#other than a vague sense of it being the start of *all* sin

[walterdecourceys]

you know what's drove me up the wall for like two years is this one post where someone's like "why do christians keep associating the forbidden fruit/original sin with sexual immorality!! it had nothing to do with that in the bible!!" like. christians don't associate the forbidden fruit with sexual sin. that was entirely a connection made up by loosely christian/culturally-christian pop culture

[moe-broey]

Oh. Huh.

[voxisdaddy]

İ have a request, how would hazbin hotel and angels (or archangels) reacts to a coqquette girl demon?

İf you dont know what iş coquette is, here some ideas

Coquette Sins

Fandom: Hazbin Hotel

Pairings: Alastor | Lucifer | Husk | Angel Dust | Sir Pentious | Charlie | Vaggie | Cherri Bomb | Rosie | Carmilla | Vox | Valentino | Velvette | Adam | Lute | Emily | Saint Peter | Striker

C/TW: Sexual themes, swearing, some way longer than others, a lot of these are based off appearance sorry, made reader a sinner rather than demon since demon is very vague in the hellaverse lol, not proofread

In which how various Hazbin Hotel characters + Striker react to a demon who brings a fresh aesthetic to hell-aka, a coquette sinner!

Alastor

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ I can't say you'd be very intriguing to Alastor based off this aesthetic if I'm completely honest. He frequents Cannibal Town a lot-which while not coquette at all-the colour palette are closely similar and blends in together. Your look being more romantic and innocent looking in comparison however at a longer glance. So you wouldn't per say stand out at first glance, but even when he notices he isn't exactly intrigues. Hell is filled with many people who can look however they want, whatever way they want after all. So at first you're just another one of these poor sinners in this forever inferno. Somehow once you do get to know one another though, he picks up on certain mannerisms and certain things you like. One of the first being when he saw a little plushie you had purchased one day, now decorated with a neat little bow that matches with pretty much everything of you. From then on, he's sure that when he gifts you things, to keep an eye out for more specific things. It clashes with his aesthetic, but it's okay. Slowly he'll start to change your wardrobe to match his.

Lucifer

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Lucifer doesn't think very highly of sinners, typical for the sin of Pride, but you're something new to him. He's well aware that human souls come in many different forms and that anyone can present themselves anyway they want, but coquette was a rare one. Anyone who resembled innocence, sweet romantics, and softness was often the target of bullying and harassment in hell-which serves him all the more reason to roll his eyes and dismiss a lot of sinners. Meeting you was a blessing in his eyes. Regardless of whatever judgements you may face you seemed to never stray away from who you are. He's become protective of you because of this. I mean he's protective of you regardless, you're very special to him after all, but you're basically a walking target for unnecessary bullying. Whenever he gifts you rubber duckies and carving of ducklings, he makes sure they are painted and decorated to fit in with your room. Because of your aesthetic by the way, you can match for date nights-which he loves very much!

Husk

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Husk wouldn't find you that intriguing either. He's been in hell for a very long time, seen lots of folk looking very different from one another. Nothing new. I think the longer he knows you though, the more he starts to question things. Nothing bad per say. It's more so because he starts to grow a crush on you and just now finds you more interesting. He'd definitely gift you things that match with your whole look. Especially plushies because come on, who doesn't like a good plushie.

Angel Dust

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Loves your look and aesthetic. It's like you're a different version of him-visually at least. You almost go hand in hand together in a sense. I can imagine two different first impressions of you based on appearance and just getting to know your personality on a very base level. One; he thinks you're one of Charlie's goody two shoes who don't know how to have fun but know how to ruin the fun of others. And two; if you're a dude here, someone he can have fun flirting with because don't you look like an inexperienced doll faced angel~

Sir Pentious

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ I think your contracting aesthetics is lowkey a recipe for a cute af looking couple not gonna lie. Sir Pentious would probably be very adoring of you. Don't you look so darling! I feel like out of the main cast, he's been in hell the longest and has definitley seen your type of look before-especially when he was alive. You kind of remind him of those porcelain dolls that would be on the front of store windows. It's probably the leading factor as to why he adores you and treats you as if you're made of porcelain. Even if you're a baddie, yoiu're his baddie-who's also his sweetheart darling.

Charlie

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Charlie loves your aesthetic and how you carry yourself. It feels like such a breath of fresh air in this hellscape she calls home. She's definitely the type to ask what your hobbies are and if she can tag along to whatever it is. Now she'd never change herself to please anyone ever but she would likely, just for fun, dress up and match with you sometimes. Oh but please return the favour every once and awhile! It would make her so happy!

Vaggie

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Vaggie as we know is from Heaven, so your type of look isn't new to her per say but it in a sense it does surprise her. This is hell, most people are usually clad in reds, pinks, and black. So your more, dare I say angelic, appearance is a mild surprise to her. She quickly gets over it though ass even in heaven the angels all didn't look like angels sometimes. Sure theirs halos and the feathery wings, but some peoples appearance mirrored some of the folk in hell. Vaggies own appearance and aesthetic clashing with heaven back in her angel days too. So she gets over her initial surprise. You're almost...nostalgic to her in a sense. She's definitely soft with you.

Cherri Bomb

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ You're both like polar opposites honestly. She at first has her reservations on you. Based on appearance and personality actually. She understands that this is hell and that everyone can look however they want and some just fall looking a certain way. However this hoe likes to fight, thrives in the night life, high party girl energy, and being that bitch. So you'd naturally clash but after some time, especially in a relationship with you, she wouldn't wish for you to change yourself at all. As even Cherri Bomb needs some relaxing down time every now and then. So going to you and your relaxing and romantic sweet nature is almost spa like to her.

Rosie

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Like Alastor, you wouldn't stick out much to her at first glance because she sees people like you in Cannibal Towne at like every turn. She's wise though, she knows theirs a lot more to you and that you even find a way to stick our visually-intentionally or not. Your romantic look is just darling to her! She has to meet you! And once you do, to say this woman is smitten is an understatement. During a gossip session with Alastor, she definitely mentions you. You're the pearl of her eye. Even as your bond deepens, her smitten ways with you don't fade one bit. Probably has a few garments specifically catered to you with her own Rosie taste. She loves to match, so she'll hope you'll agree to meet her in the middle somewhere.

Carmilla

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ She likes to think you're a romanticized version of her. You're...not exactly that but it's close enough. You're a breath of fresh air for her honestly. Being an overlord and especially of her status, she tends to get migraines a lot. So seeing you and your more romantic soft look is already easing her a bit. She'd love to dance with you sometimes honestly. A nice slow dance with fun twirls, perhaps a music box or old record player even, as you unwind together sweetly. If it's alright with you, she'd love to fashion you with some angelic ballerina inspired shoes. Matching is cliche to her, but I headcanon she's lowkey a sucker for that stuff. Plus, it would be great for you to protect yourself with if worse comes to worse.

Vox

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ You're an interesting one to him-especially since no one looks like you on his side of the Pentagram City. It excites him in a certain way-now get your head out of the gutter. It's a power thing. You look quite easy to manipulate, frail, weak, obedient-you could be a mindless doll. Getting you under contract would be easy, he tells himself. Of course, falling for you is the last thing he thought would come from this. But when that happens, you're no longer some doll he thinks he can control into being another one of his little workers. He can easily find out what type of music you listen to, what you like to do, furniture you may like, little shop items you always keep an eye out for, ect., He loves coming back home to you, or even when you visit him in his office. He's a stressed out guy with a lot on his plate. You're more soothing to him than you think.

Valentino

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Valentino being Valentino thought you were quite the delectable thing. It's as if you're begging to be ruined, honestly. He's of course quick to try to coerce you into at the very least having sex with him. He's charming, he knows how to use that and be sweet into getting people to trust him. Say you guys are in a romantic relationship though. You somehow managed to take this monsters heart, he's surprisingly not as rough with you vs if you were some one and done bitch he had instead. You look like too much of an angel for him to wanna break so soon. He's still rough and loves it when its rough, but I mean, what do you expect? It's Valentino. He definitely gets you lingerie that match your look. Loves either seeing you wringle in it beneath him or degrading him while you're on top. Believe it or not it's not all about sex with this guy though when it comes to you. When he's in one of his tantrum moods, you're like his own personal angel to give him a hug til he calms down enough to go do something else more level headed.

Velvette

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ She admires your dedication to your aesthetic, but I can't say she likes it very much. It's cute and with the correct look it can look quite fashionable, but she of course has her own standards and strong preferences. I can imagine that when you move in together, she has a love hate relationship with your guys shared massive walk in closet. One half screams Velvette, and the other half screams you. It's satisfying to see the difference in aesthetics, but also annoying because of the obvious clash. She puts up with it though. It's not all bad, seeing as sometimes you two trade outfits. Not often cuz again this woman is very of her own preferences and makes the effort to maintain her aesthetic as often as possible. It does happen though, as sometimes something from your closet catches her eye and she'll either borrow it or design something inspired based off it.

Adam

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Adam first saw you when you went to visit Heaven with Charlie and Vaggie. He at first didn't even know you were with them. You looked like you belonged in Heaven, he had thought you were an angel tagging along with their running around with Emily. He didn't immediately catch onto the lack of halo and feathered wings but that's besides the point. He actually probably went to bother you several hours before the trial. He didn't like any of the sinner souls or demons, but damn it-why do hell get a lot of the hot bitches? I mean yeah everyone in heaven is hot, but maybe he just has a thing for demon bitches, he doesn't know. Plus, it would probably be a good time to grill you and maybe tease you. What? Are you a wannabe angel? Is that why you look like that and came to argue for that hotel?

Lute

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Lute does not give a fuck because hello~you're a sinner. She first noticed you during an extermination. She had thought you were an angel actually, because of how you looked. She was initially startled and angry because why the hell would of the extermination angels just be out of uniform in a time like this? But she was very quick to catch onto the fact that you are not one of them so she moved to kill you. Ah but little miss angel wannabe, her words, is more vigilant than she thought. You don't get killed this extermination so when the angels are called back to return to Heaven, she glances back at the last place she saw you run into for shelter. She smirks to herself; you got lucky this year, angel wannabe. She almost wishes you see you again next year.

Emily

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ Emily would notice you with this Angel Dust character when they viewed Angel's night out during the trial in Heaven. You seemed to be friends with this group. Even though the focus wasn't on you, she found herself hoping to see you appear through the heavenly lens more frequently. You looked so adorable! Internally she nicknamed you Hell's Angel. She must remain professional and focus on the trial at hand though, which she very much does. She still wishes to get one more glimpse of you once the move on from viewing Angel Dust's night out though. Even when the trial ends, after she deals with the harsh reality she didn't now about, she hopes that Charlie's dreams come true for a chance to properly meet you in Heaven.

Saint Peter

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ This angel met you when you came up to the gates with Lucifer's daughter and her friend. When he realized who Charlie is and where this trio just came from, a part of himself silently wondered about you. You looked so...heavenly. You're really only visiting from Hell? Ha ha m-maybe theirs been some sort of mistake. You look like you belong up in heaven. Oh well. Eventually he get's to actually talk with you of course. It's not long but it's something. He almost feels foolish for thinking Hell wouldn't have sinners and demons who have certain aesthetics and preferences. Heaven has those things, why wouldn't hell have it? Maybe hell isn't the shitty eternal hellfire he and many other winners believed it out to be. I like to think that Peter when he's not wearing his robes, has a pastel filled wardrobe. Real soft boy energy. So if you ever get redeemed or can somehow be together, bc this man was whipped almost immediately, you'd match pretty well together.

BONUS!!

Striker

𓈒ㅤׂㅤ𐙚 ࣪ ⭒ You intrigued Striker a little bit at first glance. With a raised brow he watched as you smiled sweetly at him and waved before continuing on your way. He doesn't like interacting with the sinners much but he knows enough about them that you being you makes you a target for bullying and harassment. He naturally keeps his distance regardless and doesn't think of you again until he actually sees you again. By the time you end up dating, many compromises need to be made. First of all, sinners can't leave the Pride ring so he can't bring you home to the wrath ring. So he often makes trips to the pride ring to visit you, at some point your home becomes his home before either of you realize it. It kinda makes him feel off-he stands out like a sore thumb in your place. But he tries to not get you place dirty and tries to make sure he's not totally bloody when he shows up.

IM SO SORRY THIS TOOK OVER A WHOLE MONTH LOVLEY STAR! I had no idea how to write about various characters reacting to a coquette!sinner!Reader without having so much overlap and I just evbsfvhsbk-

Here it is, finally TvT sorry for taking forever. Thank you for your patience!

[krizariel]

Stripper jason dating CEO Timmy :X

Big thank you to @galkyrie for indulging my midnight jaytim brainworms, helping me make sense of them and adding more to it. This is basically me putting together our convo, so not much of a fic.

FYI, for those who care about this: This AU ended up being switch because we can't help ourselves hence why I tagged both jaytim and timjay. Generally my AUs are more vague on that regard but on this one there's mention of both dynamics so figured, fair warning on this one.

They met at a small party thrown by Dickie and Kory (dating or married idk, whatever fits your fancy) for Dickie’s birthday. Tim is like a little brother to Dick and by extension, to Kory. Jay is close friends with Roy and Kory.

Somehow Tim and Jay had never crossed paths before; with Tim taking over higher responsibilities at the company because his father is ready to retire and leave it all up to him - he is proud of his son and despite whatever Tim says, Jack knows his son is more than ready - Tim has been busy and barely had time to socialize and well, have a life out of work.

They start talking, they hit it off pretty well. Somehow what they do for a living didn’t come up in their conversation because they were too busy talking about their hobbies, Star Trek, AngBang (Sauron has a ship and Jason couldn’t stop talking about it) and  whether or not smore’s count as dinner.

They exchanged numbers but Tim never got to call him again until one night he saw him performing at the club. It was Tim’s birthday and as a surprise, his friend dragged him to a popular stripclub. Roy worked as a bartender there so he’d slip them free drinks every now and then.

When the show started, the room went crazy. Apparently, Jason was very popular and indeed, he was amazing. At some point Jason actually noticed him and even waved at him while he was spinning on the pole.

Steph: I’m sorry… did Mr. Beefcake actually waved at you!? 

Tim: Looks like it

Steph: YOU KNOW HIM?

Tim: Well, remember that guy I told you about that I kinda liked, mayyyybe had a little crush on?...

Steph: YOUR CRUSH IS A STRIPPER?

Tim: I DIDN’T KNOW THAT PART!

Tim was a bit embarrassed and figured it was probably for the best that he never called him to ask him out, as he saw Jay work and all his audience ogling over him… he didn't know how he felt about dating a stripper. Plus, who knows if he’d even be interested… he must have many people behind him and flirting and looking like a sin incarnate is part of his job.

They met again out of work but Jay didn't even want to talk to him again because he figured Tim was just another uptight asshole who just judged Jay for his job so he didn't call him again and avoided him. Tim felt like a real asshole and figured it didn't harm to be friends... Jay was really cool and Tim enjoyed his time with him. Tim apologized for how he came through at the beginning.

Since then, they became friends, sometimes they would text or meet for coffee. It’s not dating - he tells himself-  and every time he’d make a stop by the stripclub to grab a drink, hang out with Roy and Kory at the bar, ~~maybe catch a glimpse of Jay as he danced, flirted and got flirted back~~ he was always reminded of it.

Sometimes he’d get a lapdance himself. What’s the harm…nothing is gonna happen anyway. But oddly enough they’d mostly talk about their day. Tim would be the kind of guy that would sit on his hands to not touch and Jason found it really cute. He enjoyed teasing the little guy.

