#like.. she KNEW she was attracted but was intending to weaponize it to manipulate him. and ultimately k*ll him? u know?

[thedeadthree]

CAITRÌONA (defiled hearts) // ANYA (vendetta)

LÍADÁIN (a mage reborn) // VANJA (aot)

OLGA (citadel) // HINATA (cp2077)

the beloved @marivenah tagged me to make some loves in this cutest picrew! ty so much mari! 💞

tagging: @griffin-wood, @risingsh0t, @blackreaches, @chuckhansen, @queennymeria, @adelaidedrubman, @arklay, @confidentandgood, @florbelles, @shellibisshe, @dihardys, @jackiesarch, @saintsilver, @nokstella, @yennas, @aartyom, @swordcoasts, @pheedraws, @rosebarsoap, @cobb-vanthss, @aceghosts and you!

[spunkpunx]

I Don’t Share - Kai Anderson

Plot: Reader is the only person who Kai Anderson ever really listened to.

Word count: 1899

Warnings: SMUT, Manipulative reader, Smoking, Blood, Aggressive Sex, Mocking, It’s AHS Cult so it’s gonna be dark, Misogyny

I walked down the steps, into the basement. The place he dwelled. The dark web was a strange place, full of internet trolls, but something about Kai Anderson was different. Something in his words garnered attention, and now, it was time to find out.

“Hello?” I called out confidently. At this point in my life, nothing scared me, not even death, but my survival was important. After all, what could I achieve from beyond the grave? To be without fear is to be dangerous.

“Who are you?” a voice called out from the sofa. The man sat there was not the man I expected to see, and I was pleasantly surprised.

“Kai Anderson?” I queried, and he nodded. I had expected someone much less attractive, but Kai’s dark eyes, handsome face and fit body were all things that played into my hands. His eyes bore into me as I walked into the room and sat opposite him. he wore sweatpants, and his shoulder length hair was dyed blue.

“Answer my question, bitch,” he snapped at me, but I just looked at him disapprovingly, taking a cigarette from my pocket and lighting it. He glared at my lack of response, but I made sure to take my time before I replied.

“When a dog bites it’s master, they take it into the yard and put a bullet in its head,” I calmly spoke, resisting a smile at the taken aback expression on his face. The surprise soon turned into rage, and he stood up and grabbed me by the collar of my t-shirt, making me jump.

“I don’t even know you! No bitch will be the master of me!” Kai yelled, and I met his eyes with a level gaze. I gave him a look, a look of indifference, and he released me from his grasp. He stood above me.

“Sit down Kai, I’m not speaking to you until you sit.”

“Fuck off.”

I met his eye with a steely glare, and reluctantly, he took a seat the other side of the coffee table.

“Now, I’m (y/n) (l/n), and I came to see you because I need you,” I began to explain. Kai raised an eyebrow. “There’s something about you Kai, that shocks people, that commands attention, but you’re wasting it away sat sweating in this shitty basement.”

He leant foreword in his seat, starting to listen more attentively. It was almost too easy.

“Now I have a proposal, because I need you to realise your potential,” I continued, and he was captivated.

•

The cult had been running for just over a month. Of course, no one had identified it as what it was yet, but it was coming together as intended. When I first met Kai, I wanted to rile him up and let him lose to wreak havoc on the world, to scare people into action, but after speaking to him, I realised an intelligence more than I had initially thought. It was a waste not to push him forward into something on a national level. Of course, he had been harder to break than I first thought, but eventually I had had him wrapped around my finger using the only weapon women had against men, the weapon that sat between my legs.

Within the ring I took the position of Kai’s right hand and lover, his assistant, and it was widely assumed that I was abused and too love struck by our “Divine Ruler” to realise. As much as they admired him, they feared him. In reality, I was in control. Everything Kai had become was because of me.

I knew I had control at the first “pinky ritual”. As soon as our fingers made contact he dived into the first questions, but by that point I’d already won. He was angry, emotional, irrational. I’d got under his skin. It didn’t take long for me to turn the questioning round onto him, and soon he was spilling his guts to me. Everything about his parents, his brother and sister, every fear, hate, love and regret in his life he gave to me. We had sex and with that he’d given me all of his power.

Despite the impression that the rest of the cult held, Kai was ready to lick the shit off of my shoe if I asked. Of course, that didn’t mean I had absolute control. His ideas were his own, I just gave him a push in the right direction. After the killing of Bob Thompson and his gimp, I had pulled Kai’s mask off and kissed him, hard, to show my appreciation. He pulled our bodies closer together and when he brushed his finger across my lip I could taste the blood on it. From that point on, there was no better sight for me than a bloodied Kai Anderson.

•

“I don’t share Kai,” I stated, coldly, as he walked down into the basement. I had been sat on the sofa, waiting for him to return.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t lie to me,” I spat. “You’ve been upstairs fucking Mrs. Lavender,” I pointed out, referring to Meadow.

“There’s a reason,” he defended himself simply. “She needed to think I loved her so she’ll be willing to die for me. It’s exactly what you asked.”

“I don’t think you understand,” I replied slowly, opening my legs to reveal no underwear on beneath my skirt, and I noticed Kai’s next words catch in his throat. “You belong to me. To this.” I gestured my womanhood. He knelt in front of me on the floor, tracing his hands along my thighs, temptation in his eyes.

“No, I don’t,” Kai spat. I snapped my thighs shut and he pulled his hands away sharply. “I am the Divine Ruler,” he announced, standing to lean over me, taking my throat in his hand and squeezing slightly. I looked him back in his dark eyes coolly, daring him to do what he was threatening to do. Kai didn’t have the strength in him to kill me.

“I made you what you are.” I felt his grip tighten. “You’re nothing without me,” I croaked, my voice hoarse as he cut off my breath. His grip tightened more, and for a moment I almost considered he might go through with it. I saw a tear run down his face and then he let go. He dropped his head, tears running down his face, and I opened my arms to him. He dropped down to the sofa, next to me, falling into my embrace. He buried his head into my shoulder and sobbed, while I stroked his hair, shushing him.

“I’m sorry,” he almost whimpered. I pushed him down of the sofa, back on his knees in front of me, opening my legs. He sighed in appreciation, his eyes darkening with lust. As he reached his hand towards my leg I smacked it away.

“No, you have to beg,” I instructed. He looked up to meet my eye. There’s nothing more dangerous than a humiliated man, he had once said, but here he was, willing to get down on his knees in front of me and beg for my attention.

“Please, forgive me, (y/n). Let me touch you,” he pleaded pathetically. I leant forward and took his jaw in my hand, guiding his lips up to meet my own. He desperately leaned into the kiss, sitting up on his knees to pull us closer. His hand ran along my thigh and brushed across my heat, and when I didn’t pull away he rubbed the rough pad of his thumb against my clit before pushing a finger inside of me. I let myself moan against his kiss. He added another finger and curled them inside of me, swallowing my noises up with his lips. I pulled away from the kiss, panting.

“I want you to show me how much you hate me Kai,” I told him, and he removed his fingers from me, confused. I continued, pulling my shirt over my head leaving me in my bra. “Oh, I know you do. The way I make you feel confused, the way I treat you. I let you know how much of a piece of shit you are and you let me tell you that. What kind of man are you? You hate the way I make your prick harder than anyone else could,” I tease, reaching to grab his erect cock through his trousers. I pull my knees back, showing my full pussy out in front of him and that’s all he takes to snap. He stands up and pushes me down on the couch, kneeling himself between my knees before pulling his shirt over his head. It’s hard not to admire his muscular body. It’s no wonder he could get people to believe he was their god, he looked exactly like one. He unzipped his jeans and pulled them down, freeing his cock from his boxers and stroking it while looking at me.

“You’re right,” he told me harshly, grabbing my jaw and resting his thumb in my mouth so I kept it open. “I do fucking hate you.” With that he leant forward towards me and spat directly into my mouth. His harsh words were making me drip with lust. Without any warning he plunged his cock into my warmth, grunting and dropping his hands to my grip onto my waist and the flesh of my stomach. He pounded into me relentlessly, letting out small moans of pleasure. I panted, and when he hit a spot inside of me I let out a breathy moan. I felt a sting across my face, realising that he’d slapped me. He moved a hand to my thigh, pressing it back toward my chest. He growled as he hit my cervix, his hands heavy and his grip tight. Kai grabbed my throat and leant over my body to give the most bruising kiss, and as he pushed my legs back, his cock hit even deeper in me. I even whimpered as he mercilessly pounded into me, harder and harder. His kiss travelled, down my neck, and I felt him take the skin between his teeth, leaving bite marks. I took his head in my hands, fingers tangled in his hair, and I connected our mouths once more, tongues and teeth colliding. He let out another desperate moan. Even when he hated me I still controlled him. The room was filled with the sound of wet kisses and skin slapping. I felt the pleasure build and reached down to rub myself, reaching a shuddering climax and clenching around Kai. He let out a groan and swore, pounding into me faster, his thrusts sloppy. He pulled my bra down and grabbed onto my tits, desperately panting and he brought himself closer to finish. I could do nothing but moan and tremble as his thrusting overstimulated me. His breathy moans brought me to finish a second time, a wave of pleasure hitting me and making me shake again. Kai groaned, pushing himself balls deep inside me and spilling hot cum. He collapsed down on top of me and I let him rest his head on my chest, wrapping my legs around his waist and kissing the top of his head.

“I do think I could love you, Kai,” I murmured against his hair, and I had no reason to say it, but I truly meant it.

[florbelles]

13~17 for Lyra and John?

thank you legend, i am once again sorry for my response time on this rip

xiii. what is their go-to for making a partner feel loved?

— this is something that's actually incredibly difficult for her; the enormity of it is something that nothing feels adequate to express. while she's very physically demonstrative, one of her greatest fears — particularly after he's gone — is that she never expressed it the right way, that he never understood, not really. she desperately hopes he does. she tells him, a thousand times, she is sorry for the way she is, even knowing that he loves her for it, even knowing that he knows what he chose. ( he did, of course, he tells her as much, but it still haunts her ).

she tries to makes him feel loved by what makes her feel loved; making sure he knows she sees him, understands him, accepts him completely and unconditionally. he doesn't need to be anyone else for her; he doesn't need to prove anything to her. she shows him she loves him by letting him simply be, by proving with time that she isn’t going anywhere, that she’s all in.

she shows him love the only ways she knows how. she's most comfortable expressing herself with her body, that she can give him, that she can do and do well ( sexually, yes, of course, but perhaps more pertinently — neither of them have an uncomplicated relationship or history with sex, elaborated on below under xv — with nonsexual signs of affection — running her thumb over his, nuzzling him when she comes up behind him, pressing her lips to his neck ). she’s always touching him if she’s near him. she’s extremely affectionate, both physically and verbally, especially in the mornings and at night when they’re lying limbs-twined.

the simplest answer is, however, synonymous with the answer to xv below; she expresses her love through her trust and willingness to render herself wholly vulnerable. she expresses it through quiet, subtle intimacies that might not be immediately evident to anyone who doesn’t know her ( it’s been stated many times before, but to lyra, the use of a first name and familiar language is the greatest sign of intimacy she can verbally give — her enemies are darling, her husband is john ). “hi, john” is her “i love you;” “i’m so glad it’s you” is her “i love you.”

xiv. what makes them feel loved? would they build up the courage to ask for it?

— the small efforts he makes to meet her at her level. when he says “you love me.” when he manages to drag his ass out of bed for her in the morning to watch the sunrise even though they’re on two hours and he needs his beauty sleep. she doesn't expect accommodation. she doesn't expect anything. one of her most prevailing thoughts early in their relationship is that it would have been enough for him to simply see and understand her; she would not have asked him not to hate her, she does not ask him not to forsake her, but he chose not to. he gave her acceptance. he gave her love. she would never in a thousand years ask for it.

for john, it’s that she lights up when she's around him — is truly simply that happy just to see him and be near him without needing or expecting anything from him, which isn’t something he’s necessarily had in his life from figures who aren’t obligated either by familial bonds or being his subordinates. she could not disguise it even if she wished. he will always make her flush. he will always make her stomach drop and her teeth flash and her eyes gleam. it is simply the way it is: it is incredibly fortunate they are not seen together by anyone outside of the project, because they would have known immediately. ( they do know immediately, when the time comes, before the end of everything ).

xv. what, for them, constitutes a level of intimacy that they would only rarely share with someone? this can be physical, emotional, etc.

— vulnerability, both emotional and physical.* quite literally, he is the only partner she's ever had that she has slept with, excepting some of her earliest girlfriends, generally bunkmates at school ( “i have never slept with a man in all my life!” is a favored gag of hers ). he is also the only partner with whom she hasn't kept her shoes or knives or some means of defense on her person ( john would argue the post-coital teeth and scratch marks he permanently wears make her true defenselessness sat any given time debatable, but it's the thought that counts! ).

( * for the sake of simplicity, this excludes all intimacy in relation to the project; while it’s obviously a major part of their relationship and a shared cause/belief system that deepens their bond, it’s complicated by the fact she would have joined the project and undergone those processes with or without him, whether or not they were lovers )

physical intimacy is, at first glance, something that is decisively not something only rarely shared, given that they both have hundreds of past sexual partners; they both have a complicated past with sex and their own respective baggage. john obviously has a history of self-medication and addiction that’s bound up with his demons and self-loathing; for lyra it's never been a particular vice — she has absolutely also used it to self-medicate in the past, usually as a way to blow off steam when her blood is running hot in a potentially more lethal direction, but it’s never been an instrument of self-destruction — an d is instead primarily is burdened with the fact that she used her sexuality to seduce targets; it's something she weaponized and exploited, so there are always going to be certain situations or circumstances she dislikes seeing john in ( she's reluctant to the prospect of restraining or binding him, for example, since she would use restraints on men she seduced with the intention of intimidating or killing them ). they both have associations they don't want to spill over onto the other.

having said that, the fact of that allows them a type of intimacy that might not be immediately evident to anyone else; she makes sure he knows he doesn't have to fuck her to hold her, he doesn't need to use his body to have that familiarity with her ( given that this is previously unexplored territory for the both of them, her saying so goes over about as well as can be expected — pardon him, he didn’t realize sex with him was such a fucking chore, sorry he is so sexually revolting, don’t do him any favors! — but they get there ).

sex is obviously still a big part of their relationship, and not one that john particularly feels the need to repent, since they’re married in all but name almost immediately and are married in fact within six weeks and otherwise has little difficulty john-justifying ( johnstifying, if you will ) it to himself ( she’s been entrusted to me, i’m bringing her closer to the project, she’s meant for me anyway, god brought her to me, this isn’t lust, she said so herself, this is a sanctioned union ), and she immediately casts off any notions of seducing or manipulating him as means of insinuating herself into the project’s protection ( it’s for this reason she stalls joining; she intends to right away, she believes joseph and desperately wants to believe that this is the reason and purpose for everything in her life up to this point, done both by and to her, but she flatly refuses until she can prove her complete commitment and good faith upfront, an opportunity afforded to her by the camera crew’s fortuitous arrival ) — this is also why she cuts off their first encounter and flees the ranch. she will never use her sexuality against him. in that sense, sex as a form of intimacy is reserved for each other.

( this is, in fact, how she knows she loves him; for all of her extensive sexual history, she has never actually wanted someone — not just release with them, not just a physical attraction to them — she is in fact unsettled on whether or not she is attracted to john physically; he's the most beautiful creature alive to her, but that's because he's him, she loves his nose because it's his nose, she loves his eyes because they're his eyes, his skin because it’s his skin — but actually him. she knew she had to have him. )

xvi. if they had the ability to just spend free time with their partner, what would they do? would they go out or stay inside?

— stay in ( not necessarily literally within the confines of their home, but within their own space ). lyra will probably coax him outside at some point because she doesn't feel right if she's indoors all day, regardless of the weather — no, the first seven years of the collapse are not looking well for her, thank you — but they won't necessarily stray from each other's companionship. if it's a day off, joseph is probably giving them space ( this is also his day off from their shared existence, how wonderful to be able to attend to the rest of the flock without worrying about what problems they're causing on purpose ), so while they'll occasionally have the company of one of their family members, it's more likely to simply be the two of them, possibly with the company of some of their closest inner-circle ( shaggy, holly, shaggy’s brother matthew, a few of their select chosen who are assigned to the ranch ) in the evening if lyra decides she wants a bonfire. otherwise, they take full advantage of their ability to absolutely nothing but laze around and talk and make love.

xvii. under what circumstances would they want to be left alone by their partner?

— this almost never happens, since they’re more inclined towards separation anxiety than a need for space, but lyra is the most likely to want it when she needs to sort out her mental state or let her fuse burn down ( like the time she locked herself in the shower to cry for an hour because he loved her or if they’re in an especially heated argument and she needs to clear her head before she says or does something she’ll regret). she rarely does so, however; she’s aware that from his perspective her walking out on him, no matter how temporary or how rationally he knows she’s coming back, exacerbates his angst and triggers his insecurities.

[silverdphantom]

Theory : the Grigori always knew the truth about the twins and never intended to execute Rin

For a long time, the biggest threat hanging on Rin's head was not Lucifer or even Satan, but the Grigori’s willingness to execute him, would he be recognised as a demon and a threat. But now that we have seen the past and know more about who are the Grigori, I tend to think this threat never really existed and the Grigori knew Shiro Fugimoto was raising Satan's kids with the help of Mephisto since the very beginning. And they were perfectly OK with that. As they always did in the past, they go along even with Mephisto’s most horrendous plans. They agree, reluctantly, with Section 13, they could perfectly agree with Turning-Satan's-kids-into-weapons plan. But in front of the rest of the Order, they kept the appearences.

By the way, the Grigori are also Nephilim of god-like demons just like Rin, so even if they are now far less powerful because of their diluted blood, I don't think they could fear Rin as humans could. In a way, he is the same as them. It was the same for Izumo, who accepted Rin’s situation far more easily than the other because she was herself an hybrid.

I know this can look unlikely given how they publicly acted about Rin, but I believe it was just that: an act. And here are the elements I base my theory on:

1. Section 13

The events of Section 13 showed the Grigori, especially Shemihaza, not being distrutful toward Mephisto, but at the contrary working hand in hand. Mephisto did not have to hide anything from them, no matter how awful.

2. The meeting in Gehenna

Shiemi's grandmother was here, in Gehenna, with the rest of the Demon royalty, when Samael announced his intention to raise Rin to make him a suitable vessel for Satan. So, even if she first intended to “get rid of anything that could attract Satan’s attention”, she knew Shiro Fugimoto was raising Satan’s kids. And was ultimately okay with that.

You could argue that it was the previous generation and that they said nothing about the truth on the Blue Night, but the last arguments show why I think the current generation did know about the twins.

3. Shiemi's mother

First, one could think that when a Grigori learns one of the comrades of her only daughter and heir is the son of Satan, her first reaction would be to remove said daughter from the class to keep her safe from such danger. She did not. Shiemi was allowed to stay close to Rin.

Second, on the first chapter Shiemi and her were introduced, Rin USED HIS FLAMES AND SHOWED OFF HIS TAIL IN THE GARDEN OF THE CURRENT SHEMIHAZA.

Maybe Shiemi’s mother did not notice. Maybe ?

Third, Shiro used to bring Yukio along to the shop. Shiemi’s mother was still probably alive at that time. Shiro knew the face the face of the previous Grigori. I think he knew who the women owning the shop truly were. And I think they also knew his secret.

4. Nemu Takara

Despite having been introduced in the second chapter of the manga, he remains a mystery. But here I will go with the main theory about him : he is a Nephilim of Armumahel, the Emperor of Nothingness. He is part of the Grigori too. And, unlike Shiemi, he already knew who he was.

Mephisto explained at the beginning of the Illuminati Arc that he recruited Nemu Takara from an “external party” to monitor the exwires. And who needed most monitoring among the exwires ? Rin. I think Takara was mainly recruited to watch upon Rin in case things would go really bad. After all, as Shiemi proved it, in spite of Rin’s power, a descendant of the Grigori still would be powerful enough to contain him even for a little while. He was to use his power as a last resort.

And I don’t think Mephisto could have recruited Nemu without the actual Armumahel knowing why.

5. Rin's trial

In a way, this moment could be used against this theory, but I would like to insist on the fact that Mephisto did not look the slightest worried about the trial’s outcome and that, in such an important moment, he did not provide any good argument for Rin’s survival. Instead, he just went about about that bet on Rin’s future “Will he become a lord of Gehenna or the savior of the Order and Assiah”. And his talk convinced no one in the audience, neither Angel or the judges. Except the Grigori.

In fact, they never intended to have Rin executed, and the trial was just a way to show to the rest of the Order that they had control over that new threat. They had already taken Mephisto’s bet a long time ago.

And in fact, when you think about that, the same bet has been also made about them, the descendants of the Demon Emperors and Kings.

I don’t know if it is much more reassuring, because it would mean the Grigori are just as manipulative as Mephisto.

What do you think about that ? Whether you agree or not, don’t hesitate !

[akanennie]

Hot and Cold

Words: 4.626

Paring: Loki Laufeyson × reader

Warning: Accident in Mission, Dominion of fire and ice and unprotected sex scene. Internal ejaculation.

Y/N didn't call the Avengers attention in a good way. It's not like she wanted to cause trouble in New York, but since she couldn't properly control her powers, she ended up being seen, initially, as a threat.

But even though Y/N sometimes froze some innocents in an attempt to catch the thieves or accidentally set off a diner, Y/N was called to be part of the Avengers.

It's an honor. That's what she thought. Working with the Black Widow and Captain America was a dream that Y/N had since she developed her pyrokinesis and cryokinesis powers.

In other words, it creates and controls not only ice, but also its complete opposite, fire. This was unusual even for mutants and this yielded many days of testing on Y/N on the part of Banner and Stark.

However, the lack of control that Y/N was not just something that worried her. She was insecure and most of the time Y/N felt out of tune with the other team members. It was too much power to control and learn to use, it was too much pressure for Y/N to handle.

--------

Y/N was alone at a diner table. She had just ordered a juice and the same came, but the warmth of Cuba was so strong that even if Y/N ordered the iced juice, it came almost at room temperature. Of course, this was not a problem for Y/N, because being a manipulator of ice and fire, it can freeze the juice at the temperature she wanted and without attracting attention.

"All right, what do you see?" Steve's voice came through Y/N's earpiece.

"Regular patrol cops. Few men, busy streets, yet not too noisy." Y/N consisted before taking a sip of her juice observing everything with description. "A good target."

"We're facing the biggest bank in Cuba, what does it mean?" Steve's question came as a teacher's and Y/N had to restrain herself so as not to turn her eyes.

"Cams." Y/N answered the obvious. "But that's not gotta stop him."

"Surely not, this guy isn't afraid to be seen." Steve agreed, seemed pleased with Y/N's comment.

"You see that SUV?" It was Natasha's turn to ask, she was at the diner across the street, also at an open-air table, just as Y/N was now.

"The red one? Cute." Y/N took another sip of her juice. Field recognition was the worst part of her training and that she could say for sure.

"That means it's private security. Which means difficulty for some people. These people are us." Natasha added.

"You know, with a snap of fingers, I can incinerate or freeze them?" Y/N asked looking at Natasha across the street and the two faced herself for a moment before Bucky finally spoke.

From above one of the buildings, Bucky was watching everything with Sam's support. "We've seen very well how your snap of fingers is effective, Y/N."

Y/N's right hand began to heat the juice unintentionally. "Are you gotta get into this things, Barnes? Shall I remind you of the Starks?"

It was Bucky's turn to get angry and growl.

"It's not helping, Bucky. Focus on the mission, you both." Steve scolded and Y/N practically growled.

A sound from a heavy vehicle caught Steve's attention and he had Sam check it out. With one of his drones, Sam scanned the old garbage truck that went straight from the bank and went to the big building at the end of the street.

"It's at its maximum capacity and the driver is armed." Sam said analyzing the scan, it left everyone on alert.

"They aren't attack the bank." Steve said and everybody went out where the truck was going.

Bucky ran to the car where Natasha also went and went out together. Sam went to Steve's meeting and took him flying to the scene while Y/N used her ice powers to glide down the floor and quickly go to the scene.

Steve and Sam were the first to arrive on the scene, there was already a small trail of destruction while Steve was recognizing how many were still there.

"Sam, I counted eight..." Steve said after he knocked down three men. Sam who was in the air, struck one with his feet and shot another. "I counted six..."

