael for company) or bringing him back and not knowing what became of him after. It’s insufferable 😣 I just want everyone to know that the showrunners and writers may not care about him BUT I DO.

[seekeroftruthpromestein]

Welp. Paradox time.It’s the Finale.

Yikes. Last campground....

That doesn’t bode well...

Here they are. All my friends. I’ve traveled with them for this long. We’re near the end of the game. Who knows what will happen... 

Promestein. You’ve been a very interesting character to see through this game. Seeing you young kind of shows you were always a fucked up kid. But, you have a good heart. And you now have a found family. You’re no longer a lone wolf salvaging through a dark world. You have us. And we’re happy to have you and alllow you to examine this bright new world.

Nuruko. I sadly didn’t get to know you too well and I’ll be sure to remedy that next game. But you were an interesting little thing. 

I wouldn’t have pegged you as a main character honestly but hey. I’m glad your here. You were another person that I’ll have to be sure to bring next time because I feel you probably have lots of interesting insight. 

Pope. You are DEF going to be in my next group. You were one of the most exciting twists i’ve ever seen and I am happy you were here. I am still angry for no sex scene. 

Hilde. Once again, another “I didn’t bring around enough” but you hey. Happy to have you.

These two were my favorite running joke. The not so wise senpai and the student. 

Not sure why YOU are here but you WERE the first boss of the game. So. Yeah. Welcome.

And you were the first recruited monster... I think.

This little exchange reminds me. Granberia was NOT at ALL a regular character in this entire exchange. Hardly any of the knights showed their faces. Alma I think was the most regular. 

The spirits play little purpose as well. In the orginal trilogy they were SUPER important as they were a constant ability you had to keep on or die.  Here. They’re not weak, they’re decent buffs.  But I rarely use them... I did use them actually in the battle against Blalice. Alice actually is a Spirit Summoner because I felt it was rather poetic all things considered. 

Wait are you a noble? Maybe you should put on pants. And a shirt. But okay. Vanilla! The most useful member that never see’s battle. She was BRIEFLY drafted in Black Alice when all of the other allies died but yeah. She has been a rock this entire time. Constantly producing MP for the party.  

I admit I never had a use for her. She mostly stayed around because she had the most Dialog from things. 

And ah. The MVP herself. Okay second MVP but we’ll get to her soon. Superb support. Valuable as hell. Sadly a lot of Angels have Auto-hit attacks. But I would have lost without her many times. 

I’m trying to do the whole sentimental thing but yeah. Don’t have a lot to say. Maybe one of these days I’ll have just the four of them on a team. 

I’m just WAITING for you to betray me. But it’s a bit late and you’re no longer important in the slightest so. 

Ah speak of the devil. Now. Time for the main course. 

Traveling with Black Alice has been a really facinating experience. She’s a lot of fun. If you know, a bit evil. It’s interesting that she played the Alice. Pretending to be something she’s not. It makes me wonder if it’s a tradition? I wonder if this experience will make her nicer. 

Ah Sonya. You sadly have a LOT of death flags... It was interesting the idea of Luka having a human friend, but from a writing perspective it makes sense as she suddenly got the tropes that were associated with Alice in the first game. 

Not a good sign.

This does bring a point though. Sonya I dropped out of the party for not being too useful. A healer in a game where healing is incredibly easy. And she didn’t exactly have a whole lot... Actually I could have turned her into a vampire funny enough. And a worm Villager. But yeah, besides that. She didn’t have a whole lot. I’m probably gonna try using her more in my Ilias file as I want to RP it as more of a Human/Angel Centric idea. The only overlap being Prom really. 

And Alice. I really wish there was more to you but I get it. The romance between Luka and her just isn’t  a focal point. Despite the fact that her and Luka’s children are in fact facing off. I kind of wish that was addressed more. 

And her mother... There’s actually a LOT of plot threads still not addressed. 

Was hoping for Elemental Giga. This would be a game where it could be theoretically useful though. With all the abilities and such.

Ilias prayer music in the background.

Now we have Opera music... Place has changed.

Less then steller. 

You bitch.

You know what. Fuck you. YOU are FOURTH! 

Alright gotta act quickly. Can’t... wait

WHAT??

SHE SAID IT

I’m not sure if gleefully killing an entire town counts. 

Never a nice thing to learn.

“Then the fanfiction writers started... There’s this ONE bitch. She runs a Promestein blog and if you LISTENED to the drivel she writes. She made up this nonsense with male monsters for drama’s sake”

“And don’t get me started on the Luka Situation. There were like 3 at one point.”

Wait... How many others from other worlds??

...Wait When??? I can go over level 60 now?? Must be when I updated.. Huh. Okay. Wish I did this earlier.

Too many... oh

See. I’m doing an RP with La Croix that takes place using this concept. But something both of us realized is that Luka actually very rarely DIED in most of his endings. Not right away. Many of them used him as a pleasure slave. Or married him. Or he just gave up adventuring. Some like the angels even used him for 1000′s of years. So. Theoretically. He would have had to live his entire life. Die of natural causes. And then wake up back at a fight he had years ago. 

But here it just says failed. 

Oh.... Is this...Which Ilias?

I forgot... You’re... the Real ilias. so you have been trying your best to keep things from going to shit huh?

Oops.

Yikes... So yeah. Makes sense. Fuck that Lukia (Which was us)

The...Remina labs??

Oh hey. It that bitch.

Yes Little Prom. Yes. Soon. You will meet. Yourself.

A better part of the whole. I remember there being an Angel/Monster hybrid who says she couldn’t  combine her dark and holy energy. This is probably why.

I wonder if this is a joke of some kind revolving around smoking becoming less allowed in Japan.

And they summoned.... Black..Alice. Is that how she was alive in the original Trilogy??

Oh no... This..... Is.... Original Trilogy Black Alice.

As creepy music plays. I am reminded. The White Rabbit is a universal Constant. Where was she then in the original Trilogy? Simple. She was here. Right here. In Black Alice... the drug created by Promestein. The fusion of Holy and Dark.

Those poor Scientist.

That Casualty of it.

Oh. Dear. Lord.

“So you finished the art for that Hentai game right?” “HENTAI GAME?? I thought we were making Bloodborne.”

That is terrifying. 

Oh dear lord.

Angels. Demons. Both are at her demand.

YOU SAID SHE COULD NOT REACH US.

Of course. Time Succubi from aother wordl

That. Is terrifying.

Yup. Zero.

She’s dying as the Villain again? The Pyrrha. 

Wait. What?

So... You.. Were killing them to.. Bring them into YOUR world??? So. They’re alive? 

So they’re killing people... to bring them into another?  This reminds me of a little bit of a Webcomic called Order of the Stick. Where the gods wondered briefly if they should destroy the world, in order to save the souls. Because the main monster, was a giant horrifying sould devouring creature.  So if the gods destroyed the world, they could save many from inhiliation, and bring them into the after life.  This begs a lot of question about after lives and existance beyond death and whether or not it truly is a death. 

Bloodying her hands so her daughter doesn’t have to.

