#'not getting any attention? elaborate brother killing'

[fynsh]

Currently reading a lot of Coruscant Guard fics

What if upon receiving info about their assigned positions the whole command batch came up with a strategy of regularly switching posts while on Coruscant.

Initially it's to provide cover for the expected medical emergencies (because Coruscant is safe) or if they'll be in need of different talents for specific long-term missions. Cause even after receiving the same standard training, all of them have specialized in different areas. Not enough to be noticed by outsiders since the batchers know how to secretly provide info and apply eachother's shared knowledge immediately.

Of course it doesn't work out because:

- Some Jedi unexpectedly pay way more attention to their commanders and men. General Kenobi spots Cody in the mess and goes to sit at the same table. Even when the clones switch around he recognizes everyone instantly, so Cody is staying on The Negotiator permanently. One of the best things coming out of this is the opportunity to meet up with Captain Rex and the 501st

- Wolffe sustains an injury that they won't be able to cover like they usually do with other tattoos or scars and after losing almost all of the 104th decides to stay and rebuild his battalion with a very protective General Koon

- Ponds is finds himself suddenly taking over responsibility for the most feral kid in the galaxy. He sometimes wonders if Boba distracting Sing before she could actually shoot him was an elaborate ploy to get a better chance to kill General Windu himself or if the boy actually cared about his not-brothers (Boba cares a lot)

- Bly cannot for the life of him stand motionless during another debate in the Senate without going crazy cause he just cares too much about every honest voice being silenced by corruption and greed. His general also seems to watch him closer than others do and he takes the chance to try to learn more about the war efforts from the perspective of the Jedi council

- Bacara, Monnk, Gree and Neyo are on missions taking them to the other side of the galaxy, so far away that they barely make it back to Coruscant. They can't even enter the batchers' secret communication channels most of the times

- Which leaves Fox to become the "permanent" Marshall Commander of the Corries. He guesses it's only fair because more than half of the awards and decorations on the wall of the office were rewarded for his actions. The other half are mostly thanks to Thorn and Bacara being reckless but highly competent idiots

- Thire, Stone and Thorn joke they got stuck with the most uptight of the batch but later realize that Fox strict approach is keeping their men relatively safe. Cause Fox realized very quickly that Coruscant is in fact not safe

- Everyone else takes a whole lot longer to catch on to the not so subtle dangers stretching their claws from the very inside of the Republic's heart, especially with the Guard starting to drift apart from the GAR silently. It takes the CMOs meeting and drinking too much moonshine to finally connect the dots of why the communication lines went mostly dead

- Cody immediately starts strategizing for escape scenarios and researches uninhibited planets. He needs to survive any possible scenario so he can reunite his brothers. His general notices. Rex does as well

- Wolffe is furious and the wolfpack starts finishing their rescue missions in record time to get to the homefront as quickly as possible. He stops drinking alone like he sometimes did and starts accompanying all of his actions with softer words than usual. His general notices

- Ponds is shocked and starts taking to the shinys more. He also asks Boba about his point of view cause the boy definitely notices things a grown man doesn't. He starts sending regular updates about the developments of the general public's moods and tries to find ways to engage in a positive way with the natborns to bring attention to the men fighting a war for them. His general notices

- Bly is sad and starts reading up on all political and especially civil rights debates he can get his hands on. His general notices and asks her master if he has more intel on current developments in all parts of the galaxy. General Vos hasn't been on Coruscant since the start of the second year of war but draws the conclusion he should dig deeper into the heart of the republic

- Bacara is seething and keeps perfecting his already optimized battle plans. The marines train to annihilate droids by hand. He also keeps stocking up on medical equipment. His general doesn't notice

- Neyo doesn't acknowledge feeling anything. He starts tinkering again. He's looking for ways to design communication and transportation devices from all the droid scrap they usually leave behind on the battlefield. He even learns Jawaese. His general doesn't notice

- Monnk and Gree are determined. They comm eachother and start researching on how to survive long term in unknown environments and writing guides on how to identify edibles plants, safe water supplies, how to test for breathable atmosphere and which species like to live in symbiotic or peaceful ways with humanoids. They mask it as personal interest. Their generals notice

- Fox is panicking. He needs to find a new way to keep Hound from being decommissioned for Grizzer peeing in front of a senator's door the second after a natborn noticed their carefully crafted loop hole to switch designations of fallen brothers for the ones they could still save in the official documentations the Guard issues. He hasn't slept or eaten in two days as his comm blinks with the notification of a General striding through the Guard's front door like he belonged among the Corries. He has no time to deal with whatever the Jedi council wants from them but Thire is already on the brink of breaking down scanning data pads for a new loop hole so he grabs his helmet and runs to stop the force user from asking his questions at the wrong time. Not-his general notices

No idea for an actual plot. Just wanted to think about some hurt/comfort and competent clone commanders being brothers before being soldiers

[devildomsoup]

Silly little headcanons #1

Lucifer

Definitely has a favourite pen and everyone dreads the day he will have to change it.

He once shrunk Cerberus and carried him around in a handbag because he had to go to the vet.

Joint pains (no, I will not elaborate)

Has a picture in his wallet of his brothers and MC. Luke is also there for some reason.

Mammon

Will turn off the lights and walk out of his room. Walks back a few moments later to check if he remembered to turn the lights off.

Boops his younger brothers on the nose when he says goodnight.

Considered dying his hair piss yellow at some point.

He swears that Luke is just an annoying little chihuahua that he doesn't care about. But the pictures of him accompanying Luke to the cinema suggest otherwise.

Leviathan

He forgets to throw out socks with holes in them. So sometimes he will just walk around with socks that are barely holding on.

Has a controller that only MC is allowed to use. He will not even use it himself.

Can touch his nose with his tongue

Accidentally called his brothers "Ruri" on multiple occasions.

Satan

Has an album on his phone with pictures of him and Lucifer. Will deny it if you ask him.

Once cursed the entirety of Lucifer's record collection. The curse in question made it so the only song on any of the records was Baby Shark.

When he wants MC's attention he will go "pspspsps."

Satan has put on his blue jacket normally a grand total of 6 times.

Asmodeus

Will wear heels with just about anything. Yes, that includes sweatpants.

A lesser demon once found out about MC's deepest insecurity and started using it to insult them. Asmodeus found out and sent the demon flying through a wall.

He either sneezes like a cat or like an old man. There is no in-between.

He reminds everyone in HoL to drink water and will make sure they do so one way or another.

Beelzebub

Not allowed to be alone in RAD's art supply room. He will eat the paint if left unattended.

He only had 4 shirts until Asmodeus forced him to get more.

Takes Luke with him around RAD when Simeon can't. Also scared of any demon that looks at Luke the wrong way.

He has carried every single one of his brothers to bed more than once. Lucifer is no exception.

Belphegor

Follows the cat rule. If it fits I sits.

Don't tell anyone but his favourite blanket is the jackets of his older brothers.

Will sometimes force people to take a nap with him. Does someone look tired boom it's nap time.

Pops his back really loudly whenever he wakes up

Simeon

Will show anyone and I mean anyone pictures of Luke like a proud father.

Got scammed once and now he's afraid of opening links.

He once accompanied Beel to a workout and ended up destroying a punching bag.

Do not under any circumstances let him be alone in the candle section of a store. Purgatory Hall already has a closet full of them.

Raphael

Tried to kill a fly with one of his spears.

When asked if he wanted anything special for his birthday he requested a cake made by Solomon.

Enjoys watching butterflies flutter around. He will stand absolutely still if one lands on him and stay like that until the butterfly leaves again.

Wins every staring contest.

Luke

Has gotten lost in stores, parks and RAD so many times that he now has a bracelet with the contact info of Simeon and Barbatos. Even though he has his own D.D.D.

Mimics Simeon and Raphael to appear like a mature angel.

He will never admit it but he makes drawings for the brothers.

Luke and MC have a secret handshake.

Solomon

Immune to the pain of stepping on a lego.

Once accidentally turned himself into a rat and nearly got murdered by Barbatos.

Enjoys watching romcoms with MC.

Can and will randomly appear in MC's room tell them a horrible joke and then vanish into thin air.

Thirteen

She has the most random things in her pocket. Watch her pull out a porcelain frog from one of her pockets.

She had a buzz cut at some point.

Will drag you out of bed in the middle of the night so you can test her new inventions.

Loves playing with people's hair. It doesn't matter what texture or length it is. Just let her play with it.

Diavolo

Has a rubber duck collection.

Was introduced to vocaloid and now he won't stop singing World is Mine.

Gives the best hugs. 10/10 would hug again.

Buys Barbatos flowers every week to show his appreciation.

Barbatos

Knows how to tap dance.

Let's MC call him Barbie.

He receives small trinkets from the Little Ds.

Will cradle MC like a little baby when he is stressed or just missed them.

Mephistopheles

He enjoys soup.

He says he hates hugs. But in reality, he might even shed a few tears if you hug him.

A master of building card houses.

Once took care of a bat until it was healthy enough to live on its own.

