#specifically hammer victor but yeah.

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

oh and while i’m at it, victor frankenstein is not only a catgirl, but also a monkeygirl. hope that clears things up.

[love-at-first-bite]

Fandom people when they learn autistic people can be smart, form relationships, and know what sex is.

[stranger-marauders]

shattered

twelve: the creel house

chapter summary: Steve and Kate deal with the consequences of the night before while searching the Creel house for clues about Vecna.

chapter warnings: language, slight angst

word count: 3.6k

series masterlist | masterlist

THE NEXT MORNING, Kate could faintly hear someone speaking, but she couldn't identify who or where it was coming from.

"Hey, lovebirds, get up."

Kate quickly shot up at the sentence, more confused than anything. What the hell was going on? It wasn't until she sat up that she realized Dustin had been speaking, more specifically to her and Steve. Whenever they'd both finally fallen asleep next to each other, touching no more than by the linking of their hands, Steve had somehow gotten his arms around her, and she had been using him as a pillow, their legs intertwined.

Awkward.

She quickly pulled Steve off of her, trying to get up as quickly as possible so she could quite literally be anywhere else. He quickly became coherent whenever he realized Dustin was still staring at him, almost frightening similar to how his own mother would stare at him whenever he'd done something wrong as a child.

"Steve, get up!"

"All right, Jesus, Henderson!" he shouted back at him, pulling himself off the ground.

He finally met Dustin's eyes again whenever he'd gotten himself straightened out, he found his expression had changed, almost waiting for him to say something about what he'd just seen.

Steve almost couldn't blame him. He still couldn't believe he had been so close to kissing her and he hadn't gotten the chance before Dustin moved, making her pull away. Had she pulled away after the sound or before it? He'd replayed the moment so many times in his head that he was starting to think he was remembering it wrong.

Nonetheless, it wasn't any of Dustin's business, nor anyone else's besides his and Kate's. "Not... a damn... word. Got it?"

Dustin put his hands up in surrender, and Steve went to the bathroom to try to fix his hair as best he could before he wouldn't have the chance to.

Nancy had filled everyone in about Max's discovery in the car ride to Victor Creel's abandoned house.

Whenever she had been possessed by Vecna, Max had seen parts of the house when he'd had her trapped, a more dismantled version of it. She'd drawn pictures of it, and Nancy had pieced together the parts of it that formed the house.

As they pulled up on the boarded-up building, a shiver was sent down Kate's spine—there was a reason why this place was abandoned. What was presumably a beautiful house in the '50s and beforehand, the blue and white building had since been taken back over by vines and such on the first level, the other floors seeming to grow with mold and caked with dirt, not to mention the boarded up windows and door. There wasn't a thing about the place that breathed "welcoming," that's for sure.

Once they'd gotten themselves out of Nancy's car, they stood outside of the building, almost as if they were reassessing going in at all.

"Yeah, that's not creepy," Steve said to no one in particular while looking at Kate.

She shrugged, starting to move toward the house—they had to do this for Max.

Steve and Kate had been the ones to pry the nails off of the wooden panel that covered the door, both having a hammer each as the rest of the group watched.

"I mean, what exactly are we supposed to be looking for in this shithole?" he finally said, turning to Nancy behind him before starting to remove nails again.

"We're not sure," Nancy replied. "We just... know this house is important to Vecna."

"Because Max saw it in Vecna's red soup mind world?"

"Basically."

"Great."

"Maybe it holds a clue to where Vecna is. Why he's back. Why he killed the Creels," Dustin explained.

"And, more importantly, how to stop him before he comes back for Max," Kate added.

"We... don't think he's in here, do we?" Lucas asked somewhat worriedly.

"Guess we'll find out," Max said nonchalantly.

Steve looked at Kate, still holding up the panel. "Ready?"

She nodded in response, muttering a quiet "mhm" before they both let it fall to the ground with a loud thud.

Steve tried to open the door by the knob, but found it only rattled in response. "It's locked. Should I knock, see if anybody's home?"

"No need." Kate chuckled when Robin held up a brick. When Steve gave her an unconvinced look, she shrugged. "I found a key."

Steve threw the brick through the glass door, apprehensively looking inside before sticking his hand down to unlock the door and open it. He whistled when he walked inside, waiting for the others to come in behind him.

Robin was the first after him, then Kate, Nancy, and the kids, all holding flashlights in their hands. Kate stepped deeper into the house, trying to get a better look at the insides that wasn't just abandoned furniture, dust, and cobwebs.

Lucas tried turning on one of the lamps as Steve shut the door to the house. "Looks like someone forgot to pay their electric bill."

Dustin clicked on his flashlight, and Steve looked at him in confusion. "Where'd everyone get those?"

Dustin turned around to face him, giving him a shocked look. "Do you need to be told everything? You're not a child."

Steve hesitated to respond. "Thank you."

Dustin scoffed, pulling the backpack off his back to hand to him. "Back pocket."

He pulled the last flashlight out of the backpack, letting it drop to the floor whenever he turned it on.

Kate and Robin opened the door to what presumably was their parlor room, scanning over it with their flashlights.

"They just... left everything," Kate said, almost not believing what she was seeing. She couldn't believe that after thirty years, this was what was left.

"I guess a triple homicide isn't good for resale value," Robin replied.

Before she could respond, Max called, "Hey, guys?" Everyone walked over to where Max was standing, looking at what she was shining her flashlight at. "You all see that, right?"

The "that" in question was an old grandfather clock, one that looked like it hadn't seen the light of day presumably since the murders of the Creels.

"Yeah."

"Is... this what you saw?" Nancy asked, taking a step closer to her. "In your... visions?"

Max nodded hesitantly, almost as if she were still being haunted by them.

"I mean, it's... just a clock. Right?" Robin asked, her voice, for the most part, calm and steady. She walked around Max to get closer to the clock, trying to inspect it. She wiped the glass face off, dust caking her hand. She turned back to the rest of the group. "Like a normal old clock."

"Why is this wizard obsessed with clocks?" Steve asked. "Maybe he's, like, a clockmaker or something?"

"I think you cracked the case, Steve," Dustin replied sarcastically.

Steve turned to him sharply, giving him a pointed look—now was not the time to be poking fun at his detective skills.

"All I know is... the answers are here," Nancy said. "Somewhere. Okay, everyone stay in groups of two. Max, you're with me."

"Rob, upstairs," Kate said, grabbing her by the arm as she headed toward the staircase.

"Come on, let's go," Max said to Lucas, making him follow her.

Steve and Dustin exchanged glances, Steve's bitter and Dustin's content. Steve only sighed as he started to climb up the stairs.

"Why'd you sigh?"

"I didn't sigh," Steve said, already halfway up the stairs. "Just come on, dude."

"I heard you!"

"W–We're just always partners, okay?"

"What, you have a problem with that?"

"It'd just be nice to, I don't know, mix it up a bit." More specifically, Steve wanted to be with Kate.

"So what, I'm boring you? Is that it?"

"That is—No, the opposite—"

As they argued their way up to the second floor, Steve and Dustin had completely missed the evergrowing luminescence of the light fixture next to the staircase.

Kate and Robin had already swept part of the upper story for anything interesting or of importance.

"I don't know if I'm late to the party, but did anyone ever think that maybe this asshole isn't... I don't know, doesn't come from the Upside Down?"

Robin gave her a funny look. "What do you mean?"

Kate shrugged, still looking in front of her. "I don't know, maybe this thing is from here. Our universe, dimension, whatever." She turned around to look at Robin, who now looked even more confused, and she sighed. "Look, as far as we know, my sister is the only person to have ever opened a gate, right?" When Robin nodded, Kate continued. "So why did this Vecna dude just randomly kill a family never to be heard of again before now? He's... He's gotta be from here. Has to be."

"But isn't he in the Upside Down right now?" she asked. "How... How would he still be alive?"

Kate shrugged. "Haven't gotten that far into it." She looked back to Robin again for only a second. She didn't know how to say she thought it had something to do with her sister. "Look, it's just a theory, okay? I just... It's stupid. It doesn't matter. Forget I said anything."

Robin nodded, seeming to finally understand her point. Maybe she wasn't that far off. As Kate led them into another room, Robin posed a question of her own. "Hey, why'd you pick me? I mean, I'm honored, but I'm confused as to why you picked me over..." Steve. "I don't know. Anyone else?"

"Because you and I've always made a great team, Rob," Kate answered, scanning the area she shined with her flashlight. "We translated a Russian code when neither of us spoke Russian, remember?"

"And as convincing as that sounds, I am one hundred percent sure that that is not the case."

Kate turned back to Robin, giving her a questionable look. "What d'you mean?"

"As incredible of a team we make, you and I both know you picked me before someone else could pick you."

She stopped in her tracks, sighing softly. "That's not... true."

Robin took a step closer to her, almost as if she were scared to get too close. "I know it's difficult to accept, but he, very obviously, still has feelings for you. A lot of them. I mean, we all saw you guys this morning—"

"You all saw it?"

She gave a nod, almost smiling. "Yeah, we all saw you two adorably snuggled up against each other, so don't even try to deny you don't still have feelings for him, too."

Kate didn't respond, but it only reminded her of the kiss that almost happened the night before. She wished she wouldn't have pulled away. Their lips had been so close she could feel the heat radiating off of him. She wished she would've closed to gap sooner, just for everything to feel right for just a moment. She knew, however, that it wasn't fair to do that to Steve. She had cut things off and she had to respect that, even if she wanted to, mor than anything, be with him again, because she couldn't do that to him. Not again.

"Kate?"

She shook her head, almost attempting to pull herself out of her own thoughts. She started walking forward again, her flashlight lighting her path. "Let's keep going, okay? I hate this house."

When Robin followed behind her, this time, she didn't ask any questions, especially not about the boy that was just down the hall from them.

Steve wished he would've said something before he got stuck with Dustin.

It wasn't like he was stuck with Dustin. He loved Dustin, even if the kid had started loving Eddie Munson more than him. Nothing, however, would make up for the fact that he could've been alone with Kate right now, had almost been given a moment to talk to her alone despite everything else going on.

He wanted to ask her about that damn kiss. Really, it was a non-kiss, a close-to-a-kiss, but it had still happened. That was the closest thing he'd felt to right since she'd broken up with him in terms of girls, and he didn't want to just give it up now, not if she felt the same way.

For that reason, he hated that he was stuck with Dustin.

"I get why you freaked out about Nancy the other day now," Dustin finally said, breaking the silence between them.

Steve turned to look at him, giving him a confused look. "What?"

"She was the only girl you ever really liked besides Kate. You were just projecting—"

"What? No, that's not—" Steve cut himself off, trying to collect himself. If he got flustered, that would only make things worse. "It's not... like that."

"It certainly looked like that this morning."

"It's not that simple, Henderson," Steve warned. He didn't want to talk about it with anyone but her.

"Of course not. Because things have always been so simple between you and Kate."

"Will you shut up about Kathy, please?" he whispered somewhat harshly. "You're being... We broke up months ago, why would I—" He cut himself off to sigh. "For your information, I've gone out with other girls since then. A lot of them."

"And none of them have been her, have they?"

That's what hurt even more. Dustin was right: even Nancy hadn't even been close to what Kate had given him. Even if she was still broken, still a husk of what she used to be, he still loved her and would love every form of her. He hadn't even minded all that much when she'd pulled a gun on him again, almost hesitating to put it down. He hadn't minded her shutting him out, only because he knew she wanted space. He hadn't nor wouldn't mind anything that she would throw at him because she was her. He wished, more than anything, that he could make everything better for her, to tell her that he loved her and make it all go away, he knew he couldn't. Kate had pushed him away, and for now, there was no coming back from that. All he could do was be there for her as best he could—that or keep the kids from bothering her.

"Hey, uh, Henderson?" he finally asked to break the silence again, following him into what presumably was a bedroom.

"Yeah?"

"Could you maybe, uh... clarify what sort of clues we're supposed to be looking for here?"

Dustin stopped in his tracks, not turning to Steve as he spoke, more specifically in a British accent. "'The world is full of obvious things which nobody by any chance ever observes.'" Dustin turned around to look at Steve with a smile, which he immediately dropped whenever Steve gave him a confused look. "Sherlock Holmes." Dustin scoffed, walking away whenever his expression didn't change.

"That's great," Steve finally said, walking in the direction opposite of him and moving toward the bathroom. "Thanks. That's great. Really helpful." Whenever Dustin was far enough away, he mumbled to himself, "Sherlock..."

He shined his flashlight over the vent in the floor, something inside of the vent reflecting the light. Curiosity got the best of him, and he kneeled down next to it, pulling the cover off and reaching his hand down to grab one of the many jars at the bottom of it.

Steve didn't know what to think of the jar he'd picked up: leaves filled the bottom of it, and a spider lay dead on some of the branches from those leaves, cobwebs dusting the limbs. He started to set it back down when he felt something crawling on him, turning to find a spider on his shoulder.

He jumped back up quickly and dropped the jar on the tile floor, gasping as he tried brushing it off of him frantically. He ran backward into the hallway, walking through the bathroom doorway and getting even more cobwebs all over him as he tried to brush the spider off.

"Jesus Christ," Kate breathed, jumping as Steve manically tried to brush himself off in front of her—he'd almost collided with her in the hallway. "Wh–What the hell are you doing? What's wrong?"

"There was a spider," he said softly, still rubbing his hand against his arm to make sure it was gone. He almost sounded out of breath as he spoke. "It was a black widow." Whenever he turned around, shining his flashlight in front of him, he quickly closed the door to the bathroom he'd just come out of. "Don't go in there."

