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mypoisonedvine · 3 years

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𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐬 || Johnny Storm x mutant!reader

summary: the fantastic four and the brotherhood of mutants are opposing forces in a war. that should be enough to keep you away from him... but it isn't.

word count: 4.8k

warnings: smut, angst, enemies to lovers (or more like, enemies and lovers), obscure-ish x-men references (brotherhood of mutants, anyone? ...seriously, anyone?), violence

BREAKING: The Human Torch and Arcana face off near Times Square!

You tilted your head and smiled a little to yourself as you examined the paper, focusing on the full-page photograph and ignoring the article beneath.

It was a great picture, really; a good action shot, with Johnny alight and hovering mid-air while you crouched back defensively, little crackles of electricity jumping between your fingers. Your hair just happened to look nice in the moment (normally fighting ruined any attempt at styling you’d done before) and he always looked good when in his plasma form. Although you didn’t quite understand your compulsion to do so, you cut the picture out from the paper and framed it, hanging it on your wall.

Just as you were starting to have fun on your mission, the voice in your earpiece tipped you off that the Fantastic Four had caught wind of your infiltration of the federal building, and they were ‘sending someone’ so you’d better act fast.

But you had it on pretty good authority that they weren’t just sending anyone.

You stayed to finish the job, successfully destroying the files you were looking for— the ones used to track and suppress mutants, namely— and making a quick gambit to cover your tracks before fleeing the scene.

Of course, by the time you made it out the door, you already saw him coming in hot (literally) from the sky, and you weren’t really in the mood to start a chase so you just crossed your arms and waited patiently for him to descend; didn’t require that much patience, though, with the speed he was moving at.

“We meet again, Storm,” you sneered as he lowered himself down to the ground, his form shifting from flame to flesh once again so he could stare back at you with bright blue eyes.

“Seems we’re always bumping into each other,” he noted, walking closer slowly. “Especially when you’re running around doing the Brotherhood’s dirty work.”

“It’s not dirty work,” you corrected, “it’s liberation. You should try it sometime— must be hard flying around all day wearing the shackles humans put on you.”

“Okay, well, this building is on fire,” he pointed out, motioning to the work behind you, “so, that kinda feels more on the dirty work side of things.”

“You know what they say about fighting fire with fire,” you smirked before reaching up to the sky and summoning a bolt of energy, narrowly missing Johnny who dashed to the side in an attempt to get inside the building.

Unfortunately for him, that required going by a street lamp which you quickly and easily overcharged, causing the bulb to explode and shatter. He switched forms in the nick of time, invulnerable to the glass when burning that hot; alternately, his fire was basically useless against you since the constant flow of energy just under your skin kept you not only burning at a pretty high temperature yourself, but in a near-constant state of regeneration that made it hard to take any kind of damage.

That was why they always sent him; because he was the most resistant to you. Unfortunately for them, you were also resistant to him.

If only you could resist each other.

Still, in times like this, it was a comfortable dynamic even if it merited a certain level of cognitive dissonance. Fighting with Johnny felt like a dance and you both knew the moves well by now. With your powers nullifying each other in most cases, it often turned into hand-to-hand combat which often turned his brute force versus your practiced technique.

He threw a lot of punches, you swung a lot of kicks. Most of them landed but none seemed to faze anyone. It was all fun and games, really, until you heard sirens and realized someone was on their way to put out the fire.

“You don’t wanna be here when the firefighters arrive,” you chuckled, ducking to avoid his fist coming at your face.

“Neither do you,” he added, blocking your kick with his forearm and nearly knocking you off balance. “They’re bringing the police with them.”

“Wanna stay and roast some pigs with me, then?” you winked.

“You know we don’t roll like that,” he frowned, ducking to miss a roundhouse kick and grabbing you from behind for a moment; the moment didn’t last long, though, when you sent a shock through your body that made him yelp in pain and let go of you instinctively.

“So you just do whatever the other three tell you?”

“Yup,” he agreed, his voice strained from the constant movement. “It’s called being part of a team.”

“Doesn’t sound so ‘fantastic’ to me,” you quipped, almost taking his fist right to the nose but grabbing it and blocking roughly at the last second.

“Neither does being arrested, but you’re still here,” he pointed out, finally landing a hit to your gut which knocked you off balance for a second but didn’t slow you down much.

“You really think the police can capture me? With what?” you pressed, hoping to get information out of him, but he was smarter than he seemed sometimes.

“Just know that you won’t want to be here, okay? I’m trying—” he stopped to push you back, pinning you to a concrete wall momentarily— “to help you.”

Ironically, that was when he sent a flaming fist right at your face, which missed when you turned and created a smoldering hole in the wall instead. You kicked him right in the chest and sent him tumbling back, finally giving yourself a window to flee. To be fair, you were pretty sure he could’ve stopped you if he wanted to; for all the ways you matched each other, he was undeniably faster than you, especially in plasma form. But instead he watched you run, which you knew because you stupidly looked back for just a second, catching his smile and knowing this was far from the last time.

You were even better at escaping than fighting, so it wasn’t hard to dodge incoming fire and police vehicle to make it back down the secluded alleys of New York, the secret paths you took when you needed to make it home to the concealed headquarters of the Brotherhood of Mutants; your team, as much as Johnny liked to claim you didn’t really have one.

The voice in your earpiece questioned why you entertained as much conversation as you did with the enemy, but you brushed it off and seemed to divert any suspicion. You were too valuable, too important to the mission, to really be scrutinized. Still, you made sure to cover your tracks before you left the Brotherhood hideout again that night, heading to a meeting place even more secretive.

You waited in the abandoned warehouse, sitting on a table, swinging your legs and occasionally poking at a light hung from the ceiling to amuse yourself. This place always energized you, and it wasn’t just because you could feel the hum of electricity running through the walls.

It was because you met him here, away from most of the city, where no one would ever think to look for either of you. By now it was like a second home.

He flew by the window quick enough that you would’ve thought it was a comet if you didn’t know any better. You beamed as you heard him land and his footsteps echo, Johnny finally coming around the corner and his gaze finding yours.

“We meet again, Storm,” you greeted again, but he ignored the attempt at repartee entirely as he pounced on you instantly, pulling you into a sudden and hungry kiss. You moaned against his lips and reciprocated, wrapping your arms around his neck.

“Wanted to kiss you like this all day,” he mumbled against your lips as you stumbled back towards some random surface that he bent you back over, his body caging yours in easily. “Wanted to kiss you so bad I could hardly stop you from blowing that goddamned building up.”

“We said we wouldn’t talk about work,” you reminded him as he kissed his way down your neck, thick hands rubbing over your thighs.

“I know, I know,” he groaned, “just been worked up all day, needed you so bad.”

“Well now I’m here,” you grinned. “Show me how much you missed me.”

He grabbed your jaw and captured you in another kiss, his tongue tangling with yours, his lips devouring everything he could find. Of course he knew exactly how to make you melt, turn you into a wet and whimpering mess in just a few minutes; his body was slotted between your legs and you found yourself raising your hips to try to find friction with something interesting.

Clearly he noticed, because he grinned against your lips and roughly pushed your hips down, pinning you beneath him while he started to tease your neck with bites just rough enough to make you squirm. “So needy,” he scolded playfully.

“Damn right,” you groaned, “need you to hurry up and fuck me.”

He sat up to stare down at you proudly, and your eyes drifted over the carved muscle of his body, flaunted by his jumpsuit.

“Wow, those uniforms really don’t hide anything do they?” you grinned as you looked down at the obvious bulge curling up to his abdomen. The fabric was thin enough that you could literally see the ridge of his head and it made your mouth water before you bit your lip to contain yourself.

“Yeah, believe it or not, boner concealment was not a major consideration during the design process,” he chuckled. “I don’t need a flimsy outfit to know how turned on you are. It’s all over your face, honey… your nipples are already hard,” he posited, leaning forward to whisper against your ear, “and your pussy is drenched.”

“God, just get naked,” you pleaded.

“Only if you do,” he bargained, and you instantly nodded fiercely and reached for the zipper at your neck.

“Stupid fucking jumpsuits,” you grumbled to yourself as the two of you struggled to strip from your uniforms. Going to the bathroom with them on was hard enough— you basically had to be naked down to your ankles just to pee— but this was even worse because you needed this, somehow, so much more than you needed that.

You wanted to just push them down to your legs and get on with it but no, Johnny wouldn’t be satisfied until he had you completely naked, bare and defenseless in this dingy old warehouse. He grinned at you devilishly as he helped you pull the last of your suit off of your ankles, spreading your legs and making you feel entirely exposed to him as he stared down at you darkly.

“Looks like you missed me too, huh?” he smiled, reaching down to swipe two fingers through your soaked folds, making you shiver before he brought them to his lips and tasted them. “Sweet as always,” he hummed around the fingers in his mouth.

“Johnny, don’t tease me,” you whined, “I need you.”

“I’m not teasing you, sweetheart, I’m savoring you.”

And you hated being savored, in a sense, but you secretly craved it; no one had ever made you feel worthy of it before.

He leaned down to capture a hardened nipple in his mouth, and it wasn’t your powers that sent tingles of electricity up his spine, nor was it his powers that made his face heat up suddenly. “Baby,” you moaned, the pet name rewarded with a gentle bite to your flesh as he kissed his way to the other breast.

“You like that?” he cooed, as if it weren’t obvious.

“Yes,” you whimpered.

“You like when I play with your tits?” he mumbled around the flesh on his tongue, his hands gripping them harder for emphasis. Your nod was sort of a moot point by now since he had basically asked twice, but it was still polite not to ignore his question.

He kissed up your neck to capture your lips again, stepping forward until you could almost feel his cock pressed between your legs. Almost. He kept just enough distance to keep you desperate as he kissed you harder.

He purred a little when you ran your fingers down his spine, letting your energy power up just enough to send the slightest shocks over his skin. “Fuck, drives me crazy when you do that.”

“I know, that’s why I’m doing it,” you smirked.

It was enough to make him move his hips forward so you could feel the heat of him against you; funny how a man who was burning up all over could still manage to be especially hot in one place. Instead of pushing in, though, he let his cock slide over your folds, teasing your clit and making you wish more than anything that he was moving like that inside you. “Johnny, please,” you whimpered, hoping to get that very point across.

“What if I just came right now, all over your stomach, and left you hanging?” he smirked.

“I would literally kill you,” you frowned.

“I know,” he laughed, “but I could. I honestly could… that’s how good you feel, I could come just from this.”

You swallowed and looked up at him; he had this incredible way of making your heart skip and your walls clench all at once, balancing sincerity with sin and flattery with filth like some kind of raunchy poet.

Finally, though, he reached down to guide his head to your entrance and tentatively push forward; you both sighed with relief as he pushed into you, his hips against yours like a balm for the anticipation that had been building for days now. Sometimes it felt like having him inside you was the only way you really felt normal— sometimes it felt like life was just the things you tolerated while you waited for these precious moments with him.

He started to move and your head fell back, his arms holding you tight and his lips mumbling your name against your neck.

You knew each other well enough by now that the pace you settled into was comfortable, though no less incredible as the first time. God, you probably thought about the first time every night— the rush of adrenaline, the fear as you both wondered if the other was going to attack at any moment. In many ways, fighting is a lot like flirting… the two of you did both with ease, and after months of tension it was almost unsurprising that you fell into bed together. It certainly wasn’t an accident but it felt like a blur, all you could remember was lips and teeth and hands all over you, kisses like the world might end between two people who might actually have the power to end it.

Each time was so precious, some impossible mixture of rushed yet savored, because neither of you knew if you’d get another chance again. It always felt like it was balancing on the edge, this dance you did together, and all the denial and vulnerability that it took weighed on both of you. You felt that weight in the way he was fucking you now, you felt his need to have you warring against his beliefs. While both of you had found some comfort in the cognitive dissonance, you still knew it couldn’t last forever.

That was why you wrapped your legs around him and held him deep inside you; because if it couldn’t last forever, you wanted it to last just a little bit longer.

“Takin’ it so good, baby,” he praised you in a rough voice, fingers digging into your back as he hugged you close to him. “You’re takin’ me so good.”

But of course you were, considering how well-practiced you had become.

He started to suck on your neck but didn’t stay too long in any one place— not leaving marks, a common request of yours. Even though you were the one who scolded him whenever he did it, you were actually a little disappointed by him following your instruction for once.

Not that his lips on your neck were anything to complain about; it made your back arch to press your body against his, your nails digging into his shoulders where you hung onto him tightly.

“Johnny,” you hummed, mostly to yourself, grabbing his face and pulling him into another breathless kiss. It was sloppy and erratic and yet none of it felt like a mistake, every unrehearsed movement was somehow perfect in its rawest form.

He held your hips hard, threatening to burn his fingerprints into your skin, and you moaned every time he pulled you into him to meet his thrusts.

When he let go of your back and let you fall (gracefully) onto the table behind you, he hooked your leg up over his shoulder which gave him the leverage he needed to thrust even deeper and leave you completely drunk on him.

“Don’t stop, fuck,” you choked on your own words, gripping the table beneath you while you felt hands run up your chest, palming at your tits as they bounced with each of his movements.

“You’re already close, aren’t you?” he noticed with a proud grin— not quite smug, but definitely pushing it. You just swallowed and nodded, not even willing to stand up to his teasing at this point; you just needed him to satiate you so you could think straight for a few hours before you started thinking about him again.

You knew you had it bad, that was obvious to you, but you could only hope it wasn’t so obvious to him.

“Me too,” he admitted, a rare moment of vulnerability, “you feel so fuckin’ perfect. I wanna see you come, baby.”

“Well, you won’t have to wait too long,” you smirked, though you couldn’t keep that up for long with another gasp tearing out of your chest. "Oh god, J-Johnny, fuck, I'm—!"

"Go ahead, baby, come for me, I’m right there with you…”

You didn't notice the lights getting brighter or buzzing louder, you were too busy pushing closer and closer to the edge, to something more powerful than you'd ever felt before, to the height of sensation until finally—

Every bulb in the building shattered at once, sending you and Johnny into darkness, the only sound left your loud, breathless moan as you came around him and felt him filling you in turn.

Your eyes shot open for a moment and behind Johnny, out the window, you could see the lights of the city going out piece by piece.

"Shit," you groaned, still trying to catch your breath as the last ambient light went out and the two of you were left suspended in pitch black.

"That good, huh?"

You chuckled a little when he flicked his fingers and summoned a small flame, illuminating his face in soft orange light. “Just a teeny tiny little power surge,” you giggled, “happens to the best of us.”

“How long will the power be out for?” he asked as he glanced out the window at the city thrown into darkness.

“Just a few minutes or less,” you shrugged. “You’d better not be thinking about leaving now to go be heroic or whatever.”

“No, no,” he assured, laughing as he shook his head, “I wouldn’t leave that fast. We haven’t had a chance to talk yet.”

“Talk?” you smirked. “What about?”

That’s when his smile dropped a little and you began to consider that this might not be a fun conversation.

He pulled back and dressed again, seemingly struggling a bit to get back into the tight uniform with a thin layer of sweat making everything clammy. Meanwhile, you were so used to meeting here that you actually had a few spare clothes hidden in a backpack under the table; it meant you got to actually put on real clothes (and real underwear to ruin as his come leaked out of you all night) instead of getting back into the skin-tight bodysuit.

You caught him looking at you as you dressed and you failed to fight down your smile. “Miss the uniform?”

“Hardly,” he scoffed, “but it’s still a little wild to see you looking almost normal.”

“As opposed to how abnormal I usually look?” you pressed, crossing your arms with a frown.

“Yeah— it’s a good thing, I mean,” he defended. “You know, you’re this sexy badass, and with the Brotherhood symbol on your arm you just look so deliciously forbidden,” he purred. “I see you and I think to myself, ‘that’s Arcana.’ But then you’re wearing jeans and a t-shirt and I look at you and I think ‘that’s my girlfriend.’”

“I’m your girlfriend?” you repeated incredulously. “Would’ve appreciated a heads up first.”

“No, you’re not, that’s why I’ve gotta stop thinking that,” he chuckled, a hit of sadness to it. “You’re so perfect,” he sighed, “god, why can’t you just be one of the good guys?”

“I am one of the good guys,” you reminded him. “I’m the one fighting for our rights while you run around thinking that sucking up to humans will make them respect you.”

He rolled his eyes, but that had never stopped you when you were on your soapbox.

“But they don’t, Johnny, they think you’re a monster. They’ll show you that as soon as you do even one thing they don’t like. They only permit your existence as long as you’re useful to them.”

“I’m made of fire. Nobody needs to permit my existence,” he frowned.

“You’d be amazed how far humans would go to keep you down,” you scoffed.

“No I wouldn’t. I used to be human,” he noted.

“And I’m sure that’s why you have such a soft spot for them… but the sooner you let go of that, the better.”

“And as soon as you get some plaster to touch up that chip on your shoulder, let me know,” he laughed. “Come on, is the Brotherhood really so great? I mean, the name isn’t very inclusive— what about the Sisterhood, huh?”

Now it was your turn to roll your eyes, but he gripped your shoulders tight to make you listen.

“You could join us, you know; we’d change the name for you,” he bargained. “‘Fantastic Five’ is still alliterative, and it would piss off Ben because he’d be the only single member. It’s a win-win!”

“You’re out of your mind if you think your team would accept me.”

“They’d give you a chance,” he compromised, “if you gave them one.”

You sighed, silently wondering how many times you’d been down this road with him. “We said we wouldn’t talk about work,” you remembered, more exasperated than before.

“I know,” he agreed quietly, kissing the top of your head. “We won’t talk about it again.”

You believed him, and you hoped it meant that you would just be together from now on without trying to convert the other, but that was probably too good to be true.

“You told me once about the wires that run underneath the city, electricity lurking beneath what looks like undisturbed nature,” he remembered randomly as you slipped on your hoodie. “I can’t get that out of my head. Everywhere I look I see wires and it makes me think of you. Every time I flip a light switch, charge my phone, see a streetlight flicker… how am I supposed to get over you when I see you all the time?”

You winced a little, looking away. “You’re trying to get over me?”

“I think I have to,” he sighed, raising his arms before dropping them in defeat with a little shrug. “This was never meant to be… I didn’t think this far ahead. I didn’t prepare for the idea that so many feelings would get involved.”

“Which feelings?”

“All the ones that are the hardest to break,” he clarified with a somber stare.

You hated when he was right. This whole arrangement felt like a house of cards ready to go down at any moment, but damn, you still hadn’t really prepared for the fall; you’d tried so hard to stay aloof, and now that it was time to cash in all your ‘too cool’ points, you couldn’t seem to find them. All you found was love, and you had nowhere to put it.

With a shaky breath, you looked down at where your sneaker-clad feet slid over the untreated cement floor, pushing dust around. You heard him step closer, sensed the warmth of his presence, but didn’t want to look up yet; you didn’t want him to see you cry.

But he did, lifting your face with a touch much too gentle for a man like him. He wiped your tear away but hissed when it shocked him. “I’m sorry, water’s a conductor,” you mumbled.

You realized he was crying, too, but trying to hide it by turning them to steam the moment they left his eyes. He held your face while you clutched his wrists, searching his expression for the doubt you knew he must be feeling about leaving you.

“Don’t do this,” you pleaded, hating yourself for asking anything from him, “we can be together.”

He paused for a moment, like he was really thinking about it, but you didn’t get your hopes up because the look in his eyes said everything. “How?” he finally asked. “Where?”

“Somewhere else, anywhere,” you offered.

“Then you’d leave the Brotherhood?” he pressed, just the subtlest tinge of hope in his expression. It made you realize that he might consider leaving the Fantastic Four for you, if you ditched your team as well.

It made you realize that you could never forgive yourself if you made him do that. It made you realize that it didn’t matter if you were willing to leave the Brotherhood behind, if you weren’t willing to tear Johnny away from his sister; his family. You’d never had one of those, so you weren’t about to take it from somebody else— somebody you loved, as much as you hated that fact.

Solemnly, you shook your head. Johnny let out a slow breath, pulling you closer to rest his forehead against yours, closing his eyes as you did the same.

