#rachel my inner demons

[kingdomoftyto]

I just finished a complete re-read for the third (fourth?) time and the recent updates are barreling toward some climactic events, so I therefore feel compelled to make a proper rec post for something LONG overdue:

The Glass Scientists, a webcomic about Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde, rogue science, Victorian repression, and a WHOLE lot more.

Our protagonist is the esteemed Dr. Henry Jekyll, co-founder of the Society for Arcane Sciences, an organization that aims to bring mad science into the mainstream by proving that not all who practice it are dangerous lunatics. This is easier said than done, especially with the violent death of a certain Dr. Frankenstein still weighing on the minds of the public years after the fact. Not to mention...

... Henry's own inner demons.

Edward Hyde serves as a sort of release valve for Henry's stresses whenever the pressure of running the Society proves to be too much. Hyde is everything he can't be: spontaneous, emotional, uninhibited. Free to take what he wants without guilt or public consequences.

And oh, Henry wants.

His transformation into Hyde is a physical manifestation of the repression of his queer inclinations. This is not subtext. It's not even an accident on Henry's part. It's a central facet to who he is as a person (and, by extension, who Hyde is, as well).

...But listen. We don't have time to unpack all THAT! Not when there are so many other delightful characters to meet! Such as Henry's best friend / business partner / old flame Robert:

Or Jasper, the newest member of the Society, a plucky young cryptozoologist who happens to also be a werewolf, and who gets swept up in a VERY cute relationship with the slightly unhinged cook (and Henry's other best friend), Rachel:

Or Hyde himself, who despite all his debauchery may not actually be the pinnacle of evil that he believes himself to be:

Because if you couldn't tell from the sampling of panels in this post, this comic is not only a gripping emotional drama but also an OUTRAGEOUS comedy, when the mood calls for it. It truly strikes a perfect balance of the two, in my humble opinion.

On top of all that, the art is gorgeous, the atmosphere is impeccable (swinging from fantastical whimsy to genuine horror and back with deft skill), and the characters are deep and dynamic and full of gray areas.

I can't recommend it enough. It's hands-down my favorite actively-updating webcomic (new page every Monday!), and I'm for-real having to restrain myself from going back and starting ANOTHER re-read right now, it's that good. I've spoiled a tiny bit in this post, but believe me when I say the cast and events get so much weirder and more wonderful than even this. Please check it out.

[domreader-headcannon-scenarios]

Kinktober Day: 10 primal play: Vincent Phantomhive ( demon! Reader, open marriages)

-

You pin Vincent to his own bed, a low growl escaped you making him shudder. “W-wait, we can’t do this! Rachel is in the other room!” You hated that excuse, he acts like you’re not fucking his wife on the side too…

With a glare you meet his eyes. “Do you really think I care if she hears? Let her, hell, she could watch for all I care.” You shove him back as he tries to get away again. You don’t care enough to be gentle tonight, you couldn’t eat his soul until the contract ends, but you could taste him.

Vincent yelps as your claws tear apart his suit, in just a few seconds, he’s completely exposed under you. Your nostrils flare as the unmistakable scent of arousal hits you. With a glance down, your suspicions are confirmed, he’s rock hard under you.

You run a hand up his inner thigh, avoiding his arousal as you stroke him. “Vincent, Love, I believe you misunderstand my intentions here.” You position yourself to be sitting on his hips, pinning his cock under you while you grab both his wrists and hold them above his head. You let some of your demon features slip as you grin down at him. “I don’t want to fuck, I want to eat.”

You shift his wrist into one hand, letting the other hand sneak out of Vincent’s line of sight. He still seems unaware of the situation, instead of responding in fear you can see he’s confused. You lean down till your face is inches from his.

“I can’t devour you yet, but I can gnaw on you.”

He whines out a question you don’t catch, you don’t care either. You duck down to his shoulder, biting hard enough to draw blood from him. He squeaked at an embarrassing volume, he thrashed in your grip to no avail. Vincent can see your grin widening in the corner of his eyes.

“(Y/n), I order you to-!”

You quickly silence him by putting your hand over his mouth, effectively preventing the order.

Vincent freezes, taking a moment to realize what just happened. You just blocked an order by stopping him from talking. Vincent gives a pathetic whimper under you and you feel him tense up. You can feel him violently shuddering under you, you can smell the fear radiating from him now.

A purr escapes you, you lap at the wound you gave him like a dog cleaning a wound. The entire time, Vincent is squirming and whining under you, trying to get you to let him speak.

[stuck-in-the-ghost-zone]

mackerel!!!!! good morninnnnnnnng :] sharing my coffee with u :3 anyway. free ticket for whatever worm thoughts ur having!!! 🎫🎫🎫 cell is a fucking rollercoaster so like, u know, whenever u have thoughts w any degree of organization lmao!! the fucking.... charlotte interlude where danny just sits and watches the rest of the undersiders (teenagers)(aisha throwing a bag of chips at grue's head)(grue killed burnscar a member of the slaughterhouse 9)(terrifying)(they're both in demon masks and grue is in black leather)(supervillains who he's been hearing taylor talk about like they're a certain doom for hours)(kids)(people she loves)(she was doing so much for infrastructure for the docks which was also danny's thing) hammer out their game plan means a lot 2 me.... anyway it's been a while since last bothering u abt worm ask!! so. holds microphone up to u. hehehe :3

dude u have literally the most perfect timing ever I JUST finished the lung interlude. lol. Definitely not thinking about it at all. the next arc is called Drone. awesome ! like the fuckign. other word for male bees which have no stinger and are not as useful to the hive as worker bees and cannot even feed themselves without assistance from workers. often used in media to describe a mindless . well. drone. part of a hivemind. awesome loving the implications of this. i need 2 take a fucking BREAK

ANYWAY. CELL. GOD. MAN. FUCK. DEFINITELY *NOT* THE DIRECTION I THOUGHT THAT ARC WAS GOING TO GO. youve pretty much said everything I could possibly say about the Charlotte interlude. I do in fact have a screenshot of the part where imp throws a bag of chips at grues head. and also when they first get there imp and regent immediately start rummaging around for snacks. and they take the bags of gummies that charlotte was planning to put in the kids school lunches the next day. and . fucking RACHEL walking in not with huge monster dogs but with a bunch of puppies on colorful leashes. willingly handing puppies to two basically strangers. willing to go into a room with a bunch of children who don't know how to behave correftly around dogs and letting them play with her puppies. I cant even fucking talk about Rachel and how she's changed since the beginning of the story without getting so overwhelmed with it all i love her so much. I love her SO much dude.

having conflicting emotions about weaver !!!!!!!!!!!!!! i love taylor so much you know this about me. i am very excited to see another side of the heroes and get more insight into the inner workings of both the ward system and also the prt in general (definitely not going to think about nhw) BUT ALSO . I LOVE THE UNDERSIDERS TOO MUCH. IM GONNA MISS THEM SO MUCH. AND!!!! and. I don't know how they feel about this decision yet. I mean they were pretty laid back during their visit but I also know how good they are (esp tattletale) at . not letting onto things . putting up a front to keep appearances. aaughhh.

I want to know what the fuck was in the drawer that dragon showed taylor that made her agree to all of this right away. was it the new mask????? that's my assumption rn. speaking of which as much as I want to squish defiant sometimes I VERY MUCH love his robot girlfriend. defiant can stay as long as I get to see his weird fucked up dynamic with dragon. but he's on thin ice.

I do also really like miss militia.......... she's frustrating as much as the others are sometimes but. I like her. she knows things are fucked and is willing to hear out the other side even if she doesn't always act on it. OH ALSO SPEAKING OF HEROES really excited that parian and fletchette are undersiders now :) I like them.

uhhhhh uh uh uh I made that big long post about self fulfilling prophecies regarding the whole apocalypse in two years thing ,, my thoughts on that have not changed and have in fact been REINFORCED by lungs interlude . he specifically was given a two year time limit. hmm i wonder FUCKING WHY. god. I need to talk to dinah i need a dinah interlude. I need to know what she thinks of all of this

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

Okay y'all have been warned

(also, I partially blame @skoulsons for this bc we cried over the Hands™ last night and today my brain couldn't shut up)

Okay first a little bit of a reminder/spoilery trivia bc I know besties who didn't see the show/haven't watched that far might read it:

Rachel is physically linked to her evil half brother, meaning whatever injury he gets, she gets it too. He bleeds, she bleeds, etc. Dick contacts a friend from London who specializes in all things magic to find a way to break that connection and he learns of The Clavis Noctem ritual. Quote:

In English, "The Key of Night." It finds inner evil, gives it a physical form. A form that can be destroyed.

