#{She's a bird with broken Wings|Interactions}

[bantersnatch]

Hello again! Welcome back to the theory zone. Last time, we discussed the basic facts we know about Very Important People's Bianca (the original post is here, and here's a version with great additional analysis from @/alittlevillainy).

This time around, I want to focus in on specifically Bianca's relationship with their step-parent, Host!Vic -- the facts, the paradoxes, and even some hints we can pull from Vic (the human comedian's) past work.

So... here's what we know so far!

The Host is borderline obsessed with Bianca. They bring her up incessantly -- most episodes have at least one reference to Bianca, and repeat guests (so far, this means Anna and Jacob) have made comments about this apparent fixation (see: "I don't care about your boy"). One interpretation is that this is a status thing for them. Having a stepdaughter establishes them as someone with power over another person on set even when the cameras cut. This behavior (always "my stepdaughter", or "my stepdaughter, Bianca") also doubles as 'reminding' Bianca of the dynamic between the two of them and reestablishing their control over her.

The Host relies on Bianca. At the end of the Leighanna-Jean episode, when Leighanna is applying lipstick to the Host, we get the following interaction:

This is vulnerable! This is open! The Host is trying so hard and Bianca "will tell them the truth."

3. The Host feels bullied by Bianca and expresses a desire to be rid of her. In Jasper and Casper's interview, the Host talks about their longing to throw Bianca into the sea, like Jasper and Casper's children. In Martha Tops and Lucian Azathoth's episode, the Host seeks a solution to the "bullying" they face from Bianca. "She's so mean to me," they say; they are also ready to sacrifice her until they realize what that might entail ("planes that the mind cannot comfortably conceive" and so on), at which point they respond, "We'll keep her for now," with the implication that they are 'keeping her' as a favor to her father more than anything else.

4. When the Host mentions people they'd (like to?) "sit and talk with" to Jukebox, they specifically mention their mother and Bianca. Their mother seems to be a source of pain and abandonment (see the Zeke episode's "sometimes your mom hates you even when you're not rocks"). So what does this shared context imply about the Host's relationship with Bianca...? Well, I'm not quite sure, actually. But there's something there. To me this line implies that they feel like they should have a closer relationship with Bianca.

5. Bianca genuinely seems "done" with the Host in her brief on-screen appearance. This is valuable to note because of how biased the Host's account of their relationship is; I don't necessarily trust them when they describe Bianca as 'bullying' them, for example, because that would require a power dynamic between them that is opposite of what we see on set.

So there are a lot of gloriously, humanly contradictory notes in here.

As we just discussed, the Host views Bianca as a bully, despite the fact that they have power over her both in the home and the workplace, and despite the fact that Bianca is apparently genial enough to be well-liked by her coworkers.

The Host is fixated in some degree on Bianca -- whether that's personal or just related to her role as stepdaughter. So, is this obsession based on a desire to heal their relationship? According to the Martha Tops and Lucian Azathoth episode, nope.

The Host is like a pathetic wet bird with a broken wing who is constantly making cries for help. This is just true. They're also deeply off-putting and weird -- but still, when I put myself in Bianca's shoes I have trouble imagining why she wouldn't try in some way to "save them". So what gives? How has the Host hurt them -- or was their marriage to her dad enough to create this rift? (This one is a bit of a reach, admittedly, because it relies on Bianca being a normal and good person, but I think about it a lot.)

The Host trusts and relies upon Bianca despite everything else. Indeed, it seems like Bianca is the only person they trust and rely upon.

Where does this leave us? With a lot of questions and a messy, messy relationship. Below the cut I'm going to share something a little different that opens the way to new theories: a sketch written by Vic Michaelis (the human comedian) that has some hauntingly familiar elements.

This is where we get into the groundless speculation and entirely non-canonical realm of "fucked up if true". So, uh, proceed at your own risk? Nothing that follows is real, but I think it's fun!

Okay, buckle up! I've attached two videos here. They're different versions of the same sketch: a shorter version with higher audio quality (plus a Hot Bill Summer cameo that made me giggle enough that I couldn't stand to cut it out), and a longer version with lower audio quality. Pick your poison; if you aren't able to watch right now, don't worry, I'll break 'em down for us in a moment.

(content warnings for potential grooming; please be careful)

So, here we've got a bride on her wedding day speaking to her (offscreen) future stepdaughter, who is upset. We learn:

The stepdaughter and the bride are the same age (specifically born three months apart).

The stepdaughter and bride were childhood best friends.

The bride was previously engaged to her future stepson.

That's a familiar setup, right? The crucial difference between this sketch and VIP is that the sketch turns on the inherent weirdness of the childhood friends dynamic, while VIP has left the nature of the Vic-Bianca relationship mysterious. They've been very slow and deliberate with feeding us our Bianca scraps, from the same age reveal to the recent appearance in the flesh.

So -- are we seeing a slowburn reveal of the same setup from this sketch (which Vic knows is funny, to the point that they've included it in their character reel and have performed it across the years in different formats and to fit different lengths)? I mean, in all honesty, I'm... not sure.

The points against:

This sketch is dark! It just is! It's funny, don't get me wrong, but I don't know how well it would go over with the Dropout audience.

The Host having had a childhood best friend doesn't gel with our understanding of the character.

This setup rests on the "bride" character living in more or less the same place from the age of 12 to about 22; the Host moved around a lot as a child.

The points in favor:

It would explain so much of the weirdness and resentment between Bianca and the Host. The reliance, the longing, the obsession. If this was once a close relationship turned poisonous, suddenly things start to click into place.

Would That Be Fucked Up Or What.

Interested to hear what people make of this! Like I said, it's deeply non-canonical, but I think it's such a fun thing to think about.

("what are you doing. how did you find these. are you okay." fic research. i'm 18k deep don't talk to me it's FINE.)

[goobbgoober]

Damn, since my Kremy post, I've been thinking a lot about the other anthro creatures in the Witchkight campaign. Like Hootsie, Frost, and Torbek specifically, but like, also the npcs they meet. Like the snake couple was actually my favorite ever, I love them, most accurate anthro characters ever.

When it comes to Hootsie, I can't fault the way they play her, again because I know most people don't interact with birds, let alone birds of prey. I remember that moment when Gricko reunites with Hootsie, some of the noises specifically that she makes are just so not owl noises. The rat snacks, however, 100% accurate, great horned owls love rat snacks in my experience.

When it comes to animals like her that are 2 very different species combined, it can be very hard to figure out how to combine them efficiently. Like, you have to consider bone structure and organs, bur especially when combining birds/reptiles with mammals, there's alway the question of where the fur stops and the feathers/scales begin. I imagine Hootsie to be fully feathered and her paws bone structure actually mimics that of bird feet. Problem with bird hybrid creatures is that birds have hollow bones (actually porous) but they're incredibly easy to break. For many birds, a broken wing can spell death in the wild. Because they're bones are so delicate, it's so hard for the bone to heal properly. Many rescued birds have a higher likelihood of healing properly, but it's not always guaranteed.

But Hootsie probably doesn't have bird bones because she doesn't need them to fly or anything.

I can do a frost and torbek post eventually, but idk if I really need to, mostly because Derek plays Frost pretty well, I think he incorporates cat things in well (though I'd love to see Frost go swimming and very much enjoy it like tigers do) and Torbek isn't really a specific species of animal, so I can't really compare to a specific animal.

[ghostselkie]

Bird lady Lenore head cannons

Lenore does falconry.

She has a red-tailed hawk named Edgar.

Lenore works at a non profit bird sanctuary that rehabilitates wild birds and also takes care of birds that can't be released in to the wild.

this all started after on of the crows she befriended (oh, yeah she befriended the naborhood crows) lead her to a crow with a broken wing. She called up the local bird sanctuary to get the bird rehabilitated. But the break was bad, and while the bird could eventually fly again, it was never able to do so for long distances, so it would have to be kept in captivity. Lenore asked if she could adopt the Crow, and while the sanctuary does adopt out the domestic birds, this one was wild, but seeing as though she already had the necessary permits (due to falconry) they aloud her to keep it. She ended up working with them shortly after.

She named the crow Quoth.

Quoth comes with her to work cause ravens are social creatures so getting to interact with other birds is good for him.

The wild Crows she befriended come to visit Quoth sometimes

Quoth was skeptical of Annabel at first, though once he saw how close she and Lenore were, he was like "okay this lady is family now." He's very protective of Annabel now.

People always assume Quoth is a raven cause of his name, so Lenore has to constantly tell people about the differences between crows and ravens. The main one being that crows are more city birds, and ravens are found more in the country.

Quoth fucking hates Montresor.

Annabel eventually developed an appreciation for birds as well. Classic, my partner likes this so I will learn about it to make them happy, sorta thing.

Lenore and Annabel go on bird watching dates.

Annabel really enjoys watching Lenore do falconry stuff.

Lenore taught Quoth to say words. His favorite word is nevermore.

Lenore can identify a bird on sight.

Her favorite type of bird are corvids.

Lenore absolutely spoils her birds. Like she has an antire room in the house for her birds

She ended up adopting another bird, as Quoth needed a friend and Hawks aren't social.

@incorrect-nevermore

[bellysoupset]

The last 2 fics were so good!!

Considering Wendy will be in town for a few days could you write a fic where Max is the sickie and Wendy as caretaker? Maybe she wants to thank him for helping her, and he’s just not feeling well for some reason reason.

Oh we're gonna OD on Wendy this week. I love love LOVE writing her with Vince and I've been going insane trying to think of a way of having her interact with Max, so now you guys are gonna have to put up with me milking this scenarios sooo much.

-------------------

Excedrin had a really nice side effect of wiping Wendy's memory better than Tequila did. Sure, just like Tequila it left her feeling queasy and a little woozy, but it was better than the shrapnel of pain digging through her eyes or even the memory of the pain.

Despite the memory loss, Wendy knew something had happened. She had been conscious enough during most of Max's rescue, so his participation wasn't lost in the void, just Vince's arrival. And Vin was acting weird.

He was always a touchy person, but something was just... Off.

When Wendy came to be, around 5 AM next day, she realized she had been lying halfway across his lap for all of the night. Vince was still as a statue, but as she let out a groan, all muscles sore and her head swimming, he had woken up immediately. Hands cupping her cheeks and asking over and over if she was alright and, again, it was normal for him to be touchy and caring and loving... But this was just a tad much.

Next day he had to go to work still - how he was functioning after sleeping sitting up most of the night and tending to her, Wendy didn't know - so Wen had spent most of her morning lazing in bed, until lunch time when Vince came back with flowers and food for them both.