He burned so hot that you almost couldn’t tell when he let go, the ghost of his touch more alive than most. You didn’t open your eyes because you couldn’t watch him go, your heart couldn’t bear it; and you stayed there with your eyes closed, tears streaming down your face, until you were positively sure you could survive opening them again and seeing the empty space where he used to be.

Johnny was right, it was hard to move on. You were sure you’d never seen so much fire before, but now it was everywhere— a smoker lighting a cigarette, candles in the window, your dinner tossed in a wok over an open flame. Those little things used to warm your soul; reminders of him used to be welcome and wanted. Now it was like you were being haunted, or taunted, or both.

You never watched TV anymore, in case your program was pre-empted with a broadcast about the latest misadventures of the Fantastic Four, but you still ended up seeing him when you passed magazine stalls, drank somewhere with always-on screens by the bar, even on the stupid fucking t-shirts and merchandise he’d let his face be plastered on. You’d never been so glad to have your true identity separate from that of Arcana, even if Johnny seemed to be having a blast with his extreme sports and press events.

He probably wasn’t thinking of you at all.

Like you had been so many times when it came to Johnny, you were proven wrong rather quickly. When you got home, you sensed that another presence had been through the space, but not one that made you fearful, for some reason. You honestly didn’t know if your intuition was a mutant power of yours or just a personal skill, some of them made it hard to tell the difference, but that thought was irrelevant when you noticed what was actually amiss: your visitor had left something.

A piece of paper, folded haphazardly on your counter. You unfolded it and felt your heart swell when you recognized the handwriting.

‘Our place, tonight.’

When you’d finished reading the message, it burst into a sudden flame and disappeared immediately; flash paper. You laughed to yourself at his flair for the dramatic, your eyes watering a little.

Would it end the same way it had last time? Probably, because there was no reason to believe anything had changed. But you didn’t even question it: you were going to fall into this cycle with him again, and you were going to do it gladly.

After all, you’d been burned before; you were slowly learning to like it.

#johnny storm x reader #johnny storm smut #johnny storm x you #johnny storm x y/n #johnny storm angst

599 notes · View notes

novoaa1writes · 3 years

Text

candles

image source

pairing(s): dark!wanda maximoff x reader

summary:

you’ve been feeling strange for the past month, particularly when it comes to dating.

you do your best to ignore it, thinking it’ll resolve itself on its own—given time, that is.

it doesn’t.

(and it’s got everything to do with wanda.)

[also available on ao3]

word count: ~5,300

rating: mature

warnings: dark!wanda, NON-CON spanking (with a belt), NON-CON BDSM play, mental manipulation, partial mind control, emotional manipulation, mental coercion, trauma bonding, toxic dynamics, drinking, possessive!wanda, non-con mind-reading, vandalism, adultery (not in reference to you or wanda), brief instances of slut-shaming

notes: [requested by anon] reader’s sexuality isn’t explicitly stated, but ex-partners of different genders are referenced/mentioned

— —

wanda uses a couple bulgarian terms of endearment for reader here, so below is a lil’ list in the order of which they appear.

*note: all of these are exactly one letter away from being precise matches to synonymous terms in russian. HOWEVER, the bulgarian alphabet and the russian alphabet are different—granted, in fairly minor ways. for one, while both are comprised of cyrillic lettering, russian has 33 while bulgarian only has 30.

— —

You have no fucking clue what’d gotten into you.

One moment, things were fine—good, even. And the next… well.

You’ll explain.

It was something like 11:30 on a Saturday night, and you were drunk.

Well, not drunk. More like buzzed.

But whatever, right? Considering the week you’d had, you deserved to let loose, even if only for a night.

Monday night saw a very angry and decidedly unhinged soccer mom banging on your door, screeching vehemently about the ‘two-faced slut’ who ruined her marriage and demanding to be let in so that she could ‘make her sorry.’ Turns out, the older guy your roommate had been sleeping with as of late was married—not that he’d bothered to share that particular bit of information with her, obviously.

The two of you spent the better part of the evening barricaded inside, passing a bottle of cheap wine back and forth while trying to explain to the 911 operator that you weren’t messing around, that there really was an angry soccer mom on your doorstep and you were actively fearing for your safety.

She eventually left around 10:00pm—no thanks to the police, since the 911 operator hadn’t even bothered to give them a call. It wasn’t until the next morning when you left for work that you saw the woman’s parting gift to the pair of you: the word ‘HOMEWRECKER’ spray-painted across the front door in obnoxious red lettering.

Bye-bye, security deposit.

That same night, you made your roommate promise to start dating people in a similar age range—because really, the both of you were stressed enough as it was without worrying about coming in between yet another middle-aged couple’s dying marriage.

The rest of the week wasn’t much better.

On Thursday, your balding creep of a boss had made yet another blatant pass at you in the workplace, making you seriously consider (and not for the first time) the prospect of just quitting and being done with it.

Then, at shit o’clock on a Friday morning, you awoke to an urgent phone call informing you that an ex of yours (one you were actually on semi-decent terms with) had gotten into a fairly serious car accident, and still had you marked down as her emergency contact.

30 minutes later found you showing up at the hospital just moments after your ex’s current girlfriend had arrived, which then prompted the whole ‘you still being your ex’s emergency contact’ revelation when the current girlfriend demanded to know what you were doing there, which ended up being… well, you’ll just say it wasn’t pretty, and leave it at that.

And your ex was going to be completely fine, anyways. She just had some minor cuts and abrasions, and would need to undergo a fairly minor (read: minimally invasive) surgery over the next couple days.

Before leaving, you instigated a quick check-in with the doctors to ensure they had everything they needed—which then turned into you providing a list of allergies, as your ex wouldn’t likely be conscious for another couple of hours, and apparently the current girlfriend didn’t know of her sensitivities to penicillin and phenobarbital… which the current girlfriend was less than happy about, if the daggers she glared at you were any indication.

Whatever. You were just trying to help.

You thanked the doctors, told them to feel free to call you if anything went awry, then asked if they might tell your ex to call you when she awoke. You thought about offering some words of comfort to the current girlfriend as she sat vigil at your ex’s bedside, but the murderous glower she shot you the moment you got within ten feet of her was more than enough to make you think better of it.

With that, you left.

So… yeah. It’d been a shitty week.

And now, here you were: a girls’ night out at the lively nightclub you and your roommate had scoped out just last weekend, tossing back $12 cocktails and letting the trashy EDM beat blaring over the speakers drown out the rest of your thoughts.

You’d been feeling a little weird all week—all month, really.

As far as you were concerned, this was exactly what the doctor had ordered.

So, when a cute guy wearing black jeans and a white T-shirt that was at least a couple sizes too big yet did well to compliment his well-muscled torso came up to you and started chatting you up at the bar, you didn’t blow him off.

The exact opposite, in fact.

He was nice, and funny, and had a gorgeous smile that made your chest feel warm for reasons that had nothing to do with the alcohol. When he flirted with you, you flirted right back.

You felt a little guilty for doing so, though you couldn’t exactly put a finger on why that was. Either way, you didn’t allow yourself to dwell on it for very long.

After all, you’d been feeling hints of that for the past month, if not longer. It seemed to happen whenever you flirted with a cute guy, or went out on another Tinder date with a pretty girl, or even hugged one of your close friends.

You’d get this painful tightening sensation in your gut, nausea roiling in your abdomen… a distant, lofty voice in your head telling you that this was wrong, that you already belonged to someone else.

Which was pointless, really. Stupid.

You were single.

Your last serious relationship (barring the one with your now-hospitalized ex-girlfriend) had been over seven months ago with an eccentric guy named Lukas. He was kind, well-meaning… a bit of a dork at his very core, but you always found that more endearing than anything else. You’d dated him for four and a half months before deciding to break it off; because as much as you cared for him and enjoyed being around him, you didn’t love him, and you knew by then that you never would.

You thought about him, from time to time—even missed him now and again.

And yet, the strangest thing about the shameful feeling you’d get whenever your roommate so much as brushed a friendly kiss up against your cheek—it had absolutely nothing to do with Lukas.

You didn’t know how you knew that, but you did.

Whatever.

This guy was not Lukas.

His name was Des—short for Desmond, you learned over your fourth sugary-sweet cocktail of the night. He was charming and slightly foul-mouthed, but conscientious and passably polite where it mattered. He didn’t grope your ass or stare at your tits, nor did he make any lewd commentary about your body in any capacity.

He also smelled… really good, like Old Spice and spearmint gum and the barest hint of cigarette smoke.

That was more than enough for you.

(Whatever, alright? Decent guys were in short supply these days.)

You smiled and let him buy you another drink, even after you’d insisted that he really, really didn’t have to. And when an obnoxious pop song with a beat that was far more catchy than you’d have liked to admit came over the speakers, you let him coax you out to the dance floor with minimal resistance.

It was… fun. You liked the way his hands rested on either of your hips—gentle, almost careful; holding you like he understood he didn’t have a right to your body, like he was more than content that you allowed him this to even think of demanding any more.

Despite the twinges of guilt flaring in your gut, you let yourself get a little more comfortable… dancing closer and closer to him amidst a packed crowd of writhing bodies, letting your breasts graze up against his chest.

It was teasing—provocative, even. A test, of sorts—one that Des passed with flying colors.

He didn’t do a thing to rush you, just kept dancing across from you with his hands on your hips and his darkened gaze on yours—seeming fully content to let you set the pace for the moment. And God, but the way he was looking at you… patient but eager, like he wanted nothing more than to crush your body against his own and grind himself into you like an animal—and yet, still, he held himself back.

You couldn’t help but find that attractive as hell.

Looping your arms around his neck, you let your body to press flush against his as you swayed to the beat of the song, not shying away from the slight stiffness you could feel growing against your hip.

That guilty, nauseous feeling in your gut pulled tighter.

You ignored it, and, when he leaned a little closer to shout over the deafening music, “Would it be alright if I kissed you?”... well.

You wasted absolutely no time in lunging up on the tips of your toes to capture his lips in a messy open-mouthed kiss, the strobe lights of the club fading into obscurity around you. His lips were warm and gentle against yours—tentative, at first, until you pressed a little harder and traced the seam of his lips with your tongue… and, yeah; that did the trick.

A moment later, his lips parted to let out a quiet groan directly into your mouth as he began to reciprocate in earnest, setting every nerve ending on your body alight with electrifying want.

And that’s when it happened.

Seemingly out of nowhere, a twisted sort of clarity hit you square in the chest—slowly, and then all at once.

The next bits were something of a blur.

You tore yourself away from Des, turned to forcibly elbow your way through a floor of grinding bodies. You thought you heard him call out your name, and more than a couple people on the dancefloor turned to glare at you as you rudely brushed past them without care—but, whatever.

You texted… someone, telling them you were headed back to the apartment, so they shouldn’t bother waiting up. The group chat, maybe?

And now… Now.

Before you can blink, the past crashes into the present, and you find yourself back outside in the pitch-black night.

It’s dark… chilly. A brisk wind catches you the moment you stumble out onto the sidewalk, assaulting every inch of your exposed skin like scores of needles piercing your flesh. You whimper, shudder, and hug your arms around your body—trying to warm yourself back up like a scared little kid who forgot their jacket.

For the first time that night, you regret the tiny black babydoll dress you’d chosen to wear for the evening—and that’s not even to mention the four-inch heels.

It’s miserable, to be sure, but you can hardly focus on it for very long.

No, you have to go somewhere. You feel sick, and cold, and wrong in a way you’re loath to even begin explaining to anyone else.

And your head… you’re positively aching for something—someone to make this better.

You need… Wanda.

Yes, Wanda is the person you’re looking for. She can make all of this better.

You don’t know why, but you’re sure of it. You just need to find her. Hopefully she’s spending the night in her apartment on that super cozy sofa of hers, drinking hot chocolate and binge-watching something on Netflix like the two of you did a couple weeks back.

A fond grin curves your lips at the recollection as you stumble off down the sidewalk, headed for the nearest subway station.

Another wintry gust of wind hits you square in the chest, and you pinch your forearm hard, silently willing yourself to focus.

The station should be less than a block down, if you’re remembering correctly.

At the next street corner, you manage to brandish your pepper spray in one hand while you rummage around in your purse for your MetroCard with the other.

It’s cold as hell, and you’re probably a little too drunk to be walking through the City streets alone right now, but you don’t much care.

All you gotta do is find Wanda. That’s all.

She’ll make everything better again.

— —

Where everything else is confusing, there’s one part that seems to make sense—Wanda.

You nearly pick a fight with the card reader at the subway entrance when it makes you swipe your card three times to let you through, and even the stairs leading down to the lower tracks are more of a challenge than they probably should be… and yet, somehow, the rest of it is blessedly simple. A no-brainer, really.

You know which train you need to take… the blue one that arrives in four minutes. You know you need to stay on it for five stops before getting off.

Once you’re up at ground level, you’ll have a short walk ahead of you—one that you know like the back of your hand despite only ever having been to Wanda’s a couple of times.

You’ll enter Wanda’s apartment building, take the elevator right up to floor four, and boom! Home free.

You do exactly that.

It takes a short time (thankfully) and there’s not an ounce of uncertainty within you all the while, like you’ve done this 100 times before.

In seemingly no time at all, you’re there—standing on Wanda’s doorstep, knocking a couple times just beneath the burnished bronze ‘4A’ nailed into her door.

Your head feels all light and dizzy; you’re still shuddering from the time you spent out in the cold; but—

“One sec!” Wanda’s muffled voice comes from inside, the mere sound of it washing over you like a soothing balm—promising relief.

You’re safe now.

You made it.

— —

The moment the door swings open to reveal a bleary-eyed Wanda Maximoff dressed in tiny grey pajama shorts, an oversized Star Trek T-shirt, and nothing else, it’s like everything falls back into place.

It’s like… like you can breathe again.

You’re still drunk, and shivering, and more than a bit confused; but now that Wanda’s awake and here and smirking like she knows exactly what’s happening even if you don’t, you feel… better, somehow. Not nearly so lost as you were before.

“Y/N,” Wanda greets, stepping aside and offering out a hand to help you inside. You’re quick to take it. “I was not expecting you,” she drawls, though everything about her demeanor is saying the opposite as she shuts and locks the door behind you.

You pay it little mind. “Yeah, I... ” you trail off, turning to face her even as an embarrassed flush warms your cheeks. All of a sudden, you can’t help but feel rather ridiculous for knocking on her door and barging in so late—especially without calling first. “I’m so sorry, I... I don’t know why I’m here.”

Wanda just tilts her head, appraising you curiously even as the ghost of a knowing smile curves her lips. “Are you sure about that?”

The heat in your cheeks seems to intensify tenfold at that. “I… I need to tell you something,” you hear yourself say, and the moment it’s registered, you realize that it’s true.

You feel… guilty, all of a sudden. Nauseous, too. Scared.

You danced with that guy—Des. You flirted with him. You let him touch you… You kissed him. Why would you do that?

In the present moment, Wanda nods, like that makes perfect sense. Like all of this makes perfect sense.

“Okay,” she acquiesces lightly, flares of crimson flitting through her measured gaze. “Is it something I’ll have to punish you for?”

‘Punish’ me? What—?

You feel Wanda’s presence in your head… inconspicuous tendrils sifting through your thoughts, worming their way through your scattered memories.

No point in lying.

“Y-Yes,” you hear yourself say. Much like earlier, it isn’t until the moment you’ve confirmed it aloud that you know it to be true. You danced with someone else. You flirted with him. You let him touch you… kiss you. “I… I’m so sorry, Wanda; I-I don’t know what I was thinking.”

You see the moment Wanda finds it—your memories of the nightclub. Meeting Des at the bar. Flirting with him… Kissing him.

The look on her pretty features goes from bemused to disbelieving to absolutely murderous in zero seconds flat, and the realization hits like a freight train that you’re really in for it now.

Fuck.

“Go to the bedroom,” she snarls, her typically blue-green eyes burning with scarlet light. “Then take off that slutty dress. I want you on the bed, face down, naked. Do you understand?”

Your head is spinning; confusion rears its ugly head in your gut even as every ounce of your being screams at you to just obey—‘cause if you can just do that, the rest of it will start to make sense. (Maybe.) “O-Okay.”

— —

You don’t know how you know the way to Wanda’s bedroom, but you do.

You slip inside a room shrouded in darkness, and no matter how it strains your eyes to look around, you don’t dare turn on the light.

It’s a modestly-sized bedroom with hardwood flooring, fairy lights along one wall, and an adjoining bathroom just opposite the entrance. There’s a tall, wooden dresser pressed up against the wall directly across from a large, king-sized bed. That’s pretty much all the detail you can manage to make out in the darkness.

Well, either way, you suppose it isn’t really your business.

Wanda gave you specific instructions, and you intend to follow them.

Not for the first time tonight, you’re quite happy about the babydoll dress you’re wearing—particularly for how easy it is to pull it up over your head and off, leaving you in panties and a strapless bra in a matter of moments.

You fold the dress neatly in your hands, then leave it atop the dresser. Your panties and bra come next. In seconds, you’ve formed a small, tidy pile.

As you step out of your heels and approach the neatly-made bed, you’re struck with the strangest sense of déjà vu… like you’ve done this before.

It lingers in the forefront of your mind as you crawl up onto the bed, biting back a groan at how easily the plush mattress gives way under your hands and knees.

God, you’d kill to have a nice nap in this absolute cloud of a bed.

You shake the thought off, simultaneously willing the haze of intoxication fogging up your brain to abate.

You’re not here to nap.

You settle face-down onto the bed, just like Wanda said. You’re careful not to rest your face on the pillows, though, since you have the distinct feeling that’s not something Wanda would want you doing without permission.

Instead, you fold your arms and rest your head atop your forearm, staring straight down into nothing. You scrunch up your features and let out a quiet huff as the black duvet tickles the tip of your nose.

It smells like her—all of it does. Cinnamon, vanilla, and something indefinable; something that belongs to Wanda, and Wanda alone.

You feel your body stiffen as a familiar set of footsteps draw near, approaching the room where you lie—naked and vulnerable atop Wanda’s bed.

The patter of Wanda’s gait becomes almost soundless as she enters, circling around the bed over towards the nightstand. You don’t dare to turn your head and watch as she pulls out one of the drawers, rummaging through it until she finds… well, whatever it is she’s looking for, you suppose.

A moment later, there’s the telltale chk! of a match being struck, and a hiss as the phosphorous tip lights itself aflame.

It’s quiet for a minute... then two. The only sounds you can hear are your breathing and the strike of a match every time Wanda lights another.

Gradually, gentle flares of light grow in your periphery, bathing the room in a dim, yellow-y glow. She’s lighting candles—a lot of them.

You’ve always loved candles.

A couple minutes later, she’s finished, and she returns to tuck the matchbox safely back in the drawer.

You lose track of her as she retreats once more, and your mounting curiosity is more than piqued when you hear her rummaging through the dresser near the foot of the bed; still, you don’t dare turn and look.

Instead, you wait, fetid nausea churning low in your gut, pinpricks of apprehension dancing across every inch of exposed skin. Your heart thuds painfully against your ribcage as she takes something out from the dresser drawer, then shuts it with an audible thud!

You swallow the lump in your throat and urge yourself to focus on your breathing.

In, out.

In… out.

“I’m disappointed in you, Y/N,” Wanda’s voice comes from somewhere behind you, genuine hurt coloring her hushed tone.

You have to fight the urge to shudder as a chill runs down your spine. “I… I’m sorry, Wanda,” you say meekly, pathetically, cheeks hot with shame.

And the worst part? You’re not lying.

You listen carefully for the sounds of her bare feet padding across the floor as she circles the bed once more, crouching down right beside you in the very corner of your periphery.

“Look at me,” she orders, gentle yet firm.

You do.

The moment you meet her gaze, you can’t help the errant thought entering your mind that she looks so pretty like this—face bare of makeup; long brown hair piled into a messy bun atop her head; dainty features cast into darkened shadows by the low, yellow light of burning candles clustered together atop the nightstand.