[rou-luxe]

please elaborate on the grandpa clavis bc I don't know much about Alfons, so idk what to think about that 😭

hEHehEhhAaAaHAHA LET'S GO I HAVE PERMISSION TO GET THE IDEA OUT OF MY HEAD (cracks knuckles) I love them both

analysis under the cut spoilers for Clavis, light spoilers for Alfons

I kinda quit Alfons route early to go to the English server release because my brain is too lazy to translate everything 😭 so this is just from what I know about him. this is doomed to be inaccurate 💀

warning this gets off topic in some places because my analysis ideas carried me a bit too far because I love them

The central point is that they both use pleasurable experiences to ignore reality. Alfons focuses a LOT on the pleasure part of that, as seen from erm his lack of sleep and mentions it plenty in voicelines. Alfons also applies this philosophy to people other than himself. Alfons sometimes protects MC from uncomfortable realities, like the scene where he and Ellis kill someone, and uses his power to convince MC that it was just a play (Kate LOVES plays).

As seen from his profile, Alfons heavily resents pain of any sort. I already forgot when exactly (chapter 4 premium avatar challenge?), but at some point, MC is crying and he consoles them before you know- this is just an assumption, but I think he doesn't want any sort of emotional turmoil in those close to his heart. He keeps reassuring Elbert that he is much more beautiful than MC without hesitation. Not only is he making sure MC is safe and doesn't get in a horror-esque story (nervously looks at Elbert trailer), he's also making sure that Elbert doesn't get jealous to the point of performing taxidermy on a person... because the events leading up to that would hurt them both. This makes Alfons feel so kind and considerate ngl 😭

Clavis wants to be loved by all. The game sometimes describes him as "lonely" - this is likely because he was overshadowed by Chev as a kid, and because he felt so shaken by his mother's death that he needed attention from others to feel more complete. It also connects to his pranks. He wants to feel something, anything to pretend he's not dying inside. Whether the attention he gets is positive or negative, at least he feels something.

It's mentioned quite a lot in his path that the more pained / scared Clavis is feeling, the more he smiles. It's sort of his coping mechanism. By smiling, he can pretend everything is alright (HIS MOM 😭😭 I'M GONNA FUHGKING CRY SHE MUST'VE BEEN SO SWEET AND BEAUTIFUL AND Cybird I want to see his mom).

He also does somewhat force MC to be around him, but it's not in a Silvio way, it comes off more clingy to me. He's been left alone, abandoned so many times, that he can't bare the pain of loneliness anymore. And thus we get dragged to his breakfast parties. Another coping mechanism. Clavis gets to spend time with MC every morning, gets to cook for her (...it's the thought that counts) and terrorize a couple of his half-brothers... just to forget it all. Clavis even escapes from his prison cell just to see you, the light of his life. (I love him)

"Sylvatica" comes from the scientific name for "forget-me-not". This one is completely an assumption that seems rather unlikely, but perhaps like Clavis, Alfons wants to be remembered somehow.

I can't remember if this was legit or not because I've been scrolling through Tumblr too much but I remember seeing a post that went something like: "Alfons has MC sign (something) papers because after he dies, his curse will make him forgotten and he just wants something to prove that he loved MC" or something. (That post broke my heart so bad.) Is that why he's called a "phantom"?

In summary:

They both have their own ways of ignoring reality, and they are both up to trickery (especially when it comes to MC). Both endulge in enjoyment, it's part of their lifestyle. doesn't necessarily refer to seggs but it does sure sound like it

I'm not quite sure where Alfons' ignorance originates, but all Clavis wants is to be loved. Give him the love.

Okay onto the shorter sillier theories because my heart can't take this

Clavis' epithet is "The Pleasure-Loving Beast", and Alfons' is "The Hedonistic Thrill-Seeker".

Clavis likes tricks and teasing, and so does Alfons. Though Clavis does that MUCH more often.

They also act like they're fucking around but they actually know what they're doing.

They pretend to be worse than they are 😭 (omg shakespeare too... is that my type... 💀)

Others have made this remark before but Alfons feels like a darker Clavis + more unhinged

They both like to cook. And eat. And they both have stomachs of steel.

sword

They both have bad handwriting. Clavis is notorious for this, and Alfons says he has bad handwriting in the first letter of his path.

Fuck I forgot I had science homework due tomorrow

edit: I forgot another one they both are self-described "gentlemen" 😭😭

[lazyveran]

omg i just read the Ty Lee Azula Katara situationship. Well now of course you need to elaborate on Mai. What's her relationship with Azula and Katara like? does Ty Lee have a similar thing with Zuko and Mai, as her other besties? What is wrong with Mai, bc i get the feeling you've tossed her in a salad spinner as well?

thank you so much. mai is also being whirled around in the salad spinner. miserably, might i add.

mai for me is someone is who is clinging very VERY tightly to the past, and absolutely refuses to deviate from it. ty lee, azula and zuko are her childhood friends? thats IT. thats all the friends she wants or needs. in her mind any change from that past is bad, wrong, and must be reversed back to safe, normal comfort. this is in part because she was happy and innocent and free right up until tom-tom was born - then she was the spare, seen not heard, not understood by her mother, choked into silence, captivity and an intense depressive state. tom-tom's arrival into her life is so bad that mai goes "ah yes, new people? or My People changing into something i didnt expirence before the age of 12? BAD. KILL WITH HAMMERS." and even though she does love her baby brother, she despises the circumstance he brought her. (she's far more like azula than either of them want to admit. they keep seeing glimpses of themselves in the other, like a shattered reflection of what they could have become - silent and meek, or unloved and monsterous. they never talk about it.)

the fire squad is her one and only support network, and she becomes uncomfortably co-dependant. no one else will do. no one else understands. they're comfortable, normal, the shining happy past that she wants to claw back to. she's loved by them, and understood implicity bc of their shared past. thats all she wants. so she's very, very intensely devoted to them, and especially to zuko. her and azula aren't emotional supports to each other, but they are indeed best friends. they both apprieciate each other's loyalty and stability. mai is comfortable with any change that happens around azula - or Her People - because azula is this steadfast, unmoving pillar in her life. azula values mai highly for her skill, intelligence and general disposition. they're the bitchest besties ever who murder for fun.

SO. if she literally cant handle ty lee, azula or zuko changing into something else. at all. then you can imagine her reaction to katara barrelling in and changing up the vibe of their foursome. mai is outright hostile to katara. she's irritable, grouchy, and does her utmost to pretend katara doesnt exist at all. in her mind, katara is forcing their group to change, taking azula away from their terrible little co-dependency circle. change? bad. threaten the new woman with knives. and quickly. make sure azula is apart from that new woman and back in the safe co-dependency circle. if anything changes - if azula changes - she'll turn into dust.

and on ty lee! she DOES. zuko and mai dating isnt too big a deal for her because they still pay attention to her, and the afformentioned co-dependant stability thing overrides her annoyance that they're not looking and seeing her. but if someone flirts with zuko, or mai? its over. shes throwing a tantrum, getting the person to flirt with HER instead, or flirting with zuko/mai. bc WHY is no one looking at her? helloooo???

mai and ty lee get along famously because mai hates change and people, and ty lee gets to hoard mai greedily to herself. its the perfect arrangement, she can farm all the attention she wants from mai and is guaranteed to it. and mai doesnt care about ty lee wandering off to other friendgroups because she always comes back. and it's funny, ty lee makes things not boring.

[theicarusconstellation]

into the dark news + poll

i will also be announcing this in the notes of the next chapter update, but i just want to inform you all that i will be going back through and mass-editing/rewriting all chapters from act one (chapters 1-40). all throughout act one, i really let outside forces influence how i wrote this fic. i pandered to the fandom because i was afraid to make anyone upset rather than writing what i wanted to write. i saw people saying that their precious sirius would never do The Prank, so i made peter do it when i really wanted sirius to. i added 540957345 povs (most of which will stay because i do believe they shape the story) rather than just keeping it to regulus + james because i saw people saying that not giving each and every character an in-depth plotline in an mlm fic was misogyny and neglect. i came up with an elaborate scheme to keep lily alive on halloween 1981 because killing lily is misogynistic. (lily will stay alive on halloween like i promised yall because i have grown so fond of her and i know that you should kill your darlings but i've never been very good at that). i planned a lot of elaborate schemes to keep a lot of characters alive and spread myself thin trying to shove intricate plots for the black sisters, marypanlily, peter, remus, dorlene, rosekiller, etc. into this fic because i didn't want to offend anyone or make anyone upset. i truly do not give a fuck about james and sirius’ friendship, but i threw it in this fic's face since so many people regard it as The Holy Grail and i didn't want to disappoint them in any way. i wrote the black brothers way more tame than i wanted to because if regulus doesn’t want a relationship with sirius it’s framed as him blaming sirius.

the truth of the matter is, this is a jegulus fic, centered around regulus black, james potter, their relationship, and no one else. not lily. not sirius. not anyone. that isn't to say that i can't have complex plots devoted to other characters, because i can, i will, and i love to do it. every plot i inserted into this fic will remain the same, just with a few tweaks and possibly with less pagetime.

the biggest change will be that i am going back and rewriting The Prank. sirius will orchestrate it like god intended. i completely understand if these changes make this fic less appealing to you, and i absolutely respect that. DLDR is one of my biggest mottos and something i heavily encourage, so if you don't like this fic, it is totally okay to "don't read"/DNF.