"Okay? Oh, shit," Kate responded, finally seeing the mess of cobwebs that he'd gotten into his hair. She tried pulling some of it out, but Steve ran his fingers through it, starting to move forward as if he were trying to walk away from her. "Wait, just..."

"What?" Steve said, walking in front of a dusty mirror with his voice still panicked. "Something? Shit. O–Okay."

"Wait. Stop moving!" she said, making him stop in front of the mirror and attempting to pull the cobwebs out of his hair. "Stop. I just... I got it. I got it. Just stand still. Don't move."

"Thank you."

"If there's a spider nesting in there, you're never gonna find it til it lays eggs and all the babies spill out," Robin said evasively, trying to freak Steve out even more.

"What's wrong with you?" Steve asked as Kate pressed her lips together to suppress a laugh.

Robin only chuckled in response.

"Robin, seriously!" Steve turned his head so Kate could start pulling at the cobwebs again, and she tried her best to not start laughing, pressing her lips together tightly. "She's got problems."

"Yeah, tell me about it. She should've just said we were gonna have to shave your head."

"Kathy, that's not funny, okay? Seriously."

"To you," she said, chuckling slightly. "You would've freaked out, though, and it would've been hilarious."

"Do you... Do you both just enjoy torturing me or something?" he asked, somewhat bitterly.

"No! No, it's not that, it's just..." She stifled a laugh. "You're just really particular about your hair, Steve. You're an easy target."

He scoffed, almost running his hands through his hair, but he stopped himself. "It's cool you two still talk. That you're, like... I don't know, still friends. Maybe after we find Vecna, kill him... you know, save the world and stuff, maybe we can all go out or something." Steve turned to the side, almost as if he were trying to see her better. "You know? Me, you, Robin, Nance if she's down. Jonathan when he's back." Steve hesitated to go on, almost as if he were waiting for her response.

"Yeah, maybe you could bring one of those girls you've been going out with," Kate said nonchalantly. She hadn't meant it as a dig, but she wanted to slap herself after she'd said it.

"It's not like we're dating. Me and—I'm not dating any of them. Not really. Right? Robin told you? I'm not dating Robin either, so—"

"Yeah, I know," Kate said softly, still picking the cobwebs out of his hair. "That's... very obvious. I think I have a better chance with her than you do."

"Platonic with a capital P!" Robin said from down the hall.

"Yep. Thank you," Steve said loud enough for Robin to hear.

She put a thumbs up in response, still looking away from Kate and Steve.

"I mean... I don't know. I just—I don't only want to see you when the world's about to end, you know?" He paused. "I miss you."

Kate pressed her lips together again for a moment, almost as if she were thinking about how to word something. "Maybe... Maybe you could come visit sometime. Rob, too. Get out of Hawkins for a while."

He smiled. "Yeah, yeah, maybe."

She pulled the last cobweb out of his hair, taking a deep breath and smiling. "Okay, your hair's been saved. No buzzcut needed."

He fluffed it out in the back once, turning back around to her. "Great. Thanks." He chuckled, taking a step closer to her. "Well... Great. Um..." He stared at her awkwardly, almost not knowing what to say. What was he supposed to say after that? "Guess we should, uh... get back to the investigation."

Kate nodded in response, pressing her lips together still so as to try not to smile.

"The obvious things are not what... people... observe. Or... Do... Don't observe. Or...," he said, trying to remember what the hell Dustin said about five minutes before. When Kate gave him a confused look, he stopped as to not make even more of a fool out of himself, nodding. "Sherlock Holmes."

Kate couldn't help but smile at him as he walked away, almost dumbstruck as she walked toward Robin. "What?"

And once again, Kate couldn't help but smile because of the stupid antics of the boy just down the hall from her.

next chapter

taglist:

@thatsonezesty13 @cece5298 @thepowerstoner @alovelytardis @coolchick333 @stand-tall-pineapple @littlet-holmes @guichu @cinderellacauseshebroke @blackbirddaredevil23 @mads-weasley @ilovemarauders @pearlstiare @liableperfections @khaylin27 @girlwiththerubyslippers @cyarikaaa

[prpfs]

🦚 hii ! I'm looking for a literate ➼ adv lit partner who'd love to do a marvel rp with me :)

I'm looking to play as tony stark against a canon character. specifically, I'd love for the canon character to be justin hammer, bruce banner, victor von doom (I only really rp mcu verse but I'd LOVE if we could do some dimension traveling thing or if we could just add latveria to the verse), emma frost, erik lehnsherr (cmon, someone who can control metal with IRON man???), darcy lewis, or brock rumlow.

or if none of those appeal to you, I could be convinced of another character if a good plot accompanies them :)

for any ship but bruce banner x tony or darcy lewis x tony, I'm looking for something dark, with a/b/o or some sort of institutionalized slavery of a sort. I'd very much prefer to play as the sub/omega/slave but I'm willing to be convinced otherwise. I am very kinky and open to pretty much anything you can throw at me. 🕊 is my jam. I'm also open to 🫶 with me as the 🫶 only. I will not roleplay vice versa if I do decide to roleplay as the dom for you.

for bruce banner and darcy lewis, I'd love something fluffy, preferably a soulmate au or time travel. we can discuss the specifics in dms!

oh and, btw, I LOVE to go into the nitty gritty of plotting and I'll gush about our characters and plots to who knows what end. so I'd love for that same energy in return!

so yeah, lemme know if you're interested :)

give a like anda non will get back to you

[tin-can-iron-man]

I posted 984 times in 2022

That's 656 more posts than 2021!

101 posts created (10%)

883 posts reblogged (90%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@the-faultofdaedalus

@notanarutoblogs

@tony-stark-ing

@bobbimorses

@tratshka

I tagged 744 of my posts in 2022

Only 24% of my posts had no tags

#tin-can-answers - 23 posts

#them - 18 posts

#victor von doom - 18 posts

#yeah - 14 posts

#him - 12 posts

#doctor doom - 10 posts

#tony stark - 8 posts

#iron man - 7 posts

#doomtony - 5 posts

#victor - 5 posts

Longest Tag: 139 characters

#victor: also i'm so fucking sorry it tried to marry you i want you to know that was it's own issues i didn't come to that conclusion at all

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

113 notes - Posted February 28, 2022

#4

I always find the reaction between MCU Wanda and 616 Wanda in universe to be so interesting because 616 Wanda is a hero who is condemned for falling to her emotions and reacting to trauma poorly but MCU Wanda is still declared a hero, in universe, and is literally treated as "baby girl who can do no wrong" by literally every superhero that meets her. I just find it so interestingly fucked up that 616 doesn't get to be excused the same way MCU does in any regard, including in universe. When she has tried 10,000 times harder than Wendy ever has.

Edit: hey this post was made before MoM and I'm specifically talking about the difference between COMIC Wanda (the REAL 616) and MCU (aka earth 199999 (DESPITE what the movies may tell you)). Because I know people are now going to be confused for a hot sec.

124 notes - Posted April 15, 2022

#3

Anyway Im3 was fucking right in not having the mandarin be the legit villain of the film because it was 2013 and having Tony Stark, a rich white American billionaire, have his biggest enemy at the end of his trilogy be "Asia all along" sucks ass. im1 and im2 had asian enemies in it (the "ten rings" in Afghanistan and Vanko, respectively) but they were ultimately about rich people (and usually rich white people) being terrible. Which, in my opinion, was the better option.

In im1 and im2, the main antagonists that pull the plot along are other rich white billionaires who throw money at their problem (Tony) with unethical rich person means. (Hammer hires Vanko with the intention of using him as a way to get to Tony because he's petty as well as using him to further his own military business by selling Vankos inventions under his name) (Stane makes shady deals and puts Tony's weapons up on the black market (which, by the way, what happened to Wanda and Pietro was either a result of Stane's shady deals that Tony was unaware of (Tony was also almost blown up by a Stark branded missile! That he DEFINITELY did not sell! He made the arc reactor so that the shrapnel in his heart wouldn't tear it to shreds!), or US military shittyness, something that Tony was uneducated on, learned about, and immediately, as in literally the second he could, when he was literally supposed to still be in a wheelchair, called a in-person press conference and shut down his weapons program, and immediately became one of the most anti-military characters in the MCU (like in the avengers, when he got real angry about being referred to as soldiers).

Killian isn't a good character, he's doesn't have a particular compelling origin story and wasting the foundation of AIM in the MCU on him sucks. Yes. But he's the last in the list of Iron Man villains that make sense in terms of Tony's personal turning over a new leaf. Stane and Hammer (and Vanko to a degree) are exaggerated versions of Tony's own personal flaws, the things he has to keep in check about HIMSELF. And in that sense, Killian is too. Killian is, if looking in a mirror, an exaggerated version of Tony's desire to be acknowledged and accepted by the people he loves, not being able to take rejection well, and being a risk taker, blown out of proportion. (Tony does deeply crave the affection of those he loves but he doesn't think he naturally deserves it. And while he can be reckless it typically starts and ends with himself. The very last thing Tony would do is, say, start human experimentation (on anyone besides himself) on something known to be dangerous). Killian is impulsive, vindictive, dismissive, self-centered and incapable of reflecting on himself in a meaningful way (basically just any "nice guy" guy on Twitter). He got so butthurt about a single night he dedicated the rest of his life to trying to get back at Tony about it (REAL big "nice guy" on Twitter vibes). He's not well written, he's not even that fun. What makes him interesting, though, is that Tony was kinda all of those things too. (Before his time spent with Yinsen, before Iron Man, before the Avengers).

Tony has never been as bad a Stane, or Hammer, or Killian. But thematically their characters are all "this bad thing about Tony pre-Afghanistan taken 12 steps further."

I don't know I'm just saying in my opinion I think it was better for Tony's main villains to be exaggerated caricatures of himself over using the Mandarin. And that they were right to save a character like the real Mandarin for Shang-Chi where they could be explored and used narratively in a proper manner.

138 notes - Posted April 12, 2022

#2

Not too get into it unprompted but I have a theory from the Quintin Reviews Victorious Videos and Yvette Nicole Brown's acting career that I now completely believe that Community takes place within the boundaries of the NSU

224 notes - Posted March 31, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

I feel like most of us can relate to this at this point

436 notes - Posted May 2, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[victorluvsalice]

Case in point -- Smiler’s finally making an effort to get to know the chickens! Yeah, now that I’ve turned off old age for the farmyard animals, these particular chickens will be hanging around for a while, so the gang probably SHOULD try to get to know them better. Interestingly, the hens seem to get along better with them than the roosters, generally -- though this rooster seemed impressed by Smiler’s vampire idle animation. XD

Anyway -- once all the cats had been cuddled and chickens fed and entertained, Alice and Smiler went to take care of some repairing around the house (the upstairs shower -- to be fair, Alice herself broke that one after her last shower) and the wind farm (as always), while Victor finished up the day’s “lie down” training with Shadow. And once that was all taken care of, I decided that my Sims deserved a day out! Specifically, I felt they deserved a day out --

At Geekcon! Yeah, I don’t go to Geekcon a lot because my Sims generally have conflicting work schedules. But I’m actually trying to have Alice and Smiler use up as many vacation days as possible before quitting their jobs currently, so -- yeah, they had the free time to pop over to the Fashion District and see what was going on there! And what was going on to start was mainly cosplayers and rockets. I had the gang all go work on the buildable rocket to start, banging and blasting away with hammers and blowtorches -- they didn’t get VERY far, as you can see, but they all gained some Rocket Science skill, with Smiler in particular getting it all the way up to level 4. Nice. :) Smiler then spotted their pal Presley in Off-Brand Mario Bros cosplay and went to have a selfie and chat for a while (I was hoping to get them a drink, but as it turns out Presley was pregnant and thus unavailable), while Alice headed over to the food stall and Victor disappeared inside the observatory to observe the sky. Hey, it’s a rare GeekCon where it wasn’t raining to start -- might as well take advantage of it and see if he can get a cool print, right?

[googledocsdyke]

Do you have any thoughts/recommended texts for Cas analysis? I genuinely love the dean gender studies and I just wanna know what people might apply to Cas.

yes absolutely!! while dean studies is my first love i also deeply love cas analysis (casnalysis?) and wanna strive to do more of it. here’s some stuff off the top of my head:

1. gender, sexuality, heavenly embodiment

this is much more theological and less psychological than dean’s whole Deal because there’s so much fascinating stuff around how the angels in general experience express and conceptualise gender (@autisticandroids has a good post about angel gender & lily sunder has some regrets) but for cas in particular there’s this fascinating kind of collective fandom agreement (which i DO also agree with) that cas’ own gender kind of is gay man, that he actively chose gay manhood, but also that he’s kind of..... lacking the Insane Genderishness that dean exhibits at all times, even though he actively chose to engage in male gendering and became so comfortable housed Within Jimmy that he, as some post i saw the other day that i can’t find anymore said, “became his own body” when jimmy died. 

like on the one hand there’s an almost-canonical transness to the whole process but it also never feels fully written-into because 1) the supernatural writers for all their insanity are sometimes very boring and *most* of the time only feel interested in narratively expressing angels As Their Vessels anyways and just like leaving convenient spaces around these questions (boldest thing they ever did was hot girl cas which i WISH i had the range to unpack) 2) there’s a vague inevitabilist shrug to the whole thing since they obviously weren’t gonna recast misha collins (though they HAVE tried to get rid of him) and 3) something amorphous about cas’ entire..... personhood? makes him Empty Of Gender as a contrast to dean’s Full Of Gender (i believe it was @deanwinchestergender who said this) and like is it just the juxtaposition to dean/jensen’s whole insane Deal? or something else? 

like he actively chooses the terms of his own embodiment and yet narratively it feels like a shrug. and we’re all like “well obviously even though he’s a celestial being he was always a gay man” and like WHY. i love it idk idk much to think about! and yeah just in general the theological questions of possession and cas genuinely Becoming a man as he iterates himself consciously towards humanity it almost feels like. by doing the most boring things possible with his gender they made it interesting? idk if that makes sense.

