#I have no idea what breed Buffy is

[rose-like-the-phoenix]

Is it just me or does the facial expressions between Tommy and my dog Buffy look similar in these images 🤔 😅

[pzyii]

I've been hyperfixation on btvs for a while w/o posting about aus so.....

BTVS Daemon au:

(haven't thought about this one In a while btw so there's a lot of stuff I'm probably still changing but I wanted to have it out there)

(Under cut cause it’s a bit long)

Buffy - either a toller dog or a mountain lion. His name is atlas, meaning "to carry" since she carries the weight of the world on her teenage shoulders. He probably settled almost just after she became the slayer. Or when she came back after death No1 in s1. Whether he's a mountain lion or a toller dog, he's very puppy-like and loves cuddles. She thought he was gonna settle as a golden retriever before she became the slayer.

Willow - a phoenix that looks like just a raven or a blackbird normally. I know people would say phoenix for Buffy cause she's died twice but the idea of rebirth in the sense of change suit willow a lot better concidering how much she changes over the show. Plus the idea of a bird that looks completely normal and harmless but when she uses magic or is just angry and stuff turns into flames is really good and works perfectly for someone who is capable of (and has) killing(/killed) people. Their name is aspen cause her parents liked the tree theme. They settled the first time she did magic obviously. And she had for a while suspected they'd settle for a small bird before, her number one suspicion had been a mountain blue bird.

Xander - I’m thinking squirrel monkey or some other type of monkey, possibly like an emperor tamarin. Based on vibe yk. Her name is xenia, which means “stranger, guest, hospitality”, that wasn’t really the reason I picked it though I just mostly thought it would be funny if the whole reason Xander uses Xander as a nickname instead of Alex is cause he wanted to match with his daemon. I’m unsure when she would settle, all of them so far has settled pretty late, and for him probably the latest, I could see it being at the end of s6 because of the yellow crayon speech cause that you know represents his rare moments of being good pretty well. (Edit: remembered that's too late since he's not a teen anymore, it probably settled in late S3 or s4)

angel - a Dobermann dog cause they look exactly like him. Dark, bulky, big, terrifying but puppy, it’s perfect. Her name is Lilith cause … The bible, idk. And since I haven’t talked about it yet I’m gonna take the opportunity to talk about daemons in relation to vampires. They don’t just go poof when someone becomes a vampire even if that would be logical cause that just makes it too easy to notice vampires but they aren’t exactly there either. Since there’s no soul in the daemon they are basically just empty husks and aren’t able to talk or act on their own like normal daemons. They do tend to also give people the wig because of it since most can notice something is wrong even if they don’t know what. When a vampire regains their soul, their daemon returns to normal, though Lilith doesn’t speak much to anyone except angel either way

Tara - a cat, don’t know which breed, cause you know the witch of the witches, his name is Salem cause Tara’s mom is also a witch. He settled before Tara met willow or the other scoobies. He mainly talks to Tara, willow and later dawn.

Spike - this was a hard one for some reason, but I settled(hah) on bengal cat, will maybe change it. She settled before he became a vampire to be fair though. I just felt like their little faces fit his pathetic bottle blonde vibe. Her name is eris, which comes from the goddess of strife and Discord, plus i thought it was a pretty name. And cause of the whole no soul thing throughout most of the show she doesn’t have much personality for most of it, but more than Lilith when angel has no soul tho. She's gets all jumpy and fast-y when he gets his soul.

Giles - a barn owl, cause yknow, owls. Her name is Anne which means “intelligent”, not that that’s always true for Giles lmao but it represents both his character and relation with his dad pretty well. Also Anne is a pretty old-y name that works well with - pfft - Rupert.

Cordelia - a peacock, cause yknow… everything about her. His name is Cyril which means “master/lord” which suits her plus the name sounded fancy. He also doesn’t speak much and pretends to be all cold like Cordy but he’s a softie.

Anya - a coral snake, matched the demon and also just her vibe. Her name is Ymir cause Anyas Swedish and old. Nothing really changes with her when Anyas a demon.

faith - a panther, matches with Buffys mountain lion, his name is Thomas which means “twin”. Cause well she’s the secondary slayer, the copy, the clone, and she has yknow …some problems with being second place. I’m unsure when he would settle.

Dawn - a fawn, it rhymes :)), plus it suits her really well in symbolism and just vibe. Their name is kito which means “precious jewel”. both because Dawn is seen as precious and something that needs to be protected. And jewel because of the whole dehumanisation and that it’s something so materialistic with the whole key thing. No clue when they would settle.

Then there’s a lot more characters but I’m stopping here for now

[missluthorwillseeyounow]

20 questions

Tagged by @appropriatelystupid and @rustingcat Thank you! It’s been a while, but I finally found the spoons to do something like this:

1. How many works do you have on AO3?      I have 25 fics right now.

2. What’s your total AO3 words count?     I hadn’t actually counted it until now lol. The total is 197,120, which means I’m like a few thousand short of 200k. Not bad.

3. What fandoms do you write for?     Right now, I’m writing for Supercorp, but I’ve also published fics for BBC Sherlock, Castle, and Final Fantasy VII and VIII. I’ve written unpublished for Casino Royale, LOTR, The Mummy, and (in my youth) HP.

4. What are your top 5 fics by kudos?

1. mix the magic work of love (we’ll breed deep trust between us) 2. come to my window (i’ll keep it open for you) 3. under the crimson skies (the sun will kiss the night) 4. Wed By Candlelight (The Portrait of the Secret Bride) 5. May You Always be Satisfied

5. Do you respond to comments? Why or why not? I try to, and I always want to. Like, I read every comment with a smile in my heart, and each one makes my day. Unfortunately, I have terrible anxiety about it, and by the time I get over it, I feel like it’s way too late to reply, and I’m just being rude. Just know that if you’ve ever left any comment or tag or even a like on any of my fics, I love and appreciate you!

6. What’s the fic you wrote with the angstiest ending? Hmm, I don’t think I’ve COMPLETED a fic with an angsty ending. I have loads of angst in my fics, but not all of them end up angsty. I do have an open-ended SC fic that’s pretty angsty (The Cruelty of Illusion), and I wrote a very angsty one-shot for another fandom that was me using a character death to sort of parse out my grief over my mother’s death a bit (Real).

7. What’s the fic you wrote with the happiest ending? Oddly enough, for someone who’s a slut for angst, my endings mostly end up being happy, or at least resolved. The schmaltziest ending I ever wrote I think was for the FFVII fandom, the first fic I ever wrote. It was on FF Net, and I have no idea what happened to it lol.

8. Do you get hate on fics? I got a bit of hate for one of my fics where I put Lena and James together, and some person seemed to take offense that they were together (but oddly enough they weren’t offended that Kara and Lex were actually married in this fic, which I think is more puke-worthy). Nope, they just hated on James, and they took my defense of him as me not being able to take criticism of my work. Oh well, you can’t win everybody, and if that kind of reader is what you get, I’d rather not.

9. Do you write smut? If so, what kind? I have dabbled in smut in several fics, yes. It’s not my forte, and most of the stuff in my fics is pretty vanilla, so the boring kind, I guess lol.

10. Do you write crossovers? What’s the craziest one you’ve written? Yes, yes, YESSSSSS! Crossovers and AUs are my jam!!! I literally cannot count how many crossovers I’ve done, and I’ve had some random ones. I’ve literally mashed BBC Sherlock, Inception, Elementary and Supergirl into an AU, with a few characters from other fandoms sprinkled in (Red II, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Vampire Knight, etc).

11. Have you ever had a fic stolen? Not fics, but I’ve had gifs from a previous fandom stolen.

12. Have you ever had a fic translated before? I’ve had at least one fic translated into Russian (I think it might be 2, but I can’t remember what the other one is). They gave me the link, but it’s in Russian and I guess I never checked.

13. Have you ever cowritten a fic before? Oh, yes! I’ve cowritten 2 fics with a couple of friends for previous fandoms. One was for FFVII, and it was a Word doc we passed back and forth over e-mail, if you can believe it. Like this was back when I had a yahoo account (but I got locked out, and all of our exchanges got lost. A tragedy). The other one was actually for a couple of OCs that my friend and I made up as an offshoot from our BBC Sherlock fandom. There were 3 of us in the chat, but 2 of us did most of the writing. Neither fics are posted or complete.

14. What’s your all time favorite ship? Oh, that’s a tough one. I think Supercorp might win the top spot by a small margin. My number 2 ship might get a lot of hate and it’s problematic AF, but I still hold it dear to my heart. It got me through a lot of tough times.

15. What’s a WIP you want to finish, but doubt you ever will? Oh, God, there’s way too many. Of my posted fics, I think the one I want to finish most is my Supercorp Frozen AU. Of my unposted fics, I think the one I want to finish is a Supercorp one based on a Jim Carey movie. Ooh, also my unabridged SC Theme Park AU. And my Matrix AU. Too many damn AUs.

16. What are your writing strengths? Making AUs, lol. I know because any piece of media I watch or read gets turned into an AU. Now, whether it should be turned into an AU is a different story. And, I don’t know, an expanding vocabulary, I guess.

17. What are your writing weaknesses? Actual writing lol. Finishing anything, ugh. Also comedic writing, I guess. That’s hard, I’m not funny.