The muted light seems to soften her anger, her pain… allowing her to really look her age for the very first time since you’ve known her.

“You think too loudly, Y/N.” Wanda’s words are dry, almost teasing as they jolt you back into reality. “Focus on me, please.”

You do.

“You belong to me,” she asserts after a beat of silence, an uncharacteristically intent and almost solemn look splayed across her dimly-lit features. “I thought you understood that.”

The words confuse you even as they seem to resonate poignantly with some fundamental part of you… a part of you that categorically refuses to be ignored.

“Wanda…” you trail off, bewilderment and contrition warring violently within your chest until it aches to draw breath. “I’m confused, Wanda,” you whimper out finally, overwhelmed tears burning in your eyes. “I-I-I don’t understand what’s happening—”

Wanda cuts you off with a derisive snort. “Yes, clearly,” she agrees, her tone ripe with sardonic ire. “You’ve forgotten yourself. You’ve forgotten who owns you.”

You worry your lower lip between your teeth, desperately trying to make sense of it all. “Is that why…” You search Wanda’s eyes intently. “... I-I felt sick, an-and… guilty about dancing with Des.”

Something like anger flares in her gaze, hot and bitter, and you have to resist the urge to shrivel beneath it. “That boy had no right to touch what’s rightfully mine.”

“B-But then… why didn’t I remember?” you ask, utterly forlorn. “I-I felt it last weekend, too, but I… I didn’t—”

“Last weekend?” Wanda repeats, features hardening.

Oh, shit. You feel your cheeks get hot again. “I… I shouldn’t have brought it up, Wan’, I’m sorry—”

“What happened last weekend?” she interjects, her tone cold and hard like a double-edged blade. “You can tell me yourself, or I can start looking.”

You shiver. “I… I went on a-a… a date with a girl that I met online,” you admit, tears welling in your eyes even as Wanda’s jaw visibly tightens. “I-It was just the one time! A-And nothing happened; we didn’t even k-kiss! I just… I didn’t… I didn’t know—”

“Yes. You’re right; you didn’t know.” Wanda stands abruptly, then, and it’s at that moment that you see the folded belt in her hands—thick, worn leather with a sterling silver buckle.

An icy sense of dread blossoms in your chest, chilling you from the inside out.

Is she going to—?

“I was indulgent before… I let you get away with far too much. I will not make the same mistake again.”

With that, she turns to circle back around the bed, the belt buckle audibly jangling in her hands with every step.

“I have to punish you, принцеса,” she continues, her voice scarcely more than a whisper as she comes to stand near the foot of the bed—and somehow, you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that there’s no convincing her otherwise.

She’s going to punish you, and it’s going to hurt. Bad.

All at once, panic seizes you. You squirm, writhing in an effort to get up and off the bed—

Only to be stopped by tendrils of lurid crimson curling around either wrist, forcing them together just over your head like magic—glowing crimson cuffs holding both arms fast to the headboard. On a whim, you test your legs—tensing and pulling, only to be met with iron-clad resistance encircling either ankle in a tight, unrelenting grip.

Well, fuck.

“W-Wanda,” you plead, hardly paying any mind to the way your voice trembles. “Please, I—I don’t want—”

“I do not enjoy punishing you, мила,” she laments, almost sounding genuinely apologetic. It tugs at your heartstrings in a curious way—something you really don’t have time to examine right now. “But you did something bad. And when you do bad things, there are consequences. You understand that, don’t you?”

A tear trickles down your cheek, warm and wet as you steel yourself for the first hit. “Y-Yes.”

“Good girl,” Wanda lauds, and you can’t help the surge of warmth that washes over you at the simple praise—the pride that blooms in your chest at knowing you’ve finally done something right. “Now—try and relax, принцеса, okay?”

It’s all the warning you get before the first blow comes down upon your bare arse with a resounding Crack!

White-hot pain flares across your bottom, racing up your spine like wildfire and tearing a strangled whimper from your throat.

Jesus fucking Christ, that hurt—

Crack!

Holy fuck.

The impact of the leather against your naked cheeks leaves strips of fire burning in its wake, expelling all the air from your lungs in a choked-out rush.

“P-Please, no, Wan’,” you beg breathlessly, struggling in vain even as coils of vibrant scarlet hold you fast, “it hurts, please—”

Crack!

“This is for your own good, baby,” Wanda coos, sounding for all the world as though she truly believes every word of it.

Crack! This one lands directly across your sit spot, ripping a shriek from your lips as molten agony rocks you to your core.

“Wan’—Fuck, please, no—”

Crack!

“G—God, fuck, pleasestop, please—”

Crack!

“P—Please, hurtssobad, I’m—”

Crack!

“FUCK !”

Tears stream down your cheeks, wetting the black duvet beneath your face. You’re absolutely beside yourself with torment, your bare ass aflame with a pain unlike any you’ve ever known.

Crack!

… And the hits just keep coming—raining down stripes of blistering heat across your sore, bruised buttocks; pummeling your throbbing, exposed rear until it feels as though the entire area has just become one puffy, pulsating bruise.

Crack!

All the fight has completely gone out of you; now, your body completely slack—devoid of any resistance even as every hit seems to sear itself into your impossibly tender bottom like a third-degree burn… The pain is absolutely incredible, unlike any else you’ve ever known.

You’ll do anything—and you really do mean anything—to make it stop.

“P-P-Please, stop it, Wanda, PLEASE—”

Crack! Another hit directly across your burning sit spot rips a watery sob from your throat, followed by—

Crack!

It’s all you can do to keep yourself from hyperventilating until you pass out.

Crack!

Agony blackens the edge of your vision, fresh tears streaking down your cheeks as you await another strike…

But it doesn’t come.

Wh—?

“Have you learned your lesson, мила?” Wanda asks, and this time, her voice comes from closer… like she’s right beside you.

You don’t have it in you to be startled when a feather-light kiss lands itself between your shoulder blades, nor when one hand begins stroking up and down your heaving torso in soothing motions.

“Y-Yes! I—please, God, yes,” you babble, overwhelmed by the sensation of unadulterated pain branding every inch of your battered arse. “I promise I’ll never, ever, ever do it again, Wan’—Won’t ever be with anyone else—jus-just please stop hurting me—I’ll be so good, please—”

“Shh,” Wanda shushes you tenderly. You feel yourself twitch as the mattress suddenly dips beside you. “It’s okay, любима,” she soothes, coming to rest beside you. “Just breathe, okay? Breathe.”

‘Breathe’...

Your pulse thunders in your ears; your ass is on fire with an anguish far beyond your years; and yet, there’s something undoubtedly soothing about her words as they wash over you in gentle waves… something that tells you you’re safe.

Were you a little more lucid, you might’ve found that quite the nonsensical paradox—this feeling of safety and security with the woman who’d just beaten your arse raw without mercy no matter how you wailed and sobbed and begged for her to stop.

But as it is, you’re not.

Instead, you’re just broken and teary-eyed and in pain, and Wanda’s tenderness is a most welcome respite to alleviate that excruciating ache.

You take a deep, shuddering breath, even if it burns your lungs something awful, and force yourself to let it out slowly.

In, out.

In… out.

“That’s it, мила,” Wanda praises gently, tucking a stray lock of hair behind your ear. “You’re doing so well… Just like that.” Her fingers come to rest beneath your chin, urging you to turn and face her…

And you do, far too exhausted to even think of doing anything other than what she tells you to. Your lungs burn; your nose runs; and the pain in your bottom hasn’t abated any—if anything, it’s intensified.

You’re more than happy to be given something else to focus on.

When you look at her, her blue-green eyes are wet—glossy with tears.

“Wanda?” you manage weakly, feeling your brow crease with worry. “You ‘kay?”

Wanda sniffles, huffs out a watery-sounding laugh. “Yes, Y/N, I’m alright,” she whispers, then leans forth to plant a gentle kiss upon the tip of your nose. “I’m just so very, very proud of you.”

Despite yourself, you feel a pleased flush spread throughout your body at that. “Really?” you mumble, exhaustion drooping your eyelids until it’s a challenge just to keep them open.

Wanda nods, a tear sliding out of her eye that you yearn to reach forth and catch with your thumb—but alas, you’re far too weak. “Really.”

You hum, burrowing your face further into the duvet beneath your cheek—even if it is still damp with your tears. “‘M sorry I was bad, Wan’,” you murmur, feeling darkness near on every side. “Didn’t mean’ta make you upset.”

“I don’t like punishing you, принцеса,” she says once more, and this time, you have no reason to doubt that she means it. Honestly, you don’t know how you ever could. “It hurts me just as much as it hurts you.”

You hum again. Your eyelids feel too heavy to open. “‘M sorry,” you say. “Gonna do better… make you proud… I promise.”

Wanda chuckles. The sound of it makes your chest feel loose and warm and happy. “You already do, darling girl,” she murmurs. You don’t know if it’s because she’s whispering, or you’re fading into sleep, but you can barely hear her when she repeats it once more: “You already do.”

Sleep descends upon you, then, and you succumb to it willingly, feeling safer and more at peace than you have in a very long time.

— —

tagging:

[marvel]: @normanijauregui

— —

end notes: yeah i don’t know what this is either. i was only aiming for maybe 1,000 words or something, but things happened and...

look. i haven’t been to therapy in a hot minute, ok?

link to masterlist

#stuff i wrote #wanda maximoff x reader #wanda maximoff x f!reader #f!reader #dark!wanda maximoff #dark!wanda maximoff x reader #dark!wanda maximoff x f!reader #dark fic #mcu fic #marvel fic #scarlet witch x reader #dark!scarlet witch x reader #dark!scarlet witch #reader-insert #requested

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kylandara · 2 years

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Quora Reshare: In the novel, did Mirri Maz Duur intentionally harm Khal Drogo and his unborn son in GOT?

Maybe or maybe not controversial take:

by Kelsey

I don’t believe so but I think it’s easy to see how people can be confused given that Mirri seems to take post hoc credit for it, and in Drogo’s case the show handles it a bit differently.

I think what we’re seeing is Mirri taking credit after the fact to bolster her own martyr-ish reputation — imagine taking down two warlords, one current and one future; she’s probably imagining that her people will see her as a hero — and inflicting maximum pain on Dany — Mirri has to know Dany’s going to kill her anyway, so she might as well go down swinging. Neither of those things mean that she set out to do it from the start, though.

Looking at the two individual cases:

Dany miscarried Rhaego after Jorah took her into the tent (and I think this is also what “quickened” Dany’s dragon eggs — the ritual latched onto the unborn baby and the eggs, killing the baby but giving the eggs life or at least, “waking them up”). What did Mirri tell Dany beforehand? “Once I begin to sing, no one must enter this tent. My song will wake powers old and dark. The dead will dance here this night. No living man must look on them.” If Mirri intended all along to kill Rhaego, why tell Dany not to come into the tent? She couldn’t have known beforehand that Jorah would enter the tent with her; what would she have done if he hadn’t? Dany wants to stay in the tent before Mirri tells her not to; if the plan was to kill Rhaego, why not simply tell Dany that she can stay?

In the books, Drogo’s condition worsens when he stops using Mirri’s poultice and instead plasters the wound in mud. The show obscures this somewhat by leaving that part out and going right from Mirri giving Drogo advice to Drogo falling off his horse, implying that one caused the other. But in the books it looks like Drogo disregarding Mirri’s advice is what undid him, whereas her poultice seemed to actually have been working (Drogo doesn’t like it because it itches, but the itching is what implies that it’s working).

It’s also a bit confusing because both Dany and Mirri seem to see the swap as being between the baby and Drogo — “show me what I bought with my son’s life” — and not between the horse and Drogo and then, separately, the baby and the dragon eggs (which is how I think it went down). That is to say, what Dany and even Mirri think was the “swap” (in Mirri’s case, she’d probably think of this as an inadvertent “bonus”) isn’t necessarily what the swap actually was. But if people take their perception as fact — even if it isn’t — then it looks like Rhaego was deliberately killed and Drogo was deliberately made comatose through Rhaego’s sacrifice.

Now, I do think Mirri knew damn well that Drogo’s horse would not be enough to make him normal again (and I think this is part of what she means when she references Dany’s self-deception; who would seriously think a horse equaled a human?). I think that was intentional — and Mirri probably just assumed that the baby also wasn’t enough to make Drogo normal again, not considering that the baby might have “latched onto” something else in the tent besides Drogo, namely the dragon eggs. But I don’t think Mirri was responsible for Drogo getting to that point, and she’d probably argue that alive but comatose is still a step up from being dead, which he would have been otherwise without her intervention.

(This is really a fascinating sequence of events once you get to the meat of it, for a few reasons. Both women have a “careful what you wish for” angle built in. In Dany’s case, she wanted Drogo to stay alive, and she got it, but not the way she wanted it to be. In Mirri’s case, even if she didn’t go in intending to do it, she would have died figuring hey, at least I stopped the Stallion That Mounts the World. The sick joke being that Mirri’s ritual and her later sacrifice is what enabled the dragons to hatch, which is what gave Dany the power to eventually become … the Stallion That Mounts the World. And Dany, in the course of losing her son, gained something she never could have conquered Westeros or anywhere else without.)

#anti daenerys #anti targaryen #mirri maz duur

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vgfm · 4 years

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Deltarune Theory: The True Identity and Importance of “Everyman”

I’ve been away from the Undertale theory scene for a long time. It’s been so long that a whole new-fangled game got announced, and I’ve got some theories on it.

Are these theories about Gaster or Sans or whatever’s going on with Kris? Not exactly. At least, not yet. I’ve got a better character in mind.

Let’s start with Everyman: Undertale’s most obscure character and (I think) one of the most pivotal in Deltarune.

This is a two-part theory: the first part outlines who Everyman is and why I think he’ll be important in Deltarune. The second part? You’ll have to read and find out.

This is a long one and with loads of images, so strap yourselves in.

Sections

Part 1: Introduction to Everyman

Who is Everyman?

“So Everyman’s just an Easter egg, right?”

Everyman’s Importance

Why did Everyman appear in True Lab?

Why Everyman will have a bigger role in Deltarune

Part 2: Everyman is ???

What will Everyman’s role be?

Jevil’s Connection to Everyman

The Spade King’s clue

Additional Evidence

“Seriously?”

The Gaster connection

The “Strange Son”

Who made who?

“Seriously, who is Everyman?”

End

Closing Summary

Final Conclusions

Who is Everyman?

"Everyman” is a special attack that appears during the Reaper Bird amalgamate fight in True Lab.

This same figure appears twice in Deltarune’s first chapter:

Once as graffiti in an alleyway in Hometown...

...and again as a rare bullet attack during Jevil’s fight.

The name “Everyman” only ever appears in-game next to his graffiti portrait in Hometown. Everyman’s sprites are simply titled “strangeman” in Undertale’s game files:

[Image transcript: UTModTool is showing multiple highlighted sprite entries that begin with “spr_strangeman”. On the right is the file “spr_strangeman_walk” opened, showing a picture of Everyman. End image transcript]

Some time after Undertale’s release there was a since-deleted tweet from Toby with a picture of Reaper Bird’s attack that he titled “Everyman,” which is where fans first got the name.

[Image transcript: A tweet from toby fox that says “Everyman”. The first reply says “Is that his name. please thell me thats his obj name.” Toby’s response repeats “Everyman.” The next reply says “everything i aspire to be.” Toby responds again with “’Everyman’ you aspire to be.” Toby then adds another tweet saying “Description. Just a good guy that shows up on occasion.” end image transcript.]

This is a web archive screenshot so the image of Everyman’s bullet sprite wasn’t preserved here. Special thanks to catcat for tracking this one down!

“So Everyman’s just an Easter egg, right?”

I don’t think so. I’d be more inclined to write off Everyman’s role in Deltarune as a mere cameo if he had only shown up once. But it’s odd that Toby felt the need to include Everyman twice in a single chapter. To me this seems less like a one-off cameo and more like foreshadowing for a greater role in the full game.

Let’s compare Everyman’s appearances to instances of character foreshadowing and one-off cameos from Undertale and Deltarune:

Mettaton

[Image transcript: four Undertale screenshots arranged in a grid. In the top-left screenshot, the narration text box reads “(the machine isn’t working.)” as Frisk stares at Mettaton in Snowdin’s colored tile puzzle room. In the top-right screenshot, the narration textbox is reading a TV announcement in Papyrus’ house: “(It says ‘STAY TUNED FOR A NEW PROGRAM - MTT.’)”. In the bottom-left screenshot, Napstablook’s text box says “there’s a show i like to watch on it... sometimes...” as Frisk looks at their television. In the bottom-right screenshot, Undyne’s text box says “This oven is some top-of-the-line MTT thing.” as Frisk stares at her oven. End image transcript.]

Mettaton is foreshadowed multiple times before he makes his proper introduction in Alphys’ Lab. This includes a direct on-screen appearance of his rectangular form as part of Snowdin’s colored tile puzzle. What’s interesting is that half of these references (including the tile puzzle) only make sense in hindsight to a first-time player. For all we know there could be other, more-cryptic Everyman references already in Deltarune that we don’t have the full context to understand yet.

Rouxls Kaard

Despite his legendary introductory sequence catching many-a-player off-guard, Rouxls Kaard actually is foreshadowed a couple of times before his stunning debut.

[Image transcript: four Deltarune screenshots arranged in a grid. In the top-left screenshot, Ralsei is reading a message from Rouxls Kaard: “It says... ‘Thoust fools, thou will NEVER figure it out now!’. This is continued in the top-right screenshot: “Then it, um, says, ‘PS - I make my own Rules. - RK’”. In the bottom-left screenshot, a puzzle-master says “ROUXLS KAARD... Lord of the Puzzles... Be careful...!” In the bottom-right screenshot, one of Clover’s heads says “RK came by... What a hunk!” End image transcript.]

I’ve noticed from watching Let’s Plays that many people don’t even realize that these lines were meant to foreshadow him (and I’m pretty sure I didn’t realize it either on my first playthrough).

Ice-E

Now here’s something that’s an example of both a one-off cameo and proper foreshadowing! In Undertale, Ice-E is referenced exactly once in the entire game—as part of Sans’ Monster Kidz Word Search puzzle. No other character mentions Ice-E, Ice-E does not appear in-person, nor does the Ice-E’s restaurant appear... in Undertale. Deltarune is a completely different story.

[image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. in the left screenshot, Kris looks under their sink and the narration text box says: “A can of Ice-E’s Cool Boys Body Spray ‘Spray For The Boys,’ Flamin’ Hot Pizza Flavor.” In the right screenshot, Kris reads a chart in the hospital. The narration text box says: “(It’s a classic 1-to-10 pain scale, using ICE-E as a model.)” End image transcript.]

In Deltarune chapter 1 we find numerous references and bits of foreshadowing for Ice-E and, lo and behold, we see that Ice-E’s restaurant exists in Hometown at the end of chapter 1. And notice how it’s multiple references and not just a one-off like last time.

In every example of foreshadowing listed above we’re given more than one hint of a character’s presence, and so far Everyman fits this same pattern. This makes me feel safe in assuming he will have a bigger role in the full game.

Everyman’s Importance

What’s interesting is that in Chapter 1, Everyman appears in both the light and dark worlds. So far Deltarune has kept the light and dark worlds largely separate from one another, with only Kris and Susie traveling between them (as far as we know).

Everyman’s presence in both worlds implies that either he can travel between both worlds as well, or at least that lightners and darkners are both familiar with him.

Based on what we know, I’d wager that Everyman is a lightner—specifically, a monster. I say this for two reasons: 1.) so far we’ve only seen lightners (Kris and Susie) travel between both worlds, and 2.) this would explain Everyman’s appearance as one of Reaper Bird’s attacks in Undertale’s True Lab.

Why did Everyman appear in the True Lab?

The worlds of Undertale and Deltarune are connected. Toby has all-but-confirmed this himself.

[Image transcript: A screenshot from the official Deltarune website’s question-and-answer page. The question says “So there’s no connections between the two games?”. The answer says “It’s a different world that might even have different rules. That doesn’t mean there will be no connections at all though.” End image transcript.]