Men started shooting in their direction and Steve and Sam used their equipment to protect themselves. But soon some shots were fired and the men fell dead on the ground.

"You counted better, Steve." Bucky provoked him as he approached his friend.

"Now there are six..." Natasha said accompanying Bucky's quick walk.

The loud sound of a rifle shot echoed and the gun was flying all the way to the team's direction. Steve automatically pulled Natasha under his shield while Sam and Bucky protect themselves from the attack behind the Hawk's wings.

But the shot never came, because the gun was frozen in the air and then fell to the ground, undoing it into little pieces.

"I thought you all were more attentive..." Y/N commented, serious and with her ice powers she create ice stakes and throw against the enemies.

Sam's drone flew over the building while they were protecting themselves from the shots and managed to find the location of the people behind it.

"Romlow is on the eighth floor." Sam announced to Steve and the same has already turned to Y/N.

"How we train, Y/N!" Steve ordered it.

With both hands and using all the concentration he could, Y/N created a pillar of ice for Steve to enter the building directly on the eighth floor.

The team went into confrontation with Romlow, but unfortunately he managed to steal the bio weapon and try to escape with it. In the midst of the crowd they parted and the whole team also separated to try to capture what was with the weapon since there were not many men left. Sam and Natasha went west, Bucky to the north while Y/N and Steve went east behind Romlow

Y/N went into a melee fight against Romlow, but he was clearly stronger than her in this category and ended up tipping her off. But he before he could give a fatal blow to it, Steve came in and knocked him down with a punch. The two began to fight eagerly. Steve had lost his shield in the fight process, but didn't stop tearing down Romlow, several times.

However...

"They'll coming after your little friend, Bucky..." Romlow said provocative when he was visibly impossible for him to win Steve. "They'll frying his brain like they did in the last 70 years..."

Steve, who until then held Romlow by the collar of his clothes, lost a bit of firmness and that made Y/N apprehensive.

"And when they get to him, he'll forget about you again, because there's nothing left to remember!" Romlow said showing the grenade in his hand.

Steve automatically walked away and Y/N took her front so that Romlow detonated the grenade. Because of her pyrokinesis, she managed to restrain the fire from the bomb blast. Y/N only didn't count that Romlow, still carbonized, would make one last act of cruelty throw another grenade toward the innocent population of Cuba who watched frightened the situation.

Again Y/N tried to use her ice powers, but it didn't work out. The bomb exploded and in an attempt to freeze the fire, Y/N ended up doing the opposite and the fire spread, it ended the lives of many innocent people.

Y/N didn't know how to do it, she reduced Romlow to ashes while Steve was trying to help save as many people as possible from the fire. Bucky and Sam arrived next to help, then came the firefighters, finalizing the mission of the Avengers.

Still on the way to where they had landed the Quinjet, they were all in an absurdly uncomfortable silence. Y/N looked at the landscape from outside the car just like everyone else, or maybe not all of them.

"Really, we're not going to talk about what happened?" Bucky was the first to talk.

"There's not much to talk about, Bucky." Steve said without taking his eyes off the road.

"Yes, there is, Steve. She burned over 100 innocent people and you're not going to say anything?"

"It was an accident!" Y/N defended herself, not that she was in the mood to talk about it. She kept serious and looking into the landscape without paying attention in Bucky.

"Bucky!" Natasha scolded him, but he turned to Y/N looking from the front passenger seat.

"A fatal accident. If you had trained your powers better, you might have prevented it."

"You're the last person who can judge me, HYDRA Pinocchio." She lifted her right hand and a flame appeared in her palm. "Now shut your damn mouth before I fry you too." Y/N added, and as much as Barnes was ready to Retruffle, Steve made him sit right on the bench.

"That's enough! The mission didn't end the way we hoped, but it's over. Don't prolong that anymore." Steve said, stern and they both crossed their arms like two angry kids.

That failure was all Y/N didn't need. Incinerating people wasn't in her plans when she woke up in the morning.

Y/N was the first to leave the Quinjet as soon as it landed. As soon as she entered the compound, Y/N went to her own room where she intended to be isolated. She didn't turn on the TV, didn't turn on the radio, didn't touch her phone, because Y/N knew she'd be in every kind of media her failure as an Avenger.

The only thing she did was climb into her bed and grab her knees. Y/N still heard in her head the screams of the burning people while she could not change from fire to ice. That's the enraged, she hated not being able to control her powers properly and so ending innocent people dying.

A knock on the door caught Y/N's attention, there was Steve still in his Captain's uniform. Y/N diverted her attention to the window and sighed. The frustration of knowing that he had disappointed Captain made Y/N even more upset with herself.

Steve sat next to her in bed and touched her hand. "Don't cover so much of yourself..."

"Don't touch me! I don't want to hurt you!" Y/N said she was trying to loosen her hand. Steve held her hands and looked at her. "You're not going to hurt me, see?" He raised his hands together and no fire.

"You must be disappointed in me, won't you?" Y/N asked, afflicted, finally looking into Steve's blue eyes. "I tried to stop Romlow, but I ended up burning innocents in the process..."

"It's not your fault, there was no way you could imagine he had two grenades." Steve lowered his gaze and released Y/N's hands. "Romlow said those things about Bucky, and suddenly, I was 16-year-old Steve in Brooklyn." Steve sighed and looked at Y/N, she had lowered her gaze too and now looked at her own hands. "I never expected you to use both of them at the same time with so little training time. We don't even know if it's possible... "

"But..." Y/N would argue, but Steve interrupted her. "I already said, don't cover so much of yourself, with more training you can control it. "

"How many people gotta die there?" she asked about dropping Steve's hands. "I don't wanna hurt anyone else, Cap. So... I think I'd better stay in the compound while I try to find a way to switch. It's safer..."

Steve sighed giving up for an hour and agreed. Y/N was already determined not to act, unless it was extremely necessary or when she was in complete control of her powers.

Days later, Y/N still didn't have the guts to go out on missions and because she refused to leave the compound, the security secretary, Ross, understood that Y/N was in some kind of house arrest, so he didn't arrest her for what happened.

It was Y/N sitting in the garden, it was the maximum limit that the secretary had free air tax to Y/N within the premises of the complex. She looked at her right hand and she began to light up, then ignited her and a flame began to spread as if she was burning her, but Y/N felt nothing. She made the fire go out and with the same hand tried to create ice, but could not.

Y/N went on with it until the thunderously loud sound followed by a colorful light came to reach the garden, meters ahead of Y/N. She rose immediately, but remained standing where she was while she saw the strong light burn a circle on the earth and gradually the other Avengers left the complex, standing beside her.

"Looks like you'll finally meet Thor." Banner commented when he put himself next to Y/N.

She said nothing, just watched and breathed deep. One more to disappoint.

When the light subsided there were two men in the middle of the burnt-out Earth circle and they began to walk towards them. One was Thor, pompous and with his blond hair and short, he walked with confidence and with a huge smile on his face. The other was dark and Y/N didn't recognize him at first, he didn't seem comfortable to be there and so walked slower and with less haste than Thor.

"It's good to have you back with us, Thor." Natasha commented as the tallest approached and greeted everyone. "I just can't say the same about your brother..."

"Nonsense, Loki is learning not to be so selfish... Please give him a vote of confidence." Thor said greeting Banner with a strong embrace.

The others did not seem comfortable with it, but by Thor they decided to accept to give Loki a chance. Now when Thor saw Y/N, he looked at her with doubts.

"And you are...?"

"Y/N..." Y/N responded a little intimidated by the enormous man in front of her. "I'm relatively new around here..."

"It is a pleasure to meet you, young Lady Y/N..." Thor said and soon entered the complex with the other Avengers.

While everyone was away, Y/N stayed behind with Loki who watched her from the feet to her head, jerking her lips while analyzing her. Y/N was somewhat intrigued by his constant gaze and returned to sit on the grass. Soon Loki approached and lowered the front of Y/N, making her more intrigued.

"What are you so special about getting into my brother's super-gifted group of friends?" Loki asked curious, even if he had a smile playing on his lips.

Y/N spoke nothing but raised her right hand in front of her face and Loki's. And with that hand she created a strong flame of dense and very red fire.

"I can control ice too, but I can't make the transition from one element to the other yet." Y/N said looking at the fire.

"Wow! That is... Amazing!" Loki commented by trying to touch the flame and removed his hands the instant it burned.

"It would be better if I could control..."

Y/N's frustrated gaze intrigued Loki and, as strange as it seemed to him, Loki settled next to Y/N.

"It is a matter of improvement and this comes with training." Y/N kept staring at the fire in her hands and laughed Unbeliever. "You spoke like the Captain now."

Loki twisted his nose with the comparison, but he didn't say anything. A newcomer doesn't have much right to say anything, especially when he was taking refuge.

"I'm a freak even for my own kind..." Y/N commented frustrated when she finally extinguished her hands. Such a commentary caught Loki by surprise. "I practice, I study about pyrokinesis, about cryokinesis... But since I'm the only one on the planet that can manipulate both elements, I have to figure out how to control it myself..."

"Maybe you just needed someone to understand you..." Loki said with a softer tone in his voice, there was no sarcasm there.

For the first time in more than 1500 years of life, Loki was being entirely sincere. He gently held Y/N's right hand and gave her a kiss over her fingers. She was blusher and instinctively her hand warmed, almost burning Loki's hand.

He released Y/N's hand quickly for it and instead of fighting with her, he began to laugh. It was the beginning of a friendship between the two... Or something else.

Six months have passed since the arrival of Thor and Loki. And as much as Loki found a lot of tedious things, he learned to appreciate some things from Earth. One of those things was Y/N's company. Since they met, Loki is almost always with her.

Y/N understood the motives of everyone in being insecure with Loki, but for some reason, with her Loki lowered the whole cynical wall that had built in front of the others. He smiled cheerfully, had fun with her and helped her control her powers.

With a very rudimentary method, Loki made Y/N able to change the elements in the same hand and almost use both elements at the same time. This made Y/N hopeful of being able to finally get back to work properly this time, so much so that when she realized she could make the exchange with more freedom, Y/N asked the captain to integrate it again into the new missions.

The relationship between Loki and Y/N was not only in friendship in those six months. Loki learned that the more time he spent with a girl as inconstant as Y/N, the more he fell in love. After almost three months of living with each other, just as friends, he finally broke the pride barrier and declared himself to Y/N after one of the trainings.

She was shocked to hear about his feelings, but as Y/N also fell in love with Loki, it was inevitable that they would enter into a relationship.

On any day, Loki enters his room ready to rest. He had come out on his first mission with Thor and Barnes, and now he understood why everyone came back extremely tired after they left and battled. And to his surprise, Y/N was in his room, lowered in front of his bookshelf. She was wearing a small shorts, a big shirt that almost covered the shorts and barefoot. Y/N looked at him as soon as the door opened.

"Oh, you're back!" Y/N excried and stood up. Loki arched an eyebrow and went to her. "What are you doing here?"

"I... I missed you, so I came to read one of your books to soften." Y/N confessed and Loki came to the ruborize.

Never in his life did he feel so important to anyone besides Fregga. Y/N smiled at Loki and he couldn't stop the smile. He closed the door, and it was up to her whom he kissed fondly, matched likewise.

To relieve some of the stress and enjoy a little time together, since Y/N would be the next to go on a mission the next day. Loki chose a book on his bookshelf to read it together.

Together they settled in bed, Y/N laid her head on Loki's chest as he read aloud to her. It was wonderful to hear the story told by Loki's voice. Exciting until...

When the story's over. Loki closed the book with one hand and left on the nightstand.

"You read so well... I like to hear you reading." Y/N confessed to stroking Loki's face.

Loki gave a malicious smile and stole a time-consuming and warm kiss from Y/N. She corresponded in the best way she could, she did not expect a kiss like that and Loki's hands stroking her by the waist, pulling her closer already said a lot of what he wanted with his girlfriend.

When the kiss was over, Loki's eyes were pure lust. Y/N felt a shiver running her spine, but it was a good chill, made her smile.

"Do you like my voice? "Loki asked, the voice a little more hoarse and laden with desire. Y/N stated with her head, slipping her hands to his neck. "I like it a lot."

"You haven't heard her in a more sensual way, have you?" Loki asked, provocative, descending his hands to Y/N's bare thighs.

She already had her body in hot, not literally. Still panting, Y/N climbed on Loki's lap and practically devaged him with his eyes.

"I'm anxious to hear..." Y/N's voice was pure desire and the two finally surrendered.

As they kissed, Loki began to take off his coat, soon after it was Y/N taking off her shirt.

Loki ended the kiss and descended his lips to Y/N's still-covered breasts. He removed her bra and started sucking on the nipple while using his hands to rub Y/N's hip against her own. Y/N signed by the feeling of Loki's waking erection between her legs and rushed into taking off her bra as quickly as possible.

Loki laid her down in bed and stood over her, kissing her again and he massaged Y/N's breasts with both hands, making the woman sigh during the kiss.

But Loki needed more, Y/N also needed more. Loki rose from the bed and, once standing, he took off all his clothes. While Loki undressed himself, Y/N also took advantage of what she had left of her clothes.

Y/N went to the edge of the bed where Loki also approached, he kissed her again. A more warm kiss while Loki tried to pass on all of his feelings to Y/N, but without leaving the desire they felt sideways and he transmitted all of it by his touches. Loki's hands held Y/N's hips and pulled her out of bed.

Loki ended the kiss and turned her back on him, surprising Y/N. The kisses before fallen were to Y/N's neck and now she also felt the erect penis of Loki rubbing her buttocks.

"You wanted to hear my voice, didn't you?" Loki asked almost in a whisper and Y/N shudced in her arms, agreeing with her head. She had no strength to answer. "Because you will only hear me and feel, but you will not see me..."

Loki laid Y/N in bed and imbeded her hips carefully. Every move of Loki was delicate, as if she could break to a harder touch--indeed she could, since he was a Jotun.

Y/N cannot contain a groan in anticipation when the glans of Loki swiveled her vagina, but did not enter. But when he finally penetrated her, Y/N arched her back, feeling Loki's chest touching her back.

Loki's movements began slow and sensual, came along with the groans of Loki's satisfaction. Those hoof moans right at the foot of Y/N's ear along with the delightful sensation of him coming in and out of her made her drop a moaning. She needed more, she wanted to feel more like Loki.

Y/N chiped and gasped before taking a breath and finally talking. "More.... Loki, more... Hmmm..."

"You want some more?" Loki asked in a hoarse whisper between his groans and that made Y/N even more ecstatic.

"Oh, yes! Please, fuck me!" Y/N asked and continued to moan.

Given his girlfriend's requests, Loki moved away a little and holding Y/N by the hip and with faster and stronger moves, Loki made Y/N delify even more.

The bed began to creak as the movements got faster. The high groans of the two showed to themselves how much they were delivered to each other, how much they were passionate for each other.

Loki loved to feel Y/N pushing his own hip against his in search of more. He loved the way she gaily and that ironically she was almost burning him when he was almost freezing on the inside.

Loki felt his climax approaching, Y/N was already close to her orgasm as well. Loki's big hands went to Y/N's shoulders and firmed there, and with the pleasure growing for him, he made Loki start to rush against her with more brusquely, almost howling with pleasure when her orgasm came.

Y/N turned her eyes to pleasure by feeling the icy jets of Loki on her buttocks and fell on the bed, panting and without strength. Loki lay beside her, as weary as, panting he pulled her to her lap and embraced her.

"I don't know if I can go on a mission tomorrow." Y/N commented and Loki laughed.

"So stay... Ask Maximoff to take your place. " Loki suggested and Y/N lifted her face to look at Loki.

"I don't think the captain's going to accept that..." Y/N said and received the mumps of Loki as an answer.

They stayed a few moments just enjoying each other's affection before finally falling asleep.

The next day very early, Y/N met Steve, Bucky and Sam for a mission in Germany. They were all on their way to the Quinjet, all with their uniforms and heavily equipped. Steve was ahead with Sam, the two seemed committed to the Bucky mission was a little further behind and Y/N behind them.

She noticed Bucky looking at her a few times over her shoulders. First Y/N thought it was some silent complaint that she was walking slower, but when she squeezed the step and put herself next to Bucky, she could see a malicious smile on his face and it puzzled her.

"What's wrong?" Y/N asked, confused. Bucky kept his eye on the Quinjet where Sam and Steve were already climbing. "I always hated having neighbors, you know?"

"I don't understand."

"Oh, you don't understand?" Bucky laughed and made her stop him. "More.... Loki, more... Hmmm..." Bucky pretended to moan is Y/N turned red and all in flames at the same instant.

"You..."

"Well, I'm a neighbor of Loki's room has its disadvantages." Bucky said provocative. "I didn't know you was so noisy when you were going fuck someone..."

Bucky was going to keep teasing, but Y/N acted faster. She made a layer of ice grow from her feet to Bucky's calf and ran to the Quinjet, the fire in her body went out when she climbed on the ship, but she was still blushing red.

"What's that? Anyone in the compound heard you!" Bucky's screams left Y/N even more embarrassed, she looked at Steve and Sam to make sure what Bucky said.

The fact that Steve blushing and diverting the look and Sam smiling maliciously for her left Y/N even more embarrassed. But soon she began to burn again.

"Oh, don't you bother me either. You going to say you don't have sex?" Y/N accused her of rage and pointed to Steve. "You can't judge me, Cap, I've heard very malicious noises from your room and it wasn't your voice there."

"No exposing the others! Focus on the Mission!" Steve sentenced to go to the pilot's seat under the laughter of Y/N and Sam.

[ringmaster-jack]

Lore

♠️ The wayward ringmaster had gained many a title over the passing years(both boastful and infamous), but only one name held any permanence-- and that name was Jack.  A common name, simple, yet among those who had the misfortune of dealing with him, it held a weight to it.  ♠️

Note: Lots of triggering content in the following expansion related to mental health, abuse, suicide, drugs, etc.  Be warned.

♠️  Born in the dregs of Dawnhold to an ex-aristocrat and a Shuriman immigrant, Jack was the second oldest of ten; proceeding his sister by a mere two minutes. Though his first three years of life were relatively unremarkable, everything changed after the mysterious passing of his father.

Coming from highblood society, his mother, Harper Farrowthrone, had been excommunicated from her family inheritance when she'd chosen to follow her heart, instead of adhering to the tradition of an arranged marriage. Pregnant with their fifth child, her husband's passing left her emotionally and financially crippled. It was the beginning of a long and miserable life-- for her, of course, but even more for the multitude of children she brought into the world.

His twin was provided a formal education, trumped up to be the one who would excel and provide for them in her later years-- but Jack and his younger siblings were not so lucky. Jack spent most of his formative years taking odd jobs and stealing what he could to help care for his family.  They never settled in one place for too long, as his mother's growing reputation as a courtesan often preceded her.

Jack was an obedient boy, quiet, if only to mask his stutter.  But his unbridled sense of curiosity would get him into trouble more often than not. He spent what free time he had teaching himself to read-- and after that, absorbing as much knowledge as he could through any means available. He had a interest in many topics.  Music, animals, magic--especially magic. It was forbidden in their homeland, after all, so like any overly-inquisitive child, he would seek it out--forbidden or not.

Unfortunately, it was this curiosity combined with an overabundance of childhood trauma that led him into a tumultuous teenage life, filled with excessive amounts of rebellion and a rapidly growing criminal record.  In and out of detainment for any number of reasons, it was rare for the youth to ever be home, except to aid his younger siblings whenever their mother was being particularly neglectful. 

His 16th birthday was marked by a suicide attempt.

Rather than addressing what were some glaringly obvious mental health issues, his mother--now only known as Harper by his word, had opted to take a more tough-love approach to dealing with her unruly son.  He’d barely been given time to heal before he’d been cast off to the military, deemed fit for battle if only because his seemingly unstable mannerisms were clocked as fraudulence, an attempt to dodge a duty that most able-bodied citizens of Demacia were fated to live.  

It came as no surprise that he only lasted a year or so before he ended up exiled from the nation entirely, a dishonorable discharge, and then some.   

Jack didn’t mind.  If anything, he found his newfound exile freeing; no longer bound by the walls, laws, or a system of belief that never did anything but bring him suffering.  He took to the lands to pursue a lifelong dream of becoming a famous musician, adopting the title of bard and performing for any and everyone who might care to listen.  Though he held a raw talent for music, and a captivating energy that earned him many a free drink or sordid love affair, he never gained much in the way of wealth.  He spent a couple of years bouncing from city to city, his starry-eyed conjecture and youthful determination quickly stifled by the harshness of the world outside the myopic views of Demacian society.

Beaten down by a vagabond lifestyle with little to show for his efforts, Jack’s luck seemed to change when his sister stumbled upon him.  Grown and graduated, Tabitha had followed her own path; though unlike her more creative sibling, she held an ambition for science.  With a bit of arm twisting, she convinced her twin to follow her to Piltover-Zaun; and give up on his childish pursuits so he could make a ‘real life’ for himself in the city of progress.      

Jack settled quickly into Zaun, though perhaps not for the better.  He’d dappled in the use of mind-altering substances in the past, and in violence-- but it was Zaun where he truly began forming habits that he’d later become known for amidst the shadiest districts of the city’s underbelly.  

His first feat of homicide had been justified, an act of self-defense over a trick turned horrifically sour. The following 14, however, not so much.  It hadn’t taken a lot to ignite his untapped bloodlust.  Sat on years of surplus trauma and a developing affinity for stimulants, he was selective about who he took down, however the personal code of morality in which he followed was deeply askew. He’d thought himself a vigilante of sorts; but more than one of those who he’d killed had earned their deaths for as little as a particularly offensive insult.  Getting away with murder in Zaun was surprisingly easy; so long as you were smart about it.

By the time his 15th victim met their gruesome demise, Jack had earned himself two nicknames in the local papers.  The first, ‘The Nightwalker’, which wouldn’t have been so bad had it not implied he was a female prostitute thanks to his penchant for killing mostly men.  The second, and one he proudly embraced in privacy, was ‘The Jackal’, a title he’d been dubbed in reference to the jackal-like gasmask he tended to wear on many of his ‘outings’, ever the stylish sort.  Neither of these personas were linked to that 15th murder; one of the only others where self-defense could have truly been claimed.  And it was; successfully, when his sister turned him over to the authorities. 

 It was an extreme act of betrayal in Jack’s eyes; he and his sister had always been close, and she already knew of his so-called ‘habits’.  Her streak of sadism was perhaps more vile than his own, merely cloaked beneath a thin but legally passable veil of ‘scientific progress’.  Little did he know how deep her betrayal ran, fueled by years of a lust for something greater than herself.

Jack’s follies had landed him in what was perhaps the most notorious asylum in the city, if not all of Valoran.  Incidentally his sisters place of occupation, Jack had never pieced together the direct connection between her and the two and a half years of ‘treatment’ he received; a colorful term for what was in essence torture. 

Rumors of the experimentation and abuse that patients suffered were commonplace among the denizens of Zaun-Piltover, though there’d never been any formal investigation into such matters.  Most of those forced to live among the padded walls were criminally insane, the lowest of the low in an already corrupt world that didn’t give a second thought to what happened behind closed doors. Many horrors took place in the iron penitentiary for those unlucky enough to dwell there, and the Demacian was no exception to that rule.

  Where Jack sought pleasure, his sister sought power--something she intended to achieve by any means necessary.  Obsessed with studying an ancient entity she’d attained from a generational blood bond, Jack had never thought much of the strange black bottle his sister kept with her throughout their childhood. A sentimental trinket she'd been gifted by their father before his passing, where he'd been left with nothing-- it was just another demotivational tic in an already lengthy list of family dysfunction.  Tabitha had convinced her employers to fund her experimentation with the promise that if successful, the eldritch being could be used as a powerful weapon for Zaun, much like Targon's incarceration of the star dragon Aurelion Sol. 

 Though there was some truth to this promise, the woman had much greater ideals. Rather than upholding a centuries-long duty to guard and confine this creature in secrecy and silence, Tabitha sought to directly bind herself to the beast instead, and ultimately gain access to what was a potentially limitless well of celestial power.  An attractive and intelligent woman, Tabitha had all the charms and wiles of her less fortunate brother, and she executed them to her advantage at every given turn.  Countless lives were lost in her quest to find a way to anchor this dark deity to a living human before she’d administer her unethical practices onto her own brother; an act that, much to her surprise, actually proved to be successful.