2. discipline, free will, metanarratives

cas is like a tool (“i am not a hammer, as you say”) held in constant discipline and surveillance by the system that enmeshes him and it’s really, really fascinating to watch the way the angels hold each other to conformity. especially pre-god they kind of produce each other as foucauldian disciplinary subjects (which i posted about here) in perpetual visibility through angel radio, generating their own and each other’s conformity rather than being directly ruled through like a single centralised source of power. only the spectre of a god. and obviously cas’ whole thing is that he has ALWAYS disobeyed and the narrative affords him this psychological interiority never given to the foucauldian subject, an internal will and desire for freedom in a way that fits more with the liberal subject (super roughly and not with the same pro-capitalist implications but he has this internal drive for self-liberation. 

and that’s also where the metanarrative comes in ofc! i think it was @dykecas who said that cas is a real person written by people who hate him, and there’s this crack in the narrative (mirroring the crack in his chassis) where cas gets in, over and over, despite all the order imposed by the show’s authorfathergod. like we’ve all seen the analysis about how it was Never supposed to be this way they DID try to fire misha collins in 2012 and yet this gay man literally cannot be stopped! i think actually his appearance in scoobynatural is a neat little distillation of this — he drops into this animated world originally with a singular purpose (Save Sam And Dean) the same way he dropped into lazarus rising with a single 3-episode arc (Save Dean). huge hammer behaviour. his “utility” diminishes within the narrative (he finds that he can’t fly in the scooby doo universe) and so he is no longer a tool/means to an end that salvation moves Through. and in the process (and huge creds to @lesbianyuugi for this) he does something ENTIRELY unrelated to his original cas-as-tool aim, and learns, like, the meaning of laughter from shaggy and scooby. WHICH brings me onto the third point

3. love, queer kinship, family-making

HE’S GAY AND HE’S A DAD! i feel like a lot of tumblr throws around the term “found family” in a very flat and tropey way (which is fine it’s cute and fun no matter what!) but like . GOD there’s so much specific stuff going on here. like the way that cas (unintentionally) obliterates the midwestern white christian nuclear family (made incarnate in the novaks) which like could be uniformly portrayed as an act of deep malice and villainy but instead grows to serve as a surrogate (if imperfect/complex, but DEEPLY loving) father figure for the gay daughter who has now escaped that nuclear family/seen it destroyed depending on how you read it? like he remasters the entire concept of fatherhood and it’s a very interesting (if DEEPLY) unintentional subversion of the homewrecking non-nuclear gay trope. cas is so good because his character arc doesn’t say “look, gay people can be normal and have perfect settled families just like you” it says “gay people DON’T have normal settled families actually and they are full of love anyways! or Because of the abnormalcy itself!) 

to cite ziz lesbianyuugi again he DOES queer fatherhood in his parenting of jack particularly because it really is one of the ONLY parent-child relationships in the show that breaks the incessant cycle of abuse and control and cold indifference perpetuated by the authorfathergod (a cycle reified in 15x20 lol). like god’s treatment of cas and his siblings mirrors john’s treatment of sam and dean (particularly dean) mirrors victor’s treatment of krissy and her crew mirrors dean’s later treatment of jack. there is a CONSTANT reiteration of the story of authorfathergod (often a father tightly entwined in biological kinship) treating a child as a mechanism or a tool or a means to an end. and cas looks at ALL that he has suffered and all that he is ever known and chooses constantly to reject it with every piece of love he expresses for his child. and not to sound like the kind of academic people make fun of on twitter but there is an INHERENT queerness to that. gay love will pierce through [the veil of death/the thick silence of abuse/the mechanism of godly control/hegemonic american masculinity] and save the day

anyways here are some very haphazard recs on everything above for further reading:

angels in america (tony kushner)

histrionics of the pulpit: trans tonalities of religious enthusiasm

the public universal friend: religious enthusiasm in revolutionary america

discipline and punish (michel foucault)

friendship as a way of life (michel foucault)

the genesis of blame (recommended by @pietacastiel who has GREAT theology content in general

all about love (bell hooks)

the chapter “when hated characters talk back” in anti-fandom: dislike and hate in the digital age (is actually explicitly about cas)

also cannot recommend enough following the ppl i tagged above!! most of the unlinked stuff is available through http://libgen.li/ and bookshop is a good alternative to amazon if ur american and want physical copies

[texanredrose]

Look Before You...

Blake took her seat, sweeping her gaze over the field currently filled with ‘knights’ from all over Menagerie. While they’d operated as a kingdom for years, only recently did they begin matching the other kingdoms of Remnant in certain ways and first came the overwhelming vote for the Belladonna family to become the ruling family. Her dad had tried explaining that that wasn’t how it worked, you couldn’t be voted into kingship, but it became one of the few arguments he lost during his tenure as Chieftain of Menagerie- a title he continued to hold, with the wider understanding being that he was their king and just had a unique title, which most people accepted enthusiastically. It seemed to be the widely accepted logic that, since they were exiled and driven away from the rest of Remnant, they didn’t need to strictly adhere to the other kingdoms’ precedents. When they did, it was with a bit of cheek, as evidenced by the array of ‘knights’ preparing to fight in the grand melee.

In other kingdoms, knighthood came after years of testing or with the proper bloodline. In Menagerie, anyone willing to challenge Ghira to a duel would become a knight after. The challenge came in the fact that her father was a moving mountain who spoke softly but hit very hard. Alternatively, prospects could challenge Blake’s mom, Kali, but even fewer would dare attempt that challenge. It was common knowledge that Chieftain Ghira, although strong, would simply beat you and leave it at that; Chieftain Kali, on the other hand, would usually leave you with a scar- not out of malice, of course, but because her opponents underestimated her and she sometimes couldn’t pull back her blows in time.

Blake shifted, one ear flicking back to hear the metallic tink of her sword’s scabbard hitting her chair. This would mark the first time Blake would be challenged as well for knighthood, which would be after the grand melee; the reasoning being that, those who felt well enough to continue fighting after the melee would be just as taxed fighting the relatively young Chief as they would fighting fresh against the more experienced Chieftains. Blake, for her part, looked forward to the tests to come; faunus all over Menagerie had taken up combat arts in the past year, starting the moment the tournament was announced. It would be an important, historic moment for them as a people.

Not least because the other kingdoms were becoming nervous about how easily the faunus thrived on the desert island they’d written off as being uninhabitable.

“You look bored.”

“I’m impatient,” she replied, sparing her best friend a glance. “I’m surprised you didn’t join the tournament. Isn’t the grand melee exactly the sort of fun you’d be dying to have?”

Sun shrugged, leaning on his bo staff as he stood next to her with a wide grin. “Yeah, but I’m already a knight. There’s no real benefit to me joining in, except fighting you at the end, and we do that enough when we’re training.”

“Well, I think it would be fun to fight in the melee,” she said, picking out the specific styles of weapons and matching them to the different regions around Menagerie. But then, her attention was caught by one figure specifically. “Is… that…”

“Something wrong, dear?” Her father took his seat behind her, awaiting the signal to officially begin the grand melee. When he followed the direction of her gaze, he saw what she did and muttered a curse under his breath. “An Atlesian knight.”

“A high ranking one at that.” Her mother mused, cautiously intrigued. “You can tell by the helmet.”

Blake didn’t know the different Atlesian knight ranks well enough to be able to discern much more but she did know that the closer the armor resembled the late King’s, the higher the rank, and this one matched the description she’d heard and read to the smallest detail, even the plume down the backside of the helmet. If not one of the Royal Knights, this one was close to the top of the order, despite seeming so… small and slim, standing there among the other warriors. The armor added bulk but it didn’t match up to the farmers turned warriors surrounding the knight. “What an Atlesian doing here?”

“I don’t know… but they haven’t started any trouble yet. Keep an eye on them, Blake.” Ghira rose to his feet and bellowed out that all might hear him. “Welcome, all, to the first annual Unified Menagerie Tourney! As a celebration of overcoming our struggles thus far, the first event will be the grand melee. Those arranged before you will fight until only one stands and, then, whoever can muster their strength may face Chief Blake to earn their knighthood. Then, we look at the advancements we’ve made…”

As her father continued to explain the three days’ worth of events, Blake watched the Atlesian knight, who seemed to hardly acknowledge anything aside from the details regarding the grand melee. It annoyed her, to some extent, because she felt like the knight might be there as some sort of statement, as if to prove that an Atlesian knight could best anyone in Menagerie. Then, she noticed something else. “That knight doesn’t have a shield.”

“Isn’t that a big taboo in Atlas?” Sun leaned towards the edge of the elevated box they sat in, tilting his head. “Everyone uses the same style; only the royal family can go without a shield, because their knights are their shield?”

“Maybe it’s not an Atlesian at all?”

“That might be worse.” Sun cringed. “Don’t think Atlas will be too happy if they hear someone wearing their armor got their butt kicked at our tourney.”

Blake pressed her lips into a thin line, watching the knight’s posture.

“As a reminder, all events are in the spirit of celebration and community; as such, killing blows are strictly prohibited during the grand melee,” her father said, impressively not allowing his gaze to linger on the Atlesian. “With that, contestants, assume your positions and prepare for the fight to begin!”

As the contestants moved to make a large circle, Blake watched the Atlesian’s movements with all her attention. However, the longer she watched, the more she noticed that the knight appeared to be… supremely uncomfortable, or at least unaccustomed to wearing the armor; their movements were sluggish and they turned awkwardly, as if they lacked any sort of awareness as to their size and expected to bump into something they couldn’t see at any moment. In fact, the more the knight moved, the less alarmed Blake felt; if anything, she worried that Sun might have a point and the person in the armor wasn’t Atlesian at all. That would be a diplomatic headache if word got back to the royal family of Atlas.

Her parents exchanged a look of concern but remained silent until the circle had formed. Then, her mother stood up and shouted. 

“Begin!”

A horn was blown and about forty people shouted in response and charged forward. Metal clashed as weapons crossed, but in the hectic melee, Blake watched the Atlesian knight’s movements closest and… well, there was skill there, somewhere, but the person beneath the armor obviously had never worn it before during combat. Their left arm rose, a thin blade- so unlike the universally larger swords favored by Atlesians- blocking or deflecting errants attacks, but it seemed… sluggish. They certainly weren’t used to the limited view of the helmet, unaware of someone swinging a giant hammer at their back until it smashed into their backplate. No matter who was in the armor or what their attentions were, Blake winced when the blow landed; it looked painful.

The knight was sent sprawling in the dirt and essentially forgotten about; while many grand melees operated under the idea that a contestant either died, ran away, or won, and no one cared how many fell into the first category, this one was different. As long as an opponent stayed on the ground or only crawled, they would be left alone; the last person standing would be crowned victor, and each was in charge of gauging whether getting back up would be a wise idea. The knight got back up.

“Tenacious,” Ghira said. “I would’ve stayed down.”

“Only in a contest,” Kali replied, a lilt to her voice. “If something was riding on it, though, you’d get back up.”

He nodded. “True. They must be fighting for something.”

The knight- perhaps because of their weakened defense, perhaps because they were the only one fully armored, perhaps because they had the audacity to wear a foreign kingdom’s armor, who could really tell the motivation- became the favored target of those closest to them. Hammers, maces, mauls, swords, clubs, axes: every weapon on display turned against the knight, who met or blocked most but couldn’t be quick enough to block them all. When a battleax struck the knight in the head, a cascade of sparks indicating the killing edge of the ax had penetrated the helm, Blake thought the knight would stay down. It would be safer. But the knight got back up.

“Why won’t you stay down?” Blake leaned forward as the knight stumbled back a few steps, their right hand reaching up and roughly pulling off their helmet.

If possible, many mysteries were solved by the act, only to be replaced by a plethora more as an uproar began rising through the crowd. The entire Belladonna family jumped to their feet and leaned forward, each disbelieving what they could plainly see before them. Blake leaned against the banister, straining her eyes and ears for any hint of deception- because, surely, what she was seeing couldn’t be what was actually happening.

Yet, as the helmet fell to the ground, the visage of the mysterious knight became visible- piercing blue eyes, a scar across the left just a few weeks’ healed, and long white hair like an unbroken line of moonlight. In other words, a member of the Atlesian royal family, and a very prominent figure at that: Princess Weiss Schnee. She was busy fumbling with the straps to her chestplate while Ghira tried to call an end to the melee- the last thing they needed was a royal heir of another kingdom being seriously injured during the tournament- but the roar of the crowd drowned him out. Blake held her breath, unsure of what she expected or what she wanted to happen next.

Then, the Princess tossed aside the breastplate and all its attached bits- the heaviest part of her armor- and raised her sword, bellowing something at the opponents who surrounded her. Whatever she said, it moved a few of them, and three stepped forward to meet her. Three weapons sought to strike at her, without the bulk of her armor.

However, without the bulk of her armor, she was quicker than anyone expected. Without the helmet, she had her full field of vision; without the breastplate, she could twist and turn easily; without the pauldons, she could lift her arm with ease. Her sword flashed, knocking aside two of the three weapons turned against her- a scythe and a battleaxe- while meeting the third- a sword- which she batted away. She was akin to a dancer gliding across the battlefield now, twisting and turning to keep her blade between her and her enemies, even when they surrounded her. The wise ones, those who had battled previously, chose now to weed out some of their opponents, fighting off to the side, while those who had little experience attempted to best the Atlesian.

