#no if ghosts were to exist they would have their own rules and would honestly need to be scientifically studied as Beings

[pinkfey]

ghost thoughts for no reason >:3

[bolithesenate]

Hi! For some reason it wont let me ask from the blog I want it to, which is why the random name, but I really love your stuff! Quick question - what do you think would he Dooku/Sifo Dyas/Jocasta/Jaster’s main rule(s) for Padawans/foundling-child-thingy?

Sorry if this is boring or smthing its just Ive decided your word on these things is law!

Thank you!!! Xxxxxxx

eyyy!! never apologize for blessing my inbox with asks! especially not about the blorbos!!

Now, I'm not entirely sure on what you mean with 'what their main rules on children' are.... but that just means my answer gets to be more elaborate.

Sifo-Dyas:

In my head he is the most child loving of the bunch. He would THRIVE on taking a Padawan and honestly I could even see him have a biological child most out of all four of them. But he bars himself from either because of his visions – since there's no telling on how they would interact with a Master/Padawan bond or smt similar he isn't willing to risk a child's wellbeing for his own desires.

That being said, he lives all the more vicariously through Dooku and Jocasta when they take Padawans. (As well as visits the Crèche any day he can) In any universe he and Jaster are a thing he definitely tries his best to be of assistance there as well, even if just as a long-distance-father. He doesn't care if someone claims it's attachment. Raising children is only good and just and if he can help in ANY capacity he will do so and you'd have to kill him first to make him stop.

(And even then his Force ghost probably would find ways to meddle)

Dooku:

Dad-in-denial-supreme.

His stuck-up ass will loudly proclaim he doesn't like children and that they are too noisy and erratic and then turn around and immediately take the next best street urchin under his wing. Provided they look at a lightsaber with even a modicum of interest.

I mean, considering the NUMEROUS apprentices he has in the different flavors of canon (Rael, Qui-Gon, Komari, Sev'rance, Grievous, Assaij, Savage) this man simply is MADE to teach.

In fact, people wiser than me (hi Jess), have famously said that he'll actually go stir-crazy if he doesnt have someone to drill in makashi.

He isn't the best at emotions, but that's what he has Sifo for. And also he WILL offer each and every one of his Padawans/Apprentices/pseudo-children a place in House Serenno's actual lineage, even if just to spite his dead father and brother. But only after they turn 18/are knighted. Whichever comes first. (similarely to Jaster, he refuses to paint any more of a target on a child's back than strictly necessary)

Jaster:

As absolutely child-loving as most Mandos are. He would have adopted many more children already if not for the target that his existence as Mand'alor paints on them.

So while he tries to find them good homes, unless he is directly responsible for them or honor bound in some other way to adopt, he might refuse to say the words (even if it pains him gravely).

In any universe where he's in a relationship with the rest of the blorbos, you better bet he sees their Padawans as his foundlings-by-extension. Even if all the Jedi WILL argue that it is not the same (except Sifo, Sifo can has and will support this interpretation of the Master-Padawan bond until his dying breath). Although, again, he might not ever make it official. Politicians have many enemies. MANDALORIAN politicians doubly so. That isn't beneficial for a child's health long-term.

In any universe where he never gets to be Mand'alor tho he has like 10 foundlings MINIMUM.

Jocasta:

Last but not least. For her, children/padawans were a very distant thought most of her life. Biological ones she would never have in my opinion – either she's infertile to begin with or she got a permanent solution to prevebt pregnancy early on.

And while she did eventually take on three Padawans (yes, Olee counts even if she was stolen from her), she always considered them more students/peers than children in the familial sense. She just isn't very maternal in any capacity, but that is fine.

While she isn't involved a lot in the child-rearing aspects of whatever kids the other three drag along, she very much IS always up for bending some rules in favor of her precious nepo-niblings. Being the Head Archivist lets you get away with quite a bit.

Especially if it ultimately benefits the kid in question academically.

I hope the answer you were looking for is in here, otherwise let me know! I'm always up for talking more about the blorbos!

[antianakin]

@theneutralmime

You might have to be more specific than that. Most of what we see done with the Force is perfectly normal, like being able to block blaster bolts with a lightsaber and stuff, so I guess I'll try to hit on some of the bigger more controversial uses of the Force and see if these answer your questions. Keep in mind that the Force is generally a pretty SOFT magic system and while there are definitely some guidelines to it, there's a lot you can get away with via "rule of cool" here.

Somehow Palpatine returned: Arguably Palpatine living is actually perfectly within canon given that we have examples of Sith characters living through shit that should've killed them, most obviously Maul (something done by Lucas himself so we can't just blame it all on Disney bringing characters back). But within Disney canon there's also the Grand Inquisitor and Reva who both live through injuries that seem like they should've killed them by utilizing the dark side to sustain them. So Palpatine living is actually perfectly do-able within canon in terms of "how the Force works", regardless of how stupid it was NARRATIVELY and how annoying I find the trend in general.

Luke's Force projection: This doesn't seem like that weird to me, it's definitely NEW and not something we saw anybody else doing in prior films, but it's also not something anyone else would've truly benefited much from and given that it kills Luke almost immediately afterward, it's clearly a VERY last resort option and only really useful as a distraction anyway. It's not that far off of the whole Force Ghost idea to me and sort-of draws on the idea that the Jedi are empaths to some degree, so I'm not too fussed about this. It's fun and I appreciate all the clues about what's happening that are THERE if you look for them but not necessarily super obvious before the reveal.

Leia saving herself from the vacuum of space: I don't dislike this one either, actually. Leia's got a couple of seconds or so in which she can react to a warning from the Force somehow and while we don't see any other Jedi actively fighting in space without a suit or anything, we DO see Plo Koon fighting in space with nothing but his air mask which should still kill him and somehow doesn't, so it's not like Leia surviving this is completely out of the realm of possibility to me. Besides, it's the first super explicit use of the Force Leia got in the films and pissed off a lot of crybaby fanboys who were convinced Leia wasn't Force sensitive, so I'm willing to give it a lot of grace for that alone.

The Force dyad: I actually don't have an issue with the mechanics of the dyad and more have an issue with the way it's utilized in the narrative. Personally, I find it a little silly that some sort of extra special Force connection would exist between two people at THIS point in time and not like... when a literal child of prophecy was alive. If I was going to believe there was a special Force connection between ANYBODY, it would've been Anakin/Obi-Wan (narratively foiled anyway and involves a child of prophecy) or Luke/Leia (twin children of the child of prophecy separated at birth for their own safety). And of course, if it HAD to be in the Sequel trilogy for whatever reason, we all know it should've been Finnrey, for a MULTITUDE of reasons. The other issue I have with the dyad is that they change it from Snoke creating it specifically to mess with Kylo in TLJ to their connection being some sort of special prophecized thing by TROS, so it's not even clear in the narrative what precisely the damn thing even IS or why Rey and Kylo even HAVE IT because the stupid directors and studio execs couldn't agree on it I guess.

Force healing: I know some people have major issues with this one and I get why, but it honestly doesn't bother me that much. TROS explains it as being a byproduct of the dyad anyway, something ONLY these people can do because being connected the way they are allows them to access powers no one else could. It's one of the ways I think the dyad DOES work in the sense that if they're going to give these two characters this special connection then hey fuck it why not use it to let them have a special Force power a lot of fans want to see but that wouldn't really make sense in any other context? I'm obviously NOT a huge fan of "Force healing resurrection via True Love's Kiss" or whatever, but the general concept of Force healing coming from the dyad works fine for me. It's a little heavy handed and on the nose, but... it's fine.

Leia saving Kylo through... "Force whammy"?: This is the big one I hate, this is the one I cannot STAND. If Sith/Dark siders could just be Force whammied into not being evil anymore, WHY DID NOBODY DO THIS TO ANAKIN. Why isn't Obi-Wan trying this from Tatooine, why doesn't Ahsoka try this, why doesn't Yoda or Luke try this? Yes, it kills Leia to do it, but if it whammies Anakin away from being dark and turns him against the Emperor earlier, WHY NOT DO IT. And where would Leia have even LEARNED HOW TO DO THIS, why did she WAIT so long to do it if she knew how this whole time? But the biggest reason I hate this is because it fucks up the entire theme of Star Wars which is CHOICE. If the Sith and Darksiders can just be Force whammied into goodness again, it takes away the CHOICE they need to make to be good. It's SO SO VITALLY IMPORTANT that these characters CHOOSE TO BE GOOD AGAIN if that's the path they're going to go down. It's important that they chose to evil and it's important that they choose to be good again. A Force whammy isn't a fucking choice, it's Leia just... jumpstarting Kylo's brain or whatever. It's just wiping out the things causing him to be evil I guess so that it's just no longer a problem. It's cheating, it's STUPID. And if they'd gone with the idea that Kylo was genuinely being like mind-controlled by Snoke into doing the things he's doing and that none of this WAS his choice and so the Force whammy allows him to finally make his own choices again, that would be one thing, but both TFA and TLJ emphasize that this isn't the case, Kylo is MAKING THESE CHOICES ON HIS OWN and continues to make them no matter how many people offer him another chance to do better. It doesn't matter if it's his father or Rey or Luke, Kylo just KEEPS MAKING THE SAME CHOICES, even after Snoke is dead. A Force whammy should do NOTHING to Kylo because he's not being controlled and it takes away the entire point of Kylo's story being that he CHOSE TO BE EVIL and that he, unlike Anakin, cannot just be saved by love alone. This one stinks, this isn't how the Force works, and it's not how this narrative works.

The only other controversial thing I could think of was how quickly Rey learns to do things, but that's not so much a matter of "how the Force works" because everything she does is pretty basic Force skills like telepathy, telekinesis, and mind tricks.

[obsoleteozymandias]

Pretty sure I saw somewhere you were familiar with Off by Mortis Ghost. May I humbly ask you for some headcanons of the dorm leaders with a reader that's Basically a Zone 1 elsen?

It's ok if you don't want to also

Anon ANON *grabs you by the shoulders and shakes you* I need you to know that this ask specifically is what made me return to my inbox today. 

Here’s what I’m thinking in terms of this: A reader would be a student with magic who is extremely shy, hardworking, and emotionally distant/blank. They don’t have much of a presence at school, and tend to blend in. 

But one day - everything happening to them (whatever it is, I’ll leave up to your imagination) leads to them overblotting, much like an elsen - their mouth spewing blot like smoke until it consumes their head and turns them into a specter/overblot form.

So for the sake of this ask, I’ll divide it into two parts per person: pre-blot and post-blot. I’ll also assume you’d be a member of their dorm. Also warning: this is long. 

== Twisted Wonderland Headcanons ==>

+Elsen!Reader

Riddle Rosehearts: 

Pre-Blot: Riddle notes your very shy personality quickly, picking up that you seem to actually be fond of rules and work. He admires your persistence, and finds a kindred spirit in your dedication to organization. But underneath that all…he gets the feeling there is an immense weight you carry on your shoulders, much as he did. He pays extra attention to you after that. 

Post-Blot: Riddle is the first to your aid after the blot. He’s the one in the infirmary, watching over you like a hawk. Some part of him thinks this is his fault. He’d gone through something similar, so why couldn’t he see the signs? 

As much as he despairs, when you wake and assure him you’d tell him anything and everything in the future, he seems to calm down. 

He’s at your side constantly after that, checking in on you and making not-so-subtle gestures to show he cares with a slight blush dusting his cheeks. 

Leona Kingscholar: 

Pre-Blot: Before you overblot, Leona honestly doesn’t even notice you exist, aside from noting the way you scurry about and wince at his shouts. He’s too busy being in charge, and dreading never being in charge of his own life. 

Post-Blot: Leona seems to take an almost analytical interest in you after you overblot. He was there in the infirmary briefly when you first woke, but after that he was scarce. Despite that, you’d catch him watching you from across the cafeteria tail swishing. 

Eventually, he corners you, and though you don’t grasp the whole talk due to being absolutely terrified of him, you come out of the conversation with a strange sort of mutual understanding. 

He’ll be on the lookout for you after that, and you can feel his eyes follow you wherever you enter a room. 

Azul Ashengrotto: 

Pre-Blot: Of course Azul knows your name, he knows everyone in his dorm (and everything about them he can leverage). You’re also one of the most diligent workers the lounge has seen in a long time, although you tend to fumble when talking to customers. Regardless, he acknowledges your hard work, although you rarely catch his eye. 

Post-Blot: Azul intentionally distances himself from you after your overblot. He suddenly seems to be busy whenever you’d normally speak to him, which, admittedly, wasn’t often. And yet you catch him staring at you more often, and your work shifts have lightened up, and suddenly you have a lot more free time. 

One of those times he invites you into his office, wherein he seems to…check in on you? But in a terribly roundabout and awkward way, like an estranged father. It’s awful, but by the end of it, he seems to be relieved to hear that you’ve recovered. 

Thus, weekly meetings in his office to just chat become a reguar thing. And soon, you even manage to talk about something other than work. 

Kalim Al-Asim: 

Pre-Blot: Kalim picks up on your antisocial and avoidant personality quickly. He won’t push you too much, but whenever he sees you he’s eager to invite you to this part or that party, whichever one! He just wants to see you smile, rather than the near constant grimace you seem to have on your face. Given his empathetic nature, though, and his past with Jamil’s overblot, he does begin to pick up on your exhausted wheezes and the empty look in your eyes just a little too late. 

