#I genuinely wonder how old he was when his mentor died

[kitkats-and-kittens]

Spoilers for Pjo.

You know I feel like people should acknowledge how fucked up camp halfblood is more often.

Like everyone always makes fun of New Rome for being uptight and sticklers for the rules, but low-key living at camp halfblood sucks.

The barrier wasn’t even up for a decade before it was broken and before that literal children were sent out to fight monsters despite being promised safety (Ik Talias protection made it slightly better, but still) and during sea of monsters they are once again required to fight as literal kids!

Unlike New Rome there’s no university for the Demigods to go to. Year rounders get tutored by Chiron (presumably) and then what? They have no actual credentials or any records of them graduating from school. Since no one knows about Camp they technically don’t have an address either which sucks if your parents are dead or don’t want you.

We see hardly any adult demigods around camp and I don’t know if they choose to leave or not, but either way they are set up for failure. Chiron tells Percy about the success stories, the people who go on to be Olympic athletes or celebrities due to their half godly nature, but it’s more than likely those are far outweighed by the failures.

Those who died hungry on the streets with no way to get a job and no home to return to. Those who were torn down by monsters without the protection of the camp. Even those who made it constant live with the terror that one day they’ll be found and killed. And what if those people have family’s? Will the monsters hunt them too? And what happens when they get too old to fight?

That’s not even mentioning the trauma they’ll be stuck with their entire lives.

No wonder so many end up joining the Emperors in ToA.

And you know what. Chiron need to take some damn accountability for being a shit mentor. He fucked off for most of the books but even when he talks to Percy about how much he cares he does quite literally nothing about Luke. How did a child manage to manipulate an immortal centaur for years without anyone catching on?

And he doesn’t improve after the war either. Will is made Head of Apollo Cabin at 13. He has two younger siblings and is essentially expected to act as their parent despite still being a child himself. Not to mention he’s the camps head doctor. He’s performed surgery! Which is exhausting and long and something no child should be dealing with. Especially since we know Chiron must have some healing abilities since he literally raised Asclepius.

Will is not paid either. None of them are. He doesn’t get a salary, so free child labour (cough cough exploitation) and after he leaves camp he’ll have no way to prove his medical training to anyone and no way to pay for medical school or even to get in without the appropriate documents.

I don’t like to rant about books but Rick Riordan did not go dark enough with this series and I will say this about his books until the day I die. The light comedic writing style means fucked up shit like this simply slips through the cracks.

There’s still so much I haven’t touched on.

What about the Hephaestus cabin and their curse. How did Chiron just stand by and watch as these kids continually blew themselves up?

Fighting in two wars?

The Romans are a little more fucked up there because we know there are adults who can fight and are simply choosing to send children in their place.

Octavian being quite literally brainwashed into dying for his land.

Jason’s entire backstory.

The fact that most demigod children probably die before ever reaching camp is very much not touched on and it should be.

The fact that camp halfblood is hidden with the mist means that no one knows where the year rounders are. Which is weird when you think a lot of the reason people become year rounders is too many monster attacks or horrible home lives which further implies out in the real world there are genuine missing posters for these kids. Some might even be considered legally dead so what happens when they rock up in their early 20’s attempting to rejoin society?

In conclusion Camp Halfblood is fucked and Chiron is not some innocent fun loving centaur dude. His lack of action had a very big and very real impact on these kids.

[umbrellacam]

Reading A Lonely Place of Dying is so interesting in so many ways, but the question I'm still rotating in my mind is about Dick, and specifically why he ends up smiling and soft-advocating for Tim to be Bruce's Robin, after he had his morality crisis over young heroes with Jason's death.

So when he finds out about Jason's death, Dick feels guilty over giving Jason his Robin costume and not being there when he died:

New Teen Titans #55

To the extent that, later in the same issue, he unilaterally fires 15-year-old Danny Chase from the Titans, over Donna and Kory's objections, citing what happened to Jason. He even expresses doubt over his own young age when he became Robin, wondering whether that was a mistake:

New Teen Titans #55

However, when Dick visits Bruce in Gotham to both express his condolences over Jason's death and also confront him over not telling Dick about it, he explicitly rejects Bruce's implication of blame:

New Teen Titans #55

And later, when the Gargoyle is mentally torturing him over his past failures to the Titans, to Bruce, and Jason, Dick breaks through his self-blame issues and firmly asserts that there was nothing he could have done to prevent Jason's death.

Secret Origins (Vol. 2) #3

But understanding his lack of blame logically isn't the same as being totally past it, as it's part of Dick's larger cycle of guilt, as he acknowledges to his therapist:

The New Titans #57

So how does Dick get from here, still wrestling with guilt and feeling ambivalent about the idea of young heroes as a whole, to the end of A Lonely Place of Dying, where he smiles and basically urges Bruce to give Tim a chance to become Robin?

Like, yes, Dick then spends the entirety of Batman: Year Three worried about Bruce's tenuous mental state after Jason's death, reaching out to him in the midst of Batman's reckless, violent spiral, trying to both express care and to call his mentor and hero back to his foundations of crime-fighting through careful detective work, not through brutality - and getting rejected by Bruce over and over. Even while being proud of Dick's methods and the hero he's grown into, Bruce just can't seem to pull himself out of his own morass of self-destruction. Dick eventually has to leave him to it, though he clearly hasn't stopped worrying about Bruce by the start of ALPoD.

Yes, Tim impresses Dick multiple times over the course of ALPoD. First at the circus with his reflexes and his quick thinking (apparently almost as much as he irritates and baffles Dick with his stubborn evasiveness and pushy presumption, lol this total gremlin). Then at Wayne Manor when Tim goes through his deduction of Batman's and Robin's identities, although this one is more an implication through Dick's decision to show Tim the Cave immediately afterward, and Alfred's words to Tim.

Batman #441

And yet Alfred's sentiment here is immediately contradicted when Tim insistently pushes the Robin costume at Dick, and Dick gets pissed off, saying that, "When Jason died, he took Robin with him. And no matter how much anybody may want it - you can't bring back the dead."

The New Titans #61

How does Dick go from this to accepting Tim as the new potential Robin all of two issues later!! This boy's emotions are so mixed up, lol.

I feel like while Dick is clearly angered by Tim's presumptions, kind of baffled and creeped-out by the sort of parasocial fixation Tim has on both Bruce/Batman and Dick/Robin, below the surface he's also genuinely absorbing Tim's driving love and care for them both. Like, he's way too ticked off to show it or even think of it consciously at the moment - and it's hard to process!! despite that day at Haly's Circus tying them together a decade ago, this kid is a rando, it's out of nowhere, it's wild to be confronted with!! - but on some level he has to be touched by Tim's care and passion for their legacy. He wouldn't make his heel-turn later and smile at Tim so approvingly otherwise.

Like, Dick wants Bruce to have a partner that cares for him that much, that forces him to care for himself in a way that he clearly hasn't been since Jason's death. And Dick is both afraid and aware that he can't fill that role anymore - that he can try to stand beside Batman as Nightwing and support him that way, but he can't stand behind Bruce in his protective shadow again, can't cramp himself back into Robin.

So even as Dick is making line-faces at this bizarre kid pushing himself at them, talking about Jason and Dick and Bruce and what Batman needs like he knows better than Dick, UGH… Dick is also considering… is maybe moved a bit by that star-bright conviction and overflowing love in the face of all the doubts that seem to plague both Bruce and Dick lately… is maybe hoping, seeing a possible light in the dark. Not on a conscious level, perhaps, but it's maybe churning below the surface with everything else Dick is thinking about.

Anyway, Dick still tracks Batman down and tries being a supportive partner as Nightwing, even going "I'm here. Always," when Batman finally brings himself to admit that he needs help. Only to IMMEDIATELY run face-first into Bruce's control issues and post-Jason-disregarding-orders trauma - "You're not with the Titans now. If you want to be with me, you follow my orders. Now do as I say." (The New Titans #61) Oof, instant I'm-NIGHTWING-not-ROBIN friction, but Dick swallows it for now.

Then Two-Face blows up a building on top of both of them, and Tim (and Alfred!) have to rescue them both. By the time that they've been dug out, Alfred and Dick are both praising Tim's potential to a very baffled and alarmed, verging on angry, Batman lol. Dick and Alfred then grin at each other while young Tim struggles against his intimidation and argues the tremendously (and understandably!) reluctant Batman to a standstill.

Batman #442

As they drive away afterward (Bruce, Dick and Tim in the Batmobile to track down Two-Face - using the tracker Tim planted on him, good job Timmy!! - and Alfred toward home in a separate car), we get the following thought-bubbles:

Bruce: Even if he's right, I don't want another partner. Dick: Bruce, for once, think with your heart, not with cold logic. Tim: He doesn't want me, but he hasn't said no. So just do your best… Alfred: …One way or another, the rest will take care of itself.

Batman #442

"Think with your heart, not with cold logic" - so does Dick's line here mean that this is what he himself is doing at this point? Setting aside his logic, his fears and reservations about young heroes, about Jason's death, about putting another young boy in the Robin costume - because Tim joining them, maybe becoming Bruce's new partner, feels right? Because everything that Tim has shown of himself so far means the kid deserves a chance, at least? Because Bruce's caution after Jason's death would mean that he'll make sure to 'do it right this time'? Because Tim's passion and conviction could be what Batman needs, and - maybe as much if not more than that - could be something that deserves to be nurtured into something great, despite Dick's own (and Bruce's) fears?

Because Dick has to be wrestling with and at least quelling (if not fully letting go of) his fears about the risks to young heroes in these issues, it doesn't make sense for him to be okay with Tim as Robin otherwise. And it can't all be about what use Tim could be to Bruce - the leash he could put on Batman's out of control behavior. That's far too selfish and manipulative as a sole motive for Dick Grayson; especially after Jason, he wouldn't encourage a kid to jump into the meat-grinder of vigilantism solely to save Bruce or preserve the legacy of Batman & Robin.

I feel like Dick has to also be seeing something in Tim here, his potential, his determination, the good that he can and wants desperately to do, that Dick has to respect, has to think deserves a shot. When Alfred goes, "The boy should be a politician!" and Dick replies, "He'd do more good with Bruce," (Batman #442; panels above), it does feel like he's thinking of the difference Tim himself could make in the world. Dick has to be remembering why he himself could not be put off from the vigilante life when he was even younger than Tim, why Jason also went out there and did his best every night. To help people, in a way that mattered.

Anyway, Tim also puts in a good showing when they confront Two-Face, despite giving Bruce a near heart-attack over this strange unfamiliar boy wearing his son's uniform when Tim briefly appears to have been crushed - only for him to have saved himself and warned Batman and Nightwing of danger through his quick thinking.

Afterward, Alfred and Dick both advocate for Tim, so Dick is clearly pulling for Tim to be given a chance. Dick's smile here, my heart.

Batman #442

I still wish they'd been a little more explicit with the turn of Dick's mindset here, but at the same time I guess it's pretty effective as show-not-tell!

All in all, I feel like ALPoD was very effective storytelling, well done Marv, hugely enjoyable read, and I can't wait to read more.

[yellowmagicalgirl]

Raven Wings from Phoenix Ash

The Raven Queen gifts all of her reapers with a pair of raven wings. Kravitz teaches Lup, the newest recruit, how to use hers.

This is my other fic for Shadaras for the Kitchen Sink Bingo.

CW: past child abuse

AO3

FFN

SquidgeWorld

It wasn’t that I didn’t know how to fly. I had flown before; Fly was only a third level spell. It was just that my magic was all messed up, between the way I had escaped the staff and how I had been “pardoned” for my so-called “crimes” against life and death. I was a wizard, but ever since the Raven Queen had transformed me from a lich to a reaper, I had been short on spell slots. At least I still had the basics of Evocation down-pat.

I couldn’t fly in the way I used to, but I did have a pair of wings on my back. Glossy, black raven wings. My stick-in-the-mud mentor also had them. I was pretty sure that everyone who served the Raven Queen had raven wings. I wonder if there were any reapers who had almost as many wings as Krav’s Birdmom does. I’m still not entirely sure how many wings the Raven Queen has, just that she has at least eight – six sprouting from her back, and a pair covering her eyes. She didn’t need eyes for her piercing gaze to rip through my soul and deem me worthy of rehabilitation as a reaper instead of being doomed the Eternal Stockade.

“When you said we’d be training, I was thinking that you’d lay out some mats in a gym,” I said. Instead of a gym, we were at the edge of a canyon. There seemed to be old buildings carved into the cliff side. “And then we’d try to hit each other with sickles.”

“They’re scythes, and we can do that later,” Kravitz said, like he was itching for an excuse to beat cha’girl up with his fancy stick, instead of having been commanded by his goddess and the goddess of fate to take me under his semi-metaphorical wing. The feeling was mutual. At least he was using the least stupid sounding of his work accents. “But for now, we’re going to investigate a cult that has set up base within these walls.”

“Why?”

“Because they’re practicing dark magic, magic that is an affront to Our Queen and –”

“No,” I interrupted. “Why this canyon?”

“You’d have to ask the cultists – that was rhetorical –  but my guess is that they’re after the water magic. These walls had once been a city, and it had depended on a river that had flowed through the canyon, and in years of drought, they had used powerful magic to make sure everyone had survived.”

“What happened to it?”

“The former goddess of magic died in the middle of a drought.”

“What, did the gods of this world not have their act together for long enough that these people died?”

“Well, the goddess of magic had come back from the dead before!”

“Oh, I see how it is. When a goddess uses magic to bring herself back from the dead, it’s a miracle that keeps cities from dying off. But when I do it –”

“That’s besides the point.” Kravitz closed his eyes and pinched his brow. “This cult has been pushing the limit of what constitutes an open container.”

Oh. That was bad. That was potentially very bad. Create Water is only a first level spell, not an insta-drowner. But if the cult figured out how to change it, it would change the whole playing field!

(And if you’re wondering why I didn’t want it for myself when I was still so tragically low on spell slots, well, water is the opposite of cha'girl's brand.)

The ruins were only a hop, skip, and a Dimension Door downwards, but once more, cha’girl was frustratingly low on casting abilities. And it wasn’t even like I had somehow been turned from a wizard or a warlock, either. They were just –

Not gone. Just temporarily missing.

“Do you have a ladder? Oh, are you going to show me how to do the ‘rip a hole in the fabric of space’ thing with my scythe?” I made sure to get the name right this time, because I genuinely wanted Kravitz to teach me how to do that. Teleportation without the spell slots was right up her ally.

“No, that’s for later in your training,” Kravitz said, like someone who knew all too well that I was a metaphorical flight risk who wanted to escape my community service. And no, I wasn’t looking to set up my own cult. I just wanted to get back to my family. It had been ten years since I had seen them. I missed them, and there were some very big mistakes we needed to fix, both from a decade ago and ones that some of them were still making. Of course, I wasn’t going to let Kravitz know that. Cha’girl had to keep up an air of mystery and all that jazz. “We’re going to glide down.”