Yeah I would like to know that as well.

I would like to know actually.

Wait why are you wearing clothes now?

I forgot you were a person.  Wait. So these are from another universe.... One where Ilias won...And therefor Eden got to wear clothes. 

The old Monster and Angel War, Fought in the foreground of the world we stand.

And the death flags come home to roost. 

Was she... one the entire time?

Or did she become one now?

Mhm. This looks familiar.

And the music begins. The  battle wasn’t too hard. But...

This isn’t good.

Not grand.

This battle music is though. ♪♫

Oh you bitch.

We beat both of them... or...

We did not.

That’s... really really not good.

...what?

HUH???

UMMM????

SHES A WHATR??

She’s the element of chaos....   Does that mean there’s a HOly and Dark Spirit too?

Fine. I’ll train you.

...What?

Oh.... shit.... Dad... Killed Alice’s Mom.

And. That. Is the end.... Welp. I guess we have to do the Ilias Route next.

[hughiecampbelle]

Skin Crawler (Geralt of Rivia Oneshot)

Character/s: Geralt

Word Count: 1,342

Inspired By: going bonkers in quarantine :)

Tag List: @dontdowhatisayandnobodygetshurt @myriadimagines @lilyswritings @encounterthepast @biscottibitch @randomfandomimagine @fangirlsarah16

A/N: Writers block hit ya gurl like train recently. I've had so many ideas, but everything I write and continue to write feels wrong. Tonight though, I made it my mission to finish this fic! It turned out better than I expected, but I'm still really unsure.... Been stressed with family and about getting my results back from a school I wanna transfer to and it's gotten in the way of all writing and creativity, not just for fics. Gotta work through it and try my best, even if I'm unsure about the end result, right? Anyways, I hope you like it my loves!!! Feedback is always appreciated 💜💖💜

FIC MASTERLIST PART ONE. / PART TWO.

WANNA BE ADDED TO THE TAG LIST?

A myth. A legend. A story sewn through the years, from the mouths of babes, their toothless tales warping, drooling over the past, becoming mutilated with every new generation. The image of this creature, this beast, torn to shreds. Pulled apart limb by limb, tendon by tendon, strings of veins delicately plucked and knotted back together. It all depended on the family, the area, the one who told it's history. The creative freedom genetic, hereditary. The personal fears of the speaker embedded in the body of the beast. Big eyes. Six limbs. Sharp teeth. Claws. Eventually, it became truth. Fights, wars even, broke out when some dare utter it's name in public, drunkenly letting it slip past their lips. There was only one thing the masses could agteen on: it always came with a bloodlust. A hunger for bone, a want for flesh, something that could never be hushed. Across lands, even the most isolated places, feared this thing chewing them up and spitting them out.

A cursed thing. Hundreds of years pass by, and yet they still cower at the name. Children brought up to fear these things, warned that a death wish rest in the woods if they ever went alone when the sun went down. Deep within, that's where they lay. They used to be countless. Infinite. In packs all over the world. There was strength in numbers. Was. People of the past, they grew tired of being scared. Exhausted of fear, of terror, wanting something better for their children, for the future. They wanted the light to shine again. Sending their best, their biggest, to fight, to kill, to put an end to the terror. Some came back. Some didn't. Those that did carried skins of their backs of scales, of fur, whatever it was those things looked like. Massive. Night after night, a kiss on the cheek, a promise to come back safe, sending them off into the uninown. It wasn't immediate. It wasn't easy. It was a long, hard war, but they never stopped. Not until there was only one left. Going into hiding. Receeding, shying away for as long as it could, for as long as they were willing to hunt.

This time it was the one that was afraid. Unsure if it would live another night.

It would, though. Lived in hiding. Watching, one by one, the hunters grow grey, their kin grow up, grow old. Waiting long enough for them to trade their weapons for words. Creeping out of its prison, spotted in the night. Screams for help, for safety, looking for someone to put an end to the nightmares permanently. That's where he came in. Something of a beast himself. Split between the two worlds. They hoped he could think like it, see what makes it tick. Track it down and kill it. A poor people, putting whatever they had together as payment. Do whatever it takes to get rid of it. For too long they'd been haunted by ghosts, too long they went without a happy ending. He was that. He would be the golden eyed knight in shining armor risking his life to save them, his image stitched along the rest of the story, bringing it to an end.

He'd always had a fascination for it. A life as long as ten mens, an image created by weary eyes and infinite imagination. He'd seen more creatures than he could count, than he could name, but this was something special. Finally, something worth fighting for. It could have had the face of a million things created by man, compared to every living beast that ever wept under the sun. Beautiful and delicate, or broad, strong. As soft as a cub or razor sharp as a blade. This unfamiliar feeling settling in his gut, putting him off ale for the first time he could remember. It woke him from his sleep, filling his dreams with terror. Unlike the very thing he would slay in a few short hours, this had a name. This was familiar. This was doubt. This was uncertainty.

Geralt dressed at dusk. Nocturnal, they said. He begged to differ. He'd lived as both man and monstrosity. Sometimes it was safer to use the night as a cloak of protection, of invisibility. Whatever it was, it was smart. It wasn't new to survival. Part of him pitied it. The last of its name, like him. What a lonely world it must be. He made his way through the trails, going where no man dared, the grass that had been kicked up and trudged through growing thicker the further he went. Left his horse behind with a final goodbye. This was his own battle. One, he realized, he might not come back from. Everything too often ended in death. He could only hope it would not be his own.

You watched him, caught sight of his moonlit hair through the thick of the woods. Angry, determined, but there was something else in his footsteps, something greater: panic. His racing heartbeat like a drum, faster and faster, frantic with every step closer. Lived in the caves, beyond what the eye of man could see. He believed them, he trusted them, and now he had to trust you. Sword in hand, shiny, glittering, aching to tear the world in two. You huddled against the walls, crouching in the dark. He wasn't like them, you realized. Those men, those brutes, slaughtering mindlessly, praying on the weak, celebrating death. You'd watched them carry the skins of your friends on their backs, mourning their own and cheering on bloodshed all in the same breath. He came alone, taking the weight of it all on his own broken shoulders.

Reaching the mouth of the cave, the den that cradled you all these years, he sighed. The light ending, sending him into the abyss. You couldn't let him hurt you. You couldn't let him believe these ancient lies any longer. He had to know the truth. You had to show him the truth. Letting out a whimper, leaving him something to follow. Cautious, he stepped, his knees weak. What would he find? What would he finally come face to face with after all? His hand free hand outstretched, his other raised with the sword. You stuck your face out, eye to with him, bracing for the sharp edge of something sweet to slice through your neck in seconds, readying for your fate. Geralt dropped his weapon, his breath catching in his throat. Realization sinking in, flooding his body with relief, with guilt, with an overwhelming urge to cry. He'd been prepared to see anything. A dozen legs. None rows of teeth. The howl of a thousand screeching sirens. His worst nightmare, even. But not this.

Not your eyes. Not the very thing he fell in love with centuries ago.