Post-Blot: Kalim is at your side the instant you wake, and is showering you with attention and care all throughout your recovery. He makes sure you’re always comfortable, fed, and taken care of. He makes sure you want for nothing, and yet the guilt of having yet another person he was supposed to care for overblot weighs on him heavily. 

One night, as he talks to you about his day, he begins crying, unable to stop the guilt he’s been keeping inside. And when you reassure him and smile at him in that strange way you’ve always done, something in his brain clicks. 

You two are near inseparable after that, and even Jamil seems to get a bit of time off from watching Kalim as he hangs out with you. 

Vil Schonheit: 

Pre-Blot: Let’s be honest, no matter how beautiful you are, Vil will see you as an ill fit for Pomefiore at the beginning. Your constant dour mood, the way your shoulders slouch, and the strange way you don’t seem to talk in anything but a rasp not only unnerves him, but agitates him. He focuses on you like he does Epel, and though you follow his every word and command to a T, he can tell that there is something deeper beneath the surface. And one day, he pushes you just a bit too hard - if only to get a glimpse of whatever it is you have hiding under your strange demeanor. Chaos ensues. 

Post-Blot: Vil is in the infirmary when you wake up, but seems to be almost unaffected by what happened. For a few days, it's almost as if it never happened to him. And then one evening, he comes and sits next to you in your bed, and though its clear he had words prepared for this moment, he seems to lose them as he looks at you. And so he speaks from his heart. 

After your conversation, Vil keeps a watchful eye on you, and, much to his chagrin, he finds himself jumping to your defense at even the smallest slights or comments (in a very elegant and almost subtle manner). 

There’s an unspeakable bond between you two, in his mind. You followed in his destructive footsteps, and he’s determined to stop you from being hurt just as he had. He wants you to be better than him: to shine as he knows you were meant to do. 

Idia Shroud: 

Pre-Blot: Idia doesn’t seem to notice you at first, but between him being housewarden and your shared gloomy nature, you almost form a friendship with him, although it’s stunted and awkward. You’re one of the few people who he trusts to enter his room, and you soon have something of a routine of doing work together. You still jump when he laughs too loud, and sometimes his eccentricities freak you out, but he’s pleasant enough company for you. He assumes he’s done something wrong when you don’t show up for your hnag out time one day. Then he hears what’s happening, and his heart drops. 

Post-Blot: Idia is by your side before and after you wake up (well, at least his tablet is). He chatters to you in a way that concerns the other dorm heads, almost as if he’s afraid of what would happen in the silence between you two. He visits you in person when you assure him no one else is around, and you notice the dour look on his face, even more so than usual. 

Idia admits that he feels bad for not noticing the signs despite having overblotted himself, and seems to almost cave into his self-loathing in an instant. And yet you reassure him, and tell him it’s not his fault, and that you care about him, and that you’re glad he cares about you enough to visit. He insists, of course he’d visit you! You’re one of his best friends!

From there, you and him grow infinitely closer. Whether it’s eating breakfast together or playing games together, you two can be seen with each other at almost every hour of the day. 

Side note, but Ortho is delighted to see his brother attend class in person if only to sit next to you and chat face to face. 

Malleus Draconia (assuming pre-overblot for Malleus for the sake of simplicity here):

Pre-Blot: Malleus isn’t the kind to know every member of Diasomnia’s name. He’s busy, and more importantly, he’s important. Even if you wanted to speak to him, he’s got an entourage that would keep you away unless it was absolutely necessary (COUGH COUGH SEBEK COUGH). Lilia mentions your strange demeanour to him one day, and though he brushes it off, he does notice the slouch of your shoulders amongst the crowds of students, and the way you wheeze as you speak, as if life itself tired you out.

Post-Blot: Malleus isn’t much present after you overblot, being very occupied with his duties and studies, but strangely enough, Lilia is there at times. He seems to be watching over you for one reason or another, and though he does to cheer you up and help you recover, you suspect that he may have an ulterior motive. 

Malleus will check in with you shortly after you overblot, asking how you’re doing, genuinely interested in your wellbeing. He may be distant, but Malleus makes sure to listen intently, and even sends you an assortment of items to make you feel better. 

Just let it be known that when Malleus overblots, the Diasomnia dorm would be all the better off to have you in it.

[soaps-mohawk]

Do you think people naturally have some of the traits that would make them seen as alpha, beta or omega?

Something in their look or personality? Or maybe something else?

(I'm a bit sleepy so I'm sorry if this queston doesn't make a lot of sense.. but it just popped in my head.. so I decided to ask 🫣)

I really love this story! It's getting better, better and BETTER with every chapter ❤️❤️

Thank you anon 💚

Is this asking like how I decide which characters get which statuses??

That's what I'm going with.

It's kind of a mixture of things. Personality, overall vibe, how likely I think they would act like their status if it did exist in canon.

Obviously, those in positions of authority are most likely to be alphas. That being said, betas can hold positions of authority (see Dr. Keller), but it's more likely to be alphas because they're natural leaders. I also take into consideration things like how aggressive they might be (Ghost and Konig), how willing they would be to bend or break rules (*cough chough* Price), how willing they would be to use their natural advantages against others (Graves 👀).

Then it's just the same thing with the traits of betas and omegas. A lot of it is just vibes too. I just kind of look at them and think about their character and it's whatever pops in first. Some of it is my own interpretation, as well as world-building stuff, because honestly you could say every character in the series is an alpha and it would make sense.

So yeah, it's just a mixture of things. I hope this makes sense and what you were asking for 🫣💚

[dantedeservedbetter]

Okay listen, I absolutely ADORE Kim now as a character than I did when Season 3/4 was first released but sometimes I kind of wish Aphmau had used another character that she abandoned way back in the beginning or even someone from MCD, because they were cool characters who deserved a modern adaptation

Mystreet Emmalyn, her MCD incarnation is literally Ghost (but that plot line makes no sense I’m so sorry) and she had made an appearance in the original side stories and also had a major role in one of the S1 episodes titled ‘A New Years Kiss’ before never showing up again. She exists, shes just kind of living her own life.

Zoey, the magical elf who would have been a cottage-core icon in MyStreet and the one who essentially started the plot in S2, gave up her immortality in order to bring everyone back home, and also raised most of Aphmau’s children. At LEAST give her a voice actress so we don’t have to interpret her voice as Jessica anymore. Also, the supernatural element would’ve made sense to her magical abilities

Cadenza who was the baddest bitch ever, and probably wouldn’t have taken Ghost and any of her nonsense with Zane in the first place. I’m convinced she would attack Ein herself if she ever got under the Forever Potion. She had also made a couple of cameos (the last one being in S3, where Kim was also introduced, so it wouldn’t have confused anyone either to keep up with the cast)

Nicole, who can kind of fit this role but probably shouldn’t be the first choice for it, idk I just really miss her character a bit. Maybe Ein/ the Lodge Gang needed a steampunk and called her over, officially making her apart of the actual group without bringing Katelyn or Dante into it. I just don’t want her to be forgotten as the love interest to someone else :(( I think she had more room for potential

Jeffory, because his character is just so sweet! He would totally be chill with Ghost wanting to leave the lodge and allow her to use his body. He would probably be like “I’d like to establish some ground rules, if you don’t mind, but other than that I would be honored if you wanted to possess my body :D” boom, done. Most of the issues with Ghost would have been solved. Omg imagine Abby and Ghost playing dolls together? I think that would be sweet.

(I don’t think Dante or Laurance would fit into being Ghost’s vessel tbh so that’s why they aren’t included in this list, but I would also greatly appreciate it if they brought those two back)

(Thought abt adding Vylad into the mix too and then I literally remembered that Zane was her past lover, and honestly that would’ve been… immoral to witness. If that was just not added in he would’ve been a good contender if not THE BEST option for it)

[phantomoftheorpheum]

so I just watched all the eps of School Spirits that are out (honestly, I thought they'd finished releasing the season or I wouldn't have started rn, but that was my bad) because I am a sucker for a murder mystery & apparently I like ghosts (sensing a theme on this blog??), so anyway, I have some thoughts/theories.

spoilers for the first 5 episodes below the cut!

If you had asked me to put money on a suspect after the first episode, I would have put it all on Nicole, but I'm feeling less good about that the further we get into the show, despite her "creepy" moment in the last episode. At first, I felt that her character didn't justify her own existence (she was basically just "there" and seemed suspiciously optimistic about Maddie being alive, etc.) and also had potential motive- she could be mixed up in the money stuff because she mentions not being able to afford college. I thought at first she might have had feelings for either Simon or Maddie & there was a jealousy thing going on (since Maddie was with Xavier, and Simon seems pretty in love with Maddie), but she doesn't honestly seem all that interested in spending time with Simon, and I don't feel like they've dropped many hints about her having feelings for anyone in particular.

My immediate gut feeling was that Xavier wasn't involved, since they were so quick to the point the finger at him and make him look suspicious in the first couple of episodes. I suppose they could be pulling a Billy Loomis, trying to get people to write him off by immediately accusing him, but I really hope not. Not because of him as a character, really, but because that's kinda interesting in a movie with a 2 hour runtime, but kinda boring when you spend hours and hours on something and then it loops around to the first ever suspect.

I'm assuming that the ghosts do not have the ability to kill anyone, and I suppose that could be a bad assumption, but that's what I'm working with, so I'm automatically ruling out the other ghosts as Maddie's murderers. That seems like A LOT, if they were going in that direction. Unless they're going to address how many students have died on campus & it has something to do with that. Because that is a bunch of dead people at their school. Like this school has had multiple murders on school property, multiple major accidents, etc. What are the odds? But rn I'm leaning towards, they just wanted Maddie to have characters to interact with & to make their points about life/death with.

Mr. Anderson & Claire both seem too obvious at this point (I mean, obviously they are/were hiding things & it might even include evidence of what did happen to Maddie, but I don't think they killed her) and are low on my suspect list for that reason. There are 3 more episodes (if they even wrap up who killed Maddie) to fill out, so inevitably more twists.

Current top of my suspect list- Ms. Fields. Why is she here? I mean, obviously there need to be teachers, so I understand why her character exists, but she gets just a little too much screen time, imo. That makes her inherently suspicious. Generally, you want to make sure that when a killer is revealed, the audience actually recognizes them and felt that they had some shot of puzzling it out. She & Maddie's mom talked about how little money teachers make (did she pose as Maddie to get money from Mr. Anderson? is she who used Maddie's account to like Nicole's photo? did she take the video of Mr. Anderson and Claire?) so she could have a financial motive mixed in with other things.

I'm still trying to decide if I think we're dealing with one or more person for the above actions. There seems to be a good chance that whoever got money from Mr. Anderson (pretending to be Maddie? with her phone?) is who killed her (this does make me still a little suspicious of Nicole, since she has a potential financial motive, but that bothers me because some of Nicole's actions make no sense if she killed Maddie), but are they the one still using Maddie's account? Are they who took/released the video? Or is there another unknown party who is aware of certain things and trying to make them come to light. The photo being liked & the backpack being in the house feel like things someone would do to try to keep police believing Maddie is alive (and presumably only the killer would have her backpack, since it was with her when she died), so they would be done by someone who knows she's dead. IDK.

Where. Is. Maddie's. Necklace. ???. They only mentioned it briefly when she's talking about not having her phone or her necklace, which means she didn't have it when she died. That's gotta come back around soon, though I wonder if it will be in a red herring kind of way (like they'll show us a character with the necklace to make them look extra suspicious, but it will have reasonably innocent reasoning) or as a real clue.

Um. I want more ghosts. Rhonda, Charley, and Wally are a lot of fun & I would like more of them. Like, no offense, but I would rather spend more time with those three than Simon, Nicole, & Xavier. BUT I get it, because the ghosts can't leave the school & they don't have tangible impact on the world, so it would be hard to get things done with just them.

Other suspects - Maddie's mom, Xavier's dad, and the principal all have roles just big enough that they could turn out to be involved. I don't really think that makes a lot of sense for most of them (the principal is barely in the show so far, so that would be a stretch, Xavier's dad could have a motive involving the election [interesting that they included that detail], but we haven't seen him much, and it being Maddie's mom would be really dark, but I never completely cross off people the list just because it would be dark).

Not a theory, but I'm actually quite pleasantly surprised how little romance there has been in the show so far. I'm not against romance, and I won't even be mad if we get a little in the next few episodes, but I do like that that hasn't been a big focus because it can get really tiring when a show just becomes solely about ships.

Anyway, I think that's all my thoughts for now. Idk if anyone else is even watching this show tbh, but I've been super drawn to things that my friends aren't talking about & that don't have a lot of episodes lately, I think because it feels freeing to go into something with no expectations and to not have any of your friends be disappointed if you end up not liking it.

[bubblegumbeech]

Pieces of Time Ch 5

Happy Ectoberhaunt!! Day three: Chaos & Order

AO3

Ch 1: Here   on AO3

Danny had never actually been to a big city before; Amity Park was the first place they’d actually properly settled in, and before that it had been nothing but rural and backwater towns famous for their hauntings and ghost stories.

 So when Clockwork told him there were ghost cities, he was curious to say the least. Would they be like human cities? All glass skyscrapers and modern architecture? Or maybe they would be ancient like the city of Athens or something straight from the Roman Empire. Maybe it would be a mix mash like the rest of the Zone, uncompromising features crammed together and forced to fit despite all reason. 