So the ritual is supposed to give her inner evil a physical form, and requires the person who loves her to kill it. And in the episode, said "evil" takes this form:

And I guess, yeah, it makes sense in the context that it's supposed to take that connection and give it a form so it can be destroyed. But the thing is, I don't remember there being a scene where Sebastian puts a spell on her or creates this connection in any other way, he just randomly reveals it to Rachel in 4x08 when he cuts his wrist with a knife and her own wrist opens. As if this connection was always there???

And here I am thinking: the details aside, why turn it into some zombie version of Sebastian (bc in case you didn't know, this is Joseph Morgan under all that makeup and prosthetics), a guy who, yeah technically is her brother but has no meaningful connection to her in the long term, when she exists.

Rachel's demonic reflection from season 1. Literal physical manifestation of Rachel's darkness, who looks like her, talks like her, has always been a part of her. Wouldn't that make more sense? Wouldn't it be a bigger emotional gut punch?

To get rid of the inner evil, someone who loves her has to kill it. Put Dick in front of a random zombie? No biggie. He'll do it in his sleep. Present him with a carbon copy of the girl he loves like a daughter? Put a blade in his hand and tell him to kill her? Now that's angst.

I won't go into further details because I think I'm gonna turn this into a fic. But one thing for sure: he wouldn't be able to fight it, not like he fought the monster in the episode. There would be no chasing it around the building, no big fight sequence.

It would be a heartbreaker.

[cabinofimagines]

The Haunting of Camp-Halfblood, part one

Do you sometimes send “Poly!Solangelo ghost hunting” as a joke to your fellow admin bcus you hadn’t planned any Halloween fics yet and didn’t want to leave the first week empty? No? Well I did and it was a mistake on my part, because it started as a fun haha and now I have already written 3k words and am making it a two parter instead. 

Pairing: Poly!Solangelo x reader, Will Solace x Gn!Reader x Nico di Angelo Request: No, expect by my inner demons.  Warnings: Spoopy vibes, but not too scary? There are ghosts so ye Word Count: 2.1k

mlist - next >

-Asnyox

When Chiron summoned Nico to the Big House, Will and you were anxiously awaiting Nico’s return. You had asked Nico to teach the both of you some Mythomagic so you could play together and were rudely interrupted by Austin taking Nico away. Will was just talking to you about how it was unfair that his dad only had an advantage against flying opponents as Nico ran up to you, holding his sword and a purple pouch in his hands.

“Camp is haunted.” He heaved, taking a second to catch his breath.“What do you mean Camp is haunted?” You exclaimed as Nico grabbed both your and Will’s hands.“Camp is haunted!” And everything went black.

──────────────────────

As your senses returned to you, you noticed you were in Rachel’s cave, right outside the border of camp. You blinked a few times, before you noticed both your boyfriends were already checking up on you.

“How are you doing? Feeling alright?” Will asked as he softly cupped your cheek and looked you in the eyes. You nodded, leaning into his touch as he nodded in response. You looked over at Nico, seeing distress on his face.

“Sorry, I know you don’t like shadow travel, but we had to be quick.” He apologized and you stood up and put a hand on his arm.

“It’s alright, what’s going on?” you asked, and Nico relaxed a bit.

“Long story short, Alabaster and Paolo had found these crystals,” he held up a purple bag with a green string, “while they were out of camp, and using a spell of some sorts they accidentally let out the souls these crystals were holding.” You slowly nodded your head, urging Nico to go on, “So, this resulted in camp being haunted, and as they were explaining this to me, the ghosts took a hold of their bodies- which honestly I did not think ghosts could do anymore, but I suppose that’s why these particular ones were in these crystals.”

“They got possessed?” Will asked and Nico sighed as he nodded.

“Cool!” You exclaimed, “Sucks, but still cool.” You chuckled, trying to lighten the mood a bit, “Anyways, how do we fix it?” you asked, “I am assuming we can’t leave camp haunted, right?”

“Can’t we? I don’t think it would make much of a difference as to how it is now” Nico joked, “It would be easier if anything.” You laughed but Will did not join in on the jokes, however.

“I think we have a serious issue right now, loves.” He sighed, being unable to hold back his smile, “I am assuming there is a strategy to this?” Nico nodded.

“We can get the ghosts back into the crystals simply by touching them with it, and if I can trust the package it came in it should seal them back into the crystals for good by using the code word ‘sigillum’, however,” Nico grimaced, “We need to first remove them from their hosts.”

───────────

By the time you had come up with some sort of strategy, it was already turning dark. Nico had listed the pros and cons of starting the rescue when it’s dark, the most important pro being that the ghosts would be more visible once they were outside of their hosts. The sun was setting slowly, and it was still a few hours before curfew. You had to try and be done before then, because with the harpies on your back you could kiss your victory goodbye. With this in mind, you and Will divided the crystals between the two of you, 3 crystals each. You felt nerves creep up as a fluttering in your chest. Will quickly squeezed your arm as the both of you split apart.

You would have liked to say that the plan was simple, but a big part of it was built around assumptions and luck. Although, arguably most of demigod life was built around those two aspects. The first part of the plan had been sealing the borders around camp. At one point, with Nico losing control sometimes when he is upset, you had Alabaster teach you some easy sealing spells, to trap any undead in a temporary prison. At the time, you had feared how Nico would take it. You didn’t want him to think you feared him, so as you nervously told him you did not meet his eyes. Instead of him getting angry, he softly grabbed your hand, cupped your cheek and thanked you, a small smile on his face and a bit red in the cheeks. 

However, neither of you had thought it would come handy like this. Doing the spell this big did tire you, and you were nervous about whether it worked, but you had to at least hope it contained the ghosts within camp. You couldn’t have them possessing innocent mortals.  

The second part of the plan depended on separating the ghosts so you would tackle one at a time- trying to not have Nico overexert himself as he will need to pull the ghosts out of their hosts, before both Will and you try to catch it in a crystal as quickly as possible. However, entering camp was dangerous because Nico only knew of two possessions: Alabaster and Paolo. He had run as soon as he noticed two souls in each of their bodies, but he was not sure about whether the ghosts could possess Chiron or not. You all had hoped not, for that would be a tough one to take on.

The other four ghosts could still be looking for hosts and although you rather not have anyone possessed, you hoped they had found four other campers already. If you knew the body in which the ghost was, you could at least be sure it would need to expose itself before being able to possess one of you three, giving you a small opportunity to capture the ghosts.  You weren’t sure how hard it was for the ghosts to jump bodies, so you could not possibly know who was on your side. The three of you were each walking near each other, scanning the camp for any movement.

The Big House was near the camp border, and although it was a place that most definitely held a ghost, it also held your only option as to get rid of your curfew deadline. It was a gamble, but you really hoped that they only left one person to guard the Big House. 

As you made your way onto the deck, you crouched down, slowly walking towards a window in hopes of peaking in. Nico sat against the wall, waiting for a sign, as Will tried checking the other window for any signals of life. Will had not expected to be faced with Paolo however, and he let out a yelp as he scrambled away, just before a hand wrapped in green punched through the window. 

Immediately you were on your feet, running past Nico as you grabbed your sword and held it in front of you. Will sprung on his feet behind you. You shot Nico a quick look, and he nodded. Your hand went to your pocket as you grabbed a crystal, ready for whatever was to come. Paolo stepped out of the window, breathing heavily. 

“Paolo, if you are in there,” you gulped as he glared at you, his eyes filled with a void, “I am sorry if I hurt you.” you said as you stepped forward. You wanted to distract him, so Nico and Will could get him.You stepped closer to Paolo, but he barely seemed to care as he lurched for you. You quickly sidestepped and hit him with the blunt of your sword on his head, knocking him to the ground. Before he got the chance to  get up, you jumped on  him, holding him down with all your body weight, both of his hands restrained. You made eye contact with Nico.

