#might consider making an au...

[octoariadneeeeexoxo]

What if, Disney Junior characters, but the plot is Ensemble Stars/Project Sekai

omg thatd be cool actually

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

The Yiling Band Tour!

[plagueislost]

someone needs to take this au away from me. I have so much work i need to be doing but the neurons never stop firing

[wolvesandshine]

“What the fuck are you doing here.”

Regulus rolls his eyes. “Thought it would be fun to freeze my arse off in the cold today.”

James scoffs disbelievingly. “It’s 5 in the morning!”

Regulus just raises his eyebrow. “And?”

“Why aren’t you asleep?”

“I could ask the same thing.”

James groans out loud in frustration. “This is such a waste of time.”

“Glad we could finally agree on something. Now get out, I have to get back to training.”

“Shouldn’t you be focusing on how to kill muggles instead with your death eater friends?”

Regulus stiffens at that, anger coursing through him. “Not everyone has the luxury of choices like the gryffindor golden boy.” Regulus glared at Potter. “Some of us have to work for it.”

James goes to argue but there’s something off about the sentence. “Slytherin has beaten everyone else by miles since you became a seeker.”

Regulus looks at him like he’s the slow one. “That’s not going to cut it. I need to be signed on full time by a professional team this time next year.”

And suddenly - it clicks. James looks at the boy in front of him, really looks at him for the first time, finally understanding the desperation with which regulus plays, the ruthless efficiency combined with skill and hours of training.

This isn’t a game to him. It’s his way out.

part 2

[spacetimeaccordionfolder]

Hey what if the book got to Arthur and Parker's office like at least 3 years earlier and then canon played out as it did (but 3 years earlier) with going to harper's hill and the coma and Arthur and John are pulled into the Dreamlands in Leerie and end up in the Pits and again it's 3 years before canon so Charlie's still there and the King has no reason to keep him alive anymore really because he's got the thing he needs right over there in a different pit and hey what if Faust wasn't the one tossed into Arthur's pit

[quibbs126]

So I finally went and drew something proper, and it’s more X stuff

I was having a lot of trouble coming up with anything to draw yesterday, and eventually I just settled on some AU drawings since At least I can draw them easily. But I wasn’t able to fully get around to it yesterday so I pretty much just ended up drawing it today

It’s pretty much just various Megatrons, that I later on ended up tying with his smiles (and the blue text which is Optimus’ opinions on them)

Honestly I don’t think the drawings are half bad, outside of maybe Optimus. When I drew him, I wasn’t really sure what to draw after making the first two, so I went with something related to the things I was making

I haven’t really made much new content on this AU because I really don’t know what to do for it. After I made my PowerPoint and saw how much I was missing, I just sort of stopped because I didn’t know how to fix the issues, and just making more characters wasn’t going to fix it

With this, I have some new ideas, but they’re really just expansions on Megatron’s character and relationships with Optimus and a bit on Kiloton too, not much lore wise

But okay, let's start. I ended up putting the opinions in the art itself, so I don't really need to reiterate them here, but these thoughts from Optimus are just supposed to show some more of how he sees Megatron, particularly in his smiles

If you were to ask Optimus what his favorite smile of Megatron's is, and you assured him Megatron would not hear any of this, he'd probably admit that he finds his crazed heat of battle smile really hot. Like it does something to him the others don't. But he also very much enjoys his softer smiles, because he likes seeing Megatron genuinely happy. So, while it is not the one that does the most for him, his soft smile is probably his favorite for the reason that it's Megatron's favorite

Moving onto Megatron, I think I mentioned something in his bio about him being aggressive off field, which I'm kind of keeping as true, but not as in a mean sort of aggressive, he's just very...okay I don't actually know what the words I'm looking for are. But in my mind, he channels a lot of Earthspark Megs, albeit not nearly as old and with significantly less war crimes