 He was excited to see it.

 “Are you okay Daniel? You haven’t spoken much on our travel here,” Clockwork said, turning his gaze back towards him. 

Danny was quick to smile reassuringly. It was the first time Clockwork had taken him out to visit somewhere just to visit. He knew it was probably partly his attempt to make up for the things Danny had inadvertently lost in his life. Like school trips or vacations with his family. But he couldn't honestly bring himself to feel any sliver of resentment when Clockwork himself had been so desperately earnest in his new position as Danny’s main caretaker and the whole situation had come about because Clockwork was trying to protect him. 

The reason they were there was to do some minor shopping. Apparently Clockwork needed an escapement for one of the clocks on his wall. It was attached to a relatively young realm that had recently come into existence and was incredibly fragile.

So they were here looking for stuff to help its time get moving without overflowing it all at once. Hence the need for a new escapement. And maybe a new weight, Clockwork had mentioned using weights to slow time on some of the younger realms so they didn’t get too far ahead of themselves.

The city itself was… surprisingly organized. All of the ghosts were busy going about their own business, and Danny was surprised to find that none of them had any conflicts or issues with each other. 

Even during Truce, ghosts with different Obsessions had to be mediated between to keep proper peace. But this was a whole city and everyone in it was showing truly impressive restraint.

It kinda made him uncomfortable. 

“Hey, Clockwork-“ Danny almost asked what was going on here, but when he turned, Clockwork was already at what looked like an old antique stand on the corner of the street. 

The stand, like everything else in this city, was impeccably organized. There were at least four different framed certificates clarifying its quality and… legality? 

Danny frowned, floating closer to read the fine print on one of them. 

It said: Certificate of Verification.

This store is Certified by the Great Eye of the Observants to sell and auction wares on the corner of G and H street between the second and twelfth Caws of the Tower Beast. 

If this store is found to be operating outside of these parameters or the Rule Of Observant Law, please contact the Chamber of Commerce and Construction at the base of the Observants’ Tower on B Street. 

Danny frowned. Then he read the next certificate. That one clarified the quality of the products as “Unrecreationable with basic ectoplasm” and had just as much nonsense legal jargon. 

He really had some questions now but Clockwork was too busy haggling the price of the escapement with the merchant and Danny didn’t want to get in the way. 

Ghost stuff tended to have prices beyond just money or goods and Danny didn’t want to be the reason Clockwork had to give more than he received. 

So instead he watched as Clockwork expertly haggled a surprisingly low price (it was a single piece of time tape. Meant for repairing any accidental rifts that may occur in one’s own timeline.) 

Once he was done and putting the escapement back into his pouch, Danny tugged at the hem of his sleeve. 

“Hey Clockwork,” he bit his lip, and cast a wary glance around them. Everyone was acting perfectly normal and orderly so he continued. “What’s with this place? Why does it feel so-“

“In order?” Clockwork finished for him. 

Danny nodded, relieved. So he wasn’t the only one that noticed then. 

“It’s because this city is under the Eye of the Observants. Eons ago, when the Infinite Realms were more Chaos than anything else, the larger more powerful ghosts had complete free reign. The smaller ghosts eventually started grouping together, creating communities and such to help protect each other from single more powerful ghosts.” 

Danny took in everything Clockwork said slowly, watching his expression. Pandora had explained that Clockwork himself was very much one of these ‘more powerful ghosts’ that the weaker ghosts banded together against. 

“Eventually, from the Realms themselves came small, weak ghosts born from the desire for stability and order. The Observants. They grew significant in number and shared an almost hive-like mind dispersed amongst them all.”

Yeah that tracked with what Danny knew of them. Always watching, seeming to know everything. Very controlling. 

“So they made these cities?” Danny asked, gesturing around. 

Clockwork inclined his head. “Yes… something like that.” 

He didn’t explain any further. And as much as Danny wanted to push- the dark scar that dug into Clockwork’s left eye had him biting back any more questions. 

What else did the Observants do? That was pretty obvious, now wasn’t it? 

The real question was one he was never going to get an answer for. Why side with the Observants after all of that? Was it fear? Or because that’s what’s good for the Timeline? Or just what’s good for Danny himself?

He shook his head. There was no way to know. So instead of pushing he grabbed Clockwork’s sleeve and tugged him to another booth. At the very least he could have his own fun looking around and window shopping. There were so many things Danny didn’t recognize and countless more he almost did. 

One by one he grabbed something that caught his attention and brought it to Clockwork to explain until there was a loud echoing series of Caws coming from the center of the city. On its fourth Caw, there was a loud shuffling and about a dozen of the booths and temporary stores packed up and left in different directions only to be quickly replaced. 

Danny waited until they looked settled and then dragged Clockwork right back to look at the new booths. 

It was at one of these booths that Danny noticed the vendor seemed… off. He frowned, a slight tug at his core pulling him in that direction. It was minor enough that he could ignore it like he usually did, but since spending more time as a ghost than as a human, Danny had been fulfilling his obsession less than he’d like, without protecting Amity Park. 

So helping another ghost should be enough right? It could get his mind off other things he wasn’t able to help with. 

He flew over and acted like he was interested in the merchant’s wares. When he didn’t so much as greet him Danny realized it was probably a bit worse than he’d thought. 

“Are you okay?” he asked. 

The ghost startled and looked down. He had muted, magenta skin and there were thick, dark bags under his eyes the color of Odysseus’s wine dark sea. He looked bemused for a moment before mumbling something like, “A helpful little sprite huh?”

Clockwork cocked a vaguely threatening eyebrow at the guy and he flushed, quickly raising his hands as if to defend himself. “Sorry, I haven’t been sleeping well is all. Nightmares.”

Danny frowned. It was true ghosts needed sleep (thankfully much less than humans or Danny would have died twice over from sleep deprivation alone) but he’d never seen one so visibly affected by a lack of it. 

“What are the nightmares about?” Danny asked, getting an awkward glance from the ghost. 

“Isn’t it a bit rude to ask something personal like that?” He stage-whispered, avoiding Clockwork’s gaze. 

“You don’t have to be specific, but my sister says dreams are a representation of our own subconscious trying to tell us things that our consciousness is ignoring. It could be anxiety over work or relationships, a lack of proper nutrition, feelings of guilt or remorse–”

The ghost chuckled. “You a psychiatrist kiddo?” he asked. Danny blushed and shook his head. 

“My sister wants to be one…”

He ignored the tight feeling in his chest as he thought of Jazz, of leaving her behind with furious, desperate, crazed parents. Objectively, he knew she was okay. He talked to her through letters and occasionally when his own anxiety got bad enough Clockwork let him see her in one of his screens. 

But it just wasn’t the same, being unable to see her in person. 

Clockwork must have noticed Danny’s mind wandering because he leaned down and whispered something in his ear. “There’s something causing the dreams if you want to help him.”

Danny’s attention snapped like lightning back on the ghost. He had taken other customers as Danny and Clockwork stepped to the side, but even though he tried to hide it with a painfully fake customer service voice and enthusiastic gestures, it was clear the lack of sleep was affecting him. 

He wasn’t sure what to do… but he did want to help. 

First, he looked over every ware for sale, but each one’s energy and ectoplasm was specific to the exact purpose they were listed to possess. Then he started looking at stuff that was around, but that wasn’t useful anyway, since he was only in this spot for the specified times. 

The ghost wasn’t exactly thrilled when Danny started messing about with the stuff he was wearing, but he didn’t actually say anything so Danny just looked to his own contentment. 

“Are you done yet?” he asked once his last customer had flown away.

Danny crossed his legs and rested his chin on his palm, floating just above the table covered in wares. It wasn’t anything here… and there was no way he was going to be able to get into this guy’s lair he was just barely putting up with Danny as is. 

He sighed. Time for detective mode. “When did the nightmares start?”

“About a month ago.”

“Did you do anything then?” 

He nodded, leaning back against the brick of the wall behind him. “Well yeah, after the first night I went straight to the market to get a dream-catcher. Didn’t help though.”

A dream-catcher? “Can I see it?”

The ghost deflated, clearly giving up getting rid of Danny and his overly indulgent guardian. “Yeah, one sec. Wolfram!” he shouted suddenly, “Come watch my shop for a second.”

Another ghost appeared from around the corner, a long scroll they had clearly been scribbling away on clutched in their hands. “Why of course Kling, have you seen the new equation for–”

“You know I haven’t,” he grumbled, putting up a ‘be right back’ sign and flying off towards one of the many skyscrapers in the city.

Danny turned to Clockwork. “Is his Lair in the city?”

“Yes, residents of the city have their Lairs ‘renovated’ and moved within the boundaries of the city. It is much like apartment buildings in the mortal world,” Clockwork answered easily. 

“Is this your first time in the city?” The new ghost, Wolfram, asked. Danny nodded.

“How wonderful! Did you know this city was built using a series of complicated mathematical equations to make it completely symmetrical and orderly from every–” The ghost clearly had some kind of math obsession because not once did they stop explaining every intricate detail that went into any given equation used to design the city. Danny put on a friendly face, nodding or humming whenever was appropriate and immediately turned to whisper a question he’d been curious about to Clockwork. 

“Why go through all the trouble? It’s not like they won’t have a Lair if they don’t move into the city right?” 

Clockwork cringed. “Most of the ghosts here… the newer ones at least, moved here for protection. More powerful ghosts can enter another ghost’s Lair at will and there is little to be done but try to fight back.” 

Danny thought back to his first time in the Zone, how he’d accidentally opened other ghosts’ Lairs and nearly got eaten by at least one of them. If he could do it then maybe they weren’t actually all that secure, or maybe those ghosts were particularly weak?

It wasn’t until a moment later that Danny had caught the words ‘most’ from Clockwork’s explanation. He was just about to ask when the merchant ghost, Kling, came back. 

“Here,” he said, practically throwing a large traditional looking Dream-catcher at Danny.

Once Danny caught it he knew what had gone wrong. The catcher itself had indeed caught the nightmare Kling was suffering from, but it hadn’t done anything else–leaving the same nightmare to stew over and over again, picking up even more fears and frustrations and compounding until it was bad enough even Danny wouldn’t want to sleep if he had to deal with that every night. 

Clockwork looked on with a small, proud smile on his lips. Danny unthreaded some of the strings on the dream-catcher to pry out the thick, black tendrils of the nightmare. It was tedious, but he went through the entire thing, making sure not to leave a single strand of hair’s worth of the nightmare lest it grow back. 

The nightmare tangled back in on itself like a ball of yarn as Danny worked, eventually content that he got it all. Tying the Dream-catcher back into the same configuration it originally had, he handed it back to Kling. The nightmare sat safe in his other hand. 

Kling looked at the spool, a spooked expression on his face. “Thought you were a helper… you can touch dreams?”

Danny blinked. “Yes?” It was how he defeated Nocturne after all. Danny often had to come up with new abilities on the fly to help or protect others. “How else would I be able to help?”

Kling’s eyes only went wider, flicking frantically over Danny’s shoulder at Clockwork before meeting Danny’s own eyes again and then looking at the spool of Nightmare threads. “R-right. You get a discount anytime you want to come back…”

His voice was weak, something had clearly spooked him, but Danny figured it was probably due to being confronted with a visible reminder of all the horrors he’d seen at night the past month or so and tried not to think much more about it. Kling went back to his shop and started up a conversation with Wolfram as Clockwork led Danny away towards the edges of the city.

He messed with the strands of Nightmare before offering it towards Clockwork. “Can you use this for something?” he asked.

Clockwork took it from him, considering. “There is not much I personally can do, but we can keep it for now, either to trade or as a gift. Though,” his eyes sparkled, “We can always keep it for you to practice with.”

“Practice?” Danny asked. Clockwork hummed an affirmative. 

“Your powers in this regard are juvenile, but we can polish them a bit. I have a brother who might be willing to help…” He frowned. “But perhaps not for now. It is best to focus on your foundations first, before you begin to branch out.”

Danny nodded slowly, “Right. Foundations first…”

He talked to Clockwork about the different uses for a spool of Nightmares and what exactly his foundational powers were. 

Apparently they weren’t things like intangibility or flight like Danny had assumed. That was, according to Clockwork, the ghostly equivalent of learning how to walk. 

Danny’s foundational powers were related to the proper formation of his core and were ice and cold related. Any other powers he developed would be based from this foundation, meaning that even if he learned how to manipulate dreams it would be different from the way someone with, say, a void core would manipulate them. And if he ever learned to manipulate time it would be different as well from the way Clockwork did, since Clockwork’s own core was water and liquid based.

Before long they were back home, Clockwork tucking the spool away somewhere random and then going to the kitchen to make dinner. Danny naturally offered to help and got to learn how to use sand-flour in a recipe without it feeling too dry while keeping the aged flavor. He purposefully tried not to think about what exactly was mixed in with the sand-four that had it moving out of the corner of his eye, but at this point there were fewer foods in the Zone that were stationary compared to ones that were moderately mobile.

“You can add purified ectoplasm if you want,” Clockwork said, gently stirring the mixture once clockwise and three times counterclockwise. “But it won’t add anything to the flavor. I prefer using crushed honey-wasps for sweet things like ghost-cakes or cookies. You can also use molten peppers if you want something a bit spicy.”