“Stop the melee!” Ghira took a deep breath, preparing to bellow the words when it became apparent that he couldn’t be heard over the raucous excitement below. But Kali put a hand on his forearm.

“Wait… she wants to fight; let her fight.”

Blake could see it, too. Doffing her armor hadn’t made her invulnerable; she still seemed to be at a disadvantage and a few blows managed to land anyway. Yet, she kept getting back to her feet. One didn’t submit to this sort of punishment for no reason. Blood ran from an open wound on her head on the opposite side of the scar and she was clearly having difficulty breathing- perhaps a bruised or broken rib from the hammer blow earlier.

The veterans had nearly thinned out all the other contestants and the Atlesian had done her part to discourage the rest from continuing to fight. 

But everyone had their limits, and the Princess found hers when one of the veterans wielding a giant hammer took a swing from her blindside. The blow sent her sprawling and though she obviously struggled to try and regain her feet, another defeated contender nearby lifted his head just enough and seemed to say something to the Atlesian. Whatever he said, it convinced the woman to simply lay down until one of the tournament’s attendants hurried in to whisk her and the other defeated combatants away.

Blake turned immediately.

“Cub.” Her father’s voice held equal parts a warning and concern. 

“I’m just going to make sure she’s alright.” She was already halfway down the stairs by the time she responded, searching for where the disqualified contenders were brought. She could see some tents where people limped about and the occasional cry from wounds being tended drew her towards them. A few people acknowledged her- attendants who had no interest in watching the melee, competitors awaiting one of the later events, and those who left the melee but had recovered enough to move of their own power- but no one stopped her as she searched through those wounded during the melee to find the Atlesian. She eventually found the woman struggling to pick up her dirty and discarded breastplate, stringing together words in what Blake thought was Old High Atlesian but could’ve easily been an eldritch curse. “Well, at least you’re standing.”

Those piercing blue eyes landed on her with a force similar to one of the hammer blows she suffered earlier but softened almost immediately as her expression shifted from fury to embarrassment. “Your Highness, you needn’t worry about a- a lowly warrior-”

“You’re the Princess of Atlas.” Blake crossed her arms over her chest. “I think you underestimate how recognizable you are or how intelligent I am. Hopefully, it’s the former.”

Although her lips twisted into a sour expression, she nodded. “It is, I assure you. I intend no disrespect, Your Highness.”

Blake’s eyes narrowed, unsure what game the Princess might be playing at, seeing as they were of equivocal rank as far as Blake could see: both daughters to ruling monarchs. If anything, Blake might be positioned slightly higher, as she was an only child and Weiss was second born, but hardly enough to warrant the constant, stiff formality of the Atlesian aristocracy. Then again, she would expect an Atlesian to disregard her rank entirely simply to snub her. “None taken… Your Highness.”

They held each other’s gaze for a moment longer before they were interrupted by a tourney attendant entering the tent bearing a tray with a tea set.

“Ah, Chief Blake, apologies for intruding-”

“It’s fine.” Amber eyes fell on the tray, noting the single cup. “Could you bring a second cup?”

“Of course.” A low bow after setting down the tray preceded the attendant- a ram faunus, if she didn’t miss her guess- ducked back out of the tent.

“I hope you don’t mind,” she said, taking the teapot and pouring the cup. It had to be some sort of Atlesian tea, dark and pungent, as no tea leaf in Menagerie was that dark brown color. Then again, Atlas sat high in the mountains amid snow and ice while most of the tea shrubs they cultivated in Menagerie were surrounded by dirt and desert; it seemed there was some sort of inverse relationship between the color that surrounded a tea bush and the color of the liquid it produced. “But I find myself curious as to what a member of the Atlesian royal family is doing joining a tournament in Menagerie.” She picked up the saucer and held it out to Weiss, making it clear that she’d poured the cup for the woman and not herself. “Perhaps you can indulge me over a cup?”

Weiss looked at her as one might regard a snake poised to bite before relenting, sighing heavily and letting the breastplate drop unceremoniously to the floor so she could accept the saucer. “I suppose.”

Her ears canted back. “I don’t want to twist your arm about it.”

“It’s… not that.” The woman sighed, frustrated, and trudged over to a chair, setting down the saucer on a nearby low table as she eased herself into the seat, her greaves creaking with each step. “I’d hoped to earn a knightship as a means of proving… something.”

“Something?” Blake grabbed a chair and brought it over next to Weiss as the attendant returned. She poured herself a cup from the teapot and sat down next to the Atlesian. 

“Yes, something- if I could articulate it-”

“That wasn’t me prompting you,” she said, settling into her seat and grabbing her saucer. “It was… I suppose a bit of camaraderie. I know what it’s like trying to prove something you can’t explain… and you aren’t sure if you’re proving it to someone else or yourself.” A small smile. “To put your mind at ease, you can still attempt to earn your knightship; you don’t need to defeat me to earn the title.”

Weiss narrowed her eyes, pride bristling. “Are you implying I couldn’t defeat you?” Blake pointedly looked over the woman’s battered form. “I don’t mean right this moment, damnit.”

“I’m not sure but I’d like to see you try.” As she took a sip from her cup, Blake paused, then spat the whatever it was out of her mouth as her expression twisted up. “What is this? This tea is horrible!”

“It’s not tea; it’s coffee,” Weiss said, barely concealing her amusement behind her cup as she took a long sip without flinching.

Blake threw her a baleful look while setting down her saucer. “You knew.”

“I knew that I’d given her coffee grounds and told her how to make coffee and that she brought me back what smelled like coffee; you were the one who thought you knew what was in the teapot. You could’ve asked.”

The attendant from before- either anticipating the fallout or hearing Blake’s reaction- appeared with a second teapot that poured blessedly green tinted tea. She almost burned her throat trying to wash out the taste left in her mouth. “I hope you realize this is even more incentive to make you regret applying for knightship in my kingdom, Princess.”

“Then my impending knightship will be all the sweeter once it’s won, Chief.”

As much as she should be annoyed by the flippant response, Blake found herself smiling before taking another sip of her tea.

[tigerkirby215]

5e Jayce, the Defender of Tomorrow build (League of Legends)

(Artwork by Andrew “Silver” Silver. Made for Riot Games.)

That feel when Arcane Episode 1 comes out tomorrow (at time of writing) so I’m making a build for Jayce in like 4 days lol.

I think Jayce is a cool concept that was kinda doomed from the start to not appeal to many people. Other transforming champs had far more interesting kits meanwhile Jayce kinda just... has both a gun and a hammer? While Samira proves that design works Jayce puts way too much focus on that I think. Not helping is the fact that he has one of the most basic kits I’ve seen and basically no lore. God I hope Arcane gives Jayce a personality...

At least his simple kit makes it easy to design a kit for him... Shame that Intelligence is useless in 5e.

GOALS

This is what the future looks like - Of course the main appeal of Jayce is his hammer that’s also a cannon. It was meant for mining? Yeah yeah sure sure...

Accelerate! - Speeding up protons isn’t the hardest thing to do, and it’s always useful to both move and shoot fast!

Feel the thunder - Of course shooting is only half the battle. The other half is smashing!

RACE

Jayce is a human, believe it or not. It’s almost like most of Runeterra features humans. And while I’d love to give Jayce a Dragonmark as I think playing him as a Dragonmarked character would make a ton of sense in an Eberron campaign I’m going to opt for accessibility and go for good ol’ Variant Human instead. You get +1 in two different stats (increase both your Charisma and your Strength by 1), proficiency in a skill of your choice (grab Investigation and pretend that you’re an Intelligence character), and a Feat at level 1.

I’m actually going to go all out on being a generic human and grab the human-specific Prodigy feat from Xanathar’s Guide to Everything! You learn one language of your choice (again pick your poison), get proficiency with a tool of your choice (kinda the main reason I grabbed this feat: take either Smith’s Tools or Tinkerer’s Tools depending on your DM), and proficiency in one skill of your choice (I’m cheaping out and taking Religion to continue pretending to be the Intelligence character.)

But most importantly you get Expertise in a skill of your choice: we’ll of course be taking it in Arcana to understand Hextech better than anyone else. Which oh yeah you should probably get Arcana from your background: don’t be afraid to modify your background for Arcana proficiency as well as proficiency in some tools!

ABILITY SCORES

15; CHARISMA - Jayce is a pretty boy first and foremost... Well, he’s a smart boy first and foremost but in-game he’s a pretty boy first.

14; DEXTERITY - For once “something something Medium armor” is quite justified since Jayce does wear a Breastplate!

13; STRENGTH - You’re carrying around a giant mining tool all the time, and it’s a requirement to multiclass.

12; CONSTITUTION - You need some sustain in top lane.

10; INTELLIGENCE - Shame that Intelligence is useless in 5e. I’d love for this to be higher but we need everything else more. See if the actual smart people (IE the actual Artificer) can make you a Headband of Intellect.

8; WISDOM - Victor sees Jayce as a bit of a hot-head and seeing as Viktor is basically robot Jesus in everything but gameplay I’m more inclined to believe his opinion over Jayce’s. Or maybe I’m just a simp for Viktor.

Feel free to swap Intelligence and Constitution if you want worse health but better roleplay.

Also feel free to discuss with your DM the possibility of playing both a Warlock and a Paladin based on Intelligence! I think it’s more than justifiable to play your character as a scholarly knight, and honestly Intelligence is such an underutilized stat I’d gladly promote more intelligent characters in my campaign.

BACKGROUND

There’s quite a few backgrounds for Jayce, as he’s a man of many hats! There are three that I think would work best so pick whichever one you think would be the most fun and make your own Jayce!

BACKGROUND 1 - SAGE

The most obvious one: Sage (or Cloistered Scholar from the Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide) will let you play up Jayce’s intelligence. You get proficiency with Arcana and History as well as two languages of your choice. But the main appeal of being a Sage is the knowledge of a Researcher. You know where to find important information, and if you can’t find it you can always ask professor Heimerdinger!

I personally went for Sage but again pick what you fancy and build your own Jayce.

BACKGROUND 2 - NOBLE

If you’re a Pilty you’re a Noble. You get proficiency with History and Persuasion along with a language and gaming set of your choice. But notably your Position of Privilege makes it easy to smooze around and socialize. If you want to lean into the more Charismatic side of Jayce then this is the background for you.

BACKGROUND 3 - CELEBRITY ADVENTURER’S SCION

Acquisitions Incorporated is a book I will shill whenever given the chance. Piltover is a city of progress and the Giopara clan (yes that’s Jayce’s family name) didn’t get there by doing nothing! We’re going to be treating Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion more like “Noble 2″ with a famous name around the world! Along with proficiency with Perception and Performance (which tbh I may swap around) and two languages of your choice you can do a little bit of Name Dropping. Clan Giopara has made a number of important technological discoveries (notably the invention of Hextech) and I’m sure that level of prestige is bound to get you places.

(Artwork by West Studio. Made for Riot Games.)

THE BUILD

LEVEL 1 - PALADIN 1

Starting off as a Paladin because you can’t be the Defender of Tomorrow if you’re not a Paladin! But really it’s so we can actually get some armor and a weapon in our starting equipment; proficiency in Athletics and Persuasion is a nice bonus too.

You also get Divine Sense, letting you detect celestial, fiend, or undead (thankfully for Heimerdinger it doesn’t detect Fey) within 60 feet of you as long as they’re not hiding behind a wall. You can also grab a Refillable Potion to carry 5 health points of healing in Lay on Hands, that you can either give to yourself or an ally! You can also use 5 Lay on Hands points to neutralize a disease or poison. This ability will grow in power as you get more Paladin levels but for now it’ll serve as a nice pick-me-up.

Since there isn’t much to talk about at level 1 let’s address Jayce’s weapon: a Warhammer is the obvious choice and you’ll need one for other abilities down the line, but it’s not exactly a two-handed weapon. The weapon you’re looking for would be a Maul. A maul is strictly two-handed (and heavy) which means you can’t use it with a shield but the plus side is that 2d6 packs quite a whallop compared to 1d10.

You are more than welcome to grab a shield if you want more AC, but if you’re going to go two-handed you may as well go all out with the Maul. My recommendation for your Paladin starting equipment would be to get both a Maul and a Warhammer and opt for a shield later (if you even choose to use one) as they’re not that expensive. All of this won’t matter in the long-run but until you get some proper big-hitters you will have to pick and choose your weaponry carefully.

LEVEL 2 - WARLOCK 1

I SWEAR THERE’S A REASON WE’RE GOING HEXBLADE. Thanks to Hex Warrior you can swing a weapon with Charisma: currently it can’t have the two-handed property (so no Maul) but it does mean you’ll be swinging a little better with your 16 Charisma versus 14 Strength.

You can also inflict Hexblade’s Curse with your Bonus Action for some Anathema's Chains utility. You deal extra damage to the enemy each hit equal to your Proficiency bonus, crit on a 19 or 20, and heal for your Charisma modifier plus your Warlock level when the enemy dies. You can use your Hexblade’s Curse once per Short or Long Rest.

But of course Warlocks also get Spellcasting, notably Pact Slots which come back on a Short Rest which may be important for a Paladin. You learn two cantrips from the Warlock list like Booming Blade since you don’t have Extra Attack yet, and Prestidigitation for all sorts of general Hextech utilities. You can also learn two first level spells like Shield from the Hexblade list because it’s Shield, and Armor of Agathys for a Bramble Vest into healing matchups.

