#me: nice merciful hero you got there it would be a shame if i broke him :3

[beevean]

The Day That Hope Died

Yes, that’s the name of a real path in ShTH. I love this game <3

An exchange between Sonic and Shadow in the Pure Dark-Dark ending, inspired by a certain comic and its handling of respecting other people’s identity and choices. Sonic might be OOC (let alone Shadow but that comes with the territory), but I did my best with this unusual situation ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The idea of separating Diablon and Sonic so that they can have a 1-to-1, and most importantly a certain action Sonic takes :P are the suggestions of @rollflasher.

AO3 link: here.

~

Commander!

Sonic rushed to the core of the G.U.N. Fortress, heart hammering in his chest, he was too slow, he was too late!

If only those annoying black creatures didn’t hold him back! Now the Commander’s mech was nothing more than red scraps of metal scattered onto the floor. Sonic couldn’t see him anywhere… did he…?

“Only one left.”

A cold voice distracted him.

Shadow was approaching the remains of the Diablon, twirling like a toy the purple Chaos Emerald that used to power up the machine. That all but confirmed the worst in Sonic’s mind.

Shadow helped the aliens. Shadow destroyed multiple cities. Shadow destroyed the computers in G.U.N.’s base to weaken their defenses. Shadow murdered the Commander. At this rate, Shadow would destroy the entire planet.

That’s enough.

“Shadow!”

The black hedgehog snapped his head up as Sonic approached him. Cold eyes stared at him, through him, unrecognizable.

“Rouge told me that I’d find you here,” he said, in the most casual tone he could muster. “You really crossed the line, bud. I can’t let you do as you please anymore.”

“Not you again… Step back,” Shadow barked. “You can’t stop me from taking the last Emerald.”

Well, being nice was worth a shot.

“Oh, looking for this?”

Sonic took from his quills the only Chaos Emerald that Shadow hadn’t managed to snatch yet; the Commander had the right idea, separating the two gems so that they wouldn’t neatly fall in Shadow’s lap. The soft red light tinted the tiny platform underground. Sonic would find it funny, if the circumstances were different.

Shadow’s eyes widened and he looked taken aback, but not for long: as soon as his jet skates activated, Sonic stepped aside, avoiding Shadow’s lunging attack. And again, and again. Predictable. He couldn’t even have fun.

“Hello, fastest thing alive? You have to do better than that.”

Bored of the little dodging game, he grabbed Shadow’s wrist and kicked his legs. Surprisingly, Shadow fell to the ground with a grunt of pain. Sonic quickly thanked the Commander for tiring him out.

“I’m not in the mood for games, Shadow. I never thought I’d have to fight you like this again, but after all you did…”

Shadow wasn’t exactly a great person when Sonic first met him either, but he missed when the worst thing the other hedgehog did was being his faker. Now, he will never erase the images of the crumbling Central City and the sound of the grieving survivors from his mind.

The hedgehog started to get up, and before Sonic could react he started to talk, voice dripping with bitterness: “Don’t pretend you suddenly care. Either leave or perish at my hand, but stop being a coward.”

The derisive tone stung Sonic more than it should have. His ears drooped. “I do care. You’re my friend.”

Sonic shouldn’t talk to him. He should take him down! This is what he did with terrorists like Eggman! But I can’t… I can’t bring myself to attack him. I need to know first.

Shadow actually took a step back, and all of a sudden he bristled in a rage Sonic had never seen before from him: “You liar! Are you trying to guilt trip me?”

So Sonic had touched a hot button. He pressed on: he couldn’t stop even if he wanted to, he had to ask, he had to understand what was going on. “I watched you die to save the planet. You helped me again even when you didn’t remember me. You are a good person at heart, I know it! What happened to you?” A realization flashed in his mind before Shadow could even open his mouth. “Wait, it was that Doom guy, wasn’t he? He filled your head with nonsense!”

It had to be him. That stupid looking starfish alien, always hovering around Shadow, always telling him what to do… Sonic wished he had taken care of him back during the attack on Westopolis. But he got distracted, and now it was too late.

… Was all of this his fault?

Shadow crossed his arms, hands gripping too tightly to pretend to be aloof. “How presumptuous. Do you think you know me better than myself?”

“Looks like it. I don’t know what I’m looking at, but you’re not the Shadow I know.”

“Who do you think you are? ‘Your friend’? ‘The Shadow you know’? You just want me to be what you expect from me, don’t you?”

“I want you to snap out of it, yes. This isn’t you!”

“You don’t know anything! Black Doom helped me understand! It is my duty to judge mankind. Those foolish humans don’t deserve to live, and I will punish them personally–”

“SHUT UP!”

Sonic dashed to Shadow still rambling like a maniac and did the first thing on his mind: he punched him in the face with all his strength.

He almost fell over, probably more due to the shock than the pain. Even with his knuckles dully throbbing, even with his hands shaking, Sonic couldn’t deny that it felt great.

But Shadow didn’t have the decency to take the hint; there he was again, with that mocking fake smile, and those empty eyes. “Heh, I’m surprised you had it in you.”

“Enough!” he yelled. “I don’t want to hear another word from you unless it’s ‘I’m sorry, I’m back to normal’!”

Black Doom… it’s all because of him! When I get my hands on him…

“Arrogant hedgehog. How dare you dictate my own identity? I finally know who I am! I won’t let anyone sway me or stand in my way!”

Sonic huffed in spite of himself. “Your ‘identity’? Don’t act all philosophical on me when you’re talking about killing people.”

“This is what I was made for! They deserve it for what they did!” Shadow shouted, with such conviction in his voice that felt like a punch to the gut.

His fur began to shimmer of a bright red color; it hurt in the dimness of the cave. Nausea bubbled in Sonic’s throat, both because the negative Chaos Energy was too much to handle, and because of Shadow’s words. The more he let him talk, the worse he got.

His hatred sounded too familiar to be mere brainwashing.

Sonic sighed. “Fine. If you won’t come to your senses on your own, I’ll knock some into you! I stopped you once, I can do it again!”

Yes, the race on the ARK… he remembered it like it was yesterday. It was fun, racing someone as fast as him, keeping up with his banter. Yes, the real goal was to destroy the Eclipse Cannon from being used by Eggman, but Shadow was such an intriguing rival, and it was chilling to discover what was done to him, and the relief at him coming back to help them against the plans of his creators was immensurable.

There was no trace of that honorable person in the madman drowning in Chaos Energy in front of him, who was so sure that not only destroying the world was good, but was his purpose.

Was it Black Doom’s fault for reopening old wounds?

Was it really Sonic’s fault for leaving him alone?

Should he have kept a closer eye on his former friend?

But more importantly: what could he do now?

Shadow spread his arms, a twisted smile on his lips. The cave wasn’t red anymore, but shone with all the colors of the rainbow: the Chaos Emeralds were lazily circling around the black hedgehog. Their power was almost palpable, a soothing warmth caressing Sonic’s fur, but it wasn’t enough to stop the dread squeezing his chest.

Shadow with one Emerald could use powers Sonic couldn’t even imagine. Shadow with six Chaos Emeralds would be nothing short of a beast. It would be like trying to take Perfect Chaos down without his Super form. His chances were slim…

… but when did that ever stop him before?

“You’re clearly outmatched, Sonic!” Shadow cackled. “Give up and be smart for once! But if you insist on supporting humanity… I won’t show any more mercy!”

Something snapped inside him.

What was he doing, wasting time like this? Trying to reason with him? No matter how much he begged… people like him didn’t change that easily.

Maybe… maybe he is the real Shadow, and I was wrong all along.

Sonic clung onto his only Emerald and his cold anger. Nothing else mattered. There was only him, the world in dire danger, and an enemy to be stopped at all costs.

“Okay, Shadow. You made your choice. If being a murderer is what you really are… I’ll treat you as such.”

[hanazuma-inactive]

defrost (nsfw) kaeya x top!male reader

pronouns: he/him

warnings: ice play!! slight degradation, orgasm denial/ edging, top male reader, bottom kaeya

a/n: this was edited by @kamihara, she really outdone herself in this one, professional kaeya simp lol

_____

“to think such an honourable knight such as you, the cavalry captain of mondstat, is now begging to cum. how shameful of you,” you let out a low chuckle as a provocative smile broke out on your lips, “i wonder what citizens would say if they saw their beloved and oh so admirable kaeya in this position?”

as a captain of the ordo favonius, you were a bright figure to the people of mondstat. a person who aided in saving the city from destruction, one of the heroes that defeated storm terror. of course, other knights had nothing but respect for you as your skill and talent was nothing short of impressive. many looked at you with a high regard due to your strength and position, this meant that many were intimidated by your presence and therefore fear approaching you.

however, there was one person who disregarded this and stuck by you anyways, kaeya alberich, the cavalry captain. out of everyone in the knights of favonius, you were the closest with kaeya. you enjoyed his company a lot, he was an interesting person who knew how to keep a conversation going, and while you're with him you could never find yourself feeling bored. he was as charming as he was cunning.

kaeya found himself enjoying your company too. the two of you have done lots of things together. going on missions, getting away with “knighty” duty, babysitting klee, and drinking at angels share. you know, all the fun things in life.

kaeya was a secretive person, and while you were curious about him, you respected his boundaries. perhaps this was the reason why he drew you in, besides his blaringly good looks of course.

there was no doubt that the man was attractive from head to toe. his silky navy blue hair fell down his shoulder with grace, his fringe complemented his smooth, flawless sepia toned face. his periwinkle eye held the sheen of a crystal, glistening as his long eyelashes framed it with poise. the diamond shaped pupils his eyes possessed could leave you in a trance forever. his open white shirt left his cleavage on display, contrasted with the black corset around his slim, slim waist. his slender legs brought him around with confidence and charisma.additionally, the intricate accessories he wore suited his personality well. all in all, kaeya was a pretty little thing.

all of this lead up to you harbouring romantic feelings for the cavalry caption. how could you not feel anything? he was perfect in every way.

the sound of kaeya’s voice snapped you out of your thinking. “y/n, any missions today?”

“nothing for you i don’t think, i gotta help jean with the paperworks though.” you sighed at the thought of a mountain of paperwork.

“great, well i’m off then you have fun doing whatever.” kaeya smirked at you, poking fun at your dread.

he started to turn around and walk off but you had other plans.

“wait. kaeya-” you speak quickly.

“hm?” he hummed out.

“angels share? 9pm?”

a quizzical look washed over his face before he masked it with one of his cunning smiles.

“alright.”

little did kaeya know you had more in mind than just drinking with him tonight. today would be the day when you finally told him about your little crush on him.

night quickly arrived after a day of working with jean. you were pretty exhausted but still excited about what's about to happen later tonight. when you entered the bar, Kaeya was already waiting for you at the counter talking with the bartender, charles.

“ah, i see mr.l/n is here too. Your usual today as well sir?”

“yah that’d be nice, thanks charles.” you said as you took a seat next to kaeya

“you got it.” charles said as he left to go get your drink.

angel's share was the place you and kaeya loved the most. the kind of noisy background with people chatting. cyrus and jack talking about their gains for today, six-fingered jose still playing his lyre, the song was getting a little old but you didn’t mind, in fact if he changed the song you probably wouldn’t be used to it.

“so, what’s the special occasion for today? you usually don’t invite me to drink on weekdays.” kaeya said while swirling his drink and glancing over at you.

kaeya’s eyes always amazed you. you didn’t know the name of the grey-ish color but you could gaze into them forever. his smooth skin glowed under the dim lighting in the bar. you loved everything about the man, his dark blue hair, his perfectly shaped body, and the fact that you could see a little bit of his clothing. what kaeya said on the first day when you guys met was true, you did feel something for him.

“hm? can i not invite fellow knights to share a drink once in while without a special occasion.”

“well, not wrong there but…you seem like you have ulterior motives for tonight from the way you’re dressing.” kaeya said, smirking at you.

it was true, you purposely chose one of your best outfits today for kaeya, you wanted to impress the man not only from your combat skills, but also your looks. there was no secret you could hide from kaeya. he knew you too well and he always looked right through you. it could have just been kaeya’s observant nature but you like to hope it was something more than that.

“you’re right there, you really do know me too well, maybe i need to start hiding things from you a little huh?”