Danny looked at the plate of molten peppers and rubbed uncomfortably at his chest. Maybe once his ‘foundation’ was more secure. “We can just use the purified ectoplasm for this though, right?”

They were making pot pies after all, and Danny didn’t think honey-wasps would really be the right ingredient. Clockwork chuckled and placed the molten peppers aside. “We can, here, add some Everthorn sap. It pairs well with older tasting recipes.”

Cooking in the Zone was fun, definitely more exciting than cooking in the real world ever was. And probably equally as frustrating. Except instead of bread refusing to rise, you had to beat it back down in case it gained its own sentience before you managed to cook it. 

He laughed when one of the honey-wasps slipped out of its container and tried to burrow into Clockwork’s hair. Helping him get it out was tedious, but Danny got to actually mess with the long white hair Clockwork usually kept covered and couldn’t quite resist the urge to braid it, even as Clockwork tried to remind him that cooking was a time-sensitive thing. 

When they were done cooking what they had was mostly edible, but not any worse than the food Danny had grown up on. The levels of ectoplasm being entirely on purpose this time, of course. And it certainly wasn’t under cooked so… there was that. 

Dinner was delicious as always, homework was easy and quickly finished and Danny was both content and pleasantly exhausted when he went up to his room to get ready for bed. 

It happened when he fell to sleep. He was standing in the center of a sea of stars, endlessly stretching in every direction and then some. A familiar feeling of unease kept him on edge as he walked silently, every step splashing around him. 

“I hear you’ve been asking questions that have no good answers,” a soft voice echoed around him. 

Danny stilled. “Nocturne…” he said, recognizing just whose domain he had been dragged into. Was this because of the dream-catcher from earlier? Was Nocturne feeding on Kling’s nightmares or something? Didn’t he prefer sweet dreams? “What do you want?”

The stars rippled in front of him, coalescing into thick, inky shapes that morphed and overlapped until Nocturne appeared before him in full. 

“Rejoice,” he said in his soothing monotone, “for I want what you want. There is in fact a goal we share.”

“I’m calling bull.” 

Nocturne chuckled and it echoed in ripples through the vast ocean around them. He leaned down, one clawed inky hand going to his face and–

Breaking it off? 

He removed what looked now like a plain wooden mask, revealing a more natural looking expression behind it. The scar though, that stayed behind, still bisecting his eye deeply. Danny could see into the wound this close and saw an emptiness that he struggled to perceive. 

“What happened?” he asked before his rational mind could catch back up and realize that even showing his scar as he was, Nocturne was still his enemy. He wasn’t someone Danny should help. Obsession or no. 

Nocturne placed his mask now on the side of his head and sank down, crossing his legs and getting comfortable. He looked like he was about to tell a story around a campfire, and at the very thought the stars shifted around them. They floated up in a reversal of a rain storm, revealing bare dirt and a pile of tinder between the two of them. Once the stars were settled properly into the sky, a fire bloomed into life and Nocturne began speaking. 

Telling his story. 

“I, like my brother, was born of Chaos. All of us were, before the rest came into being. But our mother, though powerful when there were few, could not sustain herself against many. Eventually the weak would find each other, and band together against the strong. Nations and realms formed, Order came from what was once entirely Chaos. New concepts and stories began to take shape outside of her will.”

“Chaos… was your mother?” Danny asked. When Pandora had told him before, that the Ancients were born of Chaos, he had assumed it was a bit more abstract. He did not think Clockwork had a mom– wait. “Wait did you say brother? Clockwork is your brother?”

Nocturne snorted. “Did you only just realize? How many Ancients have you met, and you did not realize we are siblings?”

Danny blinked. Wait, how many Ancients had he met? He didn’t realize he’d met any of them! Was Nocturne the brother Clockwork mentioned earlier? That could help him learn about manipulating dreams?! He was the reason Danny could do it in the first place!

He sulked for a moment, refusing to answer, and stared instead at the roaring flames of the campfire. But the silence tugged at him, and eventually he found himself asking, “If you knew Clockwork before, what was he like?”

“A bit of a troublemaker if I’m being honest,” he replied easily. “He was always trying to experiment, learn new things. He was the one most excited when Order was implemented.”

“He was?”

Nocturne nodded. “He was. Eons of existence and he finally had rules to break.”

That startled a laugh from Danny and he quickly tried to hush himself. It wouldn’t do to feel too much joy in one of Nocturne’s dreams. “I’m pretty sure he’s still doing that.”

“Indeed. But he is caught now, in a trap tailor made to clip his wings.”

“He had wings?” Danny asked, his eyes wide. Was that another missing piece–

“I was speaking in metaphor,” Nocturne said tonelessly. 

Danny crossed his arms and turned up his nose. Damn bastard made him start worrying again when he’d already decided to give up. “How was I supposed to know that! He’s missing like, half his body at this rate.”

“That,” Nocturne gently grabbed his chin and turned his head until they were eye to eye, “is why I am here little one.”

“...What?”

“You are the first to seek to repair my brother that might actually succeed.”

“I don’t– Clockwork doesn’t want–”

“To see you hurt,” Nocturne let him go and leaned back once more. “I am aware. That is why I am hiding here, in your dreams. In a place he cannot see.”

Danny frowned. “Yeah but he can still see the decisions I make when I wake up. And no offense, but he’s smarter than you.”

At that, Nocturne raised an eyebrow. “He certainly thinks he is. But there are ways to hide from his sight. Temporary as it may be, you will need it for your next few steps.”

“What?” Danny scoffed, forcing down the bubbling hope in his chest that was threatening to drown him. “Are you saying you can see the future too?”

“Of course not,” Nocturne’s features curled into a sinister smile, “I simply have a few… ideas.”

[cloudninetonine]

*walks on in tiredly, offers you coffee, downs my own* Hey there, how is existence treating you? Just passing on by to wish you a good day and a happy new year early as I'm tired plus leave some stuff down.

No need! Irish mythology and mythology from the Isles by itself is really metal, I could go on and on about story about Cú Chulainn and how it fully went down and how some of those stories can apply to Seraph/Fia, Una/Zelda and Dia/Ancient Au Ganon, but we'd be here all day, so I'll just leave this here:

https://youtu.be/XqyEADY_20Y

The song itself is a pretty good summary of his story and feats, there's also a video on OSP that although outdated also explains it pretty well, let's just say that absolute unity of a man's life was absolutely wild XD, I can go more into the Riastrad later if you want in another ask, plus some other bonkers stories. And you're absolutely right on that one, it was like that with Cú Chulainn, he was so strong literally everyone would have wanted to see him fail, so I can see Seraph/Fia being a bit distrustful but perceptive, not outwardly so, but he can probably judge people's characters pretty accurately as a result of always having to be on the watch out for enemies.

Also, uh, writing the Lora thing, when it's done I'll link it here, how do you feel about Irish folk songs? Or Sea Shanty style songs?

Also, since Cú Chulainn had not one but TWO man killer/eating war horses he got from the Fae via right of conquest, I personally headcanon he probably had at least one horse like that and if it's still around it's hostile towards anyone that isn't him, Player, FD, Wild, Twilight and Epona and if it sees Dink it's on Sight, just straight up biting his head off and stomping all over him with their hooves I don't make the rules.

The idea of him eventually sacrificing himself at the end of his life aiabsibsiabai- It honestly fits very well narratively, I am destroyed once more thank you for the food, plus it fits very well, they barely managed it even with some headstart (and likely the death of the Leviathans in Hyrule, I feel like they were the original beasts that fell when the Calamity first struck, and that later on the Sheikah and Zonai were inspired to make the Divine Beasts by them to finish it off), so it makes sense he'd want as much ready or tied up as he could before dying. Specially if he felt he didn't do enough to keep it from happening in the first place, although he'd probably want to leave his arm to fully finish holding down Ganon or he'd give permission to Una to do it, hence why I theorize his body might still be down there and that in an Au it probably got corrupted, while his spirit and maybe Una's once she dies are down there holding it down as much as they can, although it's just a theory and headcanon territory and if Nintendo won't tell us anything then everything goes xD

Honestly if Player threw anything at him he'd just either dodge on instinct or laugh, I think he likes people with spunk to them and it's only common sense to throw stuff at a ghost when startled, if Una is there she probably smacks him over the head with her own ghostly self and probably kicks him into gear into going with Player so he can keep an eye on them and Wild while she watches their shieldbrother to make up for accidentally scaring them, probably acts as a silent companion to Player and does his best to lead them away from danger and probably is there for them a lot in an older brother fashion (in my au he had a physical guide, whom he called Craein {Crane}, and they were basically like a gender ambiguous Anne Bonny and got Isekaied as Ganon's sibling, think of them as a Player who adapted to their situation without the Chain and adapted too well, becoming jaded due to the situation at the time and a warrior even if still a gremlin at heart, trying to prevent things from going wrong even with limited information and knowing it's hopeless, Player probably reminds him of Craein who always missed their home but wouldn't tell where it really was even to the end of their life where they basically cursed him out in the most roundabout "Don't die, I know you're extremely durable but please don't die-" ever, so since he couldn't aid them he'll aid Player as he can tell they're from the same place and he feels it's only fair), there were myths were Cú Chulainn still was seen riding around the country side on his chariot, so maybe some times he shows up when Player is alone and uses what little magic he can use as a ghost to make himself semi-corporeal and tap a bit into the Riastrad, basically scaring off foes with killing intent if needed be? Although there lies the question in who could see him like that and connect the dots. Or, the more comedic option, one of the most effective methods of snapping Cú Chulainn out of the Riastrad was if you basically had a lady show him their breasts, because he'd be too busy trying to look away or cover his eyes you could dunk him on like 8 vats of water and he'd cool down (literally, all of the water in the vats vaporized) or a river and he'd snap out of it because shockingly enough he was a gentleman, so, Seraph/Fia possessing Wild, and Player just threathening to strip down to their socks which gives enough time for Twilight to dunk him into a nearby river, shenanigans ensue that or Seraph just immediately hands control back to Wild so fast the poor guy trips and falls on Player with disorientation or something idk, I can see Seraph/Fia internally screaming after that because on one hand, he drank his respect juice every day and his Aryll would murder him if something like that happened, on the other, brownie points for his descendant?

Seraph/Fia being just limbs on the floor wrestling with Twilight is hilarious and I agree with Wild on that sentiment, sorry Time, you're my favorite and first Link but ya gotta see the comedic value, but also, consider: Cattle Raiding, aka basically herding competitions done in ancient times by Celtic adjacent folk, where you had to both herd your cattle, steal your foes' and put them down in a non lethal manner as preparation to war, the Zonai were most likely sea faring and since they were also warrior folk that's definitely on the table, so just him and Twilight on a herding competion trying to simultaneously herd their own cattle and knock the other out of their horse by any means necessary for mentor rights over Calamity and Wild.

Also, I personally headcanon him with gradient hair, like the roots start gold, but go fully Gerudo red by the end hence why he's depicted as red haired in the tapestry? Something like that, could be fun, also to fully support the fact him and his Ganon/Dia were shieldbrothers: Corpse Ganon has similar clothing not only the Gerudo, but also to Seraph/Fia in the tapestry, so something tells me he gifted the clothes to him after they were gladiator friends in full and earned their freedom, and that he'd probably give Player something like that too over time if he can (like the bracelets around the arm in TOTK), or just straight up give them a tame wolf/wolf-dog or something since it's what they did for people held in high regard back, the total of people he probably would have gone to those lengths for being three (aka Dia/Ganon, Una/Zelda and Aryll/Macha).

Anyway, on a less serious note as my brain power is running low, Tides is my spirit animal, and if we want to add to Time's trauma, Player either showing him this or absentmindedly humming this if they're a bit out of it:

https://youtu.be/GCOBa91Hoz8

https://youtu.be/JgFNf4nLGNk

For the lols, Time is my first Link ever as I played his games first and a lot when I was young and so we both have the same trauma, but I also can't help but poke at it once in a while, apologies to him.

Anyway, hope you're having a good day today! I'm going to procrastinate on sleep some more now.

-A Very Awkward Summertime Musician.

Honestly, Sum, keep feeding me mythology I generally just love the topic in of itself.

Second, I LOVE FOLK SONGS AND PIRATE CHANTIES- If you mention Celtic Women I will scream in pure joy, god I love their music.

Also I fucking love predator horses, like yes, you guys are built like that you've gotta use it. Terrifying but awesome, like Kelpie just ten outta ten- you best believe Player would be shit scared first, until they realised they're chill and now they're besties.

Glad you like my self sacrifice input I very much loved mentioning it, angst is enjoyable only if I'm making it /lh

Honestly loving ghost shenanigans, Player is suffering but its in a funny way that doesn't make me a complete sadist and yeah, that's all I gotta say JXJQJJS (My brain power ain't great, forgive me)

If Seraph/Fia were to give Player a wolf they're running off with it, that's their wolf now, Time can't say shit.

THANKS FOR DROPPING IN AGAIN SUM

[the12thnightproject]

Tempest in Time Prologue Part 3 - Becoming a Liar

In which Katsu is nearly killed, and encounters Motonari, Kennyo, and Ranmaru. Part Two: Here

Aki examined the shogi board, having updated it with the latest move from the correspondent who I now understood to be Akechi Mitsuhide (yes, this time I had read his message). “Hrm. I will need to think about this a while.”