i also want to draw more attention to pandora’s past sexual assault. it’s been quietly in the background, which was - in part - intentional since she herself shoves it down and blocks it out, but there are so many instances where it could have been addressed and wasn’t. idk i think id just like to have it be more front and center because it is such an important aspect of the story that im afraid gets lost in the sea of other plots in this fic.

again, there won't be very many "big" changes, but the little things will add up a bit yk? the rewrites won't be published until every chapter has gone through it, which won't be for a few months, but i will let yall know when they are.

i also don’t know how i want to orchestrate the rewrite. that’s what the poll is for because i truly do value your opinions as readers. once the rewrite has been completed in my drafts, im unsure whether i should just keep them in the original work, delete the original altogether and start from scratch posting the rewrite as its own fic, or leave the original up and post the rewrite as a separate fic (but still titled into the dark — rewrite)

[ruvviks]

what is the event/main cause that made roksana cut her mom off?

now this is interesting to talk about because it would be a very gradual process spanning over many many years but it would all come to explode during the events of the broker, despite that fic focusing on vitali; the events of that fic affect his whole family even though it doesn't elaborate much on the effects on his siblings. i initially had several chapters dedicated to roksana but had to cut it short and put it all in one chapter only but when i go for the rewrite i'm putting all of the initial ideas back because it's IMPORTANT. she and vitali are so similar in so many ways but also not at the same time. anyway ok yes here we go

so for roksana specifically she's kind of been a background character in the family ever since she was young. you'd think that after two other kids her parents would know how to parent her correctly but instead they just kind of let her do her thing and she got away with everything, which was nice in a way because it gave her freedom within the house itself but outside of that there was just nothing there for her. with the whole world to her disposal but nobody there with her to help her or keep her company through it all life just got suffocating to her in a way :(

she felt trapped in her family and her brothers always got the spotlight (mostly negative attention, since mainly their mother nadya was always just angry at vitali and after vitali left home daniil just kind of became her new therapist; but roksana did not really pay attention to this, all she saw was her brothers getting attention and not her), so roksana ended up fitting herself into all the boxes her parents wanted her to be in just to get some attention from them and get the love that she deserved. she was the family's poster child, but at the same time this whole role was an act of her, acting the way people expected her to act to get some respect and it was actively chipping away at her psyche, it stopped her from actually growing up and becoming her own person if that makes sense?? her personality was just fabricated specifically for her parents. but that's not who she was or wanted to be. but she knew nothing else

roksana and her father matvey have always had a very professional relationship. he was always busy with work and didn't do a lot of parenting so roksana came to see him more as a guy who lived under the same roof as her rather than her father; in the broker this escalates with matvey seeking revenge against vitali and roksana getting dragged into it and becoming a messenger girl in it all, but by then she's entirely neutral towards her father so there's not even bad blood between them when she stops talking to him; he's just a stranger to her. this is what much later allows her to hesitantly come back after vitali and matvey have made amends to try and build up that relationship again

roksana and her mother nadya however are a different story. the main difference is that roksana always hoped that nadya would understand; that she would understand the position roksana was in and understand her anger and her misery and her sorrows and regrets and that she would try to make it easier for her, give her some relief from the burdens she had to carry. but nadya refused to listen to roksana and refused to take her seriously (much like how she had always treated vitali; important to note that vitali is a trans man and to nadya he was still "her daughter"), not allowing her to show any sort of weakness because she herself had by then long killed her own weaknesses within herself and she expected roksana to do the same

and nadya got what she wanted. roksana grew up a cold and bitter woman, she let her anger win (contrasting vitali who after all this time STILL chooses kindness; if the roles for him and roksana had been reversed, though, he would have turned out the same as her, but the contrast and parallels between vitali and roksana is a story for another time) and she knows it's nadya's fault and she HATES her mother for it. she hates what nadya turned her into and she hates that she never got a normal childhood and she wants nothing more than to get out of there. this is why she vanishes from night city after her appearance in the broker fic, and why initially it is entirely unclear if she'll ever come back

so basically to summarize, nadya robbed roksana of her childhood and her softness and her ability to become her own person by forcing her to be the poster child of the family, and in classic dobrynin family fashion roksana tends to take grudges to her grave, so i don't really see her forgiving her mother for it any time soon. add to that the fact she sees nadya as the cause the entire family started crumbling apart in the first place (whether or not this is true is at this point very hard to tell because like, how far can you trace something like this back and who can be held responsible for what etc etc, but especially taking into consideration she never respected vitali's identity which is what drove him away from home, then did not allow him to reconnect which is what got him into arasaka, and THEN pushed matvey to get revenge after vitali indirectly got them fired at said corporation, and all of THAT is what drove daniil away from home and what caused roksana to change so drastically i'd say it's safe to say she is one of the bigger players in it all LMAO) AND doesn't feel comfortable around her anymore after her affair with ravager (nadya did that while still being married to matvey; they're divorced now), and there you go. mother privileges have been revoked

that being said, roksana does wish things were different. she stuck around for much longer than her brothers did almost in an attempt to fix things?? which again parallels vitali with how he also ends up trying to fix things in the broker fic but basically both of them fail and that's why roksana ends up leaving, she doesn't see the point in staying anymore because there's nothing there for her anymore :(

she does eventually come back to reconnect with vitali (most of their past beef was caused by twisted perspectives of the other's life at home as a child + daniil's rancid behavior bringing out the worst in both of them) and matvey (what i said earlier about them being strangers; no bad blood so an attempt can be made), but nadya has been cut off entirely and so has daniil for roksana because of how similar he is in his behavior to their mother, i talked a bit more about that here

this got very long i am so sorry i am positively insane about this family and all the dynamics. basically the tl;dr is that nadya gets worst mother of the year award forever and always

[scandalouslamb]

weird somehow i ended up yapping in ur inbox again

anyway. on my drive home i got to thinking about your boy max and what he might have been like as a president before the rebellion. (and i might just be misremembering so if i am just delete this and save me the humiliation) i was wondering if you had any thoughts to spare?

also on a somewhat related note- what do you think his childhood was like? (which is probably a weird question but i feel like your blog is a safe space to dissect the ravinstills)

I always love to talk about my good friend Max! What a guy! I hope you all understand that I know he's awful!

Anyway, thanks for the ask! You're always welcome here! I got pretty out of control while rambling, so if you want me to elaborate on something just ask!

I mention this in Si Deleamini, Deleamur, but the Ravinstills got on the wrong side of the presidential administration before Max's and his family basically got decimated (kind of like what's going to happen in the future *gunshot*)

As I offhandedly mentioned in the same fic, Max', Albanus (his brother), and their mother got to live because their mother was related to the secretary of health.

Max is the older brother so he feels a lot of responsibility towards Albanus.

Max also kind of idealizes his brother even before he dies of an illness after Max becomes president. To Max, Albanus is this sweet kid who doesn't understand the harsh realities of the world, but the truth it that Albanus does! And what he doesn't understand, he probably could! But Max just thinks it's his duty to not get Albanus involved too much which damages their relationship (Max will do the same thing to Felix)

I do like to imagine parallels between Felix and his grandfather, so Max isn't totally making things up when he's seeing similarities between the two. He's just also not seeing either of them clearly.

The time that Max grew up in was pretty tumultuous with politics happening (in the form of violence) in the streets or in the Districts through proxies. I imagine this sparked him to want to kind of tame that chaos (the answer... backdoor politics and assassination? max... please....)

He's internally angry and resentful and his origins kind of parallel a certain Coriolanus Snow in that his family has had a fall from grace

They aren't financially struggling (although they've lost money) but the drop in influence and standing is frustrating

During his Academy years, he meets Volumnia, and they match each other's freak a little too well

He has ideas for control and power, and everything he says is proving her right about the world: humans are selfish and savage

I imagine Gaul being from a less influential family (in my hc) means he doesn't feel threatened by her as he would others and that is why he lets her be his actual friend (this will carry on into their adulthood with the more fucked up, she needs him to exert power.)

Max has a face/presence that makes you think he's judging you. His classmates saw him as levelheaded and smart, but his stoic face had them jumping to conclusions that they were wrong about something

He likes watching them squirm trying to correct themselves when they are already right <- Volumnia sees through him and is immediately like 'oh? he's just like me for real!'

His rise to power was rife with murder as well. Volumnia thinks it's a great way to amass power! Albanus thinks it's about revenge and while a little disturbed lets it slide. They are both equally right about what it's about for Max.

Pre-Rebellion, I don't think he's a great guy (but at least not complicit in sending 23 children to their deaths every year? the bar is in hell)

Max runs the country like he accidentally runs his family by being emotionally unavailable and having people clamoring for his attention. (this applies pre and post rebellion to me, but post rebellion Max is also just... tired)

Like... I imagine that unlike Snow who kills off his competition (which Max does for sure too but directly? only if they've done something or are caught red-handed about to do something.) He avoids really having competition by having potential rivals in competition amongst themselves

He bestows political favor readily to someone and then stops and does it to someone else. These two will be in competition trying to outperform each other (yields good results and if they get too distracted by each other than Max will find some other person to replace both). If one succeeds so much that they may challenge Max politically, well... usually the other one will take care of it before Max gets his hands dirty.