He very much enjoys sparring and fights in general, they do excite him. But he also gets self-conscious about his passion in the battlefield, because he doesn't want to be reminded of his old violent self or potentially bring it back to the surface more than he already does. That's why his smiles of genuine happiness outside of the battlefield are his favorite, because they prove to himself that he is more than a war machine pretending to be something he isn't

Also, while in the process of thinking about what to draw while out today, I was able to come up with more about Megatron and Kiloton, and specifically more surrounding the events that led to Kiloton's death

I'm thinking that Kiloton, while being a caring bot and wanting to see the best in people, had a deep hatred for the Destron Virus (oh by the way, it has a name now. I don't know if I told you before) for tearing Cybertron and its people apart by forcing bots to turn against each other. And while he doesn't necessarily blame the infected bots so much, he knows they can't help it, he despises whoever created and first spread the virus and wants them dead, as well as non-infected bots who use this solely for their own personal gain

If he was part of the Autobots, it was solely because Megatron wanted to join and because Kilo wanted to help keep him safe

And then around the time of his death, during some big mission or other, he somehow (idk how) finds himself faced with the Decepticon leader (though he might not know at the time), who reveals to him that the one who caused this virus was none other than Megatron. Now Kilo is most likely not given the full situation, namely that Megatron himself doesn't know this information or that he isn't the true root of it all, this was more likely done to get Kiloton at odds with Megatron so that they would fight, since Kilo and Megatron were very close. But Kiloton is absolutely furious at this, once he gets it confirmed that this is indeed the truth, feeling utterly betrayed by the bot he loved. He was also probably infected with the virus at this point, making his anger even more pronounced

And then the confrontation between Megatron and Kiloton happened, with Kiloton wanting Megatron dead for what he's done, and Megatron not understanding, but realizing Kilo is infected and that he'll have to fight him to protect himself, but only wanting to knock him out and detain him. Megatron also thinks this secret Kiloton is so angry at him for is that he lied about being infected, which he admits is true, though he doesn't say specifically that this was what he was admitting, and Kilo thus thinks he's admitting to his involvement with the spread of the virus

Then during the ensuing fight, in a moment of pure instinct and complete accident, Megatron shoots Kiloton fatally, leading to his death, and in Kilo's final moments, he still hates Megatron for what he did. Also in these moments, some of Kilo's final words implies to Megatron that what he was mad at him for wasn't his infection but something else, but by the time he realized, Kilo was already dead

Megatron feels horrible about his death for a multitude of reasons. First off, the obvious point of him killing his lover, that's going to put a damper on things. But it's also because Kiloton's death was entirely unnecessary; while he put up way more of a fight than anyone would have expected from him, he was not dangerous enough that death was the only option, he very easily could have just been detained. But Megatron killed him anyways. And even if it was an accident and he never meant to kill him, it made him more scared of his old self, thinking that maybe it's just in his nature to destroy, as it was his battle instincts that led to him shooting Kiloton, thus reinforcing that idea in his mind that he is nothing more than a killing machine. And on top of all that, he'll never know what it was that made Kiloton so angry with him in that battle, because he knows now that it wasn't his infection. But Kiloton's dead, so he'll never know (well he will find out the truth later, but this is his perspective after the fact)

While in current day he and Optimus are together, it took a long time and a lot of comforting and reassurance, a good chunk of it from Optimus himself, for him to get over what happened and to try and move on from Kiloton

And also with this I realize I need to expand more on Megatron and Optimus' relationship and what it means to them and why they're together

I can at least say that I don't think, provided Kiloton had lived or the circumstances around his death had never happened, that Kilton and Megatron's relationship would have lasted the way Optimus and Megatron's is supposed to