“I picked up some additional information while I was on the road,” I told him as began whisking the tea. (Another part of my training – tea ceremonies, although so far, I’d never been required to perform one, thankfully).

“Oh?” Aki was still apparently focused on his game.

Hm… was the tea too thick? It looked… odd. “Although it could be no more than a rumor born out of a drunken farmer’s ramblings.”

Finally turning away from the shogi board, Aki gave me one of his ‘I taught you better than that’ looks. “The craziest legends often have a beginning in truth.”

“Which is why I’m telling you this one. Anyway, apparently the ghost of Uesugi Kenshin is haunting these mountains – this is after his body had been carried off the battlefield by a –“ I stopped, because Aki wasn’t looking at all surprised. “And you already knew this.”

“More or less,” Aki said. “Though it is always nice to have additional confirmation. Besides, I’m happy you’re beginning to take some initiative.” He took a sip of the tea I handed him and winced.

Glad though I was to be praised, I honestly didn’t have any ambition to be any more than a courier (and obviously, “tea ceremony” was never going to be my parachute).

It didn’t occur to me until much later that night, when I was nearly asleep, to wonder why Aki was sending so many messages to Mitsuhide, who had… or I guess would… kill Oda in about three years. Was Aki part of that? And if he was part of it, was I now part of that as well? But Aki seemed to approve of Oda and his apparent plans, so why kill him? I couldn’t warn Aki, could I? Not without creating a temporal paradox, at least per the rules laid out in Star Trek.

I tossed around on my futon, staring up at the ceiling as my mind ran through the possibilities. I supposed the prudent thing to do would be to let it play out? Aki would not have told me to read his messages if he’d thought there would be something in then I shouldn’t see. He knew me well enough to know that I wouldn’t want to be part of an assassination plot. So that seemed to suggest that he wasn’t in on it. If it existed yet. I rolled over, burying head under the covers. I was too tired to figure it out.

“Kaya, wake up!”

“Mmmph.” My head was still under the blanket, but surely it was too early to get up.

“Katsu! … Katsuko!”

I opened my eyes when it dawned on me that Iekane was in my room. “Why are you d-“

He put his hand over my mouth. “Shhh. I don’t want to wake up Fume.”

Nobody wants to wake Fume, but if he didn’t explain why he’d come into my room uninvited, I would wake her up by screaming. I pushed him away. Just because we’d kissed a few times was no reason for him to invade my bedroom.

“I got a lead on your brother,” Iekane said triumphantly. “Come on, hurry!”

“What? Really? Where?” Iekane was generally sent to Chugoku region, which had more than one port. It was definitely possible that he’d run across Toshiie or had word of him.

“Sakai.” Iekane began rummaging through my things.

“Sakai?” The answer was a surprise. It was nowhere near his courier route. “Wait, does Aki know?”

“You’re so naïve, Katsuhira,” Iekane said Aki’s name for me sarcastically, as he tossed my clothes to me. “He’s known for a year, but didn’t tell you because you’re useful to him.”

That… was possible.

It wasn’t until we got on the road that I pressed him for more details. “Aki was correct that your brother is on a ship,” Iekane said.

We were carefully making our way down the path by lantern light. It had gotten chilly in the night and I could see my breath. I alternated flexing my fingers. Between the chill and my own tension, they were pretty stiff. “And?”

“It’s a pirate ship, and a well guarded one at that,” Iekane finally said.

“Can we bargain with them?” I couldn’t attack a pirate ship with a bow and arrow.

“That’s not a good idea.” Iekane turned back to look me over, and gave me one of his practiced smiles. “You’re pretty enough – more likely they’d grab you and either keep you for crew entertainment, or if you’re too annoying, sell you.” We’d reached the place where the narrow mountain path widened and were riding side by side. He reached out and touched a lock of my hair, then tucked behind my ear. In my haste to leave, I hadn’t bothered to bind it back and tuck it under my clothing. “I’d hate for something terrible to happen to you.”

He leaned over and kissed me. The heat from his hand warmed the side of my face. Or maybe I was blushing. Things between us had been growing slowly. Maybe once we found Toshiie, we could explore this… whatever this relationship was. But now wasn’t that time. “Do you have an idea then about how we’re going to get him off that ship?”

Iekane had a plan that involved me hiding in a crate – large enough for me to lie down in. As I looked up at Iekane, I almost felt like a vampire in her coffin. I sat up again. My crate was one of several identical crates of merchandise that were about to be loaded onto the ship.

“Once they load the crates on board,” he gestured to the other crates, “you ought to be able to climb out at night and track down your brother.” He showed me where there was a latch on the lid, and I tested the escape mechanism.

“The ship isn’t planning to leave for a few days.” He handed me my bow and arrows. “Light one of these on fire and shoot it into the air. I’ll wait on the dock with our horses.”

“Understood.” Iekane was obviously better at planning and tactics than I was. I wouldn’t have come up with this plan. I put my hand on his arm. “Thank you for this.”

He smiled down at me, then brought his hand up to grip my chin. Then he kissed me again. It was longer kiss, but I was too worried about not messing up the plan to get caught up in it. “Goodbye… well, good luck, I mean.”

I lay back down in the crate and my world became dark as Iekane closed the lid. A few moments later, I heard another voice. “You there! What are you doing with my … shipment?” Footsteps came closer to the box. I held my breath. Now would not be a good time to be discovered. Hopefully Iekane wasn’t in trouble either.

“Final inventory check!” Ooh, that was a good bluff on Iekane’s part, since he couldn’t know what was in these boxes.

I heard the lid on another box open, and the clink of metal – but the only metal that would be imported these days would be Nanban guns. Crap. Of all the crates to pick, we’d somehow gotten mixed in with someone’s weapon smuggling outfit.

“Wait ‘til they get a load of these, heh heh.” The clunk of that lid. I prayed that this guy wouldn’t inspect every box.

Another voice, this one with a European accent that I couldn’t place through the walls of the crate. “I’m happy you approve, Motonari. You, boy, help us move these.”

“Of course.” That was Iekane’s voice.

I felt the box being lifted. The motion was actually soothing, almost like being rocked in a cradle, and in spite of my anxiety, I felt myself becoming sleepy. But after about half and hour or so, my crate’s journey ended with a thunk. And then more thuds – oh the other crates.

The clink of coins. “Pleasure doing business with ye!”

I held myself very still. If they were going to look inside, it likely would be now. But instead the footsteps all faded away in the distance. Now, to wait until it was safe to come out. Maybe I would continue that almost nap…

Some time later, I woke up with no concept of how much time had passed. It was as dark as it had been earlier, and I was feeling a bit cramped. Yeah, I really needed to move around. I grabbed the latch and –

The lid didn’t budge.

Hm. Maybe I wasn’t doing it right? I tried the latch again, and again. No, it was definitely unlatched, but the lid wasn’t moving. It was like there was something on top of the… another crate maybe? I pushed on the lid harder, but I couldn’t move it. That’s when I started kicking.

My kicks echoed dully around me.

Otherwise… nothing.

My breath felt tight and mixed with tears – was I trapped in here? How many crates were on top of mine? How long would it be before someone came to get them? If I screamed, would anyone be able to hear me?

The constriction in my throat worsened…

I could… die in here.

It would take days… but if no one found me in time…

As I pounded on the walls of that dark coffin for hours, my life in this era, which had always had a sense of dreamlike haze, developed sharp edges. Though I had been living in this time period for almost three years, it had felt like a black and white drawing, with blurred edges. My real life, the three dimensional world, was out there somewhere, though I had no idea how to return to it.

But now it was clear that this world was vast and colorful and very real and very very much out to kill me. My old life was the life that seemed black and white with blurred edges, like an unfinished drawing that I’d likely never get around to finishing before I lost interest.

And it didn’t matter anyway, because I was NEVER GETTING OUT OF THIS CRATE.

Time passed – I lost track. I was hungry and thirsty and phased in an out of nightmare filled dreams and dreams of rescues that became living nightmares when I woke up again.

Until during the waking nightmare I heard footsteps.

Once again, I screamed and pounded on the crate, with a voice that was hoarse and thin. I didn’t care if whoever heard me might be an enemy inclined to kill me on the spot. If death was the price of getting out of here, I would welcome it.

I kicked harder on the side of the crate, and I finally, finally I heard, “Is someone in there?”

“Yes! Please let me out!”

There was a muffled sound of disbelief, then the crates were moved, and finally, the lid opened and I squinted up into the scarred face of a… monk? Even with the harsh scar across his face, there was something comforting about his presence. Although, in my state, I might have found Jack the Ripper a comforting presence.

“Child! What in heavens name were you doing in there?” he asked as he helped me climb out.

I was so exhausted and overwhelmed that I could do nothing more than collapse at his feet. My legs were too cramped to hold me.

Muttering an oath under his breath, the monk picked me up in his arms – I was a sweaty smelly mess, with my hair matted around my face and tearstains on my cheeks. My breath was still coming out in panicked gasps. “Outside. Please, I need air.”

He carried me out into the street. It was all I could do to breathe, as he held my hair out of my face. I hadn’t realized it, but I was crying.

There was a shout from down the street, and I looked up to see Aki running toward us, looking more unsettled than I had ever seen him before.

“Katsuko.” His voice cracked when he saw me. “Thank the Gods.”

Still sobbing, I clung to my rescuer, who looked at the crowd of curious onlookers circling us and suggested we retreat to where he had an encampment outside the city.

“My horse?” I looked at Aki, not sure if I remembered the location of where I had stabled her, yesterday? Had it been yesterday? I hoped she was ok. “And Iekane?” Was he safe?

“I’ve got your horse,” he said. “Iekane got away.”

Got ….away? Had he trapped me on purpose?

The monk, who finally introduced himself as Kennyo, asked Aki what was going on.

“I’m not sure, aside from this foolish girl impulsively leaping into a trap.” He softened his words by putting his arm around my shoulders and brushing my hair out of my face.

“Girl?” Kennyo looked at me more closely, then made a hrmmm of acknowledgement.

Kennyo’s camp turned out to be in the middle of the forest, a short ride away. By some unspoken agreement, Aki and Kennyo avoided discussing anything too serious, and instead spent the journey making small talk about the weather and the best kind of fruit to grow in a mountainous terrain.

Once we reached camp, Kennyo directed a younger monk, a beautiful boy named Ranmaru, to loan me some clean clothing. Ranmaru was a smiler, an kept up a friendly chatter while he found something for me to wear, but I wasn’t paying a lot of attention to him. “Pardon, what?” I finally said, once I realized he’d asked me a question.

“Do you want to wash up? There’s a lake over that way,” he pointed downhill, “where the water isn’t too terribly cold.”

I hesitated. I did really want a bath, but I didn’t feel safe venturing too far away. But I figured, Ranmaru did not want my dirty self in his clean clothes. So I nodded, and followed Ranmaru to the lake.

“I don’t bite.” Ranmaru gave me another dazzling smile. “Not unless requested.”

He did have a beautiful smile, but I wasn’t in the mood to appreciate it. Or to trust it. Still, that was no reason to be rude. “Sorry. It’s been a really… long… day… two days, actually.” I explained to Ranmaru what had happened and he looked properly appalled.

“Anyway, no insult intended, but I’m not feeling especially friendly, but it’s nothing personal. I do appreciate being able to clean up,” I continued as we reached the lake. I dunked one foot in the water. “Yikes! That’s your definition of not too terribly cold?”

Ranmaru laughed. “As long as there no ice chunks floating in it.”

Must be a monk stoicism thing. And speaking of… “Would you mind turning around? I promise to scream if I’m drowning.”

He looked embarrassed. “Oh yes, of course you want some privacy.” He turned around then treated me to a long stream of cheerful prattle while I hurriedly dunked myself in the lake and tried to scrub away the memory of the past couple of days. When I tuned back into to radio Ranmaru, he was talking about the soap he’d given me.

It did smell pretty nice. Did they make at his monastery? Did Monks make soap?

I scrambled out of the water, dried, and got dressed in Ranmaru’s clothes. They were a little large, but not overly so. He was not much taller than I. “It’s ok to turn around now,” I said as I braided my hair and secured it with a leather tie that Ranmaru had thoughtfully provided.

“Are you and the Abbott on some kind of pilgrimage from your temple?”

Ranmaru lost his friendly expression. “No. We have no permanent temple these days.”

“How come?”

Rather than answering my question, Ranmaru instead directed my attention back to the main camp. “It should be time to eat… and there are fresh peaches. My favorite. Do you like peaches, Miss Katsuko?”

Ok. Well. It was a rather inelegant segue, but I allowed the change of topic without protest. We all had things we preferred not to talk about – I had a feeling that this entire episode would become one of those things for me. “Yes, I do like them.”

“Great! I’ll share mine with you.” With a laugh, he ran back up the path. 

We rejoined Aki and Kennyo, who were sitting at a fire pit, and Kennyo again asked what had happened.

“I do not know,” Aki said, and told them that I was the daughter of a late friend of his. I had foolishly eloped with one of his vassals, and apparently been betrayed.

That’s what he was going with? Making me seem like a lovesick idiot? I felt awful enough for having kissed Iekane a few times…  worse, I had told him things that I never told anyone. But I would not have eloped with him. “I didn’t run off with him. He told me he’d found my brother. We were going to rescue him.”