One major connection between Undertale and Deltarune is their largely-shared cast of characters. Many major characters from Undertale make an appearance in Deltarune’s first chapter, and Toby has shown that at least some characters from Deltarune’s universe have counterparts in the Undertale universe as well.

The Undertale Alarm Clock App makes reference to Rudolph Holiday living in the Underground some time prior to the events of Undertale.

[Image transcript: A dialogue box where Asgore says “Rudy... loved the holidays, you know.” End image transcript.]

This dialogue also strongly implies that Undertale’s universe has a counterpart for Noelle.

[Image transcript: Another dialogue box from Asgore. He says: “With a warm slice of fruitcake on the table. His youngest daughter peeking shyly from around the corner...” End image transcript]

Depending on how one interprets the Clamgirl NPC’s dialogue, there may or may not be an Undertale version of Susie (aka “Suzy”) too.

[Image transcript: Two Undertale screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Clamgirl tells Frisk: “Synchronicity...? My neighbor’s daughter looks about your age.” In the right screenshot her dialogue continues: “Her name is ‘Suzy.’ I feel like you two should be friends.” End image transcript.]

I’d argue that Everyman also had a “counterpart” in Undertale’s universe who lived as a monster in the Underground. Much like Rudy, the Underground’s Everyman likely grew old and eventually “fell down”. But unlike Rudy, Everyman was sent to the True Lab for the royal scientist’s soul experiments and became part of the Reaper Bird amalgamate.

This would fit with the pattern that we see with most other amalgamates, namely that they each seem to be made up of one named/noteworthy monster combined with several other generic monsters. The formula goes like this:

Lemon Bread = Shyra (Shyren’s Sister) + Aaron + Moldbygg

Endogeny = Muttler + various dog enemies

Snowdrake Mother = Crystal (Snowdrake’s Mom) + Vegetoids(?)

Reaper Bird = Everyman + Astigmatism + Whimsalot + Final Froggit

The Memoryheads seem to not “fit” with the other amalgamates, perhaps intentionally, so I’ll leave them out for now.

Long story short: Everyman was most likely a monster since he was part of an amalgamate and (as far as we know) amalgamates can only be made of monsters.

Why Everyman will have a bigger role in Deltarune

We see in Deltarune that three of the monsters who became amalgamates in Undertale have since passed away. This fits a trend I’ve noticed of Toby trying to “explain” the absence of characters who are prominent in one of his games but not the other.

The examples I cited above of Rudy, Noelle, and (possibly) Susie existing in Undertale’s universe also serve as “excuses” for where those characters were and why they were absent from the events of Undertale’s story. Rudy was dead and Noelle and “Suzy” were living with their families (presumably) in parts of the Underground where Frisk never ventured.

Shyra, Muttler, and Crystal are similarly “excused” from Deltarune’s story when the graveyard informs the player of their passing. Gerson is likewise excluded from Deltarune due to having passed away before the events of the game.

Conveniently, Everyman is not listed among the amalgamate monsters who have passed away in Hometown, and the alleyway graffiti implies he’s alive and well.

We know that Deltarune’s timeline and character ages don’t match up perfectly with Undertale’s—Deltarune Asriel is still alive and slightly older than Kris, who’s roughly the same age as DR Monster Kid. Conversely, Undertale Asriel died long before Frisk entered the Underground, yet Frisk is still seemingly in the same age bracket as UT Monster Kid (who’s barely younger than Asriel in Deltarune). Like Rudy, we can assume that Deltarune’s Everyman is younger than the Everyman who “fell down” in the Underground.

What will Everyman’s role be?

Remember when I said this was a two-part theory? Well, here’s the second half of my theory: Everyman is the Knight.

[Image transcript: A text box that says “Yes, you read that correctly.” End image transcript.]

Yes, the same Knight mentioned by Seam, Jevil, and the King of Spades. The same Knight who’s pulling new dark fountains out of the earth and who’s implied to be a major antagonist in the full game.

I could hedge my bets by saying Everyman is merely “connected” to the Knight, but if the Knight is a character we already know of then I think Everyman is the most likely candidate.

Let’s start with the name: Everyman’s sprites are titled “strangeman” in Undertale’s files. The very first mention we get of the Knight in Deltarune is Seam describing a “strange knight” who appeared, complete with red font for emphasis.

[Image transcript: Seam speaking inside of a shop, saying: “But, recently, a strange knight appeared... And three of the kings were locked away.” End image transcript.]

The word “strange” seems to be used selectively and very deliberately in Deltarune’s first chapter. Here’s a breakdown of all the times it’s used:

Seam referring to the knight

Seam referring to the Knight’s “strange son” (more on that later)

Telling Seam about Jevil (”Strange Prisoner”)

Seam referring to the “strange someone” that Jevil met

Seam mentioning the “strange words” Jevil said

Rouxls Kaard referring to Lancer (”a strange and irritating darling!”)

Narration before Kris seals the dark fountain (”You felt something strange.”)

Flavor text during the Jevil fight (”Kris gazed strangely”)

The Devilsknife/Jevilstail appearing in a “strange chest” outside of Jevil’s cell upon defeating him (this may be dummied out or only triggers if your inventory is full of weapons/armors and Jevil can’t give his item to you)

The description of the key to Jevil’s cell (”something feels strange about it”)

With the exception of the line from Rouxls Kaard, every instance of “strange” somehow connects to the Knight or Jevil. If the Knight is indeed the “strange someone” who Jevil met then the list tightens even further, to the point where all but one use of the word “strange” is associated with a single character and his handiwork—a very “strange man”, as it were. Speaking of Jevil...

Jevil’s connection to the Knight and Everyman

Jevil’s fight is one of two places where Everyman appears in Deltarune chapter 1. Not only that, but Everyman’s sprite only appears as a rare event during Jevil’s carousel attack, implying that his appearance is somehow significant.

Interestingly enough, the other two sprites that appear during this attack are one with a head that vaguely resembles Mysteryman (believed to be Gaster) and another with the head of a horse, a.k.a. the same as a knight piece on a chess board. It’s also worth pointing out that it’s rarer for the Everyman sprite to appear than it is for either of the other two sprites to appear.

We can also see the Everyman sprite represented in the official Chaos Revolving Keychain from Fangamer.

Jevil mentions the Knight once you defeat him, showing that he has knowledge of his existence.

[Image transcript: Jevil saying “THE HAND OF THE KNIGHT IS DRIFTING FORWARD.” End image transcript.]

This is interesting since Seam’s dialogue implies that Jevil was imprisoned well before the Knight overthrew the three kings at Card Castle. I can think of three possible explanations for this seeming timeline discrepancy:

Jevil is somehow intrinsically “aware” of things that go on outside of his cell

The Knight or someone else visited Jevil in jail to tell him about what happened with the three kings

The Knight is the same “strange someone” that Jevil met before he was locked up

The first explanation is the least likely, imo, due to Jevil asking who Kris, Ralsei, and Susie are when he first meets them.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Jevil is talking to the fun gang and he says: “BUT LO, THREE VISITORS STANDING INSIDE?” This continues in the right screenshot, where Jevil says: “WHO ARE YOU FEW?” End image transcript.]

If Jevil was aware of the outside world then he’d surely know of the fun gang’s antics by that point.

The second explanation doesn’t seem very likely either. Seam is the only character who acknowledges Jevil’s existence and we never see Seam visit Card Castle, even after the Spade King has been overthrown.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Jack Person tells the fun gang: “By the by, I asked Seam to come here, but...” Continuing onto the right screenshot, where Jack Person finishes by saying “There wasn’t any interest.” End image transcript.]

Jevil’s cell doesn’t seem to have any guards and it’s kept on its own floor, so that would rule out Jevil hearing about the knight from other prisoners.

If someone in the castle brings food to Jevil then he may have overheard it from them, but even that is speculative. Does Jevil even need to eat? He says his body “cannot be killed,” after all.

[Image transcript: Jevil saying “THIS BODY CANNOT BE KILLED!” End image transcript.]

And I’m not sure if the King of Spades would be so accommodating towards a dangerous prisoner.

That just leaves the third explanation, which seems the most likely to me. It’s also the tidiest explanation for how Jevil would be aware of both the Knight and Everyman—they’re the same person.

We can only speculate as to why the “strange someone” caused Jevil to run amok. If that strange someone was the Knight then I would assume that setting Jevil loose may have been his attempt to overthrow or destabilize Card Castle’s leadership. We know that the Knight eventually overthrew the three other kings himself, so that may have been his plan B after Jevil failed or he merely wished to remove Jevil as an obstacle. Either way, the Knight toppled the quadrumvirate and installed the Spade King as the protector of Card Castle’s dark fountain.

The Spade King’s clue

The Spade King is the closest ally of the Knight that we’ve seen so far. The exact nature of their relationship isn’t fully known, but the King’s words imply that he reveres and is loyal to the Knight.

[Image description: Four Deltarune screenshots arranged in a grid. In the top-left, the King of Spades says “By the Knight’s will, I shall shatter your heart to pieces!”. In the top-right, the King says “For the KNIGHT has appeared.” In the bottom-left, the King says “The KNIGHT that pulls the Fountains from the Earth.” In the bottom-right, the King says “My KNIGHT... I shall not fail you...” End image transcript.]

Both characters share an interest in maintaining the existence of dark fountains, given that the Knight has been said to create new fountains by pulling them up from the Earth.

Unlike Jevil, the Spade King’s attacks never make explicit reference to Everyman’s visage, but he does give a possible nod that many players have overlooked. When the Spade King is defeated, he makes a curious gesture by letting his cloak fly away like a butterfly.

While this may be a simple artistic flourish, I always found this moment to be odd and unfitting for a brutish character like the King. It’s also worth pointing out how the King’s cloak is clearly not a part of his body, unlike what’s implied with Lancer’s “clothes”.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the battle narration says: “You tell Lancer you can’t tell the difference between his clothes and his body.” The narration continues in the right screenshot, saying “He seems flattered... His ATTACK POWER went down!” End transcript.]

What if the King didn’t always have that butterfly-shaped cloak? Did someone give it to him? Think of where else we’ve seen butterfly motifs before.

At first blush, this seems obvious—the Reaper Bird is clearly made from the Core mercenaries, including Whimsalot. Whimsalot attacks with butterfly bullets, so that’s where Reaper Bird got them from, right? Case closed. Well, not so fast.

It turns out there are two different sets of butterfly bullets in Undertale’s game files, and Reaper Bird’s are different from Whimsalot’s.

[Image transcript: Two groups of butterfly bullet sprites. The left group is labeled “Whimsun / Whimsalot.” The right group is labeled “Reaper Bird”. End image transcript.]

Notice how Reaper Bird’s butterflies are smaller and have pointier, more symmetrical wings? While those differences could be chalked up to limited pixel resolution, it’s interesting how Toby went out of his way to create an entirely unique set of butterfly bullets for Reaper Bird when it arguably would have made more sense for him to recycle the Whimsun butterflies like he did for Whimsalot.

If you want to compare the sprites for yourself I suggest either looking at the game files directly or looking at an actual playthrough of Undertale. I’ve noticed that Spriter’s Resource mistakenly has Reaper Bird’s butterflies listed under Whimsun’s sprite sheet (which is a completely understandable mix-up).

To drive the point home, notice the string names that are used for these butterflies:

[Image transcript: An UTModTool window showing multiple named strings. Highlighted in red are six strings that each contain “obj_strangeman_butterfly” in their names. End image transcript.]

They’re “strangeman” butterflies. Not “amalgamate” or “Reaper Bird” butterflies (despite Reaper Bird having its own share of dedicated strings and named sprites), and they’re not “Whimsalot” butterflies either. Toby clearly delineates them as belonging to strangeman, a.k.a. Everyman, meaning that Everyman is specifically associated with butterfly imagery. The Spade King also makes use of butterfly imagery immediately after he mentions the Knight in his final turn.

Between the King and Jevil, this makes two characters that can be linked to both Everyman and the Knight.

Additional Evidence

Let’s circle back to Reaper Bird for a second. It’s commonly known that this amalgamate is made from Astigmatism, Final Froggit, and Whimsalot. To wit:

These enemies are part of the mercenary group that Mettaton hires to attack you in the Core. Have you ever noticed how out-of-place they seem? Almost every other set of enemies in the game is somehow themed around their environment — Snowdin enemies are ice creatures, Hotland enemies are fire/lava-themed, etc. These mercenaries are themed around medieval warfare and yet they show up in the Core, the most high-tech area in the entire Underground.

What’s even stranger is that this medieval theme seems to come out of nowhere. Astigmatism, Final Froggit, and Whimsalot act as “upgraded” versions of Loox, Froggit, and Whimsun, respectively. And yet their Ruins counterparts don’t have any medieval theming whatsoever—it was added purely for the mercenaries. For whatever reason they’re all dressed like a bunch of wizards and... knights.

[Image transcript: Two Undertale screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, a Core NPC says “Why do I look like a black sausage and not a knight or a wizard?” This continues on the right, where it says “Well... Everyone has an angle they look best from.” End image transcript.]

That’s not my interpretation of their designs—the game outright calls them knights.

On the one hand, it’s true that Asgore’s royal guards also dress up like knights, but the Core mercenaries are explicitly not part of the royal guard—they’re mercenaries.

[Image transcript: Battle flavor text that states “Mercenaries emerge from the shadows.” End image transcript.]

Assuming that Asgore has a dress code for his guards or is just old-fashioned in his sensibilities, there’s still no reason why fighters outside of the guard should follow their standard. Even some of the royal sentries don’t follow this theming, as seen with Doggo and Sans (who’s technically a sentry):

With the abundance of knight-themed royal guard and sentry enemies that exist already, Toby could’ve easily designed the Core Mercenaries to more accurately fit with the Core’s futuristic theme. Doesn’t it seem a little too coincidental that Everyman would wind up as part of the same amalgamate as these otherwise out-of-place knights?

When we look at the other amalgamates, we can see that Lemon Bread (a.k.a. Shyren’s sister) is made up of Waterfall enemies. Endogeny is made up entirely of dog-based enemies. These two amalgamates each have a “theme” for their component monsters that fits the “main” named monster they’re each made of, and Reaper Bird has a clear theme of its own. Why would Everyman be paired with a bunch of knights if he was not connected to them in some way?

Even the Undertale artbook groups Everyman’s concept art with the Core Mercenaries, specifically the ones that look the most like knights and wizards in-game. The book also repeats the name “Everyman” and Toby’s cryptic phrase of “Just a good guy who shows up on occasion.”

Perhaps Everyman knew the Core mercenaries when he was alive? Were they his fellow knights? Or did they work for him before he fell down and they had to then lend their services elsewhere?

“The Knight? Seriously?”

Some of you may be shaking your heads dismissively at the idea of Everyman being the Knight (or you more likely clicked over to another tab by now). I mean, just look at the guy:

What part of this design makes you think “knight”, let alone THE Knight? Well, Seam does refer to the Knight as a “strange” knight, and Everyman certainly fits that bill. But more importantly, we haven’t seen an actual overworld sprite for Everyman yet—we’ve only seen some graffiti and a couple of magic bullet attacks, which are always abstract and simplified.

Not pictured: Froggit, Migosp, Temmie, Moldbygg, Tsunderplane, Mettaton, or Endogeny.

Everyman’s “proper” design would almost certainly differ from his Pillsbury Doughboy-esque bullet sprite, especially if he’s wearing a cloak or a suit of armor. And even if his design doesn’t differ that much, so what? It’s not like this series has ever had an opponent that looks goofy or non-threatening, right?

Another little tidbit I noticed: one of Reaper Bird’s attacks consists of Everyman repeatedly removing his own head.

Or maybe it’s not his head? Perhaps it’s a helmet? Like one that a knight would wear? After all, it’s not unheard of for helmets to have beak-like protrusions.

And this is a series where helmets can come in any shape or size to better fit the needs of the wearer.

Just some food for thought.

The Gaster connection

It’s time to address the elephant in the room: “Isn’t Gaster supposed to be the Knight?” If you haven’t heard by now, this is one of the prevailing theories in the fandom. To be honest, if the Knight ends up not being Everyman then Gaster is the next-best candidate, imo, but these two theories don’t have to be mutually-exclusive. I think a case can be made that Everyman and Gaster are connected in some way.

Let me say up front that this section is highly speculative (unlike the previous sections, which clearly aren’t the least bit speculative). We’re dealing with two super-obscure characters who’ve yet to make a proper on-screen appearance in either game. It’s already hard enough to figure out how either of them connect to the broader Undertale universe, let alone to each other, but I’ll give it a shot.

For starters, we can affirm that both Gaster and Everyman are linked to the True Lab. There’s no shortage of fan theories and speculation on Gaster’s prior usage of the True Lab in his own experiments and I won’t get into all that here, but suffice it to say the True Lab has Gaster’s name written all over it.

(Am I the only one who thinks the DT Extractor looks more like Everyman’s head than it does a Gaster Blaster? Forget I said anything.)

We’ve covered how Everyman appears as one of Reaper Bird’s attacks. Interestingly, the amalgamate Memoryhead has an attack that resembles the head of Mysteryman, the figure believed to be Gaster (which I’ll assume here for simplicity’s sake).

If we follow the logic of my prior “Everyman is the named/important monster that makes up Reaper Bird, fitting the pattern of other amalgamates” argument, then Gaster (or pieces of him) could fill the same role for the Memoryheads.

Everyman and Gaster’s sprites both have the suffix of “man” in Undertale’s game files. Here are all the sprites that use this same naming scheme:

strangeman - Everyman

mysteryman - “Gaster”

snowman - gives you the snowman piece

riverman - a.k.a. River Person

darkman - the shadowy overworld sprites used for the Core Mercenaries

watchingman - The spoon-shaped amalgamate that tucks Frisk into bed

The snowman’s inclusion is a bit of a fluke, because what else would you call a snowman without using “man” in the name? If we exclude the snowman, each instance of “man” represents a mysterious figure that ties back to Everyman and/or Gaster.

We’ve already covered the connection between Everyman and the Core Mercenaries, and it’s easy to connect the “watchingman” amalgamate with the True Lab. River Person is also frequently linked to Gaster in fan theories (and they allude to “the man from the other world” and “the man who speaks in hands”), so what we’re left with is a close-knit community of strange, mysterious "man”s.

This naming scheme looks very intentional on Toby’s part, and he seems to be continuing it in Deltarune by referring to the secret unseen NPC who gives you the egg behind the tree in Scarlet Forest as simply “a man.”

[Image transcript: Narration from the secret egg room. The text box states: “(Well, there is a man here.)” End image transcript]

The Knight’s “Strange Son”?

Remember when I said I’d get back to the Knight’s “strange son”? That’s now. I’m a little iffy on this topic because it involves stacking a whole ton of assumptions onto a single line of dialogue that’s phrased in an ambiguous way. But, if it means what I think it means, it could shed a ton of light on Everyman’s possible connection to Gaster and whether either of them are the Knight.

When you ask Seam about the “Kingdom”, Seam says this:

[Image transcript: Three of Seam’s text boxes arranged vertically. In order, they read: “Historically, this land was ruled by the Four Kings, from CARD CASTLE to the East. But, recently, a strange knight appeared... And three of the kings were locked away. The remaining king put him and his strange son into power.” End image transcript]

Let’s focus on that last sentence. On my first playthrough I misread this line as “the knight put the king and his strange son into power” because that sounds a lot closer to the events that happened—the Spade King and his “strange son” Lancer are in power now because the three kings were locked away, presumably by the Knight.

But the actual text states the opposite—the remaining king (Spade King) put him (the Knight) and his strange son (i.e., the Knight’s son) into power. Or does it? The line could also read as—the remaining king (Spade King) put him (the Knight) and his (the King’s) strange son (Lancer) into power. The second way is awkwardly-structured but technically valid. And this is assuming that Toby didn’t make any grammatical errors when he typed these lines, which he has done on occasion.

[Image transcript: A dialogue box where Dr. Alphys says “I felt so guilty knowing I hadn’t do anything to stop you.” End image transcript.]