[trollex-is-gay]

also flyod low key acting like a therapist/life coach for veerner was funny in 2 different ways.

Because 1. The man's got parent/big brother energy and was low key gentle parenting the two Betty spaghetti teens during his imprisonment

2. Said teenagers almost kill him and in some frame the man looked sad for their dramatic selfs. 100 percent after getting some of his own therapy and reconnecting with his siblings the man is gonna visit them in jail or something to check in on em.

I honestly kind feel bad for Velvet and Venner (And I say both of them for reasons I will elaborate on in this answer) because like. They did do some INCREDIBLY awful shit and they definitely should not have kidnapped and nearly killed Floyd just to get famous, but also they're teenagers. And I am very convinced that Velvet is not just like that to be like that. Sorry for the incoming rant but the fandom has NOT been giving Velvet any proper attention for the most part so I gotta step up to the plate for my girl. They imply that the two had decent parents and a very nice household to grow up in, but even then, Velvet could've been affected by some outside force. Or even an inside force! It could be a mental thing that has affected her, but it went completely unchecked because everyone assumed she was just an overemotional brat and her brother didn't want to stand up to anything she was doing or saying. NOW, of course that doesn't make a single thing she did okay, nothing of what she did was okay at all. I don't want anyone to think I'm excusing her actions. Especially not how she treated her brother. But what I'm saying is that there's maybe a reason for her behavior, because I don't think she's some fully evil person. She did include Veneer in the being famous act and gave him pretty much everything she got, so it seems like some tiny part of her still cared about him. She does need punishment for her actions (and so does Veneer, come on people he contributed no matter how sweet he is) and definitely needs to face what she did, but I'd hope they aren't giving the siblings a life sentence or something because what they did wasn't that far off from what the bergens were doing. Those guys were straight up eating trolls to get happy, and the trolls became cool with them eventually. I do like the idea of Floyd visiting the two. He's not over what they did (who would be?) but he has a connection with Veneer and when she'd finally calmed down and they'd gotten a grasp on whatever the heck made her act that way, I'd like to believe that Floyd would try and made a connection with Velvet. Maybe talk through some feelings during their very brief prison visits. He recognizes that they're still teenagers, they did horrible stuff, Velvet especially, but she's still an emotionally unstable teenager who needs some kind of help, and Veneer could use some of that help too. I mean they don't mention their parents beyond Veneer's one-off comment about their childhood, for all we know their parents could be out of the picture and these two are living on their own. Who's to say anyone was checking in on how they were doing when they weren't putting on fronts in public?

[catholic-character-tournament]

Round 1 - Side A

Propaganda below ⬇️

Akane

i genuinely don't know how she ended up christian. she was raised almost exclusively by her big brother and that bitch *definitely* doesn't believe in any god. they're not even in a christian majority country. she spent nine years executing an elaborate time travel (kinda. long story.) scheme to prevent her from being murdered at 12 and still apparently believes in god

I guess Akane’s religion is debatable , she talks about God a few times throughout the series but also acknowledges that God couldn’t be real because she is above it/she has been through so much trauma that she has lost faith in the idea. I personally think she could also be Jewish as some of her theological ideals are a bit closer to that but she makes no mention of Judaism or Jewish law and that is simply a hc

she was described by the creator once as "i tried to write the worst possible female protagonist" and shes everything to me. there is literally no other character like akane kurashiki, NOBODY is doing it quite like her, shes unhinged and i adore her. one time she gaslit her love interest into thinking men get pegged As A Constant by intentionally misunderstanding what he was saying about elevator travel.

women will kill like at least 3 people at most 22 to 6 billion people [depending on your rules] and then turn to god and ask him what he did to look away in disgust at you

Asia

She was raised by the church and was a devout Christian. She died and was brought back to life as a devil, but still continued to pray and read the Bible (even though it caused her physical pain).

I haven't watched this anime in years, but at some point she dies and has to be turned into a demon. There's this running gag where she tries to pray to God but because she's a demon now, she gets a headache. I really need to read the light novel for this series someday because I don't have the attention span for anime but I need to see if this series is actually as good as I remember it, or if I was blinded by the uncensored tits.

[thegreatyin]

15,22,32,36 for the scoundrel and the scientist plus one I'd like to ask. Do they have a friend group outside of each other.

Does the Scientist hang out with other people in the University and the like, does the Scoundrel still have cards with Fiacre, the Manager, like, do they have people to hang out in general and who?

ooo! a "weird victorian freaks" collection!! my favorite

15 - How big or small is their family? Who did they live with growing up? Do they live with anyone now?

The Scoundrel probably has a decently large family, given their background*. Large enough to be overlooked and overshadowed for most of their life, but small enough to be noticed and recognized by everyone in the area. They likely stayed under their parent's wings for most of their upbringing, though they did run away the first chance they got. Currently, they exclusively live with The Scientist, and bringing up their family is only going to end with you getting chased by a very angry bat-to-be.

The Scientist on the other hand actually has family in the Neath! Well. Sort of. He's the youngest of two older brothers, one of which is still on the surface and the other of which followed him neathwards a few months after he first arrived in London. They have a slightly estranged relationship, but they're still in touch and they still get along pretty well. This enigmatic neath-bound sibling will actually be the subject of my Light Fingers playthrough when I finally get around to it

Similar to the Scoundrel, he lived with his family for most of his upbringing, though he probably moved out and had a normal adult life before The Whole Nemesis Thing Happened. His only roommate at the moment is The Scoundrel. He hates them. He can't stand them. He'd kill anyone who tried to actually seriously kill them. Their relationship is complicated.

*yes, im aware i've never explained or elaborated on this background. we stay silly around here.

-

22 - Do they sleep well at night?

The Scoundrel sleeps just swell, thank you very much. They don't have nightmares. They don't have troubles. They don't lay awake at night staring at a fig for hours. They have no idea what you're talking about. They sleep like a baby. Obviously. Blatantly. There's no other argument to be made or had. Why are you asking. Stop asking. Stop it. Pay no attention to the bat behind the curtain.

In all seriousness, they sleep surprisingly well, all things considered. It's probably mostly because they're an accomplished silverer that guards their dreams with a vengeance. God help you if you head to Parabola and decide to give them night terrors. You'll be dealing with your own for weeks if they're feeling merciful.

As for the Scientist...

Ha. Lol. Lmao even.

No. He's likely a chronic insomniac. He's the type of guy who closes his eyes and even his daydreams are the universe's most horrific god-awful nightmares. That's just the sort of world he lives in.

(The Scoundrel offers him help sometimes. He doesn't always take them up on it. But the few times he's had good dreams? It's always been due to them. Take this as you may.)

-

32 - Do they have any habits that aren't particularly self-destructive, just maybe odd?

The Scoundrel picks at their bandages when they feel nervous. Not enough to take any of them off, just enough to nick some of the gauze with their claws. They can also make like a dozen different high-pitched squeaks depending on the situation, which isn't nearly as noticable to the average Londoner, but it is cute and goofy when it happens.

The Scientist bites at his scarf. A lot. He hides his mouth behind it most of the time, but the fabric is very much worn down and he's very much kind of self-conscious about it. He doesn't even usually realize it's something he's doing, it's just... y'know. An instinct. As one has.

-

35 - Do they ever return home?

Since 36 isn't a question on the prompt list, I'll assume you mean 35. Consider it a freebie.

The Scoundrel is home. They, with full sincerity, consider the Neath to be a better and more comfortable home than they ever used to have on the surface. They wouldn't give up London for the world.

The Scientist...

Well. He doesn't really think of himself as having a home anymore. His home died when his lover did. The Neath is merely a place he happens to reside in, and he doesn't conceptualize it as anything more than that. Maybe, with enough time, he'll find a new home. For now though? He's just cynical and tired and is well-aware he's never going to get that sense of sanctuary back.

-

Bonus question - Do they socialize with literally anyone besides each other?

The Scoundrel has lots of friends! They're buddies with a good chunk of high-society, they're the darling of bohemians everywhere, they're a frequent attendee at the Dilmun Club, they like to say they're friends with their coworkers, they've got a complicated relationship with the Silverer that's been made especially awkward by their recent acquisition of an Irem destiny-

They hang out with tons of people on a daily basis. They're never truly alone. Or so they tell themself, at least. They tend to most frequently socialize with poets and socialites, though they've definitely attracted more than a few devils. I don't have any specific NPC compatriots in mind for them, but there's definitely more than a few they get along amicably with. If it's a pro-establishment person with relatively high importance in society, they're probably at minimum friendly acquaintances.

The Scientist is, unfortunately, quite the opposite. He's not a social person. Like, at all. Ever. Not even remotely. His friend group is pretty much just solely the Scoundrel, the Silverer, and his aforementioned brother currently living in the Neath. And of the three, he's really only actually friends with the Silverer. He's not exactly welcomed with open arms at the University and he's nowhere near well-connected enough to be hanging out with any other factions on more than a case-by-case basis.