Aki frowned. I was supposed to take my cue, not contradict. But I really objected to being characterized as a failed elopement, especially with someone who had tried to kill me.

Unlike me, Aki could take a cue. “Katsuko’s brother went missing in battle a few years ago, and I have been trying to track him down.”

Oh. Ok. Now I see why the elopement thing was a better cover story. Because they were going to wonder why we didn’t go to Aki before getting on the road on our own.

Quickly, I added an explanation. “Iekane said Toshiie was on a ship that was due to leave port. We looked for you, but Fume said you were out hunting and we didn’t want to lose the opportunity.”

“I see.” Aki was silent a moment. “We will speak more of this later.”

Translation – I was in trouble.

He turned to Kennyo. “I owe you many thanks for retrieving this one.” This one? “She is constantly in trouble, but I keep her on in memory of my friend.”

“It was no more than being in the right place at the right time,” Kennyo said. He was cooking something fragrant over the fire pit, reminding me that I hadn’t eaten in a long time.

“Regardless,” Aki continued. “If you ever need a favor, you can call on us.”

“Yes.” I nodded. “If you hadn’t heard me yelling, I don’t know how long I would have been there. It could have been months before someone wanted their… things.”

Wait. What had Kennyo been doing in there? Were those weapons his? What was he planning? Did it have anything to do with the fact that they no longer had a permanent temple? But… he had saved my life. I couldn’t thank him by accusing him of stockpiling guns.

Kennyo looked closely at me. I kept my expression as bland as possible. Finally he said, “Perhaps one day we will meet again, and you will have the opportunity to even the scales.”

How could that sound both reassuring and ominous in the same breath?

After that, our conversation became more casual. Ranmaru and I stayed mostly silent as we listened to Kennyo and Aki exchange news about the current wars.

Though it was still relatively early, exhaustion caught up with me, and I excused myself to retreat to a tent. I soon fell into a fitful sleep, interrupted by nightmares about being trapped in the crate. After the third time waking up gasping for air, I got up and dragged my bedding halfway out of the tent, and felt better once I could see the sky. With the night air on my face, I finally slept peacefully, until Ranmaru tripped over me the next morning.

Aki and I set out early for home, and knowing that he was still angry with me, I kept my mouth shut for the better part of an hour before he finally spoke. “Katsu, I thought you knew better than to run off without checking in first. What got into you?”

I explained what Iekane had told me.

“That was a lie.”

“I know that now. How was I supposed to know that in the moment? He’s one of us.”

Aki rubbed his chin. “Rule number one. Don’t trust anyone.”

“Except you.” I had gotten into this mess because I hadn’t trusted Aki.

There was a long pause. At first I thought he was concentrating on the path, which had become steeper as we got into the mountains, but eventually he said, “No. Don’t trust anyone.” He rubbed his chin. “You can trust me. Theoretically. But don’t.”

Uh. Thanks? “That’s reassuring, in a totally not reassuring way.”

“The only person you can ever know well enough to trust is yourself,” Aki said.

At this point, I wasn’t sure that I trusted myself, but I got his meaning.

He continued. “Everyone has a motivation or a reason for their behavior. If you can learn what they want, then you can generally determine how trustworthy they would be in certain situations. The higher the stakes, the more willing someone might be to betray you if you get in the way.”

I felt a belated wave of homesickness for my own time. Maybe people were as trustworthy, or not so, as they were in this when, but at least usually the stakes weren’t as high.

“That’s why knowledge is as much currency  as this,” he pulled out his coin purse and shook it. “The more you know of someone, the better you can predict how they behave. Then you don’t need to worry so much about who to trust.”

That made sense. It was sad, but it made sense. For a while we both were quiet as we rode through the early morning sunlight. It was burning off the lingering mist from the night before, and I turned my face up to it, enjoying the warmth on my cheeks. I would never again take for granted sunlight and fresh air.

Which reminded me…. “What was Iekane’s motivation then?”

Again there was a long pause, and in my new state of ‘who can I trust’ mind, it seemed to me as if Aki was coming up with a story that was not the truth.  Or, not the entire truth, maybe. “Jealousy? Envy? He’s always had a chip on his shoulder because of his illegitimacy. I thought I could exploit that in a positive way, but once the girl he was engaged to broke it off to marry into an honored family, he became twisted inside.”

Which still didn’t explain why he’d turned that on me. But apparently Aki was going to go with the “he went insane” defense.

“I expect you’ve learned from this experience.” Aki had his lecture face on again.

“I’ve learned that I have a lot more to learn,” I said. I’ve learned that I will do whatever it takes to stay alive.

“You do.” It was spoken almost as a growl, as if I ought to have known that already.

I’ve learned that I never want to be fooled the way Iekane fooled me again. “Can you teach me how to tell who is lying? And how to lie so that people can’t tell that I’m lying?”

“Yes. But- there’s no going back from that.” He paused and took a long look at me… almost as if he were memorizing my face.

I could live with that. Especially if it meant, being not-dead. “Can we begin now?” We had a long ride back to The Mountain.

Aki rubbed his chin. “I don’t see why not. First of all, remember that it’s better to tell the truth when you need to, and avoid a lie when possible.”

“What do you mean? Isn’t that the same thing?” I had been expecting to learn about lies, not be told to be truthful.

“Avoiding a lie means either leaving out information that you don’t want the other person to know – you can tell the truth around it. Or, when pressed, you can also rephrase their question as another question.”

The latter sounded vaguely like gaslighting. I saw what Aki meant about not being able to go back. But again. Not-dead was the goal here.

“Oh, and another rule. Don’t use these techniques on your mentor, because he’ll see right through that.” He gave me a fierce look, but that distant affection was finally back in his eyes.

“Do you really think I would do that?” I gave him my most innocent expression.

He laughed, as I had intended him to do, and I felt better that our relationship was on its way back to where it had been before Iekane had ruined it.

[otakusheep15]

so about the twst opinions u mention that rook is a total creep and i totally agree in fact if it was real life i probably wouldnt have been able to stop myself hitting him atleast once

but at the same time i sorta admire him because he can see the good things in people even if its twisted and he never gets angry like even in ghost marriage when idia was dissing everyone who went there to save them and its reasonable to get mad at his immature actions but the guy was still positive. He comes of a bit of air-headed( sorry i cant find a better word for it ) the man gives unsolicited advice which even i sigh to and is energetic/passionate to everything that it looks fake and cant keep to himself.  he at times gets too hyperfixated on his interests or acts in inappropriate ways because he’s blinded by pursuit of his passion

but hes not entirely a bad person,if he was,the strict no-nonsense vil wouldnt have kept rook near him if that was the case,why would he be the vice dorm leader which is picked by the dormleader or why would vil follow rook’s advice when selecting members for the VDC team in chap-5? he has a good sense of judging someone's character also proven in jade's vignette that he knew that jade was upto to something sus even if he didnt knew what that was. Its clear vil trusts him despite the impression he gives off. And we’ve seen many instances in which rook fulfills his duties as vil’s second-in-command when vil was kidnapped in episode 6,ghost marriage, endless halloween night.

now onto the next thing vil's lab wear where rook made those comments such as when is he gonna start his diet, and even i was kinda startled for him to say such words to the person he looks up so much he went through the hassle of changing dorms. Its understandable that one might think hes fatshaming,etc

but in the second vignette, vil expresses to trey that what rook said is true, but that Rook failed to express it in a more thoughtful way. He explicitly says that he finds rook’s outside perspective useful, as Rook notices things that even vil doesn’t. And since vil's career requires him to meet the industry's standards and is very appearance-based, his feedback does more good than harm. Rook wants vil to improve and be at his best.

pretty much in all situations, rook fails to express himself in a way that is socially appropriate when he’s communicating his thoughts.

and i think everyone in this fandom knows that his actions(stalking and others) isnt justifiable.

The guy is deeper than he lets on actually we havent really gotten enough screentime of him or even in his vignettes, its never about him.

and everyone in the eng fandom mostly doesnt like him even if they dont express it all the time. The fandom doesnt exactly treat it as a non issue its like a gray area like how leona tried to erase ruggie from existence.

rook is a wonderfully written character that his own strengths and weakness and when i mean wonderfully written i mean that even if theyre not likable, their character and actions makes realistic sense.

and i kinda wish everyone didnt just focus on his negative traits like the dude weird but so is pretty much everyone in the game. Take riddle for example, the guy has serious anger issues and goes through ridiculous rules and punishments like come on, stripping someone of their magic just because they were hungry late at night and ate a tart.

or azul looking down on everyone which still hasnt changed after his OB and even shown in the glorious masquerade event and before his OB trying to take advantage of naive teens who dont know any better. He even buys cheap souvenirs for the twins mostly because it was cheap in the glorious masquerade event.

now neither azul's or riddle's behavior is ok,they all have their own faults even if the fandom doesnt really address them.

Twisted wonderland does a fine job at portraying them realistically and i hope u wont just focus on rooks negative traits or any other characters

Honestly, I think Rook's biggest problem is the writers of the game. He could actually be an excellent character if they just wrote him better. And I know that's the whole point of his character, but it's still uncomfortable seeing how he interacts with others.

Yes, Vil appreciates his opinions and perspectives, but many other characters don't, and they express this heavily, especially the non-human characters.

I agree that he is a deep character with many interesting traits, but those don't really outweigh just how awful he can be in many of the scenes he's in. I know it's unlikely, but I'd really like for him to have some sort of development where he learns to articulate better to avoid creeping people out. Because I agree with you that Rook is actually cool character, but the way he's written really lets him down imo.

And you also mentioned Azul and Riddle, so I just wanted to touch on them as well. Unlike Rook, Azul and Riddle are both based on villains. They're also two of the overblot victims, so it makes sense for them to be not-so-great, especially in the beginning. However, both of them go through their character development and learn from their past mistakes. Riddle's anger issues get better, and he stops collaring students as much. Yes, he's still strict on the rules, but that's because of how he was raised. His mother was very strict about rules, so Riddle clearly has trauma about what will happen if someone breaks a rule. Azul is in a similar state. He was heavily bullied growing up, so much of his personality is just him putting up barriers in order to protect himself. He looks down on others so that they're less likely to look down on him. Their more "negative" traits are a result of trauma that is clearly unresolved.

As for Rook, we aren't really aware about much of his homelife. We know he's from Sunset Savannah, but not much else. So we can't really confirm if his traits are a result of trauma like the others. Plus, unlike the majority of characters, Rook is not based on a villain, he's based on the huntsman from Snow White. So, realistically, he should be one of the morally best characters, and he shouldn't be as bad as some of the "villain" characters.

Trust me, I don't just focus on the negatives. I tried so hard to find more positives in Rook for the longest time, but his negative traits simply outweigh the good for me. However, I love the majority of the characters and I can definitely look past the negatives. I wish that I could like Rook more, I really do, but he just gives me too much ick, and I apologize to all Rook lovers for that.

[ceph-the-ghost-writer]

What was the inspiration behind your oc? What was the first thing you decided about them?

Ollie: Like Athena, she sprung from the depths of my imagination fully formed and ready to do battle. It happened around the time I wrote about Renato showing up at Dorian's and mentioning other aquilae. I figured at least a few of Renato's comrades had to hate him, and that if one were his ex/rival it would be good for some laughs. A lot of Ollie's backstory is based on stories about cults and America's current political climate, extreme Protestant sects and transphobic panic in particular. She's a complicated character stewing with all sorts of emotions and I'm glad to have her around.

Micaela: She existed in a nebulous form when I started Phagophobia, but didn't coalesce until I decided Dorian would start out as human. She actually contained a few bare bones left over from a much older, villainous character, but by now the only resemblance is in the name. Coming from the same generation of bloodborn as Desmond and Theodore, she's part of the opposition to Mergus and his aquilae, highlighting different approaches to power, adversity, community, etc.

Elfy: Yet another character born from Phagophobia. I basically asked myself what kind of friends Isaac might have, and an extroverted, rebellious ghost hunter showed up first.

Ben: This one came out of a collaboration I started with two other writers years ago. He was a direct contrast to the Twilight vampires, starting out as somewhat crude, self-centered, and honestly kind of a jerk (though he would grow over time). Ben's softened somewhat in recent years, though he still has some rough edges and can definitely be terrifying when he wants to be. His love of baseball has remained consistent.

Tilda: Another character who started out much darker and gleeful about violence, meant to be the original-version-of-Ben's werewolf girlfriend. Eventually, though, I decided her lupine curse could be used to explore other avenues maybe, and she changed just like he did. Her full name, Clotilda (which she despises), comes from the last known slave ship to bring captive people from Africa to the U.S. It was burned and scuttled to hide the deed since Congress had banned importing slaves (though not owning human beings of course). Her family is loosely based on those who commissioned the ship. They're an example of insular Old Money and how oppression evolves in different eras, with a horrific supernatural element thrown in for good measure.

Yi: She was just a name until I started writing Phagophobia. Her tattoos, short hair, and muscles were the first details to pop up, the latter maybe inspired by Jude Perry from The Magnus Archives. Yi's also just a type of character I like: looks like a one-dimensional bruiser, but is actually steady and thoughtful. She's meant to be the most sympathetic of the enforcers and go through her own arc about her views on the Coven.