Successful to a degree, that was.

While the beast accepted Jack as it’s host(unlike those unfortunate souls who she’d tried to bind it to in prior times) Tabitha found difficulty in actually controlling it-- or her brother, who had, understandably, not taken well to being used for such horrific experimentation.  But Jack hadn’t the slightest idea that it was his own sister who had orchestrated these things, as well as the following attempts to brainwash and psychologically manipulate him.  

Always a stubborn man, Jack resisted the conditions he faced with fervency.  The power that came with being bedeviled by a dark god wouldn't have been so bad.  Though he was terrified of the creature, they eventually formed a symbiosis, a sympathy given to what he came to realize was merely another being that had undergone it’s own sequence of horrors prior to his arrival at the asylum.  

What had driven Jack past the breaking point was being told these things were a product of his own mind--that the people who ended up dead around him had been taken by his own hand, that he blacked out and had no recollection of it--that he was indeed, totally, utterly insane, and needed to be treated if he ever hoped to be anything more than this.  Jack knew he had some issues, but hallucinations and murderous blackouts had never been a part of that equation.  Almost constantly medicated and forced to undergo an assortment of studies which did more harm than good, it was inevitable that escaping became top priority.  At times, this notion extended to the prospect of escaping by means of death-- never successful, though it did land him in isolation for long periods of time.

With an intense fear of being alone, and a strange dynamic to the creature he was told didn’t exist, Jack found solace in speaking through the walls.  Often times he wasn’t certain if anyone was even there--but on rare occasions, he’d earn a response or two from the patrons on the other side.  He formed what he assumed to be a one-sided friendship with a very particular fellow--a man to whom he later found out to be a notorious murderer himself, and one that Jack held a bittersweet envy for in his own time on the streets.  When they’d first met face to face, it was in the medical ward, and incidentally the first time he’d made a successful attempt at escaping with aid from the other killer, who had unfortunately not been so lucky to reach the outside world.

He was free for only a few weeks before he returned, despite all common sense and the adamant disapproval of the being still bound to his mind. Jack had made a promise to his friend behind the walls, a promise to get him out of there, too-- and he couldn’t shake that thought from his consciousness.  Unsurprisingly, his shoddy attempt proved unsuccessful, landing him back in his own confinement and exposing him to tortures that far exceeded anything he’d experienced thus far.  

Unable to successfully control the man or the beast that inhabited him, Tabitha ordered their separation.  It was an incredibly painful experience, and one that didn’t go quite according to plan, as it ultimately resulted in nearly killing her brother, and later on, the escape of the creature who she tried to manipulate.  Though Jack survived this particularly gruesome procedure, it left him physically and mentally scarred, blocking out memory of the incident entirely-- though that could have been in part the brain surgery.  This worked in Tabitha’s favor, as several months after losing her prime subject, she’d sent her brother back into the world as a form of bait. Though no longer physically bound to the entity, Jack still held remnants of it’s essence inside him-- which she’d hoped would serve as a lure.  

For a short time, he’d occupied the home of one of his sister’s partners, Seraphina, to whom she had arranged his living-- but soon found himself at odds with her over any number of things.  Their personalities clashed, but it seemed the woman was rather persistent in staying with him-- especially after his sister’s untimely death in an accident that he never really did get much information on.  

Even when he took to the streets, Seraphina was persistent in her effort to keep him out of trouble, though more often than not he ended up dragging her into his shenanigans too.  Ever the astute charmer, it didn’t take too much effort for Jack to convince the woman to follow him into the world of showmanship-- an idea that had come to him and stuck there after a particularly eye-opening night witnessing a small but impressive sideshow.  Seraphina was an animal behavioral therapist by occupation, having formed her thesis on the language and habits of fire drakes after several years of living in the wilds, and the thought of being able to work with creatures like this again was an irresistible temptation-- not to mention she’d be given the freedom to use her elemental abilities without the risk of being patronized or imprisoned.

Though their act started off small, it only took a year for them to make their mark.  Coming from wealth, Seraphina provided the funds that got them off their feet, and did most of the paperwork and partnering needed to establish their place in the sideshow circuit.  Though Jack, with his natural charisma and assortment of talents(A Jack of all trades, as it were) had taken the title of Ringmaster, the firebreather ran things behind closed doors--something that the ringmaster all but forgot the more his own popularity grew.  He developed a small fan base who would follow them when they went on tour, something that only emphasized his already bolstered ego-- his dream of taking an almost rockstar persona realized in the performing arts.  

  By the third year, they’d made themselves known among Zaun and otherwise-- with a wide array of ragtag performers and freaks, many of whom were taken off the streets and welcomed in to their caravan with gusto.  Having formed a family of sorts, Jack and his posse opted to take base in the underground catacombs of Zaun, a place he’d frequently explored in his previous years on the streets but never fully realized the potential of until he brought others with him.  Styling it into their home, it wasn’t always the safest lifestyle, but they’d managed to cultivate and furnish much of the area enough to be quite comfortable.  For Jack, it was also a brilliant means to continuing pursuing his less acceptable hobbies without fear of persecution, carving out an entire sector for him and him alone.

Things continued like this for a couple more years without too much turbulence save for the usual array of misbehavior that Jack was prone to-- everything had finally started to fall into place.  He finally had a purpose in life, a calling, and he embraced it with the utmost passion-- perhaps too much at times, but it was a far cry from the life he’d led before, all but forgotten with the passage of time.

Until their 5th year.

[the--sad--hatter]

Phantom Pain (23)

FANDOM - MARVEL MCU

PAIRING - Bucky X Reader

WARNINGS - Bad Habits and Rough Sex, Angsty and Dark AF.

DESCRIPTION - Everybody in the world knew of you, but not who you really were. Some called you a vigilante, some called you a criminal and some called you a hero but all of them called you The Phantom.

Only two people knew your real identity and they swore to never tell anyone but when The Avengers need to infiltrate a high-security facility, Bruce Banner deduces that you’re the only one who can pull it off. That decision puts you and Bucky Barnes on a path you can’t turn back from, even if neither of like where it’s leading.

Series Masterlist

Chapter Twenty-Three - The Kingdom Falls

Your father knew you were The Phantom, but you couldn’t be sure if your Uncle knew. What you were certain of was that even if Thaddeus Ross knew, he didn’t know you knew you’d been outed. You still had the upper hand and you were going to use it.

“Secretary Ross will see you now. “His assistant told you.

 You grinned at her and teetered down the hall after her, walking into your uncle’s office when she waved you in.

 “Uncle Thaddy.” You greeted happily.

 “Where have you been? You disappeared during the funeral, didn’t even stay for the condolences or to thank anyone for coming.” He admonished straight away, not even saying hello.

 “I was so afraid I was going to slip up and say something that gave us away.” You said with a chastised expression.

 “Well I suppose that was wise.” He admitted.

 “I went to Daddy’s Brooklyn office, to make sure there was nothing Hydra related there.” You told him.

 “He has a Brooklyn office?” Ross snapped.

 “Uh huh, I thought you knew that? Well I found all these reports and things about a project you and he were working on and I thought nothing of it until I saw something about Gamma Radiation and I remembered Dr Banner talking about Gamma Radiation and The Hulk, he’s always rambling on to me even though I don’t understand anything about it. He’s funny like that, I think he’s talking to himself you know. I don’t think he knows I’m even there. Maybe he’s talking to The Hulk? Can The Hulk hear him?” You rambled.

 “The reports? What about these reports? What did they say?” Your Uncle demanded worriedly.

 “Oh, those? Uh that you and he were building something but the project shut down after an accident that almost resulted in… what was it? Hang on.” You said, pulling a file out of your bag.

 “Catastrophic loss of civilian life, though had the experiment wielded more promising results the reward would have surpassed the risks.” You read aloud.

 “Damnit Alexander, I wasn’t supposed to be tied back to that. He was supposed to destroy all the records of it. Listen to me, I need you to find every single shred of paper, every computer file and bring it to me.” Ross ordered you, snatching the file out of your hands.

 “Ok… Anything you need uncle Thaddy. What was the Project Called?” You asked.

 He clenched his jaw and looked you over before he answered.

 “Project Hulk.” He said and you gasped.

 “You were trying to hurt The Hulk? Why? He’s a hero isn’t he? Or isn’t he? Is there something I should know?” You asked, leaning in.

 “Bruce banner is a menace, but no. Project Hulk was designed to try and recreate the Hulk. The Hulk is important, do you understand me? But your father shut the project down. Probably because Hydra asked him to. You’re not Hydra though sweetheart, you’re better than him. How would you like to help your Uncle change the world?” He asked.

 You almost rolled your eyes at his blatant attempt to manipulate you.

 “But what about the risks? Will we be hurting people? Is this even legal?” You asked nervously.

 “The law doesn’t matter anymore, not when something this important is on the line. I’ve spent years trying to unlock the secrets behind The Hulk, I won’t let the law hold me back. I’m secretary of state, I’ll make sure you have everything you need, and are protected. You just let me handle everything. What do you say sweetheart?” he asked.

 “Of course. I trust you, after all, we’re family.” You said.

 You winked at your own reflection in the office window, the hidden camera on your cardigan picking it up.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 “Miss King.” Matt greeted you as you walked into the foyer of King Inc.

 “Matt, Foggy. Are you ready for this?” You asked, shaking off your nerves.

 “We’re ready. How did your ‘morning meeting’ go?” Foggy asked with a conspiratorial smirk.

 “My Uncle was very forthcoming.” You told him as the three of you entered the elevator and you hit the button for the top floor.

“Oh look at this, The Avengers just called an emergency press conference.” Foggy said, looking at his phone.

 “Wonder what that’s about?” Matt said with a smirk.

 “I wouldn’t know. I don’t watch the news.” You said, holding back your own smirk as the elevator doors whooshed open.

 Your lawyers flanked you as you walked into the board room and smiled at the six board members.

 “Gentlemen, lady.” You greeted.

 “Miss King. It’s a pleasure to see you again.” They said and you shook everyone’s hands.

 “Especially after the last time we were here.” Mr. Chambers, the COO and temporary Chairman of the board said apologetically.

 “It’s fine, I know we would have been in trouble if anybody had found out about daddy being tied to Hydra. I had to take a step back.” You said.

 “Well at least Alexander did us all the courtesy of dying before his misdeeds came to light Mrs. Coatridge tittered.

 You glared at the vile woman who was the only female on the board.

 “Of course, we are still very sorry for your loss.” She added.

 “Thank you.” You said, nodding at her.

 “Shall we get on with business then?” Chambers suggested.

 “Of course. As you know I have all Daddy’s shares now and well, I don’t really know how to be involved with the company but I don’t want to do anything wrong. Maybe if you all helped me? Just tell me what to say and what to do to keep the company image intact and I’ll do it. I’m going to need your guidance in this, all of you.” You said, innocently looking around at them all.

 They thought you were too stupid to notice the eager and greedy glint in their eyes.

 “Of course my dear, we are all here for you. But King Inc is a family company and it was always intended that you would take up your fathers mantle one day. People like you Miss King, they trust you. You’re a sweet girl, pretty and not at all threatening. That’s a compliment, trust me. The point is, you are the face of this company now and you can take us to the next level.” Chambers said, grasping your hand and squeezing it.

 You resisted the very strong urge to yank your hand away and smash it into his face.

 “The face of the company?” You asked.

 “The CEO. People will respond well to a weapons manufacturer that’s run by a young, attractive red blooded American woman.” Mr. Winston, a man on the left side of the table cut in.

 “I’m not…” You started to say.

 “What he means is you’re going to be our spokesperson, the face people think of when they think of the company. Think of this as a modelling contact dear.” Chambers told you.

 “But isn’t CEO a really big deal?” You asked.

 “Not really, you won’t be doing any of the work don’t worry about that. We’ll handle the business; all you have to do is sign your name where we tell you.” Coatridge said.

 You looked overwhelmed for a moment before you pulled yourself together, taking a deep breath and nodding.

 “As long as my lawyers clear it.” You said.

 “We’ve already checked over all the contracts, gone through them with a fine tooth comb. Everything is in order.” Foggy leaned in to assure you.

 You shook nervously as you signed a small mountain of paperwork, shooting fleeting glances at Chambers for reassurance. When you were done they all stood up to shake your hand again.

 “Congratulations Miss King.” Chambers said jovially.

 “Yes, congratulations Miss King. You are now the CEO and Chairman of the board of King Inc until you retire.” Matt congratulated.

 “Or a majority of the shareholders vote to replace me.” You smirked.

 “I don’t see that happening. You’re going to carry us into a new era of the company. Myself and the other board members have some wonderful ideas for King Inc.” Chambers said.

 “Oh I’m sure you do!” You said with a grin.

 “But I don’t give a damn about ideas and I certainly don’t respect a single one of you enough to listen to your opinions.” You added, dropping the grin and the act.

 You stood tall and faced them down, the mask you had worn for years finally off.

 “My father funneled money from this company into Hydra. Everyone on this board either knew about it and allowed it to happen or they let it happen right under their noses. No matter which you spin it, none of you are people I want running a company, let alone my company.” You said, curling your lip in disgust as you looked them all in the eye, one by one.

 “Being made the CEO doesn’t make this your company.” Mrs. Coatridge said haughtily.

 “No, being the sole majority shareholder does.” You said smugly.

 “Between your father 39% and your 10% you own 49%, not a majority.”

 “Very true. But then there’s also the 10% Secretary Thaddeus Ross signed over to me, which gives me a 59% majority.” You informed them.

 “We still own the other 41%, you don’t have a significant enough majority to push us out and we can and will be a thorn in your side. I’m sorry Miss King, this was an adorable little power grab but you just don’t have what it takes to pull it off.” Mr. Chambers said condescendingly.

 “Mr. Murdock, Mr. Nelson, you’ve read the company charters and contracts. Please read section 12 A Subsection B pertaining to forced reimbursement of shares in the Company Interest contracts.” You said, maintaining eye contact with Mr. Chambers.

 “If a collective of 60% or more of the shareholders vote in favor, shares of the company can be bought back at the price paid at time of acquisition.” Foggy said, his professional demeanor close to cracking but he held his grin back.

 “Over 60%... You appear to have come up short Miss King.” Chambers chuckled and the board all joined in.

 You held your cocky grin and held out your hand to Matt who handed you a familiar manila envelope.

 “2% of shares in the company, purchased on Miss King’s behalf by my law team. That makes 61% percent of the shares collectively forcing you out of this company as allowed by a contract every single one of you signed.” Matt said.

 Every single member of the board’s jaws dropped.

 “Checkmate.” You purred.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 The second you walked into the press conference, the reporters surged from their seats and began yelling at you. Bruce held out a hand to help you onto the podium.

 “Sorry I’m late everybody, had a business meeting to attend.” You joked.

 “Miss king, Miss King! Have you heard whether Secretary Ross has been arrested?”

 “Why did you take him down?”

 “Is it true your father was Hydra?”

 “Have you been working with The Avengers?”

 You held your hands up to silence them.

 “Secretary Ross has been brought in for questioning according to my sources. I didn’t take him down, Karen Page did, I just assisted her. My father was Hydra yes and I have been offering my assistance to The Avengers ever since I found out about Project Hulk.” You rattled off with ease.

 “Miss King, what’s going to happen to King Inc?”

 “King Inc no longer exists.” You announced.

 That really riled the vultures up and you could no longer distinguish individual questions through the yelling.

“An hour ago, I was voted CEO and Chairman of the board and as I also hold a significant majority of the shares, soon to be over 94% of them in fact… I’ve made some changes to the company. I’d be happy to tell you about it just as soon as you all sit down and listen politely.” You offered.

 One by one they all settled into their seats and Tony stifled a laugh from behind you. You turned to wink at him but caught Bucky’s eye instead. He was staring at you with awe and heat and you grinned at him. The corner of his lip twitched, and he winked slyly at you. You felt a little warm when you turned back to face the crowd.

 “The prime objectives of the new company will be to use our resources and research to advance medical treatments for all, selling all medicines and treatments at little more than labour cost.” You announced and flashbulbs went off wildly.

 “Secondly… We are entering into a Partnership with Stark Industries and the Maria Stark foundation. King Inc. is now Hercules LLC, a non-profit charity dedicated to helping those who’s lives have been affected by Hydra. We’ll offer medical treatments, re-homing services, protection and legal aid to anyone and everyone in the world who has suffered at the hands of Hydra.

 “Miss King, how will the company still turn profits?” A reporter yelled.

 “We won’t. We’ll make enough to pay our staff and cover our overhead. I’m not in the game to remain a billionaire, in fact… I’m investing my entire personal fortune into this.” You said.

 “Why?”

 “Because I want to help the world, not hurt it. My father has left me a terrible legacy, one I am going to tear down, piece by piece. Speaking of which, that’s all I have time for.” You told them and turned to Bruce.

 “You ready Big guy?” You asked, grinning excitedly.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 Your high heels crunched across the gravel as you gazed in victorious satisfaction at the large mansion you had grown up in. This was your father's Castle, your childhood home. The ground quaked beneath you and a large shadow fell across you blocking out the sun. Your lips curled up into a vicious mark.

 “Hulk... Smash.” You told him.

 The incredible Hulk sailed over you and crashed through the roof you threw back your head and laughed with cathartic glee.

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I am DYING to know what you thought of this chapter. 

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[rosalind-of-arden]

Sword and Pen Reread, chapter 7

Santi chapter!!!

Ephemera: More evidence of early Obscurists. Heron worked with “Pharaoh’s priests and magicians” on the Poseidon automaton.

Santi is overwhelmed with his new responsibilities, but he’s engaging in some very sensible self-care by taking a coffee break and getting some alone time. He seems to like sitting alone at the top of the Serapeum, having a view of everything going on and space to think.

This practice of taking a break by himself also fits in with Santi’s pattern of walking away when he gets mad at Wolfe. Being alone helps Santi stay calm.

Also, between this and hanging out on the roof of the Spanish embassy, I think we can definitely say Santi likes high places, at the very least for purposes of surveying battlefields, but quite possibly in general.

The one thing that would make Santi’s break better? Come on, we all know what. “He missed Wolfe’s bright, sharp presence.” But he knows obsessing over Wolfe would be a distraction, so he just gives himself a moment to send good wishes Wolfe’s way. Compare this to how tense he was when separated from Wolfe in Smoke and Iron; Wolfe isn’t really any safer now, but knowing Wolfe is free and they both have some control over the situation makes a big difference.

Here’s another indication of what normal looks like for Wolfe and Santi. They split up and work separately, and they trust each other to stay safe and get things done. The obsessive worry over Wolfe’s safety in earlier books was a reaction to the threat posed by the Artifex/Archivist and a response to trauma. Two factors moving Santi back to normal here. First, Wolfe’s lecture in Smoke and Iron. Second, the balance of power has changed. They aren’t trapped in the corrupt Library system anymore, they’re leading the new Library. That makes it easier for Santi to keep the paranoia in check.

I am amused that while Santi and Khalila are both attracted to men, only Khalila spent time observing the hotness of the Poseidon automaton. Santi is too busy being impressed by its size and destructive capabilities.

Here’s Santi’s strategic mind at work. As soon as he’d done going “holy fuck that thing’s huge”, he’s thinking through the enemy’s attack options and hauling ass to get defense strategies in place.

They have an Obscurist on duty in the strategy room. Is this normal, like the ones in the Translation chambers? Or something new?

Obscurist in the strategy room is young and female. No name given. I’m headcanoning that it’s Sybilla, rescued from solitary confinement/suicide watch/whatever by Morgan when she and Eskander took over the Iron Tower, and nobody can stop me.

Botha gets Santi’s company. Nice little friendship moment there, both of them respecting each other’s leadership abilities. Must remember Botha when developing Santi’s various friendships.

Nofret Alamasi, now ranked Senior Captain, is Santi’s new assistant. Roughly a month ago, she was newly assigned to the Iron Tower and making threats to keep Morgan in line. Interesting character to explore more. Some things to consider: How well do she and Santi know each other? How loyal was she to the ex-Archivist? Did she get this position because of rank, particular skills that would be useful, or some other factor? Does Santi have her there because he trusts her? Or because he doesn’t trust her and wants her where he can see her?

Some rivalries to play with in fics: Spain vs Portugal, England vs Wales, Turkey vs India.

What is Dario doing now, anyway? Santi doesn’t expect him to be happy about being summoned. Everyone else has some kind of assigned duty to work on, but with the ambassadors gone, Dario has no work to do.

Santi does not want to tell Alamasi about the Greek fire facility problem.

Obscurists are playing a key role in defense. They seem to be operating systems like the Serapeum’s shutters along with the automata.

Santi hasn’t lost his sense of humor: “Alamasi, if I’m burned alive, then all this becomes your problem.”

Impact of Philadelphia: Santi knows he would hesitate to use Greek fire against a city.

Santi is also reluctant to use his other weapons of mass destruction. He orders a warning shot with the Ray of Apollo first, then attempts negotiation.

Alexandria has very good plans for dealing with firebombing.

Santi, recognizing the Library’s stagnation: “We rely on past accomplishments far too much. Must do something about that.”

Tense Santi, not handling waiting well: Alamasi, do we have any messages yet? How about now? Check with Eskander. Anything from Wolfe? (Is that a touch of trauma-fueled paranoia raising its head? Probably.)

On the subject of Dario, “Santi quite liked the arrogant little ass.” Sin fuel right here. Also, how much does Dario have in common with young Wolfe? Does Santi have a type? I think so. He even thinks about Wolfe right after thinking about how fond he is of Dario.

Dario’s idea of “plain” clothes: he’s only wearing red velvet, no jewels or lace. He has a pretty engraved dagger. Because of fucking course he does.

This whole conversation with Dario is very strategic. I think @eli-wray had a good point that Santi was trying to give Dario a chance to be open and upfront, then turned up the pressure when Dario pushed back with evasion. Santi knows what he has to do to draw Dario out, and he doesn’t hesitate to keep up the pressure until he has confirmation of Dario’s loyalty and Dario’s agreement to go along with the plan.

More strategy: getting agreement from Dario before actually saying what the plan is. There’s quite a bit going into making Dario feel important, even powerful here. He’s brought in under armed escort. His loyalty is questioned. All of that says “you are a threat.” Then Santi turns it around and says he needs Dario’s help. New message: “you are dangerous and we need you on our side.” That’s actually quite the ego boost for Dario, and that prompts Dario to agree to helping. Because of course Dario wants to be needed.

“I need something that comes to you as naturally as breathing. [...] Betrayal.” A couple things going on here. First, is this at least a little emotionally motivated, because it really hasn’t been all that long since Dario betrayed the pack twice in a row? Yes, I think so. Santi, as we know, can hold a grudge. But it’s also strategic. He just challenged Dario to not betray him. By betraying Spain, yes, but Dario just said his real loyalty is to the Library. Betraying Santi would prove that Dario is exactly what Santi accused him of being, so there’s extra motivation there for Dario to stay on Santi’s side. (Note that this is Santi’s perspective - as we’ll see later, Dario interprets this a bit differently.)

In short, we’re seeing the people skills that got Santi so many allies here. He knows how to read people, figure out what makes them tick, and use that to get people on his side. Good leadership or manipulation? Both? Read that as you will.

One more point: how is Santi so good at getting past a person’s defenses to find out what they’re really thinking? 20+ years with Wolfe. There really isn’t that much difference between Wolfe’s prickly defenses and Dario’s sparkly defenses, when you think about it.

Santi is not a tea person. Guessing this is matcha they’re drinking since it’s pale green.

Santi is very anxious about his plan with Dario. He’s worried about Murasaki’s reaction and Khalila’s for very different reasons. He’s worried about Dario. I suspect he very much does not want Murasaki to fire him and order an attack on the facility if she finds out the Spanish have seized it before Santi’s forces take it back.

Murasaki reminds Santi of Wolfe. Dario reminds Santi of Wolfe (even if he’s not admitting that to himself). Santi is not good at avoiding thinking about Wolfe.

Awkward moment for Santi as he realizes just how far he’s gotten from the Library party line on things like smuggling and printing.

“He’d cheerfully knock Callum Brightwell flat any day of the week.” Sorry, Santi. Wolfe beats you to it.

Santi also has Troll working as his assistant. He assigns his own company to the Lighthouse to guard the Ray of Apollo. He likes having people he trusts in key positions - possibly evidence he does trust Alamasi.