Other times, Tim pays for a private room/dance to give Jay an hour break from being on the floor, because he notices he is tired. Jason was surprised at first because he thought Tim was finally pulling moves on him but nope, instead he wants nothing but to give him a break and spend time with him, pulling his laptop to watch Star Trek since Jason hadn’t watched it and was interested. Jason just kept falling and falling for Tim’s little gestures. He knew Tim found him attractive, it was obvious, but he was always the proper guy, never making any advances, just making Jason feel cared… which WAS WORSE! because he was starting to imagine it was Tim instead of those men or women who’d he’d dance for. Jay just wanted Tim to fucking snap and fuck him senseless in that stupid couch from the private room. Meanwhile, Tim was starting to finally stop being in denial and was working out the courage to ask Jay on a date because he knows he caught feelings hard.

The next time Tim paid for a private dance, Jay was having none of it. He was going to put on a show and was determined to make Tim snap. 

Jason, rolling his hips so his abs are almost brushing Tim's face: who'd think a CEO would be so timid … (Art here )

All the while Tim’s hands are hovering over his skin and not yet touching. Jason's kind of expecting him to get aggressive, or super eager, once he does touch him, but Tim's almost reverent when his fingertips brush along his outer thighs. Tim really -really- wanted to ask Jason out first but he is just about to lose it. And he does, eventually, snap and fuck Jason senseless on the couch. While they are cuddling Tim finally tells him he has been meaning to work up the courage to ask him out... Tim just tells him he wants to date him for real, he deserves to be dined and wined and maybe they are doing all this out of order… and Jason doesn't know how to respond because how is this man so damn cute and yet so savage. Jason asks him if he is sure… he doesn’t want this to be a on-time thing but he’d understand. Most of his previous lovers have ended quickly because they tried to pull the “savior” card, couldn’t get past what he does for a living and he doesn’t have plans to change this for anyone. But Tim is sure, he thought about what this means and he really wants to try if Jay will have him. Tim brings Jason flowers when he picks him up for the date and opens his car door for him. Just total romantic shit that Jason should be too jaded to fall for, but...it's Tim.

So it works on him, because he's already gone on Tim.

By the fourth course Jason's already daydreaming about peeling Tim out of his fancy suit and having his way with him on whatever stupid fancy couch he has at his penthouse. When they get back to Tim's place and Jason eases himself onto the couch and pats his lap like: I think it's your turn to be the one in my lap Tim: hope I don't need to dance because let me tell you already, I suck. But Jay walks him through it, gives him directions and suddenly Tim is taking orders. He finds he likes giving away control if its Jay.

For a while they were dating secretly but it was just because Tim didn't want the inevitable attention on their relationship and wanted to have privacy for them to develop their relationship first. He respected Jay’s job, he did it because he liked it and he was certainly amazing at it - but then Tim realized Jay might not be ok with Tim always introducing him as a friend even among their close friends because he thinks Tim is ashamed so he took Jay as his date to a Wayne gala. And of course people around Tim take it as a license to badmouth Jay and mock Tim by insinuating they had seen all there is to Jay (since some of them apparently went to the strip club Jay worked at). Jay was actually very charmed with Tim because unlike other boyfriends he’s had, Tim didn’t try to make him quit his job. Truly it took a lot from Tim at the beginning to get used to Jay dancing and everyone ogling over him… sometimes some men or women would recognize him while they were on a date and talk so amicably with him essentially ignoring Tim’s presence…but Tim focused on the fact that only Tim got to see how Jay sang while he cooked; how he genuinely laughed like a dork; how he screamed Tim’s name when he reached climax, how he slept like a starfish, etc, and slowly found he loved that more than any jealousy or insecurity he could feel.

and if you missed it, timjay art here

[fishgirl514]

sonic prime s3 rewrite:

im going to try to fix a bunch of things i was unsatisfied with from the end of the story.

such as the whole “work together” lesson that sonic learned somewhere in the last 6 episodes really vaguely. also im going to fix sonic and shadow’s vague friendship arc. i might also take a crack at fixing knuckles the dread’s conclusion bc he was the most interesting variant lets be honest and he was nearly forgotten. maybe in another post. this is future me talking i spent hours writing this.

im also going to make the “we’re back home” ending WAY longer and actually have there be an emotional resolution for the #notgay “brothers”

and the most egregious sin (imo) of season 3 was the fact that all the worlds just. stayed. and that was it. huh????????

THIS WILL BE LONG AND MIGHT BE ASS IN YOUR OPINION LOL ITS CHILL. IM NOT A SEASONED DAY 1 FAN WHOSE READ EVERY COMIC AND PLAYED EVERY GAME AND KNOWS THESE CHARACTERS BETTER THAN THE WRITERS OR ANYTHING IM JUST HAVING FUN AND SHARING WHAT I THINK WOULD HAVE MADE MORE SENSE

THE SHARDS:

ok first, we have to go back in time a little bit. i think each shard should have been the heart of its respective world instead of just the random place it happened to be sitting in. the shards create the world around them, and whoever holds the shard of a world basically controls reality for that world. the shards are always originally centered on the palm tree of their world (the chaos council found their tree and stole the shard, this is why the tree is so important to the resistance, they need to return it to restore balance. NO ONE IS MEANT TO WEILD THE SHARDS, IT ONLY BRINGS CHAOS. THIS IS A CENTRAL THEME.) when a shard is removed from its world, the world begins to slowly collapse on itself. the more shards are taken the more the WHOLE shatterverse starts to become unstable. THIS is why the shatterverse begins to decay, not just because there was “too many portals” or whatever.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: when the paradox prism is fully recreated and brought back to its place in ghost hill, green hill will be restored and the shatterverse will cease to exist. it was created by the shards being split, bringing them back together brings the world back together into one.

sonic does not realize this at first. he finds out the shards are in different worlds and starts trying to find them all to put them back together, saying he needs to recreate his world, not thinking about the logical consequence for the shatter spaces. nine hears this and thinks he could create his OWN world wherever he wants using the power of the prism. he is wrong. (find out why later)

SHADOW:

for the most part, shadow is in the right about everything. his only issue is that like sonic, he doesn’t want to work together. sonic is too impulsive, but shadow is too stubborn. they learn to overcome this together throughout the series. while shadow is stuck speaking to sonic from the void, they are constantly disagreeing on what to do. shadow is being too bossy and demanding that his plans be followed to the letter, and sonic is making split second changes and forgetting to tell him. this at some point nearly ends in a MASSIVE disaster and they both realize they need to get it together. wasting time fighting is part of what caused this mess in the first place- shadow is also slightly at fault here. we do a flashback to the day of the incident and they agree to try to cooperate. it’s a little rocky, but by the end they’re fighting side by side in perfect sync, recognizing each other as valued friends.

NINE:

nine for most of the series can stay the same. an important plot point for me is his insistence that he is NOT tails. however, instead of this being something sonic has to learn is true, it’s something nine has to learn is false. when nine goes to ghost hill and sees the old tails, he’s unnerved by this hollow shell of a version of himself. while he is alone putting the shards back together on the mountain, he realizes that just like the shards are unstable fragments of the paradox prism, the shatter spaces are unstable fragments of green hill. he is a fragment of tails. this sets off a minor identity crisis on top of the realization that he is not supposed to exist. none of the shatter spaces are supposed to exist. that’s why they’re all so out of wack. no place is flooded and ruled by pirates, the boscage maze is a suffocating jungle, new yoke is a dystopian nightmare, and the grim is a lifeless wasteland. they all exist in a fragile state of balance and are already falling apart. they were already on shaky ground but have been on a direct path to destruction since sonic showed up. he still has hope in his ability to make the grim into his own world, but deep down he’s refusing to let himself realize the truth: even with the power of all 5 prism shards the world will continue to decay until they are reunited. nine takes the shards and leaves.

SONIC:

dear god. sonic. where do i even begin.

first of all, i would prefer to see him being a little less chatty and scatterbrained. i think a little of it would still make sense considering the story he’s living through, but in general he needs to be a little more tethered to his old unshakable self until it comes to the really important decisive moments. sonic isn’t an emotionless character, but he just seemed extra…. smushy..? idk this isn’t something i can articulate well ehe XP

i LOVED the parallels and flashbacks from seasons 1 and 2. where did they go??? i go crazy for a good parallel, so i say they keep happening in season 3. obviously. like of all the times to mirror the beginning, it’s the final fight???

i want to have the final battle directly and clearly parallel the fight from episode 1. this way, there can be a Moment where sonic stops to look back at his experiences and make the choice to do things the right way this time. to fix the problem he created he needs to fix his personal problem that created the problem. i want a very obvious scene where he finally finished connecting all the dots lets this lesson sink into his head.

speaking of which, let’s get back to present time and talk about the final fight.

FINAL BATTLE:

nine has all 5 shards kept far apart and protected, but still close enough for him to draw on their power. the world is decaying rapidly and he has to constantly use the shards to ward off the imminent destruction.

sidenote: at some point when nine is trying to pick off sonic, he sends the birds to search the empty space in the shatterverse. one finds shadow’s chaos emerald in the void and brings it out. shadow gets it back from the bird or whatever later. it was so weird that the void stopped being relevant and they just never got the green emerald back.

heading into the final fight, sonic is sad about nine’s betrayal, but he only gives him one chance to give up. when he and shadow confront nine, sonic tells him that the shatterverse is falling apart and no one has a home left to return to anymore. nine hesitates for a moment, he knows there is a chance that even with his enemies gone he won’t be able to stop the decay, but he refuses to give up. sonic knows what is at stake here and he takes it seriously. he doesn’t want to fight nine but he has no choice, besides, nine is hurting his friends, and that’s not acceptable.

sonic still isn’t sure what to do about the moral dilemma of wiping out the shatterverse to bring back his world. after all, wouldn’t that make him no better than nine? but right now there is an immediate threat: nine accelerating the decay of the universe by holding all the shards in one shatter space.

during the final fight (which i would also make WAYYYYY shorter) i would have him try to go for nine himself, thinking that he knows nine best, and is the most well equipped to defeat him. everyone else is on shaky ground with each other as alliances between the different groups, especially with the eggmans, haven’t been solidified. because of this lack of teamwork everyone struggles to fight off the robots nine creates.

sonic stops. he’s seen this play out before, and the stakes weren’t nearly as high. he is the throughline of the whole group so HE has to bring everyone together (“theres only one hedgehog they’ll follow into battle”). He gets everyone to understand that right now they’re on the same page, so they all formulate a plan together to keep the robots away and get the shards back one by one. sonic and shadow fight nine in person while everyone else collects the shards and brings them each to sonic and shadow, who use the power of the shards to help defeat nine. but when they remove nine’s power source, the world starts decaying really fast again. nine panics, takes the shards back and starts trying to fight off the decay, but it’s too much to fight anymore. he falls to his knees in defeat, he knows his goals were always unreachable. at first he lashes out at sonic, but then he stops and just cries.

he tells sonic how he just wanted a place to call home, even though he knew it wouldn’t be possible. sonic says that maybe it’s still possible to restore the shards to their worlds and stop the decay, shadow interjects that they need to bring back green hill, but nine says there’s no point in trying to bring back the shatter spaces. they’re beyond repair, and they were never meant to be in the first place (the others hearing this are shocked and uneasy hearing this). he was wrong to try to destroy everyone’s worlds to make one just for himself, at least sonic was trying to bring back his friends. but sonic comforts him and reassures his feelings and also apologizes for asking him to stop existing. but nine says that’s actually what he needs to do now. the only option left is to restore green hill. they’ll pour all the energy stores they have left into the kraken to get sonic and shadow back to the decaying ghost hill.

sonic tries to object, asking if nine is sure he’s ok with disappearing. nine says he won’t really stop existing, he and all his friends were always with him and always will be back in green hill. nine thanks sonic for always being his friend. here is the big brother hug moment. nonetheless, they all say goodbye (for now), and shadow and sonic head out of the grim.

RESTORING GREEN HILL:

blah blah there’s some debris and maybe they *almost don’t make it* but in the end they just barely get to the gateway in time.

sidenote: instead of shadow needing to go through weird side cracks to get through the gates, he is able to because of the instability of the prism energy not keeping him out the way it did before

shadow is almost blocked at the gateway. he’s pushing through, but the world is falling apart. sonic grabs the shards from him and tosses them into ghost hill so he can pull shadow through. shadow exclaims something about the shards and sonic says he won’t leave him behind. shadow is touched <3 (they’re holding each other desperately this whole scene and when they fall through, this is me making up for cutting the princess carry im so sorry i had to).

they get to the mountain, return the shards, and a huge blast of energy knocks them back. sonic opens his eyes and cue the regular sequence from the final episode. i liked this bit, it was such a relief to see the world put back together lol. after they fight eggman, sonic brings everyone in for a big group hug like he tried to in new yoke and says he has to go find shadow.

sonic asks shadow if he still remembers everything, and he does. sonic breathes a sigh of relief and jokes that he was worried all that friendship building effort had gone to waste, shadow gives him a (very) small laugh. he tells sonic that he may have started this by being himself, but he also fixed it by being himself. sonic whizzes around him asking if that was a compliment, and shadow says it’s just good to be back home. sonic says “it wouldn’t be the same without you. it wouldn’t be the same without ME either” to which shadow rolls his eyes and tries to hide a smile. sonic uses shadow’s shoulder as an arm rest as the two look out at the sunset. sonic says they make a pretty good team when they fight WITH each other. there’s a pause before shadow responds, “yeah.”

the next day goes on like it did in the real episode except shadow is there, and when the gang remarks on sonic’s odd demeanor they also comment on his suddenly improved relationship with shadow. the show ends like it did before with sonic about to explain but interrupted by eggman. life is back to normal, happily ever after the end.

OK THATS IT!!!! i hope whatever few people had the endurance and determination to read all of this enjoyed it, ive been writing it out for hours omgggg i could never write fanfiction i would die LMAO. i had such a clear vision of what i thought this season was going to be that i figured it wouldn’t take too much effort for me to write it all out. like i said before it’s definitely not perfect and i refuse to re read this for errors for 24 hours but i hope you enjoyed ok bye :3

[causticjuice]

Kinktober Day 21 — Panties & Lingerie

Terzo x gn!reader

Notes: This is the last Kinktober fic that I had planned before starting (and funnily enough it was also the first one i finished, I cranked it out very quickly for me). I do have one more that I plan to post on the last day (it's a prompt from the first week) and potentially one more before that. There’s trans implications at the beginning, but it’s very vague.

Tags: smut (18+ MDNI), Terzo in panties, body worship, praise, handjob, anal fingering, sub Terzo

Word count: 2.1k

ao3

You’re on your bed, scrolling on your phone as Terzo is going through your closet. Who knows why, maybe he’s trying to judge your fashion sense, maybe put together outfits or is just being nosy. You notice he is now down to the drawer you haven’t touched in a very long time and before you manage to ask him to leave that stuff alone, he pulls out a pair of lacy periwinkle panties. He holds them up with both hands, looking with a plain expression, as if assessing the garment, but you see a hint of fascination in his eyes.

“That’s pretty,” he says.

“You can have ‘em. I don’t wear that kinda stuff anymore,” you reply while looking at your phone again, trying to hide your embarrassment.

“For… for me to wear?” he asks, more to himself than you, it seems, “I don’t know if it will fit.”

“Well try it on, then.” You give him a mild encouraging smile.

“What do you think?”

He emerges from the bathroom wearing nothing but the panties, his stride elegant but slightly apprehensive. They seem a bit small, the waistband arching down in the front and barely covering him up. His dark hair makes the color appear darker, shifting into more of a mauve. Once he’s close enough, he spins to show off the back. The cutframes his ass beautifully, accentuating the curves.

You set your phone to the side and lean forward, no longer resting against the headboard. Terzo is now facing you again, looking at you expectantly.

“You look very, very pretty,” you say, trying to make it abundantly clear that you mean it.