“you can try but i highly doubt it’ll work in your favour, mr.honorary knight.”

both of you looked at each other with a slight smirk as charles arrived with your drink. after drinking for a good while you could tell kaeya was getting a little tipsy. his movements were unstable, he shaked a little while walking and his eyes started to become hazy. what better time than right now to reveal your true plans for tonight, you were gonna fuck the shit out of the beautiful man. you wanted to hear him scream your name in pleasure as you break him, over and over again.

“why don’t we go somewhere else? y’know, somewhere more, quiet” you suggested while scooting closer to kaeya.

“i wouldn’t mind that.”

as soon as you heard those words you immediately got up and left with kaeya. your plan was going perfectly and the best part is about to come soon. kaeya wasn’t stupid, he was an adult afterall and he knew what you were trying to do. dressing up all sexy like that, getting drinks, going somewhere more “private”, what else could it have been.

the two of you arrived in your house and headed straight for your bedroom. kaeya has been to your house many times for many reasons and he knew where everything was so he didn’t trip or fall.

you placed a light kiss on kaeya’s lips while he laid on your bed.

“wait here~ i’ll be right back.”

this was where things would get, interesting

you opened your fridge to grab a small wooden bowl. the content inside was covered by a small white cloth. after grabbing that you went to grab some rope from a drawer you hid them in because you didn’t know what to say if someone saw those items in your house.

after bringing the items back you put them on the side and pushed kaeya down.

“what’re those?” he asked

(its a surprise tool that’ll help us later.)

“don’t worry about it sweetheart, just lay back and let me do the work alright?”

you brought a blush to kaeya’s face with your flirty words as he gave you a small nod, signalling you consent and approval. you kept invading kaeya’s mouth over and over again, you’re tongue so skillful kaeya was sure this definitely wasn’t your first time. the kisses ended after a while leaving both of you panting and a half an erection in your pants. wanting more, you began to take off kaeya’s uniform. his skin is so beautiful, you could also see his well defined body, just the perfect amount, not too buff, not too skinny. you licked your lips a little bit and looked up at kaeya with a smirk. when you put your mouth onto kaeya’s pink nipples, he squealed a little out of surprise but soft moans soon began to escape from his mouth.

“a-ah~ didn’t know you had this in you, honorary knight.”

“oh i know a lot more tricks that can make you feel good~” you teased.

as you continued to suck on kaeya’s smooth skin, you decided to spice things up a little bit. kaeya yelped as he felt a slight pain around his nipples. you remove your mouth to see a bite mark around it.

“to mark you as mine~”

“tch, you cocky little bastard.”

seeing the tent building up in kaeya’s pants, you decided to take them off and grant it some release. after you took off kaeya’s jeans you saw a small stain at the top of his boxers, showing that he felt good earlier.

“alright... this is where the fun part begins.” you said as you grabbed the ropes you initially put on the floor.

“restraining me? go ahead, let’s see if the honorary knight is all talk or he actually has something up his sleeve.” kaeya taunted

not liking his attitude, you forcefully tied kaeya’s hands behind his back and pushed him to the end of the bed facing you with nothing on but his boxers. now, the mighty kaeya alberich, is at your mercy.

“alright, we can do this in two ways. one, you listen to me, second, i don’t think you’ll like what’ll happen,”

kaeya raised his head a little and looked you dead in the eyes.

“i choose the second option”

you knew kaeya was the bratty type and it’ll only add to the fun to tame him. after hearing his choice you pushed kaeya back to where he was before and uncovered the bowl you had prepared earlier on the side. the bow was filled with medium sized ice cubes and it was till now that kaeya finally realized what you were trying to do.

“ice cubes huh? bring it on.”

“you asked for it~”

you grabbed one of the ice cubes and started to rub it on kaeya’s pecs, making circular motions and slowing moving towards the center where his nipples are.

“f-fuck that’s cold.”

you saw kaeya’s cock twitch a little when you first reached his nipples and you knew he was feeling good. moving on with your plan, you rested the ice cube on kaeya’s nipples and lifted his boxers where his cock is still covered but his asshole is exposed to you. right after that, you grabbed the lube that has been sitting in your nightstand and spread them on your fingers. without mercy you put 2 fingers into kaeya, trying to find his pleasure spot. sooner or later when kaeya started to let out tiny moans you knew you hit your target.

“feels good huh baby boy~”

“y-yah, and so what o-oh fuck~”

kaeya was sure feeling it, to a point where he started stuttering.

the constant teasing got kaeya close to his limit. he couldn’t hold it any longer. but you’re not gonna let him cum that easy are you? of course not, he needed to be punished for what he did earlier.

“a-ah y/n i’m gonna cum i’m gonna cum so hard- wait why'd you s-stop?” kaeya asked

“you decided to be a brat earlier didn’t you~? bad boys get punishment.” you said with a smirk on your face.

kaeya stayed silent, not a word coming out of his mouth, head hung low feeling embarrassed.

“to think such an honourable knight such as you, the cavalry captain of mondstat, is now begging to cum. how shameful of you,” you let out a low chuckle as a provocative smile broke out on your lips, “i wonder what citizens would say if they saw their beloved and oh so admirable kaeya in this position?”

“maybe~ if you begged a little i might reconsider, don’t you think so, pretty boy?”

kaeya finally lost his composure at this point, all he wanted was to cum from your touch.

“fine... i don’t care anymore.” kaeya growled.

“p-please y/n.” kaeya looked up at you with pleading eyes. “i want to c-cum, i want to cum so bad. i should’ve been a good boy from the beginning… i promise i’ll be obedient from now on, j-just please, let me cum…” kaeya begged

“that’s what i thought.”

satisfied with kaeya’s begging, you decided to grant him his release. you added another ice cube to the other side of kaeya’s chest while stroking his dick through his boxers. of course you didn’t forget to keep teasing kaeya’s prostate while you were at it. all these different stimulations made kaeya lose his mind. the male came through his boxers all over the place. semen spilled on his own stomach and chest followed with moans so loud the entire mondstat could hear him.

after he settled himself down a little, kaeya waited for you to untie him. you exchanged a kiss with him while you were doing so, smiling at each other thinking about what just happened. neither of you cared about the mess that you made because you guys were tired. listening to the birds chirp, you fell asleep with the dark blue haired male on your bed.

the two of you woke up in the afternoon to the noises of mondstat. you woke up a little before kaeya and from your point of view he was literally a sleeping beauty. you stroked his hair a little bit, causing him to wake up.

"y/n…good morning handsome."

"right back at you."

both of you giggled a little while holding hands.

"hey kaeya?"

"yes y/n."

"i've been meaning to get this off my chest and i don't think there will be a better time to say it than now."

"well go ahead, i'm all ears."

"you were the only one that ever stuck with me in the knights, everyone was afraid of me due to my strength except for you. you listened to me, you talked to me, and if it weren't for you i probably would've quit the job at the knights already." you took a deep breath and let out the words kaeya were waiting for.

"kaeya alberich... will you he my boyfriend?"

kaeya gave you a small scoff as a reaction and a light kiss to your lips.

"what reason do i have to refuse such a perfect man?."

[beybladefanboy]

Top 5 Favourite Beyblade Characters

Random and unasked for but I figured I would talk about my favourite characters in the Beyblade Metal Saga.

#5 A tie between Chris and Hikaru

Chris

I’m putting these two in the same spot because I wanted both of them to be on this list and a “top 6” doesn’t have as good of a ring to it as a “top 5.” Anyways, the first time I watched Metal Fury, I didn’t care much about Chris. Now however, I find his arc of being stuck in a job that brings him no joy to be incredibly relatable. His lack of passion for Beyblade makes complete sense: the fun of the sport was completely sucked out when it became an obligation for him and he wasn’t allowed to fight for himself. He was completely obligated to his employer and had little choice in the matter. That would suck away anyone’s passion, trust me, I know. So seeing the light return to his eyes as he rediscovered his passion for Beyblading was incredibly satisfying.

Hikaru

A lot of the appeal of Hikaru is admittedly that she is a female blader, and yeah, it is great having a strong female character. (We need more of those) What’s great about Hikaru however is that she isn’t just a token girl character or a mary sue: she is treated the same as any other blader and is allowed to fail and feel emotions without being degraded. I like that we even see a bit of her backstory where we learn that she is driven to be the best blader because of her likely deceased mother’s words. It’s a shame that she quit Beyblade due to her trauma but I also think it’s understandable and that it was interesting to explore that trauma. The moment that broke my heart rewatching Metal Masters was when Hikaru sees Dark Tsubasa and is paralyzed by terror, clearly remembering what Ryuga did to her. Beyblade’s most powerful scenes to me are the ones that delve into a character’s mind and allows me to see their thoughts and feelings. It allows me to understand and be more attached to the character and we got a lot of that from Hikaru and Chris.

#4 Yuki

Yuki is kind of underrated in my opinion but then again, so is the entirety of Metal Fury. Yuki was a really fresh character for the series. Nearly every character is extremely reckless: acting first, thinking later so it was really refreshing to see a character who overthinks everything to the point of anxiety. I just relate more to a character that doubts himself and has to fight to overcome not just the great evil but his own self-doubt and fear as well. Also, I love that scene where he fights Ryuga. He probably knows he doesn’t stand a chance against a guy like him but he doesn’t care because he’s fighting for his friends. I can relate to that. When I’m just doing something for myself, I tend to doubt and question myself but when I’m standing up for my friends, I show no mercy. So yeah, Yuki is a really relatable character, as well as a pure cinnamon roll that needs more love.

#3 Kyoya

If you asked who my favourite Beyblade character was two and half years ago, I would’ve answered “Kyoya” without any hesitation. While I do still really like him, I think his character was kind of fumbled in Metal Fury. I’ll talk about that separately though because I want this to be a positive post. Still, Kyoya is a great character. I like how he develops from a villain to that one liner asshole friend of Gingka’s. While I do like him unironically, Kyoya is honestly just funny to me. He is so ridiculously arrogant about his own skills but he actually is as good as he says he is. He’s also a tsundere. He’s absolutely a tsundere. He’s always helping his friends with whatever bullshit they’re doing: helping them infiltrate the Dark Nebula, going to look for Gingka when he disappears, helping them infiltrate Hades city, going with them to look for the Legendary Bladers, and on two separate occasions, staying behind to fight someone so the others can go forward. Even his determination to beat Gingka feels more like friendly competition than actual malice. And yet he insists he doesn’t care about them with lines like, “It’s not like I came to save you or anything.” It’s honestly kind of majestic. He’s also a complete badass. He always gets back up after a loss and fights to the bitter end and, sometimes to the detriment of himself but never his Beyblade. When Leone was on the verge of breaking to pieces in The Fearsome Libra, he forfeited the match to stop that from happening, risking humiliation and accepting defeat to do the right thing. That is genuinely admirable. It takes courage to fight but even more courage to admit defeat. Also, his fight against Ryuga in Metal Fusion is insane. Kyoya nearly falls so many times but keeps himself on his feet and rises up again. It takes being stabbed in the heart by the dark power for Kyoya to be defeated. Out of everyone, Kyoya came the closest to defeating Ryuga through sheer will and determination alone. What a badass.

#2 Tsubasa

Similar to Yuki, Tsubasa is also a pretty unique character for this series. While he is passionate about fighting like all the others, Tsubasa is much more thoughtful and cool-headed, which is appealing especially among a cast of hot-headed crazy characters. When Tsubasa is first introduced, he’s kind of a mystery. We don’t know his true intentions or alignment until we learn that he was working for the WVBA, about 15 episodes after his initial introduction. This unpredictability made him interesting to watch in Metal Fusion as I didn’t know what he was going to do next. Then in Metal Masters, he becomes even more interesting. While it was emotionally intense to watch, I think the “Dark Tsubasa” arc is one of this series’ greatest achievements. It revealed a completely new layer of personality to Tsubasa and gave him so much development. 

While he was being somewhat controlled by the dark power, it is made clear through the dialogue that that side of him was always there and the dark power just enhanced and unmasked it. He did often hide his true emotions and intentions in Metal Fusion after all. The scenes where Tsubasa interacts with his dark self are very interesting and relatable to me because I often try to hide my negative emotions and avoid situations where they might come out until those feelings fester into madness, which is essentially what Tsubasa did. However, the resolution to this arc is what makes it so special to me. Tsubasa doesn’t drive out the darkness or continue to repress it: he accepts the darkness as part of who he is because everyone has darkness in them and the way to control it is to become one with it. And in the end, he becomes a stronger blader and person as a result of this arc. This is legitimately inspiring and helpful to me. It’s important to remember that we are not defined by our worst thoughts/feelings, we are defined by how we handle them and accepting ourselves, flaws and all, is important. So really that arc alone makes Tsubasa one of my favourite characters but he also has an appealing personality as well. It’s a shame he was kind of underused in Metal Fury but I love what we got from him.

