#(I left his mentor title as the same in both canons)

[theyapper0]

THE HEAVEN CAST!!!!! WHOOOOOOO!!!!!

So first off, we got a redesign for the Exorcist Angel armor. I wanted to keep the colors light so they stand out when in Hell. I was also hugely inspired by Crusades armor, since the Crusades fought for religious territory, I thought taking inspo from there made sense.

Then we have Lute, Emily, Sera and Adam's designs. I'll explain it all under the cut if you're interested!!!

LUTE!!!!!!!!!! Sorry guys but she's basically a different character with the same name at this point

So I think that Lute was like a mentor figure to Vaggie, she was the closest thing Vaggie had to a (sorta) mom but it's defiantly like a student-master relationship.

I think that Vaggie trusted and cared for Lute deeply, she devoted all her time and energy into training in order to make not only Heaven better, but to make Lute proud. Lute was a HUGE driving force Vaggie's martyr complex.

But they were close!!!! The care wasn't just once sided, I think Lute did love Vaggie. I think they both care for each other SO much, that's why it will hurt SO MUCH when it's LUTE as the one to de-wing and banish Vaggie. She LOVED her, she TRUSTED HER!!!!!

Trust that I will be delving deeper into this in the future ✊✊✊

So Emily and Sera's designs and roles in the story are pretty much the same, I liked them in canon! They were fun and offered an interesting addition to the show!!!!

The main thing I chose to change was basically their hair and skin color tbh. I understand what the show was TRYING to do, w the fact that they're supposed to be black (and apparently those are supposed to be dreads in Sera????) but.......... It wasn't good.

With their canon skin color, I know a lot of angels have gray skin but to me, it looked like the designers didn't know whether to make Sera and Emily (especially Sera) gray or flesh colored, which then resulted in them trying to meet it in the middle and left us with this,,,, really ashy looking black skin in some shots which I didn't like.

I decided to just make them a darker gray so they can both be seen as black and also keep consistent with angels having gray skin :)

ALSO THAT ONE DOODLE WITH EMILY LOOKING AT CHAGGIE, I PROMISEEEEEE THAT SHE DOESN'T LIKE EITHER OF THEM LIKE THAT, I JUST DID IT TO BE FUNNY!!!!!!!!!!!!

(I think the ship is cute but personally, it's not for me ^^)

And finally..... ADAM!!!!!!!!!!!

So like Lute, Adam is basically a completely different character with that same name just slapped on.

I REALLY didn't like him in the show to be honest. I think we was an enjoyable character at times but he's totally like my second to last fav character (with my LEAST favorite being Lucifer LOL). I think it was an interesting take on Adam definitely!! To see him so cocky and full of himself bc of his title but....... It was just very...... Viziepop with the whole "original dick" thing......

Adam is the literal FATHER of humanity!!!? He is EVERYONE'S FATHER!!!!!! I don't understand the point of making him mean aside from the fact that he's supposed to be an opposing force in the show, but even then, just because he's the opposing force, doesn't mean he's gotta be a huge jerk!!!!!

I think it could be more interesting and add more nuisance to the story is Adam WAS this sweet, caring guy who, like the protagonists, is only doing what he thinks is right!

I'll delve more into Adam in my next post BUT everything he does is out of his trust in God and the Seraphims, he trusts them wholeheartedly and despite the fact that the Sinners of Hell were once his children too, he does what he must because his flaw isn't that he's egotistical or an asshole, it's that he cares and trusts with his entire being.

He's also best friends with Kris Kringle

[grumfield]

I’m getting into TCW shows for the first time (saw the 2D, then 3D movie, and just started the 3D show). I’ve been a movies only person and haven’t seen any SW show up to these. Can you explain the characterization of Anakin (and Obi-Wan, and any other character)? I’m familiar with some of the 3D arcs due to fanfiction (Hardeen, Satine, Mortis, etc.).

I view the clone wars as more like in-universe propaganda than any substantial addition to the story because Anakin and Obi-Wan’s characterizations are 1/1 to their wartime monikers, The Hero With No Fear and the Negotiator respectively, which inherently makes them antithetical to the actual story being told. Their canon nuance is ironed out to fit these names when really the titles were more of a metatextual tragedy element because they both lose due to their fear or lack of negotiation ability.

Anakin in the movies (and books) is defined by fear. He lives in fear of losing his loved ones and as a result preemptively responds to it through anger, violence, and self destruction. He is also incredibly insecure, awkward, and sensitive and is very much a teenager. He is not at all the classic image of a hero in that he lacks charisma (especially the leadership kind, people don’t like him!) and doesn’t have notable physical prowess. He is explicitly the sort of guy who could eventually kill the Tuskens or younglings, and we as the audience can feel that. For him, being Anakin Skywalker is frightening and oppressive. He does not like being Anakin Skywalker.

Anakin in TCW 2008 on the other hand, above all, is not scared of anything. He is assured in himself, he is confident and a charismatic leader with a deep voice cleft chin and biceps for days. People like him. His anger or violence is often very justified, and he doesn’t at all seem uncomfortable in his own skin or the world around him. He knows who he is and likes being him. That is like, his most key difference. He likes being Anakin Skywalker, and he is not scared of what that means. An Anakin Skywalker who is not afraid is not the same one that could kill Tusken or younglings—this Anakin Skywalker is a mentor.

Similarly, Obi-Wan in the movies and books is a guy defined by his inability to negotiate with himself or his ideals. He views things as very black or white and doesn’t really interrogate them. He also is a guy who cannot negotiate his love for Anakin with his Jedi teachings, and ends up basically in emotionally distant slop purgatory with Anakin as he tries not to balance the two (since that requires introspection) and tries mold Anakin into his ideal image. His inability to negotiate his ideology with a person not necessarily equipped for it in the same way is what defines his and Anakin’s relationship, and ultimately informs the way that Revenge of the Sith ends. He could not negotiate the time it mattered most, and arguably, if you view Mustafar the way I do, could not negotiate his love for Anakin (saving him) with the necessary action required according to Jedi teachings (killing him) so did nothing, and left. Obi-Wan in the movies and books is a guy who does not truly know himself.

Obi-Wan in TCW…is none of this. He also suffers from the glamorization in that he’s far more assertive and, notably, struggles with his relationship with the Jedi order. He has a love interest and he ultimately chooses the Jedi over her, which he isn’t able to do in RotS with Anakin. He makes decisions like this multiple times in the series, which is IMO antithetical to his character because it requires a certain level of assertion he just doesn’t have. Obi-Wan in TCW is a guy who is self-aware and has has interrogated his lifestyle and has decided that he will follow Jedi teachings and that he is a Jedi. He knows himself.

So with this in mind you hit this point where the actions of the characters in the show are not the same as the ones in the movies. TCW Anakin would not fall, he would save the day. And if he did, TCW Obi-Wan would suck it up and kill him, and save the day. And that’s why I feel like it can only be viewed as something like in-universe propaganda, because TCW portrays a future where they all win.

[stellisketches]

Random MCD Headcanons that have nothing to do with anything (Part 5???)

Sorry I haven't made any real posts in forever. My drawing phone broke and college has been a bitch so i haven't really gotten the chance to make anything (though I finally made some more progress on the next chapter of my rewrite). In any case, please accept this next installment of head canons I wrote like 10 months ago and completely forgot about in lieu of anything that requires actual talent. Love y'all:

Laurance lost an incisor tooth in a fistfight when he was 19

When he got turned into a shadowknight it grew back, now he purposefully goes out of his way to loose teeth just cause he knows he can grow back an unlimited supply

Hayden has a cat named Bog Butter. He’s the color of butter and he found him in the bog. 

Vylad’s favorite vegetable is avocado

There are three major guard academies in Ru’aun: one in O’Khasis, one in Scaleswind, and one in Bright Port. 

Bright Port’s is the largest and most well known

O’Khasis’ is the most prestigious

Scaleswind’s academy is the most difficult

The bare minimum age to join is 14, though most people join between 16-19

Every guard must have a minimum of 2 years training to earn the actual title of Guard, however to serve in O’Khasis you need a minimum of 4 and for Scaleswind a minimum of 5. 

Part of that training includes apprenticeship, so they do get some in-field experience with their mentors (think unpaid intern)

Technically you can train for up to 8 years, however most people only train for 2-5.

Garroth was in academy for 3-4 (although to be fair he had been trained in sword fighting since he was like 9)

Laurance went for 5 years and Dante went for 6 ½ 

Dante lied about his age when he enlisted though

He was barely thirteen

Both went to the Bright Port Academy however they were in different divisions at different times since Dante is younger, so they really only saw each other in passing and never actually talked to one another

The only personal interaction they ever had was one time at the academy Laurance was trying to get back to his dorm after a night of copious drinking and partying and could barely walk out the front door of the bar. Dante (who was pretty tipsy himself) ended up half-carrying back to Laurance’s dorm before going back to his own. Neither of them remember this. 

Katelyn’s two older brothers’ names are Kaj and Khareem

Khareem is the oldest, then Kaj, then Katelyn, then Kacey

Occasionally, when he is absolutely, positively, 100% sure he is alone, Zane will sing to himself sometimes

Dante once did a Zane impression in front of everyone and Garroth got so freaked out by how realistic it sounded he made Dante swear he’d never do that voice around him again. 

The worst argument Kenmur and Emmalyn ever had during their marriage was whether their system was heliocentric or geocentric (Kenmur argued the former and Emmalyn argued the latter)

In most colleges across Ru’Aun, there is usually some statue of Enki that students will leave offerings to before their big exams

Offerings vary, but it’s usually something like food, money, trinkets, or paper. It varies on how important the exam/how desperate the students are

Kenmur went to one of these colleges for a few years

One time he fell asleep the night before his final exam and he woke up like an hour before his exam was supposed to take place and in a fit of panic he dumped his entire wallet in front of the statue. He passed with flying colors.

One time at the Narhakan college someone left a life-sized horse statue made out of gold. No one has any idea where it came from or who left it. It’s become kind of an urban legend among all the colleges

Zenix never learned how to read and by god he isn’t about to wimp out now

Garroth tried to teach him once and it… did not go well

Let’s just say Garroth still owes Emmalyn a book from that incident. And a new table. 

Zianna came from the same region that Esmund was native to

Katelyn absolutely despises the feeling of sand in her shoes

Dmitri and Nekoette raided the Bright Port guard academy kitchen the first night they got sworn in

Dmitri also had to go to the infirmary after getting shot in the arm by one of Nekoette’s loose arrows

Laurance can play the piano and used to play it at some of the taverns in Meteli

Levin and Malachi both know a good bit of Elvish thanks to spending so much time in Yggdrasil

They switch to Elvish for the majority of their arguments

[saixria]

While I don’t take the Pallas myth as canon to Epic Athena I have to admit just how well it would tie into the rest of her arc, and give a whole new angle to her character. (Essay incoming, hope it makes sense haha obligatory “English isn’t my first language”)

In case you didn’t know, this is the version of Pallas’ myth I’m referring to from Wikipedia (skip this part if you already know):

“After Athena was born fully armed from Zeus' forehead, Triton, son of Poseidon and messenger of the seas, became foster parent to the goddess and raised her alongside his own daughter, Pallas. The sea god taught both girls the arts of war.

During an athletics festival, Pallas and Athena fought with spears in a friendly mock battle in which the victor would be whoever managed to disarm her opponent. At the beginning of the fight, Athena got the upper hand, until Pallas took over. Before she could win, Zeus, who was in attendance, fearing to see his own daughter lose, distracted Pallas with the Aegis, which she had once shown interest in. Pallas, stunned in awe, stood still as Athena, expecting her to dodge, impaled her accidentally.

Out of sadness and regret, Athena created the palladium, a statue in the likeness of Pallas, and wrapped the aegis, which she had feared, about the breast of it, and set it up beside Zeus and honored it.Later, Athena took on the title Pallas as tribute to her late friend.”

So anyway how would this relate to Epic Athena? Instead of rejecting Odysseus’ friendship advances just because of pride, or thinking that all she wanted was to prove herself by mentoring a warrior, she would be distancing herself from Odysseus because she didn’t want to experience the hurt she from losing Pallas. Athena bore the guilt of killing her close friend, it wouldn’t be a surprise if that had traumatized her to refuse emotional connection again in fear of losing it.

This would further give depth to My Goodbye. Her disappointment and anger would all be a mask for her fear. While not wanting to admit to herself that she HAD gotten attached to Odysseus, she did not want to see Odysseus get himself killed and feel the same pain as she had felt when she had killed Pallas. Moreover, she did not want to see him stray completely from her teachings, and by extension, from her. So she left him first, maintaining a facade of control, and this way, she would not have to see him doom himself. She’d just be running away from her problems.

Of course, avoiding your issues for 10 years wouldn’t work out. Acknowledging to herself that she had indeed liked Odysseus and missed him as a friend, leading to intense guilt about leaving him due to her own personal fears would eat her alive for the whole decade. It would be worse because if Odysseus had died during those 10 years, it would be because she had left him and Athena would have to grapple with the knowledge that she had killed yet another friend. If she realized in that decade her abandonment issues was the true reason she’d left him, Telemachus would just be gently nudging her in the direction she’d already known she had to go in.

Besides giving Athena more depth, the Pallas myth is also a great illustrator of Zeus’ motivation in God Games. He didn’t want to risk seeing her favorite daughter lose as that would indirectly bring shame on his name as well. Of course he would disregard Pallas’ life and Athena’s feelings to distract Pallas so Athena would win! It would perfectly fit with how he was unwilling to accept his loss in God Games, since it had hurt his name and pride. Plus, the Pallas myth could even have taught Athena that nothing mattered but your name and pride, further explaining her motivation in wanting to create “the greatest warrior”, and emotionally distancing herself from Odysseus who wanted to be friends, and later even leaving him.

Anyway thank you for coming to my ted talk

[sepublic]

No Tree Left Behind!

Titan this was such an amazing storyboard pilot episode!!! I love the worldbuilding and how it’s all a backdrop for these characters understanding one another and getting together as a family!!!

Once again, we see Lilith depicted as much more antagonistic without any of the hesitation or awkwardness of the final product; But I do note that she seems to hurt a little on the inside as the Arborgeist tree falls! Her dangling Luz over danger seems like a moment that was translated to Agony of a Witch!

It’s interesting; I think I kinda prefer the final version, mostly because there’s so much more good will and love for Eda made apparent in Lilith’s actions, so when she does use Luz as a hostage and reveal she cursed Eda, it feels less like an obvious twist and more like. A painful betrayal, y’know? Like yeah she loves Eda so much that it hurts to know she still did that, whereas here the hatred is so much more emphasized so it doesn’t hit the same imo.

We get to see the effects of colonization, we see some more conflict between wild witches and the coven! I loved Luz being pretty scared of the whole thing, it makes sense for her to be as a kid! Meanwhile Eda’s hoping for someone who can appreciate the significance of this tradition, and Luz does! So they both make concessions for one another, they both appreciate, and it’s about life surviving, like cultures and tradition, even in the face of seemingly inevitably destruction! It was bittersweet yet ultimately touching. The Arborgeist trees are also the palisman trees of the final show, so there’s that loss as well! But like in the final show, Eda helps a sapling recover from the devastation!

Also; Pilot Gus! So he appears with Willow! I was surprised that Willow didn’t have much of a role here, I thought the title meant this would be the first draft of Luz meeting Willow but it’s already happened by this point! I love King having to trick the others into joining the party and his loneliness over no appreciation for demon culture seems like a precedent for The Intruder. I love the way his B-plot wraps back around to the A-plot’s conclusion!

There was a lot to this episode; It was definitely a simpler one per S1 vibes. But it was touching to have Luz better understand her mentor and engage with the meaning of the world around her. It was about how traditions survive and the core behind them, how we have to adapt to colonization sometimes. Luz and Eda dancing together was so cute! And I love the morbid joke that being ‘naked’ in the isles also entails removing your skin haha! There was so much charm to this episode, and a part of me wants lore like the Arborgeist trees and Allard to be low key canon to the final show!

[nappainanotherdimension]

Update to Nappa’s About Page

So yeah! I decided to keep up the old anime filler/GT canon information along with the newer Dragonball Minus/Dragonball Super Broly canon. A lot of his background information has always been heavy with my own HCs that are built from some of the 20+ year old fanon. It doesn’t really heavily impact how I portray Nappa, but I figured it’s good to know the key differences between the two canons. There aren’t a lot of details that are too different between the two.  Major differences are in the anime filler/GT canon Nappa was a war hero (in the Saiyan’s eyes of course) because of the Saiyan-Tuffle War. In Minus/DBS Broly’s canon I fill in his uncovered backstory with HCs about Nappa being taken off active duty in the military once Frieza took over the PTO to focus on training Prince Vegeta and eventually picking out Raditz from among the other Saiyan elite children to form their squad. This is canon that I carry over to my Raditz RP portrayal over on @radmanraditz. 

You can tell each one apart from a glance with whatever title logo I edited onto each icon! Nifty huh? 

I’m not sure what else to say. These were pretty easy changes/adjustments. If you have any questions or want some more specific details, feel free to shoot me an ask or a message, because I try to keep the about page information pretty concise for quick reading. 

- Raxceni Mun  (◕‿◕)

[malewife-central]

21?

Ah! One of my fave songs on the playlist!

Here’s my Mafia Au! Headcanons (Under the cut for length)

Warnings: Slight violence and blood mentions, Slight change in a few characters personalities

[Link for the songfic game that inspired this]

Heartslabyul-

Riddle as the quick tempered boss who believes rules need to followed…He’s from a long line of bosses who all stemmed from the Queen of Hearts… His wrath is well known and his protectiveness of what is apart of his kingdom is even more so well known

Trey is the long time friend of Riddle and is now his right hand man…His family bakery was used as a way to transport…”goods” and so, He helps to transport “goods” and money through…various means.