It's not that they didn't love and cherish each other, but it's the fact of the virus and Megatron's involvement in it. In the scenario where Kiloton had lived and said what he knew to the other Autobots, while he would have found out that Megatron legitimately didn't know about it, and thought he was admitting to something far lesser, he still wouldn't have entirely forgiven him for his involvement in this mess, and would probably still feel hurt at the betrayal of Megatron not telling him about his infection as well, even if it is the lesser of things. And Megatron would have been soul crushed by the revelation of his involvement as well, probably also because the bot he loves and the first to show him kindness now resents him for it all. And even if none of that happened and the truth came out to everyone at the intended time it's supposed to, Kilo would still have some resentment for Megatron in this instance. And even if Kilo eventually forgave Megatron because he genuinely didn't know and it wasn't really his fault, their relationship would never be what it once was after this

Meanwhile with Optimus, when this information gets learned, he's supposed to be there with Megatron when he finds out, knowing the entire time that Megatron didn't know. And while he'd still be hurt that Megatron didn't trust him with the knowledge of his infection, it wouldn't be relationship breaking because he knows Megatron has felt guilty about this, and he's admitted to Optimus that he has a secret that he's scared to tell Optimus of, this being it. And it kind of pales in comparison to the bombshell that just dropped on Megatron at this moment. Optimus is actually the one to try and get Megatron out of the meltdown this leads to, by assuring him that this was never his fault, and he knows that Megatron wants to be a good person and is not defined by his origins

And with that, I'm not sure I have much else I've come up with. Like I said, I need more on Megatron and Optimus, but I do at least have some things here

And I think that about wraps up all the relevant stuff I have here. Not sure what I'll draw next, hopefully AU related

I do have two sort of ideas, namely drawing them with hair because the Mega Man characters have hair and I just want to, and also making a megop kid here because it's been an idea in my head, and I want to. Granted that latter option might still need to wait until later, I think I need to make more before I get ahead of myself. So probably the hair thing then

But I want to name them Convoy, since you know, that name isn't really being used here and I can

Anyways yeah, that's about it

[itz-pandora]

Honestly kinda curious since Sonia and Manic(Scourge) both exist in misc au

Does Aleena exist as well? Or does Bernie or Jules from Archie? Or even Chuck from the western cartoons?

Essentially what's Sonic's family look like /j

OKAY so I drafted this up rq!

Chuck and Jules are brothers. Jules and Aleena are divorced and had Sonia. Jules and Bernie are married and had Sonic and Scourge. Bernie and Brenda are sisters. Brenda and Paulie are married and had Tania

So now Sonia is Sonic and Scourges half sister and actually I like this

[sugar-pink-poison]

"Oh my gosh, hi!!! Are you new? You look new! You have really pretty eyes, I like how they sparkle in the light! Hey, that's my name!! I'm Twilight Sparkle and you're new! Welcome to Ponyville, I'm sure you're gonna love it! I'm the town's performer and magician and I'm sure we're gonna be the best of friends in no time! Do you need a tour, I can give you a tour-"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~🌟~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Princess Luna told Pinkie to try and make some friends she probably hadn't been picturing a slightly battered, seemingly jinxed and mildy manic magician/storyteller

Swap!Twilight has the "frantic and adorkable" setting turned up to 15

[justabeewithapen]

(no art needed) ((also please let me know if I'm sending too much stuff too quickly))

In Homestuck there's a character named Arquiusprite, who is an amalgamation of two different characters. He actually loves what he is, he sees himself as the best of both worlds. I think it's a pretty cool subversion of the concept of Frankenstein-esque characters

What's an instance in which Doey would be grateful for what he is? The answer can be about AU, canon, or both.

((no worries whatsoever!!))

How I HC Doey functioning mentally for canon is practically the same as how I HC him for my AU, so I think the answers would be the same as well! (There are definitely differences in how… mixed he is between my au and canon but I wave that off for now haha!) I don’t think there are any instances where he is grateful per say, but there are times where he sorta indulges in it…

Like I have mentioned before I tend to interpret Doey as a singular entity that has chunks, fragments, memories of the three kids used to make him. Bringing back the blender metaphor; you have taken these kids and put them in a blender that wasn’t ran for long enough, so sometimes in the middle of your smoothie you get a chunk. The identity and consciousness of these individual kids just aren’t there anymore, only little bits of their memories and emotions and half thoughts. It’s hard to be grateful for a situation that has gone so poorly.

