#Friendly Fighter Fodder

[sendryl]

Flufftober Day 1 - Guard Dog

Lost pet meet cute ; “I've got you”

Dick/Danny; Danny rescues Haley outline!

Dick's apartment got broken into and his door was left open and Haley is gone.

“Haley! Haley!”

Luckily Danny is there.

“Hey, you okay?” 

“No! My apartment got broken into and my dog is gone–” 

“I've got you, man, don't worry. My dog's a great tracker.” 

Danny blows Cujo’s whistle.

Cujo jumps out of a portal. 

“He's lost his dog, boy. Fetch!”

Danny grabs Dick's hand and takes off running. Haley's down an alley, held captive by a group of men complaining that she won’t be any good in a fight since she only has three legs.

“Maybe she’ll make a good bitch. Or better yet, an opening act!”

Danny hears Dick make a little hurt sound, and he tears into the alley without fear.

“Hey assholes, leave the dog alone!”

The men turn to Danny while Dick is cursing in his head and pressing his panic button, hoping Signal will show up before he has to break cover to save a civilian.

Danny stands strong while the men approach.

“Aw, are you scared for the bitch? What the hell did you dye your dog for, man? It’ll make good fodder for the pit, at least.”

“Cujo. Get big.”

Cujo grows immediately, his bulk filling the alley and his sides phasing through the walls. He barks menacingly and the sound knocks the men on their asses. Cujo’s next bark sounds happy and Haley, unharmed, bolts towards them to hide behind Cujo’s massive legs.

“Who’s a good boy?” Danny asks Cujo, petting as high as he can reach while Cujo growls at the men as they scramble to their feet. “Do you want to maul the bad men? Yes you do! Yes you do!”

Danny smiles at the men, his smile completely unhinged, and the men run away in terror.

“Cujo, get small!” Cujo shrinks, carefully stepping around Haley instead of phasing through her. “Good boy, good boy!” Cujo and Haley sniff each other and grin doggy grins, before Haley runs straight into a stunned Dick’s arms.

“Did they hurt her?” Danny asks, rubbing Cujo’s sides and making his leg thump the ground in glee. “She seems okay but maybe we should take her to the vet?”

Signal drops down from the sky and Dick, a little shaken, explains that a group of dog fighters just tried to steal his pet. He directs Signal down the alley and Signal rushes off to go catch them. He tells Danny to stop dyeing his dog as he leaves.

“You don’t dye your dog, do you?” Dick asks, still a bit thrown.

“Nope.” Danny says. “He’s a ghost dog. This is the color he came with.”

Dick has so many questions.

“Thanks for not outing me to that vigilante,” Danny says. “They’re cool and all, but I don’t think they’d let me stay in Gotham if they knew I was here.”

“Really?”

“They don’t like metas, and I’m kinda meta-adjacent so… Thanks.”

“Signal’s a meta though.”

“No shit? Huh.” Danny’s thoughtful. “Maybe they wouldn’t mind after all. Anyway, I’m Danny.”

“Dick.”

They shake hands.

“Want to take her to the vet and then decompress? I know a great dog friendly café that serves doggy treats. We could spoil our pups a little.”

“Sure. You’re coming?”

“Figured you could use a bit of a guard dog to help you feel safe. Not that you can’t protect your dog or anything, I just know what it’s like to feel unsafe. Not being alone helps more than you’d think.”

“You know what? I’d really like that.”

[elumish]

keeping in mind the strategic/operational/tactical failures discussed in your earlier post, what would be the major failure point of the worldbuilding in iron flame? feel free to spoiler tag. is it the nature of the enemy and the common public narrative about that?

Okay so even though I finished Iron Flame fairly recently, I have also read a lot of books in the interim, so this may be a little general and may not get every detail totally correct. I'll stick all of my thoughts under a Read More, so if you don't want Fourth Wing/Iron Flame spoilers, just skip this post.

Strategic: To be totally honest, I didn't have a huge issue with the strategic-level worldbuilding of the Empyrean. I think the question of why dragons take part in this whole thing and also why dragons vs. griffins are totally neatly divided by country borders that are relatively new is not clear and sort of a problem, but I could mostly suspend disbelief there.

It definitely is not the most well built out/robust strategic worldbuilding, but I was basically fine with it. My feeling basically boiled down to "it didn't make me actively annoyed so I lived with it and can't currently think of a major issue." Also I like dragons.

Operational: Okay! So!

I found the entire organizational structure/setup of this entire world absolutely baffling to the point of being incomprehensible.

This probably doesn't need to be said, but I will anyway: a major goal of a military is to have as many trained fighters as you can. Attrition is one of the biggest issues faced by militaries (other than logistics) and the more people you are starting with, 1) the more you can do in general and 2) the more people you can afford to lose.

This means that you really want as close to 100% of your potential fighting force to survive training. Even if you only view people as cannon fodder, literally the point of cannon fodder is to put them in front of the cannons, not kill them in training.

I know the argument presented in the series by Violet is that it inures them to death so they can keep going when their teammates die, but that is terrible for a military. Yes, people need to be able to keep going when their teammate dies, but the training system has them killing each other. They are incentivized to kill each other! And so this school is literally training them to commit friendly fire incidents. Do you know what happens in a military that trains its soldiers to commit friendly fire incidents? They all kill each other and can't work effectively as a team. And being inured to that? That's just PTSD! You are just fucked up!

So having this military school system where they need to kill each other to win makes for a dramatic story but is an absolutely awful military training setup.

But also these are (or should be, if they had a non-awful system) highly trained members of the military, which makes them extremely valuable and also extremely expensive. People who fail out should just get stuck in a different part of the military instead of basically being killed.

And actually to that point, this whole setup would make much more sense if they had the equivalent of basic training and then had people specialize, the way they do in the real military. You absolutely want your military forces to be interoperable, and they are not even a little bit in this world.

Also why the hell don't these people use more ground forces? The number of dragon riders is limited to the number of dragons, but you can just have as many infantry as you can logistically sustain. Set up an effective border defense.

If you look at the traitor people (I can't remember what they're called right now), sticking them in the elite fighting force school also doesn't make any sense. I know they gave some in-universe reason for it, but especially because of the incomprehensible "if more than three of them are near each other then we can't magically surveil them" system if they were actually viewed as a security risk, they shouldn't have been allowed anywhere near the military, much less in the dragon forces.

They're a literal flight risk! There is absolutely nothing keeping them from defecting en masse. They can't be surveilled when they're together! Also they could commit friendly fire attacks! None of it makes any sense!

I also never really understood why they were keeping the real enemy a secret and why there was such a concerted effort. It didn't seem like the military leadership/king got any real benefit from maintaining a massive conspiracy to...kneecap their own military force.

The funny thing is that since finishing Iron Flame I've read basically all of Rebecca Yarros's other books, which are basically all contemporary romance, and she writes a lot of military-adjacent books, and they generally don't have this problem. Her husband was (is?) in the military, and she seems to have a decent understanding of it, so I'm not sure why she threw that all away for this.

Tactical: Okay so this is a lot related to the issue of "why are the trainees incentivized to kill each other" but Violet's ability to poison her way through her sparring didn't make any real sense if they was any point to the sparring. She should have just been made to spar with some instructors. And also they should have had some real fighting training. Though again that's more an operational issue.

Violet definitely had a lot of Plot Strings (the plot "coincidentally" moving her to the right place at the right time to do something only she could do): especially, that she (the person who happened to have the father who knew all of the plot-relevant things for some reason) happened to get magically soul-bonded to Xaden (the person leading the group that happens to know the truth about everything). I understand the whole situation with her mother, but her mother didn't control the soul bonding.

Overall the issue on a character level was more of a "wow this person just happens to have/be exactly what we need at this time" (the prince! who was just there! until he was extremely plot relevant coincidentally just when we needed him!) but each character was mostly believable taken in isolation.

[cagliostrohq]

Sunlight glints off the silver tickets fluttering down from a zeppelin that coasts through the Selphian skies. The curious crowds gathering below catch the paper slips in their hands. Its magical ink scrolls across the ticket like words on a teleprompter, inviting them to a combat tournament known as The Glitz Blitz. The competition had ceased running following the disappearance of Princess Calista nearly a century ago. Now, the royal family is holding the tournament to celebrate her miraculous return. ( With a furious scowl, Murray Wheatbelly pokes his head out from the windows of The Daily Grail’s editing room. What perfect timing to bring on the bread and circuses, isn’t it? Soon after his paper leaks the news about sacrifices, a distraction with royal backing is trotted out to appease the public? He’s already made his move, and now it seems the palace is countering it. ) On Whale Island, a gladiatorial colosseum has been built overnight with the help of friendly golems, gargoyles, and dragons. It is inside this arena where the magical battles will be held, knockout tournament style over the course of two weeks. The updated elimination bracket will be posted in the Selphia Plaza by an officiant after each day of battle. Anyone is welcome to sign up, though the competition has been historically dominated by spirit warriors. To enter, you must officially represent either one of the three houses or your hometown from within the kingdom. Unofficial betting on the island already has strong contenders from Roytale, Selphia, and Orre as frontrunners. They have historically produced the best warriors for the tournament, to the point the jeering gamblers call anyone representing elsewhere in the kingdom as mere fodder.  The winner is promised a one-of-a-kind, magical weapon of rare materials to be forged by Rizzetheus, The Blacksmith of Orre. In addition, the royals are offering a small fortune that could be life-changing for the tournament’s winner.  Battles are fairly simple: the flashier the combat, the more engaged the crowd becomes which may feed into your personal fame should you have a business or cause to promote. If a fighter is on the ground or out of the ring for more than ten seconds, they lose the match. The count only begins for those with gifts of flight if they are touching a solid surface outside of the ring. Enchanting your opponent into an animal or object incapable of combat is an automatic disqualification. All is well, until trumpets sound through the town square. A public announcement decrees: “To celebrate The Glitz Blitz’s return after over a century, a new rule has been added to the games. For the very first time in the tournament’s history…contestants are now able to be nominated by others to compete! If the tournament officials approve of the nomination, you will automatically be entered into the running and are required to pay the one billion phil penalty for cancellation. <3 Suddenly, a show of magical sportsmanship becomes a way to ruin the lives of your enemies. Nobody has ever been punished for an accidental death inside The Glitz Blitz, of course. And with the hefty penalty fee, there are few outside the royalty family who can afford not to fight.  (LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The royal family is not responsible for any injuries or damages The Glitz Blitz tournament may incur. Submitting the name or the name of your nominee into the enchanted entry boxes located around the capital means you agree to these terms.)

OOC: The Glitz Blitz is an event which is held in-game for two weeks, with multiple battles occurring each day. The first phase of this event will conclude IRL on August 6th! 

Read below the cut for instructions on how to participate! 

Comment below the names of which muses are participating! Please use the following format: "Seymour Beasts (Paul Rudd FC), representing Rigbarth City"

Create a self-para where your muse either wins or loses against an NPC. This is your character's chance to become a crowd favorite, so please showcase your muse's combat style, personality, tactical prowess, personal storyline to win the public's favor (similar to storyline in wrestling!) and so forth. This will be their in-game first round (round #1) of the competition and therefore, the most memorable way to introduce themselves to the public! These self-paras will be used later in a "survivor" style voting game to determine who the public finds deserving of a second chance at victory, even if they are knocked out.

If you decide your muse will win against the NPC, they can move on to the next round! They may have up to TWO optional fights with other muses within the roleplay! These are rounds #2 and #3. When plotting out these match-ups, please make sure both parties are on the same page about the planned victors/winners before moving onto the dash.

Comment below the victor/loser of each round below in the following format: "Round #3, Seymour Beasts (Paul Rudd FC) VS Nicholas North (Danny Devito FC), Winner: NICHOLAS NORTH"

Everyone still in the running will be placed into a hunger games generator.  We will post the computer randomized match-ups/results of the tournament! the outcomes will be posted, which will allow muns to contact each other & write the aftermath should they desire! Once these results are posted, we will provide instructions on how to participate in the voting game! 

Names and any round outcomes MUST be given BEFORE August 5th to be put into the generator. Character names or matchup outcomes not commented by this time will NOT be put into the generator. Once the generator has gone through, we cannot change the results.

Please tag any event posts as "cag: event 003"!