Cater is in charge of keeping mafia stuff quiet…any rats are found by him and he may act like a fun loving sweetheart but…According to those who work under him…he’s the scariest of all three of them…Met Riddle through Trey when he helped hide a misstep in Trey’s ranks

Ace and Deuce are working to control the police force in Her Majesty’s favor…Both are pretty high ranking but they’re not leaders really…at least not yet

Savanaclaw-

Leona is gonna be a boss in this au…mans definitely killed his brother (reminder these guys are evil…er now) He acts fairly lazy but he’s a genius…nothing gets in the way of the kings pride…Be prepared~

Ruggie is one of Leona’s closest confidants and since he comes from humble beginnings he’s the one who has helped recruit the most people…He’s terrifying and since he’s close to the people of the slums he’s got a good connection to the black market down there…Look at my short king, running the show 💕

Jack comes from a family who is close to Leona’s, Jack is commonly used as a bodyguard to Leona or Ruggie (Like they need one lmao)

Octivinelle

Azul my beloved nerd…The vibes don’t change much from how they usually are since fish mafia is def canon…But our dear octo boy isn’t a leader just yet…All praise our beloved octo queen AKA his mom…He’s set to take her place in a couple years and he’s already got it down pat lol

Jade and Floyd are Azul’s childhood friends…Having “chosen each other” in canon it’s definitely true that they’re still his bodyguards/right and left hand men. Personalities stay about the same but Once Jade and Floyd get attached to someone they’re even more protective of them than in canon…Trust me, You’re safe with them.

(Lowkey I think the only way to get close to these guys is to have met them in a way where you saved them from cops or if you grew up with them…So if y’all are interested I can maybe start writing this 👀)

Scarabia

Kalim is still a silly goofy lil guy! Except he’s only acting stupid. Don’t underestimate him. This young man grew up rich but unlike in canon he wasn’t just the firstborn…He had to fight for this title…His 30+ younger siblings are too scared to try and take the title since…”The Incident” (He’s still my blorbo)

Jamil is still from a family that owes the Asim family and he honestly hasn’t changed much…besides the fact that Jamil has a greater respect for Kalim in this au…It’s recommended you don’t ask why

Pomefiore

Vil is the leaders son, He’s literally a year away from taking “the crown” and carrying on the legacy of his mother and fathers skill in crime…He’s still an actor and model…And he’s still famous too…Extra protective of his status tho soooo…watch out bestie he’ll carve ur eyes out

Rook is still definitely a hunter…Anyone who presents a threat to Vil or the royal line is exterminated quickly…Rook is still in love with love but I feel that now his hunter qualities (Bloodlust) are much more present…Traumatized, your honor. He’s traumatized.

Epel is a young farmer boy who caught the eye of Vil one day…His grandfather was a mentor figure to Vil’s father and so, Vil’s father introduced him to Vil and taught him how to defend his son…Bodyguard who’s also used for spy jobs because he passes as a girl 💀 poor little meow meow

Diasomnia

Malleus is still the “prince” seeing as his grandmother is in charge since his mother and father were murdered…He’s followed everywhere by extreme guards (*cough* his found family *cough*) because he’s an heir…He’s still very lonely but he’s definitely more…purposefully scary

Since Malleus doesn’t have a right hand man Lilia serves as more of a mentor figure and advisor for Malleus…Lilia was best friends with Malleus’s father and is technically Malleus’s god father…(He was definitely gay lovers with Malleus’s dad… Just let me have this please god the angst hurts so good)

Silver serves as another guard for Malleus and as Lilia’s adopted son he’s grown up with Malleus and considers him a brother…He’s a very secretive man and he’s considered to almost be a ghost…hardly a single record of his life…How odd

Sebek is the most loyal follower of the Prince and has sworn his life to keeping him safe since his parents were the previous King and Queens guards (until they were killed attempting to save Mal’s parents) And so Sebek grew up only knowing how to serve…Yes he’s loud but he’s also much more…Prone to immediate violence

Ignihyde

Idia is a lot less spooked by contact with people…But do not think for a second he enjoys human contact…Idia’s family runs a “computer/IT company” AKA they launder a hell of a lot of money…Idia is still incredibly skilled with Code and consistently steals money from people just…for funsies…He lost his younger brother 5 years ago when the car he was in was target with a car bomb…He’s yet to take the role of leader but he might as well have it lol

Ortho is a young orphan who looks eerily familiar to Idia’s dead little brother…He is still very young and so not much knowledge is available on him…any far research into this boy has led a lot of journalists to…disappear…Ortho constantly wears a and long clothing to keep his identity a secret…

I hope you’ve enjoyed! My inbox is always open to more ideas or even requests on this topic but first I ask that you read my rules!

[nightowlwriting]

summary: steve is acting weird. avoiding you, being snippy and mean, leaving the room when you enter. all you want is your boyfriend back, but all he wants is to pretend you don't exist. when he's almost hurt on a mission, you do what you're made to do.

word count: 11k

reader specifics: no race/gender/sexuality/body type mentioned, no pronouns for reader used, powered!reader, insecure!reader

warnings: steve is mean to the reader in the beginning, heavy angst, hurt/comfort, canon-level violence, brief ptsd symptoms, slight description of blood, brief mention of racism in the '30s & '40s

brief mentions of: reader's parents being toxic, homelessness, past accidents, ableism in the past & present

note: this one hurt me lmfao. idk why this went the way it did but i'm not mad at it // also i am a queer, trans, disabled american. i have fundamental disagreements with things that marvel/the mcu as it stands for and some of the more nuanced things that you might not notice unless you're looking for it. this will take place in my writing because i cannot separate myself from the lens in which i consume/create content.

title credit: lil nas x

mobile masterlist - request - support my work? - ao3

Falling in love with Steve Rogers went against every instinct you had. You knew that he was going to hurt you from the first moment your lips touched his. Sure - he’s clever, righteous, courteous… You can’t forget he’s also drop-dead gorgeous because every trashy gossip magazine in a three-state radius of New York doesn’t let you forget. Neither does the sight of him waking up in your bed every morning. (Well, actually, maybe that would remind you if he was still fucking doing that.)

But lately, you’ve had to rely on the fucking tabloids to catch a glimpse of your super-hero boyfriend. The university class you had picked up on a whim at the end of the summer - Life & Times of the ‘30s and ‘40s - avoids any mention of Steve Rogers and the Howling Commandos. Not that your classmates do because, Christ on a bike, those magazines manage to catch pictures of you and Steve in moments that you don’t even remember. Plus, you’re an Avenger too. It’s bound to catch some attention when you waltz into a college classroom.

You’re sure if you were an undergrad trying to fill a gen-ed requirement and were sitting next to someone who could kill you without blinking but also dating Captain Rogers you’d be a little distracted too. You try not to blame your classmates too much, but they do make it hard to concentrate with their -really dating Captain America?- and -wonder if I could get an autograph- whispers. None of that matters because you’re learning, really studying, in between missions and missing Steve and believing that maybe the gossip reporters are right.

Maybe he’s forgotten about you.

You grit your teeth and push the thought away. It does you no good right now, while you’re training with Peter. He’s working his way up to bona fide missions and, because you’re the only one on the team who has experience with real-life teenagers outside of saving their lives, it’s up to you to get him to the level that he needs to be. Plus, the mission where he’s going to get his gills wet is just you, Tony, Steve, Nat, and Bucky. You’d much rather be the one to train him because you won’t traumatize him.

Right now, though, you’re just kicking his ass to try and get rid of some of the tension in your body. You feel a little bad about it, but when you started as his mentor you told him point-blank that you’d never go easy on him. That meant if you were having a bad day he either needed to up his game or he’d have a bad day too. It appears he’s taken that to heart as he struggles to dodge the hits you’re throwing his way. He lunges out of the way when you try to land a right hook but practically walks into the leg sweep that sends him crashing to the ground.

“Awe,” Peter groans, letting his guard down. You take the momentary lapse of focus to grab him by the collar of the hoodie he’s wearing and haul him to his feet, jerking one fist back to cold-clock him but he beats you to it. You hear the sound of your nose cracking before you feel it but then the pain rushes you all at once. You’ve had worse but coming from Peter, the move surprises you. You don’t yell out but he does when you push him away from you and call the fight off. Peter practically yelps your name, hands up by his head as he watches you bend at the waist, both hands over where your nose is absolutely gushing blood. “I am so sorry, I just reacted-!”

“It’s fine, Pete,” You shake your head and stand straight again, the blood beginning to leak through your fingers, “Just go get me a towel, okay?” Peter practically trips over his feet to get something for your nose and as you track him on his way into the locker rooms, you see Steve, Bucky, and Nat. The latter are looking your way, eyebrows raised like they’re asking you if you’re okay. Steve hasn’t even broken stride in his conversation so you wave them off with a bloody hand. Peter’s back in a flash, pressing a wet towel into your grasp and snapping you out of your self-pity party. “It was a good hit,” You compliment as you wipe your face off, “I just wasn’t expecting it. Prob’ly wouldn't have landed it if I had.”

He wrings his hands, shifting from foot to foot. “I’m sorry-”

“It’s a good thing, Peter, means you’re getting better.” You deadpan, checking to see if your nose has stopped bleeding yet, “I don’t think you actually broke it, but I’ll go down to medical to check later.” You do your best to clean up your hands with the wet towel, but it’s so soaked with your blood that it mostly just smears it around. You grimace and shake your head. “Well, I should go now before our sparring match ends up looking like I murdered you.”

“I’ll go with,” He offers, “I’m the one who broke your nose.” You let Peter walk you down to medical even though you were originally going to refuse. Perhaps petty, but it was the way that Steve didn’t even look your way as you left that made you let the teenager walk you the two floors to where you’d be able to clean yourself up. He hums in the elevator and you know that he wants to ask you something - it’s the way he holds his mouth when he’s prying for information or keeping a secret that tips you off. Finally, just before the elevator opens, you sigh and turn to him.

“What, Peter?” He grins but then it falls when he has to skitter after you down the hall. Maybe that’s why it falls - the question he asks next nearly sends you to your ass.

“Is everything okay with you and Captain Rogers?” He easily catches up to you when you stop in your tracks, ignoring that you’re still bleeding a little bit down your face and you might be dripping blood everywhere from where it’s run down your arms.

“What?” You do your best to look confused like everything is fine, but Peter is perceptive. He may fumble around and be pretty awkward, but those are really just teenager things that he’ll hopefully outgrow. You should have known that when someone caught onto how bad things are on your end, it would be Peter. (You wonder if Nat or Bucky has brought it up with Steve, considering he’s spent more time with them in the past week than he’s seen you in the past month.) “We’re fine.” Your words are stilted as you begin walking to the medical wing much faster than before.

“I just thought I’d ask, well, because I’ve sort of noticed… Something just seems off, you know? Like, you two used to spend a lot of time together, and maybe it’s the recon mission coming up, but I was just thinking that you two really barely look at each other even when you’re in the same -”

“Peter!” You say his name much louder than either of you expected and both of you jump. “Peter,” You say softer, looking at the glass door to the medical wing instead of him, “Just leave it, okay? It’s nothing you have to worry about, kid.” Peter ducks around to open the door, forcing you to look at him. “He’s just focused on his stuff and I’m focused on getting you whipped into shape for this mission. We only have two days.” Once you’re inside and surrounded by the medical crew Tony keeps on staff, he thankfully drops it. You love Peter, you do, but it’s a lot like having a little brother. You can only love them so much before you want to fucking strangle them. Eventually, as the doctor checks to make sure he hasn’t broken your nose, you have to order him away to go study or something. “I’ll join you later,” You promise him as the doctor prods at your tender flesh, “I have an essay due soon.”

That’s another thing that’s been bugging you that Peter surely picked up on. Nearly everybody knew you were taking a course at the local community college, but nobody knew what it was about. You’d wanted to keep it a secret until you told Steve, but the day you had registered he’d flown out for a two-week mission without telling you or saying goodbye. After that, you decided it didn’t really matter if anyone knew what class you were taking, and keeping it a secret sort of spiraled from there. If they wanted to know they could look it up. Maybe it was petty, but you just wanted the class to be over and done with so you could forget that you really only picked it up so you relate to your boyfriend more.

If you can even call Steve your boyfriend anymore. You’re not so sure where you stand and, honestly, you’re really close to giving up on the relationship as a whole but you can’t do that. Before you were dating, you were friends, and Steve… He never gave up on you. Not once. How could you repay him by giving up on your relationship? The one that you thought was The One? Even if it hurts, even if you’re unsure more than sure these days, how could you? Somewhere, though, you know you deserve better. You don’t deserve the sinking, dark feeling that lingers in your gut for most of your days now or the way that you second-guess every move you make - even in the field. It’s dangerous but you can’t do anything to fix it.

You’re too scared. You know that eventually, it will happen, he’ll break up with you, but you’d like to put that day off for as long as possible. To relish in the love he once had for you, how pure and powerful it was. You’re sure that you’ll never experience anything like that again.

Hell, you might never fall in love again.

Those thoughts don’t do anything to help you, though, so you try not to have them. You get clearance from the doctor and get cleaned up as much as you can without taking a full body shower. The idea to go back to your room and take one crosses your mind but you know that Steve’s probably done training, probably heading back for his own shower, and you don’t want to open that can of worms. Instead, you go to the common room and drop into the couch between Peter and Tony. They’re talking about something something science something something, but you pull your stack of books and notebooks out from the shelf underneath the coffee table and continue outlining your essay from where you left off. The assignment was focused on how the end of WW1 changed American life and then how life changed leading up to and during WW2 but that had hit a little too close to home for you, so you’re writing about the racial tension and overall racism of the times. Tony and Peter keep talking over your back and then you hear footsteps heading toward the common room.

You barely look up when they enter - Nat and Bucky - because it’s fine. It’s normal. They’re just two of Steve’s best friends, that’s all, nothing to be jumpy about. You don’t even register that emotional pain that hits when you realize that, yeah, you’re not one of his best friends anymore. You doubt you’re even considered a friend in his book.

You groan and lean back into the couch, bringing your study materials with you. Peter glances over, skimming over your page and a half of shorthand, and gags. “Jesus, can you write like a normal person?”

“Oh, sorry,” You say lazily, not looking up as you continue to scribble in your incomprehensible code, “I do forget that some of us had privacy at home.” You lift your lips just a little bit to let Peter know you’re kidding, looking up at him through your lashes as you slouch next to him. He looks red in the face. “Besides, once you have to start doing mission reports you’ll be begging me to learn my shorthand and use my stenography machine.”

“I keep telling you that I can update that ol’ thing,” Tony draws your attention. For the first time, you realize that Nat and Bucky are on the loveseat looking at you expectantly. Steve is standing in the corner over their shoulder reading a book from the bookshelf in front of him. His back is tense and he looks like he’s not reading, just listening. You force your eyes back to Tony on your right and shake your head.

“No, because then you’d know my shorthand and it makes me too happy to see you spend hours trying to decipher it.” His eyes wander to your essay again, trying to find any patterns that he can use to figure out what the hell you’re writing on anything ever. He’s opening his mouth to make a smart-ass remark that will no doubt lift some of the weight off of your shoulders when another voice speaks up.

“Wow,” Steve doesn’t even look at you even as he says your name sardonically, “Way to be a team player.” Your mind comes to a screeching halt, trying to figure out what the fuck he’s playing at. Even Bucky and Nat look surprised at the cold way he spoke to you, Tony and Peter both gasping from your side. You can’t say anything, throat tight and burning with tears as you stare at your boyfriend with raised eyebrows. What do you say to that? How do you respond? You know it wasn’t a joke because he’s not laughing, not smiling, not even looking up from that fucking book in his hands. You can’t tell if you’re more hurt or embarrassed, but either way, you don’t want to stick around for someone to get the nerve to say something.

Instead of replying, you slam your textbooks shut and bundle everything into your arms. You doubt Steve even notices that you’re making such a hasty retreat but if he does, he doesn’t say a fucking thing. You feel like you’re in high school - practically running through an empty hallway with your notebooks and textbooks pressed to your chest, trying not to cry. It’s ridiculous. You’re a trained assassin, you’re an Avenger, you are strong and powerful and yet… And yet. You’ve given so much of your heart and soul to Steve Rogers that he can knock you down eight pegs without even trying. Without even looking at you. You can’t wait to go on this fucking recon mission, where you can put all of your focus on making sure Peter is doing okay and gathering the intel. Where you can stop thinking about how easily Steve Rogers seems to be pushing you to the side.

You spend the next two days writing your essay, ignoring almost everyone, and working on your essay. On the day of the recon mission, you’re running out the door for your eight a.m lecture, printed essay in hand, and reminding Tony that he promised to pick you up on campus after class for the mission.

You’re lucky that you went, too. You hadn’t counted on the professor making everyone stand up and tell the class the subject of their essays - didn’t realize that it would be twenty-five percent of the grade on the paper. You’ll never understand college professors and the weird shit they do, but the class is informative and entertaining. He goes around the room, starting on the opposite side of you, so you’ll be last. Great.

Several students did their papers on the propaganda of the time, one student was brave and did her essay on the ethical dilemma of the super-soldier serum and eugenics, and most of the other students focused on pop culture and how it changed. When your professor looks at you it’s almost like he’s expecting you to have done nothing but fawn over Steve and Bucky, considering you know them personally. He looks surprised when you clear your throat, stand and say: “I focused on the casual and institutional racism that faced non-white Americans at the time.” You almost preen when he looks impressed and then the shame fills you. It’s just… You want Steve to be proud of you. You want him to congratulate you on going back to school, even if it’s just for one class. You want him to be happy and surprised that he was the inspiration for taking the class.

Though, lately, the class has been more for you than for him. You like learning new things, pushing the boundaries of assignments, making people uncomfortable with the truth of the times you’re studying as told to you by two people who lived it. It’s nice. Normal.