18. Thoughts on writing dialogue in another language for a fic? I always like writing in the language that the characters are speaking. I feel like it adds a sense of authenticity to the conversation and makes it feel more organic. However, if it’s a real language spoken by real people, I always try to make sure that what I’m writing is accurate, contextual and respectful. Also, if it’s entire paragraphs, I tend to stick to English, because it’s more likely to have more translation errors with blocks of text.

19. First fandom you wrote for? Really wrote for: Casino Royale (teenage me had a crush on Eva Green). Posted: Final Fantasy VII

20. Favorite fic you’ve ever written? Oof, another hard one. I love all my fics, they’re my children. But if I had to...For Supercorp, my favorites would be the Horny Witch fic, and the Corpse Bride fic (under the crimson skies would make it, because I loved thinking up that fic, but unfortunately, I really did not enjoy writing it). For Adlock, my favorites are Her Morning Elegance, Beautiful Children, Dinner and a Bath (still the single biggest plot twist I’ve ever written lol), and A Midnight Spell in New Orleans (this one’s close to my heart cos I love NOLA)

Tagging @ekingston @thelastandonlyunicorn @coffeeshib @spicycheeser @the-queen-of-the-light and anyone who wants to try! No pressure though :)

[girl4music]

This is why Season 7 is such a disappointment among other reasons. They told us that Buffy was made from a demon. Literally. That’s where her strength, supernatural abilities and darkness comes from.

AND THEY NEVER FUCKING EXPLORE IT!

They never tell us how or why they did this to women. We instead had to assume that it was a method of oppression in that the ‘chosen’ itself is a system of control over women. They never explain anything other than that Slayers are made from demons.

It’s such a fucking waste. Pointless exposition with no real conclusion. And most of Season 7 is this way. There’s so many, arguably great, ideas set up for it. But it’s like they just didn’t bother with them at all.

Five By Five Takes used the analogy of having all the pieces to an IKEA desk but instead of constructing them in the logical way, just dump them on the floor.

And yeah - that’s accurate. That’s exactly what they did with Season 7 with all the ‘potential’ it had to effectively end the show on a satisfying note.

I mean they never even tell us WHAT TYPE of demon. And yes, I would also agree that it was a vampire. Because they’ve made hints to it since practically the beginning of the show that that is her true nature. And that would have been such a poetic endgame for her.

The Vampire that turned back into the Human.

That’s what we lost because they just couldn’t be bothered with it. And Whedon himself was too hung up on his own flawed ‘demon possession’ lore to see how this would have actually made much more sense.

And despite how much I love the depression arc for Buffy in Season 6 with being brought back to life.

What if it was that she wasn’t? What if she was unlife instead? What if she became a vampire too? And it was Willow that had to try to find a way to fix that?

I think there was much more of a story there with how Buffy and the Gang had to learn to understand half-breed demons rather than just treat them like monsters. And perhaps if they had bit the bullet with Tara and made her actually half-demon, they would have went this way with the overall story. But like you said. Joss was a coward and a stubborn fucking idiot. Exploring someone’s darkness and either learning to reconcile with it or how to defeat it is far better than just keeping to the whole “they’re monsters” theory. Because you actually don’t know if that is the truth.

“Herein lies your truest strength…the energy of the demon…its spirit…its heart.”

“This is how you—”

“—created the Slayer? Yes.”

BTVS | 4.22 // 7.15

[magnoliainthemaking]

We're going to develop a fan-made Season 4 for H2O: Just Add Water! Here's how you can help.

(For the Google Doc version of this post, click here.)

H2O: Just Add Water: Proposal for Fanmade Season 4

Background on the Series

The 2000’s were an early breeding ground for teen dramas. There are bound to be millions of twenty to thirty year-olds who can recall the rapturous tales of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Veronica Mars, the Gilmore Girls, and a whole slew of live-action, plot-heavy shows that appealed to its adolescent fanbase. And while most of these television series have either been immortalized as cinematic classics or revived for more hijinks, there are a few stories that have slipped under the radar of internet nostalgia, survived only by its compact, yet dedicated fanbases.

The particular show that I am referring to is one that you may or may not be familiar with, as it was passed around a number of networks since its inception in 2006. If you do recall it, odds are that you’ve either repressed the memory of this show altogether up to this point, or you still periodically binge the show to see if it still holds up.

And yeah, it does, as evidenced by the 1,500 members that still frequent its Reddit page and the plethora of posts that you can find on Tumblr. Heck, there’s a thriving Discord server that boasts about 160 active members.

The series that I’m talking about is none other than H2O: Just Add Water, an Australian fantasy drama series that aired from 2006 to 2010.

Now, anyone in the TikTok community will probably recognize the memes that spawned from this show, and in that way, its cultural impact has already been secured. But fans of the series will tell you that H2O: JAW is much more than jokes about condensation or exaggerated Australian accents.

It’s the budding story of three teenage girls who, after a bizarre, chance event, become mermaids whenever they come into contact with water. This presents a number of unique challenges for our female leads as they learn to accept their aquatic developments and grapple with keeping the secret under wraps. Eventually, the girls become closer to one another, combatting new threats using their powers and unravelling the mysteries of Mako Island, the isle where their journey first began.

The second season was supposed to be the final season of the show, but it was brought back for a third season by popular demand, a last minute decision that unfortunately did not work to its benefit. Season 3 did add some interesting lore and character development to the series, but it suffered from the absence of beloved icons and also created unnecessary conflicts between characters to make up for a lack of preplanning. As a result, the conclusion of the series was very bittersweet.

Several fans have taken their grievances online and have voiced their support for a continuation of the original show- one that would ideally resolve some of the core complaints that audiences had with the finale. These desires had not gone unnoticed by the production team who, in 2013, created a spin-off series called Mako: Island of Secrets. The four-season Netflix show featured an entirely new cast of characters and settings and branded the series as a new, separate adventure from the likes of Just Add Water.

Yet, this show didn’t offer the closure that many fans craved. Even though the series was received well, its ending in 2016 didn’t spark the same public response as its predecessor. It wasn’t just a snippet of the universe that the fandom wanted. It was the fantastic array of characters from the 2000’s show that made the series special. A continuation of the original series felt like the most authentic outlet for replicating the magic that was H2O.

The elusive Season 4 that fans have been pining for is seeming less and less likely as the years pass by. 2020 marked the ten year anniversary of the end of Just Add Water, and in that time, the actors and actresses have moved on to do bigger, better things. They have grown up, established families, and pursued much more prospective career ventures that should be celebrated and respected by the fanbase.

Yet, that doesn’t mean that the fans can’t continue the story themselves.

Origin of Concept

Remember the Discord server that I mentioned? Let me properly introduce it to you.

The Fish Girlz server is hosted by a number of avid fans of the show, many of whom are committed to analyzing H2O lore and developing projects based around the show’s premise. (There’s even a game in the works, and it is looking really fricking cool!)

Anyways, in April of 2020, a few server regulars began discussing what they would have wanted to see had the show been renewed for a fourth season. Some great ideas were tossed around, which prompted the user yetAnotherUser and I to consider what it would take to make a fanmade fourth season a reality. Obviously, live-action was out of the question, as it would be way too expensive and unrealistic given that we are all internet strangers without a production budget or professional swimming experience. Then the conversation shifted to animation, which seemed much more plausible.

The Plan

And so began our initiative- recruit other H2O fans with expertise in script writing, voice acting, sound design, storyboarding, animation, visual effects, and editing so that we can make this project possible. We’ve subdivided this project into various phases to ensure that different objectives are met during each key period of development.

If all goes according to plan, the pilot episode of this fan made reboot would enter post-production in September of this year and be published on Youtube sometime in 2022.

The pilot would take place a few months following the original conclusion of the series, with most if not all of the original characters returning for the season to defend against a new threat to Mako Island and its inhabitants. The plot will also focus on granting closure to characters and plot points that were left to collect dust for the past ten years, and will pay close attention to the fanbase’s wants and wishes.

For Phase 1 of the project, we are seeking out scriptwriters, revisionists, and concept artists for the pre-planning stages of development. If you are interested in joining the team or have any questions, feel free to DM me at Quarilaie#3085 or co-creator yetAnotherUser#3117 on Discord. And while you’re at it, be sure to join the Fish Girlz server! It is definitely worth your time if you are really invested in the show.

Deadlines for joining the project will be announced shortly on the r/JustAddWater Reddit and Fish Girlz server.

Thank you for reading, and stay snazzy!

[prose-for-hire]

Puppy love

Pairing: Spike x reader

Request: idea! willow practicing her magic skills by trying to grow a plant instantly. spike mocks her then willow calls him a bitch & he somehow turns into a dog & freaks. then reader finds puppy!spike stuck in some fence near the graveyard & takes him in & cares for him & rambles about their life/interests cuz now they have fluffy friend! then wakes up to see regular spike on the dog bed & freaks. Maybe later they go back to graveyard looking for pup & spike saves from attack & heals them @ his crypt?

AN: I changed the start a little from the original request, hope that’s okay. Right, so, I was in a full on debate with myself about what breed of puppy Spike should be transformed into. I chose a lil black lab cos they’re cute

Also, there is now a teeny tiny second part to this

Xander and Willow were supposed to be having a double date with Oz and Cordelia, but they had met first to try a de-lusting spell as they had been cheating on their respective partners. You had no knowledge of this, you didn’t usually get tangled in the drama like the rest of them, although they were all your friends.