I’m taking this comment from Santi that he’s known about the journals for a long time as a lie intended to make him look like he knew more than he did - the moment of surprise with Wolfe in Ink and Bone seemed too genuine.

Getting huge “the kid would be embarrassed to see the parents having a romantic moment” vibes from Santi opting not to have Troll tell Wolfe to be careful.

Also, though, here’s the outcome of that conversation in Smoke and Iron. Wolfe asked Santi to back off on the protectiveness. And Santi is doing just that. He’s worried, but he respects Wolfe’s choices.

Staunch Catholic Santi prays to Isis for his male pagan partner’s safety. Damn do I ever love the way this alternate world works.

[thedcdunce]

Nocturna

“If the night is made for dreams, you see, I prefer to experience them awake.” - Nocturna

Real Name: Natalia Knight

Gender: Female

Height: 5′ 10″

Weight: 140 lbs (64 kg)

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Black

Skin: White

Powers:

Teleportation

Pheromone Control

Abilities:

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)

Astronomy

Weaknesses:

Vulnerability to Light 

Equipment:

Weaponized Jewelry 

Hot Air Balloons

Base of Operations: Gotham City

Universe:

Earth-One

New Earth

Citizenship: American

Marital Status: Single

Occupation: Astronomer

First Appearance: Detective Comics #529 (August, 1983)

Powers

Teleportation: Nocturna is able to teleport between short distances. She has only used this power at night, probably because it only works in the dark.

Pheromone Control: Nocturna used a narcotic perfume on herself, which rendered the males around her spellbound to her charms and also kept her in a constant state of romanticism.

Abilities

Hand-to-Hand Combat (Basic)

Astronomy

Weaknesses

Vulnerability to Light

Equipment

Weaponized Jewelry: Nocturna often carried weapons concealed in her jewels, such as hollow pearls filled with jewels and explosives as well as razor sharp earrings and belt buckles in the shape of moon and stars.

Hot Air Balloons

Origin

Natasha Knight was a street orphan who was rescued by a well-known gangster called Charles Knight at the age of 12. She grew up with him, with all the privileges and luxuries of his ill gotten money. However, Natasha didn't know about his illegal activities until she was of age, when he died during a crime and the police told her the truth. In his funeral, Natasha met Anton Knight, Charles biological son and he proposed to start an alliance to continue their father's lifestyle, but at first she refused.

A few years later, Natasha developed a passion for astronomy and the night sky. She became an astronomer and found a job at the Gotham City Observatory, which was under Wayne Enterprises' management. While working there one night, she became victim to a radioactive laser, which drained her skin of all pigment and also rendered her sensitive to light.

With her new skin condition, Natasha accepted Anton's proposition and they started a large scale criminal spree using his skills. It was around this time that Natasha adopted the alias of Nocturna. When she and Anton planned to steal from members of Wayne Enterprises during a party at Wayne Manor, Natasha met Bruce Wayne and she noticed his fascination for her. When Anton showed up, the crime went smoothly, but soon they were found by Batman, who managed to capture Anton. Nocturna managed to escape from Batman's grasp, but when she tried to release her adoptive brother from prison, she was captured by the Dark Knight.

Crime and Redemption

Eventually, Nocturna escaped from prison and started a new criminal scheme called Nightmares, Inc., organized by a new partner in crime by the name of Nightshade. However, Nocturna ended their partnership after Nightshade became despondent with her leadership and lack of love for him. Without a criminal partner to provide her with wealth and luxury, Nocturna turned her attention to Bruce Wayne's legal battle to gain custody of the orphan, Jason Todd. As Natalia Knight, she filed the adoption papers and became mother of Jason thanks to political manipulation by Mayor Hamilton Hill. This was all part of Nocturna's plan to force Bruce Wayne into marry her in and continue living in delight.

When her former partner, the Thief of Night escaped from prison, she learned that he had become a murderer and her love for him turned to hate. Rejecting the Night-Slayer, Nocturna prepared to receive Jason as her son, but she came across Batman once again. This time, Nocturna assisted Batman against the Night-Slayer, almost killing him and at that moment, she realized she was attracted to the Dark Knight as much as he was attracted to her. During their brief romantic encounter, Nocturna revealed that she knew about Batman's secret identity, but she promised to keep the secret as long as she could become his partner and mother of Jason Todd.

Having won the legal battle for Jason's adoption, soon she was attacked by The Mad Hatter, who wanted to steal her memories for his own benefit. Nocturna was saved by Batman and Robin, and soon she returned the favor by allowing Jason to go out as Robin and helping them capture the Mad Hatter for good. Afterwards, Nocturna tried to show Jason her honest change, but all she received in turn was mistrust.

After having adopted Jason, the Night-Slayer returned and planned to murder Nocturna and her new son in revenge for her murder attempt against him. Although his plan was thwarted by Batman, the Night-Slayer managed to convince Batman that he, Bruce Wayne, was the Night-Slayer and subsequently, Anton Knight started posing as Batman. Nocturna and Robin worked together to stop Knight, but they were no match for the well trained criminal. Afterwards, Nocturna helped Batman capture the Night-Slayer and expose Mayor Hill's crimes, but despite all this, she couldn't earn the love and trust of Jason, for this reason she decided to let him return to Wayne Manor. After returning Jason to Bruce, Nocturna vanished without saying anything and desisted from Jason's custody, leaving only a concerned Batman behind.

Death of Night

Nocturna returned to Gotham when the skies turned red. She settled on the old and abandoned observatory, where she tried to understand why the skies changed as this meant the end of the night as Nocturna loved it. Her comeback alerted the authorities, but before the police could find her, Jason Todd located her and finally accepted to call her “mother”. Shortly afterwards, Nocturna was confronted by Batman, who couldn't take her to the authorities and instead, they surrendered to their mutual love and kissed for a second time. After the kiss, Batman pushed Nocturna away due to her dark and dangerous nature and she pointed out that being like that was what caused him to love her.

Leaving this paradox for Batman to ponder, Nocturna became the new temporary leader of the False Face Society, reaping the profit from them to finance her studies of the red skies. Unfortunately, she was tracked down by Catwoman, who wanted to take her to the authorities to clear her own name. Nocturna only reacted when Catwoman attacked Robin, but the fight was stopped by Batman. After the struggle, Catwoman was struck by lightning, leaving her barely alive and the heroes left Nocturna alone in order to save Catwoman, while the Night-Slayer continued her hunt for Nocturna.

Losing hope for finding a solution to the red skies, Nocturna decided to give away her location so that the Night-Slayer could find her and end their torment. Waiting in the observatory under the red rain, Nocturna was unaware that Robin was exposing himself to protect her. Night-Slayer eventually found Nocturna and she embraced her fate, willingly accepting death. Despite Batman and Robin's intervention, Nocturna was stabbed and seriously wounded by the Night-Slayer and in the aftermath of the fight, she was presumed dead as her body was taken away in her hot air balloon into the raging red storm.

One Year Later

Many years later, Nocturna returned as a member of the Injustice League. She and many of her Injustice League cohorts were exiled to the planet Salvation, and joined as a member of Vandal Savage's camp along with her three female companions Lady Flash, Cheetah, and Phobia. Nocturna and her companions were disgruntled in their situation after they were supposedly promised by Savage that he would made one of them his queen, in fact he never intended to from the beginning. Eventually the women figured out of Savage's manipulation and attacked him until being confronted by the other arriving villains who are escaping from an army of Parademons. Nocturna and many of the other villains were sent back to Earth with a teleportation device built by Lex Luthor and the other skilled villains.

Some time later, Nocturna began stealing from random houses in Gotham until she was stopped during her escape attempt by Stephanie Brown. However, she wasn't captured by Robin, as the only thing that the GCPD found was the hot air balloon in which she tried to escape. A short time later, Spoiler spotted Nocturna again trying to steal from the people at the Robinson Ball and she stopped her, using her invisibility gear to fight Nocturna's newfound power of teleportation.

[comedicreliefonlyworkswhenfunny]

Villain! Deku au; chapter sixteen: A Fire In The Night

First

Previous

Midoriya ran the bar as usual that day while his teammates went over what they were to do during the infiltration. They were to attack in the evening, when the students would be tired from quirking out and the teachers would be tired of putting up with them. The only problem was the annoying wait until evening… and telling the customers that they wouldn’t be open from prime drinking time, but that was mostly just arguments. About half of the bar patrons were participating in the infiltration, reading the vague instructions that Deku had given them each. Somewhere along the line, somebody started a discussion about what they should be called- not that it mattered. “League of Villains’ Frontal Force!” Twice, a boisterous villain with a cloning quirk, chimed in. His attitude was always a bit too bubbly for a villain, but he was the appreciated working comic relief. “Nice alliteration, but that sounds stupid. We need a name that does the job; it doesn’t need to sound flashy. We should be the Attack Force,” Mustard, a B-ranked assassin with a knack for murder, argued. Unlike some of his comrades, he prefered quiet kills and using his quirk to take out enemies without a struggle. “We should be a squad! A tight knit group fighting under the same ideals! The League of Villains’ Attack Squad!” added Spinner, to describe him as outgoing wouldn’t quite cover it; he was enthusiastic, to say the least, and a justice fighter(™) to boot. His past altercations left him with an oxymoronic hatred for heroes and a love for justice. He was, most definitely, the strongest Stain fan of the group. “That’s so childish, go for something like the League of Villains’ Vanguard. It sounds so much cooler and has a meaning behind it,” surprisingly the philosophical input came from Dabi; more likely than not, he just wanted to sound smarter than the rest of the group, though. “We take action!” Toga gleefully chimed in, “Action to make the world a better place!” They could have gone on all day and never left the hideout if Midoriya didn’t chime in. “The League of Villains’ Vanguard Action Squad. We lead an action based revolution with a tight knit group. Over. Done. No further discussion,” if Deku hadn’t said anything, Kurogiri looked like he was about to resolve the conflict himself. A silent, almost invisible, nod of thanks was sent to Midoriya.

Kurogiri slowly fed the villains through a warp gate to a mountain protecting the hideout. Miscellaneous chatter soaked up the short waiting time that the villains were currently being melodramatic about. “No good, it’s just not cute!” Toga, one of the many bouncy children in the League complained aimlessly. “The abstruse administration has laid out our orders. While they don’t appear to be the most professional, their planning is sure to be sound,” Mustard argued for the sensibility of the plan. “Not that, not that. It’s just not cute,” she aimlessly complained about whatever was most prominent in her cluttered mind at the time. “Who the hell cares? We came to kill, and I want to get to it!,” Muscular was just ticked that he was the newbie of the group and was very much treated as such. He was a powerful ally to have, but he did not embody the beliefs of the league at all. He was a chaotic evil amongst lawfuls and neutrals. “Shut up, weirdos, the plan is to wait for all of us,” Dabi spoke up, looking over the see of forest. Magne, Spinner, and Moonfish all walked through the portal after taking too long to get ready. “Ambitious punks only cause more damage than they’re worth. What they need is a hit from a gang of elites,” an open mouth declaration to the rest of the squad, “Peace is ours, and they will learn that tonight.”

Eventually the time came for the mission to truly begin. Mustard and Dabi were to launch the initial attack, drawing the attention on them, while Magne and Spinner were to hunt down the Pussycats. Once the smoke was up and ready, everybody spilt. The League of Villains’ Vanguard Action Squad slunk into the forest like a snake in the grass. Mustard released his quirk, the gas swirling like a typhoon, and Dabi did his job, igniting various trees, all far enough away to spread the fire, but not too far away as he was lazy. Magne and Spinner went to target the Pussycats. Moonfish and Toga wandered the forests in search of stragglers.

Mange was the first to officially strike, pulling on of the Pussycats towards her and landing a heavy blow to Pixiebob. “We are the League of Villains’ Vanguard Action Squad, tiny UA students. Pleased to meetcha!” Spinner stupidly declared. He was a living definition of a poorly written comic book villain, always blurting out whatever comes to mind. ‘Ha ha, heroes! I (we) have (think we have) the upper hand! (we don’t) Since we’re so confident (cocky, stupid), here is the entire layout of said plan, step by step (as if we were explaining it to one of our recruits)’ type of badly written comic book villain. Magne was smarter than Spinner, holding Pixie-Bob to the ground with her weapon. “Should I crush her pretty little skull? I don’t see why not, but what do you guys think?” psychological manipulation that was to instil a feeling of helplessness. It wasn’t outwardly taking a hostage, but it was showing that she wasn’t hesitating. The problem with hostages always becomes ‘if you kill them, you have nothing,’ so having the clear ability to ignore your “advantage,” shows power. Student’s shocked faces were priceless as they gaze upon the villains. Tiger, however, was not having it. He knew the woes of being a woman, and, as a person, also wished for a similar happiness. It was no secret that the Pussycats were steadily creeping past optimal age. Pixie-Bob was taking it the hardest. “Don’t you dare!” he hissed- pun intended, with rage hot on tongue. Both Ragdoll and Tiger were happy with hero life, Mandalay was just worried about the idea of being old, but Pixie-Bob was the romantic of the group. Magne didn’t care for that though, she had her heart broken far to many times to care about the heart of a “beautiful” woman. Tired of being the “coyote ugly,” she wanted to make it so that beauty didn’t run the world. Spinner cut in as well, completely knowing Magne’s anger for those deemed “attractive.” He called out, “Don’t be hasty Big Sis Mag,” he knew she loved that nickname, for several reasons, “You, too, Tiger,” he held his arms out to stop the two readied opponents. “Holding life in your hands is the most important thing you can do! Do you not remember Stain’s teachings?”

Of course that fanboy would bring up Stain. He took every word from that man’s mouth as if it was his lifeline, after a while that was what happened. He believed heavily in justice, but was always made fun of as a kid. He wasn’t the strongest, the smartest, and definitely not the most beautiful: he wasn’t an “ideal” hero, and his strong sense of justice got him nowhere. “Stain… So these people were his followers,” Iida almost felt regret at this point, the thought that Stain had followers who quite clearly knew his face as one that brought their “teacher’s” demise. He could easily push it aside because Stain was an asshole who put his brother in intensive care, despite being a hero for the purest of reasons. “You got that right!” half right, at most; most of “Stain’s followers” weren’t actually his followers, they just believed in same or similar ideals. Shiragaki couldn’t understand that, but he was just a big man child who refused to try- a statement taken directly from fellow members of the league. “And we know all about your feats, four eyes,” Spinner looked at him with a side glance, “And how you helped bring Stain’s end in Hosu.” He placed his hand on his weapon before he continued, “I’m who they call Spinner, and I’m here to make Stain’s dreams come true!” he declared as he “unsheathed” his weapon. It was a new addition for him, made of every knife Stain left behind, with a few of his own, awkwardly tied together to create a patchwork buster sword. Spinner, still lost in the confidence of his introduction and the echoed ‘woah’s of his blade’s reveal, plucked a nerve of Tiger’s.

“That’s good for you, but,” he looked to Pixie-Bob who was lying unconscious, “Pixie-Bob, my friend and teammate, has been worried about marriage. Happiness in life is a woman’s woe! With all of it’s difficulty, she tries very hard!” at this point it was just an oration. Until Tiger got to the point, “How dare you leave an ugly scar like that on her beautiful face, and blab like that without any care?” he was yelling now, showing his true colors. “So heroes have such plain dreams, too?” Spinner was laughing at the thought. The term ‘hero’ had degraded so much, to the point when they’re worried about life after their job. Wasn’t that so funny to think about? A profession where your only purpose is to help people, and there’s a question of what comes after this? People who are trusted with lives have time to worry about marriage and their white picket fence dreams; do the people not matter? Spinner couldn’t help but laugh as he charged towards half of the Pussycats. “Tiger! I’ve sent out the order to Ragdoll to make sure the students are safe! All we need to do is hold them off here!” Mandalay relayed to the partner beside her. She turned to the students and gave them what they needed to know, “Get on your way kids! Be alert, but remember: no fighting!” she couldn’t afford to turn her back. “Keep them safe for me, Class President!” a statement to encourage Iida; being called the class president reminded him that Momo accepted the ‘Vice’ role because she trusted his decision making more than her own. “I’ll make sure we stay safe and out of the way. You heard her, time to go!” Iida rallied his peers as their fearful feet pounded down the path to safety.

Shiragaki and Kurogiri discussed the likelihood of the mission as their pawns were in play. “Do you think they can pull this off?” being honest, Kurogiri still wasn’t over the stupid naming ceremony that they held instead of preparing for battle. “Maybe, maybe,” he almost laugh, unwilling to admit that Midoriya’s words made him change his strategy. Sure, he could have thought of it on his own, and that was what he told himself, but, ultimately, it was Midoriya who told him to think of it like a video game. “I thought this was an rpg, advancing through the storyline as quickly as possible, but I was all wrong. See, when my level one party and I should have been killing slimes, we were trying to fight the boss,” he understood that his ambition got ahead of him, seeing as all the he wanted to do was defeat All Might; it was a heavy fault to admit. “Instead, I am the player, I am the GM, moving my characters and the storyline to places that will get them closer to the end goal,” he grinned at the idea of his master plan, “And to do that, we need to break a few walls to allow the chaos in. It doesn’t matter if they thrive or not, they might not even survive,” he laughed leaning back slightly. Kurogiri didn’t follow, “So they are disposable?” how would that help at all? “No, no, of course not! They’re all comrades, but what matters is the lingering fear that something could happen at any given moment. Wariness, mistrust, accusation; why fear us when they fear each other? But of course, I do hope they succeed,” he made a point. Wariness would fry their systems; who has time for self care when evil might be anywhere? Mistrust would scramble their minds; it was exactly that! Just a thought! Who’s to say if it’s wrong or right? Accusation would tear them apart: why am I suspicious? The fact that you find me suspicious is quite so. Do I even know you? Not to mention the big pawn: Deku; the young boy Izuku Midoriya. Shiragaki knew his relations to the explosive blonde boy, an ex bully who knew him as a hero fanboy. All Might himself, who had shot down the young boy’s dreams. The two students who fought Stain in Hosu, side by side with the kid who saved their lives. Shiragaki grinned as the battle raged throughout the mountains. Several unconscious and unaccounted for, injury count racking up a total; it was going just as planned.

Next

Master

[duhragonball]

[FIC] Luffa: The Legendary Super Saiyan (90/?)

Disclaimer: This story features characters and concepts based on Dragon Ball, which is a trademark of Bird Studio/Shueisha and Toei Animation.   This is an unauthorized work, and no profit is being made on this work by me. This story is copyright of me. Download if you like, but please don’t archive it without my permission. Don’t be shy.

Continuity Note: About 1000 years before the events of Dragon Ball Z.

Previous chapters conveniently available here.

[25 May 234 Before Age.  Interstellar Space.]

"Here's the short version," Pozet explained.   "King Rehval created me and sent me to kill Saiyans for him so he would have an excuse to ask your wife Luffa for help.   Then he had me kill the detective he hired to catch me, so that you would take over the investigation while he started putting the moves on Luffa.  You actually managed to track me all the way back to the Pflaume system, where I was created, and that was a bit of a problem, since that's where he planned to lure Luffa so he could spring his trap."

While Pozet was explaining this, Zatte was trying to grab hold of the intruder, but Pozet kept dodging and batting aside her hands just before Zatte could reach her.   The two of them leaped all around the bridge of Luffa's star-yacht, the Emerald Eye.  

"How could he possibly trap Luffa?" Zatte asked.  "She's the--"

"The Legendary Super Saiyan, I know," Pozet said.  "I was created using tissue samples from your body, babe.  I'm not really alive, and I don't know everything that you know, but I do share your attraction to her.   Master's told me all about her.  I must have seen that movie they made about her a dozen times, but the actress they cast to play her doesn't do her justice!"

"What did you think of her love interest, though?" Zatte asked.  

"Rax Cosmo?  I wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating crackers, but the on-screen chemistry was decent en--HEY!"

Behind Pozet, one of the control consoles exploded, showering her back with sparks and shards of hot polymer.  It wasn't enough to hurt her, but the distraction slowed her down just long enough for Zatte to throw a punch to her face--

Only for Pozet to dodge at the last possible moment.  

"You used your energy manipulation powers to blow that thing up," Pozet said.  "But how'd you do it so quickly?"

"I know the ship pretty well," Zatte said.   "Takes the guesswork out of how much energy it takes to destroy parts of it.   But it looks like I'll have to try harder to catch you off guard.   At least now I know you really don't have my memories, and you can't read my mind or anything like that.   Otherwise you would have seen that coming a mile away."

Pozet grinned.   "Oh, you're good," she said.  "I can see why Luffa married you.  Rax Cosmo couldn't hold a candle, even if he was real."

"I identify with him a lot, actually," Zatte said.  "He's an underrated character.  A lot of fans think Luffa should have ended up with the Fire Prince, but I don't buy it."

"You identify with him?" Pozet asked.  They continued circling each other around the confines of the bridge.   "He's a man!"

"Well, you have to use your imagination a little, all right?" Zatte said.  "Or do you not have one, because you're 'non-living?'"

"Don't underestimate me, honey," Pozet said.  "I'm everything you are, but better!  I'm as strong as you are, and I'm at least as good a fighter--"

"Computer!" Zatte called out.  "Run Program Zatte-630!"

Suddenly, the artificial gravity on the bridge switched off, then on again, and Pozet found herself stumbling backwards as a result.  As she regained her footing, she found Zatte leaping directly at her.   She tackled her into the navigator's chair and they began to struggle as they rolled to the floor.  

Pozet's sudden appearance had been unsettling for Zatte.  She had expected the killer to be a Dorlun, but not a strange duplicate of herself.  Pozet's face, body, and voice were all identical to her own, but her skin was red instead of Dorlun blue, and her hair was blue instead of Dorlun red.  Pozet wore an eyepatch like Zatte's, but on the left eye instead of the right.  This was presumably an aesthetic choice, since it hardly made sense to create an artificial assassin and purposely injure her.   She needed to understand her enemy, and Pozet seemed to defy comprehension.    

As she contemplated this problem, Pozet suddenly stopped resisting her.  "You know, I'm not very familiar with this ship at all," she said.   "But then, I don't really need to be."

Zatte realized what she was alluding to, but barely managed to escape it.  Zatte had shorted out a very specific power conduit earlier, based on a plan to corral the intruder towards in when it finally exploded.   Pozet now did the same thing, only she overloaded the plasma conduits in the lights and environmental controls mounted in the ceiling.   Being unacquainted with the ship's design, she simply overloaded them all at once.  The result was much more destructive than Zatte's diversion with the console.  Hot sparks fell all over the deck, and the ship's fire suppression systems activated, dousing the room with foam.   In the midst of all this chaos, Zatte lost sight of Pozet, and was unable to find any trace of energy coming from her body.  

"Having trouble?" Pozet teased.   "You've got the same energy manipulation powers I do.   We can both become invisible, and we can both detect ki energy and heat signatures, only my body doesn't put off any heat, and I've got no ki because I'm not alive."

That didn't make sense to Zatte.   Through training, living beings could increase their ki power to greatly increase their speed and strength.   Pozet seemed to have a power to rival Zatte's own, so if it wasn't ki-based, then what was it?

With the main lights destroyed, the only illumination on the bridge was the monitors and consoles of the bridge stations.   This wasn't a problem for Zatte, as her powers allowed her to see a wider range of colors in the electromagnetic spectrum.   But this meant it wasn't a problem for Pozet either, which left them in a standoff.  

"Computer," Zatte called out.   "Execute Program--"

"--619!"

The artificial gravity shut off again, then reactivated at half the strength normally used.  Zatte had intended something else, but since she knew this program, she was prepared to cope with it.  

"I didn't know what that one would do," Pozet called out.   "But I figured a random number would be better than whatever you had in mind.   Looks like the computer recognizes my voice as yours, too.   Makes things interesting, doesn't it?"

Zatte muttered a Dorlun profanity as she considered this development.  She had expected to fight a Dorlun, but never expected one who could so easily mimic her own voice.  Pozet didn't even have to try; she just naturally sounded the same, and not even the ship's computer could tell the difference.   It wouldn't be enough for Pozet to take complete control of the ship, but it would allow her to confuse the computer whenever Zatte tried to use it herself.  As she moved around the deck, hoping to find some sign of Pozet's presence against the fog of fire suppressant chemicals, she noticed that it wasn't just fog.   Some of it was smoke.