LEVEL 3 - PALADIN 2

Look you’re playing a Hexadin you may as well grab Divine Smite fast. It’s kinda the main appeal of this multiclass: turn spell slots into 2d8 damage, plus an extra d8 per spell level up to a maximum of 5d8 from a 4th level spell slot. And if you hit an undead or fiend the damage increases by another d8. (For a maximum of 6d8 against fiends or undead specifically.)

Oh and of course with Divine Smites based on your spell slots you get Spellcasting too! You can prepare a number of spells equal to your Charisma modifier plus half your Paladin level: Divine Favor will serve as a Hyper Charge of sorts, Thunderous Smite will serve as Thunderous Blow, Shield of Faith will help for protection, and Detect Magic will help you deal with Hextech.

And finally you get a Fighting Style: since we can’t get the legally not Artificer cantrips anywhere else we’ll be going for Blessed Warrior to take both Guidance and Mending. Yes it is sad that the Mending cantrip is an important part of building Jayce, and you are more than welcome to take a more practical fighting style instead if you so desire.

LEVEL 4 - WARLOCK 2

Going back to Warlock for Eldritch Invocations: uhhh ima be real with you chief we’re in it for the long haul so just grab Eldritch Mind for now. We’re also going to wait on spells for a bit...

LEVEL 5 - WARLOCK 3

Third level Warlocks get their Pact Boon and man I wonder what the character with a superpowered hammer will have. Pact of the Blade will let you summon any weapon to your hand as an action... Well except for ranged weapons.

That’s what Improved Pact Weapon is for! Along with making your Pact Weapon a +1 you can also make a shortbow, longbow, light crossbow, or heavy crossbow as your Pact Weapon. My recommendation would be to go for a longbow since you can’t shoot multiple shots from a crossbow, and the longbow has the best damage and range out of the bunch. Of course since you’re a Hexblade you can shoot any of those bows with Charisma!

If you don’t want to shoot a weapon for Jayce’s Mercury Hammer feel free to just use Eldritch Blast and Agonizing Blast instead. It’s most likely more effective overall, but in the name of ability accuracy I took Improved Pact Weapon to transform your weapon.

You also now have second level spell slots which you’ll probably be using to Smite, but you can also grab Branding Smite for the enemy revealing part of Shock Blast, and Misty Step. For Flash.

(Artwork by Michelle Hoefener. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 6 - PALADIN 3

Back over to Paladin, as Jayce fights for the glory of tomorrow. That’s why we’ll be going for the Oath of Glory! You get your Channel Divinity at level 3 of Paladin and can use it for various different options: if you want to take To The Skies then Peerless Athlete will give you advantage on Athletics and Acrobatics checks for the next 10 minutes. You can also carry, push, drag, and lift twice as much weight as normal; and the distance of your long and high jumps increases by 10 feet.

Alternatively if you want to inspire innovation and pretend that you’re a healer then Inspiring Smite will let you give out temporary hit points to yourself or allies within 30 feet of you after you use your Divine Smite. The total number of temporary hit points equals 2d8 + your level in this class, divided among the chosen creatures however you like. And finally Tasha gave you the option to Harness Divine Power if you just want more Smite slots; I mean spell slots. You can recover a spell slot equal to half your proficiency bonus (rounded up, so currently a second level spell slot which you don’t even have lmao.) You can currently only use this once per Long Rest, but you will get more uses later.

You also get Guiding Bolt and Heroism as spells from the Oath of Glory, for a Shock Blast that will make it easier for your allies to hit an enemy and some fearless progress! And finally you get Divine Health, because innovation doesn’t take sick days.

LEVEL 7 - PALADIN 4

4th level Paladins can finally get an Ability Score Improvement: Charisma kinda controls everything that you do so increase that by 2. This does mean you can prepare more spells but I’m going to wait for...

LEVEL 8 - PALADIN 5

5th level Paladins get Extra Attack, so you can shoot or smash twice in a round! Unfortunately because of how Pact of the Blade is worded you can’t shoot then stab (because it takes an action to switch weapons), but don’t be afraid to talk to your DM about making the weapon swap a Bonus Action.

As a Glory Paladin you get Enhance Ability innately, as well as Magic Weapon which sure would matter if your weapon wasn’t already magical. You can also prepare second level spells like Warding Bond to keep your allies safe, and Aid which you can cast with your Warlock slots for maximum spell slot efficiency! I mean, unless someone else can cast it at a higher level. Then you should probably get a different spell.

(Artwork by Choe HeonHwa. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 9 - WARLOCK 4

Hopping back over to Warlock and hey look at that another Ability Score Improvement! Cap off that Charisma so you can both swing and shoot with maximum gusto!

You can also learn another spell like Shatter to send a Shock Blast into a crowd, and can also grab Mage Hand as a cantrip. Viktor did have some good ideas: extra hands are useful.

LEVEL 10 - WARLOCK 5

5th level Warlocks get to replace a lot of stuff: for a start keep Improved Pact Weapon but replace your other Invocation with Eldritch Smite, for more easily accessible Thundering Blows. For your Lightning Field take Cloak of Flies: yeah it’s Poison damage and yeah it’s only 5 per turn, but it’s extra damage for free that can’t be saved against. There are perhaps more useful options but this is more accurate to Jayce and still certainly useful if you want to get into a big brawl!

You can also prepare a whole lot of third level spells like Counterspell, because Jayce seems the type to have Counterspell.

You can also replace Misty Step with Thunder Step if you want more distance with your Flash, but Misty Step still has value since it’s a Bonus Action that you can cast with your Paladin slots.

You can also grab other useful spells like Blink, Hypnotic Pattern, Vampiric Touch, Mirror Image (2nd level), or Tongues if you so desire, but I picked the spells that fit Jayce the best.

LEVEL 11 - PALADIN 6

We’ve got everything we wanted from Warlock so now it’s straight down Paladin. 6th level Paladins get to defend their own tomorrow with Aura of Protection. Put simply: you (and allies within 10 feet) get to add your Charisma modifier to their saving throws. You like a +6 Concentration check? How about a +14 Charisma save?

You can also prepare more spells but honestly we got everything we need for Jayce. Feel free to grab what you want until we can prepare third level spells.

LEVEL 12 - PALADIN 7

7th level Paladins get to open the Acceleration Gate thanks to Aura of Alacrity! You move 10 feet faster, as do your allies within 5 feet! (Not 10 feet because I guess WoTC decided that moving slightly faster was too OP.) Additionally you can use Harness Divine Power twice per Long Rest, to keep your energy reserves at maximum.

LEVEL 13 - PALADIN 8

8th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement but we’re finally going to grab Great Weapon Master. Hope you’ve been using your Maul well because you can now take a -5 to hit to deal +10 damage! Additionally if you either crit or kill an enemy you can make an attack with your hammer as a Bonus Action. Of course Great Weapon Master only really supports your hammer but as a Paladin you’re expected to be in melee. Honestly your ranged options are more of a backup in this build.

(Artwork by Xuning Cui and Kudos Productions. Made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 14 - PALADIN 9

9th level Paladins can prepare third level spells! For a start you do get Protection from Energy as a Glory Paladin, but far more importantly you can Hyper Charge thanks to Haste! This works regardless of if you choose to go for melee or ranged combat, and will always be useful. Just be careful not to lose concentration!

Additionally you can prepare spells like Revivify and Aura of Vitality to pretend that you’re a healer, and Blinding Smite to continue being the Paladin!

LEVEL 15 - PALADIN 10

10th level Paladins get Aura of Courage. Allies within 10 feet of you can’t be frightened, and neither can you. So fight for Piltover without any fear!

You can also prepare another spell and now’s the point that I’d recommend mostly utility spells: Remove Curse? Dispel Magic? Unpreparing some of your lower level spells? Remember that the reason you’re a prepared caster is so that you can have what you need when you need it!

LEVEL 16 - PALADIN 11

11th level Paladins get Improved Divine Smite which despite the name doesn’t improve your Divine Smite. It does let you add a d8 of Radiant damage to all your melee attacks however, just to solidify that melee is better than ranged top laners.

LEVEL 17 - PALADIN 12

12th level Paladins get another Ability Score Improvement and remember how I kept Booming Blade even though you now have Extra Attack? Well because of funny D&D interactions the Warcaster feat will let you use Booming Blade when making an Attack of Opportunity. It also gives you advantage on Concentration checks, and will let you cast while holding a giant hammer, which is why we’re taking it.

(Artwork by Christian Fell. made for Riot Games.)

LEVEL 18 - PALADIN 13

13th level Paladins can prepare 4th level spells. You can carry a QSS around to use Freedom of Movement, and can also use Compulsion to persuade a crowd that Hextech is the future! You can also prepare spells like Death Ward for a Guardian Angel, or Staggering Smite for even more Thundering Blows!

LEVEL 19 - PALADIN 14

14th level Paladins can use magic to destroy the magic. Cleansing Touch will let you end one spell that’s affecting a target you touch as an action. You can do this a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier, and regain all expended uses at the end of a Long Rest.

And you can prepare another spell, but at this point just pick your fancy really.

LEVEL 20 - PALADIN 15

Our final level is the 15th level of Glory Paladin for Glorious Defense. When you or another creature you can see (not necessarily an ally is the funny thing) within 10 feet of you is hit by an attack roll, you can use your reaction to give them an AC boost equal to your Charisma modifier (so a +5; you’re basically giving them the Shield spell!)

If you end up blocking the attack you can then strike back at the foe, as long as they’re within range of your weapon. (This is actually one of the few times that being in cannon form would be beneficial!) You can block attacks a number of times equal to your Charisma modifier and regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Oh and to top it off you can use Harness Divine Power three times per Long Rest, to make sure that your hex-batteries never run dry.

I may as well discuss: WHY ISN’T JAYCE AN ARTIFICER?

The very simple reason is because no subclass fits his abilities of having a weapon that swaps between forms, and the reason for that is that Artificer is a very new class with very specific themes. Every Artificer subclass has a pet with the exception on Alchemist and Armorer: Battle Smith would’ve fit Jayce well (you could have a Repeating Heavy Crossbow and a +2 Maul to simulate “switching” weapons) but then you’d be stuck with a robot dog which would make no sense for Jayce. You could also play an Armorer Artificer and use Firebolt for your ranged attacks but I don’t think the same feeling is captured, especially since your melee attacks would be flavored as gauntlets instead of a hammer.

I went for the Hexadin build for a variety of reasons. The main one is that Pact of the Blade would be the most direct way to swap between a melee weapon and ranged weapon, although Eldritch Blast was also a great replication of Jayce’s ranged attacks with is nice too. As for Glory Paladin I was actually surprised how many abilities the subclass had that fit Jayce: increased movement speed, powerful ranged blasts, and weapon boosts. The Charisma-based SADness was more of an added bonus of none of the Warlocks fitting Jayce well, although I also wanted to be able to make Jayce swap between melee and ranged attacks without investing too much in both DEX and STR.

I am planning to make a homebrew Artificer subclass based on Jayce, but that’s with a big TBD (to be determined) tag on when it’ll come out. Until then this build replicates him with official content, and I think with a bit of homebrew from the DM (notably making you an Intelligence caster instead of Charisma) this build works well-enough for Jayce.

FINAL BUILD

PROS

Strength through progress - The great thing about being a Hexadin is that the only stat you need is Charisma, so you can actually grab other good feats like Great Weapon Master and Warcaster.

Never a wrong step - The other great thing about being a Hexblade is that Aura of Protection keeps your saving throws very high. A +6 CON save with Warcaster means that you should be making most Concentration checks with ease. And with Shield (and Glorious Defense) you can keep your AC safe too!

I'm always ready - The final benefit of being a Hexblade is the Pact Slots. Having two slots that come back on a Short Rest means that you can always have spells like Haste and Counterspell at the ready. Not to mention Harness Divine Power in case of an emergency if you need your spell slots back.

CONS

Eyes on the horizon - Guidance and Mending are fine and dandy as cantrips but you’re losing out on other potentially better Fighting Styles like Great Weapon Fighting or Defense. It doesn’t make a huge impact in the long run but every little bit helps, especially since you don’t have a Shield since you’ll be using a Maul.

I fight for a brighter tomorrow - When you reach level 20 it’s hard to remember the steps you took to reach it. Making a Hexadin build delays a lot of your stronger abilities in the name of easy ability scores. If you’re starting around level 8 then this won’t be a big problem, but from level 1 the first few missions will be tough.

Electrify - The other bit of honest truth is that there’s little reason to have a bow as a Paladin. Pact of the Blade is cool but even with Improved Pact Weapon it’s unwieldy, and you’d honestly be better off with Eldritch Blast. But where’s the fun in that? Well at least Eldritch Blast doesn’t require you to carry arrows with you too...

But you can’t make progress without some struggles. The world may fear magic but harnessing it is just one step for a brighter tomorrow. If everyone can embrace that then the city of Piltover will be able to overcome any challenge! As long as no kids break into your penthouse, at least. Innovation is often the fire that ends up lighting the powder.

(Artwork by Kienan “Knockwurst” Lafferty. Made for Riot Games.)

[dontcallmecarrie]

Replying to @kine-iende​ [hope this works and you see it, still trying to get the hang of how tags work] who said:

Thank you, author-person, for this incredible detailed answer. (Also i don't mind being tagged - or not) With Tony being so aware of the dynamic between those rivals, Justin ending as a villian is less going a betrayal from almost-family and more of a 'natural phenomen' he should have seen coming. Because as always:rivals ^^

.