Not to be too hard on Toby, but even if Seam’s line is grammatically correct it’s still clunky and murky in its conception—at this point in the game we’ve only just been introduced to Lancer and the fact that his dad is the King, and now this line is potentially introducing yet another father/son duo that is closely connected with Lancer’s dad—is it any wonder that this line is often glossed over by fans?

The second reading, where Lancer is the “strange son,” is also awkward because the Spade King would have little need to put Lancer “into power”. Lancer was already a prince and, presumably, already wielded power in that role. Various NPCs make reference to Lancer bossing them around, and such a thing could’ve easily happened before the three kings were deposed.

If we take Seam’s line with the first reading (where the Knight has a “strange son”) and assume there were no grammatical errors, then this is the only time in chapter 1 that the Knight is ever referred to as having a son. It’s also the only time that the Knight is addressed with pronouns, implying that the Knight is male. If true, this would rule out the theory that Kris (or any potential alter ego that Kris has) is the knight, since Kris is neither male nor do they have a son. This would also rule out Susie, who’s never been a popular contender for being the Knight but is referred to as a “dark knight” on her stats page.

Who made who?

So then, who’s male, widely believed to be the Knight, and is often depicted as having one or more sons?

This (alleged) guy!

“But wait,” you might ask, “isn’t your theory that Everyman is the Knight?” Well, the Knight and his “strange son” seem to be working as a duo in the scenario that Seam outlines, given that the Spade King put both of them “into power.”

Because of Everyman’s connections to the Knight that I’ve laid out, plus the more popular theory that Gaster is the Knight, it’s possible that one may be the Knight and the other may be the Knight’s “strange son.” The way I see it, it doesn’t make a huge difference which one is which.

Now, I don’t think that Gaster and Everyman would be father and son in the strict biological sense. There are a number of reasons for this, but for starters I’m not even sure if Everyman and Gaster are the same species. My inclination is that Everyman is a monster, while Gaster may be a darkner. The latter is mostly my own guess and springboards off of a popular theory that Sans is a darkner, but it’s a whole other can of worms that I won’t get into now.

More importantly, Gaster is strongly implied to have some sort of connection to Sans and Papyrus. All three of them are also connected with special fonts that they each use. As far as I can tell, there’s no widely-used font by the name of “Everyman”, so this would imply that Everyman is not a skeleton and therefore not biologically related to them. However, there’s more than one way to start a family.

Gaster was the royal scientist in Undertale’s universe and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he (or his potential Deltarune counterpart) could find the means to create life forms artificially.

[Image transcript: The vessel creation scene from Deltarune. The on-screen text says “YOU HAVE CREATED A WONDERFUL FORM.” End image transcript.]

Everyman could be a creation of Gaster’s and thus he’d be Gaster’s “son”.

There’s also another possibility: Everyman is Gaster’s creator. We know that the Knight is pulling new dark fountains out of the Earth. I think the Knight, regardless of who they are, must be able to survive without a dark fountain to give their body form, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to venture into areas where new fountains have yet to be pulled up. The Knight is almost certainly a lightner, and I’ve already detailed why I think Everyman is a lightner as well.

We don’t fully understand how dark fountains interact with darkners, but it’s stated multiple times that dark fountains “give form” to the Dark World.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Ralsei’s narration says “Today the FOUNTAIN OF DARKNESS-” and continues into the right screenshot, saying: “The geyser that gives this land form-” End image transcript.]

In the dummied-out manual pages, Ralsei also mentions how his dark fountain gives his body form.

[Image transcript: Ralsei’s manual excerpt, whic says “Dedicated to The unending pillar of darkness that gives my body form.” End image transcript]

Darkners need dark fountains in order to maintain their forms. They may not even be able to survive at all without them. From this point of view, when the Knight creates new dark fountains he’s bringing new darkners to life. If Gaster is a darkner himself, then it’s not unthinkable to imagine that Everyman may have brought him to life in this way and could thus be called his “father”. Seam does refer to lightners as the “creators” of darkners, after all.

[Image transcript: Seam’s dialogue box saying “They were like Gods to us. Our protectors. Our creators. Those who gave us purpose...” End image transcript.]

Ultimately the question of who’s the father and who’s the son is purely speculative. We don’t even know for sure if the Knight has a son, let alone whether it’s Everyman, Gaster, or someone else entirely. It’s very much a “the chicken or the egg?” kind of question.

[Image transcript: Two images. The right is a screenshot of the egg room with narration stating “(You received an Egg)”. End image transcript.]

Hmm...

“Seriously, who is Everyman?”

Let’s bring this home with the question we started with: Who is Everyman? I’ve gone into evidence that he existed as an actual person in Undertale and will likely play a role in Deltarune, but this doesn’t tell us much about the kind of character he is. We don’t even know if “Everyman” is his real name.

If Everyman is indeed a prominent character in Deltarune then there are two possibilities: 1.) he’s a brand new character we’ve never met before, or 2.) he’s someone that we have met before. The first option, while a strong possibility, doesn’t leave us with much to talk about, so let’s look at the second.

Right out the gate I can confidently say that Everyman is not a character that we talked to or had significant interaction with in Undertale. The obvious reason is that he was busy being stuck inside Reaper Bird and he couldn’t have been in two places at once (as far as we know). This means that Everyman would have to be a character introduced in Deltarune chapter 1.

I’ve said before that I believe Everyman is a lightner, so this would rule out any dark world characters. That leaves us with the residents of Hometown who didn’t have direct counterparts in Undertale’s story.

After careful consideration I’ve narrowed the field to two suspects:

Father Alvin

Father Alvin has always struck me as an oddity. He seems like an important member of Hometown’s community, and yet none of the other residents ever talk about him. He’s also conspicuously absent from Undertale’s universe.

The most notable thing about Father Alvin is that his church seems to worship “the Angel”.

[Image transcript: Father Alvin saying “Let the Angel’s power light your way.” End image transcript.]

Ralsei’s prophecy states that the three heroes must seal the dark fountains in order to banish the “Angel’s Heaven.”

[Image transcript: Two Deltaunre screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, Ralsei’s narration says “Only they can seal the fountains.” The right screenshot continues, saying: “And banish the ANGEL’S HEAVEN.” End image transcript.]

This would put the heroes at odds with both the Knight (who’s creating fountains) and whoever is serving this Angel. We can only speculate on the Knight’s motives, but what if he’s acting in service to the Angel?

Something that isn’t brought up much in the fandom is the religious reverence that darkners give to their fountains. The King of Spades refers to the fountains that the Knight creates as “holy” fountains.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the King of Spades says “Holy Fountains, whose shadows are creating a new world...” The right screenshot continues, saying “OUR world.” End image transcript.]

The soundtrack that plays at the Fountain is called “The Holy.” Dark fountains can seemingly create life, so it’s easy to imagine the Knight viewing his own mission as some sort of holy rite.

As far as evidence goes for Alvin being Everyman/the Knight, the biggest clue is the drawing signed by Alvin that shows up in the supply closet at the end of chapter 1.

Every other object in the closet represents a part of the dark world that Kris and Susie visited, and yet at no point do they encounter a dark world manifestation of this drawing. We know that the Knight visited Card Castle previously, so this drawing could be meant to represent the Knight’s presence in that part of the dark world.

It’s also worth noting how most of the closet’s toys are arranged from left to right in the order that Kris and Susie encountered them on their journey. Alvin’s drawing is on the far right, just past the open cabinet drawer (i.e., Card Castle), implying that Alvin’s drawing was either at the fountain or that it was effectively the “next” thing that Kris and Susie would’ve encountered if they had stayed.

It’s hard to make out what the drawing could be beyond being a “poorly-drawn picture of a green turtle”, as the flavor text explains. Could it be Everyman? Or is it just a reference to Bold and Brash? Both? Neither? The world may never know. Or it may know when the full game comes out.

Can I also add how strange it is that Alvin’s drawing is in the closet to begin with? Alvin looks to be a pretty old dude, so why would his drawing still be in a school that he no longer attends? I don’t have an answer, I just think it’s weird.

Other clues that could point to Alvin being Everyman are that he is, scientifically speaking, old-looking, which would line up with my hypothesis of Undertale’s Everyman being an older monster who fell down before becoming Reaper Bird.

Alvin also vaguely resembles Everyman as far as their proportions are concerned.

It’s by no means a perfect match, especially if we factor in Alvin’s shell, but both characters possess a round head with some sort of beak or proboscis.

If Everyman actually is Father Alvin, then the title “Everyman” could be a reference to The Summoning of Everyman, a 15th-century religious morality play. I won’t get into the specifics here, but the play focuses on a character named Everyman who must prepare for his inevitable death and judgment for his deeds in life. I don’t really know how much that would tie into Deltarune’s themes or if it’s even a deliberate reference to begin with, so make of it what you will.

Father Alvin was the first character that I suspected of being Everyman when I started writing this theory, but there’s one major sticking point that prevents me from fully embracing the idea: the fact that he lacks a character portrait for his dialogue boxes.

This may seem like a minor nitpick, but dialogue portraits indicate when a character is important to the story, and it would be a pretty big oversight on Toby’s part if a (presumably) recurring antagonist wasn’t given a portrait. Even a three-scene wonder like Rouxls Kaard was given a portrait.

It’s true that recurring characters like Napstablook and Monster Kid weren’t given portraits in Undertale...

But Deltarune has greatly expanded the number of characters with portraits this time around, and we can already infer that Noelle (who had a portrait in chapter 1) will be an important character going forward:

Given Alvin’s limited dialogue in chapter 1 and his lack of a portrait, I’m more inclined to believe that he’ll end up being a minor character, in which case he’d almost certainly not be the Knight (and therefore not Everyman). But who knows, maybe Toby will give him a portrait in the full game.

Thankfully, we have another candidate who might be Everyman:

The Ice-E’s Employees

You think I’m joking? Trust me, you’ll know when I’m joking.

I didn’t initially make the connection between Ice-E’s and Everyman until I saw a post from @curioscurio that pointed me in that direction.

Let’s go back to the Everyman graffiti that appears in Hometown.

Notice how the drawing right next to it resembles Ice-E’s head? I can’t believe this was staring me in the face the whole time and I never realized the connection.

Another point in favor of the Ice-E’s workers is that we don’t even know what two of them look like. We know that Burgerpants is one, and another is implied to be the Nice Cream Bunny that we met in Undertale.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the Ice-E’s employee says “Psst, can I tell you a mascot secret? I only started working here because...” The right screenshot continues, saying “The logo made me think it was an ice-cream shop...” End image transcript.]

But this still leaves the “purple guy” and “The Warrior”, who remain in full costume for chapter 1, meaning that one of them could resemble Everyman underneath their mask.

Speaking of The Warrior, he certainly fits the bill as being “strange.” His title wouldn’t be out of place among the likes of The Knight, and his dialogue refers to the hospital’s medical staff as “white wizards”, which fits with the medieval theming that’s associated with Everyman’s mercenary cohorts in Undertale.

[Image transcript: Two Deltarune screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, the Warrior says “This castle’s WHITE WIZARDs relegated me to this HEALING CHAMBER...” The right screenshot continues, saying “But my BLOOD is BOILING FOR BATTLE!!!” End image transcript.]

Speaking of the Core Mercenaries, here’s an interesting tidbit:

[Image transcript: Two Undertale screenshots side-by-side. In the left screenshot, a Core NPC says “As a youth, I would sneak out to play by this creepy flaming pit.” The right screenshot continues, saying “Since the CORE is always re-arranging, it was like a game trying to find it.” End image transcript.]

I used to assume that the Core Mercenaries were older monsters who fought in the human-monster war, which would explain their insistence on dressing up as old-timey knights and wizards. However, these lines of dialogue imply that the Mercenaries are far younger—young enough to visit the Core when they were kids.

So why would a bunch of younger monsters dress up like old-school knights and wizards? Simple: they’re LARPers. This would explain why their more casual overworld dialogue doesn’t match their overly-serious battle dialogue whatsoever—the battle is over and, thus, so is the act.

What does this have to do with Ice-E’s? Simple. The Warrior is also a LARPer. But he takes it a step further and never lets the act slip. According to Burgerpants, he terrorizes customers with war chants during his day job, and we see him keeping up the act while he’s injured in the hospital. It’s clear that he’s living in a fantasy world, and someone like that would have every reason to spend time in a strange dark world that “seems like” fantasy.

[Image transcript: Lyrics from Deltarune’s credits theme. It says: “And the places that you know seem like fantasy”. End image transcript.]

Someone like him could grow attached to such a place and want to see it spread as far and wide as possible, with no regard for how it would affect the boring “real world”. All he’d need to do is create new dark fountains to sustain this fantasy world.

I also find it interesting that The Warrior is in the hospital during chapter 1. Burgerpants claims that this is the result of “pizza-related injuries.”

[Image transcript: Two dialogue boxes from Burgerpants. Read from top to bottom, it says “The Warrior - Thankfully absent due to pizza-related injuries. Constantly terrorizing customers with war chants.” End image transcript.]

But what if there was another reason? We can see signs of “some kind of struggle” in the King of Spade’s throne room, complete with tattered wall banners.

[Image transcript: Narration in the Spade King’s throne room. The text box says “(Wall banners. They seem to have been through some kind of struggle...)” End image transcript.]

What if the Knight sustained injuries when he overthrew the three kings and had to go to the hospital afterwards? A “struggle” implies that there was some resistance involved.

Another interesting coincidence is that the previews for Deltarune Chapter 2 strongly imply that it will take place in a dark world that forms in the hospital.

Earlier previews have also implied that Noelle will have a larger role in Chapter 2, and she’d have every reason to be in the hospital visiting her father when things hit the fan.

It feels awfully convenient that a new dark world springs up right in the spot where the Warrior is. I wouldn’t be surprised if chapter 2 gives us our first glimpse of the Knight in person, and what better way than a surprise run-in with the Warrior?

Some of you may be asking why I’d suggest a minor character like The Warrior might be the Knight when he has a single line of dialogue and no dialogue portrait? Simple: characters tend not to have portraits when their face is hidden from view. We see this with Undyne in Undertale:

She doesn’t gain a dialogue portrait until after she removes her helmet. This is also true of Burgerpants in Deltarune.

So, unlike Father Alvin, The Warrior has an excuse for not having a dialogue portrait yet. While Father Alvin has some compelling evidence supporting him being the Knight/Everyman, The Warrior has no major counter-argument that I can think of (unlike Father “no portrait” Alvin), so I give The Warrior the edge as far as Everyman suspects go.

I’d also like point out that if Gaster ends up not being the Knight or the Knight’s “Strange Son,” then we could get a two-for-one deal of Father Alvin as the Knight and The Warrior as his strange son. Definitely not the most likely outcome, but technically possible! I’d imagine those two would have a hilariously awkward dynamic if they were related.

Closing Summary

Wow, this post went on for a while! Let’s summarize what we’ve learned today.

Everyman (in Undertale)

Was likely a monster who “fell down”

Became part of the Reaper Bird Amalgamate

Likely knew the Core Mercenaries

Is connected to butterfly imagery

Described as “strange”

May or may not have looked like his bullet sprite

May or may not have been connected to “mysteryman”/Gaster

May or may not have been connected to the River Person

Everyman (in Deltarune)

Is alive and active

Is known to both lightners and darkners

Can most likely travel between the light and dark worlds

Is known of by Jevil

May or may not resemble his Undertale bullet sprite

May or may not be connected to “mysteryman”/Gaster

May or may not be Father Alvin

May or may not be an Ice-E’s employee

May or may not be the Knight or the Knight’s “strange son”

The Knight

Described as “strange”

Is pulling up new dark fountains from the Earth

Has been to the dark world

Is possibly a lightner/monster

Is connected to the Spade King, who uses butterfly imagery

Overthrew the other three kings at Card Castle

Is known of by Jevil and Seam

May or may not be Everyman

May or may not be “mysteryman”/Gaster

May or may not be the “strange someone” who changed Jevil

Likely male

Likely has a “strange son”

Everyman and the Knight (similarities)

Both are likely monsters

Both are alive and active in Deltarune’s world

Both are (presumably) male

Both have a presence in the dark world

Both are known by Jevil and may have met him previously

Both are associated with butterfly imagery to some degree

Both are connected to knight imagery

Both are described as “strange”

Both may be connected to “mysteryman”/Gaster

Both are foreshadowed in Deltarune chapter 1

Final Conclusions

So what do I really think? I’m reminded of Undertale’s original Kickstarter demo and how much of the full game’s story was left out of it. Right now we’re in a similar situation with Deltarune. I can’t view any of my theories with certainty because at the end of the day I have no idea what Toby’s going to write for the full game, but I can guess.

If I had to put a number to it, I’d say the odds of Everyman making further appearances in Deltarune is 95% and the odds of him being the Knight is about 66%. There’s always the possibility that Gaster will usurp the title of Knight and leave Everyman as the Knight’s “strange son” or as the far less illustrious role of “no one particularly important”.

If Everyman is in the game, I’d give 50/50 odds that he’s one of the Ice-E’s employees, mainly due to the Warrior’s situation lining up well with Chapter 2′s (likely) setting. I’d then give a 25% chance it’s Father Alvin and the remaining 25% as “anyone else”.

Thanks for reading all of this (or skipping to the end). I’ve seen hardly anyone talk about our favorite strange little man and I just wanted to get the word about him out there. Even if you don’t agree with my conclusions, I’m happy to (hopefully) ignite further discussion over this often-overlooked character.

For now I’ve said all that I can say on the topic. All we can do is wait and see what happens. Fingers crossed.

Special thanks to @curioscurio for inspiring me to make this post in the first place.

Date published: December 10th, 2020

#deltarune #undertale #everyman #undertale theory #gaster

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iztarshi · 3 years

Text

Identity and Hua Cheng

I’ve been trying to write this one for a while only to be stymied by the fact that Hua Cheng deliberately obscures his identity to such an extent that it’s difficult for readers to get a solid grip on. Hua Cheng’s identity, as he presents it to the world, is smoke and mirrors. He’s a shapeshifter who doesn’t use his true form, all his names are equally false, and his insincere smile and presentation of himself as acting on a whim obscures what he actually means seriously. Hua Cheng is a butterfly trying to hide that he was ever a caterpillar and to that end anything that relates to his past in any way comes with layers of misdirection.

What he hides, though, is who Hua Cheng is, not that he is Hua Cheng. His symbols and colours are consistent enough that everyone meeting him usually knows who he is. For instance, in the gambling hall they’ve never seen his true skin before but find it unremarkable he’s wearing a new one. Nor does it give them any difficulty in recognising him.

It’s only around Xie Lian that he actually tries to disguise himself and even then it doesn’t seem as if he’s trying very hard. He’s just trying to be non-threatening and that’s tricky if you present yourself as a ghost king.

Xie Lian

Hua Cheng’s love for Xie Lian is at the core of who he is. As a ghost it’s his driving obsession, even as a human it shaped him. Xie Lian once told Hua Cheng “live for me” and Hua Cheng took him precisely at his word.

It’s not something Hua Cheng advertises, though, at least not before Xie Lian himself is back in the picture. If he decided to make it obvious then, given his general level of subtlety, everyone in the three realms would know. It’s not that he’s ashamed to love Xie Lian, although he might feel like Xie Lian should be ashamed to be loved by him. Mostly, I think, it’s just too close and vulnerable a thing for Hua Cheng to let other people near. He Xuan and Yin Yu seem to know, but before Xie Lian’s visit to ghost city (where Hua Cheng was not subtle at all) that seems to be it.

Despite keeping it to himself Hua Cheng does surround himself with symbols that evoke Xie Lian in ways discernable only to him. The coral pearl. The butterflies for someone seeking a flower-crowned god. The scimitar because Xie Lian said he should use one. The red umbrella because Xie Lian once gave him one.

He also acts on Xie Lian’s words - perhaps because they had so few interactions he tends to put a lot of weight on every one of them before getting to know Xie Lian as more of a person. Someone else’s meta suggested that Ghost City is at least partly a reaction to Xie Lian saying that things like the ghost lanterns should be sold in a specialised place to people who know what they’re getting - and Ghost City very much runs on those lines. Hua Cheng’s approach to the 33 gods he challenged was likely not just revenge but because Xie Lian said they were bullies who didn’t deserve to be gods.