Everyone needs a little bit of normal.

But, honestly, normal is fucking boring. By the time your class is over and you’re handing in your essay it’s like ants are crawling over your skin. A combination of nerves from the upcoming mission, a head full of fog from whatever is happening with Steve, and a little bit of fear at the thought of taking Peter into the field has you bolting for the door the moment your essay is taken from you. You’d worn your tac-suit underneath a pair of baggy sweats and a loose hoodie, so you don’t even bother slowing down as you head toward the car that Tony has waiting for you. He’s in the front seat, grinning at you from underneath his aviators and Peter is driving.

You slip into the backseat without thinking or looking at who’s there, tossing your bag in the back and peeling your hoodie off. “God, Tone, we’re goin’ to die before we even get to the mission with Petey driving.” You toss your hoodie back to join your bag and finally see who’s sitting next to you.

Of course, it’s Steve. He’s looking at you - but not really. He’s looking through you, like he can’t stand that you’re both crammed in the backseat of Tony’s electric car. His gaze catches you and holds you in place. Everything around you goes cold and fuzzy, making you miss Peter’s indignant complaining that he has his license so he should be able to drive… And then Steve scoffs and looks out his window, ignoring you. It stings but you have a job to do. You make some witty retort back to Peter, but it falls flat as you struggle out of your sweats. This is what life is, you think. Relationships aren’t meant to be forever - you learned that at a young age.

Until your accident at fifteen, you had watched your parents run out of helium, their relationship expanding and cooling in arguments, in days spent not talking, in trips to your grandparents without the other, in passive-aggressive computer searches for divorce attorneys left open for anyone to see. Then, after you were trapped between those machines - after you spent hour after agonizing hour with electricity pressing between your atoms, being torn apart and rebuilt as a young god - after that day you watched them expand against each other before the neutron core of their relationship collapsed on itself and the resulting supernova sent you to the streets. But then Fury found you. Then Tony, then Nat, then Steve.

Your parents exploded out from each other and the shockwaves ruined your life. At least now, your relationship with Steve is ending silently. There’s no explosion, no collapse, no rapid expansion to take over your cosmos. Your relationship with Steve is simply approaching the event horizon, where it will hang in the air until one of you takes the final step and you both become frozen, two collapsing objects on opposite sides of the universe. Maybe that’s what you already are. You feel so far away from him in the back of Tony’s car - like he’s eons and light-years away from you - and you feel so cold. Frozen, down to the bone. It makes you stiff in your replies to Tony and Peter, slow on the uptake when the car pulls up to the quinjet, nearing stasis and unable to respond when Nat asks if you’re okay.

Finally, you turn to look at her, nodding. “Fine,” You clear your throat, “Been a rough day.” You do your best to smile at her, but your face feels heavy. Your chest feels cold and tight, making you worry about your performance on the upcoming mission. When Peter shakes his head next to you, discreetly telling Nat not to press, you’re focused on Steve and the electricity humming in the most base part of your body.

He scoffs and rolls his eyes. You turn away and force yourself to smile, throwing a weak and numb arm over Peter’s shoulders. “Are you ready for this, Pete?” You jostle him back and forth, leading him toward the sitting area behind the cockpit. “Gonna get your ass kicked?”

“Please,” He shoves you off, nervously laughing, “Not with the skills you’ve taught me.” He mimics throwing webs, making hissing noises under his breath, and you bark out a laugh, shaking your head.

“You’re payin’ my medical bills when I have to save your ass, Spidey.” You shake your head and strap in next to the wall, Peter taking the seat to your right. Tony, from the aisle across from you, points a thick finger your way.

“You don’t pay medical bills anymore,” He waggles his finger, “So you’ll just have to make him do your homework for a week.”

“Mister Stark!”

“He’ll have to earn shorthand to do your essays,” Nat chimes in from between Bucky and Steve, who are both doing their best to not look at you - or anyone really. “You willing to share that with him?”

You lean back in your seat and jab at Peter with your elbow. “Hell no, so I guess Spider-Boy better do his best.” The arachnid in question grumbles, crossing his arms and slouching in his seat.

“No pressure, right?” He complains, “Not like I’m already nervous or anything.”

“You’ll do fine, kid,” Bucky pipes up, drawing your eyes back to Steve, “It’s goin’ to be a cakewalk.”

“Don’t jinx it, Barnes,” You warn half-heartedly, tucking in on yourself, “We need this to be easy.” From the look on his face - everyone’s face, really - you know that they heard you loud and clear when you were really saying I need this to be easy.

After an uneasy laugh from Bucky, a claustrophobic silence settles over you all as the jet begins to take off. You’re in for an hour ride and plan to spend it going over battle plans with Peter when harsh whispering catches your ear. It’s Bucky and Steve nearly crushing Nat between them until she gets up and sits across from Peter, rolling her eyes. Still, you try your best to run him through the actions you both had planned - the names, the setups you needed to execute them, everything. If something happens to Peter, you’ll never forgive yourself.

And then, cutting through your soft promptings to Peter and his equally soft replies, Bucky’s voice. “Leave it, Steve. Until after this mission.” Even Tony looks up from his tablet, curiosity piqued. Their faces are both red, set hard and angry at each other and your stomach drops. What the hell is going on that Steve ‘Till The End Of The Line Rogers is fighting with Bucky You And Me, Pal Barnes? You must shift, or lean too far into Steve’s eyesight, because for the first time in what feels like years he is looking directly at you - and seeing you, too. It makes your pulse jump and, almost instinctively, you want to reach out and ground yourself on the rubber of the seat underneath you.

You don’t get the chance, though, because Steve speaks. “No, why should I? This is clearly affecting the team.” He’s still looking - glaring - at you like you’ve done something wrong. “What’s the point of waiting? I’ve been waiting to talk about this.”

“Bo, I don’t think this is the time,” Bucky looks over his shoulder at you, then, and you know what’s coming. You know that it’s time, that Steve is about to break up with you in front of your teammates. Your friends. Your family. You steel yourself for the anguish you’re about to feel and then jerk your chin out, hardening your resolve.

“Buck, it’s fine. If Steve wants to address something, he can.”

Natasha says your name, a low warning over the hum of the quinjet. “I think he should wait.”

“Well, I’m not goin’ to wait!” Steve unbuckles himself and stands, “I have tried waiting, and look at where that has gotten me.” He puts his hands on his hips and puffs out a breath. You unbuckle and stand, too, unsure of where this is going. “You need to,” He holds one hand out, pointing at you while his voice shakes. You notice his hand is shaking, too, but fractionally. If you didn’t know Steve as well as you do you may have never noticed it. “You need to get it together.”

“I need to get it together?” You question, eyebrows nearly hitting the ceiling with how fast they shoot up. You’re not totally sure you’ve heard him right because what do you have to get together? The broken shards of your relationship? The information and research for your final paper? The awful way you’ve let yourself be treated for what seems like forever?

“You heard me,” Steve says, at the same time Bucky leans his head back and groans deep in his chest. “What? Someone had to say it.”

“We should wait for this,” Nat speaks up again, but lifelessly. She knows now that you and Steve are both on the warpath, neither of you are going to stop. (That’s also why the two of you work together as a couple so well. Very rarely are you both so worked up about something that you can’t back down, so the other is always there to meet you halfway and get you back to earth.)

“No, no, no,” You say, near hysterically, “No, he wants to do this now? Before a mission? Instead of the fuckin’ weeks we had to hash whatever crawled up his ass and died out? Be my guest. He’s already dragged everyone into this by treating me like a pariah.” You’re not sneering, but your teeth are gritted so tightly together you can hear them scraping and feel a tension headache beginning to bloom in your temples. Bucky looks… Almost incredulous at your statement. Like putting the blame on Steve is a dick move or something.

“Oh, so I’m the bad guy here?” Steve is curling his lip, glaring at you. There’s something behind his eyes, but he’s buried it so deep that you can’t reach it and figure out what it is. “I’m the bad guy, right. Right, right, right.” He scoffs, shakes his head, and then he’s running his fingers through his hair like he really can’t believe what you’re saying to him.

“Well, what else am I supposed to think?” You throw your hands out to the side and let them slap back down on your thighs. “You ignore me, you make me feel like shit, you talk down to me like I’m some insignificant foot soldier. How else am I supposed to take that, Steve?”

“Oh, I don’t know, maybe ask me what’s wrong? Maybe ask me why I’m acting like this, instead of ignoring all of your problems like a child?” He mirrors your moments, but the sound his hands make when they hit the outside of his suit is more powerful than yours. Fueled by anger, you think. Anger and whatever the hell was in the serum Erskine pumped into Steve.

“Ask you?” You repeat, near-hysterical, “Ask you? Oh yeah, let me get right on that. Hey, Mister Rogers? Mister Captain America? Mister Ignores-His-Partner-For-God-Knows-Why? Hey, just why are you doin’ that?” You’re surprised that you’ve said something so snotty, but you don’t back down. (Steve looks surprised, too, and Bucky has stood up next to his friend like he’s about to start berating you as well. At least he looks more cautious about it, like he’s not totally sure that this fight should be happening.)

The more surprising part of your fight is how fast it’s shut down. Tony and Nat stand at the same time and exchange a glance like they’ve surprised each other. “That’s enough,” Tony starts.

Nat cuts him off. “I don’t care if you fight this one out instead of talking, but if you do it before this recon mission you two are going to blow it. Do you understand me?” She looks dangerous, the sharp edge of a knife spiraling through the air. You force yourself to look away from her, from Tony, from Bucky, from Steve. She’s right. You know she’s right - especially on this mission. Peter is there, going to be in real danger even though there’s not supposed to be one Hydra agent in a four-mile radius. You have to clear your mind and focus on protecting him.

Steve seems to think the same thing because he stands down. When you watch him collapse in on himself, Bucky’s arms around his shoulders, into the little quinjet seats your everything aches. Heart, lungs, eyes - everything. Even though you don’t know what’s going on, what could have possibly happened to make your relationship sink this quickly and out of the blue, you still love him. He’s still The One for you. You still want to be the one to comfort him and make him feel whole when he’s struggling.

But you can’t. You can’t and it kills you.

The heat of battle makes a lot of things fade into the background. Important things like why the fuck are there Hydra agents here? and Steve is going to break up with you when you get back on the jet and Tony swore on the fucking limited edition AC/DC vintage tour poster he has in his office that this would be an easy in/easy out information mission. None of that matters, though, because you’re in deep shit. There are seventeen of them, all primed to the teeth with weapons made to take your team down permanently.

You’re practically glued to Peter, calling out commands and plans for him to initiate. It’s when all of your plans fall through that you take a hit from a heavy fist on purpose, hitting the ground hard. “Plan F, Spidey, Plan F!” You cover the instruction with a groan and then you’re back on your feet, working your way toward him.

“Plan F?” Tony says, somewhere above you in his suit. Your comms crackle ominously as another heat-seeking grenade is launched, interfering with the radio waves your tech relies on. You don’t worry about it, because you know Tony is on it. He’s your eyes in the sky.

Peter is the one who answers his question, watching your close hand-to-hand tilt out of your favor briefly. “Plan Fuck It, Mister Stark.” He grunts as he webs up a Hydra agent, jerking him away from where he was about to slip a knife up and under Natasha’s kevlar. You finally drop the guy in front of you, ignoring Steve’s disappointed Language! and toss one of your knives toward Nat for her to use. Tony is still laughing in your ear, wheezing as he drops down and snags the rifle from one of the snipers and then takes back off.

What your little protégé failed to mention about Plan F is that it’s not just chaos, but controlled chaos. You let loose, letting a soft current cover every inch of your skin as Peter switches to his conductive webbing and takes special care to not web any of his allies. Except for you - if you’re in the way and he catches you in a web it doesn’t matter because you’re you, alive with electricity that drops the men that get caught in the web, too. You rip out of the webs and turn the current off when one of your teammates gets too close.

More Hydra agents are pouring out of the woods, topping out their numbers around twenty-five. That’s twenty-five too many in your opinion, especially when you can see Peter getting tired, his anxiety spiking, his moves having more and more hesitation behind them. You need to get this over with quickly, but you don’t have the options to do that. Steve, Bucky, and Nat are really the heavy-hitters - you, Pete, and Tony are the only ones without serums despite all of your individual abilities. Desperately you reach out for a web that’s still connected to Peter’s arms, pulling him out of the way of a baton that’s about to come down on the back of his neck.

The baton the agent is wielding glints in the coming dusk, freezing you as Peter scrambles past you with a quick apology. You’ve seen that before - seen it, felt it, know it like the back of your hand. There’s no way that you could ever forget that weapon. The man stumbles when his hit doesn’t connect but then rights himself and searches for a new target.

A long, black baton that splits into two prongs at the end is heavy in his hand. Electricity crackles between the bulbs at the end, flashing in the setting sun and your memories. The man only has one, but if it was hooked up to a machine, spinning. If there were four, five, six. If you were pinned between them, screaming in the pain as they rewrote your DNA… You’ve only felt it once, but you’ll never forget it.

And now, you’ll taste it again. On purpose this time. The man holding the stun baton is going for Steve’s back - his strong back, the one that protects people, the one that holds the weight of the world, the one that lays in your bed, the one you see whipping out of rooms as you’re entering just so that he doesn’t have to look at you - and you can’t let that happen. It only takes ten amps to kill a regular human, but you know those things are cranked up to twenty minimum. You don’t want to see how many amps of current it will take to stop Steve’s heart. You’re between the baton and Steve before you can think about what you’re doing or what comes next, the hard bulbs settling unyielding into your side and cranking out maximum power for maximum damage as soon as the current is connected and able to flow from one bulb to the other.

The pain hits you and your throat catches on it. It burns through your body, setting everything on fire - your chest hurts as your heart protests the electrons and then your powers kick in, sweeping them into your very atoms and cells. You’re a live wire now, ears humming and body thrumming with power you’ve only dreamed of. It hurts, and it burns, and you feel tears rising in your eyes because you’re back there - back begging for death or for life or for God and god at the same time - but then it’s over. The man sees that you’re not seizing up, not dropping dead in front of him, and he takes three steps back.

It’s not far enough.

You’ve only felt like this once before - right after you were unhooked from the machine that changed your life and brought you to your new family. You remember how you looked when you were put in front of a mirror with all of the pent up electricity circling your body - how your eyes were filled to the brim and dripping with bright and blue electricity, the way it was jumping across your body, how you didn’t need to breathe because your body was fully saturated with pure, unadulterated power. You wonder if you look like that now and assume you do because you can see the bright blue reflecting in the terrified eyes of the Hydra agent.

Your suit, unlike everyone else’s, is not grounded. It’s metal, metal, metal. You’re made to conduct, born for it, and the earth beneath you comes alive with bright white as you release all of the energy, the power, surges down and out. You’re practiced. You can reach out and feel the synapses and neurons of every human being in the clearing, know exactly where your teammates are standing, and know exactly how to target everything but them and the pitiful amount of electricity their brains carry. You grin, something truly feral and unhinged, and you can see the fear in the Hydra agent. Then, you let go.

You know that everyone is going to be pissed. (Maybe not everyone.) You’re not built for this, not made to take down nearly twenty fucking people at once. As you let go, you feel what they feel. The seizing muscles, the stopping of their hearts, the inside of their bodies crisping against their bones. At that moment, that delicious moment, you see the universe.

You become God. You become everything - your mother and your father and God and god and anyone else who’s watching your life from the ether. You become the judge, jury, and executioner of souls that you don’t know from Adam. You become lightning, and thunder, and exposed nerves of the cosmos at the same time. The world bends to your will and you relish in it, taking that power in your fist and wielding it to protect the man you’ll love for the rest of your life and the family that you’ve made. You will stop at nothing to end this, even if it means turning yourself inside out to do it.

You damn near do turn yourself inside out too, but that doesn’t matter, does it? The blood spilling from your ears, nose, and eyes feels like heaven. It’s hot, and thick, and it’s proof of the power that your body holds. You’re a temple and a sanctuary, a war-room and a bunker, a field of flowers and a sun-dry desert. It does not matter if Steve doesn’t love you at that moment, because you are love and hate wrapped into one package. You are everything and nothing, spread thin at the beginning and the end of time.

And then none of that is true. You are just… You. Standing in a clearing, surrounded by twenty-something dead Hydra agents and your terrified, terrified family. It hurts to breathe and you can taste blood in your mouth, but that’s an afterthought. Steve is still standing behind you, but he is alive. That is what matters.

This is what love is, you think.

Pain and pleasure.

Even if he leaves you, you will always love him.

Pain and pleasure.

You’re weak at the knees when he finally turns to see you - and you’re a sight. Struggling to stand, fingertips blackened with soot but not burnt, blood pouring from your nose, ears, eyes… You look like death, but you feel like life. Someone says something behind you - Peter, maybe? Or maybe Tony, in your comms? - but you don’t hear it. Everything tunnels out, your weak knees finally collapsing as you keel backward.

Steve bears down upon you almost immediately. You’re halfway to unconsciousness when he wraps you up in his arms, keeping you from falling in with the pile of bodies around you. He’s saying your name, harsh and soft and then in a voice like he’s ordering you to wake up. You loll about as he drops you down onto a patch of clear grass, hands searching your body for wounds. When he skims over your side, where the baton has burnt through your suit and your flesh, you surge back toward being able to have cohesive thoughts. The pain brings you back, hands wrapping around Steve’s arm and calling out his name. “Steve! Fuck, that hurts!”

“Honey,” He breathes, “Fuck, we have to get you back to the jet.” His jaw ticks, hair dirty and loose from its normal style. “Why’d you do that?” Steve doesn’t wait for an answer from you, ordering Peter to web something up to carry you over your protests.

“I’m fine,” You argue, only slurring slightly, “I feel fine.” But you’re going to let Nat and Bucky load you up on the webbed stretcher anyway because it’s the first time Steve has cared for you in a long time. You want to relish in this moment, the way that he didn't say your name but called you honey.