I summoned my scythe and ran my hand down the staff. “What, does this thing unfold into a paraglider?” I hoped it wouldn’t unfold like an umbrella. That was just too close for comfort.

“Your wings would get in the way of one.” Well, good thing I didn’t have any paragliding trips planned for the near future. Stupid wings. Stupid Kravitz. Stupid Raven Queen. “Now put your scythe away. We’re flying down, and I don’t want you to impale yourself on it.”

“Aww, Kravvy, you do care.”

He walked behind me. “Spread your wings.”

When I was little, one of my uncles had tried to teach my brother and I to swim. Tried is a key word here. His idea was teaching was to throw us in the water. “Are you going to push me?”

“No, landing is uncomfortable enough when you’re new at this.” With one hand he pointed at a nearby, only somewhat-crumbled balcony. With the other hand, he adjusted one of my wings. “Try to land there. Now, jump.”

I tried to will my feet to move, I really did. I had flown before. I wasn’t afraid of heights. This should have been the most fun part of my deificly-imposed community service so far.

And it wasn’t like I hadn’t died before, either. I had died plenty of times. I had become a lich so I would still be able to help my family after death. And now? Hells, I was the immortal servant of the goddess of death! I shouldn’t have been afraid of falling.

Back when my brother and I had been living with our aunt – our good aunt, not one of the crappy ones – there had been a swimming hole less than half a mile from her house. But thanks to our uncle, we had been scared of the water. No matter how hard we had tried, we just couldn’t bring ourselves to jump into the swimming hole for years.

I couldn’t bring myself to jump now.

“Lup? What’s…” Kravitz dropped his stupid work accent. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

“I can’t,” I said, cursing the tremble in my voice. “I can’t do it.”

“Yes, you can. I’ll be right there to catch you.”

I still didn’t trust him, so I don’t know why I stepped off that ledge. What I do know is that Kravitz was and still is a cheating cheater (pro-tip: don’t gamble against Death). He didn’t glide down all the way with me. Oh, he took a few flaps, but then he pulled out his sickle and cut a rip through space that led to him walking out onto the balcony.

The balcony on which I crashed. I scrambled to get my footing, and Kravitz was somewhat true to his word. He grabbed my arm and made sure I wouldn’t plummet to my, well, probably not to my doom. To my discorporation or whatever. He prevented the Raven Queen from having to make another new body for me. He gave me a bit over twenty seconds to catch my breath (and sure, I didn’t need to breathe, but it was still calming) before turning away from me and walking towards the doorframe into the cliffside.

“Let’s go,” he said, stupid work accent back in place. “We have a cult to investigate.”

Together, we walked into the dark of the cliffside.

~

A/N: Fun fact: ravens learn to fly rather quickly. It takes longer for them to learn to land.

[thedetectivesystem]

Return to The Dark

M/M

Beyond Birthday/Near | Nate River Implied Mello | Mihael Keehl/Near | Nate River

Summary: "L is a cut above the masses." Beyond finds himself entranced in a young boy who resembles all that he's ever mourned and needed.

Notes: Trans male Near !! and he’s in a dress. link to the fic on the ao3 platform is on the bottom please support us on there as well and leave a kudos ! ♡

"L is a cut above the masses."

Beyond ran his fingers up Nate's thighs, which had delicate, pale skin. The older man had given the boy a straightforward white knee-length dress for his birthday, which he wore tonight. Although Nate was perplexed by the unusual man's gesture, he appreciated it anyway. Nate knew so little about the man before him that Beyond made certain that Nate only understood that he had once been one of L's successors.

"You still don’t believe me, do you?" Beyond inquired in a low whisper.

"Such a thing could never exist," Nate said softly, his voice breathless and clearly aroused.

They were both lying on Nate's mentor's bed, and the smells of tea, coffee, and sugar enveloped the space. An unpleasant medley of smells, according to Beyond. The man had been monitoring the orphanage with microphone bugs and had learned about Nate's arrival in the area. Until he learned about the chat between Roger, Nate, Mihael, and L, there wasn't much to do for news on L. After Nate, Mihael would assist L on a case to showcase his abilities. However, he was far more interested in the number one successor.

"Then explain how I know your name," Beyond teased.

The simple answer would be his legal documents, but given Nate's gender identity, this would not be the case. Beyond noticed that his legal name did not match his genuine name, and he had been in contact with the boy without raising suspicion for some time. He crept into his room and watched him sleep, or they would converse if he was awake. Nate had a lot of questions, many of which Beyond only gave vague answers to. He couldn't help but perceive the younger one as a lost love. He was so much like him, so much like A.

"It’s not like I asked, Angel." Beyond’s hand paused at the waistband of Nate’s panties. "What logical solution is there, Nate?"

Nate looked up at the man who was hovering over him. His heart rate increased, and his body tightened with each touch since he was not used to this type of contact. When Beyond's fingertips slipped an inch beneath the waistband of his panties, his virgin body reacted instinctively, opening his legs subconsciously and gently. The boy's face flushed with embarrassment at the actions of his body. Beyond chuckled and leaned in closer, anticipating the response. Nate could feel the older man smell his neck and then nip it impatiently, prompting him to make a sound that sounded like a gasp and a whine together.

"You must’ve heard it when I told Roger," Nate answered.

"And how long ago was that, hm?"

Nate nibbled on the inside of his cheek. He'd told Roger his name and identity not long after he'd arrived at Wammy's house, continuously telling the man that he was a boy and that the name he was stating wasn't the one he was saying. He was much younger back then, and he wondered if Beyond would spend so long listening for an unattainable goal. Beyond's relationship with him felt much more entrenched in the type of trauma that L had caused. A trauma bond would not be the correct word to describe how he and Beyond came together; however, it is unusual for a 28-year-old guy to project his grief onto a newly 18-year-old boy with whom he was waiting to have sex.

"L is an illusion," Beyond started. "It's all an illusion; your life is dependent on him, on a man you've always despised but have accepted." His fingers slipped from Nate's panties, and his large hands hoisted Nate up before his fingers yanked on the dress's zipper. "If it all became too much for you, you could have died, and who knows who would have killed in your name after that?" Beyond mused. "Arms up, little one."

Nate reluctantly raised his arms. As he listened to and replayed Beyond's words in his brain, his mind flashed to an image of a memory of Mello. He was aware that his bond with Mello was much deeper than two rivals battling for L's spot; he never felt competitive, only lost in all of the loose threads of his connections with the people he cared about.

Beyond's voice interrupted Nate's thoughts, "Will you take me?" He breathed, "Out into the light?" He dropped Nate's dress on the floor, exposing the boy's body, although his most intimate part was still covered by his white panties.

Beyond's words made Nate raise his head slightly, but he didn't have much time to think about them as the man pushed him back down on his back against the bed. When he understood how susceptible he was to Beyond, heat surged to his cheeks, and his arms crossed against his chest as he felt flustered. This vulnerability was unlike anything he'd ever felt before. Beyond hunched over and grabbed Nate's wrists, exposing his chest, before pinning them against the pillows. His face was inches from Nate's, and their bodies were pressing together.

"May I ask you a question this time?" Nate queried.

"Ask away, Angel."

"How did you get in here?"

"Explaining my ways may be for another time, darling." His broad hands released their hold on Nate's wrists, gliding down his thin arms before they traveled to his small breasts. Nate gasped at the sensations as Beyond softly grasped his left breast and gave him a firm neck kiss.

“Now.” Beyond reached down to touch Nate's panties waistband while looking the younger boy in the eyes, their foreheads pressed together.

"What are you waiting for?"

[gale-heart]

My departure all those years ago had worse ramifications than I realized.

Things came to a head between us three weeks in. Three weeks of barely communicating enough to function in the field, then failing even that as we unraveled into fights that made a dragon want to be anywhere else. (As large and deadly as Serendigos is now, he looked for all the world like he was doing his best to become a very small and uninvolved boulder.) Then, after the last and worst Primalist scuffle, we just…stopped. Ran out of steam, I think, after the adrenaline died down and we made sure Seren wouldn’t lose his wing. I was exhausted from pouring everything I had into the mending (crude, clumsy work—it did the job, but barely) when Kerrius surprised me by breaking the ice first. Calmly, even.

He wanted to know where I’ve been all this time, and why I didn’t try to write when I was back in Feralas.

Everything ran cold for me. It had never occurred to me back then that others would know about the small group effort to rehabilitate Eldre’thalas, or that I was there however briefly. It makes sense word of the slaughter would have rushed back to Darnassus—and the old bird made sure to specifically implicate me in his “witness” statement, after all. Kerrius’ mentor, it turns out, was one of the investigating Sentinels into that mess. It took more than ten years for it to occur to me that I never bothered telling my brother anything after I left, even to seek comfort or let him know when I was safe. Nor did I once ask what he was up to, until just months ago.

I told him everything. About the old man and his insidious dismantling of my autonomy, the attempts to make a new arcan’dor, the morrowgrain, the addiction, Mythandos, the disastrous last portal and how I ended up a part of the Fence. I’m sick by now of recounting the details, but he deserved honesty from me. To my (selfish) relief, he at least looked properly horrified by the time I got to the end of our time in Dire Maul. He’d earnestly assumed I’d found myself a cushy job somewhere as a scholar or portal mage and went on to live a comfortable, safe life without concern for aught but myself. He hadn’t known that my current stability and wealth were only very recent acquisitions perched atop a precarious pile of actual traumas. No wonder he’s been bitter—it very much would appear from his perspective that I’ve been flaunting my apparent good fortunes in the face of his loss. It’s good that we’ve cleared the air in that regard, then.

I’m afraid it was still too little, too late.

He’s not sure now what he thinks, or whether he still wants to have contact with me. I may have tried mending this bridge out of genuine remorse and a desire to reconnect with my brother, but we both know now that I treated him rather poorly towards the end of our time together (regardless that it wasn’t outright malicious intent on my part), and I failed to realize just how badly I hurt him when I abandoned him. As of yet I haven’t given him enough in the way of reason to believe my sincerity or that it’ll last. After all, it was made clear before how little I thought of leaving him by the wayside—how can he trust that I won’t do it again? He likes the Fence enough now that he doesn’t mind helping with mercenary jobs once in a while, but he’s asked that I continue to leave him alone for the time being, at least until he sees enough proof of my own change to want to try and be siblings again. There’s a non-zero chance he may decide he still doesn’t want anything more to do with me.

I’ve only arrived home a couple hours ago. I briefly considered crossing the street to wake Charlotte, but the hour is far too early for diurnal folk, and in any case I’m still too raw to want to unload any of this onto anyone else. When I couldn’t get to sleep, I found myself digging through my satchel; now I have all my old journals gathered around me, and tea for clarity of mind.

I won’t be able to rest until I have a better understanding of what other times I’ve been so thoughtless, and who else I’ve inadvertently hurt. If I’m going to become better, I need to first identify where I consistently fail.

[uniasus]

what’s your thoughts on the concept of a tua danny phantom au with viktor (or klaus) as danny?

So my first thought is yes, Klaus is Danny. Essentially immortal teen, yeah? With the power to talk to ghosts? Easy. But then I had to think about who Viktor would be, and then from there it sorta spiraled.

So!

TUA X DP AU

Klaus and Luther are brothers, and Luther takes the role of big brother Very Seriously to the point where Klaus shakes him at school and on weekends to hang out with the besties - Ben (who takes Sam's role, and is just as into the goth stuff just with a more Cthulu bent) and Five (who takes Tucker's role as a tech genius and strong fascination with anything that bleeds red. Tucker can identify meet by smell, Five can take one look at a cut and tell you more about where it came from than you ever want to know)

Klaus's accident is less the results of a dare and more of Five being sure that he can fix what Grace and Pogo (Human in this AU) did wrong. Five thinks it's something with a hook-up in the portal and as Ben is too distracted by an ectoplasm lava lamp he's sure is trying to send a message from beyond, Klaus suits up, walks inside, and bam! Electrocuted because that lava lamp was somehow hooked up to the energy flow of the portal and Ben touched it.

No, harm, no foul, until Klaus starts to develop powers.

There's no real reason to not tell his parents, Grace and Pogo only have an academic interest in ghosts, but he doesn't want to worry them. He tries, a few times, but it always goes...weird.

Who does know is Diego. Ahem. Mr. Pitts, the English teacher. He's got a strange eye for kids. He isn't the most popular with students but has a strong sense of their needs. Extra time to think. A supportive ear. Someone to point CPS in the right direction. He's been eyeing Ben for a while - any kid that interested in the macabre has a reason - so he notices the shift in Klaus and how Ben and Five act around him. Diego thinks Klaus is hiding bruises, but it's powers.

With the portal open, ghosts come through and Klaus does fight them off, but his obsession isn't a hero complex, it's just wanting to help. Wanting to be useful. It means Ben and Five had to get more involved because if a ghost pushes the right buttons Klaus helps them instead of the town.

This is a problem when he meets a ghost going by The Monocle aka Reggie. Reggie in this AU is an old mentor of Grace and Pogo, overseeing their college career, and he'd become family of a sort. Grace and Pogo used to have Thanksgiving at his house for years, knowing his wife Abigail and adopted daughter Allison. Thing is, a failed experiment turned Reggie into a halfa and he's extremely upset that the change caused Grace and Pogo to abandon him. A fear Reggie puts in Klaus, and he wonders if that's the unknown reason why he'd been unable to tell his parents.

Grace and Pogo flip out at The Monocle, as they'd believed that Reggie had 100% died, not 50%. So a lot of the conflict would be Reggie trying to get Klaus to turn against his parents, and Klaus struggling to do that while Grace and Pogo are deeply invested in proving out the afterlife.

Viktor, in this world, OP short king that I love, I'm making Clockwork. He's a little more overbearing in this AU than canon but still mainly hands off because Klaus's susceptibility is a risk. There's a genuine concern that his obsession might make him let his parents go too far in their research to understand ghosts, so Viktor's been getting in the way of that.

[thedevilsruby]

Foe of the Guide (Clierra Multichapter fic)

Sierra Rossi's parents died in front of her because of Giovanni Pasini and his family's invention, the Guide. Oppressed by years by corruption and greed, she comes of age to fight against those who have wronged the world she lives in. She just didn't expect to fall in love along the way.

Chapter Six: Riot

Sierra walks through the town square once again, eyeing for anyone that might see Kaito and get suspicious.

"So today's the day?" Sierra mutters loud enough for her mic to pic up.

"Yup! You just need to walk by Giovanni's office for Kaito to fly near and we can find his office that way." Spark replied, excitement obvious in his tone.

"We should get a good amount of info if he's using his computer." Blanche says.

"What if someone suspects me?" Sierra asks. "They'll wonder what I'm doing near Pasini Enterprises."

"It has that huge, overbuilt fence in front of it." Candela waves her off. "You're just another citizen walking in front of it."