Maio Heritage

There isn’t much attention drawn to this in the book - I think MXTX was worried about the implications? - but Hua Cheng’s use of silver jewellery points to this. Some of the motifs he uses, like the butterflies, have roots in maio culture as well as symbolic connections to Xie Lian.

It’s a shame we don’t get more of this, because it’s implies a choice on Hua Cheng’s part to reclaim a heritage he seems to have lost his connection to as a human. The jewellery is part of his ghost king persona, part of the self he crafted and chose to be.

Red

An important colour for Hua Cheng and one he seems to have reclaimed after people reviled him for his red eye. The eye itself is turned into a weapon, its curse into something under his control (... somewhat, E-ming is a wilful sword). The colour is worn almost as a warning, reclaiming the implications as well as the colour itself. Yes, seeing him probably is going to fuck you over. Yes, he is evil and demonic. He’s a ghost king! What are you going to do about it?

Wealth and Beauty

Hua Cheng is rich. He has a ridiculous amount of things which he doesn’t seem to care about at all beyond having.

Hua Cheng’s forms are always beautiful, to the point he’s referred to as appearing as “a seductive woman” despite having zero intention of ever seducing anyone except Xie Lian.

These are also the things he lacked as a child. Things he was ashamed of lacking - he hates the ugly, wretched child he used to be.

Lone Wolf?

This is one where he says he is but he is not. He grew up with no one on his side, ostracised by everyone, and it’s made him determinedly self-sufficient. He won’t let anyone have power over him and he keeps people at a careful distance, but he doesn’t actually like being alone.

With the ghosts of ghost city his bark is decidedly not worse than his bite but he does always bark before biting. They can mess around with him as much as they like up until he says “scram” - and then they are gone.

Having He Xuan in his debt seems like a way to keep the power balance on his side in a relationship that’s a bit more friendly than he intended to let it get. I strongly suspect he’s not getting paid back.

While Xie Lian’s not snarly about it, he’s also inclined to claim he’s fine on his own when he actually doesn’t like being alone at all. Put them together and no wonder they’re incredibly clingy.

#tgcf #tgcf spoilers #tgcf identity meta

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twilightprince101 · 3 years

Text

So I made an SCP entry for Bugsnax...

I thought with the ending and all of the disturbing stuff that this game has, it would fit perfectly with SCP stuff. Not to mention, there has to be an SCP equivalent in the Grumpus world. GCP? SGP? SCG? I dunno man, have some horror writing about muppets.

SCP-3470: Sentient Sustenance

[Heavy spoilers for Bugsnax ending]

Item #: SCP-3470 aka “Snaktooth Island”

Object Class: Keter

Special Containment Procedures: Due to its nature of being a landmass the most SCP teams can do is obscure its location to the populus. Efforts have been made to create rumors of numerous shipwrecks--akin to SCP-605 “Bermuda Triangle”--to deter the public from exploring the location. If unauthorized ships are witnessed crossing into the restricted zone, they are to be terminated immediately. Addendum: Due to the recent insubordination of Dr. [REDACTED]. All authorized personnel that enter or exit SCP-3470 are to be subjected to a rigorous screening process to ensure that no instances of SCP-3470-A are brought out of the restricted area without B Class Permission or higher. Further precautions being considered are a 10 minute test in which personnel seeking access to SCP-3470 are to be placed into an empty room with an instance of SCP-3470-A. If SCP personnel show any signs of wishing to consume SCP-3470-A, they are to be removed from the team immediately. Permission from Professor [REDACTED]. Is awaiting approval.

Description: SCP-3470 is a large landmass off of the coast of [REDACTED]. Spanning 50 mi^2 and nearing 1.5 mi in height. Several sections of SCP-3470 are flux in weather patterns, ranging from lush forests to arid deserts in the span of 3 miles. Although similar in appearance to locations such as [REDACTED]. And [REDACTED]. , further research concludes that flora are substantially different in chemical composition, containing traces of [REDACTED]. Which was only recently discovered. Due to this, nearly all flora encompassing the island are inedible, as digestion induces hazardous effects ranging from intense stomach pains to spastic vomiting.

The most significant aspect of SCP-3470 are various instances of sentient life, which are to be referred to as SCP-3470-A-[1-100]. SCP-3470-A take appearances of common food items, such as SCP-3470-A-1 [“Strabby”] taking the form of a ripe red strawberry with what appear to be dollar store googly-eyes [all instances of SCP-3470-A share the final trait]. All instances of SCP-3470-A vary in physique, behavioral patterns and similarities to their respective food item. Each instance also appears to have a “name” that it repeats ad nauseum despite not having observable mouths or vocal chords, making them easier to classify. Chemically however all are similar, containing faint traces of [REDACTED]. . This can be witnessed upon any attempt to alter SCP-3470-A instances from their base form, dissolving into an unknown inedible fluid, losing sentience in the process.

Due to SCP-3470’s flora being inedible, SCP-3470-A instances become the landmass’s only source of sustenance. Consumption of SCP-3470-A induces a drastic and instance side-effect of modifying the consumer’s limbs, thereby becoming SCP-3470-B. The limbs of SCP-3470-B instances vary depending on the instance of SCP-3470-A that has been consumed, alongside how many instances have been consumed prior to said event. Fundamentally however, all limbs modified take on the appearance of whatever the SCP-3470-A instance was impersonating. The more instances a subject consumes the more of their body transforms, beginning with the hands and feet and extending to the entire torso and face. The internal functions of the body remain intact along with full autonomous control, however the structure and physique of transformed limbs change drastically, such as an SCP-3470-B instance’s arm transforming into a banana after consuming an instance of SCP-3470-A-12 [“Banooper”]. These transformations subside in time [correlating to amount of SCP-3470-A instances consumed], with SCP-3470-B limbs reverting back to their original state, containing faint traces of [REDACTED].

Addendum 3470-B: Increased Exposure

Proceeding with experimentation with SCP-3470-A instances under Prof. [REDACTED]. , extended exposure and consumption of SCP-3470-A instances results in increasing addictive tendencies and side effects. File below contains audio files of experiments with Personnel D-125.

Dr. [REDACTED].: D-Class 125, approach SCP 3470-A-45.

D-125: What is…? Ok, seriously what the grump is this??? Like, I signed up for this expecting a lot of horrifying stuff, but-did someone slap googly-eyes on a piece of corn?!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : 125, please approach SCP-3470-A-45.

D-125: Yeah, yeah, alright. So… (to A-45 after approach), what are you supposed to be then? Did Dr. [REDACTED]. Have their kid put their arts and crafts project on display or-

A-45: Cobhopper!

D-125: GRUMPIN WHA- IT JUST TALKED?! IT MOVED IT’S LOOKING AT ME!!!

Dr. [REDACTED].: (whispering) so much for being the ‘toughest D-class around… ‘

D-125: So you’re telling me I just… eat it? The eyes too?

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Correct. Do not worry, upon further testing the eyes seem to be made of a material akin to valentine’s candy hearts (lie).

D-125: Huh… alright then. Down the hatch, I guess?

Sounds of eating, cries of A-45

Dr. [REDACTED]. : D-125, describe the flavor.

D-125: It’s… good actually! I was honestly expecting the insides to be guts or poison or something, but it’s actually pretty good! Nice and buttered to, a bit of salt? Reminds me of my mom’s barbeque.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : And the sensation of your leg transforming?

D-125: Huh? (125 looks down and notices their leg transformed into a head of corn). Oh… Well this is pretty cool I guess.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Any uncomfortable sensations?

D-125: Not really no. It’s weird… I can still feel my toes, but it’s like a peg leg. Actually, I think I can see a few kernels wiggling if I try. Neat!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Is… that it?

D-125: Yeah I think so, *chuckles,* this is actually pretty cool!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Hmm… (To recorder) Despite initial panic from witnessing A-45, subject D-125 has adjusted to transformation with record pace. Further research required.

D-125: Heya doc!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Greetings D-125. Have you adjusted to recent transformations?

D-125: Yeah it’s been going alright. The pineapple hair is a pretty nice dew all things considered, and the bacon tongue makes me look like a snake. I like it!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Pleased to hear it. Now, approach SCP-3470-A-52.

D-125: Alright, what’s on the menu today then? Who’re you little guy?

A-52: Sodi-D Sodi-D!

D-125: Huh, a drink this time. Change of pace I guess.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Please consume A-52.

D-125: Right away ma’am. Sir. Whatever.

Sound of soda can opening and drinking, cries of A-52.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : (To recorder) Upon the first drop of A-52’s fluid, transformation has already occurred, transforming the subject's ears into what appear to be soda can tabs. No further transformations appear to occur on consecutive gulps-wha (To D-125) Sir?!

Sounds of crunching, further cries of A-52, then silence.

D-125: Not bad! I don’t usually drink soda, beer’s more my thing personally, but it was pretty sweet! Just the right amount of sugar. And hey, new accessory!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : ...D-125, why did you eat A-52’s shell?

D-125: Huh?

Dr. [REDACTED]. : The… the can. Nobody has attempted to consume the can.

D-125: Oh. Uh…

Silence for 7 seconds

D-125: I dunno, I guess since the eyes were edible on the other guys, I thought the can would be here? Wasn’t too hard to eat, kinda like biting into ice. Didn’t hurt.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Very… interesting. This will be recorded for future experiments, thank you D-125.

D-125: No prob. And hey, call me Chuffee.

D-125: Hehey, candy corn teeth! Pretty sharp too, should make eating these things even easier!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : D-125, you’re nearing complete bodily transformation. Have you been experiencing any discomfort as of late? Any anomalies?

D-125: Nope, in fact I feel great! I used to have this crink in my back for the longest time, but now it’s gone! I’m more limber than I’ve been in ages!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Fascinating… very well then, thank you for your time.

D-125: ...wait, what? That’s it?

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Hm?

D-125: There isn’t any more left? I thought there would be a bit more.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : *sigh,* D-125, we’ve went over this last time. We cannot give you more than one instance a day due to 3470-A’s high caloric count. The instance you just ate was over twenty th-

D-125: You know you keep saying that. Didn’t you guys want to really figure out what’s with these things? When I ate that soda can you said yourself that nobody’s tried that before, so let’s go further! I’m still hungry anyways, I’m craving a burger if you got any like that.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Sir, please exit the room. I cannot give you any more than what I am authorized.

D-125: ……..You know, it’s interesting how your window is so high up there. I can hardly see you.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : ...excuse me?

D-125: You heard me [REDACTED]. , I can barely see you from down here. You can see exactly how I change, the new stuff I get… but I can’t see yours.

Silence for 15 seconds.

D-125: I know you’re holding out on me up there [REDACTED]. .

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Sir, I’ve told you countless times already. I can’t give you any more than I’m authorized.

D-125: (Sarcasm) Oh yeah, suuure. For all I know you guys are feasting away on these things up there, while leaving me for dust! Like seriously, a single popcorn kernel?! That’s it?!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Sir, that is all I can give you today. Please exi-

Sound of a door opening

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Wh- Professor [REDACTED]. ?

Professor [REDACTED]. : Hello D-125.

D-125: Oh great, another snob to tell me what to do. If you aren’t gonna feed me, then just shut up already! My stomach’s growling like crazy, and I’m not leaving until I get my meal!

Professor [REDACTED]. : Not to worry D-125, I’m fully prepared to grant your wish.

D-125: ...wait, really?

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Professor, what are you-

Professor [REDACTED]. : I listened to the log of your previous meal, and you raised a good point. If we at the SCP foundation wish to fully understand what these creatures are capable of, we must push the boundaries of what we believe are possible. So then…

(Sound of metal grinding, several overlapping cries of SCP-3470-A instances)

D-125: Oh, my…

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Professor, what are you doing?

Professor [REDACTED]. : Eat until you can’t eat anymore. Consider it my treat, to you.

D-125: Ooohohohohoooo yes!!! Now we’re talking!!! Come to papa little guys!!!

Professor [REDACTED]. : Subject so far has consumed 34 instances of 3470-A. Since consuming number 21 he has shown increased signs of vigor, despite eating half of his body mass.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Professor, please, stop him. This is-

Professor [REDACTED]. : (continuing) Upon complete transformation of limbs to SCP 3470-B instances, any further consumption appears to override a prior one. His leg, previously resembling a head of corn has transformed now into a roll of sushi. His tongue, once a strip of bacon, now a wad of chips.

D-125: (While eating) Mmmph! Oh my god, what are you a jar of pickles! More the merrier!

Sound of sloppy gulping, glass crunching, cries of SCP-3470-A-35

D-125: Ooogh, some noodles too! Love japanese food!

Sounds of rapid slurping, rapid glass crunching and licking.

Professor [REDACTED]. : Subject appears to have increased vigor in consuming 3470-A instances, not leaving a single crumb or shard left uneaten. A query: what is the chemical makeup of instances contained in glass jars or bowls? The bowls themselves? Further research required.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Chuffee please, stop! You’re going to hurt yourself!

Rapid, feral sounds of crunching and slurping.

Professor [REDACTED]. : Subject has now eaten approximately eaten 1.5 times his body mass yet continues to feat, now with no regards for table manners whatsoever. I have already called for a janitor to wait outside.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Chuffee stop!! You-

Laughter, slowly increasing in volume

D-125: This!! This is the best I’ve eaten in my entire life!!!

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Chuffee please-O-oh… oh my-

Professor [REDACTED]. : Subject’s left ear has disconnected itself from its host. There appear to be no signs of blood or even markings indicating he has had one at all-there goes a tooth!

D-125: Hooooh I knew you all were holding back on me!!! This stuff is delicious, amazing, spectacular!!! I’ll never go hungry again, no more rotting on the streets!!! This is all mine, you hear me?! Mine, MINE, MINE!!! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAH

Laughter continues for several seconds, sounds of objects falling to floor as volume slowly decreases, ending with a loud clatter.

Dr. [REDACTED]. : Ch-Chuffee, I- urp!

Sound of vomiting

Professor [REDACTED]. : Subject, after eating nearly twice his body mass, has had each limb separate from his core torso one by one, now fully resembling their respective food items, until his eyes transformed into SCP-3470-B instance, resembling the mixed nuts that made up his head. Soon after, his torso and head fell apart, scattering into mixed-nuts. I can not recognize Subject D-125 in the slurry.

More sounds of vomiting

Professor [REDACTED]. : These results are quite fascinating. Further research is required into these various side effects. End tape.

#bugsnax #scp #scp foundation #bugsnax spoilers #secure contain protect #my writing #my writings #twi talks #spoilers #((I love writing fucked up stuff like this))#tw horror #tw body horror #body horror #horror

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banigarubug · 4 years

Text

Finger Painting (Corpse x GN!Reader)

sorry for taking so long. pandemics, yanno? my goal is to post 5 today :)

Corpse simp here can u write smth for reader x corpse where reader is a painter/artist, just like, tooth rotting fluff or whatever you wanna do!!

you’re an artist, but corpse is definitely not. you have fun together anyways.

warnings: i swear as usual lol

Some days, there’s nothing you’d rather do than paint. Your fingers itch to create, and you sit in front of the canvas for hours even after you’ve finished sketching. Corpse, your boyfriend, can relate to your creative process in some ways, with his music and videos, but he isn’t exactly as good at ‘traditional’ art as you are.

But, well, you’re pretty convincing when you want to be. Which is probably why Corpse and you are sitting on the floor in front of the television as Bob Ross talks to you about trees.

Corpse is covered in paint when he falls back against the ground with a thud. “This is hard,” he whines.

“Corpse,” you scold him, but you’re smiling wildly at him anyway. “It’s not about how it looks. Just have fun with it.”

“I’m gonna paint a blank canvas,” he says seriously, lips threatening to break into a grin. You roll your eyes. “That would be a funny tweet.”

“If you keep your hands in frame you could post it on your Instagram,” you tease, and he laughs so hard his arm jerks and brings a line of green paint across nearly half of the canvas. He darts his head to look at you, jaw dropped in shock, and your hands fly to your face to cover your mouth. “I’m so sorry!” you squeak.

“I - I can’t believe you,” he says, and he looks like he might cry. “I spent so long on that fucking tree. How dare you.”

“I didn’t mean to!”

“How dare you.”

“Well, now you can paint all of it black,” you try, but he’s still staring at his canvas, heartbroken.

(He does paint it black, and posts a side by side comparison of his completely black canvas and your very expertly-crafted Bob Ross imitation, and captions it, We watched the same Bob Ross tutorial and this is what we created.)

Even if he’s not exactly the best artist, it’s fun to paint with him or even just around him. He’ll be on stream sometimes and you’ll stick headphones in and paint in the same room so that every once in a while, you can turn around and see him smiling at you.

But painting him is even better.

You can’t post most of those, except for obscure close-ups of his eyes or studies of the back of his head, but you don’t paint for other people, you paint for you. Some mornings, with the way the light falls perfectly across his face, you spend all day working on one piece that you are happy to keep to yourself. Most of the time, you take a picture to use as a reference, but when Corpse is visibly bored and you’re looking for inspiration, you convince him to be your muse.

The first time you make him join you for this, he’s obviously nervous. He asks you, as you drag him into the room with your canvas, “Am I gonna be a naked model or something?”

“Please keep your pants on,” you joke. “I just want you to sit still and look pretty.”

“That’s what I do best,” he replies.

It’s fun. He taps his foot the whole time and can barely sit still. You’ll let him play on his phone for a lot of the painting part but as you sketch, you’re insistent that he focuses. Of course, he takes this as an opportunity to stare at you the whole time.

At some point, you catch his stare, right around the time you’re drawing his eyes. “What?” you ask, laughing nervously.

“I love you,” he says. He’s said it before, a few times, but he savors those words for times he really means it, like he doesn’t want it to feel less special. It certainly feels special now.

“I love you too,” you reply, maybe a bit bashfully. You clear your throat and turn your attention back to the canvas. “Sit still,” you order, and he laughs, but obeys. He’d do whatever you asked of him.

As you finish the sketching, you look over and see him looking out the window as the light falls on him just right, and it reminds you of that feeling you had when you woke up, but this time, he’s awake. You decide you’ll paint it another day. For now, you set your pencil down and take his hand into yours.

#corpse husband #corpse husband imagine #corpse #corpse x reader #corpse husband x reader #corpse husband fic #corpse husband fanfic #corpse husband x gn reader #corpse husband x y/n #corpse husband x you #liz writes stuff

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mochegato · 3 years

Text

Capturing a Dream

Chapter 11 – That Keeps Out the Danger

Chapter 1 Chapter 10

“How are we supposed to eat? We’re going to starve. You’re leaving us to starve. To wither away into nothingness.” Wally collapsed dramatically onto the kitchen island.

“Oh my God, drama queen. You don’t even live here. Go home and eat.” Chimera threw a kitchen towel in his face. He grabbed the towel as it hit him and fell back off of the barstool in an exaggerated drop, crying out as he fell.

“Yeah, Wally. You don’t even go here,” Robin grinned reaching to grab the cupcake left unguarded on his plate. He grumbled when Wally was able to get back up, get onto the barstool, and swipe it back again before he could take a bite. Chimera giggled at the reference until Robin turned his mischievous grin on her. Her giggles quickly quieted and her expression turned apprehensive. “And we don’t want to interrupt Chi’s date.”

Chimera rolled her eyes. Robin and Wally had been teasing her relentlessly since they found out she was going to be out of the Cave for the weekend and wouldn’t give them any details. They made the completely logical leap to claiming it was a date with Roy. She honestly wasn’t sure if it was intended to annoy her or Conner more, or more likely both. She was positive Robin’s ultimate goal in life was to antagonize every member of the Team and the Justice League with one comment, like the annoying, teenage menace he was. Honestly, she liked seeing it; a glimpse of normalcy in his life. But, that didn’t mean she appreciated it when it was turned on her.

“Yeah, you sure you won’t tell us where you two are going?” Wally teased, his words obscured by the bite of cupcake still in his mouth. “Roy won’t tell us anything.”