Little did anyone know that Spike had rolled into town in a drunken stupor, overhearing Willow’s conversation at the Magic Box about her upcoming spell. He figured where he could find them and planned to force her to make a love spell so that he could make Drusilla love him again. He was desperately lonely, a broken heart that couldn’t be healed as Drusilla had cheated on him.

Willow was focusing, closing her eyes and trying to make sure her focus was on magic and nothing else. But when the door swung open, it sent Willow into a panic and when she saw that it was Spike storming in demanding a love potion, she couldn’t help but shout what she was feeling.

Son-of-a “Bitch!” was all that Willow shouted out loud, having been interrupted by Spike sending the magic she had started to manifest straight for him. She moved to look at him as she said it, her magic working in such mysterious and sometimes literal ways. It backfired and Willow’s eyes widened, after a black Labrador puppy appeared from behind a cloud of smoke where Spike had been stood before.

She opened her mouth to say something but only a giggle escaped her lips. The puppy growled at her, scampers off. He made it as far as a graveyard before he spoke to himself in confusion, having seen his reflection in a puddle.

“Woof!” Bloody hell! I’m a sodding puppy! I’m gonna kill that good for nothing little witch when I-

He started to scamper away from his reflection, but he was cut off from his non-verbal little rant, as he was running towards a crypt for shelter and got caught on the fencing. The wiring was caught, digging into his flesh slightly. He let out an angry little growl and started to struggle but with no luck.

At this very moment, you were ambling through the graveyard and you happened upon a little puppy who had been tangled up in the wiring. You gasped, he was the cutes little pup with the brightest blue eyes. They were almost human and he was so small, with a loud voice despite the size. You melted, rushing straight over to him and trying to comfort him. He snapped at you, but you loved animals, understanding he was probably a little stressed. You manage to untangle him and start to check his wounds – they are scratches but you decide you’ll have to try and keep an eye on him and take him home. You were so excited to find a little furry friend, despite his apparent grumpy temperament. You carried him home, whispering softly as you did.

“Come in little one, welcome to your new home” You smile, snuggling into him and kissing the top of his head. He snaps at you and you move him from your head, stroking him and whispering that you understood. Instead you showed him around your small house - he must have been through a lot so you would work up to kisses and snuggles.

You fed him and made sure he wasn’t more hurt than you thought and then decided he should have a name. All you could come up with was ‘pup’ for now. You made a small nest of blankets in the corner of your room, so that he had somewhere to sleep. However, when it got to bedtime after the pup exploring the house for most of the evening, he refused to settle. He just kept scampering back up to sleep in your bed. No matter how many times you scooped him up, he returned to the same spot.

“No, you have a little nest here!” You explain, lifting him again and nestling him on top of the blankets on the floor, “Pup, no!” you try to half-heartedly scold him, but his little face made it too hard.

“Woof” No bloody way am I sleeping on the floor like some animal – why don’t you sleep on the floor you bloody-

“Aw, you little sweetheart! Are you talking to me? Are you?” You whisper, stroking his soft fur adoringly.

“Woof woof” I will kill you and your little friends and if you – oh, that actually feels nice – no, you bloody don’t trick me into – behind the ears, love – that’s it

“You like that, huh? A little scratch behind the ears? I think we’re gonna be good friends little one” You grinned as he started to finally relax in your presence. You paused, deciding you would have to give in and let him sleep here just this once.

“Woof” Don’t stop! What are you doing you strange bitch-

“Okay, you’ve twisted my arm – you can sleep on the bed, but you can’t hog the covers” You joked, dogs can’t steal covers, you giggle. The pup moved his head to the side, almost as if he was studying you closely. His eyes seemed human, he was such a little sweetheart your heart was melting. You were so pleased you had found him. You settled in bed and the pup curled up beside you.

You stayed up that first night, excitedly checking on your new friend, making sure you hadn’t dreamt him up. He didn’t appear to be too bothered about the little grazes from the fencing but you wondered whether you should take him to the vets. You considered checking if he was chipped, or getting him chipped, but something inside told you he might not handle that too well. Maybe a hunch.

It had been a week and the pup was getting more used to you. Your little furry friend could be a little bit of a grouch but you always won him around with snuggles and scratches behind the ear. He was very talkative, little yips as if he was telling you something very important, and he seemingly liked the affection you were giving him.

You continue over the next few weeks to curl up with the pup in the evenings and ramble about anything and everything that came to mind. Sometimes, you could swear pup was actually listening.

“Sometimes I get a little lonely, the Scoobies are all so nice but they’re all coupled up and I feel a little left behind. Is there something wrong with me, pup? Where’s my big romantic story?”

“Woof” Nothing wrong with you pet, except maybe you’re a little too trusting letting a beast like this into the house and expecting to remain unscathed

“Stop, little one! That tickles!” You giggle as his tiny teeth start to playfully snap at your hand. He settled back down, and you continued to speak, “At times, I feel like I’m making things worse instead of helping with the slaying. I made Buffy let Spike go the last time he was here. He seemed to mean well, getting rid of Angelus and all. Everyone thinks I trust too easily – see the good even when there’s none there. I feel stupid, like a child”

“Woof woof” Rot! You’re not stupid! Bloody seen enough of your lot to see that you’re the best of them, pet

“Willow says Spike came back the other week, but he disappeared. His eyes looked so sad when I saw him come back. I wish he had love like him and Drusilla had…” you sigh again, stroking the pup softly as you were in deep thought.

“Woof. Woof. Woof!” Mad bloody bint doesn’t love me – she sodding cheated! Don’t get me started, I mean – a chaos demon?! You don’t want love like that, believe me pet

“Aw someone’s chatty! I know, I know I have you. My favourite little man” You cooed and this time, the cute little pup didn’t grumble like he usually would, instead he leaned his head onto your lap. Snuggling you without prompt.

Over the next couple of weeks, the pup had slowly started to sleep closer to you, as if he were seeking to protect you which made you giggle. He was so small, he was all bark and no bite. He snuggled up nearer you in the night, enjoying your body heat. You both got used to each other, sometimes you swore he was actually speaking to you. You both enjoyed snuggling up in the evenings, and you showed pup all of your favourite shows. You took him on little walks although he still hadn’t mastered fetch.

You were becoming used to each other, until one morning everything was different. You woke up one morning, a strange weight over you, finding a man lying in your bed. No, not a man. A vampire. You scream, looking around wildly for the pup – he made you feel safer. Your screaming made him stir, “How did you even get in?!” you shrieked, moving away from him. Spike realised he’s back to himself and started to run, pulling your duvet from your bed and around him and out the door.

Spike had a weird affection for you after this, feeling like he really knows you. Gets you. He shared your loneliness, wanting to take it from you as you had started to make him feel better. From what you said to him, he felt that he understood you, you’re a romantic. Like him. You’re loyal. He found himself having an innate need to protect you. Look out for you. Wants to hold you and be held by you again. He missed it more than he found himself missing Drusilla.

You were lonely without pup. His little blue eyes would be all mopey and lost again. You needed to find him, you just hoped that he hadn’t been eaten by one of Sunnydale’s many predators.

You walk into the graveyard, looking for pup. You hadn’t lost hop in finding him. He was so innocent, you were worried he was stuck again. Spike had decided to stay in Sunnydale rather than going after Dru. He watched you walk into the graveyard, sighing, rolling his eyes at how oblivious you are. Just taking a stroll when anything could be hiding in the shadows. He swiftly stepped out of the shadows to tell you this, but another demon beat him to it.

You squeal, stumbling and falling backwards as Spike swiftly steps in front of you and beats it up, protecting you from the threat. There was a strange familiarity and need to hug Spike as a thank you, maybe even scratch him behind the ears.

“Come on, pet, I’ve got some of those candies you like” He offered, gesturing towards an abandoned crypt with no explanation. Gestures his head again for you to follow him as you just stare dumbfounded. You feel conflicted, like he was offering you candy to get into a van. But you followed him, trusting his intentions. Knowing, somehow, that he was being sincere. His demeanour towards you appeared to change since he was in Sunnydale last. He almost appeared to have affection for you and you couldn’t help feeling something for him although you couldn’t name it.

“Why are you being nice, Spike?” You ask after he hands you your favourite snacks that he appeared to have actually bought from a shop. There was a receipt and everything in the bag. You were now both sat in a crypt that he had appeared to have done up to look like a house.

“I was the pup you were dotin’ on oh so kindly. Red’s spell gone wrong” he explained with a shrug. You cringe a little, you had poured your heart out over that month or so you were together.

“Oh, uh, you want me to pay you to… stop you from telling people? You’re gonna eat me, aren’t you?” You asked, sighing rather than screaming this time.

“Nothing like that, pet… uh, you give good hugs” he admits with a shrug. You nod slowly as if this made sense. He was missing the affection, being held. He enjoyed it and he wanted it again. Only with you, though.

You’re very trusting and he knew he could talk to you. He started to talk about his most intimate feelings, telling you of his loneliness. Heartbreak. He told you in detail, everything that happened with Drusilla. You were sat, hanging on every word for most of the night. Your eyes started to water, your sobs strangled as you tried not to cry in front of him. You move in to hug him and to your surprise, he wrapped his arms around you in return. His own eyes threatening to spill over as he thought about his past that he had just laid before you so honestly. It was strange, he wasn’t used to being so honest about his past – but it was only fair. You had told him a lot about yourself.