Sierra shrugs, deciding to heed the word of the fiery trainer. Candela was right, dozens of citizens walked in front of that cursed building, either to glare at it as they passed or stare in awe for the fools who genuinely believed the Pasinis were saving them.

She walks a few blocks down and there it is.

The Pasini Enterprises building was by far the tallest building in the city, with drones flying to it then flying away once Giovanni watched all the incidents that they recorded that day. It felt as though you had to crane your neck in a painful way just to look at the top building.

Sierra swore she would cheer when they were to tear it down one day.

"Sierra, look!" Candela gasps as she points Kaito forward.

Sierra gasps inaudibly as she sees a whole crowd in front of Pasini Enterprise's fence, yelling and holding up signs that read "DOWN WITH PASINI", "GIOVANNI GO TO HELL", among other things.

Two officers guarded the main gate while other officers pushed the advancing crowd back.

"You Grumpigs deserve whatever he throws at ya!" An elderly man spat at them, saliva flying from his lips as he spoke. "I hope you all rot!"

"What the heck happened here?" Spark asks.

"I-I don't know, let's find out." Sierra hisses, running to the crowd. She puts her hand on an older woman's shoulder.

"What's going on?" The brunette asks.

"That bastard's gone too far, that's what!" The woman snaps. "He jailed Professor Oak for conspiracy to stop this bullshit business!"

"Professor Oak?!" Blanche gasps. "Willow's mentor!"

Sierra gasps herself, horrified that the sweet old man was jailed. "H-How did he...?" She manages to get out.

"One of those stars damned drones followed him when he walked to his office late one night and saw from the window what Oak was planning!" The woman growls. "It's total Tauros-crap! That man is adored by the community! Whatthe hell ever happened to freedom of speech?!"

"We lost it when the Pasinis got greedy." Sierra thought bitterly. She felt her own anger building up, Oak was kind to her when Willow brought her to visit him. He always asked her how she was doing and offering her snacks and tea if she was hungry, telling her her parents must be so proud in the Eternal Ground*.

Kaito watched her glare grow angrier and she clenched her fists so tight that if she wasn't wearing her gloves, her palms would bleed.

"Sierra, I know you're angry, stars knows we are too but you need to keep calm." Blanche says "Don't draw attention to yourself."

Sierra tried to take deep breaths, trying to soothe herself.

Just then, one of the officers threw a can into the crowd, near Sierra's feet.

"SHIT, TEAR GAS!" A man yelled. "RUN, EVERYONE!!"

Screams erupted through the crowd as they all scrambled to get away as a cloud of liquid sprayed from the can. Some were already coughing and grabbing at their eyes as they ran, screaming in agony.

Sierra coughed hard, her vision now blurry and her eyes feeling a burning she had never felt before.

"Fuck!" She screamed, stumbling and reaching one hand out to feel her surroundings, the other holding her eyes. "THIS FUCKING HURTS!"

"Sierra"! Blanche gasped. "S-Stay right where you are, we'll come get you-!"

That's when it happened. She felt someone grab her hand.

"What the fuck?!" She gasped.

"Don't worry, it's me, I got you!" A familiar deep voice hissed.

"C-Cliff?!" She coughs as Cliff gently pulls her to him.

"Cliff? That guard you know?" Spark asks.

Sierra opts to ignore him, letting Cliff guide her. "W-Where are we going?!"

"To the nearest Pokecenter down the road!" Cliff says. "Just stay with me, you'll be fine!"

Sierra feels her head spinning, trying to blame the tear gas rather than the fact Cliff is holding her so tight to him.

-

*The Eternal Ground is my name for Heaven here, I don't know if the word Heaven is canon in the PokeVerse, but I like this better lmao

[adelcrait]

all might… toshinori yagi my man…. he’s so cool in how genuinely caring he still is even after smiling and quite selflessly helping people for decades even if there were times where he could have not. and yet he’s still a genuinely kind person. all might may have super strength but toshinori’s mental strength is his superpower. i wonder if he ever became apathetic after seeing so much violence and gore injuries every single day. i bet he doesnt even blink an eye at those anymore. he also holds the duality of living two lives in one; one where he’s the main actor on a giant theatre stage with hundreds of cameras pointing at him where he can be dramatic and maintain his hero persona vs his normal form where he’s just a man, some dude. he can go down the street and be victim of a crime as much as the next guy. he’s probably the strange neighbour that’s never home but still remembers your name and says hello to your dog. he’s just the man that looks like he just arrived from going fishing OR the hospital. he’s the weird dude that sits for way too long on park benches just watching the birds when he has free time. i bet he remembers the cashier’s names too. but if the situation requires it his eyes immediately lose the softness and acquire the sharpness of a man that has more adrenaline than oxygen in his blood. he may be buying flowers for the sake of it but if something bad happens near him you will feel the sharp glare from a long distance. all might’s hero reflexes in toshinori’s normal form must be scary to witness. and don’t even get me started when he begins training izuku. i bet he was so used to being The All Might, and knowing izuku’s obsession with him, it was easy to stay in dramatic character for a while. it’s what society expected of him, and it came as easy as breathing. but maybe one day he just stops acting because he’s tired and the battles that day were exhausting and he doesn’t want izuku seeing him like this. but izuku understands and toshinori feels seen. he’s been watched for most of his incredibly public life but he’s never been seen because it was too dangerous. it’s always been all smiles to the point where i bet he thought his loneliness would be an advantage to him because no one in their right mind would suspect he was all might. this man’s quirk is also intelligence and deep self-awareness because any other pro hero with super strength could mimic what he does and get decent-ish results, but it takes ambitious scheming, spartan discipline AND an infinite number of self-sacrifices not to only become a national symbol, but also to uphold that title for decades. and mind this, he did all of that while getting repeated life-threatening injuries and not having many people around that he could trust. while also carrying the weight of a centuries old quirk that would disappear forever if he died before he found a successor. while also knowing that his time as all might was running out. while knowing about nighteye’s prophecy that he would die soon. and yet !!!!!! he still (!!!) gathered strength from god knows where to keep going. mainly to continue mentoring izuku and being a teacher for the kids because they needed all might’s knowledge and expertise as a hero, not the empty shadow that toshinori saw himself as. this is why that scene where he tells aizawa that he finally decided to keep living even if he felt useless has me in tears. because all might was his entire life project and identity and now he thought he had nothing left. and yet still (!!!!!) after all of this he decides to find hope again. my man…….toshinori yagi my dude….. not even the strongest quirks in the anime hold a CANDLE to this man’s mental strength.

[shinygoku]

gordon gordon gordon gordon

Gordon Gordon Gordon Gordon!!

He's been sneaking into these asks by proxy, so it's finally time for his dedicated session, hehe~

First impression

WUAAAGH what's up with this WEIRD LONG NOT-THOMAS and his FACE?!

Impression now

His face is still pretty weird! But you know what else it is? Part of an Absolute Legend ✨

Like, man, Gordon is such a big presence and interesting character, the entire premise leans heavily on him. I'm inclined to go as far as to say that the Blue Boys of 1, 2 and 4 here are the three most important characters for the franchise (not at all to knock everyone else lmao) and they slot nicely into a Triforce of Courage, Wisdom and Power, and Gordon has Power in spades!

Gordon is The Vain One (not James!). He's legit very strong and the fastest on Sodor (which isn't just being a big fish in a small pond because that island has some crazy cool engines!) but unfortunately he lacks humility. His success seems to have been lodged in his head before the series even begins and this Pride is the source of pretty much every single conflict he's involved in.

But when it isn't his self satisfaction in his actions, it's being smug about being such a grand, magnificent Tender Engine and he is snooty as hell about it. He seems to look at smaller engines [pretty much everyone compared to him lol] as a lesser class, particularly if they're small and cheeky and Tank Engines. This may not be the case exactly, but his way of talking to them and some other things he says are very condescending.

However... as much as a gigantic jerk he is at several points, with Gordon I kinda feel like he plain ass doesn't conceive of his words being out of line. That and having to Unlearn things... he's not innately better than everyone else. He sees things in black and white. There are Useful Engines, and those who should be scrapped. There are Noble Tender Engines and Lesser Tank Engines who exist to do the tedious chores on behalf of the Superior ones. Edward doing shunting is seen as Demeaning and contradicts Gordon’s world view that Tender Engines Don't Stunt™, and he doesn't like that one bit! (Also Edward was crossing the picket line but that wasn't Awdry's concern lmao)

Related is Gordon does seem oddly dense at times, like assuming that Tenders are in of themselves a Status Symbol rather than a large lunchbox of sorts lol, or that Tender Engines like him being too heavy for Branch Lines being because something about Branch Lines are degrading. This might be all Elitist Brainwashing influence. But still, that he just takes these as The Truth means I get to affectionately call him an idiot. And there is no other way to explain how he genuinely believes Bill and Ben were going to murder him if he wasn't missing a few brain bolts in there.

Fortunately, he does eventually start to learn the important lessons.... very gradually, but the Early Gordon is a pretty different beast to Later Gordon, and it's wonderful~

Also, I gotta give credit to him for having some moments of utter brilliance and actual grasp of reality and more complex matters, like culture. (Yeah, I'm rolling with his geniune Opera Knowledge from s6 of all things. It's good!) As much as Awdry himself may have disagreed, Gordon was in the right to want a Station Pilot and the Strike was called for (not bullying Edward for it, but myeah) ...but this leads to my next point: He seems to have a mental block when it comes to Emotions.

Certainly, he's as emotional as the others are, it's not just a scale of Snooty, Arrogant, Condescending, Prideful ....well, it is, but ALSO the more mixed and varied feelings: Shame, Sadness, Fear, Ambivilance, Irritation, Anger, Passion, Amused, Delight and so on. However, Gordon is seemingly unaware of how his words may make the others feel, and even at his cruellest it doesn't look like he's aware he's twisting a knife in. To Gordon, he's being honest, but his verbose manner ends up twisting and wriggling away from any valid point like an overgrown vine that somehow links back to how [Other Engine] is disgracing him, Gordon, by association.

Examples include: Being offended by Henry's new shape (??? Gordon dude he nearly died and this is an improvement, a good thing!), saying that Edward's age and difficulty starting a heavy ass packed load of passengers is grounds to be Retired or even Scrapped, other little insulting things like calling the likes of Thomas and James Little insistently (it seems to vary if he's trying to put them down or actually be affectionate), and many more when in the hands of inept writers who have to wheel out the same Gordon Learns A Lesson Plot every other season.

Like I said in the James post, I also think he kinda poisoned the Red guy with his snooty attitude... but I maintain that I think Gordon was unaware of this. He may know he has Influence, and enjoy that, but he really truly doesn't appear to mean to mould James into a smaller, redder version of himself. He's oblivious and from his own point of view, benevolent. Which is in fact a dangerous combo indeed!

It's... a lot o7;;

Again though, if you're looking at the books and s1-s5 of TVS you can see him grow and change. He does take a while to learn the lessons, but as time goes on he moves 2 steps forward and 1 step back, then eventually less steps back entirely. It's great! And so is Gordon. A big dumb meathead with not entirely uncalled for delusions of granduer. A dramatic so-and-so who is the best engine for his job.

I love this sophisticated jock who grows more kindness~ 💙

Favourite moment

Hm! This isn't as easy to decide lol. We all like Gordon Goes Foreign... but you know what sticks in my mind more?

hOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHH

Look, I’m not 100% objective, here! But Ringo’s read of this line is fantastic (and keeps making me expect him to finish saying OOOHH SHIT) and it’s also a well deserved bolt of divine retribution for how rude he was being earlier. (As long as my essay already was, he very much needed the knocking down of some pegs here!)

Idea for a story

While both my fics with him thus far have been variations of Pre-Canon, Full-Arrogance and Snobbish Gordon (and both were a lot of fun!) ...but I cannot bear the same expired horse being beaten more when the story is set waaay later but he’s still up his own ass. Please, PLEASE writers, let him hold what growth he’s managed to gain!

I think it’d be good to accept that he’s gonna be outdated sooner or later, so have him help train another High Speed Engine and take them under his wing. The Christopher Awdry books kinda have something similar with Pip and Emma, but I think a better way of having Gordon be involved would be if he was actively doing some mentoring himself, as well as being a neat parallel with Edward, whose type was once Express only but got outclassed by A1s, and so the same can happen to this big A1 -> A3 lad and he can form a healthy relationship with some bright eyed newbie (and maybe have some self awareness and try to stop their head getting too large, lol).

Unpopular opinion

I know I just said him mentoring would be a cool story idea, but in canon? He is NOT a resident Dad type!! He’s a hotshot young man but he’s also a hot mess. He’s physically large but he’s not got the Energy of someone who dispenses sage advice and a shoulder to cry on. At best, he’s a weird uncle! One who means well but you shouldn’t take his life advice to heart because he’s actually just as, if not more clueless than you!

Favourite relationship

I feel inclined to say Thomas here. Emphatically not because Gordon is ‘old’ and Thomas is ‘young’, but because they’re so damn alike and actually make an excellent, albeit unconventional type of Rivalry.

Both are self important with genuine finesse in their respective talents, both are honest to a fault, both have redeeming qualities to offset their initial abrasiveness, and the first TVS episode is centred on the both of them and sets the tone for the series as a whole. There’s more parallels, of course, but I also wanna point out they’re effectively the mascots of North Western Rail in universe too, and I absolutely love this picture:

I also have immense fondness for the Down the Mine paradigm shift! Thomas gives Gordon grief over the ditch incident and later when it emerges the Fat Controller is gonna send for Gordon to pull him out, Thomas is filled with dread. But Gordon isn’t using the chance to lord over Thomas, he’s actually so amused by Thomas’ mishap and it coming at a time where he’s been significantly humbled, they instead become Comrades and I love it. I eat it up! Paint Pots and Queens isn’t anywhere near as good but I adore the little bit where they’re appealing for the other, equals and watching each other’s back~

But yeah, as Friendly Rivals they both feel very authentic and yet, in a daft way, sweet ;3

Favourite headcanon

He still says “Hurry, hurry, hurry!” when pulling the Express. That’s a HC as I think the show phased it out, but I like it lol. I feel like my essay on him contains most of the headcanon stuff, but it’s all based on what’s shown, baybee!

[aohendo]

for Kaar, spring and mic drop

Even if you hadn't specified Kaar, I saw the username and went, 'ah, yes. Time for Kaar Kulok' 🙂. Gotta love the contrasts guy. This also became unexpectedly long!

Ask game here.

spring: what does your OC miss most? will they ever be reunited? how would they feel about that?

My drive to and from work today was devoted to figuring this one out. Overall, Kaar is not sentimental. He doesn't move on quickly, so much as he acknowledges that sometimes he will miss the things he used to have, allows himself to reflect when it happens, and then carries on with his day. He doesn't like being slowed down by things which no longer affect him or his goals, especially since that sort of attachment could be construed as a sin according to the Temples (under ye olde catch-all of selfishness. If in doubt, it's all about 'selfishness').