HOW VOTING WILL WORK: More details to come later! To make it fair, we will announce a voting period where each muse must post themselves writing a name they’d like to save from elimination and a short, in-character explanation as to why. The minimum amount of content required will only be one or two sentences, but you may write more if you feel muse! This will come later, so you don’t need to worry about this just yet! In addition to the public vote, the in-game royal family will also select their own favorite underdogs to be given a second chance at victory. Have fun!

[blazehedgehog]

For your BTAS-inspired Sonic cartoon, would you want the freedom fighters or other non-game characters to be included (even if it was only for a one-off appearance)? If so, do you have any ideas on how you’d incorporate the freedom fighters?

As much as I like the Freedom Fighters and wish there was a way they could return to comics, I don't think they would fit the theme of "Batman: The Animated Series, but for Sonic." They are fun in a spinoff where they get to live in that spinoff, but so much of the point of those comics were that they explicitly separate from every other universe.

They were from a time where all video game cartoons, all video game movies, etc. had no source material to work off of because the source material was either on the other side of the planet in Japan or just did not exist. Or both! Sega of America explicitly threw out whatever Sega of Japan was crafting for Sonic's backstory and made up something totally new.

They were hardly alone. While capturing video for the Sonic Frontiers video, I watched this video on the Pac-Man and Donkey Kong vinyl records from the 1980's. They are FULL of characters, and concepts, and ideas that have nothing to do with what we would come to be enforced as the "canonical representations" of these characters.

That's just how it was.

But whereas those representations only existed briefly, for a couple years or so, the Freedom Fighters stuck around for over twenty years. That little spinoff burrowed into its own little niche in the franchise, built a nest, and roosted there. As Sega of Japan re-established themselves and took control back of Sonic from Sega of America, the Freedom Fighters hung on for dear life and just kept going on pure momentum. After a certain point, it almost felt defiant.

The whole point is that they weren't part of the Sega games. It would feel weird if they were. Even after Ian Flynn tried to incorporate more elements from the games, it still felt noticeably incompatible with Sega's narrative style. The fact they weren't part of the games felt almost like a point of pride, to me. It meant they were uncorruptible from the stupid garbage that gave us something like Sonic Lost World.

The problem there is if you're making a TV show, there's not much of a rogues gallery to work with. It's pretty much just Eggman. This was the problem we faced in Sonic Lost World, right, where they made a big deal about bringing back Sonic's rogues gallery.

By which it meant they brought back basically the only villains that weren't Eggman: Shadow, Chaos 0, and Zavok.

Like, at least if you do a Mega Man cartoon, you get all of the robot masters. If you do a Mario cartoon, you get all of the Koopa Kids and a ton of second-stringers like Kamek and Boom Boom. But with Sonic... it's pretty much just Eggman. You get badniks, sure; and early Archie Sonic tried to make Crabmeat (and to a lesser extent, Coconuts) into lackeys for Robotnik, for instance.

But for the most part, badniks are tools. They are less intelligent than Metal Sonic, less capable. They are cannon fodder. Meant to be easily controlled.

So, really, your only villain is Eggman. And maybe you could expand that to include the Mecha Sonics and of course Metal Sonic if you stretch.

Now, there are other ways to generate conflict. We could downgrade Knuckles as a friend back to a "friendly rival," for one. Somebody who maybe isn't always happy to see Sonic. And, of course, there's what we do with Shadow. Because, like, we can't not do Shadow.

Shadow is a weird one for me, because if we still have Classic Eggman as I suggest, putting Shadow in the mix there feels strange. Even though I kept saying "no origin stories," it's important to note that Batman TAS did actually do a few real origins, and even some original characters. It debuted Harley Quinn, for instance, and season one dedicated an entire two-part episode to showing Harvey Dent's transformation into Two-Face.

Batman TAS also evolved over time. It introduced its version of Batgirl, Dick Grayson graduated from being Robin to becoming Nightwing, Tim Drake came on as the newer, younger Robin, and so on. There is wiggle room here.

I imagine you could do at least a whole season (10-20 episodes) of exploring Sonic and Tails versus Eggman and robots, and then maybe we hit our evolutionary point where we could do a, like, Sonic Adventure adaptation, or Sonic Adventure 2. Give us leeway to change up Robotnik's appearance, maybe mellow Knuckles out, bring in Rouge and Shadow.

Like, imagine an episode where Knuckles confronts a post-SA2 Shadow like "dude, I used to be mad at Sonic all the time too, but he's not so bad once you get used to the way he does things." and Shadow's just like, "I'm not mad at Sonic. I'm mad at myself."

We could also pull an Ian Flynn and maybe start bringing in guys like Bean, Bark, Fang, and since he loves her so much, even Wendy Witchcart.

My point here before I trailed off on this tangent is that if we did dip into the Freedom Fighters, that would give us a larger pool of villains to pull from. We could bring in Snively, Ixis Naugus, and um. Uhhhh. Lazaar? Remember Lazaar?

Listen, it's fine if we don't include the Freedom Fighters. We're not trying to make "SatAM 2: This Time It's Late Archie Sonic." I wouldn't mind that, but that's not the prompt being given here.

[sopebubbles]

ready for more Friendly Fighter Fodder???

Good. Glad to hear it. Love the enthusiasm.

This post will be a rambly and is no way needed to enjoy the Fighter series, so if you rather skip it feel free! This discourse takes place after Chapter 9 and assumes that you've looked over the character chart. Masterlist Character Chart Friendly Fighter Fodder (vol. 1)

First of all, I really appreciate how kind and understanding everyone has been since I started managing Sopebubbles' blog. It's been a lot of fun for me to interact with you guys and see you react to this story that I really love. For this Friendly Fighter Fodder, I got to interview our lovely and talented author. Without further ado, please allow me to introduce her. You know her best for such works as Serendipity, A Sea Without You, 21st Century Girl and so many more. Maddie, welcome. We are honored to have you with us today.

Thank you! Its a pleasure to be here! It's okay if I call you Maddie, right? You can call me whatever you like. I'm not used to sitting in front of genius. Oh, you're too kind. So let's jump right in. Why is Val's birthday important? Both beastie and I are very interested in astrology. I think about it at least a little bit with most of my characters, though not all. Sometimes I like to deliberately build characters around a zodiac sign. For example, Yn in The Pact was created as a Gemini to complement Jin's Sagittarius because it's one of astrology's great pairings.

However, with Val, I needed to choose a birthday. So I decided what zodiac sign suited her best and we ended up in April as an Aries because she's very action-oriented and pretty impulsive. I think her Aries sun and Tae's Aries moon really allowed for their explosiveness.

For awhile we were really stuck between Scorpio and Aries, because she is really intense and has a secret and this deep emotional world that she's trying to understand. The birthday we chose actually has her moon as Scorpio, which is why we ultimately settled on that particular date.

Also, my moon is in Scorpio so it made it easy to project onto her. 😂

And I happen to love scorpio moon folks, so it's perfect. Can you talk a little bit about the relationship dynamics within Bangtan? I know some of them have been touched on in the story, but they all seem very open. How does it work? Namkook: Namjoon wasn't super serious about anyone before Jungkook. Partially it was that he didn't want to get anyone invested in his lifestyle. His parents weren't exactly a role model couple (because his dad was a jerk). He knew pretty early on that he was bisexual, but never pursued anyone of either gender very seriously until he met Jungkook. As Kook tell us, it was Jin who got him to stop fooling around and put him to use. After a couple of years of working the streets for Jin, and after finishing high school, he began to work more closely with Jin and that's how he met Namjoon. They hit it off pretty quickly! Namjoon new his dad wouldn't approve of the relationship because of toxic masculinity, so they kept it secret for the most part until his father was killed and he took over. They are still pretty low key. While they love each other deeply and are very committed, they do indulge in (mostly) sexual encounters both in and outside the relationship. Jungkook keeps a separate bedroom because Namjoon snores too loud sometimes and they both like their space. I really like this pair together. We had talked about before how they complemented each other really well. Namjoon has a tendency to think everything through very deeply and choose the best course of action. While Jungkook can be entirely thoughtless, but then just kind of…do the right thing?? I think Namjoon is very taken with Jungkook's instincts and ability to be carefree and capable.

And Namjoon also appreciates how physically unbreakable Jungkook is. Maybe he thinks about that with Val, too. Allow your mind to wander where it will with that piece of information. What about 2seok? As discussed in chapter 8, Hoseok first met Jin on the streets of Seoul when he (accidentally) killed for the first time. But it was hardly the first time Jin had seen him. Seokjin thinks that one of his talents is finding people with potential. He's a pretty big fan of diamonds in the rough and fixing broken toys. He had been following Hobi around the streets for at least a couple of weeks. He wasnt necessarily supposed to be there; it wasn't exactly Bangtan territory. But he had been looking for a way to approach Hoseok, and the moment presented himself. Since Hobi really had nowhere to go and was worried about being sought out by the other gang, he stayed with Jin. They became deeply devoted to one another. When Jin was assigned to go to LA, there was no way he would leave Hoseok behind. They are very much a part of each other. Oh. And they are open to possibilities, but generally both too busy and not interested enough to pursue anything outside of each other, but they might be able to make some time 👀

I always saw Jin as someone who puts Hoseok before anyone else. In terms of being on the queer spectrum, in my mind (and I don't know if you'd agree with this) he had the strongest preference for men. That being said, he is deeply in love with Hoseok who knows things about Seokjin that no one else does. In a lot of ways, I think Seokjin is grateful to Hoseok for accepting him completely and he wants to do the same in return. So if someone was important to Hoseok or Hoseok wanted to explore, then Jin would be more than willing to let and encourage that happening. With or without him being there also. I haven't really thought much about how much Jin prefers men, but I agree he has a strong preference for Hoseok. I think Jin is someone who spends a lot of time trying to get to the very bottom of someone's being, which is part of why he doesn't trust Val immediately. I think once he's explored the depths of her, he'll be disappointed in himself for not having been the one to discover her. 😂 But yes, absolutely, he would let Hoseok have whatever or whoever he wanted. On to Vmin... Yes, now Vmin...theirs is the least like a relationship. They met while attending the same expensive private school. Jimin was…a trouble maker and entirely too smart for his own good. Tae was, well pretty much how Tae is. They were friends and that was pretty much it. Fast forward a couple of years after graduation and Jimin is being held by the FBI for some very less than legal computer activities. Tae finds out and appeals to Namjoon, who convinces his dad that getting Jimin out of trouble and under their organization will be well worth the cost of a bribe—which it was. Afterward, Jimin introduced Taehyung to the BDSM scene and the two began a casual, open sexual relationship. They both freely sleep with other people as we have seen, but they do tend to see each other as a constant.

I have thought a lot about Jimin’s character specifically! I don’t know if as authors we’re allowed to have favorites, but if we were allowed he would definitely be among the contenders! You may have noticed that Jimin’s header was used for Chapter Nine despite the fact that the focus was mostly on Y/n. However, this was the first time we started to see Jimin’s character through his interactions with other people. We start to get a sense of what he values and what he doesn’t and what motivates him. Jimin is aromantic and alexithymic. An important thing to note is one does not cause the other. You can be uninterested in romance and not have alexithymia and you can have alexithymia and be interested in romance. Jimin just happens to be both. I included Jimin’s aromanticism on his character chart because if you asked Jimin directly if he was interested in romance, he would flat out tell you, “No.” However, if you asked Jimin if he was alexithymic, he’d have no idea what you were talking about. Jimin is comfortable. Bangtan accepts him for who he is and he feels safe with his friends. Thus, he doesn’t feel the need to go looking for answers. He understands that on some level, he’s different but he also knows that while he doesn’t understand his emotions, other people don’t understand how to code. And to him, it’s more ridiculous to not understand how to code or hack into a government mainframe, because those things are much easier than emotions. Both intentionally and unintentionally, Jimin has developed coping mechanisms for his alexithymia. Because he doesn’t trust his understanding of emotions, he looks for behavior to guide his actions. He values compassion and loyalty most of all. Taehyung has displayed those qualities to him more than any other person, so he values Taehyung more than any other person. In return, he tries to show a similar amount of compassion and loyalty. The other thing too is that Jimin likes caring for people. He gets a great deal of satisfaction knowing someone else is enjoying themselves. That was what got him into the BDSM scene. He liked knowing what the rules to everything were and fulfilling expectations as a Dom. He liked knowing that he was giving people what they were asking for. And if he seems a little callous at times, well then, that's just part of his persona. And in case you’re wondering, Tae finds that bit particularly hot. 