"Having trouble breathing?" Pozet called out as soon as Zatte began to cough.   "I heated up the fibers of the carpet.  Not enough to start a fire, but enough to get them smoldering.   Smells good, doesn't it?"

Zatte winced as the acrid smell grew stronger as she moved towards the charred carpet.  She covered her mouth and nose, but could still find no sign of Pozet.   And then she heard a chirp from one of the bridge stations, and she realized that Pozet must have been crouching on top of one and accidentally touched a button.  

"Oh, crap," Pozet said.   Before she could move away, Zatte raised her hands and fired a ki blast from the palms of her hands.   Luffa had taught her to do this, although Zatte preferred to rely on conventional weapons.    Her ki powers were relatively weak and imprecise for combat, but there wasn't time to find her pistol or anything else.   She simply targeted the entire bridge station and fired a blast large enough and powerful enough to destroy the whole thing before Pozet could get away.  

In doing this, Zatte paid a heavy price.   She inhaled more of the stale, smokey air, and went into a coughing fit.  She needed to get off the bridge, but she couldn't leave until she was certain Pozet was neutralized.  She tried to hold her breath and search around the deck, but after several minutes, she found nothing.   And then something kicked her from behind, and she fell to the floor.

"That was a lucky shot," Pozet said.   The smoke was thicker on the floor, but Zatte was still able to see Pozet, who apparently now felt confident to become visible.  The homunculus' left arm was badly burned, but she seemed unconcerned by this injury.   If the bad air was causing her any problems, she didn't show it.  Pozet only breathed when she needed to speak aloud.

"I'm not here to kill you, Zatte," she said.  "My master just wants me to keep you occupied for a while.  I had meant to just play with you until he contacted me with further instructions, but you're dangerous.  If I'm not careful, you might just find a way around me, and I can't let that happen.   Luckily, I took out the life support system, so there's nothing to stop the bridge from filling up with smoke and suffocating you.  So I figure I'll relax and wait for you to stop breathing.  How's that sound--?  Wait, what have you got there?"

Zatte had been carrying a portable air supply canister on her belt the entire time.  She had been keeping it invisible with her powers, and had refrained from using it in case she would need it later.   Now, with the smoke becoming unbearable, she had strapped the face-piece to her mouth and made it just visible enough for Pozet to notice, and she used this distraction to grab her by the ankles and fling her across the bridge.  

The situation was untenable.   Zatte had hoped to keep their battle confined to a small area of the ship, but between the smoke and damaged controls, the terrain was beginning to shift into Pozet's favor.   The air canister she was breathing from would only last for so long, and now that Pozet knew about it, she would focus her efforts on destroying it or taking it away.  

So Zatte headed for the lift, forced the doors, and leaped down the shaft to relative safety.   It worried her to leave Pozet unchecked on the bridge, but until she knew how to fight Pozet effectively, she had to keep moving through the relative safety of the rest of the ship.

As Zatte made her way to an access tunnel that intersected the lift shaft, she wondered just how long that relative safety would last.

*******

[25 May 234 Before Age.   Planet Pflaume.]

Moments ago, Luffa believed there were only two life forms on the ice giant world of Pflaume: herself, and Rehval III, the King of the Saiyans, whom she had followed here through a mystical portal.   Luffa was wrong.   A third Saiyan, her own son, now stood before her, though she could not understand how this was possible.

The only habitable settlement in the entire solar system was Pflaume City, an artificial biosphere which floated through Planet Pflaume's upper atmosphere like a great fortress adrift in a storm.  King Rehval had it evacuated prior to this encounter.  He had gone to great lengths to lure Luffa here, in order to propose an alliance that would betray everything Luffa held dear.  Rehval III was unlike any Saiyan Luffa had ever met.  He was a brilliant visionary and a powerful fighter, but he was utterly devoid of honor.   Rehval seemed willing to stoop to anything to achieve his goals, which all involved shaping the future of the Saiyan species for centuries to come.   Lies, treachery, sorcery-- Rehval was willing to use any trick and suffer any humiliation to get what he wanted.

And now, Luffa's son had come to King Rehval's rescue.

"Are you all right, Your Majesty?" the boy called to his sovereign.

"I am now," Rehval replied.  Luffa had been torturing Rehval with a compression lock on his leg.  He rose to his feet slowly, painfully, but he still managed to stand, which might have surprised Luffa if he hadn't been fixated on the boy.  

"My lord, your arm!" the boy cried.  

Rehval nodded and gripped the burned flesh of his left arm with his right hand.   "It'll be fine, Xibuyas," he said, though he couldn't completely hide the anguish in his voice."

"I know of your powers, Sire," Xibuyas said uneasily.  "That you can restore yourself from injuries far worse than these, but I still wish that you had summoned me sooner!"

"The enemy is swifter than I anticipated," Rehval admitted.  He looked at Luffa and smiled.   "And more clever."

"And more foolish!" Xibuyas shouted.  "When you told me of your plan to offer her an alliance, I expected to find her kneeling at your feet, not torturing you!  Move aside, King Rehval.  Let me teach her the price of her defiance!"

Rehval raised his good hand to signal the boy to stand by.  

"What have you done?" Luffa asked in a low voice.  She was addressing Rehval, though she never took her eyes off the boy.  

"Surely you can guess that for yourself, Luffa," Rehval said.   "I told you of my knowledge of alchemy.   You've seen the Pozet, the homunculus I created for you.  I've told you of how I increased my own power beyond what little nature saw fit to give me.  And you've seen my laboratory on Planet Saiya.  You've seen the gestation chambers, which nurture embryonic Saiyans so they can be born with their maximum potential."

She didn't want to believe it, but it made too much sense for her to deny it.  Years ago, the Tikosi captured her, and tormented her for months for the sake of their twisted "experiments".   Luffa's own father had arranged for this, betraying her so that he could benefit from the fruits of their research.  What no one had known was that Luffa had been pregnant at the time.  The father of her child, Luffa's husband, convinced the Tikosi to surgically remove the boy from Luffa's body.   They turned the remains over to him, and when Luffa finally escaped the Tikosi, she hunted him down across the galaxy, hoping to mete out justice for her son's death.

But she had only assumed the child was stillborn.  When she finally caught up with her husband, Kandai told her that he had been hired by King Rehval to secure the fetus.  Kandai himself didn't know what he intended to do with it.  Like Luffa, he had probably never imagined that the child could have survived.   But the Tikosi had keep Luffa alive throughout her captivity.  Their experiments had been designed to bring her to the brink of death and back, again and again and again.  Was it so impossible to imagine that they could have kept a prenatal Saiyan alive outside its mother's womb?  Such technology was commonplace in the wider galaxy.   Even the Saiyans used it, though Luffa found the practice revolting.  To Luffa, motherhood was a sacred rite among Saiyans, or at least it was supposed to be.  The idea of Saiyan mothers giving up their children to be midwifed by machines was so horrifying to her that she never considered that it could have happened to her own offspring.

Luffa wanted to believe that this was a trick, that the boy standing before her was another homunculus, or some other alchemical illusion cast by Rehval, but the boy's ki was unmistakable.   The only thing that didn't make sense was his age.   Her son should only be three years old by now.  This boy looked closer to fifteen.

"You probably have some way to age people," Luffa muttered.  "But that doesn't fit.   "He couldn't have gotten so strong in only three years."

"Very astute, Luffa," Rehval said.  His breathing was still labored from his injuries, but he seemed determined to remain calm and in control of the situation.   "Xibuyas was not aged through some artificial means.  He was trained in a special place, one revealed to me by the Guardian of Planet Saiya."

"Guardian?" Luffa repeated in surprise.   She had encountered such beings before in her travels.  They were supposed to be mortals who were granted the station of lesser gods.  Their duty was to watch over their assigned worlds, though their power paled in comparison to mortal warriors like the Saiyans.  It wasn't difficult to imagine Rehval's grandfather conquering an inhabited world, renaming it "Saiya", and destroying its indigenous population, all while their Guardian looked on helplessly.  

"She was magnificent," Rehval said wistfully.  "My grandfather had kept her alive, mostly to avoid any reprisal from on high, and because she was no threat to us.   But where he and my father saw a figurehead, I saw untapped potential.   When I was ready, I pitted my charms and talismans against her divine wisdom, and I bent her to my will.  That summer I spent on her lookout was one of the happiest of my life.   She showed everything to me, including a room where time passed more slowly on the inside.  It was designed to seal itself after only two days of use by a single occupant, but I managed to work around that rule, and had the entrance relocated to my home on Pflaume City.   In total, he has spent twelve days in that room, training with my servants.   But inside the room, a year passed for each of those days."

"Then they're the ones who raised him," Luffa said bitterly.  "Taught him how to be the obedient little bootlick to the Saiyan King, is that it?"

"I wanted you to rule by my side, Luffa," Rehval said.  "I lied to you, but my purpose was sincere.  I had hoped that even if you despised me, we could put aside our differences for the sake of our people.  Perhaps you think me foolish for hoping you might accept my proposal, but I was not so naive that I didn't prepare for your refusal."

He gestured to Xibuyas.  "If you insist on being my enemy, then Xibuyas will accomplish what you would not.   You call him a 'bootlick', but he's far more than that.  I've already arranged for him to be mated to one of my daughters."

"Like hell!" Luffa seethed.  

"Whatever power he possesses, whatever secrets lie in his bloodline, they will be passed onto my grandchildren, and on down to the rest of the Rehval Dynasty."

"You know it doesn't work that way, idiot!" Luffa shouted.  "If you could breed a stronger Saiyan, don't you think someone would have done it a long time ago?!   Every one of us is probably descended from Chanisp, but I'm the only one as strong as--!"

"That only proves that our ancestors lacked vision," Rehval insisted.  "They clung to outmoded beliefs, and useless sentiments, when they should have learned to understand the mysteries that rule our fate!  Think of it, Luffa!  A Saiyan nation ruled by its strongest family!   Where the greatest warriors are allowed to marry into that family.  Instead of waiting for gifted fighters to prove their worth, we can measure their potential before birth!  A woman like you would be elevated to her rightful place, instead of languishing in the care of mercenaries living hand-to-mouth!"

"And what about the ones that don't have any potential?" Luffa asked.  

Rehval shrugged his good arm.   "They have their uses, I'm sure," he said.  "The ones who can contribute to the gene pool will be allowed to do so.  The rest will have to earn their acceptance, one way or another."

"And that's the great future you want for the Saiyan race?" Luffa asked.   "That's the future you had in mind for my son?!"   She began to laugh.   "And they call me a monster."

"You are a monster, Luffa," Rehval replied calmly.   "Not because of your yellow hair or green eyes, but because you represent the chaos that has benighted our people throughout our entire history.  I wanted to make a place in my kingdom for you, but I see now that I was wrong.   All I can do for you now is order your execution."

"You and what army?" Luffa scoffed as she pointed to the boy.  "Bringing him out here might have saved you for a few more minutes, but he's not strong enough to save you--"

She approached Rehval and raised her left fist.  

"Get away from him!" Xibuyas shouted.  

"Stay out of this, Katem!" Luffa shouted back.   "I'll deal with you in a minute.  First, I'm going to make this slime pay for what he's done!"

Despite his injuries, King Rehval was still immensely powerful by the standards of normal Saiyans.   As Luffa attacked, he leaped backward to roll away from her punch.   Dodging would be impossible, but by moving away from her fist as she connected, he could at least reduce the impact of her blow.  

However, Luffa was the Legendary Super Saiyan, and from the perspective of her transformed state, Rehval might as well have been moving in slow motion.  Though using only a fraction of her full power, she had more than enough to leap forward after him, ensuring that her blow would still hit hard enough to crush his skull.  

Then Xibuyas moved.   Luffa spotted this out of the corner of her eye, but thought nothing of it.  As powerful as he was, he was still too slow and too far away to do anything to save King Rehval.  

Except, when her fist connected, it did not land on Rehval's forehead.   Instead, she was caught in Xibuyas's hand.   Somehow, he had managed a burst of speed that had allowed him to get between Luffa and Rehval.  

Luffa was too astonished to react.   Though she had the strength to pull free of the boy's grip, she stood transfixed and watched his eyes glaze over with rage.   He started to hyperventilate, and then he cried out in a voice that Luffa couldn't help but find familiar.

And then she saw what looked like steam rising from Xibuyas' body, and he was suddenly engulfed with a golden aura.  She noticed that his grip on her hand was getting stronger...

"What...?!  No way!" was all Luffa could manage to say.  

The part of the city they were standing in was some kind of promenade, with shops and restaurants lining the walls of the corridors.  These were abandoned, but their signs and lighting were still active.   As Xibuyas' power increased, the electronics closest to the Saiyans began to short circuit and explode.

"Twelve years, Luffa," Rehval said as he backed away from them.  "I did everything I could to make him strong enough to defeat even you.   I wasn't sure it would be enough, but now that I see Xibuyas in action, I have to say that I'm pleased with the results.   Destroy her, Xibuyas!  Now!"

*******

Xibuyas wasted no time, leaping after Luffa and striking her unguarded face.   She went flying back, and the boy chased after her.   With a burst of speed, he stopped directly ahead of her, and landed a powerful kick that send her flying off in another direction.  For a minute or so, he bounced her around the promenade like a rubber ball, until at last he allowed her to crash into the deckplate below.   Luffa's impact was so great that she gouged a trench into the thick metal.  

"You're nothing but a fraud!"  Xibuyas shouted.   "King Rehval was wise to prepare me for this battle, woman!   But you're no match for the power of a true Saiyan warrior!"

He wouldn't fail.  King Rehval had been preparing him for this battle for his entire life.   Failure was simply not an option.   Xibuyas would crush this impostor once and for all, and prove himself worthy.   The "Super Saiyan" had a fearsome reputation, and his power lacked experience, but he was sure that he could overwhelm her.   He just had to stay focused and stand firm.  

He readied an energy blast in his left hand, but before he could send it down at his target, he noticed she was getting up.   Too angry to analyze this development, he launched his attack, expecting it to have the same effect whether she was standing or lying down.  

The energy sphere was more of an amorphous glob.   It was mostly yellow, with swirls of red, like it wasn't entirely finished.   Seconds before it engulfed Luffa, Xibuyas saw her face.   He expected terror, or perhaps surprise.   Instead, her expression was one of... curiosity?   He wondered if she might dodge it, and then the attack made contact, and he couldn't see her at all.    

Only, instead of the usual explosion of red-and-yellow light that followed his technique, it all simply faded away.   He saw Luffa looking up at him, smiling.    In her clenched fists were what looked like pieces of his energy glob, as if she had somehow ripped it apart.    

"What have you--?!" he began to shout.    "How did you do that?!"

"It...it's really you," she said.   Her smile faltered as she spoke, and her eyes widened.    "I don't understand it, but it's really you.  Maybe... maybe I should check again."

"Fool!" Xibuyas screamed.   "If you want to spend your last moments of life babbling like an old woman, then so be it!"   He launched himself directly at her, leading with his fists.    "Now you will DIE!"

He crashed into her, his hands charged with ki energy which he fired into her abdomen at the moment he made contact.   The raw power of the blow tore the deck apart, and he fell through to the level below.  Xibuyas realized he was inside a large auditorium.   Wreckage from the ceiling was still spilling into the seats.  

"And that will be the end of that!" he declared.   "All that's left for me to do now is search for your miserable corpse!   Xibuyas is no fool, woman.    I know all about your tricks, and I won't allow you to slip away like a dog so you can plan your escape."

He floated above the rows of seats, then hovered over the stage, thinking it would afford him a better view.   "Of course," he said to himself with a laugh, "there is the possibility that my last attack shattered your puny body into a thousand pieces!   King Rehval should hire a cleaning crew to gather them all up.   Pity.   I would have enjoyed taking your head as a trophy, woman!  You were supposed to be my first great triumph, and you barely put up a struggle.    Eh--?"

At last, he noticed the hole in the stage, where he found Luffa kneeling.   Around her was a pile of theatrical supplies and sound equipment.   She had her back turned to Xibuyas, and she was no longer glowing yellow like before.    She appeared to be muttering to her hands.  

"Alive?!" Xibuyas howled.   "Impossible!    I don't know what you're playing at, woman, but I'll give you some free advice: Never turn your back on the great Xibuyas!"

He aimed his hand at her back and bombarded her with dozens of energy globules, each of them exploding all around her.    In seconds, the entire stage was engulfed in orange ki energy, and then he sensed her moving within it.  

She walked out of the firestorm, across the stage, and hopped down.    Xibuyas could almost see a slight refraction of light surrounding her body.   Had she shielded herself from his attack?   How could she maintain such a defense without showing the slightest sign of strain?   Then he realized that she was still mumbling to herself.    He watched her walk up to one of the seats in the front row, where she sat down and looked back up at him.  

"I see it now," Xibuyas said.   "It's a trick!  You're using some kind of magic spell, or maybe a technological gadget to protect yourself from my power!   Well be warned, female!    A Saiyan warrior won't be so easily deceived!   I-- are you even listening to me?!"

"It's really you," Luffa said.  "It's the same power.   Rehval couldn't fake that.    He wouldn't know how.   Right?   I-I don't think it's possible, but..."

"Enough!" Xibuyas screamed.   He dropped to the floor and rushed directly in front of Luffa.   "I don't know what that incantation of yours is supposed to do, but it won't save you from my wrath!    Now, die!"

He threw a right hand, aiming for the top of Luffa's skull.    She had lowered her head as he approached, as if she couldn't bear to look at him up close.   He could only assume that the witch was overcome with fear, which could only mean her defenses were at their limit.    A single blow, and it would all be over--

She caught his fist in her hand.    He didn't even see her move.   In one moment, she had been powered down, and despondent.   In the next, she had transformed, and his hand felt like it was caught in a vise.  

"L... Let go of me!" he cried.

Though he tried to deny it, he could feel the fear growing within him.   He had been as fierce and relentless as he had planned, and Luffa had shrugged off his attacks like they were nothing.  Worse, she didn't even seem to be paying close attention to their battle.  He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he managed to hurt her badly enough to get her undivided attention.  

She looked up at him, her face showing a mixture of emotions, but none of them particularly aggressive.   "It's really you, isn't it?   I never thought I'd sense this ki again.   It's really you, Katem."

"K-katem?" Xibuyas finally managed to pull free, and he took a step back to assess the situation.    It was as if she were defending herself by reflex, and she wasn't fighting back at all.   Was she truly so confident in her power that she refused to fight him seriously?   But if she had such an overwhelming advantage, why was she so troubled?

"Who in the hell is Katem?!" he asked as he shook his right hand to recover from her grip.    He didn't realize how tightly she had held him until he was free.  

"You are," she said ominously.   "That's what I named you.   Katem if you were a boy.   And if you had been a girl..."

Tears were streaming from her face, and she rose from her chair to slowly walk towards him.    More confused than afraid, Xibuyas took a step backward as she approached.   She started to chuckle, and soon this grew into a sort of halting, broken laughter.

"My name," he insisted, "is Xibuyas!    It was given to me by the King of the Saiyans himself!"

Luffa glared at him, then turned her head and spit on the floor.    "That's what I think of the king," she said.  

"You dare--!"

"He's a liar and a coward and a filthy kidnapper," Luffa said in a raw, ugly tone.   "I failed you, Katem.    I failed you so completely that I'll never be able to apologize to you properly.    But I refuse to dishonor my own son by calling you anything else."

"Then that's your game," Xibuyas scoffed.  "You actually think you can gain the upper hand by pretending to by my mother?"

"I'm not pretending anything," Luffa said.   "And I don't expect you to believe me.   I can hardly believe it myself.   I'm just... I'm trying to make sense of it all."

"Oh, by all means, 'mother', take your time!" Xibuyas said.    He raised his hands and fired a blast of energy from his palms, which engulfed her and every seat behind her all the way to the back of the theater.   "You can figure it out in hell!"

When the glow of his attack subsided, Luffa was still there.  Behind her was only a field of ash and molten scrap where the seats had been, but Luffa herself was completely unharmed.  

"Well, you seem healthy, at least," Luffa said.    "I guess I should be grateful for that."

"Wh- what are you?!" Xibuyas stammered.    "That attack should have...!  But you--!"

"Do you live in this place?" Luffa asked.   "I never sensed your presence on Planet Saiya.    Not that I would have thought to check for it, but...  Well, what do they feed you here?"

Xibuyas threw a left kick, but she blocked it with her forearm.   "Is that a stupid thing to ask?    I... I just never expected this.  I don't know what to say right now.   I think... I think I'm losing my mind."

Xibuyas tried a punch to her face.   Luffa didn't bother blocking.   His fist simply connected with her chin, and nothing happened.   She didn't even flinch.  

"I'm sorry," she finally said, as if rousing herself from a dream.    "You're trying to fight me, and I'm just sleepwalking through it.   I'm embarrassing you."

She stooped low and swung her left leg around to sweep his ankles.    Xibuyas thought he read the attack quickly enough to brace himself, but she knocked him off balance with seemingly no effort at all.   Before he could even finish falling, she was suddenly on top of him, grabbing him by his shirt and striking his cheek, shoulder, and chest with the edge of her free hand.   Then she tossed him to the ground.  

Her blows were so quick that he barely saw her move, but the pain exploded from every part of his body where she had touched him.   He clenched his teeth and tried not to cry out.  At last, he realized that this creature was even more fearsome than King Rehval had led him to believe.    She wasn't just strong.    She was... emotional.    Everything she said and did was disturbing to him.   It was one thing that she kept claiming to be his mother.   What made it worse was that she clearly had no need to play mindgames with him.   Was she just doing it to be sadistic, or...?

"Hey, that was good," Luffa said.    "I didn't think you'd be able to see me coming, but you did.    Rehval kept telling me he's the strongest Saiyan after me, but I guess he was lying about that too."

"You're... not a Saiyan!" Xibuyas growled as he rose to his feet.   He was clutching the spot on his chest where Luffa had hit him.    "And you're not my mother."

Luffa extended her arm and curled in her fingers to invite him to try again.    "Convince me," she said.

He saw the tears in her eyes, and the weary smile on her lips, and Xibuyas felt his mouth go dry from terror.

NEXT: Quality Time

[gostaks]

Final Talks Machina Q&A summary

This was my best attempt to summarize everything live so please forgive any abbreviations, spelling errors, etc. Also warning this is long

Underdark

Q: why did clarota turn on the party?

A: he wanted to be connected to the elder brain again

Q: Why was Percy flashing his name around knowing that the briarwoods were out there?

A: Tal: percy spent most of the game in an intense nervous breakdown and was flashing around his name in an attempt to bring some attention

Q: what did pike do during her time off sailing?

A:She wanted to become stronger and spent a lot of time doing "simple boat work"

Q: why was percy crafting bullets while vex never crafted arrows?

A: the party bought about 1,000 arrows before the stream and they were so cheap that Matt just stopped worrying about it

Q: What moment made Vax start having feeling for Kiki?

A: Liam's not entirely sure but he thinks it might have been the whisper. He knew Vax had the crush for a while and wasn't thinking about leaving any hints and was planning to wait longer, but the Briarwoods forced it out

Q: What about Grog's Mother?

A: Grog never really had a family except his dad Stonejaw and the herd so he never really figured out who his mother was

Q: Who took out the contract on the Rakshasa?

A: One of the members of the Arcana Pansophicle (sp?) (Allura and Drake are members) who was working on a portal to the 9 hells and needed demon parts and didn't know or care about the cycle of vengeance

Q: Did Matt plan to have Kima and Allura to hook up from the beginning?

A: that was part of their originally planned past history and the reunion at the beginning of the stream sparked their rekindling their relationship

Q: Is there a story behind Keyleth's antlers?

A: She had a circled that was one of the last things she'd brought with her from the Ashari/her mother and Kit Buss drew her with antlers (she also added a lot of little things like Vex's feathers)

Q: What would have happened if they had made a better relationship with the Thunderbrands?

A: They would have had a whole story with a lost relative and might have sent a spellcaster along with VM into the Underdark

Q: How did a sphinx end up beneath Vasselheim?

A: There are lots of followers of Ioun and they're big on disseminating knowledge so when Ioun was wounded they (including Osisa) went into hiding and now end up as whistleblowers because if you're public about following Ioun it's dangerous. Osisa is the heart of a communication network centering around the slayer's take and vasselheim

Q: Where was the second Horn of Orcus?