That said, before he convinced his mother to Compete for Cym, his family used to rule Kasuz principality. One of the Kasuz Boyars took over Kaar's younger education/the general responsibilities of keeping him out of trouble and in princely standing while his parents ran the country. It was this Boyar who first introduced him to the Temples' teachings, and the potentials (good and bad) that could come from adhering to the Tri-Life's doctrine. They were a stern teacher, but fair, and Kaar considered them not only a mentor and friend, but family (which, since the Boyar had a firm Waters affiliation, could have actually resulted in Kaar adopting the Boyar and legally making them a prince). The Boyar remained in Kasuz when the Kuloks took Cym principality, and Kaar often wonders what became of them--and genuinely misses them. The only way for them to be reunited without really unfortunate political ramifications is for Kaar to compete for Kasuz to rule it, for him to be invited back to Kasuz as a guest, or for him to win 'L Tuola's Competition.

mic drop: what accomplishment is your OC proudest of? do they brag about it, or are they more quiet?

So far, Kaar's proudest of how he was able to not only convince his parents to give up Kasuz (a small but prosperous principality) for Cym (small and cold and frankly somewhat miserable), but also manipulate Cym's Boyars into confirming him as blood-heir--something which rarely happens in the Novgor Plateau (note: blood-heir means that when his ruling parent dies/is killed/departs the principality, Kaar will automatically rule Cym without need of Competition), and then managed to convince his ruling parent to 'retire.' That means Kaar already is the First Prince of Cym (he's actually, the youngest ruler of the Plateau!), and he managed to earn an entire principality legally without bothering with the usual competition. While he was doing this, he also convinced Toor Temple's Headmaster that he was capable of uniting the Temples with the Principalities, and should be appointed as Prince of the Temples in order to do so. Kaar's... Kaar's honestly doing great in terms of his personal goals.

He isn't prone to boasting or bragging, however, and so keeps his various accomplishments quiet. The other princes' knee-jerk opinion of him is that he is a religious zealot motivated by nothing but some intangible desire to please the Other Realm, which makes it fairly easy for Kaar to circumvent their attempts to remove him from Competition.

[farmerlan]

A guide to commonly used honorifics in 魔道祖师/The Untamed

OK - so, I’ve actually seen some confusion floating around on specific honorifics commonly used in 魔道祖师 and I figured I will put a post up to address some of this - especially the situations when they get used. Hopefully it’ll be helpful for fic writers or whoever else out there that’s getting turned around by the various translations.

As with most of Chinese vernacular, there’s a TON of similar, but different situations in which it may be permissible to use certain titles/honorifics, so bear in mind this is not an exhaustive guide. Also, I don’t have a PhD in Chinese honorifics or anything, I’m just a Chinese person that watches/reads a fair amount of historical dramas. So if I missed anything/if there was anything that was kind of unclear in the novel or drama, feel free to let me know!

公子 / gongzi/ master

Let’s start with the hardest so I can get this out of the way. You will see this translated in a variety of different ways - master, young master, sir...and they are all correct! Congratulations, you’ve hit the jackpot - depending on the situation, gongzi can be a whole hodgepodge of things.

Master: The most commonly used version in MDZS. This is a separate meaning of master from some of the honorifics discussed below - it is specifically used to address either:

Your literal master if you are a servant in the household

A somebody from a distinguished household in a polite way

General honorific: Gongzi can also be used between strangers/acquaintances as a respectful term. Gongzi is, in some ways, an indicator of respect of the other person’s status. So oftentimes you’ll find two young masters from different sects referring to each other as gongzi politely, but you wouldn’t find two beggars on the street calling each other that. and it’s usually used to address someone younger or a similar age as you. If you‘re talking to someone who is clearly your senior, use 前辈 or 先生.

Because it has the connotation of youth and aristocracy associated with it, oftentimes innkeepers/sellers may use gongzi to address male customers  (particularly youthful men) because it’s a bit more flattering. Kind of like how the modern day shopkeeper calls you ‘美女’ (beauty) or even ‘亲爱的’（my dear - IDK when this started becoming a thing but if you do any online shopping on Taobao you know what I’m talking about) in China. They don’t actually think you’re beautiful/feel affection for you, it’s just a way of addressing the customer to make you feel good about yourself HA. It’s nice to be called gongzi even if you’re not actually a noble.

There’s variants of this - 小公子/ xiaogongzi is typically young master, although I think some translations just directly use the young master for gongzi. It can also mean the younger master if there is an older sibling in question here (e.g. Wen Chao was referred to as 温小公子 as he was the younger son), although you can also use 二公子 （second master), as many do when referring to Lan Wangji. It sounds a little less juvenile.

This term is used for guys - I would say the female equivalent could be 千金/ qianjin or 小姐 /xiaojie.

宗主 / zongzhu/ sect leader

This can only refer to the sect leader - it is a title, and it is passed down. There is typically only one sect leader at any one time, and his eldest male heir will be the successive leader of the sect. I’m going to take this chance to clear up some misconceptions:

Unless Lan Xichen bears no male heirs before his death, Lan Wangji will not succeed him. Lan Sizhui, given that he is not a Lan by birth, will likely never be the Lan sect leader. Yes yes, we all know he’s the adoptive son, but adoptive means literally nothing in the progenical world of Chinese history. Plus, he’s not even the adoptive son of Lan Xichen, so he is a long, long way down from ever being sect leader unless he forms his own, which he would likely never because that’s kind of like betraying your family.

On that same topic, Nie Huaisang succeeded Nie Mingjue because Nie Mingjue died without an heir and Nie Huaisang was the closest blood relative.

For the Jin sect, the succession would have been Jin Guangshan -> Jin Zixuan -> Jin Ling. (y’all I wrote here that it was Jin Zixun first in line but I totally blanked that he was actually a cousin and NOT the son of JGS so ignore that LOL) Since Jin Zixuan died, it became Jin Guangyao - Jin Ling is next in line as he is of the next generation and too young at that time to rule. Honestly, if Jin Ling was older at the time of Jin Zixuan’s death and if this was a Chinese historical palace drama, there would probably be some serious internal political intrigue going on as Jin Guangyao’s claim over the seat would arguably be weaker than Jin Ling’s since he is illegitimate.

For the Jiang sect, Jiang Cheng is the heir even though Jiang Yanli is older because he is male. The question of who will inherit his seat (a very valid question given his luck with dating, although I am sure someone somewhere will eventually warm the prickly cockles of his heart) remains open. IMO there is a less than zero chance that Jin Ling succeeds him unless Jiang Cheng specifically demands for it, but he likely wouldn’t because he is all about decorum and also it would put Jin Ling in an incredibly difficult situation, which is the last thing he would want for his nephew. If he doesn’t end up producing heirs, the seat will likely go to whomever he names as successor, even if non-blood related - maybe the current head disciple.

With that said, although there were generally established rules for succession, actual Chinese history (like all of history) often played out very differently (e.g. Emperor Kangxi stripped crown prince Yinreng of his right to succeed and appointed Yinzhen (Yongzheng), who was the fourth surviving prince, as his successor) so really, even if you were to base sect succession off imperial succession traditions, you could still make the argument that anything goes as long as you have the right people in your corner. HA.

老祖/ laozu/ grandmaster/forefather

I mean, I think grandmaster is probably a fair translation of laozu, which, to be honest, is a harder honorific to translate. It’s definitely influenced by Taoism and not very common at all, but it’s likely derived from Hongjun Laozu (鸿钧老祖), who was a deity and teacher. It does NOT only stand for a senior teacher/master however, because 祖 itself has ancestral connotations, so I think I would personally translate this as forefather. IMO, it’s really only fair to use this on Wei Wuxian and/or originators of a certain branch of study in the MDZS universe - I would consider laozu as the term of respect afforded to people who were pioneers in their fields/sects.

In that sense, Lan Qiren is NOT the grandmaster of the Lan sect. He is an elder - a very respected elder that was basically interim sect leader, but in terms of official title, technically, Lan Xichen could pull rank on him, but he likely wouldn’t unless pressed to because he is also Lan Xichen’s elder.

前辈 / qianbei/ senior/elder

This is kind of an in-between term to politely refer to someone who is your senior, but with whom you really have no formal affiliation with. Unlike 先生, it’s also unisex. A related term is 长辈 /zhangbei, but that is used for people whom you have familial/closer ties with - like an uncle, or someone within your own sect.

师父/师尊/ shifu/shizun / master

Your teacher/master, but not in the servant-master context. Someone who mentors you for years - in the xianxia/wuxia culture, this is a pretty special term because most disciples will only ever belong to one sect and will only ever have one master, and everyone else is a qianbei. The disciple has to ‘拜师’ (to formally request this relationship) and the master also has to ‘收徒’ (to formally accept disciples). So a lot of people went to Yiling in an attempt to 拜师, but Wei Wuxian never did 收徒.

In the wuxia/xianxia context, shifu is technically unisex even though 父 in itself is a male-centric term, although female masters might be more commonly referred to by the gender-neutral shizun instead.

Now that I think about it, shifu doesn’t actually appear in MDZS. Lan Wangji calls Lan Qiren 叔父 /shufu, which is completely different. It means uncle (father’s younger brother, to be exact lol), since that is their relationship.

老头/ laotou/ old man

Wei Wuxian uses this to address Lan Qiren behind his back. It literally just means old man, haha. It’s informal but not a term you would use to refer to someone who is close to you/whom you like, but not exactly a term that is insulting or derogatory, although in Lan Qiren’s case, it is irreverent because it is ill-fitting for the relationship that Wei Wuxian and Lan Qiren have. Meant to be used on men, usually for women it would be 老婆婆/ laopopo (NOT THE SAME as 老婆/ laopo, which means wife. Welcome to the weird wonderful world of the Chinese language!)

师弟/哥/兄/姐/妹/ shi di/ge/xiong/jie/mei/ younger brother/ older brother/ another variant of older brother/ older sister/ younger sister

NOT TO BE USED FOR YOUR ACTUAL FAMILY. This is in the context of the sect only. Your fellow disciples, but with varying levels of seniority. Familial honorifics are a whole different thing.

In the context of the sect, who you call your shidi/ge etc. is usually NOT based on age - it is based on someone’s seniority within the sect. If you have been in the sect/under your master’s tutelage for longer, you are the senior, even if you are younger in age.

With that, I think the novel states that both Wei Wuxian and Jiang Cheng are similar in age, so it is actually incredibly hard to determine if the author deliberately went against this convention and Wei Wuxian calls Jiang Cheng shidi because he is genuinely younger than Wei Wuxian, or if it is simply because Wei Wuxian is the head disciple of the sect (and therefore, technically, everyone is his shidi). I actually think it might be the former because he refers to Jiang Yanli as shijie, although now that I think about it, it might be the latter...as a reflection of the level of admiration Wei Wuxian has for Jiang Yanli WOAH.

(Fun fact: there’s a scene in the novel in Yi city where Wei Wuxian was silently weirded out that Xiao Xingchen referred to him as ‘qianbei’ - because Xiao Xingchen is his mother’s shidi, which makes him Wei Wuxian’s senior, but then he quickly realizes it’s because he’s talking to Xue Yang and not Xiao Xingchen.)

先生 /xiansheng/ mister/sir/teacher

In present day, this is literally the most vanilla term you can use to politely address a guy. Can be a stranger, or an acquaintance you want to politely address. Usually older than you, although if you’re both similar in age and you’re not really familiar with each other, you might still use it just to err on the side of caution. In xianxia/ancient China, this is usually used more like ‘teacher/sir’ to address an elder. It’s more scholastic in its implication and less generic than qianbei.

In the Lan sect, by crowd definition, 先生 refers to Lan Qiren unless otherwise stated, which makes sense and shows the amount of respect he is afforded in the sect.

夫人 / furen/ wife/madam

A term of respect for typically older women, or can also be used to refer to one’s wife.

Lastly, let me just add that this is just something that’s meant to be helpful for people as they work through the series - at the end of the day, it’s all fictional/xianxia itself as a genre is fantasy so if you need to subvert any one of the generally held succession traditions or whatnot in order to make your fic work, go!!! Do it!!!

[dreamingaboutreid]

Hospital Bed Confessions: Chapter 5

*Flashback to 6 years ago*

Spencer’s POV

(Set in a time where Maeve ‘died’, Emily is alive but at Interpol, and Blake is still on the team)

Spencer never liked change. He was definitely more open and less hostile than Garcia, but he still wasn’t a big fan.

It seemed like the more people came into his life, the easier it was for them to just leave. First his mentor Gideon left, then his girlfriend Maeve died, then his close friend Emily died but came back to only leave again, and it seemed like Blake, someone he connected to, was going to leave as well.

So when there was news that another linguist was going to join the team, he wasn’t necessarily thrilled.

“I guess the new girl is coming in today,” Derek said as soon as he came into the pit.

Spencer had already unpacked and was settled in his desk.

“Heard she’s taking my old office,” JJ joined.

“So she’s getting an office before all of us,” joked Derek.

“Isn’t she a linguist?” asked Blake as she entered the mini-circle that had formed in the pit

“I don’t know much but apparently she’s taking on different roles, including choosing cases since Hotch has a lot on his plate right now. I found out when Hotch asked me to take some of my stuff out,” replied JJ.

“Guys, guys, guys!” Garcia exclaimed as she ran towards us with a huge smile.

“I’m guessing you did a full background check on the new girl,” said Derek.

“First of all, she’s not ‘new girl’. Her name is Y/N. Second of all, yes, I did and she’s clean as a whistle not to mention she’s literally a genius. And third of all, she’s AMAZING and I love her” ranted Garcia.

Garcia’s energy shouldn’t have surprised Spencer but he was slightly taken aback by how welcoming Garcia was to the new recruit.

He also swore he had recognized the name.

“Woah, woah, slow down, baby girl. How do you know all this?” asked Derek.

The team moved in a little closer to hear the information Garcia had. Everyone was protective over the team and wanted whatever intel they got.

“Well, she came in super early today and she waited in my bat cave, which she said was the ‘perfect amount of unicorns and glitter’, by the way. I knew right then and there she was perfect. Then, she introduced herself and told me that she’s a new profiler and helping Hotch with some of his duties. She wanted to get to know me since we’ll be presenting cases together. Isn’t that just wonderful?”

“Anyways, she going to be perfect on this team. She graduated high school at 15, went to Chesapeake Bay University, got a BA in linguistics and psychology at 18, was recruited to work for the military for 3 years, then got her Master’s in linguistics,” Garcia said excitedly.

“Wow, that’s impressive,” said JJ.

“Looks like we’re going to have another genius on the team,” Rossi joked as he seemingly popped out of nowhere.

“That’s quite the introduction, Penny. Not sure if I can live up to that,” an unfamiliar voice said with a smile.

All eyes turned to the woman that joined the circle.