And as far as not wanting romance, he just doesn’t care for those behaviors. They look contrived to him, so he rather not participate. Easy as that.

If this is your first time hearing about aromanticism or alexithymia, I encourage you to look them up! And if you have more questions about how this affects Jimin or his relationships, please let me know. 😊 One more thought, I didn't want to have your typical giant ot7 love puddle. Not that I don't love those stories, because I do! It just didn't feel right for the story for me. I felt like it would be very intimidating for Val. And I liked the idea of getting to explore different kinds of relationships instead of one. Tell me about Yoongi. Ah Yoongi! Is it wrong to say he's my favorite and he's not in a relationship because he's just too wonderful? Okay, that's not the real reason. I imagine Yoongi probably really liked a girl in undergrad. They were friends for a long time, both premed, studied together a lot. He didn't get the courage to ask her out until senior year and she said yes, but then they went to different medical schools and, well we know that could never work. Med school is a busy time, too busy to invest in someone else. Then once he realized he would be part of the gang, there was no point, in his mind, of involving anyone in his life who he would just make vulnerable. If Jin has the strongest preference for men, then Yoongi has the strongest preference for women. Not that he wouldnt ever be interested or have sex with a man, but he's honestly fairly disinterested in the whole thing in general. He needs that spark. And I can't think of any brighter spark than our Val. She's so sparkly, sparkly, isn't she? 🤩 She sure is. Speaking of Val, does she know about all these dynamics? What does she think of them? I think this will come up soon in a few chapters, so instead of discussing what she thinks of them directly maybe I should tell you why she probably doesn't really know about them. Firstly, she does know about vmin, but she still doesn't fully understand that. Tae is not very good at explaining things. He'd rather just make out, tbh. But Val is someone who really needs things laid out explicitly, particularly when it comes to feelings and interpersonal relationships. She barely remembers her mom, much less what her parents' relationship dynamics were like. Her most intimate interpersonal relationship in her whole life was with Joaquin. Yikes. Honestly, she probably expects a certainly level of unhealthy behavior because she doesn't know anything else, even though she does know it doesn't feel good. She hasn't seen much of anything that wasn't a heterosexual, abusive relationship up close. I think she has absolutely no context to bisexuality or polyamory. And I think it's really going to throw her for a loop. She has a lot to learn! Luckily, she's a quick study. Yeah, I think she'll catch on! I know a lot of people were here for Taehyung and Val. We know that Val thinks everything was a lie, and it's clear Taehyung is starting to process some very complicated things about their previous relationship. Is there any hope for them moving forward? What do you think is the biggest lesson they need to learn, either together or separately? I know that's been confusing to a lot of people including Tae! When she says it was a lie, it's because she knew she was lying. She thinks she tricked Tae into believing she was someone she isn't, and that who she is isn't lovable. Obviously she has to learn that she is lovable, but the guys will take care of that. I think she needs to learn that she can be the person she wants to be simply by embodying it. She had to accept her own duality, and all the different parts of herself. She is traumatized and also naive, strong and vulnerable. Tae needs to learn how to communicate, honestly. In some cases, words are actions and actions that aren't properly explained or justified only do harm. I have a lot of hope for them! 🥺💕

Well, that is it for this episode of Friendly Fighter Fodder. Thanks again to Sopebubbles who indulged my whim for an "interview" and painstakingly typed out her thoughts!

As usual, we love to hear your thoughts too! If you want to know more about anything or have an opinion you'd like to share or your own hot take, feel free to let us know!

Thank you so much for reading! 🤗

[thegreatstoryteller]

Been enjoying your DnD series! Have you considered a side-story in the same universe, but maybe a guy is transformed into a bandit or assimilated into a "generic mob" sort of enemy?

OIn a not so distant town nearby, there lives Zachary! Or as he's known now, Zenith Blade. Zachary once was a mild mannered midwestern guy in his 30s who played D&D on the weekend. Like our characters in the DeepDive, he was wisked away when he and his friends were playing a friendly game. Many tried to find a way back home, but Zenith was more than happy to stay in this bodybuilder like body and live the life of a fighter! He grew cocky, to a stereotypical level! Challenging people to feats of strength, getting drunk at bars, and acting like there wasn't a law that would apply to him.

Overtime he was drawn to the criminal aspect of this world and used his much stronger body to act as a muscle for some crime bosses. Sure some new "players" would enter the game and beat him up a bit, but the next day he'd go back to enjoying his life of unadulterated chaos and fun!

Now Zenith is getting a bit older. His body now reaching its 40s and his once form fitting leather armor growing a bit tight. A life of excess only lasts so long, but Zenith was now too far gone. He couldn't imagine life outside his simple bandit beginnings. As long as he could flex his muscles and have an ale at the end of the day he was satisfied being just another piece of fodder for future adventurers to fight.

[queenclaudiabrown]

Ocean Eyes | III: I Must Go Down to The Sea Again

Chapter content warnings: references to events of previous chapters, light sexism/racism like in Ch. 2, untrademarked use of the name Google, mentions of a breakup and unrequited feelings/pining, mentions of an affair, more on Danny being half-Mer and Patrick’s half-brother, uncensored cussing

Word count: 3,133

     It had been three days since what Claudia had labeled ‘The Incident’.  She was still very confused and viewed the incident in a both a good and bad light.  She was grateful, of course, that she and Connor had been rescued from drowning.  But she was still struggling to wrap her head around the fact that the fairytale creatures romanticized from their man-eating origins into little girls’ fantasy fodder actually existed.

     Everything had changed, and yet nothing at all.

     Her learning about these…beings…existing didn’t change the fact that they had existed long before she knew.  Whether they were a new species or as old as humans, a freak byproduct of mutation and cross breeding or as natural as she herself, she didn’t know.  They were clearly sentient and behaved much like humans, although from what she had gleaned from the interactions she’d had on the dock not all of them liked humans.  Nick was quite friendly, but the brunet male, Stephen, had seemed terse and standoffish, and from Connor’s overexcited rambled recollection to Claudia so was Abigail.  That didn’t offend her- she wasn’t always much fond of humans herself, despite being one.

     Still, she found herself inexplicably drawn to the ocean and its newfound inhabitants.  Her mysterious savior, the man with the fish’s tail and Scottish voice, remained in her every thought, day and night.  She felt drawn to him, even though she knew nothing could come of it.  She shook her head, silently chastising herself for such thoughts.  Whoever said anything about her and him?

     Claudia had returned to work after a day of rest and trays in her room, and was now as busy as ever, cooking for her family and guests.  The Quinn brothers had returned and were somewhat subdued, with a slight air of tension between them.  Whatever- Danny and Patrick could deal with their own family drama by themselves; it wasn’t anyone’s business but their own.

     Still, she felt sorry for them.

     She felt sorry for Jenny, too.  Her sister had enjoyed the light, casual back-and-forth flirting that she and Danny had shared, but he had gone cold, leaving Jenny confused and hurt.  She’d apparently broken up with Michael a day or so ago and said as much when Danny had made a scathing remark about her flirting with other men while taken, but when she’d told him he had only said that it was none of his business and gone for a swim.  That made her want to punch him- strange, since Claudia wasn’t much of a physical fighter.

     Her thoughts were interrupted by a courtesy knock before the door opened, the twin she’d just been thinking about stepping into the room.  “Look what I found.”  She held up a familiar scarf, jacket, sweater, and pair of boots- the same items Claudia had shed in an effort to not be weighed down on that fateful day.  “They were just laying out on the dock, like someone had dumped them there.”

     Without meaning to, Claudia’s mind flashed to Nick and his kind personality.  Given Stephen’s attitude and what she had heard about Abigail, Nick seemed to be the most sociable and human-friendly of the three.  It certainly helped that she might’ve absolutely did not have a tiny crush on him.

     Claudia closed her eyes and took a breath in a fruitless attempt to push all thoughts of him to the fringes of her mind.  “Thanks for bringing them in, Jens.”  She shot her sister a smile.

     The darker-haired twin returned it.  “No problem.  By the way, that casserole you froze is almost past its sell-by date, so maybe we should thaw it out for tonight?”

     Claudia nodded.  “Sure.  I might take a walk before dinner, clear my head.”

     Jenny made a sympathetic face.  “Might do you some good.  You’ve been out of sorts since the storm.  Can’t blame you, though; the shutters all shook and we had so many branches down.  It must’ve been nightmarish trying to keep the yacht from capsizing.”

     ‘It was.  And we did anyway.  And then we were rescued by mermaids.’

     “Yeah…it was pretty intense.”

     Jenny squeezed her sister’s shoulder in farewell and slipped out of the room.  Claudia watched her go, mind automatically wandering yet again to Nick.  Realizing where her thoughts had gone again, she groaned, wishing she just couldn’t get him out of her head.  With a resigned sigh, Claudia straightened her shouldered and wrapped her newly-returned scarf back around her neck, slipping into shoes and a jacket before heading for the dock.

     She really hated that name, she despised being confused with her, she loathed having her existence kept secret, but Jennifer Lewis loved Claudia.

     Her twin had greeted her with open arms- literally- and was so sweet and understanding that Jenny couldn’t hate her, no matter what she did.  If they fought, regardless of who started it or whose fault it was, Claudia would turn up within a few hours with a variety of baked goods and soft-spoken, doe-eyed apology.  Jenny couldn’t stay mad at her for long.

     Danny, however, was another story.  She fancied him, plain and simple, but her mum- adopted, not biological- had once told her that the ones we love most hurt us the most and make us the angriest.  Jenny found herself agreeing with that more than ever.  She’d broken up with sweet, loving Michael when she finally admitted to herself she was falling for Danny and knew she couldn’t string them both along.  All she’d gotten for it was a chilly remark, utterly wounding and confusing her.

     Hence why she’d spent the last day in her room sulking avoiding him having private time.  She told herself he was too old for her anyway- he was 36 and she was 25- an eleven-year gap.  His little brother was closer to her age.

     ‘But it’s not him you want.  Her traitorous mind reminded her.  It’s his big brother.’

     This train of thought had been pretty much on a never-ending loop ever since she’d met Danny.  She was ready to tear her hair out and do unladylike things.  Normally she’d ask Claudia for advice, but Claudia clearly had her own problems at the moment, and although she knew Claudia would drop everything for her, Jenny wasn’t so selfish as to think her issues were bigger than Claudia’s.

     With a heavy sigh, Jenny left her and Claudia’s shared bathroom and set out to find Danny and set things straight between them.

     Claudia’s eyes were closed, simply enjoying the moment- the quiet noise of waves crashing, the smell of the sea, the warm sun on her face.  Despite having a purpose when she had gone to the dock, it was so lovely and peaceful that she couldn’t resist taking a moment for herself.

      “Claudia Brown.”

     Her eyes opened at the voice- the voice of the merman she’d been seeking.

     “Nick.”  She returned, unable to stop herself from smiling.  “Just who I was hoping to see.”

     His mouth smiled, but his brows furrowed in confusion. 

     He hoisted himself from the water, sitting on the dock once more, and Claudia sat down as well facing him.  “I never got to thank you for saving my life.”  She explained.  He nodded in understanding.  “So…thank you.”

     He smiled.  “Worked for me.  How are you feeling after everything that happened?”

     Her gaze flicked away from him, out to the ever-tumultuous ocean.  “I’m fine.”  She mumbled, but rubbed her aching head.

     “Are you sure?”  Nick questioned, too perceptive for anyone’s good.

     “Um, I haven’t been sleeping well.”  She confessed.  “Bad dreams.  It’s nothing.  Connor told our family, but they didn’t believe him.  I haven’t said anything yet.”

     “Why not?”

     “Because Danny is half-merman, and he and his brother are my guests and were on the yacht, and my twin sister fancies Danny.  It’s not about Connor and I.  It’s about them, and their family, and a whole other species that Danny is part of.  I don’t have the right to confirm it and discuss it with anyone, not even my family, without at least their permission.”