“Go!” you urged him and a look of focus came on his face. As Paolo started to struggle against your hold, you let your sword drop, tightening your grip on his arms. You could see the ghost being pulled out of Paolo, there was a lack of facial features, yet you felt as if its grim smile had a hold on your body. You felt its cold non-corporeal form pass through your hands and into the air above you. As the ghost took shape before you, your arms weakened and your chest tightened. You should get away! Run! But- it was as if it was trying to suck out all your life-force, solely with the holes that should have held eyes. 

The ghost disappeared, replaced with Will standing there, muttering ‘sigillum’. It was as if a soft wind blew over you, feeling yourself no longer restrained by whatever that was. You wanted to chalk it up to fear- you were just caught off guard right? This was the first ghost after all, so now you knew what to expect. You noticed how Paolo was passed out beneath you, as if in some kind of slumber. He would probably wake up in due time. You tried to get up looking unbothered by what just occurred, however there was still some remaining numbness in your limbs making you stumble. 

“You alright?” Nico asked worriedly, he wanted to make sure that the ghosts didn’t hurt you too much. In his opinion you got way too close this time. You nodded and tried to send a reassuring smile. “It just caught me off guard,” you took a breath, “didn’t think the ghost would scare me that much? I’ll be fine, let’s see if we can find Chiron.” Will silently grabbed your hand and squeezed. Nico protectively stepped to your other side, as a guard. He was trying to give some sort of comfort as you made your way inside. He didn’t like that he didn’t manage to prevent the ghost from coming so close to you, but you had to keep Paolo down. Nico really hoped the other ghosts would be easier to catch, but he feared for the worse. 

The three of you were on guard as you entered the Big House. You first passed through the infirmary, which was entirely empty (who was on infirmary duty today?), and as you made your way to Chiron’s office, nothing happened. The door was closed, and Will stepped forward to open it. 

“Careful, we don’t know who’s in there.” you warned your boyfriend as he put his hand on the handle. “I only sense one soul in there, so I think there aren’t any ghosts in there,” Nico noted as he put his hand on your lower back, the gesture meant to calm you. You shot him a thankful look and focused back on the door, the pressure of Nico’s hand grounding you a little. 

As Will opened the door, you were met with the sight of Chiron with tied up legs. “Ah, young Nico, I see you have come back.” Chiron greeted you, a glint of amusement in his eyes. Nico seemed embarrassed. “I had my priorities,” he simply said as the three of you started working on untying Chiron. “I understand your partners are very important to you,” Chiron noted, “However, I have to ask how you defeated young Paolo? Or is he still possessed?”  

“He’s down for the count, but we have the ghost in this crystal.” Will got the crystal out of his pocket, and shook it a little before showing it to Chiron. You noticed how by doing so, the shine in the crystal moved around. You imagined that this was the ghost, in its little house, being shaken around until it got sick. Payback for trying to fight you. Chiron inspected the crystal, and the centaur nodded in approval. 

“So the three of you have a plan then,” Chiron looked at you, now freed from his bindings. “I would like to request you to get rid of this haunting. See it as a quest!” His tone feigned excitement as all three of you grimace. You weren’t too surprised by this, but that did not mean it sucked any less.

Chiron agreed to inform the harpies that they were off-duty tonight, giving you a bigger timeframe to find the ghosts in. Instead of a mere 4 hours, you were now in for a whole night of pain and fun!

[juzzou]

JUUZOU & TAROT

for those unfamiliar with tarot, here's some quick points to help better understand the following thread.

the standard tarot deck is comprised of 78 cards that can be split into the major arcana (22 cards, focuses on growth) and minor arcana (56 cards, focuses on numerology). the major is really all that ishida focuses on within tokyo ghoul, so that's all i'm focusing on for juuzou. the major arcana can be read as a story that follows the fool (card 0) and his journey through enlightenment.

numerology does play a big part in each card even within the major arcana, so a brief summary:

card 0 — the fool & protagonist of the major arcana

cards 1-7 — focus on the beginning of the fool's journey

cards 8-17 — focus on archetypes the fool encounters and his own inner demons

cards 18-21 — focus on self reflection of the fool's journey.

in a way, the entirety of tokyo ghoul can be summarized through the major arcana with kaneki being the fool, but that's another topic completely. however, i'd like to argue that juuzou's own story can be read as a fool's journey as well.

0 THE FOOL ; beginnings, risk, naivete, impulse

"the fool views the world with a sense of childlike wonder. infinite possibilities exist. [...] the fool heeds no warning! like a child, they can only view the world through the prism of themselves" — true heart intuitive tarot, rachel true.

juuzou's journey as the fool all begins with his birth name (up for debate whether it's his actual birth name or not, but this is all we're given of his previous life before being kidnapped by big madam). juuzou was previously known as rei. while the kanji for his name is written as 玲 ("exquisite, clever"), it can also be written as 零 ("zero, null"). as rei, he is doted on by his mama and treated like a doll, but when he doesn't score high enough "good boy points" is when juuzou gets abused by mama.

XIII DEATH ; rebirth, second chances, transformation

"death claws away at its own decay, revealing new life underneath" — true heart intuitive tarot, rachel true.

contrary to popular belief, death is not a negative card and does not literally mean death. it's my personal favorite card of the whole deck and 13 is my lucky number, so any time i pull it, i view it as a positive sign. it's a symbol for change and the death of things that no longer serve a purpose in your life.

juuzou's entire design is a reference to death. his hairclips, his quinque being in the shape of a scythe, the roman numerals XIII etched into the quinque, him working in the 13th ward in the joker bonus chapter, and even his own name which can be written with the kanji 十三 (thirteen). not to mention the references to friday the 13th's jason voorhees.

i feel like ishida purposely feeding into the misconception that the death card is a negative card is kind of genius. it hides the intention he had for juuzou's future growth as a character and misleads readers who aren't familiar with tarot beyond how it's portrayed in popular media.

XII THE HANGED MAN ; surrender, acceptance, sacrifice, change

"sometimes you have to put yourself in uncomfortable positions to learn and grow. surrender to the now, understanding the you do not know everything" — true heart intuitive tarot, rachel true.

over the course of part one of tokyo ghoul, we see how he changes from someone who doesn't fear death to ultimately facing the possibility of the person who has come into his life as a father figure potentially dying right in front of him.

this major change for him comes during the owl suppression mission. as juuzou's leg is severed and he is knocked back, one of his hair clips flies off leaving them in the numerals XII for the hanged man. it's at this moment too when shinohara sacrifices himself to save juuzou. i'd also argue that his leg being severed is a visual reference to the fact that the hanged man is typically portrayed by hanging from one leg.

XX JUDGEMENT ; healing, clarity, transformation

"under the watchful eye of angel gabriel, figures stand with arms outstretched, signifying release from old burdens, self-judgement, and secrets from the past." — true heart intuitive tarot, rachel true.

even before tokyo ghoul:re, juuzou is seen with the stitches near his right eye and the corner of his mouth in the shape of the roman numerals XX. it's been hinted since the very beginning that he would have a major transformation. when this symbolism become more obvious is during chapter 32 of tg:re when he gets promoted to special class (the same rank shinohara was) and we finally see him with his hair clips now in the XX numerals. he has now become the mentor.

XXI THE WORLD ; completion, happiness, closure

"the world signifies the completion of the fool's journey, and the turning of the wheel of fortune" — true heart intuitive tarot, rachel true.

shinohara waking up after being comatose for several years marks the completion in juuzou's story and is reflected in his hair clips and stitches showing the numerals XXI. even in kaneki's own story, juuzou was never a villain and never a morally grey character. his morals were formed by trauma and challenged constantly to the point of them changing over time. he has gone from an abused child with no remorse for killing to a well-respected peacekeeper that now has the emotional intelligence to cherish those around him.

"if an angelic being fell from the sky and tried to live in this world of ours, i think even they would commit many wrongs" — juuzou suzuya

[girl4music]

WAVERLY: “We’re really worried about you. You’re hunting all the time. You’re not really sleeping.”