“Damn. I thought she’d be more ‘Reid-like,” muttered Derek under his breathe.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Spencer asked with a slight frown.

To be honest, Spencer was surprised by her as well. When Garcia introduced her, he did expect her to look… well.. like him? But her style was closer to JJ and Emily’s. He quietly chastised himself for letting certain stereotypes get to his head. He should have known better.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you all. Sorry to sneak up on you. I just thought it’d be a good time to say hello to everyone,” the agent said.

He could understand why Garcia had taken such a quick liking to her. Her smile practically lit up the room. He, along with everyone else, couldn’t help but reciprocate her smile. She had a mix of golden retriever energy with a sense of calm and grace that shouldn’t go together but was somehow executed perfectly by this new agent.

“Hello, I’m Y/N and I’ll be joining your team starting today.”

Everyone went around the room to say their greetings and shake her hand.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Spencer Reid,” he said as he quietly stared at her outreached hand.

“Is it the pathogens or the contact?” She asked curiously.

Spencer was slightly stunned. Everyone had always given him a weird look whenever he refused to shake hands. No one really cared, or as a matter of fact, asked to really why he didn’t. He just babbled a random fact to dismiss the awkwardness. Yet here was this new agent who not only gave him an understanding gaze but seemed genuinely curious to his apprehension to shake hands.

“Pathogens. It’s safer to kiss actually,” he replied after falling out of his trance.

Before he could ask her any more questions, someone beat him to it.

“Wait, didn’t you interview Johnson Meyers and Michael Weller?” asked Blake.

“Haha, yes I did. After doing a psych eval, I was lucky enough to talk to them further about their childhood and their trigger to start killing,” she replied.

That’s where he remembered the name from.

“Didn’t they specifically ask for you? They turned down everyone else for an interview,” Spencer said, once again quite shocked but impressed. This woman was getting more and more intriguing.

He had read her analysis a few weeks back. It was always informative to read about serial killers and their thought processes. While not all serial killers were exactly the same, evaluating their patterns and MO’s helped build new profiles to categorize potential killers.

But her interview was one of the most thought-provoking reports he had read in a while. Not only did she get the infamous serial killers to confess their crimes, but she built a rapport that allowed her to delve deeper into their psyche. It was truly a fascinating read, and he had searched up her name to read further reports. He found out, to his surprise, that it was one of her first reports.

“Yeah, I just got lucky,” she said humbly.

Spencer, along with the team, quickly became keen to the new agent, and he soon learned that she truly did live up to her introduction.

[ultrahpfan5blog]

Retrospective Review: Skyfall (2012)

So after QoS was generally considered to be a letdown after the impressive success of Casino Royale, there was a bit of a course correction required. It wasn't as if QoS was a bomb. Both Casino Royale and QoS were the highest grossing Bond films till then. But critically they needed to course correct a bit. Skyfall came in with a lot of hype since it came on the 50th anniversary of Bond in films. Sam Mendes came in and knocked it out of the park in Skyfall. In my opinion, Skyfall is second only to Casino Royale in the ranking of Bond films.

What is interesting about Skyfall is that it feels like it takes a significant step away from the previous two films. It feels aesthetically different from the previous two films and Bond himself is reinvented as someone at a different point in his life. While Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were films with Bond as a new 00 agent. In Skyfall, he is an older agent, considered to be past his prime. So it seems like there is a big time leap in his career. The film has a fantastic opening action sequence, going from car chase, to bike chase, to fight on a train. You really feel Bond being pushed to his limit in this sequence. Yet, there are still very lovely iconic touches like when Bond leaps from the tractor into the train, he checks his cufflinks. Its really a small thing but it lends a lot of Bond's character. Skyfall is probably one of the most known Bond songs and it really lends to the mood of the film to follow.

The film's biggest strengths lie in the film making and in the performances from the actors who are all excellent across the board. The film has makes some bold choices when it comes to plot by making MI6 fallible. M in this movie is not at her best. She makes mistakes and a security leak happens as a result and people die because of the mistakes she made. There is also a legitimate argument to be made that she did wrong the villain and does manipulate Bond. As a result, she becomes an even more interesting character. If there is a true Bond girl in this movie, it is Judi Dench because she is front and center in this movie and the plot really surrounds her. Its by far her more substantial role in the franchise and she really makes the most of it. Her relationship both with Silva and Bond is fascinating, with Silva having almost an Oedipal complex with her whereas there is a clear maternal connection with Bond. Its a very fitting swan song for her.

There are a couple of other Bond girls in the movie. Naomie Harris makes an excellent debut as Moneypenny. If I am correct, I don't think we even know she is Moneypenny until the very end of the movie. But she's pretty badass from the very beginning and she has a nice witty banter with Bond. There is a nice and friendly sexual tension between the two. Its definitely a different Moneypenny from the previous eras but she is a welcome presence. One performance that doesn't get enough credit is Berenice Marlohe as Severine. She is actually pretty fantastic in the movie in a fairly brief role. She is enigmatic and seductive and a deeply tragic figure but her scenes are ones that really stick with me. Definitely the scene in the Casino is excellent.

We also get the reintroduction of Q, played by Ben Whishaw and he's immediately winning. It makes a lot of sense for the modern technology driven Q to be a younger man and its a fun switch of the dynamics between Bond and Q, where previously Q was sort of a mentor figure for Bond, here Bond is the elder person who makes fun of Q's age. One other character who is a surprise is Ralph Fiennes as Mallory. When he is initially introduced, he feels like a stereotypical government employee who is against Bond and M, but you slowly see that there is more to him than meets the eye and he's actually quite a badass himself and ends up being the new M by the end of the movie. Fiennes is great as he normally is. Albert Finney has a fun role in the last act and Rory Kinnear continues on as Tanner.

Javier Bardem's impact on this film is immense. What is interesting is that he doesn't appear until just a few minutes past the halfway mark of the movie. And even in the second half, he disappears for about 15-20 minutes after the hearing shootout. But his impact looms over the entire movie, even when he's not there. And that's a testament to his performance. He is brilliant in the role. He has an outstanding entry scene with a great monologue. You can just tell that Bardem is having a blast in this role. He manages to induce menace, rage, heartbreak, and madness. You genuinely feel some sympathy for his him because he isn't completely wrong. Its a performance that is truly right towards the very top of Bond villains and it elevates the movie a lot.

Daniel Craig is again fantastic here. He continues to give his all, both physically and emotionally in the role. The scenes between him and Bardem on the Island are some of the best acted sequences in the movie. And again, the dynamic between M and Bond sells because of how well both Craig and Dench play off each other. There are little touches that Craig does that I love so much. I already mentioned the cufflinks scene in the opening action sequence. Then there is a fight scene in a Casino where he and a goon fall into a pit and he spots a Komodo dragon and he is startled and points at it even, even when he is being picked up by the thug. Also, when he gets pissed off when he sees the DB5 get blown up in the climax. It doesn't sound like much, but it genuinely adds a lot to the character when you see it. He has good chemistry with all the cast and you even buy him when you see him struggling physically post the injury inflicted in the opening sequence. Its a performances where he delivers the humor, action, drama, emotion etc... and he does it all brilliantly.

As I mentioned earlier, the film making is terrific. Aesthetically, this film stands out and his beautiful to look at. Its no surprise that Roger Deakins is the cinematographer. There are just some gorgeous sequences throughout the movie, be it the fight in the empty office in Shanghai, the sequence in the Casino, the empty old house in the middle of nowhere, or the moors of Scotland in the climax. There is just a wonderful use of light to make every frame stand out. Sam Mendes also keeps the pacing tight. This is almost as long as Casino Royale, and just like that film, you don't feel the time. The only reason I rank this below Casino Royale is that the story telling isn't as tight as it could have been. For example, Silva's entire plan is really implausible when you think about it. No amount of preplanning would have led to everything happening exactly as he planned it because it requires a lot of random actions from people which he could definitely not predict. Then there is the fact that M endangers the ministers and everyone at the hearing despite knowing there is an eminent threat. Also, while the climax is spectacular and I get that Bond wanted to get Silva out of his comfort zone, but I still don't see how isolating himself in the middle of nowhere, with just M for backup against Silva and his entire army was a wise idea. Also, the film sets up the interesting notion that Bond is not at his best physically, but it sort of abandons the idea towards the end with Bond basically taking out Silva's whole army on his own. So there are some loose ends to the storytelling. But its easy to overlook them. The film also makes the brave choice to have Silva actually win since M dies in the end. So it is a bittersweet ending in a way. But its all done in a very satisfying manner.

Overall, its an excellent movie. Definitely top tier Bond and a very fitting movie for the 50th anniversary for Bond. A 9/10.

[hieludoboi]

In Our Next Life

A/n- I really should be writing my Daichi series but I got the idea to write this after reading the most recent chapter of BNHA

A/n- Damn, this is kinda a little bit of word vomit, but like that’s okay :’)

Pairing- Dabi/Fem!Reader

Summary-If not in this life, then the next, right?

Warnings- Abuse, Major Character Death, Endeavor, a little bid of blood? pretty violent, fighting and war, SPOILERS FOR MY HERO ACADEMIA CHAPTER 290

Y/n hated hero society. That much she knew. She often wondered how life was before quirks came to be. As a little girl, she would sit between her grandmother’s legs, mouth open in awe as stories of a time not her own were recounted to her, becoming reality on the tongue of her dreams. She wished she had been born in those times. No quirk, no corruption, no child soldiers… Y/n would often sit and wonder if maybe life could have been different in those times. Maybe her mother would have cared, would have loved her, and nurtured her instead of forcing her to grow her quirk until she became an unrecognizable monster when she looked in the mirror.

“We’ll prove ‘em wrong. Right, Touya?” Y/n mumbled to herself, her fingers clutching onto the small wooden frame that sat on her nightstand. She would become the hero her mother never could and avenge Touya. She would do anything for him.

———————————————

“Momma! Momma, I can’t!” Y/n screamed, face twisted in agony as the scarlet flames scorched at her face and skin, charring the flesh that was desperately trying to regenerate. Her hands fisted as much as they could into loose concrete, her delicate nails splintering against grey floors of stone and splattering them cherry red. She could barely see, the world around her blanketed in white except for his warm puddles of eyes.

 Touya was being restrained by Y/n’s mother, his legs kicking and thrashing about as he tried to claw his way out of the woman’s vice-like grip. Touya’s wailing and Y/n’s guttural screams joined each other’s in harmony, producing an ugly duet. It was dissonant, clashing against each other as it got swept up in swarming summer winds. Y/n wondered if this was what hell felt like. A never-ending inferno of red’s and oranges, mocking a pretty sunset with its demonic hues. She wondered if Touya’s sobs would play on repeat in her head for the rest of her life…

“Stop! Enji! Stop!” Y/n had got lost amongst the wires of time, not realizing that Fuyumi had run to get Rei in the disarray of chaos that they had trapped her in. And suddenly the flames had stopped, and Rei was kneeling beside her, letting frost roam over the charred body of the ten-year-old girl before her. A head of white was all she could see for a moment, and then Touya’s graying head popped up from behind his mother’s shoulder, begging to be let closer.

 Brown and blue, those hues brought so much comfort to her.Rei wiped her eyes, gently cradling Y/n and Touya’s bodies against her chest, enveloping them in a sheet of frost and comfort. It took a moment, but Y/n’s quirk eventually kicked in on its own, regenerating skin cells and tissue, restoring lost hair and patches of skin. At that point, Y/n knew that hell was Enji Todoroki.

————————————

“I’m sorry. He’s gone…” Fuyumi and Natsuo were the ones to give her the news. First, Rei was taken away, then Touya? God, Y/n was having the worst year of her life. She should have cried, she wanted to, and though her face contorted and her body heaved and shook with sobs, tears never fell. Tear ducts. They were the one thing that she could never regenerate.

Natsuo had held her as she sobbed into his shoulder, Fuyumi somewhere in the kitchen preparing a meal for them. Though they loved their brother dearly, they knew that Y/n and Touya’s connection went beyond theirs. They shared pain, abuse, and trauma that no one in their home could ever begin to comprehend.

“Please. Please take care of Shouto. He’ll do the same thing to him, and-” Y/n could feel the bile rising in her throat, burning her esophagus as she ran to the restroom. Her mother had died long ago in battle, and though she was free from their clutches, even though she was now alone to do what she pleased, the cinders of dully lit embers still prickled her skin. No amount of regeneration could get rid of the subtle scars that sat atop her skin, the burns from both Enji's and Touya’s flames being too much for her body to ever begin to handle.

—————————————-

Being a hero should have been the last thing she wanted to be, but here she was, hero suit and all, sat in a plush and comfy chair as she explained the basics of her quirk to the man who had been interviewing her. After all these years, she was sitting at Endeavor’s office, applying to work under his agency. Ironic, right?

“And this quirk is called Regen, right?” Y/n looked up from where her eyes had been focused on the subtle burn scars that still sat on her skin.

“Right. It allows me to manipulate blood flow, organs, etcetera, etcetera. If the human body makes it, or if it’s part of the human body, I can manipulate it. To activate it, I need to get at least four beats of a person’s pulse. Once I do that, I can manipulate their blood flow and organs. So I can either use them as puppets, or shut down their organs, but mostly I just restrict oxygen and blood flow enough to knock them out. I had to work really hard to be able to get it to do that, but my area of specialty is regeneration. I can do it to my body or someone else’s,” Y/n explained, a fake and yet oddly pleasant smile on her face.

“Any weaknesses or limitations?” The interviewer asked, nose buried in his notebook as he jotted down little notes.

“Well, my quirk subtly wastes away the inside of my body. I won’t age on the outside, but my insides age with every minute that I use this quirk. So I’m a little frail, but it shouldn’t be too much of a problem. Injuries by fire or heat also seem to be the one thing I can never fully heal. Oh and I think it’s worth mentioning that I can never fully heal ailments in one sitting. I can do the heavy work, or begin the process of healing bigger injuries, but if I try and heal all ailments and injuries at once, it will kill me.” Y/n explained, motioning to the subtle burns all across her body.The interviewer nodded, jotting down a note or two. Before she knew it, she was stepping out of his office, stumbling into an all too familiar, broad chest. 

Quickly, she shoved the man away, her body beginning to tremble as the soles of her feet planted themselves firmly onto the carpeted ground, forcing her to face her hell. Looking up, she stared into cold, blue eyes. They weren’t warm; they weren’t comforting. They weren’t Touya.

“Ah, Y/n. It’s nice to see you here…” Enji’s voice was stiff, strained, and very obviously uncomfortable. Y/n couldn’t help but stare at the massive scar that was etched across one side of his face. He seemed different. Not just in appearance, but something within him had changed.

Enji cleared his throat, reaching his hand out to shake Y/n’s hand. And before she could stop herself, she flinched. Not just a little flinch, but a jump. Her eyes were wide and torn with fear, her body curling into itself as a small shriek threatened to jump from the confines of her throat. The burns across her body seemed to sear all over again, and she could faintly catch a whiff of charred flesh. Enji stopped in his tracks, retracting his hand and instead shoving them into his pockets.