     Nick slowly nodded in consideration.  “I can understand that.  You’re a very kind and unselfish person, Claudia Brown.  The same can’t be said for most of your people.”

     She blushed at the praise.  “So, why were you and your friends swimming so close to shore…human civilization…when we were out?  I was only underwater a couple minutes when you saved us.”

     He hesitated, face rather frozen halfway between the old smile and an almost cringe at her question.  “I like…people.  Humans.  I like to see them, watch how they live.  But most of my kind don’t trust humans, and to be honest with you, I don’t trust them very much either.  But I like to watch from the water, out of sight.  Stephen never really lets me out of his reach, and Abigail doesn’t get to explore the oceans as much as she’d like to, so recently we’ve been letting her swim out with us.”  His cheeks colored rosily, which was the last thing she would’ve expected- a merman, blushing!  He raked a hand through his pale hair and left a wide swath of it sticking up erratically (and adorably, although she’d never admit it).  “Well, I’ve watched your boat trips, and you and your family living and working here by the ocean.  You’re different from everyone else.”

     She should’ve found it weird and stalkerish that he’d watched her, but when he continually showered her with compliments like that- and his habit had resulted in him and his friends saving the lives of her guests, her cousin, and herself- she couldn’t bring herself to be upset.

     She said as much.

     His smile outshone the sun.

     Connor Temple sat on the end of the dock, swinging his legs with his bare feet in the water.  He hoped that the white-haired beauty- Abigail- would soon return so he could see her again.  Her image and voice were imprinted in his mind, a fond memory he treasured above money.  She had been cold and harsh, but he didn’t care.  The child in him was enamored at the prospect of her, and his inner scientist was fascinated that such a wondrous being could exist.

     Becker hadn’t believed him, though, and that had stung.  Still did, if he was being frank.  Connor wasn’t much of an artist, but he knew his way around computers very well, so he’d done an alright job with digital art and Google searches to produce a pretty accurate image of what Abigail’s tail had looked like.  Even then, he’d heard words and phrases like ‘shock’, ‘head injury’, ‘hypothermia’, and ‘hallucination’ get muttered by his family.

     He’d come back to the dock every day since.

     He didn’t just come here to be away from the understandable disbelief, he also wanted to see Abigail; and he didn’t just want to see Abigail to prove that he wasn’t making her up, he did genuinely want to see her again for her.

     The quiet sound of water falling on a hard object drew his attention, and he was pleasantly surprised to see Abigail herself suddenly sitting on the dock behind him, puddles of water around and under her. 

     “Abigail!”  He greeted, breathless with both excitement and awe.  “You look beautiful today- er, not that you didn’t the other day, or that I think you normally don’t, I just- it’s today and you look beautiful.”

    Rather than please her, the awkwardly-delivered compliment only seemed to annoy her.  “Men.”  She scoffed.  “They’re all the same.  They see a girl who fits their expectations of beauty and lust takes over anything remotely reasonable in their heads.”  She glared out at the open ocean, and Connor’s heart twisted painfully in his chest at the thought of something awful happening to her.

     He opened his mouth to speak, but she has those piercing blue eyes back on him again, freezing him in place.  Somewhere in the back of his mind he tried to remember if sirens shared that ability with Medusa.  “Come on then.  Want to see what I’ve got to offer?  I’ll show you.”

     Like a snake, like a panther, she surged forward before he could react, pouncing on him and seizing him in a surprisingly strong grip for the small size of her slim hands.  With a powerful whiplike snap of her tail, she shot out of the water, her hands moving constantly on Connor as she speedily maneuvered him onto her back, pulling his arms around her waist and keeping them together and in their place with a firm squeeze of a hand.  They crashed into the water together, Connor barely able to gasp in a breath in time before they both plunged into the chilly sea.  

     Like an arrow, Abigail shot through the water, and Connor clung to her for dear life.  Seemingly at random, she would dart off to the side, or dive deeper down into the sea, then abruptly change course.  He managed to open his eyes and was dumbstruck with at the incredible sights that filled his vision.  So many shades of blue in the water, sunbeams piercing the surface and illuminating the seabed of stones and sand and seaweed, fish shooting aside to avoid being hit by the incoming mermaid and her passenger.  He’d had the typical fascination with sharks and fishing when he was little and had since moved on to things like space and computers and sci-fi, but felt his old love of the ocean reawaken.  

     Connor wished he could stay underwater with Abigail forever, but he had been holding his breath for quite a while now, and his grip loosened on her.  She seemed to recognize the problem and quickly turned upward, soaring toward the surface.  Gasping, Connor sucked in the deepest breath he could, continuing to draw deep breaths as the mermaid gently brought them to the dock and paused parallel to it so he could climb onto it from her back.  He did so and sprawled out on his own back, panting heavily with a wide smile on his face.

     Abigail hid herself mostly underwater again, her head alone peeping out from the water near the dock’s edge.

     “That was…my God, that was brilliant!”  Connor gushed, rolling over to the side of the dock to look at her again.  “That was amazin’!  I mean, you were tryin’ to scare me off, but that was the most brilliant thing I’ve ever seen!  Way better than a documentary film on the telly or some grainy video on me laptop.  It’s the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen or done in me life!”

     She arched one brown eyebrow at him ever so slightly, an equally small upward tilt to the corners of her mouth.  “Maybe I misjudged you.”  She conceded, realizing that his fascination was wholly childlike- innocent, chaste, and pure.

     His face brightened enough to rival the sun.  “Does that mean you’re not gonna drown me or eat me?”

     She chuckled, her smile widening a little.  “Yeah, that’s what it means.”

     He grinned from ear-to-ear, and she couldn’t keep a straight face against that.

     Danny was enjoying freedom from his little brother’s well-meaning nagging, all the way over by the inlet that he had sheltered them from the storm in.  Patrick had been understanding when Danny had reluctantly explained the existence of mermaids and mermen, and that he was half one.  It hadn’t bothered the human Quinn that they didn’t share the same father, or that Danny wasn’t entirely human- he was fine with that.  They were still brothers.  What had angered him was that Danny had kept it a secret for so long (twenty-three years).

     He’d punched the rock and still had a few knuckle bandages on.

     “You can’t keep treating her like that, you know.”  Patrick’s voice came from behind Danny.

     The older brother sighed deeply and closed his eyes.  “Who?”  He asked, feigning ignorance.

     “Don’t play stupid with me, Dan.  Jenny.”

     Danny looked out over the water again and shook his head.  “There can never be anything between us.”

     Patrick sighed a long-suffering sigh.  “Which one of us is the older brother here?”  Danny rolled his eyes.  “She can take it.  She broke up with her boyfriend for you.  Her sister and cousin are falling all over the other seafolk.  You’re living proof that it can happen.”

     “She doesn’t even know me!  If she wants to break up with her boyfriend, that’s her business.  I don’t want to be involved in it.”

     The younger brother tipped his head back, groaning in frustration.  “I give up.  I give up.  If you’re unhappy, it’s your own fault.  I’m done.”

     He walked off, still muttering in annoyance.  Danny shook his head and raked a hand through his hair.  He hadn’t lied to Patrick, but the words had felt like lies all the same.  He liked Jenny, very much, but he didn’t see how anything could come of it in reality.

     But God, he wished it could.

     Claudia had lost track of time, and she didn’t care.

     Nick was wonderful- sweet and pleasant in a way that most human men weren’t.  There were plenty of good men, of course- her cousins and father, to name a few- but she didn’t know a lot of them, and Emily could attest to the presence of the many unpleasant ones.  Nick made a refreshing change.

     They had talked for hours and hours, the sun arcing across the sky noticeably- well, noticeably if either of them had been paying attention.  Nick’s tail had dried into a humanoid lower half, which was apparently unhealthy to remain in for too long, so he’d taken a few dips back into the sea to remoisten himself.  Interestingly enough, the length of his legs only differed from his tail’s length by the large fins at the end, which had shrunk into proportionally-correct feet.  Even so, if he had stood, he would have only been a few inches shorter.

     A particularly strong gust of wind came up off the sea, stealing Claudia’s breath and thus cutting off her words, also whipping hair into her face.  Nick’s large hand came up and gently tucked it behind her ear, but remained resting on her cheek needlessly.  She wasn’t complaining, though, her gaze caught in his and unable to break free.

     All her sensible and responsible family members were screaming in her head that this was a bad idea, for a variety of admittedly valid reasons, but if she could’ve paid attention to what they were saying, she still would’ve ignored them.

     But before anything could else could happen, they were interrupted.

     “Claudia, would someone please tell me what the hell is going on over here?!”  Jenny’s shocked and angry voice broke the peace.

     “Oh no.”  Her twin breathed.

     Explosion imminent.

Gifs of Nick and Claudia are mine; dividers are used with permission from their creator, @animatedglittergraphics-n-more

Ocean Eyes Masterlist

[ask-mortarion-the-death-lord]

cause ive always liked fire emblem, and cause the questions rested on my head before, the primarchs in fire emblem classes:

lion = paladin. its the most traditionally knightly class, and well the lions never really been depicted on horses or in relation to fast vehicles all that often, the paladin class is more so marked by balanced stats and a sharp increase to res so i feel confidant in giving him a mounted class like the paladin.

fulgrim = swordmaster. lightly armored very fast class, well its limited to just swords for the most part i feel that also suits fulgrims perfectionist nature since as a class its largely about perfecting that one weapon often getting special perks for doing so. plus in terms of outfits swordmasters are one of the more fashionable or exotic classes which also suits fulgrims tendency to extravagant dress.

perturabo = great knight. at first i thought general since its a very representative defensive class, heavy armour, used by enemy armies alot, best used in defensive roles, all that stuff. but on reflection great knight kinda works a bit better, since the iron warriors also notably use a lot of vehicles. this gives perturabo both high defensive properties but decent mobility like his copious tanks without being as high as say a paladin or bow knights mov to represent perts preference for terminator armour.

jaghatai = nomad trooper/bow knight. i specify nomad trooper because it better gells with the whole Mongol thing the khans got going on, but bow knight is also the more common variation of this class. regardless, its a more speed aligned mounted class capable of using swords and bows, that has the khans name all over it.

lemen = warrior. the russ is typically portrayed with axes, has a viking theme, and well hes 'uga uga barbarian' he also strives to try and be better then that. its another easy fit really, even if bows arent particularly fitting for russ but then that also does help to emphasize the sortta duality of the russ as a savage reveling in it whos also embarrassed by it to some extent.

rogal = hero. its not a defensive class like the general but it is the more defensive counterpart to the swordmaster usually, and rogals usually not shown to be wearing terminator armour. aside from that its something of a flexible class used by shady mercs and noble knights in equal measure, so it can work with both an air of practicality and luxury well.

konrad = trickster. assassin seems like the better choice since it jives more with konrad visually speaking, konrad also has psychic powers that let him see the future. thus trickster works a bit better i feel to represent that, placing him in a thief promotion well also giving him access to magic. i thought of dread fighter as well, but konrads not known for sending out warp bolts so the tricksters support magic works better for konrads future sight.

sanguinius = falcon knight. a female dominated class, ignoring that stipulation fire emblem pegasi have the unicorn thing where their atleast rumored to only accept the pure hearted as riders, and well i wouldn't call any primarch pure hearted neither are many of the pegasus knights in fire emblem so it works thematically without being a hard requirement. also, wings and a flying class thats focused on speed and has also at times had access to support magic. another obvious fit for all intents and purposes.

ferrus = blacksmith. thank god for fates giving me this out, well ferrus does wear terminator armour he also notably relies on his arms metal coating to protect that so i feel more confidant in giving him blacksmith which is a defensive class but not a heavy armour class if that makes sense. also, overlap of professions which putting aside the terminator armour stuff does make this the otherwise obvious choice for ferrus.

angron = berserker. the class is pretty much all attack and speed no defense, relying on high health to tank hits. well its usually locked to axes, angron usually uses axes to thats fine, and well its also a class mostly associated with bandits and barbarian and tribal looks its also a class that gets a lot of association with gladiators and arenas so it works in that sense as well.