Chimera gave him a flat look. “Roy’s in India this week.”

“Ah, so that’s where you’re going. Guess portals have their advantages,” Wally snickered, waggling his eyebrows at her.

“Funny how she knew exactly what his plans were for this weekend, don’t you think, Conner,” Robin commented in exaggerated innocence, laying his arm on Conner’s shoulder.

Chimera’s mouth dropped, scandalized by the accusation. “You’re the one that told me.”

“I have no recollection of that conversation…” he answered seriously. He looked at the floor and shook his head, his hand stroking his chin in thought. “Actually, I do.” The grin he shot her was nothing short of terrifying. He leaned across the island to get in her face. “You asked me where Roy was going to be. You were very insistent,” he grinned, pushing into her face.

“I hate you. And if I had to ask you, that means I didn’t ask him, dork,” she pointed out, shoving Robin’s head away.

“Hey!” He cried out. “My hair!” He automatically reached up to fix his hair.

Chimera raised an eyebrow at him, a feral grin spreading across her face. “Oh no. No, no, no. Chi…” he warned, moving off the chair and backing slowly away from her. Once he got to the door, he took off running at full speed. Conner and Wally watched as Robin jumped the railing to drop down to the floor below. Chimera raced after him, jumping the railing with just as much grace as Robin. They could just hear their footsteps as they ran and accidentally collided with different objects.

“Really hope they don’t accidentally destroy anything,” Conner observed casually, swiping his own cupcake and taking a bite, “…again.” He smiled at the sound of Chimera and Robin’s laughter echoing off the walls.

“If they do, it won’t be accidental,” Wally noted as he stuffed his fourth cupcake in his mouth, glaring at Conner for taking one of the cupcakes Chimera had made for everyone. He turned sharply back toward where the two had run off to when they heard a loud yelp and even louder cackle. He shook his head and leaned back, waiting for Robin’s walk of shame back into the kitchen. He never outraced Chimera. She always caught him. He wasn’t sure why Robin even tried instead of just accepting his fate.

It only took a minute for Robin to slope back into the room and slouch back into his chair, pouting the entire way. He tried to subtly fix his now extremely ruffled hair. Chimera was only a few steps behind him, trying incredibly unsuccessfully to hold in her giggles.

“I hope your date sucks,” Robin grumbled into the floor.

“Not a date,” she singsonged and booped him on the nose.

“Hope Roy feels that way too,” Wally smirked, but his eyes were on Conner with an amused gleam at his scowl. Conner took a deep cleansing breath. He knew they were just teasing, but he really didn’t appreciate the joke.

Chimera pulled at Robin’s hoodie pocket, looking in it with a furrowed brow. “What are you doing?” Robin demanded, slapping her hands away.

“I’m looking for the brain call you two share. Someone has to have it,” she shrugged. “I figured it was your turn with it today.”

“I have it today, thank you very much!” Wally objected around the mouthful of his fifth cupcake.

Chimera stared at him blankly for a few seconds. Robin rolled his eyes and slumped against the island. “Idiot.”

Chimera shook her head. “I can’t believe they’re letting you guys go out unchaperoned,” she muttered

Robin scoffed. “I’m from Gotham. And I do this,” he motioned around them. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m from Gotham,” Chimera mocked him in a poor imitation of his voice. “Being from Gotham doesn’t automatically give you better judgement than people from other places.”

Robin glowered at her, but before he could retort she continued in a softer tone. “I know you can take care of yourself and you’re responsible… on missions. But this isn’t a mission and you’re a kid. You should get to be one, which means making stupid decisions that adults try to talk you out of and they,” she motioned toward Wally and Conner, “don’t count. They’re more childish than you.”

“Hey,” Wally objected again. He narrowed his eyes at her. “Roy’s never going to kiss you if you keep being so mean.”

Chimera rolled her eyes. “I’m meeting my best friends.”

“Wow, already introducing him to the family. You and Roy are really moving quickly,” Robin quipped.

Chimera groaned and looked to the ceiling for patience. “You are such a little dick.”

Robin froze momentarily. Conner looked down to hide his grin, but there was no hiding his chuckles. Wally, however, was laughing so hard he was bent over holding his stomach, his body shaking with laughter so violently, he almost fell off his chair. Chimera gave him a concerned look, but Robin glared at him. After a few minutes of unbroken laughter, he finally tamed his laughter enough to pat Robin on the head and gasp out, “You really are… such a little Dick.” Robin lunged for him but he sped out of his reach before he could make contact.

Conner shook his head and focused back on Chimera. “Can you say where you guys are going? Or will that compromise your identity?”

Chimera cocked her head to the side in thought before quickly shaking her head. “I don’t think so. We’re going to Metropolis. My best friend wants a tour of the Daily Planet… and to try to meet Clark Kent or Lois Lane.”

Wally perked up. “You don’t say.”

Chimera grimaced. “Yeah. She’s a huge fan of them. She desperately wants to meet them.”

The boys started laughing at her. Robin finally spoke up with a devilish grin. “You know, you could make that happen.”

Chimera threw her arms out in defeat. “I know! But not without compromising my identity. And even if I could, how would that even work? Hey Supes, totally unrelated to me or my identity in any way, could you meet with this person I absolutely do not know on a very personal level for many years? Ugh. This is going to be awkward as hell. I’m going to be on his home turf… where he works… his territory. I’m going to have to pretend I don’t know him and didn’t go all Electro on him.”

Conner smiled at her catastrophizing. “He likes you. You remember that, right? And at the time, he was the bad guy so, if anything, you went all Storm on him.” He chuckled at the deadpan look she gave him. “If it makes you feel better, he’s off-world today and tomorrow.”

Chimera perked up with a hopeful grin. “Really?” Conner nodded. She bounced on her toes in excitement.

The action was so adorable on her Conner couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. “Yes,” he reassured her.

Her smile suddenly turned into a wary look. “Are you sure? How do you know?”

Conner moved closer and rested his hands on her shoulders. “I talked to him. We’re trying to make time to hang out so we can get closer. So incredibly awkward but… anyway. He said he couldn’t do anything this weekend because he’ll be off-world.”

She gave him a sympathetic smile and moved under his arms to give him a hug. She lessened the pressure and rested her head on his chest, keeping her arms around him. He returned the gesture, wrapping his arms around her as well. “I’m glad to hear that. Not the he’s not here part, the he’s trying part… well, actually, both parts. I’m not going to lie. I’m really happy he won’t be there when I am. But I’m sad you guys can’t hang out this weekend.”

Conner smiled into her hair. “It’s okay. There’ll be other weekends. At least I know he isn’t trying to avoid me this time. It just means we get to have a boy’s weekend instead.” His expression turned concerned and he pulled back just enough to try to look her in the eyes. “Are you sure you’re going to be okay though? Last time you hung out with your friends it… you didn’t exactly come home happy.”

She smiled up at him. “Yeah. I’ll be fine. I’m excited. It’s going to be a lot of fun.” She gave him an extra squeeze before starting to pull away. “I won’t be in P… home,” she quickly corrected herself, “this time, so it should be good.”

Conner pulled her back into a tight hug. “Okay, well… if you need us, I’m only one call away… or you know just show up wherever we are,” he whispered.

She craned her neck so she could rest her chin on his chest and look at him with a smile. “Portals have their advantages.”

“You two are disgusting! Get a room,” Wally groaned dramatically. He threw the towel Chimera had thrown at him earlier back at her. Chimera squeaked and jumped away from Conner, while Conner caught it before it could reach her. “You’re going to make Roy jealous if you keep it up.” Conner sent Wally a vicious glare that Wally completely ignored.

“Right. On that note…” She reached down for her bag but rolled her eyes at Robin when she saw he’d already grabbed it. “I’m stronger than you. You know that, right?”

“Yeah, don’t care,” Robin shrugged. “Wouldn’t want to disappoint Agent A with bad manners.”

She snorted and shook her head. “Sounds incredibly sexist, but whatever. Unless you’re planning on doing the same for them,” she motioned to Conner and Wally. Robin furrowed his brow at her, but kept his grip on her bag. “Then it isn’t manners, it’s sexism.”

He narrowed his eyes at her. “I’m going to tell A you said that.”

“Go ahead, I’ll own it,” she shrugged. “And he’ll agree with me.” She turned toward Wally and Conner with a small wave. “Okay, you guys have fun. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

Conner scoffed. “That doesn’t narrow it down much.” He grinned at her when she let out an offended scoff.

“Don’t worry, we won’t accidentally destroy anything. Can you say the same?” Wally grinned.

“I don’t destroy everything I touch,” she groused, “just almost everything,” she muttered the last bit to the floor with a frown. She quickly recovered and looked back up at him with an exaggerated smile. “But, with the three of you going out unsupervised, I highly doubt something isn’t going to end up destroyed intentionally.” She narrowed her eyes challengingly at Wally. “In fact, I bet my trip is less destructive than yours.”

Wally sat up and grinned back at her. “Oh, you’re on. Two dozen cupcakes every day for a week if I win. My choice of flavors.”

“And no eating any food I make for a week if I win,” she smirked back at him.

“You know, there’s more than just you two in on this bet,” Conner reminded them.

“Oh? And what is it you want from Chimera when we win?” Robin asked with a devious smirk.

Conner glared darkly at him, but his cheeks turned a bright red. “I get to choose what we watch for a week.”

Chimera groaned and dropped her head. “Nooooo.”

“Backing out?” he grinned, raising a challenging eyebrow and moving closer to tower over her.

“Never,” she scoffed. “Just trying to imagine a full week of exclusively Conner-chosen programming.” She pretended to shudder. “The horror.”

He grinned down at her and took a step closer again until he was almost chest to chest with her. “Better not lose then.”

Chimera matched his grin and straightened up. “Oh I don’t intend to. There’s no way you guys will be able to stop yourselves from getting involved in any and every drama you walk in on. By the way, getting into a fight counts, even if you don’t destroy any property.”

The moment was broken when Robin spoke up. “I want chocolate macarons.”

Chimera shook her head and gave a sweet smile to Conner as she made her way to the door. She bumped Robin’s shoulder as she passed him. “Dream on, Bird Boy.”

Wally watched her leave the room with Robin and turned to Conner. “Whatever happens this weekend, we absolutely cannot allow anything to get destroyed because of us. Agreed?”

Conner nodded. “Agreed.”

Robin watched Chimera closely as they walked. She was quieter than usual. Normally she’d still be trash talking with him about the bet. She was extremely competitive and her personality flourished when there was a challenge. But now, she had a carefully crafted neutral expression on her face that he would have absolutely bought if he didn’t know her better. “You sure you’re okay?” he asked.

She smiled at him. A fake smile that he didn’t buy for a second. “Of course. You just heard me tell Conner, it’ll be fine.” She looked back forward quickly.

“Are you upset about us teasing you about Roy?”

She huffed out a laugh. “No. It’s fine. Honestly, less teasing than my friends back home would do. I’m tough. I can take it.”

Robin looked back toward the kitchen. “I don’t know that Conner feels the same way,” he said carefully.

Chimera eyed him suspiciously. “Robin…” She pursed her lips and took a breath. “Then maybe you should stop doing it around him.”

“Maybe you should put him out of his misery, and yours,” Robin snapped back a bit harsher than he meant.

“Robin, you know I can’t,” she shook her head and looked down.

“I just want to… you two just seem so… are you sure?” he tried again.

“Robin…” she repeated, but her voice was considerably sadder this time. She pursed her lips and looked back forlornly toward where Conner and Wally were waiting for Robin. She let out a deep sigh that became a boom sound and expanded her fingers out, miming an explosion. “Yeah, I’m sure.”

“Does it really matter if you’re officially together or not when things like that,” he motioned toward the kitchen, “happen so often? You guys are… you’re perfect for each other. You make each other happy. I can’t believe you’re not meant to be together.”

“Yes, it does,” she answered sharply. “It matters. That’s what I’ve learned. That’s what the universe taught me.”

He took a deep breath to prepare himself for this. He’d been working on what to say for a few weeks. Just the right way to phrase it so it hit right, so she thought it was a matter of helping him, not herself. Because that was her weakness, if you could call it that; protecting the people she loved, whatever the cost to her. “I just… the result of being a hero can’t be to be miserable. I need to believe that you can still be happy, that I can be happy, but between you and Batman...”

“Of course you can be happy,” she jumped in instantly, just as Robin had been hoping she would. “You and Zatanna are happy now. And even if that doesn’t last, you know you still can be. And Batman…” she grimaced unsure how to sell a happy Batman. “Wally! He and Artemis are adorable.”

“Oh come on. Wally’s going to mess that up, you know him,” Robin scoffed.

Chimera rolled her eyes. “And Artemis will knock him back into shape. You know her. No, I think they’re in it for the long haul. ‘Til death do them part.”

Robin shook his head. He needed to focus it back to her and him. “I need to know that someone like you gets to be happy too, or what’s the point? We’re constantly in terrible situations. We constantly see miserable things. That’s a part of our lives… but we can still be happy… right?” He was laying it on thick. He knew he was laying it on thick and he knew that if anyone else was doing this other than him, Chimera would have picked up on it all of two seconds into the conversation. But he needed to get to her, to make her stop and think. And if that meant manipulating her into it, he’d do it… again. But she was like a sister to him. She was family. And when it’s family, it isn’t manipulating, it’s meddling. And meddling is okay. Meddling is the way family show they love each other.

“Being in terrible situations doesn’t mean your personal life has to be too. But, it’s different for me, Robin. Things… things get destroyed when I fall in love; buildings, monuments, countries, moons, planets… The universe made sure I understood my lesson well. But you!” She gave him a bright smile and set her hands on his shoulders. “You have a heart so big. It could....”

Robin gaped at her. “You know he was just teasing right?” he interrupted before she could finish her sentence. “About you destroying stuff everywhere you go. Chi, you… you don’t… Chi, that isn’t anywhere near the truth. Terrible things happened, but that isn’t your fault. That’s the situations you were forced into. It isn’t you!”

Chimera nodded at him and gave him an utterly unconvincing smile. “Yeah. I know.” She gave him a quick hug and pulled away almost as quickly. “You guys have fun, okay? And if you need anything, just give me a call, okay?” She ruffled his hair again before punching her destination into the Zeta tube interface. “I’ll get notified even if I’m not transformed.”

“Chi,” Robin started again, but she was already standing in the Zeta tube platform. There wasn’t enough time to finish that conversation, so instead he answered with, “yeah, okay. I will.” He continued to stare at the Zeta tube for a few seconds before making his way back to the kitchen.

“Did you tell her?” Conner asked as soon as Robin made it back to the kitchen.

Robin shook his head, still looking back toward the Zeta tube. Conner nodded at his response. “That’s probably for the best. She'd freak out if she knew. She’d be looking over her shoulder the entire time.”

“Yeah, what are the odds we'd run into them anyway?” Wally grinned. “Now come on! We need to get going too. We just need to make sure we go to the Metropolis entrance she didn’t use.”

“Right,” Conner nodded and started walking to the Zeta tubes. “You got our bags, right Robin?”

<><><><><>

“And just twenty minutes ago, I was so happy Superman isn’t in town this weekend,” Marinette sighed and banged her head against the wall she was leaning against.

“He’s what!” Alya whisper yelled. Adrien and Nino shushed her while Chloe scoffed at her. “Go ahead and announce our presence, why don’t you?” Nino put his hand on Alya’s shoulder to keep her from pouncing on Chloe.

Marinette tried to tune them out as she assessed the scene in front of her. There were at least three figures on their floor, but there had been at least four more that had taken any people they saw back down to the toy store’s main floor with the rest of the hostages and she spotted a different three coming up as the others were going down. That was ten, but they had no way to know how many were in the store. The marionette looking villains were holding everyone they caught in an area that was out of their line of sight.

“Don’t know if the Bat is covering for him, but he is off-world. We are likely on our own,” Marinette whispered distractedly. “Trixx, can you peek at the main area and see how many captors you see and estimate how many victims there are.” Trixx nodded in understanding and phased through the floor.

“Oh well that’s just brilliant, isn’t it,” Chloe groused. “This was your idea, Agreste. I wanted to go to a spa, but noooo. We had to visit the giant toy store. ‘It’ll be such a fun end to the visit,’” she groused in a poor imitation of his voice. “And now we’re in the middle of yet another attack, without magic protection. And there’s no miracle cure for this. If anything happens, just know, I blame you.”

“You’re welcome to hide, you know,” Adrien pointed out quietly.

“No, I’m going to help. I’m just going to complain the entire time,” Chloe groused again.

“So, no different than usual,” Nino nodded, keeping his eyes on the situation in front of him.

Chloe glared at him, but before she could retort Trixx popped back up. “I counted nine doll-looking guys downstairs, Guardian. And at least twenty-five people being held by them,” Trixx reported quietly.

Marinette nodded, silently processing all the information she had. “Got a plan?” Adrien asked barely above a whisper, keeping his eyes on the main aisle.

Marinette ignored him, running scenarios through her head. “They’re moving strangely. Their movements are stunted. Either they’re not human or someone else is controlling them.”

“Or both,” Adrien added quietly.

“Or both,” Marinette agreed. “What do you think the odds are that they are… like robotic marionettes?”

Nino nodded along with her train of thought. “I’d say high. They all walk too oddly to be human and there’s too many to each be remote controlled, so robot seems most likely.”

Marinette gave a single nod. Her face morphed into a determined look, ready to go into battle. “We can use that against them.”

“Suit up?” Alya asked.

Marinette’s body tensed at the thought. Finally after a few seconds, she took a deep breath and let it out. “Not unless necessary. There’s an awful lot of cameras around here and I don’t have extra miraculous for you guys. We’re going to have to figure out a way to lure some away from the main group without the others noticing anything. Chloe, think you can work something out?” She stared at the stairway as she spoke.

“Can I get someone’s complete attention and manipulate them into doing what I want? Are you seriously asking me that?” she scoffed.

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Well then get on it. It would help if we could find something to fight with.”

Alya cleared her throat lightly. “Anyone feel like channeling Harley Quinn?” she asked with a smirk, twirling a bat in her hands.

“Yes!” Adrien whisper yelled.

“Fine, but I’m not dying my hair though or doing the pigtails,” Chloe grunted.

<><><><><>

Marinette had always had an appreciation for stuffed cats. She’d had one on her bed for years before she became Ladybug and after she did, she had an affinity for Chat Noir themed stuffies. She still had one on her bed in the Cave. But she can honestly say she has never been as thankful for them as she was right now.

She rolled off the large stuffed cat she had landed on when she tackled the marionette doll, causing both of them to fall over the railing. Her smartest move? No. But it was trying to drag an unconscious Chloe away. She had to stop it and maybe she had some anger issues lately resulting from violently repressing any slightly negative emotions for years, a fact which she was not willing to admit to anyone else currently.

“I’m counting that for me as a save,” Adrien whisper yelled down to her.

“It’s pink,” she called back. She raised her hand as she spoke, narrowing her eyes toward Adrien. She grabbed the bat Nino threw to her in one seeming effortless motion without taking her eyes off of Adrien. She used the momentum from the catch to smoothly swing the bat back up, connecting to the marionette robot’s head. She didn’t knock it completely off, but she managed to sever enough wires and connections in the neck to make it collapse on the floor. “… that makes it count as mine,” she finished.

“Bullshit,” Adrien pouted.

Marinette smirked at him quickly before her face turned serious. “How many are left?”

“I think they’re all gone, at least the ones in here,” a voice answered.

Marinette’s head snapped to the familiar voice. “Con… can I assume you took care of a few of them as well?” she winced internally at the extremely awkward transition to cover her gap.

“We got four of them,” Robin confirmed, coming up next to Conner. Conner kept his focus on Marinette. There was something incredibly familiar in her eyes, but he couldn’t place it, but whatever it was, he was having a hard time looking away.

Marinette nodded. “We got six, I think.” She turned up toward the second level. “That sound right?”

Nino nodded. “We each got one and that one makes two for you.”