They were right, after all. A curse. An unlucky bunch. One after the other, stumbling in the woods alone when the moon was full and the stars were alive. You never saw her coming. Blinded, dragged, no use in fighting. Thrown in the middle of their den. Screeching, crying, these creatures wailing. Not out of anger, but terror. Escaping the light of the lantern, avoiding the eyes of a woman. Beneath her cloak she became hysterical, throwing it in their faces, watching them wail. She found comedy within their pain. Each backing away, pawing at the rocky walls. You hadn't realized it until it was too late. They were just like you. And now, you would be like them. A kiss, soft, sad, an apology before she got to work, did what she'd intended to do. A witch, as close to one as you'd ever come. Your body torn apart, bones broken, blood vessels bursting, reborn into something new. Something bigger. Less human, more monster. She threw what you used to be in the trails, warning folks away. They didn't understand, though. Reading the messages all wrong.

Those beasts, they weren't feeding off those people. They were those people.

[mewhoismyself]

reclaiming raven for the ask game thingy 👀👀 i remember drawing a lil for it and am very interested as to how much the landscape of the story has changed since then :D

Oh yeah I remember that >w>c

Hmmmmm...

I can’t say the story has changed too much, but I’m using it as part of my portfolio for my creative writing class this year and I’m glad to get a critical pair of eyes on it. :0c It was paced kinda weird to start with, more like a video game than a novel, which was purposeful, but I think it’s better as I have it now.

Reclaiming Raven is about a group of people who have finally returned to their home world after twenty years of it being overrun by the Scourge, a hive mind-ish wave of monsters made out of shadow that try to kill or corrupt everything in their path.

The main character is Cassius, who is suffering from very deep depression after his partner, Percy, got corrupted by the Scourge. Percy isn’t dead, but he isn’t exactly alive anymore. Cassius, before everyone moved back to their old home (reclaiming it ;D), made a deal with a raven deity for power (in an event where he sacrificed his life for Percy’s and proved himself worth of the power, so you can see why he’s even more absolutely devastated that he couldn’t protect Percy after that, aside from losing his partner, someone he’s known and loved all his life). Cassius doesn’t want to do anything but sleep, “fade into oblivion”, but people keep getting him out of bed, so he’s grumpy a lot.

There’s also Ophelia, you remember her ;3. She is a ‘doll’, a soul that was put into a largely mechanical/inorganic body. She doesn’t remember much of anything from before she woke up as a doll, or even if the memories (or her body) are/were hers originally. She has a massive crush on Gwen, Cassius’s adoptive sister, and has taken on the ‘mom friend’ role for Cassius, pushing him to do stuff despite his depression. Also all her limbs are detachable so she can (and does) take them off for comedic effect and to smack people. (Think the “give me a hand” gag X3c)

There is also Barclay, Gwen and Cassius’s adoptive father (who was friends with Cassius’s bio dad until he died when the Scourge first invaded their home), and Barclay’s partner, Paris. Paris travels the worlds on their own. They’re a married couple where one (Barclay) keeps accidentally adopting kids. Paris is amused and loves them all dearly. Barclay made a deal with a bear deity and Paris made one with butterfly deity in the same way Cassius did with his raven. None of them are quite human any more and it shows in different ways (for angst and maximum painful character growth).

Gwen had a biological brother too, Victor, who died to a non-Scourge monster on the world they all grew up in. She used some magic she shouldn’t have and scarred her hand pretty bad from the grief of it. She took over the refugee management position and overworks herself to extreme degrees to keep from thinking about the deaths of people she cared about, especially Victor and Percy. Gwen is the one who kicks off the events of the story by begging asking Cassius to house Luca, a refugee who can’t stay with the others because of an “incident”, until he gets another place to stay. Cassius, of course, can’t say no to her when she asks him like that. (She may also be subtly hoping that Luca can help Cassius out of his depression funk.)

Luca, like Cassius, made a deal with a deity, his being a wolf. He gets all starry eyed when he sees Cassius fight for the first time and basically pack bonds with him, because he’s also lonely and touch starved. So he and Cassius butt heads a lot about personal relationships and space. Cassius doesn’t want to feel like he’s replacing Percy, either as a best friend or (eventually) as a partner. And Luca wants to connect with someone who knows what he’s going through and doesn’t judge him (much) for it.

Meanwhile there’s corrupted Percy running around trying to corrupt Cassius as well (because warped perceptions and obsessions) and the town/world is slowly rebuilding from being savaged by the Scourge and the people who can (those listed here and a few others) are trying to fight off the Scourge and keep the soft squishy people safe.

The basis of the story is the same as it was before, but I am a better writer now and I’m more confident in being able to write this the way I want it to be. :0c

Thanks for the ask! If you have anymore questions or whatever, feel free to ask them too! :3c

[bigskydreaming]

Small response ask to that anon who brought up Chris Priest and your response of DC should focus less on Bruce being abusive to his kids. Not sure if you noticed the up and down of the Batman comics but it seems the arc that have him being a caring dad has less asshole dad and abusive dad in them and yet the arc that have Bruce hitting the boys or kicking them out of the house has Bruce not acknowledging the boys as his sons and even the writers say Dick is more of a brother of partner than son.

Oh for sure, its absolutely true that a huge part of the problem with the Batman comics is the sheer inconsistency in writer visions of the characters - which is why IMO its up to DC’s editorial staff to maintain internal consistency for how the characters officially relate to each other at the very least. 

Like I’ve said before, you can’t roll back the clock on them being his kids once you’ve established they’re his kids. People haven’t forgotten that Tim was adopted by Bruce in the old continuity just because they decided to have his parents alive in the New 52 - and ‘teenage kinda sorta ally’ is an inherently weaker emotional tether compared to ‘actual adopted son’ so when presented with two options, most people aren’t going to give a shit about their attempt to ‘unbond’ a character from their actual parent and will stick with viewing them as father and son, whether DC likes it or not.

So its just plain foolishness IMO for DC to attempt to apply any sort of ambiguity to Bruce and his kids. Along with his biological son Damian, Dick, Jason, Tim and Cass at least have all been officially adopted by Bruce (or in Cass’ case, they were stated to be starting adoption proceedings last we saw before the Reboot). Like....those are just hard facts, no matter how much people try and ‘undo’ that if they don’t personally like the idea of Bruce as a father of five....fans are not going to cooperate and its just sheer stubbornness to pretend otherwise. People before the current writers and editors made a creative choice to have Bruce adopt these kids. Readers liked it. Readers know what they like and once given the option of having Bruce the father of five, you can protest all you want as the ‘official’ overseers of Batman, but you can’t erase what was already written, and you can’t ask readers to forget they liked something better than how you’re currently trying to push it.

But that’s just me being like hey DC what if you weren’t a flock of fucking dumbasses, just to try something different for a change.

And related to your ask, there’s absolutely a direct correlation in my mind between the DC writers who intensely dislike the idea of Bruce as a father and writing him as being callous, insensitive, aloof and outright abusive with various of his kids. Because it all goes hand in hand with them - they dislike the idea of Bruce as a dad because they’re all about him being the brooding lone wolf whose entire life is just an endless pursuit of justice for the sake of others because he’s convinced himself that he can never be happy and shouldn’t try. YAWN. But this view of Bruce is outright threatened by the warm, caring father Bruce rendition, so they try and erode the latter as much as possible in pursuit of the former....