Well, and because Natasha slides a thumb across her neck over Steve’s shoulder in a silent threat.

You groan when Bucky accidentally grabs your calf where there is an absolutely awful stab wound, but you wave off his apology. “How could you have known?” To be honest, you hadn’t even known it was there until his Vibranium hand was slipping against it and sending shockwaves of pain through you. Peter is next to you the whole time that you’re being carried back to the jet - Tony staying back to begin scanning the bodies of the Hydra agents for the information you need and any other information they may be carrying. The poor kid is nearly at a breakdown, so you reach out to him and shake his arm when his fingers twine with yours. “Chill out, kid, I don’t know how you got it into your head that this is your fault, but it sure isn’t.” He sniffles, but hands back with Steve as Bucky and Nat get you situated in the small medical room of the jet. They transfer you and then make to leave, only Bucky hesitating near the door.

“Stevie’s goin’ to be here soon and… I don’t know what made you do what you did but you have’t explain it to him. He’s bendin’ over backwards to figure it out, and we don’t have’a clue. Came out’a nowhere.” He looks at you for another moment before shaking his head and stepping out of the room. Your head is spinning, partially from what Bucky just said and partially from the pain and stimulus of electricity. You wait there, then, because this is it. This is the event horizon. You wait there, eyes closed, until you hear footsteps approach the med room, and then the door slowly opens. Steve says your name, holding all the finality and weight of an atomic bomb. You don’t open your eyes until he swings a chair next to the stretcher and lays a hand on your calf.

“You don’t have to do this,” You finally say, pushing yourself up onto your elbows to watch him. “I know that you don’t want to.” Steve only scoffs and begins to wash the stab wound using a packet of soap and a water bottle. You say his name twice before he looks at you, something between hate and hurt curdling into a glaze over his eyes that stops you in your tracks.

“Just let me do this. It is the least that you can do.” His words are painful and stilted, like it’s taking force to push them past his teeth. You lay back down and close your eyes, content to just feel the pain of Steve beginning to stitch you up and then dress the wound before you feel the pain of Steve leaving you like you knew he always would. (Falling in love with Steve Rogers went against every instinct you had. You knew that he was going to hurt you from the first moment your lips touched his.)

When he’s done he sits back and puts his elbows on his knees, head in his hands. He heaves a heavy sigh and then shakes it off, “I’ll dress your burn, and then we’ll talk.” And normally, yes, you would agree but this is too important. You want to get it over with so you can lick your wounds metaphorically and dress them literally - and then you want to go home, you want to pack your bags, and you want to disappear and remake your life somewhere else.

Some far-off place where everyone you know won’t take one look at your face and know that you’re still painfully, deeply in love with Steve Rogers, end of your semester be damned. Family you’ve made be damned. You can’t sit around and be in love with him like a neon sign on a dark highway while it’s painfully clear that he hasn’t had a sign on his highway in a long time.

So instead of agreeing, you swing your legs over the stretcher and swallow your flinch when the burn pulls tight. Steve opens his mouth to argue but you give him a tight-lipped shake of your head and his jaw snaps shut. “No,” You say, voice not giving in to the emotion swirling in your chest. “I have let this go on long enough.”

It’s the wrong thing to say because Steve fucking scoffs again and looks away from you. “One day was long enough.” He says, cutting straight to your core. Okay, ouch. You take a deep breath and shake your head to try and bite back the tears that are inevitably rising in your eyes. If one day was long enough for him to realize he doesn’t want to be with you, why did he let it go on for nearly a full year? Why did he spend so long leading you on, pulling you by a thread before garroting your heart with it? What was the point?

“If you want to leave me, just say that,” You reply harshly, standing and wobbling away from him. He just watches you go, watches the way you struggle past the lead weights your muscles have become, the way you’re starting to feel the stab wound on your leg, the way the skin on your burn is beginning to blister and only just now losing its heat. He just watches you, where the Steve that loved you once upon a time might have helped. You turn your back on him, hands on your hips so that you can hide the way that you’re crying and your hands are shaking.

“If I want to leave you? If?” He says. You hear the scrape of his chair as he stands, “I think after what you’ve done, it’s not an if, sweetheart.” The way he says it tastes like iron. Steve never calls you sweetheart like he never calls you by your name. It’s always honey, lover, dovie. You don’t turn to face him because you’re struggling to keep yourself above water. “I spent so long thinkin’, wonderin’, askin’ myself - God damnit, will you look at me?” You turn slowly, not because you’ve never heard Steve speak like that but because his voice is desperate and raw. When you turn, you’re not sure what to expect. Maybe him, standing in front of you, broad-shouldered and disappointed like in those PSA’s he had to film once. Maybe he’d be angry, hands clenched at his sides and eyes narrowed like he gets in meetings when he doesn’t agree with something but he’s out-voted. But you never expect to see him crying, lip wobbling, folded in on himself like a young boy instead of the strong, invincible man you’ve come to love.

He looks so different.

It hits you, then, that you’re not looking at Steve Rogers. Not really. He's not Steve Rogers, not Captain America, not even Captain Rogers. You see him as he was - before America spat it’s untruths all over him and injected him with a serum that changed who he was, is, will be. He’s not the able-bodied man that you know, not strong and unreachable, not the heartthrob that overshadows the team during press events. He’s not America’s Darling, not really. Not where it counts.

You’re looking at Stevie Rogers. Stevie Rogers who, for all intents and purposes, was supposed to die before he made it out of toddlerhood or soon thereafter. Stevie Rogers who the doctors said wasn’t supposed to survive. Stevie Rogers who grew up sickly, rattling painful breaths and never playing ball with the neighborhood boys. Who couldn’t walk until middle school when he got his braces off. Who never had a partner because Bucky, strong and handsome and tall Bucky, was always deemed the better option. Who believed in his country so much that he tried to sneak into the second world war, subjected himself to a painful medical procedure so that he could change his very DNA to be what the world wanted him to be.

Captain Steve Rogers. Captain America. Strong, blond, patriotic, resilient.

You’re sure that if men don’t want to go to therapy now, in the modern age, they certainly didn’t want to go in the ‘40s. So where did that leave Steve, your Steve, standing in front of you and looking small, and broken, and sad, and alone? Did they expect him to take his new, taller, working body and run with it? Did they not think about how he would lose a part of himself in the process? How did they expect him to go from disabled to abled without some disconnect?

You think about the You That You Were Before and the You That You Are Now, and how you lost a part of yourself when the accident gave you your powers and how you’d lose yourself if someone figured out a way to take them away. You Before formed your identity around being normal - living in a shitty home with shitty parents, sure, but normal - and You Now form your identity around your powers, your team, your job, your love. If you lost those things, what did you have left? Who would you be?

When Steve lost his identity and became everything that America wanted everyone to think that America was, what did he have left? Sure, he could tell himself that he represents America - strong and patriotic and just - but it must have conflicted with everything he knew about himself before that. You know that disabled people now know that American society is unjust, unfit for them with abled people not willing to make room to allow them to thrive. You can only imagine what it was really like for Steve in the ‘20s and ‘30s and ‘40s. What he had to do just to survive. (Medical experimentation, you remind yourself. Did they know it wouldn’t kill him? Did they know his body wouldn’t rip itself apart with the new sinewy muscle they were packing on? Did they care? Or was he just a body they saw as broken? A project to fix? To turn him into something more like them and call it patriotism?)

You shake your head at him, still filled with despair, and try to figure out what he’s talking about. “Stevie,” You start, pet name easily replacing what you had been calling him because it’s not fair to shoe-horn him into a body that doesn’t feel like his own. You wonder if he still expects the bone-grinding pain that he used to tell you would happen when it rains. He raises a hand, a strong and family hand, shaking his head.

“I just need to know why I wasn’t enough for you,” Steve looks sad, slouching in on himself like he’s expecting to get his ass handed to him in another alleyway and hope Bucky is there to save him. “I need to know why you wouldn’t just break up with me if you wanted to see other people so badly.” You suck in a shocked breath because, okay, that’s not what you were expecting. Between that and the paradigm shift you’ve had on how Steve must view his identity, body, and self, you’re stunned. Steve continues like he doesn’t even register that you look shocked and pale and now you’re crying because he thinks you’re cheating on him? “And I get it. I get it. You have no idea how much I understand. If I were you, I wouldn’t want me either, okay?”

You cut him off there because what the actual God damn fuck is he talking about? “No, Stevie, I’m not cheating on you.” You shake your head again and this, your statement, lights a fire in him. He still looks like Stevie rather than Steve, but there’s anger there. You imagine that’s what it might have looked like moments before he got himself in trouble back before he was serumed. “I’m not.”

“Oh, yeah?” He challenges, jaw ticking and chin jerking up, “Oh, yeah? You can’t lie to me. I know, okay? The act is up, it’s over, I know, okay? You can stop pretending.”

“Steve, I do not fucking know what you’re talking about but I”m not cheating on you!” You raise your voice, not really angry but more out of necessity. You need to get it out of his head that he is anything less than everything you want - that you could possibly love anyone more than you love him.

“I wanted to clarify something for you,” Steve says like he’s reading an old script from when he was just a beefy, red/white/blue stage prop for the American military, “I am excited to meet with you, but there are some rules. Do not talk about Captain Steve Rogers. I don’t want to hear about him,” As he continues to recite something that has clearly hurt him, you go lax. You know exactly what’s happened - your fists unclench, your jaw drops a little bit, and it feels like someone has gutted you, “I think it is wise to keep work and pleasure separate, and it’s a rule I will enforce heavily. I look forward to seeing you again.” He’s sneering at the end, tears falling down his ruddy cheeks.

“Steve,” You try again, but he cuts you off.

“Am I just work for you?” His voice is shaking more than you thought possible, and so are his hands. You’ve never seen Steve so off-kilter, so thrown, and it breaks your heart that yes, technically, you’re the cause of this. Before this, before this horrible misunderstanding, your relationship with Steve was the paragon of trust so neither of you cared if the other read emails or texts. You remember the email - the email from your fucking college professor - because it had made you so angry that he’d referred to your relationship with Steve as something as simple and base as just pleasure - like you could even put words to the galaxy of a relationship you had with Steve - that you’d gone to the gym to work off some of that irritation. You hadn’t wanted to take it out on anyone accidentally. When you came back from the gym, Steve was gone on that two-week mission that he’d left on without saying goodbye.

Oh, God. You feel sick to your stomach as the paradigm of the way that Steve’s been treating you shifts violently to the left. You have to physically hold yourself up and try to speak past the lump in your throat. Steve looks… Brokenly smug. Like he knows he’s right, but he’d rather gnaw his own legs off than be right.

“No,” You croak, “No, Steve, you’ve got it all wrong.” You want to reach for him, but it feels like the room is closing in on you. You’re second-guessing everything now - especially what you’ve just said. How many people said the exact same thing to him pre-serum because they said something meant for Bucky to him? How many times did he hear that when he was getting a new diagnosis, hoping for the best? How many times had his own mother said it to him when he told her something someone had said, fresh-faced and not yet used to the way that abled people sometimes treated disabled people? You think you might be sick. “That email was from my professor, Steve. I’m not cheating on you, I’d never.” He laughs darkly and sits back down in his chair, head in his hands again. You try to gather the strength to move toward him when you see his shoulders shaking, a telltale sign that he’s crying.

“A professor,” He says with a watery laugh, “Right.”

Finally, you realize that he needs you, needs to know you love him, that you’d do anything for him. You can iron out the kinks later - figure out why he didn’t want to come to talk to you past the original hurt, why he treated you so coldly, why he didn’t trust that you wouldn’t do this to him - but now, you need to show him that you’re here. That you choose him. That you’ll always choose him.

You make your way to him and set a shaking hand on his shoulder. For a brief second you think he’s going to shake you off but then Steve’s hand shoots up and latches onto where your hand is resting, dipping his head to press against your arm. “Stevie, please,” You say, unsure of what you’re asking him to do, “I picked up a class, just one, and it’s… I picked it up for you, it’s about the ‘30s and ‘40s and…” He looks up at you and he looks so broken - face ruddy and wet with tears, lip wobbling, chest heaving as he tries to not sob. His brows are knit and he looks confused, “I just wanted to be able to understand you better. You had to leave so much of yourself at the door when you joined the Avengers, had to leave so much of yourself in the ice… In Erskine’s lab… Stevie, I just wanted you to be able to be you when you’re with me. I wanted to know the you that you were before you became Captain America.” Your voice is shaking, knees knocking together, and honestly? You feel like you might blackout.

“What?” He rasps, “What?”

“He sent that email because too many kids signed up for his class thinking that they’d be able to look at pictures of you and Buck for a semester. Emailed me directly because he knows we’re…” You choke on your words, shaking your head because you’re not even sure there’s a we anymore, “Because he knows I’m on the team. Didn’t want me walking in and making his class about just a few years in the ‘30s and ‘40s rather than the culture of the time.” You don’t know how else to explain it to him, but Steve isn’t saying anything - practically isn’t moving or breathing- so you continue to try and explain what’s really happening as best as you can, “And - and that email made me so angry because he singled me out, didn’t email anyone else about it, and I left to try and work some of that out; I didn’t want to take it out on you, or let it spoil - let it spoil… But when I came back from the gym, you were gone. You were gone for two weeks and I didn’t know why.” You’re crying harder now and pretty sure that within the next sixty seconds you’re going to collapse if you don’t sit down.

Steve shakes his head, still looking like he doesn’t understand. “What?” He says for a third time, “A class? A college class?”

“I just wanted to feel closer to you,” You confess, “Just wanted to understand a fraction of your life without making you do the heavy liftin’ and teachin’ me. Shouldn’t have’t do that,” You’re sobbing, barely biting out your words as you realize that something you’ve done to strengthen your relationship with Steve has destroyed it, “Shouldn’t have to explain a whole different time just to feel loved, Stevie. Should be able to be with someone who understands without you havin’ to explain.” You’re not sure you can say Peggy’s name out loud, and you hope he understands what you’re saying without making you actually say it, “Should’a been able to have love with someone who knew, and I know I’m nothin’ compared to what you should’a had, but I want to be. I want to be in the same ballpark instead’a watchin’ from the stands.” You wipe your face with your free hand and look away from Steve when he stands in front of you. You don’t want to see the look on his face - what he’s thinking about what you’ve said.

He says your name and you glance at him, but his expression stops him in your tracks. Where Steve looked broken and hurt and fuming with anger to hide the anguish, now he looks stricken. You shake your head, “No, no. I didn’t say that to make you feel guilty-”

“You think that I care about whether or not you can understand the ‘40s?” He cuts you off, hands moving to curl around your biceps, “You think that I care whether or not you can relate to a time in history when you weren’t even thought of?”

“Of course I love you. I love you more than anything in this world, but you shouldn’t have to not care, Steve,” You argue, shaking your head, “That’s what I’m trying to say. You should be with someone who understands without explanation. I just wanted to give that to you - didn’t know that this would happen.”

“I should be with someone who loves me,” He argues back, “If you love me, that’s all that matters. My past be damned.”

“But your past is you!” You try to pull away from Steve, but he anchors you there. You’re dizzy from being so close to him after this long, but also because of how many different twists this situation has taken. You can barely keep up with how bad your communication with Steve has become - barely keep up with how you need to fix it, or how to fix it. “Your past is you,” You repeat when you realize that Steve isn’t going to let you go. “And you shouldn’t have to give that up so that someone will love you.”

“But you love me,” He says desperately, ducking his head so that he’s nearly nose to nose with you, “You love me, right?”

“More than anything,” You say, closing your eyes and relishing in the feeling of being so close to Steve, “I love you more than I’ve ever loved anyone. I don’t care about what anyone else thinks, or anyone else. I’ll even stop goin’ to class if you want me to - Steve, I just can’t do this anymore. Can’t do this thing where you don’t talk to me about what’s botherin’ you.” You’re choking up, barely whispering, but you know he hears you. YOu can feel his warm breath on your face, “Nearly fuckin’ killed me.”

“I thought it was goin’ to be easier,” He breathes, nose bumping yours, “When you eventually decided to leave me for him. Thought I was savin’ myself some trouble.” You can practically taste his tears as they fall again, “Buck and Nat tried to tell me that you weren’t - that you wouldn’t - but I just couldn’t believe them.”

When you open your eyes, his are closed. This close to him you can see the soft freckles that are blooming over his eyelids, his soft eyelashes kissing his cheekbones. You can feel him breathing, feel him nearly pressed against you in a way that feels hauntingly nostalgic and terrifyingly fleeting; like you’ll be able to feel his warmth for years to come, but he’s about to disappear. “That’s okay,” You finally whisper, “It’s okay that you didn’t believe them. That you thought what you thought. It’s okay.” He shakes his head against yours, opening his mouth to protest, but you refuse to let him feel guilty about feeling this way - you have plenty of time to sit him down and talk to him candidly about the way he acted because of these feelings, anyway. “If I would have been in your place I’m not sure I would have believed them.”

“I treated you so badly…” He shifts and wraps his arms around you. It’s almost immediate - you relax into his arms and wind yours around his waist, keeping him pulled against you as he presses his face into your neck and you press your cheek against his chest. “So awfully.”

“We’ll talk about that, okay? But later. Right now you just need to know that I love you, Steve. I love you more than I can tell you - more than I can express.” You want to kiss him, but you can’t. Can’t kiss him, you need to wait for him to kiss you, for him to close that gap and show you that he still loves you like you love him. “We’ll have to have a talk, a long and hard conversation about this, Stevie, but for now… For now, I’m just content to be with you, okay? MIssed you so much.”