Mergus: He's got pieces of a few characters mixed in, including the name. But being a ruthless bastard with a lot of charisma is the unifying theme. Mergus is based on the type of person who's dangerous because he seems so reasonable and caring. And he is...to a point. He helped a lot of vulnerable humans during the break, including kids like Renato and Ollie. It gave him genuine pleasure to be of service. And in the back of his mind he had a sense that service would generate a lot of loyalty. That, say, a couple of trans kids with no support system would latch on to him and absorb his ideals because they trusted him. He doesn't make the rules, he just plays by them, and with skill, you understand.

[uncl3badtouch]

The Final Girl Support Group: Read it 📚 7/10⭐️

I just finished reading The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix 📚 I loved it! So I just recently discovered Mr.Hendrix in the last year. The first book of his that I had read was My Best Friend's Exorcism. I just coud NOT put it down and finished it in one night. From that moment, I was hooked and bought two more books of his the next day. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires, and How to Sell a Haunted House. Both of which I finished pretty quickly and happily. So in The Final Girl Support Group, we have, obviously a group of 'real life final girls' all grown women now with terrible histories. Each have a story of being young and carefree until they become the sole survivors in attacks against them and their friends from murderers and serial killers. All of these incidents taking place in roughly the 80s and 90s (maybe one in 79) but around the time that our favorite classic slashers had come out. One girl had survived 'The Ghost' a masked killer that went on a killing Spree with a single knife, and had created the "Stab" series in the book. (Get what I'm saying?) All of the girls have had movies made revolving around the incidents they each had. And it was interesting to see how each of them had handled the limelight. Some embracing it, some using it to rehabilitate, some shrinking away from it and barricading themselves in a small cage connected to their front door. Everyone was so different and unique in character and story. There was enough diversity in the group to make for compelling story and to give you characters you loved and hated, but each one having a special part. Throughout the story, there were sprinkled excerpts from aspects in each characters past that help to get you to understand their present. At one point there is testimony and dialogue between one of the girls and their lawyer as she tells details in her case, another is a journal entry. They were well placed and very useful in rounding everyone out. To be completely honest, Hendrix doesn't have deep writings. They are still adult writing, for sure, but they aren't like Dracula or Frankenstein with symbolism and extra thinking. They are stories with some profoundness that are extremely entertaining and can be enjoyed with your brain turned off to a point. Personally, I feel like it's a brain sitcom type deal, where it's just a story played out in front of me and I don't need to be super educated or paying a ton of attention go still love it and understand the entirety of the book. And I'm not trying to say that he's a dumbed down writer. It's not books that would be considered literature to me. But they are still really good and have lessons in them as well. In Final Girl, Hendrix had written a lot about women and men when it comes to horror. How the monsters are men and that's why there aren't any final boys. That the final girls exist because there has to be balance. The good always has to outweigh the bad. Women create, men destroy. And that's the cycle of why women are always checking behind them. Now that's just kind of what I got out of it and not exactly what was said, you'll have to read it to find out (or listen. Audiobooks are still books!) But he did have a nice amount of insight that made me think Hendrix is a decent guy with decent understanding of the differences in those two groups of people. He's observant and explains easily. I'd love to have a class with him on writing! I think he'd be an excellent teacher. Anyway, the book is about trusting your gut and your support group. About sisterhood and unspoken social rules. About greedy men in positions of power manipulating victims for their own personal gain and what to look for in the people you surround yourself with. It was truly an action packed story that kept me guessing until the end. There was a twist I didn't see coming and a pleasantly surprising ending that honestly left me wanting more, and I hope I was able to persuade you to read his works

[sas-archived]

I knew like 16 year old me was onto something with the concept of Echoes. Question is how the fuck do I play around with it.

[bigskydreaming]

Okay, so you know “Justice League meets Batman’s kids, who they’d previously been unaware existed” AUs?

So picture that.....but this time, instead of them just having no knowledge of any of these other Gotham vigilantes at all....the Batkids all migrate to various cities as they get older and become known as their protectors - Dick in Bludhaven, Tim in San Francisco, Cass in Hong Kong, etc....

Meaning they’re all established figures, the Justice League are aware of them as solo local heroes who stick to their cities and so they just don’t interact with them much if at all, or else some are members of team lineups but are particularly vague about their histories or life outside of the team’s adventures....

So the big reveal isn’t that they become aware of all these other Gotham vigilantes all at once....its that some big conflict or whatever requires a huge team up of all available heroes, and in the aftermath, they figure out that like.....despite being known as solo heroes who work alone or loners outside of their team settings, 80% of these heroes all not only seem to already know each other, they seem to be related.

And so naturally they all turn to Batman, who has profiles on every known hero and they thus figure had researched these individuals too and just never mentioned this little detail, and they’re like, “Did you know about this?”

And then Nightwing turns to him too, arms crossed and is like, “Yeah Dad, did you know about this?”

And the infamous Red Hood is all: “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I have never met any of these people before in my life. Lives? Whatever.”

And then Red Robin moodily grates out “I have no siblings.” Since he’s nursing a grudge since Dick and Jason broke into his apartment the night before and replaced all his custom Red Robin gear with Darkwing Duck merchandise and his vengeance will be swift and also totally disproportionate because things escalate quickly in this family, that’s true in every universe.

Cass meanwhile has deftly skewered Jason’s lie by walking over to him and brazenly patting down the man with many many guns with no fear whatsoever. He squawks and futilely attempts to bat her hands away as she riffles through his many pockets, but he doesn’t seem shocked, just annoyed. Eventually, she pulls away and triumphantly reveals a box of Hello Kitty themed band-aids.

“So these are yours then? Just for you?” Black Bat asks smugly. Red Hood squints at the box.

“What the fuck? How long have those been in my jacket? Why are those in my jacket? Did you freaking plant them in my jacket just on the offchance you could at some point in the distant future use them at my expense?”

Black Bat frowns, puzzled. “Yes?”

“Oh come on, Dead Hood,” Spoiler says with an exaggerated toss of her head meant to convey she’s rolling her eyes beneath her own mask. She skips her way across the room to Black Bat and then drapes herself languidly all over the smaller woman. Who in turn doesn’t so much as twitch beneath the sudden added mass as Spoiler holds out her hand towards the box of band-aids. 

“One please. I have a boo-boo,” she says with easy familiarity straight into the intimidating cowl of Black Bat. Only then does she deign to finish her train of thought with Red Hood.

“I mean seriously, are you saying you don’t have potential blackmail set-ups, pre-rigged releases of incriminating material, and a random assortment of traps, pratfalls and mortifying scenarios in place for the express purpose of being able to humiliate any and all of your siblings at any given moment, without any need for additional prep time?”

“Is this true, Little Wing?” Nightwing whirls on the larger Red Hood with a faux-scandalized gasp. The founder and leader of the Titans, formerly the Teen Titans, renowned for his stratagems and calm competence when directing squads of supers in the heat of battle while he keeps pace with nothing more than naturally acquired acrobatics and a utility belt that apparently uses the same technology as Wonder Woman’s invisible jet....now appears to be....staggering with the back of his hand pressed to his forehead, moaning about how he felt....faint? 

What is happening right now, several dozen superheroes want to know. Is this a drill? Are they supposed to be checking for signs of a mental ambush from undetected psychic saboteurs? Did they all hit their heads at the exact same time and are now experiencing some kind of shared mass concussion?

Look, that wouldn’t be the weirdest thing to ever happen on the Watchtower. 

“Have I failed you so utterly?” The veteran child hero bemoans with a dramatic twirl - that when contrasted with his stern demeanor of a mere ten minutes ago - makes the fears of telepathic infiltration seem less paranoia and more....concerningly probable. “Did you learn nothing from me? Did you learn nothing from B?”

He stops and jabs a finger up at the sky. “Quick, everyone! What is the very first rule of Living While Batty?”

As if by rote, over a half a dozen voices chime in from all over the room, causing various heroes to jump. Spooked by yet more and more vigilantes joining in some kind of mass recitation like they and they alone have some kind of clue what the hell is going on and everyone else just hadn’t been invited to the party. Which is just rude, honestly. Nobody likes feeling like they weren’t invited to the party. Not even superheroes. 

“If you’re not going to bother preparing for every possible contingency and at least six impossible ones, you might as well just stay in bed.”

Even the Red Hood joins in the Illuminati chant or Cub Scout pledge or demonic ritual or whatever the fuck that just was, though his slumped and exasperated posture gives away every hint of sulkiness his headgear otherwise would have kept safely hidden. He’s surprisingly more...expressive, than most who’d only known of him by reputation had expected him to be. The day continues to yield surprises.

“Of fucking course I do,” he growls out, snatching the box from Black Bat. She doesn’t even fight to hold onto it, just lets it go with a knowing smirk. “I wasn’t surprised by the idea of it, I was just surprised she bothered with such a weak effort. Like yeah whatever, actually those could be mine. I use those all the time at home. So what?”

He aggressively yanks one of the band-aids out of the box, fumbles with the peel-off strips with one hand and he roughly rolls up the sleeve of his jacket with the other. Then just slaps it on his forearm and raises said appendage high, showing it off this way and that. “See?”

“Oh yeah, for sure,” Signal drawls from the other side of the room, nodding his head approvingly. “Totally convincing. Nice job walking that one back, you really showed them.”

Red Hood’s head snaps in his direction with ominous intent. “Watch it, Day-Glo.”

Signal just snorts.

“Yeah, like I’m gonna take constructive criticism on my name and costume from a dude who’s spent the last several years calling himself Red HOOD while running around in a freaking HELMET.”

“Its not meant to be literal, you fucking pedant.”

“So wait, its not literally a helmet? Huh, does it at least protect your head literally, or just like...symbolically? Like if Bane were to clock you across the head, would your concussion just be a metaphor? What’s the treatment protocol for a metaphorical concussion? Fluids, bedrest and a philosophical prescription of two chapters of Chicken Soup for the Soul as needed?”

“Laugh it up, KC and the Sunshine Band,” Red Hood bats back. “You just got yourself disinvited from Thursday night’s poker game.”

Signal just grins and folds his arms over his chest cockily. “Please. You’ve been looking for an excuse to ban me for weeks, cuz you know until you can prove I’m using my ghost vision to cheat, you can’t actually bring suit against me for it in Family Court.”

“That, and also Family Court isn’t a real thing, you toddler. Stop validating Wing-a-ding-ding’s obsession with Shitty TV Nostalgia and just call it that thing where Oracle traps us all in a room until we settle our latest fight without anyone getting stabbed.”

“Yeah, but like, say that five times fast,” Spoiler pipes up. “Its just not practical. Family Court’s way easier.”

“Says the one who’s not even in our fucking family.”

“And yet I grace you all with my sublime presence anyway,” she blows a kiss at him, beatifically unbothered. “You’re welcome.”

The Red Hood scoffs and rounds on his heel, zeroing in on Batwoman in the far corner.

“Hey Auntie B, my siblings are all dead to me and I just helped stop an alien invasion so I deserve nice things like a fun Saturday night. Can you get me into Dad’s fundraiser so I can crash it? He won’t put me back on the list until I promise not to bring any C-4 with me and I won’t promise not to bring any C-4 because he should just trust me that I won’t when I say I’m not gonna and he won’t trust me that I won’t until I admit I shouldn’t have brought any to that sting last month where three tiny little yachts blew up through barely any fault of my own, and I’m just not gonna do that ever because I have convictions and I feel I shouldn’t have to be punished for that. Y’know?”

Batwoman blinks at him. “Kid, I’m not gonna lie to you. You’re my nephew and I love you, but I stopped listening three seconds into all that.”

“Ugh, fine. Can you help me crash Dad’s event tonight so I can teach him a lesson about why he should just trust me not to make a scene so I don’t have to always make a scene to make a point.”

“Tempting as you make that sound,” she says wryly, “I have a strict policy for dealing with you lot and your......everything. I only worry about tolerating one of you at a time, and there’s seven of you, and seven days in the week. You each get your own. You know perfectly well its Robin’s day today. You get me on Tuesday, just like always.”

“Auntie B, we’re not like other families, are we?” Red Robin’s delivery is sarcastically childish and his question clearly rhetorical. Most of his attention is fixated on whatever it is he’s doing with his wrist-mounted computer. 

“No sweetie, we’re all severely fucked in the head and a little bit too comfortable with that.”

“Just checking. Oh hey, Hood, I just emailed you a patch for the hole in your firewall I exploited when replacing all my shit using your accounts just now.”

“You did what?”

“Used your accounts to pay to replace all my stuff that you fucked with last night?” Red Robin says slowly. “Did you not realize that I’ve been sticking within ten feet of you for the past five minutes just so I could clone your devices and do all that while BB and Spoiler kept you distracted? I gotta say, bro, I feel like that’s on you then.”

Red Hood swivels his helmeted head in the direction of the aforementioned two. Black Bat waves. Spoiler shoots him an utterly unrepentant thumbs up.

“You’d side with your ex over me? That’s what its come to?”

“My only allegiance is to chaos,” Spoiler says brightly. Black Bat shrugs.

“Plus he bribes better.”

“Hateful,” Red Hood points at Black Bat, moving on to level the same finger at Spoiler, who curtsies in acknowledgment: “Hateful-er.”