Marinette nodded in understanding and started reviewing what she knew. “That’s ten. There were at least twelve. Are you sure…”

“That’s only five,” Wally interrupted her looking from her friends to her.

Marinette looked back up to her friends and realized the confusion. “No, we have another friend. She got knocked out.”

“Where?” Adrien asked.

Marinette gave him a confused look. “There?”

“What?” Nino asked, coming up next to him.

“There. It knocked her out right before I tackled it. That’s why I did it. She was right next to where I went over,” Marinette explained slowly.

“She’s not up here, M,” Alya said.

“Son of a…” Adrien growled, taking off to look for her. The rest followed suit, running down different aisles to find Chloe. Marinette ran up the stairs two at a time to help look.

“Who are we looking for?” Wally asked. “I mean what does she look like?”

“Blonde, blue eyes, yellow shirt, pissed off scowl,” Marinette answered over her shoulders, feeling completely confident he would use his powers to search for her. Her suspicion was confirmed when she felt two rushes of air at her side. She strained her ears and was just barely able to hear him tell Robin that he didn’t find anyone like that. She mentally cursed and started trying to figure out a plan before she even reached the top of the stairs.

“I didn’t find her,” Adrien announced, walking back toward them.

“Me either,” Alya and Nino chorused coming from their sections of the store.

“Damn it. Are you sure there aren’t any more of those robot things in here?” Marinette asked the Team.

Wally nodded. “We’re positive.”

Marinette nodded and started moving toward the far wall. “Did any of you see an exit up here?”

“Yeah, over there,” Wally motioned toward a back corner.

“You think she was taken?” Conner asked.

Marinette nodded moving quickly toward the exit. “She got knocked out. Even if she’d woken up, she’d be too weak to leave on her own, especially without notifying one of us. She knows the protocols.”

“You guys have protocols for going after villains?” Robin asked skeptically.

Alya scoffed at him. “You don’t?”

Robin blinked at her a few times. “I’m from Gotham, of course I have protocols for it.”

“You guys should stay and talk to the police. We’ll look for your friend,” Wally promised, giving the other Team members a look of understanding. Conner and Robin nodded in agreement.

“We’ll go with you,” Marinette stated with finality.

“No, we got it,” Conner stated in the same tone.

She cocked an eyebrow at him. “Okay, we’ll go separate.” She shrugged at him. She turned back to Nino and Alya. “Can you listen to the police gossip and do some research, see if you can figure out who might be behind it and let us know along with anything else you find.”

“Will do, L… Dudette,” Nino stuttered. He grimaced internally at the almost slip up. “We’ll talk to the police while you go get our girl.”

With her attention on Nino, she missed the Team slipping out the door, though Adrien watched them with a curious look. Marinette turned to Adrien. “You don’t have to come with us… if you’d rather stay with Alya and Nino.”

Adrien shook his head and gave her a supportive smile. “I’m with you, ‘til the end of the line.”

Marinette gave him a flat look. “You realize the guy that said that almost died, got his mind wiped and turned into a super assassin, killed Tony Stark’s parents, and tried to kill the person he said it to. Maybe not the bar to go for.”

Adrien shrugged and let out a noncommittal grunt. “Worked out in the end. I have complete faith in you. I always have.” He gave her a meaningful look. She gave him a guilty look that he couldn’t allow to continue. “You want to tell me about…” he motioned to the door where the Team had escaped through, changing the focus of the conversation away from their past and onto her present.

Marinette held her finger up for him to wait and typed out a text she didn’t send. ‘I’m not allowed to say.’ His eyes widened and he motioned toward the door with his head. He mouthed ‘really?’ She nodded in confirmation.

“What the hell… Are you sure this is a good idea?” Adrien gave her a dubious look.

She smiled at him. “I’m not sure, but I’m not going to not get Chloe. Can you imagine the fallout from that? Leaving her rescue to someone else?”

Adrien grimaced. “Valid.”

“And I really want to. I mean I’m,” she motioned to herself, “and they’re,” she motioned toward the door they had gone through. “I’ve never gotten to… they’ve never… I don’t know if this will happen again.”

Adrien nodded and gave her an understanding look. “Yeah, I get that. Okay. Let’s do this.”

She gave him a wide excited grin, and started bouncing on her toes. “Yay!” She focused back on her phone and started tapping rapidly.

“You got her?” he asked coming up next to her to look at her screen.

“Just a second.” She tapped her screen a few more times. “Got her,” she said tilting her phone to show Adrien.

Adrien nodded and pulled his phone out. He pulled up his messaging app and followed her example, typing a text he didn’t send. ‘You let Batman know?’

Marinette smiled and nodded as she typed a response. ‘Already sent him her phone’s info and who’s looking for her… as civilians. Wish was a video call. Know he would have smirked.’

They pushed through the exit, almost running into the Team, who were talking in hushed tones. Robin tucked his phone in his back pocket.

“I told you before, we got this,” Conner insisted. “The way you took care of that robot before was impressive, but this is likely to get a lot more dangerous. We can handle it.”

Marinette cocked her head to the side, opening her eyes wide in exaggerated innocence. “Thank you, but… then it’s dangerous for you too, isn’t it?” She looked at Robin and Wally and back to him. “I mean we’re all in the same boat here, right? Experience wise?” She ignored the coughing fit Adrien faked to cover up his laughter.

Robin spoke up, “I’m from Gotham. We’re used to villains kidnapping people. We know how to handle it.”

Adrien raised an eyebrow and shared a look with Marinette. “And we’re from Paris,” he intoned. “It was a lifestyle for a few years there.”

Marinette quirked her lip to the side in an amused smirk at the boys’ confused stares. “Look, it’s our friend who got kidnapped and it’s our drama you’ve walked in on. We’re going. If you guys are so insistent on getting involved with our drama, we won’t stop you.” Robin opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get it out, Marinette continued. “So Gotham, try to keep up, because we’re able to track her,” she held up her phone which showed a map with a dot moving on it. “…so unless you have a bloodhound in that hoodie pocket, we’re leading the way.” She ruffled his hair as she passed him to get to the stairs. Was she being a terrible older sister? No. She was being an amazing older sister, pushing all his buttons. Isn’t that how all families showed love? And the best part was he didn’t know to get her back for it. Free harassment. What kind of sister would she be if she passed that up?

Robin glared at her and Conner didn’t look much happier, likely upset because it meant they wouldn’t get to use their superpowers, but still followed her down the stairs. She was right. They had no way to track their friend without their help. They would just have to hold off on the superpowers until they got closer and hope they could break off to where the two couldn’t see them rescuing their friend. Wally however, was grimacing as he brought up the end of the line behind Adrien on the stairs, thinking about the cupcakes he was about to lose. Maybe if they didn’t cause too much more damage, they could still win.

“This isn’t the first time we’ve had to rescue Chloe from a villain’s hench… thing. I swear if I had a nickel for every time she’s gotten kidnapped… I’d only have like fifteen or twenty nickels but still it’s strange that it’s happened that many times.” Marinette looked back over her shoulder with a smirk, like she was in on a private joke.

Adrien set his mouth and pursed his lips. He refused to laugh at her comment, no matter how badly he wanted to. He looked between the guy behind him and the two ahead of him with an overly bright smile. “Hi, I’m Adrien. If we’re working together, we should probably know each other’s names.”

“Wally,” Wally offered with a chuckle. Unlike Adrien, he had no issue laughing at her comment.

“Robin,” Robin stated diplomatically, still trying to figure out if her comment was correct. He’d been the victim of kidnapping attempts multiple times both as Dick and Robin, but he didn’t know why her friend would have been so often.

Conner continued to stare at Marinette mutely, trying to figure her out better. If he stared long enough, maybe he could place where he’d seen her beautiful eyes before. Marinette gave him a bright, warm smile. “Oh,” Marinette paused and turned to look back at them as they all got onto the ground with a bright, warm smile, “Marinette. My name is Marinette.”

Conner looked away. Marinette thought she saw his cheeks darken slightly when their eyes met, but that could have easily been the taillights from the car that just parked near them. “Conner,” he grumbled.

Marinette nodded at him, giving him a sweet smile. “It is really nice to meet you,” she said earnestly, looking at the other Team members, “all of you.” She took a beat to look at them without a mask and nodded. “Okay, let’s get going then, before Chloe breaks a nail and we have to hear about it for the next six months,”

“Or you know, someone dies,” Conner argued, following her down the road.

Adrien shook his head behind him. “I don’t think we have to worry about that. She won’t kill anyone.”

“Probably… unless they mess with her hair,” Marinette added.

“Most likely,” Adrien agreed with a nod.

Robin gave Wally a confused, questioning look as they followed behind. Wally returned the look. Who the hell were these people?

Chapter 12

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@mickylikesstuff @mystery-5-5 @roguishredaxion @vroomtaka @laurcad123 @just-an-observer-ignore-me @emimar7 @moonlightstar64 @maribat-writing-and-prompts @aespades @yokomisaki @glastwime859 @mysticknown @glastwime859 @fan-writtenen @stackofrandomstuff @jalaluvsu @ultimatetornshipper @charme-de-malchan @lozzybowe @deathwishy @too0bsessedformyowngood @kokotaru @ichigorose @nathleigh @dorkus-minimus @ira-sairain @jayjayspixiepop

#maribat #Capturing a Dream #connette #connerette #konmari #marikon #conner x marinette #Marinette x Conner

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aristidetwain · 3 years

Text

The Shared Dalek Universe of the 1960s: A Case Study

In 2011 (a little over ten years ago!), El Sandifer cited my dearly-beloved 1960s Who Annuals as examples of stories which ended up influencing the TV series many years down the line despite making an unrepentant hash of continuity.

Her first example is that the Doctor is called Dr. Who, and that he alternates between being from Earth on one page, and not being from Earth three pages later. I would point out that TV was doing much the same thing in those days, and went on flip-flopping basically until Jon Pertwee, so it’s not a terribly good argument to begin with.

However, she spends more time pondering the Daleks of the comics. These Daleks, she notes, are very different from those on television at the time. There are hordes of them, they travel in fleets of saucers, and they’re ruled by the Emperor. This contradiction, she argues, later fed back into the TV series in the RTD era, when huge fleets of Daleks became the norm and, earlier but still well after the first burst of Annuals, in the form of Patrick Troughton facing a very different Dalek Emperor in The Evil of the Daleks.

In no way do I wish to undermine Sandifer’s ultimate conclusion that “canon” in the sense of diegetic consistency is a red herring of little importance, and what matters for any sane definition of ‘canon’ is whether a story is referenced at all, not whether it’s contradicted.

However.

Having gone back to 1966′s The Dalek Outer Space Book, I have made a very startling discovery, in the story entitled The Secret of the Emperor. The rest is after the cut; I will leave you with a delightful panel from this story, showing the “bewildered” Dalek Emperor being bullied by knights at the Battle of Agincourt. (This is one of my favourite Doctor Who images ever, and if it doesn’t put a smile on your face I am not sure I want to take you seriously.)

So, famously, when he debuted in the comics, the Dalek Emperor was not the giant, static Dalek later shown on television in The Evil of the Daleks and The Bad Wolf of the Ways; instead, he was golden, squat, and had a bulbous head; to house all the ego, one expects.

Thus, most people will point at the fact that when the Doctor met “the Emperor” in The Evil of the Daleks, he resided in a huge tower-like casing in the Dalek City, as evidence that although ideas received a first treatment in the comics which later made it to screens, no direct continuity was intended; the comics’ Emperor was an alternate, a first draft, to be discarded once a more definitive TV portrayal emerged.

And yet, of course, it is somehow appealing to think of the two as the same Dalek, isn’t it? John Peel (Dalek writer voted most likely to be a 19th century Victorian man who stumbled into a time eddy; it’s mostly the remarkable sideburns) spent a lot of time in his Dalek novels establishing the life story of the Dalek Prime, the First Dalek Ever, who transitioned from the globe-headed casing to the towery Evil one and then deeply regretted it, what with the “getting killed by his own infighting troops with no way to escape”.

But this is usually viewed as a retcon. A cute retcon, an admirable retcon even, but a retcon. My good friend and esteemed fellow canon-welder, @rassilon-imprimatur, espoused such a view four years ago:

Well, all of this is, if you’ll pardon my French, bollocks. John Peel didn’t make anything up, except for the snappy name of “the Dalek Prime” as a designation for the individual. The Dalek Emperor in Evil of the Daleks was always the Emperor of the 1960s comics, and there is a very good reason for his seemingly-contradictory change of appearance. What’s more, I am not talking about murky authorial intent: these are things that the discerning Dalek fan in 1967 was meant to have known.

Let me wind back the clock to 1966. A Dalek master-plan is unfurling, a multi-media agenda spanning several years, more ambitious perhaps than even Time Lord Victorious in its scope; for the ultimate aim of a small cabal of men including David Whitaker, Terry Nation and Brad Ashton is nothing less than spinning the Daleks out of Doctor Who and into their own non-BBC TV show — to be made in America, and in colour, if you please!

For over a year now, a Dalek story arc has been running in the pages of TV Century 21, tracking the early rise of the Dalek Empire and its early interactions with 2060s humanity. Though the Daleks encroach over other parts of the book, including the headline stories, the bulk of this story arc comes in the form of weekly one-page comics making up one long serialised history of the Daleks, under the minimalist title of The Daleks.

Also under the solo brand of “The Daleks”: Annuals, an exclusive audio story, and, of course, toys. Time for Phase Two. It is time to end the Daleks’ endless confrontations with Dr Who on television, and set the stage for a new status quo able to support the TV series Nation dreams about.

Important background: Terry Nation, famously, does not like the Dalek Emperor. Whitaker made him up without consulting Nation, who maintains that the highest rank in the Dalek hierarchy should be the Dalek Supreme. The Emperor was hard to do away with in the comics, since he was basically the protagonist of the TV21 strip, but one imagines Nation was keen to jettison him from the world of the planned TV series.

I am speculating, of course, but I picture Nation sitting in his office, pondering the two great thorns in the side of the Independant Daleks Masterplan.

Thorn one: the Daleks are entangled with the Doctor both diegetically and symbolically; unless something can be done, the Daleks will remain “the Doctor’s enemies”, and a show where they commit evil and the Doctor fails to show up would ring false with the kids watching. The Daleks must be removed from Doctor Who in a sensational and definitive manner, or the whole enterprise is a nonstarter.

Thorn two: I, Terry Nation, have foolishly allowed David Whitaker to shape the lore of the Daleks, and he has made this Dalek Emperor guy very central to early Dalek history, leading up to the 22nd century Dalek Invasion of Earth that most of the Doctor’s subsequent conflicts with the Daleks have stemmed from. But I do not like the Dalek Emperor. I wish I could get rid of him in my new status quo.

…………Aha.

A triumphant Terry Nation adds a post-it note to the ever-widening corkboard representing the multimedia Dalek Masterplan setting up the TV series, which must already include things like “convince Jean Marsh to come back as Sara Kingdom”. Notes distilled from this corkboard will form the backbone of The Dalek Outer Space Book, this year’s Dalek annual, which exists principally to set up the prospective main characters of the new TV series: Sara Kingdom and Agent Mark Seven, of the Space Security Service.

The new post-it note reads:

Construe the Daleks’ enmity with the Doctor as a personal enmity between the Doctor and the Emperor, a la Sherlock Holmes and Moriarty. Have the Doctor triumph over the Emperor on TV in a big ‘event’ story.

Result: the Doctor-vs-Daleks storyline is over; the Emperor is dead; I get everything I ever wanted.

(Except maybe a pony.)

Then he phones David Whitaker, smirking all the while like an evil genie preparing to grant a badly-worded wish.

“Good news, old chap, I’ve decided you can write a new Dalek story for the BBC, all by yourself. I promise I won’t interfere.”

*confused and delighted David Whitaker noises*

“ And you can even bring in that Dalek Emperor of yours. Yes, you heard me!”

*Whitaker enthusiasm intensifies*

“Ahhh, but there’s a catch. The Dalek Emperor must DIE.”

Of course, like all good Faustian bargains, this is irresistible even though it is ruinous and the victim knows it to be ruinous. Whitaker agrees to the scheme. He and Nation begin planning out the events of the great finale of the Dalek-Doctor confrontation, which will hit the screens in 1967 as the mildly racist, but otherwise quite well-loved, ‘The Evil of the Daleks’.

Quickly enough, it is decided that Patrick Troughton crouching to berate the short and bubble-headed Golden Emperor would look silly. If the Emperor appears on TV, alongside human performers, then it should tower over them. Besides, this is to be the archvillainous Dalek Emperor’s last stand, and certain traditions must be followed.

Hence another task is added to the bucketlist of the Dalek Outer Space Book: tell the story of how the Emperor transformed from the globe-headed dwarf to some huge and terrible towering form under the Dalek City, for the Doctor to stumble onto later. This rebuilt Emperor may be teased, but must not be truly seen or truly defeated in the book; that would defeat the whole idea.

Hence, The Secret of the Emperor, a story which sees the Emperor becoming self-conscious about his own efficiency and letting the Scientist Daleks rebuild his casing from scratch. The final page is a splash panel, a delightfully nonsensical diagram of the mechanical components of the new casing.

The almost surreal array of colours and shapes is so arresting as to obscure an important detai. Many have seen this page over and over, and yet still missed it. The recent(ish) ‘Anatomy of the New Dalek Emperor’ artwork from Time Lord Victorious clearly looked at this page for reference, in spite of the fact that the TLV Emperor is much more inspired by the old Emperor than the rebuilt one.

Let me spell it out for you: look at the Scientist Daleks in the top right and centre-left. Look at them.

The new Emperor is huge.

And what else?

That Scientist on the left is plugging huge wires snaking from the wall into the tower-casing.

He now resides in the Great Hall of the Dalek City.

The background wall is a weird checkered pattern.

In addition, the following facts are seeded throughout the earlier pages of The Secret of the Emperor.

The point of moving to the new casing was to grant the Emperor increased brain capacity (suitable for concocting masterplans).

He acquired said increased brain capacity to help the Daleks attempt to overcome humanity once and for all.

The Emperor has recently had a trautmatic but eye-opening experience with time travel.

Ignore the fact that the Emperor was here depicted with what appears to be a still fairly bulbous, and golden, head, and it doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is very, very direct setup for how the Doctor finds the Dalek Emperor in The Evil of the Daleks — tower-like, in an imperial throneroom in the Dalek City, with a checkered wall pattern, planning out a complicated scheme to harness time travel as a means of defeating humanity once and for all!

Yes, the designs don’t quite match — but how could the artist behind the visuals of Secret of the Emperor have known precisely what Shawcraft would build, a year later, based on the same basic description by Nation & Whitaker? The parallels far outweigh the minor differences in execution. (It’s worth noting that elsewhere in the Outer Space Book a different artist drew what was clearly intended to be the Golden Emperor as a large, golden, but normally-proportioned Dalek, so it’s not like the visual descriptions of these scripts were exceedingly precise…)

The rebuilt Emperor is never seen in the Outer Space Book outside of this ‘dissection’: he is heard throughout The Brain Tappers but kept carefully off-panel, and his new and dangerous new casing is pointedly not destroyed in the story’s conclusion. Well, of course not. That’s what Dr Who is for.

tl;dr: it is not a post hoc retcon, or even a secret, that the round-headed Emperor of the comics became the Dalek Emperor of Evil of the Daleks. A holistic view of the state of Dalek media in 1966-1967 shows that, in fact, it was the whole point that this be the Emperor of the comics; and that the comics had begun setting this up long before Patrick Troughton encountered Edward Waterfield on TV.

And thus, to circle back to Sandifer’s 2011 post, it is not enough to simply say that the “seemingly non-canon” comics inspired the show down the line. In fact in this instance, what appeared on Doctor Who existed for the benefit of the Daleks spin-off — not vice-versa!

#Daleks #Canon-Welding #Doctor Who #Analysis #Doctor Who Meta #Dalek Emperor #Dalek Prime #The Evil of the Daleks #Terry Nation #David Whitaker #Brad Ashton #The Secret of the Emperor #El Sandifer #Canon #Jacob Black

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