Maybe in the future he'll be able to have people he can rely on that aren't "insufferable bat he's literally living with" and "mentor that randomly kidnaps him to hunt crocodiles and go dancing, not always in that order". Maybe. Hopefully. It'd do him a lot of good.

[vikingsong]

WIP Wednesday (6/5/24)

Reforged (excerpt)

Merlin Bingo 2024 adopted prompt: “science fiction/fantasy”

Context:

When Albion’s greatest need arrives in the form of an alien invasion, the reincarnated figures of legend must deal with the consequences of their shared past even as they fight for humanity’s future.

Arthur ascends to the British throne after the invasion begins, and he works closely with the team of experts who are trying to determine why the only offensive weapons that have been effective so far against the reptilian aliens are medieval swords. Gwen is a museum curator specializing in medieval weaponry, and Merlin is a paleontologist at the same eclectic museum. Elyan studies materials science and has been called in to assist Gwen and Merlin with their research. They have a status update for Arthur…

“There’s something strange about these swords,” Gwen said, glancing at Elyan. “We’d never noticed it before, but once we started looking…”

Elyan picked up the story. “At first, we thought it was something in the iron itself—like an unusual isotope or something—so we ran a spectrometer analysis on a sample.”

Gwen nodded. “We were half-right. Turns out there is something in the chemical composition of the metal in swords forged in the late 5th to early 13th centuries that isn’t in any of our swords from other eras.”

“Or anywhere else on earth, as far as cutting edge chemists know,” Elyan added.

“So, for those of us who didn’t do A-level chemistry…?” Arthur prompted.

“It means,” Elyan said, grinning like a kid at Christmas, “that we found another element in there—an element that was previously undiscovered.”

Gwen nodded eagerly. “And it’s in all of our swords from that era, or nearly all. There are only a few that don’t have it, but they’re fragmented and terribly deteriorated, far more so than the rest. Interestingly, it doesn’t matter whether they’re katanas or arming swords; if they’re from that era and in even half-decent condition, then they all have that same element, no matter where in the world they were forged.”

“A new element?” Arthur repeated slowly, trying and failing to dig out a mental image of the periodic table from the recesses of his Year 9 memories.

“Yep! Element 120,” Elyan said. “We might even get to name it!”

Gwen’s eyes crinkled at her brother’s exuberance as she turned her attention back to Arthur. “Want to know what the best part is?”

“Uh, sure.”

“They found the same element in the bio samples from the aliens you killed.”

“What?”

Elyan nodded. “I swear, we’re not making this up.”

Arthur glanced between them. “You’re sure it’s not just, I don’t know, residue from the sword?”

“They tested samples from parts that were nowhere near where your sword struck,” Elyan said.

Gwen elaborated. “They tested samples from the teeth, the wing membranes, and a variety of organs and other tissues. Interestingly, the element was most prevalent in the lungs, followed by the mouth and teeth.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I think they mean dragonfire,” Merlin said, strolling into the lab.

“Exactly!” Elyan agreed. “The thing is, scientists haven’t been able to produce element 120—not even in particle colliders—because it’s too unstable. It would go through radioactive decay before the collider sensors could register that it had existed.”

Arthur glanced at the swords on the lab table—with no lead shielding in sight—and took a tiny step back.

“But the swords aren’t radioactive,” Gwen added quickly.

Arthur chose to ignore Merlin’s snickering, looking instead to Elyan for an explanation.

Elyan shrugged. “Even if that element theoretically existed outside of particle colliders, it would take an incredible amount of energy to get it to forge stable molecular bonds—like these—to prevent its radioactive decay.”

Gwen gestured to the sword. “Medieval forges definitely didn’t have the ability to heat steel that hot.” She tapped her gloved fingers against the nearest sword’s pommel. “So what could have forged these, then?”

“Dragonfire,” Merlin repeated with a grin. “When they told me what they’d found, I ran some tests on a couple of the fossilized pterosaur teeth in our collection. Same element.” He shook his head. “Just when I thought pterosaurs couldn’t get any cooler.”

Arthur looked from Merlin to Gwen to Elyan as the pieces clicked. “You mean to tell me that…that those aliens are pterosaurs and real medieval dragons?”

“Or something very, very similar,” Elyan confirmed.

“And that all of them breathed fire?”

“Yes!” Merlin exclaimed.

Arthur decided that Merlin was probably the most radioactive thing in the room; he was vibrating with enthusiasm.

“And, apparently,” Gwen said, leaning a hip against the table, “their dragonfire, this element, is their own kryptonite…or bane, to go a bit more medieval.”

Arthur chewed his lip. “Explains why none of the modern weapons will hurt them.”

“Exactly,” Elyan said. “And why replica swords—”

“Or swords from other eras,” Gwen interjected.

“—don’t have the same effect.”

Arthur couldn’t decide whether to fist-pump or head-desk. “We finally understand what material will work against them,” he summarized, “but we can’t make any more of it.”

“That is the one downside,” Merlin agreed.

“The one downside? You did see the alien invasion up there, right?”

“Yeah, but consider: dragons were real and they breathed fire.”

“The ones burning my kingdom look pretty real, too.”

(Note: I don’t know what source content was used in that gif, but I’m 99% sure it’s supposed to be a nyctosaurus…)

[davenportia]

i should be doing my math homework but it’s stressing me out so i’m doing this instead

part 3 of why chase davenport deserved better. buckle up

adam. oh my lord i’m sorry but adam makes my blood boil. he’s always torturing him physically. he’s much MUCH stronger than him so he throws him across the room, punches him, and there was a whole episode where adam was using chase to work out. what’s the reason? y’all are brothers so it’s fine if you torture him? no. leave him alone. god i just

i love the ‘friends on the other side’ trend on tiktok about both sides of a person, the second being the villain side. i saw a couple about chase and omg i loved them. they were the episodes showing chase just wanting to be recognized and appreciated, then him in the avalanche episode (i still have to make mine for my instagram account.) chase had every reason to have a villain arc as he is treated so badly. yes he’s been a jerk sometimes. yes he does some things that are unnecessary but people treat him way worse than he does to others.

he and will byers are characters that i physically want to hug for hours because i feel so bad for them. my mom and i were watching lab rats and she went “they’re not very nice to [chase],” and i said “yes, no one treats him nicely.”

why is it so unbelievable and impossible for chase to have a girl interested in him or have a girlfriend? sabrina liked chase and adam ruined their study date by bringing spike out because he was jealous, and mr. davenport shook her hand to make sure she was real. is it shocking for him to have a girl over? and then when s1, i think her was, said “your brothers kinda cute” and told bree she was talking about chase, bree asked “chase? what did krane do to your brain?” like it’s so disgusting to like chase, and going backwards, in the robot fight club episode, when caitlin was chasing him because she had a creepy crush on him, bree said “he finally got a girl to pay attention to him.” however, bree did redeem herself in the attack episode with the iconic “no one messes with my brother” scene. however, adam has never been supportive, mr. davenport hasn’t really been supportive, and leo just didn’t care.

god chase can’t get a break. he wanted to hang out with his sister in the death spiral smack down episode and she lied to him to she could hang out with her friends. i don’t believe in lying unless you’re protecting someone, so i think bree should have just told him she wanted to hang out with her girlfriends that day. “i didn’t want to hurt your feelings” she said, which i get, but i think it hurts chase more when you lie to him. chase literally doesn’t have any friends until season 4 basically, and even those friends turn on him (i’ll get to that in a second). his best friends are his family (basically leo and bree), poor thing. in season 3, we see him and sabrina be friends for one episode and as i stated earlier, adam ruined it. in season 4, he became friends with sebastian (im not a sebase fan btw), and quickly best friends. little did he know that seb would soon be going to war with them essentially and trying to get revenge for killing his father, even though it was the right thing to do. that broke chases heart. he just wanted a best friend and seb and him were getting along so well. he and spin COULD have been friends, but honestly i think they’re so alike that they would hate each other. and chase could’ve been friends with each other if they had more screen time together. but even in elite force, he finally made some friends, but they still make fun of him. i’ll elaborate more on this later.

that goddamn list. y’all remember the list a.j. made ranking them based on their powers/abilities and how chase was number 5? BOYYY, he should’ve been at number 1 or number 2. let’s review his abilities, shall we?: super intelligence and super senses, force field, force field ball, magnetism app, override app, internal hard drive (and a whole database), fingerprint recognition app, molecular kinesis, levitation, laser bow, and though this is a glitch, commando app. plus, dude can FIGHT. how the hell does that deserve the last spot on the list? chases abilities are SO COOL SO IM LIKE???

he finally got some friends in elite force, even a best friend in kaz. they got along so well and they really were best friends with each other. and maybe kaz’s love language is making fun of chase because he too does that, but i think it’s light hearted. however, oliver, skylar, and bree picking on him isn’t light hearted. i don’t remember the episode but bree said chase is like an old lady (god he’s not that bad), and in another, oliver said it’s amusing when chase freaks out. i admit he was overreacting to the situation he was freaking out about, but why is it amusing when someone is freaking out?

principal perry. i don’t need to elaborate.