He sighs, nose pressing against yours again. “Missed you too, dovie. Missed you more than I can even say,” His voice breaks as his lips brush yours. Your relationship is not without its flaws and problems - Steve’s actions when he thought you were cheating on him are proof of that and, well, the fact that you didn’t realize what was happening, why it was happening, or a large part of your boyfriend’s psychological makeup having an impact on your relationship while it went unknown by you… There is a lot of work for the two of you to do, a lot of work to do, a lot of communication to be done… But you’d do it all for Steve, over and over again.

When he presses forward and presses his lips gently to yours, you know that he’ll do it all for you, over and over again, too.

[lunar-wandering]

“this house is a frickin’ nightmare”

so i. decided to write something for the ‘Sitcom’ AU, which is basically just the concept that post-canon, everyone lives in the same house.... its Fun.

Word Count: 2.7k

Read on Ao3

-

"Monkey King, get down from the fridge."

"No."

This exchange is what drew MK's attention to the fact that something was happening in the kitchen.

In MK's opinion, it was far too early for something to be happening in the kitchen.

"Wukong, I swear, if you don't get down from there-"

"What- you gonna stab me? Pigsy, you know full well that method is ineffective."

"What is going on?" MK asked, entering the kitchen and, well, seeing exactly what he had expected; Wukong crouched on top of the fridge, staring down at Pigsy, who was glaring up at him.

Still though. Just because he'd expected to see it didn't explain why it was happening.

"Oh hey, kid." Wukong said, taking notice of him. "Everything's fine, you can go back to your room, breakfast will be ready soon."

"It would be done already if you hadn't burned it." Pigsy said, gesturing to the charred remains of what supposedly had been breakfast. "Seriously, can't you follow simple instructions?? Now we've gotta start all over."

"It's not my fault I'm a visual learner." Wukong said, his tail swinging back and forth.

"It was three steps-"

"What's going on?"

MK barely kept himself from startling at the new voice behind him, turning around to see a very tired looking Red Son.

"Breakfast burned." MK said, catching Red Son up on the situation. Red Son hummed in contemplation, walking into the kitchen, picking up a piece of the unrecognizable charred food, and, ignoring the other's growing horror, he ate it.

"...Tastes fine to me." He said, going so far as to grab and nibble on another piece as he turned and left, presumably heading back to his room. The remaining three watched him go in shocked silence.

"....This house is a frickin' nightmare." Wukong deadpanned. Pigsy nodded in agreement.

"Aptly put. Now get off of the fridge."

"No."

MK decided to go back to bed.

-

It was commonly known, within the household, that somehow, Tang and Wukong continuously managed to get out of doing their fair share of the chores. No one was quite sure how they did it, as the two of them kept coming up with new methods every day.

Today's method was..... interesting, to say the least.

Somehow, someway, they had managed to remove their names from the Chore Roulette Wheel, without leaving any trace that their names had ever even been there. Which was, in fact, rather impressive, considering that the roulette wheel was literally a giant wooden roulette wheel, built by Sandy, and there were no empty spaces were their names used to be, they were just. Gone.

To be honest, MK would've never noticed if Mei hadn't pointed it out.

Now, there was a house-wide search for the two chore-shirkers.

"Found 'em yet?" MK yelled down the stairs into the basement. A few seconds passed, then a unanimous call of "No!" came. MK sighed. If the Spider-gang couldn't find Tang and Wukong down there, then they probably weren't there. (.....Probably. Wukong did have a lot of tricks up his sleeves, and MK didn't put it pass his mentor to use them for something like this.)

That checked off the majority of the house.... which only left-

An enraged scream (courtesy of Mei) from upstairs confirmed what MK had concluded.

They were on the roof.

MK rushed to the stairs, running up them-

Only to pause as he heard a yelp, and a flash of gold fell past the window, followed by a loud thud. MK leaned on the windowsill to look outside, just in time to see Tang fall past it. Wukong, a few branches and grass in his fur from his rough landing, summoned his cloud to catch Tang, before zooming away.

As MK would later find out, in the haste to escape Mei's wrath, Tang had actually pushed Wukong off the roof. Wukong, in return, had unceremoniously dropped Tang on the ground the first chance he got.

Both of their names were back on the roulette wheel by the next morning.

....They still managed to get out of doing their chores though.

-

"Oh, hey Macaque." MK mumbled, tiredly rubbing his eyes, and Macaque, mid-way through stealing a snack out of the fridge, froze like a deer in the headlights.

"Uh.....hey, bud." He said, slowly closing the fridge door, glancing at MK, who was obviously very tired, then looking at the clock on the wall.

2:43 AM. Okay, he could work with this.

"What are you doing up so late?" Macaque asked, leaning casually against the fridge in an attempt to hide his nervousness. If MK had been more awake, he would've noticed and called him out on it, but as it was....

"Just woke up.... wanted to get a snack." MK said, and Macaque quickly opened a nearby cupboard.

"Here, have this." He said, putting a cookie in MK's hands, before grabbing him by the shoulders, turning him around, and gently shoving him back towards his room. "Now go back to bed."

"G'night, Macaque." MK said, nibbling on his cookie.

"Goodnight, MK." Macaque sighed, waiting until he heard MK's bedroom door click closed again before melting back into the shadows.

The next morning, MK thought he had dreamt the whole thing. After all, Macaque had vehemently denied the invitation to live in the house with everyone else, surely if he had changed his mind and started to live with them, someone would've noticed.

....Right?

-

"Monkey King?"

"Yeah?"

"Why do you always sleep on the roof?" Red Son asked, "I mean, you do have a room after all, why don't you use it?"

"I just like watching the stars." Wukong said, reclining on his cloud. Suddenly, Mei and MK also appeared beside Red Son, with their arms crossed, looking unimpressed.

"You told me that beds were uncomfortable." Mei said.

"And you told me that you liked the breeze." MK added. Wukong's tail bristled a little, but he still didn't look over at them.

"Well, I mean, all of those are true." Wukong said, "Figured I would just... switch my answers up from time to time, keep things entertaining you know?"

"That doesn't explain why you slept out there in the pouring rain." Mei said, "In fact, the only time we've seen you sleep inside is when we have blanket fort night."

"...The rain was nice?" Wukong said, sounding uncertain. The trio narrowed their eyes.

"Is there something wrong with your room?" Red Son asked, and Wukong flinched.

"No." He said, finally sitting up and looking at them. "Really, my room's perfectly fine, I don't know where you're getting the idea that something's wrong-"

"You're doing that nervous smile again." MK said, and Wukong slammed a hand over his mouth in an attempt to hide what the trio had already seen.

There was a moment of silence, and in that moment, each member of the traffic light trio came to a shared conclusion.

No matter the cost, they would get into Wukong's room.

Almost as though they had actually planned it, the trio took off towards the staircase, ignoring Wukong's yells for them to stop. Hurriedly, Wukong summoned two clones, then rushed after the trio.

Red on got caught on the stairs, the clone grabbing hold of the edge of his coat and dragging him down. It wouldn't be able to hold him for long of course, his fire could quickly burn the clone away, but it would still manage to slow him down.

Mei was captured in the hallway, the clone pushing off the wall to tackle her, accidentally knocking her right into Yin and Jin's room, pining her to the ground as the twins yelped in shock.

...Which just left MK.

Having trained with the Monkey King, MK found himself easily dodging Wukong's attempts to catch him. Slightly out of breath, he skidded to a stop in front of Wukong's door, turned the knob, and opened it.

"I don't really see what the problem is, the room looks fine to me-" MK said, stepping into the room.

"Kid, wait-" Wukong started to say, but it was too late.

MK tripped, tumbling into the room, dispelling the illusion Wukong had carefully crafted and placed over it.

Wukong's room was a mess, to put things lightly. There was stuff everywhere- books, clothes, antiques, food, you named it, it was probably there. It was to the point where there was no place to sleep, the bed being covered in stuff. Which, well, that explained the whole 'sleeping on the roof' thing, but still.

Wukong nervously shifted from foot to foot in the doorway. Red Son and Mei, who had succeeded in freeing themselves, as well as Yin and Jin, who had gotten curious from all the commotion, stared over Wukong's shoulders, taking in the state of the room.

MK sat there for a moment, looking at the mess (and sure, MK's room was messy too, but this-), before slowly turning around to look at his mentor, a serious expression on his face.

"Wukong." MK said, and Wukong stiffened, his nervous smile growing wider at the sound of MK saying his name instead of his title.

"...Yeah?" Wukong said, chuckling nervously as MK's look darkened.

"...I'm getting Sandy."

"Wait, no no no-"

The rest of the day was spent cleaning up Wukong's room, sorting through the piles upon piles of stuff.

Wukong, in a bout of spite, still slept on the roof anyways.

-

Yin and Jin stared in shock at the scene in front of them.

Everyone in the house knew that Wukong and Tang adamantly avoided doing their share of the chores. (The roof-pushing incident was still fresh in everyone's minds, after all).

So that's why seeing Wukong doing the laundry was very out of place.

"...What are you two staring at?" Wukong asked, snapping the twins out of their shocked reverie.

"It's just....weird to see you doing the laundry, that's all." Yin said, and that-

Well, surprisingly enough, that made Wukong actually pause.

"It is?" He asked, slowly setting the laundry basket down on the ground, subtly nudging it under a nearby table so that it was now out of view.

"Well, I mean, with how you and Mr. Tang utilize every method possible to avoid doing the chores, we never thought we'd actually see you doing one." Jin said.

"...I see." Wukong said, quietly. "Well, in that case. You two saw nothing."

"Wha-"

Not giving them a chance to respond, Wukong flashed a peace sign, then vanished, leaving the twins to sputter in disbelief.

(Later, Macaque returned to the laundry room to pick up the clothes he'd left behind.)

-

Syntax paused as he stared at the sight before him.

"...What is this?" He ased, drawing the attention of the occupants in the living room.

"A braid train!" MK replied, and honestly, that's what it was. MK sat on the floor, braiding Bai He's hair, Bai He braiding Red Son's, who was braiding Mei's hair. Mei pulled one hand out of Spider Queen's hair to give Syntax a little wave before returning to braiding the queen's hair. Spider Queen gently weaved Huntsman's hair into a braid that looked above professional level. Huntsman was twisted at an odd angle in order to put some braids in Sandy's beard. And Sandy carefully created some tiny braids in Wukong's fur."

"I....see." Syntax said, holding up his phone and taking a quick picture before any of the braid train participants could notice.

"Do you wanna join?" MK asked, "You can either braid my hair or get yours braided by Monkey King. Your choice."

Syntax took a moment to think about it.

He ended up braiding MK's hair.

-

There was someone in the shower.

Now, usually, this wouldn't be such a mind-boggling thing, but-

All of the house's occupants stared at the bathroom door in trepidation.

"You sure Wukong didn't just accidentally leave the shower on again?" Princess Iron Fan asked, prompting some indignant sputtering from Wukong, who was sitting on Demon Bull King's shoulder. MK shook his head in the negative.

"No, I'm sure I heard someone moving in there." He said, crossing his arms.

"Why don't you or Monkey King just use your true sight and get this whole mystery over with?" Jin asked.

"Yeah, we've already been waiting for like, 20 minutes." Yin said.

"They're in the shower." MK said, "I'm not just gonna invade their privacy like that, regardless of who they are."

The shower turned off, and everyone turned to stare at the door again, in silence. There was some rustling around, and then the door opened.

Macaque. It was Macaque. Who, upon realizing that literally the entire household was standing in front of him, froze.

And then immediately tried to turn and run.

"Oh no you don't." Wukong said, jumping off of Demon Bull King's shoulder, and outright tackling the other monkey to the ground. "What are you doing here?"

"Uh, I live here?" Macaque said, sitting up and shoving Wukong off of him.

"You turned down the invitation to come and live with us though...." Wukong said, slowly standing back up. ".....How long have you been here?"

"Two weeks."

"Two weeks?!" Everyone went into various states of shock.

"How could we not have noticed you?" MK asked.

"You- you did notice me though." Macaque said, "Like, we had a whole conversation in the kitchen at around 3 AM."

"You think I remember what happens at 3 am?!" MK said, holding his head in his hands, and Red Son comfortingly patted him on the back.

"What happens at 3 AM stays at 3 AM." Red Son said, sounding like he was saying some ancient wisdom despite the actual sentence being utter nonsense. Yin and Jin snapped their fingers as a look of realization appeared on their faces. 

"That's why we saw Wukong doing the laundry the other day." Yin said, "It was Macaque in disguise!"

"....Yeah, I figured you'd notice if I didn't do some chores, just to clean up after myself." Macaque sighed, and Pigsy turned to glare at Wukong and Tang.

"See? Even the ex-villain does more chores than you two." He said, and Wukong and Tang purposefully looked away, whistling innocently.

"Wait." Mei said, "If you've been here for two weeks, and we haven't seen you use any of the bedrooms... then where have you been sleeping?"

As it turned out, Macaque had been spending his nights in the storage closet, curled up in the darkest corner of the room with nothing other than a blanket and a small pillow. The others, of course, deemed this as unacceptable, and pretty much near shoved him into one of the leftover bed rooms.

...Which he didn't even end up using that night, as it ended up being a night where everyone ended up falling asleep in the living room, blankets and pillows strewn about everywhere.

The next morning, Macaque wasn't there when the others woke up, and there was a brief moment of panic over the monkey's whereabouts-

And then said monkey walked back into the room, using the shadows to help him carry some trays with breakfast on it.

He paused when he registered that everyone was staring at him.

"....What?" He asked, "I woke up first, that means I had breakfast duty, right?"

"I mean.....yeah." MK said, graciously accepting his plate of food. "But, to be honest. I kinda expected you to burn it like Monkey King did."

"Hey, I did that on purpose. For Red Son." Wukong said, "Cause, y'know. He likes charred food. Apparently."

"You did not do that on purpose and we all know it." Pigsy said, "You were just as unaware of Red Son's dietary habits as the rest of us."

"...I literally just woke up and I'm kinda feeling attacked." Red Son mumbled, sitting up. "Should I feel like I'm being attacked?"

"No, you're fine, we're just calling out Wukong again." Spider Queen whispered to him, and Red Son hummed before rolling back over, clearly intending on getting a few more minutes of rest despite the argument starting to occur in the room. Macaque, for his part, remained standing frozen, with MK standing beside him, nibbling at the food on his plate.

"....Should I be concerned about this?" Macaque asked, staring at the fight taking place. MK shrugged.

"Nah." He said, "This is just the same shit as always."

[astaroth1357]

The Brothers as Angels of Virtue

My Brain: Stop thinking about the Angel!Brothers. The Angel!Brothers aren’t real. Like, they’re even less real than usual.

Me: But they are real!! *puts hand over heart* They’re real to me… in my heart…!

My Brain: “Your heart” ain’t in the canon but whatever, good luck with your delusions…

Me: Oh yeah?? Well I’ll show you, Brain!! I can FORCE this to work with the canon!!!

Brain: Nani!?!

Angel of Humility, Lucifer

Lucifer obviously wasn’t the first angel, Michael and Gabriel were there before him so those two had the most hand in “mentoring” him as he grew up.

Lucifer was always Michael’s favorite from the beginning. He was a very mild-mannered and studious kid from the get-go, even if he could be a bit blunt... 

He seemed to always be willing to learn something new and even after he would all but master whatever he practiced, he’d never forget to give credit to the people who taught him along the way. His willingness to step out of the spotlight, despite his many talents, eventually earned him the virtue of “Humility.”

Lucifer was around his pre-teens when Mammon was finally created, slightly too old to be able to grow up with him super closely, but still young enough to be more approachable than Michael or the others when he needed help.

Lucifer loved little Mammon with all his heart and would try to give him advice when he could, but since Michael would keep him busy helping him on most days Mammon was left with little people to socialize with… at least until Levi came along anyway.

As time passed and he grew even older, more and more siblings became added to the family. Lucifer never ignored or forgot about a single one of them. While Michael and others concerned themselves more with the day-to-day work, he’d be the one to check in on everyone and be sure they were alright.

Michael would arrange for a lot of “family activities” while they were all still together and Lucifer would actually enjoy participating. He’d usually volunteer to be the person who’d help the youngest at the table learn how to play a game since he wasn’t very competitive himself. A lot of the goodwill his family still has for him comes from these kinds of memories… No matter what happened afterwards.

Angel of Charity, Mammon

Mammon came around a fair amount of time after Lucifer so he was the youngest angel for quite a while. 

This led him to grow up a little… wilder than the others because he used to do things to get attention. Not big things, but like break a rule here or there to get people noticing you know?

Despite his “problem child” tendencies, no one ever considered Mammon a bad apple or anything. He probably had the most compassionate heart out of all the angels, the kind of kid who offers you one of their toys when they see you’re upset, you know?

As more siblings came into the picture, Mammon had a nasty habit of spoiling them silly. Especially Levi, who was much closer to his age, and ultimately got most of the toys when they would play together and gifts afterwards. Mammon’s selfless attitude towards giving gave him the virtue of “Charity.”

Over time, Mammon began to get more and more dissatisfied with how nice the lives of angels were compared to those of humans and he started making secret trips to the human world to help out the less fortunate. Since this was tiptoeing dangerously close to meddling with human lives, Lucifer was brought in to give Mammon a different outlet for his frustration...

Lucifer placed Mammon in the guardian angel program, allowing him to pick one human whom he could help as much as he liked, so long as he followed the rules. As it would turn out, Mammon took to guardianship swimmingly and stayed in the program right up until their eventual fall… and sort of afterwards too if you think about it.

Angel of Kindness, Leviathan

After Levi was made, Mammon was SO excited to have someone close to his age around that he became his main playmate.

Levi adored Mammon back then, the two were practically inseparable when they were young. The other angels would find them running around together, the more extroverted and lively Mammon leading the way for his his shy, but sweet brother in for whatever they were doing.

When Mammon would come up with any big project ideas, Levi would be the first person he’d ask to be his “partner-in-crime.” Unfortunately, it was still very much one of those “they’re a pair, but they have two braincells between them” kind of dynamics so things would always go south quick.