WYNONNA: “I’m totally sleeping.”

NICOLE: “No, you’re passing out. That’s not the same thing.”

WAVERLY: “You’re isolating yourself.”

WYNONNA: “No. I’m hunting alone. So until a new Chosen One rolls into town,

*directed at Rachel who’s watching from the stairs*

who’s old enough to drink…”

WAVERLY: “Wynonna! You’re… so… you seem so-“

WYNONNA: “Dedicated to keeping my friends and family safe?”

WAVERLY: “Really sad. And lonely.”

WYNONNA: “Well, we don’t all have the luxury of happily ever after.”

WAVERLY: “Doc loves you.”

WYNONNA: “Shut up.”

*moves to grab Peacemaker but Waverly covers her hands over it*

WAVERLY: “And so do we.”

WYNONNA: “Just keep the stupid gun.”

*walks off out of the house and Waverly runs after her*

NICOLE:

*tries to get her attention*

“Hey, babe.”

WAVERLY:

*outside the house*

“Wynonna, stop! Please!”

WYNONNA: “You want me to admit I have a problem?! Okay, well, here’s my problem, it’s a big one. Uh, if I stop killing demons, everyone I love, like you, gets eaten.”

WAVERLY: “Or maybe that’s what you’ve been telling yourself, Wynonna. Because you like it! A little too much.”

WYNONNA: “I don’t hear anyone else complaining about being too not dead because I’ve taken out too many demons.”

WAVERLY: “What about Holt? He was human.”

WYNONNA: “Why is it that when you kill a Clanton, it’s the right thing to do, but when I do it, it’s a problem?”

WAVERLY: “You know, I really thought we’d have a couple more years before your transition from fun drunk to mean alcoholic.”

WYNONNA: “Have fun planning your wedding, you sanctimonious asshole.”

WAVERLY:

*walks back into the house crying and into Nicole’s arms*

NICOLE: “Hey. Once she’s done being defensive, she’s gonna realize you’re right.”

WAVERLY: “Am I? I’m not judging her. I’m just trying not to lose her.”

NICOLE: “Hey.

*hugs her tight and kisses her head*

You want me to stay?”

WAVERLY: “No. You gotta go.”

Finally! We’re dealing with Wynonna’s inner conflict with believing that she needs to shut off the world and kill everything that threatens it. This episode must be her breaking point. This was what I was waiting for after the whole killing Holt situation and Doc left her.

Let’s see them try to make this one into a comedy. Something like this should only be dealt with in drama. I hope they handle this narrative seriously. It looks like they will from the intervention opening but you just never know. There may be some tonal shifts.

This is the narrative I wanted for Buffy Summers. They touched on it but they never went all out with it. They never made it clear how much of a demon she was becoming from having to constantly kill the demons. What that was doing to her mind, body and soul. How much of a price that she was paying to be The Hand.

I wanted a proper narrative undertaking for Buffy like Wynonna seems to be getting in this episode that showed that being a hero doesn’t always require being a killer. Whether it’s of the evil supernatural or not. And in the last season they should have done this since they made it canon that she was made from a demon and therefore her instincts were just the same. But they didn’t do that. They didn’t play morally grey. And it’s part of the reason why I just lost all interest.

See it’s been bubbling under the surface all throughout the show but Wynonna’s inner conflict was that she was afraid that she was a killer - a murderer for killing demons or human bad guys. In this season especially, she’s resigned herself to that objective because she doesn’t have a partner in crime with it anymore. There’s no Clyde to her Bonnie basically. And it’s tearing her apart that she cannot connect with someone that literally sold his soul to a demon because he is not okay with what she’s become from having such a defensive attitude towards the problem.

And everybody’s worried about her because she doesn’t communicate how she’s really feeling. What she’s really struggling with inside that’s eating her up. And something like that is one hell of a narrative to not only explore thoroughly, but also conclude and close.

And I am SO HERE FOR IT! I’m more here for this narrative than WayHaught’s because I already know I’m going to get that anyway. More focus on the lead main character at this point in the show is imperative. And I know Season 4 has been more comedy than drama. But there’s always time to change that around. You know it’s not always an equal amount of either in genre shows. Sometimes it’s just on a spectrum depending on what story it is that they’re telling. Which means the vibe and tone always serves the narrative and characters. Not the other way around.

It’s the reason I cannot watch either pure drama or pure comedy. I have to have that balance when it comes to TV art/enterainment. The grey area. And genre shows - particularly supernatural/fantasy - always have that balance. Even if it’s not equal.

But yeah, Buffy would have certainly been a much more interesting character to me than she was if they had went all the way with the “am I a killer?” subject. Like I said - they touched on it. Quite a few times actually. But they don’t make it into a proper arc where she had a breakdown and her team have to come in to help to save her from destroying herself.

Being a hero is fucking hard. Especially when chosen. When you never wanted to be the world’s protector in the first place but you find it’s who you are anyway. You’re eventually going to face up to the price of it. The loss and the grief. But most of all the evolution. And an evolution includes all the highs and lows. The downfalls, the sacrifices, the depression, the loneliness. All of it. You can’t have a true character development without it all. And the thing is Buffy has all of that. Sometimes more than I bear to watch. But the one thing they skip out of truly exploring is - to me - the most important subject that there is to address.

Which is if you’re a fighter - if you have protect and defend through violence - does it make you a killer?

And if you’re a hero - are you okay with not being one and letting somebody else take the reins - including all the pitfalls and burdens you’ve had to bear and overcome. Can you allow yourself to give up heroism?

All of that needed to be addressed with Buffy in the final season. And the way they choose to do it. To wrap up the sap up - is the most insane, nonsensical, confusing, frustrating extremely lazy way ever by her entire team throwing her out of the fucking house and then letting her back in when they realize they’re wrong and they need her and some other character has to be the one to make them face their mistake.

Exploring the extremely strong and substantial subject I’m talking about here is what would have avoided all that ridiculous mess because the take-away from it would have been that there is a necessity to heroism but it comes at the price of being a killer or at least fearing that you are or will become a killer.

So I hope - I fucking hope - that they will do this with Wynonna. Have her face up to her actions and choices because her humanity will not let her just ignore them. Only a demon that feels absolutely nothing would. And that’s not Wynonna. She is such an emotional person when she lets herself be. When she doesn’t block it out. She’s like Faith. The need to shield vulnerability because she fears that letting love in will destroy her. When love and all that love entails is what she needs.

[faeseekerandy]

song 7 for a character of your choosing lol :)

I'm trying to be normal, but trauma is immortal and none of this is your fault (Frankenstein)

Rathaway X Rachel Roth – Rathaway doesn’t know she’s a titan and she’s scouting him to join the Titans. Rathaway has all the issues.

BB woke up unable to understand what was compelling him to want to be a rat. His entire body grew hair and he slowly grew smaller and smaller until is was a tiny mouse. Then like chasing cheese he walked out in the middle of the night without telling anyone. Come breakfast the fact that he was not first at the table caused great concern for everyone involved. Luckly for him BB was tagged and was easy to find.

Central CITY! – Grayson was concerned – Why did he go to central city in the middle of the night! Raven you wanna take this one? – Asked Damien – the kid follows you around like a lost puppy, so go fetch our pet so….

The look on Raven’s face and the extra set of eyes was all the cue Damien needed to drop the subject. He’s not sure how well he can stack up against Trigon and wasn’t in the mood to find out.

Rachel opened a portal directly to the cosmic location were BB was, he saw him, as a rat surrounded by an army of rats, one tiny green spec in a sea of filthy disgusting rats. He picked bb by the tail and attempted to snap him out of it. When even putting him on her chest did not work, it became obvious that his hypnosis was far more powerful than she could have imagined. She faded into the wall and watched carefully to figure out what was causing this extreme form of hypnosis that was not broken by anything magical or physical.

A few hours later a small stubby mass of complexes and issues walked in. Rachel instantly sensed the inner turmoil in this poor souls’ mind. All the issues! Abandonment issues, fear for his situation, not having a home and being forced to forage in the sewers, fear of extreme betrayal, all emotions she could sense coming from this cloud of frustration and angs.