roboute = hero, great lord. not totally happy with this one so im giving myself multiple outs on it. hero i feel works in a visual sense but its doubling up on rogals, well great lord works better in terms of who roboute is but its pushing roboute into the definitive protagonist class of fire emblem. settled on great lord eventually both because its the protagonist class, and because well its a class capable of defending itself their both usually not the best fighter and also need to be handled carefully or else cause a game over due to dying,

mortarion = oni savage. a defensive class specialized in using axes but which does have access to magic use. it fits in that mortarion prides himself on endurance and physical strength well shunning magic, despite having had training and education in magic himself and arguably because of who taught him. plus visually the class is designed to look intimidating and wears a mask, both vague enough applications to mortarion.

magnus = sorcerer. also called druid, dark sage, or dark bishop. i thought of maybe basara since its a class with access to physical weapons, but i decided sorcerer for two main reasons. first, magnus relies heavily on his magic over his physical fighting skills by primarch standards. second, darks magic which sorcerers specialize in have the narratively appropriate connotations in fire emblem for magnuses character. as dark magic in fe is both a dangerous dark force used by evil wizards to summon dark gods or cast curses, and a neutral force of nature that can be researched and understood like a science, used like a science to consume enemies in black holes even. it is the perfect magic to give the "its not a phase dad, its a science! -consumed by dark forces-" character in essence.

horus = general. perfect class for horus less because of its defensive properties or role as a defensive class, but more so because of what it arguably symbolizes and how horus is the primarch next to perturabo who wears the most terminator of terminator armour. namely that general is the class most frequently used by enemy bosses and commanders in fire emblem, often by one of the head honchos or a minion of said honcho. in that sense, its the perfect class to have the warmaster and arch traitor of the imperium in.

lorgar = war monk. religiously affiliated class that wields an axe, and already a perfect fit for that alone. the war monk class also has access to support magic with jives with lorgar unlocking psychic power through his studies of daemonology and the chaos gods, and also his own psychic visions. my only concern is that to access war monk regularly you have to be in the priest class beforehand [unless your a prepromote] which jives with lorgars history but is also a class locked to support magic, but for a primarch im willing to let it slide.

vulkan = wyvern lord. vulkans another character in terminator armour, but i feel wyvern lord works better. not because vulkans known for flying mind you, but more so because wyvern lords a defensive flying class, involves a a dragon, and because wyverns in fe are difficult to tame mounts but ones that are fiercely loyal and protective of their riders if said rider treats them well. which fits into vulkans friendly, by primarch standards, attitude.

corvus = assassin. well corvus also uses psychic powers to turn invisible, i felt giving trickster to konrad worked better because konrad was more active and constant in his use of psychic powers well corvus tried to avoid using his power as much as possible from what i remember. as such that left corvus with the more physically aligned thief promotion which i enjoy as a sort of 'delightful irony' since the assassin aesthetic better suits konrad.

alpharius/omegon = halberdier. feeling blessed that alpharius omegon have largely been presented as using lances cause it makes this a lot easier. well the ao twins are masters of a sneaky legion themselves, importantly the alpha legion favours infiltration and disguise over sneaking about. and what better disguise then as the promotion of the most generic of classes the soldier class. its a lance locked class, but i feel thats a good enough trade off for the inconspicuous murder angle. and the soldier class is if nothing inconspicuous/cannon fodder.

and bonus malcador and emperor!

malcador = sage. even putting aside that malcadors claim to fame is being a psyker, sage works in relation to the fire emblem trope of wise and crinkly old sages [the gotoh archtype as its referred to] which malcador fits on like a glove.

emperor = emperor, baron, master knight. the emperor class is indeed a thing, and im specifically thinking of the fe4 emperor class which could utilize every weapon and magic outside of light magic and dark magic. aside from that the emperor class was also a heavy armour class which... i dont remember if the emperors wearing terminator armour but it does gel with the emperor being fukin big. the barons an alternative thats basically the same as the emperor class if a bit weaker, and master knights the mounted variation that has access to light magic.

[bloodybigwardrobe]

the horrors that i promised you i'd bring

(the one where the pevensies unsettle four decidedly shady characters.)

The myth spreads like this.

Zoltep Zaan is screwing together a leg for the next soldier, blood staining his hands and sweat dripping into his eyes. Someone behind him lets out a yelp, and Zoltep glances about in surprise. A pointed finger soon guides him to look at a young human woman sitting in a tree. She looks down on him with a frown. Her feet swing above their heads and the carnage of the battle like she is used to such sights. Her dress is peculiar, though Zoltep doesn’t know much about human clothing. He hadn’t even known there were any humans left in these parts. He doesn’t like the judgement in her eyes, feeling oddly exposed.

Dropping his project to scramble to his feet, he glares up at her. “Oi! You can’t be here,” he growls. “This is a restricted area!”

“It isn’t,” the human replies with a melodious voice, shaking her head.

-

Volzotan Smeik is shuffling a card deck for a game of Rumo, nodding his head at a regular passing by him with an off-hand greeting. There is some movement from across the table and Volzotan looks up to find a young human man looking back at him. His hands are folded on the tabletop with the ease of a regular customer. His eyes are sharp.

“Evening,” Volzotan says. The human dips his head in response. Volzotan doesn’t think he’s seen humans in quite some time. This one looks to be the thin, pale sort. The sort Volzotan can easily read on even his worst days.

But this human’s face is empty of words Volzotan understands.

-

Phistomefel Smeik has just doomed Colophonius to death in the catacombs and is now looking after his hive. The bees seem more alert than usual, and all too soon Phistomefel realises that a human woman is wandering the streets. Her eyes are too intelligent, her face open and gentle. Phistomefel dislikes her on sight. Not to mention the suspicion.

He would not put it past Colophonius to have contrived a back-up plan. After all, it is what Phistomefel would have done in his stead. Thankfully, he has been equipped with much better tools than the blasted book hunter.

“Hello!” He says, bright and friendly. The woman turns and looks at him with a smile. He doesn’t trust it.

-

Friftar is leaning on the balustrade of the king’s balcony, overlooking the crowds at the Theatre of Death. Next to him, Gaunab is muttering excitedly about tonight’s matches. Then, the gate in the arena opens, and Friftar stares down at the human man walking into his theatre. His shoulders are straight, but there is little tension in his frame - a sight unknown to the Theatre of Death. Friftar is immediately on guard.

He knows all their fighters, of course. He has to if he intends to have things under control and keep the king pacified. But this human , a creature absolutely unheard of in the masses of Hel, is new to him. Friftar does not like this fact.

Gaunab peers down with a furrow in his brow, and Friftar rushes to try and assure his erratic king of the beauty of tonight’s spectacle. Putting aside all his suspicions of an unknown fighter, it’s evident that this human is no arrow fodder.

[read the full story on ao3]

[godkingsanointed]

Bandit hierarchy within the COV:

Lowest tier: The Boom saints,cannon fodder in its purest form. These bandits know they don't have long left for whatever numerous reasons,and want to go out in a blaze of devotion (think war-boys)

Then come your garden variety Psychos,axe-hands with no sense of self preservation and enough damage to be largely numb or none reactive to pain. Most likely to become Boom saints

Then Sluggers. More skilled then axe-hands and capable of at range AOE. As close as the standard rank and file of Pandora has to demolition experts,and second most likely to become Boom saints (whether they mean it or not...)

The punks are next. These foot soldiers are the lightest of the armoured ranks,and made up of the most inexperienced. Their your standard troop when quantity matters over quality and is the most mixed rank in terms of native Pandorans and prometheans/off-worlders

Zealots are mostly Off-worlders,and only have the edge over the other ranks because they either came with their own gear or gave everything they had when they joined and received gear as benefits for "loyalty". Most likely to die first in combat,the Zealots tend to be more insular among the family and so rarely have back up if a fight goes bad. Pandorans among this rank tend to call themselves Razors to differentiate,and fights break out here often

Enforcers are the captains of the more mundane fighting forces. These are bandits with some level of notoriety before the COV,commonly a way to pacify clan leaders with a modicum of retained control

The Goons are the heavy hitters,sent in whenever a scene needs to be made and an area needs to be cleared. Almost always accompanied by Punk tier or lower due to their tendency towards friendly fire,they lack the subtlety and reliability for critical situations but thrive in large scale battle

The hags are veteran survivors and fighters,called in for the really important fights and given the best weapons and gear the COV has to offer. As such is usually accompanied by multiple * engineers to keep equipment running optimally

(*tinks are common in every rank of the COV.The fact that the tinks of the COV are synonymous with Engineering is because they happened to attract a clan known for their ingenious tinkering early on)

Highest rank: Mother dearest/Mother fearest. More a mythology then a person,one that deeply terrifies bandits. You need to keep mother dearest happy,or else mother fearest will pay you a visit...

[greatworldwar2]

• Franz von Werra (Swiss Luftwaffe Ace)

Franz Xaver Baron von Werra was a German World War II fighter pilot and flying ace who famously was shot down over Britain and made several escape attempts from Allied POW camps.

Franz Baron von Werra was born on July 13th, 1914, to impoverished Swiss parents in Leuk, a town in the Swiss canton of Valais. The title of Freiherr (equal to Baron) came from his biological father, Leo Freiherr von Werra, who after bankruptcy, faced deep economic hardship. Because his relatives were legally obliged to look after the Baron's wife and six children, his cousin Rosalie von Werra persuaded her childless friend Louise Carl von Haber to permit the Baron's youngest, Franz and his sister, to enjoy the benefits of wealth and education. Werra joined the Luftwaffe in 1936 and was commissioned a Leutnant in 1938. At the beginning of the Second World War he was serving with Jagdgeschwader 3 in the French campaign. He became adjutant of II Gruppe, JG 3 and was described as engaging in boisterous 'playboy' behavior. He was once pictured in the press with his pet lion Simba, which he kept at the aerodrome as the unit mascot.

Werra scored his first four victories in May 1940, during the Battle of France. Downing a Hawker Hurricane on May 20th, two days later he claimed two Breguet 690 bombers and a Potez 630 near Cambrai. In a sortie on August 25th, during the Battle of Britain, he claimed a Spitfire west of Rochester, and three Hurricanes, as well as five destroyed on the ground for a total of nine RAF planes eliminated. The details of the actions are unknown, as the incident has not been found in British records. On September 5th, 1940, Werra's Bf 109E-4 was shot down over Winchet Hill, Kent. It is unclear who was responsible for this victory, which was originally credited to Pilot Officer Gerald "Stapme" Stapleton of No. 603 Squadron RAF. However, the Australian ace Flight Lieutenant Paterson Hughes was posthumously given half of the credit, awarding him a bar to his DFC. Werra crash-landed his Bf 109E-4 in a field on Loves Farm and was captured by the unarmed cook of a nearby army unit. Werra was initially held in Maidstone barracks by the Queen's Own Royal West Kent Regiment, from which he attempted his first escape.

He had been put to work digging and was guarded by RMP Private Denis Rickwood, who had to face Werra down with a small truncheon, while Werra was armed with a pick axe. He was interrogated for eighteen days at the London District Prisoner of War "cage" Trent Park, an country house in Hertfordshire. Eventually, Werra was sent on to POW Camp No.1, at Grizedale Hall in the Furness Fells area of pre-1974 Lancashire, between Windermere and Coniston Water. On October 7th, he tried to escape for the second time, during a daytime walk outside the camp. At a regular stop, while a fruit cart provided a lucky diversion and other German prisoners covered for him, von Werra slipped over a dry-stone wall into a field. The guards alerted the local farmers and the Home Guard. On the evening of October 10th, at around 11:00pm, two Home Guard soldiers found him sheltering from the rain in a hoggarth (a type of small stone hut used for storing sheep fodder that is common in the area). On being removed from the hut he knocked the lamp to the ground, extinguishing the light, then he quickly escaped and disappeared into the night. On October 12th, he was spotted climbing a fell. The area was surrounded, and Werra was eventually found, almost totally immersed in a muddy depression in the ground. He was sentenced to 21 days of solitary confinement and on November 3rd was transferred to Camp No. 13 in Swanwick, Derbyshire, also known as the Hayes camp.