“Uhm, what brings you here?” Enji asked, genuine curiosity in his voice. Y/n took a deep breath, straightening out the wrinkles in her suit before forcing herself to meet Enji’s guilty gaze. Why was she here? She could have gone with the brutally honest and therapeutic reason. She could be here to face her abuser and find some sort of closure, maybe even become number one while at his agency and drive him insane, do something to avenge Touya, or.

“Well, I figured since I already know you and you were sort of my mentor, what better place to apply than here, right?” Y/n bit the inside of her cheek, her nails digging tiny crescents into the palms of her hands behind her back. She sounded so unsure, so pitiful and… Scared.

“Right, well, I’ll be sure to approve your application then. Uhm, I’ll see you around,” Y/n nodded, watching as Enji walked off, leaving her to stare at his back. Had she made the right decision? Lord, she hoped so.

——————————

“Y/n?” Y/n spun around, the confused look on her face dropping as soon as she made eye contact with Shouto. The boy hadn’t changed much since she had last seen him. Yet, he looked so, disappointed? Disillusioned?

“Shou! I didn’t think you’d be interning here!” Y/n exclaimed, scarred hands clutching onto loads of paperwork. Shouto frowned, taking a step towards her and gently touching the faint scars on her hands with delicate fingertips. Y/n took in a breath, not realizing she had been holding it until Shouto pulled away.

“I didn’t think you’d be working here, Nee-chan…” Y/n gasped, the oxygen getting stuck in her throat. It had been years since Shouto had called her his Ne-chan. Had she failed him?

“Shouto…” Y/n trailed off, sad eyes averting from the first year’s fierce gaze.

“We’re having dinner tonight, a few friends of mine are going. Fuyumi and Natsuo wouldn’t mind seeing you,” Shouto mumbled before walking away, leaving Y/n to stare once again at someone’s back. Had she made the wrong choice?

———————————————

Y/n had spent way too much time getting ready for this family dinner situation. This would be the first time in years that should be setting foot into the Todoroki household. She never realized just how much fear it could bring her. But this time would be different, she told herself as she pulled on a yellow knitted sweater. Natsuo would be there, and so would Fuyumi and Shouto. They would be eating dinner, not training.And so with a deep breath, Y/n forced herself to walk outside and drive herself to the Todoroki residence. Things were different now. She was grown, a pro hero climbing the ranks at a rapid pace. She had to be over it at this point, right?

She should have known. Standing at the front door felt more daunting than it was. Her body seemed to tremble with each breath she took. All she could see was fire, all she could hear were screams, and all she could feel was the stinging feel of flames against her already marred flesh. This was her hell.She was half expecting Rei to open the door when she knocked. And sure enough, she was met by a pair of warm brown eyes and a head of white hair. Natsuo. Y/n could feel her body stiffen, turning to stone against her will. She had severely overestimated herself.

Dinner was anything but smooth. Fuyumi was trying, lord was she trying. It was a tense night, with Y/n sitting between Fuyumi and Natsuo, a comforting hand wrapped around her unsteady hand beneath the table. Fuyumi had always been very kind to her.

“So how’d you do it?” Fuyumi and Y/n looked up, their eyes focusing on Natsuo, who was spitting venom at Enji. Natsuo looked like a cobra, hood raised, and ready to strike. Enji stared at Natsuo with a confused look, eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed. “How’d you manage to get Y/n into your agency? She hates you and everything about you, so how’d you do it?” Natsuo spat, brown eyes turning into pits of coal as he stared Enji down. Y/n felt herself grow cold, the pair of chopsticks damn near breaking in her iron tight grip.

“What’s he talking about?” Y/n looked up, her e/c eyes following each and every one of Bakugo, Midoriya’s, and Shouto’s movements as he explained what he could remember to them.

“Natsuo…” Fuyumi trailed off, a soft voice of warning between the two heated males. Y/n sighed through her nose before letting go of Fuyumi’s hand.

“It makes no sense. He’s the reason for all her burns. They were so severe that she couldn’t even regenerate the skin back to normal! Her tear ducts are gone and her lungs will never be the same from all the smoke she’s had to inhale! It makes no sense, Fuyumi!” Natsuo yelled, tears pricking at his eyes.

“Natsuo, I joined on my own. No one forced me. I had my reasons.” Y/n stated, looking away from Natsuo’s hurt eyes. Maybe she had made the wrong choice.

“He’s the reason Touya’s dead! How could you work with him!?” Y/n flinched, her body becoming a statue, the chopsticks falling from her hands and clanging against the glass plate beneath her.

“Natsuo!” Fuyumi yelled, eyes widening as Y/n abruptly stood up. She looked sickly, a pale and grey undertone taking quite the liking to her face. The entire table watched as she stumbled to the front door, struggling to pull on her shoes.

She left before anyone could say goodbye, shoving her body into the car that almost felt too small for her, yet she couldn’t leave. It felt like something was tying her to the house, and she hated it. Taking a deep breath, she opened her car door, relishing in the way the crisp air filled her damaged lungs. It wouldn’t hurt to go back, right?

Stepping out of the car, she ambled towards the courtyard, her eyes darting from area to area. It wasn’t all bad. She had made some good memories with Touya there. Like the time Enji wasn’t able to take his usual Sunday’s off to torment Touya and her. She and Touya had played hide and seek with Fuyumi in the courtyard for what felt like hours, playful grins adorning their round faces as they stumbled around the pillars and grass. Y/n and Touya were six at that time.

Finally, Y/n was standing in the middle of the courtyard, staring at the stone floors that had shattered her fingernails so many times. Wincing, Y/n brought her fingers to her lips, chewing on the tips of her nails and tasting the familiar metallic twang of blood on her tongue. When she pulled her fingers away, they were fine. There was no blood, no splintering, nothing.It took longer than she expected, wandering around the area and remembering key details of her life with every corner she walked into. And then she fell, tripping over a stray water bottle and landing hands first into the center of the courtyard, her eyes focusing in on the giant cherry tree just on the other side of the stone floor.

“We’ll be the best heroes! You can control the enemy like puppets! And I’ll scare them with my fire!” Touya declared, bright blue eyes sparkling with stars plucked from the heavens. Y/n nodded, a determined smile on her face. They were sat on the floor, their bodies bruised and sore from the sparring they had been forced to do earlier. Her s/c hands cupped Touya’s face, working hard to clear the bruises along his eyes and cheeks. “And I’ll never have to worry about getting hurt when I’m with you! Ever!” Touya said a closed-eyed grin on his face. They would never have to worry as long as they had each other. “Thank you, oh, and here!” Touya pulled away from Y/n as soon as she put her hands in her lap, quickly scurrying over to the cherry tree behind him to pluck a sakura that had fallen to the ground.

“Momma says that sakuras mean new beginnings or something like that! I just think they’re pretty! You’re pretty too. Hey! Maybe your hero name could be Sakura! Because you’re pretty, and you can heal people, and people can start again when they heal!” Touya exclaimed, stumbling over his words as he focused on tucking the Sakura behind her ear so the flower stuck out a bit. Y/n giggled, nodding at his suggestion. She would do anything Touya asked.

She hadn’t even noticed she was sobbing until she felt a pair of arms wrapping around her body. And for a split second, she thought the feeling of raindrops running down the apples of her cheeks were tears. When had it started to rain?

“Let’s go inside, yeah? Dad and the kids went to go help Natsuo. He left a little bit ago.” Fuyumi explained, helping Y/n stand from the cold concrete floor. Y/n sniffled, nodding her head. And as they made their way into the living room, Y/n finally felt a little at peace. She was grown now, a pro hero who could finally fight for herself. For the first time since she had walked into that courtyard, she left without any scars, any fears. She walked in on her own, did what she wanted, and left. Maybe, just maybe, that courtyard couldn’t control her any longer.

———————————

Y/n hated hero society. She knew that now more than ever. Here she was, fighting a war alongside child soldiers who were too young to be risking their lives for some ‘glory filled’ death. She was tired, so, so tired. Her muscles felt like they were wasting away with each breath she took. Her arms and hands were sore from being stretched out for so long. She was past her limit, controlling up to five villains with one hand, working her hardest to help heal five other heroes as they constantly hurt themselves with her other hands.

“Renge! You’re needed upfront, we’ll handle things here!” Y/n looked around, wondering exactly who had given her the command but couldn’t find the person to who the voice belonged too. She could only see the confident faces of her peers as she one by one let her enemies and allies go. Shouto was up front, so were his friends. Y/n took a deep breath. They weren’t too far from the front lines, and she was lucky enough to have been given a lift by some winged hero. She took her time in the air to heal herself, just a bit. She was going to die in the battle, that much she knew. She might as well die looking good, right?

“Come dance with your son in hell!!” Nothing. Nothing could have prepared her for the voice that rung through her ears, piercing her brain and heart in just one second. It had been ages since she had heard that voice. But he was dead. Stumbling as she jumped off of the other pro hero, she slowly walked to stand beside Shouto. And sure enough, there he was. His face was maimed, held together by staples and purple flesh, blue eyes resembling the marina trenches, his lips twisted in some crazed grin. It couldn’t be. Someone had to be posing as him. Touya was dead, he had been dead for years. Touya wouldn’t be a murderer, this wasn’t Touya. Y/n bit down on her lip, wincing as she tasted the blood that began to trickle down into her mouth. She was a hero now, and her priority was to help her comrades, not reminisce or let her past emotions get into the way. Even if it was Touya, it wasn’t the Touya she knew.

Y/n didn’t allow herself to think, her vision going spotty and body going hot as her hands stretched in front of her. She had felt his pulse enough times, and if it was him, he would bend to her will. But still, she hoped that his body would move on its own, she hoped that he wouldn’t succumb to her quirk. She hoped it was someone else.

Dabi felt himself going insane as he stared down his father and brother. He had wanted this for years, and now, here they were. Enji could finally pay for what he had done. Amongst the chaos, he failed to notice the way his body went rigid, a familiar cold grip wrapping around his veins. Where had he felt this before?

Dabi gritted his teeth, straining against the non-existent wires coiling around his veins, restricting his movements, and using him as a puppet. Vague memories of a childhood lost to trauma encircled his mind, and his vision seemed to be going spotty. But it couldn’t be. Not her, not Y/n. Dabi grunted, his knees hitting the ground as he turned to stare to the right. Sure enough, there she was, her costume ripped, her face bruised and bloody, her muscles wasting away behind the latex that wrapped around her body.

Her eyes were wild, seemingly blank as she focused in on his body. He had only seen that fear cross her gaze when she looked at his father, so why was she looking at him like that? Yet still, he found himself walking towards her slowly slumping figure. The closer he got, the more clearly he could hear the sobs that left her lips. She hadn’t changed, her skin just as scarred, her eyes just as empty and fearful. She couldn’t bring herself to hurt him, and he knew it.

Grinning to himself, Dabi chuckled, catching her gaze and watching as she tried to remain indifferent.

“Your cries give you away, doll,” Dabi chuckled, the sound raspy and cold. Y/n flinched before closing her eyes and attempting to steady herself. “I missed you, y’know?” Dabi took a step towards her, blinking in surprise when he realized she wasn’t using her quirk on him. “I know all your weaknesses, I know the ins and outs of your quirk, and you’re letting me go?” Dabi mused, his burnt hand coming up to cup the side of her face. Y/n felt the sob rip painfully from her chest as she leaned into the touch, bringing up her maimed hand to clasp onto his.

“He really did a number on you, huh, Y/n?” Dabi said softly, his gaze becoming tender for just a moment before returning to its piercing and frosted state. Y/n nodded her head, letting her body fall against his chest, wrapping her arms around his disfigured body. Dabi grunted, eyes wide in shock, his knees buckling beneath him. They fell onto the rubble beneath their feet, knees bruising against crumbled buildings and twisted metal poles.

“You’re alive…” Y/n choked the words out through her sobs. Her hands gripping onto his shoulders, not willing to let him go. She couldn’t lose him, not now that he had finally come back. Dabi stiffened, his arms slowly wrapping around her shaking form. They sat like that for a moment, trembling against one another, against the mess of the surrounding city.

Finally, Y/n pulled away, her unsteady hands cupping Dabi’s face, her worried eyes studying his face and twisting in heartbreak. Why was she looking at him like that?

Y/n pushed Dabi away, her chest violently rising and falling, her breaths feeling like hornet stings inside her lungs and throat. His eyes were no longer warm, they were void of emotion; they were filled with hunger, a hunger she hadn’t seen in years. This wasn’t Touya. Y/n took shaky breaths. Her eyes screwed shut as she tried to convince herself that the man in front of her wasn’t the boy she had fallen in love with all those years ago.

Dabi felt his breath catch in his throat, his hand extending towards her before falling to his side. Why was she scared? She knew it was him, right?

“Y/n, it’s me. It’s Touya…” Dabi croaked, his eyes filling with pain as he crawled towards her. Y/n shook her head vigorously, shuffling back anytime he tried to come close to her.

“Stop it. You’re not Touya!” Y/n flinched at the scream that tore through her lips, not expecting the words to fly from her chest in the way they did. “T-Touya wanted to be a hero! Touya wanted to save people. He loved his baby brother, Touya, Touya wasn’t some sort of monster!” Y/n spat, the venom dripping from her words and splattering against Dabi’s eardrums.

“I did what I had to do!” Dabi yelled back, his eyes wide and filled with hurt. How could she say that about him? “I was willing to do whatever it took to show the world what he had done to me- to us!” Dabi explained, his voice wavering as he knelt among jutting pieces of cement and debris.

Y/n let her back rest against a random piece of wall, her chest heaving as her lungs struggled to obtain air. She had overworked herself. Her lungs were practically disintegrating. She was tired, and her body could no longer move. On the inside, she had the organs of a ninety-year-old. This was it for her, and she knew it. But at least she got some closure, right? Through her lidded eyes, she watched as Dabi rushed towards her, blue eyes filled with worry, and maybe even warmth.

“Hey, hey! No! You can’t go on and give up! You have to beat that bastard at his own game, remember? Become number one, drive him insane!” Dabi explained as he scooped up her limp body in his arms. Y/n blinked, her eyes cold and slowly dimming.

“We. We were supposed to do that…” Y/n whispered, her hand weakly reaching up to try and hold his face before meekly falling onto his chest. Dabi took an unsteady breath, taking hold of her cold hand and pressing it to his cheek. “I hope, that in our next lives, we’re able to live the life we always wanted…” Y/n mumbled, her fingers finding purchase on his pulse. Dabi blinked, eyes going wide as soon as he realized what she was doing.