A: Matt's not telling because it might end up in the next campaign along with a bunch of artifacts and vestiges

Briarwoods

Q: what was Assum's plan to investigate the Briarwoods?

A: He wanted to figure out if they had the political power to actually be in charge of the bridge and either prove they were trustworthy or catch them in a lie

Q: When travis broke the pencil how close was he to murdering liam? grog to vax?

A: Travis says mechanical pencils bend really well to anger and Grog went on a long prank streak. Liam didn't realize how angry Travis was about the beard-shaving incident

Q: Who was the woman who Percy saw in his nat 20 on the sun tree?

A: She was a hunter and she could have given them info about current political situation or ratted them out to the briarwoods

Q: What did Liam think when the briarwoods killed vax?

A: he thought he was out and it was time to vomit out his monologue of thoughts before he left the game

Q: What tipped Sam off that Percy's gun needed to be destroyed

A: He did crazy shit while using it and he was doing weird marking-off stuff. Scanlan wasn't very wise so it took a long time. Also Tal was really shocked and dismayed when Scanlan destroyed the gun. The gun was priceless and impossible to recreate. Matt: the only way to free percy was to destroy the gun or kill orthax

Q: Is Matt keeping track of stuff that happens to VM to tie into the next campaign?

A: Matt doesn't want to tie in the campaigns too much but VM's choices will effect the next campaign

Q: How much of sylas and delilah's arc was Tal's notes and how much was Matt?

A: Tal's notes only included what Percy knew (almost nothing) and Matt added the rest. Delilah was a lesser mage at some academy in Dwindal (sp?) and Sylas got sick so she went on a quest to find a cure and by the time she did he was dead. She got really angry and Vecna started talking to her in her dreams and slowly led her to one of his laboratories and found the rites of vampirism for a price. Necromancy is illegal in Dwindal so they were chased out, met Ripley near Taldorei and started working on Whitestone

Q: Did vex have feelings for Percy during this arc?

A: Darling take the mask off was definitely a thing + vex finds edginess attractive. Percy didn't know the voice in his head was real, he was in the middle of a nervous breakdown and didn't connect that orthax was real until the briarwood arc. Orthax didn't manifest until the moment of possible vengeance.

Q: Would kiki have left if VM had continued to kill without morals?

A: Yes, Keyleth would have left to continue her aramente and Marisha would have rolled a new character

Q: What would have happened if they'd left Ripley in the cell?

A: Ripley would have tried to escape or once they'd defeated the Briarwoods she would have tried to manipulate VM into letting her out so she could abscond with VM's stuff

Q: What happened to the bodies of the de rolos?

A: The briarwoods needed to instill fear to continue their rule, they murdered the family and left them in public, hanging from the sun tree

Q: Is pike's astral projection a sign that she's special to Sarenrae?

A: Ashley would like to think so but mostly it's because she lives across the country and she's thankful that Matt found a way for her to participate. Also she did help bring sarenrae back to vasselheim so she is special

Q: What would have happened if delilah's ritual succeeded?

A: She did. She didn't expect the siphon and thought she failed but they succeeded entirely. VM might have discovered that it was successful if they'd really dug in but when she resurrected Vecna started to whisper and prepare her for the next siphon

Q: What did Travis expect from the sword when he read the card?

A: Travis didn't know what a sentient weapon was and Grog really enjoyed having a new friend who talked to him and helped him stab things (it worked out great)

Q: How did Matt intend for VM to escape the acid chamber?

A: They could have focused on the residuum wall or the acid spouts or waited until the briarwoods left and fiddled with the buttons

Q: What would Scanlan have done differently if he had known about his daughter before Kaylie confronted him?

A: Not have tried to get with her. He would have run away and tried to avoid her

Q: Who was the final barrel on the list meant for?

A: Tal thinks it's disappointing, it was his way of saying that the list wasn't the end and that the list would be an unending cycle of awful. He was planning to start a new six-person list to kill. Percy knew what he was doing when he built the gun, he expected everything to go horribly wrong and be responsible for thousands of deaths in his lifetime

Q: How did vex get vax's snake belt back?

A: Vex flirted with the guards, there was a lot of winking involved

Q: If he had failed the saving throw would Percy have been forced to kill cass? would she appear on the gun?

A: Yes, it was designed to be a crux moment that showed Percy what what he'd done

Q: What would have happened to Percy if he had killed everyone on the list?

A: Six more names would have appeared (Tal: thank you). Percy wouldn't have blinked

Q: Is this arc where Kiki began to realize she could be a leader?

A: No, she was still super self-loathing and dealing with a lot of insecurity. Keyleth didn't fully believe it until she got the mantle. One of the bigger turning points was the kracken fight.

Marisha Q: If she hadn't rolled a nat 20 what would have happened to Kiki when she stuck her hand in the siphon?

A: Keyleth would have spagettified, took a shitload of damage, and ended up in the shadowfell on the outskirts of thar amphala. It would have changed the game quite a bit. If Keyleth had died they would probably have fought her when they finally got to thar amphala

Chroma Conclave

Q: Did matt plan who would die when the conclave attacked or just roll dice?

A: He planned the soverign would die to transition to the council and shock the players. He also planned out which council members would have been on the front lines

Q: Would Vax have left if the conclave hadn't attacked?

A: He wouldn't have left without Vex but Liam's not sure whether he would have left. Vex would have fought but left with him if he convinced her

Q: Did the conclave attack because VM messed with the orbs or would they have still attacked?

A: they would have attacked anyway but because they'd messed with the orbs they could recognize VM's faces and put them on Raishan's shitlist

Liam Q: Was Matt planning the conclave during the home game?

A: Yes, and playing once every six weeks it would have happened about now

Q: What was Percy's plan to take out grog in the workshop over the skull?

A: Percy can impose disadvantage on every roll and knows what's in the workshop so he could have used stuff in bottles, set him on fire, and stayed out of the way.

Q: How close was Gilmore to dying before VM found him in his shop?

A: Very close, he wanted them to choose between the treasure that had been taken by looters and Gilmore and if they had gone for the treasure he would have been dead and they would have known that it was their fault he'd died. They were really scared because they hadn't dealt with in-game death before.

Q: What did Vex find under Gilmore's bed?

A: A bunch of love letters between him and his first boyfriend (aww). Matt didn't say the name but it would have been a Markesian (sp?) boy

Q: What could have happened if they'd fucked up Kash's ressurection of Vesh?

A: Vesh is powerful and dangerous. It wouldn't have been too dangerous but it might have caused her to meddle with VM. The deal with the RQ circumvented a lot of Vesh's possible power and the RQ would have overriden Vesh's powers. Vesh isn't really a god

Q: How did Pike feel that getting her armor (the plate of the dawnmartyr) made the difference between Daxio being destroyed or not?

A: Very happy about it. The armor was huge and getting the vestige was a huge part of Pike feeling important in battle and going into the middle knowing she'd be fine.

Q: How did Kevdak get the dragonstone knuckles? What did he want to do besides be a dragon's lackey?

A: He beat the shit out of the previous owner. Kevdak wasn't the leader but the knuckles helped him become the herd leader. He mostly wanted to expand the herd and just took advantage when the dragons disrupted whitestone. He planned to bend Umbrasyl to his will and become some sort of dragon king but Matt doesn't know if it'll ever work out

Q: What was in Senekir's (sp?) box?

A: His wife's ashes, he was being completely honest. Ashley still doesn't believe it

Q: Was Liam intending to multiclass into paladin before the RQ's tomb?

A: Yes, he was forming a relationship with Pike and was pushing towards following Sarenrae. Liam didn't want the armor at first but it was a really heavy thing for him for a while. Now he wouldn't change anything

Liam Q: Was fate-touched always going to be a thing?

A: Matt decided on the fate-touched thing because he knew that Liam was going through a rough time and wanted to give him some light but it made sense for the RQ to latch onto him in the moment

Q: Did travis go into the kevdak fight thinking he could win head-on or did he plan for VM to come in?

A: He didn't know what would go down and it felt good for Grog to face him head-on. If Grog had won solo it would have ended up into some sort of tense diplomatic situation with the herd

Q: When did Laura find out she was assigned a change in alignment and did it change the way she played Vex?

A: Laura doesn't think she deserves it and was planning to give Gern a bunch of dragon scales but he walked away too fast. People wonder why Percy's alignment didn't change, but according to Matt people can have fucked up thoughts it's whether you act on it that matters (thx matt). Matt had been considering the alignment change for a while for a while and the broom sold it

Q: What was in the letter that scanlan gave to pike?

A: Scanlan was super in love with Pike but now he wants Pike to take care of Kaylie if he dies (someone will post the clip on tumblr it's so good I can't transcribe fast enough)

Q: Which vestiges did Matt plan to go to which player?

A: Matt was planning for mythcarver, the knuckles, and the spire to go to who they went to but the other were planned to be mixed around. He didn't know who would take the deathwalker's ward and left the rest for people to take those choices.

Q: What did the party have to say to convince Percy to come back from the dead?

A: Tal had some plans for things he'd ignore like religion, but he was looking for reasons to come back. When Vex dropped the bomb that really convinced him

Q: What was Raishan doing with thordak's corpse?

A: A type of speak with dead that tortures and extracts info from a soul and she wanted the secret to her getting rid of the disease. She sealed VM off, finished the ritual, and went to Opesh's lair. The force wall was just to keep VM off for a bit

Q: what was up with the eggs?

A: Thordak was mutating and becoming something else (side convo: the soul curse was real and she knew that he was telling the truth). The eggs were unexpected. When they soul anchored thordak in the elemental plane he "life finds a way"d some primal elemental dragon eggs. As far as VM knows they got rid of all of the eggs

264 DM facepalms

Break, Guests come on

on screen we have Garthok (jason charles Miller), Tova (Noelle Stevenson), Zahra (ME Mcglynn), Kash (Will not-wheaton), and Sprigg (Darrin Depaul)

Q: What's the big difference between playing on CR and other DnD?

Marry/Will: this was the first game both played and they liked being thrown down into the deep end

Darrin: It's pretty cool + it was cool to play sprigg again

Tova: People actually care about your character

Darrin: When you play at home you don't get fanart

Mary: We're part of a community of positivity, creativity, building

Will: it's like going to a convention and seeing that other people share your interests

Darrin: it's like going home

Jason: it's the aftermath that makes the difference, people care about the characters

Q: Mary/Will what was it like being part of the early episodes vs coming on later?

Mary: the first time was terrifying because I'd never played before, goal was 'don't kill the team'. It felt safe and at home

Will: philosophy was smile, nod, and shift paper around like you know everything. Improv is easy but the rules are confusing

Will and Mary would meet up and work together as players and characters

Darrin: first time on set was when Kash kissed Keyleth

Will: that was when he realized how big the fandom was

Q: What was it like for Jason to play a character who wasn't on the same side as the players?

Jason: I wasn't on the same side but there was an uneasy truce which made things easier

Q: What surprised you the most?

Jason: sitting next to liam and he had the chat open and the chat went wild

Q: What was it like for Noelle to jump into such an intense episode?

Noelle: would have liked to play a shopkeep/shopper but was playing Tova as a burner character. She was trying not to step on too many toes but it was fun to be in the intense scene + Tova canonically survived

yeah he wasn't that memorable

Q: What's more terrifying, coming in at the beginning or waiting?

everyone: waiting

Will: it's the difference between starting at the beginning of the river vs jumping into the rapids. There are times where you know it's okay if you die but it's scary to think you might cause VM's deaths

Mary: Zahra and Kash considered going out in a blaze of glory but bad rolls got them killed

Q: Sprigg's story was really about redemption, what's it like to play a character who lost everything and found Ioun?

Darrin: loves that he got redemption, he planned to be less good but the goodness of VM brought out the goodness in him. "I love playing funny characters who are also tragic"

Noelle wore her nice flannel for her appearance

Q: What's something from your experience on critical role that you'll definitely take with you?

Mary: It's amazing that they're roleplaying but there are amazingly emotional moments like Vex's resurrection and it's great to completely invest yourself in creating a story.

Darrin: This is as special for the players as for the fans

Jason: He was playing a concert and someone yelled "we love you Garthok"

Will: DnD transformed his life and getting to know the cast and the relationships are special

Darrin: Working with Matt was and the moment with Marisha

Tova: the community and the way that people connect through dnd, "it's not just about you and your character, it's contributing to this much wider thing"

Darrin sings a song

Tary

Q: if Scanlan had been revivified during the raishan fight rather than the ritual would he still have left?

A: yes, it was the dying that made him leave. There was a long buildup starting with kaylie that went on for a long time but then he died twice and everything just sorta happened

Q: Could VM have killed the kraken and what would have happened?

A: The lodestones would have unsealed the elemental plane and eventually sunk Vesra. They would have had to find a new kraken to avoid destroying the ecosystem

Q: What would Pike have said if she was there for scanlan's departure?

A: Ashley got into some of it when they met back up with Scanlan. Pike and Grog were really hurt and Ashley as a player missed Scanlan. She doesn't know what would have happened but she thinks she might not have stopped him. Sam: she would have stopped me. Sam's original plan was to go on alone but then Vex suggested hanging with his daughter

Q: what would have happened if Keyleth had failed her aramente?

A: there were no second chances, she would have gotten a place on the council but someone else would have been chosen to take on the aramente. Keyleth could have tapped out at any time

Q: Did exposure to Tary's wealth mellow out her greed?

A: No, getting her own money mellowed her out

Q: What was the plan for Hotis (the rakshasa) if VM hadn't ended him?

A: He would have tried to get Vax, failed because Vax was dead, and turned towards Pike. He would have gone after people Pike cared about

Liam Q: Did Tova live?

A: yes, only because of the ring of invisibility

Q: When was scanlan meant to come back?

A: Sam only expected Tary to last for a couple episodes but everyone fell in love with him so he stuck around. There was no timeline for when scanlan would come back but he spent a long time getting revenge on the dudes from Ank'harel (sp?).

Q: Could VM have used the soul stones from Dis?

A: A quick high or possibly an initiative boost, but not much else. A tiefling might get a slightly stronger effect

Q: there was a moment where it sounded like Percy might have killed scanlan, what would have happened if Vex hadn't intervened?

A: sneak in, cripple him, took all his stuff

Q: Of all the woman that Grog flirted with, was there one who got away?

A: No

Cast Q: What about the nymph

A: no, it was a bit suggestive but grog didn't know what was going on and it was just her bequeathing the heart and Matt trying to make Travis uncomfortable

Q: Were there any small things the group did that weren't revealed?

A: Percy and Vex broke up and got back together, it was quiet and personal. They got married in front of the Sun Tree with Trinket

Q: What were the consequences for being caught at the Theater?

A: If you're caught they find you, take your soul, and make you a member of the Theater. Everyone there was either caught or wandered in

Q: For Percy and Vex who proposed? How? Who knew?

A: Percy and Vex were out on a walk and talking about marriage. They didn't want to be like Vax and Kiki so they just went for it. It was more of a life is short thing. One asked the other as a joke and then it just happened. Maybe Zahra officiated. Tary knew first because he lived with them. Vax was super heartbroken that he wasn't there

Q: Was scanlan close enough to hear Pike with the earring when she talked to him?

A: The range is 1,000 feet so no, but he prayed to Sarenrae quite a bit

Q: How many people found Scanlan during the break but got hit with modify memory?

A: None. Pike and Grog really tried but didn't know where to go or what to look for and they expected Scanlan to still be in Taldorei but he was in Marquet

Tal Q: Did Scanlan ever shoot the gun?

A: Once, during the end episode. He never had cause to shoot the gun. He comissioned a bunch of paintings holding it

Q: If Vax had found out about the wedding before Vecna how would he have reacted, especially after she specifically told him not to marry in secret?

A: He would have asked why. It was a bad time for it to come out but the marriage did come out in the end. It would have been different if Vex hadn't told Vax not to get married.

Q: Did Keyleth ever consider giving the staff back?

A: She considered it but thought it would be more useful with her than in a museum.

Q: Would Ashley have liked to play an evil!Pike if the stories were true?

A: Yeah, it would have been amazing. Ashley didn't know that anything was going to happen but she thinks it would have been fun to play an evil!Pike. The cast was scooby-doo'd

Q: If Sam hadn't convinced Lord Darrington to back down how might that have gone?

A: That would have been the end of the family unit. Tary would have been estranged and his mom would have had to change.  It would have been an opportunity for him to stay with VM longer

Laura Q: Did Matt have plans for the Hag to cash the favor from Vax?

A: Yes, but everything got complicated fast. He figured that the Raven Queen would scare her off a bit

Q: How long did it take for Grog to get angry at Scanlan for leaving? Would he have been mad if Lionel hadn't been a barbarian?

A: He wasn't angy until Scanlan got back. Grog got really jealous and was basically ready to murder him.

Vecna

Q: How many gods could VM have talked to? How many trammels could they have gotten?

A: They went to the gods they thought they could find and they didn't have time. If they had gone to a 4th god vasselheim would have been destroyed + he would have gotten his miracle, 5 would have put Vecna in Taldorei

Q: Why did Scanlan choose to go to Ank'harel? Why did he stay longer than just revenge?

A: It took a long time for him to get revenge on the traveling assholes, and then he got a taste for the crime power. Power tastes like pleather

Q: Was there a moment when Pike's feelings for scanlan began changing?

A: A lot started in the letter. Even in the home games Pike and Scanlan would flirt a bit but she didn't take it very seriously and didn't think he was serious. When he left she realized how much she cared and missed him and when he came back he seemed more mature. It was a slow climb after the letter

Q: Where did Vecna keep his phylactery?

A: Only Matt knows and he's not telling

Q: Did Vex take the name De Rolo after her marriage?

A: Yep

Q: When the knuckles vibrating what were they trying to tell Grog?

A: They were close to where they were built plus the gauntlets could have done extra damage to the titan to slow it down from the inside at the cost of notifying Thar Amphala that they were there

Q: Was Percy troubled by the escape of Sylas?

A: No, he'd transferred a lot of his angst to other people by then and he felt certain that if sylas came back he could take care of it. It was never really about Sylas

Q: Who was the death knight?

A: He was a nameless servant who had been guarding one of Vecna's wildmount laboratories. He was rewarded by becoming a death knight

Q: Is there anyone that Vax wishes he'd had time to say goodbye to before the RQ took him?

A: If he had a week he would have visited his father, Corrin, Gilmore, and Velora. That was his family

Q: Was Keyleth ready to lead her people by the end of the campaign?

A: Yeah, it would have been a learning process but she was ready to move on to the next chapter in her life

Q: Did you know that Sam planned to save Vax with his level 9 spell?

A: He knew that Sam might and gave him some info. When he used that level 9 Matt realized the full ramifications of the decision

Q: Scanlan can do basically everything except bring back Vax, how does he deal with that?

A: He can't reconcile it. He feels like it was an opportunity lost and he failed but he slowly realizes that it's okay to fail and he doesn't have to succeed in everything it's enough to make a difference. He tries to be there for Pike and his kids and he sometimes uses wish to try to get a message to Vax. Vax would never have seen Scanlan's counterspell as a failure.

Q: What was on the other side of the Tower of Entropis?

A: It had a bunch of ancient desicrated holy objects that they had used to learn how to make the seed.

Q: What was Tal originally intending for Percy's ending?

A: He was going to sell his soul and save Vax. He believed that it didn't matter where he went after he died under the assumption that he'd be going something awful anyway. Once doubt crept in everything sort of collapsed. Vax's assumption was that the only way he'd survive is if the RQ let him

Q: Why did Grog seek an education?

A: He just wanted to get smarter

Q: How did Syldor react to Vax's death?

A: Grief. He regrets the way he treated Vex and Vax and spent a lot of his life trying to make up for those mistakes. He's very proud of what the twins do and he's learned a lot about the xenophobia of Syngorn and is trying to change that culture

Q: Did Vex's relationship with her father change after she saved Velora's life?

A: Yes, later in life they made peace with each other. Part of it was having her own kids with Percy and realizing what family means and it became more important to reconnect

Q: What happened to Vax after his death?

A: Matt wants to leave it up to interpretation but he thinks that Vax was able to reconnect with his mother but also spent some time with the RQ doing her work

Q: Were there other ways to stop the titan?

A: Only destroying it from the inside or killing vecna

Q: Would Keyleth ever cast speak with animals on the raven who visits her?

A: She might eventually have tried but was afraid that it wasn't what she thought so not at first

Q: What were the final contents of the bag of holding?

A: silverware (assorted), candles, stones, caltrops, handcuffs, dried poo disk (broken), armor, a big black sapphire, expensive wine, a troll dick, and some mage robes

Q: How does Vax feel about his ending?

A: He wasn't bitter. It was heavy but he felt very full and knew that his sister would be okay

Q: Who was Pike's other love interest?

A: Percy. She recognized that he was fucked up and she spent a lot of time praying for his soul and that confused her. In the end it was always Scanlan but she was a bit taken by the dark side. Percy had no idea

Q: When your characters look back, what memories stand out the most?

Grog: dropping on kevdak out of the necklace

Vax: Saying goodbye

Keyleth: The cherry blossoms in the voice of the tempest ceremony

Scanlan: Cows

Vex: Talking to Trinket for the first time

Vax: Gilmore stabbing him

Vex: Flying

Keyleth: The hanging tree

Percy: Letting go when Ripley shot me and realizing I was in love with Vex

Scanlan: the stories that weren't epic and saving the world, the friendship was what mattered

Keyleth: The canonball competition

Vax: That last fight when Sam did the level 9 counterspell

Matt: Proving the people who say that Bards are a terrible class and Charisma is a dump stat wrong

Ashley: It's so personal and DnD changed everyone's lives

Q: Is Matt excited to continue on?

A: It's strange to feel like the greatest thing that he's acomplished was part of this [Matt starts crying] and he's excited for the next one

When god closes a door, he opens a new campaign January 11

[kirin-jindosh]

A Decade Gone Ch. 6

Note: This chapter will be very Kirin-centered. ((Thank AskForDoodles for the inspiration)). It’ll still be reader insert, but from Kirin’s perspective! So…kind of third person omnipresent?? Not really?? Kind of?? Also this is the first time I’ve not posted at 1AM so that’s good. 

TW: Mentions of torture, Kirin’s psychopathic tendencies, manipulation

If he were to be completely honest with himself, this might have been the first time in years where he had no idea what he was doing. Yes, of course he knew he was working on perfecting the clockworks and he knew he had to speed up production somehow. He knew the plans with Delilah, what would come into play in just a few short months, what that meant for the empire. His objectives were clear, that was true, but it had been ages since he’d dabbled in his own personal life.

The typical inventor spent almost 95% percent of their time focused on their work. This was just a fact he had observed working alongside Sokolov and Joplin, as well as reading about Roseburrow and, more recently, Hypatia. He had applied this notion in his own life and found it to be the most efficient way to get work done. Let historians say that Kirin Jindosh was chiefly devoted to his work.

And, really, it hadn’t been an issue until quite recently.

Looking back, perhaps he had been mistaken in sparing you. He hadn’t told you yet—and now likely never would—but if any other servant had laid a hand on him like that, he would have gutted them alive without an anesthetic. He had no problem whatsoever when it came to killing—a sadistic part of him enjoyed it thoroughly. But, with you, he had taken a chance and was only just beginning to regret it.

What he had told you had not been completely true, though he had seen something in you on that fateful day that he had been living without his whole life. You were not exactly at his level of intelligence but that was to be expected—he was a genius beyond his time. Nevertheless, you had been able to make the impression of an individual with much more to offer than most would think. He had humored that and followed his instincts—yet the truth was, he had never intended to let you live for more than a few weeks.

His initial plan was to break you. To see that light fade from your eyes similar to death, but not quite. He had had several plans such as overloading you with work and demands and perhaps even making you stand by and watch dissections or something of the like. Kirin had taken great satisfaction in the very idea, frequently giggling to himself as he worked just at the thought.

But then, you had gone and opened your mouth again. Only three weeks after you had started working for him, he’d found you in his gallery. You had been hard at work; it was a wonder you weren’t able to hear the panels of the bridge folding down or his footsteps as he’d walked down the path to the glass door. He had watched you for a moment, his thoughts consisting mostly of what he planned to do next—should he tell you he had spotted a stain and to start mopping all over again? Should he request that you scrub the floors manually with a rag on your hands and knees?

But the longer he stared the more he noticed that you were deep in thought. Damn his own curiosity; he had never been the type to go in for the kill when he had the chance. Toying with people was so much more fun to him. That was why he let intruders roam about, taunting them over the sound systems. He was partial to the thrill of the chase.