Only to later have writers revert to the latter and erode the former.

And around and around and around we go. And they all keep trying to reset things that fundamentally CAN NOT BE RESET because this is the problem when you staff a creative industry top to bottom with fanboys who can’t and won’t separate their personal desires from their professional shepherding of these IPs. And so each new crop of writers tries to write Batman and related characters the way they like them, most often the way they remembered reading them as kids through the lens filter of nostalgia, and thus Bruce’s kids’ status flip flops either officially or unofficially every five to ten years, Hal Jordan is replaced by Kyle Rayner is replaced by Hal Jordan and a wave of new diverse characters are created in the span of a couple years and ten years later no one’s heard of any of them except for Jaime Reyes.

And its the reason IMO that superhero comics have never grown beyond a niche industry despite the VAST appeal of superheroes that superhero movies have proven still exists....and its why superhero movies will end up in the exact same stagnated niche if they don’t learn from the former’s mistake and let their characters grow and age and be replaced by new ones rather than just rebooted versions of the old one, because there’s only so many times you can go round and round on the merry go round before people just flat out stop caring because you’re not doing or saying anything new.

Change is good, except for when people refuse to let it happen because they’ve settled for what they know as being the optimal plateau, never to truly be reached past because the unknown and untested is scary and might bite.

Anyway. All of that is to say yes, I agree, and as a PS I just have to froth at the mouth a little on a personal note because god do I hate the interpretation that Bruce and Dick are more like brothers than father and son, lololol, and can’t refrain from mentioning that any time its brought up even in passing. 

(This is totally not directed at you btw, just the concept itself, lololol, sorry). 

People can talk about the smaller age gap between them all they want, but the fact of the matter is, Dick isn’t Damian, and the relationship between Dick and Bruce has NEVER been nearly as ambiguous or as open to interpretation as the one between Dick and Damian.

Because the contrast between the two is Bruce had something that nobody who is just an older sibling has over a younger....absolute uncontested parental authority, total responsibility for his education, living arrangements, emotional development, etc....with no other comparable figure in the younger’s life occupying a same or even similar role. Dick occupied that role for Damian for about a year of his life, but Bruce has occupied that role for Dick every single year since his first parents died. It might have taken awhile for them to individually and together VIEW their dynamic as parent and child, but from the moment Dick stepped foot into Wayne Manor, Bruce started out day one as someone who stepped into the role of sole guardian and caretaker with no prior emotional attachment.....and that just is NOT a sibling. That’s a legal guardian or parent.

(And yes, Alfred was there of course, but despite being viewed as a father figure to Bruce himself, Alfred never ever ever once has been shown to occupy an equal position to Bruce in Dick’s life....he’s very firmly slotted into the grandfather role himself, and has never stepped forward to definitively intercede between the two of them or usurp or even truly challenge Bruce’s parental authority of Dick).

If people want to say that at times Dick and Bruce’s dynamic has been more relaxed and they’ve related to each other as more like siblings than parent and child due to the relatively small age gap between them (still well over a decade, like yeah Bruce would have had to have been fourteen or so to have Dick himself, but the point is he DIDN’T, and he was already completely done with education and globe-trotting and was firmly established in his life and life’s purpose by the time he became Dick’s guardian, so the small age gap is not quite as influential as I think some people try to make it out to be - the reality is the Bruce that Dick met as a child couldn’t be any more decisively in the ‘adult/equivalent of a parent’ category in Dick’s eyes if he were five years older....it wouldn’t have changed a single thing about their actual situation or the positioning of their dynamic.)

But anyway, my point just being that yeah, due to the relatively small age gap between them, I can see people making a case for them at times enjoying a more relaxed camaraderie more akin to brothers than father and son, but the part that’s a pet peeve is when people try and outright replace the idea of them having a father/son dynamic with one where they’re brothers and partners and equals because.....no. Bruce always had full authority and guardianship of Dick from the day he met him, and he’s never been anyone BUT the figure who occupies that role in Dick’s mind, no matter whether the name for that changed over time. And that’s not a sibling, because even siblings who end up raising their younger siblings after the death of their parents, say....except for extreme cases like Dick and Damian, they usually still already have prior connection and perceptions of each other....like the younger, if already Dick’s age when raised by someone Bruce’s age....like, if they were siblings and Bruce ended up raising Dick himself, Dick would still have an image in his mind of a time before their mutual parents died, before he shifted into that parent role....and thus there’d be some ambiguity. 

But like I said, Bruce always (and without exception or alternative) from day one existed as the one responsible for Dick’s care, the one responsible for raising him, the one who got the ultimate say in every aspect of his life from education to what he ate to whether he could go hang out with his friends...and call that whatever you want, but that’s a parent. Not an older brother.

And more importantly, that dynamic between parent and child, rather than between older and younger sibling, is never going to fully shift into true equals. There’s a degree to which our parents will always be our parents and exist on a different footing than us in our mutual perspectives. There’s no getting around that. And Dick will never ever be positioned to be Bruce’s brother-figure rather than his son. Never someone who can challenge Bruce on ACTUAL equal footing rather than always with the vestiges of ‘this is the man who raised me’ and ‘I raised this man’ hanging over them. 

Anyway, like I said, pet peeve, and I always get a little grrr about people suggesting they’re more brother and brother than father and son because its disingenuous in my mind....there’s never been any kind of reality to it. And more importantly, its one of those things that only really seems to serve one purpose - and that’s to lessen Bruce’s responsibility to Dick, because if they’re just brothers, then the times when Bruce has done less than stellar as his parent, let’s say - like, those aren’t as big a deal or big a failing or an injustice to Dick if Bruce is JUST his brother and not actually his father and thus not actually responsible for filling that role.

Its the exact flip side of why I argue that its shitty to heap the kind of expectations on Dick that fandom usually does....because he’s NOT Damian’s father or any of his siblings.....but the key point I always bring up there is that this is more than just a matter of labels, but rather due to the fact that someone with significantly more and undeniable parental authority than Dick exists for all of his siblings....Bruce himself.

And that’s why Dick will never truly be Bruce’s equal within the family rather than his son - he doesn’t carry equivalent power even if equivalent expectations or responsibilities are heaped on him. And that’s why Bruce will never truly be Dick’s equal rather than his parent - because from day one, he DID carry sole parental power and responsibility for Dick. And there’s no getting around that and no changing that.....unless you CLAIM that Bruce is ‘just’ Dick’s brother DESPITE all the evidence of him being the only parent Dick’s had since he was eight years old.

And the other thing that bugs about the Bruce is more Dick’s brother than parent thing....even if Alfred has never officially been designated Bruce’s father, there’s never been any doubt that they are far more a parent/child dynamic than an older brother/younger brother. And all of Dick’s siblings have unequivocally been interpreted as Bruce’s children.