"I can't stay, I need to go back to finish my classes, but I didn't want you to have lunch alone," he had explained, while planting the huge bouquet of tulips in her arms and frankly, how was she supposed not to swoon?

He didn't let her get up to grab even a fork and had been doting on her like Wendy was a baby bird with a broken wing. Fluttery kisses all over her face, stamped to her brow, her nose, her cheeks, her lips.

"I'm alright, you know?" Wendy grabbed his face, allowing her fingers to sink in his cheeks to keep him put, "I know migraines are scary, but between me and Luke you're a pro at them. So what's up, hon?"

"Nothing," Vince wrinkled his nose, averting his eyes. He was a shitty liar, she loved that about him, "just worried about you, that's all."

She let it slide, not in the mood to search for any sort of conflict. If Vince wanted to treat her like his little porcelain doll, then so be it.

It wasn't until later that night, when they were cuddled up in bed and Wendy was pressed so close to Vince she could feel every little noise and movement from his body, that he asked, "so you were put on administrative leave? What happened?"

"Went over the limit of hours," Wendy pressed her nose to his collarbone, a kiss to his naked chest and inhaled him, breathing out as all tension left her. Vin was playing with the ends of her hair, his chin pressed to the top of her head and she heard his chuckle rumble deep inside of him.

"Is that even a thing?" He nibbled the top of her ear, teeth grazing it and causing Wendy to squirm as it tickled, "what's the limit?"

"80 hours per week..." she mumbled, trying to muffle the sound of her words. Vince heard her loud and clear though, because he tensed and moved under her, so he could glare at her.

"80?" He moved a hand from her head in order to count on his fingers, "that's... That's nearly twelve hours per day, Wendy. How did you even manage to- how many did you do?"

"Not important," Wendy pouted, moving up on the bed to press herself back against him, planting a kiss on the corner of his mouth, "not important at all."

"They suspended you," Vince scoffed, "it's a little fucking important, Wendy."

"No," she whined, kissing his neck, "not important at all."

It seemed it wasn't only her avoiding conflict, because while she could still hear his thoughts whirling and the answer on the tip of his tongue, Vince only grumbled and squeezed her into a hug.

She had driven over on a Tuesday and wasted all of Wednesday doing nothing in bed and recovering, so it was Thursday when Wendy felt like herself again. She was so happy to be with Vince, that she wasn't even pissed off when she woke up with him moving around in the barely lit bedroom.

"What time is it?" Wendy yawned, rolling on the bed and searching for her phone. Vince, who was in the kitchen area, quietly sipping coffee and watching her sleep, jerked slightly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you-"

"You didn't," Wendy rubbed her eyes, sitting up and studying him from head to toe, "you look so hot."

Her boyfriend grinned, lowering his mug inside the sink and crossing the room to kiss her, lips crashing against hers and pushing Wendy flat on her back, "it's your eyes."

"Uh-hu," Wendy sighed happily, fingers gently drifting over his curls in order to not mess them up. He had clearly been up for at least an hour, because his hair was humid but not wet and the curls were forming into spirals instead of the loose waves she saw after a shower, "mine and everyone else's in town..."

Vince paused, half lying on top of her, his chin resting in the valley between her breasts. He huffed out an amused breath, then caught her eyes, "I'm really sorry I wasn't here sooner when you were sick-"

"Oh, stop it," Wendy rolled her eyes, squirming so she could wrap her legs around his waist, "I said it before, we're fine. I'm fine. It was just a bad migraine and I wasn't even alone-"

"And what if Max hadn't saved you from the side of the road? There's no way you could've called me- And who knows if I would have even picked up mid class," Vince glared at her, "you could've been seriously hurt."

"That's on me for driving on top of a migraine, ho-"

"A migraine you got because you're overworked and exhausted," Vince sighed, moving so he could cup her cheek with a hand, "and you're overworked because you don't want to be home alone-"

"No," Wendy glared at him, shaking her head, "we're not doing this," she shoved his shoulder off of her, "it's too early in the morning for this bullshit."

"It's not bullshit, Wendy, it's your health-"

"No," Wendy cut him off, sharply, "I'm not having this conversation now."

Vince's shoulders dropped in a defeated manner, the pushover that he was, and he nodded, straightening up and pulling her in, in order to kiss the top of her head, "okay, we'll talk about this later."

How about never? Wendy thought bitterly, but leaned against his kiss.

"I'll come back for lunch-" he said thirty minutes later, as Wendy drove him to the school, looking more or less put together and awaken.

"Actually," Wendy started to drive into the school's parking lot, "I was hoping I could have lunch with Max?"

Vince's eyebrows shot up and he stared at her, speechless for a second, before he seemed to come back to himself, "Daniels? Max Daniels?"

"You know any other Max?"

"Do you?" Vince squinted at her and Wendy let out a surprised chuckle.

"Since when you get jealous?" She couldn't help but giggle, "Vince?! What the hell?!"

"I'm not jealous!" He corrected quickly, whole face turning red, "I'm not, I just- You don't even know him..."

"Yeah," Wendy was incredibly endeared by this weird new side of her boyfriend. She carefully kept her voice neutral, "I don't know him, but he did save my ass just two days ago and you wanna bring him to our next cabin trip, don't you?"

Vince looked like he was caught between a rock and a hard place, from the way that he spluttered and frowned, crossing his arms. Wendy pressed her lips together not to laugh and leaned over the handbrake, school parking lot be damned, resting her hand in her boyfriend's inner tight and pressing a kiss to his cheek, "Vin?"

He swore in Italian, a string of cazzo-merda-culo, and then nodded, "I'll let him know."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah," he turned his head to glare at her, "but I don't know if he'll agree, dude's a bit of an antisocial prick."

"Jonah's my best friend," Wendy shrugged, pressing a kiss to his pout, "I can handle him."

"Uhm," Vince pulled back slightly, glaring at her face, "Love you?"

"Is that a question?" Wendy grinned, kissing him harder and Vince melted against her, planting a hand on her nape and pulling her in, so lost in the kiss that they only pulled apart when there was a knock against the car window and Sophia appeared with her nose pressed to the window, making an amused but disgusted face.

"Duty calls," Wendy smiled, bumping her nose with his, "I love you."

---------------------

Max wasn't entirely sure what he was supposed to say or do when Vince caught up with him just as his class before lunch started and said, "hey, my girlfriend asked if she can take you out for lunch today."

He had stayed frozen, speechless, for a minute too long because Vince frowned and let out an impatient noise, "so? Can I tell her you're going or not?"

Oh.

"Yeah, uhm, sure, of course," Max tripped over his words, then turned around and walked into the classroom, feeling like it was his best bet if he wanted to keep a scrap of his dignity. For all of the class his thoughts were scrambled, part of him thought he was fucked, that even if Wendy was about to be very nice with him, he had somehow messed his tentative friendship with Vince permanently by being just a tad too nice to his girlfriend. Mostly he was just lost.

Wendy was waiting for him in the parking lot, just outside the car wearing a stiff yellow dress and ridiculous chunky heels that made her look like Polly Pocket, except straight out of a 60s movie. She was wearing her sunglasses and waved when he walked out, causing Max to feel twice as self conscious as he had been before. This just felt weird.

He had a grimace on as he approached her and Wendy removed her glasses, a brilliant smile coloring her face, "hey," she gestured to the car, walking towards the driver's side, "I hope this isn't too weird, I just wanted to thank you for everything you did for me. You had no reason to stop and even less of a reason to stay... Specially after I puked down your shirt," she cringed, cheeks turning red and Max raised his eyebrows.

"I didn't think you'd remember that," he entered the passenger side, "you were pretty out of it."

"I wish I didn't!" Wendy's voice was bright and she slammed her door shut, "I'm really sorry," her fingers drummed nervously on the steering wheel, "so where do you wanna eat? As long as it's nearby, because I gotta drop you off or the teenage girls will have my head on a spike."

Max snorted at that, rolling his eyes, "wherever, you're inviting me, you pick the place."

He was probably gonna get indigestion didn't matter where she picked, Max shrugged.

Wendy bit her lip, seeming to be thinking, "I don't know many places around here," she admitted after a beat, "but there's this cute restaurant I saw the other day..."

Max was fidgeting on his seat. This was more awkward than any date he had ever been to. All his dates were awkward to begin with, but at least he could flirt his way into less verbal activities and that didn't actually require him to have any social skills. Besides, he normally wasn't crushing on the boyfriends of the girls he went out with...

Wendy was talkative and she matched Vince's sunny personality to an overwhelming degree, so Max nodded along as she told him why she had picked her sedan instead of other models, how she really dug his aesthetic and how he had quickly become a talking point among her friend group.

"Oh really?" Max frowned, holding out the door of the restaurant for her and following her inside, "I didn't figure Monacelli talked all that much about me."

He tried really hard not to let it go to his head.

Wendy turned to look at him, her eyes sparkling, squinting as if she could read him like a book and he felt his mouth go dry. This was bad, very bad. There was a wisdom beyond her years in her eyes, some secret amusement that made him feel more like she was laughing at him than with him.

"Oh trust me, he brings you up enough," Wendy sat in front of him, scanning the menu in a way that made Max wonder if she had been here before, eyes barely stopping on the words, "he told me you were his middle school bully? How's that?"

"I wasn't his bully," Max pointed out, frowning, "I was a prick, I didn't pick on him specifically. He was just one of the many kids who got on my bad side one of those days."

"So you broke his arm, but it wasn't personal?" Wendy grinned, not looking at him, "alright. Well, I hope you're not a prick anymore."

"So much so that you're taking me out for lunch, ain't you, gorgeous?" he mentally patted his own back as he regained his game. He was not about to let a half foot tall woman chew him up like that.

Wendy glanced over the menu, a smile still hanging in her lips, "I guess so," she gestured to the waiter, "so you guys are friends now, right?"

"Yes," he said it too quickly, frowning, and Wendy nodded, then turned to rattle her order to the waiter. Max hadn't picked anything and he glanced at the menu once more and said the first thing that caught his eye.

"So why biochemistry?"

The question caught him off guard and it took Max a minute to collect his thoughts, "I flunked my last year of high school, don't know if Vin told you that."

"Nope," Wendy leaned forward, elbow resting on the table and watching him intently.

Max cleared his throat, "well, yeah, I did. Bad attendance, grades collapsing at a alarmingly quick speed, I spent most of the year getting high under the bleachers..." he rolled his eyes at his own past self, "so I flunked. Next year, it was rough..."

"Parents?" She guessed and he nodded, glad that he didn't need to draw it for her, like he would've needed to with Vince. The idea that less than stellar parents existed never crossed Monacelli's mind, but Wendy seemed acquainted with it already.