To be completely honest, if this AU were a tv show the ‘Justin Hammer accidentally founded Cabal’ reveal would’ve been the huge plot twist revealed at the end of either Season 2 or 3, and it’d be a major shocker for the Avengers...but not Tony.

also just realized I somehow made an AU where the protagonist basically becomes a villain out of Spite™ and I’m not sure if that’s the weakest origin story ever, or what

After all, if this were a tv show, it’d be centered around the Avengers, and the main season one conflict would be in seeing how Tony fits in the team— which would get resolved eventually, but not before the audience gets a good look at their dynamics. Like, the chemistry between Iron Man and Captain America, how easily and seamlessly they work together without needing more than a word or two because they’re on the same page, or Tony’s cordial yet distant academic respect for Bruce [which gets contrasted with Iron Man’s uncharacteristic instant bromance with the Hulk], or... well, the list goes on.

Not to mention that having a common enemy alters their dynamic as time goes on, because while if this’d been a one-off things would’ve still been rocky between Tony and the team, whereas having to constantly coordinate because new intel indicates that their last enemy was actually connected to something bigger and that means even more teamwork...

So by this point they’ve got a good idea of their characters, how they roll, how they react under pressure and during downtime and throughout all this, Justin Hammer would make cameos because he’s SHIELD’s main weapons supplier [...among other groups, which in and of itself foreshadows some of his shadier connections later on] and between him and Tony, they’ve basically cornered the market on experts in that field— which comes in handy when we’re talking about alien tech. 

Justin wouldn’t get much screentime compared to the others, but enough for the Avengers [and the audience] to see he makes for a very good foil for Tony, with their differences being highlighted all the more due to the similarities. After all, both come across as good people: Tony’s very friendly to anyone who isn’t on his shit list, and Justin acts very polite and gentlemanly to strangers [and is 100% a mom friend to anyone he cares about]. Tony’s a hero, though, while Justin’s long since made it clear he was a businessman first and foremost.

Through all this, Justin and Tony’s dynamic is intentionally kept vague— one moment they’re perfectly friendly, the next they'll be at each others’ throats and, again, sometimes can get misinterpreted as something else. 

Then the Reveal happens, and suddenly all those past encounters and hints come up and it’s so obvious in retrospect but—

Who would’ve expected it?

Tony. 

Tony’s the only one who’s not surprised by what the latest intel’s hinting at, obtained from an intel broker who turned up dead not long after [...because said broker’d also been messing with HYDRA, but that’s the plot twist that comes up in the next season]: nothing specific, nothing concrete, but something that ties a good chunk of the previous Villains Of The Week together to reveal a far, far greater threat. 

The Cabal, and while some of its members have long since become familiar names— e.g. the Fantastic Four normally are the ones who have to deal with Victor Von Doom, but not always— its founder had been a mystery for the longest time. A mystery that has just been ended, except nobody could have expected to see the name on the file.

Everyone else’s caught flat-footed and going through several permutations of ‘oh shit’, meanwhile Tony just leans back, scrubs a hand down his face, and looks out the window with a low whistle.

“Well played, Justin. Well played.”

.

Which is when the audience learns more about their very strange dynamic, which gets revealed to have started out a rivalry during their childhood [and has now basically escalated to the most high-stakes game of chicken there ever was, but shh].

Here’s the thing: if Tony were to call their rivalry off, Justin would stop.

But...

Tony can count on one hand how many positive constants he’s had in his life: Jarvis’ [and, after his heart attack, JARVIS’] presence, and his rivalry. Those are the two things that’ve been there for him through thick and thin, the only two safe places where he knows where they stand, knows they won’t try and tear him down and that means something. 

JARVIS will never leave him [not this Jarvis, at least], but... this rivalry’s been a thing since before he met Rhodey, since before his parents died and Tony’s not entirely certain just how much it’s shaped him, but he can count on one hand how many people give a damn about him and want to see him succeed and— 

Tony’s not sure he has it in him to call it off. Not at this point. 

Not when part of him knows why he did it, because— well, every superhero needs an adversary, don’t they? For a moment, he’d been surprised Justin had the guts to do this, but it makes complete sense the more he thinks about it and Tony knows just how little respect Justin has for the others, of course he’d be the type of guy who’d go “ugh, fine, if you want something done right, gotta do it yourself”. 

.

also, before this all seems very one-sided, I think I forgot to mention that Justin’s really benefiting from this rivalry too— not as obvious early on, but it gives him something to focus on and work towards. 

Something that kept him from depression when he thought too much about his past life and discovered just how much he’d forgotten, was still forgetting, something to keep him from being bored when he looked up one day and realized— he didn’t actually have any goals in this life, did he? 

Not when his life thus far had been dictated by his parents, and he’d been okay with following along to their script for him because if it wasn’t him, it’d be his sister or an innocent child who’d be forced to live up to their impossibly high expectations as the heir to Hammer Industries... but it was something he was resigned to at this point, not something he was particularly happy about. 

This time, he... didn’t know what he wanted in life. Nor did he remember what he’d wanted last time— had they wanted to be a doctor? Teacher? Writer? They didn’t remember anymore— and it’s startling to realize that he couldn’t remember the last time he’d smiled if he wasn’t talking to his little sister. 

Justin’s never been one to seek out the approval of the adults in his life— the fact that he was surrounded by Parents of the Year [note the sarcasm] probably had something to do with that— and remembering a past life means he sees everyone his physical age and lower as kids, so he doesn’t see many people as equals.

...and then Tony decided he’d like having a rival.

At first, yeah, it was confusing; even as an adult, Justin didn’t entirely get why, but it was. Something.

Something good, and gets even better because this is something they both decided, that had nothing to do with the meticulously-annotated plan his parents had for his life, and while at first it was weird, Justin found he was actually enjoying himself [for once].

To the point where he found himself actually getting honestly, genuinely invested in said rivalry, and if he sometimes found himself trying to drill self-care into Tony sometimes, well, those bags under his eyes made them look bad, okay? It was self-interest, nothing more, really!

Really.

So when Tony went and became a superhero, Justin found himself taking a step back for a moment as he paused to consider his actions.

Paused before taking the plunge, because this was it, was serious, was pushing the limit and going past the point of no return. Was he really willing to do this?

A moment to consider things, deliberate on the possible consequences and what could happen— then he gave a sharp, decisive nod.

“Yes, we’re doing this.” 

[loopy777]

Agreed. Northern air temple absolutely needed a better resolution to its message, or even a full blown revision and replacing of the old with some new message.

Yup. I can see Aang maybe opening the Temple up to new inhabitants rather than leaving it as an empty monument, but the whole 'punching holes in murals' and 'knocking down walls/buildings/statues' thing would absolutely have to be removed.

And we'll turn this into an Odds'n'Ends reply post before looping back around to your responses about 'The Swamp' and 'The Beach' in separate posts:

Avatar day. Have to agree. Its way too silly for my tastes. Though from a world building perspective it does illustrate nicely just how independent even backwater villagers are from Ba Sing Sei, with their own laws and court systems.

Interesting point, but I feel like 'The King of Omashu' already established the Earth Kingdom as not being united under its capital, given the presence of a city-state with its own king. Granted, that's not the same as a village, but Omashu is even closer to Ba Sing Se than Chin Village is, so I feel like Chin could conceivably be an outlier, anyway.

The headband, was always kinda weird to me even when it first came out simply due to me never even having heard of footloose beyond the song on AMV's on youtube. Great worldbuilding, but not much else.

I'm only familiar with 'Footloose' by reputation and the formula it uses of a cool outsider bringing fun and balance to an isolated, no-fun community. Honestly, the only thing I think that really links it to 'Footloose' is the use of dancing. Otherwise, it's pretty archetypal, although perhaps the archetype is more of a regional thing than I previously thought.

But I think most of the problem is that we don't know why the gAang is traveling the Fire Nation, so it's not like we even have the excuse of Aang looking for a teacher to help make the episode feel like part of the narrative. Something to help it feel like a part of at least a mini-arc would give it a bit more impact, IMO.

Kinda disagree with your take on the painted lady. For me, it was an important episode specifically to showcase how much Katara had grown, and become able to affect the world through own power(compared to the way she could only change things by inspire the prisoners in season 1). However, yeah, it really is a filler episode. I don't think its bad though, just not as important in the grand scheme of things as other "filler episodes" in S3.

Well, despite what I just said, I don't think an episode being filler is necessarily a problem. 'The Painted Lady' actually gets around the problem of feeling aimless with the conflict between Sokka's schedule and Katara's desire to stay and help. So we still don't know why the gAang is wandering the Fire Nation, but at least we have a bit of context to give it some energy.

However, I'm surprised you feel like it showcased Katara's growth. Sure, I guess she know has Master-level Waterbending powers, but in the end the townsfolk were still going to turn on her until Sokka made the inspiration speech. (Or at least the first half, and then Katara finished it.) I feel like the focus of the episode was actually on the dynamic between the two of them, with Katara's idealism clashing with Sokka's cynical practicality, and then we see them join forces to save the day- and how Sokka is the one who will ultimately capitulate and support his sister when the two come into conflict.

For Katara, the episode felt to me like she was just doin' her thing like she'd done through most of the series. 'The Desert' is the one I point to show her really stepping up and showing her strength.

As for ember island... Well the entire episode was worth is as far as im concerned for the jokes of "Did jet just die?" And the ending where Aang is slain and the rebellion defeated and this is portrayed as a good thing. That really helped hammer in the point that history is written by the victors. I could do withoutht he kataang subplot as well though.

That is a good gag, and it's one of the few meta-gags that doesn't necessarily require knowledge of the fandom; a lot of people probably wondered about Jet's final fate.

Really, of the comedy episodes, EIP is definitely the best. But it still just gets a few chuckles from me, at most, so I can't ultimately call it good comedy. Even the least humorous episodes of AtLA can get a chuckle out of me at one or two points, so a comedy episode should be doing a lot better.

[therevengeoffrankenstein]

top 5 peter cushing movies or roles

I have two different sets of answers because good cush performance =/= good movie.

Top 5 Favorite Movies Peter Cushing Was In:

1. Cash On Demand (1961)

Heist thriller but it's A Christmas Carol. This movie makes me lose my shit!!! Must a movie be 'deep'? Is it not enough that a thriller actually set me on edge?

2. Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)

Yeah.

3. The Curse of Frankenstein (1957)

For what it lacks in book accuracy, it makes up for in pure, undiluted Hammer goodness. Boobs!!! Blood!!! Vibrant color!!! Homoeroticism!!! Fabulous costumes!!! Ugh.

4. The Brides of Dracula (1960)

Best viewed with a critical eye but Gotdamn is it good.

Also, I would like to give Van Helsing a kiss.

5. Captain Clegg (1962)

Swashbuckling smuggler tale!!! Cushing acting like a bastard!!! I watched this movie six times in one week!!! It's just a bucket of fun and I like it more very time I rewatch it.

Honorable mentions: Fear in the Night (1972), Madhouse (1974), Horror of Dracula (1958), Dracula AD 1972 (1972), The Revenge of Frankenstein (1958), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954), Horror Express (1972), House of the Long Shadows (1983) (because fuck you it's a fun movie)

-

Top Five Favorite Peter Cushing Performances:

1. Wilhuff Tarkin (Star Wars: A New Hope (1977))

Love of my life,,,,,

Also 1. Victor Frankenstein (Hammer Frankenstein series, 1957-1974)

Bastard.

Cushing nails abrupt mood shifts, and Hammer Frankenstein is full of em. Victor is cold, calculating, ambitious, morally gray (most of the time?), and charismatic as Fuck. One moment a brooding antihero, the next a heartless villain. He pulls it off, hun. And looks fabulous all the while (even when he's a disheveled mess mwah).

(my personal favorite of his performances in the series are Curse, Revenge, Created Woman, and Must Be Destroyed to be more specific lol.)

2. The Van Helsings (Yes All Of Them) (Hammer Dracula, 1958-1974)

I can have a tragic little gentle man. As a treat.

(Brides, Horror, and AD 1972 are him at his best, methinks)

3. Harry Fordyce (Cash on Demand (1961))

Harry Fordyce my beloved.

Nerdy lil bank manager is tormented for nearly an hour and Cush tries his darndest. All the little mannerisms and reactions he does!!! I can't!!! He is Selling it!!! I am genuinely upset by everything that happens to him!!! Fuck.

4. Sherlock Holmes (The Hound of the Baskervilles (1959))

Sherlock my beloved.

Cushing was Excellent with props and emoting, and this is a prime example. He's just hopping around being a sassy lil bitch <3. He's so much fun in this movie dfdtdgfgf

5. Christopher Maitland (The Skull (1965))

The movie itself is kinda blah but Peter's performance is so good??? He made this movie worth watching tbh. The palatable fear!!! I was worried for this man anytime he was in remote danger!!! The dream sequence makes me lose my shit!!! Fuck!!!

He's so genuine in everything he did and took acting so seriously. He never condescended to the audience and fuck!!!! It shows!!! He's so good. I love him ugh.

Honorable Mentions: Tales From the Crypt (1972), The Ghoul (1975), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1954), The House That Dripped Blood (1971), The Flesh and the Fiends (1960)

[westannatasharomanoff]

THG AU Chapter 20

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3     Chapter 4    Chapter 5    Chapter 6 Chapter 7   Chapter 8   Chapter 9  Chapter 10   Chapter 11 Chapter 12  Chapter 13 Chapter 14  Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17  Chapter 18 Chapter 19

TW: Major character death, drinking.

* Six months later, Pietro was helping Wanda pack for her victory tour.*

Pietro: Okay, how many outfits do you need? 

Wanda: One per day, so twelve. And four pairs of pajamas. 

Pietro: * folding outfits and putting them in Wanda’s suitcase* Okay. 