So.....

According to the Bruce is more Dick’s brother than parent argument, Dick is the one and only member of the Batfamily who just....doesn’t get to have a parent figure after he loses his parents at age eight? He never needs or wants one after that point? Bruce is more kinda just his brother and partner and Dick wants it this way, because he loved his parents, and so the eight years he got with them was all the parental love and guidance he needed, he was all set, no need or desire for any more after that point, because that’s how it works, apparently, if you love your parents and they die while you’re still a kid, sorry but you can’t have new ones? You can have a guardian but not another parent, you already filled the ‘I had parents who loved me’ quota so whether you only got eight years with them or eighteen, that’s all folks, but its okay because its not like you’d even want parents again if you had even just eight years with ones already?

LOLOL.

Yeah. 

DISLIKE.

[metanoiamorii]

11, 25, and 27!

Hi darling! I'm going to assume it's for the writer ask game, so here are those answers!

11) Books and/or authors who influenced you the most

This is going to sound really cheesy, but honestly my friends are my biggest influence.

Sure, growing up I was obsessed with the series of Narnia, who wouldn't be??? Narnia is kickass! Also Tolkien was a big influence for my fantasy. In a weird way, Sarah J. Maas and J.K. Rowling were a big influence.

Growing up on hardcore, traditional fantasy, it made me passionate as a very lonely kid, and I could craft all these stories to be less lonely. As with Sarah J. Maas, I'm not a fan of her, and I find her rather problematic; the same with J.K. Rowling. But due to that, I saw what kind of writer I didn't want to be.

But yeah, if it wasn't for my closest friends, I would have given up writing. My twin flame isn't on tumblr, but @notugalan is and they are one of the people who have kept me writing. I love them immensely.

25) Favorite part of writing

The creation!

I'm able to create something! Something I love, something others love! Something that can have an impact on someone.

I can make people feel something with a few words. I can make them think of something with a simple scene. I can influence people! And I want to be able to use that power do to good, to help people, and if possible, make them feel better and even get into writing.

27) Favorite line or scene

Gods I have a few, honestly? So ig I'll share a few excerpts with y'all. They'll all be from the same piece, because gods I love this piece. There's plenty of more, but I won't bombard everyone with them!

They’re licking their fingers and flipping the page, to the next chapter, when Elias is getting up and wandering over. An arm slung to the back of the chair and leaning forward. “What are you reading, Aella? It must be interesting….”

Quickly, Meris is shutting the book close and glaring up at the man. “It’s a book for my studies.” It’s a lie, but they say it with a straight enough face to make it believable… at least for an eleven year old.

“Uh huh.” Elias replies. “Which one is it, I don’t remember that cover….”

“It’s a new edition.” Again, Meris lies.

“Uh huh.” Elias replies again. “Which subject?”

Meris furrows their brow. “Math.”

“Really?” Elias nods. “What kind of math?”

“... Probability.” Meris says, shifting to hide the book beneath their thigh.

For some context why I love this scene so much: Aella is an eleven year old reading a smut book. And honestly, I just find it completely funny because... Who of us haven't pulled something like this, honestly?

On the walk home, Meris stops when a poster catches their attention. They stand on the back of their heels, dully staring at it. It takes a good minute for it to connect in their head: WANTED: for the crimes of Piracy, Assault, Bribery of Government Officials, Destruction of Property, Disturbance of Peace, and the Murder of Meredith Kyrie. Dead or Alive. Approach with caution. Captain Sandraudig of the Jagare. Seventy-five-thousand platinum reward...

That’s all that catches Meris’ attention. Namely, the mention of Father.

They don’t catch the man standing a few feet away, hands shoved into his pockets and a cigarette between his lips. How he huffs and grumbles to himself, “should be fuckin’ higher…”

When they turn to furrow their brow and remark, he’s gone. Like they had imagined him…

Why do I love this scene so much? It has a GIANT impact on this wip. When reading it, you brush this incident off with Aella and almost forget about it until it plays in affect again here:

“I’m… I’m not… I’m not sorry…” They quietly mumble, staring forward. “I can’t… I can’t… I just can’t… That.. That means regretting this and I… I can’t…”

They feel a hand on their shoulder. The other hand is reaching for theirs, taking the dagger away from them; they don’t fight it. They don’t see it being handed back to its owner. In a huff and a grumble, to them, they hear, “you’ll have your own fuckin’ bounty now.” And… they blink. Through it all, they try to put the familiarity to it.

And to not be bombard anymore, just one more that really sticks to me. And gods I love this erratic bastard so much:

“What’s slavery?” The Spectral Stalker finally asks, with almost child-like innocence.

“I don’t… pardon?”

“What’s slavery?” They ask again. “Answer’s one word.” They give.

Elias furrows his brow. He looks to Tristan who just… shakes his head and shrugs. He looks back, hoping to save his own hide, answers, “it cannot be summarized by one word, I’m afraid…”

“Wrong!” They bite. “Answer’s murder!”

“I don’t..” Yes, sure. Slavery can be seen in levels of murder…. Itself wasn’t murder, though…

Waving their hands, everyone watches in, mostly, amusement as the Spectral Stalker elaborates. “Power of life, power of death; remove the brain, remove the mind; remove the will, remove the choice; remove the personality, remove the identity….” They idly tap at the side of their head, as they speak in a half formed ramble. Their head shakes, and they go back to gesturing their hands, waving the subject off; they gesture a finger directly into the man’s face. “... murder! You’re a murderer!”

I can't explain why I love it so much its just... You have to take your own take on it, I suppose?

[silverducks]

Star Wars IX - The Rise of Skywalker

Saw TROS for the first time last night and, as if often the case, I just need to get a few thoughts out there.

I’ve always loved Star Wars, but more in a just love watching the films way, rather than being involved in the fandom. Maybe that’s way, and I know this is an unpopular opinion, I really enjoyed the film, and indeed the whole of the new trilogy.

I was soooo disappointed in Avengers: Endgame earlier last year; that I just didn’t try to expect anything from the final Skywalker Star Wars film. I couldn’t take another favourite franchise ending in disappointment! Maybe that’s another reason why I just, overall, really enjoyed it and came out of the cinema feeling overall happy with it. For me, it was a shaky start, but an overall action packed and satisfying ending to the saga.

I will say, the original trilogy which began over 40 years ago is still by far the best, but this trilogy was also very, very good and I loved it! It brought me back to a world I loved so much, with some of my old favourite characters returning and giving us some fascinating new ones. The prequel trilogy was entertaining enough, but I didn’t connect the same to the world and the characters as I did in this, newer trilogy. Maybe that’s another reason why I just really, really enjoyed this.

Spoilers below:

I will say though, it could have been better – the plot was a bit too messy, which makes me think it got re-written too many times. I know some re-writes were inevitable after Carrie Fisher’s sad death, but I think this was the main reason the film suffered. The plot was too all over the place. It also didn’t tie in well enough to the last film – due no doubt to the different directors having different ideas. I think it would have been better if they’d started to search for the Sith homeworld, and the hints of Palpatine, in TLJ rather than the what was mainly a film filler adventure between Rose, Finn and Poe. This would have given much more cohesion and they would have had more time in the final film to finish story and character arcs properly.