“Really?”

“Yes,” you almost cut him off in your enthusiasm.

Seeing him like that, so bashful and reluctant, wakes within you entirely new feelings. Since he’s always so confident and playful, you never thought he could be made so vulnerable with a piece of underwear. You assumed that he has done something like this before, but maybe not in front of anyone. Or maybe not in a casual, lazy weekend setting, not in the daylight. All you want to do right now is to reassure him of how beautiful he is, make sure he knows how you see him. So you get up from the bed and walk over to him.

“Sit down,” you motion to the edge of the bed with one hand while the other grazes his arm.

He obeys and looks up at you with curiosity. Nothing within him seems defiant or bratty. His legs are still pressed together as he sits.

You put your free hand on his cheek and the one on his arm drifts up to his shoulders and then down his chest, your gaze flitting back and forth between his eyes and body.

“You are so, so beautiful. Perfect.”

“Oh, stop-”

“No. I mean it,” this time you really cut him off.

You nudge his legs with your knee and he spreads them slowly, getting the hint. You get down on your knees and grasp his thighs to move them to your desired position and stabilize yourself. As your hands slide up, you marvel at every hair, the patterns they make, the bends and swirls and waves. When your eyes reach his crotch, you notice the panties look absolutely sinful on him. His balls are spilling out the sides, the flimsy strip of cloth doing nothing to contain them. His cock is already semi-hard, tip threatening to peek out of the top.

You ghost your fingertips over the fabric starting at the hip and following the bottom edge. You look up at him and find his eyes boring into you. He has his arms behind him, propping himself up.

“They look perfect on you. Like they were made for you to wear. My gorgeous Terzo.”

He lets out a quiet gasp at your words and his lips stay parted, breaths growing shallow.

You keep moving your fingers along the seam. The moment you’re about to reach his shaft, he tenses up, but you don’t react. You don’t pause or look up. Instead, you keep moving, entranced in reverent worship. Your light touch tickles down his length and to his balls as his muscles twitch under your other hand. Once you cannot reach any further, you look up again and reach towards his chest to press his torso down.

“Lie back and scoot up for me. That’s it, good boy.”

As he adjusts according to your guidance, he never breaks eye contact, his eyes still wide but relaxed.

When you have him where you want him, you sit between his legs and reach under his knees to lift his legs up. The more of him that gets revealed to you, the more you are in awe. The patterns of the lace over the various shades of his skin and hair create the most beautiful painting, abstract and ethereal. Viewed from a distance, enough is obscured to entice, while up close nothing is left to the imagination.

You get back to your task of tracing the edge of the garment, starting where you left off. You move down his ass and feel every bit you can through the fabric. Any curve or bump, a picture of perfection to you. Once you are back to the hip where you started, you reach up the front, pressing your hand more firmly on his cock now. His jolt and gasp break you out of your trance, but you don’t let it show. You let your gaze glide over his body, up his happy trail, over his pierced nipples and finally reaching his face. His eyes are half lidded and mouth open a little more now.

“You’ve been so good for me. Such a pretty doll, and so easy to pose. I’d say you deserve a reward now, hm?” you say while palming him through the panties.

His whine makes it clear that he does indeed want a reward, but has apparently been left speechless.

Over the time it took you to admire him from all angles, his erection has grown bigger to the extent that his tip is now fully above the waistband, red and leaking. And as you work his still covered length, it only grows redder and leaks even more. You squeeze and stroke and press as best you can without taking the pretty little thing off. But finally, you decide it’s time to move on and start to get up from the bed. You see his head dart up when he hears the creak the bed makes.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back in a second, my sweet prince,” you reassure him as you walk over to the nightstand. You pull out the lube from the drawer and hold it up to your eyes, noting that it’s probably time to get a refill.

As you return to your position on the bed, you make a disappointed expression to continue the charade.

“Unfortunately, I think it’s time to take off this fashionable item you’ve got on. Is that alright, beautiful?” you tease with a theatrical frown.

“Yes! Yes, please,” he moans, voice breaking in the middle.

“Oh, so polite. You’re just as stunning without it, though. Always so stunning.”

Your fingers hook onto the garment at either side of Terzo’s hips, lingering for a moment to feel his skin, and then sliding it down his legs, which he stretches out in front of you. Once the panties are off, you hold his ankles together like that with one hand to marvel at the shape. Such lovely curves made by his toned calves and thighs. The backs of the knees so delicate with the light hair and soft skin. You trace over it with the thumb of your free hand and feel him shudder below you.

“What is it? Is the doll ticklish?” you ask, spreading his legs to get a look at his face.

“Not really… I just expected the touch somewhere else,” he answers with a hint of bewilderment.

“But you look so perfect everywhere. I can’t miss the opportunity to admire every little bit.”

The praise that at first seemed to make him embarrassed now only adds fuel to the fire between his legs. His eyes fall closed into a pained frown and bottom lip gets pulled between his teeth, already red from before when you weren’t looking.

He is now spread in front of you again and you reckon you should get back to the task at hand. You squeeze some lube on your fingers and rub them together to warm it up and spread it around. Your eyes are locked on his face as you reach down to his taint and rub up and down gently. His mouth falls open immediately, quick exhales following shortly. You slowly inch closer to his asshole and stroke with the same pressure.

“P- Per favore-” his eyes fall open with the brows still knitted tightly.

“Hm?” you raise your eyebrows, feigning curiosity.

“Please, can you just f- Oh!” he yelps at a change in your movement.

“Ah, I see. You want me to fuck you with my fingers? Is that it, pretty thing?”

“Sì! Please do!”

“Now, that wasn’t so hard, was it?”

You circle his rim with your finger and push in. As you do, his moan rings out in the room. You begin to move slowly inside of him, exploring the places you’ve felt so many times before. His tight hole squeezes your finger while you work him to get ready for the second. It doesn’t take long though, and soon enough you are slipping another finger in with the first. Once they’re both in, you move to press on his prostate which makes him writhe under you. He unravels from your touch, head thrown back and hands gripping at the sheets.

“I’m sorry if you want your hole filled all the way up, my pretty doll. Today, I need to feel you come undone from just my hands.”

As you say that, you take his cock in your free hand and stroke in time with your fingers in his ass. Your hand dances over the head, gathering up his precum to mix with the lube when you move along his length. The fingers inside of him curl to prod at his most sensitive area. You gradually increase the speed and listen to his moans and gasps. His melodic voice makes the lascivious noises sound like an opera to you. His eyes are pressed shut with curved eyelashes poking out from the slits. You can tell he’s almost reached his peak, but you have one more thing in mind.

“Look at me,” you command while slowing down your movements.

His eyes dart open and look at you pleadingly.

“You're the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” you purr and speed up your hands again, “Say it.”

He whimpers in response.

“Say that you’re beautiful.”

“I- Ah, fuck! I’m beautiful!” he screams as ropes of cum shoot onto his belly.

You keep going as his orgasm rips through him until his body goes limp. The look he gives you once his eyes open again is of such deep devotion that it almost makes you look away. But you keep your gaze locked on his, trying to return the same level of affection back to him as you pull out of him. He is a complete mess, his spend covering his torso, hair disheveled, lips red and puffy. You can’t help running your hands over his chest, spreading his release through the hair and caressing his nipples, the glint of the metal piercings catching your eye.

“You did so, so well. You are perfect. And always will be. Don’t forget it.”

“Thank you…” he replies in between breaths, a shy smile gracing his lips.

“It’s not a compliment. Just the truth. I’ll be back in a minute, all right, doll?” He nods.

You go in the bathroom to get something to clean him up with. When you come back, you once again pay attention to every little detail on his body. Every little mole, scar, bump, wrinkle, hair. Truly worthy of awe. You gently kiss anything that you think might make him self conscious, trying to show him that it shouldn’t. Once you’re done, you lie down next to him and guide his head to your shoulder.

“Ti amo, tesoro,” he whispers, his voice quivering.

“I love you too, Terzo,” you pull him closer to you and feel the spot where his face is resting get a little damp. “You can go through my old clothes any time you want.”

He huffs in amusement and wraps his arm around you.

[lost-in-derry]

Communion

This is my belated Christmas present to @seth-silver-ink! A fic based off their sentient bo-rifle post. It’s also the first complete chapter of a fic I’ve ever written! Stay tune for part two.

********************** **********************

Kallus regained consciousness feeling completely fine, which was the first clue that something was wrong. Even on his best days some part of his body ached. Usually the leg he’d broken on Bahryn that had never healed quite right, his head from staring at his data pad until he passed out, or on very special mornings, both.

The second clue, upon opening his eyes, was that he appeared to be in an infinite void. Better than being strapped into an Imperial interrogation chair, but still concerning. Kallus sat up slowly to get a better sense of his surroundings. The ground beneath him was smooth and reflective. It rippled when he pressed his hand to it, but found himself completely dry as he stood up. The sky, if one could call it that, was a misty color. Squinting his eyes and staring hard, Kallus thought he could almost see stars. Everything around him was touched with the warm gentle colors of a sunrise.

With little else to do Kallus started walking. The ground rippled softly beneath him with each step and he tried to recall how he’d gotten here. Events wove themselves together slowly. There was a mission. An unusual mission. Zeb had come to him early in the morning and said the Ghost Crew had found something- no, someone. Many someone’s, and they were very important. Lasat. Prisoners in a labor-camp.

Kallus had helped the Spectres free Lasat before, but always from a distance. He would sneak into security rooms, open doors, take out guards, guide the others through escape routes, all the while taking care that he wasn’t seen. Afterwards he’d find his way back to the Glimmer and distract any TIE fighters while the Ghost snuck away with the prisoners. It’s not like he was allowed to know where they were going anyway. But this time had been different. There was a blockade around the planet the Lasat were being held on that only the Ghost could get through. The labor camp was the largest they’d ever attempted to breach. Security was much tighter and the control room was nearly impossible to get to. There’d be no time for him to get there before the rest of the crew was spotted. Kallus had to memorize the camp layout and guide everyone through in person.

It would be the first time he’d come face to face with a Lasat other than Zeb since Lasan and he was… scared. The whole flight through hyperspace Kallus could feel the icy grip of his sins crawling down his spine. He sat in the galley, staring at the camp blueprints and trying not to vomit. By the time the Ghost made it through the blockade and landed on the planet he’d managed to convince himself that none of the Lasat would recognize him. So long as he kept his head down and focused on getting everyone into the camp and back out safely, everything would be fine.

The moment he’d entered the prison Kallus felt strange. He heard something. A whisper, a buzzing in the back of his mind. Something was wrong but he didn’t know what. The further into the compound they got the louder the sound became. It almost sounded like a voice.

Chopper had just opened the main gate so the prisoners could make the last sprint across the landing pad towards Hera and the Ghost while Kallus and the rest of the crew kept the guards busy.

“Hey, traitor!”

Kallus whipped around, the voice he heard with his ears nearly drowned out by the one calling out in his head. In front of him was an imperial officer he vaguely recognized from his time on Thrawn’s ship. They hadn’t interacted much but the man had always seemed to dislike Kallus beyond the usual animosity between ISB agents and the rest of the Empire. The officer wasn’t important. What was important was that he had a bo-rifle in his hands. Kallus’ bo-rifle. And he heard it scream as the man clumsily ignited it.

Kallus’ body moved on its own. He closed the distance between him and the officer in one blink. His opponent raised the bo-rifle to block an incoming attack, but Kallus wasn’t aiming for him. The only thought in his mind was getting the weapon out of his hands. He wrenched the staff out of one hand, reached out and snapped the wrist of the other. The officer cried out in pain and kicked himself backwards, releasing the staff. Kallus felt it hum in his hands. He swung the bo-rifle, aiming for the officer’s neck with the bayonet blade attached to the side. He felt it connect at the same moment he heard the blaster he hadn’t noticed the officer pull out firing into his chest.

Kallus halted. Everything after that was black and he’d woken up here. It occurred to him for the first time that he might be dead.

“Not quite, but you’re close.”

Kallus’ eyes jerked up and standing in front of him was a Lasat. He recognized his face from one of the many that haunted his dreams. This was the Honor Guard he’d won the bo-rifle from.

Kallus opened and closed his mouth a few times before managing to get words out.

“It’s you.”

The Guard flicked his ears in amusement. “It’s me.”

Zeb had told him once that it was customary for a follower of Boosahn Keeraw to bow to whoever had given them their weapon. Kallus put a fist in his other hand in front of him and lowered his head. The Guard inclined his head in response. Kallus frowned in confusion.

“Are you a ghost? How are you here if I’m not dead as well?” He didn’t even know where ‘here’ was.

The Guard sat down and gestured for Kallus to do the same.

“I’m not a ghost. I’m not really even the Lasat you fought. I’m more… the bo-rifle’s memory of him.”

He gave Kallus a moment to process what he’d just heard before continuing.

“Right now you’re communing with the bo-rifle. It can’t speak, so it uses the forms of its past wielders to communicate with its current one.”

Kallus raised his eyebrows in surprise.

“I can’t be the current wielder.”

“Why not? You defeated me in single combat. You claimed the bo-rifle through Boosahn Keeraw.”

Kallus dropped his gaze to the ground. His reflection stared back from beneath him.

“There was no honor in invading your home.”

“True.” He flinched at the Guards bluntness.

“But the bo-rifle sensed the potential in you to become something better than you were. The Empire could not snuff out the light in you completely.” The Guard smiled slightly, like he knew something Kallus didn’t. “And you had a purpose yet to serve, Warrior.”

Kallus’ face pinched in confusion. Before he could ask what that meant the Guard made a dismissive gesture.

“An explanation for another time, perhaps. The bo-rifle called to you for a reason, aside from freeing it.”

All levity dropped from the Guard’s face.

“You have a choice to make.”

Kallus sat up straight and listened with bated breath.

“I said earlier you were close to death. You stand on the precipice between your world and the next. You are connected to the bo-rifle enough for it to tip the scales one way or the other. It can send you back or let you go.”

The Guards eyes softened.

“It has seen your life. It knows the pain you’ve endured. You’ve done enough good now to earn the peace death would bring you.”

“…And if I go back?”

The Guard was silent for a moment.

“You will face your sins. You will hurt and bleed again. You will meet your nightmares. You will stare the darkness of the abyss in the eye once more and I cannot promise you will survive.”

Kallus closed his eyes. He remembered watching his mother slowly die of a disease they couldn’t afford medicine for. He remembered starving in the Lower Levels of Coruscant. He remembered the Academy, how everyone looked at him like he was garbage that had crawled up from the sewer. He remembered Weiss and the ISB program and how they’d turned him into a monster his mother wouldn’t recognize. He remembered Onderon and how helpless he’d been. He remembered Lasan, standing in the ashes of the atrocity he’d been too blind to see he was helping commit. He remembered Lothal. Meeting a band of rebels. Chasing them through the stars. He remembered Bahryn and Zeb and a conversation that had changed everything. A spark igniting within him that had set flame to a rebel’s heart that had been growing for years under the surface. He remembered dragging himself out an escape pod. He remembered being shown kindness and compassion and forgiveness he didn’t deserve by people who would become the first family he’d have since he was nine years old. He remembered how he’d do anything to protect them and their dream.

The Guards green eyes stared back at him, waiting.

“It’s a hard choice.”

Kallus smiled.

“No. It isn’t.”

The Guard smiled back.

“Alexsandr Kallus, do you swear to use this bo-rifle with honor, to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and bring light to a dark galaxy?”

“I swear.”

They both stood. “Then it’s time for you to go.”

The world around them grew brighter and started to disappear.

“Wait!” Kallus cried as he felt himself start to slip away. “What’s your name?”

The Guard let out a gentle laugh.

“My name was Romai.”