Not willing to leave the warmth of each other’s embrace, you followed him and slipped into bed beside him. You both held each other through the rest of the night and well into the day. You snuggle into each other wordlessly. It became a common occurrence, with Spike staying with you in Sunnydale rather than returning to look for Drusilla. He doesn’t even joke about biting you, that often, he just wants the security of your arms, as you want his.

[lionews]

Guide to GB

hi ;0 sorry it’s me again. I noticed that maybe yesterday or the day before, there was a discussion on how people made GB without buying any, and a lot of people mentioned event stuff. That usually requires a bit of research (if you’re just getting started on lioden) and can be overwhelming. So this post is for anyone who needs it—anyone who is new to event grinding and trying to step up from being a casual player, or just trying to make a few more bucks.

In almost every month, new apps will be released, and typically those will sell well out of season… but there are a few hot items that will always be almost always be on SOMEONE’S radar, and I’ll tell you about them now!

—–

Mod note: You should probably post this on a public blog so it can go into the Lioden tag. We don’t post in there incase people don’t want to see our blog. Or even in the forums.

January - January’s event is mostly filled with decor, but save up your SB a month or so in advance, because when the 3rd tier is unlocked, you can buy some pretty neat stuff that sells well later on! Lion meat can be purchased at T3 in the event shop for 2000SB! If you hold onto it for later, you can make 8-10GB per meat! Prices tend to shoot up during February, so if you wait to get full worth, you could be earning 13-15GB from a 2000GB (about 2GB) investment. As always, branch prices ALWAYS fluctuate, so forgive me if my ranges are a little off. But typically, that’s the general profit you can make from lion meat.

Then, MOD Overgrown Fur can be purchased for 4000SB when Tier 4 is unlocked! Popularity varies among players, but it’s definitely something you can sell… personally, I would invest more in lion meat, but it’s up to you!

In January, there is also the Boneyard! Save up your LB because digging about in the yard or donating skulls can get you a selection of three items, which can be quite useful if you know what you’re looking for.

Vulture eggs, broken drones, giant tortoises, leopard orchids, MOD: Primal, and lion meat may appear! You can then purchase them with event currency!

Vulture eggs and broken drones sell well in bulk. Giant tortoises on average sell really well for about 1-2gb MOD: Primal varies, again, around 10-15gb is what I’ve seen post-January. And lion meat was mentioned above!

Oh! And you’d be surprised… don’t skip out on those leopard orchids! They might seem a little lame, but you can sell them for 1gb! And holy COW they sell fast! Why? Because the normal auto-claim on a lioness in explore is 2gb, so players will jump on those leopard orchids for 1gb each! I’ve sold mine recently in under 5 minutes, it was surprising!

February - February is a special chaos. I’m not kidding, every bit of your event currency will be desired sitewide.

Tier 2 in the flirt shop allows access to honeycombs—which can be sold fast for 1gb… though they have an expiration date, so maybe not the best investment since prices drop in February. You can also find Grains of Paradise (GOP) which guarantee at least 2 cubs in a litter! These will sell out of season for up to 21GB from what I’ve seen, but prices will fluctuate and crawl up and down. Regardless, you’re looking at about a 8-15gb profit on average depending on what the branch prices look like.

Tier 3 in the flirt shop and slap shop, my friends, is where it gets wild. Buffalo balls, which guarantee at least 3 cubs in a litter, will be available along with an item called Yohimbe bark, which chops 1 day off of a lioness’ breeding cooldown! Out of season, yohimbe barks sell for around 12-15gb each! And Buffalo balls, which are always in high demand, can climb from a price of 6gb during February to 16 to 20gb! Later on by summer, buffy balls can reach as much as 25–and I’ve seen as much as 45gb… a big leap! So hold onto them. And again, prices will always fluctuate, so don’t hold me firm on these prices if you don’t see them please ;;;

Apps, again, vary depending on the community opinion on them… once more, all newer apps will sell well. Personally, I find the February apps gorgeous, but if you want to make quick sales after February and make the most of your event grinding, I would invest in breeding items.

In the slap shop, there are lion scrotums when T3 is unlocked! They guarantee a 25% chance of passing a mutation on… though this does not account for hybrids. Dwarves require these in order to pass on their mutation, and double uteruses do as well. DU and dwarf breeders will always be on the lookout for these! But prices on these make me narrow my eyes. Buffy balls can be used for all lions, but lion scrotums are only useful if you’re breeding dwarves or DUs. Thus, buffy balls will almost always sell faster than lion balls from my personal experience—but that doesn’t mean lion scrotums aren’t worth buying! Due to their slightly higher price compared to buffy balls in the event shop, they tend to sell for just a bit more than buffies do! But bewarned that come the May event, I believe, they will become available once more in an event shop.

March - March brings in more decor than it does breeding items, but there are still ways to profit! While you might be tempted to snag the newest apps, hold off and try to gauge the public opinion… for example, recently Hirola was released… and it seems sort of meh, so you won’t see a big demand for it. It’s the base apps that are involved involved in combo-base breeding that are the key!!! The ivory base can be used in two combo bases as a factor: Soul and Madagascar! So pick up that One With Giants app! It can be resold for a fair amount!

April - April is another event heavy on decor, but there are at least a few nice things! Egg yolks in the event shop will be heavily desired by stat breeders, so you can pick up those to sell—beware they also have expiration dates. Personally, I think the real good stuff is in Wenet’s shop! Doing her quests grants you hare points to spend. Stocking up on roasted lambs is a very good idea—these double your energy gained for 8 hours!!! They’ll be floating around during April for 1-3GB on average. And if you hold onto them until February, they shoot up in demand and can go for about 12-16gb each! It’s not difficult to pump out at least 8-9 roasted lambs during April, so that’s a few extra $$ in your pocket if you’re patient enough!

May - In May you can purchase red bulls, which are similar energy boosters like roasted lambs! These sell well, and as mentioned previously, lion scrotums make their return! Also, there is a chance to obtain male groupies, which are heritageless lions like NCLs that can be used to replace your king and essentially make it a G1! These sell for fairly good prices throughout the year due to people changing/replacing kings! Make sure to patrol them or freeze them on your side account (so they don’t age too much), and you can fetch quite the pretty penny depending on the market. I once, out of season, bought a heritageless groupie, one of the only few remaining on TC, for 75GB. Do I regret not waiting? Yes. Is it too late to cry? Totally.

June - June. Lovely June. Side with one of the deities or gods or whatever during the event, and once you finish their story line, you’ll get a base applicator that typically is worth a decent amount of GB out of season depending on which one you’re selling. Let it be noted that anubis, bast, seth, and sha are ALL factors of a combo-base, which is why combo-breeders will be willing to pay a good sum of money for those apps. Check the lowest branch price if you’re looking to sell!

July - Pack your bags and get ready to grind hardcore again, July brings a new base that usually has breeders scrambling to obtain, and there are also GORGEOUS backgrounds and decor to buy. Not only that, but for shards in the event shop, you can buy applicators that ALL sell fairly well. Well… mane apps might be iffy. But let me point out a few things worth snagging: Sunrise markings! Sunset markings! These two are almost ALWAYS going for a jaw dropping sum, I’ve seen 40-70 each, but DONT hold me on that please.

Curse of divine is a combo base factor for Elysian, a fairly popular base. Snag it! Touch of demiurge is a gorgeous base, and it sells pretty well! Grab that if you want!

And of course, whatever new comes out, make sure to gauge the audience… though in July, most everything new is going to be a good investment.

August - August is a pain in my opinion. Grinding DB to buy buffy balls is rough. But let me mention the stuff to invest in! The peddler allows you to buy vulture eggs, broken drones, and lucky feet—all of which sell nicely in big quantities.

I failed to mention this in April, but lucky feet will be in an abundance. SAVE THEM. Lucky feet are used to automatically win battles, and they come in handy for October, which is heavily combat based!

Buffalo scrotums and Grains of Paradise also make their comeback at the peddler, though I can’t give you a good price range on those. I will say that by August, the market for breeding items gets a bit dry, and so prices will be higher—much higher than they were in February.

September - September is good for one thing, and only one thing… actually scratch that—two things, and only two things primarily. GMO cows and ochre gnawrocks. Anyone playing lioden long enough knows that GMO cows are a big item used in mutation breeding, it ups the chance GREATLY of getting a mutated litter—even moreso than lion meats do. These things are WHACK. They sell for 45-60GB out of season, and in February, MANY people will be trying to buy them. Ochre gnawrocks guarantee the passing of a specific marking. Rosettes are very hard-to-breed markings due to their low pass rates, and mottled rosette is a hybrid originating marking. Thus, ochre gnawrocks will go for big bucks out of season, especially during February. 45-60GB is the common price that I’ve seen, although one year it was wild enough to reach 80GB. It all depends, but regardless, both items are good to grind for.

Oh! And in the Harbringer’s shop, there are black stallions, which sell well for 1-4GB all year long. They essentially guarantee that a lioness gets pregnant once for a breeding. This is very helpful to people breeding low fert lionesses like hybrids. Although, angelic blessings do a longer lasting job and sell for more… more on that later, you can’t get those during this month.

October - Then comes October, the battle-oriented event that I mentioned previously is what you should be saving your lucky feet for.

Let me try to get this all down. There is a general shop in which you can buy applicators and decor, and quite a few of the base apps in the shop are factors for combo bases. For example, Unholy is involved in 3 combo bases! And blazing is in another. Fiery is also in one, and I really can’t go into specifics because I’m not a big combo-breeder, but a quick google can give you the idea.