"Yep. They were already divorced, my father lives in the next town over, so suddenly my mom was like, either get your own place or go live with James," he cringed at the memory, the hurt that was still fresh. He had been saving to go live on his own at the time, but being kicked out? In such a dismissive way, even, his mother hadn't been trying to hurt him and they hadn't been in a fight, this was just how the Daniels worked.

"You were eighteen?"

"Yep," Max grimaced, very happy when their orders returned and he could focus on the food instead of Wendy's intense gaze, "I dropped out school, got a job in the gas station," he smiled to himself, "and started studying... And suddenly it was easy, like all the noise ceased."

"Oh wow," Wendy's voice raised a note at the end and Max glanced up, forking a bite of his chicken salad and stuffing his mouth to stop himself from spilling his heart out, "home was the issue?"

He nodded, cheeks still full and Wendy let out a little huff, mimicking his tactic of eating to avoid talking. They chewed in silence, and the she said, "I remember the first night I spent in my own apartment and that I sat down in my couch and I just... Cried. I spent so long romanticizing it and dreaming of it and suddenly it was real and I was so happy, all I could do was cry."

He had done very similar, except his version involved a lot more alcohol. Max offered her a closed lips smile, then looked down, "so I got my GED," he continued, "and I started to get really interested in science, molecules, monosaccharides, how the body worked with hormones and how we were all just electricity... I was obsessed," now his voice got a fond tone and Max continued to eat, "my boss was the one who told me I should apply to the community college."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I was never gonna go to a big university," he rolled his eyes, "and even if I could get in, I certainly couldn't afford it and had already blown my chances to get a scholarship. Community College was the best option, I-" he paused to muffle a burp and then chugged his sparkling water, "I took the exam as a bet, bet fifty with my boss..."

"Oh no," Wendy chuckled, reaching in and grabbing the salt between them, "did you pay your him at least?"

"Her, and yeah," Max shook his head, grinning at the memory, "my mom was always this healthy nutjob. Very interested in being healthy, but all she knew was pseudoscience that she shoved down our throats. It was insane, mind blowing even, to get answers to things I had been asking myself since I was a kid."

Wendy was smiling at him from ear to ear, a cherry tomato poked in the front of her fork, forgotten, "and then teaching?"

"In college they used to grab my notebook to copy my notes," Max was now fully smiling, awkwardness melted away, "they first said it was because my handwriting didn't suck."

"I don't believe that," Wendy snorted, wrinkling her nose much like a bunny, "you look like your handwriting sucks."

"Well, fuck you too," Max poked her hand with his fork, causing her to squeal and pull it back, cheeks flushed as she smiled brilliantly at him, "but yeah, it kinda sucked. Not my schematics though, my drawings and graphs... I was- I am proud of them," he pushed a piece of chicken around, getting it covered in sauce, "so I noticed it was helping them, so around exam season, I'd actually put together a summary of our subjects, started charging for those. Not a lot, just enough to buy weed."

Wendy chuckled and Max took the last bite, "and then next thing I know, I'm having Sunday classes with my college buddies and I'm taking a minor into pedagogy and... It snowballed," he swallowed suddenly, feeling stuffed to gills and glanced down, realizing he had finished up the whole plate, "it's like I blinked and I was being offered to teach at my old high school."

She was staring at him, so Max cleared his throat, bringing up a hand to muffle another burp and mumbling a little, "excuse me- Ate too fast," and more than he had in most of his meals, "so, uhm- What about you? Vince couldn't be more smug about his doctor girl."

Wendy seemed to snap out of her trance, startled, and she reached for her juice, draining the rest of the cup, "I wish my story was half as wholesome as yours," she rolled her eyes, "or as heartwarming as Vin, who knew he wanted to be a teacher since he was ten... No. I wanted to be a fashion major."

Max raised his eyebrows, leaning back on his seat and spreading his legs, hoping it'd help with the heavy feeling in his stomach, "and from fashion to med school...?"

"Fashion was never an option," she scoffed, "I was not kicked out of home and I didn't have a job, I was a spoiled brat from Upper East Side and my parents are doctors... And it was always very clear that they would not even consider paying my college, unless I picked med school as well."

"Shit," Max grimaced, feeling slightly clammy at the thought of being forced into a major, "you didn't even like it?"

"I liked it alright, it just wasn't any fun..." Wendy shrugged, "but then I got to move for college, that part was amazing... The whole time, I was top of my class, I was doing the most, but I didn't fall in love with it, until I got my first patient. Second to last year of college."

He wondered if she hadn't fallen in love with it at all, if she'd still be stuck as a doctor just to appease her family. Felt like a too personal question.

"What happened?" His stomach let out a growl and Max fidgeted, pressing a hand to the lower part of his belly, hoping she couldn't see it.

"I got my first patient and it wasn't... Glamourous. Or pretty," Wendy smiled to herself, "it was in the middle of pandemic, I was hanging by a thread... And suddenly I made a difference. Hell, I made one hell of a difference and all I was doing was standard ER covid testing. Things were chaotic and scary and I wasn't just Wendy Marshall, studying to become a dermatologist and take over my mom's mini empire, I was Dr. Marshall and I was the thing keeping that woman in front of me together..." her eyes shone slightly, voice getting all choked up, "and... yeah. That was it, I was a goner since then."

Max's stomach chose this moment to make itself known, a wave of nausea washing over him and a burp sneaking up quick enough he had no chance of muffling it. His face caught on fire and he ducked his head not to see Wendy's disgusted look. They had been sharing... A moment? And now he felt like he was about to hurl.

"Max?" Wendy's voice was soft and she touched his wrist over the table, "hey, you alright? You just went white..."

"Sorry," he groaned, straightening up and pulling his hand from her hold, "sorry, I'm fine... Uhm, we should head back, I'm gonna end up being late."

"Yeah! Right, of course," Wendy looked spooked and shook her head, "I- I'm gonna get the bill, you wanna go wait by the car..?"

"I can take the bill," his voice was thick with nausea and Wendy had a glassy look to her eyes, a clear tell he had just ruined something. Max felt clammy all over.

"No, I invited you, remember?" Wendy stood up, jumping back when he attempted to take her hand, only for his hand to freeze mid air. What the fuck was he doing anyway?

"I'm gonna wait in the parking lot," Max grumbled, getting up as well. The parking lot was quite empty, peak lunch hour having already passed. He was most definitely gonna be late to his class.

Max leaned against Wendy's car, taking a deep breath and trying to lull his stomach into behaving. He was going to sick, that was for certain, but he hoped he'd at least make it to the end of the school day. Hell, at least out of her eyesight would be great.

Under his hand, his belly let out a growl and another sickly belch rolled past his lips, carrying with it the coleslaw taste. He glanced at the restaurant door, saw Wendy still at the cashier section, chatting with an employee, all smiles and bouncing on her feet.

He turned around, so he could hide by the trunk of the car and stared at the gravel, forcing up a small burp and spitting the thick saliva that was pooling in his mouth. Nope, he wasn't gonna make it until the end of school day...

"Here," Wendy touched his arm and Max nearly jumped out of his skin. He shot her a glare and she only smiled at him, so he glanced down and noticed she was holding a bottle of water, "you're pasty, Daniels."

"Uhmm," he couldn't and shouldn't open his mouth, if he got sick on her cute dress Max was going to pack his bags and move to the middle of nowhere, never to be seen again.

Wendy clearly didn't mind the fact he looked like he was about to revisit the meal they had just shared, because her tiny hand was coming to cup his forehead and his cheek, no permissions asked.

Max groaned, shoving a hand out and pushing her out of the splash zone as he braced forward, hands on his knees and legs spread out, "I'm sorry... Should've told you my gut is a temperamental bitch."

"Like its owner?" Wendy teased him lightly, her hand coming to rest on his back, "it's fine, you're going to be sick?"

He answered her with another burp, this one turning wet, but all that came up was a thin dribble of saliva. Max panted, impatient and humiliated, "can you- Urugh-" he belched in his hand, "go in the car...?"

"I'm a doctor," Wendy's voice came out annoyed, "your stomach might be temperamental, but mine is a strong. Relax."

"Not-" Max coughed and retched once more, another loud, brassy burp sneaking up, "not that. Embarrassing."

"Payback for seeing me at my worst the other day," Wendy patted his back and Max was about to tell her she was implying this was payback for helping, when his stomach churned once more and the next gag was productive. Incredibly productive, projectile vomit falling in the gravel and causing his ears to go deaf.

He hugged his belly, pressing a fist to it and digging in. It was bloated, not to his surprise at all, and let out a sickening sloshy sound when he pressed in- Max coughed up another liquidy stream, then opened his hand flat against his belly and pressed in and up, forcing up a chunkier mouthful of foul stuff.

He was getting nauseous on top of his nausea, disgusted it looked so much like food still- Wendy rubbed his arm, "Max?"

"Uhhhhm," he spat the taste, then finally took the water bottle she was still holding, taking a gulp and swishing it around before spitting it out, "why the fuck did I eat so much, so fast..."

Behind him Wendy let out a little snort, "that wasn't fast or much, you're clearly not acquainted enough with Vin," she squeezed his bicep, "done?"

He nodded, although he felt very far from done. The nausea had reduced considerably, though, still coating his insides in a way that he knew for sure would have him puking later as well. But for now...

Max pressed on his belly once more, forcing up a huge burp and Wendy let out a fucking giggle. Something was very wrong with this girl, he thought, straightening up. What sort of girl giggled when someone was hurling all over the ground?

"You're weird, Marshall," he said lightly, rubbing his face, "let's go back before I get fired for ditching my own lesson."

Wendy's eyes were pure mischief as she nodded, clicking her car keys, "alright... I hope you don't get carsick too."

"Get in and just drive," Max squinted at her, shoving her forward and causing her to laugh. Despite the queasiness and the fact his stomach was flipping and the humiliation causing his cheeks to burn, Max hid a smile of his own.

[the-night-that-feeds-if]

You feel a chill down your spine, the hairs at the back of your neck prickle. You don't dare look behind you... The shadow smiles.

The Night That Feeds is a dark fantasy, interactive story.  It will have heavy themes of familial abuse, sexually suggestive themes (perhaps more explicit stuff too, eventually), and other dark themes. A comprehensive content warning will be made available as the story develops.

"This is a story of love, loss, and of trying to find a home".

*** Please keep your mental health in mind when playing games with dark themes. This game won't be as dark as some others, but I want everyone to be safe and healthy when consuming dark content.

Demo currently sitting at 23.3 k words.

✧ Content ✧

A customizable protagonist, name, gender, appearance, etc.

Multiple romance options (barely implemented at this time).

Substance use.

Explicit sexual content.

Mental health issues.