#1 Ryuga

Yeah, okay, this was obvious. Take one look at my feed or even my profile picture and you could probably guess that I love Ryuga. Two and a half years ago, I hated him with a passion but after rewatching the show again, I realized I only really hated him because of what he did to Hikaru, Tsubasa, and Kyoya which yes was horrible and I don’t condone it in any way but he was under the influence of the dark power at that point and he never does anything quite that awful again. Anyways, onto the positives. Ryuga in Metal Fusion is the best villain the show ever had. He poses a significant threat and was the first person to legitimately defeat Gingka. He’s also a terrifying sadist that cackles at others’ pain. If Ryuga had stayed like that, I would probably still like him as a character but I certainly wouldn’t have developed a crush. Damn, that would’ve been nice. But alas, even in Metal Fusion, Ryuga is somewhat sympathetic when you remember that he is just a kid and was both used by Doji and not even in full control of himself because of the dark power. He is seen trying to resist its control in the final battle after all. It’s interesting to see a character who is literally corrupted by the power he sought out and actually does learn from his mistake. In Metal Masters, he realized that humans’ greed and hatred was what caused the dark power to be so harmful and decided to draw the power from its original source, before it was tainted by humans, and became super powerful. Even if you hate Ryuga, you have to admit that is awesome. And once he stopped being a sadistic villain, he became much more unpredictable as sometimes he would even help the main heroes in Metal Masters, albeit for selfish reasons. Ryuga sort of feels like a combination of traits I liked most in Tsubasa and Kyoya. He has the unpredictability and loner attitude of Tsubasa and the confidence and determination of Kyoya. Also, I don’t think I need to say that Ryuga is a badass. That’s not even an opinion: it’s something that we all know to be a fact. I mean, this is the guy who launched his Beyblade at a floating city, wrecking it enough to send it crashing into the water and causing a reactor meltdown that nearly destroyed the earth. That last part was unintentional and in all fairness, he did help stop the end of the world, but still, he is both powerful and reckless enough to do something like that. He was kind of frustrating in Metal Fury but I did like his friendship with Kenta and while his blind pursuit of power was annoying, I gotta admire the ambition. And… yeah, I cried at his death. I cried harder at that than anything else in this show at any other point I watched it, including when I was a kid even though I knew it was coming. Even though his motivations for fighting Nemesis were far from righteous, he still died trying to defeat the great evil and his final act was giving Kenta the star fragment to give the heroes the chance they needed to win. Ryuga died a hero, plain and simple. I wish he had lived so we could see him develop even more after that moment but either way, Ryuga is a great character. He’s the best villain in season one and I love his fiery personality and aesthetic in the following seasons.

[kateofthecanals]

For a bit of fun, I'm curious if you could do a fix-it for GoT? I'm just so exhausted by all the rage I feel learning about the shit D&D put everyone through (both audience, cast & crew). In an alternate universe where you were hired as showrunner/writer for GoT from Day 1, what changes would you make? Bearing in mind specific things like budgeting limitations of the earlier seasons, ideal series length and number of episodes, unpublished TWOW and ADOS, etc.

Oh lordt, where do I even start????? :-o

I mean, I don’t think I would make any drastic changes, you know? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. And it’s hard for me to think of stuff to cut or change because so many things lead to other things, and still more that we don’t know about that has yet to pay off. But there are definitely things I would do (or not do) if the task fell into my lap...

First and foremost, anyone adapting ASOIAF NEEDS to keep these 3 fundamental themes in mind at all times:

- Never take anything at face value; ALL narrators are unreliable.

- The Starks are the heroes, not the freaking Lannisters.

- Honor, compassion, mercy, and love are GOOD things and should be striven for at all costs.

As for specific plot/character things:

- Give Sansa’s and Arya’s respective POVs equal weight when they are first introduced.

- No unnecessary, lame “padding”, like the goddamn Littlefinger pornologue. There’s enough freaking content in the books, I don’t need to be making up my own stuff here.

- With the pornologue eliminated, we now have time for (gasp!) Sandor telling Sansa the story of his burns himself!!

- Speaking of Littlefinger, I would make sure that he comes off as a charming, charismatic chum, so that it doesn’t seem weird or ridiculous when people actually trust him. No smarmy, mustache-twirling obvi-villain, thanks.

- Restore The Jeynes -- Jeyne Westerling and Jeyne Poole. They have names, they have faces, they have stories, and they are IMPORTANT. Make it abundantly clear that Robb married Jeyne W. out of a sense of duty and honor, not because he wanted dat Volentene booty. Include Jeyne P. in important scenes in Season 1 like in Book 1; her disappearance in King’s Landing will be noted.

- THE TYSHA REVEAL, DAMMIT.

- THE UNKISS, DAMMIT. I would probably present this visually as a recurring dream that keeps haunting Sansa.

- Pretty much all SanSan content will be included and adapted word for word.

- Cast someone younger as Sandor (sorry, Rory).

- Present Sansa’s forced marriage to Tyrion for what it actually was -- Cersei tricking her, Tyrion not lifting a finger to warn her, Sansa being dragged to the sept and NOT KNEELING, etc. Not sure exactly how I would pull off the wedding night scene without compromising an underage actress, but I think it’s so so important to portray Tyrion’s unbashed lewdness toward her. Basically make it about SANSA.

- Tyrion is a rapist and a murderer. Let’s not whitewash, eh?

- Restore some of Dany’s agency on her wedding night.

- Film the Daznak’s Pit scene as written, with Dany taking shit into her own hands instead of standing around helpless waiting for someone to rescue her.

- BALD DANY.

- Make it clear what Cersei’s Walk of Shame was actually about -- not a moment of slut-shaming but of BODY-shaming... so you know maybe NOT hire a 20-something stand-in to play a woman in her 40s?

- BRAN’S & NED’S DREAMS. In a story that’s mired down in “realism”, these dream sequences would be a nice, fun break from that. An opportunity to get really creative and experimental.

- THE NORTH ACTUALLY REMEMBERS. No House Manderly erasure on MY watch, tyvm.

- FLASHBACKS. If a character is talking about something that happened in the past, SHOW IT. Or better yet, just show it without the talky-talky. Show, don’t tell.

- I would personally cut out all the Dorne stuff BUT I would consult with George on ways to move the story forward with out it.

- LADY STONEHEART.

- Tbh I’d probably reveal Coldhands to be Benjen as well, like the show did, even though GRRM confirmed it’s not him. (Unless, of course, Benjen has some other, way cooler fate yet to be revealed...)

- Make absolutely sure that it’s clear neither Arya nor Brienne are misogynists just because they don’t/can’t perform Traditional Femininity.

- Michele Clapton does not come within 3000 miles of this production. Hire a costume designer that has experience with Medieval-inspired fashion and insist on some damn COLOR.

- Cast an age-appropriate Margaery.

- I would also cast someone way more pretty boy-ish as Joffrey. No offense to Jack Gleason, but he was creepy straight off the bat. Finn Jones would have been better. Or a young(er) Cody Fern. 

- DON’T SLEEP ON AFFC/ADWD. There is so much good, meaty content there, the actors will revel in it. So what if there aren’t any huge battle sequences? There is still a lot of great writing and character development to make up for it. 

Should I run into the issue of the show catching up with the books, there are several options for carrying on without too many hiccups:

1. KEEP A GOOD RELATIONSHIP WITH GEORGE. Don’t ignore him when he makes suggestions. Actively seek his guidance. He has more experience with this than I do. This will come in handy later.

2. As stated above, buy more time for George by actually adapting Books 4 & 5. There is PLENTY of content there to work with while George finishes TWOW.

3. If I do #2 and he STILL hasn’t finished TWOW, then I would work closely with him on the endgame. Go through outlines piece by piece. Send him drafts of scripts for notes. Allow him to write a few episodes himself. This is HIS story, and I have been hired to tell it. In the absence of published source material, George himself is the next best resource -- UTILIZE IT.

That’s all I could think of, anyone reading this feel free to add more!

[tessa-quayle]

full text: 2019 Telegraph piece

check out the pictures here from @ralph-n-fiennes

the article by Hermione Eyre (official link - registration required for a free trial)

Ralph Fiennes does Ralph Fiennes so well. During our interview he delivers everything one might hope for: sensitive introspection, charm, pathos, a touch of mystery and even a (partial) defence of late Soviet Russia. ‘A lot of people didn’t experience it as repressive…’

This in the context of the stunning new film he has directed, called The White Crow, about the defection of Rudolf Nureyev from the Soviet Union in 1961. Oh, and he also impersonates a horse for me. Beautiful whinny. Sensitive nostrils.

‘It’s how I feel as the house lights go down and I can feel the expectation from the audience. You can see it in horses before a race.’ 

As we begin, in a Shoreditch loft studio not far from his home, he seems professorial, in a woolly cardigan, neatly arranging his spectacles, notebook and copy of the latest London Review of Books. When he is ready he gives me that trademark encouraging smile – half little boy, half crocodile.

Career-wise, he has it all. Family life, not so much. His greatest luxury? ‘My independence. I lead quite a solitary life.’ When I ask him if he’s a good uncle to his siblings’ progeny – Mercy, Titan and Hero, to name a few – he says flatly, ‘I could be better.’

His sister, the film-maker Sophie Fiennes, says her son Horace, now eight, really enjoyed the sword fighting in his Richard III, which is, if you think about it, a good outcome for a small boy going to see his uncle play Richard III.

His presence is a mark of quality in a film. Both the Bond and Harry Potter franchises, where he plays M and Voldemort respectively, brought him in for gravitas. Since Rada, he has run the gamut of Shakespeare, from Romeo in 1986 to his award-winning Antony & Cleopatra last year at the National, opposite Sophie Okonedo.

‘She was spectacular. I miss Antony. I found him very moving in his brokenness; his masculinity falling away and him trying to cling on to it. He’s male and middle-aged, and he keeps saying, “I’ve still got it, haven’t I? Haven’t I?”’

Does he recognise that? ‘I am 56 and I try to stay fitter’ – he does cardio and morning yoga – ‘but I can feel myself getting… old. Little shifts of energy and ambition, little impulses. You get tired more, you want to take it easy more.’ Then summoning mercurial energy in that actorly way, he explodes, ‘But I can feel myself fighting that, like, “I’m not gonna let go! Come on, come on. Yeah!” There are plenty of virile 56-year-old men.’

When I ask if he’s got a motorbike yet, like Ralph Richardson, he isn’t impressed. ‘No, my brother Joseph rides a motorbike. He can do fast cars and handle boats.’ Joseph, now 48, will for ever be the young Bard wooing Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, just as Ralph single-handedly made Herodotus hot, that spring of 1997 when we all went to see The English Patient and wept.

Antony gives everything up for sex. ‘Yes, he does, that’s a very real erotic connection, and it’s very emasculating for him.’ Does sex make the world go round? ‘Erm, sex produces more human beings, mostly.’ Nice deflection.

Fiennes married Alex Kingston, his great love from Rada, in 1993. Their marriage ended when he left her in 1995 for the actor who was playing Gertrude to his Hamlet, Francesca Annis, 17 years older than him. Although the relationship broke down in early 2006 amid reports of his alleged infidelity, they still talk, have a deep, mutual professional respect and go to each other’s first nights.

Kingston has since gone on to have a daughter, Salome, with her second husband and Annis already had three children; Fiennes has never wanted his own family. ‘Never say never,’ he demurs. ‘But I don’t feel that’s imminent at all. I love the family and community of plays or the cast and crew of a film.’

He recollects his lines from Man and Superman, the Bernard Shaw play, ‘where Jack Tanner [whom he played] rather brilliantly pours scorn on the idea of happiness: “No family, no marriage, spread your seed, but no marriage!” I love the mischief in that.’

He says, ‘I am the eldest of six,’ as if it explains everything. The Fiennes children were born within seven years. Martha and Sophie make films; Magnus is a composer; Joseph is an actor and his twin Jacob is a gamekeeper in Norfolk. Their foster brother, Michael, now an archaeologist, came to live with them when he was 11, Ralph was two and their mother Jini was only 24.