What’s that you’re saying? – said Rathaway, said while talking to one of his rats – That this room smells like a Depeche Mode concert? Why yes it is very weird, did an army of Goth angsty teenagers waltzed by while I was away?

COME OUT, you can hide your visage but not your smell of cheap eyeliner and Sucreabeille perfume. Let me guess, demon girl, or daughter of Satan, or something devil related. – Rathaway look annoyed.

FINE GEESH – Raven came out of the shadow – one of those rats is mine, and I need it back.

Really? Wish one- asked Rathaway not taken aback by the figure emerging from the wall.

Raven - Takea guess !

Rathaway – Yea not a lot of green demon rats are there. Rathaway was almost amused but playing it cool. He was trying to figure out at what moment to send the army of rats at him.

I rolled a 20 on my mind reading abilities, you’re an open book to me, and if you don’t wanna see a million rats go up in flame I suggest you keep your filthy pets to yourself – Said Raven

Oh a Geek a devil girl, I suppose rolling seduction is out of the question. – Said Rathaway.

Not if you want me to kick your dices! – Raven was kinda annoyed at this point.

FINE your intimidation roll worked, here is your freeky green rat. – said rathaway releasing his spell.

How do I know he’s not gonna be hypnotized again – asked Raven annoyed.

You don’t! I may want to see you again and then all I’ve got to do is play this fl…. – he was interrupted when raven took over the flute with her magic and prepared to destroy it.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO – he lunged at the flute crying in a panic. It was pathetic. He fled to a dark corner of the room,crying and trying to claw at the wall to find a place to hide it.

That flute, its precious to you isn’t it – you don’t really need it to fight me but you cling to it. Said raven

Would you stop reading my FUCKING MIND ALREADY! – at one point you have to realize it feels like being naked in front of a million people.

You took my precious pet, this creature is my price possession, and I refuse to go easy on you until I know without a shadow of a dought that it belongs to me and me alone. I play with it,and tease it as I see fit. I wont let some snut punk wanna be villain with issues take him from me. MAKE IT HAPPEN!

Rathaway trembling made an alteration to the Anti life equation that made it so it could not be used specifically on BB.

Alright since you kept your end of the bargain I’ll stop probing your mind. – Said raven – I don’t normally do that. But you took my precious pet so I was not gonna play fair. I was ready to send you to hell if needed.

Bhhhhh the devil girl is gonna send me to hell, spooky, could you be any more of a cliché – rathaway was annoyed. Do you know what you put me thru just now! If you had me by the balls I would not have been more horrified. That flute…

It’s a toten of trauma, interrupted Raven, you need to let it go, forgot it and begin to heal. It will be difficult but if you come with me, with the titans, you can slowly come to live a normal life, with friends that wont abandon you.

Yea Sure, you’re sooo normal demon girl – rathaway was more relaxed now that he sensed no hostility from Rachel.

I'm trying to be normal, but trauma is immortal. And ever-present. Sometimes you can be safely at a home and see something on tv and suddenly it comes back like a monster, a predator. And you try to act normal so nobody sees your suffering, but the sweat and the palpitations, and your inability to stand up, the betray you, so you say you’re going to take a bath so nobody sees you tremble.

And sometimes you can be under a bridge feeling like the world is collapsing over you, and you feel thankful because its not the worst that’s ever happened to you. You think, compared to where I’ve been, being homeless doesn’t feel so bad, and then you realize that….

Raven hugged Rathaway, and then he was quiet, she kept repeating over and over – “none of this was your fault, none of this was your fault.”

I missed being hugged so much – Rathaway was smiling, - Ok lets get going.

Dude I had the weirdt dream  - the rat changed form into a human, rathaway look puzzled

IT WAS A DREAM!  - screamed Raven, her pale skin showing a slight hint of blush under all the eye liner and pale face paint.  – IT WAS A DREAM AND DONT FUCKING GET ANY IDEAS

       BB turning into a tiny puppy begin whimpering.

[pink-bird-30]

Titans 4x02

SPOILERS AHEAD

READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!!

Episode 1 was great, episode 2, however, was even better.

Let's dive in!

First off, I would like to point out that I think they have back peddled a little bit on that weird blue film on scenes. I actually can see the cast now and the scenes seem much brighter too.

I didn't point this out in my last review, but the vomiting up serpents??? Yuck! But also a big BIG sign that this is some deep dark ugly demonic magic we are dealing with here. and I'm soooo ready for it!!!!

At first, I thought that nightmare creature was only killing women, but I might be wrong since all of Lex's inner circle involved with the cave died, I'm not too sure how the two are connected. But I do know they are connected to the cult somehow.

I'm sorry, Lex is how old?!?!! 67???????? What is with Titans and their shit continuity of people's ages? Bruce is old af already, I get that. But Lex and Superman I think were always much younger...?

I really feel for Connor, poor kid just wanted to make an opinion for himself regarding Lex and got caught up in this giant mess.

Someone please come get Dick and Kory:

"Sneaking pics of me, Grayson?"

"I wish."

*screams into the void

These two will be the death of me. *Insert the Oliver Queen headstone meme here->

I always enjoyed the little accents of older technology in these modern day shows. I feel like they play an homage to the original content of these comics and the time they were originally released. The old school radio in the kitchen or the tv in Sebastian's mother's room.

The scene at the abandoned building was pretty cool. We got to see Rachel really use her powers, even thought it lead to the nightmare creature to engulf themselves in flames. I thought it was important she was the one to do it since she saved the little girl from it.

Dick called Kori Starfire. I think this is the first time we hear him call her this. They're so used to using their real names in the field that it's rare we hear their hero names.

I think it was really sweet and daddy of Dick to give the little girl his jacket and tell her the story of how Bruce saved him. I think Dick learned a lot from last season and finally grew out of his anger from season one "Fuck batman". I will miss angsty Dick, but I do like adult Dick very much.

Lastly,

Rachel's jewel broke...this is giving me BIG "The End pt 1 2 3" vibes. They're practically pulling from Teen Titans and I'm sooooo ready for it. Give me Dick going into the depths of Hell for his daughter or Trigon coming back to take earth as his own again. We deserve a redo on that mess from season 1 and 2.

Overall, definitely a pick up from episode 1. I'm sooooo excited for the rest of the season to play out!!!!

[imxthexhandler]

5 Songs that Remind You of Your Muse

Tagged by: (indirectly) @bokketo.

Tagging: @wildthiiing for Jane Carter; @marvariants for Sharon Carter; @audaxbellator for Peggy Carter; @mcltitcdes for Rose Tico; @wetheresilientfew for Velahari; @leschanceux for Josef Barton; @redheadarcher; @katebishx; @ablackwidowsbite for Natasha Romanoff; @thiscrimsonsoul; @thedemonconstantine for John Constantine; @blizzardmuses for Jason Todd; @adventurepunks for Roy Harper; @agentjjkelly; and @iampulsar.

1.) “Human” by Rag’n’Bone Man:

🎶 Some people got the real problems Some people out of luck Some people think I can solve them Lord heavens above I'm only human after all I'm only human after all Don't put the blame on me 🎶

2.) “Inner Demons” by Julia Brennan:

🎶 So angels, angels please just keep on fighting Angels don't give up on me today 'Cause the demons the they are there They just keep biting Cause inner demons just won't go away So angels, please, hear my prayer Life is pain, life's not fair So angels, please, please stay here Take the pain, take the fear 🎶

3.) “Halo” by Haley James Scott:

🎶 I always said that I would make mistakes I'm only human, and that's my saving grace I fall as hard as I try So don't be blinded See me as I really am, I have flaws and sometimes I even sin So pull me from that pedestal I don't belong there 🎶

4.) “Party in the C.I.A.” by Weird Al:

🎶 Agents got that swagger And everyone so cloak and dagger I'm feeling nervous but I'm really kinda wishing For another undercover mission That's when the red alert came on the radio And I put my earpiece on Got my dark sunglasses on And I had my weapon drawn So I get my handcuffs, my cyanide pills My classified dossier Tapping the phones like, yeah Shredding the files like, yeah I memorized all the enemy spies I've got to neutralize today Yeah, it's a party in the CIA 🎶

5.) “Fight Song” by Rachel Platten:

🎶 I might only have one match But I can make an explosion This is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I'm alright song My power's turned on Starting right now I'll be strong (I'll be strong) I'll play my fight song And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me 🎶

[demons-mind]

I will be remaking all these reference sheets, and making them look better. I also changed a lot of their background and maybe a little bit of their personality!!!