Then, you can side with heaven or hell, in which you’ll collect the respective currencies for whichever one you might go with. In heaven, you can get Angelic blessings, which as mentioned previously, are like black stallions. However, when you equip them to a lioness, they’ll get pregnant no matter what their fertility in one go for as long as they live/are using the blessing. Be warned that removing the blessing, which “acts” like a decor, will cause it to be used up. You won’t get it back, it’s a 1-use item. These sell well for 10-15gb out of season.

Shadows of death are what you can purchase in Hell’s shop. This will shorten your lioness’ life by 1 day—which in turn also removes a breeding cooldown day. These sell fairly well for about 10-14gb out of season! Surprisingly enough, I would say they get used fairly frequently—although the idea of killing your lioness might make it hard to believe.

Then there’s the manticore shop, where you can buy things like fermented marula fruit, medlar fruit (good for cub training to 100% immediately), dove feasts, RMAs, and crunchy worms. Dove feasts can be crafted in February, RMAs can be purchased at any time in the Oasis all year long, and medlar fruit on the market is a bit shakey considering that it’s not hard to train a cub to 100% without items. The real market investment here are the crunchy worms, which give a 25% of producing a clone cub of the mother in a litter. Again, these will sell VERY well out of season, especially during February. I don’t feel confident on giving a good price estimate, but as I’m writing this, the average price appears to be about 30GB, and it is early April.

November - Deep breaths, we’re almost done! November is where you’ll mostly be saving your event currency to buy the newest released base app or decor. I recommend saving your herbs, because I believe November is heavily herb-based. Giant tortoises are also available in the shop!

December Here we go, most all December event apps are HOT HOT HOT! And the jolly pose in the event shop is also fairly desirable! Save for those Jolly poses, and save for that newly released base, marking, whatever. Many of the bases in the event shop here are used in combo-base breeding.

I should note that spicy ice tends to have year-round popularity! It’s a factor for a whopping 4 combo bases! That’s a lot!

Along with that, frostbitten markings seem to have a decent amount of popularity, though things always always fluctuate. Check lowest branch prices, and with newer apps, always scan the community for the general feedback before investing.

And that’s it for event stuff!

Here’s the biggest advice of all…

If you want GB fast, sell the items listed above DURING the events.

If you want to make a profit/get rich, sell the items listed above MONTHS AFTER the events!

[gh-0-stcup]

I just take it as Angel and Darla being massively unreliable on the issue. No vampire has ever been pregnant, no vampire has ever carried a human child - how the fuck could they know what's going on? Neither can fathom a soulless creature experiencing deep, selfless love so they blame it on the baby's soul.

Why would the soul only have an effect on her when the baby's life started to be in danger? She hates the baby and wants it gone most of the episode. Darla starts getting increasingly emotional as the dangers start piling on. If that's all baby soul - why didn't she show up already changed? She's had it inside her for 9 months.

My interpretation is that it's just fear that makes Darla believe she won't love her baby. Being pregnant, developing a connection with the baby, that connection coming forward once they determine the baby is definitely human¹, strengthening when the baby is in serious danger, then having her love for her own baby make her realize the gravity of her crimes? None of that is outside the realm of possibility for a soulless creature. I fall back on my old standby of "these characters are not omniscient, they are highly biased and emotionally damaged, therefore they are both unreliable and wrong."

The same love will infect our hearts, even if they no longer beat. Simple death won't change that.

Darla, in her own words. Angelus fought against the idea then, as Angel continues to do so throughout the series. But why do we have to take his beliefs on the matter as fact? Especially when he's contradicted by so many other vampires in the show.

For Angel to accept that soulless vampires can love, he'd have to go all the way back and finally listen to what Darla had tried to tell him in the quoted scene. To accept that he loved his family when he killed them. That he loved Buffy when he tormented her. That his love was part of what drove his actions.

And Angel can't do that. While ensouled, he can't understand those actions or accept them as part of himself. The guilt is too much for him to bear already. I don't know if he could carry on without adjusting his worldview in the way he did.

Darla agrees because she's hormonal, scared, and dealing with some serious emotional distress over her past actions. How many children has she killed? How could a woman like her ever be a good thing for the baby inside her? Of course she's terrified of herself - how could she not be?

When the moment comes to choose between her own life or her child's, the decision's an easy one.

Since you can make a good argument for a soulless vamp to experience all this while being consistent with both shows, I feel perfectly comfortable discarding of the baby soul nonsense.

Darla's death was fucking insulting. I don't think it was just to uphold Whedon's idiotic lore though. Honestly (imo) the whole plot was just misogyny through and through. The conception was originally a violent rape scene, Darla is impregnated against her will and forced to carry the baby to term, her character is reduced to an incubator for the male lead's baby, she's killed off purely to heighten the lead's angst, AND she's refused the redemptive arc both her male counterparts were permitted in the process.

Darla was the first bit of egregious misogyny in ATS, but she's definitely not the last. The show develops a pattern of carelessly discarding really good female characters and definitely suffers for it.

¹ As opposed to a demon that breeds by forcibly impregnating a host who dies in the process, it's definitely her and Angel's miracle baby - harder to resist loving it.

An episode that was really good of ‘AtS’ and that had a really frustrating but compelling ending was ‘Lullabye’.

I really didn’t understand why Darla believed that - if she had the baby even while soulless and could love him while he was inside her because he had a soul - she couldn’t love him when he wasn’t. She had learned to love that baby. Developed a love for him. The explanation for it being because the baby had a soul and so she had a proxy soul for the meanwhile she was pregnant. So it was the baby’s soulful influence on her that allowed her to love him as long as that baby was inside her. This essentially meant that she would be completely soulless again when he wasn’t and so she would no longer be able to love him as his mother.

But the thing is that the baby was human and therefore would always have a soul and would always have a soulful influence. Why would that no longer have any influence on Darla’s love for him? It should because she developed into having that love for him even while she was a soulless being herself. It shouldn’t make a difference that baby being in her or not. That influence would still be there because maternal instincts don’t just disappear like that. Darla made the ultimate declaration of motherly love for her baby in sacrificing herself while pregnant with him. If her love for him was that strong then, why wouldn’t it be when he was born? I don’t understand. Well,… I do but I just think it’s completely flawed logic. It’s as if the soul isn’t just the conscience in the lore but also the determination and this just isn’t how it works. Having an internal moral compass doesn’t determine anything being good or evil. It just makes it easier to choose good over evil because it weighs against you. But surely Darla’s love for her baby should eclipse a change of perspective on morality could do to her. You don’t just suddenly stop feeling love for something or someone because you no longer understand right from wrong or good from evil. It shouldn’t determine what your feelings are or aren’t. It’s just a conscience. A way of understanding right from wrong or good from evil. It doesn’t dictate that you actually do one from the other. I mean what?! 😖

Darla should have been capable of feeling love for that baby regardless whether it was inside her or not because she ultimately had developed that love for him. It should have changed her completely. Turned her away from evil and darkness even when soulless. Having her baby should have developed her character. She shouldn’t have had to kill herself for her son’s life. Sure it was a tragically devastating and compelling end but, to me, it made absolutely no sense at all that she wouldn’t have been able to love him the same way.

If the soul in the Buffyverse represents a conscience - an internal moral compass (and I certainly would hope this is the case otherwise the entire synopsis to ‘Angel the Series’ falls completely flat if it doesn’t) then Darla should have still been able to love Connor even when she’s a vampire that doesn’t have a soul because her being soulless shouldn’t determine her personhood.

It’s extremely flawed logic and an inconsistent narrative and biased ideology to make it out that a soulless vampire or demon cannot grow or develop when they’ve had experiences that have made it possible or cannot have feelings or emotions a human or animal can. Yes, they can’t understand right from wrong because they don’t possess an internal moral compass, but that shouldn’t determine and dictate their actions or choices while as soulless. It should make it harder for them to act or choose in the service of good over evil. But not make them do only evil. It shouldn’t compel or control their nature completely.

Now I know Darla is a particularly more evil and sadistic vampire than most soulless vampires. But again - that’s external influence. It’s all she knows based on her experiences both in her years as a human and as a vampire. She LEARNED to BECOME that way. As did Angelus, as did Druscilla, as did Spike. It wasn’t just because their soul from when human was removed because if that was the case then the soul isn’t just a conscience. It’s your entire being. Your nature and your identity. Your personhood. Your “self”. Who and all that you are or can ever be at all.

This isn’t what a conscience is or does. This is an extremely misconstrued understanding of it. And if this is the case - now I understand why Whedon went with the demonic possession interpretation instead of demonic corruption. To him - the human and the demon are not the same entity despite being fundamentally influenced by both the human and the demon. Proxy ensouled Darla isn’t the same entity as soulless Darla despite being informed by her. She’s just being possessed by the same demon as before she was pregnant with an ensouled vampire’s baby. Which means that her love for the baby just disappears because it’s not the same entity anymore.

I don’t know how to wrap my head around this because to me Darla is Darla no matter what. I don’t think of it as demonic possession at all because it doesn’t look like demonic possession at all. Demonic possession is an entirely different thing that requires so much more than just losing an internal moral compass. Losing/gaining a conscience doesn’t make you an entirely different entity from what you were before. It just changes your perspective on morality. But if you have learned and developed through experience and external influence - then it shouldn’t just automatically change what you do, how you act or the way you feel. That’s not how a conscience works.