reese. i love her and hate her. i can’t explain why i love her, i just do. but i hate her because of how she treated chase. she tricked him. she played with his heart. again, i just want to hug him and treat him like a king. y’all know the song boyfriend by dove cameron, well that’s one of the things i feel about chase, just reversed. in another reality, where i’m a girl, i could be a better girlfriend than reese, danielle, sabrina, and for the chaz shippers, a better boyfriend than kaz. i would treat chase the way he deserves to be treated. give him the recognition he deserves. defend him. fight for him. love him platonically or not, i would treat him so much better than others treat him.

did we forget how he was created? by two brother scientists, one of which wanted to make adam, bree, and him ciber soldiers (correct me if i’m wrong) and make them evil. then he was taken from douglas by donald and adopted so they could have a better life. donald did save them, i’ll give him that, but he kept them in the basement for 16 years. i will admit, i wouldn’t have had a better idea than to hide them for that long, but when they made one mistake, he wanted to send them away to finish their training and never be able to see the world again. that’s just sad. but like, think about this. they were babies and they had these chips embedded in their necks when they were BABIES. they were literal lab rats (hence the name of the show) and they were B A B I E S. y’all??? imagine having a tiny metal get shoved into your neck when you’re barely alive and you grow up with these bionics that you never asked for and you’re hidden from the world for 16 years. on top of that, when your bionics are exposed to the world, everyone thinks you’re a threat and you’re nearly separated from your family. PLUS people like krane, who specifically wanted to kill them because he wanted to be more powerful. could you imagine growing up like that?

have i mentioned spike yet? well if i haven’t in previous posts, here you go. spike isn’t chase. he’s a glitch that’s like another person inside of chase. he’s an angry person with the strength of 10 men and ready to kill someone. the first time we ever meet him, he only comes out for a little bit but leo, adam, and bree are enjoying it and taking advantage of it. chase freaks out when he comes out of commando mode as he doesn’t remember anything and doesn’t know what spike did. he comes out again in that episode and they take advantage of it again so they can win a football game. when he disengages, chase reveals how excited he was for his first day and how he barely remembers it because most of it was lived by spike. bree ignores him and asks “where is spike?” while shaking the poor boy. leo then realizes that chase is right. but does that mean that the torture to chase regarding spike stops? sadly, no. i’ll skip ‘spikes got talent’ because that was an accident and he wasn’t being taken advantage of, so let’s just go to season 3. as stated before, adam purposely brought spike out to make chase humiliate himself in front of her who liked him. adam took advantage of chases glitch and was happy that spike came out. poor chase, man. chase doesn’t like spike, he probably hates that glitch, and people not using try to bring him out, but they take advantage of it when he is out.

hopefully this is the last “why chase davenport deserved better” post but who knows with me. alright back to my math, wish me luck yall i got a test coming up 😭

[legendarybelmondo]

trying to get my writing bones into gear, so i jumbled up some little prompts for myself ^^

Trevor & Julia - Survivor

"Are you alright, sir?" Julia asked, checking the man's wound. It was a blight against his skin, ugly and jagged, still awfully red. She needed to change out the bandages again.

"I'm fine," he said, lightly, as if she hadn't asked him the exact same question enough times to drive anyone mad. "I've told you, you may just call me Trevor." And that was where the exasperation was, if only slight.

Julia nodded, a bit embarrassed, before beginning to redress the injury. Her own brother... even days after, bile crawled up her throat at the continual reminders. "Yes. My sincere apologies."

Trevor stared at her, in an appraising sort of way. He was quite good at that, she'd discovered; his eyes could be piercing in a way that might send someone running. "Are you alright?" He queried instead. Julia paused, hands stilling. Trevor shifted slightly like he meant to move forward, but judging by his wince he'd been quickly reminded of his painful predicament.

"You seem lost in thought," he elaborated. "You're too concerned about trivial matters."

Julia's lips pursed. "Isn't that a bit blunt of you?"

... Trevor looked slightly sheepish. "Sorry. If you would like to discuss anything..."

"Don't worry yourself any further," she said, instead of answering. Judging by the way his eyes narrowed, Trevor caught her avoidance, but he didn't press. "You're the one who is injured, are you not?"

After all, how in the world was she supposed to explain to the man her brother had almost killed how dearly she still missed him?

Trevor & Germain - Advances

"Pardon, but could I ask for your attention?" Trevor stopped walking, turning around. Hand on his whip, he made for quite the picture, covered in blood and a bit of dirt.

Boldened by his easy compliance, a man came strolling up to him. Trevor found that on first sight, his outfit looked rather strange. Who wore anything like that? He'd never seen it before in his life, but he wasn't the most well-travelled... when he got home, he endeavoured to ask Sypha about it. The Church often sent her far and across on their missions, so surely she might know better than him?

The man bowed to him, tipping his very tall hat. "I must thank you for stopping! It's quite tiring, chasing around after folks all day. Say, would you be the man named Trevor C Belmont?" His voice was airy and carefree.

Trevor's grip tightened on his whip. "I am," he said, tersely. "What does it matter to you?" Nobody ever bothered with the 'C'. Too formal, nevermind unnecessary. And he was sure he'd never met this man in his life.

"Ah, forgive my rudeness," the man said suddenly, raising his hands as if in surrender. "Please don't mind my manners. My name is Saint Germain. I need to ask something of you!" He looked Trevor up and down, probably because of the fact he was rather coated in grime at the moment.

"You need to... what is it, sir?" Trevor relaxed slightly. This Germain didn't seem hostile, at least, though Trevor could see a blade of some sort hooked to his waist.

"Well, you see... have you run into a man named Hector? He's a rather dashing young fellow."

"Hector? Yes, I have." Only hours ago, at most. "Do you know him?" And that set Trevor back on alert. Hector had been one of Dracula's Devil Forgemasters, after all. What could that say for this man's allegiances?

"Really? Wonderful!" Germain grinned disarmingly. Clasping his hands together, he continued, "I have a request to make of him, and it's rather urgent, but... I seem to have lost his trail somewhere along the way! You wouldn't happen to know where he was headed, would you?"

Trevor paused to consider the question. He didn't know for what reasons this man would pursue Hector, of all people, but he didn't seem aggressive, and if anything his gesturing made him look rather whimsical. Surely he couldn't be someone of Dracula's court?

"I last encountered him in the Garibaldi Temple," Trevor offered. "I'm not sure where he would have headed since then--"

"Perfect!" Germain interrupted, sounding delighted. "No, no, that is exactly what I need. I'll be fine to part ways with you from here, sir Belmont. Though I must ask..." and the odd man began to rifle around his pockets, before he pulled out a potion. "You wouldn't mind taking this, would you? My token of thanks!"

Did Trevor really look that rough? "Oh..." he reached out and took the potion. No reason to deny help. "Well... thank you, Germain. I wish you luck on your travels." Trevor smiled.

Germain stopped to look at him for a moment, seemingly entranced, before shaking himself out of it with a sharp cough. "Well!" He said, almost flustered. "Well then. I'll be off! Fare thee well!"

"Hah... it's like he's scrambling," Trevor muttered, as Germain quickly went off on his way. Shrugging, he uncorked the potion. "I'm not that frightening, am I?"

[battleslippers]

4, 7, 14, 17 for the Outsiders ask!!

4. Rank the main 7.

Oh god, this one is really hard for me; I like all of them 😭

1. Probably Ponyboy? I post way more about Dallas (lord help me), but I find Pony way more loveable. Like, he's such a little shit, but he's also hilarious in his own 14-year-old way, and I found him the most relatable when I read the book.

2. Dallas -- As bad as i want to place him at 7th, I'd feel like a liar because of everything I've drawn of the guy. Realistically, I'd DESPISE him, but I find him so fascinating as a character. It's like looking at a disease under a microscope. He's just such a huge mess. It's also probably because of Tim/Dally LMAOOO

3. Two-Bit -- he's funny. I also love it when I find those fics that take into account his alcoholism and deadbeat behavior. They either make the most depressing thing ever or write a really nice development arc. Peeling back that layer of humor to see everything that guy is hiding is probably one of my favorite things to do/see.

4. Darry -- This guy has so much shit going on at 20, and everything between him and Pony is so interesting. He also reminds me of my own brother (😭). However, the woobification of him kind of kills it for me.

5. Steve -- I don't think I've talked about him enough, but the fact there's not much elaboration on him gives people a good amount of creative freedom, which I'm a huge fan of. Ofc, I still wish we had more about him. Plus, Imagining his aftermath of Vietnam + the whole deal between him and Ponyboy really sells me.

6. Sodapop -- I know we do see more of him in the book than Steve, but I guess he didn't interest me as much? Don't get me wrong, he's a great character with a good amount of depth, but I genuinely like Steve more. The thing about Vietnam also applies to him though.

7. Johnny -- I'm so sorry. I don't know why, but I never paid him enough attention and I probably should reread the book for this one. I do think he's really funny because the idea of him getting away with sass is just too good. I also think Ponyboy's narration definitely distorted his character in the book (no. 1 perpetrator of Johnny woobification honestly).

7. What are your favorite non-romantic relationships?

Curtis brother family dynamics

Shepard family dynamics

Steve and Ponyboy's relationship

14. Tell us your 5 headcanons you basically see as canon.

1. Johnny is really sassy; he's just able to get away with it because it's him. This frustrates Ponyboy to no end.

2. Ponyboy becomes one of those semi-pretentious lit/English majors. His main reaction to Soda's letter was the spelling, and he seems the type to become a teacher or journalist.