In Camp No. 13, Werra joined a group calling itself Swanwick Tiefbau A.G. (Swanwick Excavations, Inc.), which was digging an escape tunnel. The tunnel can still be seen at the Hayes Conference Centre. On December 17th, 1940, after a month's digging, it was complete. The camp had forgers who equipped the escape group with money and fake identity papers. On December 20th, Werra and four others slipped out of the tunnel under the cover of anti-aircraft fire and the singing of the camp choir. The others were recaptured quickly, leaving Werra to proceed alone. He had taken along his flying suit and decided to masquerade as Captain van Lott, a Dutch Royal Netherlands Air Force pilot. He told a friendly locomotive driver that he was a downed bomber pilot trying to reach his unit, and asked to be taken to the nearest RAF base. At Codnor Park railway station, a local clerk became suspicious, but eventually agreed to arrange his transportation to the aerodrome at RAF Hucknall, near Nottingham. The police also questioned him, but Werra convinced them he was harmless. At Hucknall, a Squadron Leader Boniface asked for his credentials, and Werra claimed to be based at Dyce near Aberdeen. While Boniface went to check this story, Werra excused himself and ran to the nearest hangar, trying to tell a mechanic that he was cleared for a test flight. Boniface arrived in time to arrest him at gunpoint, as he sat in the cockpit, trying to learn the controls. Werra was sent back to the Hayes camp under armed guard.

In January 1941, Werra was sent with many other German prisoners to Canada on the Duchess of York, in a convoy departing Greenock on January 10th, 1941, guarded by HMS Ramillies among others. His group was to be taken to a camp on the north shore of Lake Superior, Ontario, so Werra began to plan his escape to the United States, which was still neutral at the time. On January 21st, while on a prison train that had departed Montreal, he jumped out of a window, again with the help of other prisoners, and ended up near Smith's Falls, Ontario, 30 miles from the St. Lawrence River. Seven other prisoners tried to escape from the same train, but were soon recaptured. Werra's absence was not noticed until the next afternoon. After crossing the frozen St. Lawrence River, Werra made his way to Ogdensburg, New York, arriving several months before the US entered the war, and turned himself over to the police. The immigration authorities charged him with entering the country illegally, so Werra contacted the local German consul, who paid his bail. Thus, he came to the attention of the press and told them a very embellished version of his story. While the U.S. and Canadian authorities were negotiating his extradition, the German vice-consul helped him over the border to Mexico. Werra proceeded in stages to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Barcelona, Spain and Rome, Italy. He finally arrived back in Germany on April 18th, 1941.

On his return to Germany Werra became a hero. Adolf Hitler awarded him the Knights Cross of the Iron Cross. Werra was assigned the task of improving German techniques for interrogating captured pilots, based on his experiences with the British system. Werra reported to the German High Command on how he had been treated as a POW, and this caused an improvement in the treatment of Allied POWs in Germany. He wrote a book about his experiences titled Meine Flucht aus England (My Escape from England), although it remained unpublished. Werra returned to active service with the Luftwaffe and was initially deployed to the Russian front as Gruppenkommandeur of I./JG 53. He scored 13 more aerial victories during July 1941, raising his overall confirmed total to 21. In early August 1941, I./JG 53 withdrew to Germany to re-equip with the new Bf 109F-4, after which it moved to Katwijk in the Netherlands. On October 25th, 1941 Werra took off in Bf 109F-4 Number 7285 on a practice flight. His aircraft suffered engine failure and crashed into the sea north of Vlissingen. Werra was presumed killed, though his body was never found.

[chicagocityofclans]

Isaac Baker → Daniel Kaluyaa → Wolf

→ Basic Information

Age: 66

Gender: Male

Sexuality: Straight

Born or Made: Made

Birthday: March 22

Zodiac Sign: Aries

Religion: Agnostic

→ His Personality Isaac was never the biggest or strongest in life. He grew up as the nerd who got pushed around and shoved into lockers. He was smart and cocky but didn’t have the skills to back up all the shit he talked. Until he was turned into a werewolf, and the natural personality that lived inside him came out in an obnoxious amount. Though Isaac has matured with his years as Alpha, he is still an impulsive showoff. He likes being the center of attention and making people laugh and have a good time. He can be confrontational and aggressive when dealing with situations, generally acting first before thinking of all the emotional consequences, especially with his words. Despite the rambunctious and loud behavior, Isaac is very genuinely a good person. He cares about his pack and everyone who he considers his. He is confident and lively, being incredibly welcoming and open to new pack members and other species. And though he can act impulsively and without thought, he has learned to recognize larger situations and has become versatile in the way he handles official pack business.

People often forget just how smart Isaac is, which he uses to his advantage. He is able to size a person or situation and up and manipulate it to his advantage. In the constant fights he faced as a young, incoming alpha he learned to find the weaknesses in the wolf shifter and attack those first, often knocking his opponent out before they could get many blows in. His foresight is not limited to fights, he could see all the advantages in bringing Duke into his pack and leapt at the opportunity.

→ His Personal Facts

Occupation: Full time Alpha

Scars: None

Tattoos: None

Two Likes: Smart Technology and Salt and Vinegar chips

Two Dislikes: Football and Curacao

Two Fears: Flying and Losing control of his body

Two Hobbies: Playing Video Games and Coding

Three Positive Traits: Lively, Versatile, Good Hearted

Three Negative Traits: Confrontational, Show Off, Impulsive

→ His Connections Parent Names:

Sandra Baker (Mother): Sandra was always incredibly supportive with Isaac as a child. She tried her best to make his young, friendless life fun with family movie nights and vacations. She is very disappointed that Isaac dropped out, and wishes he’d come home to get back on the academic track.

Edward Baker (Father): Edward taught Isaac everything he knew about boxing and coding. He always had Isaac’s back and would let him get out and fail every once in a while, unlike his mother. Edward has always asked about the real reason Isaac left school. He knew how much MIT meant to him and how he’d never just give it up.

Sibling Names:

None.

Children Names:

None

Romantic Connections:

Simone Campbell (Ex-Girlfriend): Isaac was a goner for Simone. She stood up to him and often gave him perspective on his life. When Simone started hanging out with a hyena, it raised an alarm in Isaac and he tried to get her to stop seeing her, she dumped him. He still wants her back.

Platonic Connections:

Duke Thornton (Good Friends): Isaac and Duke have had a lot of time to get to know each other in the last decade. He is the closest person to Isaac in the pack, and would gladly have him as a second or third if he had any understanding of dominance levels.

Peter Knox (Friends): Isaac is very glad to have Peter as his second. They both had to fight their way through to their positions and he knows Peter has his back. He hangs out with him and his mate regularly at ANON and he was the one who introduced Isaac to Simone.

Leah Philips (Friend): He and Leah became quick friends when he first moved into Chicago, but she had a rough time transitioning from Ogden to Isaac. They’re almost back to where they used to be, though it has taken work.

Selene Andris (Pack mate): Selene has been a big help with all the new wolves coming to Chicago. He’s grateful she likes playing host and helping others feel more comfortable in the pack.

Ronan Cleirigh (Ally): He and Ronan made a deal to save Duke’s life. He offered him training and a pack while in return Ronan offered his voting power in council meetings. Isaac respects what the Cleirighs, and Ronan in particular, were trying to do for Duke.

Kaylor Cleirigh (Friendly Fear): Kaylor came to him personally after he offered to help Duke to lay down her “concerns”. Isaac wasn’t going to do anything on the list before, but he sure as hell wouldn’t do it after speaking with the scariest Cleirigh.

Judson Cleirigh (Chill): Judson comes in with his friends to drink at ANON. He is easily the most laid back of Duke’s family, though he doesn’t entirely trust him.

Nick Hamelin (Okay): He’s not friends with Nick, per say, but he’s ok with him. He thinks he can fit right into the Prisses at times, but he has more self-awareness than to sink that low.

Micah Toll (Friendly Acquaintance): Micah is alright for a rat. He respects the rules that Isaac put down, and only starts something in retaliation.

Ellis Watts (Council Meeting Buddy): Though he is apparently supposed to hate the jackals for reasons… Isaac immediately clicked with Ellis. He repaired a lot of the riffs between their two packs and they’ve started going to watch sports games together.

Hostile Connections:

Alan Thomas (Hates): Alan Thomas was one of the first people Isaac wiped the floor with and he’s gone out of his way to be the biggest asshole to Isaac. He’s glad he was kicked out as third.

James Shaw (Hates): James Shaw is both crazy and racist. He’ll talk endlessly about his family and how long they’ve been in the city and why his boys should be Alpha. Before Isaac wrote it off as an angry white dude, but there is something changing in James’s eyes and Isaac isn’t sure it is entirely healthy.

Clara Fields (Priss 1): Clara Fields loves nothing more than to hear herself talk. She somehow always speaks up at every single meeting, and Isaac prays for the day she gets magical laryngitis.

Chris Bialar (Priss 2): Chris Bialar has got his nose in the air. There’s always some made up jab that he tries to angle at Isaac. He loves to keep the politics up in the council meeting, and is a main for most of the riffs between alphas.

Percy McCormick (Priss 3): Percy McCormick is barely an alpha. He lets his pack run wild and the rest of the council is left to discipline and rule them. If there is one alpha that Isaac could kick out, it’d be him.

Greer Finley (Dislike): Greer is like Chris’s pet piranha. He thinks she might be more vicious than any of the other big cats in the pack.

Sol Alfaro (Hates): This guy will just not give it up. He’ll never win a fight against Isaac, and is honestly more of a pest than any real threat.

Pets:

None

→ History Isaac was raised in a small town outside of Ann Arbor. His mother worked as a recruiter for the University of Michigan while his dad worked at Pfizer. They had a good life, and he definitely followed in his parents’ academic footsteps, unfortunately that wasn’t the best for a young Isaac. He was constantly bullied by older kids which lead to fights and mostly injuries for him. His mother debated homeschool, while his dad tried to teach him how to fight back. His dad ended up winning and Isaac took boxing lessons. While he was technically very skilled, he was short and had difficulty packing muscle on which still let the bullies win.

By the time he graduated, he was ready to get the hell out of Ann Arbor, much to his mother’s displeasure. He was offered a full ride to MIT for computer software and gladly took it. He did well for the first year, high grades with honors. His parents were over the moon and became more willing to consider MIT being the best move for Isaac. However, his sophomore year changed everything. Isaac was walking home from the lab one night when he felt eyes on him. He assumed it was someone trying to take his bag; but when he turned around, arm ready for a hit, he was met with fur and painfully sharp teeth. 

When he awoke he was in strange sweatpants and in a strange room. A man came in the room a few minutes after Isaac woke up. He explained they were werewolves, and that they needed to boost their numbers for an impending war. Isaac was quickly brought in on how to be a werewolf, including physical and fight training as well as how to control his wolf. But Isaac knew when he was being played and could see the alpha thought he was fodder for the battle. He read the situation and in the middle of the night Isaac ran away. He debated going back to Ann Arbor, but realized that might be the first place his “pack” looked. So he headed straight for Chicago, knowing he could probably get a decent paying IT job with his year at MIT. When he arrived in Chicago he was greeted to a fair deal of hostility. The majority of the pack didn’t want outsiders bringing their trouble into the city, and they specifically didn’t want him, a black loudmouth, interrupting their lives.  But Isaac was a fighter and within 6 months he found himself as 2nd to the Chicago pack. There was a lot of grumbling, but Ogden acknowledged his position and gave credence to the claim. He took Isaac under his wing and refined the wild chaos that was a freshly turned wolf and gave him structure and purpose and place to put his energy. 

Years later after getting settled in Chicago, Ogden died in a car crash. It was truly an accidental and ironic way for a wolf to die; not from old age, or violence but a mundane accident that went terribly wrong. Isaac had to step up to the plate and take over as alpha. They looked to him in their time of mourning, confusion, and fear and Isaac managed to win some of their trust. However not everyone was pleased with a relatively young and often arrogant alpha. He was challenged frequently, especially by Sol, but beat them all through his ability to read weaknesses. Isaac was never afraid to let them tire themselves out before going for the win. The fighting and challenges began to slow, and eventually things became more even keeled. That was until he began switching up ranks. Peter Knox joined his pack and fought his way to the top, a move that could never have happened had Isaac not thrown his support behind him. Then Geri became third, sufficiently pushing the rest of the “Old Guard” out. 