There were a few missed opportunities, too many characters weren’t given the screentime they deserved and perhaps, at times, it just tried too hard to echo its original predecessors.

At first, I eye-rolled at the idea of bringing back Palpatine, but then, as the story went on, I grew to really like it. It helped explain a lot of the questions that were still unanswered from the first two films, such as why the First Order came to power so quickly, and who was the real puppeteer. And yes, the film took a lot of narrative short cuts, lots of little things were suddenly introduced to explain things like, oh the Sith can do this now, etc, but as this is a fantasy/sci-fi series, those sort of things don’t bother me too much, as long as they’re kind of plausible. Which, for me, they were.

It had all the elements I love about Star Wars – the light sabre fights, lots of different planets, the rebellion almost being over, but rising again and defeating the evil empire, lots of fights/battles in space which are just so entertaining to watch. I really enjoyed all that and once the film got into the second half, it felt much more settled and balanced and I was swept away in the awesome epic world of Star Wars once more.  

And I’m a bit of a Reylo shipper, so I was very pleased to see this continue in this film, with Rey wanting to see Ben return to the light side. And I’m glad that it was actually through his parents (and not just Rey), that he finally did come back to the light side. I do think they could have made more of Ben/Kylo Ren’s character arc in this, and I would’ve loved a longer fight seen with him and Rey against the emperor. But I’m just really pleased he did redeem himself and that him and Rey finally had some (albeit small) time together.

I was pretty disappointed they killed his character off though – I know why they did, because they wanted to echo the Darth Vader story arc, because there’s still a very strong notion that to be fully redeemed you have to give the ultimate sacrifice and die and because they truly wanted to end the Skywalker line. But it would have been much more interesting if they’d kept him alive and he’d been able to redeem himself by doing more good works throughout his life. And it’s a shame that all the Skywalkers have now died – all via a sacrifice for someone they loved. The end of a dynasty like no other, and I’m happy Rey took their name, a nice way to remember them.

Although, because they did kill off all the Skywalkers, the ending overall felt too bittersweet. Star Wars was always about hope, but (whilst the evil empire is gone for good), for Rey it looks like she’s got a lonely life ahead, just carrying on as the last Jedi. She’s outgrown her friends now and has a great burden to carry, with nothing really left to hope for. If they’d have saved Ben Solo, they could have had a peaceful life together.

I also like how they stayed away from a love triangle too – Rey and Finn were definitely just friends now, even if at times it hinted Finn still had feelings for her. I hope now he can move on and either fully accept the feelings he has for Rose (who sadly was in it too little), or perhaps that new character who he met – the ex stormtrooper like himself.

I will say again though, the film wasn’t without its faults. It was perhaps trying to spin too many plates and give fans too much of what they thought they wanted. It tried too hard, and lost some of the focus and character/story arcs that it needed. And as much as I loved Rey’s journey as a character, it felt too much all about her at times. I would’ve like to see more of Ben/Keylo Ren’s journey too, as he was the other half of the main characters and the young Skywalker. It felt a little disappointing that, for the last film in the Skywalker saga, the last Skywalker wasn’t given as much focus.

I do think as well, his death was a bit sudden. He sacrificed his life for Rey, joined the light side once more, but he just suddenly disappeared and that was it. There was no mourning for him really, no long look at a grieving Rey and he didn’t even get to show up as force ghost. Although, part of me wonders/hopes that there is a reason for this – that perhaps he came back to life as well. That when Leia’s body disappeared, the last of her spirit went into Ben and saved him, so he didn’t appear as a force ghost because he’s not really dead...

Anyway, like a lot of film series these days, I would say the reason the film and trilogy wasn’t as good as it could have been (although I did still love it) is because too many different writers and directors get involved, each with their own, often conflicting ideas. This lack of cohesion and continuity I think is the film’s and trilogy’s biggest downfall and I truly hope that when they make another Star Wars trilogy, they have the whole story and character arc mapped out in advance, and the same team of people are involved in the whole production.

[mobius-prime]

84. Sonic Super Special #2 - Brave New World

Brave New World

Writer: Ken Penders Pencils: Ken Penders and Pat Spaziante Colors: Barry Grossman

We're in for a long one, guys! I don't think a single special issue so far has contained only one story within, but this issue is a bit special. It doesn't necessarily contain one cohesive story, but rather serves as a stage-setter for the comic's upcoming issues, addressing many smaller plot points and chronicling the first foray made back into Robotropolis after Robotnik's death.

The beginning already gives us a juicy tidbit even though it's merely a recap of Mobius' history - for the first time, we hear about Queen Acorn, Sally's mother! We don't know much about her yet, only that she's considered a casualty of war in the Great War against the Overlanders before Robotnik's takeover. After the recap finishes, we see what's happening in the present - the celebrations are over, and now the Freedom Fighters and all their affiliates are faced with the enormous task of attempting to restore Robotropolis back into its former glory as Mobotropolis.

Woof, that looks bad. Remember this place isn't just polluted with all sorts of nasty industrial contaminants, but actual radioactive fallout as well (from when the bombs went off in the Mecha Madness special, if you recall). They decide to start with the former palace at the center of the city, but are quickly attacked by a Dynamac robot of the same kind as the one in StH #31.

The robot grabs Hershey, Antoine, Bunnie, and Tails in its weird mechanical tentacles, but Sonic confuses it by running fast enough to create multiple images of himself, making it drop its prisoners. While the fight is going on, Rotor discovers Snively hiding behind a curtain and definitely not doing anything evil to control the robot. With Bunnie's help, they take down the robot and snag Snively in a net before he can get away.

With the threat neutralized, Sally heads upstairs to see what her old home has become, having not seen it since she was only five years old. The shock of seeing her home in such a state is clearly overwhelming to her.

The comic interrupts itself here unexpectedly to show us a map of Mobius - yes, the entire thing - but we're going to hold off on exploring that until the end so as not to interrupt the flow of the story. Sally begins divvying up various tasks to her Freedom Fighters to focus on the restoration of the city - things like running water, power, etc. - but Geoffrey is nowhere to be found. Turns out he's on a call with King Acorn, whose condition has apparently improved enough that despite his crystallization, he can speak and even give orders. It doesn't seem like his mental state is really in the best of shape, however…

See, this is the trouble with monarchy, guys. I feel like if he was anyone other than The Almighty King, his words would be dismissed as delusional and bordering on fearmongering, but because he is the king and Geoffrey is sworn to his service, Geoffrey actually appears to take his words seriously, even as Dr. Quack encourages the king to lie back down and rest.

Well, since Chuck is such a radical, let's check on what he's doing right now, shall we? As it turns out, the blast from the Ultimate Annihilator restored the free will of every roboticized Mobian when it wiped out their slavemaster. While the others have been taking care of business up above, Chuck has been looking after all the newly-freed roboticized folk. Now that they can think for themselves once again, however, they have a new problem - they all, of course, want their organic forms back, but Chuck has to break the news to them that that's not possible.