3. I know S.E. specifically stated this wasn't canon, but Soda and Steve going to Vietnam is stuck in my head forever. I find it so interesting (heartbreaking), and the opportunities with this is endless.

4. The Shepards are POC. I don't know why, but I always envisioned them like this, and the fanart kind of just fueled it.

5. Darry used to get into all sorts of shit when he was younger. I mean, he was a regular kid at some point too! Probably nothing too bad though.

17. Are there any criticisms or salt you have with the book?

Not necessarily? I'd have to give it a reread, but there wasn't anything that particularly annoyed me. I guess I wish we saw more of some characters, but it makes sense why they weren't included as much because of the story's focus.

tysm for the ask!!

[sadattemptofawriter]

Dual nature (Thomas Shelby x female! OC)

Dual nature 4 – A bed and a hard spot

Summery: Life in Birmingham is hard for every unfortunate soul that lives in it, but it is especially difficult for women. And if that woman has noan of her own and no family to call her own than life is difficult in even more convoluted ways. If that woman is fair of face than she has little choice to become a whore. Minerva knows this and tired of constant unwanted attentions she, hatches a plan. A plan that if done right will ensure her an honorable job with decent wages and if undone will most likely get her killed. But she is willing to try anything to avoid prostitution.

One day, Minerva Griffin made a point to show herself leaving her home, moving out and leaving it for someone else. So that her brother, Byron Griffin can come and stay. Byron Griffin who is a scrawny lad, but eager to work with a funny girlish way about him.

Warning: Canon conforming mention of violence. mild descriptions of exual encounted. Your media consumption is your own responsibility

“I beg your pardon?” I gasp and throw the wet rag on my shoulder.

“You are pardoned, no need to beg.” Smirks John as he yet again, puts a tooth pick in his mouth to chew.

“I said we are getting you laid.” Arthur announced proudly. His scruffy face lit up with such a childish joy that rivaled a child on Christmas Eve. He really was a master of ridiculous pranks and jokes. God save the subject of his torments whenever he got bored enough to come up with elaborate games to entertain himself.

God save me. I am now his favorite subject to tease.

“No, thank you. I have work to do.” I tried my best to courtly refuse. There was no way of tiptoeing around this one.

“No, you don’t.” john snickered. The devil, he was. “You always act busy and refuse to drink with us. I know Tommy said it. But come on…you’re a man now. You need to get laid.”

“John Shelby, don’t you have anything better to do than think about all the holes I put my cock into?” thanks to all the time I spend with these men and all the other men, I have officially grown a mouth that would give any woman a heart attack. Good. One more step away from being recognized.

Becoming foul-mouthed wasn’t as bad as I thought. Or rather, it wasn’t bad because I was now a man. When I was a young girl, I once yelled ‘shit’ after I fell off a 3-year-old filly. My mother proceeded to give me a beating with her fan. That night, I was sent to my room without dinner and was told to think about my actions. Now, dressed as Byron, not only no one bat an eye at my foul mouth, they all laughed and encouraged it. As if it all was a game.

“Do you stick your cock in anything?” he laughed.

“It better not be the horses.” John quipped, his grin hidden behind a flask.

“It is, isn’t it?” John howled with laughter this time, his followed by the laughter of all others. “You fuck the mares?”

“What’s going on in here?” came the icy cold voice of my icy cold savior. My employer. Thomas Shelby stood a few yards away from us next to Charlie Strong with eyes that could kill the devil, fuck holy Marie and challenge God. It was his neutral look, I’ve learned. That man lives in the extremities.

“Hello mister Shelby.” I bow my head.

“Tommy!” Arthur yells in delight, bringing his younger brother in on the circle and patting him on the shoulder.

He still stood cold and collected, waiting for an answer. I wanted to tell him that his dumb brothers had the idiotic idea to get me laid. They wanted to convince me to sleep with a prostitute because they believed I have been working so much that it bored them. I couldn’t do that since I don’t have the right equipment. Why, you ask mister Shelby? Because I was a woman. That would be a deadly conversation. I would take a cap to the throat. Damn it.

I remained silent.

“Well?” he prompted.

“Tommy, give Byron tomorrow afternoon off. No, this afternoon. Give him a day off.” John said, his toothpick bouncing between his lips with each word.

Tommy’s eyes turned to me, like icicles in my soul. “Why?”

“I don’t need or want a day off, sir. I will be working.” I assured him, which resulted in a perfectly arched brow.

“Is that so? Then what is John saying?” I don’t know if he knew what the boys had suggested and was merely trying to embarrass me, or he was genuinely curious.

“We want to get him laid.” Arthur said happily. This made Tommy to turn to me with an inquisitive brow raised and a humorous half smirk.

“Get him laid. Eh?”

“No need, mister Shelby, I have work.” I try even harder to get out of this situation without raising too many suspicions. The problem was I couldn’t refuse too much. Not just because they were the peaky devils and no one got to refuse the devils and live a scar free life – if they get to live at all – but also what man would go so long without a good lay? That was the problem, and I didn’t know the answer. How far do I go with my refusal? Has it already been weird? I am not actually a man; I have no desire of sex, the way men usually have. And even if I have no way out of it, and have no choice but to… do as they want me. What am I even supposed to do? I lack the right thing… I don’t thing even I can fake that. And I can’t tell them I am not interested in women… men with such perverse fancies don’t usually last long. And what would I do with the…woman? Do I tell her? No. I can’t risk it at all. Do I do things? What things? How? And can I bring myself to do so?

The sounds of cheering snap me from my thoughts and I look at John confused.

“Congratulations Byron. You're going to get laid tonight.” He whistled happily, and I turned to look at Tommy Shelby, who was already walking away with Arthur as if he had not just given my life away to be toyed with.

I consider my life as Byron, under the employment of Thomas Shelby, possibly the only good thing that has happened to me since before the war. But right now, at this moment? I wanted to pull out a gun and shoot Thomas Shelby right in the head.

The rest of the day I did my best to look for things to do, things that would take long very long to accomplish. No such luck. I had kept the stables in tip-top shape. By the time the sun began to set and the long pale shadows of the Shelby men were cast on the entryway, I had pathetically surrendered myself to a fate possibly worse than death.

They came to me, jolly and drunk. Grabbed me by the scruff of my neck like I was some young pup with pig paws they wanted to show off and dragged me all the way across small heath. They continued to tease me with their crude jokes and promises of a ‘skilled woman’. I couldn’t care less.

My mind was frozen in fear. I couldn’t keep up with the banter, I could barely focus on their jokes to begin with. I suppose I understood then why they called them the peaky devils. It didn’t have anything to do with violence. It was just that they tormented people for their own amusement.

Cruel monsters.

“Here we are, Lad. This is Sophia’s place. She’s good. She’s been waiting for ye.” John laughed. I sighed and Arthur pushed me towards the door.

I had to think quick. I had to make a decision. Was I ready to commit to whatever fate befell me beyond that door? Was I ready to do whatever it takes to survive as Byron? Or was my resolve going to break here and now.

Minerva is dead.

I am Byron.

And by God I will live as Byron.

The door opens and I am pushed inside. “Have fun mate.” I hear them laugh.

And I stand inside the small, dimly lit apartment in front of another woman who was already halfway out of her clothes. “You are Sophia.” I try my best to keep a blank face.

She nodded and a curtain of soft reddish-brown hair fell over her shoulders, I gave her a once over, this was the woman they expected me to lay with under whatever misguided kindness those two devils had. She was pretty, I’ll give her that. Her hair was down to her voluptuous hips and her hazel eyes sparkled as if she was still some innocent girl. Her lips red with a curve so teasing I could not help but think that she was some minx. Furthermore, her skin unmarred with a pink flush of spring petals.

I was no man, but in that short moment, I could admit I knew why men marveled at the soft pale flesh of women. In that small moment I knew what Adam saw in Eve to eat that apple, what Hades saw in Persephone and what Romeo saw in Juliet. I was no man, but I didn’t need to be. to marvel at beauty, one doesn’t need to have a cock to pulse.

I would not mind laying my lips on her skin, I thought to myself.  I didn’t know what to make of my thoughts. I never considered myself a woman of perverse needs, but then again, I never knew I was a woman who could so easily live as a man shoveling shit for a job.

“The Shelby’s said I am yours for the afternoon.” She sounded nervous. “They paid me good to make sure you had your fill.”

“Of course, they did.” I couldn’t help the sarcasm lacing my tongue. “Their idea of a dumb gift.” I take a hand and run it across my face.

She frowned, then her face crumbled in worry. “You don’t like me? They said you would. If I am not... if you want someone else…” she looked a lot more worried than she should have about a man not wanting to sleep with her. “I don’t want the misters, Shelby cross, with me.”

Ah. There it was. The misters Shelby. I suppose I am not the only one they torment with their mere existence. She is a whore, and they bring a customer, and yet they bring about such worry that they make sex for a seasoned whore difficult. I pity her. I sympathized with her. Most importantly, I felt the need to do something.