[edosianorchids901]

Long Term Investments

For @book-omens-week Day 1! Prompt: character design

Crawly bent over the puddle, getting a better look at himself. Not bad. Not bad enough, honestly. But what should he change?

Someone stepped in the edge of the puddle, ripples distorting his reflection, and he hissed in annoyance. “Hey, come on. I was using that.”

“You were using a puddle?” a familiar but slightly mumbling voice asked. “For what?”

Crawly looked up into a familiar face, too. The other man-shaped being didn’t actually seem to have recognized him, although that may have been because Aziraphale was distracted by popping one berry after another into his mouth. “It’s me.”

“Who?” Aziraphale asked politely, as if there was anyone on Earth right now other than them and two humans, with a third human on the way. Then his eyes widened a little. “Oh! Hello, Crawly. Making some changes?”

“What makes you say that?” Crawly asked sarcastically.

Aziraphale pursed his lips and gestured to him, as if mildly annoyed that he had to ask. “Well, for one thing, you have legs now.”

“Good observation.” Still not completely used to them, even though he’d had them for days now, Crawly shifted his weight. His feet squelched in the mud, and he made a face. “Rainy again today, eh?”

“Well, not much actual rain currently. There was a fair bit earlier, though.” Aziraphale popped another berry in his mouth.

“Yeah. Anyway, I’m doing…” Crawly frowned, studying himself in the once again calm puddle. “Character design, I guess you could call it. Playing with this human shape. I can’t very well slither around forever, can I?”

“Well, the snakes seem to do really quite well at slithering around.”

“Well, yeah, but I don’t think the whole serpent gig is gonna cut it with the humans again.” Crawly gestured vaguely in the direction of the spot near the river where the humans had set up camp for now. “They’d probably stomp on me or something if I just snaked into their camp and started talking them into sinning again. Or trying to talk ‘em into it, anyway.”

“I suppose it would be difficult to talk anyone into anything if you were being ‘stomped’,” Aziraphale said in a somewhat baffled tone.

“Right?”

“But why would you want to talk them into sinning again in the first place?”

Crawly shrugged. “It’s my job.”

“Ah. I suppose it is.” Aziraphale stood there awkwardly for a bit, eating berries while Crawly stared into the puddle. Then he gave a quiet huff. “I don’t know what you’re obsessing about. You look quite human. Well, aside from the eyes.”

“I mean, yeah, but I need to look a little more demonic.” Crawly glanced up, taking in his opposing number’s overall soft edges and lighter colors. “Darker hair, that’ll do it.”

He wiggled his fingers in a complicated gesture, then nodded in approval at his adjusted appearance. That was more like it, much more properly demonic, and a good contrast to the enemy still eating berries next to him.

“That looks nice,” Aziraphale said.

“It looks imposing and demonic, hopefully.” Crawly grinned at the angel. “Mind, I won’t really have a chance to do much on the job front for a while, not many humans to tempt. But it’s better to be prepared. Long term investments and all that.”

Aziraphale gave him a slightly startled look, as if the idea of being prepared had never occurred to him. It kind of made sense, given that he still seemed pretty invested in Heaven’s propaganda about ineffability and all that.

But then again, he had given away his flaming sword on what seemed to be a complete whim. So maybe his lack of planning ahead was more to do with impulsivity rather than because he was waiting for Heaven to tell him what to do. Or both.

Either way, he was interesting, unlike most of Earth right now. Crawly suspected that looking at plants and animals while waiting years for the humans to populate the area could get pretty boring pretty fast.

While Crawly was still contemplating that, Aziraphale ate the last of the berries. He raised his hand to his mouth anyway, then frowned down at it disapprovingly. “Oh. I’ve eaten all my berries.”

Crawly gnawed on his lip for a minute, conflicted, and then decided to dive in. This might turn out to be a good long term investment, too. “Let’s go look for more together.”

Taken aback, Aziraphale stared at him for a moment. “Why?”

“Do you see anything interesting to do? Anyone else to talk to?” Crawly waved a hand vaguely at the new world around them, which distinctly lacked good options for mental stimulation. And Crawly had never been very good at boredom. “It’s just us, eh? Makes sense for us to hang out.”

Aziraphale looked around thoughtfully. “Well, there are the humans. But they’re a bit busy right now. I’m not supposed to talk to them until they get settled in.”

“Exactly. So.” Crawly flashed a triumphant grin. “Berries it is.”

That seemed to do it. Aziraphale smiled a little and headed back towards the berry bushes, and Crawly fell in step beside him. They chatted as they sloshed through the mud, immediately getting into a fascinating debate about the morality of eating all the berries in the area, and Crawly allowed himself a moment of self-satisfaction. Yep. Spending time with Aziraphale would definitely turn out to be a good long term investment.

[royrockstone]

Some of these ig :)

Roman + 😃 , 🐈 , 🎡 , 🎭

Kendall + 📿 , 🧡

Shiv + 🐈 , 😨 , 🌘

I hope I'm doing this right, I usually don't do these hc/ask game things but I just finished honesty and it was delicious so...

(also sorry for making you think about roman being happy)

Roman

hc + 😃 for a happiness-themed headcanon

omg this is tough... ty for apologizing bc this is a hardship...

i think roman thought of logan as the font of all happiness. i think, after logan's gone-- it's not that roman stops being able to feel happy or that the world has gone grey or whatever-- it's more that he can no longer trust the feeling of happiness, if it doesn't come from logan. i think logans death so subtly but completely unmoored him that happiness would start to feel wrong or traitorous.

hc + 🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

i mean why write a hc in a tumblr post when could've had a dog exists.

buuut i think roman probably shouldn't have a pet because he is just not responsible. BUT he would be capable of lavishing tremendous love on one periodically, if there were one in his life. i could see him being in a semi-sham relationship with a woman where neither of them is at all happy, and delaying the breakup bc she has like. a cute cat.

i can also very clearly imagine roman being incredibly emotional and irrationally angry about his pets. like he told shiv to feed his fish while he was away at military school and then he gets back and he's like "you clearly didn't feed my fish every day they look all pale and sad this is why you'll be a terrible mother"

hc + 🎡 for a hobby-themed headcanon

i think he's mostly a passive hobby person. going to the movies, etc. i think active hobbies feel embarrassingly earnest and also middle class to him. i could see an older roman having some kind of rich person conspicuous-consumption based hobby (collecting amusingly ugly but expensive paintings, maybe?)

hc + 🎭 for an arts-/crafts-themed headcanon

i think a lot about the 'roman wrote a screenplay' throwaway line, and my final judgment is that roman probably has the capability to write cleverly, but lacks all the work ethic and compassion and interest in others that would make a good screenwriter. i am also a 'roman secretly wishes caroline had put him in ballet lessons' truther. i think that's for aesthetic reasons plus the vague sadomasochism of a ballet master with a troublesome student being very gerri-esque and appealing, and i don't think roman would have ever acted on that wish.

Kendall

hc + 📿 for a faith-themed headcanon

im sure he had a TM phase, a Buddhist phase, maybe a Kabbalah phase back when that was a thing, but he also can't help but subordinate any belief he has to his larger belief in, like, The Market, and he lacks the commitment to stick to any one belief about the nature of the universe or his own spiritual practice.

he clearly believes in God, but not in any helpful or constructive way. he needs God in the sense that he needs the domineering presence of a belief in something overwhelmingly bigger than himself, which is why logan was able to be his godhead for a while. but he also clearly wants to believe that sins get punished and expunged, that he can have a clean slate and a clear conscience again, and he's yet to find any force that can really offer him that.

hc + 🧡 for a friendship-themed headcanon

kendall is the only sibling who lets people get somewhat close to him, for better or for worse, and that puts people like stewy close enough to see everything that's wrong but never close enough to help him (and maybe stewy just isn't interested enough to attempt to help anymore) when kendall tried to get stewy in bed with waystar, im sure every single one of stewy's instincts were like Do Not Do This and kendall was like "dude. name one good reason why you shouldn't be i the kenny business" and stewy was like "well you have half an eating disorder and an entire coke habit, and your rickety aging family business is held together with debt and duct tape"

(i kind of want to extend my kendall pov chapter from eat what's rotten into a full fic one day, because i like thinking about stewy's view of the roy dysfunction/the collective family ed.)

Shiv

hc + 🐈 for a pet/animal-themed headcanon

im team shiv resents mondale. i think she doesnt even like the image of having a dog-- nothing appeals to her about the christmas card with a big, handsome purebred. i think she internally sentenced herself to doing something nice for tom because she felt bad about something or other and next thing she knew they had a dog. i think shes disgusted by them being dumb, and undiscriminating, and messy. see again couldve had a dog

hc + 😨 for a fear-themed headcanon

i think shiv is mostly afraid of germs and her father. there's a lot of talk in the show that infantalizes shiv-- the pretend post office story connor tells, 'she sees monsters from piles of laundry on the floor' or whatever, 'he built you a playground and you think it's the world'. and it feels like it's just rank misogyny, and in many ways it is, but also that language suggests something that is true. shiv has a polished adult exterior, and hides it all well, but she is, as much as her brothers, still a petrified child who perpetually thinks she's in trouble with daddy. and i dont think the people around her completely see or acknowledge that, but they are dimly aware of it.

hc + 🌘 for a night-themed headcanon

insomniac shiv is very close to my heart. i like the idea that she thinks shes stronger than other people because she functions with very little sleep. like she was that person in college who was like 'ive slept five hours in the past three days and im going to a party tonight and ill have my midterm turned in before that'

[squarebracketsmileyface]

sorry to be annoying in your asks again but holy shit blood sport by sleep token is S,IL jaylex

especially the line "I'm still your favourite regret, you're still my weapon of choosing"

you gotta listen to this specific version of the song

https://open.spotify.com/track/0KXo5mxUPK5KTK4BRqAGVh?si=qBWhkqNHRpyUxkNT40pm4Q

It took me so long to get round to listening to this I'm so sorry 💀

God you're so good tho, this is literally so perfect for them. Specifically Alex, this just sounds like Alex to me, like Alex when he's kinda starting to really realise he really did like Jay back but was too scared in uni to let himself realise that.

Tho, that lyric you picked out is VERY Jay. Like, he is indeed Alex's favourite regret, and Alex is his weapon of choice. He uses Alex as a weapon against himself, like, the way Jay treats/uses their scenes? (The way he treats/uses Alex) That's just self harm baybeeeeeee. He uses their scenes to hurt himself, and also hurts Alex along the way 💀

Very healthy dynamic they've got going on there /sarc

Anyway, some more specific lyrics under the thingumy:

I want to roll the numbers I want to feel my stars align again Even if the earth breaks like burnt skin And the heavens just won't open up for me Would you invite me in again? Won't you pay for your arrogance? Won't you show me your weakness?

I made loving you a blood sport (X2) I made loving you a blood sport i can't win I made loving you a blood sport (X2) I made loving you a blood sport i can't win

Just. Yeah just them. Their relationship really is a blood sport 💀 (Google says a blood sport is: a sport involving the hunting, wounding, or killing of animals.) and they do in fact hurt each other, and i mean, chapter 1 of Sorry, Its Locked they did do a bit of vaguely primal stuff, so thats the hunting aspect of it too lol.

And neither of them can win. No matter what they seem to do, both of them always seem to lose (tho Alex keeps seeming to lose harder than Jay does 💀 I'm so mean to my poor baby boy). The only way for them to win is to stop playing the bloody game, but they're not going to until something absolutely awful happens and forces them to (and until Amy comes along and talks some sense into Alex).

And somewhere Somewhere the atoms stopped fusing I'm still your favourite regret You're still my weapon of choosing And out there stuck in a quantum pattern Tangled with what I never said You say it doesn't matter I want to be forgiven I want to choke up chunks of my own sins Even if the sky cracks in mourning And the heavens just won't open up for me Would you invite me in again? Let me pay for my arrogance? Won't you show me your weakness?

Again ALEX. The fact that he couldn't realise how much he genuinely did like Jay back in uni is wrapped around him so tightly during the events of MH in S,IL. Those things he never said, never realised, are the entire reason he does what he does in the original fic of Sorry, It's Locked, they're the reason he is so cruel to Jay the morning after, they're the reason he reaches out to him again, and fucks him again. Because he knows how he felt now and he can't say it, but he needs to try and do something about it. But then he realises how much danger that's putting Jay in, and he realises he loves Jay too much to keep putting him in danger, so he has to try and break his heart so that he doesn't have to shoot him in it instead.

That bit about being forgiven could also be Alex wanting to be forgiven for "what he did in uni" (which in the grand scheme of their relationship, he reeeeeaaaaally wasn't the one causing most of the problems or the one doing the worst things *cough cough* Jay being way too pushy around sex *cough cough* the piece of shit *cough cough*) BUT I also kinda wanna see it in conjunction with the next like about choking on his sins. Like, Alex was brought up religious, and sure heading off to uni he figured out his own world view and decided "hey all my queer friends are literally fine? They're not evil or sinful or whatever", but that doesn't mean he'd managed to get it into his own head that it was okay for him to be queer too. Like, "it's fine for my friends but not for me" type shit.

And like "the heavens won't open up for me" too, another bit of Alex being like 'welp, im not getting into heaven, but maybe thats okay if i can reconnect with Jay again and hey maybe god won't accept me, but maybe Jay will.' Then that backfired because he realised "SHIT THE OPERATOR, GOTTA PROTECT JAY" lol

I made loving you a blood sport (X2) I made loving you a blood sport i can't win I made loving you a blood sport (X2) I made loving you a blood sport i can't win

And somewhere Somewhere the atoms stopped fusing I'm still your favourite regret You're still my weapon of choosing And out there stuck in a quantum pattern Tangled with what I never said You say it doesn't matter

[freeuselandonorris]

Twenty Questions for Fic Writers 💫

tysm for the tag @glasscushion !!

1. How many works do you have on AO3?

32 currently!

2. What’s your total AO3 word count?

241,146 since 2018 which is absolutely wild to me, particularly as i have about another 30k waiting in the wings. three novels’ worth. WILD.

3. What fandoms do you write for?

largely motorsports (formula 1 and formula e) although i do occasionally dip a toe into other fandoms. largely RPF, i’m generally not that interested in writing non-RPF although i do read it sometimes.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

there was always warmth between us (maxiel)

lol, my magnum opus. the stats on this one still blow my mind (almost 1400 kudos at time of writing). sometimes people tell me it’s a comfort fic for them which really makes my day. there’s a lot about this fic i would change if i wrote it again now (the dialogue especially) but there you go, hindsight and all that.

nobody knows the trouble i’ve been (or the exacting improvement of sin) (maxiel)

i think this was the first vaguely kinky fic i posted on AO3? spanking and behaviour correction from the days when max and dan were starting to want to kill each other and it was spilling over on-track. definitely blessed dan with way too much emotional intelligence compared to real life but hey, i can do what i like with my paper dollies.

as if death itself was undone (maxiel)

undernegotiated breathplay porn my beloved! this remains one of my favourite fics i’ve ever written (although the paragraphs are way too long). i’m a real sucker for the trope of people discovering kinks they didn’t know they had and immediately acting on them — v bad idea in real life, v hot in fiction.

a siren on the rocks calling you into the deep (girl!landoscar)

so funny to me that the lunatic squirting rule 63 porn i posted less than a fortnight ago is in my top 4 already, landoscar fans you are all freaks and i love you for it. this is absolute filth, my first rule 63 and contains a lot of bodily fluids, my favourite thing.

unfucktheworld (maxiel)

i was very surprised to see this in my top 5 but honestly i think it’s only there because it’s my oldest fic so it’s just had time to accrue more kudos? it was my first time writing fic in about 10 years, the characterisation is all over the place, it’s just…not that great i don’t think? but it’s sweet and porny and it’s lovely that people are still digging back through the archives to give it a go, so i’m not complaining.