Hey, who are those two blue hedgehog-looking dudes at the bottom of those panels? Jules and Bernie, Chuck calls them…

Meanwhile, Sonic and Tails are out on patrol, making sure the city is free of any more surprises like the Dynamac. They encounter a line of swatbots transporting materials into factories like usual, but they complete ignore the pair, causing them to speculate this is another contingency Robotnik had set up to continue without him in the case of his death. They're interrupted by a sudden cry for help, which they follow to its source.

Sonic attempts to help Penelope get Arlo out of his pickle, but isn't quite strong enough, until suddenly one of the roboticized Mobians, a polar bear that Sonic and Tails recognize as Rudyard, arrives to lift the rubble off Arlo. Uncle Chuck shows up with more of the roboticized people, and then… introduces some familiar faces to him.

Ouch.

Sonic races off in blind fury and grief, despite Jules attempting to explain to Sonic that they had asked Chuck to keep the secret from him, and Bernie sends Tails off after him to hopefully calm him down. Chuck in the meantime takes his entourage to speak to Sally, who happily welcomes them back to sentience, though they seem doubtful that things can't go back to being the way they were before.

On a cliff overlooking the city, Sonic rages as Tails arrives, furious that Uncle Chuck would keep such an important fact from his as his parents being alive. Apparently, he had told Sonic right at the beginning of the war that they were "casualties of war," something which I suppose technically rings true, though it was clearly interpreted to mean "dead" by Sonic. (Hey, is anyone else noticing a weird parallel between Sonic and Knuckles' family situations right now?) Tails reasons with him that even if he had known his parents were alive, that wouldn't have necessarily made things easier for him to bear, as Sally knew her father was alive and it ate her up inside. This cheers Sonic somewhat, the thought that Uncle Chuck only did what he did to protect Sonic because he cares for him, and together they head back into the city.

That evening, Sally is sitting and watching over the work her people are doing and remarking to Nicole that it would perhaps be easier to abandon the city and rebuild elsewhere, and as Nicole reassures her who shows up to agree with the computer but Geoffrey? He sits next to her to chat, but Sally notices his attitude and finally speaks up about their potentially blossoming relationship.

At least he takes it well! And at least Sally is finally moving on to someone more her age… Of course, at that moment Sonic shows up, and all he sees is Geoffrey acting like he's about to kiss Sally, so naturally he tackles him to the ground and they each begin attempting to tear the other to shreds in a jealous rage. Sally is for some reason not happy with this turn of events at all, so she gets Bunnie and Antoine to hose them down with a high-powered fire hose, and forces them to shake hands while they glare at each other and whisper through clenched teeth a promise of a later rematch. These two have a really healthy relationship, I feel!

That night, Sally uses Nicole as a sort of video call portal to her father, and we find out that apparently, she's not the one really issuing all the orders here - instead, her father is relaying commands to her that she then carries out under the guise of her own leadership. She's incredibly uncertain about the ethics of lying to her friends about the situation, even though Nicole reminds her it isn't the first time she kept secrets (referring to her secret about Knuckles), and she falls asleep alone and lonely.

The next day, Uncle Chuck hits her with some rather shocking news about the roboticized citizens.

It seems maybe they aren't ready to rejoin society yet after all, unfortunately. The issue ends with one last note on Snively - he's been sent to the Devil's Gulag, which is apparently being run in the same way that Winterhold runs its prison system, with prisoners stranded in their cells on the island and guards only coming to check on them and provide food and water once a week. Geez, man, aren't the people running this thing supposed to be the good guys? That seems incredibly inhumane… Snively isn't pleased with his new living situation at all, and vows quietly from within his own cell to strike back when the time is right. On a side note, we actually see the exact same sign that I pointed out all the way back in StH#18, the one at the entrance to Robotropolis. It's been changed for the new situation, with the "R" in Robotropolis crossed out in favor of an "M", the population of evil doctors changed to 0, and the "0 living beings" changed to "many living beings," which is honestly a really cute way for them to take back their own land. The bit mentioning how many robots there are is unchanged however, which means we really are dealing with over four million roboticized citizens recently having regained their minds and wills. Guess we'll see how that plays out in the future…

Okay, time to take a look at this map of Mobius we've been provided!

I always found it rather funny when fictional planets have to set themselves up to look vaguely like Earth. The Sonic games did it, Steven Universe did it, it's a strangely common trope. I went ahead and checked the scale provided, and my earlier statements about Mobius as a planet being comparable to Earth hold true; it's about the same size as our own planet. As you can see, almost everything relevant takes place in Not-North-America, with Mobotropolis and Knothole being situated in a general area analogous to Texas or perhaps Oklahoma. A lot of the noted areas in the legend are just references to old issues, but some are quite interesting. For example, the Floating Island apparently takes a sinusoidal orbit around the planet - it probably looks a bit less dramatic than that considering this appears to be a Mercator projection map (which means that the size of landmasses further from the equator are inflated), so the path is probably much less curved than it appears here. Quite interestingly, there's a section on the east coast of Not-North-America labeled "Overlander Territory" - we knew already about the Great War between the Mobians and the Overlanders, but now we actually get to see where they've apparently been residing this entire time. There's a few locations labeled for places we haven't seen yet (I'm not sure if this is because they were planning ahead for future issues, or if it's because this issue, despite chronologically taking place now, was published later), such as the Mysterious Cat Country and the Kingdom of Mercia, but the one that stands out most to me is the "lethal radioactive zone" located in the equivalent of modern-day Mongolia. There's no note yet on what exactly caused this area to be lethally radioactive, and I genuinely can't remember if it's addressed specifically in future issues, so I guess we'll just have to see!

[shanascarlett]

Thoughts on Hasbro Universe after Revolution

Im big fan of G.I. Joe/Transformers. But when I heard that there are more than 2 franhises in one universe, it blew my mind. So I decided to check out them. One of them I heard when I was kid.

Revolution was big. For some it was epic, other think it was mess. I understand why ppl love and hate it. Personally I love it. There’s conflict and how heroes unite against evil. It was the beggining of massive universe. So, how it turned out?

To be fair.... not so good.

Its my own opinion. You can disagree with me. If you love aftermath of Revolution, thats fine. I just want to tell about the conclusion of Hasbro Comic Book Universe.

Optimus Prime.

I think the writer put a lot of his view on life: disappointment on every religion. I really didnt like how he made that Optimus Prime is always wrong. Even when he listens and he does what he was asked to do, ppl still angry at him. “You should listened to me!” and “You shouldn’t listen to me!”. I love that they put Joes, but here’s the big issue: OOC of Mainframe and Flint with his daughter look similar the same age.

Remember when Trasnformers had the mystery of their religion and mythology? Mix of Sci-Fi and Cosmic Fantasy. Yeah, forget about that. It was all Shockwave’s evil plan. Another big disappointment for me.

I like how they described the ghost of Bumblebee, but Shockwave being one of 13 Primes looks very... confusion to me. 