Abusive family dynamics.

An interesting fantasy land that you get to explore.

MAGIC!!

Etc.

!!BARELY IMPLEMENTED--MOST CHARACTERS NOT MET!!

・❥・ Romance Options ・❥・

✧.*

Captain E. Ward: Fame, fortune, infamy... All these and more follow Captain Ward. Their job is a demanding one, an important one, a dangerous one. They seem to be a commanding, playful person, but how deep do their scars run?

Age: 30

["Isn't it beautiful?" They say as they stare out into the void. Nebulous clouds drift behind, trailing the ship. "So Void-damned beautiful, and so fucked up." They look you in the eyes, and lick the edge of their bottom lip. "You sure you want this, with me?"]

They are a lonely person, they crave, and despise attention. They're afraid of intimacy, of love. What kind of life is a life in the Void? Who would willingly share that with them?

TW: Attempted murder (on them), clinginess.

✧.*

Maddock: A surly mercenary, he watches out for you, all due to a 'favor' of a nature you can't discern. The way he looks at you is reminiscent of a deep longing.

Age: Late 30's, early 40's 

["I never thought that I'd be one ta' have somethin' like this at my age. I let my dreams go in my youth." He pats the cushion next to him. "You don' expect things ta' turn out, I've been a merc for so long, felt like all I knew how ta' do."]

He's a gruff man, doesn't got a heart of gold, but if you end up falling for each other, there isn't anything that would come between you.

TW: Possessive, sexual.

✧.*

The Hunger: It's been watching you for a long time... 

Age: ???

["Oh, if it isn't my little bird, what is it? Is your wing broken? You don't seem eager to fly away this time..." It slinks closer, grinning wide. ]

An entity, not... malevolent, at least not to you.  However, it holds a sick fascination for you. 

TW: Yandereish. Stalker. Obsession. 

✧.*

Fellis: A woman who seems to be around your age, she's an eager adventurer, she took a liking to you immediately, and seems keen to stoke the flames hotter. 

Age: 22, 23

["Oh, lovey. There you are." She takes your hand in hers, placing a gentle kiss along your knuckle. "I've brought something for you."]

She thinks you're the most beautiful person she's seen. She may even take up poetry to describe her budding love for you.

NO TW. MEGA FLUFF ALERT.

✧.*

Xep: A strange person, wearing bright crimson robes, with gorgeous star decaling in gold. They wear copious amounts of jewelry, and enjoy the finer things. They were immediately drawn to you, they were forced to this back water of a town, they never expected anyone like you to cross their path.

Age: 27

["I want to hold you, please stay?" Their mouth creeps upwards, the wine has given them a positively radiant complexion, the heat blatant on their cheeks.]

They're a sad soul, after experiencing a heart break that left them devastated, they never expected to find love again.

SLIGHT TW: Mentions of suicide, heart break, mentions of being cheated on.

Credit to:  nyehilism for the sugarcube template, you've made things easier on me as an aspiring IF writer, thank you.

[stromulites]

List of Stuff for BJ and more Unsolicited Lore, plus the playlist.

I fucked up on the poll so i'll just post both of them wkelrnksdg. Also since it's in no particular order and my adhd's being a little Prick, it's kind of a mess. If it retreads old ground, hopefully it's giving more context to it and not just repeating the same thing. Playlist will be at the end H

~ Retains heat pretty well. If he was sunbathing for an extended period of time, he’d probably hold that temp for 3-4 hours before he returned back to room temp. Can get above normal human body temps this way.

~ Uses his wings to make himself look more imposing. Usually this ends badly since it’s most certainly an indoors conversation, and those things don’t fit indoors usually.

~ Is constantly worried he isn’t that great to hug/be in physical contact with since he’s cold all the time and what-not. Because of this he usually won’t initiate physical affection unless he just finished sunbathing or something.

~ Can, in fact, turn into a bird. A blue jay to be specific. All reapers can do this as it’s most cost effective to interact with the real/physical world this way. This does not mean they act like the birds they disguise themselves as though.

~ Currently is holding onto Grayson’s coat for them, after Sebastian finally gave it to him after getting tired of the constant Theft. Doesn’t wear it often because it feels weird, but does privately or to feel more secure.

~ Since it’s warm and kind of heavy, it relieves some of the dysmorphia from being room temperature all the time and weighing almost nothing due to being a ghost basically (21g normally). Wearable weighted blanket essentially.

~ Doesn’t know IDU!pico that well at this point, but doesn’t have a good impression of him. Mostly because Pico tried to kill him once, but since his face was covered BJ doesn’t know what he looks like. Only that he’s familiar and probably hates him by the way he keeps glaring holes into his back.

~ Doesn’t sleep often (doesn’t need to) since he most definitely will have nightmares about his death. Most Reapers make peace with it at some point, but since his death was so violent and emotionally charged, it’s unlikely he’ll let it go anytime soon. 0% chance to make him talk about it either unless he's in a breakdown or something.

~ That being said, being warm/in a place with people he knows and likes will make him doze off. Snores loudly. Sleeps like a brick when he doesn’t dream. Good luck waking him up when he’s not dreaming.

~ Still can sing, he doesn’t do it anymore on account of his lungs being Fucked and fried from smoke inhalation. Has traded this off to focus more on his guitar skills whenever he can. He does miss it though, and is easily carried away when he does feel better.

~ What he doesn’t know is that the coughing is more of a psychological effect of his death, and if he’s really into something, he won’t cough at all.

~ If he likes you well enough, he will start giving you his own feathers (the smaller ones from his blue jay form). Usually in the form of keychains/charms he put together himself, but sometimes he’ll give just the feathers.

~ All Reapers have a ‘Reaper’s Cane’. BJ’s is a microphone stand/looks like one without the microphone. He has taken to using it to great effectiveness as a blunt weapon.

~ Made a promise to Hannah a long time ago when they meet by coincidence as children. Immensely guilty that he broke it and left her alone for two years without any other friends/support. Has a new promise to himself to be there when she eventually does die, no matter what the cause would be.

~ The most Chronic of Worriers, but only in regards to people he loves/is close to. If he doesn't know you well and you snip at him, he will snip back and escalate. This will result in a fistfight where BJ strikes first if it's not broken up.

~ On the other hand, he enjoys sitting around and watching other people go about their business. Parallel play :)

~ Cannot cook, please don't ask him to do that. He hasn't touched a stove in two years and has a fear of fire. He will turn your Biscuits to Charcoal Briquettes and Cower when it catches fire.

~ Theoretically would be able to carry someone in flight, but just one occupant and probably not anywhere in his home dimension/timeline. Probably no set weight limit for that person? Just don’t expect him to carry an entire truck or whatever lmao.

~ Was initially nervous to leave Hannah alone for rgbfverse stuff, but Grayson pushed him to go. Both to give Hannah a breather, and so that BJ can unwind and not worry about her for a bit. It can’t be healthy to stress over this one detail for days on end, can it?

And here's the playlist lmao. I'll add to both lists whenever I have an Idea or listen to a song that fits.

[originallyjustolookatmemes]

For everyone with ASPD, you deserve good representation.

Help me write you an Aroallo ASPD character that represents how we can heal and be ourselves to spite our trauma without having to bend down to prosocials.

How can you help? Reblog with ramblings or comment about your personal experience of living as a pwASPD. if you aren't a pwASPD, reblogs and likes still help!

i've tried my best to do the research necessary, but the amount of ableist sites that get shoved in my face with a basic google search has pissed me off. im taking matters into my own hands and asking y'all directly for your experiences.

I haven't gone for an ASPD diagnosis because it is simply not in the cards for me right now, and would potentially be harmful for me, but i check many boxes. However, due to a likely BPD and ADHD co-morbidity i dont trust myself enough to write a solely ASPD character based off only my own experiences.

Thoughts, advice, encouragement, all is appreciated.

(Post made by Shawdios on YT)

Spice (legal name Simon) is a felinefolk/birdfolk hybrid who works as a bartender for his side of the bakery-bar Sugar & Spice that him and his caretaker formed. He grew up bouncing around in the foster system and treated like a oddity to hide due to his odd mix of genetics. But his last caretaker, Sugar, he grew to see as a genuine mother to him because she was the first to believe his side of the story and not treat him like an "Other".

Due to his feline side, he often was found hunting down squirrels, birds, and rodents as a young child. Some of which he toyed with as they died, others he simply bit and killed. This behavior off put many of his foster parents and got him transferred around to different homes quite a lot. Spice was quite the delinquent as a child, he often was provoked into fights that he most of the time lost. (The first time around at least.) But he always got a cruel form of revenge depending on the bully who knocked him down. The fighting got worse once he hit middle school, to the point where he was once expelled for half blinding another child with his claws (and going home with a broken wing and shoulder himself) By the time he's finished highschool, Sugar had adopted him and done her best to help him mellow out and process his traumas from bouncing around the system and being treated like a thing to be tamed. But, he still gets in enough trouble to gain a Conduct Disorder Diagnosis and later after he graduates an Antisocial diagnosis.

The entirety of his moral system as an adult is built on what would or would not disappoint Sugar. He's perfectly content to live out his short life baking with his mother figure, mixing drinks, and curled up by a sunny window with his nose burried in books till his bad genetics kill him, but Sugar tries to get him to at least try to interact with others. And he holds her in such high respect that he does his best to maintain a good reputation with those that stop at the bar.

His care for the world revolves solely around himself and Sugar till a birdfolk with one wing named Autumn violently enters his life (and Re-enters Sugar's) and then violently leaves it five years later.

[astral-disastral-catastral]

Headcanon Time!!!!

❂ Pure Vanilla Cookie's sleep schedule is horrible and he's regularly tired but doesn't look it [at all] — his tiredness may stay or may just suddenly dissipate.

❂ He's the shortest out of all the ancient cookies [doesn't really care since he's very used to be shorter than the majority and doesn't have any problem with it most of the time].

❂ Often overthinks a lot of stuff when he's not doing something distracting or productive.

❂ When he was younger, he thought he used to have an imaginary friend that followed him around all the time and interacted with him that he named “Damson Plum Cookie” [because he was blue]. He is now realising that It was Shadow Milk, not an imaginary friend.

❂ When him and white lily cookie were still in school, someone was bullying her [physically] during a group activity in a science lesson [some of their lessons had 2 classes mixed together] in the back of the room where the teachers couldn't see them but PV saw and got so mad that he started to beat up the bully to the point the teachers had to drag him away — even white lily cookie wanted him to stop [he was absolutely infuriated. Pretty sure “Damson Plum Cookie” was cheering him on… He was probably the reason for PV not holding back and fighting in the first place, he greatly encouraged it aswell as fuelled his rage by irritating him]. It was a fight or flight [he is a flightless bird] — He got expelled for a few days because of this.