Wanda: So, what are you going to do while you have the house to yourself?

Pietro: Oh yeah, I have plans. So many plans. I can’t wait to do all of these awesome things that I’m going to do while I have the house to myself.

Wanda: You have no idea what you are going to do, do you? 

Pietro: No I do not. 

Wanda: Just try not to get too bored while I’m away.

Pietro: Twelve days, Wanda! Last time we were apart that long, you were in The Hunger Games! What am I supposed to do while you’re gone? 

Wanda: *grabbing her fully packed suitcase* Just stay entertained, remember to eat, and don’t break anything. And don’t die. If you really need to call me there’s a phone on the train, but I’ll be really busy. Only call if there’s an emergency. 

Pietro: Fine. I’ll try to find something to do. 

Wanda: *hugging him* Goodbye! Love you! Have fun! 

Pietro: Love you too. See you after your tour. 

* Wanda got on the train, where her mentor, stylist, prep team, and escort were already ready to go. *

Loki: Okay, we’re starting in 11 and going all the way to The Capitol. Speaking of The Capitol, President Snow has specifically set it up for us to spend extra time in District 3 because the train needs to be inspected by professionals. 

Natasha: * sarcastically* Is that why? Are you sure he doesn’t just need a news story about my private life?

Loki: You’re a public figure, you don’t get privacy! I don’t see Wanda complaining. 

Wanda: Wait, everything I do is going to be broadcasted to the whole country?

Loki: Pretty much, yeah.

Wanda: I didn’t sign up for this!

Loki: But you survived.You’re a victor, and victors are public figures.  

* Wanda did not like that idea one bit. Still, she did her speeches in each of the districts they went to. Eventually, they got to District 3. *

Loki: Remember, after this, you will have four hours to get to know the locals. That’s eight times what you normally get. I don’t know what anyone would do for that long in such a boring district.

Gamora: There are a few decent places to get lunch around here. 

Nebula: Yeah, our father always drags us here on “ important government business and we always eat at this one cafe called “JavaSipt ” with really good sandwiches. 

Natasha: Is this cafe way out in the open, or is it more secluded?

Gamora: It’s just a little place. It’s usually pretty empty. 

Natasha: What’s the camera situation in this cafe?

Gamora: There are not as many cameras in 3 as there are in 12. This cafe has one, but if you sit inside in the back left corner, you actually won’t be caught on video. 

Loki: Why are you giving her this advice? 

Gamora: Because there are no cameras on the train either. 

Loki: The people want to see her!

Natasha: Okay, well they can see me when I want to be seen, but there are some things I just don’t want to share with all of Panem. My relationship is a personal aspect of my life, and the news is doing everything it can to rip us apart for the sake of creating drama. 

Loki: But drama is so interesting!

*After Wanda gave her speech, she ran straight for Vision. After all, Natasha and Bruce were together. Clearly, it wasn’t a big deal if people from different districts dated. What’s the worst that could happen? Vision brings Wanda into his house to escape the hidden cameras. * 

*Meanwhile*

Bruce: So, we have four hours. What do you want to do? 

Natasha: We could get lunch. I hear there’s a cafe down that way that’s pretty good.

Bruce: You mean JavaSipt? I love that place! Besides, I’m always a sucker for puns. 

Natasha: Yeah. I was thinking we could sit in the back left corner.

* They went to lunch and for the fist time since Natasha won the games, she felt like she could just be herself. They had a great time, and after lunch they still had two hours to spend together. He showed her around the district and they just enjoyed each other’s company. She eventually had to get back on the train.*

Natasha: Wow! that went by fast. 

Bruce: It really did. I really don’t want to wait six months before I see you again. It’s going to feel like forever!

Natasha: I know, but at least we can still talk on the phone every day. 

Bruce: It isn’t the same. 

Loki: Come on, girls! We spent four hours in this district, and I’m ready to go somewhere better.

Natasha: * kisses Bruce* Goodbye! I’ll see you in six months!

Bruce: Goodbye, Nat! I’ll see you then. 

*Three days later, they were in The Capitol for Wanda’s party and President Snow himself came into her room.*

Snow: I just wanted to let you know that associating with people from other districts who are not victors is not acceptable. You never know who might get hurt. 

Wanda: What do you mean? 

Snow: I’m sure that your recent interaction in District 3 was an accident, but don’t let it happen again.

* With that he left. About two hours later, Wanda received a phone call while she was getting dressed. Her stylist picked it up.*

Gamora: Hello?

Pietro: *over the phone* Hi, my name is Pietro Maximoff and I need to speak to my sister, Wanda, immediately.

Gamora: She is getting her hair, nails, and makeup done. What is this in reference to?

Pietro: Our cousin just died. Give my sister the phone.

Gamora: Oh. I’m so sorry.  I’ll give her the phone. 

Nebula: Stop. What is it about?  *Gamora whispers to Nebula* Oh. Well, can’t we wait and tell her after her party? 

Wanda: What is it? Who’s on the phone? What’s wrong?

Gamora: It’s your brother. Here you go. *hands Wanda the phone* 

Wanda: Hello?

Pietro: Clint was killed in a mining accident today. A beam fell and hit him in the head. Nobody else was  hurt, but Clint’s gone. Also, you need to tell Natasha. 

Wanda: An accident? 

Pietro: Are you going to be okay?

Wanda: *crying* Yes. I’ll be fine. 

Pietro: Okay, I’ll see you tomorrow. Goodbye.

Wanda: *Hardly audible* Goodbye. *to her prep team* My cousin just died.

Nebula: I’ll use waterproof makeup. 

Mantis: *hugs her* You’re going to be alright. 

Peter: How did it happen?

Gamora: Peter! Don’t ask that!

Natasha: *entering the room* Hey Wanda, are you ready for your party? *sees Wanda is crying* What’s wrong? 

*Wanda begins crying harder.*

Gamora: She just got a call that her cousin died.

Natasha: Wait, WHAT?! Clint?

Wanda: *nods* 

Natasha: * tearing up* I have to go. *runs out of the room* 

Nebula: * looks at Gamora* Next time, wait until after they both have to make a public appearance to deliver that kind of news. Now they both have to go to the party like this.

* They put on their dresses and go to the party. Both of them are wearing red. The party went by, but Wanda just wanted to go home. Nastasha decided to get absolutely hammered so she could make it through the party. ( Don’t worry, the legal drinking age in Panem is 18.) By the end of the night, she can hardly stand. Wanda and Loki had to walk her upstairs. The next morning, Wanda went to get Natasha so they could go home.*

Wanda: How are you feeling?

Natasha: It hurts.

Wanda: The hangover or Clint?

Natasha: Yes. Everything hurts. 

Wanda: *sits on the bed and puts her hand on Natasha’s shoulder* I know, but things will get better. 

* They went home and Wanda gave her speech. Clint’s funeral was the next day. Wanda blamed herself for the situation, and that upset her a lot. Natasha thought it was an actual accident and she just felt numb. It was a week before she could bring herself to call Bruce.*

Bruce: *over the phone* Hi Nat! It’s been so long since we talked. How have you been?

Natasha: Clint’s gone. 

Bruce: What?

Natasha: There was a mining accident.

Bruce: I’m so sorry, I had no idea. How are you holding up?

Natasha: I’m holding up. I tried drinking the pain away, but it just made me feel worse. 

Bruce: Natasha, don’t do anything that could hurt you. I want you to be safe. Promise me.

Natasha: I promise I’ll deal with my emotions in a healthy manner. 

[the-light-followed]

WYRD SISTERS (1988) [DISC. #6; WITCHES #2]

“‘No one would come up here this time of night.’  Magrat peered around timidly.  Here and there on the moor were huge standing stones, their origins lost in time, which were said to lead mobile and private lives of their own. She shivered.  ‘What’s to be afraid of?’ she managed.  ‘Us,’ said Granny Weatherwax, smugly.”

Rating: 6/10

Standalone Okay: Yes

Read First: Yeah!

Discworld Books Masterpost: [x]

* * * * * * * * * *

I’m just going to jump right in with this one: the best part about the Witches sub-series of the Discworld is that they are all, in their own way, stories about stories.  They’re stories that follow other stories, the tropes and archetypes and established narrative structure, but they’re also stories that subvert that structure at just the right moment to make something that feels much more truthful, and often, much more real.

Stories about stories.

This is sometimes very literal: Wyrd Sisters, for example, has very obvious Shakespearean roots, notably from Hamlet and Macbeth, and seems to gleefully delight in throwing around references—three witches meeting to cast spells, blood on the murderer’s hands that won’t wash away, the ghost of a murdered father begging his son to seek revenge, a theater called The Dysk that mimics Shakespeare’s Globe, etc., etc., etc.—that then get turned over on their heads.  We’ll see it done again with the fairy tale elements of Witches Abroad, and the Phantom of the Opera parody that is Maskerade. These books are, in a very real sense, skipping the setup and instead using cultural touchstones as framework. The books starring the witches are literally new stories being told about stories we, the audience, already know and recognize.

But sometimes it isn’t literal at all: witches, after all, work magic most often through psychology and metaphor.  “Headology,” as the witches call it, is the basis of witchcraft, and it’s all about the stories being told.  It’s in the things the witches do for respect, like their hats and black outfits and their out-of-the-way cottages they pass down from one witch to the next, or the way they bow instead of curtsey.  It’s in the things they call magic even when it isn’t, like using real herbs and medicines to cure illnesses, or waving their hands over a pot of tea and chanting nonsense before ‘reading the future’ in the leaves, all of it only for the look of the thing from the outside.

And it’s also in the things they tell themselves. For example, when Magrat’s broomstick stops working in Wyrd Sisters, she does what she calls a Change spell—which simply means that the rest of the world remains the same, but she changes the way she sees herself.  Before, she was a young woman on a broom rapidly falling out of the sky, and now she’s a confident young witch who can deal with any disaster that comes her way, so she’s therefore a lot less worried about it.  

And it works.  That’s the thing: Magrat is just fine.  Witches do magic in and on themselves, it’s all nothing more than a thought, and yet it works.

None of the Witches books are particularly subtle about the point they’re trying to make with the whole deal, either.  In Wyrd Sisters, it seems like everyone is talking about the power of words and stories, the way that the things we tell ourselves and each other can shape the reality of the world we inhabit.  There are some negatives you can pull out of that message—history is malleable and written by the victors, propaganda triumphs over the truth, etc., etc.  But there are a lot of more interesting, thought-provoking ideas to consider, instead. For example: just because narrative structure has already delivered us the broad strokes of the plot (anyone who’s studied any Shakespeare, which can reasonably be assumed to be any native English speaker older than about sixteen, can probably guess the general course of Wyrd Sisters by about page twenty), it doesn’t mean there can’t be originality and meaning in the specifics.

And that originality and meaning is what makes all the Discworld books work so well.  Pratchett is parodying, sure, but he’s also creating something very new and earnest and sincere, and that just doesn’t work if the story is an exact beat-for-beat retelling of an already-told tale.

Wyrd Sisters agrees with that idea. Destiny is all well and good—it’s nice to think that what’s to come is pre-planned, easy to predict, and impossible to subvert—but the world just doesn’t work like that.  The story isn’t plotted out in advance.

As Pratchett says later in the book: “Destiny was funny stuff…You couldn’t trust it.  Often you couldn’t even see it.  Just when you knew you had it cornered, it turned out to be something else—coincidence, maybe, or providence.  You barred the door against it, and it was standing behind you.  Then just when you thought you had it nailed down it walked away with the hammer.”

The witches certainly don’t truck with destiny.  Or, well, it may be a tool in their storytelling arsenal, but they don’t see it as a concrete thing.  Destiny is what you make of it, and Granny and Nanny are movers and shakers.  That makes it especially ironic that the book is called Wyrd Sisters—the word “wyrd” is an old Anglo-Saxon concept referring to fate or personal destiny, so the “wyrd sisters” themselves typically would be the three Fates, a la Greek mythology, rather than three women who tend to grab Fate and Destiny by the ears and twist until they decide to agree that the witches have the right of it.

Honestly, though, if Granny Weatherwax looked at me like that, I’d do whatever she wanted, too.

I just want to bring up something I really like about Pratchett’s writing style: despite the fantastical setting, despite how far from reality he can get, he’s not afraid to switch to Roundworld concepts or just flat-out break the fourth wall in exchange for better, more impactful descriptions.  I like to call this cinematic writing, and sometimes that’s actually very literal. There are quite a few passages in various Discworld books where he starts to write in an almost movie-script style.  After Moving Pictures, which is still a good four books away at this point, I think that becomes less notable.  Here, and in the previous few Discworld books (Mort, Sourcery, Equal Rites), when Discworld does not have any parallel equivalent to Roundworld’s Hollywood, it’s pretty damn unusual for an author to just outright throw aside their own fantasy setting to make a description in real-world terms.

My favorite example of this from Wyrd Sisters:

“It is almost impossible to convey the sudden passage of fifteen years and two months in words.  It’s a lot easier in pictures, when you just use a calendar with lots of pages blowing off, or a clock with hands moving faster and faster until they blur, or trees bursting into blossom and fruiting in a matter of seconds… Well, you know.  Or the sun becomes a fiery streak across the sky, and days and nights flicker past jerkily like a bad zoetrope, and the fashions visible in the clothes shop across the road whip on and off faster than a lunchtime stripper with five pubs to do. There are any amount of ways, but they won’t be required because, in fact, none of this happened.”

You can practically imagine the way that scene would look in a blockbuster movie, and it’s wonderful that Pratchett describes it crystal clear just to let us know that it is not, in fact, how it looked at all.