It’s just completely flawed logic. I’m sorry. It just is.

This episode is great. But it’s just completely wrong. Having a baby that has a soul should change Darla but not just while the baby is inside her. But - for good or at least for awhile. I’m sure eventually because of the loss of an internal moral compass her actions and choices would become selfish and malevolent again but it wouldn’t just be a switch on/switch off situation. It only works that way with Angel/Angelus because he was cursed by a gypsy spell. He was forced to have a conscience to remind him of all the evil he has done and to feel as much guilt and regret as possible over it. This is not the same situation or circumstance at all but it’s treated that way because “demon possession”. Nope. A conscience on its own is not a lights off/lights on situation. A conscience just helps you understand right from wrong. It does not compel you to do either.

Great episode and ending to watch but - it’s all wrong. As beautiful as it is that Darla made the sacrifice she did for Connor - she should never have had to because it should have never made a difference to her feelings. If anything - Connor being born should have made her fall even more in love with him and made her extremely protective over his well being because - soulless vampire or not - she’s still his fucking mother! She - and Angel - really thought that her love for him would suddenly just disappear just because her proxy soul did? But this negates all the positive influence the experience had on her. It erases all her positive development. It essentially just makes her an empty vessel again with a random demon taking her identity, removing her personhood and autonomy completely.

No. Jiminy Cricket going bye-bye shouldn’t do that. I am adamantly against this demonic possession interpretation because this makes no fucking sense. Humans and ensouled vampires still do evil, wrong, selfish and malevolent things despite having a soul. Them having a soul determines nothing about the way they act or choose. It’s just easier because they understand right from wrong and good from evil better than an entity that doesn’t possess a soul. On the flip side - again, it doesn’t determine that a soulless entity will do only evil. It just makes it easier.

A conscience doesn’t compel you to do anything because it’s the experience of free will it cultivates. The only thing it can possibly determine is that you have more of a chance to do good over evil on your own - without any external influence at all. That’s it. Your actual actions and choices may vary depending on what that experience and external influence is. And I would say having a fucking baby would be HUGE! Falling in love in any capacity would easily eclipse being suddenly racked with the urge to do some evil.

The soul is obviously not just a conscience to Whedon. It’s either that or he just doesn’t know what one is and that checks out when you see the way he views Spike.

I’m sorry but this canon soul lore in the Buffyverse doesn’t work for me. The writers are telling us one thing through the writing one moment but then showing us something completely different in the visuals next. And then they refer to it as a “loss/gain of conscience” which muddies the apparent message we’re supposed to get and learn from it even more. They’re telling us that having a conscience is the same thing as having humanity or being capable of experiencing and feeling like a human. But then they’ll put those characters that don’t have a conscience in situations where they’ll attempt to test the waters of this being true and then immediately undermine the attempt by removing the possibility of it completely.

Well, the thing is that you’re not proving anything by doing that. You’re just expecting people just to accept the belief that it’s not possible because they’re not human or ensouled. You’re not even allowing the opportunity to prove you in the right or wrong about that belief and therefore the audience cannot learn that for themselves either. Then you give us human characters that are just as bad as any soulless supernatural entity (one of which is a main core protagonist) and tell us that because they have the capacity to understand right from wrong and good from evil fundamentally that they should be given chances to redeem themselves because all it is for them is corruption and they’re not fundamentally evil like an actual soulless supernatural entity would be.

What’s the difference? It can’t be just a “loss/gain of conscience” because having/not having a conscience cannot determine actions and choices being on either side of good or evil. All it can determine is that it’s much more likely that good happens with a conscience and evil happens without a conscience. But it can only determine that to be much more likely when factors and conditions of huge life-changing experiences and heavy external influences don’t come into play. Otherwise it’s just rudimentary rhetoric that’s based off of your own misinformed sources. But the human (and I would presume non-human) condition is far more complicated and layered than that. There are situations and circumstances that make or break the basic thematic narrative of good vs evil or right vs wrong or peace vs war. It’s not simple. Things get messy and blurry in morality and I prefer it that way because that’s more realistic and compelling. If you remove this messiness and blurriness, you remove nuance and depth that has a lasting impact on the heart, mind and soul of your HUMAN audience.

I think I’m going to stop watching ‘AtS’ - at least for a little while - because I am getting very frustrated with what it’s trying to tell me through its soul lore. And a great character and actress has just been killed off for no legitimate reason as far as I’m concerned all to appease Whedon’s very flawed logic and ideology. 🙁

The episode was written and directed by Tim Minear but I’m not stupid. That ending had Whedon all over it.

[professionalwritingnerd]

What are the major changes you've made in your rewrite so far?

I been waiting for this. LET’S GO. I’ll put this under a keep reading in case anyone doesn’t want spoilers and just wants to discover everything with the story.

Plus, there’s a lot here, so this is also in case you don’t want a WALL OF TEXT. Bear in mind these aren’t ALL of the changes I have so far, just the major ones for now.

I’ll address how Danny gets his powers at a later time cause that’s a whole other. Thing.

Danny is a He/They Non-Binary, but he hasn’t figured it out yet. Give him time.

He also has ADHD and is fully medicated. Medication or not, though, it still makes life difficult for him.

Maddie and Jack are fully employed as independent inventors and technical/electrical engineers, selling inventions and doing for-hire tech work on the side. This wealth enables them to fund their ghost hunting side-business, and enables them to fully support their kids.

Alongside Jazz, Danny now has a younger sister, Noelle; we call her Noa. She’s eight, autistic, is a tiny blonde haired, blue-eyed spitfire who looks like a Barbie Doll but absolutely knows that she’s at “prime ball punching height” with everyone. She looked death in the face and laughed as a newborn.

Everyone in the Fenton family has an animal companion they usually bring everywhere with them, if possible. It’s kind of a tradition where each Fenton gets one when they turn ten; whether Jack started it or inherited it from generations has yet to be decided.

Danny’s is a blonde ferret named Lola.

Jazz has a pet bunny named Molly. She had another one named Buster, but he tragically died somehow. 

Maddie has a barn owl; I haven’t named him yet.

Jack actually has a few. He has a pig, a sheep, and a Highland Pony. The Fenton’s backyard is MUCH bigger than it was in the show, so he has the room.

Noa doesn’t have one yet, but she does have a service dog named Buffy. He’s the shared family dog who kinda lazes around the house doing nothing until he needs to “go to work”; aka put on the vest for Noa.

The Fentons have an AI companion who lives in their house and is connected to most of their phones/devices: Apex, a semi-sentient AI. Honestly, her backstory is completely unknown to me, since she was a sporadic, spur of the moment addition literally as I was writing chapter 1. But she’s very sweet and caring for the Fenton family, and very polite, and has a little bit of sass to her. She’s a peach.

Amity Part is set in Washington state. I wanted the setting for Amity Park to be somewhere that gets a lot of fog and rain. It was either that or Oregon, but I already have somewhere set in Oregon and I don’t wanna repeat Gravity Falls either, lol.

Not only that, but instead of the 90′s, this story takes place in 2055, where the setting is much more technologically advanced. Watch as Danny’s family STILL manages to stick out like a sore thumb.

Tucker is the rich kid this time instead of Sam, and is transgender FtM. Little else has changed about him except for him being a bit more fleshed out and more supportive.

Sam went through the most revisions. Instead of the rich girl whose parents don’t understand her, she’s a foster child who circled through foster homes until she was adopted by a couple living in Amity Park when she was about 11. She’s been living with a relatively normal, nice couple for about three years now, but if you know anything about the foster care system, you know that foster care doesn’t breed trusting children. She’s still defensive, pessimistic and sarcastic, but a lot of her hypocritical, controlling behavior has been toned down by a SHIT ton. She’s infinitely more supportive of Danny and Tucker, and is extremely protective of them for “I was a foster kid and had zero friends until now” reasons.

Dash’s bullying is toned down slIGHTLY? He and Danny don’t really make good first impressions on each other at freshman orientation, and due to personal reasons for Dash, heated emotions and a giant miscommunication, Dash REALLY doesn’t have a high opinion of Danny. Not for stock bully “weak nerd” reasons, but for “wow what you did to someone else was really not okay” reasons. Dash does get a redemption arc.

As does Paulina! She’s still a little bit of a self-focused airhead and a little flighty, but she’s mostly pretty sweet to the people around her in her own well-intentioned but not-very-well-thought-out way. 

I AM ALSO PRESIDENT OF THE “VALERIE DESERVED BETTER” FAN CLUB AND YOU BEST BELIEVE I’M GONNA GIVE HER THE ARC SHE DESERVED, DAMNIT.

Oh and Vlad’s a little less campy. Get ready for a guy who does a SCARILY good job at convincing you that Masters and Plasmius are two separate people while he’s in the same fucking room as you.

There is a LOT more that I haven’t touched on here. This is just kinda the surface level stuff before Danny gets his powers... except for the Vlad shit, but come on. I had to mention that. Plus if I was gonna mention EVERY LITTLE IDEA, I was gonna be here writing this post all night. I can go into more detail on anything or anyone specific if ya’ll want! 

This isn’t even getting into the inclusion of a new character we’re adding to the main cast.

I’m super excited to talk about/write more of this. I’m editing chapter 1 as we speak!