“Stop it- stop! You’re going to die!” Dabi yelled, his voice cracking as she restricted his movements with her quirk.“I was going to die anyway. I knew this would be my final battle, Dabi, so let me die looking at the Touya I knew, and not you.” Y/n mumbled. Dabi could feel the way his sobs racked his body. Her face and body beginning to grow pale, her eyes tired and almost dead as she poured what was left of her into his recovery.

A weak smile grew on Y/n’s face as she watched the burns on his body begin to heal, the staples falling off one by one as his skin slowly began to go back to normal. The flesh beneath her fingers grew soft, the color returning to its pale and rosy state.

“Could you imagine how different our lives could be?” Y/n whispered, a sad smile on her face as she watched the patches beneath Dabi’s eyes disappear. “Sakura and Touya, pro heroes, working side by side… Y’know, I never felt like I could take that hero name. I settled with Renge. Sakuras symbolize starting anew, remember? I never felt like I could start again. I felt, that after Touya died, I had to grow through mud,” Y/n explained, her chest rattling with stinging wheezes, her face growing gaunt and grey.

Dabi took a shuddering breath, his hand gripping onto Y/n’s free hand, nodding along to the words that weakly slipped from her lips, getting lost in the chaos around their bodies. 

“I’m right here, Y/n. Touya’s here…” Dabi sobbed, pulling her body closer to his, willing her to see him for who he was, for who she knew him to be. Y/n shook her head, the hurt in her eyes eminent despite the way they shrouded with death.

“You only look like Touya,” Y/n murmured, flinching as droplets began to fall onto her cheeks. She looked up at him with a feeble gaze, watching as the tears collected in Dabi’s eyes before dripping down his face. Frowning, Y/n attempted to brush away his tears with her thinning hand. Dabi sniffled, looking down at her body as it wasted away in his arms. His eyes held yearning, an agony that only they knew existed. And for a moment, they even seemed tender as he stared down at her. For a moment, Touya was there.

“In our next life, Touya…” Y/n rasped, her hand falling to her side, her eyes dimming until there was nothing left. Touya could feel the way his body broke down, the agonizing screams ripping past the confines of his throat and getting lost in the battle behind them. He could feel the tears rushing down his cheeks, dripping down his chin and filling the dips in her now scrawny face. Her chest shuddered one last time, her final breath raking past her lungs and dissipating into the wind.

He stayed there for what felt like hours, curled around her body. She was thin, pale and so, so utterly broken. Touya couldn’t help but wonder how they had gotten to this point, what their life could have been like if he had just gone to her, looked for her. In his quest to destroy his father, he had lost sight of himself, and ultimately let his ambitions get the best of him.

Touya took a deep breath, harshly wiping the tears off of his face. He gave Y/n’s hand one last squeeze, gently laying her body amongst the mounds of rubble where someone was sure to find her. He could only hope that they would meet again.

“In our next life, Y/n…”

[badass-at-fandoming]

Just Little Ventrue Things ~

I finished a Camarilla Ventrue run of VTMB. Mostly, the only thing Ventrue these days know how to do is Dominate, run screaming, eat hot chip, and lie, and [high falsetto voice] here’s a list of other nonsense I discovered:

PC’s name is Christina; she’s a Dominatrix because I’m bi. Her sire was one of her clients, and she’s actually very, very angry about his death. She doesn’t mind being a vampire. She’s Wiccan and part of a coven

In this Camarilla run, I decided I would only do quests given by Camarilla members. My justification was that, while Christina is intelligent and curious about lore, she focuses on tasks that immediately relate to her and her goals. She’s not curious about others; won’t go out of her way to talk to them. She’s not a bleeding heart, like my other PCs, and she believes in the Camarilla’s laws. She just hates LaCroix for killing her sire. Her plan during the game is to curry as much favor within the Cam as possible and cozy up to LaCroix so she can stab him.

Enough backstory

Nonsense time

Smiling Jack laughs at you if you don’t eat a rat in the tutorial. LOL. The Ventrue dialog is like “I could barely choke down the homeless man: please don’t make me eat a rat!”

The blood in the Santa Monica haven’s fridge is now blue blood. Does regular blood make Ventrue sick? I was too scared to experiment.

[spots Mercurio] I am going to steal that ghoul

Rosa: The people you’re looking for are up there. Christina, assuming Rosa is a Cam agent: Okay, thanks, bye

Never spoke to the Thin-Bloods again (sorry Lily baby ;-;)

Everyone except Julius still leaves when the PC reaches Hollywood

If you try to feed on Julius, he WILL kick you in the head and you WILL glitch into the fire, be on fire; run away screaming in Prada

You can skip the whole basement of the Ocean House Hotel if you manage to jump over the hole in the staircase???? Like?? You mean the spookiest fucking level has been optional this whole time I”M

[ghost appears] [Christina smacks it with an axe] None of that.

Club girls speak to Christina and I’m on the FLOOR

Therese “kills” Jeanette, even though I had enough oompa to make that not happen.

Therese joins the Camarilla and says she’s in good position to be the next Prince??? Hello??? Where is our Prince Voerman ending????

Went straight to LaCroix, called him “sir,” and he name-dropped Napoleon.

LaCroix tells Christina to go visit the Anarchs. She blows the Anarchs off (Nines made a growly face, Damsel dialog yowl-exited out after I asked if she wanted to join the Cam; Skelter threatened to murder me twice). When LaCroix told Christina that, while he admired her Cam loyalty, she must listen to her enemies to understand what they wanted, it felt like he was actually being a good sire and mentor.

That’s weird.

When Christina asked for his history, he very carefully explained his lineage, like the important part of Ventrue culture it is.

Overall, I found LaCroix-being-nice-to-me extremely unsettling.

Sir. Stop smiling at me, sir. Stop being impressed I don’t ask for money. STOP MAKING ME UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE LIKE YOU, SIR.

In contrast, LaCroix sounded genuinely betrayed at the end

Also made it more obvious when he started to lose track of his marbles

Ventrue PC seems juuuuuuust tall enough for her forehead to glitch into the ceiling of literally any confined space

The dirty Elizabeth Dane policeman didn’t psspspspsp at Christina so the whole ship was 15 white-knuckled minutes of making police dance and scuttling about

There is!!! A lot less!!! Talking in this game!!! Than I remember!!! She is only good at talking and ordering people around i am bEGGING

All EXP goes to Dominate and making Christina extremely charismatic and buff.

Ventrue himbo????

Beckett un-himbo-ifies her

She insults Beckett on their first meeting, spitting out “What do you want, wolfie?!” I thought this was appropriate because she died like, 4 times on that warehouse mission and was Extremely Stressed And Under Duress

Beckett’s response of “Oh, you’re too young to have mouthed off to the truly old ones yet.” makes his later snide remark of “the young ones are so temperamental” 900% funnier. Yeah, LaCroix! Beckett thinks I’ve grown and am now more mature than you! XD

Missions involving sex workers hit different when you’re a sex worker.

Christina was incandescent with rage at the Brotherhood

Grout’s mansion mission was a lot of “I have no interest in this nonsense.”

For the first time ever, I didn’t kill anyone during the Museum quest! This is because Christina ran very fast and Dominated every guard as quickly as possible. Every single fucking guard knew she was there, but could do nothing about it, because they were dancing. The door to the sarcophagus locked (it will do this if too many guards are agro), but locked doors are no match for noclip hack.

Entertaining image of a tall woman absolutely blasting into this museum room and Beckett tackling her to the floor like wait! I must snark at you! You are legally obligated to speak with me!

Isaac is still somehow a pretty chill guy to work with if you’re Camarilla.

Christina didn’t visit VV or Ash. Interestingly, Ash didn’t show up at the hunter monastery later. Did he just die in his club? Is he still there, waiting, deciding?

Christina @ Andrei: what the fuck is this shit

“I don’t care. It’s ugly. Clean it up.”

SEWERS.

Not as bad as I was expecting

Did take shortcut, run away from fights, ducked out in the middle for a snack, and bring 7 blue blood packs tho

Gary threatened to shred her face with a cheese grater, which I thought was Toreador only dialog?? It must be connected to the Appearance Stat. Which Christina has maxed out.

When Heather became Christina’s ghoul, I was delighted because I thought this meant Christina would always have fresh blood.

No

If you ask to feed on her too soon after the last time, Heather says she feels light headed and wants to lie down. The dialog exits out

I love you, Heather bb

Perfected the art of nudging NPCs into corners

Mitnick’s quests now feature Enforced Nap Time for all guards

Seriously, Dominate is ridiculously powerful, hooooly shit. I get why people like it. I also like it when people do things I ask them to do.

Christina can’t sneak, but she CAN strongly encourage everyone to choke on their own tongues.

Very high contrast in the beginning of the game: 2 punches would knock her over, but anyone she spoke to would obey immediately and without question

Chinatown goes by ridiculously fast if you can’t sneak and don’t do any sidequests besides Mitnick’s.

For the first time ever, Zhao survived! This is because Christina made him take a nap.

He just told her to leave

You’re welcome, my good dude

IDK if it’s a game glitch, but Christina would vocalize? In battle, she grunts with effort and pain.

Got to the point where I kept expecting Dominate dialog in every interaction and would get disappointed if it didn’t show up. What do you mean I have to actually convince people? That’s lame.

Christina was polite and charming to Ming Xiao, who also conveyed a deeper betrayal than normal at the end. ;-;

I promise to give you a Ventrue boy toy soon, Xiao

Finale arc quests went by VERY FAST because Christina can’t sneak for shit. Just run in, Dominate blazing

You can skip the outside bit of the Hallowbrook Hotel if you find the open door on the top level what the fuuuuuuuuuCK

[“A Little Party Never Killed Nobody” plays while Christina wipes out the Sabbat in 10 minutes]

Andrei disappeared mid-fight and didn’t come back until I complained that only I was allowed to run away from boss fights

I’m categorizing “triggering the interaction to save Heather” as something quite difficult to do. The timing has to be just right. I’ve missed it twice now. BUT hacking into the game to save her is easy.

I love you, Heather bb

Final Beckett talk had the vibe of “You’re a very different person than me, but you’re also High Humanity and trying to do good. You don’t deserve to die.”

Damsel threatens to kick the shit out of Christina and is extremely reluctant to tell her where Nines is

“Out of all people, they send you? All right, let’s just talk terms.” - Nines because Christina was short with him one (1) time

WEREWOLF HARD

You can just?? Walk out of your haven?? Without speaking to Jack at all???

I didn’t do that

But I could have

[”Dust in the Wind” plays while Christina kills entire Camarilla hit squad in 3 minutes]

You can visit Mercurio and Trip on your way out of Santa Monica??

Mercurio makes no comment on the blood hunt. Business as usual with him. This is fine.

Christina: I’m SO going to adopt that ghoul. And perhaps Isaac can be convinced to part with Romero...

(For the first time ever, my PC boinked Romero. Twice, to receive the break up email)

This is definitely a glitch, but Christina brushed up against Caine, and a worried voice said, “Are you all right?” It sounded like the same voice actor, but a higher pitch?

Always nice to think about Caine demonstrating care

Christina asked Caine who he is, and Caine replied that he “gets people where they’re going. [He’s] a driver,”  which is a nice nod (lol) to both his literal job as a driver and as a shepherd/creator/god to Kindred. Caine creates and makes fate.

Caine triple checks with Christina that she’s sure Strauss won’t betray her. Thanks, Vampire Dad. :’D

For some reason, only other Ventrue guarded LaCroix’s tower. I wonder if this is intentional. Like all the other Camarilla Clans backed Strauss and left? So only LaCroix’s Ventrue lackeys remain? Anyway, it created some weird moments where Christina fought her double.

KILL YOUR DOUBLE

Sheriff laughed in haughty joy that he was to kill Christina. I don’t remember him laughing in other playthroughs.

Christina ruining Caine and Jack’s prank oh noes

[theanoninyourinbox]

Longstar Au May the 4th be With You Always part 2

Hello and welcome back to an AU that has gotten out of my control.  Sorry it’s been a bit, I’ve had this written up for a few days, but it’s been tweaked and retweaked until I had to stop or it might gain sentience or something.  Just a quick note, I have some notes on the designs page of some of the deaths of the villains - some of these have been retconned.  With that in mind, let’s finish - that’s right, I said finish - the Longstar AU!!!

Up in Starclan, it’s chaos.  Cats are yelling, Bluestar is hollering about prophecies, and Yellowfang wants to know if ANYONE was watching Dovepaw.  As the chaos dies down, discussions on the war begin, and Yellowfang is angry that it’s being talked about as casually as gossip about who’s dating who.  Canon continues until...

Lionblossom is finishing treating Thunderclan’s wounds, while Jaywhisker sits nearby, trembling.  He can’t believe he’s responsible for the death of Russetfur, she just twisted wrong and landed on his outstretched claws.  Lionblossom tried comforting him, but words won’t bring back a good warrior, who would have been a wonderful leader.  He finally drifts off to sleep, only to see a golden-pelted warrior training with Tigerstar.

Jaywhisker jerks awake to Cinderheart gently prodding him.  She apologizes for waking him, but something flew into the hollow, and she doesn’t want to look for it alone, and Jaywhisker looked like sleep wasn’t restful, so could he come?  Jaywhisker agrees, glad for the distraction, and the two scare off an enormous white owl.  Cinderheart tells Jaywhisker that she’s worried about him, and he thanks her for the concern, even if he’s confused why she cares.  They head for an early patrol, and run across Embertail.  He’s furious, but before he can run off, Jaywhisker begs him for a chance to explain.  Embertail spits, about to fire off a retort, but Jaywhisker looks like misery incarnate, and Embertail pulls himself together, and listens.  Jay quietly wails out his horror and guilt, and asserts that none of this should have happened, especially to such an honorable warrior like Russetfur.  As he leans on Cinderheart, trying to pull himself together, Embertail recalls how the blind warrior helped his family when Shadowclan abandoned their faith, and how loyal he was to the Code and his family.  So, instead of calling him a murderer, Embertail says he’ll go to Starclan for guidance, and Jaywhicker begs him to ask Russetfur for forgiveness.  Embertail agrees and heads back to Shadowclan, and Jaywhisker apologizes to Cinderheart for crying on her.  Cinderheart responds, what else are friends for?  Canon continues until...

Dovepaw tries to convince Ivypaw to stop spying on the Dark Forest.  Look what they did to me, and I’m the Prophecy Cat!  Ivypaw retorts back excuse me, if you’d gone to someone before yowling your pretty little head off about Shadowclan being evil, maybe this wouldn’t have happened!  Maybe make this not all about you?  And Ivypaw storms off, genuinely angry at her sister for once.  Canon continues until...

Littlecloud, laying near death in the medicine den, asks Embertail to go to the Moonpool, and ask Starclan for guidance.  The ghosts of Shadowclan rise in flames, and tell Embertail the clans must stand alone.  Before they can fade, Embertail, who’s been thinking hard and talking to his mentor, fires back that if the clans were closer, maybe the battle wouldn’t have happened in the first place!  Stunned by the retort, most of the ghosts return to Starclan, where Yellowfang says I told you that was stupid, but Runningnose and Russetfur hang back, with Runningnose congratulating Embertail on his bravery, and Embertail giving Russetfur Jaywhisker’s apology.  Russetfur says she needs to think on it, and the last Starclan cats return to the stars.  Blackstar, on hearing the message, agrees with the Shadowclan ghosts, but Littlecloud and Embertail argue for unity.  Canon continues until...