‘My wonderful parents [Mark Fiennes, a farmer, and Jini Lash, a writer] were pressured by tough financial situations and a very erratic income,’ says Fiennes quietly. ‘They were extraordinarily courageous in giving us love and a sense of home, but also a feeling, early on, of what it is to be a burden on your parents – somewhere I think that’s affected my choices.’

‘We experienced family life with bells on,’ says sister Sophie, who’s currently working on a new series of the brilliant Pervert’s Guide to… documentaries with philosopher Slavoj Zižek. ‘You have lived that and you don’t need to replicate it.’ She remembers that as a child Ralph ‘really liked getting away from us all and being alone’.

He adored his Pollock’s toy theatre and insisted his siblings formed an audience, ‘furious’ if they didn’t comply. He set up footlights in matchboxes. ‘It was magical, very Fanny and Alexander,’ says Sophie, referencing the Bergman paean to childhood.

Ralph always had ‘a love of practical jokes’, she remembers. When they lived by the sea, on the Sheep’s Head peninsula in Ireland, he stood on a rock at high tide and pretended to be drowning.

‘Gave our mother a fit.’ He also called their neighbour to say his wife had been changing a light bulb and was now hanging from the ceiling, twitching. ‘It was April Fool’s. Our neighbour was furious.’

As a young man Fiennes became, after Schindler’s List, the intellectual’s pin-up. Is ageing harder when you’ve been a heart-throb? ‘Look, there’s lots of heart-throbs out there. You see it in younger actors who are having their moment, there’s a new one and they’re written up, how beautiful they are… You see the waves and the breaks, that person had that moment, or that opportunity. There are a handful of actors and directors who stay [the course], but mostly it’s ups and downs.’ In other words, the challenge is to convert being a heart-throb into something more meaningful and lasting.

Such as directing. He directed himself in 2011’s Bafta-nominated Coriolanus with Vanessa Redgrave as his mother Volumnia; in 2013 he directed and appeared as a passion-struck Dickens opposite Felicity Jones in The Invisible Woman.

His latest is The White Crow, based on Julie Kavanagh’s biography of Nureyev. He spent months touring Russian ballet schools before finding Oleg Ivenko, a young unknown from the Tatar State Ballet company, who is devastatingly good as the dancer. Fiennes plays his mentor Pushkin.

I didn’t really want to be in it,’ he says. ‘But I felt this creeping pressure and although I had a cast of wonderful Russian actors and dancers, the Russian producer said to me, “If you want Russian investment then we need Western names, why aren’t you in it?”’

He will dig deep to make the films he wants to make: has he put his own money in? ‘I have done, yes.’ Would you again? ‘No! I’ve had to put money into all the films I’ve made. They don’t sparkle with commercial appeal.’ Did the money come back? ‘No.’ Harry Potter helps? ‘Definitely. I don’t regret doing it. I have the resources and I believe in the project. You get one life, so f— it.’

The script of The White Crow is by David Hare, who questions the view of Nureyev’s defection as a ‘leap to freedom’, showing instead a certain nostalgia for the Nikita Khrushchev era.

Hare and Fiennes spoke to friends of Nureyev from 1950s Leningrad, twin dancers Leonid and Liuba Romankov, now in their 80s, who appear in a lunch party scene alongside actors playing their younger selves. ‘Liuba said, “I felt free, I felt happy inside myself at that time.” Nureyev was so nurtured and nourished by the dance school.’

The film doesn’t have anything to say about the propaganda and food shortages. ‘If you say I should have laid out a history lesson of the regime, I say no, I think that would have been heavy-handed. I think an audience is smart. You see the ideological pressure of the regime and the constant surveillance Nureyev was under.’

Do you feel the Soviet approach to the arts got something right? ‘I do, because that was, as I understand it, the philosophy of “we’re all a group”, though of course the individual is stifled. I’ve always been moved by what I feel to be the dedication of the Russian arts ethos, the discipline, the intense seriousness with which people take it.’

His love of Russia began in his early 20s, with him performing Chekhov and reading Dostoyevsky; he is now fluent in Russian, has ‘a lingering fantasy of buying a flat in St Petersburg’ and has been presented to Putin. ‘At the St Petersburg International Cultural Forum, which they hold every year. He was very quiet and listening.’

This was before the Salisbury poisoning. Does Fiennes believe Russia was responsible? Briskly, ‘Yes, yes. It seems to me like it was. Clearly there are problematic things with the current regime to our eyes and I do feel it’s been a tricky time since Salisbury, and that’s a shame and sad.’ Oddly enough he knows the town well, having been to Bishop Wordsworth’s grammar school.

‘I had a mostly happy time there. It was an extraordinarily shocking, cack-handed event, unacceptable and wrong in every way. And in reaction the Brits have made things harder with visas and it becomes tit for tat, and the Russians have closed down the British Council, which was a wonderful enabler of cultural interaction. I don’t know if the British Council is a cover for espionage, maybe it is…’ Bond bells are ringing. But you’re M, you must know! He replies, curtly, ‘But I’m not M, am I?’

We return to the topic of growing older. ‘There are pluses to ageing, you know? You can let go of some shit. The competition falls away. You can see the cycles of your own mistakes, hopefully you’re learning… All the things that have caused you upset:  I hurt that person, I got a bad review. You start to feel: did that really matter? The things you were so concerned about just drift away on the current of life. And your idealism is tempered and your vanity gets knocked…’

He brings up, as an example, the 2002 film he made with Jennifer Lopez called Maid in Manhattan, a comedy fairy tale in which he plays a US senatorial candidate who falls for his chambermaid. ‘I saw in the newspaper they had J Lo’s most successful films and’ – big smile – ‘Maid in Manhattan was there, and it came quite near the top’ – bigger smile – ‘and then I read: “Let down by the fact that Ralph Fiennes seems like a serial killer.” Ha ha ha! I had to laugh.

’Cos my vanity scrolled it and then… bam!’ He gives a proper belly laugh. Didn’t he get together with J Lo while they were filming? ‘No. No. I was set up by her manager and the producer. So a picture was taken of us saying goodnight after dinner and sold to the New York Post. It was a decoy, to take the focus away from the fact that she was going out with Ben Affleck.’ You didn’t mind? ‘I did, actually. I thought it was really crap.’ He shrugs, smiles. The things fame brings.

‘I give my agent all these neurotic phone calls, asking about reviews, who said this, who said that, but then, glass of wine, laugh it off.’

I feel I’ve had a flash of the blazing, naughty, fun side of Fiennes; we have known it’s there ever since we saw his suavely clownish Gustave in The Grand Budapest Hotel, and his irrepressible Harry in A Bigger Splash (complete with gyrating dance routine). There is a fun side to him, then? He smiles enigmatically as we say goodbye. ‘You won’t ever see that in an interview situation.’ 

[screamfairy1996]

A villain`s tale.

Warning:there will be some heavy/triggering topics involving murder,death,torture,and references to non-con in this story. If it makes you uncomfortable by any means you do not have to read it.

“Who the hell are you?” One prisoner asked.

The man sneered. “Well.I`m a old visitor to UA.

5 years ago

TIME-SKIP TO 10 MINUTES AFTER THE JERSEY INCIDENT .

The man watched as the two boys comforted each other in a recovery room. So it`s true. The two are mates. And their names are Izuku Midoriyaand Shouto Todoroki. And Todoroki is the son of the number two hero, Endeavor. And word on the street is that All Might is mentoring Midoriya and might be his secret love child. “Interesting .” The man thought, writing his notes. This Midoriya boy.  He`s a pretty sight.  A step up from that other sweet piece of ass. That red idiot was a fool in leaving him all alone in the house.  Maybe Todoroki will think before leaving him out of sight. Otherwise, Someone might claim him. “ The man grinned evilly. This will be fun. But first, he’s gotta off someone or Shigaraki will keep bitching about not doing his job since one guy is MIA and another villain dropped out to escape the pros. Does the freak know it’s not easy since the school has tightened security since the attack on USJ and had their students moved in dorms since the training camp attack, an kidnapping of a student, All Might’s retirement and the apprehend of All For One. There goes his pay. Great. The guy who could pay him is in prison but Kurogiri assures his pay will come due once he’s completed his task. The man scoffed. They better have his fucking money once he’s done cutting up the brats. But the green whore. Speaking of him. Isn’t he the crazy bitch who kicked Jersey’s ass because the reindeer socked his moronic shithead Alpha because the peppermint dumb ass couldn’t take a fucking joke. Midoriya could have slept with anyone. That bitch might have as well wrap his legs around that blonde spiky one or even most of Class 1A. What’s so special about that whore? He’s an omega. All omegas are nothing than sexual pleasure and baby breeders. They are meant to obey Alphas and occasionally betas no matter what. That burn on his arm. He maybe pissed off Todoroki and learned his lesson. Whatever, He needed to do his job and get the money so He can go back to America and pay her a visit. As soon as he`s paid. He`s getting the away from those fuckers.

Time-Skip to after Riki was born.

The man stood outside, smoking outside of UA gates. “Hey, Look over there.”  Shigaraki rasped in his comm. The man growls. That bitch really needs to contain his attitude. The man groans and did what he was told. His eyes widened. It was Shouto and Izuku and Izuku has a little bundle in his arms. He took a closer look at the bundle. Lays a infant with red-white striped hair and mismatched eyes. It was a girl with Todoroki`s blue eye and Midoriya`s green eyes. “She has her father`s hair.” The man spoke under his breath.

Back to Present Time

‘’Such a nice happy family.” The man smirks, twirling his shiv. “But not for long....:’ “

Back to Flashback.

The man was hiding in the closet. He managed to get inside by  shape-shifting into a janitor. He made he had drops of the real janitor`s blood. The man didn`t had a Quirk so it was painless. Eventually, his skin mask was itchy and he had to take it off. Soon Mineta came across him. “What`s going on?” The grape kid asked. “None of your concern.” The man insisted. Mineta took a closer look which made the man more annoyed. “Do I know you from somewhere?” Mineta asked.  “No.” The man said. “Now please leave. I`m trying to clean here.” Mineta didn`t budge . “You`re not cleaning, you`re sitting and taking notes in the ground. “ Mineta stated. The man growls. “You`re a fucking drag, you know that? Peeking at girls.” Mineta scoffs. “They have nice chests.” Mineta turns to leave but realized something. “YOU!! You were the one who killed four kids back in America!!! You`re a murderer. Wait till the pros hear this!!” Mineta cried. The man grips his knife in his pocket. “The pervert has to go.” The man thought as he dug his knife out......

The man stuffed Mineta`s bloody corpse into the garbage. He was lightweight unlike his past victims.  The man then realized something. Shit!! He doesn`t have any more drops of blood and pros will be suspicious when Mineta doesn`t turn up. Then a idea shot in his head. He could masquerade as the kid. The man grabs his voice changer and the needle. He injects several drops of blood into the needle, like 35 drops. This will last for months. He tossed the corpse into the closet, locking the door. Once he`s done cleaning the blood and evidence, He injects into his arm vein. Once, the blood was injected, He growls in pain. This was extremely painful due to Mineta`s quirk and small height.  The transformation was completed. Now he can get near students.  He can get his money and get out of here. This is gonna be a piece of cake.” The man thought, as he walked to the dorms with the keys he stole from Mineta.

2 to 3 weeks later.

The man, posing as Mineta was yeeted out by Bakugo once again for peeking at the one of the girls`’ skirt. The man dusted himself off. “Son of a bitch. Up yours asshole.” The man thought as he walked to the common room.  He noticed Izuku and his baby in the kitchen room. “Great ,that whiny bitchy omega is here.” the man thought. “Man, Todoroki got himself a nice piece of ass.’’ The man said. The greenette got scared and even more frightened when the man uses Mineta`s grape quirk to block the doors. The annoying thing starts crying so he moves it out of his way. He then advances...... The sounds of slashing, screaming , cutting, a baby crying, and a horrific scream filled the room.....

“You did that to him?” The prisoner asked in horror.

The man simply stared with a blank look on his face.

The teachers and students rushes in after hearing a girl scream in terror. They were soon greeted by a horrific sight.  