One day, Mammon was determined to make breakfast for all the other angels so Michael could take a break, so he pulled in Levi to help him. Because neither of them actually knew how to cook, the kitchen turned into a disaster and they both were covered in eggs and flour when Lucifer found them...

As Levi grew up, he more or less became of the unofficial helper and confidant to all the other angels, his siblings included. In time, because he was always so willing to lend a hand with everyone else’s projects, he became pretty skilled at a lot of things as a result. People eventually took note of Levi’s good-nature and named his virtue “Kindness.”

When Mammon started acting up more and more, the other angels would try to discourage Levi from associating with him as much but he’d always be the first to stick up for his older brother. No matter how much he bent the rules, he knew that he had a good heart and always meant well in the end. That, unfortunately, wouldn’t always hold true down the line...

Angel of Chastity, Asmodeus

There was another gap between Levi’s creation and Asmo’s so yet again there was a young angel without anyone their age to play with…

Unlike Mammon’s situation, however, Asmo was at least fortunate enough to have older brothers who understood what that felt like and tried their best to play with him when they could. Lucifer did this in particular because he was worried that Asmo could start acting out like Mammon had all those years ago...

Because of the extra attention, Asmo took to Lucifer very quickly. He saw him sort of how Luke sees Michael for quite a while and wanted to help him as much as he could. Sometimes people would even joke that Asmo was like his shadow, because the little angel would follow him around and mimic whatever he did.

Because they were together so much, Lucifer did a lot to shelter Asmo from the less savory things in life... It wasn’t so much out of prudence as it was brotherly concern for the boy, Mammon was still quarreling with him about the state of the human world and he didn’t want Asmo to go down a similar path... Due to this, Asmo had a very sheltered view on life and his perpetual wide-eyed innocence earned him the virtue of “Chastity.”

After he got a little older, he started wanting to find his own identity apart from Lucifer and that was around the time that the twins were made. 

Though everyone adored the twins, Asmo loved them both most of all! He took on the role of their babysitter and wouldn’t hear anything to the contrary, though he was a much more relaxed guardian than Lucifer had been to him (mostly because he was just so soft for their cute little faces).

Angel of Temperance, Beelzebub

It was a big deal when the twins were created because it’s very rare for two angels to be made so close together, on the same day no less. Beel came first when the sun rose then Belphie second after it fell. 

Asmo was ecstatic to have a younger sibling at last and all of the other brothers were equally delighted. Though Asmo did a lot of their babysitting, Beel was still more closely drawn to Lucifer whenever he would watch them. During those times, he would notice how tired Lucifer would be whenever he got to play with them… this would come to affect him later on.

The twins were always close to each other, naturally, but there were still big differences in their personalities even back then. Beel had always been known for his even-temper and awareness of both others and himself. If Mammon was the kid who’d give you his toys, Beel was the one to listen to your problems (even if he didn’t understand them, like at all).

From a young age, Beel would quietly watch those around him. The Celestial Realm was a demanding environment and a lot of angels had a good deal of work to do... Beel connected the dots that doing all this work all the time led to a lot of stress early on.

Being a caring soul, Beel used this knowledge to intervene when he saw his brothers getting overworked and helped remind them of their limits. This would apply especially to his twin (who was pretty much his patient zero) and Lucifer, who eventually grew to rely on Beel’s advice so much he  made him part of his personal guard. His guidance and insight beyond his years eventually gave him the title of “Temperance.”

Though Beel was protective of everyone, Belphie often got most of his attention because of his tendency to push himself farther than he needed to. It was his desire to see his twin take more breaks that led him to asking Mammon if Belphie could start going to the human world and well… We know where that ends up.

Angel of Diligence, Belphegor

As the younger of the twins, all the other angels considered Belphie to be the baby of the family and treated him as such. Asmo adored him because he was just so cute, so he got coddled A LOT when compared to everyone else.

Belphie differed from his brother by being the more active of the two. While Beel would be comfortable to sit back and watch then lend a hand, Belphie always felt more better just getting up and doing whatever needed done himself, usually with a smile in the process. He would actually have to lean on Beel quite a lot because of this, since his twin could remind him to rest and take breaks.

Combine his cheerful attitude with his cute face and “baby brother” status and Belphie could always get away with quite a lot, even back then. Of all the boys, even Lucifer couldn’t bring himself to be too hard on him. That didn’t really become a problem until he got a little older though...

Beel was worried that Belphie wasn’t getting enough rest, so he convinced Mammon to start taking Belphie out with him when he went to the human world as a guardian angel. He figured that if Belphie was away from work, then he had to rest, right? Mammon agreed and that’s what sparked Belphie’s fascination with the human world to start with.

After getting to go a couple times, he would start working extra hard in order to suck up to Lucifer, Michael, or whoever he could so he could go again. When the other angels started getting concerned that he was spending too much time there, they tried to put a limit on it to keep him home. However, that just lead him to sneaking out and leaving notes for Beel on where to find him if people started noticing...

Beel tried his best to curtail his twin’s trips, but even he couldn’t really tell Belphie no when he needed to hear it. By the time Lilith came around, Belphie was already making regular trips there and back and well… That’s how the story goes.

[troutfur]

Anon-sending-the-long-tanistry-asks back again! Maybe to keep the rivalry between Thistleclaw and Bluefur for the deputy position Thistleclaw is a close relative of Sunstar? In canon his only relative, that we know of, is his brother Featherwhisker who is a medicine cat. (in this AU would Featherwhisker have been kept from taking that path without another option for deputy?) But with a slight tweak it could be rivalry between different ideologies as well as blood vs adoption. That might even add to Tigerclaw's belief he deserves to be leader if his father/mentor impressed upon him that Bluestar stole leadership from their family. Also, will Hawkfrost and Mothwing be in RiverClan still/in this AU at all? I've always been interested in the fact that Hawkfrost was able to successfully fake a sign from StarClan, and in an AU with this kind of inheritance it'd be cool to see if that's something that's been abused in the past/something he can use in the present. Also, since Graystripe would just be a stopgap deputy (in the clan's eyes) would there be tension if Firestar didn't promote Cloudtail as soon as Brightheart had Whitekit? (Or would he make Cloudtail his deputy without reluctance?) In canon he didn't want to choose a new deputy even while everyone was sure Graystripe was gone, so I imagine a similar thing could happen here even without the pressure of Graystripe being gone. (and then if Graystripe still gets taken it could be considered a sign it's time for Firestar to choose a new heir.) At the same time I think it would be interesting to see how a rivalry between Squirrelpaw and Brambleclaw would play out. I remember in one of your original posts you speculated that Squirrelpaw would be under pressure to become a good candidate once she reached adulthood. If Firestar was refusing to replace Graystripe it might be misconstrued as him waiting for Squirrelpaw (or maybe Brambleclaw) to meet the requirements and that could add extra pressure to one or both of them. But all of this is assuming Firestar wouldn't go with the flow of Clan customs and replace Graystripe, or that he isn't actually waiting for Squirrelpaw to grow up so she can be his deputy, he very well might be waiting for that. Since this last little bit has been about Squirrelflight and Brambleclaw, that also makes me wonder if a leader's mate is an acceptable choice for deputy. Or if they're waiting for their kits to grow up if the mate is a stand in for them. I swear I don't keep plan on making these long, but every time I start typing I just seem to think or more and more things I want to ask about! I'm excited for this and I love the titles you came up with! Even though the sword is kind of just a left over, I do like that it's light and shadow being contrasted in names. (and enemies being unable to escape in battle reminds me of how Brokentail was able to take all of Raggedstar's lives in a single blow like Scourge with Tigerstar. It also adds to the way the other clans talk about ShadowClan in the first series, as ruthless fighters that have had their hearts hardened by cold North winds.) I'm excited to see what else you come up with!

Thanks so much for writing in once again! <3 It's this enthusiasm that motivates me to write and to talk publicly about my projects with y'all. I'm glad y'all are enjoying it so far and that we're getting to talk through ideas together. It's my favorite part of having this little fandom sideblog.

I very much like that idea! Thistleclaw representing an idea of blood absolutism while Bluefur representing an idea that connections through mentorship are just as valid. It's with Sunstar afterall that the mentor-apprentice deputy chain in ThunderClan starts. I can even see how in his search for returning the leadership to his family, spurred on by Thistleclaw, Tigerclaw could very well spare Whitestorm. Afterall, if either ends up as deputy it's goal accomplished, although Tigerclaw would very much prefer it was him. There's much to consider here, but that's good, thank you for the suggestion.

Oh man, Hawkfrost! Hell yeah, I like him in RiverClan. The fact he's one of the Tigerspawn really puts a different spin on his deputyship rivalry with Mistyfoot. Obviously she's the preferred candidate being related to Stonestar by blood and with stuff shifted around so Leopardfur was never an elligible candidate for deputyship he's probably Stonestar's apprentice. Afterall, giving Mothpaw to Mistyfoot and Hawkpaw to Leopardstar was an attempt to show them acceptance so if we shift the leader around Hawk had to have still been the leader's apprentice. That's also an interesting contrast to Bluefur and Thistleclaw's whole deal. Hmmmmm, this is an alluring prospect to write...

Regarding the situation with Graystripe... I feel like Firestar would be reluctant to appoint Cloudtail at all and it's definitely going to be misconstrued as him waiting on Squirrelpaw. Cloudtail had a rather... eventful youth let's say, and I can see Firestar worrying he might not be leader material, a sentiment the Clan probably agrees with to some extent. So until he shows change, or Brambleclaw meets the requirements, I don't think Firestar would cave in on replacing Graystripe. Squirrelpaw is an afterthought in deputy considerations I feel. Fire doesn't want to pile on too much pressure on her, but of course that's not the message the rest of the Clan is getting. So he pressures her kind of on accident? And I don't think she'd confront her dad about it so it's pressure she's got to bear on her own.

ACTUALLY THAT'S SUCH A BRILLIANT IDEA! I think it fits with this insecurity that's so characteristic of Bramble has if he starts thinking of Squirrelpaw, a teenage girl, as his rival from early on. All the while Squirrelpaw is triyng so hard to fit into the mold everyone assumes her father wants to put her in and it's kind of exhausting for her. She probably much rather Bramble actually get the stupid deputyship so she can have space to breathe.

Of course, as these things go she can't really express it outwardly so the two are locked into this conflict until then. I don't see them getting together within the same timeframe as in canon. Perhaps later after he has locked in the deputyship and she needs someone to help her out with the kits Leafpool asked her to take. I'm imagining something akin to solacefruit's but I couldn't care for the history as the start of their relationship and as they act the part of mates and parents they eventually fall in love?

GOSH, this is so cute. I'm not often one for wholesome Bramblesquirrel, even when I'm in full Brambledad revisionist fanfictions mode I tend to split them up or else have their relationship still be strained at best. But I just cannot pass up the cuteness of this concept. Brambleclaw and Squirrelflight can have a wholesome relationship, as a treat.

I would say in Bramble's case having Squirrel as deputy probably would have more to do with her being Firestar's daughter than with her being his mate. So yeah, typically mate of the leader not an acceptable choice, the mate in question would have to have other relationship to power in order to really be elligible.

RIGHT! That's another connection between ShadowClan and the Sword of Light. They are a clan of ruthless fighters, not letting their enemies retreat until they're done with them. It very much fits them, I love that angle to it. Thank you again anon. You and everyone else writing in are just the best.

[dangereel]

What are the relationships/ sexualities with the gang

sexualities are still a wip, but ill explain some major relationships between some dudes in au canon

RED SIDE

carmen + player -- they simultaneously have a mother/son relationship and are very close friends. shipping between these two is not tolerated whatsoever

carmen + ivy -- they MAY be a lil gay.. .carmen is bi and ivy is a lesbian. aside from gay shit theyre both extremely close, with ivy being the first to assist carmen in escaping v.i.l.e.

ivy + zack -- they have a strong familial bond. they still poke fun at each other, yet their bond is so much stronger than in actual canon. one is likely to shut down completely for weeks if the other was lost in any way

carmen + shadowsan -- they have a strong father/daughter relationship, with shadowsan actually claiming his title as carmen's father soon after joining her, ivy, zack and player. he has a friendly relationship with zack and ivy, and a mentor/student relationship with player

carmen + crackle -- crackle joined carmen’s team after getting kicked out of v.i.l.e. for getting caught by police. at first, they were suspicious of each other, but they have grown to become friends. they CAN be shipped, but it is NOT canon.

V.I.L.E.

le chevre + el topo -- both are gay as hell. they're in a relationship and they run a flower shop together in their free time

tigress + paperstar -- they’re stuck between being enemies and being friends. they fight often, but they can maintain a normal and casual conversation.

neal + tigress -- theyre close friends :] they have similar senses of humor and can easily make each other laugh. tigress is also one of the only people that are allowed to comfort neal when needed. tigress also goes to him for shit she wants too since neal has alot of money

crackle + tigress -- tigress thinks he’s a huge idiot, but she’s the first person crackle goes to for help when he gets hurt. she doesn’t know it, but tigress would die for crackle. they are not in a relationship and are not romantically interested in each other.

mime bomb + tigress -- they have a very similar relationship to carmen and ivy’s relationship, but their’s is more intimate and full of angst. tigress has a bit of a crush on mime bomb, but its one-sided

mime bomb + neal -- theyre pretty gay.....a bit fruity.........they are VERY close, and mime bomb is one of the few people that neal goes to for comfort. mime bomb is a bit scared of neal usually, though, but he cant help but love the big loser. neal tends to find excuses to touch mime bomb as often as possible

neal + le chevre -- neal does NOT go to chevre for comfort, but he allows chevre to touch him occasionally. theyre the wholesome kind of besties, with chevre often encouraging neal in any mission that they share. chevre has a special nickname for neal, which is “anguille” (”eel” in french)

shadowsan + neal -- they used to have a father/son relationship, with shadowsan being the only person neal EVER seemed to care about, but after shadowsan left for the red side, neal has sworn to kill him the second he saw him next. shadowsan still feels horrible for leaving neal, but it was for the best.

dr bellum + neal -- dr bellum was supposed to be shadowsan’s replacement, but it just isnt the same...they have a similar relationship like shadowsan and neal’s previous relationship, but it feels more... empty

ECT

no members of acme will be included as i dont know how to involve them into the au yet

neal + zack -- neal LOVES how easily zack gets scared. whenever v.i.l.e. manages to capture anybody from the red side, neal tends to get a bit carried away when messing with zack

carmen + tigress -- they definitely fight everytime they see each other

mime bomb + carmen -- carmen is VERY concerned about him, as he HAS helped her escape vile and has expressed a want to leave with her. carmen promised she’d come back for him eventually, and she now waits for the perfect opportunity to get him out

VALID SHIPS

- mime bomb x neal

- neal x tigress

- mime bomb x neal x tigress

- mime bomb x tigress

- crackle x carmen

- ivy x carmen

- chevre x topo

- paperstar x tigress

- alot of others im too lazy to add

if any of these details get updated in the future, ill edit this with the appropriate information

[randomestfandoms-ocs]

i would love to know more about all of your batman ocs if you have anything you want to share!

ahhh thank you I absolutely do!!!!!!!!  A couple of notes beforehand though lmao I play very fast and loose with canon (and casting), and I still have even more left on a list to make 😂

Julietta:

So I did a whole big infodump here but basically she's Tim Drake's older sister who gets kidnapped by the League Of Assassins! She's used as a surrogate for Damian and raises him for almost five years, while Jason is stationed as their guard. But then Damian is taken to be trained, and Jason leaves, and Julietta is alone — Talia (who has a soft spot for her) sets her free and she returns to Gotham, where she's eventually reunited with both only to find out that neither of them remember her!

(fic title is Seven Devils!)

Tessie:

Tessie grew up in Haly's Circus with Dick! Her mom was a tightrope walker and her dad was a fire breather — she and Dick got to learn trapeze, tightrope, and silks together as kids! After the Graysons died and Dick left, Tessie continued on in the circus and became a tightrope walker herself. Her parents died in a car accident (that wasn't an accident) and she gets kidnapped by the Joker

Harley had started to pull away and in order to keep her under his control, Joker kidnapped Tessie as their new daughter. For years, Tessie was stuck in this situation, driven to a point where she could no longer remember which parts of her life were real and which weren't. But eventually Harley reaches out to Batman and Nightwing to help get Tessie away from the Joker, and Dick is shocked to see his childhood best friend there

(Fic title is Mad World)

Florence:

She’s Alfred’s niece or granddaughter who grew up in Wayne manor, probable angst of seeing her parents die, and she and Dick grew up togehter (and are an eventual ship)

But I can't let my ocs be happy, so!!! One day she’s kidnapped to get to Robin, but it’s the same night that dick leaves Gotham. He doesn’t know she’s missing and with everything that was going on, it’s still several days before anyone else knows she’s been kidnapped / until they find her. So that’s a lot of trauma and she never fully forgave Dick. She’s been even more fucked up bc she has a therapist because of that but the therapist is kind of crappy and dismissive and it’s not helped by the fact that she can’t explain that Robin was her best friend in the world and that’s why it hurts so much that he didn’t come, then later she gets stalked by some villain or another and the police (other than Gordon) basically just laugh in her face

Stalking continues and gets worse and worse but no one is taking her seriously which might lead into her getting kidnapped again and this time it’s Nightwing who rescues her. She might also have an arc about her leaving Gotham for a while somewhere in here but idk yet I just want to throw lots of angst and trauma at her

Logan:

Logan is a Jason ship who comes from a pretty rich family who replaced emotional support with just spoiling her — her parents loved her, but they were always too busy with work to really spend time with her. She's been doing archery, martial arts, and gymnastics since she was a kid, and her parents recently died in a rogue attack.