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not?

i try to! i went through a phase last year where i just got very easily overwhelmed by life and gave up on replying for a while (which sucks because i received some of my favourite ever comments during that period, so if i ever didn’t reply to your comment please know that i DID read and treasure it, i am just very bad at carrying out simple tasks sometimes). i tend to save them up and reply in batches, which is probably why i get overwhelmed 🫠

6. What is the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending?

idk if i’ve written any with an outright angsty ending tbh! i am a sucker for a happy ending, or at least an ambiguous one. also frankly a lot of my fics are just porn and don’t really have endings per se lmao.

i guess my weird toto/christian all the blood runs hot before it’s cold has a not-happy ending in the sense that it’s clear that they doomed to repeat unhealthy behaviour with each other (to be explored in the sequel i nearly have completed once i get free of the landoscar brain rot) but it’s not angsty, really, because christian’s too far in denial to be angsty about it.

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending?

i think there was always warmth between us, being a slowburn friends to lovers that ends with a declaration of love, probably takes that crown!

8. Do you get hate on fics?

not so far, fingers crossed it remains that way! i do remember being very nervous before i posted my first hardkink fic (the watersports fic eight of swords (reversed)) and feeling like i would be driven from the fandom with pitchforks, but thankfully that did not come to pass.

i do quite often receive comments that are just sort of…baffled? because i have a tendency to write extremely sexually explicit fics that are deliberately not actually that sexy. i like writing about the weirdness and grossness of sex, i like weird kinks and psychosexual oddness, i like unbalanced power dynamics and i like it when sex scenes aren’t all soft focus and simultaneous orgasms. so i think sometimes people go in to my fics expecting one thing and coming out with something else, but the comments are always very polite! also i think i have accidentally awakened something in quite a few readers but i consider that a public service.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind?

looool. do i. as above — i write a LOT of smut and it is usually far too detailed, generally very informed by kink and power dynamics, and unnecessarily verbose. i’m a huge fan of the writing of JG Ballard who wrote the most clinical, bizarre sex scenes that make you horny and disturbed in equal measure, and that’s what i strive towards in most of my fics.

even the ones that are actually incredibly sweet and romantic (to me anyway!) like just found me a brand new box of matches (landoscar foot fetish gremlin weirdness) or playboy in the grotto (landoscar piss fetish gremlin weirdness) are still not sexy in a sanitised way, they’re about love and connection being found through cherishing and honouring the weird and gross and unconventional parts of each other. this is a political standpoint for me as much as anything else, not to get overwrought about it — my queerness is as expressed through my love for the unsanitary and unsavoury and taboo as much as it is my love of people of different genders, and i want to reflect that in my fic.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written?

i don’t! i don’t tend to read them, either. maybe this is just a side effect of my preference for RPF but i just don’t find the concept all that interesting or appealing. i’m also not that much of a fan of AUs in general (rule 63 excepted), although i will make exceptions if they’re well-written and i like the concept enough.

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen?

yeah someone reposted there was always warmth between us on wattpad a year or so ago and had to do the copyright strike thing. i felt very famous.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated?

i don’t believe so! if anyone wants to translate any of my fics, please feel free to ask.

13. Have you ever co-written a fic before?

not officially! i think i am too much of a control freak for that tbh. but i have written a lot of fics that have been hashed out in forensic detail with @lost-decade and/or @scenetocause and so they probably should be given co-creator credits for half my fics.

14. What’s your all-time favourite ship?

oooooh this is a hard one yknow. I tend to love a ship very intensely for a few months and then lose interest. i guess max/daniel is the one i have liked for the longest time, although i don’t really read it much anymore because i…frankly don’t really like either of them irl all that much anymore? lmao. but yeah it’s probably them! i will also always have a soft spot for jeandre.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish but doubt you ever will?

honestly my jeandre opus a universe hesitant to grant us grace is not technically finished, i just left it where it was due to real life events impinging on it at the time. it’s a shame because i did love what i was doing with that fic but i can’t revisit it because it’s too wrapped up in other stuff.

16. What are your writing strengths?

i’m good at vibes! good at small details that give an insight into a character or setting, good at seeding ideas and at description. I think i’m fairly decent at writing snappy dialogue too, and people tell me i’m good at writing humour too which i am always quite taken aback by but i will gratefully accept!

17. What are your writing weaknesses?

long-winded sentences, not enough verbs/not making the verbs work for me, and too many adjectives. tight plotting (lack thereof). getting a bit too forensic in my sex scenes.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language in fic?

I do it occasionally when i’m writing people whose first language isn’t english, but i don’t speak any other languages well enough to be confident in using anything other than the odd word or phrase.

19. First fandom you wrote for?

ah, i’m ageing myself here… It was for placebo, on the fan forum they had hosted on their own website (god bless them, no wonder i’m so chill about the concept of RPF) around 20 years ago when i was 14. i learned a LOT from that forum. placebo are indeed largely to blame for stoking my degenerate tendencies at an impressionable age. good for them. the first fandom i wrote for on AO3 was in 2018 and it was F1.

20. Favourite fic you’ve written?

aghhh it’s hard to choose but i think it has to be all the blood runs hot before it’s cold, the toto/christian madness. it took me such a long time to write but i feel like i really achieved what i wanted to with it and caught the weird psychosexually unhealthy vibe i was aiming for. i’m also really fond of playboy in the grotto, the landoscar watersports porn. it was my first time writing them and it kicked off an obsession. piss kink is my holy grail kink and i just found this so easy and fun to write, and i think you can tell that i had fun from the writing.

WHEW. well done if you read all this. i think probably most people have already filled this in but if you have not and you would like to i am tagging @lost-decade @scenetocause @zeraparker @boxboxlewis @flawlessassholes @beechersnope

(edited to fix many typos)

[gremlinaristocrat]

Outstanding Ambiguities in Almost Nowhere

I here use ‘outstanding’ both in the sense of ‘unresolved’ and ‘extremely good’; I sincerely hope we never get a definitive answer for these.

Was Hector Stein originally a human being?

I’ll lead with my favourite: we never nail down whether Hector was a person placed in a Chestromath-y crash by Anomalings, or an NPC they stitched together to play a part in someone else’s dream.

Obvious signs seem to point to ‘human’, but consider:

He’s preternaturally charismatic, compelling, larger-than-life, and yet thoroughly unimaginative; all his tricks are copied from elsewhere. Once you start seeing the parallels between him and the (other?) fictives, it’s hard to unsee.

IIRC we never hear about his pre-crash history from anyone, even though that would be an excellent potential source of slander and scuttlebutt; considering the partisanship of the authors, this silence is conspicuous, ergo suspect.

Every other character seems subject to the convention “living humans and Anomalings are referred to with a first name only; fictives get surnames (which we don’t bring up for fictives we like, unless we’re making a point of reminding you they’re fictives); Annes can have little pseudo-surnames, as a treat”. Hector is the sole (apparent?) exception.

If he was a real boy, this raises the question: what sort of person’s Shade-assigned fantasy life looks like being cast into the role of “the teacher all the schoolgirls get crushes on”? And if he wasn’t . . . has everyone on Earth spent the last few years constantly hearing about the daring revolution being headed by (a fanfic version of) (their equivalent of) Severus Snape?

(I love this one the best because literally everyone in-universe would know the answer, and the only reason it’s not clear to me is that none of the half-dozen narrators felt it was non-obvious enough to be worth mentioning. Terra Ignota vibes, amplified to and past the point of parody; 11/10, no notes.)

What exactly did Azad do to Anne Twenty-Seven? Under what circumstances?

Yes, he hurt her. Yes, he broke her heart, abandoned her, and chose her sisters over her, only to abandon them in turn. But Azad – in the chapter he spends spelling out his various crimes – is weirdly vague and reticent about the exact nature of his original sin, the snowball that started the avalanche: all we hear for sure is that ‘it involves trust’. Is he staying quiet for his sake, or for hers? Is he magnifying his evil, or minimizing it? Or is this all because it’s another thing everyone already knows, the part of the sordid story the Nowhere-to-Hides wrote across the stars, and Azad only feels the need to confirm the allegations and fill in the blanks?

We don’t know; we don’t get to know.

Was Azad actively tortured while in Twenty-Five’s custody, or ‘just’ given awful working conditions?

We see a man stooped over a desk, compelled to eternal labour and penance. We see him later, rescued and refusing to believe it, insisting this is one of Twenty-Five’s tricks. Is this paranoia born from guilt, or past experience? Grant asserts based on his condition that “Hector’s guys” must have been “doing some pretty crazy shit”, but this is never confirmed or denied.

Later still, we hear his screams as he processes what happened in the crashes. How many of these are driven by guilt from Michael’s crash, versus trauma from Twenty-Five’s? Did she really have him working full-time on translation, or did she take some time every now and then to remind him of how her wants are structured?

I think Azad (and his co-authors) left this one in on purpose. He knew this book would be read by his victims – the Annes would have been top of his mind, but literally all of his in-universe readers would be living in a world wrought by What Azad Did – and wanted to preserve ambiguity for their sake: everyone (save Twenty-Five herself) gets to read their preferred ratio of self-inflicted vs other-inflicted suffering into the monster.

What happened to Annabel?

This is so weird. Shades don’t kill. They don’t even kill animals. And during the fall of Advanced Containment, long after she was supposed to be dead, Sylvie describes her as “stable, contained”; the dead don’t need much containing. But the official story is that she was slaughtered by Anomalings when Hector first left the crashes.

I think the official story is wrong. I think she disagreed with Hector, defected from him, joined up with Sylvie’s side . . . and then her former allies rebased her, rewriting her story so she dies at the most convenient moment. But mnemopoesis preserved her contribution to the manuscript, in the form of some autobiographical chapters (written in first-person, unlike any of the Annes the authors knew better, with the jarring justification that they just had to try mimicking her unique voice and personality), a deep understanding of the games and codes used in Michael’s crash (would we really be able to learn as much as we were shown from Eleven’s wilfully neglected witchcraft, and secrets Cordelia stole from Twenty-Five?), and a pair of un-attributable comments from a [REDACTED] co-author.

. . . unless, of course, that’s exactly what Azad and his co-conspirators want me to think: another piece of anti-Stein propaganda, all the more effective because they made me put the pieces together myself. (If that’s the case, it’s the kind of trick I can feel proud about managing to fall for.)

Who was [REDACTED]?

I mean, you know my opinion. But if it wasn’t Annabel, who was it?

It wasn’t her . . . and wasn’t a fabrication . . . I like to think it was an Anne who actually managed to erase herself from the narrative. Someone who stepped from the stage, and just kept walking, refusing to re-inflict the wound, leaving the entire sorry mess behind them.

How much damage control was Hector’s faction doing behind the scenes?

For most of the story, the world and its’ population remain precariously preserved, balanced on a bed of knife-edges. But with uncanny regularity – especially when you remember this is technically a war story – nukes don’t fly, crashes don’t fail, and Named Characters don’t die.

Towards the end of the story, we find out that Hector has thrived as long as he has by – essentially – savescumming. A little after that, Anne Eleven dies tragically, nigh-simultaneously with a substantial fraction of humanity, as the dog-god of war lets himself slip. And immediately after that, Sylvie restabilizes, as he figures out how to make sure Hector’s trickery can never work again.

So . . . how many disasters was Hector quietly averting? How many of Sylvie’s more destructive tantrums did he (unwittingly?) head off? How many times did he find Advanced Containment, and then rebase away his knowledge of it to save the people trapped inside? Does he even know? Does anyone? What’s the expected lifespan of this too-brave new world now our heroes have successfully smashed the Undo button?

[lantern-child-of-souls]

Whats your most important memory?

I'm gonna start this by saying important in my case doesn't equal good. It's an extremely fucked up memory but it was important in the sense it was my first big memory, part of why I became friends with bestie of that timeline, and led to good memories. It's also important to note I was a feral little shit, heaven wasn't a good place to be, and that's no hate to angels who's heavens were actually wonderful. That all said you've been warned and here's the memory.

I've vaguely talked about it on here before but losing my eye and going into heaven for the first time. I was guiding this kid up to heaven, he hadn't been in purgatory long and was full of questions about heaven hell and purgatory. I was about to tell him all about hell and purgatory but the most I could tell about heaven was it was pretty and I'd often listen to them singing from a good ways away or catch glimpses of it when they'd open the gates to let souls in. When I dropped him off the hand over happened like normal but I ended up staring to long through the gate. The next thing I remember I was pain and waking up in a little bitty room. I didn't have my lantern or anything really and was tied up all on my own. Eventually someone came in and started rambling about how disrespectful and disgusting it was to stare and a bunch other other rather ridiculous sins. I won't lie I laughed thinking it was some sort of joke. I thought it was ridiculous that this was the heaven that everyone long to be in and yet this was happening. Also again I was a little shit. In a very long and convoluted way they basically told me that because I was staring it fell into the eye for an eye category. I was told I had to pick which eye or else I was going to just be stuck there. I refused at first flat out refused I'm pretty sure I spit in ones face which looking back was a bad move on my part. I'll spare the gory details here but when it comes to torturing heaven is almost as bad as hell. There had been a few talks of just pardoning me. Saying I looked just angelic enough to possibly be purified and cleansed. Ultimately none of that happened and likely was just to scare me but I still had to pick an eye. Eventually I broke and picked my left one. Losing my eye was worse than most anything else they'd done so far which was a lot. I was thrown out the gates still bleeding and the spot where my eye has been leaked black goo/tar for the rest of forever after that. I managed to find my clothes and my lantern which had been folded up and hidden nearby by someone very important to me now. I managed to drag myself back down to hell where I ended up collapsing on the bridge. Now in hell I had a sort of MILD protection on me basically no one was supposed to kill me or severely harm me. It was hell though so ya know. But I ended up being found and boss man down below was pissed at how bad off I was and that I was gone for days since my job was important. I woke up and he wanted to know who did it and when I said heaven he got even more pissy and left. Never knew what he did but I didn't drop souls directly at the gates again. Just left them where they could see it and told them to go that way. It never felt right bringing them there after that which sucked but hell wasn't good for them and I couldn't keep them in purgatory. Sometimes I'd go and listen to the singing still and I got to say thank you to the one angel who helped me. Best angel ever I love him so much and I owe him so much.

[arcxnumvitae]

Who/What inspired my muses

Part 2 babbyyyy I’m sufferinnggg!

Arata: More elf underground shenanigan tomfoolery. Also tying in some backstories for funsies with Val playing a big role in a pivotal moment. A muse I fully intended to have die! For some reason my friends took issue with that!

Katarina: I saw Kirei ( @thewolfisawake) make a fun looking institution and I wanted to stick my big meaty claws alllllllll in it. I asked her, all shy and shit, if I could make a Bastion muse too and she graciously allowed me to do so. Of course I had to make Katarina a half-elf. 

Emil: I thought it’d be fun to make a muse from Katarina’s human side of the family, the one her mom was estranged from. Kirei had included in her blurbs how some older families of the Bastion were still anti-supernatural creatures so I thought it would be an interesting thing to explore further in a muse, but since Katarina was separated from all of that...

Dawn: I looked at how I’d fridged William’s dead girlfriend in his backstory just for the sake of giving him angst and feelings and I really didn’t like that I’d done that! So I decided to flesh out Dawn as a person. Which led to me going to my friends and saying, “Y’all, this muse is deader than a doornail in his backstory, I can’t bring her back, right?!” And then I brought her back. This was when I started to firmly put my foot in fun Greek myth stuff and let my PJO kid flag fly by straight up incorporating Aphrodite into the mix.

Xiaodan: uh. dragon. dragon searching for Jianhuren. Searching with another dragon.