And that day, he had been as well. In part, he was a little embarrassed to find that you were intelligent. His initial attraction to you had been that you had a spirit to break and he had been so utterly bored at that point. But after you had confessed that you had studied and taken interest in education, he had let go of himself a little too much and actually wanted to learn more, if only for a moment. He remembers thinking, “I can’t believe I didn’t see it. Of course there was something more there that caught my eye.” He should have seen it in the way you held yourself and the manor with which you spoke—you were a learned individual.

Shaking himself free of the conversation had taken more effort than he cared to admit. He had swiftly changed the topic back to the arrangement he had made with you in an attempt to remind himself what he had in store—the things he wanted to do to you.  

“It’s such a long time and I’m not known for being a amicable employer. You might grow to hate me.” He had said this with a collection of vile thoughts in his mind.

But you had stood your ground to him and retorted, “Hating you would not very professional. Now if you’ll excuse me, I don’t want to distract you from your work any longer.”

And he had just … stared at you as you left. He couldn’t think of anything to say back to you. How could you  not be even the least bit intimidated by him—he was Kirin Jindosh, damn it. He crafted the greatest weapons of the empire out of the inner workings of his own mind and you weren’t even the least bit concerned with standing up to him?

He had tried, at that very moment, to reassess you. Perhaps he had gotten something wrong in his initial analysis? Were you not who he thought you to be?

Shortly after you had left him standing there in the gallery, he had stormed back to his lab. He didn’t like being wrong, not about anything. How dare you surprise him like that!

His anger should have fueled his desire to torturing you, but it couldn’t. The reason he was so angry was because he knew he couldn’t gain anything out of tormenting you; he now knew you would not react the way he had hypothesized so what was the point?

And yet, here he was with a newly hired maid roaming his house expecting him to make a move at any second that would explain his intentions. But now, even he couldn’t comprehend why he kept you here.

In truth, he thought about sending you home after that day in the gallery.

After all, he was busy and needed to focus on the Duke’s demands. In part, he spent that time with you in order to have an excuse whenever Luca came asking about the production. It would be much easier for him to explain he was taking some time away to clear his mind.

But you always ended up doing the opposite of that, which landed him in predicaments such as the one he was in right now.

He had dismissed you from the office, watching you unsteadily stand from his desk, curtsey, and leave. Almost immediately after you vanished from his sight and he heard the elevator chime, he let out a shaky breath and nearly collapsed in his desk chair. What was that?

Kirin was the sort of man that enjoyed planning things. He built this house from the very blueprints he had sketched up. He planned where to place clockworks in case of intruders. He even thought about the placement of his desk so that he could be aware of his surroundings at all times. But he had not planned for this. He hadn’t planned for you at all.

Where did it start, really? Was it when he started allowing you to joke with him? Was it when he asked you to start bringing him supper? Was it when he saw those men with their hands on you?

Ah, no, he recalled how furious he had been at that sight; it must have been some time before.

Or maybe it had been slow and gradual? Perhaps it was so subtle that he couldn’t pinpoint the exact second?

He wasn’t in love with you. He was, however, obsessed with you. That much, at the very least, was obvious to him. Maybe this was the closest he’d ever get to being in love. It definitely caused you to take up a hefty 30% of his work time, which he frankly could not afford at this point.

Yesterday, he had planned to stop.

Breanna had always been keen, just as he was. She could pick up on the smallest of details. The look she had given him when he stepped out of the smoking room had been almost unbearable—she knew.

To what extent, he wasn’t sure. Perhaps she thought you were his lover, as many have guessed to his amusement. Or maybe she suspected that he had been telling you information that pertained to the coup. Either way, he wished it had been discrete. She never commented on it, but it was still too close of a call.

Breanna had left earlier than expected. Kirin had been quiet and she had grown bored of his company after the business was out of the way. What she couldn’t have known was that he’d been preoccupied with thoughts about what to say to you once you arrived at five. He wasn’t nervous, per say, but he wanted to do it correctly and quickly so that he could focus all his time and energy on the clockworks project.

Yet, after he called you to meet with him earlier than scheduled, he had stood there and thought about the last few weeks wherein you had provided him with a sort of company he hadn’t felt in ages. Most people adored Kirin initially and then grew to spurn him. You, however, had done the opposite. He couldn’t think of a single individual in his life that genuinely seemed to enjoy being in his company, not even anyone in Delilah’s inner circle. His mother had hated him, his brother had taken care of him, Sokolov despised him, everyone at the academy loathed him. But not a single soul had ever been fond of him.

And yet, that was what he had seen in your eyes. You loved him. He had lied when he said he’d seen that look before—no one had ever been in love with him.

You had hated him, but then you had forgiven him. You had grown to love him.

He sits in his office, washing down his second glass of Pandyssian Brandy, his brow wrinkled in thought. Tonight he had promoted you. He wasn’t lying when he said that he had been wasting your talents. You probably couldn’t tell due to the marvelous size and beauty of his mansion, but he was tight on money currently. Promoting you to do this task was the wisest thing he’d done in weeks.

But the promotion wasn’t what troubled him. It was your confession—so sincere and pure and, if he wished, easily corruptible. The best way to torment you now would be to lead you on then crush you when he had you in his grasp. But that wasn’t his plan, anymore.

Due to traumatic experiences, he couldn’t have come to realization that he loved you even if he wanted to. But, in truth, he did care about you. The way he perceived it, therefore, was flawed.

He had been a little risky tonight; pretending to play a game with you always helped boost his suave attitude. The words he had spoken had been out of character for the Kirin Jindosh the empire knew.

He had never known love and he had never experienced courting before, but he knew what words to say to make you blush—oh how he enjoyed making you blush, it was indeed very interesting.

Kissing you had been a sporadic occurrence. He hadn’t planned it. He hadn’t done it as part of the game. If he had wanted to, he could have accomplished the same goal without the kiss.

But he had wanted to do it. Strange.  

Jindosh had an eye for aesthetics but he somehow lacked the ability to pick up on human beauty and attraction. Meaning, he wasn’t involved with you for your appearance. Whenever he did “play the game” with you, he did it to see your reactions which appealed far more to him than your beauty. The way your brow furrows when he upsets you, the way you can’t look him in the eye when he stands close, the way your voice sounds when you banter with him.

Kirin sits up in his chair, breaking away from the consuming thoughts. He attempts to put the Brandy away, but he had already started his third glass. His vision swam. Tonight would not be productive for at least another hour. He sighs, situating himself back into his seat to wait off the drunkenness. Ah, he hadn’t been this intoxicated in a good while; he didn’t have time.

There it was! That was the problem with this little game he was playing with you! He didn’t have the time to be distracted like this. If Delilah knew that he was taking two or three breaks a day just to hear your voice she’d have stormed the mansion a month ago. Hell, if he had known that you’d have this effect on him he would never have hired you.

The problem was that he hadn’t realized what you were doing to him until it was too late. There was no going back now; you were too important to him now—an integral piece of his thoughts.

If he wasn’t thinking of ways to speed of clockwork production or adjust their depth perception and sound detection, he was—he was daydreaming! Kirin Jindosh! Grand Inventor to the Duke! The smartest mind the empire had ever seen! Daydreaming!

It infuriated him. Even now, a little drunk and weary, he fumed with irritation and shame. This wasn’t part of the plan, he didn’t think it possible to become so attached to another person. What’s more, you weren’t even a fellow intellect! You were a servant! A maid! A college drop out! At least he could say that he was banned and he didn’t leave on his own accord. It made no sense at all that he was obsessed with someone like you but here he sat! Indeed quite smitten!

The longer he dwelled on the idea, the closer and closer he got to the conclusion that he might be falling in love with you. It replaced that anger with fear. This couldn’t continue, if that was true. He couldn’t allow himself to succumb to such a lowly human instinct. He was too important to find himself groveling at your feet!

So he sat there and frantically doubted the decisions he had made. He shouldn’t have kissed you; though it had been part of “the game”, he had wanted to do it and he had enjoyed the intimacy of it. He shouldn’t keep promoting you! Even if it was benefitting him and even if he did genuinely enjoy your company, it was foolish to let you get so close to him—he was part of a coup to take down the Empress of the empire!

This thought troubled him greatly not only because he couldn’t allow you to disrupt Delilah’s plans, but also because he was worried what Delilah or the Duke might do if they discovered what was going on. The rest of the party would have no qualms sending Grim Alex to slit your throat while you slept. He recoiled at the thought.

If it came to that, he’d send you away.

It would probably be in his best interest to do that now while he still had the chance, but he couldn’t deny himself the pleasure your presence supplied.

He then focused on a single aspect of this entire dilemma—you were in love with him. If he wanted it, you could be his in an instant. All he would have to do was say those three insignificant words and it would be that simple. What a strange thought; he’d never felt the need to initiate a relationship with anyone before. His legacy was far more important to him than any man or woman ever could be. But the truth was that he was afraid no one would ever sincerely love him again if he let you go. What a pathetic fear. It wasn’t practical at all—he shouldn’t need anyone to make him feel complete. He thought he’d put that sort of thing behind him after his mother had died and his brother had sailed to Gristol to never be heard from again. He could do anything and he could do it all alone.

But … he could have you if he wanted to. He didn’t have to be alone if he didn’t want to. He had an opportunity to experience something new and exciting. The question presented itself: was it worth the risk of losing you to Delilah’s wrath or failing to live up to his idealized legacy if he got too involved?

He sat there, sobering up, and he thought of your lips against his and the soft gasp you’d made when he had surprised you like that. The way you smelled like lavender and honey. The way your eyes glimmer when you listen to him talk. The smile you give him when he says something incredible.

Ah, yes. He had no idea what he was doing.

Finally sober enough to stand safely, he makes his way over to the elevator, selecting the floor without looking at the panel. He would keep you here. He would continue “the game”. He would claim you as his own when the time was right, when it was safe. Kirin hated to admit it to himself, but he was excited by the idea of having someone love him unconditionally. It childish, but he felt almost giddy when he pictured you in his arms, saying his name, wanting him and only him. Though, it wasn’t entirely a new concept to him—he wanted to be seen as someone worth admiration.

The arc pylon was off when he reached the glass foyer. When Kirin stepped out of the elevator, the guardsman snapped into a stricter position, greeting him with, “Good evening, Mr. Jindosh.”

Kirin ignored his presence and proceeded left to the marbled room. One of his offices was located near the far back right hand corner, already locked in place. He stepped foot into the small room and sat himself down at the desk, reviewing some of the paperwork he had laying out from a few days ago. Most of it consisted of clockwork receipts and letters to his parts suppliers. This was soon to be your job. He collected the scattered papers and filed them away, making sure to flip through his file folder to see that everything was already in order. The safe behind him held a small fortune—he still had the money you’d given him on that first day stored inside. With his busy schedule, he hadn’t had the time to send it all to the bank. He’d have you do that first thing tomorrow, before the banks closed.

After he finished reviewing the state of the office, he concluded that this would be a suitable job for you. It was also a good distance away from his own office which would allow him to think straight for the first time in a few weeks. He’d still get to see you two or three times a day, but at least now you’d be busy with actual work and the conversation would be strictly business, more or less.

He had also given you a task that he knew you wouldn’t fail at. If you wanted him enough, you’d work tirelessly at this new job to achieve your goal. Fortunately for Kirin, you were the type of person who dedicated themselves to their work—a quality of yours he had taken notice of right away and instantly revered.

Shortly after he tidied up the office, he drew up a note to place in your locker that stated, simply, “Tomorrow you will no longer be a maid. Wear what you deem suitable for your new occupation.”

Yes, this would do.

The rest of that night and the following day passed by so quickly that he hadn’t noticed the sun come and go. The only indication he received that time had passed was your entrance into his office. At first, he looked up, a little bewildered. Then when he noticed that you weren’t wearing your typical maid’s uniform, it struck him suddenly that he had forgotten to sleep his average four hours. Ah, he’d regret that later.

You were the first to speak, “Have you slept yet? One of the maids said she saw you roaming the halls early this morning. Tell me you haven’t been sitting here since then?”

The corners of your lips were turned up just a little. He noticed.

Kirin sighs, looking down on his notes that he’d been taking. They were filled with utter nonsense. He had needed those four hours. “I’m afraid that sleep alludes me yet again. No matter, I suppose you’re wondering what I have in store for you today.”

He stands up to greet you properly, his bones protesting their stiffness. You notice the grimace on his face as he stretches. “And have you eaten?” you ask, quieter this time.

Kirin shoots you a look. You tilt your head down. “I’ve not. I suppose I’ll have to resume my dinner meals now that I’ve reassigned you.”

“The cook needs to serve a purpose, you know. And you couldn’t live off of tea and biscuits forever, Kirin.”

His breath catches at the sound of his name. Ah, come now. Gain better control than that.

“His food is rubbish, anyway,” he gives you a wry smile, striding past you toward the elevator. “Come on, I’ll show you to your new station.”

The sound of your light footsteps behind him is almost comforting. “You’re serious, then. You’re trusting me with your finances. Weren’t you the one to tease me about thievery just a month or so ago?”

He bites back a grin. “I don’t recall. Weren’t you the one who used the extra change to pay for an apartment building?”

“How did you find out about that?” you gasp, moving to stand by his side in the elevator.

“I have my resources,” he says simply. The other maids loved to gossip and sometimes he eavesdropped. It is only wise to spy on one’s servants when one is a member of a coup to overthrow the empress. “In any case, I’ve already told you that you’re qualified for the job. Call it whatever you like, assistant to the Grand Inventor, Financial Advisor to the Grand Inventor. Take your pick.”

You fall silent for a second and he waits excitedly for your next words. He’d missed the sound of your voice. “I sound like a secretary, really. Though don’t most secretaries have an affair with their employer?”

He couldn’t help himself, “Isn’t that what everyone’s saying about us? Why not fuel the flame?”

Kirin glances down at you to see warmth spread across your cheeks. A success.

“That’s unprofessional, isn’t it? Isn’t all of this arrangement unprofessional?”

“You certainly care an awful lot about whatever job you’re working, I’ll give you that. But if it bothers you that much, I can … persuade them all to stop gossiping.”

Your face whitens. “Oh no, no, no that won’t be necessary—I’ll just ignore them. Besides, we haven’t done anything wrong.”

He regards you for a second, thinking. “You don’t think what happened last night was a little scandalous?”

Your head snaps up and you look at him, your lips pressed into a thin line, your eyes searching his. You wouldn’t find anything; he was good at hiding himself.

“I thought … maybe you had had too much to drink. I’ve been thinking about it ever since, really.”

Ah, so sincere! So truthful and honest! He was beginning to adore this side of you. “No, that was all intentional, my dear. Nothing is ever an accident.”

You look away from him to hide the small smile on your lips, but he catches it anyway.

“I suppose you remember what I said, too?”

“I … yes.” You murmur as the elevator slows to a stop. “I do, sir.”

“Good,” he smirks, striding out of the elevator and toward the office he’d chosen for you. “I’m a man of my word. I trust that you won’t let me down.”

The two of you arrive at the office before you can retort. He enters, but you stand still at the doorway. He takes notice, but doesn’t think anything of it. “This is where you’ll be stationed. You’ll have privacy here, I believe. Every now and again the floors might switch, just be sure to be careful about where you stand. I’ve had one too many clockworks destroyed from getting caught between the floors. This is your desk. I’ve taken the liberty of organizing it properly. This drawer over here contains all the receipts and this one holds the commissions. This file folder here is full of letters from those wishing to be guests here to observe a clockwork. Ah, and the safe—this holds all the money from the exchanges, as you know. I have three rules: only accept coin, never sell to someone who doesn’t pay upfront, and always get a full signature with each receipt. Hm, what else? Do you understand everything I’ve told you thus far—?”

He stops his rambling to look up at you which is how he noticed the look on your face. You were running your fingers alone the bookshelves, glancing around at the polished desk and the stationary. Your eyes were glossy. “This is mine?”

His words caught in his throat. All he could do was watch you slowly make your way toward him, touching the smooths surface of the desk and scanning the rest of the area before timidly taking your seat in the comfortable, expensive desk chair. Your hands came up to cup around your mouth. “I’ve never had an office of my own before.” Your voice is a muffled whisper. “I always dreamed I would, someday when I became … if I finished my law degree. But I thought … I never thought I’d actually have one.”

Kirin let’s out a small, airy laugh. He’s doesn’t find it funny, but he isn’t sure how else to respond to you like this. “What? Did you think I was going to make you do all this paperwork in the kitchens?”

You look up at him, your hand still covering your mouth. But he can see that you’re smiling underneath them. “I didn’t know what to think. Thank you.”

Something flutters in his cold chest. He clears his throat, glancing away. “Yes, well . . .” he wanted to say something sardonic, but he was surprisingly coming up short. “You’re quite welcome.”

He almost jumps out of his skin when he feels your small hand wrap around his own. His gaze snaps back to you, but you’re merely clasping his hand softly while the other picks up letters and turns books over to read the titles. He instead looks down at the tiny hand in his own larger, calloused one. Your thumb brushes over his prosthetic affectionately as you begin to comment on his vast collection of Sokolov novels. He’s not listening, though. He can’t seem to tear his eyes away from the small bit of contact.

Kissing you had not been a mistake, after all.

He gives your hand a small squeeze, which draws your attention back to him. “Kirin?”

Jindosh stares down at you, saying nothing. You return is gaze, questioning. He is filled with many different thoughts all at once, things he wants to say but knows he will regret later. Things he wants to do, but he knows he can’t just yet. Restraint, Kirin, learn it.

Instead, he pulls his hand out of your own, hastily turns on his heel and walks to the other side of the desk, “The code to the safe 023. I need you to run the money to the bank before it closes.” His back to you, he pauses outside of the office.

Hesitation, again. He had less control over himself than he thought he did.

With this last thought, he calls over his shoulder, “I’ll leave you to it, then. Call on me if you need assistance.”

Then he leaves without another word. His walk to the elevator was fast, his long legs carrying him in determined strides. He had to gain some distance. As the metal bars closed and he was alone, he cursed under his breath, running a hand through his hair.

This was going to be more challenging than he thought it would be. Your effect on him was much stronger than he had initially hypothesized.

Kirin looks down at his hands, running his fingers along the prosthetic appendage you had touched just a few seconds ago.

It was much stronger than he had imagined.

Note: This was fun to write. Kirin’s inner monologues are always intriguing. I don’t know if I’ll do another one like this; I might do one more, but I’d like it to be rare occurrence that only happens when Kirin does something especially enigmatic. Hope you guys liked this!

[domesticfunk]

The Plot So Far, Part 1: The Fall of Wobble Street

Once upon a time in America... A young girl named Alice and a slightly older boy named Sonny were out of work and desperate. They went to a shady concrete building in the middle of the forest and were promptly knocked the fuck out, forced immediately into indentured servitude, and shipped down the American coast in metal shipping containers along with hundreds of other unfortunate slaves. A severe squall blew in somewhere off the coast of California, sending the ship far off course, towards the middle of the Pacific. During the storm, one of the containers broke open, and the starving, cringing survivors attempted to flee. Thus it was that young Alice was swept into the waves. Here she encountered a mysterious sea creature before blacking out and being dragged back onto the slave ship.

After arrival in Europe and a brief stint in an indoctrination/decontamination facility, Alice and Sonny were dispatched to a grim little cottage in a London suburb, a village full of recording artists under strict contracts to various record labels...  

It was here they first met Murdoc Niccals, who objected rather strongly to having his things washed and reorganized and was, not to put too fine a point on it, a total ass to them. It wasn’t long before fragile male egos clashed and violence erupted. Alice barely prevented bloodshed from following.

In the lull between clashes, she met Stuart Pot, AKA 2D, both of whom were almost instantly smitten, despite the fact that she was at the time scrubbing the place down and smelled of disinfectant and he was fresh off one of the final album re-recording sessions and stressed to hell and back. Sonny was considerably less impressed.

A careless comment from Sonny touched a nerve and Murdoc stormed to his room. Alice, upon realizing its significance, offered a sincere apology on behalf of both of them. This made enough of an impression on him to permit her into his room, where they bonded over a shared history of parental abuse and a mutual adoration of his own bass playing.

Some days passed. Al’s learned to avoid the creepy fellow with the gas mask who smelled of poo. Sonny, for his part, refused to become attached to any of his “employers”, though he did harbor a mild crush on Noodle. Russell, his parts of the album finished, left on a worldwide trek of mysterious purpose. Noodle returned from a brief trip abroad and made fast friends with the new housekeeper, and was the first to discover she was there against her will. She began laying plans for rescue, but Sonny, who was permitted out of the house to shop for food without penalty, had plans of his own.

The warm days of spring rolled in and 2D and Noodle tested their backyard swimming pool after Sonny cleaned it for them, even dragging Al in with them. Then... the new gardener arrived, one Maxwell Hammer, who looked and sounded very suspiciously like Bruce Willis. Intimidated, the party retreated. They discussed fleeing and 2D learned Alice could not leave the house without risking her life due to a control chip planted in her neck by the labor agency. Severely shaken, he hid in his room from her. Noodle advised him to leave him be but Alice, moved by his concern, sat with him and sang Elton John to him to try and bring him back to reality. Overwhelmed by emotion, he pulled her into a kiss, and the pair were instantly inseparable. Maxwell advised his employers of this development and returned the next day, opening fire on the residents of Wobble Street. Unfortunately for him, they were prepared with a secret weapon- Cyborg Noodle, retrieved from a submarine that had been left tethered illegally to the bottom of a nearby waste canal. (The retrieval process, incidentally, involved dangling 2D by his feet from a window to reactivate her protective programming.) Cy managed to successfully slay the die-hard gardener, and Alice, in the confusion that followed, went to him to demand answers: what, exactly, was his deal? Why did he want the Gorillaz dead? With his final rattling breath, he informed her she was wrong... it was HER his employers wanted to kill. He laughed in her face and perished, his body promptly stolen by the Bogeyman. Alice and 2D sought each other for comfort and mused what in the hell anyone could possibly hope to accomplish by hiring a movie star to shoot dead a menial worker from America. Alice postulated that having a caring presence in their life screwed up the band’s tragic image. 2D wasn’t entirely convinced they’d go so far just to keep a fan from working in their house, but couldn’t offer any better explanation.

After this misadventure, Sonny was in no mood to wait for rescue. He contacted an accomplished hacker who was able to deactivate their control chips, and while waiting to meet him, bummed smokes from and made the acquaintance of Lisa, an attractive drug dealer with an acerbic sense of humor similar to his own. However, thanks to a tangle of misunderstandings, this resulted in a car chase across London, with Sonny, Lisa, and his hacker friend in a crappy old sedan and Noodle, Alice, and 2D in her Jaguar electric racer. Incredibly, the crappy sedan managed to lose the race car via sheer blind luck, but ultimately the parties reconnected and sorted each other out back at the house, finally freeing the domestics from their life-threatening bondage. Also, upon meeting Murdoc, Lisa earned an extremely lucrative new client, and good times were had by all. The next morning, Murdoc returned, presumably from an all-night bender, and was only barely up to date on what had occurred when someone appeared at the door, the next volley in the war on Wobble Street: Sebastian and Christopher, Alice and Murdoc’s fathers, intended to prey on their psychological frailties and pry her out of the house with minimal resistance. They did not account for 2D being the one to suddenly snap. As Chris cowered, Sebastian called on the forces of darkness and mopped the floor with his wayward progeny. Alice, leaping to his defense, was similarly demolished. 2D, seeing them both in agony on the floor, went into a fugue state and destroyed both intruders almost effortlessly, unleashing over a decade of pent-up rage. Murdoc delivered the killing blow to his father with his own cane, disturbed that he had apparently returned from death some nineteen years following his well-deserved demise. The three landed in the hospital, Alice and Murdoc for injuries sustained in battle and 2D for overdosing on pain medications, taken in excess to ease his guilt over losing control. Sonny persuaded him to try and kick the habit, starting a long process of withdrawal and recovery. With the media zeroing in on the band following their stint at the hospital, and both domestics being openly discussed and investigated by the popular press, EMI knew things were fast spiraling out of their grasp. Unwilling to allow the public to learn they had subcontracted slave labor and were losing control over their artists, and concerned about the agenda of the new arrival, they launched their end game. Using a kidnapped prostitute, they lured Noodle away from the house and drugged her. With her out of the way, the label sent in a security team to capture their wayward maid. Unfortunately, only 2D and an artist named Vinnessa he had hired to complete the album cover were home at the time, the others having left to attempt to find and rescue Noodle. They managed to send out a distress call, bringing Alice and Murdoc back to the house, crashing the Geep through the front wall, guns blazing. The label rep kept his head and shot Alice point blank, a wound that should have been fatal... except that in that moment, the sea creature Alice had encountered in the middle of the Pacific erupted from the bullet hole, the Evangelist herself, an oceanic angel on a mission to save Murdoc’s soul, the one the label had truly detested, dreaded, and hoped to destroy from the very start. The divine creature immediately destroyed the assault force and explained she had manipulated events to ensure her host would carry her into the house past the Bogeyman’s defenses. She further clarified that while she had guided Alice to act on the band’s behalf, her decisions were her own, and her love for them was very real. Assuring them she would remain and keep watch, the angel vanished, leaving Alice scarred and disoriented but healed and alive. Sonny and his hacker associate freed the hooker from the label’s control and brought her and Noodle back to testify to the police what had transpired. Once the story was finished, they posted guards at the gaping hole in the demolished front wall and left them to arrest the EMI board of directors, all of whom had absconded in the interim to escape the Evangelist’s retribution. Relieved to see her alive and well, 2D brought Alice to his room and asked her to marry him, to which she wholeheartedly agreed. Noodle forgave the streetwalker for tricking her and offered to let her stay with them if she was sincere about pursuing their attraction. Murdoc passed out in the car amidst the rubble and nearly caught a cold. The search for a new home began...