“No, buddy. Izuku did that to himself.  Izuku and his whoring legs. He was a tease. Izuku was begging for anyone to do him. It`s not my fault, the whore had a nice ass and he was a great fuck. “ The man cackled maliciously.

The man hid in the shadows as he watched Todoroki rushes in and once he started crying. The man smiled evilly. He broke the son of Endeavor and killed All Might`s apprentice. Now he gets his cash and leave Japan. He chuckled as he left his hiding place........

“Then his shitty boyfriend shows up, trying to kill me. I might have been a little rough, They were all trying to murder me for what happened. I told them they`ll get their revenge over my dead body. They all agree and try to off me but their friend called them out, warning Todoroki not that he`s not helping Izuku. They were such idiots. They were all too busy, beating each other up,doing teen stuff, and fucking each other to know who I really was.

“I`M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!” Todoroki yelled in rage. The man chuckled. “Best sex, I`ve ever had.” A fight breaks out which turns intense.

The man gets angry. ” I revealed myself and everyone was shocked.  Being found out wasn't a problem, butt getting your ass whooped by the number one hero., now that's a bitch. “

All Might punches the man in such ferocious anger and seething rage. Later, as the man is restrained and escorted to the police van. He noticed Todoroki sitting on the ambulance, cradling his baby.  The man gets angry, struggling against his restraints. ‘’YOU CAN`T BEAT ME!!! YOU CAN`T BEAT ME !!!YOU CAN NEVER BEAT ME!!!! I`LL FIND YOU TODOROKI! I`LL FUCKING FIND YOU AND FUCKING KILL YOU!!!! YOU`LL BEG FOR MERCY. I`LL FUCKING CUT YOUR INSIDES IN FRONT OF YOUR MATE AND BRAT!!! I`LL THROW MIDORIYA DOWN AND MAKE YOU WATCH ME FUCK HIM!! YOU AND THOSE PROS WILL FEAR ME, MOTHERFUCKER!! YOU. WILL. FEAR. ME!!!  ALL OF YOU WILL!!!” The man kept ranting as the doors closed and the van drove off......

The prisoner grew more disgusted. “And the other boy?” He asked.

“It`s not my fault, that bitch was dead on his feet.” The man shrugged. “It`s just a dead whore.”

The prisoner backs away from him in fear. The man shrugged and looked at the sky through his window.  He smirks evilly.

“Soon, Shouto. Izuku. I`ll get out of here and pay you a visit. I can`t wait to play with your mate again, Shouto. Don`t know where and don`t know when but soon. I`ll finish on what I started....”

[journeysintowebcomics]

Worm Liveblog #93

UPDATE 93: Counterattack

Last time Panacea and Glory Girl’s story reached a rather tragic end. It’s unlikely either of them will appear in this story again, unfortunately. Now it’s time to return to the story. Shall the Undersiders start planning their attack on Coil, now that they got a truce with the Protectorate? Let’s continue.

As much as I wanted to make it a focus, taking care of my territory was something I had to handle in my downtime.

Sure says something about the quantity and gravity of everything Skitter has to deal with that something like an entire territory with possibly hundreds of people in it is something to deal with in her downtime. That’s not the kind of thing you usually would say is secondary, yet here we are. This is followed by worries she’s not paying enough attention to her, and to that I can only say it’s something to actually be concerned about. Communities getting neglected often leads to resentment, and she currently is the only person in charge in this area. Everyone will judge her because of the lack of attention she gives them. Discontent in society will lead to rebellion, and the last thing she needs right now is a rebellion in her territory.

...

...although a rebellion brewing in her territory would be kind of an interesting thing to deal with, wouldn’t it? Maybe it’ll happen and it’ll be the focus of a future arc.

They all had gone their separate ways to do whatever they wanted, just to relax before tackling the very daunting goal for the next week. Skitter used her time to take care of her territory, Regent controlled people in his turf, Heckpuppy took care of her dogs, Grue and Imp tried to sleep. Well, more like they all tried to do such things, because in the end they didn’t. They had to give some thought to their plans.

With a hundred problems we needed to handle, we’d agreed the most important thing was to deal with the most inevitable ones.  There was no point in working out a complicated and involved attack plan against Coil if we didn’t wind up fighting him.  There was a point in dealing with the Chosen; they were bound to attack us at some point, regardless of how future events unfolded.  Better to take the fight to them.

Does this mean they’ll fight the Chosen first, because offense is the best defense? The Chosen are going to attack at some point in the near future, so may as well attack them first? I’m all for that, I am, but...I don’t know if they have time. I mean, the only reason why they’re considering attacking Coil is because Dinah is currently out of commission. That chance isn’t going to happen again. Do they have time to counter the Chosen and attack Coil, all in the span of one week? It’s not impossible, I guess, but it’s going to be...very difficult, to say the least.

But hey, looks like this arc will be about a preemptive attack onto the Chosen. I’m game. Them not having Hookwolf will make things a little easier. Maybe it won’t take as long as I’m thinking it will.

Apparently this is the day after they decided to attack Coil. Last night Tattletale, Grue and Skitter reunited to discuss strategy plans, the other three not being involved in the discussion.

“I wouldn’t have minded,” Imp said.  “I wouldn’t have anything to contribute, but I’d like to follow along.  And I can’t figure out my niche in the group with the trio being so… trio-ish.”

“Trio-ish?” I asked.

“Tattletale, you and my brother.  Making all the plans, you’ve got the nemeses…” Imp paused.  “Is nemeses a word?”

That’s the power of being the main characters of the story, Imp! But eh, it’s not like Grue and Tattletale have nemeses. Nemesii. Whatever. Tattletale does have Faultline, but Faultline has done nothing of importance for a long time. Grue had Shadow Stalker, and now she’s...not around. Isn’t she in jail? Skitter’s the one with a revolving carrousel of nemesiseseseses, by virtue of being the protagonist of Worm.

Although they’re aware three of their teammates have been brainstorming and having discussions they’re not privy too, they’re okay with that, enough to joke around in a moment that’s honestly kind of cute.

“Let’s quit and start our own group!”  Regent said, throwing one arm across Imp’s shoulders and gesturing dramatically with the other as he continued, “Regent, Imp, and Bitch, the Othersiders, a spin-off team.  And we’ll stick with Coil while the others turn traitor, and we’ll have this epic fight…”

Imp took his cue, “And Brian and I will go head to head, and it’ll end in this dramatic moment where he says something pretentious-”

“Et tu, sis?”

“And then I’ll say ‘Yeah, it’s me’ and finish him!  No mercy.”

They were playing off one another, joking.

And he calls me the dork?

Maybe it’s because I’m cherishing the rare moments of levity in this story. There’s so few moments where the characters can relax and mess around. Worm is a dark story, and for that reason such moments are rare...it’s a pity, really.

It’s planning time? Tattletale is here, Grue isn’t, and there’s no mention of Heckpuppy. The reason Grue isn’t around is because he needs to sleep, and this is a thinly-veiled jab at Skitter for not getting enough sleep. By now I’m sure she won’t get a night of good sleep at any point of Worm. So! Strategy meeting!

Mayoral elections are coming, oh boy. I don’t think that particularly affects the Undersiders, and Coil has agents working for him as mayoral candidates, anyway. It’s just another iron on the fire. Not worth doing anything about, in my opinion.

Next topic: Hookwolf’s group and Purity’s group are having trouble. Now that Hookwolf is gone, Purity would be the one to lead everyone, but that’s not going smoothly, it seems. Ideological differences, perhaps?

Apparently it’s that. Hookwolf may have been slandering Purity, and now people who believed everything he said will refuse to work under her. Also, capes like Stormtiger and Cricket want their turn as leaders and I’m not convinced that’ll happen. The point is that with the current dissensions and inability to unite, it’s a prime moment to strike. Yup, it is, but...really, is there time for that?

“Something to keep in mind,” I said.

“Something to exploit?”

I glanced at her in surprise, and she shrugged.

“Elaborate? You’re not suggesting we ally with them, are you?”

Do they have anything to gain from allying with the Undersiders? There’s no common threat now. I don’t really see a reason for villain teams to cooperate with each other.

Tattletale is proposing a truce; Imp completely rejects it on basis of having gone her entire life suffering the disdain of racists of all ages. I know truces and that kind of thing are necessary sometimes, but honestly, I’m supporting Imp on this one. I as a reader see no particular reason to ally with the Chosen or with Purity’s group in any manner, and the mere thought of working with them feels...gross. Again, no bigger threat. No excuse to ally with them.

Thank goodness, it seems the idea of possibly making a truce with the racist factions isn’t going to work.

Tattletale also brings up they have a truce with the New Wave hero faction, which is good. Doesn’t seem like she’s aware of what happened to Panacea and Glory Girl, or if she knows she doesn’t say anything. Mr. Wildbow takes the chance to set up the in-character reason to not look for her in the future.

Amy had crossed my mind as I’d reflected on the various encounters with the Nine, and I’d thought about going to look for her.  Having her in the group would be invaluable, no question.  Even touching base with her could leave us options if someone got hurt or if we needed resources.  That said, the major issue was that I couldn’t be sure she’d actually join or even listen, and we were trying to operate with certainties.  I couldn’t afford to go when it meant potentially wasted time.

Pretty unlikely she’d cooperate in any manner. Even if she did, she’d sabotage it in some manner or make it not be as useful as it should be. It took the agnosia miasma covering the city and threatening to kill everybody for her to cooperate with the Undersiders, all because of her rather black-and-white way of interpreting morality. Any requests for help would have been useless – leaving aside that she planned to leave Brockton Bay, anyway.

Thinking about Atlas reminded me of one thought I’d had during our downtime.  “It’d be fantastic if we could get a tinker in the group,” I said.  “Between Bakuda, Armsmaster, Mannequin and Bonesaw, I’m sort of starting to appreciate what they bring to the table.”

It’s starting to seem like tinkers are pretty useful for any kind of team, indeed. Even the Merchants had a tinker, even if she was...well...you know how she was like. Neither Purity nor the Chosen have tinkers, do they? But yeah, it’d be nice to get a tinker for the Undersiders. It’s not like they can put an ad or anything, though. Asking Coil to look for a tinker for the team would be a solution, but what they want is to attack him, no way they’ll ask him for help.

“You’re almost a tinker,” Regent told me.

He says that because Skitter is able to create stuff with her bugs and is generally quite versatile with them. Skitter wants more than what she’s capable to do, she wants someone who will open up a world of possibilities. That’s what a tinker is good for. Too bad there are no tinkers who are seeking to join anybody.

“It’s a shame that there’s not really any tinkers around that aren’t already committed. Unless you want to make a point out of recruiting Leet?”

There was a bit of a pause as we all considered the idea.

We simultaneously broke into laughter.

Oh. Right, that guy. He and the other guy are still alive?

In Regent’s territory, the Chosen have been causing havoc, and by havoc I mean petty defacement of buildings, just as a way to taunt Regent because he doesn’t have a way to counter them. What he does have is Shatterbird, who can blast the tags with sand until the walls are clean. It didn’t even take long. I wonder if this is the first time the Chosen have done this here. Can’t decide if it’d be petty or stupid to keep spray-painting his territory if they know Regent can clean it easily.

“Why spend a few hundred bucks on a sandblaster when you have a Shatterbird?  Who’s a good little power tool?”  Regent gave Shatterbird a pat on the cheek.  “You are.  Yes you are.”

Shatterbird must be seething with anger right now. I bet Regent says and does stuff like this often, he’s that kind of person. Not the kind that’d be always antagonistic for no reason, but the kind who’d casually do this if he feels like it.

It’s fitting for Skitter to ask Regent to treat Shatterbird with respect, but it still is kind of silly. Regent already gave a good reason to taunt and mess with Shatterbird – keep her emotionally drained to lessen the chances she breaks free – so there’s no really a reason to risk she getting away. The moment she escapes from Regent’s control; she’ll try to kill everyone in her way as retaliation for all this. Heck, even if she had been treated well, she’d do it for the fun of it.

As an idle thought, I noted that her teeth were in surprisingly good shape.  It made me wonder how the Nine took care of their teeth. Did they threaten some dentist and force him to do fillings and whitenings?  Or did Bonesaw handle that?  It was odd to think about.

Hah! What a time to be wondering something like that. The thought of the Slaughterhose Nine coercing a random dentist to clean their teeth and then leaving without major fuss is kind of funny. Nah, Bonesaw surely made sure the teeth don’t go into bad condition. She reinforced the teeth, it wouldn’t be surprising if she...I don’t know, implanted whiteners into them.