[hopefulobjectmiracle]

Thoughts on people calling Hummelberry platonic soulmates? I’m a little shocked at how often I hear that on Tumblr.

anon...i hate it so, so much!! it’s one of the things i hate most about the kurt fandom, and it bugs me so much that people are so willing to discredit what blaine means to kurt in favor of pushing rachel as his “soulmate.” like, i’ll never forget that ridiculous set of posts and asks going around claiming that kurt and blaine were never best friends and that if kurt had to choose between them, he’d always pick rachel over blaine. 

that had me completely shocked at the sheer delusion of kurt stans - blaine is kurt’s husband, his best friend, the ‘best thing that’s ever happened to him’ (kurt’s words not mine), and someone that he thinks is worth everything that they’ve been through together - and you do not get to completely dismiss that just because you don’t like blaine. 

on a story level...it’s so fucking crazy to me that hardcore kurt stans genuinely believe that it was blaine that ruined kurt’s character, while praising hummelberry even though his relationship with rachel was more often than not one-sided, kurt was frequently relegated to a prop for her character, and both the narrative and rachel herself considered him her ‘gay best friend.’ 

i can’t name a single episode in which kurt only exists to prop up blaine, and i don’t want to get into the fan war of whether kurt or blaine was the better boyfriend...but i would like to point out that blaine was created to be an accessory to kurt’s character, not vice versa, and kurt was never, ever treated as just a prop with blaine. but with hummelberry, i can name four episodes off the top of my head in which kurt’s sole purpose is to prop up rachel - and they’re all in a single season. the entire show is much worse. 

also...kurt and blaine’s dynamic never diminished kurt’s personality. people will go on and on and whine about don’t cry for me argentina, while ignoring that he was genuinely trying to help him fit in with the warblers, and how in the same episode rachel makes kurt’s request for help all about herself with her insane funeral talk. same with prom queen - blaine wasn’t trying to take away kurt’s self-expression, he was afraid of getting hurt again after his past trauma. i just...i don’t get how people can say that blaine took away kurt’s unique personality when things like this exist. 

there’s also the fact that kurt was never, ever afraid to stand up to blaine and tell him whenever blaine was doing something that kurt didn’t like. but with rachel, he constantly let her walk all over him, and it felt like his soul was getting sucked out of him with every repetitive scene where he told her how amazing she was and did everything she demanded of him, no matter how much of his own personal happiness he had to sacrifice. 

look...i understand not being a fan of klaine and not liking that a big portion of kurt's storylines heavily featured blaine. that’s fine. but i really and truly do not understand how you could be a fan of kurt and think his dynamic with rachel was better than his relationship with blaine, especially when it comes to the whole ‘platonic soulmates’ bullshit. 

and imo it’s ridiculous to act like his storylines with blaine did a giant disservice to him and ruined his character, because he never changed himself for blaine and always remained the same headstrong, take-no-shit person whenever they were together. it was only with rachel that he turned into someone else, the mindless sidekick and yes-man. i don’t believe kurt’s character was ever really ruined, but the only one making it worse was rachel, not blaine. 

[not-so-mundane-after-all]

ohh tell me about the Titans AU where Grayson has to fight Rachel's demonic presence???? INTRIGUE

OOOOOOKAY I hope you knew you were about to unleash a dragon when you typed this out because I have A LOT TO SAY AND GIFS TO BACK IT UP

Some of it you probably already know because I can't seem to shut up about this particular episode and I know I've made a post about this a while back but TO RECAP: (Beware of spoilers)

Episode 4x10. Two episodes earlier it has been revealed that Rachel and the season's big bad Sebastian (who also happens to be her half brother) share a physical connection - when one gets hurt, the other gets hurt the same way. To quote Dick: "he cut you with a knife and he bled the same way". Dick and Kory make a decision to bench Rachel to protect her, which she isn't too happy about. So Dick makes a call to a friend from London who knows a little something about magic stuff (the person is never named but DC fans might connect the description to John Constantine) and brings Rachel a possible solution to the connection thing - black magic ritual that is supposed to give the "inner evil" a physical form so it can be killed. They meet with a witch who guides them through the ritual, explains that once the evil takes form, Rachel will be left defenseless because the monster will be draining her energy until Dick kills it. If he fails, she dies. The witch also gives Dick a blade - or rather just a hilt of it and explains that the blade will be formed by magic from his love for Rachel.

The evil takes the form of a monster, which is basically a zombie version of Sebastian and it looks like this:

And Dick spends the rest of the episode chasing it around trying to kill it because he's struggling with getting the blade to work (my man was overthinking it too much instead of letting his feelings guide him but he's a rookie when it comes to magic so I forgive him) and only managed to do it when the monster took Rachel as his direct target

Dick kills the monster, Rachel gets back her life force, the connection is broken. Ritual complete.

What I want to do is make it more angsty. Because sure, running around fighting a zombie was a fun idea for the episode but it wasn't the best. I can agree it works with the logistics of Rachel and Sebastian's connection - the part of Sebastian in her that's creating it will take his physical form - but I love the idea of it becoming more personal to both Dick and Rachel, therefore harder.

You've seen season 1 so you know that in the beginning Rachel had this demonic reflection who always taunted her and tried to make her do bad things, a darkness that took over sometimes.

As Rachel's powers evolved through the show, that part of her disappeared and I want to bring it back. I want the inner evil to take her form during the ritual. I want to put that magic blade in Dick's hand and have him realize that the monster he has to slay to save his little girl is his little girl herself, her own darkness she had to fight her entire life until he taught her how to accept it.

There will obviously be no fight. Because Dick won't be able to fight her. Not when she's standing in front of him with this baby face, striped shirt and blue highlights in her dark hair, the little kid he met in Detroit. He'll be standing there, frozen, while Demon!Rachel does what she does best - taunting, teasing, spitting venom and digging into his head, throwing all his greatest hits right into his face, all the while real Rachel is laying there on the floor, her life force fading away.

And I am ripping my hair out just thinking about it

[antiloreolympus]

10 Anti LO Asks

1. I'm glad LO fans are pissed at this Eris twist, they should be mad. You cannot claim to be a series about empowerment, giving Persephone a voice, and showing her inner complexity only to chicken out and make her a laughable depiction of a "perfect" woman and placing blame on a random character. RS wants all the perks of showing a "Complex Dread Queen" without actually letting Persephone have any sort of remotely "negative" traits, and the fans are right to be mad over it. It's insultingly bad.

2. Soooo, persephone = sleeping beauty????

Gifts from gidesses (fairy godmothers), hiding the kid with other godesses, ir the TGOEM, her seeing a man ONE TIME, and immediately in love. Jesus just let her get pricked by a thorn and fall asleep for 100 years already.

3. rachel purposely making sure persephone isn't even demeter's biological daughter in this is just wrong, esp when she says metis ISNT a mother to H/H/D because she only "created" them. she's making sure there is no actual connection between them in any way so demeter's overprotectiveness is even more demonized and persephone has /nothing/ for herself, meanwhile hades gets all the friends, family, power, etc. persephone is left with nothing and rachel thinks it's feminist/empowereing. this sucks.

4. you know i get a big part of the attraction to hxp and couples like it is the forbidden romance/"i can fix him" mentality and all but like idk how we're supposed to "fix" a literal slave owner lmao. like yeah you can fix myths hades, or hades game hades, or pjo hades, but theyre not hyper violent slavers who lust after barely legal interns, cheat with his sister in law, physically maim teenagers bc of a tiny slight, and literally corrupt the laws in his benefit like?? you cant "fix" that??

5. i thought this was supposed be a H&P retelling, not sleeping beauty 🤨

6. anon dont be silly, hades will just buy persephone her degrees so she feels better about having no accomplishments of her own. who needs school when your boss slash husband will just buy it for you?