I think he at his most selfish just wishes they did the job right, that there weren’t these chunks of people he isn’t anymore inside him, rotting away. That he didn’t have to be all that was left of them, that they’d go away and stop haunting his life. However, after learning his own creation, he generally feels a lot of guilt, that he is alive and they aren’t. This is the part that relates to your question here because sometimes he’ll purposefully try and pan for those chunks of memories in his mind and just… idk get lost in them. Pretend that the lives he gets snippets of are properly his, what it would be like to have a pet, or eat icecream, visit the beach. When things are really grim and awful there are moments where he almost is happy to have this place he can hide in, even just briefly. He is still a kid, he’s just not those kids, not anymore. He wonders if they would have liked him…

These moments can only last so long because these fragments are so messy it inevitably either gets out of control or they break apart and it’s back to that generator! I don’t think he is every really grateful for being made the way he was, but when things are going well he hopes that he is doing right by them and that he can somehow prove their deaths weren’t just a waste. If he can just do more for everyone around him, he can prove it… he can… In the meantime, he won’t let their memories go forgotten.

[swhhdr-wthhr]

i AM going to make a sanders sides jekyll and hyde au and it IS going to be heavily inspired by the glass scientists. but just different enough to count as a jekyll and hyde au and not a tgs au

[hazelkjt]

Glamtober 24- "Dress To Impress"

"And you're sure this'll help?" "If that simpleton doesn't take notice of you after this, then he is by far the most dense man I have ever had the displeasure to know."

Lady Laniaitte de Haillenarte assisting Hazel in getting ready for an outing with one Emmanellain de Fortemps, mostly for the sake of her own sanity watching the "Will They/Won't They" unfold right before her eyes.

Hazel Glam-

Boulevardier's Hat (Jet Black & Dalamud Red)

Valentione Emissary's Ruffled Dress (Jet Black)

Dirndl's Wrist Torque (Dalamud Red)

Woodland Warden's Skirt (Jet Black & Dalamud Red)

Loyal Housemaid's Pumps (Dalamud Red & Jet Black)

Rakshasa Earring of Slaying

Archeo Kingdom Choker of Slaying

[starry-bi-sky]

honestly thank GOD danny does not have his powers available to him in WTNS because if he used them as Nightingale he would be terrorizing Gotham's nightlife with them. like nothing would change he'd still be emergency backup (by his own choice) but his psychological torment just went up by 20 degrees.

creepy ghost children are already a pretty big staple in horror games and movies, tons of scary games where the antagonist is a scary dead child. well!!! now that scary dead child is Nightingale! and you have his Bat! It's like I always say: 'nightingales should be heard and not seen'

(as reference to the fact that according to the british museum, nightingales are elusive and private creatures and tend to be heard more than they are seen)

imagine being a goon that successfully trapped the Bat and then some indeterminable minutes later you hear a gentle rapping at the window like a branch tapping the glass and you turn and there's just two glowing green eyes in the window. The eyes are shorter than you, you blink or yell or cry out and then suddenly the small shadowy figure is gone.

you hear a nearby window creak and groan, you turn and a window nearby is propped open just a sliver. its not the window you saw the eyes from, the sliver is too small for any human to come in. there are footsteps, soft and teeny, circling around you. you keep seeing a small figure darting around through the reflections of the window. the lights are flickering, something is whooshing up above you.

imagine seeing a black silhouette with only green eyes climbing in from the window -- except, you only see it in the reflection of a window and when you look behind you, where the figure should reliably be coming in from, there is nothing there. the window isn't even open. or worse, maybe it is. but just a crack.

Danny isn't there to dawdle, but in the time its going to take for him to release/recover his Bat, he is going to make it your problem. and your fresh new night terror and ten years paid therapy!