She becomes a vigilante after that, running into Robin a lot. The two butt heads all the time, arguing and insulting each other constantly, but they would drop everything to help each other and bond over a love of literature.

She ends up in over her head in a situation in Bludhaven and Dick rescues her, eventually becoming a mentor figure to her, which leads to some fun parallels as Dick tries to unlearn Bruce's shit and not fuck this kid up, meanwhile she's just a chaotic little shit and drives him crazy

Vanessa:

Vanessa Kline is a former Gotham street kid! She grew up on the streets and became an older sister (almost mother) figure to Jason Todd, who called her Nessie! Shortly after Bruce adopted him, she got picked up/protected by the Sirens, getting the aliases Vanessa Quinn and Songbird (which actually stems from the song she used to sing to Jason) She's been searching for Jason ever since but could never find him.

At 18 she ended up getting an art scholarship for university, then moved to Bludhaven after graduating (or the university is in Bludhaven, tbd). She meets Dick in her civilian life, as Detective Grayson has questions about the Sirens, but she becomes a vigilante to help street kids and meets him in their alter egos too

She’s less new lmao but her intro gifset can be found here!

(Fic title is Symphony Of Sorrowful Songs)

Kinsley:

Kinsley is Ted Kord’s daughter, Michael Carter (Booster Gold) became her guardian after Ted dies, she becomes his new sidekick, and it starts off with a kind of unhealthy vibe; Michael didn’t want to be a mentor or father but panicked and made her into his sidekick because he didn't know how to treat her as a daughter. Fitting with Michael’s canon approach to superheroing, she was a poster child, did lots of tv interviews and publicity events and such, which left her with quite a lot of money, which Michael has been saving in a trust for her so that she won’t have to ever worry about financial stability.

She shares her father’s intellect and athleticism, being quite good with technology and mechanics/engineering as well as being gifted in acrobatics and various forms of combat. She starts off as Blue Gold, Booster Gold’s sidekick — she has a weaponized suit that she uses to fight, something like a slimmer iron man suit, though with less weapons. They get into a fight when she's around 15 ish (I don't know how old the teen titans were when they formed but it's about a year after that) about a mission and he tells her it's too dangerous, she accuses him of not caring about her and only seeing her as a replacement for her dad, and goes anyways and almost dies, developing superpowers as a result — basically she was trying to hack into or destroy someone’s super sketchy experimental technology and it exploded, her suit saved her life but the blast left her with technopathy and electrokinesis

Afterwards, she and Michael have some serious talks, which include him promising that he does care about her, even if he doesn't show it well they end up deciding together to rebrand her, and then he suggests she try spending a few months with the teen titans, meet some other kids like her, figure out her new powers, and have time/space to herself to decide what she wants to do. She renames herself Glitch and designs a new suit, wanting a totally fresh start for the new chapter in her life

They stay close and still spend time together, but she's based out of titans tower after that around 18, the JL sends them on the mission where they almost die (or at least one of them almost dies, and it brings back Kinsley's ptsd from her dad's death) and she quits the titans and being a superhero at all goes home, Michael is supportive, reminds her that she's always welcome to stay with him but also offers to help her start a brand new life which is what she does Fast forward about 8 or so years, something happens (maybe the plot of Titans, or I might make something up, idk yet) and the Titans have to come back together.

Dick is genuinely surprised (and a little bit hurt) when he realizes just how much she's moved on, both from being a Titan and from their relationship — like her powers aren't a part of her life, being a former superhero isn't a part of her life, even though she was possibly the most well known titan (because Michael was always putting her in interviews and other publicity things), no one even looks twice at her on the streets. She's just shut the door on that part of her life and now she's normal and she's happy and she's found a passion that isn't being "the JL's cleanup crew" as she once described being a titan. And Dick, who left Gotham entirely but still struggles to let go of Robin and get out of Bruce’s shadow, doesn’t understand how she can do that (he also struggles with the fact that she seems so completely over their past relationship)

She now owns a bakery and has a passion for photography but, as Dick proves when he finds the new Glitch suit she's made herself, there's a part of her that just can't let go either.

Josette:

Josette Cobblepot is the Penguin's daughter. She has no idea what her dad is, just growing up as a spoiled Gotham princess. She and Jason became friends through being dragged to fancy galas, preferring to sneak off together than socialize with all the stuffy adults.

One day she accidentally finds out about her dad's crime life and, in a panic, runs away. She doesn't have a plan in mind, but ends up running to Wayne Manor and confiding in Jason. Jason is Robin by this point but never put together that he was her father. Josette is determined to stop her father and keeps running recklessly into danger, leading Jason to constantly have to pull her out of danger, eventually revealing his identity as Robin.

She's mad at him for keeping a secret at first, but ultimately forgives her as he offers to use battech to help her out! She's more of a detective than a fighter, but she does eventually become part of the team!

Leonie:

Leonie Murphy is a reporter (in gotham or blud, tbd) with a very bad habit of running towards villains/fights instead of away. She knows Dick through his day job, follows Nightwing to try to talk to him after a battle, and eventually finds out it's him — she promises to keep his identity a secret, but now she has a harder time staying away from the fights.

Then one day she's caught up in the middle of a fight with someone (maybe scarecrow) and Nightwing is losing, she runs towards him to try to help, gets caught in a blast, develops powers (luck manipulation), and a result of ptsd she pulls a bit of a tony stark and builds herself a suit so she can protect herself next time, and takes the name Karma

But she's like way way in over her head and Dick keeps having to pull her out of danger and the two slowly get closer as they keep saving each other

(Fic title is Luck Be A Lady)

Jessie:

Jessie Jordan is Hal Jordan's daughter! She's not a lantern in the traditional way but, because of his continued use of his ring, Jessie was born with roughly the same powers! She's named after his mom, and was always pretty close with her dad.

She joined the Titans when they first formed! Honestly I don't know enough about her yet but Hank affectionately calls her Nightlight so that's something!

Elektra:

Born Elinor Cross, her dad was in the League of Assassins but her mom didn't know. Taking inspiration from The Mortal Instruments, Ra's experiments on her mom (without her knowledge or consent) to see what it'll do to the baby. When her mom finds out, she runs away with baby Elinor and tries to raise her safely away from the League.

Elinor has no powers but eventually ends up back at the League (tbd on if she's kidnapped or went looking for information on her past) and Ra's has her thrown in the pit. Exposure to the pit triggers dormant genes that turn into her powers, which get set off (uncontrollably to her) by pit madness episodes

She's an eventual Jason ship, though I'm not sure if they meet at the League or in Gotham!

(Fic title is Lazarus Rising)

Avalyn:

Avalyn is the princess of Gotham, her parents being the richest people in the city after Bruce himself. She knows Dick very well through their parents, galas, and school. They meet when they're 12-14 and get on like a house on fire, growing up to be wild chaotic party kids together — they're roughly Kardashian level famous and the two of them are infamous for their nonsensical but hilarious twitter interactions (often including Avalyn asking different Rogues to attack so she doesn't have to write exams while hungover)

Avalyn notices Dick's weird behaviours but assumes it's just typical weird rich people shit — he'll go AWOL for a mission or while recovering from an injury and she's just like "oh I guess he's on a spontaneous holiday"

He leaves to join the Titans and she feels very abandoned and kind of resentful, since they had all of these plans for life after high school together (and because he just drops all contact with no explanation). But eventually they reunite — I haven't decided if they first reunite in university and then she becomes a vigilante, or if she becomes a vigilante and they reunite because she ends up with the Titans

avalyn dorsey on twitter: the worst part of living in blud not gotham is i can't pray for rogue attacks to get me out of writing finals anymore dick: av what the fuck avalyn: don't pretend you didn't do it too, I remember senior lit

i feel like she would be infamous both for tweets she makes for #onlyingotham and tweets about her (usually about her and dick) tagged #onlyingotham

(also sidenote, I’m totally here for Avalyn & Delta and Julietta & Delta but also I feel like Kinsley & Delta could be Everything)

[cienie-isengardu]

Lin Kuei: Cryomancers

RELIGION <> ORIGINS / ARCHITECTURE <> FOOD <> FOR THE LIN KUEI <> ART <> CRYOMANCERS <> LIN KUEI SOCIETY <> MONEY & MATERIAL GOODS

The continuation of the morgianesffs-blog’s list of questions about Lin Kuei. I initially divided them into smaller categories and the cryomancers will be the subject of this essay.

For the formalities, the original questions:

Question about the Cryomancers. I know the game lore says that they are supposed to be rare, but I also know that the Lin Kuei have had at least 5 (grandpa, papa, older, and younger Sub Zero,  and Frost). 4 of which are part of 3 generations that inherited it even with mixed blood (I'm assuming Mama Sub Zero wasn't Cryomancer since they left her alone).

That's a lot of generations in a row for a rare trait... So do you think the Cryomancers as a group have figured out they're being hunted and have chosen to live in hiding?

Looking at the sources, my personal theory is that the true problem is not that cryomancers are rare per se but that not every of their descendents:

is capable of using ice powers. 

will survive long enough to develop and control the freezing abilities 

Johnny and Cassie Cage are the best analogy for point A - both are the descendants “of an ancient Mediterranean cult who bred warriors for the gods”[MK9!Johnny’s bio] and thus possess special - and at least in theory rare - genes. Johnny is one of the top Earthrealm Champions yet he, canonically, managed to use his inner power only once, in a fight against Shinnok to protect Sonya. When Cassie was born, she had a very high chance to inherit Johnny's rare genes and because of that was the potentially future champion. Coming from Briggs-Blade-Cage family gaves Cassie a lot of opportunities to develop her fighting abilities, first because of strong ties to military and later also to other meritorious Earthrealm defenders. Yet like father before, the inner power was activated only under strong pressure, while protecting her family from Shinnok. And despite all the access to additional powerful mentors (Raiden, Sub-Zero, Bo' Rai Cho, Fujin and maybe even Scorpion), she still struggles with mastering the power - and with using it at will. And let’s be real here, Cassie is a superb warrior in her prime of life - if someone like her struggles with mastering ancient power, most who happen to be also descendants of these warriors may never use it even once during their lifetime.

And here comes my feeling that Lin Kuei could have even dozen descendents of cryomancers at the same time yet only few will truly be able to discover their potential and even less to master it (and only one, the best, will use the title of Sub-Zero). It is outright said, that freezing powers are hard to control and are usually mastered at the latest stages of life, as we were told by Mythologies: Sub-Zero in-tie material: 

Sub-Zero learned of his ability as a young adult. It was passed on to him by his father, a fourth generation Lin Kuei warrior himself. The ability to harness the element of cold is one that takes years of practice. It's full potential realized only by those who've mastered it at the latest stages of life. Sub-Zero's skills have the ability to develop much faster than those of the other Lin Kuei. [source]

By logic, if naturally cryomancers need years to get a grip of their power but Bi-Han’s skills developed much faster than the rest and it happened when he was already a young adult (a person in their teens or early twenties, max thirty?), then most cryomancer learn how to use their ability as an adult (25-30+ years old?). Now, considering the mortality of warriors in this brutal profession and harsh system of punishment, not many cryomancers will live enough to truly develop ice powers. They do, however, can pass the genes to the new generation and it seems as something happening from ancient times. Except not every baby with their special genes will be taken by Lin Kuei and though limited sources, it seems like female cryomancer are not the main target. 

My personal theory for this is based around pregnancy and how difficult it must be to carry a child with special powers that may or may not manifest itself in the least expected moment. The conscious use of power of course requires experience and control but in the unborn child it could result from independent stimuli that affect both the child and mother. So a mother with cryomancer genes probably has a better chance to give birth to a healthy offspring and not to die in the process (thus producing another child(s)) than a full-blood human one. Also, the two known examples of the not taken by Lin Kuei female descendants of cryomancers were the youngest children (and in the case of MK Conquest TV series, one was born after her brother's kidnapping). So there is a possibility that Lin Kuei intentionally does not take every available child, in order to not "break the genealogical line" and in result, cut their source of new warriors. 

(The other reasons I can think of why female cryomancers may not be the main target for Lin Kuei are: 

A) some biological complications that makes female cryomancer with active ability much rarer, thus the uneven ratio of known Lin Kuei male to female ice warriors. This could fuel Frost’s ego (the rare example of female cryomancer with powerful freezing abilities) but also her anger for not recognizing her skills and/or right to the title of Sub-Zero by Kuai Liang.

B) cryomancer’s strong sense of family ties thus natural instinct to protect their own. So if a female ice warrior gets pregnant, taking the child from her could be a pretty hazardous thing, especially if blood-related cryomancers are somehow emotionally/psychologically bonded with each other. In the past, the one Grandmaster who wanted to punish (male) Sub-Zero for helping Great Kung Lao (who saved Sub-Zero's biological family) got killed in the process. And this Sub-Zero was kidnapped years ago so he knew his family only from some distant memories yet despite the lack of real interaction with biological parents and sister (born after his disappearance), he allied with the enemy to pay the debt and killed his superior without a second thought. Then we have MK9!Kuai Liang who against Grandmaster’s orders ran away from Lin Kuei to avenge brother’s death because the clan did not tell him what happened to Bi-Han. So it seems that once a biological family is threatened, the (male) ice warriors get pretty agressive and openly disobedient. Now imagine how far would a female cryomancer go if her child was put in danger by the clan. I mean, keeping cryomancers in check is a pretty hard thing on normal days and in times of family critical matters even worse.)

Another useful information comes from Grandmaster [MK Conquest TV series, episode 3 - Cold Reality] who said about then currently in-training Sub-Zero:

So rare. Centuries have passed since one such as this has been among us.

Which could be interpreted as either Lin Kuei did not have a cryomancer for centuries or did not have a cryomancer who developed strong freezing abilities so fast(?). I personally think it is the latter because cryomancer power is described as “ancient” and if there wouldn’t be any cryomancer for centuries, the knowledge about the ice-wielder could be lost and forgotten. Of course, as the Grandmaster, the man could be simply familiar with clan history and lore but dunno, it seemed like he knew what to expect and how to force still-in-training Sub-Zero to develop his powers. Which, in all honesty, was pretty brutal and from what was shown on screen, involved throwing hot coals on the warrior’s bare back. What is painful for a normal person, even more for someone whose body is built to withstand freezing temperatures, not the heat. So, either there was a book with all the bad tips on how to train cryomancer in case you get one or the grandmaster actually had some experiences to compare Sub-Zero abilities with other candidates and/or ice warriors.

Frankly, I have this really old theory of mine, that fleeing from Outworld cryomancers had a deal with Lin Kuei - in exchange for the help and shelter, the cryomancer agreed to give some of their children to the clan. Thus from ancient times, warriors with ice-powers served Lin Kuei and passed the duty from one generation to another. However, with the passing time and mixing with native people, their natural abilities regressed to the point some branches of the cryomancer family could be declared as extinct, as in, not possessing the right combination of genes. In result forgetting their own legacy only for the power unexpectedly activating generations later. In Mortal Kombat Conquest TV series, the family of a kidnapped years ago cryomancer boy did not have any(?) clue why Lin Kuei targeted them. Something similar could happen to Bi-Han and Kuai Liang in an alternative timeline, thus the unusual abduction mentioned in Kuai Liang’s MK9!BIO:

"An assassin of the Lin Kuei clan, Kuai Liang commands the power of ice and cold. Unlike other members of his clan, he and his older brother, Bi-Han, were abducted as children by the Lin Kuei and trained in the techniques of assassination throughout their lives [...]”

If that would be true, the Lin Kuei could keep eye on every known descendent of cryomancer species (run away or simply living in ignorance) and kidnap only a few selected children. Of course, some family members tried to hide their children from Lin Kuei, which was seen in the original timeline. In this case, the mother of Bi-Han and Kuai Liang tried to save them from their father, a faithful Lin Kuei warrior. 

I will be honest here, I always thought that mom of ice bros was simply a normal but unlucky woman who somehow got involved in assassin clan matters. Yet Mythologies: Sub-Zero tie-in materials gave an interestingly input about the family situation:

Their mother wanted a normal life for her sons, who had already been chosen by the Lin Kuei to become warriors for the clan. She tried in vein to hide them from their father whose own life in America was only a cover for his true identity and purpose. Eventually they were found and their father returned with them to his homeland. Their mother and sister were never seen or heard from again. 

The most standing out informations (hints):

→  the children weren’t randomly kidnapped but chosen by the clan. In the case of Bi-Han and Kuai Liang, the choice makes sense since they came from a family serving Lin Kuei for at least the last four generations (while their father alone was Sub-Zero himself). Yet their sister, most likely the youngest child, was not included. So she was still too young or wasn’t meant to become a warrior at all. Either due to lack of potential or because of some unknown to us clan politics forbidding taking all children. The most intriguing is how the clan determined who should be chosen or who left in peace. Like, was the clan so versed in genetic science to predict things like that or did they have other (magic?) ways to predict (check) whether it was worth taking the indicated child? Were the children prematurely tested before the decision was made?

Additionally, in MK Conquest TV series, the Grandmaster sounds pretty sure about Sub-Zero’s freezing abilities before the warrior himself started consciously use them:

“He has trained his whole life. His fighting skills are unmatched among us… yet it is only now that he truly begins… for it is his destiny to carry to battle ancient powers. The time has come to unleash them.” [Episode 3, “Cold Reality”].

What could explain why Lin Kuei took only the boy yet did not come for his younger sister born to the same parents (thus having in theory the same chances to inherit the wanted genes).  

→ the mother seemed to be aware about Lin Kuei and the clan's interest in her children, so for all we know she actually could be one of them or be more involved in her partner (husband?)’s criminal activity. This is an interesting idea in context of her desire to give her sons a normal life. The mother tried but failed to hide the boys from Lin Kuei. She and the daughter weren’t seen nor heard of again what may imply both died… or, if mother was truly full trained Lin Kuei herself, she actually managed to run away with the daughter and hide so well. Anyway, if Kuai Liang and Bi-Han’s mother or sister survived long enough to give birth to another child, the Sub-Zero brothers could still have a biological family living somewhere, maybe even ignorant about the whole cryomancer legacy. 