Ivypaw goes to train in the Dark Forest, and bumps into Mapleshade, who shows interest in her.  Brambleclaw inserts himself between them, commanding Mapleshade to back off, but he’s a few octaves higher than normal, and Mapleshade bows out, laughing.  Ivypaw then fake praises the Shadowclan ruse, and Brambleclaw preens, then introduces her to his posse.  In the group of Dark Forest residents is Snowtuft, hanging back, and every time Brambleclaw looks away, Snowtuft looks miserable, which is normal for the Dark Forest, but also regretful, which is definitely new.  Later, she overhears Tigerstar praising Goldenheart on learning a new technique.  When she wakes, Ivypaw tells Jaywhisker and Lionblossom about the Shadowclan warrior and the possibly remorseful ghost, which both interest the brothers greatly.  Canon continues until...

Embertail falls through the ice.  Jaywhisker leaps into the water, his blindness a boon in this situation.  As he struggles to hold onto Embertail, a weird floaty old tom tries to convince him it’s Embertail’s time.  Jaywhisker completely ignores him, thinking it’s a Dark Forest trick, and drags Embertail free of the waters, but it’s been hours, and Embertail’s breathing steady, but he won’t wake up!!!

Meanwhile in the Dark Forest, Ivypaw is lead to the wandering spirit of Embertail by Tigerstar and commanded to kill.  Goldenheart leaps in, and as the two squabble, Embertail is lead away by Yellowfang.  Tigerstar is impressed by Ivypaw’s spirit, and decides she’s loyal to the Dark Forest. 

Meanwhile in the Tribe, Feathertail watches over her brother’s kits. She looks tired and worn, but when Brook asks if she’s alright, Feathertail insists she’s fine.  Back in Shadowclan, Embertail wakes up!!!  All he remembers is falling in the water, and seeing Yellowfang, but nothing with his brother or Ivypaw.  Canon continues until...

When Icecloud falls in the hole. Jaywhisker begins to have a panic attack, and Cinderheart helps him breathe throught it.  Behind them, Ivypaw, Dovepaw, Wormpaw, and Icecloud all bet on how long before they start dating.  When they get back to camp, Dovepaw becomes Dovewing, Ivypaw becomes Ivyleaf (for her capability to grow), and poor left-out Wormpaw becomes Wormwood (for his steady, dependable spirit).  Canon continues until...

Jaywhisker ventures into the tunnel, hoping sadly to recover Hollywish, but all that’s there is a tuft of fur, and an old bloodstain.  To his dawning joy, maybe his sister is alive?!?  But he refuses to keep his hopes high.  He doesn’t want to get hurt.  Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf and Antpelt fight in the Dark Forest, and she beats him so soundly he wakes up.  Mapleshade emerges from nearby, and promises Ivyleaf that she’s ready for “special training”, which worries Ivyleaf, but what choice does she have?  Canon continues until...

At the Gathering, Dovewing refuses to talk to Goldenheart, pissed off at him.  Bumblestripe follows her around a tad creepily, but is interrupted by Grasspelt asking about Briarlight.  Dovewing gently breaks the news to Grasspelt, who’s horrified but relieved, and asks Brightheart is he can come visit, and she agrees.  Dawnpelt catches Dovewing before gathering ends and tells her that Goldenheart is in it for Dovewing.  Canon continues until...

Lionblossom hars voices calling from the mountain, and Longstar, knowing he’ll just sneak off if not allowed, sends him off to the Tribe with Foxflight, Shrewleg, Wolfleap (formerly Foxleap), and Frostfoot.  Yellowfang wonders what the Tribe is up to, that’s HER himbo descendant, excuse you!  Canon continues until...

While walking out in the woods, Cinderheart tells Jaywhisker that she overheard Dovewing talking to Ivyleaf about Prophecies, and Jay admits to what’s going on.  Cinderheart starts panicking, oh man I’m not worthy to date such an important cat!?!  Jaywhisker goes wait wait wait, we’re dating?  And I’m supposed to be the smart brother!  There’s a moment where they just stare at each other, then burst into laughter until they fall down.  Wormwood wins the Date Bet by a day, and gets three juicy mice for winning.  Canon continues until...

Breezepelt stops by Thunderclan, obviously in a state.  He tells Longstar that someone snuck into camp and killed his friend Antpelt, have you seen any wandering loners?  Dovewing panics, thinking Ivyleaf’s in danger, but Ivyleaf scoffs.  What, you think a measly Dark Forest warrior could take me?  I’m so offended I’m gonna give you a noogie!  Canon continues until...

When Goldenheart pins Ivytail in the Dark Forest, she whispers in his ear that she’d never hurt his sibling, and he backs off, but also because she yeets him off.  When Blossomfall is introduced as a new trainee, Ivyleaf is horrified, excuse me, you’re the sensible one?!?  Canon continues until...

The patrol makes it to the Tribe, and Foxflight reunites with her old friends.  Wolfleap convinces the Tribe trainees to show him their eagle-catching techniques, though he gets scolded for it.  While there, Lionblossom dreams of the origins of the Tribe, and when Half-Moon speaks to him, Lionblossom confesses his crush.  She reciprocates, saying she’s been keeping an eye on him, which isn’t creepy at all!  Canon continues until...

Somewhere in here, Sandstorm and Coldlight become mates, after both searching their feelings and discussing their boundaries, like sensible adults.  Ivyleaf and Blossomfall become lost in the tunnels, and a shadowy molly leads them to safety, along with a ghostly Fallen Leaves.  Canon continues until...

Flora is nearly carried off by an eagle, and Wolfleap, Foxflight, and Frostfoot attack it, saving Flora but losing Swoop, to their grief.  Lionblossom talks to Stoneteller, and chooses Crag as the next Stoneteller.  He silently promises Half-Moon he’ll wait for her if she’ll wait for him.  

Sol approaches the Clans, vowing revenge, but boy oh boy will he be surprised!!!

While out patrolling, Birchfall tells Ivyleaf he saw her training in the Dark Forest, and Ivyleaf internally flips out.  At the border, Furzepaw sides with  the Thunderclan warriors, confusing Heathertail and Breezepelt.  Whitewing and Dovewing are gathering moss, and Dovewing has to tell her mother that no, she does NOT want to be set up with Bumblestripe, maybe try Rosepetal, she like him.  Can we talk about something else?  Please?  Whitewing agrees, and later sets up Rosepetal with Bumblestripe in a scheme involving a frog, moss, and a convinient field of flowers.  The two become mates, and Dovewing sighs in relief, especially when Bumblestripe apologizes for being obsessive. Also, because Embertail lived, Dawnpelt doesn’t hate Jaywhisker. Canon continues until...

Cherrypaw and Molepaw are rescued from the tunnels by the shadowy molly, but Sol shows up, claiming he rescued the apprentices. He’s chased from Thunderclan and yeeted over the border by an angry mob.  Later, Dovewing hears Sol setting up trouble in Windclan, and she and Ivyleaf head through the tunnels to stop him.

of course they get lost almost immediately, and are also lead out by the shadowy molly.  As the molly heads back into the tunnels, Jaywhisker appears.  Oh there you are, where did you goooOOO MY SWEET GRAN-GRAN’S LEFT FANG!!!!  He leaps past the warriors and tackles the molly, yowling in joy.  It’s Hollywish!!! Jaywhisker drags her back to camp, with Dovewing and Ivyleaf trailing behind.  Hollywish’s return to Thunderclan camp is a joyous occasion, as her mother, brother, aunt, uncles, and grandparents descend on her in tears of delight and relief.  Dovewing heads to her grandmother Brightheart and tells her about her “suspicion”, plus aren’t there some family members missing?  Shortly after, Crowfeather and Breezepelt charge into camp, with Heathertail and Gorseflicker close behind with Ivyleaf.  Canon continues until...

Hollywish explains that she was injured badly, and became badly lost and disoriented, only saved by Fallen Leaves, and was regaining both her strength and her confidence before returning.  The Windclan warriors and Thunderclan hatch a plan to catch Sol in his own trap.  Canon continues until...

Lionblossom fills Yellowfang in on Jaywhisker and Cinderheart, and they both realize she might get confused if Cinderpelt’s memories show up, so they break it to her gently.  She freaks out, but Jaywhisker notes he’s never seen Cinderpelt in her dreams, so she must be more of a watchful spirit.  She calms down and calls for Cinderpelt to appear, and she does.  The two have a private conversation, and then Yellowfang escorts her apprentice to Starclan.  Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf and Dark Forest Antpelt fight on the order of Brambleclaw, and she kills Antpelt.  Sunstrike and Furzepelt threaten her, and she stalks off, acting haughty, until out of earshot, where she loses her mind, lashing out and weeping bitterly.  When she stops wailing, she hears someone else weeping.  On investigation, she finds Snowtuft tearing up the ground, wailing into the muck, and cursing his own stupidity and cruelty.  Ivyleaf, seeing an opportunity, and a cat that might be salvageable, she walks up to him and comforts the Dark Forest cat.  When he’s done, the two have a conversation that leads to a future surprise.  Canon continues until...

Windclan fakes allowing Sol in, and fake an attack on Thunderclan, but loop back with Thunderclan in tow.  Mudstar and Longstar stand united, and after spitting hate to a distant clan, Sol flees.  Later, he’s found by some twolegs, and becomes a pampered internet star.

With all four of the Prophecised cats here, preparations begin in the clans, in the Dark Forest, and in Starclan.  Mothwing finds a shadow that refuses to fade, and the medicine cats bring their leaders to the Moonpool.  Starclan reveals that they’re ready for battle, and plans are hatched.  Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf tells the Four that Birchfall and Blossomfall are Dark Forest trainees, which horrifies Dovewing, but then Ivyleaf reveals she’s undermined all the trainees from within.  When she and Snowtuft had their talk, they planned together.  Snowtuft secretly took each and every trainee, and showed them what they were truly doing, planting doubts and turning some back to the clans.  Canon continues untill

The Battle Begins!!

Shadowclan calls for aid, and Greystripe and Jaywhisker bolt there to help.  Even in his blindness, Jaywhisker can see the gruesome Ghosts and shining Spirits battling in his peripherals.  As they enter the camp, Blackstar rises from losing a life.  He then kills Redwillow for being a traitor, and Jaywhisker duels with Shredtail, scattering him into the aether.  Suddenly Greystripe yowls in grief, and Jaywhisker hears the voice of Feathertail assuring him she’ll always be with him and watch over Briarlight.  Canon continues until...

Ivyleaf runs into Goldenheart, and she confronts him angrily.  He swears to do better by the Code, the clan, and by his sister.  Ivyleaf declares that he better, because Dovewing still loves him, even if Ivyleaf thinks he’s a big fat jerk.  Goldenheart says you know what, that’s fair.  Canon continues until...

Over in Windclan, Heathertail and Breezepelt drag drag Furzepaw and Sunstrike apart as the battle rages around them.  Furzepaw declares Sunstrike a traitor to their true ideals and the Dark Forest, and Sunstrike yowls back that the Dark Forest lied to them and killed Antpelt!!  Breezepelt reels back in shock, as Antpelt was his best friend.  They’re interrupted by Crowfeather and Nightcloud racing past, then pouncing on and killing Houndleap.�� Gorseflicker is heard screeching in rage, shredding and scattering a ghost to the winds, and a shining Deadfoot trounces a cat until they flee, past the glowing forms of Onewhisker and Tallstar.  Canon continues until...

Brambleclaw confronts Ivyleaf, spitting curses at her disloyalty.  She counters that she’s not the only one, and Snowtuft drops out of a tree.  The three tussle until Ivyleaf is pinned and Snowtuft was thrown loose.  As Brambleclaw raises a paw for the death blow, two blurs knock him off - Hollywish and Foxflight!  They professionally murder him, and Ivyleaf thanks Snowtuft for his help, and wishes him well.  As she thanks him, the gruesome aura all Dark Forest cats have lessens on Snowtuft, though it doesn’t completely fade.  Mousefur, standing nearby, goes I beg your PARDON that’s wild.  She peppers Snowtuft with questions, and the two race off to fight side by side.  Canon continues until...

Darkstripe and Brokenstar attack the Thunderclan camp, with Brokenstar heading straight for the nursery.  Sorreltail and Brackenfur nearly gleefully kill Darkstripe, as Honeyfern and Fercloud face off against Brokenstar.  She kills Honeyfern, and pins Ferncloud, but Yellowfang slams into her errant kit, and kills Brokenstar once more.  Yellowfang then lays Honeyfern somewhere safe, and sets herself up to guard the camp.  Canon continues until...

Crowfeather rushes to Thunderclan to find Swiftpool and the rest of his kits, after seeing Windclan safe.  Mapleshade leaps into his path, just as he sees Swiftpool in the distance.  The pair double team Mapleshade before she can spout any rhetoric about forbidden love.  Canon continues until...

Longstar faces off against Tigerstar, but the nearly blinded leader is slowly losing his strength.  Nearby, Spottedleaf tells Fireheart that his destiny awaits, and he takes off from the medicine den.  As Tigerstar stalks forward, Fireheart leaps from the shadows and latches onto Tigerstar’s throat.  Longstar charges, remembering all the cats dead or injured because of Tigerstar, and throws himself at his once-friend.  A yowl of pain echoes, and cuts off abruptly, sending the Dark Forest warriors fleeing.  Flamewish bolts out of camp, searching for her mate and brother, with her family close behind.  They find Longstar and Fireheart laying side by side, dying.  Flamewish rushes to them, screeching in grief, and her family surrounds the dying cats, and after a touching farewell to their family, the legendary leader and his legendary medicine cat pass, rising to Starclan with the others who passed on in the battle, as shining spirits.

Brightstar is instated as leader of Thunderclan, and chooses Hollywish as deputy.  Frostfoot and Whitestorm retire and join Purdy in the Elder’s Den.  The Dark Forest trainees are put on probation for at least a year.  Dovewing gets a heartfelt apology from Goldenheart, and the two reconcile.  Hollywish visits Fallen Leaves as often as she can, with other cats visiting him as well.  A few moons later, a loner named Fern asks if he can join Thunderclan.

And that’s the end of the Longstar AU!  It’s not the end of the story tough, just a transition into Brightstar au!  The rest might take a wee bit longer to post, but I’ll try to get something up eventually.  In the meantime, I have a list of cats to draw, like Wormwood, who kind of just showed up, and Snowtuft, who loudly insisted on more redemption arc please! 

Again, thanks so much for the likes and subscribes!  I really appreciate it!  

That’s all for now!