[scionshtola]

a bit of sugar

pairing: Corisande Ymir/Y'shtola Rhul word count: 1.5k | rated: G | read on ao3 summary: A date with Corisande at the county fair has Y'shtola reconsidering what she really wants out of their time together. notes: another fic in the rodeo au verse, where Y'shtola is a geologist come to survey the land of the ranch that Cori works on. written for Wolshtola Week Day 4 - Date Night! [divider credit]

Just inside the entrance to the county fair, Y'shtola waited for Corisande in the shade of a large tree. A cool breeze blew gently through the fairgrounds, fluttering her skirt about her knees. The grounds were bigger than she had expected, and far more crowded, too, so used had she grown to the small town establishments she now frequented.

A steady stream of people bustled through the entrance, many of whom beelined for the same line Corisande now stood in. They were at the front of the queue now, and as tall as they were, Y'shtola could just see them from here—their pink tipped ears, the burgundy curls that streamed down their back, head and shoulders above most of the others in line. A tiny flutter started somewhere in her stomach, a feeling that, to her continual chagrin, she could no longer describe as unfamiliar.

She tried not to think anything of it. It was only a trip to the fair, after all—a date, Corisande had called it, when they had asked if she wanted to come. Seeing as she already spent most of her time—personal and professional—with Corisande, it didn't seem anything to get worked up about. But even that logic did not stop the warmth that spread through her chest as they approached, smiling brightly as they brandished neon pink wristbands in one hand.

"Unlimited rides," Corisande said, and reached for Y'shtola's hand. They wrapped the band carefully around her wrist, their fingers brushing warmly against her skin as they smoothed the adhesive into place, and the fluttering in Y'shtola's stomach started up again with the thrill of their touch. She felt vaguely ridiculous, like a schoolgirl with a silly crush rather than a grown woman who had, more than once, done far more than brush fingers with Corisande.

Corisande handed over the remaining wristband. "It almost matches your hair," Y'shtola teased, tugging on a pink curl that fell in front of Corisande's shoulder, warming when she laughed. When Y'shtola was done settling the wristband into place, Corisande twisted her wrist and laced her fingers easily with Y'shtola's. There was so much affection in her gaze that it took some effort for Y'shtola to turn away and study the fairgrounds beyond her. "Where do we start?"

"I recommend saving the food for after the Tilt-a-Whirl. But—" Corisande gestured at a nearby booth. Several teens sat on stools, shooting water into the open mouths of laughing clowns, bright balloons inflating above their heads. "—If you would like a giant stuffed bear to carry around all night, we can start with the games."

"You're certainly confident," Y'shtola teased, laughing when Corisande replied, with a shrug, "I have good aim."

Quite the understatement, considering Y'shtola had seen their performance at the rodeo, where they had hit their target with the loop of their rope with ease each time. She leaned into Corisande and said, "Tilt-a-Whirl it is, then. But I expect to eat far too much fried food before the night is over, and to bring home at least one unreasonably sized plush animal."

"Don't worry," Corisande replied, leaning down to kiss her. They squeezed her hand as they started guiding them both toward the rides. "I'd never let you leave the fair without at least one fried Oreo for the ride home."

The afternoon passed by in a whirlwind as Corisande tugged her between rides, starting with the Tilt-a-Whirl, as promised, before moving on to others—the Cliffhanger and the Downdraft and the Skyscreamer, side by side, bumping shoulders while they soared through the air. Corisande's cheers carried through the air as they spun and fell, and Y'shtola, heart racing and stomach dropping as the Mega Drop carried them fast toward the ground, lifted her voice to match, laughing and yelling alongside her.

Y'shtola found herself a little amazed—and perhaps a little enamored, when she let herself give in to the sentiment—by the way Corisande was so free with their affection in public. They held her hand as they walked between rides, fingers laced; they shifted their arm around her shoulders when they stood in line, pressed her to their side, dipped down to kiss her seemingly whenever they had the urge. It was easy for Y'shtola to press back into their touch, to lean into the long line of their body, to rise on her toes to meet their kiss. Y'shtola marveled at every touch, delighted in each kiss Corisande pressed to the back of her hand, at how intuitively it came to her to kiss the curve of their shoulder in return.