In summary, and this is really just my personal take on the matter, there are many more descendants of cryomancer species around the world than we know about. The problem lies in genetic variation that gives a freezing ability only to a handful of people. Some cryomancers were part of Lin Kuei for generations (and maybe get paired with genetically specific group of people for better breeding thus the continuity of ice warriors generations), some never learned about their true legacy and some knew and either seek out the clan (Frost) or tried shield their children from the cruel life of assassin. Sadly, it seems like Lin Kuei warriors were really good at tracking the right families to get children with certain abilities so even if at some point cryomancers decided to hide it did not save them in the long run. On other hand, cryomancer adepts are very stubborn and unwilling to let themselves forget about their biological family, so Lin Kuei balanced on thin ice with hunting down and training the descendants of cryomancers. 

[erzherzog-von-edelstein]

what do you think the relationship is like between Austria and prussia is like ? , are they like cousins who can’t stand each other or what ?

On the most general level, I think I take a much more favorable view of their relationship than most people who write about them. Because I see a lot of them hating each other and being unable to stand each other, and that is not how I see it. So, fair warning, long post ahead.

If I can tangent a bit, I think the common image of them comes from the fact that they are the only significant canon German states that we have, so it creates a kind of dichotomy that could be buffered by adding other German states who balance out the dynamic. Because with just the two of them, it becomes more of a “who gets to influence Ludwig” push and pull custody battle. There isn’t really room for them to be on the same side or to work together in the political arena, because having the two set up of such opposing personalities makes it seem like there will inevitably be conflict and there is no one else to balance that out. This is why I have felt the need to introduce other German states in Unification before I wrote more of it and then I got distracted and still haven’t written more.

Also introducing them in canon with possibly one of the worst points in their shared history does not help either. Of course they’re going to look like they hate each other from the perspective of the Seven Years War. Canon does much the same thing by introducing Russia and Prussia’s dynamic through the Battle on the Ice. 

So, with all that clarifying out of the way, here’s my take on them:

- First off, I know I have clarified this before, but it is always worth saying. The German states all call each other cousins though they do not know how they are actually related to each other. Cousin is the easiest way to explain it without trying to sort out the specifics. The irony is that Gilbert and Roderich are actually first cousins 

- So, to avoid starting at a bad point, let’s discuss the crusades. The Teutonic Knights were founded as a crusading order, so Gil certainly had contact with other orders and with the kingdoms that were involved. And the dukes of Austria were involved in crusading as well as financing the Holy Orders. There is a rather amusing instance of Austria bullying a young Arthur for his lunch money, but I’ll get into that some other time. That would be the point where Roderich and Gilbert met each other. Gil as a young knight and Rod as an ascendant Duchy within the Holy Roman Empire. If I could sum up their relationship at this point, it would be what their position dictated at the time. Gil, the knight, showing proper deference to a lord, no matter how much he disliked bowing to anyone.

- In the years between the crusades and the War of Austrian Succession there is relatively little between them, which makes sense considering their geographical distance between them. There are a few points of interest though: 

- First, Austria was generally friendly to Poland, though there was a war when Austria tried to force the election of a Habsburg monarch that was ultimately unsuccessful. I wouldn’t describe Rod as supporting Poland really, he was basically forced out of Polish politics and then decided he had other priorities anyway. This indifference meant that I doubt Gil would really add him to the list of people he hates because they supported Poland, that list is basically just Saxony and Lithuania (though we could absolutely also add Hungary there too)

- Second, it may be a bit of a given, but Austria was part of the massive conflagration in the German states over Martin Luther in the early 17th century. Brandenburg-Prussia was a part of the Protestant side of the Thirty Years War, but in all fairness it was more of a victim as Sweden left a bloody swathe through the German states (the losses in Brandenburg are absolutely staggering.) I hesitate to assign friendships and hatreds based on the Thirty Years War, because the German states basically all ended up bitter at the end.

- Third, and perhaps the best one to lay the groundwork for what comes next, the elevation of the Elector of Brandenburg to King in Prussia was approved and supported by the Holy Roman Emperor, who was a Habsburg at that point. So, Roderich was directly involved in the first step to Gilbert’s rise to prominence. For that period, he was trying to act like a kind of mentor and support to Prussia. Of course, Gilbert viewed this as patronizing, but Roderich was approaching it with some good will.

-The War of Austrian Succession and the Seven Years War are a huge low point for them. It’s when they viewed each other as the greatest adversary. For Gilbert it was toppling a giant to add to his own prestige, and he viewed Rod as an obstacle to overcome. Rod viewed it as a stab in the back and a massive insult after he had supported him before. 

- A lot of this feud died with Fritz and Maria Theresa. As much as I would love to imagine Gil playing 4D chess to permanently supplant Roderich as the most powerful German state, that’s not really what happened. In fact, Joseph II admired Fritz and did not carry on his mother’s strongly anti-Prussian campaign. 

Look at all the tension in this meeting between Fritz and Joseph II. I mean, there’s a certain kind of tension, but we’ll ignore that.

- Which takes me neatly to the Napoleonic Wars, or nearly. Both of them recognized the threat to stability that was the French Revolution, and combined forces to invade France and restore stability. The French were able to keep them at bay. But, putting this in terms of Rod and Gil’s relationship with each other, they decided they didn’t dislike each other enough to prevent them working together. Rod had a personal reason to intervene on behalf of the queen, but Gil agreed with him because they are actually remarkably politically similar. When it came to liberalism and the threat of Revolution, they were absolutely on the same page.

- The Napoleonic Wars are something of a mess to explain all the alliances, but suffice it to say that Rod and Gil were on the same side for most of it. And when it came to the alliance that actually defeated Napoleon, their ability to work closely with each other was vital. Put bluntly, if they really hated each other they would not have been able to get rid of that little Corsican.

- Aside from a few points of political tension in the Congress of Vienna (Saxony and Poland mostly), they were generally on board with creating a new vision of Europe. If anything, the Napoleonic Wars allowed them to bury the hatchet of their previous conflicts and to move forward together. The German Confederation allowed them a place to take their issues without coming to blows. It was something meant to improve their relationship and prevent war, and for a time it worked.

- I cannot emphasize enough how Prussia was willing to follow Metternich’s general plan for Europe, because it’s the biggest piece of evidence against them being eternal enemies. The Concert of Europe was a group project, and Austria just happened to be leading it.

- Of course, the Revolutions of 1848 kind of blew that up for a time. Granted, though the Frankfurt Parliament weighed them against each other as potential German leaders, I would not say that Rod and Gil saw each other as enemies at this point. They were both staunchly anti-liberal, and neither would have accepted a crown from a revolutionary mob. They saw each others as collaborators in returning the previous status quo.

- One person changed all of this, like the giant of history that he is. Graf Otto von Bismarck. He made a point of strengthening Prussia at Austria’s expense, which ended the political co-existence. But, even then, Bismarck mulled over the necessity of war with Austria, because forcing that kind of direct conflict would ruin the decades of peace between the German states. Fully turning against Austria was a heavy decision. Gilbert mirrored this feeling I think. He didn’t want to hurt Roderich really. Why would he? They had supported each other for half a century, and been relatively consistent allies. But, Roderich was going to be an obstacle to German Unification, and Gilbert couldn’t avoid that fight. Also, I think the English translation of the name of that war makes it was more dialectic than it was. I do prefer the German “German War” or “Brothers War” because that’s ultimately what it was, half of the German states against the other half, not just Prussia and Austria.

- And again, it is clear that Gil didn’t actually want to hurt Roderich with the war, because he elected not to invade Vienna or to make any demands for land. This was an incredibly lenient treaty, especially compared to what Prussia would do to France. The exclusion from the German Confederation, as critical as it was for both of them going forward, was not a particularly spiteful action on Gil’s part. He just needed to make sure he wasn’t competing with someone with a stronger claim to being German emperor (because the Habsburgs had held the title of Emperor of the Germans for a very long time.)

- And in the First World War they were on the same side, and I cannot help but imagine Gilbert immediately going to help his old ally when it was clear that the Habsburgs were floundering. Not that it prevented the collapse of the empire for either of them. Perhaps the greatest irony of it all is that even with all the scheming and plotting, the Habsburgs and the Hohenzollerns fell from power at exactly the same moment anyway.

- After the war Gilbert helped Roderich get back on his feet, since the loss was absolutely debilitating for him. From there they rekindled the rather warm relationship they had in the early 19th century, this time without the political machinations because neither of them were particularly powerful anymore. 

And....I was going to use this post to also state my feelings on PruAus as a ship, but since this has gotten absurdly long already I will wait for another ask.

[twistedtummies2]

Sinister Sevens - The Lizard

Our next stop in my run of “Sinister Sevens” is one of Spider-Man’s more tragic adversaries, Dr. Curt Conners, a.k.a. The Lizard. I’m going to confess outright that I’ve never actually read ANY comics featuring this character. (That’s part of why I’m holding off on my Top 31 Spidey Villains countdown for a little while; I feel like I should read at least a few comics for some of the villains before I make any proper and official judgment calls). Having said that, at least judging from other media, the Lizard has a somewhat similar issue to Batman’s Man-Bat: he’s a great antagonist, but every time he pops up, it seems to be basically the same story getting told over and over again. There are some variations, of course, but generally speaking, it’s the same plotline repeating over and over.

Having said that, the Lizard remains one of Spidey’s most prominent and iconic baddies, and that’s probably because, even if we only see the same basic story playing out over and over again in other media, it’s a pretty darn good one! The basics go like this: Dr. Curt Connors, a scientist trying to find a way to regrow severed limbs (and usually a mentor and friend of Peter Parker), tests a special serum on himself and ends up becoming a half-man, half-lizard monster. In some versions, the Lizard is pretty much just an animalistic beast, while in other versions he actually still has intelligence, and seeks to - you guessed it - take over the world. In either case, he eventually is defeated, and usually returns to his senses, but the worry that the nightmare could repeat itself is always present. The Lizard is a versatile foe whose personal connections to Peter in many incarnations, as well as his more sympathetic background than some other Spider-Man nemeses, make him an easy fan favorite. Which portrayals are a favorite of this particular fan? Allow me to show you: these are My Sinister Seven Portrayals of the Lizard!

7. Rob Zombie.

Yes, everyone, THAT Rob Zombie. Zombie (of all people) voiced Curt Connors in “Spider-Man: The Animated Series.” The Lizard’s appearance in the series is one of the key examples of why this show is of dubious canon, at best, to the Raimi films it supposedly shares a universe with: in the films, Curt Connors is Peter’s strict but rewarding teacher, and never becomes the Lizard. In this series, however, things are different: in this version, Connors is a professor at the college Peter Parker attends, and is depicted as a much less genial fellow than most other versions. Instead of a warm, paternal mentor, he’s a strict, stern, but passionate scientist who admires Peter’s intelligence, but isn’t necessarily close to him. This version also changes why Connors becomes the Lizard: in this one, he INTENTIONALLY transforms himself into a monster as a means of finding a way to get revenge on the ones who caused him to lose his arm, rather than simply attempting to grow his arm back or help humanity. This is a much scarier, far more sinister Lizard than most interpretations, which has always left me having mixed emotions about it. But the basic story is still there, and other Lizards tend to be more superficial, so I felt he earned his spot here, just not a high one.

6. Steven Blum.

Blum certainly has a talent for playing scaly sorts: he was the voice of Killer Croc in three out of four of the main Batman: Arkahm games (and two LEGO titles), and also played Reptile in Mortal Kombat X. Having him tackle the role of the Lizard seems fairly obvious casting. The Lizard appears in both of the “LEGO Marvel Super Heroes” games, as a boss and playable character. This take on Curt Connors is more straightforwardly evil than most, presumably to keep with the sort of cartoonish antics of the LEGO universe. He’s also able to transform from the Lizard to the Doctor, and back again, more or less at will. I’ve never really liked takes on the Lizard that are basically pure evil, as I think that misses the point of the character, but I give a free pass in LEGO’s case because a.) the boss fight is fun, b.) hearing Steven Blum play the character is a blast, and c.) it’s LEGO. If I was looking for serious character drama and so forth, I wouldn’t be looking here. Case closed. 

5. Gillie Fenwick.

You wouldn’t expect the 60s cartoon series to do the Lizard decently, but they really did! Based on the character’s first appearance in the comics, this version - occasionally called “Lizard-Man” instead of just “Lizard” - depicts Curt Connors (or simply “Connor,” in this version) not as Peter’s instructor, but simply a reclusive scientist researching in the Florida Everglades. When Peter learns of Connors’ mysterious disappearance, as well as rumors of a strange monster roaming the Florida swamplands, he takes a photo trip for the Daily Bugle to both get some pictures, and see if he can figure out what’s going on. Gillie Fenwick’s serpentine vocals are a bit hammy (it was the 60s, get used to that), but they fit the Lizard very well, and at times are suitably unsettling. The 60s show also taps into the Lizard’s sense of pathos, as he is torn between his longing for world domination (I guess becoming a lizard just does that to you, since he forgets that entirely when he returns to normal at the end), and his love for his wife and son. While the look of the character is somewhat silly, and the short length of the cartoon means there’s not much room for a TON of development, it’s still one of the more interesting episodes of this particular adaptation, and a surprisingly accurate take on the character.

4. Roger L. Jackson.

In direct contrast to the earlier version I spoke of played by Steven Blum, this is easily the single most sympathetic and least villainous interpretation of the Lizard I’ve ever found. I’ll admit part of the appeal of this interpretation comes from the voice actor: Roger L. Jackson is one of my favorite voice artists of all time. You’ll probably know him best for playing Ghostface in all the Scream movies (he’s the voice on the phone in every picture), Mojo Jojo from Powerpuff Girls, and the Cheshire Cat (along with several other characters) in the American McGee’s Alice game series. In “Spider-Man: Friend or Foe?” Jackson plays both the Lizard and the Green Goblin. His Goblin is fine, but it’s his Lizard that really stands out to me. In this game, the Lizard is not an antagonist, but instead a friendly face: in the story, Curt Connors meets Spider-Man during the webhead’s adventures, while the good doctor himself was seeking a cure for his “lizard-itis,” as it were. He joins the team on their mission to stop Mysterio, and proves to be a capable opponent. This version of the Lizard is best described as an anti-hero, as he has a vicious, battle-ready element to his character, mostly due to his animal instincts, but he’s ultimately an ally and a figure of helpful wisdom, as Connor’s intelligence and sophistication evidently didn’t change with his body. It was nice to see such a NICE take on the Lizard for a change, and the voice actor handling him only makes things better.

3. Rhys Ifans.

Ifans - who I personally know best beyond this movie for his roles as Captain Hook in Neverland and Mycroft Holmes in Elementary (he also appeared in one of the Tim Burton Alice movies, but I don’t consider that where I know him “best”) - portrayed the Lizard first in “The Amazing Spider-Man.” I can’t help but feel the choice to use the Lizard as the main villain of the first of these two movies was a calculated decision: originally, Sam Raimi planned to feature the Lizard in “Spider-Man 4,” but since that movie never happened after the negative responses to Spider-Man 3, I wonder if Sony was trying to sort of even the odds by making Connors the first major antagonist of their would-be series. Ifans plays Connors pretty much to the letter, with him being depicted as a sort of warped father figure to Peter Parker, having actually known Peter’s ACTUAL father and playing as a parallel to Uncle Ben, and with the character starting off as a seemingly mild-mannered scientist who eventually goes a bit screwloose when his attempts to regrow human tissues leads to him transforming into a giant green scaly demon. (It happens to the best of us, I suppose.) I love the sense of sadness and yet the unsettling aura of threat Ifans gives to Connors, and after his aforementioned turn on Hook, this is my second favorite of the performances I’ve seen him handle. Much like Thomas Haden Church as Sandman, Ifans would return in voiceover and archival footage for “No Way Home,” where a little more humor was injected into the character’s dialogue and personality, which I thought was a welcome touch. He still felt like the Curt Connors of the original film, though, and stood up well alongside the other baddies in the picture.

2. Joseph Campanella.

Campanella played the Lizard in a couple episodes of “Spider-Man: The Animated Series.” This was actually the first version of the Lizard I ever saw, and for a while, it was basically my definitive portrayal of the character. Even to this day, I still say this was the best DESIGN for the Lizard I’ve ever seen, and Campanella plays the character perfectly: his low, dark vocals give the character an almost operatic level of power, while still allowing him to present the character with the perfect balance of unease-inducing danger, and pitiable, tragic pathos. I also love how this take on the Lizard was almost always shown in shadow, which only heightened the fear factor of the character. I was very close to making him number one, but while the overall look of the character and the way he’s handled aesthetically are my quintessential Lizard, and the character’s personality and vocals are grand, he’s not necessarily my definitive Lizard in terms of voice or basic setup. As a result, he only gets second place, but that’s hardly an impunity towards this portrayal.

1. Dee Bradley Baker.

Baker is arguably the definitive voice of the Lizard, having played him several times in video games and TV shows alike. He doesn’t just voice the Lizard himself, in many cases, but Connors in his normal form, as well, and has handled the character through several different interpretations. Most important to me, personally, was the depiction in “The Spectacular Spider-Man,” where Dr. Connors was actually a major recurring character. While he only showed up as the Lizard once, that episode turned out to be pretty important for the entire show as a whole afterwards, setting a few things in motion, and the character when he was just Curt Connors was always good to watch. It’s another example of why I truly wish this series had gotten a third season, as there were some unanswered questions about Connors (and his alter-ego) by the time season two ended. Such is life, I suppose…in any case, between this and his other appearances in the part, it’s no surprise that Dee Bradley Baker takes the crocodile cake as My Favorite Lizard.