7. you guys need to stop comparing lo to fifty shades. even ana steele got her degree and had a life before getting with her creepy boss, persephone doesn't even have that.

8. i know rachel eggs them on to think this but its so creepy the readers are obsessed about hades impregnating persephone and her giving him babies?? like he just found out she was r4ped only a few or two before only for persephone to just not care?? and now planning out how to give him kids?? arent most of the readers teenagers? would they like random people obsessing over when theyll have kids too? because i would guess not, but the r4pe victim better hurry up and give him mini clones ASAP!!

From OP: The amount of “but it’s not the fun way” responses to Persephone suggesting to create a baby is so gross (but not surprising). Like, why do they feel disappointed if they don’t have sex to have a child??

9. The fact that the other gods and goddesses have actually met Persephone when she was a baby is just... it's gonna haunt my many sleepless nights to come.

10. that one comic anon is talking about is called "when jasy whistles". jasy in myth is a literal child but the creator aged them up for shipping purposes.

[datgurlevie]

*Comes out of depression mancave while blowing confetti everywhere without consent* WHAT IS UP PEEPS, I AM BACK. Not stronger then ever, but still hanging in there lol chapter 15 is finally up (tldr: my google docs work got deleted and mental health was big booboo) and it is here on AO3! Please expect fortnightly updates from now on too :))

Plot Summary:

Aria Chang, a 30-year-old General Major of the USMC Force Reconnaissance and a human weapon of war, is sent to investigate the suspected chemical weapons at Target LZ. But once foundations start crumbling (literally), she is forced to fight for her life against the vampiric creatures of the underground that were out for cold blood.

In the ominous underground, she encounters Iraqi soldier Salim Othman and is compelled to make a strained alliance with him if they are to all survive the House of Ashes. After being honed to kill any enemies on sight for many years, Aria must learn to cooperate with the opposition no matter the uniform they donned.

But what happens when bonds start to form, lust begins to grow, and secrets come to the light? How will their American weapon of war deal with the lurking demons that not only creep in the shadows but those that begin to grow in her head?

Together with Eric, Rachel, Nick and Jason, they must not only face their inner demons as they enter the temple doors but also be prepared to atone for their sins if they were to escape the underground.

Fortnightly Updates: Every Sunday 2:00pm PST/ 10:00pm GMT

Chapter 15 Sneak Peek:

Aria was fidgeting in her bed, unable to keep still as her eyes kept glancing over at the ticking clock hanging on the medical bay’s wall.

Aria never fidgets. Her? The deadly assassin that can keep as still as a rock for hours at a time, is being restless for once? Unheard of.

She had called for a soldier to send Salim and Zain to see her in the medical bay. She was feeling very nervous as she was nowhere in the proper attire nor physical state for any guests to see her. She was wearing a white medical gown, with thick casts wrapped around her left arm and right leg as her bones were healing in those areas. They had also wrapped her chest in bandages as they suspected a few broken bones within her ribcage from the hard landing she suffered when falling off a cliff. They did not have any X-ray equipment at the centre, but the doctor knew for sure her arm and leg had suffered serious damage.

There were some small splashes of dried blood on her plain white gown, as they cleaned up some cuts and scratches she unknowingly suffered during the operation. The adrenaline in her at the time resulted in her body not acknowledging half of the injuries she had dealt with, but now that she was back in her calm state, Aria could not help but feel sore all over.

She remembered the following days after escaping the House of Ashes, where her body was excruciatingly sore and stiff. She had to do an embarrassing waddle to lessen the pain she felt in her muscles as she was ushered back into the interrogation room for the rest of the week, and her left ankle that she nearly sprained turned a nasty colour of purple even though it did not cause her any major discomfort when she walked on it. Though nobody knew about it as she always had her shoes on, and refused to take them off even when the CENTCOM “doctor” did a medical checkup on her in the quarantine room.

But now she was in nothing but a medical gown with stiff casts and blood-soaked bandages surrounding some of her appendages. Her left foot was bare but it was covered underneath a thin blanket. The dark mixture of bruised purple had transformed into a much lighter shade of lavender with a mixture of blue and green within the bruise. She had assured the doctor in the medical bay (who was much nicer than the CENTCOM one) that it was not causing her any discomfort, so they resorted to just occasionally putting some ointment on it to lessen the bruise.

Aria’s heart was beating steadily at a fast pace as her eyes kept darting from the clock to the entrance door. It did not help that she was in the general ward, meaning there were other injured soldiers lying next to her in separate beds so the doctors came in often to check up on them as well. Her heart would always jump through her throat anytime a person opened that door, only for it to drop in disappointment when it was just a nurse or someone else.

She did not know why she was so on-edge, especially when she had only seen Salim not too long ago. Though it was still enough time for them to digest the event that occurred underground, a small fearful part of her worried that Salim no longer cared about her. Hell, she didn't even know if he did want to come to America, but she did request for the immigration agent to make it clear to him that it was just an option he could take. And now that she was told that he had come to the camp in preparation to be brought to the US, surely he did want to go on his own violation, right? She just hoped to not catch Salim with a guarded look in his eyes once he saw her, hoping to keep his distance from a monster that wiped out almost half of the Iraqi army in cold blood.

These thoughts came looming within her mind, and they grew increasingly louder as the clock continued to tick in dense silence. The painful tension shattered into pieces and landed on Aria’s chest in agony as she saw the door slowly open and a familiar pair of brown eyes peeked into the room.

Read more on AO3...

[paladin-of-nerd-fandom65]

Titanic Mothers (Mother’s Day 2021 Drabbles)

 Dedicated to all Mothers in the world, whether by birth, adoption or otherwise. Take the time to wish the woman who helped you become the person you are a very blessed Mother’s Day.

Of course I cannot have done this without thanking my pen pals @lightdusk96 @mothnem @wisegirlandseaweedbrainforever @fireflyxrebel-writes @tarisilmarwen @bluerene and many others 

So without further ado....

Arella Roth

 The peaceful, serene and calming orange tinted skies of Azarath are in many ways are therapeutic sort to admire under. For Arella, they are a perfect sort of skies to step outside for a nice and simple meditation. The Monks’ efforts in freeing her mind and grief in light of the numerous....series of events surrounding her entire life, whether being her harsh childhood and especially her unfortunate encounter with that bastard of a devil known as Trigon the Terrible, all of it had truly done some wonders in giving her a chance to appreciate life though clearly that grief runs deep, requiring an additional amount of effort on her end to counter it. 

 As Arella assumes lotus position on the balcony and lights two candles to her sides, she closes her eyes. She begins steadying her breathing and clears her mind...no easy feat though sine almost about a few seconds into clearing it, the scepter of Trigon and her tyrant of mother start coming in. The harsh words of shame, the demonic laughter, those taunts, the curses, they all start piling onto her mind, no her soul all at once. Her breathing starts picking up speed. She must remember what the Monks taught her....peace...find her inner peace...find what makes her find said peace...then within the blackened and harsh void of darkness clouding her mind...Arella sees it. That peace, a tiny stream of white light...a small bird. The bird starts getting closer, it’s wings start opening, dispelling the black void surrounding her...

  As her mind starts feeling the calming light clear it out, Arella peeks open her right eye very slightly, sure enough there she was. Her light, her inner peace, her white bird, her very daughter. 

 Little Rachel Roth, barely eight years of age as of now, was also in lotus position, practicing the very same meditation her mother was doing right now. She too looked at her meditating partner to her side and sure enough, both realize...’why stop now’ and both wordlessly give each other a small smile, a nod and both continue mediating. 

Arella, upon closing her eye back, says, “Okay, Rachel, now repeat after me...”

“Yes, Mom”

“Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos....”

Marie Logan

  “Garfield” Maire called out for maybe the fifth time, passing by the tall tree next their camper yet again.

  Her six year old little explorer of a boy had a tendency to run off whenever he was bored. Thankfully, he’d never venture into the nearby jungles or savannas the Logans visit too far, he always keep relatively close to make sure he knows his way back safely. Still, as a mother, Marie has her fair share of concerns for his well being since who knows what kind of animals he can run into this time. 