It’s time for a confrontation. There are several members of the Chosen around, and it doesn’t seem like any of them are parahumans. This should be easy.

A swarm of insects make everyone rush to the outdoors, trying to get away, giving Regent the chance to batter them with shards of glass in what must be a pretty painful experience. The point of this attack isn’t to kill, it’s to get them to stop bothering him. Not sure if it’ll work, but it’ll be a lesson learned for a few days, I’d say. It depends on if the leaders of the groups take this as a major insult or not. With some luck they’ll be all ‘that’s what you get for fooling around there’ buuuuut that’s unlikely.

Attacking the mooks is easy, the parahumans are the problem here – because yup, there are a few of those here. Rune, Night and Fog. Night is the one I’m worried about the most, I don’t think there’s a way to counter her, and if there is, they better think fast, because there’ll be retaliation for this attack soon.

Purity isn’t here – of course not, why would Purity hang out with the foot soldiers messing around? -- Crusader isn’t here...which one is Crusader, again? Well, it doesn’t really matter. There’s another parahuman, and it’s one I don’t think had been mentioned ever before.

Victor. He was a talent vampire, stealing people’s trained skills, keeping them if he held on to them long enough, and leaving that person temporarily bereft of whatever skill they’d spent their lives learning.  People like him had a tendency to pick up martial arts, parkour, weapons training and other combat skills.  He tended to pair up with Othala, the girl who could grant powers, meaning Victor also had super speed, super strength or invincibility.  If he was wounded, she could give him regeneration instead.

But her power demanded that she touch whoever she was using it on, and it limited her to granting one power at a time.  If he had invincibility, it meant he didn’t have super strength, pyrokinesis or any of that.

Sounds useful. If I understand this correctly, does this mean the people who got their talents stolen don’t lose them permanently? Even if Victor keeps those skills? How many different skills can Victor have? Unlimited, or is there a limit?

Well, it’s less impressive when Skitter is able to tie him with the silk, making him fall to the floor and keeping him down for the count. Night and Fog are the big threats, anyway. The current idea is to bait them somehow. They’re formidable opponents, that’s a dangerous plan.

Our last run-in with Night and Fog had been ugly.  That had been months ago, and we’d basically lost.  I wasn’t content to simply lose, though.  I’d replayed the scene over and over in my head since it had happened, doubly so since I’d found out Coil’s power.  If he could create alternate timelines and choose the results, and if he’d used his power to save us, what had happened in that other timeline? Had we died?

Definitely. I don’t doubt in alternate timelines they died.

Countering them is pretty difficult. Night is a tough one because, although her transformation doesn’t work when her opponents can see her, she has a myriad of ways of forcing them to be unable of seeing her. Fog is...well, a gas. Have you ever tried to contain large quantities of gas without specialized tools? Regent tries to block him with a glass barrier, yet he manages to seep through cracks. Right now it looks like it’s matter of time before Night and/or Fog manage to do something that’ll give them the advantage. Good thing Skitter seems to have a plan...whatever it is.

“This power is so hard to use,” Regent complained.  “So much to focus on.”

“You’re doing fine.”

“I’m doing fine because she’s helping.  I think.”

Really? I didn’t expect that. Why would Shatterbird try to help? Self-preservation, perhaps? I thought she’d try to resist as much as possible so Regent had higher odds of dying so she’d be set free, but I suppose she’s not sure she won’t die first or something. I imagine if necessary Regent will use her as a meat shield. Meanwhile, Skitter tries her silk strand restraints strategy on Night, it doesn’t work very well.

At least she’s able to stop the smoke grenades and her cloak, thanks to those same silk strands. Night’s remaining way of forcing her to look away is with a flashbang, and that works. It takes no time at all for Night to transform and rush towards the rest of the Undersiders, while Skitter tries to help with her swarm. I don’t know if things are going well...it seems to me the Undersiders aren’t doing much progress. It’s matter of time before things go pear-shaped.

Night gets to where the rest of the Undersiders are, ready to attack. It wouldn’t take her long to kill anyone if given the chance. Thankfully, she doesn’t get to attack, thanks to Skitter, so she runs into the closest place she thinks will help her transform. Although she’s out of Skitter’s sight, she still doesn’t transform, until she’s knocked out.

Imp stood over Night, holding a taser.

I completely forgot about her! So that’s why Night couldn’t transform, Imp was there. Now Skitter and Imp shall stand around, taking turns to blink...leaving Tattletale and Regent over there to fight everyone else by themselves. Welp. Even though Night has been dealt with, I’m not sure this is on the Undersiders’ favor.

Oh, nevermind, they’re moving Night towards the rest. Over there Fog is kept inside a box, and Rune isn’t in a state to fight. The Undersiders win, the enemies are embarrassed. That went well! Better than I expected, that’s for sure. Time for a serious conversation! Starting with Tattletale telling them to get out of their territory, and Rune retorting the Undersiders took the entire city as their territory. Iiii’m pretty sure that was Tattletale’s way of telling them to leave the city, yeah.

Time for a show of strength – as if defeating them wasn’t enough, hah. Well, better to be safe than sorry, so Skitter gets intimidating and tells them they have them defeated in every way and deserve to take over the city. Also they’re getting taxed, the Undersiders till take everything valuable that’s in the base they had nearby. Okay then! Spoils of war for the victor--

“But that’s not enough, is it?  So there’s another tax.  We’re borrowing one of your teammates.”

The Chosen weren’t the only ones who looked shocked at the declaration.  I snapped my head around to look at Regent.  There was no surprise there.

Fuck them. They’d planned this, and they hadn’t told me.

Oh goodness! That’s unexpected. And looks like this is a plan Regent and the others agreed to without telling them. Tattletale must know too, I imagine. Interesting! And dangerous, too. Is there a guarantee whoever they borrow won’t betray the Undersiders whenever they can? Unless...

...unless what they mean with ‘borrowing’ is that Regent will control someone. In that case, it’s not a bad plan. Purity is going to take it as a major insult and may try to have their revenge, but yeah. It’s interesting and could be useful.

I wonder which one they’d take. Everyone has their pros and cons. Hard to guess which one would be the best option. Buuut that’ll be for next time.

Next time: in seven updates

[the-ripping-tides-archive]

Voice Lines: Matias del Varga

Did a thing while waiting to hear from people for a thing I was doing on my main blog. ^^

Hero Selected: "Who is that handsome rogue? Matias del Varga!" "Ah, a person of good taste, I see!" (Selected consecutively)

Hero Change: "Matias del Varga arrives!"

Waiting For Match Start: "Greetings and 'salivations', my teammates! You must all feel honored to work with the great Matias del Varga!" "You are lucky to be having Matias del Varga as an ally and not an enemy!" "Now do be remembering, everyone! Do what I say and victory shall be ours!"

Respawn: "A...minor setback!" "Matias del Varga never dies!" "You thought you could keep me down, eh?" "Death will not be taking me today!" "That one did not count!" "Let us be trying this again..."

Health Pack: "I thought this was treasure! Oh well..." "Matias del Varga called dibs on this. Too bad, so sad." "Just what I was needing."

On Fire: "Ha ha! I am on fire like an...on fire thing!" "I am like an endless inferno!"

Damage Boosted: "Now you are running for the hills, yes?" "I'm already strong enough, but thanks anyway."

Nano Boosted: "You are about to learn why I own the skies!" "No one will be spared from Matias del Varga!"

Discord Orb Received: "Curses!"

Voted Epic: "Clearly some good taste is had here!" "Yes yes, we are already knowing I am good!"

Voted Legendary: "No one needs a vote to know Matias del Varga is the best!"

Revived By Mercy: "I owe you a debt of gratitude!"

Enemy Revived: "Can't you simply stay dead?!"

Sniper Sighted: "I have sniped a sighter! I mean...sighted a sniper!"

Enemy Sighted: "Get them!" "Matias del Varga sees you!"

Turret Sighted: "I am seeing a turret over there!"

Teleporter Spotted: "So this is how you are sneaking around!"

Ally Damaged: "Look out, you fool!" "Be watching your back!"

Enemy Ultimate: "Matias del Varga orders you all to hide! Now!"

Time Running Out: "I could probably do this all by myself if I wanted to!" (Defense) "All of you better be getting your acting together!" (Offense)

Point Contested: "A fight to the death it is, then!" "Defend the point, now!"

Point Being Captured: "Hands off! The point is mine!" "No one steals from Matias del Varga!" "Taking from a pirate? You have a death-wish!"

Capturing Point: "This point is claimed in the name of Matias del Varga!" "Ha ha! Mine!" "This is my point. I'm just letting you defend it!" Point Lost: "Hey! That was mine!" "Matias del Varga does not like being stolen from!"

Payload Stuck: "Get moving!" "Okay, who broke the payload?" "Why is the payload doing the stopping of the moving?"

Escorting Payload: "Will you move already?!" "We will not stop until the bag has the cat in it!"

Payload Moving: "Someone stop the payload!" "Make their payload do the stopping of the moving!"

Eliminations: "Another point for Matias del Varga!" "Goodbye!" "Ha ha! Take that!" "Another one cut down!" (Melee) "My sword is not for show, you know!" (Melee) "Goodbye, Ratty-Junkboy!" (Eliminating Junkrat) "You are not taking me back..." (Eliminating McCree, 76 or Genji) "Now where was that good luck of yours again?" (Eliminating Francois)

Multikill: "I am not the big joke anymore, now am I?!" "Cut them down! Kill them all!" "Matias del Varga defeats all!"

Turret Elimination: "I have made the turret do the 'boom-boom'!"

Teleporter Elimination: "The teleporter has gone 'boom-boom'!"

Witness Elimination: "Matias del Varga is only...mildly impressed." "I could have done that." "Hmm...impressive!" "I could use a shot like you on my crew!"

Witness Elimination of Teammate: "Better you than me, I suppose." "Hey! I was supposed to be the one to do that!" (Junkrat Eliminated)

Revenge Kill: "Matias del Varga never forgets a grudge..."

Hello: "Greetings!" "'Salivations', my friend!" "Why hello!"

Thanking: "Ah! Gracias, my friend!" "I owe you one!" "Thank you!"

Acknowledge: "Understood!" "Got it!"

Need Healing: "Matias del Varga requires the healing!" "Heal me up!"

Group Up: "Over here!" "Crew, look alive!" "Come to Matias del Varga!"

Ultimate Ready: "Men! Prepare to strike!" "Ready...aim..." "Crew! Ready the airstrike!"

Ultimate: "Airstrike! Fire!" "Incoming strike from my skies!"

Hero Interactions:

Winston: I would welcome you if you ever wanted to return to Overwatch. del Varga: My Overwatch days are over!

McCree: Got a hefty bounty on your head, del Varga. del Varga: Hefty and still uncollected, cowboy-man!

McCree: You never take it down a notch, do ya? del Varga: Says the cowboy-person who still thinks it's the Wild West!

Soldier 76: It's a shame. I kind of liked you. del Varga: The arm I lost says otherwise.

del Varga: Why do sound familiar to me? Reaper: Huh…figured you were dead.

Doomfist: Talon could use someone like you, pirate. del Varga: Ha! Matias del Varga is used by no one!

del Varga: Just stay out of my way and do not be telling me what to do! Ana: Ah...how I missed this rebellious attitude…

Genji: A pirate? Interesting! del Varga: A ninja? Boring!

Sombra: Strange. There’s not a trace of you after your Overwatch days… del Varga: I am covering my tracks very thoroughly…

del Varga: Hand over that treasure I hear you have, Ratty Junkboy! Junkrat: I’ll blow yer other arm off if ya ever try!

Francois: Kid, Blackwatch had a cowboy and a ninja.  What made ya’ think we wouldn’t take a pirate? del Varga: Clearly, you have never met my parents. Like they’d let me get away with that!

Zelia: Alright Matias, what goods have you found? del Varga: And what is in it for me, eh Zell?

del Varga: Now that is a nice pair of legs! Lorenzo: Hands off pirate!  These cost more than your ship!

Ailuros: Do you have any information about a stranded American in Australia? del Varga: Maybe Matias del Varga does, and maybe he doesn’t. What is in it for me?

Conrad: Do ya always have to be so...intense? del Varga: Matias del Varga likes to make a grand entrance!