↑ Became considerably worse at controlling his anger after the incident [he's much, much better at controlling his anger now than he was before. He rarely gets as angry as he used to, he always looks more irritated/annoyed/troubled than angry]. May or may not [most likely may] just be automatically suppressing his anger until it all comes bubbling back up when he cracks [ends up breaking multiple things that aren't made to be broken and feels like he loses control of himself when this does happen; he really doesn't enjoy the feeling; it scares him, to an extent].

❂ Before the incident, most people in his class had a crush on him each and everyone that confessed got turned down very politely [none of them ever got angry at him].

❂ He uses telekinesis for a lot of things almost everyday instead of his actual hands [he finds it easier that way, physically] .e.g. for picking up a book and reading it [he thoroughly enjoys reading a plethora of different types of books]. He's a lot better at English than he is at maths.

❂ For some strange reason, he reads from right to left at an extremely fast pace [1 page per approximately 30 seconds]. Nobody understands why and how he does this. Shadow Milk reads the same way but faster.

❂ Sometimes nerds out about things some wouldn't expect him to [.e.g. organs, insects/bugs, different types of drinks, sciencey stuff, etc].

❂ Has 4 pairs of soft, fluffy, white, angelic wings [1 small pair connected to his head that he hides with his hair and the other 3 pairs are connected to his back that he hides with his clothes] that don't serve much function. He can glide around with them or use them ad a shield, but he can't use them to fly for long at all [no more than 10 seconds, however he can still fly at great speeds and distance during this time]. They're extremely sensitive and he knows they look textile so he doesn't show others because he doesn't want them to touch his wings]. He talks about it more with Golden Cheese than others since she has wings aswell [even if they're not the same type of Wings].

❂ He is very much multilingual and very good at the languages he speaks [fluent like he grew up there]!

❂ Most suspect he's quite weak because of his stature, personality and demeanor but he can pick up people like Dark Cacao and Hollyberry at the same time with little to no effort at all. In fact, if he wasn't a healer/mainly did damage he would appear to be a very formidable force because he's very agile due to the way his body is!

❂ Looks at the ground a lot when he's taking strolls during the day so he doesn't do things like step on bugs [it makes him sad].

❂ Sometimes he has nightmares about the Dark Flour War [and other things] that can keep him up for days.

❂ Golden Cheese tried to give Pure Vanilla flying lessons when they were both younger but it never worked out [or atleast not for long — if it weren't for Golden Cheese, Pure Vanilla wouldn't be able to fly for 10 seconds].

❂ He often belittles himself [despite being told not to by his friends].

❂ Has had cataracts since birth so his eyesight is extremely bad hence him always having his eyes closed as he saw little to no reason to have them open if they barely worked. His other senses such as taste, smell, touch, and hearing are very good [mainly touch — he can very easily distinguish what's what and what's where from things like the air on his dough or using his staff as a mobility tool].

❂ Really, really, bad, terrible, horrible spice tolerance.

Somebody asked for this so here you go (⁠ ⁠╹⁠▽⁠╹⁠ ⁠) mb if this is terrible or something. Idk why i wrote so much… the PV brainrot is real!!

[clare-with-no-i]

Hello I totally agree with your explanation of “Deddies” and I love it so much. Can I SOLICIT a director’s cut for back to the old house? (If you feel like it!)

kelsey omg! pls you know I am always one to chitchat about my fics (I am narcissistic). thank you for asking! the entire time I was writing I kept thinking CHANNEL KELSEY CHANNEL KELSEY CHANNEL KELSEY so I hope this connects with you! I knew from the get-go that I wanted to write you something Order-era, because I know you enjoy those stories :) I also knew it was going to be a little angsty, a little contentious between James and Lily. there had to be some distance between them to create conflict. and you said you liked canon divergent! so!

The new recruits don’t know that the potions closet has a spring-loaded trap fashioned onto the doorknob.

the first sentence is actually one of the most important of the whole fic. I wanted to try and set up a few things right off the bat: first, that there's a new group of people entering the scene who are important to the story. second, that the narrator (shortly, you'll find out, it's James) is in a position of authority over them, and is intimately familiar with the setting. third, there's going to be some interaction between wizarding concepts (the potions closet) and muggle technology (spring-loaded trap on the doorknob).

essentially, this one sentence captures the essence of the entire plot: a new recruit (lily) not knowing that muggle tech is going to be key to an Order operation which James is running. I rewrote this sentence a few times, and once I landed on it, I ended up writing a lot of the story around it.

When he was little, before he mastered any sort of magic, he used to bandage the broken wings of birds he’d find in the back garden, gauze nicked from the muggle-junk cabinets his mum kept, fumbling fingers dumping alcohol wherever he saw blood. One of the housekeepers told him that he might just be prolonging their suffering instead of helping them like he thought. He was too young to understand what she meant, or maybe too headstrong to care about anything past what he thought was right. He would always release them, but now that he thinks about it: did any of them ever fly?

another passage I found really important. James has a bloated sense of responsibility in this story, which is something I usually write him with across all of my stories, especially in canon. we see him agonizing over whether he's coddling these new recruits too much, almost to the point of being neurotic about it. he's an unreliable narrator, as we'll learn: he wants to blame himself for things, or try and fix things over which he has no purview. here, he's getting upset with himself for trying to help animals as a child. like, hello? lmao

The eyes he meets when he looks in front of him are Lily Evans Green — she has a patented shade, or at least, he’s always thought of them that way, somewhere between hunter and sea — and narrow. The last time he saw her was at Leaver’s Ball. She’d been a wisp, a moment, an apparition between bodies in ornate robes and gowns. He doesn’t jolt, but he knows from a sudden crick in his neck that he doesn’t stay still, either.

the "he doesn't jolt" sentence is another favorite primarily because we're pretty sure he did actually jolt. you don't just end up with a crick in your neck from barely moving. but it's so fun to see him downplay his reaction to seeing Lily (at least it was for me), and that was part of the reason why I tried to indicate across the story that she sort of knew that he had feelings for her, at least at some point in their lives. he's way more transparent than he admits.

She mumbles a quiet thank you in cadence with the rest of the lot, as though they’re really strangers, as though he’s just a tour guide and she’s not at all surprised to see him, as though she doesn’t care at all that he’s in front of her, except the tips of her shoes point at him for a few delayed seconds, long after the others have walked away. One of her socked ankles fidgets.

I pulled from one of my favorite new girl episodes for this haha. the 'a man's feet point toward what he wants' thing with nick and jess is so cartoonishly stupid but just the right amount of delusional that it felt really authentic to have him fixate on it. especially now that she's given him this bodily reaction of fucking his head, where before he was speaking above his audience. it also gives us a little distance from lily, again: we don't know if she's looking at him or not, or what her expression might be.

A glass bottle full of brown hydrangeas wobbles. The label’s been ripped off, but it was Firewhisky before it housed dead things, and its wide, stained edges keep it from tipping over.

another important sentence here is the firewhisky bottle line, which I've talked about a bit before. the central motif of the story is vessels: houses, primarily, as this all takes place in this house-turned-headquarters, but also bottles — for potions, for alcohol — and to me, in this moment, the firewhisky bottle was just a gigantic metaphor for the entire Order of the Phoenix. all of the Order members had identities before they became soldiers cloistered in this house, and it's those little indicia of their past selves ("wide, stained edges" from holding firewhisky) that keep them from collapsing entirely. James's resilience and humanity; Sirius's humor and fighting spirit; Lily's cleverness and kindness. I promise I actually thought about that as I wrote it and am not just now doing a close reading hahaha

“Hang on.” Inexplicably, James holds his hand up to stop him. The scrolls crinkle as Jeremy clutches them back against his chest as though looking for a threat James has identified. Instead, James elaborates, haltingly, “You’re—uh. You’re going to take up the whole dining table with that.”

it was important to me that this moment was ambiguous in meaning: whether James was trying to keep the plans a secret or whether this was just him reverting to a schoolboy crush by forcing Jeremy to keep the maps in his hands so that Lily has a place to sit with her tea. could be either or both :)

He gets up, suddenly and almost entirely against his will, thinking of the way her lips flattened and unfurled as she whispered, magnets, magnets.

he just wants to be around her! this is the thoughtless beauty of liking someone — you just want to be around them all the time, right? you want to stick to them like, pardon the obvious reference, a magnet.

“You can’t tell me that we weren’t…I thought we were starting to get close in sixth year, is all.” To say that he has a physical reaction to this wouldn’t be inaccurate, but just as well, he’s the longest-serving member of the Order currently living in this house, and he has spent years learning the art of avoiding disarmament.

this is a turning point for a number of reasons: we finally get an insight into how Lily feels, and we James refuse to process it and instead just make immediate reference to his work in the Order, something about which he is confident and assured. I had to find a good enough reason for them not to be together or even really be on speaking terms, and the only catalyst I could think of was to have this big, destabilizing event (James's parents' deaths) really personalize the war for him earlier than it might have done in canon. of course, we know that he would have joined either way just because it was the right thing to do — and so does Lily — but I tried to give the impression that he's not sure, and it's a point of insecurity for him. it was also important that I get across the "oh my god he was just a kid!!!" perspective here from Lily as a proxy for the reader. because now that I've altered the timeline of canon, we presumably won't have that happening with Harry; it's all been transferred to James.

There is an acute sensation which James has experienced only in this room, in the last six months, of realizing that being beholden to a movement and a person are two very different things.

the moment with Dumbledore in his office is where we get a little bit more information about what's going on, albeit in these distorted/fractured formats. Remus is doing work that requires him to be away from his friends; it's at Dumbledore's behest; the mission that we later learn involves Sirius, Marlene, Fabian, and Gideon living undercover in Malfoy Manor has been going on for roughly six months.

“I just think I’m better suited in the field,” one person says. “I can’t be stuck here mixing herbs all day.” “I know. You’d think they’d ask us instead of us having to ask them. I mean, were we recruited to pass out flyers?” “Or fold the clothes they left in the closets.” “Bloody hell.”

another little easter egg here, which connects to something in the first scene! we know that there are four empty rooms in the house. we now know that there are clothes left in the closets in them. we don't know where Sirius is, or why James has this undercurrent of panic beneath his internal narration, but at this point hopefully the pieces started to come together.

When he leaves the lab, he shakes out his overwarm hands, watching the crescent imprint of a fingernail disappear from his palm.

this was my 2005 pride and prejudice hand-flexing-scene moment, in all candor

“You don’t want to be healing me,” he posits, slurring his words a little. “I don’t want you to be hurt,” she replies in her top pupil voice.