Things had begun to settle down when” the Incident” occured. Animal shifters were unable to change to or from whichever form they were in. People were pissed and looking to the Witch and Warlock councils. While the first two meetings were spent grandstanding by the other alphas and leaders, Isaac was trying to read the faces opposite them, when the true reason for the magic gone bad came out. Deucalion Thornton was cursed to be a wolf shifter and they were trying to change him back. Outrage from both magic users and non magic users alike erupted and calls for banishment and possible death flew around. Nothing was decided and they adjourned for the day. Isaac hung around and stopped the Cleirighs as they exited. He offered Ronan a deal, he’d train Duke, allow him safety within his pack, in exchange for Ronan’s vote in various animal shifter matters. Ronan agreed and they devised a plan. At the next meeting before any other alpha could talk, Isaac stepped up and told them what was happening. It was settled and the rest of the council fell in line. Duke moved into the house, and Isaac nearly had a riot on his hands. 

From that day forward he’d made it his mission to set things right in at least the wolf clan. No more of their racist, sexist or homophobic nonsense would be allowed, and every wolf had the right to a challenge. This came in handy when he gave his support to Peter after he’d risen through the ranks. He has kept the pack steady over the last ten years and despite the upset had no challenges to his position. → The Present Isaac is looking to get back onto the dating scene. He was recently dumped by his girlfriend, and while it stung initially, he is worried for her. She’d begun to befriend a couple of hyenas and he’s worried she’ll be attacked in the wave of changes that are happening across the city. Isaac knows her aspirations and is positive she’ll never achieve them if she’s bitten. Despite his worry, Isaac hasn’t mentioned any of the supernatural to her, and is just trying to get back in her good graces to keep her safe.

Murmurs of discontent are rising in the pack, and Isaac is positive it is due to Sol. He is losing his patience with the old wolf and the next time he challenges Isaac, he won’t let it go. Isaac knows he’s the one pushing the wolves towards  greatness and it’s annoying that no one else seems to see it.

[mochalorian]

Star Wars Fic Recs

For intezaarlily 

I wanted to share some fics that I really enjoy from this fandom. I didn’t include every fic by the same author, because the list was getting pretty long already, but I highly recommend checking them out because they’ve also written some other great stories. (Listed alphabetically, because I’m that kind of person.)

Poe/Finn

Echo Base: Redux by stitchy (E)

A Finn/Poe fic inspired by 'Empire Strikes Back'- particularly, the classic Han/Leia miscommunication~

"Come on, you want me to stay because of the way you feel about me!"

"Yes, you're a great help to us, you're a natural leader!"

first comes the night by coffeeinallcaps (E) 

He doesn’t get nightmares. He doesn’t dream about the mask, the cries of the villagers, waking up in the desert with a blinding headache and his mouth filled with blood and the man who’d saved him gone, most likely dead.

Instead, he just can’t sleep.

get drunk on the good life by magnetic wave (G)

Finn is on the mend, technically.

hope by venusianbouquet 

Poe flies, Rey studies with Luke, and Finn studies with Leia.

If I Had Wings by boldlygoingnowherefast

Finn knows he is a Guide, but he isn't sure what that means until he meets Poe Dameron. Suddenly, everything he thought he knew about himself changes, and he is thrown into a world where meeting your soulmate is one of the most important things to ever happen to you. Finn doesn't know what it's like to truly belong, but when he meets Poe, the dashing Sentinel pilot of the Resistance, he will learn the feeling of belonging, and much, much more.

last stop on this highway by augustbird (E)

Home is a strange place.

legacy by mardia (G)

A long time ago, Luke Skywalker had a son. For seven wonderful months, he was a father to a small, wonderful baby boy with tiny brown fingers and his mother’s nose and dark eyes.

my feet won’t touch the ground by plinys (M)

With the Resistance base moving away from D'Qar and his recovery not yet complete, Finn is left feeling like a bit of a lost end. That is until Poe arrives with a solution, taking Finn with him as he returns home to Yavin 4, for the first time in a long while.

Names for the Stars by cheesethesecond (G)

In the aftermath of Starkiller, Poe struggles with a certain amount of inertia. Various droids, generals, and Resistance members struggle to talk some sense into him. And it all circles back to the struggles of an ex-stormtrooper, who doesn’t seem to realize the ways in which he’s knocked Poe off his axis.

not all those who wander are lost by cosmicocean (T)

Finn keeps finding his family in unexpected places.

A Finn Skywalker story.

Sehnsucht by jiokra (M)

Phasma issues to the FN unit refurbished datapads plundered from a demolished Resistance base, which have been refilled with First Order propaganda. Naturally, FN-2187’s datapad malfunctions and resets to its original settings. Before FN-2187 can properly panic over this, a message is sent to him by a Resistance fighter under the code name Black Leader. It’s one simple word: “Status?”

FN-2187 wakes up to the orders of committing coldblooded murder and falls asleep to the despair of the dead. He’s one step away from messing up and getting reconditioned. When Black Leader asks how he’s doing, even if the question isn’t intended for him, FN-2187 can’t help himself.

He replies, “Alive.”

Slant Rhyme by imaginary_golux (G)

Ideally, there'd have been a pilot. But there isn't, and FN-2187 still needs to get the hell out of the First Order.

That Kind of Story by nomsy (M)

After the destruction of Starkiller Base, Poe didn't really know where this thing with Finn was going. He wanted to find out, though. He just needed Finn to wake up. And everybody else to mind their own business.

The Bearer of Good Food by anonymous (G)

The last thing the Resistance thought they were getting in Finn was a decent chef, but Finn’s been cooking for his squad since he was small. He doesn’t mind cooking for his new friends — especially since Resistance cuisine is pretty damn awful. There's also the fact that Finn never really had a place to fit in when he was a Stormtrooper, and his journey to finding a place to fit with the Resistance.

Or alternatively — five times Finn cooked for other people, and one time other people cooked for him.

The Care and Feeding of Mammalian Companion Animals by ineptshieldmaid (T)

Today’s new and alarming development involves Poe Dameron. Poe has a… a companion animal. A tooka. It is male, its fur is mottled yellow and brown, and it has very fluffy fur and great big eyes. It curls up in Poe’s arms, or drapes itself over Poe’s shoulders, in an apparently friendly manner, but Finn has looked up its species in the databanks: it is a predator.

The Future Prince by Starmaple (T)

During a diplomatic mission, Poe and Finn find Finn's homeworld... and discover he is a long-lost kidnapped prince.

The Shortest Distance Between Two Points by LaVoileBlanche (G)

"Poe’s heart is a swollen thing in his chest, and at any moment he feels liable to pull Finn in for a kiss, but all he does is smile."

Another utterly unoriginal, "Poe and Finn fall in love on D'Qar" fic.

Walking Each Other Home by Xela (E)

The First Order, cut off from the Empire’s endless supply of clones and given the relative expense of actually raising their cannon fodder from childhood, has been experimenting.

“His name is Finn,” Poe says, voice quiet. “He is a person, not a medical mystery for you to solve. So get your shit together, figure out how to help him, and then wake him up.”

Poe/Finn/Rey

Fonder by disco_vendetta (G)

“For you,” she mumbles, cheeks going pink, and shoves something into his hand.

“Oh, hey, you don’t have to give me anything —“ he starts, looking down, then blinks a few times at his open palm.

“It’s a rock,” she adds unnecessarily.

Rey/Jessika Pava

full bloom by seventhswan (T)

Rey isn’t sure that anyone really loves anyone else on Jakku. She isn’t sure it’s possible to let your guard down that far in a place that wants to swallow you up, scorch you, starve you. Love makes you soft, exposes the guttable parts of you. It wouldn’t be safe to love anyone. Nobody would be stupid enough.

Han/Leia

no one can stop me, not even gravity or nasa by magneticwave (G)

“Fuck you,” Leia says. “Who said anything about getting married? Did Luke say anything about getting married?”

“Luke is not involved,” Luke says, not looking up.

“Hey, Luke is not involved,” Han says, pointing at her. She’s going to bite his finger off, then they’ll see how much pointing he can do with it. “This is about you and me, princess.”

“There’s not going to be a you and me,” Leia says. “I’m going to have this baby with C-3PO.”

C-3PO says, “Madam,” tremulous.

Han/Luke

The Sun in Your Eyes and Starlight in Your Hair by victoriousscarf (T)

Han agreed to help Luke find what he could of the Jedi because the war was over and running away with Luke sounded better than running away by himself.

Still the cats were something he hadn't expected.

Cassian/Jyn

to ashes and stardust wandering_scavenger 

'He is handsome when he isn’t scowling.' She thinks, feeling his nose brush against hers when he shifts ever closer to her. Their eyes remain open—watching each other—memorising their features through the outline of shadows.

This. She has never felt.

A look into the mind of the rebel girl who had lived a life on her own, and had given it willingly at the side of a man she should have hated.

Qui Gon/Obi Wan

Backwards by Valmouth (G)

They do this the wrong way round. First, they start with a padawan...

[happojin-blog]

[Ficlet] Dreamy

Shigaraki’s way too exhausted for this - but Spinner is there to look out for him.

T? | 720 | Ficlet

I don’t know what will go down in chapter 228, in the background of Dabi fighting or whatever, following what just went down with Shigaraki and Spinner in 227. But I know what I really want to see happen. So I wrote it.

Hope you enjoy.

-

Hell, he’s tired. He’s lived circa 16 years without getting what’s allegedly a good night’s sleep, but for the past months he hasn’t even gotten a passable one. It’s taking its toll on him now, he can feel it, his body shaking with exhaustion, his head pounding, and all these flashes emerging all of a sudden, some girl he doesn’t recognize but knows must have been his “sister,” and all the rest – annoying scraps he doesn’t really need, fragments of a whole he doesn’t have time or energy for either.

Yet they keep coming, fodder looking to dogpile him, tch, as if, get out of the way. He’s not seeing things clearly, they’re just a blurry mass, and they decay as one too. Onward, onward – he heard Compress earlier, another hour left, unless big guy misses him too much, before their backup. Just one more hour: he can do that, he thinks, as he throws up the bile that’s been building in his throat.

Someone calls for him, “Shigaraki,” but it’s a friendly. It’s an aggravating thing to know, but he needs some rest, just a minute or two to catch his breath --

Spinner catches him, right, that guy followed him down this road. He’s far from the best fighter, actually he’s ranking among the weakest, but he doesn’t have trouble keeping Shigaraki from falling over.

There’s a bunch of noise in the back, crashes, quirks and yelling and whatever else, nonsense, shut up already. Oh, and Spinner’s saying something too – sounds like “Let’s get you out of here,” and then he’s lifting Shigaraki’s arm over his shoulder, and grabbing his waist pretty firmly there too. He wraps his other hand carefully around Shigaraki’s wrist to twist the hand forward, as if he’d accidentally decay him or something if he didn’t.

The rest of the League’s keeping the others in check, probably, and all the walls are warping around them. Spinner’s practically dragging him forward now, hastily, which throws him off pace, but some way or another, he can’t tell, they get into an abandoned home – Spinner kicks in the door without checking if it’s even locked first, and they stumble into the living room together.

The floor looks comfy, but Spinner’s face is transformed into something more dinosaur like than iguana, with small eyes and sharp teeth bared at him. Still this figure helps him sit down and stretch his legs out, his back against a wall, out of view of the opened door, but close enough to the center of the place to not get cornered.

As if there’s corners to worry about with a quirk like his… whatever…

Now the weird looking Spinner’s talking again, saying, uh, “Get some rest,” and maybe “I’ll stand guard.” And then he leans down over Shigaraki and puts something on his lap.

Father. Looking a little worse for wear, stained with Shigaraki’s own puke. He dropped this?

“You picked it up?” he says, at least, he thinks he does, it’s such a fucking pain to separate his mind from whatever’s actually going on right now.

“… save your energy,” Spinner says, stubborn, and he looks down at Shigaraki out of the corner of his eye, yet immediately averts his gaze when he sees that Shigaraki’s looking up at him too.

“There’s an hour left until ‘Machia will come here looking for you, so make the most of it.” He unsheathes his little knife – what happened to his sword? – and holds it in front of him, standing next to Shigaraki and facing the door.

Adorable.

Like that’ll be enough- actually, who cares? Shigaraki feels his eyes shut against his wishes. He doesn’t even have the energy to lift up father back to its place, it lies there facing up, just like his hands are slack to his sides, and Spinner’s whole body is exposed too.