[echo-bleu]

Somebody to lean on

[implied depression, PTSD, nightmares, past abuse (human and animal)]

For an anon prompt here that took me way too long to write: "I wish you would write a fic where we see what a positive influence Buffy is in Alex's life and just how much she helps him day to day. I just lost my dog so I could use some good dog fluff."

It's...not fluff. I had a bunch of false starts, started this, gave it up, started something else, also gave it up, lost myself in my head for like two weeks, reread this and found that it didn't suck as much as I thought, so I finished it.

Thank you @insidious-intent for handholding and encouraging me to post this!

Read on AO3

Alex hesitates for a long time after his therapist told him getting a dog would be good for him. He understands all her arguments, that's not the problem. Yes, a dog would be good to force him to walk more−he does his PT religiously most days, but walking as much as his physical therapist wants him to was harder, since it requires getting out of the house. A dog would make him get up on the really bad days when getting out of bed feels like climbing a mountain. A dog would help him keep a regular schedule even when he's discharged from the Air Force and loses the structure it provided. A dog would remind him to make himself something to eat when he loses track of time.

Alex makes pro and con lists, over and over, on the margins of his work notebook and post-its stuck to his fridge. The pros always come on top, if only by a small margin. Yet he still quibbles. Being responsible for another being is scary. He isn't ready. He isn't really in Roswell to stay, he doesn't want to fully settle there. He might have to travel for the Air Force or whatever new job he found, and then where will he leave the dog? There are plenty of arguments against it.

“What are you really scared of?” his therapist asks during a session, after months of this.

They hash it out for a while. In the end, it comes down to this: dogs love their humans unconditionally. Alex doesn't know if he's worth being loved unconditionally.

-

Mimi is the one who convinces him. She just s ees the dog in his future. Alex never really believed in the DeLucas' fortune telling, but like often, he has to admit that he doesn't know how Mimi could have done that by just guessing.

Plus, aliens are real. What's the point in refusing to believe in someone's vague precognition gift after that?

So sometime after that conversation, Alex tells his head to stop screwing with him and takes himself to an animal shelter. Since he was too scared to even accept the idea before, he hasn't looked into dog care yet, or into what breed would be the most appropriate to his lifestyle. But it doesn't really matter, because he wants an older rescue dog, not a puppy he could ruin by raising it wrong. He wants a dog who can fit with him, and that's a dog who's been through hardship and survived.

Buffy isn't what he expected.

He expected to go through a few shelters before he found a match, for one. He expected to choose a dog who was shied away from him, at first. He expected a larger breed, a tall, strong, quiet dog.

Buffy is none of these things. She's a beagle−and how did Mimi get even that right?−she's small enough to fit into his arms and she's anything but quiet. She's six years old, a rescue from an abusive home, and she limps from a badly healed fracture in her right hind leg. When Alex sees that, after Buffy has already started licking his face, he snorts in laughter.

She's scruffy and soft and bad-mannered, but she's not afraid of Alex at all. It's like being abused hasn't even made a dent in her faith in humans. Or maybe just in Alex, since he seems to be the only one she even comes close to.

They fit together perfectly.

-

Buffy doesn't like Michael, at first.

She might just be picking up on Alex's mood, or there's something about him that sets her off. She doesn't have a problem with Isobel, at least no more than with Alex's other friends, so he doesn't think it's because he's an alien, but she barks loudly when he shows up and plants herself in front of the door, ready to defend her territory. And when Alex shushes her, she sits and glares at Michael, following him in every room like she's watching him. Michael finds her creepy. Alex laughs at them.

It gives him something to laugh at. Pretending that he's okay with everyone invading his home, on the pretext that it's the only place far enough from town to hide Rosa−in the goddamn murder basement, no less−is taking a toll. Pretending he's fine with Michael's proclamation that they're just friends while they're working in his living room is torture. Not to even mention the thought of him and Maria together, of Maria's betrayal.

Buffy barks at Michael, and stays away from everyone else, hiding under Alex's bed. Alex laughs because that's what he wants to do, too. It's like Buffy is reading his mind. Of course, he doesn't have that luxury, so he lives vicariously through her for three weeks and dissociates nearly constantly. The walks he takes with Buffy are his sole escape.

It's only when they're all gone, after Arturo has been read in and Rosa has a new identity, that Alex lets the events of the last few months wash over him.

He lies down on his bed and cries himself to sleep, five days in a row, and Buffy snuggles against his side and nudges his neck. He wakes up from the worst nightmares he's had since he got out of rehab, featuring Michael in the explosion that blew up his leg instead of the one at Caulfield, and Buffy licks his face. He struggles to get up in the morning, and Buffy barks his ears off until he's taken her out.

Months later, he'll tell his therapist that he thinks Buffy may have saved his life.

-

Buffy loves him.

It's a realization that comes over Alex slowly. He doesn't think that much of it, at first, because all dogs show some kind of love to their human, right? Dogs are known to be loyal. As they grow on each other, he just soaks up in her presence and her warmth, when every other part of his life seems to have gone cold. She's soft and warm and alive and that's exactly what he needs.

Later on, he freaks out. It's such a huge responsibility, to have her, when some days he can't even get out of bed. He could put her in serious danger without even meaning to. She trusts him to take care of her, and he doesn't know if he's up to the task.

Buffy answers his concerns with enthusiastic licks and opinions about where she wants to go for a walk. It takes a while, but Alex decides they'll probably be fine. She won't let him forget about her.

She doesn't let him forget about himself. When he loses himself in work, forgetting to eat or sleep, she's there to remind him. She even starts trying to help him on bad days, nudging his leg when he's limping too much, so he trains her to fetch his crutch. Her pride when he thanks her never fails to make him smile.

Buffy loves him unconditionally, and it's something Alex has never had before. She doesn't turn her back on him when he makes a mistake. She doesn't force him to talk when the words catch in his throat. She's just there.

Alex has always loved deeply, but Buffy is the one who teaches him how to be loved.

So when Michael shows up at his doorstep one day, months after his relationship with Maria very publicly exploded, Alex doesn't shut down.

When Michael starts sprouting some grand metaphoric declaration of how he didn't mean to hurt Alex and how they've got to be star crossed lovers with shitty timing, Alex takes it for what it is, and he murmurs that he's willing to work at it.

Michael leaves and only comes back after a few days, without the cowboy hat and the wall around his heart. Buffy doesn't even bark at him. He goes down to one knee and pets her before he looks up at Alex. Alex lets him in this time.

When, some time later, Michael tell him he loves him, Alex doesn't immediately dismiss it. He takes it in and let it bounce around his brain for a while. He cries a little and he hugs Michael and they spend the night lying on his bed with Buffy between them, just being together.

In the morning, Alex is ready to believe it.

Because if Buffy loves him with all her little heart, then maybe Alex can be worthy of love.

[august-diehl]

Heartless - Part 12

A/N: Hey guys, I’m back and I hope that I can keep posting this and other stories. I hope you like this chapter.

FEEDBACK! Buy me a coffee💕

Summary: Bucky was deeply in love with Natasha, but she leaves him for another guy, and he doesn’t know that. After a few weeks in his room, he goes buy a coffee, and he meets you, the opposite of Natasha. He decides to date you, to prove Natasha that he moved on, what will happen when you find out?

Thor Odinson x Reader ; (Former) Bucky Barnes x Reader

Warnings: Angst.

Tag List: @captainsamwlsn, @logical-spider, @learisa, @buffy-morgendorffer-01, @ly-canthrope,  @joannie95, @wtfholland, @nikolett3, @buckyisthatyou, @atomicfandombomb, @lostinthoughtsandfeelings, @just-a-littlebit-of-everything, @uservalkyrie, @akamaiden, @lokigreyvatore, @bucksandroses, @phoenix-whiskey-tears, @samantha281203, @sakurashortstack, @jackiehollanderr, @starkillazz​, @marvelsfansworld, @stardustsoldierrook, @melimelbean​, @cobra-anon, @analovesseb, @lovemarvel101, @letsthedogpackandthecats​, @imreallyweird​, @fuckthatfeeling​, @deathbyrabbit, @fxckingfat​, @escapetheshackles​, @ilovethewayyourheartbeats​, @infj-slytherclaw​, @firefly-in-darkness​, @hybridasian.

Heartless Masterlist

Main Masterlist

Brock was taking you to a white van, you were trying to keep up with him. You were scared, you had no idea where Sharon was, and you had no way of communicating with Thor, or all the other Avengers. You finally got to the white, there was another agent inside, he was driving. Your heart was pounding, your babies were restless, it seemed like they knew you were in danger. It was a sunny day, many people were outside enjoying the sun, you got into the van, and that white had no windows at the back, but there was a seat for you, you were thankful for that, you wouldn’t be able to hold yourself without that seat. You saw that the van passed the tower, which was weird for you, and your babies were knocking your organs, you were starting to get breathless.

“Where are we going? Why did we passed the tower?” Brock was holding your arm, you were trying to catch your breath.

“The tower might be compromised, we are going to a safe house. We’ll try to get a hold of Thor for you, but it’ll take a days, maybe weeks.” Now your babies were giving spaced out kicks in your ribs, it was easier to breathe, but this whole situation was making you even more uneasy, how does the tower that Tony Stark built himself might be compromised, but you decided to shake those thoughts away, it was just a security measure, you convinced yourself. You looked at Brock, he had scars all over his face, and judging by his arms, all over his body as well.