Lost Light

Lost Light deserves to be called a weak sequel. Remember when in MTMTE was magic mystery, adventure, gore and development of characters and relationships? Here I found nothing. New characters for me are not interesting. And yes about them being “trans”. Im not transphobic and sorry if my opion might hurt you or offend. I just dont see transgenders in Transformers.  I dont see transformers suffering of gender dysphoria. Hell, I doubt they suffer of homophobia, bc they are totally fine with mlm and wlw. If you dont know, hetero relationships are for the population of Earth. And Transformers managed told that they can love each other, but their love is not like Earth’s bc they dont have to have sex to create life. They have strong emotion connection to each other.

Speaking about love. I love Chromedome/Rewind love story bc it was developed. We saw the birth of connection, loss, pain, reunion, fear and happiness. Same with Cyclonus and Tailgate. To be fair I dont ship the last two as romantic couple, but as platonic couple. For me they dont have that emotional connection like Chrome/Rewind but they care each other. In Lost Light nothing. You just accept that a lot characters are couple to each other. Why and how? Just accept it. This is why I dont feel emotional connection to Lug and Anode. To be fair I thought they are friend and Lug looks a lot like a boy. If they’d develop her more better, I think I’d like her. The whole Lost Light is just comics of couples. I was thinking when they’re gonna do the Orgy like in Ancient Rome.

Also here’s another disappointment in religion. Everything was lie. As I told earlier - I didnt like it. I’d rather to rewatch TFP, Bayverse or G1. BC I felt emptiness. MTMTE is masterpiece.

G.I. Joe

Where do I begin? Was written by socialist who doesnt know anything about military, ruined Quick Kick who was nice and gentle, made Scarlett an idiot, turned charasmatic Shipwreck into fat vegan, new characters have no backstory or reasons why they joined to Joes. Also: huge hypocricy. Scarlett says that G.I. Joe is now international team, but they refuse to work with USA. I get it they tried to turn G.I. Joe into Overwatch, but OW was working with every country. Including USA, where they had one of their headquarters. American G.I. Joe was more progressive bc they were helping every country who had deal with Cobra or any threat. They even teamed up with Russian soldiers.

The huge disappointment was no explanation about Snake Eyes rebirth (and no love story of Snake/Scarlett) and Quick Kick being an ass. Just check G.I. Joe ARAH show. There Quick Kick was nice. I miss that one....

The only good stuff was about Rock n’ Roll nightmares and guilt for shooting Grand Slam, grumpy Grand Slam and Doc being half-alien. Thats alll.

Revolutionaries

It was a bit better bc its literally crossover with conflict and backstories. Here they at least tried to make story interesting. And brought a lot interesting references. Especially to 90s: KLAW, Slaugther and even to original Action Force.

M.A.S.K.: Mobile Armored Strike Kommand

At 1st they tried but then it all felt down. I wouldnt call it horrible. You can check out 1st issues. I can say that only villains were interesting. While main heroes...  here’s the problem.

Original Matt Trekker was an engineer, millionaire, helped ppl and white. Why the last important? BC in reboot he became boring black guy who seeks vengeance for his father death and the main bad guy is white man. Im not racist bc I like how it was done in Spawn, but it wasnt so obvious who is the bad guy who just wants to take over the world. I get it you hate Trump. He is a clown.

Also original Trekker raises his son alone. So he is widowed. It could play in reboot: lost all, but tries to keep his son safe. So much potential for drama of lonely father. But we got what we got. I just go to rewatch Spawn animated series.

If they wanted “diverse” why they didnt put more poc characters from MASK? You know there are actual canon black man and indian man? Even native american man?

ROM

It was boring. 1st issues were interesting and brutal bc of alien invansion. You wouldnt know who is the enemy and who is the friend. But drama...

Whole Rom’s drama was about losing his humanity. At 1st we see him as cold-hearted alien. Then they all forget about it. Original Rom from Marvel was losing his humanity until he met brave girl Brandy who made him to remember his loss of homeplanet and love of his life. He was afraid to be alone and to be complete machine. And yes, in reboot his old girlfriend is alive. But I felt nothing with this. I prefer to read original comics bc I felt sorry for Rom.

Micronauts: Wrath of Karza

It was boring. The only thing I can remember is Larissa being Baron Karza’s daughter. I dont compare reboot with original series bc I havent read yet. I liked the new one bc of Baron Karza and his wife (and their fetish).

First Strike

Hoo- boy. It was bad. Preety bad. Not bc villains tried to destroy Cybertron. Not bc TF thought its gonna be war of humans and TF. No, it all was good. The main villain is Joe Colton who wants to destroy Cybertron to save Earth. And that he was bad from the beginning. His motivation sounds like Miles Mayhem from M.A.S.K.. That shock effect of surprise villain doesnt work here. It looks like disrespect to Joe fans. They managed to ruin Scarlett’s character who was turned into G.I. Joe not bc she was the best. She was in Joes bc she didnt do 50 push-ups. If you dont know, G.I. Joe is elite guard where they take the best men and women bc they do a lot dangerous work. So the whole story arc is full disrespect to Joe fan. I dont know about you, but I was offended by that.

Was there smth good? Team up of villains and the easter egg of Visionaries.

Rom vs. Transformers: Shining Armor

I almost forget about the plot bc it was boring. Rom was rude like every commander (yeah, for someone “losing humanity”). New character was boring. So everythng was boring. Even Autobots didint save the situation.

Rom & the Micronauts

Well, they at least tried with characters development. I really liked how characters interact with each other. But the whole story was “meh”

Scarlett's Strike Force

It was very short and cancelled. BC that writer Sitterson wrote offensive tweet about Nine Eleven. I get it what he was trying to do: to make comics based on cartoon G.I. Joe. This is why Quick Kick and Spirit fight against Storm Shadow. Personally I thought it was racist bc “only asian fight agains asian”. And Storm Shadow has the worst redesign I’ve ever seen. Theres nothing to talk about the comics bc its unfinished and cancelled. So theres nothing.

Transformers vs. Visionaries

This comic had potential. But the ending ruined it. The story is about colonization to save living race. But it will kill another nation. Its interesting theme. And how they managed? Nothing. For some reason everyone in peace and safe. The ending is just weird. I think writer didint know how to end that conflict so she wrote “everyone safe and in peace. Colonization is bad”. Not the ending is the problem. Main characters: Leoric and Virulina redesigned very strong. Leoric looks like total different character (why not to create new character? He looks good). And Virulina looks like student from art-school, not the villain. The redesigned I like are Cryotek and Arzon. And the art was very good.

The last 2 ones I havent finished yet. I can tell this: TAAO isnt look so bad, but I’m ready for disapointing ending, like TF Unicron.

In conclusion:

I dont tell that it was done horrible. Its just explains why IDW decided to reboot TF and G.I. Joe. Low sales. BC I’ve noticed a lot easter eggs in those comics for future story plots. I think they’d made it good if IDW would give them chance.

If you love them, thats fine. I’ll enjoy my own version of Hasbro Universe.