[davidastbury]

Must reread Balzac. Often, when I am in very nice environments - like visiting friend’s nice houses, I think of Balzac. The old monk stuck in his room all night long - writing his masterpieces. I love the filthy lodging houses in his stories; ghastly hovels, warrens of rented cheap rooms. And in each room is an extraordinary character - a revolutionary plotting assassinations - a young artist in love with a prostitute - a miser who every night caresses his money - a sweet young gentle-woman, disinherited by her cruel uncle - a gambler struggling with his compulsion - a dualist who tricks his opponents and kills them - a pathetic old man selling his few possessions to keep his ungrateful daughters in dresses and carriages - a bitter old woman who waited too long for her man - a scarred ex-soldier who served Bonaparte ... you get the picture!

The Gift

When she saw what he’d bought her she struggled for words – ‘It must have cost a lot!’

He replied – ‘I’ve got a lot.'

He never forgot that smile.

Mr Maxim The Cashier ... 1965

Everyday, late on in the afternoon, Mr Maxim toured the store and collected the cash from every department. Coins and notes and cheques and vouchers were stuffed into numbered cloth bags which he unloaded onto the desk in his tiny office. He would start the business of counting - the coins in neat piles and the banknotes secured by bulldog clips. The figures would be entered into the main sales ledger and into his own personal notebook.

This probably sounds rather dull but to Mr Maxim this routine was the peak of his joys and torments. You see, he was not alone in his office - it was shared with a very tall young woman called Victoria - nicknamed Queen Victoria by unkind colleagues because of her straight-backed haughtiness and arched eyebrow.

Mr. Maxim would find himself counting the same pile of coins over and again. Why did she pose like that when speaking on the phone - or why spend so long searching for documents in the lowest drawers? He was solitary and he suffered; furtive and without friends in the firm. Each day slamming the safe door, pulling on his overcoat and unsteadily crossing the road for a drink.

Sand

A gift of brass and amber; inscribed with a smoking needle. And the words burned deeply with the sideways slope of Iranian calligraphy so that they can never, even over centuries, be rubbed away. And the words and sounds are eternal and tell of endless human loss - of freezing nights and days of scorching sun - of lost homes and smiles we will never again see - of her loss of me and my loss of her.

When it was over ... 1965

After they had split up he was confident he would be able to avoid seeing her again. He knew exactly which places to keep away from and which people to drop. But within days he came face to face with her. She was with a couple of friends and they saw each other at the last moment - she didn’t ignore him - she was formally polite.

It was all a bit of a shock. He was seeing her as if for the first time - as if he didn’t know her - and how, beyond her attractiveness, she hinted at so much that he had missed out on.

Office Intrigue... 1965

Why did she touch his arm every time she spoke to him? Why did she always use his name as a prefix? Why did he spend so much time in her office? Why did he invite her round for drinks, giving the impression that others would be there?

It wasn’t long before we all knew - including her husband.

Buffet Restaurant

Good looking young man - I’d say not much more than twenty; very good looking in a male model sort of way although today’s male models may no longer require good looks. He’s joining his friends with his second plate load of food; soft-shell crab, roast chicken wings, pasta, chips, sliced raw onion and, as a concession to healthy eating, a small tomato. He kicks his chair back and a waiter brings a few bottles of lager.

Sept 4th 2019. The marina is lit up - from somewhere comes the noise of two different sorts of music - a white ribbon of waves making the boats wobble and he’s arguing about football and ripping apart chicken bones and losing his looks.

Hotel ... 3rd September 2019

Woman in lobby with small son - he’s playing on the carpet at the side of her chair, bashing two toy cars together. He is creating spectacular collisions and making funny noises; his mother looks down at him.

Through the open double-doors I see the manager arrive in his gleaming black Peugeot - black windows, black wheels, black interior, black everything. Fabulous car and he cannot resist a glance back; the bliss of possession but he comes nowhere near the look of the mother watching her son.

G.

There had once been a time when he believed he would have a hit record. He sounded good in that interval just before the Beatles. He strummed the basic chords and tried to sing with an American accent. Sadly nothing happened for him and although he never gave up the guitar he always sounded a bit dated and uncool.

Family photograph. He’s with all his family - twenty two including babies. Next to him stands his wife, holding (don’t know why) his big cello style guitar. Four generations together- none of whom would be there if a gum chewing, sooty eyed girl, all legs and elbows, hadn’t pushed her way to the stage and begged autographs.

The Boyfriend

He had a way with words - there was no doubt about that! He told her in the most fabulous and thrilling ways that she was beautiful - he told her so often and so sincerely that eventually she believed it.

Yet their relationship did not last long, as is often the case with young people. She went her way and he went his - and they never saw each other again. But she did not forgot his words - they were like gold to her - gold in the bank - 24 carat gold that she didn’t need to touch - she could live happily on the interest.

He had hit songs in the 60s, huge fame and money, but lost everything. A friend once saw him in the Registry Office in Bury with a girl he intended to marry - he was wearing a cowboy hat and she wore a fringed mini-skirt. Later he lived on benefits in a two bedroom terrace house in Bolton.

He’s eighty now and still performing - the venues are pretty shabby; seaside hotels with tinselled curtains, awful sound systems, backing musicians who are in it for the beer. But he still has the touch - still has the voice that got the girls screaming - the twinkling eyes and devastating Texan courtesy.

Using all the old tricks he manipulates his audience and seeing him makes you think about how great skill never goes away. You can see the shadow of his early genius - although old and moves badly, he is still elegant - it’s like watching recent clips of an obese Diego Maradona kicking a ball.

(This is P.J. Proby, if you haven’t guessed)

All Saints, Bury, Lancashire

It was the saddest place on earth - an extended church graveyard, and we were told to avoid it; but it was a short cut to and from school, so the advice was ignored. And so we walked past the leaning tombstones, sometimes reading the sorrowing inscriptions ... layer after layer or the local dead; the Walters and Ediths and beloved husbands, going right back to the times when the letter ‘s’ looked like an ‘f’. Some still had jugs for flowers but most were neglected - the remembered followed by the rememberers all together in silence.

I used the shortcut only in summer - when the tombstones were warm to touch and the light through the trees seemed filled with flying insects, and I knew that I could run so fast that nothing could ever catch me and nothing would ever harm me.

Worth Waiting For

From one end of the Mediterranean to the other - this was the best sight! The arrival of a sleek white yacht, too big for the marina, lurking like a shark, radar dish rotating, bristling with aerials - before settling ostentatiously in deep water. Everyone would be watching the preparations for bringing the great man ashore - and the great man would be Greek. He would be a billionaire descendant of Odysseus, someone with the same personality, the same massive generosity and hatreds - someone who is a glamorous stranger wherever he goes, attractive and repulsive at the same time.

We have our equivalents today - the oligarchs and weapons dealers and film stars - but they aren’t people who love the sea, nor can they compare in style and elan with the Greeks. Think of Ari Onassis! Stepping down into the motor launch - loose-fitting tailored trousers, silk shirt, sun glasses and cigar - accompanied by his uniformed captain, his secretary, his two bodyguards, his small son and tutor, his dazzlingly attractive mistress - and for a short time something of the mad exhilaration of Odysseus makes the little town ring like a bell.

A friend is moving shop. She’s found a better location nearer the town centre; where there will be a higher ‘footfall’ and hopefully higher sales. I stood among the boxes and crates and shrouded clothes mobiles and found it all rather sad. An irrational sadness because I hold no sentimental attachment to the old shop nor, trawling through the murky waters of my childhood, could I find any shopkeeper-ish trauma that might be relevant. So perhaps ... something unpleasant of this sort may have figured in a previous incarnation - perhaps I failed in business and had stood, humiliated and desperate, with my boxes and crates.

M.

If only he had known what she thought of him! He came into her life at the very moment when, in her own words - ‘she grew up’. Suddenly she became weary of winners - that series of confident and successful young men - that exhausting blast of their plans, career triumphs, expectations etc. She felt she could longer endure their egos - their essential childishness - their burgeoning masculinity, their migraine inducing loudness.

So he was the last - despatched into oblivion, seeking another woman, unaware that she (who had dumped him) was now referring to him as - ‘’some bloke or other”.

Morning Coffee in Town

She was using a walking-stick - a real one, adjustable hospital issue - and struggling to get to a table. A friend was doing her best to help her; they were about the same age, early twenties. A waitress came over and she pointed across the room to where the toilets were - but I know that access is down a wooden staircase. I could see the young woman with the injured leg half smiling and shaking her head, as if it didn’t matter. Her friend fumbled in her bag and it slipped and items fell across the floor.

I might be wrong but I had the feeling that they are new to each other - they have that sparkle of surprise; that intense enquiry; that pleasurable realisation that they are viewed as attractive; that they are really listened to; that they can laugh at the walking-stick and the inaccessible toilets and the pain in the night and the frightening medical anxieties.

An artist and his model were kissing passionately on the sofa when he heard a car pull up. “Quick, it’s my wife,” he said. “Get your clothes off and pretend we’re working.”

1965

It was nice for her to hear praise from the lecturer. He particularly liked her poetry and sometimes asked to read out loud - in private, just the two of them. He would sit back and close his eyes - she struggled with self-consciousness, but pleased at the same time.

Later, she would meet her boyfriend - he never asked her to read poetry to him, but he once told her how he loved the way she pronounced certain words. It started when she had mentioned Jack Kerouac and he had excitedly interrupted - asking her to say that again - say Jack Kerouac again!

She concluded that all men are weird.

As Told To Me ... #84

‘You knew Ben didn’t you? I thought he was wonderful - he had something you don’t come across very often, something you might call wisdom. I will never forget the time when Richard M had been exposed as an embezzler. He was a close friend and I was devastated. The police would not allow me to visit him - said I wasn’t ‘family’ - I said that he didn’t have any ‘family ‘ - it didn’t make any difference. I was shocked to the core and I couldn’t get it out of my mind - it was made me ill.

‘And then Ben phoned me and without any preamble said - ‘I think you need a drink’. I replied - ‘Yes I do ... but nothing watery, I need brandy.’ He told me to get in a taxi and go to his office - it was early afternoon.

‘He shut the door and said that we wouldn’t be disturbed. He poured the brandy and we sat facing each other. I hadn’t stopped thinking of Richard for week but I couldn’t actually get started - I did not know where to begin.

‘We drank most of the bottle and I was unsteady when leaving - Ben was incredibly sensitive and discreet - you see, all the time I neither of us made any mention of Richard ... not a single word!’

On The Metro

Two young people sitting facing me - a couple. A fascinating stillness; you might occasionally see it in any couple; two males, two females; it doesn’t matter. It might be a single date or they might split up in a few weeks or they may marry and live together for fifty years. Whatever happens they will be okay with each other - either as a memory or as the inseparable lifelong partner whose every breath is priceless.

Family Secrets. (Volume 6)

I was recently informed that an uncle of mine (my favourite uncle!) had been a very active, tireless and life-long womaniser; not at all what you would expect to hear about such a quiet, unassuming man. I was pretty darned shocked - In no uncertain terms - in fact you could have knocked me down with a feather.

I’m always reading books explaining how, throughout the centuries, the orient has kept us supplied with essential (and sometimes not so essential) consumer goods. I find these books - often a follow-up to an exciting TV series - most absorbing and educational.

So I was sat at a traffic-light watching the interminable progress of a dirty and deafening train. I counted 58 containers, fresh from automated docks in China, loaded with the modern day equivalents of spices, silks and aphrodisiac perfumes viz ... cheap power tools, school uniforms, coloured plastic buckets, nasal hair trimmers, wrist exercisers, dog bowls, electric hand warmers, microwave egg poachers, garden solar lights with rechargeable batteries, transparent rain ponchos, crocs, cycling trousers, lumbar massagers and indoor fireworks.

Time.

She had a beautiful smile - everyone said so. Seeing children, friends; seeing animals, particularly those not considered pretty; hearing music, particularly Mozart, everything about birds, particularly nest-building - all these things made her face light up.

But now, a lifetime later, having struggled with health problems and the giving up of so much, she no longer has that smile at such moments - she has it all the time.

At The Bank

She is bored; you can see that at a glance. She came in for advice on how to finance major work to her house, but wishes she hadn’t. The advisor is a young man; she’s double his age, and then some. He is explaining the cost of borrowing in his thin squeaky voice - trained to perfection, but very dull. She looks at his narrow shoulders - his white short-sleeved shirt and thin arms making him look silly and schoolboyish - his polyester tie with the bank logo - his unattractive eyes, his milk-white complexion not helped by the searching, shadowless fluorescent lighting.

And still he drones on. She tries to imagine his background and guesses that it hasn’t been much fun for him. He hasn’t got the ‘shine’ you see on young people who have been loved. Perhaps he doesn’t have parents or maybe he has but they haven’t loved him. So he works hard at the bank.

I see her look directly at him and for a wild moment it seems as if she is going to put a hand up to his face, as if wanting to give him everything she had.

As Told To Me ... #103

‘ There is a lot I will never know - questions that will never be answered - and I can live with it in the way that we all do. We haven’t a clue about the meaning of life; we haven’t a clue about why we are here or what it’s all about - and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. People who say they know are at best deluded or worst, frauds - none of us know.

‘But there are other things, much lesser things, that I will never know; and it’s the little things that bother me more that the big philosophical stuff - they play on my mind - they keep appearing and will not go away. I have been puzzling something for fifty years - it is a trivial enquiry but there is no one able to answer me. I had my chance back then but it is much too late now.

‘You were involved in all this. It was during the time when you knew Ian and Lorna. I was seeing Mary, and Mary was related to Lorna - not properly related, but Lorna’s mother married a younger man who was a relative of Mary’s. Anyway, we went around together - you probably remember her?

‘It never came to anything. We had a good time for a while and then, not to mince my words, she got rid of me. I was very keen on her at the start - and she was great fun, always laughing and always up for it. We didn’t have the word ‘charisma’ in those days - it was invented for her - everyone liked her - she made me jealous. There was nothing unusual about our time together; we did what young people do - we were open-faced, innocent, conventional. But every Saturday afternoon she took the train to Leeds. She went to Leeds to visit the home of her ex-boss Mr Spinks and his wife. They were much older - probably old enough to be her parents; I never really knew what it was all about. She said that she enjoyed talking to them; they would have a meal in the evenings and she would stay overnight. I was puzzled and her cheerful relies did little to settle my mind.

‘What was it all about? Why did she go to Leeds every Saturday? Why didn’t she understand that her trite answers would play in my mind for the rest of my life? How it perplexed me and how - with gnawing compulsiveness - I searched for information in trade and telephone directories for any information on A. B. Spinks, 6 Headingley Hall View, Leeds.’

Going dark and a woman and dog stopped at the side of the house. She didn’t see me - I had been locking the sheds. The dog cocked a hind leg, grinning and panting, looking up at the sky. Passing dogs urinate in the same place; each of them putting their odour on my wall and hoping to erase that of his predecessor. I don’t particularly mind - there’s eighteen inches of stone before they penetrate my living room.

So the dog wobbled on three legs and the jet hit the stonework and sprinkled the pavement. It wasn’t a cute dog - a huge bullmastiff puppy - not cute at all. Enormous paws, thick rotating tail - a great big daft dog. I admired his bulky shoulders, the flickering pathos of his eyebrows - but most of all the heartbreaking loyalty you could see in his eyes. He needs human contact and affection as much as food.

I make a fuss of him and he rewarded me with slobber on my sleeve.

The woman was a bit cold and reserved, perhaps embarrassed at letting the dog use my wall as a lavatory. She wanted to get away but the dog hadn’t finished nuzzling me; and I was happy squeezing the rippling muscles of his back. She tugged the lead to pull him off me and the two of them walked away - the dog twisting back to look at me.

Which left me with a certain thought - the woman can think what she likes but she cannot stop me loving that dog of hers.

[mountphoenixrp]

We have a new citizen in Mount Phoenix:

                              Four Varennikov, who is known by no other name;                                                   a 23 year old daughter of Set.                                      She is a martial arts instructor at Zero to Hero.

FC NAME/GROUP: Heize CHARACTER NAME: Four Varennikov AGE/DATE OF BIRTH: 23 PLACE OF BIRTH: Seoul, South Korea OCCUPATION: Martial Arts Instructor, Zero to Hero DEFINING FEATURES: Tattoos:

’4’ on her wrist (right)

‘I am the Architect of my own Destruction’ on her upper back

Roses stretching from hip to the side of her thigh (right)

‘Varennikov’ on her side (left)

Piercings:

Ears (multiple)

Tongue

Surface piercing on the back of the neck

Belly piercing

Scars:

Faded white scars down her back and along her outer thighs

An old small bullet wound scar on her shoulder

PERSONALITY: Four has a cold, steady gaze and is not one that usually looks approachable. She is intelligent, though perhaps not in things that people her age usually know. With a very stern and serious outlook on life, she lives through various personas - never quite allowing her true self to surface. Lethal and harbouring a cruel bloodlust that had become habitual over the years, most people might confuse her for an average, party girl.

She has a sarcastic sense of humour and a shameless flirtatiousness to her. Four doesn’t hesitate to sent a drink to the attractive girl at the bar, nor to slip her number to a particularly handsome patron. There is no hesitation in anything that she does.

The only exception, of course, is rain. Due to her violent history she suffers from PTSD and will generally avoid going outdoors - or even opening the blinds - when there is any chance of rain. She is prone to flashbacks of her other siblings and panic attacks.

HISTORY: The earliest memory she had was one of the cold rain on her skin, soaking through her thin shirt. She trembled, certain that she would catch a fever the next day, but knowing that no one cared about that. Children often died during the training sessions, sometimes because of a misfired gun or other times simply from starvation and sickness. She was certain that would never happen to her though. Even as a child, she was headstrong and stubborn - the exact traits that helped her survive all of those years.

She didn’t remember her birth parents - so much that sometimes it was as if they never existed. Adopted (or kidnapped, she assumed), she grew up in the harsh environment of the Varennikov family in Saint Petersburg, Russia. One of five children in the household, their home was more like a training camp than a home. They never attended the traditional school, never even had a legal passport, but were instead kept in the confines of the cold and vast manor. Living without names, the children were referred to simply by number - One. Two. Three. Four. and Five.

She was Four.

Trained in hand-to-hand combat, the handling of firearms and the art of manipulation, the children were intended to be the next generation of Varennikov assassins. The family was renowned in the Russian underworld, having been active since the Russian Revolution of 1917 (having assisted a certain Bolshevik with some less than admirable work), and were still frequently called upon by people of power. Although blood descendants were usually trained for the work, the sole heir of the family had fallen ill and - after extensive treatment - was left infertile.

And perhaps that was why they started to collect children from all over the world. Four was from South Korea; and that was all she knew about her heritage.

The other children struggled a lot with the training, but Four never did. She had an natural talent for manipulation, an eerily calm and stubborn nature that pushed her through the most horrifying ordeals. Although she was small for her age, she seemed to elicit an sudden sense of anxiety and fear in those who met her eyes - dark and creepily mature for her young age. She was silent on her feet, knowledgeable and skilled in weaponry, and with fast reflexes that worked in her favour in as both a martial artist and gymnast.

One and two were the first to die - they were weak, frequently punished for failure in their classes, and so succumbed to starvation and drew their last breath by lying in a puddle of their own piss. Five - the youngest at only eleven - passed away soon after, deciding to end her own life after the emotional trauma of finding the corpses of One and Two. In the end, the only people left was Three and Four.

Three was, similarly to Four, a marvellous natural talent. Similar to Four in age, he held the youthful charm that she lacked. With blonde hair (almost white) and a cocky grin, he had the type of boyish good looks that made people lower their inhibitions around him. Incredibly intelligent and with almost inhuman combative abilities, the Varennikov family had decided that Three and Four were to work together; the perfect Brother and Sister duo.

And Four never wanted a brother. She had been alone in her battle her entire life and had never considered that she might have the share the glory of the Varennikov life with another person. Unaccepting of the decision but trained with too much loyalty to lash out, Four harboured this disdain in her heart.

Only, she soon found out that she wouldn’t need to for very long.

On a small mission - almost like a college hazing - Three and Four paired together for the silent murder of a local councilman. Unknowingly, they were being followed the entire time by their parents. At the climax of their mission, with the councilman beaten and on the ground, Four raised her gun ready to deliver the final shot through his skull. She was stopped by Three, his hand reaching to lower her gun.

“Allow me.”

Four raised a brow, “Excuse me?”

“I trailed him here, I should have the honour of our first kill,” he answered, as if it were a god-given fact that the man’s blood - which was gold in this instance - belonged to him.

What followed was a dispute - to put it simply. The two fought fist-to-fist for the opportunity to kill the man and the Varennikovs watched silently from the distance. They had figured that one of them would eventually put aside their pride, considering that Three and Four had always been on-par strength wise. However, what really transpired shocked them.

At one moment, Three was his usual cocky self, shoving his pseudo-sister against the stone wall in an attempt to knock her out. But, suddenly, that alertness seemed to leave his eyes. He stared back at her like she was a monster, something completely foreign and to be feared.

He screamed. Three had gone mad.

It was then that they realised that their suspicions were correct - Four was not an average girl and the way the other children had always looked at her was less to do with intimidation but more to do with the blood that ran through her veins. They had heard of children like her, half mortal and half God, but it was the first time that they’d seen the magic with their own eyes. The boy’s descent into madness was sudden, untriggered and unnatural.

That evening, when Four returned with her brother knocked out and the blood of the councilman on her cheek as a trophy, the Varennikov’s told her that she would be the lead assassin in their family. In fact, she would be the only one. They told her of their suspicions, of what they knew of demigods, and a place that she could go to learn to harness those powers. They needed her there, in fact, because her powers would bring glory to the Varennikov name.

And so Four packed her bags that night and, along with a fake passport, was ushered onto a plane. She was no fool. She was well aware that the Varennikovs were not sending her away just to learn - they were afraid of her potential and the power that she possessed. She didn’t fight it though; not because she didn’t want to, but because going to Mount Phoenix could mean something even better for herself.

One day, she might slash the Varennikovs’ throats with her own hands.

PANTHEON: Egyptian CHILD OF: Set POWERS:

Can elicit a sense of anxiety and panic in those around her

Can bring on sudden insanity (only in extreme situations, and this is a skill she has least control of)

Naturally draws chaos toward herself and those around her

STRENGTHS:

Skilled in hand-to-hand combat (Martial arts and Gymnastics) as well as adept in handling weaponry (short and long range guns)

Knowledgeable in weapons. Intelligent.

Tactical and analytical of the situation around her

Headstrong and determined

Manipulative of those around her

WEAKNESSES:

Suffers from PTSD (triggered by rain)

Is prone to stronger panic attacks and anxiety than usual due to her powers

Can’t fully control her powers (primarily with bringing insanity)