Meihui: uh. other dragon. other dragon searching for Jianhuren. drogon. They actually were made earlier, around Qingshan, pushed to being side muses, and then re-added as main muses around this time when Kirei petitioned for it.

Huaxiu: Hey, same mangaka, he looks like Qingshan-- oh baby we can make some lore from this. This is really where Red Eyes as a concept started to get cemented, a smooth, uh, 2-3 years after I first added Jianhuren, ahahaa. It was also shortly after Huaxiu that I created Zhaohui as a side muse so we were really chugging along the dragon train at that time.

Luiz: No clue. Truly, no idea. I think I just wanted to mash a bunch of different mythological creature facets together and see what I got. I know the inspiration for the gorgon blood he was infused with came from Kirei because her muse Crowe has gorgon blood.

Cornelius: What if I made a family member from the Texas side of Dawn’s family that she had never been in contact with? What if he looked like her dad too in a way to make her force her feelings and her grief? Cornelius truly was made actually as basically to circle around Dawn’s ongoing story, haha. 

Raven: ‘I know it doesn’t make sense, but what if Thanatos had a kid.’ How would that type of godly parentage manifest in someone?

Olympia: Hey, let’s do an Artemis god-touched. I only have Dawn and William at the moment after all.

Ava: Sort of a tie in with Arata’s story as she’s the right hand woman of, like, oh geez, the niece and former fling of the guy who owned him and his mom. I also basically just looked at D&D’s scrying spell, pointed, and went “I want that.”

Eira: What if I did a muse from Katarina’s dad’s side of the family? And what if she was utterly adorable.

Aur: Phew, so, actually, I didn’t have any huge plans for Aur when I first made him! He was an amnesiac and I left his backstory open and vague in case I thought of something later that would be cool to do with him! I figured I could get away with it for a minute since it’s not like he himself knew what his backstory was. In truth, I hadn’t even settled on him being a fae for a while either, I also kept that up in the air! If he didn’t end up a fae then he would’ve been a siren actually I think.

Soon-hee: She’s not really online anymore now but my friend Angie had come up with the idea to do a seven deadly sins thing and asked if I wanted to make a muse or two for it too. And I, contractually obligated by my love for F.MA, couldn’t refuse.

Arya: Ditto, seven sins inspo.

Matthias: Also another Angie-inspired, she came up with a pantheon of deities and asked if I wanted to join in. I thought for a good minute on what domain of power I wanted his to be and I settled on storytelling. Him having muses for sisters was inspired by Greek myth...and H.ercules. His current name came from my white boy of the month every month in a book series called S.ix of C.rows as a sort of homage. And his rings, silver eyes, and some personality beats came from the character Po from the G.raceling book series.

I’m panting..........but part 3, we’re on the way....... 

[theotherackerman]

COPYRIGHT DISCLAIMER: Any recognizable elements belong to Attack on Titan, Game of Thrones, House of the Dragon, A Song of Ice and Fire

NOTES: CHECK THOSE TRIGGER WARNINGS! Reminder: Mikasa is grieving. Grief makes you do things you might not do otherwise. I hope this answers a good amount of your questions. Also a reminder that this is not a 1 to 1 on Game of Thrones or House of the Dragon. There will be major things and it does not follow the exact plot. Otherwise, I hope you enjoy all 33 google doc pages!

TRIGGER WARNING: Attempted suicide, war, vague references to trafficking, death on the page

CHAPTER TEN: THE END OF A DECADE BUT THE START OF AN AGE

Not many people thought of dragons as a comfort. Most found them to be terrifying. 

The dragons were where Mikasa had received her most comfort. 

Meadow had taken to following Mikasa and Kayda on their walks through the garden. The larger dragon flew overhead, keeping his watch. 

When Mikasa finally felt strong enough to fly on Kayda again, Meadow had followed them into the sky. 

“I have a feeling I know what Keiran’s last command was,” Levi replied one night over dinner. 

Mikasa raised an eyebrow. 

“Mīsagon tala,” Levi replied.”I would have given Vulcan the same command had I been in his position.” 

Protect daughter or defend daughter was the likely translation. 

“He should have done it himself,” Mikasa muttered under her breath. 

Sasha rested a hand on Mikasa’s shoulder.

The guilt and anger had not left Mikasa. 

The information her mother had given her had been useless to her.

Why did she need to know that her mother was a kinslayer? 

Yui had readily sacrificed her son, her sister, and her husband.

 For what? 

To push the Tyburs back? 

For how long? 

What was to stop them from coming back? 

What was she to do with the information her mother gave her?

Information that made little sense. 

Her mother hadn’t spent much time with her when she was alive so why should Mikasa care about this woman? Why was she grieving someone who didn’t give enough of a fuck about her to even write her a damn letter after her mother left her here? After years of pushing Mikasa away, this was what her mother left with her. Something about songs and sacrifices. Fire and ice lashing from Mikasa’s body never to be seen again. No matter how many times Mikasa called upon it. 

Useless.

Mikasa wished her mother would have left her nothing rather than riddles. 

There was this sinking feeling that Yui had unleashed something inside of Mikasa. The blood, the kinslaying, that had been done in Mikasa’s name. 

After pushing her food around her plate, Mikasa excused herself from the table. 

Food wasn’t sitting right. 

She wondered if it ever would again. 

It was a few days later when Mikasa found herself alone in the library. 

Something had drawn her there. 

A book was open on one of the tables. 

The Doom of Valyria was the title of the chapter.

A drawing of a volcano erupting took up most of the page.

Mikasa frowned as she began to read. 

The Doom of Valyria was an event like no other. 

First Valyria broke away from the continent, becoming its own island. Some say the blood magic harassed to allow the dragon riders to tame dragons caused this. In magic, there is give and take. 

Few Houses fled from Valyrian due to most writing off a prophetic dream being nothing more than madness. 

The Houses that fled from Valyrian ended up in the North of the Seven Kingdoms. 

Mikasa turned the page to find out the next page of the book had been ripped out. 

There were other Dragon Lord families in the North? 

Who were they? 

Who had ripped out the page? 

Mikasa frowned as she began to flip through the book. 

Blood Betrayal

Kinslaying is the worst sin a person can commit. 

It derails the very law of nature and leads to grave consequences. 

The Amethyst Empress was slew by her own brother, the Bloodstone Emperor. He was jealous of his sister’s crown and decided to take it instead for himself. 

This ushered in the Long Night.

While this is not confirmed, one thing is known for sure. 

Killing one’s own kin will lead to great and powerful magic that cannot be contained. It will mar one’s soul and should not be done for no other reason that it simply goes against nature. It is held as sacred as Guest Rights. One does not allow someone into their house only to slay them. One does not slay one’s kin. 

The magic unleashed will be dark. 

And magic will claim what it is owed. 

Mikasa slammed the book shut, only to see the cover. 

Notes IV: 

Yui Azumibito 

It took all of Mikasa’s power not to throw the book at the wall. 

Why was she even here? 

Then again, there wasn’t much she could do. 

Sasha was in the forge. 

Levi was in meetings with the minor houses.

Annie was helping load supplies to go to the Capitol. 

When Mikasa had tried to help, she had been pushed away. 

People citing her “illness” as the reason why. 

Illness. 

Right. 

That’s what people had thought had happened to her. 

“Mother, what did you do?” Mikasa asked herself as she picked the book up again. She opened the book up to a random page. 

Azumbito and Ackerman families both come from old magic. 

Though they are not the only ones. 

The Jaeger family has strong ties to being skinchangers, specifically Wargs.

Wargs: a skinchanger who can enter the mind of a wolf or a dog. 

The Jaeger family is also known to have Greenseers, experiencing prophetic dreams, also known as Greensight. 

Only one in one thousand is a Skinchanger.

Only one in one thousand Skinchangers is a Greenseer. 

Though it seems in recent years, the number has gone up. It is as if magic is preparing itself for a fight. 

I have noticed that most descriptions of Greenseers state that they have bright green eyes. 

The Ackerman family also has a history of prophetic dreams. They refer to these dreams as “dragon dreams.” 

The original families in the Seven Kingdoms seemed to all have connections to some sort of skinchanging and elemental connection. I do not know what this means as magic has not been present in the Seven Kingdoms since something to do with a Stone Deceiver. Any information on this “Stone Deceiver” cannot be found. 

Whatever it was has caused an unnatural balance in the Seven Kingdoms and I wonder how long this can go on until the magic fights back. 

“How about you explain to me what you did instead of rambling on? None of this is helpful,” Mikasa said to no one specific as she turned the page.

Bloodmagic

Requires blood

“Oh. I would have never guessed. Bloodmagic requires blood,” Mikasa snorted before reading on. 

and sacrifice. 

It is considered the darkest of magic, the most powerful. 

Azor Ashai plunged his sword into Nissa Nissa’s heart to create Lightbringer and end the Long Night. 

The Dragonlords of Valyria used bloodmagic to bind their magic to them. 

The Ackermans has a long history of using 

The bottom of the page was torn. 

Frustrated, Mikasa snatched the book up and stormed out of the library. 

She walked straight into Levi’s office, thankfully no one else was in there beside Levi. 

With all of her strength, she tossed the book at Levi’s head. 

Without even looking, Levi dodged to the side. 

“Why did you rip the pages out?” Mikasa demanded. 

Levi looked up from his writing. “I didn’t rip any pages out. I don’t even know what you just hurled at my head besides its book.”

“It’s a book of my mother’s notes!” 

Levi stood up and picked the book up from the ground. He looked at the cover before flipping through it. 

“Oh. This. The pages were ripped out when I found it. I didn’t rip them out. In fact, the pages that would be helpful are the ones missing. If I had to guess, either your mother or Kenny tore them out. Now are you done throwing things?” 

“No. I want to know what’s going on.” 

“As would I. But apparently anyone who hasn’t had forty names days does not get to know. All I know is an ice sword was found. Tyburs may control the Others. That’s it. I know nothing else.  Grisha is very tight-lipped about whatever it is and Kenny is even worse.” 

“So am I just to accept the fact that I erupted into ice and fire? Will it happen again?” 

“That’s what I went looking for answers for. There’s none.” 

Mikasa sat down in the chair in front of Levi’s desk. “I’m tired of not knowing and just being expected to go along with whatever happens. Do you know how exhausting that is? I didn’t have a say in anything in my life. I had to stay here. I had to marry Zeke or Eren. I have to do all of these things for a woman who I don’t even know. A woman who did not care enough about me to tell me what happened to me, why it happened to me. I just have to accept it. Well, I can’t. I can’t sit here and pretend to be a princess anymore. I can’t do nothing anymore. What was I being trained for, if not to fight, to help?” 

Levi sat back down in his chair. “I’m not stopping you from fighting. By all means, fly off to war. But know what choice you’re making. It isn’t easy to end someone’s life. It’s not like the tales. You’ll have to make that choice. You are entirely in charge of your life now. Kiyomi’s son has already ascended the throne. You’re not their princess anymore. So you can live with no regrets but make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. So fly off to war if glory is what you wish. You wouldn’t be the first Ackerman to do so. But do it for the right reasons. If you want to fight for something, maybe you should look at your betrothed.” 

Mikasa’s hands curled into fists. “Why? He won’t fight for me.”

Levi reached into his desk and pulled out several pieces of parchment with a wax seal of a wolf on it. “These came today. Kenny dropped these off early this morning during a supply run, they’re from Eren.”  He picked them up and held them out to Mikasa. “Looks like a letter for everyday since we sent word to the capitol that you were asleep, I’d say. I was going to give them to you once I was done with this letter.” 

Mikasa took the letters from Levi, holding them in her lap. Eren was the last thing she needed to think about. She was already conflicted with feelings about her family. Now she had this. She stood from her chair. “I’m going for a flight on Kayda,” she said as she walked out of the room. She needed to clear her head. There was no room for that on the ground. 

—--------------

CLANG!

CLANG!

CLANG! 

Sasha was the only one in the forge while others took an afternoon break.

“Is that the sword for Mikasa?” Annie asked as she walked up. 

Sasha looked up before nodding. “I’m finishing it now. I want her armed with Valyrian steel. Your daggers and sword are done if you want them.” 

“I’ll wait until we all have them,” Annie replied with a shrug. 

“Are you worried?” 

Annie shrugged again. “I’ve killed before, I know you have as well. War doesn’t scare me.” 

“Do you feel like we’re being kept in the dark?” 

Annie nodded, “Not by Mikasa. Not on purpose. Everyone else…..I think they still see us as children.” 

Sasha nodded in agreement. 

Kayda roared as she flew overhead, Mikasa on her back. Meadow flew behind them but did not echo the roar. 

“I don’t know if she should be flying so soon,” Sasha remarked.

“You can be the one to tell her that then,” Annie snorted. 

“You’re right. I just worry,” Sasha said as she looked to the sky. 

“I do too.” 

—----------

How much sleep had Hange lately?

When was the last time they slept? 

Kenny poked Hange in the shoulder with the end of his pipe as they nodded off during a war update. Hange sat up straighter.

Exhaustion would end up claiming them sooner or later. 

—------------------------------------------

“Stop flinching,” Connie told Armin as he stitched up his shoulder. 

“Sorry,” Armin muttered. 

“You should be wearing armor if no one else is,” Connie said as he began the next stitch. 

“I’m not wearing plate while the rest of you are in leather.”

“We’re replaceable.” 

“Not to me.” 

 “Keep saying shit like that, Armin, and we will start to think you’re fond of us,” Reiner snorted from the chair next to him as Bertolt was stitching up Reiner’s back. 

“How bad is it?” Armin asked Bertolt.

“It’s not bad. It doesn’t even hurt that bad,” Reiner answered as he chewed on willow bark. 

“He’ll live. He shouldn’t see the front lines for a bit,” Bertolt reported. “Neither should Colt.” 

“Where is Colt anyway?” Connie asked. 

“Passed out in Zeke’s room.”

“We’ll put Colt on night duty to guard Eren. Reiner can guard Zeke. I’m sure Hange will agree,” Armin ordered.

“You’re not taking me off the frontline, Armin,” Reiner hissed.

“You’re lower rank than me, Reiner. I make the calls. I need less dead. Marco, Marcel, Hannah, Ruth, and Thomas.”

“Fine, but I’m not going to be happy about it,” Reiner asked as he pulled his tunic back on.

Armin snorted, “wouldn’t expect anything less.”

—---------------

After dinner, Mikasa had retired to her room, the letters still in the pocket of her dress. 

She sat on her bed and pulled them out. 

Taking a deep breath, she popped the seal on the first letter. 

Mikasa, 

I have heard you have fallen ill. 

I hope you feel better soon. 

-E

Well, that was kind. 

She sat it to the side before opening the next letter.

Mikasa,

I hear that in addition to you being sick that you have lost your parents and brother. I offer my most sincere condolences. I cannot imagine what it is like to lose your entire family. Well, I suppose not your entire family. You still have Levi, Kenny, and Kuchel. I suppose soon you’ll have me. If you even want me. I’m sorry for how I’ve been. In my head, pushing you away was easier. Now the capitol is being attacked because of me. Not exactly because of me, I suppose. But things got worse with the Fritz Loyalists once I was crowned. My father will never admit it but I know it’s true. They didn’t care that he had a bastard, they cared that the bastard could be on the throne. Zeke has no interest in having children so I’m most likely to be heir. I don’t want that crown. 

That’s the first time I’ve said…well written that. 

This is me apologizing for the way I’ve acted towards you. I’m not very good with words. But I did it to protect you from my world. 

I’m sorry. 

-E

Mikasa sat the letter to the side before opening the next one. 

Mikasa,

What was that last letter? 

I’m glad I didn’t send it. 

I hear you’re sick, they say. 

You haven’t woken. 

I’m worried.