He might be drifting asleep now. Maybe he can afford to. It won’t be an hour, but maybe Spinner can buy him a few minutes, and otherwise he’ll wake him if needed.

At least Shigaraki tells him to. He thinks Spinner says something back, but he doesn’t hear it, and there goes his consciousness. All fading, all quieting, stilling, silent…

By the time Spinner’s run his knife through the throat of their first intruder, Shigaraki’s fast asleep. Unless he’s dreaming.

[roseunspindle]

What if....

So, I’ve seen a lot of fics where post Metatron giving everyone the boot from heaven, Sam and Dean end up taking in the angels. I kept thinking about it, over and over, which led to this...

Sam notices how all the angels they’ve gathered have started flocking (ha, ha) to a certain member of the group, the research/what to know things angels have congregated around him, the more battle oriented angels (and the really uncertain and frighted ones) have started following Dean around, the fighters having traded in their suits for flannel and denim, ready to continue their fight against evil in new ways, while the uncertain angels, just sort of stared at Dean, apparently figuring this had helped Castiel....(Sam had already caught Dean giving the frighted ones smiles and half hugs of reassurance when new things scared them)

A smaller, but diehard group of “god will come back, god is still out there, clung to Kevin, as he translated stuff, hoping for a sign, they had all developed unhealthy addictions to coffee and red bull.

Another group was with Charlie, they were the “lets do the random stuff, lets learn about weird things, and also help find more lost angels and bring them home.” 

Castiel’s were the care-taker angels, the ones who, Sam thought, had always wanted to love and been un-allowed too, now they all carried bags packed with water bottles, snacks, ready hugs, and phones equipped with the online urban dictionary, to help any angel that needed it.

Sam observed this, while he and kevin and their angels worked on getting the angels back to heaven.

Dean’s, his fighters a least, were prepping for both battle against metatron if need be, and a life of hunting, if that failed. 

The biggest thing Sam noticed about the newly human angels was the way they always seemed shocked when they were praised, or asked their opinion on something, no matter which group they belonged to. 

An approving smile, or clap on the back from Dean was enough to make any Angel stand up straighter, while a “great job” or “I can’t believe I didn’t see that” from Kevin or sam had them just about glowing, “you rock” (once the concept was explained) from Charlie was greeted with proud smiles, and a “well done” was always met with quiet happiness when coming from Cas.

 Sam noticed after a while that any extremely overwhelmed angel, no matter the group, had a tendency to sit near him for a spell, which, when he asked Charlie if she noticed that, she said it was because he’d become so zen. After recovering from the trials, Sam’s calm had truly settled. He was firm in his conviction now that Dean loved him, their family was as complete as it could be, they had a home, they had purpose, and this made Sam happy. He was upset that the angels were locked out of their home, but they were doing what they could and so Sam didn’t feel the extreme turmoil he used to.

Things came together and heaven was reopened, metatron was defeated, and the angels were lined up, grace restored, ready to return to heaven, but instead of looking happy, they looked lost though, and kept glancing at himself, dean, cas, charlie, and kevin. Sam felt bad. The angels had never been someone’s priority before, he knew, they had never been more than cannon fodder for a father they didn’t even know.

Now, after being part of the “Winchester extended family”TM, where hugs, approval, and opinions were welcome, returning to heaven must have been daunting. Sam wished that there was something they could do for them, but they were human...

“You don’t have to be.” Said a voice behind him. Sam turned, startled. “Chuck!?” He asked incredulously. “Sort of,” he replied, and Sam swallowed. “Oh,” he said to God.

Chuck smiled ruefully, “yeah, oh”. Sam was about to start letting God have it, consequences be damned when Chuck held up a hand. “Look Sam, I came here to make you, well, all of you, an offer.” Sam glanced sideways, noticing that no one seemed to be moving around, him, the angels were frozen, while the others looked, well, like they were talking (in dean’s case shouting) at someone.

Sam looked back to chuck, “okay, what do you want?” “It’s more, what do you want, Sam.” 

Sam felt confused. “I’m here to make you an offer, my poor parenting skills have been made very clear to me, and you’ve done in months, what I couldn’t do in centuries, you took the angels, and you’ve made them people, true individual people, while letting them still be angels. So I want to make you all an offer.”

“What is it?” Sam asked. “Do you want the ability to go to heaven, to keep helping and guiding the angels? To help them be the aid to humanity I always wanted them to be?”

Sam thought about it. “What do you mean exactly, go to heaven, would we die?”

“No sam, you wouldn’t die, more to the fact, you’d never die. You would be the new archangels essentially.”

“Your archangels?” Sam asked, getting annoyed.

“Chuck shook his head sadly, “no, my time is done, I feel, my end is drawing nearer and soon Death will reap me. I’ll find out if there is anything beyond even heaven and hell.”

Chuck looked mournful, but also, just a little bit content with this statement.Sam looked over at the angels, Briathos standing just behind Dean’s shoulder, as he had since Dean had first chosen him as essentially his second in command, wearing a Led Zepplin t-shirt Dean had giveen him, Diniel, who was one of Castiel’s, who had been reading every book on babies he could find, and had taken to a true, genuine caretaker role with a great deal of enthusiasm. 

Eiael and Cochabiel, who were essentially Sam’s seconds, waiting patiently for the command to enter heaven, their worry hidden, but still visible to Sam. 

Gamaliel, who while inhabiting the body of a female, had chosen no true gender, they were Charlie’s second, and looked nearly rebellious at the idea of leaving her.

Laoel, she was Kevin’s “primary research assistant” a title she wore with pride up to and including a name tag dean had found her at a hunted library that read “assistant” she was still wearing it, fingers just coming up to touch it’s edge.

Hundreds of others, each one Sam new and each one was either visibly upset, or doing their damnedest to hide it. Sam felt a pull to them, the same pull that had he and Dean risking their necks to fight monsters for people who didn’t even know.

“There’s no catch is their?” Sam asked. Chuck shook his head, “No, but there is no going back either, choose this, and it’s quite literally forever. 

Sam examined his mind and heart, and knew his answer, “If Dean says yes, I’m in.” 

Chuck laughed. “That’s almost exactly what Dean just said.” Sam laughed, and then there was light, energy beyond description pouring into him. Chuck’s voice came, fainter now. “I did forget to mention, while my time is done, there does still need to be a god, and it seems they’ve all chosen you Sam, take care of them, my angels, my humans, love them better than I did.”

Then it was over. At first Sam didn’t feel different, then all at once, he did, but didn’t. He could see the world in layers, The human vessels, the angels within, the very make-up of the world, and even the truth of the portal to heaven in front of him. With a thought he stabilized it, and set about letting it grow, so that earth and heaven could once again be open to all.

He shook his head, God, he was supposed to be god now? That was dumb, but then he looked at the others. He saw their wings, the truest manifestations of themselves.

Charlie’s were a kaleidoscope of cheery reds and yellows, like a friendly bonfire, the kind you sat around to sing silly songs and roast marshmallows in. It suited her. Her grace burned in her body, already reaching out to touch the angels of her flock (no longer would they be coldly called garrisons). 

Kevin’s wings were a mix of stone and words, as though all the tablets had become part of him, and were him, in a way.

Castiel’s, and it was shocking to actually see them, where a huge mass of white feathers, six great pinions, Sam suspected they were a copy of what Dean might have imagined for Cas, Deans of course where black copies of Cas’s, with edges of what seemed to be the very essence of steel. Sam wasn’t surprised to see such a  similarity between the two. 

He didn’t look behind himself, he had no wings, no need of them truly. He realized everyone was looking at him, Charlie and Kevin with acceptance, Dean is happiness, and Cas in mounting joy, his wings swaying towards Dean, and Dean’s meeting his in the middle. Sam smiled at them, at the angels who looked awed and delighted by equal turns.

“Let’s go home.” He said. They spread their wings.

“And in the first days of the new god, the angels ascended to heaven and descended to earth in equal measures. They loved humanity as once they had been commanded to do so, and now did by choice.” - The Winchester Gospels

The first new angel was born only a few months after they entered heaven, Sam formed them from grace and with grace, Mary was the first, but she would not be the last.

[sopebubbles]

Friendly Fighter Fodder (vol. 1)

Please grab a warm beverage of your choice and gather round! Maddie and I want to share some of our thoughts on the ongoing BTS series, "Fighter." If this isn't your thing or you rather make up your own opinions or wait until the end to read this kind of thing, no worries! This is all just for fun because creating complex characters is one of our favorite parts of writing!

It's also important to note that there will be no spoilers here. Anything discussed will be based on information already available through the story. And with that being said...

It's time for some armchair psychoanalysis 🥳🥳🥳

Ready Jungkook?

He's ready.

So it's pretty safe to say that Y/n and Taehyung did not have a healthy relationship. They were both lying to each other. Y/n didn't even give her real name. And at this time, still doesn't use her real name. When discussing the break-up, Maddie brought up a great point... "Their relationship was unhealthy, so why would their breakup be healthier? Like, did Val explain things clearly to him? No, not at all! But is her mind in a normal place at all? Is her mind even capable of working 'normally' after so much trauma? No. She's legitimately thinking: the person I am, the real me now is such a fucked up person that Taehyung cannot possibly ever love me and I won't sit around and beg him to because I don't deserve that [love]."

Personally, I feel really bad for Y/n. Outside of everything else she's been through, she never let herself grieve the relationship she had with Taehyung. She did genuinely care about him, she even says that she loved him, but rather than accepting that which she doesn't feel she deserves, it's easier to tell herself it's all a lie. Neither of them were truthful, but it doesn't change that they had something real. Yeah. But I also think her love of him was love for the version of herself that she was with him. So mourning for their relationship is a lot about mourning the life she can't have too.

Think about it this way, between 15-20 her life wasn't her own at all. This is the time when we do so much discovery about who we are and Y/n was literally just trying to survive. Now for the last two years, she's had "freedom" and she let herself believe her life could be "normal" only to find out what she's known deep inside all along...that it was only a facade. And now she's dealing with that realization while hiding in a home with people she doesn't know and whose profession she hates and has severe trauma-associated with. Yes, exactly and it isn't as if she's consciously dealing with all that. No, she's worried about killing Joaquin because she thinks that will magically make all her problems disappear. Right. And I think there are a lot of people believe that trauma recovery always makes a person behave in sympathetic ways when that's simply not true.

I think a really important point is that her mind is a real mess and she has coping mechanisms for quieting that. Mainly through exercise. Which is why she craves it. Her sense of self is a mess. But at the point in life where most people are trying to find that sense of self and being able to try new things and meet new people to form those pieces of identity, she was a prisoner, fighting for her life. So, if her personality appears a little erratic, well, of course it does. I think on some level she's trying to figure out what the best personality is to survive and get what she needs at any given moment, but she has no flipping idea what it is. What I find really interesting is that when she justifies her feelings against Taehyung, she says that she was lying about her past and he was lying about his present, which is why he was worse than her. But in a lot of ways, Taehyung is actually the same guy she dated. He just also happens to be a gangster. Meanwhile, Val is a persona in her mind that she created because she thinks "good things" happen to girls named "Val." So yeah, Taehyung is being a massive dick in a lot of ways and he is not respecting Y/n's space, but he's just acting how he's always acted. I mentioned it in comments before, but I'll say it here again. Y/n expressed her insecurity at being left. Y/n expressed her insecurity about Taehyung not wanting to have sex with her. Y/n feels really insecure about who she is and what she looks like and whether or not Taehyung will accept her as she is. So him being possessive was a way to reassure her. He was trying to do the right thing.

Even if his behavior mirrored Joaquin's in a lot of ways, I don't think Y/n consciously recognized that. Or at least not at first. She hasn't made relationships or gotten to know people on her own before, and here she is falling for this guy who treats her like a possession and no, it's not healthy but it's what she's used to.

Y/n isn't any less toxic than Taehyung is in this situation, and she doesn't know how to be.

I think, and I wanted to illustrate this with that discussion of dreams in today's chapter, that she still really only thinks of safety, not even necessarily of happiness. She hopes that maybe, when she's safe, then happiness will find a way. That something will be clear then. She just literally doesn't know what that could even look like.

Oof. I think we'll stop there for now. Please look at this cozy picture of Tae as a token of my gratitude. Thank you for tuning in! We love interaction, so stop by any time!