Then the finger rounds the bases to aim judgmentally at Red Robin. “Hateful-est. And that was all Nightwing’s idea anyway, not mine.”

“Oh, I assumed as much,” he says casually. “Your idea of a prank tends to have more of a Carrie vibe. Or be a literal literary reenactment.”

“Its called an homage, 4chan.”

“Whatever, plagiarist. And anyway, I couldn’t go after ‘Wing for payback on this one. He used an Immunity card. If you didn’t want me getting back at you, you should have used one too."

Red Hood looms aggressively. Red Robin ignores willfully. Round and round they go. Superheroes who can survive excessive G-Forces are getting dizzy just watching them have a largely motionless stand-off. That shouldn’t be how that works, but whatever. All the most infamously reclusive and isolated heroes in all hero-dom are apparently part of the same one big reclusive and isolated family of fucked up weirdos and they’re all officially bonkers. Nothing makes sense anymore. Reality broke. Try another stall.

“Okay, but see, in order to have an Immunity card, I would have to participate in one of you losers’ stupid Immunity challenges,” the Red Hood drags out with exaggerated patience. “And I’m just not going to do that, on account of those all being fucking stupid. You see the problem there?”

Red Robin just shrugs. “I don’t know what to tell you, bro. You can have principles or you can have an Immunity card. You can’t have both.”

Meanwhile, on another side of....the same room.....look, its like, an octagonal room, probably. It has a lot of sides. Robin fends off questions from an aggrieved looking Superboy.

“You never told me you had a bajillion brothers and sisters!”

“Yes but I never said I didn’t either.”

Superboy rolls his eyes. “Oh yeah, so I should just assume everyone I meet has a bajillion secret brothers and sisters?”

“Well clearly it would have worked out in your favor in this instance if you had, now wouldn’t it?”

“Assuming of course that you can trust what has been said or implied here today and I am actually related to any of those numbskulls. Which I am not actually admitting to,” Robin tacks on hastily.

Superboy eyes him dubiously. “You joined in the same creepy chant all the others did and then got super self-conscious and looked around to see if anyone had noticed. Which uh. I did.”

“First off, your interpretation of body language is abyssmal. I do not get self-conscious,” Robin says with a delivery that probably could have benefited from being a little less self-conscious. “And second....that proves nothing. I guessed what they were going to say.”

“Word for word,” Superboy says super-skeptically.

“I’m very good at guessing things. You know this.”

“Okay. Guess how much I believe you right now then.”

Robin glares and folds his arms grumpily across his chest. 

“And what was that anyway? Was that like....you guys’ family motto or something like that?”

“Oh no,” Spoiler pipes up. “That’s much shorter.”

Superboy balks at that. “Wait, you guys actually have one of those for real?”

“Yup,” Steph says, counting out the words with her fingers. “He who laughs last....probably works for the Joker. So tranq him just to be safe. See? Only sixteen words. The first rule of Living While Batty is way longer, and what we said was just the abridged version. You should hear the original, before Black Bat put her foot down and refused to memorize it unless sizable edits were made.”

Superboy hovers between her and Robin now, both in mid-air and on the verge of taking Spoiler’s words as an invitation to hear just that. A low growl arises from Robin’s direction.

“Must you?” He asks the older vigilante, with a most put upon expression.

She looks at him pityingly. “Do you actually need me to answer that? Like, we’ve met, right? Hi, I’m Spoiler.”

“Wait, so Robin said that I just never specifically asked him if he had a bajillion brothers and sisters, and that’s why he didn’t tell me, so that means he wouldn’t have just lied and there’s not some code of secrecy that flat out forbids telling other people stuff, right?” Superboy realizes excitedly.

“Yes, excellent direction. Go on,” Spoiler says, steepling her fingers. Robin buries his face in the palm of one hand.

“Soooo, what other stuff could you tell me about Robin’s super top secret family that I wouldn’t think to ask about but that he would tell me about if I knew what questions to ask?”

She claps once, lightly but with emphasis. “Well done. You’ve passed the first barrier. Untold secrets await you behind just a few more.”

“I’ll get you for this,” Robin vows calmly. She waves a hand at him.

“Yeah, yeah. Just make sure you do it before January 1st, remember? You’ve promised retribution like ten times already this year and those don’t roll over, y’know. Rules are rules.”

“Enough!” Thunders a voice then, from the front of the room. Well one of the fronts anyway. Like sides, it has a lot of them, but this is the one where Batman’s standing. All eyes snap to him. Which is kinda just what eyes do when Batman says stuff like that. Its like his superpower, except he doesn’t actually have superpowers, which is what makes it scary. But where the snapping of the eyes (directional) is usually followed by Batman saying something else besides just “hey look at me,” here he pauses in the wake of his own call to attention’s waning reverberations. Uncharacteristically silent.

Not that, y’know, he’s normally Mr. Talkity Talk, but usually his silences feel like he has the words to fill them, he’s just withholding them. This though, this feels more like he doesn’t have any words at all. And he’s as confused by it as any of them, and most everyone else is confused by Batman being confused, and its this whole trickle down economy of confusion and its wrecking havoc on the value of the golden silence standard.

Of course, not everyone present is rendered spellbound with confusion.

“C’mon B,” Nightwing cajoles, leaning forward and practically radiating delight. “I think you know what you have to do now. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Its not likely to come around again.”

Red Hood snickers beneath his helmet and chimes in. “Yeah Pops, go ahead. You do this and you’ll actually have my respect for a whole twenty four hours. No, wait. Sixteen. No! Eight. Yeah, eight. Still a good deal.”

“Carpe diem, B,” Red Robin grins, leaning back as if to enjoy the show.

“Hey! Infringe on my trademark one more time, dude,” Signal throws a faux-glare at the former. Red Robin just quirks an eyebrow.

“And what, you’ll start saying Yum every time you eat a burger? Oh no. I’m hoist by my own petard.”

Signal flips him off with a grin and then redirects his attention back to Batman. “Yeah seriously though B, you kinda gotta do it now. Because if you don’t do it, then you’ll forever be the guy who didn’t do it, and you don’t want to be that guy, do you?”

“Yeah you really don’t want to be that guy,” Spoiler shouts out. “Nobody likes that guy. He’s the worst.”

“Do it, do it,” Black Bat starts chanting beside her, steadily picking up speed and volume. Several others start joining in. Even Robin appears to be slightly anticipatory, albeit trying very hard to hide it.

Batman sighs, and somehow everyone manages to hear it. Stills. Waits for....something? Nobody but them seems to have any clue what, but the air is thick and heavy with portentiousness. Something is about to happen, and all most of the heroes present could say for sure is it was something they never would have in a million years seen coming.

Finally, Batman straightens with the resigned air of a man about to have oh so many regrets. He crosses his arms, shakes his head, and in an absolute deadpan monotone, says:

“You are awful children. You know you’re killing me. You’re killing your father.”

[moonlit-imagines]

Headcanons for being an Avenger with the power of persuasion

Avengers x reader

warnings:

a/n: towards the end this branches off into the fatws timeline but there’s no explicit spoilers

prompt: anonymous: “Can you do hcs for the avengers with a reader who has powers like Allison Hargreeves from The Umbrella Academy?”

the avengers were a little iffy about you because......someone with your power was hard to trust at first

“mind control isn’t as fun as it sounds, you guys. i really don’t wanna keep my guard up at all times when i’m at home base” -clint

“yeah, i’m not sure if i trust this one yet. i mean, i’m totally immune to mind control, but what if they mind control someone to come after me? and they have easy access to the place?” -tony

“excuse me, did you just say you were immune to mind control?” -nat

“he most certainly is not” -wanda

i mean, you get it and all. you heard stories of the avengers’ past encounters. it couldve messed them up

and they had no character references for you

you were new and mysterious

and your powers could be dangerous if you used them the wrong way

“well, i say we take a chance on them. they might surprise us” -cap

“i knew you would say some crap like that” -tony

“i thought a surprise was the opposite of what we wanted?” -bruce

you were put on the team soon after, but you had to have a buddy on missions

*pretending that we have deaf/hoh!clint like in the comics* you were buddied up with clint since your powers were auditory

“you can’t sign me an involuntary command, can you?” -clint

“no, sir” -you

“cool, cool, cool” -clint

stealth looked good on you, ngl

you were able to get behind heavy gunmen and whisper commands to them

“simon says you are an avenger now, shoot the enemy” -you

“simon says i am your new boss, take out your ex-coworkers” -you

“simon says give me your keycard” -you

“simon says i’m not the enemy, you are” -you

“not bad down there, y/n!” -sam

“thanks! now can somebody give me a lift to that one all the way up there?” -you

you proved yourself that day, so everyone got a lot more comfortable with you

and you made a promise that day that you’d never use your powers on them

but occasionally someone would ask you a simple favor, like putting them to sleep or making them focus on a project

“i think the focus one could be a fire hazard” -you

“so just come and get me! or let me die, that’d be fine, too” -tony

“whatever...simon says focus on the new tech” -you

time went by and things got tough, especially when the sokovia accords rolled in

“i wasn’t even there for that, mr. secretary” -you

“and i’m aware of that, mx. l/n, but you still pose a threat to people around the world. you have the means to walk into any place you want and do anything you want. you can see how that makes people uneasy, don’t you?” -ross

“i’ve never used my abilities for anything but good” -you

“what y/n is trying to say is—” -steve

“he knows what i’m trying to say, but apparently that’s the issue” -you

you were “grounded” with wanda

and pretty pissed about it

“i can understand why i’m here, y/n, but you? what did you do?” -wanda

“i intimidate men in charge, i guess” -you

sounds about right, huh?

but clint broke you out

“finallyyyyy! vision is such a drag” -you

and when you got to germany, you were conflicted with yourself

should you use your powers on the teammates who wanted you locked away?

if you got into their comms, you could stop it in an instant

but that’d take some time

“hi, simon(e)! i’m, uh, scott! i think you’re pretty neat!” -scott (p.s. y/n’s hero name is simon/simone. whatever you prefer idrc)

“thanks...and what do you do?” -you

“he shrinks!” -sam

you snuck out to the pavement and tried to hack their comms, but could only do it one at a time

so you got the spider kid

“simon says stick the cat man to the side of the plane” -you

but that cat had claws

alright, it might be harder than you think

“oh god, simon(e)?” -scott

“what is it?” -you

“i’m a little nervous for my next trick...would it be too much to ask if you did your little command thing for me?” -scott

“ughhhhh...simon says, go on with your ‘trick’” -you

and all the sudden he shot up into the air

“oh, nice” -you

you really hated fighting with these guys, but you were out of options and now cap wanted you to come with him, he wouldn’t leave without you

“steve, i’m sorry. simon says leave without us” -you

and that he did, which left you to be caught by a hair

“so close, weren’t you?” -tony

“simon says go to hell” -you

“very funny, guess i’m immune to mind control, after all” -tony

having a mouth restraint place on you that tony had been saving ever since you joined the team

one that “team cap” heavily protested the second they saw it

“tony, that’s wrong! don’t you trust them enough not to do that? they’re going to hate you after all of this” -wanda

“it’s either me or them. at least mine is comfortable” -tony

kinda fucked lol but understandable ig

having to testify without a voice, only able to type or write

but eventually you made your case and were able to make a deal, but part of that deal was to keep your mouth sealed when in the presence of authority since your voice was deemed a weapon ;)

kinda a dick move if you ask me

so you said fuck that and became a fugitive with steve + friends

but used your powers less and less

again, only for favors because it was hard to get peace in these crappy motels

“simon says kill that roach, oh god” -you @ steve

“you were an avenger and you can’t kill a roach?” -sam

“don’t start with me, sam, or you’re sleeping on the floor” -you

“you wouldn’t” -sam

“don’t test me” -you

waiting and waiting for some kind of turning point that didnt come until alien invasion 2.0

and you tried so hard to stop thanos from snapping, but the stones got the best of you as you were frozen in time

but fortunately you didn’t dust

leaving you to get a rematch against thanos when the time would come

and reuniting with tony just for him to lecture you with the rest of the team

“go fuck yourself, tony” -you

“oh, thank god they didn’t say ‘simon says’” -that raccoon you’ve known for like 3 weeks

“do you ever shut up?” -you

“no, he does not” -nebula

anyways your time did not come and you waited five years for another chance

and although you did not redeem yourself on your own, you were just glad that your side, humanity, had won

but just before thanos had ceased to exist, you told him

“simon says to feel the pain of loss for all of eternity” -you

it may have been cruel, but it’s what he deserved

the next step was for you and sam to be pardoned of your crimes

but you didn’t exactly part ways just because...what else was there for you to do? the two of you were close after your time on the run

and all was well until he decided to give the shield up

“oh, bucky’s gonna be pissed” -you

“he’ll be fine” -sam

now, bucky had mixed feelings about you

he was nervous about your powers, but you did save him

and he knew what it felt like not to be trusted

so he gave you a chance and partnered with you after the “new captain america” and the “flag smashers” fiasco

legally, if you used your powers on a government official/soldier you’d go back in the slammer, but it was quite tempting, even if it were just a “simon says punch yourself in the face”

and off to madripoor you went with...zemo

“are you going to persuade me into something petty, mx. l/n?” -zemo

“i’ve gotta make it worth it, honestly, but there’s no rule against me doing so, so at least i won’t feel bad” -you

and who knows what’s next?

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