-E

Mikasa shook her head. He was worried? He could just apologize and think everything was right between them? 

He was just like her parents. 

Never thinking of her feelings. He was only apologizing because he felt guilty. Not because he realized he had done something wrong. He didn’t care about that apparently. He only cared about his feelings.

She didn’t bother to open the others. She took them and shoved them into her bedside table. 

There was so much anger in her right now.

Her parents, Eren, whoever had ripped the pages out of her mother’s book, they all made choices for her. They all wanted what they thought was best but never cared about Mikasa’s feelings. 

It was all about them.

She wanted to scream, break things. 

She was just so angry. 

Fuck them. 

Fuck them all. 

Her hands tingled. 

Looking down, Mikasa saw flames dancing across her knuckles.  She frowned and blinked. 

The flames were gone.

Had they even been there? 

No. 

She must just be tired. 

—————

The sound of Kayda chewing on a deer was not one Mikasa liked. She looked over at the dragon who was eating the burnt animal. 

Shaking her head, Mikasa returned to her mother’s journal. 

Sadly, it was things Mikasa already knew. 

More tales of the Long Night from other cultures. 

Tales of an Ice Dragon who befriended a girl, a story Mikasa had heard from Kuchel many times when Mikasa was younger. 

Turning the page, there were only three phrases.

The dragon must have three heads. 

The promised heir. 

A Song of Ice and Fire.

“Lovely more riddles,” Mikasa muttered as she leaned back against the bench. 

Kayda looked up from her deer. 

“Don’t suppose you know what the dragon must have three heads, the promised heir, and a song of ice and fire mean, do you?”

The dragon blinked and then went back to eating. 

A roar echoed overhead. 

The ground shook as Meadow joined them in the garden. He too had gone hunting. If Mikasa had to guess, that was a chard bull from a local farm that the dragon had in his talons. 

“Levi is going to have to pay for that,” Mikasa told the dragon as she turned the page. 

Meadow made eye contact with her, smoke coming out of his nose. 

Mikasa laughed before returning to reading.

Skagos Sygerrik

Stone Deceiver 

Rock Liar

Stone Liar

Rock Deceiver

None of this makes sense.

Location? 

Spell?

Curse?

Person? 

Mikasa looked up, sensing a pair of eyes on her. She looked around, trying to see if there was anyone.

She appeared completely alone besides the dragons. 

Kayda lifted her head, also examining the area. 

Meadow let out a low growl. 

Mikasa closed her book. 

Strange feelings were something not to be ignored so Mikasa made the choice to walked back to the castle. 

—--------

It had taken some getting used to having a warm body next to Jean all night. It had been going on for almost a fortnight now. 

He knew he needed to talk to her, figure out exactly what that meant. 

Bells were tolling. 

“Fuck,” he heard Pieck muttered. “Get up. We’re being called.” 

Jean rolled over to see Pieck pulling on her tunic and pants. 

“Get up!” She said as she pulled him to his feet. 

His pants were being shoved at him.

“So we’re not going to talk about this then?” he asked as he pulled on his pants. 

“War bells, Jean boy. War bells.” 

“Fuck,” Jean muttered as he dashed over to his room.

She was right. 

—-------------

It was the middle of the night. 

They were being attacked in the middle of the night. 

The bells pulled Eren from his bed. 

“Get back in there,” Colt had hissed at Eren when poked his head out into the hallway. 

“What’s going on?” 

“If I knew, I’d tell you.”

Eren narrowed his eyes. 

No, Colt wouldn’t. 

Eren went back into his room, sitting back down on his bed. 

Midnight didn’t make a sound. He just sat on his perch, watching, observing. 

Fenrir sat on the bed next to Eren on full alert. 

Eren would be safe. 

—-------------

Seaflames echoed a roar before releasing her flames. 

At this rate, Grisha was going to be King of Ashes. 

But what choice did he have? 

Dina and Carla were getting as many servants into the underground tunnels as possible while Kuchel and Kenny rode their dragons into battle. 

The rebels were not in the castle but Grisha wasn’t going to give them that chance. He pulled his sword from his belt and charged into battle with Valkyrja at his side.

He would not sit while others defended his kingdom a moment longer.

They would survive the night, even if he had to kill every person out there himself.

—---------

Smoke was drifting up from the ground and into Mikasa’s bedroom window.

“We’ve been attacked,” Levi announced as he came billowing into Mikasa’s bedroom, already dressed in his leather armor.. “They’ve set fire to several of the minor houses.” 

“What do you need from me?” Mikasa asked as she got out of bed. 

“Be on standby. Vulcan and I should be able to take care of this. If things get bad, I’ll need you and Kayda. You remember the command?” he asked as he double checked his sword.

Mikasa nodded. 

“Good. I’ll return. Don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone,” he warned her before he left the room. 

Mikasa dressed in her leathers quickly. Sasha and Annie came charging into her room, dressed in their armor. 

“What do you need from us?” Annie asked. 

“Guard the castle. Keep the servants safe. Sasha, take to the tower. You’ll have a better vantage point from there,” Mikasa commanded as she shoved her daggers into the sheaths on her legs. She fastened her sword inside its scabbard to run along her spine.

“I’ll finish your sword soon,”Sasha noted.

“It’s fine. I’ll be on Kayda. I doubt I’ll need it much anyway. Stay safe,” Mikasa ordered as she left her bedroom. 

All three women went their separate ways. 

Vulcan could be heard letting out a roar as he fled towards the fire. 

The courtyard was chaotic, everyone running which way. 

The knights barking out orders.

No one paid any attention as Mikasa ran  towards Kayda. 

She wondered if Meadow would follow her into battle. She had not tried to command the male dragon, though the thought crossed her mind. 

Stopping to figure out where exactly Kayda was, a cold metal blade was against her throat.

“There you are. If you scream, I will kill you. But before I kill you, I will do horrible things to you,” a voice whispered into her ear. 

Not thinking, Mikasa ran an elbow into her assailant’s stomach.

The man caught off guard, stumbled.

“I told you the bitch knew how to fight!” another man called out.

She saw there were at least ten men surrounding her.

Pulling her sword from her back, Mikasa stood up straight.

“We can always send her back to the prince in pieces,” the man chuckled.

They were all dressed in royal armor and helmets.

She had heard armor had been stolen from the capitol. This was that armor.

Charging at the one in front of her, Mikasa swiped her sword, knocking that man to the ground. She threw her elbow into the one who rushed at her from the right side. But the one on her left, she missed.

Tumbling to the ground, Mikasa lost hold on her sword. One of the men tried to climb on top of her but Mikasa was faster with the dagger. She ran along where the metal armor spilt above his breeches, cutting his stomach open. 

She pushed the body off of her as two men grabbed both of her arms. 

She trashed to try and get rid of their hold.

 “Skoriot?” the raspy voice echoed in her head just as it had the night she erupted. Where? It asked. 

She couldn’t answer as two hands jerked her shoulders. She let out a scream. She kicked but two men grabbed her legs. 

“We’ve got her,” the man who had put the knife to her throat replied. He leaned down, running a finger down her face. “Scarred but still pretty. We’ll ransom you to that bastard prince and then we’ll sell you to someone else. You know how much a girl like you goes for? Or maybe I’ll just send you back in pieces.” 

The men laughed as Mikasa thrashed again.

“No one’s going to save you,” the man laughed. “Bind her hands and feet. Then we’ll get her out of here. Don’t touch her. No one is to touch here.

The ground shook. 

Kayda came charging into the area. Immediately, the dragon grabbed one of the men who held Mikasa’s leg down by his head. Shaking the body, Kayda removed the man’s head from his body.

Mikasa used her other leg to kick the other man who held her other leg. The men holding her shoulders, let go of her and tried to get away. 

A dark shadow flew in front of the moon, blocking it. 

The green dragon landed, stopping the men from running. 

Meadow let out a roar as Kadya circled around to the back of the men. 

Mikasa sat on the ground, watching as the two dragons trapped the men. 

Meadow looked over Kadya’s shoulder to Mikasa.

Knowing what had to be done, Mikasa said the one word she had hoped she would never have to use in this way. 

“Dracarys,” she ordered. 

Kayda and Meadow let out a stream of fire while the men screamed in pain.

Mikasa didn’t cower or cover her ears. 

She just sat there until it was over. 

Once the men were deceased, the two dragons prowled over to her. 

Kayda nudged Mikasa with her head, getting under Mikasa’s shoulder, trying to get Mikasa to her feets. 

Meadow watched, snorted smoke. Then he blocked her view of the bodies before he also started nudging her. 

“Alright. I’ll get to my feet,” Mikasa replied as she stood up. 

This was not a conversation she wanted to have with Levi.

—--------

Somehow Eren had drifted off to sleep again and drifted into a dream.

Flying through the sky to reach Mikasa.

The command of dragonfire. 

Then Eren was being shaken awake. 

Sunlight filtered in from the outside. It was early morning.

“Mikasa was attacked in the North,” Colt reported. 

“What?” Eren asked as he threw the covers off. “Is she well? Is she hurt? Should I go there?”  In a flurry, Eren began pulling his tunic and breeches on. 

“She’s fine. Well, as fine as one can be. I don’t know much. I don’t think I’m supposed to know anything to be fair. Lord Ackerman spoke of it as he was going down the hall. He flew from The North to speak with the King,” Colt informed him. “But she is alive.” 

“What’s happening here?” 

“The King is speaking to Kuchel. They are discussing what’s to be done. The rebels are in the courtyard. I got moved in here with you to keep you safe. I’m to move you when I receive the command from Armin.” 

Eren nodded. Midnight flew down and landed on his shoulder while Fenrir stayed asleep on the bed. 

—-------------------------

“I will not be king of ashes, Kuchel!” Grisha roared as he stood from his chair. 

Zeke sat in his chair, drinking whatever awful wine that his father kept was. Levi leaned up against the wall while Kenny sat in the chair in front of Grisha’s desk. 

“They attacked my House, Grisha! I demand justice. I demand justice in blood,” Kuchel growled as she prowled forward and knocked the chair she had been sitting in over.

“And I demand my people be safe!” Grisha screamed.

“Do it,” Carla said from her seat on one side of Grisha.

Everyone in the room looked towards her. 

“What?” Dina asked.

“Do it. Kuchel, go out there and burn every rebel you find. That’s an order from the Queen,” Carla said as she stood. 

“What exactly do you think you’re doing?” Grisha asked her.

“Being a Queen. I am tired of watching our son’s friends die. Now Mikasa has been attacked? Because of what? We weren’t married before Eren was born? I’m tired, Grisha.”

“So we just kill anyone who doesn’t agree with us!” Grisha threw his hands up. 

“You did it first,” Dina challenged. 

“No, I did it because they took you,” Grish said as he turned towards his other wife sitting in a chair. 

“And after you won, you got rid of those who didn’t support you. What is the point, Grisha? What do we win? I think he is right. We take our people, we go North. We go home. Let them have the damn capitol. The North can stand on its own.” 

Grisha shook his head.

“Is that throne worth it? Is it? Because there are more important things going on. We would be safe in the North. Or we were. Until this happened.” 

“They were in your armor. That’s how they got through. No one questioned them,” Levi reported.

“I won’t run. That’s final,” Grisha stated. 

“Then you are a fool,” Dina said as she stood.

“They tried to kill Mikasa!” Levi pushed off of the wall and watched towards Grisha. “My heir. Your son’s betrothed. The only reason the Ten Kingdoms will not break their trade and support is because of her. The dragons burnt the attackers. They died screaming. I don’t feel a bit sorry for them.”

“It’s gone too far, Grisha,” Kenny reported. 

“I think you’re forgetting your place,” Grisha stood straighter. 

Zeke ripped the crown off of his father’s head and tossed it across the room. 

Everyone fell still. 

Grisha started at Zeke. 

“Eren doesn’t want the throne. I do not want the throne. I do not care about some fucking chair made from dragon fire and swords. They’ve attacked the North. The North. No one has been stupid enough to do that. They’re getting bold. And now we will all suffer because you let your pride take control,” Zeke stared at his father down. 

“There is more going on than you could ever understand,” Grisha replied.

“You could try explaining it to me instead of keeping me in the dark! I’m your heir and half the time, you act like I do not exist. I never wanted this! I never wanted to be a prince, to be paraded around to different women for a political alliance. I told you Eren should have married Mikasa once we were in the North. I told you neither of us had any desire to take the throne. But you did not listen. You never listen! You know I envy Levi because a dead father is better than one who is a king. I don’t have a father, I have that fucking crown.” Zeke stormed out of the room, slamming the down behind him. 

The wall shook. 

No one moved. 

No one said anything. 

Time passed slowly as everyone was frozen in time.

“Kuchel, do what you need to,” Dina spoke. 

Kuchel nodded before she left the room. 

“I’ll go check on our son,” Dina dismissed herself from the room. 

Carla looked at Grisha before following Dina out. 

“I’ll go out to the front lines. I’ll help Hange. See if there’s anyone with information that they want me to extract,” Levi left the room without another word.

Kenny looked at Grisha. 

Grisha looked at Kenny. 

“Why did you put me on this fucking throne?” Grisha asked as he collapsed into the chair, rubbing his temples.

“I wasn’t going to take the fucking thing. You can’t continue to be soft of these people,” Kenny said as he pulled his pipe out of his pocket. 

“So I am to be a king of ashes.” 

“I’m not saying go burn the whole capitol to a crisp. I’m not talking about the elderly, the children, or the innocent. I’m talking about those who continue to try and kill us. I know you want to give them mercy but you’ve given enough. Now it’s affecting my house, my family. I can’t allow that, Grisha. You know that. They could have done a lot worse to Mikasa. They almost did.” 

Grisha sat forward, ran his hands through his hair. “I know.”

“No one said the crown was a light thing to wear.” 

Grisha nodded. “Do what you need to.”

Kenny nodded before leaving. 

—-----------------------------

Eren ended up falling back asleep again. 

He was somewhere in black abyss. 

“Dohaerās,” a raspy voice called.

“Dohaerās,” the same voice repeated.

“Dohaerās.” It echoed again.

“Dohaerās.” And Again.

“Dohaerās.” And again

“Dohaerās.” and again. 

“Zaldrīzes rȳbus, lo mērī udrirzi Valyrio eglio ȳdrassua,” the voice  said. 

“Dohaerās.”

“Dohaerās.”

Then Eren was shaken awake again. 

“You speak Valyrian?” Zeke asked him as he stood over him. 

“What?” Eren asked as he sat up. 

“Valyrian. You were speaking it. What were you dreaming about?” Zeke asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

“I….I don’t remember. What was I saying?” Eren ran a hand through his hair. 

“Something with a D. The only Valyrian word I know is dracarys because that’s what the Ackermans shout before the dragon’s release their fire. It wasn’t that.”  

“What are you doing in my room anyway? I thought father was keeping us separate.”

“Nice to see you too, little brother. We’re safe for now. Kuchel, Kenny, and Levi are out there.” 

“Is Mikasa here?” 

Zeke shook his head. “She’s very….she was attacked.”

“I know. Colt overheard Levi and came to tell me. I have fallen asleep twice since then. I haven’t been sleeping well. Even when I do sleep, it doesn’t feel like I’ve rested.”

“They’re dead. Her attackers. Kayda and her father’s dragon took care of them.” 

“That’s good. Because I would have killed them myself.” 

“I don’t doubt that. I’m thinking…I’m thinking of asking father to send us North. We take our friends. I just…I don’t want to be here anymore. I can do more in the North. Hell, I’ll guard Mikasa myself.” 

“I don’t know if she’ll want to see me.” Eren looked down. 

It was his own doing. He knew that. Even if she did get his letters, there was no guaranteeing that she would forgive him. 

“She will. Maybe you should do something for her.” 