They found a table as the sun set, orange sky giving way to the faded blue of dusk, two bottles of Coke and a large basket of fries between them. Y'shtola smoothed her dress under her thighs before she sat in the plastic chair, and Corisande tangled their long legs, bare below the hem of their denim skirt, with hers beneath the table. Every so often their fingers brushed as they reached for the basket of fries at the same time, and Y'shtola's cheeks would warm at the sweet curve of Corisande's smile across the table.

They moved on to other attractions after, bumper cars and the carousel, laughing at themselves in the mirrors of The Funhouse and kissing in the dark corners where they were sure no one was behind them. A surprising amount of carnival games involved aiming—tossing basketballs into a basket and rings onto a bottle, knocking over pins with a softball—and by the time they made it to the booth Corisande had first pointed out, with the water guns and the laughing clowns, they had already accumulated a myriad of plush animals: a small monkey that now swung from Y'shtola's purse, velcro hands clasped around the strap; a fanged cat with wings and a cape; and a large stuffed paissa wearing a white chef's hat.

"Please," Y'shtola said plaintively, when Corisande proved herself exceptionally good with the water gun. "We can't carry around any more of these creatures."

Corisande studied the wall of prizes, humming with consideration. After a moment, she lifted something delicately from the wall, and turned back to Y'shtola. In the palm of her hand laid a bracelet made of large white beads, the size and shape of plastic pearls. A small, heart-shaped charm dangled from between the beads.

"May I?" Corisande asked, gesturing to Y'shtola's arm. Y'shtola obliged, heart skipping as Corisande lifted her arm, cradling her wrist gently as she slipped the bracelet over her hand. Beneath the flashing lights of the games, the white beads were almost pearlescent. It was silly, only a plastic piece of children's costume jewelry, but when Y'shtola looked up into Corisande's fond gaze, she felt the way she had on the Mega Drop, her stomach dropping and her heart racing with the thrill of the fall.

"It matches your hair," Corisande teased, taking the ends of Y'shtola's hair between her fingers just as Y'shtola had done to her earlier, and Y'shtola rose to kiss her.

Their lips were warm and inviting against hers, sweet from the powdered sugar of the funnel cake they'd shared. She kissed her and kissed her, fingers curling in the belt loops of Corisande's skirt, until the teenager who ran the booth clapped his hands and said, briskly, "Okay! Who's up next?"

"There's one more thing I want to do," Corisande said, when they pulled apart, laughing, noses bumping. Y'shtola swept her thumb across Corisande's cheek and was rewarded with a warm smile before Corisande straightened. She slung her arm over Y'shtola's shoulder as they walked, and Y'shtola, still warm with affection, leaned into her and slipped her hand into the back pocket of Corisande's skirt.

The line for the Ferris Wheel was short when they reached it, and it wasn't long before Corisande was helping Y'shtola into the carriage. It was fully evening now, and as they rose above the fairgrounds, night stretched dark across the countryside in all directions. But even with the lights blazing below them, the stars were bright and beautifully visible above them. It reminded her of that first evening she had spent with Corisande, dancing beneath the stars outside her motel room, music floating out of the windows of Corisande's pickup truck. And that second evening, too, kissing for the first time under the night sky, wrapped up warmly in each other's arms.

Is this how it would always be, here with Corisande? The two of them, side by side under a brilliant night sky. Hands in each other's pockets, leaning into touches, kissing sugar off each other's lips. Sharing silly gifts and fries and dances and warm, sweet smiles. Is that what she wanted—until the job was complete, of course, however many weeks or months that might be—so long as it was Corisande next to her?