Akane: So...the tech kid from Overwatch is all grown up now. del Varga: And with Overwatch no more!

[ohgoddard]

Storyteller.6.

The crisp winter wind nipped at the noses of Armak and Holly as they trudged through snow and ice. The world enwraps them in visages of white and light blues, obscuring all they see. Each step taken is done so with great effort, making holes in the layers of snow that are filled later by an ever coming storm atop the mountain. It was a trip Armak had been talking about for weeks now, a twinkle in his eye when he talked of the location. His words made it seem as if the place had an eternal sunbeam bestowed upon it, and the rocky slopes nothing more than soft hills. Holly was expressively mad when she arrived at the base of a mountain that stretched up for thousands of feet, rather sharply, and covered in snow. She remembers asking him , “Hey? What gives? Where’s the soft slopes and warm skies?” and Armak gave her the slyest smiled and simply said “Oh, it must have changed. Its been a while for me.” And thus began their assent. 

Holly, looking back on the fonder days of warm fields, was currently occupied in trying not to freeze to death. Clammy hands wrap around her coat, and her small cap was pulled down as far as it could go. Her elven ears are covered in earmuffs, however they were decorative earmuffs from a small town in the south. Temperatures down there never broke the “yeah its a bit chilly” threshold. However, through sheer determination and a burning hatred for the immortal that forgot something as simple as a mountain appearing , she kept walking. Maybe, she thought to herself, when we get to wherever we are going I can properly yell at him for being the forgetful old coot he is.

Armak was singing a jolly tune, his long gangly legs easily scaling the trodden mountain path. The wraps over his body tail behind him in the harsh, bitter wind. Though, he doesn’t notice it. His mind is as clouded as the mountain peaks he is climbing, but these thoughts are happy ones. Better times and good friends. The songs that say sang around the fire pits, the meals they shared, the wrestling tournaments. Even the princesses. He wishes he could see them again. 

“Armak, where are we going?! We’ve been walking for three days! And I’m running out of components to create warmth!” Her voice is muffled slightly by the roaring winds and the chattering of her teeth. Armak turns around, a puzzled look crossing his face. “Components? You have spells that can create flame?” 

“I’M TALKING ABOUT WOOD, YOU PIGEON!” Armak stood there, crossing his arms raising a feathery eyebrow.

“Resorting to names because you aren’t happy? Holly, shame on you!” 

Holly merely looked upon him, shaking, and parts of her skin turning shades of blue only rivaled by tieflings. Armak felt a burning feeling in his heart, and understood that if Holly knew how to kill with looks along, she would in this very instance.

“We are not far from where we are going. Keep your spirits up! Keep your mind off of the cold.”

“And What, pray tell oh wise and traveled one, would that be?”

“Think warm thoughts!”

A defect of being unable to feel the cold is that you do not feel when the cold has lessen your reactions. In truth, Armak was not as prepared for this journey as he thought he was. He was not dressed for it, and is nowhere near the spry… something-year-old he used to be. He forgot exactly what age he was when he last visited here. He sure as hell doesn’t remember there being a mountain here. It was a combination of all of these, his slowed reaction and ill-preparedness that resulting him not dodging the snowball shattering into his face.

“Ow.” In all his years and knowledge gained, he never learned exactly how to talk to women.

“Oh, I'm sorry, I didn’t hear you fully. Care to say again?”

The sleet still sliding down his beak, Armak got an idea. 

“I said, how about I tell you a heart-warming story?” The elf looked pleased with herself as the four snowballs she held in her hands fell to the floor. It was a hollow victory, as she was still cold and still not any closer to being warmer. If anything she was colder, having held multiple snowballs up to her chest to pelt the immortal with if he gave her lip. Still, it was a victory.

“So,” she said as her hands shakily pulled a nearly frozen notebook from her side bag, “what’re you telling me about?”

I am a deeply powerful creature, knowledgeable of kingdoms and species that have risen and fallen underneath my eyes and my eyes alone. I have seen the bravest heroes and have fought the vilest villains. Yet here I am, at the mercy of a small woman who can be no older than 12, 19 at the most. She says she's over 70, but I doubt it. His mind is full of these thoughts. “It's a story of finding family.”

He turned his back to her and began marching up the rock, her little legs barely keeping pace.

“It all began when I found out there was a rock that could grant any wish…”

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Armak snooped around the soft, grassy rolling hills of the plains. Under the guise of night , and draped in the soft purple and blue hues, his steps and presence went undetected to the guards stationed outside the war tent he was approaching. 

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------”War t-t-t-t-tent?” Holly stuttered under the cold, still trudging in the snowy rocks behind him.

“Oh yeah, I was at a war camp. Some odd years ago. The significance of it will be important later but for now, yes, I was at a war camp.”

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

 The war camp was crowded and ative, nearly hundreds in this spot alone. The camp itself stretched for a few miles, as this was an army on the move. The main tent itself sat atop the tallest of these small hills, a rather swarthy yurt. The banners of a Hoof and Roses flapped gently in the cool breeze. The guards had built a small wooden fence around the war-tent Armak wanted into, and it being a tent it was not all that hard to keep a watch for people trying to sneak in. The guards themselves were beefy beings, minotaurs of  impressive height and stature, whose eyes and ears darted every which way to catch incoming spies or saboteurs. However, Armak was a sneaky man.

Reaching into his pocket, he took out a long narrow flute. Pristine condition and a gift from an elven king for saving his wife. Armak shoved a dart into its larger opening, covered all the holes with his hands, and blew. The dart made a funny chirp as it flew from the flute and into the guard’s neck. This normally would have drawn attention, if not for the guard’s immediate collapse onto the floor. 

“OH NO, JEOVITE! YOUR HEART GAVE OUT AGAIN!” The other guard screamed as he rushed over to his fallen comrade’s body, who was only asleep. Atleast , that was Armak’s intent. He did not know the effects of sleep drugs on those with heart issues, but he was probably alright. To Armak, the Minotaur called Jeovite looked to be still breathing. Nighttime and dark fur causing vision issues aside. 

Seeing the opportunity, Armak quickly hopped the wooden stakes used for fence posts and ducked underneath the tarp of the yurt, successfully sneaking inside. And what a lavish yurt it was.

On Top of the standard yurt tarp rested a huge pillow, covered in blankets and smaller pillows. A large chest was in a corner, as well as a large table and chair for its occupant. Armak assured it was a large, burly commander. Someone he was not entirely urgent to meet. Armak may not be able to die, but he sure feels pain. He snuck around the yurt, careful not to disturb any of the many clothes and armor pieces thrown about. He nearly tripped on this huge sword that rested against the main pole of the yurt, something that looked as if a goliath couldn’t swing easily. He tiptoed over a small chest of letters, some maps with dotted lines and circles, and this book with rather impeccable handwriting in it. No, the target of his theft was the small chest he spied earlier when he entered. Making his way over, he knelt to better see its lock. A simple model, he thought to himself, I can pick this easily. He drew a talon from his claw and inserted into the lock, listening for the clicks of the tumblers, when -

“Ahem.”

A deep inhale and exhale came from Armak as he pulled his talon slowly from the lock. 

He did not move his body beyond that, which was good. He felt a cold steel pressing up against the back of his neck. 

“Now, I know this may look like I’m a spy, but I swear I’m not.”

“How exactly is that any better?”

Armak slowly turned his head to look at his now captor, and was genuinely surprised to see a woman. Less so, to see that she was a Minotaur.

“A woman? Really wasn’t expecting that.” Armak’s voice was full of confusion.

A kick in the face (or beak in his case) swiftly followed his comment, pushing the would-be thief to the floor.

“Ow…” Armak’s voice was full of pain.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------”S-So you w-were always this m-much of an asshole!”

“Holly, I am a changed bird now. I do not stand for the values of my former self.”

“S-s-s-sure..”

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

His eyes clearing up from the attack, he focused in better on exactly who he was dealing with. She was a tall lady minotaur, wearing brilliant gold and red armor with several inscriptions of roses pressed into it. She also wielded that hueg sword he saw earlier, which was impressive. Her hair was pulled behind her head into a ponytail, a hairstyle choice Armak found comical much later when he thought on this moment. She had full black eyes, a rather nice nose ring, and around her neck, was an iron chain with a huge gem in the middle.

“Oh gods-damnit. You had it the whole time!?” Armak let out a groan as he fell back onto the ground in defeat.

“Why are you here?” she said in a tone that made it clear this was not a question he could disregard.

“For the gem around your neck.”

For a fraction of a second her eyes darted down the necklace, then back to the strange wrapped man. “What of it? It carries no value to anyone but me. And no theif is stupid enough to attack me, so tell me what you’re really in here for.”

“Ma’am, I am completely serious. I didn’t even know there was a war going on.”

“That is a straight up lie, and I will stand her and be fibbed to in my own tent. Answer now or this sword goes in your throat. I am feeling merciful tonight.”

The blade tip pressed into the throat of Armak, who gulped. 

“I heard your gem could grant any wish to its wielder. That it was a gift from Djinn you bested in a game of strength. I wanted the gem so I could make a few wishes, that's all.”

The sword lowered from Armak, though he still stayed on the floor. He could hear the heavy breathing coming from the snout of the Minotaur. I wonder if honesty may truly get me out of here. Such thoughts were vanquished when the sword came right back to his neck.

“How do you know about this gem? It is an ancient artifact, handed down by chief to chief in the clan and has been for centuries. No one but heirs to the throne would know of it!” 

She leaned over Armak, pushing portions of her weight into him.

Armak paused, gasping for air. “It was the dying wish of a soldier I held in the battlefield to go find this stone so that he may see his sister again.”

All at once the force and steel lifted from his body, and Armak heard the stumbling of feet. 

He painfully forced his body to sit up, where he saw the minotaur look shocked at him.

“You..you...what did this soldier look like?” Armak wheezed as he stood up.

“He was a minotaur, just as you are. And I assume you are his sister, if logic follows.” He twisted his back, making a disgusting pop. “He was young,” Armak continued, “and could have lived much longer if not for the axe in his back. I did my best to heal him to strength but he did not let me. Said he wished to die the warrior’s death.” Armak knew he’d feel the soreness in his ribs for a while.

The minotaur sat down on her large chair,s word falling by the side of her. Her eyes looked far off into the distance. “That’s why his group never came back..not because of the terrain but...because…” her eyes turned to him. “What did you want to do with the stone?”

Armak stood there awkwardly. “I… I wished to die. I have no reason to lie to you, and have not done so yet. I have no reason for it. I wanted to die. I have been cursed with eternal life, destined to see those I love wither before me. I would find this stone and restore my death, maybe a few others I had met along my travels. I would have done it for that soldier.”

The minotaur’s eyes looked armak once over before she stood from her chair and walked towards him. There she stood a towering figure, glowering unto the poor immortal. “Even if you are right, and your intentions are noble, you are still a thief. I cannot possibly trust your word.”

That's when Armak smiled. “Then let me prove it to you. I will join your army then. I am a rather good spy, this situation not withstanding. I have knowledge in every field, and have commanded the odd army of two.” This caused the minotaur to raise her eyebrow. 

“Really? You lead an army? And why would I trust you to join my army and not ditch at the first chance you get? Or sell my secrets to Gukrag?” 

“Literally none. But some have told me I am quite humorous, so I could be a nice friend.”

“A friend? You come into my home, try to steal from me, bring me news of my brother’s death, and expect us to be friends?”

Armak blinked. “I don’t see why not. I have loads of experience with having friends. I think we could do it.”

The minotaur let out a single laugh of shock, the absolute gall of this man getting to her.

“You know what? I like you. You’re not afraid of being wrong. Because you have absolutely no experience with having friends. I can tell. So let's go on a friendship journey right now, aye buddy?”

Armak did not like where this was going. “Where would this journey be?”

“The front lines. I lead by example, thief. Friends put up with each other right? Put up with me.” With that, she grabbed him and started walking out of the tent.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------”So what happened next?” 

Holly and Armak sit inside a small cave, luckily stumbling upon it. Armak created a small fire which Holly is sitting dangerously close to, absorbing all the warmth and having the icicles hanging off her ears melt onto her journal pages.  Armak was cooking a series of mountain rodents on a stick over the fire. 