  However, the fifth time calling for him appears being the charm as sure enough, she can hear the branches creaking and the leaves rustling above her. Looking upward, sure enough, there he was, climbing down the gigantic branches with such agility before finally landing safely right next to her. His blond hair and crisp green eyes shone brightly as Garfield beams to his equally smiling mother. 

 “Found anything up there my explorer?” Marie asked while picking her son into her arms.

 “Nah”, Garfield replied, “plenty of birds like the manual said would ‘round here but they flew away”

 “Well, must be cause they didn’t want to hear about Wicked Scary just yet”, Marie says lightly giggling while ruffling her son’s hair, “maybe they just didn’t wanna get it spoiled you know?”

 Garfield sheepishly rubbed the back of his head, “Yeah, guess so.”

Dr. Elinore Stone

  Fixing her goggles, Dr. Stone narrowed her eyes within them ever so slightly. Next to her, ten year old Victor was equally wearing goggles but also adorably having oven mittens on his hands while holding on tightly to the beaker of green fluid over the larger one with orange fluid. 

 It was ‘Take Your Kids to Work Day’ at STAR Labs and both Elinore and her husband Silas had taken their son over to both explore where his parents’ worked at and even take part in a family friendly activity like this one. 

  Lightly guiding her gloved hands over Vic’s, the two together start pouring the green fluid from the beaker the latter was carrying very slowly into the one with the orange substance. The chemical reaction from the larger beaker was almost immediate since it started changing into a multitude of bright colors and bubbling. 

 “Alright son”, Elinore exclaimed proudly as her son beamed to her happily, “I think you’d just be quite the perfect chemi...” 

  KA-BOOM! 

  The lab immediately filled with a light with still irradiating cloud of smoke so rapidly that Silas immediately opened the windows to let the air clear. 

 As the smoke cleared out safely, both Elinore and Victor were thankfully completely fine aside the black soot covering their faces, their hair standing up embarrassingly, all the while Vic still holding onto that plastic beaker in his hands, muttering with a chuckle, “or not.” 

Empress Luand’r of Planet Tamaran 

  The royal gardens within the palace walls have always been a true sanctuary in many ways. In contrast to the barren and strip-mined prefectures right outside said palace walls, ravaged by years of constant fighting and war, the gardens housed a peaceful and tranquil environment that not provides the many fauna a suitable home, but also anyone who ventures within a calming place to contemplate and even find joy in spite of such harsh times befalling the planet.

 That’s very much the case for the very Empress of the Tamaraneans as she cannot help but find her smiling at not just the beautiful varying colors, pleasant aromas and lively calmness of the garden the bench she sits upon at this moment but also of the other resident currently enjoying herself alongside her. 

 Hearing a small voice giggle above her head, Luand’r beams proudly at the sight she sees: her seven planetary cycles of age old little Princess Koriand’r was floating in the air joyously and with such excitement, flying around the numerous branches and leaves of the fauna surrounding her, only stopping every now and then to have her brilliant green eyes observe closely of the leaves she floats right next to. 

 It was moments of pure innocence like this that always bring the purest joy within the usually lowkey Luand’r since through her, her husband Myand’r and especially their beloved ally and servant Galfore, Koriand’r and her siblings are actually given even int he smallest of doses a life outside of the constant bombardment and sirens their enemies bring on a consistent basis. If only there were some way, some means of escaping this perpetual worry and state of fear this war for their kind’s very sovereignty. If one such means exists, Luand’r here will ensure she and her people, especially her children, can take it. 

  A hug snaps the Empress out of her thoughts. Looking to her side, she sees Koriand’r wrapping her arms around her. No other options are needed since all the black-haired Tamaranean woman does is simply yet all too lovingly hug her red-haired daughter back.

   And so, Empress and Princess sit peacefully underneath the blossoming flowers and leaves of the royal garden, a truly fond way of doing the ‘spending quality time’ as a certain other species called Earthlings call it.

  Mary Elizabeth Lloyd Grayson 

 Gripping the bar tightly, Mary pulls it back while bending her legs starting with tipping her toes over the edge of the platform. Now int position, she looks down from her post and  can clearly see the nets are firmly in place and secured well enough. In the very few instances they engage in practice sessions without the nets, as per their acts, it would be just John and her doing such since by now, years of practice and experience worldwide have taught them a thing or few about making sure not a single fall happens on their watch, lest it cause certain disaster. 

  However, this it wasn’t John that was up here with her for today but, looking to her side and giving him a proud thumbs up, instead was her eight year old son who also gives her a thumbs up. Just two months ago was his birthday on the first day of spring and since then, no ever since he first took to the trapeze ropes when he was four, Mary watched her Little Robin improve and grow with each session, each show and every single time he stands on that platform, taking a leap of faith with his hands on the bars, letting loose to perform a spin or flip in the air before once more stretching his arms to safety of both John and/or her. Today proves not too different, hopefully. Worst case for this, Dick or her fall to nets below instead of the hard sandy floor. 

  Leaping off the platform with bar in hand, Mary flew the calm free-of-audience noise air with perfect easy, before hearing that trademark crack of the ropes, signal her to let it loose and with a flip in the air transferred successfully to the second bar across from where her son and the platform are, the first bar she gripped on still in hand.  

 Returning the first bar back to where son is at, now it was on her to ensure he reached her after his turn to swing. As such, Mary began swing the bar she was on back and forth, gaining momentum with each addition swing, only increasing such until it was deemed ready. Sure enough, the bar was swinging at a good pace and now, being the naturally skill contortionist she is, Mary easily positioned the back of knees so that her calves were holding her on the swinging bar, she was hanging upside down if not for the swinging of said bar and most importantly her arms are firmly in a position to stretch as far as they can for a catch. Her part in the act was good to go, now it truly was her son’s turn to fly.

  With a nod, his own hands firmly on the bar, in position for the leap and now his mother across ready to catch him, Dick with a wide grin on his face takes the leap of the platform and swings on his bar across the air. This was it, this was the time he gets it right. The creaking of the ropes he waits for is heard, it was time to let the bar loose. Sure enough as he does so, tucking in his legs to his chest tightly, Dick has nothing to hold him but gravity itself. 

One....Here’s hoping Raymond and Calvin are seeing this 

Two....He can already hear the crowd gasping 

Three....Keep it tight and remember make sure you let arms stretch at the right moment Dad says. 

And......Four! Dick straightens out his body and stretches his arms as far as he can. 

 For the briefest of all moments, he was actually flying. Nothing carrying him, no sense of his own weight dragging him down. He was Superman at that moment. 

 Then he starts loosing his flight, gravity had set in. He stretches his arms just to tiniest bit hoping before air rushes he can....just a little bit....

 Sire enough, all too familiar hands clasps onto his own hand. That familiar calloused texture of the palms, the chalky powdery feeling...Dick looks up to all too familiar face, a very beaming and proud one on top of that 

 “I’ve got you” Mary says lovingly as she can while using her arms to carry her son safely, “Momma’s here, Little Robin.” 

  The two smile at each other with all too familiar love and happiness in their distinct pairs of blue eyes while Mary’s bar starts slowing down its momentum. Finally as it comes to near complete stop, it was time to safely descend to the safety net below. 

 Before letting her son’s grips slips from her hands, Mary pulls him up to where she can deliver a small kiss on his forehead.

 “You did great!” she exclaims happily. Just then, finally the bar’s swinging comes to stop, allowing Mary to finally lossen her grip on her son, allowing him to safely land on the net below, giggling lightly as he initially bounced on it. Just then, Dick rolled out of the way to give his mother enough space for own safe landing as she unhooks her legs from the trapeze bar and land on the net right next to him.

 Mother and son simply lay there on their sides of the net, panting after such an effort before Mary threw her arms around her little boy, hugging him close to her. “You’re learning so fast”, she says panting yet all to happily.

  Dick simply lays his head close to her, feeling her all too calming and steady heartbeat, relaxing the both of them. 

 “Happy Mother’s Day. Momma, Love you”, he whispers to her happily, as he wraps his own around her tightly 

 Mary can’t help but smile and even have tears of joy glisten her eyes. Pressing a few kisses on her son’s forehead, she whispers in turn, “And I Love you, so, so much, My Little Robin”