Something that will forever close the gates of heaven for me.

“You are lovely.” I reassured and looked at her figure. Yes, truly, she was very beautiful, even a woman would admit that unless she was blind.  A thought dared to bloom in my head, like a snake rearing its head from between rocks, or the shining eyes of a black cat in a dark alley. Sin bloomed in my mind.

Jesus, marry and Joseph, I entertained the thought. God save my soul, I did not shy away from it. Save my soul, I liked the idea. I was a woman. It was a fact I could hide under Byron, but I can never erase. I, more than any man she has ever had in her bed, knew about women and their pleasures.

I will confess at the church later but for now, I will indulge myself. I am in a trap, between a rock and a hard place. Between the wrath of the peaky devils and the wrath of God, I knew I should fear the later more, but I was not foolish enough to think I could withstand the former. If I was going to die and burn in hell, I might as well spare myself the pain brought about by the Peaky Blinders.

I stake a step forward and bring my hand to her hair, caressing her locks and down to her neck and shoulders. Her lips parted, so did mine.

I brought my lips to hers and enjoyed the taste of Irish whiskey.  she closed her eyes and melted into me with practiced motions. her hands going towards my body, trying to strip me and please me as she has done to so many men. I hold her wrists in my hand and pull them away. “shouldn’t we be doing what I want?” I ask. 

she blinks a few times in confusion as if to say what man doesn’t want this but finally settles into my whim. and by God how much it truly was a whim. I take a lungful of her scent and willingly let the reins of my intrusive thoughts go, allowing my whims to set me ablaze by the fires of hell. I make quick work of her dress, as thin as it was, it didn’t take much to tear it away then I pushed her back onto the bed and stood over her to watch the scene before me. her hair tussled and a mess around her like flames a striking contrast to her pale flesh; her body was soft and full, the kind you would want to lay your head on for days. Her breasts large and soft, they had become flushed against the open air and to my perverse eyes they begged to be held, to be kissed and bitten. The thought had come to me like a warhorse stallion, the devils’ chants in my ear. Bite her. Bite her and mark her pale moonlight skin with red bites. Bite all of her. From those pouted lips, shapely neck, her shoulders, her breasts then all the way down to her soft belly and even lower.

Curles of ginger. Same shade of red but thicker curls. That’s what covered her sweet cunt. I was surprised by my own thoughts and by the way my brain filled and described the scene before me. never in my life had I thought about other women in this way and never had I thought what I would feel about it. hers was the only other woman’s bare body I had seen and it had me salivating like a starved man at a king’s feast. It was good that I had lost the rains of my actions, because my brain could not make sense of myself. Luckily, my body had a mind of its own and pure instincts drove me to things I didn’t even knew was possible.

She moaned and sighed at every bite and my blood boiled with the realization that her moans are music to my ears and I would never want them to stop. At times he tried to stop me, take my attention to other things, try to please me in ways other men would prefer but my mind was set on its ways.

The chant in my mind getting louder and louder. Bite her. Bite her. Kiss her. Taste her skin. Taste her scent. Lap at the sweetness she hides under those ginger curls. And by god’s grace how sweet she was. I understood then, why men where the way they were. I was no longer repulsed by their needy lust; not now that I had tasted the fountain source of all their desire. Why had it not occurred to me before? Why had I not seen it before? That once you taste of this sweetness, engulfed in lovely soft thighs and mesmerized by moans then you will never want for anything else. It seemed in her taste I could find the reason for all creation and in her sound, I could find the secrets of nature.

It became abundantly clear to me why men go to war over women, why they sing songs of sweet flesh or go mad over the love of a woman or why they spend their entire lives looking for a cunt to fuck. The only thing that confused me was why men of God vow chastity and call believers towards it since it is in her sweet cunt that I found the grace of God. Knuckles deep in her, I could feel life. All of it. perhaps because it would be impossible to sway anyone with heaven if they knew it is so easily attainable. Or maybe that was just me and my perverted mind. I was already dressed as a man living in some form of sin. Might as well go all the way.

Hours had passed by the time we finished or rather by the time he was too tiered to go on and I had taken my fill of pleasure. She had remained on the bed panting and whimpering in the sweetest voice.

“you’re going to tempt me again with all those pretty noises.” I teased. Somehow my exhausted brain could form sentences still.

“Please, anymore and I might die.” She hid herself under the covers. She was really cute. Especially now with all the pretty delicious markings I left on her skin.

I laughed as I straightened my clothes in front of her mirror and fixed my hair to appear somewhat respectable and decent. Since God knows nothing else of mine was decent at all. Definitely not my mouth. “I am leaving now. You tell misters Shelby while I didn’t ask for this, I am….” How was I going to finish this sentence? I am what? I am glad? Happy? Pleased? Hoping to do it again? I am surprised by the fact that I did all that I did in the past couple of hours? “Tell them I admit I needed the break. But please don’t do it again.”

“So, you are pleased?” she asks poking her head from under her covers.

“Yes. Very much.” I say in all the honesty I could muster after that deeply illuminating experience,

“Are you sure? You didn’t fuck me.”

“Girly, you were a mess with just a few fingers and my tongue. I don’t think you can handle an actual fucking.” I bragged in the way sexually confident men do. I hopped she believed my brag and took my teasing as it was and didn’t push the matter.

She grumbled under her breath something about men and their cocks and I was grateful I was in that category now. “You better be pleased because in not than the Shelby’s are going to have my head.”

“Relax. They don’t care. They just set me up to tease me anyways.” I laughed. This time genuinely. Now that I had tasted heaven, I wasn’t so mad about the teasing anymore. Maybe a bit stressed but right then and there I was buzzed to much on sin and heresy to care. “But if it really matters to you then, yes. I did enjoy myself. Very much so.”

I left her house and began my long walk in the dark and dim streets of small heath. Hoping to get a glass of Irish whiskey before the garrison closes, I made a turn to an alleyway I knew as a shortcut.

“Fuck.” I freely said into the cold air. “Fuck.” I said it again and felt for the first time a sense of freedom I had never even thought possible.

[quiveringdeer]

Hi!! It's @early20sfailingplenty here to ask if you'd pleaseeee elaborate on your tag "bo is the softest sinclair" ??? I can't stop thinking about it and I wanna askkkk because I'm super curious hasdfghjkl you don't have to if you don't want to!!!🥺🥺🥺

Thanks for this ask, sweets! Also this got waaaay longer than expected. 😅

So in reference to my tags on Bo in this post. Many fanon works paint Bo as the dangerous, aggressive, toxic Sinclair. And while he's a sick bastard (cause like they all are for murdering people for years lmao) after a bunch of rewatches of House of Wax (2005) I don't know where that interpretation comes from.

I read so many fanfics prior to even watching the movie and so I was full on board with Vinny as the uwu soft twin train. Lester has never appealed to me in any way shape or form, but fanfics generally portray him as the really sweet kinda neglected and forgotten brother.

Through my massive hyper fixation in the movie and doing all those rewatches for ridiculous analysis that no one asked for I observed Lester being pretty lecherous with Carly. Both when at the carrion pit when she was changing her shirt and also while they were in the truck (if memory serves.) I also don't find Les attractive, even ignoring his lack of personal hygiene so like there's maybe some of my bias there. Not caring to read more into him cause of the initial creep factor and that he doesn't get much air time. I do appreciate his carving artistry though!

In Vinny I saw waaaay more sadistic and predatory nature than Bo. Also he's officially the more dangerous Sinclair since Bo couldn't even manage to kill Carly and Nick with a freakin shotgun at close range 😂 smdh

I think I've highlighted in other posts some of these instances but please feel free to send another ask for me to talk about them again! I miss talkin about these boys.

Anywho, outside Bo's outburst at Vinny in the kitchen, he doesn't show that much anger and such. And even then he had a crossbow bolt in his shoulder and had been outwitted by their victims like 3 times at that point. (again he's so bad at his 'job' 😂) Vinny straight up ignores that outburst anyway and Bo immediately starts soothing the situation. Apologizing and trying to reconnect through talkin bout the family legacy.

I'll also say that for almost half the movie Bo is in 'actor' mode. Puttin on the charm to manipulate the group. I was honestly surprised how long he kept it up even when Carly had locked him outta the truck. And while it could be seen as some fucked up sexual and power fantasy thing, after duck taping Carly to the chair he shhhhs her all gentle and keeps his voice soft. Even when gluing her mouth shut.

I also have the hc that Bo is hella susceptible to anyone showing him kindness--usually a trait that people ascribe to Vinny in fanon-- because he was the neglected and abused son. Like fair to say they all are violent (they are murders of many people) but I feel like he's always characterized as this extra broody, mean/grumpy alcoholic, which when I watch the movie he's not really any of that.

So yeah, while I do love the grumpy broody Bo trait, I think he's real touch/attention/love starved and would be hella fuckin soft with someone he loves. I've headcannoned that he doesn't like being that way around his brothers but I think that's fanon too now that I'm typing this all out.

Much of this could be considered conjecture cause they spent way too much time on the college kids when they should've just focused on the brothers and Paige then being the final girl (still bitter) but yep. That's why I think he's a softy. 🥰