“The way all battles go. I had a sword, they had swords. Metal, flesh, blood, you know the deal. I stayed by her side the entire way to prove to her I was worth being trusted. Because honestly she was right. I had no friends. I was wandering for centuries, looking to die. That doesn’t attract friends. Atleast, any worth keeping. I wanted to be her friend, simply because she was there and didn’t try to kill me without good reason.” 

Holly looked at Armark with the same sad look she gave him when they escaped the clutches of those goblins. When he expressed his desires to be dead, only recently finding the light of life.

“Oh, I got over my reclusiveness Holly. You’re living proof of that.” A small smile ran across her face. 

“Anyways,she deemed that impressive, and even thanked me. It was the start of a long lasting, good friendship.”

“And what of the gem? And what's her name?”

Armak took a small rodent off of the spit. “You know, looking back on it this story wasn’t really heartwarming.” The elf huffed. “It had you getting deservedly punched in the face, plenty warming for me. Now answer my questions!”

Armak scratched his feathery chin. “Hm, I think I'll tell the necklace story later. It's a real adventure when I find that out. As for her name? Well i’m surprised you haven’t put two and two together already, you’re quite the smart elf.” Holly searched her mind, coming up blank for every conceivable thing she knew. “Armak, you know my knowledge of the outside world is limited. Can’t you just tell me?”

The aaracockra smiled. “Her name was Seoven.” The pencil in Holly’s hand fell tot he stone floor of the cave.

“....Seoven? The same Seoven that led the Kroven Clan in the great divide?! Who founded the southern kingdoms?!”

“One in the same.”

Holly looked at Armak with a horrified look.

“AND YOU TRIED TO STEAL FROM HER?!”

[butheresthething]

Waverly’s See It To Be It Moment

I may be turning into a bit of a one trick pony here but, yep, I’m writing about Waverly again. On the other hand, her kiss with Rosita is only incidental to what I’m thinking about so hopefully I’m not just rehashing what others have already said.

There was so much that happened in episode nine. Initially, I had a hard time settling on where to focus. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find the thing that brought me into those weeds I’m so fond of (yes, I’m aware of how that sounds and I’m going with it anyway). But after chatting with other Earpers about the episode and rewatching it, I realized I kept coming back to Waverly’s state of mind. I think there are many valid interpretations of what was going on with Waverly’s in this episode, and I think there’s truth in most. A pretty compelling argument can be made that she was feeling betrayed and blindsided by someone she trusted, or that people are always hardest on the ones they love the most. I certainly believe that confirming she isn’t genetically an Earp threw her and was a big part the choices she made in 209. I think all of it played a part. But, as I thought about it I decided there was yet another thing weighing on Waverly throughout the episode. Waverly isn’t just coming to terms with not being an Earp, she is processing the belief that she might be part revenant (full disclosure, I have yet to be convinced this is true) which I think is particularly terrifying for Waverly. In a theme that compliments Wynonna’s season long struggle with fate vs. choice, she is struggling with ideas of nature vs. nurture that play into all the feelings of inadequacy she had growing up thanks to Ward and Willa (I mean, fuck Willa).

Let’s step back and think about Waverly’s history and what she’s known her whole life. Until her conversations with Bobo at the end of season one, Waverly defined herself as an Earp first and for most. She was the most categorical in her views of the curse and the most excited to take it on. While she seemed to know she had a special relationship with Bobo specifically, there was very little gray for her about whether revenants were good or bad. She spent her whole life listening to what the curse meant and being told that her family were the heroes and revenants were monsters they were meant to hunt (some day I’m going to have a lot to say about Wyatt Earp the “hero”, but that’s likely a conversation for Season 3). Unlike Wynonna, Waverly didn’t have any personal experiences with revenants that would complicate to her view of them beyond Bobo, who she still assessed as a pretty bad dude. She could show mercy or pity them because she’s a kind person, she could be indifferent to the ones that were less dangerous because they weren’t worth her time, but whether they were inherently good or evil was never really a question Waverly grappled with in a serious way. It was something she just took for granted. Remember it was Waverly who thought the obvious thing to do was kill Jonas in episode 7, even before she saw just how awful he was.

Then add to the mix that her mom seemingly abandoned her and her dad and one of her older sisters treated her like an unwelcomed intrusion. To quote Nicole from season one she “spent whole life tailoring who she is to the people she’s with” perhaps looking to earn the approval she never got from her father, and never would after he died. A whole life of trying to be what others wanted and expected her to be, which was often the ray of light and positivity that earned her the title nicest person in Purgatory (I have thoughts on Waverly’s niceness too, for another day). Then she not only finds out she isn’t an Earp, she comes to believe she may actually be part revenant? How does one even process that at all, let alone process it in a healthy way? Her identity was not only taken from her but replaced with a belief that played to all her feelings of being unworthy and proved Willa and Ward right (of course they weren’t, and seriously, fuck Willa. And Ward). If revenants were monsters, and by nature evil, what does that make her? Didn’t Bobo and Goonnoa tell her she had unexplored darkness? Worse than that, if revenants are the “sworn enemies” of the person she loves most, Wynonna, what does that mean for their relationship? Wynonna has repeatedly expressed how amazing she thinks Waverly is, if she’s a revenant will Wynonna see her differently? All of these questions would have been swirling in her head with the anger she felt towards Nicole and everyone who lied to her about being an Earp.

So what does all this have to do with the choices she made in episode 9? Well, my interpretation of Waverly is that she is not as good at dealing with her own negative feelings as she is talking to others about theirs. In other words, Waverly is incredibly empathetic and compassionate to others but is more inconsistent when it comes to doing that for herself. Feeling angry is a lot less scary than the more complicated feelings she must be having about maybe being part revenant on top of not being an Earp. I think Waverly is wrapping all of those feelings into her anger at Nicole and holding on to it tightly, just like Nicole held tight at her identity as a protector when she felt insecure (you can read all about that in what I wrote last week about Nicole & WayHaught).

There is something that Brené Brown says about our instinct to blame that feels relevant here. Brown says that when something bad happens the first thing we look for is who’s at fault, even if we decide it’s our own fault. She says it gives us a sense of control, and of course, right now things feel very out of control for Waverly. Brown goes on to say that blaming people for things that go wrong is the discharging of pain and discomfort, citing research that says it actually has an inverse relationship to accountability. So when people focus on who’s fault it is and who they should be angry at, they aren’t actually doing anything to address the hurt that person caused. We use blame like a shield that allows us to distance ourselves from more difficult conversations and more vulnerable feelings. For Waverly, a conversation like that with Nicole would have been difficult enough. There is no discounting that what Nicole did hurt her and crossed a line. That alone means addressing some really uncomfortable truths. But in her case, the conversation would also lead to a discussion of what they learned from the DNA test, what she believes to be true, how that makes her feel, as well as risking Nicole seeing her the way she’s seeing herself right now. All of which sounds pretty brutal and scary particularly with a person who, at the moment, she is less inclined to trust.

Instead what we see her doing in the first part of episode nine is going out of her way to be, essentially, cruel to Nicole by taking shots at her in front of Dolls and Jeremy. There’s no reason for her to do that. Under normal circumstances her reaction, while understandable, seem almost out of character. People have done things that hurt Waverly before, and I’ll acknowledge it’s different because it’s Nicole, but this feels like a more pointed anger than we’ve ever seen in Waverly. We’ve seen Waverly turn inward when she’s hurt and on occasion express her anger, but we’ve never seen her be intentionally nasty (not that I can remember anyway). Later she shuts down a chance to have that needed conversation with Nicole when they’re at the police station after Beth leaves. This particular interaction might be more because Nicole used the phrase “trust me” when that is exactly the thing Nicole broke in the last episode, but whatever the cause, at this point Waverly is continuing to wear that anger like a badge of honor and is not ready to let Nicole make amends. @beep33TV points out, there is no "in character" when your whole world has been turned upside down. And that’s really the point. This is about more than being upset with Nicole, it's about everything she thought she knew being upended and made uglier than she could have imagined. It’s about feeling like there is something wrong with her and, to paraphrase Brené Brown again (I mean if I’m going to be a one trick pony I might as well own it), letting her shame gremlins, the things that whisper in your ear that you aren't worthy, cloud her judgement.

But it’s not just in her interactions with Nicole that indicate there’s more going on with Waverly than anger. This episode was also the most we’ve seen Waverly respond to positive feed back since probably season one. First with widowed (although not technically widowed) Beth of all people. Lady in black Beth portends kindness to Waverly and tells her how exceptional and lovely she is and Waverly responds with the same smile she gave Doc back in season one when he told her how impressive her research on the curse was. Then she does it again when Rosita tells her she has backbone in the hot tub. Right before she defiantly sends that epic train wreck of a text to Nicole. Waverly seems to be regressing in this episode, looking for other people to validate her just like she did before finding her voice in season one. Frankly, before she started a relationship with Nicole and reconnected with Wynonna, the two people she feels least able to trust with her insecurities right now.

Enter Rosita, who ends up offering Waverly some perspective that no one else could and helps pull her out of her spiral of self-doubt. I think she does this in three ways. Three ways that had to occur in the order they did to be effective. First, Rosita is more or less a neutral third party. Before they go to the spa together, Rosita is someone Waverly likes but has no serious emotional investment in. Rosita also has no expectations for Waverly to live up to. That immediately relieves some of the pressure Waverly must be feeling and makes her less protective of herself and thus more open to what Rosita has to say.

More specifically to Rosita, the second important thing she offers is her speech about champagne and perfection. I know that in the moment Rosita was referring to Waverly’s relationship with Nicole, but at least in part, Waverly seemed to internalize some of that to be about her. Waverly has always been a people pleaser and as a result, I think put a tremendous amount of pressure on herself to be a perfect. Now she’s a perfectionist who thinks she has proof she is an imposter and somehow inherently defective because of where she might have come from. It’s important for her to hear, that perfection shouldn’t be the goal and that imperfection is what creates the magic in life. The look on Waverly’s face hearing that seemed to me to be one of relief. She takes that breath right before deciding to kiss Rosita, and it felt like at least in that moment she let go and allowed herself the compassion she often only gives to others. It makes a lot more sense that she would respond to Rosita by kissing her if she heard “YOU are amazing because you’re imperfect” and not “your RELATIONSHIP is amazing because it’s imperfect.” The other important part of all of their interactions before the reveal that Rosita is a revenant is that Rosita gained Waverly’s trust and good will. Before Waverly has time to judge Rosita as a revenant she has established herself as a good person and allowed Waverly to see her kindness, courage, and humanity.

And then comes the big one, Rosita reveals herself to be a revenant and Waverly is given a chance to see that revenant doesn’t mean inherently evil. She is allowed to see herself in Rosita which opens her up to new possibilities for what all this might mean for her. To borrow a phrase about representation, "you have to see it to be it". Waverly up until that point wasn’t really capable of accepting that being part revenant didn’t change who she was or dictate who she could be because she had no concept of it. Despite being a revenant, Rosita seems to remain the person she was as a human (as far as we know) and didn’t “lose her soul.” If Rosita, a full revenant, wasn’t defined by that, then why would Waverly be. It’s clear that as weird as Waverly thought it all was, she isn’t upset about it. There was no distrust or anger that Rosita has been a revenant this whole time, hiding in plain sight. Not even a moment of hesitation in accepting that Rosita was still her friend. You can see the almost delight in her eyes when she stares at Rosita at Shorty’s. Waverly’s whole demeanor is different after the reveal. Some of her natural lightness and looseness is back when she talks to Rosita in the bar because a little of her burden has been lifted. And even though it started after she sent that awful text, it’s really at Shorty’s that we see Waverly begin to think more clearly about Nicole and open up to the idea doing what needs to be done to repair their relationship.

It’s doubtful that this one afternoon is enough to undo years of learned behavior or magically make her forget all the things she grew up knowing as unquestioned truths. It’s also clear from the promo that Waverly isn’t going to have much time to dwell on her feelings about being a revenant in episode 10. But I think this was the opening Waverly needed. This is the moment, the turning point, that moves her perspective just enough to stop from spinning out into that cycle of blame and anger. Rosita saved Waverly from Tucker, but perhaps she also saved her from the ghosts of Willa and Ward (did I mention, fuck Willa, and fuck Ward) and from her own gremlins. I mean least until it’s actually revealed she’s not a revenant and this whole conversation becomes moot.

Brene Brown on Blame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZWf2_2L2v8

Listening to Shame: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psN1DORYYV0