Y'shtola looked at Corisande, who had her head tilted back as she gazed up at the stars. A small smile played at the corners of Corisande's heart-shaped mouth, growing when she turned to face Y'shtola and saw her already looking back. Y'shtola's heart raced as their gazes met, as if they were soaring through the air on one of the roller coasters rather than spinning slowly on the Ferris Wheel. When Y'shtola leaned in to kiss them, they met her mouth sweetly, and the last of her uncertainty was brushed away with gentle fingers on the back of her neck, twining into the ends of her hair.

[summertimemusician]

Linktober 2024, Day 1, Mirror (Self)

Alright here we go again.

Technically a sneak peak of a bigger thing to come in the future that I'm repurposing, and the result of my final playthrough and readthrough before EoW dropped being Four Swords Adventures and that made me sad about Shadow Link again.

Note that this is for the Four Swords Adventures iteration of Shadow Link that might evolve into an LU Shadow, not Dark Link in either LOZ or LU, I have other plans for him.

This one shot was brought to you by Scars by The Crane Wives, Ribs by The Crane Wives, Ruin by The Amazing Devil and Two Minutes by The Amazing Devil because the author's playlist decided to be incredibly cheeky when they blacked out to write this like an ancient seers being cursed with visions and then called mad and hearing they've been put up for execution.

As always the nature of the relationship can be romantic or platonic, mostly due to the author's time constraints and further plans.

Anyway enjoy the reading!

It was cold.

The sort of cold after a wildfire, when everything's turned back to ash, the sort that left burned your vision white after the flames licked through your veins and left an ache in your bones. He shuddered, coughed black onto the stone floor, shaking with a muffled whimper.

It never got any easier, being dragged from the Dark World and into the Realm of Light, the goddesses' world itself revolting against an intruder, wanting the wound torn asunder into their oh so precious realm cauterized. To purge the intrusion and smite it where it stands.

Too bad for them (and for him), his master didn't particularly care about what the world wanted. Didn't particularly care that he hadn't grow accustomed to the pain or the cold, he had to stand up. There was work to be done.

(Shadow gritted his teeth, willed himself not to think about the prophecy of a golden haired princess- because whether he liked it or not, it was prophecy. As those with divinity running through their veins are wont to spill from their throats so carelessly- of violet eyes and a smile a third moonlight and hands holding a hammer.

It always hurt more, after one of the heroes liberated one of the maidens, or the jewels, the pain lingering for days afterwards and carving a home in his metaphorical bones. But just this once he'd take the cold bite of the Four Swords over the pain in the hole in his chest that Vio's betrayal had left, something that felt so much worse than every other time before.

Just this once he wished that maybe, just maybe, the hurt would be too much to bear, that he wouldn't wake up again-

Why? Why does it hurt so much but he's still here? He already knew the Light was uncompromising and unforgiving, but he thought them at least above curses.)

His ears twitched as soft, almost silent footsteps came up to his side. Someone crouching by his fallen form, setting a cautious hand over his own that Shadow couldn't help but draw away from with a hiss, blinking as his eyes adjusted to the world again, to your face, carefully blank as you guided him to lean against your side, a silver choker with a crimson gem winked mockingly at him, the shade closing his eyes and going boneless against your side.

Shadow was so, so tired.

He heard you quietly sigh, plucking his cap from his head and running your fingers through dark amethyst, smoke and mist made hair. "I told you so."

"Shut up." He grumbled, nuzzling further into the crook of your neck. One clawed hand curling against your free wrist, digging into the skin. Absentmindedly noting there were new scratches just above the metal.

It was routine by now, the warmth of your existence against his own a welcome balm, not quite of the Realm of Light where it's unpleasant, not too close to the Dark World where he felt like melting back into the embrace of the darkness, only to howl in agony at being dragged out.

Memories not quite his own bled into his mind all the time. How you'd shape ice into flowers for the princess in winter with nary a though, of blinking and from one second to the next you'd have whatever sword he had hostage if you though it was time for a break with a smile brighter than the sun.