I felt pretty comfortable giving Lily the more blunt-force romantic lines here because of the setting and because of how completely frazzled I make James in her presence. we see her have her moment of reckoning earlier, when she's out smoking, basically putting it all together that he didn't just stop liking her in sixth year — he had this massive traumatic event that he didn't even think he could tell anyone, and he had Dumbledore pulling strings in the background to get him to fight for the Order. so, coupled with how blatantly clumsy he acts around her (despite him thinking otherwise) and how often he seeks her out, it would be pretty easy to surmise that he still has residual feelings for her. but, again, we're not getting the full story from him, and she doesn't know what's going on with the mission, so I hoped to create this sense that she couldn't really discuss their relationship until all of his cards were on the table.

Her eyes stay closed for a good few seconds. He can’t tell if he’s fantasizing or reading her expression correctly when he thinks that she’s sitting in the moment, luxuriating in it. He feels at once completely in himself: in this twenty-year-old version, learning what it’s like to have something and let it have you in return. The leaves of a nearby tree cut through the sunlight and splotch their bodies with shade. The wards are down, for just a little while.

after they finally kiss (!), it was important to me that we see him actually start to believe that they're as close as he wishes they would be. he's starting to trust in the face-value reality in front of him: that she's just sitting in this moment, entirely comfortable with where they are, and with him. hopefully the buildup here has been sufficient, but I thought it was a poetic sort of resolve here, that he's been able to fulfill this wish that he's had since he was sixteen, this age where he became stunted in his emotional growth because he was adopted into this grassroots war effort.

earlier in the story I refer to him as a "time-turner body," because he has this incredibly curious, contradictory relationship between certain parts of his identity. he's grown up faster than his peers in that he's become a senior member of the Order after fighting for four years. he became an orphan at sixteen but was taken under Dumbledore's wing. he has this unrealized teenage crush which he has been forced to confront after she becomes a soldier. he's been run ragged by worry and by fear as his friends take on these roles that he can't help with. so here, finally, he's at peace with his twenty-year-old self: his friends are all in one place, he's gotten to fulfill this one-who-got-away romance from his teenage years after getting to know her as an adult.

finally: the wards were my other big motif, essentially just giving visual representation for how trapped James feels by his environment. we know that someone had to "let Lupin in" from the previous scene, AKA take down the anti-apparition wards, and now they're down until the mission is over. finally, he sees into the outside world, a world not limited to this house and this war.

woohoo! thank you to any and all who read this absolute phd thesis. my god. kelsey as per usual you are too kind to ask me for these things and I appreciate you!! and another HUGE shoutout to Hafsa for organizing this wonderful wonderful event!

[yourfavouritelaundry]

Hi!!, first of all, how have you been lately? I really hope everything goes well for you ^^, secondly, a lot has already been said about Hanna+Malee's, Hann+Anna and Malee+Anna, etc relationship's But how would you describe Quinn and Anna's relationship, how they normally relate? They seem like really besties

Hi! Hello! Im doing well!! Im busy but it’s an alright kind of busy👍

(a little irl context but my uni friends and me got invited to a short film award after we sent our entry back in November so i gotta pack my stuff and fly in-country this 17th! I am also still computer-less but my family will support me a new one after march, so that means getting back my video editing soon😭.)

Back to ocs- Quinn and Anna’s special dynamic are all contributed to their very personalities! These two are lumped into ‘Child Genius’ compared to classmates since young, were set apart because of their maturity.

Quinn is grade A people pleaser AND an orphan while Anna spent all her time with book isolated at a turbulence home, therefore Suck in human connection, and they recognize this abt each other 1st meet like a ghost radar but with trauma instead

They’re 2 broken little lads that never get help from any adults and only have each other (while Hann and Malee were hurt kids too, they weren’t self-aware of their own situation like Quinn and Anna. Kids on autopilot💀) Ofc their relationship later have more stuff than the trauma bonding

Tw// animal death under the cut

Their literal first interaction was Quinn seeing Anna trying to bury a dead bird that landed in her yard bare-handed ( there an electric pole nearby with very messy circuits that often caught there poor sods wings). Quinn gave Malee’s bucket and shovel (whom he only know recently LMAO) to Anna. A few days after, Anna enrolled to school to return the bucket and shovel!

(comic from here, screenshots from Two Time meme)

Since then Quinn usually help Anna bury any dead animals she came across and chat about Death and Mortality like Normal Children often do!!

[jinxpologist]

1) the wing binding point is so!!!!! Yes!!! So fuckibg true

2) fandom hot take.hmm c! bench trio should be in a qpr more, it's underrated fr

TYYYY i don't think it's like. BAD and if people enjoy it go ahead but there's a lot more you could do with that and as someone who owns a bird and has a special interest in "domestic" (parrots aren't domestic but i mean like the pet species) parrots it alwaysss makes me cringe cause i'm like holy shit his wings are broken beyond repair.

2. SCREAMING OH MY GOD YOU'RE SO SO SO SO RIGHT. c!benchtrio is. so. they're so. those little freaks are my favorite and i really think that tommy and ranboo on their own aren't as celebrated and loved as they should beeee they're so cute!!!! i think the more qprs there are the better tbh, and the dsmp is a VERY good place for qprs to flourish.

opinion time: c!rainduo (niki and wilbur) are prime qpr material and i am tired of pretending they're not. niki was called the first lady of fucking l'manberg for fuck's sake while wilbur was president that's not something you do with someone you're just chill buddies with that is a lifelong best friend. and the way they got horribly separated and the horrific bad blood between them that never really got resolved properly is just. so. gah. gah. gah.

another opinion is that i will forever be angry at how much niki got fucking sidelined while the dsmp was still ongoing. she literally had next to 0 relevance in the "main" plot points despite logging on continuously and building her own area and having a lot of her own lore. she really shined the best when she got to do stuff with others, which is the case for most of the dsmp characters/ccs, and she just wasn't given the opportunity like the others were. she attended a lot of events and got absolutely zero interaction. i think she spoke ONCE during the red banquet. ONCE. good fucking grief. i am forever a niki nihachu defender. get my girl out of there. hell.

[vianthegryphonart]

I don’t normally do horror themes, and I don’t think my art style really suits it, but I’ve really been enjoying @hootbon's Freakshow!AU, and I wanted to try my hand at putting Grif into it. I actually had been struggling trying to figure out how I wanted Grif to look normally, and took a break from it to sketch an idea for this AU. I ended up loving the sketch that became the full-body image here, and then I worked backwards from it to make the regular Grif design. 

There’s more info about Freakshow!Grif under the cut. As well as a little sketch of him interacting with Freakshow!Gangle.

-Instead of a plush, he’s based on the fake taxidermy that freakshows would sometimes display, claiming that they were mythical creatures. 

  -Compared to his normal form, this Grif is made up of more parts, the front half of his body, the back half, the tail, his forearms and his head all being separate. And unlike how his normal form is fairly uniform over all his parts, each of Freakshow!Grif’s parts are different with things like fur length, fur texture, and the shades of grey varying. Other differences are as follows:

Instead of furred forelegs and cat-like forepaws, this Grif has scaled bird legs and talons.

The claws on Grif’s front feet are now actual claws, curved and sharp, and he also has them on his back feet too.

His beak isn’t plush and is instead a hard material with a serrated edge.

He also has teeth inside his beak. These teeth are almost like a second jaw, he can bite down with them while still keeping his beak open. The teeth themselves are needle sharp and slightly recurved.

Instead of embroidered eyes, he now has glass taxidermy eyes, with black sclera and pupils that are always elliptical.

-He doesn’t have much damage to his body because generally if something attacks him it will tear him apart by breaking the stitches holding him together, rather than by making new holes in him. He does have a notch in his left ear though.

-Grif is often used in shows where they need a wild animal. Sometimes that could mean acting like a circus big cat, balancing on objects, leaping through hoops of fire, that sort of thing. But it could also mean being a danger for others to face, for instance I could imagine someone having to walk a tightrope with Grif prowling underneath ready to maul them if they fall, maybe even him jumping up to snap at their feet.

-He used to only do the bare minimum in shows, not really feeling motivated to do them, and generally just not wanting to bother. Caine punished Grif for this by having his wings torn off. After all, if Grif was going to be lazy and not use them properly, he didn’t deserve to have them. Grif puts as much effort as he can into his performances now. He still does the bare minimum when he isn’t in front of the audience, though.

-When not performing, Grif is generally very chill. He prefers to lounge around and not do much. Grif doesn’t really socialize with anyone, he’s not one for conversation, but he also doesn’t like being on his own, and will often just flop down near where other people are and watch or listen to whatever they’re doing. Outside of performances, Grif isn’t particularly aggressive, however he will defend himself if someone tries to hurt him or annoys him too much.

-Grif despises being restrained, and anything that makes it hard for him to move normally will put him into a panic-induced rage. He will fight tooth and nail to free himself, even if that means injuring himself to escape, he absolutely would chew his own foot off to escape from a bear trap. He will also lash out at anyone that gets close to him, even if they are trying to help him, everyone is a threat to him when he's trapped.

-Relationship with other cast members: 

Likes Ragatha (she sometimes helps sew him up when his stitches get broken). 

Neutral with Gangle, Zooble, Kinger, Pomni, and Kaufmo. 

Dislikes Jax and AIngle (since I think both would have tried to mess with him by restraining/trapping him at least a couple of times).

Hates Caine (for obvious reasons).

-And here’s a little sketch I did of Gangle and Grif fighting after Grif accidentally broke AIngle’s mask. Grif is not going to win this fight, it’s fairly easy to tear him apart, but he won’t go down without a fight. Gangle will probably be nursing a shredded ribbon or two afterwards.

[corvusalbus93]

Clean-up Duty

Part 1

This is a re-telling of the Veiled Ossuary questline, but if we were accompanied by Khadgar. I just really wanted him to interact more with Senegos and after seeing sdei’s comic, I had to write this. Since it turned out longer than expected, I decided to upload the story in parts, and eventually I will publish the full version on AO3. For the adventurer I used my current main.

-

The tips of her drake’s wings cut through the thin layer of amber clouds, as they bathed in the warm light of the setting sun. Narami looked east, where the towers of Algeth’ar Academy and the northernmost mountains of Thaldraszus peaked through cover, both all but glowing at this time of day. But the monk’s destination was even farther north on a small island just off the coast.

Kalec had asked her to help out Senegos at the Veiled Ossuary, and she’d been happy to comply. After all, the old blue dragon was a friend she’d known for years, an ally made while fighting the Burning Legion on the Broken Isles. And just recently he’d saved them from all but certain death.

Someone crowed in her ear.