“I wrote her letters.”

“But did you really do that for her or for yourself?”

“Fine, what should I do then?” 

“I don’t know,” Zeke shrugged. 

“A lot of help you are.” 

“Though I do know of someone we could ask,” Zeke grinned. 

—-----------------

The dragons were taking care of the capitol. 

Pieck was exhausted. 

She had a new wound on her shoulder that Jean was stitching up when Zeke bursted into her room. 

Zeke gave her a knowing look. 

“You might knock,” Pieck scoffed. “I’ve got my tits out and your brother is redder than a rooster.” 

Eren was looking at the floor avoiding eye contact. 

“I’m almost done,” Jean said as he stabbed the needle through her flesh. 

“And how much have you had to drink?” Zeke asked. 

“Not that much,” Pieck muttered as she looked down. 

“She’s good at getting stitches,” Jean replied. 

“Should I be here? I feel like I shouldn’t be here. Being betrothed and all,” Eren said as he turned his back facing Pieck. 

“Pieck doesn’t count. She’s practically family,” Zeke said. “I have a question for you.” 

“Yes, I’ve been sleeping with Jean. Well, sometimes sleeping,” Pieck answered with a shrug.

“Stop moving,” Jean commented. 

“What?” Eren asked as he still faced the door. 

“Not the first question I was going to ask but….” Zeke trailed off. 

“Fine. What is it?” Pieck asked. 

“What can Eren do to make up for what he’s done to Mikasa?” 

“Oh I am the wrong person to ask for that.”

“Why? You're a woman. You know things.” 

“Glad you noticed!”

“You know what I mean.” 

“And what I mean is every girl is different. What would be meaningful to me, might not be meaningful to Mikasa. If you truly want to make things up to her, do something for her. Something from your heart.” 

“I’m done,” Jean said as he cut the thread from the needle. 

Pieck pulled her tunic on. “It’s safe to look, Eren. I’m all covered now.” 

Eren turned around. “I don’t know what to do. Zeke gave me the same advice. I…” 

“Learn Valyrian,” Jean said as he put the needle on Pieck’s bedside table. 

“What?”

“Valyrian. Mikasa speaks Valyrian. Her whole family does. Surprise her. Learn a few phrases. It’s what I would do.” 

Eren narrowed his eyes at Jean. “Do you speak Valyrian?” 

Jean scoffed before answering, “kessa.” 

“I don’t know what it means.”

“It means yes but not a lot. I only know what little basics I picked up from Hange. I know yes, no, hello, and goodbye. I was hoping to impress the Princess with them. I don’t need to anymore.”

“So I’m taking your shitty idea?”

“I’m just trying to help you. If you don’t want it, fine. But that’s what I would do.”

“I don’t know what to do!” 

“Well figure it out!” 

“What my brother means is that is a wonderful idea and he’ll keep that in mind,” Zeke said as he steered Eren towards the door. “You and I will talk later,” he smirked at Pieck as the princes exited the room. 

“He’s going to be insufferable now,” Pieck groaned as she sat down on her bed. 

“Why?” Jean asked as he sat down next to her. 

“Because he’s been saying I have feelings for you.”

“Do you care that he knows?” 

Pieck shrugged, “not anymore. I…I….we could die tomorrow. I don’t want to live with regrets.” 

Jean nodded. “So you want me to go then?” 

“I thought you were supposed to be smart. No, I’m telling you, I don’t regret this. I don’t know what we’re doing. If it’s courting or something else, but I like being around you. Have you have my back. When Marcel died….” Pieck closed her eyes. 

Jean pulled her to him. “I know.”

“And you lost Marco…”

Jean closed his eyes. 

“And I don’t know who will be next. I don’t want to lose anyone else.” 

Jean nodded as he just held her. 

——————

The dragon egg mocked Mikasa. 

The damn thing had never hatched. 

It had been inside of Meadow’s saddle that he finally allowed Mikasa to take off. 

So now the egg sat on her bedside table. 

She had been told her brother had carried it with him everywhere. 

Yet on that night, she had not seen him with it. 

“Why didn’t you hatch?” She asked the egg like it would answer. 

The egg remained still and unmoving. 

Useless.

Like everything else her parents had sent her. 

—————

“Send the boys to the North. We’ll compromise,” Kenny said as he released a puff of smoke. 

“My wives talked you into asking me that,” Grisha noted.

“They didn’t say anything to me. I’m saying what makes sense. We send your boys to the North. Levi can watch them from above when they make the trip. They get to the North where they’ll be safe. That way if things go to shit here and you do decide to run, I only have three wolves and three people to worry about instead of five people and five wolves.”

“And what will my people think?” 

“They’ll think you’re helping to support your son’s future marriage. He’s getting to know his future wife, his brother is his chaperon. You were sent to stay with us for a time.”

“I remember. If I do, I want all their friends sent with them. A full guard detail.”

Kenny nodded, “most of them are Northerns anyway. Do you think your wives will agree?” 

Grisha considered it for a moment. “I think they’ll see it for what it truly is. No matter what we tell anyone else.”

“Kuchel and I will remain here for as long as we need to, you know.” 

Grisha nodded. 

—----------------------

Screams came from the dungeon. 

“Who sent you?” Hange asked the man chained to the board in the dungeon. 

“I’ll never tell you,” the man replied before he spat blood onto the floor. 

“I see your interrogation is going well,” Levi said as he leaned in the doorway.

“His name is Duran. That’s all I’ve got from him. Thank you for procuring him for me,” Hange said as they picked up the knife. 

“You should thank Vulcan. He grabbed him. How did those talons feel?” Levi asked as he entered the room. 

“Fuck you,” Duran spat blood in Hange’s face.

Levi stormed in and grabbed Duran by the throat. “I say we just give him to Vulcan to eat.” 

Hange grabbed a rag and wiped the blood from their face. “Hear that Duran? We’ll feed you to the dragons.” 

“I don’t care. No matter what you do to me, the real ruler of the Seven Kingdoms will come and sit on the throne. House Fritz will be restored to its former glory.” 

“Dragon?” Levi asked again as his grip tightened on Duran’s neck. 

Hange nodded. 

—---------------------

Seeing Vulcan up close, Hange controlled themself. 

The dragon was massive, not quite as massive as Seaflames. Only slightly smaller than Blaze but he was a beast. 

The dragon nipped at passers by who paid him too much attention. Hange had heard the dragon liked to bite. 

The dragon’s eyes locked on Hange who was unabashedly staring at him. 

“You're a beautiful dragon, aren’t you?” Hange spoke. 

Vulcan’s chest puffed up. 

“You keep talking to him like that it’ll go to his head,” Levi muttered as he waved the dragon closer. 

“He can’t understand me. Zaldrīzes rȳbus, lo mērī udrirzi Valyrio eglio ȳdrassua.” 

Levi scoffed, “yes. A dragon only listens when you speak in Valyrian meaning he only listens to commands in Valyrian. It doesn’t mean he only understands Valyrian. Trust me, that dragon understands Common just fine.”

“Where does his name come from?” Hange asked as the dragon stood in front of them. 

“An old, old language that no longer exists. We only have some remnants in our books from Valyria. Vulcan was a god of fire.”

“And Kayda?”

“A less common language in the Ten Kingdoms. It means little dragon. Erwin mentioned you were interested in dragons,” Levi adjusted Vulcan’s saddle. 

“I’m interested in anything to do with magic. I find it fanasting. The whole kingdom was built on magic. Then suddenly it was gone. No one who lives now understands how and why. Yet the Ackerman family still has their ties to their dragons, the Jaegers to their wolves. The rest of us are left without any magic at all.” 

“If I told you something in confidence, would you have to tell the King?” Levi asked as he began to walk towards the dragon pit. 

Hange cocked their head to the side before following him. “Would it put the King in harm’s way?”

“Not at all.”

“Would this be something you’d normally ask Erwin about?” 

Levi nodded. 

“Then you could ask me.” 

Levi nodded as he continued to walk towards the Dragon Pit. 

Hange tried to rack their mind for what Levi could possibly want to ask them about. Clearly, it was related to magic. Did Levi know more about magic than he let on? Possibly. Then again, if he needed to ask Erwin or Hange about it, then maybe he didn’t. 

Perhaps Levi was just as clueless about certain things as Hange was. No amount of research had brought Hange any closer to knowing why magic was suddenly gone. 

Once inside the dragonpit, Levi turned and faced Hange. 

“I tell you this in confidence because you were Erwin’s…..I feel as if there is no one else I can ask this too. My cousin, Mikasa, erupted with such power, magic power I’ve never seen. There were flames, ice. They just shot out of her body. She didn’t burn. Then she was….asleep for weeks. I didn’t know if she was ever going to wake again.”

Magic. 

Mikasa had magic. 

It wasn’t dead.

There was some way Mikasa had been able to generate magic. 

“Well, say something,” Levi commanded. 

“I’m sorry. I’m a bit….the fire isn’t surprising. But ice? I’ve never heard of an Ackerman with ice magic,” Hange said as they put their hand on their chin. 

“Why is fire not surprising?” Levi asked as he crossed his arms across his chest.

“Well, the Ackermans in the past were known for their blood and fire magic. I assumed you knew that. The only time I’ve heard of fire and ice together is the song of ice and fire. Or in other words, The Long Night. The heir to save us all will defeat the Others. Perhaps, the heir who saves us not only has power of fire but also ice. There’s an interesting thought….” 

Levi looked over to Vulcan while Hange continued to ramble about the Others. 

—---------------------------------

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

Was it drums or Mikasa’s own heartbeat? 

She couldn’t sleep. 

She saw those who had attacked her. 

She saw her mother killing her aunt, her brother.

Over and over. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

Nightmares.

Over and over. 

When would it end?

Did her mother not realize how much her actions would hurt Mikasa? How much guilt Mikasa would carry around? 

And those men? 

Why had they attacked her? 

Simply because she had been engaged to Eren. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

She was to blame for her soon to be husband’s birth now it seemed. 

Now she slept in a tunic and breeches because she feared the men would come back.

Annie and Sasha had wanted to spend time with her today. 

Wanted to sleep in this bed, keep her company. 

She had pushed them all away.

Ordered them to stay away. 

They could not deny an order from her.

Instead, Mikasa spent time with the dragons and reading. 

She spent time allowing the anger inside her to grow and grow and grow. 

Until she was nothing but anger. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

The egg was mocking her.

A reminder that her brother could never be a dragon.

He had been given such a small, easy task.

Be there and let your egg hatch.

But the egg did not hatch because her brother was not a dragon.

Her brother was a peacock, preening for their aunt’s approval, their mother and father’s attention. 

He was the perfect heir.

Seen.

Not heard. 

He was a child and somehow, he still was a better heir than Mikasa. 

Of course he was! He was raised there! He was wanted.

Their parents had just left her here. 

There was no part of Mikasa beside her mother’s blood that made her a member of the Ten Kingdoms. 

She was too wild, too strong. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

Snatching the dragon egg from the bedside table, Mikasa went out into the night. 

Kayda was waiting for her by the backdoor. 

Mikasa didn’t think about how the dragon knew exactly where she was, where she was coming. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

Rage was building in Mikasa’s veins. 

Fire. 

She could feel it burning. 

Meadow had found them.

Flanking either side of her, Mikasa and the two dragons made their way to where Mikasa had first erupted with power. 

The dragon egg glowed. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

Placing the dragon egg on the scorch marks, Mikasa looked at Kayda and Meadow.

She would destroy the last link to her parents, her aunt, her brother. 

Mikasa sat down next to the egg. 

The egg glowed brighter as Mikasa felt the flames licking at her hands. 

Fire danced around her knuckles. 

She was the problem. 

She was the reason that the fire had been set, displacing so many. 

Some part of her knew that she was the cause of her parents death. 

“Dracarys,”Mikasa told the dragons. 

Neither did anything. 

“DRACARYS!” She screamed but the dragons did not respond. 

“DRACARYS!” She yelled again. 

But the dragons did not obey her. 

The flames on her body grew. In addition to dancing on the knuckles of her hands, flames danced around her bare feet, slowly making their way up to her ankles. 

“DRACARYS!” 

Her throat was getting sore. 

Sobs escaped her body. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

Falling to her side, Mikasa continued to sob. 

Why? 

Why was she the way she was? 

How?

How was she supposed to continue on this way?

The dragon egg continued to glow. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

Reaching out, Mikasa grabbed the egg. She curled her body around it. 

Flames still danced on her hands. 

It wouldn’t harm the egg. 

She knew that much. 

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

So she lay then and sobbed.

Flames danced along her hands and feet.

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

BA-DUM

CRACK!

SNAP!

CREEK!

The flames on her hands and feet died. 

Mikasa felt drained but her eyes snapped to the egg in her arms.

The egg.

It was hatching. 

Mikasa watched as the egg continued to break as she sat it down. 

Emerging from the egg, the baby dragon let out a screech.

“Se zaldrīzes ēdruta emagon hāre bartos,” the raspy voice said.

The dragon must have three heads. 

[lipstickchainsaw]

Worm character meme: Ingenue. Teacher. Saint.

Starting me off with three arguably bit villains, huh?

Ingenue genuinely terrifies me. Like many Ward-era villains, she's all about that subtle loss of control, but with her it's even more insidious, and the way this is explicitly tied with the most intimate of relationships just genuinely put me on edge, when we got to her interlude.

We don't even get the catharsis of seeing her beaten/seeing a character resist and surpass her influence in the way Ward had Victoria deal with so many other masters, so she's still out there.

Also, I didn't have a hero AU before I answered this ask, but now I've started considering it and holy shit can you imagine her trying so goddamn hard to push boyfriends to do good, with her power always nudging them in horrific directions despite her best efforts. Turning her into an 'I can fix him!' kind of character when she consistently fails to do so.

No idea if 'overrated' applies here, because I don't think Teacher is rated particularly highly anyway, but he's just so incredibly boring. He's vaguely interesting in Speck as his modus operandi is a neat mirror to Taylor's descent, in that his power got him stuck on a very specific spot on the 'take away people's autonomy to make them part of a genius' machine' scale, which Khepri has just enough time to wave at before she races past it, but in Ward he just exists too far away from what Victoria's doing that we don't get enough time to engage with him, and so I just don't give much of a shit.

Also, resurrecting Cauldron and trying to emulate their methods when it came to stopping another apocalypse and coming across as even worse because he lacks the established institutional momentum of a long-established secret society, and the way he's going about trying to save the world just seems considerably less considered than what Cauldron did.

In the end, he seems to mostly exist to be a discount Cauldron for Ward to grapple with, in part to have Contessa dismantle the sins of her past, in part to match the themes of people trying to recreate the pre-apocalypse institutions without considering whether they still make sense, insofar as they ever did, but neither of those things are really about Teacher as a character, so eh.

Saint has such an inflated sense of his own importance. Much like Assault picking his name to deliberately annoy Battery and change the meaning of her name, Saint picked his name specifically to reference his (imagined) relationship to Dragon, and it brings across specifically how self-righteous he is. It captures his worldview exactly and it's really fucking annoying, but he carries it through into how he styles the Dragon suit he stole.

Obviously, like many characters in this story, he struggles with letting go of his crusade, very fitting in Taylor's story, but we see him deal with this more explicitly during the assault on Teacher's compound, where he's still going with it even after it has stopped being an even remotely reasonable concern. The interesting thing is that he struggled with this without having an alien supercomputer hooked up to his brain (except for when he got hooked up to Teacher's).

And yet, he still qualifies as bad with his powers, because he's an idiot who couldn't let go of the power he had over Dragon, justifying it to himself so he had a reason to go back to Teacher and get another dose. His story's arguably one about addiction, but it's not really examined as such, and his ideological stance sucks so bad I'm not really interested in exploring it as such.