His master had changed that though. It took months for you to stop trying to claw the collar out and to stop trying to fight Vaati.

(Funny how holding a mage's dragon as a bargaining chip is just as effective as kidnapping a ruler.)

Your gaze flicked to the polished obsidian of the Dark Mirror, to the gold, ornate frame. "The offer is still open, you know. Let me take the suffering from you."

"No." He scowled, leaning back to glare into your eyes, a hint of fangs poking out from a maw struggling to keep the shape of a human jaw, "You helped him. Helped them." Shadow spat, there is that hurt again.

You shrugged, a movement that's just slightly awkward as you flinch, "That I did." You confirmed simply, it almost made Shadow see red as he leaned away, knocking your hand from his head in the process, but if there's anything him and the heroes shared, was a lack of a desire to hurt you. It was a little grating to be honest, "Vio even offered to take me with him, to be honest."

"Then why didn't you leave?" He demanded.

Why did you stick around?

Your eyes shuttered, a hint of conflict in your pursed lips. Before you found your words, they come out softly, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you why. You'll just have to find out yourself."

You tug your wrist from his grasp, and Shadow lets you go.

(Stubbornly pushing down on memories and emotions that arearen'tarenotanymore quite his.)

You stand and turn away, pushing the curtains away from your sight, you turn your tired eyes to Shadow with an emotion he can't put a name to. "Just keep it in mind that there's more than one way to end this. Nothing is truly inevitable."

Shadow watches you go. 'There's nothing that can be done. He tells himself, hand hesitating above the Dark Mirror, briefly, it curls into a fist. The hero's original self stares back at him.

'… Does he really believe that?'

He shakes his head, and focuses on willing the Dark Mirror to show him his counterpart.

His chest still hurts.

[toomanylinkstoolittletime]

okay so I'm reading through a few more posts about the luca situation, and while now I've calmed down and recognized that it's "unsanctioned" and also "fanart", that still doesn't tamp down my excitement! it still means a lot that even the co-director on the movie had similar queer interpretations like the rest of us, and it's still sweet!

[quibbs126]

I had some mental wires cross the other day and it basically came up with the idea of: AU where Megatron and Megatronus Prime are the same guy, he just changed his name

I know one of the wires was Animated, and I assume the other was One or some other continuity with the 13

So Megatron originally was a Prime, with the idea he was one of the rulers of Cybertron alongside the other 13, being a council of sorts. But at some point he turned on the other Primes for whatever reason, probably killed one or two, founded the Decepticons and started the war. And also this caused the Thirteen to basically dissolve as a group, even if some of them are still alive

He changed his name from Megatronus Prime to just Megatron, both because the other Primes basically discharged him from the group after his betrayal, and because he himself wanted to cut ties and association with them. Though his demotion is more in name only, as he’s currently too powerful for anyone to actually take away the power being a Prime grants him

Oh and with that, in my head here Prime is a high status and something someone becomes, not just by taking the name but there’s physical changes too, essentially being an upgraded form. But they’re also not immortal or gods and the Thirteen might not all be the first Transformers, direct creations of Primus. Don’t know where Megatron falls into that category then, but he is a Prime and has been for a long time

Optimus meanwhile is someone only given the name “Prime” after Megatron’s betrayal and after the Thirteen are dissolved. I’m not sure if he’s the only new Prime after the dissolution, because again I like the idea of other Primes being around, but he’s at least the first new one. He might also be the one with the power to appoint new Primes, since he holds the Matrix which is what makes them

I really need to stop coming up with random AU ideas, especially when I know I’m not going to use them. They’ll just be there for a few days and then I forget all about them. *sigh*

To be honest, I think part of the problem is I never think of them outside of Optimus and Megatron, and maybe a couple other characters like Elita and Starscream. I need to work on that

But I at least wanted to share this one, because I don’t think I’ve heard the concept and I also don’t think I’ve seen much of the idea of Megatron at some point being a Prime, not even in Shattered Glass, and the idea tickles me