Speaking of which.

Narami looked to her shoulder, where a raven had made himself comfortable, claws digging into the fabric of her vest and cloak, beak peeking out between her head and pauldron.

“We should arrive soon,” she told him. “Hang on, we’re going to dive.”

The raven did as he was told and lowered his body to give the wind less area to attack. The drake folded his wings and went nose first through the clouds. Narami needed to narrow her golden eyes as the wind picked up significantly, howling in her long, night elven ears.

Their destination was just ahead, they only needed to cross the narrow channel now, as the Ossuary was located at the isle’s southern coast. Already she could see the landing platform, the smooth stone standing out between the cliffs of natural rock, and her sharp eyes were able to make out two blue dots at the nearby gate.

They continued to dive, past small, floating islands, until the drake suddenly spread his wings again. Narami was pressed into the saddle for a moment as they abruptly slowed, and she could feel her raven companion slip forward on her shoulder. With a few more wing beats, the drake floated down the final few meters, managing one of their smoother landings yet.

The night elf got off his back, careful not to get hit by the folding wings and ran a hand over the drake’s snout. “We’re probably going to be here for a few hours, so feel free to look around by yourself, okay?”

 The drake huffed, but lowered his head, in a way she had learned to interpret as a nod.

“Alright, don’t get into trouble.”

She stepped back to give him room as he took off again, disappearing from sigh when he dove past the platform towards the coastline below. Knowing his habits, the drake was probably going to fish for some dinner while she was gone. As Narami started walk towards the Ossuary’s gates, the raven finally left her shoulder, before being engulfed in light and smoke. In but a moment the bird was replaced by a man in blue and silver robes, brushing off a feather from his shoulder.

“Thank you for the ride.”

“Well, just shooing you off after you’d already landed on my back seemed rude.”

Khadgar grinned, hand on his heart. “Taking pity on an old man?”

Playfully, she poked his arm with a finger. “You don’t get to call yourself that after all but skipping through camp the other day.” Whenever the Primalists were kind enough to give them a break, the Archmage was all over the new discoveries made across the Dragon Isles and admittedly it was good to see him not caught up in his duties for once, but genuinely enjoying one of his many interests.

“You saw that, didn’t you?”

“Half the camp did.”

“Well, I’m glad to see I’m at least boosting morale.”

Narami chuckled, but before their conversation could continue, they heard another pair of voices. Just ahead at the gate, Senegos and Stellagosa were having a conversation, already shifted into their visages. The younger dragon appeared as a high elf with light blue hair, in contrast to Senegos, who had taken the shape of an old jungle troll.

“Grandfather, surely you could rest and leave the cleaning of this place to someone else...”

“Allow an old dragon a bit of nostalgia. I used to be the keeper of this place when I was younger than you.” Senegos looked over his shoulder, smiling when he spotted the two mortals approaching them. “Ah, I see we have guests already. Khadgar, Narami, it is good to see you again.”

The Archmage grasped Senegos’ outstretched arm. “Likewise, old friend.”

“Kalec told us you might need some help. Anything we can do for you?” The Aspect had mentioned the place needed some cleaning up, though Narami wasn’t yet sure what that would entail besides clearing some rubble.

“Perhaps there is. Come, let me show you around.”  

The night elf took in the size of the entry as they walked through, big enough for a fully grown dragon, even an Aspect. “I’ve only ever seen this isle from afar. Can you tell us more about this place?”

“The Veiled Ossuary is where we used to bury our dead,” Senegos explained. “Us dragons live quite a long time, but old age does eventually take us all, though the Aspects play by different rules. I imagine Kalecgos told you he plans to put to rest the last essences of Sindragosa and Malygos. Well, we can't do that if the Veiled Ossuary is a mess now can we?”

Once they entered courtyard, they knew what he meant. The place was crawling with insects from the lawn, up the stairs and bridges, to the various towers and tombs of the Ossuary.

“That’s quite a swarm out there,” Narami couldn’t help but note out loud, taken aback by the sheer number of six-legged critters.

The old dragon nodded. “Their numbers haven’t been thinned in millennia, one of my duties back in the day. You see, I was given the task to be a sort of grave keeper, which included keeping wildlife away from the area.”

Khadgar tapped his chin, his eyes scanning the area. “I’m sure I know a spell or two that could help with that.”

“If you don’t mind, I would like us to do it my way. I think you will find it amusing,” the dragon added with a wink.

“By all means.”

“I had a rather fun spell split up within several tomes kept within this place to deal with such pests. The other blue dragons did not approve of my... reckless methods, so I had to keep the tomes hidden.”

“Sounds familiar. Though things in Dalaran have gotten better in recent years.”

Narami leaned her head loser to the Archmage, a teasing smirk on her lips. “You mean since you started leading the Kirin Tor?”

“What can I say; I’m a good influence,” he joked back “Now, I take it the tomes are somewhere around here?”

“If time hasn’t claimed them.” Senegos turned to the night elf. “Narami, allow me to cast a spell on you to grant you the sight to find these old tomes. I doubt Khadgar will be needing it, but you could find it difficult to locate them without aid.”

“I’d appreciate it.” Though Narami was no stranger to the arts of the arcane, she’d only ever dabbled in magic, just enough to make use of certain tools or in context of her work as a scribe. Nothing compared to the three in her company at this moment.

“Good. Once they are all gathered, we can cleanse this place of the invasive wildlife. Just give me one moment...” Rings of arcane light appeared around his hands, but rather than brightening, they suddenly started to flicker and vanished into thin air again. “Ah... the spell seems to have fizzled out. I won't make you wait on this old dragon. Stellagosa, could you aid our friend?

“Of course Grandfather, I remember it well.” This time the rings stayed and were brighter around the younger dragon’s hands. Narami could sense the energy as the spell touched her, sharpening her senses, as if only now she was truly awake and fully aware of her surroundings. “There you go. The trail should be quite easy to follow now. I'll help Grandfather, and we’ll meet you farther up the path.”

“Thank you my dear.”

Narami could see the tremble in his hand, and a drop of sweat running down the side of his face. “Are you alright?” she asked softly, worried as she was suddenly reminded of their very first meeting in Aszuna.

“Yes, yes. I believe I may have put too much power into that spell to save you from Raszageth... it's taking quite some time to recover.”

Khadgar stepped forth, placing a hand on the dragon’s arm. “I could lend you some energy, old friend,” he offered, with a similarly soft tone to Narami.

But Senegos shook his head. “You needed worry, Khadgar. I just won’t be casting too many spells for a time. Now, why don’t you two see if you can find my tomes?”

The Archmage and the monk shared a look, but neither pressed the issue, watching for a moment as Stellagosa guided her grandfather up one of the staircases. They didn’t linger for long, however, and turned towards the first bridge just beyond the gate.

...to be continued Part 2

[hydroux]

This was made by my friend

Please do not repost without my permission

CW: Brief mention of child neglect and death

Quirk: Shift His quirk allows him to change parts of his self or his whole body into animals he is also capable of growing to giant size bigger than Mt. Lady so the same height as Gigantomachia but using to many transformations in rapid succession can cause him lose himself to his inner beast his brain contains part of every animal in the world allowing him to access his quirk his snake eyes are a mutation from birth if he stares into your eyes he can bring you into a mindscape that he has in his brain

Hero Name: Changling

Super moves: Tectonic Quake: By turning into a giant ape Kai smashes his fists onto the ground creating a massive shockwave

Sky Strike: Kai grows wings on his back and spins downward with his legs releasing a powerful kick

Origin: It starts with his parents his parents hated people that looked different like people with heteromorphic attributes so when he was born and they saw his strange eyes they were horrified and called him a monster, a demon. He grew up hearing those words his whole life his parents could've cared less what he did to them he was treated more like an animal than a human kid making him question who or what he was so most of his childhood he spent outside in the backyard laying in the grass due to his situation it made him not trust people not that he'd get the chance to interact with other kids as his parents hid him from the world one day he heard a voice it said "poor kid having to live like that" he looked around and all he saw were some birds and squirrels he started talking to them he realized that he could understand them to an extent his parents saw him talking to them and saw it as just childhood imagination when he went to the doctor for his quirk test he feared what his parents would think when they saw he could transform his body so using hypnosis which he got from his strange eyes which if you recall are snake like he made the doctor tell his parents he was quirkless and that made his life a bit better his parents treated him a bit better but one day changed everything when Kai was outside talking to the animals he thought he was alone but his parents saw him and at first they were just looking but then Kai out of nowhere turned his head and neck into a giraffe head and neck reaching up to the tree the animals were in and when his parents saw they were livid they smashed the birds nest and when Kai saw he screamed and cried in sorrow and turned into a screeching monster and grew bigger than the whole house (not his top size by btw) and swatted his parents away with a giant paw killing them on impact Kai recovered from this alone and confused he saw his parents on the ground dead and he didn't cry he was sad but no tears left his eyes he just lived on the streets until he turned 10 and was caught stealing food from a gas station by the pro hero Miruko since Kai didn't have the best relationship with humans he attempted to fight her but lost instantly she admired his bravery and decided to adopt him it took him a while to get use to her as he barely spoke and when he did it was broken speech but over time he grew to trust her and love her he was inspired to be a hero by her and as such she taught him how to fight so Kai has incredible leg strength like Mirko without his quirk he can kick a small tree down with his quirk he can kick down a steel door and shatter massive boulders now he attends UA where they also help him with some of the trauma from his childhood he's good friends with Tokoyami and Tsu and often kicks Bakugou or Iida in the nuts when they either annoy him or just when Bakugou gets out of hand. Based on that last sentence you’d guess Kai has a bit of a temper but he’s actually pretty chill but don’t ever call him monster or freak who knows what’ll happen.

Fighting Style: Capoeira and Kickboxing (Due to Kai fighting with his legs more often than not you’ll often see him training his legs with Deku and Iida when he has the chance) Also while not a fighting style Kai will often say things out of no where to throw people off whether it makes it seem like he’s breaking the 4th wall or he’ll say something rather risqué.