There’s a lot more to like about Wyrd Sisters, too, for all that it isn’t one of my favorite Discworld books.  It’s a far better introduction to the witches—specifically Granny Weatherwax—than Equal Rites is, even though Equal Rites is technically the first book in the Witches sub-series.  It introduces some characters we’ll see a lot more of later, like King Verence and the greater Ogg family, but also characters that will go on to become staples of the Discworld, like Nanny Ogg and Magrat.  We also have some lovely cameos from already established characters: notably Death and his interactions during the play at the castle, but there are some good Ankh-Morpork moments, like the Librarian’s appearance at a barfight.

And we get to see the good old Discworld humor really click—it’s all about that balance between absurdism and realism, or between established tropes and self-awareness.  One of my favorite examples of this comes right at the beginning of the book:

“As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: ‘When shall we three meet again?’  There was a pause.  Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: ‘Well, I can do next Tuesday.’”

Pratchett’s really got a sense for it by this point, and he can deliver zinger after unexpectedly delightful zinger.  Discworld books are always beautifully funny, of course, even though after a while you really get a feel for when a good joke is coming.  Some people might think that knowing the punchline is coming might make it less funny: it absolutely does not.  All it does is make the unexpected, sneaky moments—when the humor Pratchett has been secretly setting up for ages finally creeps up to smack you in the face—hit harder.  Maybe others disagree, but I can read Discworld novels again and again, and they always get me just as much as they did the first time through.  In my opinion, that’s real comedic talent.

Up next in the series we have Pyramids, our first unconnected one-off story, which is wonderfully weird even for a Discworld book!  Stay tuned!

* * * * * * * * * *

Side Notes:

Every time that oh-so popular Ankh-Morporkian dive bar, the Drum, pops up, it’s fun to note where it’s at these days: Mended Drum, Broken Drum, etc.  In Wyrd Sisters, Tomjon and Hwel go drinking in the Mended Drum.

There are several adaptations of Wyrd Sisters, including a 4-part BBC radio show, an animated film, and a stageplay.

As I go over my highlighted quotes and annotations from each book, putting these posts together, I learn more and more about myself.  What I like, what I find funny, what I care to notice.  For example, Vetinari shows up exactly ONCE in this book, and just in a footnote, and yet I still highlighted it and wrote a note next to it that contained mostly exclamation points.  There’s no real point to this; I just want everyone to know how much I love Vetinari.

Favorite Quotes:

“As the cauldron bubbled an eldritch voice shrieked: ‘When shall we three meet again?’ There was a pause.  Finally another voice said, in far more ordinary tones: ‘Well, I can do next Tuesday.’”

“Witches are not by nature gregarious, at least with other witches, and they certainly don’t have leaders.  Granny Weatherwax was the most highly-regarded of the leaders they didn’t have.”

“Now, just when a body would have been useful, it had let him down.  Or out.”

“‘No one would come up here this time of night.’ Magrat peered around timidly.  Here and there on the moor were huge standing stones, their origins lost in time, which were said to lead mobile and private lives of their own.  She shivered.  ‘What’s to be afraid of?’ she managed.  ‘Us,’ said Granny Weatherwax, smugly.”

“‘How many times have you thrown a magic ring into the deepest depths of the ocean and then, when you get home and have a nice bit of turbot for your tea, there it is?’ They considered this in silence. ‘Never,’ said Granny irritably. ‘And nor have you.’”

“His body was standing to attention.  Despite all his efforts his stomach stood at ease.”

“Back down on the plains, when you kicked people they kicked back.  Up here, when you kicked people they moved away and just waited patiently for your leg to fall off.”

“The Ogg grandchildren were encouraged to believe that monsters from the dawn of time dwelt in its depths, since Nanny believed that a bit of thrilling and pointless terror was an essential ingredient of the magic of childhood.”

“She gave the guards a nod as she went through.  It didn’t occur to either of them to stop her because witches, like beekeepers and big gorillas, went where they liked.  In any case, an elderly lady banging a bowl with a spoon was probably not the spearhead of an invasion force.”

“‘You’re wondering whether I really would cut your throat,’ panted Magrat.  ‘I don’t know either.  Think of the fun we could have together, finding out.’”

“Wizards assassinated each other in drafty corridors, witches just cut one another dead in the street.  And they were all as self-centered as a spinning top.  Even when they help other people, she thought, they’re secretly doing it for themselves.  Honestly, they’re just like big children.  Except for me, she thought smugly.”

“‘Man just went past with a cat on his head,’ one of them remarked, after a minute or two’s reflection.  ‘See who it was?’  ‘The Fool, I think.’  There was a thoughtful pause.  The second guard shifted his grip on his halberd.  ‘It’s a rotten job,’ he said.  ‘But I suppose someone’s got to do it.’”

“Granny’s implicit belief that everything should get out of her way extended to other witches, very tall trees and, on occasion, mountains.”

“Only in our dreams are we free.  The rest of the time we need wages.”

“Words were indeed insubstantial.  They were as soft as water, but they were also as powerful as water and now they were rushing over the audience, eroding the levees of veracity, and carrying away the past.”

“‘Witches just aren’t like that,’ said Magrat.  ‘We live in harmony with the great cycles of Nature, and do no harm to anyone, and it’s wicked of them to say we don’t.  We ought to fill their bones with hot lead.’”

“‘I shall haunt their corridors,’ he said, ‘and whisper under the doors on still nights.’ His voice grew fainter, almost lost in the ceaseless roar of the river.  ‘I shall make basket chairs creak most alarmingly, just you wait and see.’ Death grinned at him.  NOW YOU’RE TALKING.”

[dragonnan]

Fic Rec Game!

We all could use some amazing stories to help deal with the hell that 2020 continues to heap on us. At the same time it gives us the opportunity to spread a little love!

Rules: link 5 to 10 stories below - any genre, any pairing, any rating (though PLEASE tag warnings where needed).  Be sure to include summaries.  You can also, additionally, link up to 5 of your own fics.

Tag 5 or more people to keep this going :)

Share away!

c - complete ip - in-progress

________________________

My recs:

c Omertà by HanukoYoukai (Teen and up) MCU

After chasing down the criminal that took Uncle Ben's life, Peter is found by James Wesley, the right-hand man of Wilson Fisk--a wealthy businessman trying to clean up Hell's Kitchen. Having left a strong impression on the man, soon Peter finds himself working for Fisk, doing an internship for his business projects by day, and catching bad guys at night. If Mr. Fisk wants a few specific criminals delivered to him personally, who is Peter to object? All his boss wants to do is talk, after all, and ever since this internship began, things were finally looking up for the Parkers.  Then Peter hears the whispers in the underworld about the elusive and terrifying Kingpin, and somehow there are rumors that Spider-Man is on the Crime Lord's payroll. When he decides to use his own judgement and go against Mr. Fisk's wishes, Peter suddenly finds himself neck deep in mob activity with no means to get himself out.

ip A Twisted Upheaval by silentsaebyeok (Teen and up) MCU 

“I’m afraid, Harrison, you’ve awakened a sleeping giant.” Wilson said. “Tony Stark will do anything and everything to protect those he loves. And with your carelessness, it is inevitable that my criminal empire will be brought to its knees. This is your last opportunity, your last chance to get this right. He is on our radar now.” -- The Kingpin runs the criminal underworld. He is the mastermind and the puppeteer. Tony Stark has been trying to find the elusive gangster for years, but with no luck. But then Peter Parker is kidnapped by an agent of the Kingpin’s, revealing the cracks in an otherwise unshakeable organization. Unlikely alliances form and friendships are made as the criminal underworld begins to unravel.

ip Identity Crisis by KitCat992 (Teen and up) MCU

It’s been months since Rasputin and Disappear-O the Magnificent almost sent Tony and the others to a watery grave. Things have been pleasantly looking up since then. For starters, Tony felt as close as ever with the kid. Of course, trying to distinguish the difference between normal teenage angst and something else that could be seriously wrong with his protege was proving to be...a challenge. And walking into the kitchen to find the Winter Soldier eating his food was not helping.

Meanwhile, Peter has a whole new school year to look forward to. And with the addition of old friends popping back into his life, he was sure things could only get better from this point on. Sure, sleeping was a little rough lately, but no big deal. And he really needed to figure out how to remove this black slime from his backpack. But yeah, everything’s great.

Things were great. Totally great.

Although, now that he was being honest with himself, Peter was feeling a bit sick lately. And for real, what was with this black slime?

(Or: OsCorp is inadvertently ruining everyone's life and Tony is done with this B.S. Protective Avengers and Shameless Peter Whump.)

Part 2 of Identity Saga

ip The Man in the Crimson Cloak by Aelaer (Teen and up) SHERLOCK and DOCTOR STRANGE CROSSOVER

Data began to flow in from what he could see of the cloak. Red, obviously, though several shades in the weave of the fabric. Wool— cashmere, to be precise. The inner lining was made of another material (pashmina suddenly came to mind) covered in a checkered pattern. Each square in turn had intricate designs within the material, and the colors shifted in various hues of red and grey— due to age, not design. The material was weathered and worn, very worn in some places, but still remarkably intact. And while he was certain of its composition, there was… something else about it. Something he could not determine, something different.

One thing was for certain: this was no ordinary costume purchased for twenty quid. But the stranger in his flat was more than just a cloak.

Sherlock’s terribly ordinary and outright dull day turns into something well beyond his wildest dreams when a most interesting stranger enters his flat.

ip These Old Shades by sgam76 (Teen and up) SHERLOCK

Memory has always been Sherlock's best tool--his weapon of choice, in fact. But there have been times in his life when his memory is also his worst enemy. Right now is one of those times.

Part 8 of Scheherezade 'verse

c Castaway by ariaadagio (Mature) LUCIFER Note: contains sexy times but overall is not overtly graphic

The Devil is real. A sentence Chloe Decker never believed until Lucifer Morningstar burned out her skepticism with his hellfire eyes. It's a "Hell" of a reality shift, but Chloe realizes she may not have time for gradual acceptance when she discovers that one of the bodies in her most recent murder investigation isn't human. Worse still, the next target might be Lucifer. A story that begs the question: who prays for Satan? [Post-S3 finale continuation. Deckerstar.] 

Part 1 of Gravity

My writing:

ip Sed Diabolus by dragonnan, KitCat992 (Teen and up) MCU

The great epic has begun. They say history is recorded by the victors. Well history, then, has yet to be written. Heroes have fallen and the world is a ruin of chaos and self-destruction. The time of the apocalypse has come. Who, then, will stand and face the Devil?

Thanos left an indelible mark. What was undone was far from erased and the world is the poorer for the losses he brought to bear. But he is not the only being of power looking to claim Earth as its throne. The enemy from the heavens was defeated. But it is the enemy from the darkest and deepest places who may prove to be the final death knell for the universe.

And yet... hope comes...

Like the ringing strike of a hammer against iron...

[shae-la-hyene]

Mermay day 8

Terrified. I was terrified. There had been this fight, and it was normal, natural. There was to be a victor, and a loser, someone that eat, and someone that was eaten. That was totally natural but usually I wasn’t there to see it. And that made it so much easier. But this time I was there and I saw it and I was terrified. I had learned pretty early in my life not to fear sharks because they don’t usually eat human flesh, unless they were big whites and pushed into extremes to survive. So sharks, in theory, weren’t a threat to me. Unless I happened to be in their path when they were about to attack their prey. This… specific shark was not a big white like I saw on a tv screen, or one of those with the hammer-shaped head. Or with a jaw like a saw. Or even a small one I would play with in the shallow warm waters. It was big and it looked bad, like the wolves in the fairy tales, and it terrified me. I remembered all those documentaries about the giant animals of the ancient times. A thousand times bigger than the biggest dinosaur, and far more deadly. Megalodon, and all of those lovely names. But we were no longer in the ancient times, weren’t we ? Was it true that all this time, we thought they went extinct, when they only lived too deep for us to encounter them ? Fools, humans were fools and I wanted to escape this place and never come back, going back to the land and its illusion of safety. They attacked yet another shark, and yeah it’s the law of nature, I suppose, but it was a fight of giants and I was a little fish. It was a frightening sight. Before I could swam far enough, as fast as I could, every fraction of second was filled with the fear of being a casualty in their monstrous battle. I wouldn’t have made it alive. Of course I would have made it, my mind whispered. I was more powerful than the biggest animal on this planet. But the problem was that so far I really thought the biggest animal on this planet was a blue whale and just got proved wrong… I wouldn’t have died, I’m invincible in theory. But in the reality, I felt really small, and powerless in the crush of flesh and the flood of blood. I swam as fast as I could. As far as I could, blinded by my fear and fleeing instinct. I hurt something, at some point, and quickly moved around it, and curled up in that little space, making me small enough not to be noticed, hoping the stone would hide me from the giants. It was stupid. They probably never noticed me in the first place. I was really stupid and foolish when I was scared. Very helpfully, my mind conjured images of spiders in the corner of my hiding place, and I shook harder. Logic was escaping me, panic filling my body, and I didn’t know how to escape it. Phantom sensations of tiny eight-legged creatures crawling over my skin kept me awake, but the rest of the world failed to ground me. I was losing myself. I kept seeing the sharks fighting, the crashing of their bodies, the teeth tearing flesh and spilling blood. Behind me, I felt a nuzzle softly nudging my shoulder. Grounding me, a great orca slid their slippery skin against mine, inviting. I forced myself to breath again, my eyes deep into their, and unknotted my body, letting the water hold my weight and make everything easier. She was here to save me. Bringing me to a safe place where there was no sharks and no unknown monsters in the darkness. “Take me home,” I whispered.