[mystiika]

re; the woman who named Death ' ada ' & why Death chooses to take her form when a form is needed

trigger warning: severe loss of quality of life leading up to major character death other notes: i will capitalise ' Death ' below to help differentiate between the state & ada as a being & a quick reminder that the fc of said woman ( & Death in threads, is a young julie andrews + explanation in another separate post once i make some actual icons & have more than bullet point notes of the topic )

after the thousands of years that had passed, Death no longer remembers her name, nor her voice. Death cannot recall where on this planet she had lived, nor the name of the language she spoke. but Death can never forget the look in her eyes as she took in such a simply beauty as that of a plain & common flower. Death cannot forget how gently she would hold an animal in need of her help from anything to removing a thorn to helping heal a broken wing. Death cannot forget that she'd spoken so tenderly or sung sweetly to any living thing around her. most of all, Death cannot forget the sheer feeling of love & peace that was felt in this woman's presence, & the name she gives Death. & while Death typically interacted with other beings with a wall of distance of sorts in order to avoid interfering too much whenever Death's incorporeal heart wished she would follow through on those thoughts. 

at first, Death took the form of a bird — able to watch on from leafy trees as this strange human went about her day, almost as if keeping track as this woman interfered where Death could not. sure, Death had some control over death, but if she saved every life she could, the world would fall apart. so it brought on such joy to see when one animal took care care of another ( whether it was a human offering water to a tired deer or a humpback whale saving a seal from an orca ) sure, the animal saved will still die another day, but the simple act of saving a life was something beautiful on its own.

as a whole, Death found humans to be quite sympathetic to creatures they identified with ( although often so to inanimate objects, despite the lack of life & for reasons Death had yet to fully understand ). & so Death had seen humans saving others selflessly as much as other animals, but none quite so often — nor as well — as this girl, this woman.

the next time Death came closer to her it was once she reached adulthood & in the form of a common rodent of the time, attempting to lead her to a similar animal caught in a trap set by nature, to see what exactly she would do. & without a second thought, she followed what had ( to her credit ) appeared to be a rather distressed creature. to see if she followed until she saw the injured one & attempted to do what she could. of course, Death knew this creature would die, but it wasn't done in an effort to pain the woman ( althought Death was sure it would ). rather it was to see how she would still attempt to save an animal from a clearly fatal injury, & how she might grieve when she sees she cannot.

& eventually, Death comes to her as a child — appearing no older than 9 or 10. at this point, Death can give no name to offer in introduction for having never been given one & having no reason to have a name for itself until now, nor can Death say where it had come from because how was Death suposed to explain it was as old as time. but, Death knew the language, & so they talked. about nothing, or everything, & most interestingly so, the woman talked about herself. her life, her story, what she does & how she chooses to live. & when after a few days of the human knowing Death had no name & so had asked if Death would like a name. after a few moments of consideration, Death said that it would, & that it would like if she could choose the name herself. & so came the name of ada.

ada was sure the woman knew they weren't human. but it didn't seem to make any difference to her. however, eventually, the woman fell ill shortly after she entered her 30s. it started out as a cold, which then worsened until it developed into pneumonia. a little while later, she was stuck in bed, her breathing worsening until each inhale & outhale came with a shallow wheeze. ada would sit by her bed for hours a day, talking to her anything she wanted to & filling every possible moment so she didn't have to talk only to stop & catch her breath every few words.

during this time, the woman thought about death more & more — something most humans did when having some warning about their future. & ada could hear these thoughts, as they did for any creature capable of such a thing, but ada did their best to block it out. she wasn't in much pain, a fact ada contributed to in some small part. but it was soon to be her time to die & they both knew it.

in most deaths ( a distintion also needing a separate post ), there is a window in which ada could wholly influence the outcome without the world falling into complete chaos, & in most cases it was following something of a prayer or sometimes an unspoken wish. but, if ada communicated to a creature the option, it was possible to trigger a window to appear. most often ada did this when suicide was the would-be cause of death. she might sit & talk with the creature ( mostly humans in recent centuries ), & stopping time in order to do so & opperate within a single second when time continued normally after. or in cases such as with with this one, with this woman, offering the chance to pass peacefully after a long or even short fought battle. ada cannot see the future of what would become of a person if they lived, but ada can see when or what their death will be if they did. it was also in these moments that ada made their identity known, to a degree at least. most often in the form of a wordless feeling & complete understanding in their chest of why ada was there.

so one day, ada asked her what she wanted, if she wanted to die. it took a few moments but she reached a hand forward, taking ada's hand in her own. she gave her a smile, getting out a quiet ❝ oh, my sweet ada... ❞ Death did not often cry physical tears. having spent so long without a physical form, & most of which having no tear ducts, the pain of their heart seldom reached a face. but in this moment, ada gave a large, reassuring smile as tears began to fall. they move to stand. leaning forward ada presses a gentle kiss to the woman's cheek, & so took her soul as lips receded. it was as peaceful & painless as a death could be, ada grateful they could at least do that much.

ada only gets so far as dropping back onto the wooden stool before a wail leaves their lips in a way they hadn't thought possible. frozen in time so there was nothing & no one calling them to their purpose, Death grieves. for wnile freezing time was something they were able, the moving forward or backward in time was one of the few if not the only things Death cannot do — or perhaps, more accurately, it's something even they knew better than to mess with.

it takes an immortal lifetime before ada unstops time, a lifetime sitting at the foot of a grave made for her in the way ada had seen humans make for each other time & time again, telling the freshly dug dirt how wide & beautiful reality was beyond what she'd have been able to comprehend. talking of the day that woman had been born, the aura of her even as an infant was enough to see Death take pause, how Death had watched her grow up as all life around her grew tenfold by her presence. but, when time finally resumes, everything in existance calls out to Death all at once. though to Death that reality was what had always been, had it been anything else god or mortal, it would have been so overwhelmingly & deafeningly loud they'd have gone mad in seconds.

but, despite the pain Death felt at the lost of their only true friend, in a way things still felt a little less lonely than the millenia before, for now they had found a new way to love, &, more than that, Death had been given a name to carry for the rest of time — a sign that there was at least one person who had truly loved them.

& so it was at this point that Death helped the woman live another day in spirit, past the dispersing energy of her soul, & with the understanding that she would have been honoured to see herself & her love staying behind with a being she adored as much as she did ada. & from then on, unless another form was better suited in the moment, ada chose to share that tender touch & warm smile they had loved so much with the infinite creatures as they grow & live their final day.

[conqueror-if]

"The stars are aligned."

There is chaos amongst the realms. A tyrant as succeeded the Enderian Throne and demands the total control of the rest of the three realms.

The Aether, full of birds of flight, have torn themselves apart with blood cursed by a godly quarrel.

The Nether, whose Queen is not to be found in the vast, dangerous heat.

And, The Overworld, which holds riches and secrets waiting to be found.

You, a young and angry member of the Enderian race, must find a way to stop the Tyrant Queen from getting what she wants - total control, total power, total immortality.

CONQUEROR is a 18+ high fantasy interactive fiction novel written in Twine. Play as either an Enderian noble diguised as a consort, a freedom fighter in the rebellion, or an oppressed race being hunted by the Queen for their unique talents.

☆ Play as one of eight enderian races, plus one special race!

Fully customizable MC, including gender [with male, female, and nonbinary options]

Customizable pronouns!

Choose to be gay, bisexual, lesbian, or trans! Also includes aro/ace options!

Extensively customized appearance, including tattoos, scars, piercings, and clothing

Set your personality as you interact with the world around you!

Choose between three backgrounds to set your path!

Romance or befriend (or make enemies?) of the ROs!

General Soprano - The Queen's Dog | He/They | ??? Hybrid

General of the Enderian Military and the right hand of the Queen, they are the forsaken Conqueror of the realms, following his Queen's orders as he razes kingdoms to the ground. On the battlefield, he ravenges the land. When they're alone, they are the prisoner of the Queen, cursed to follow her every word and her first victim. Plagued by terrors of his past and his own body made into a golden prison. They have vowed to never find love again.

Soprano is 6'11 and broad shouldered, with dark brown skin and coily black hair that just brushes his shoulders. His eyes are hot pink and his moth wings are a bright pink and yellow. A black creature latches onto his arm.

Poly route with Joy and Benoni

Joy - Heir of a Broken Kingdom | They/Them | Bird Hybrid

The only heir of the Aetherian Realm, they've been targeted by the Queen and is no longer in control of their own body. Still, this future monarch is fiery and won't allow that to hold them back from getting their revenge and protecting their kingdom. Joy is endlessly kind but will not hesitate to raise hell for those they love. Now, they must navigate how to save their kingdom from falling into ruin, an overpowering mother, and the hanging reminder that their body isn't their own. What will it take to make your way into their loving arms?

Joy is 5'9 and lithe, though they clearly hold some power behind their strikes. They have hair as red as the rising sun and warm brown skin. With a very impressive wingspan, their feathers are a beautiful rainbow of color, similar to a parrot.

Poly route with Noni and Sop

Benoni - Aetherian Military Captian | He/Him | Human

The aetherian military captain, he's cynical and prickly, and he's got his own issues regarding a certain enderian general. However, when he's alone with the people loves most, Noni’s smile stretches wide and he becomes a soft, fluffy mess. His quick wit and even quicker reflexes can normally get him out of any situation But, he's torn in a moral dilemma. Does he protect the enderian diaspora in the Aether realm from growing racism and stop them from getting exiled or worse, killed? Or does he remain forever loyal to the royal family and Queen Irene, who brought him in and gave him another chance at life? A captain protects their people. But which ones?

Benoni is 6'4 and with a lean, athletic build. His hair is a dirty blonde with the blue sky in his eyes. His cool honeyed skin holds many scars from previous battles.

Poly route with Joy and Sop

Queen Chienne - The Tyrant | She/Her | Dragon Hybrid

The all powerful ruler of the End, Chienne is a vindictive and manipulative woman who will do everything in her power to ensure her reign will be remembered for eons to come. Quick to anger, everyone in the palace must walk eggshells around her, lest they be punished. But for some reason, you, a little nobody no matter what background you choose, catches her attention. Why do those vivid eyes watch you like a hawk, ready to descend?

Queen Chienne is 6'10 with an elegant and slender frame. Her skin is pale like ivory, with the exception of the black beauty mark near her cat like eyes. Hair like snow that reaches the floor and vivid purple eyes, she's a sight to behold.

Warning: RED FLAG RO 🚩

Trope: Arranged Marriage (Noble Route), Toxic romance (Warped and Rebel Route)

Princess Deuxieme - The Scarred One | She/Her | Dragon Hybrid

The youngest sister of Chienne, rumored to have once been so beautiful to rival the stars, now roams the silver walls with black scars that smother her beauty. She doesn't speak, and keeps to herself in the forbidden east wing. She is treated like a pet by her sister and has only ever heard laughs and sneers toward her. Most servants can hear the soft melodies of the princess playing a lute after hours. Deuxieme sees no beauty nor love within herself, but maybe you can show her what you see?

Princess Deuxieme is 5'10 with a curvy frame, long ebony hair that gets in her face, and pale skin. One of her horns is chipped and broken and her leathery wings are quite small.

Trope: Friends to Lovers (Noble Route), Forbidden Romance (Warped Route, Rebel Route)