“It was on the job.” He declared, startling you. “The scars, you were staring.” He smiled. “I was lucky enough to get skin transplant, almost all of my body was burned, I just have scars of the transplant as a reminder of what I’ve been through.” You felt for him, it must’ve been a horrible experience for him.

Being really tired, you took a little nap. You were restless but the pregnancy hormones took the best out of you. Brock woke you up, and your babies started to kick you again. It was an awful building, but you convinced yourself that it was just a decoy, it had to be like not to attract the bad guys after you, right? 

“Follow me, Y/N.” Brock was showing the way, the safe house wasn’t that clean. You got to a room with no windows, and Brock closed the door, and your babies started to quick you again. You only had one source of light, the lamp above you that was moving because of the door.

You sat down on the bed, you just wanted Thor to open that door and tell you that everything was going to be okay, that the people that want to kidnap you for some reason are dealt with, and that you’re coming back to Asgard. The bedroom was a little bit dirty, there was a toilet at the end of the bedroom, without a door, just the toilet, you started to feel the temperature dropping, it was a sunny day, you haven’t brought a coat, or a jumper with you. 

It’s been at least an hour, you were pacing around the bedroom and the door opened. It was Brock with two doctors, they were setting up many different machines, one of them guided you to the bed. You were starting to get concerned about Brock and his intentions.

“Don’t worry about all of this, the doctors are just making sure that you and your babies are fine. I’m trying to get in touch with Thor, but I can’t reach the Avengers yet. They are still dealing with the threat. I’m sorry, I’ll keep trying.” You just nodded to him, and he left you alone with the doctors. 

One of them was taking blood from you, while the other one was setting up the ultrasound. You could hear heartbeats, different heartbeats. You started to cry, you haven’t heard their heartbeat yet. You wished that Thor was there to share that magical moment with you, you wished that he was there to hold your hand, and tell you how happy he was to have a family with you, like he always declared.

“Is everything alright with my babies?” You asked the doctor that was performing the ultrasound, she seemed like a sweet woman.

“Yes, the three of them are fine. It was really hard to see the girl, the two boys are already really protective of her.” She touched your arm, and left with the other doctor. You were having triplets? Having a big family was in your plans? How were you going to take care of triplets? 

None of these questions mattered right now, you just needed to find Thor. When you tried to open the door, it was locked, and you realized that you couldn’t open it, it could only be unlocked from the outside. Your babies started to quick you again, and then it hit you, maybe they were trying to warn you about the danger all along? You didn't know Brock, why did you trust him so easily? Where was Sharon? Why didn't she take you away? Where were you, exactly? 

The only conclusion that you came to was that you needed to leave and quick, you were trying to find a way to open that door, but Brock came back and he looked at you, with your huge belly, down on your knees, trying to open the door. 

“What are you doing, Y/N?” He helped you getting up, and you needed to make sure that Brock didn't see you as an enemy, he could hurt you or your babies.

“I just really need to talk to Thor, I’m really scared, bad people are after me and I have no idea why, I was trying to leave and look for him. I know, I shouldn’t but I’m really scared.” Brock signed, he put his hands on his hips and looked down.

“I know it’s a stressful situation, especially on your state. But we are trying to get a hold of him, just wait a little bit more, and don’t try to leave this room, it’s for your own safety. I’ll ask someone to bring you food.” And just like that, Brock left you not giving you time to ask him questions or to question him. You just tried to sleep, hoping and praying that Thor will come after you.  

The door was opened and someone brought you food, the large man in front of you didn't say anything, he left the tray of food next to you in the bed and closed the door without saying a word, or even sparing a glance at you. When you looked at the tray your mouth was watering, it was your favourite food and your favourite dessert. You started eating, and it was delicious, it even made you forget all about your situation. The food gave you the strength to think about your escape route.

********************************

It’s been a day since Brock took you, and he hasn’t given you any update on trying to find Thor. You were getting really worried, and now here you were banging on the door, trying to leave this horrible place. But you soon learned that you shouldn’t have done that, because a short bald man came, and he was with two massive men on each side of him.

“Runlow told me over and over again, to be patient with you, and wait for you to calm down. But guess what? I’m done waiting.” He hit you with some sort of baseball bat, but it wasn’t wood, it seemed like rubber. You fell on the floor, your hand was on the right side of your face, where he hit you, he got closer and closer to you. That made you try to get as much distance from him as possible, but your back was against the wall, literally. 

“You were impossible to find, imagine our surprise when we learned that you went to Asgard with the god of thunder. But it was worth it, all of the surveillance that we had set it up for you. You see, animals tend to breed more willingly when they are happy, when they don’t think that they’re being watched. But animals sometimes need some human meddling, and let me tell you, fertility drugs are almost 100% effective. One threat to your trusted doctor and he was more than happy to change your contraceptive pills to make you sick, and suggest you something better, something practical, something that made you not think about protection, something that made you happy to breed without any consequences.”

 That’s when it hit you, when you went to your doctor before the holiday at the private island. You couldn’t say anything, those people were watching you ever since you started dating Bucky? They messed with your body for their twisted agenda? You felt sick to your core, how could people do this to other people? But why? Why would they do this?

“We were more than certain that you were going to come back from that trip with a super soldier baby in your belly, but imagine my surprise when I heard that you left without any trace of where you went? But now we couldn’t be happier, because we don’t have a super soldier baby, we have three demigods in our hands.” He was getting even closer to you, but you were trying to get away from him. 

“I DON’T KNOW, I DON’T KNOW IF THOR IS FATHER.” You screamed, your biggest insecurity passed your lips, you didn't know it was true. But Thor was going to be their dad, no matter who helped you create them.

“There’s only one way to find out.” One of the agents gave the man a stick, you thought that he was going to beat you again, but he only put the end of the stick in your belly and flicked a switch on the stick and nothing happened. “They are demigods indeed, this taser should’ve killed you.” 

But then a harrowing pain deep in your core came, a roaring scream came from your throat, tears fell from your eyes, instantly. It was nothing like you’ve ever experienced before, and you had no idea where it came from. The man got closer and closer to your ear, and then he whispered:

“If I were you, I would behave and not cause any disturbance because from I could tell, the only ones that can hurt you is not me, is your babies, and they are not kind to you, whatsoever.” He tased you again and the pain came back, except this time made you pass out on the floor, with tears in your eyes and your hands on your belly.

[pauputoot]

I have a theory for Amnesty that I’ve been meaning to post for a couple months now and just kinda… haven’t… but there was a throwaway line in this most recent episode that prompted me to actually post it. This seems rather obvious in hindsight, but I haven’t seen anyone else point it out yet so…

Griffin is basing Key NPCs off unused playbooks.

I first realized this because I was trying to set up a (so far unrealized) campaign of Monster of the Week for my friends. Certain things match. And my friend @castcharmperson​ helped me see some of these too. I’ll pull them from the handbook so you can see what I mean.

The Expert: the hunter who knows all about monsters and magic. The Expert knows a lot of hidden secrets and how to find out more, and also has a well-supplied base to work from. E.g. Bobby Singer from Supernatural; Rupert Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It’s Mama. Easy. The well-supplied base is Amnesty Lodge.

The Monstrous: a monster fighting for the good guys. The Monstrous is very weird, and can have a variety of different powers based on what monster breed they are. E.g. Angel from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel; Bill Compton from True Blood

This could apply to a lot of the Amnesty residents, but I’m pretty sure the closest example is Barclay, since it seems like he was meant to assist the most in hunts initially. Indrid may also fit this role, but there’s another playbook he fits into a little better…

The Spooky: has psychic or magical powers. These powers are strange and sinister ... and not completely under the Spooky’s control. E.g. Sam Winchester from Supernatural; Willow from earlier seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

I think this one’s Indrid. Many of the Spooky’s special moves revolve around premonitions, hunches, and probability, which 100% sound like our moth boy. Plus there’s a whole “dark side” element which fits him as well.

The Flake: a conspiracy theorist. The Flake is great at finding things out and seeing how the events of separate mysteries are connected. E.g. Agent Mulder or the Lone Gunmen from The X-Files.

This one is Kirby!

The Initiate: a member of an ancient monster-slaying Sect, trained to fight and use magic. The Initiate is good with magic, and their Sect provides help (and sometimes problems). E.g. The Wardens from The Dresden Files; Annelise from the Twenty Palaces series.

This is a littttttle bit of a stretch, but I’m pretty sure this is Hollis and the Hornets. The key things about the The Initiate are that they can operate independently or use their Sect as a resource, and that Sect’s goal is to hunt monsters. The Hornets may not be ancient, but that definitely describes their current goals and their relationship to Hollis. And whose to say rad snowboard tricks aren’t magical in their own way?

The Professional: you work for an agency that hunts monsters. The Professional is good in a fight, and a good team player. E.g. Riley and the Initiative from Buffy the Vampire Slayer; Olivia Dunham from Fringe.

Agent Stern! The key thing is that The Professional is part of an “Agency,” which can be “a black-budget government department.” Sounds like him to me!

The Wronged: revenge-driven, and really tough. The Wronged is all about killing a specific breed of monster and protecting others as you do it. E.g. Dean and John Winchester from Supernatural.

Minerva. “Revenge-driven and really tough” is her to a T. Note that this was one of the playbooks Griffin asked the boys not to pick because it was “too grimdark.” Maybe there was also a plot reason.

The Mundane was maaaaaybe going to be Pigeon until the Duck-loses-his-powers thing. So there’s only one unused playbook that I wasn’t able to pin down. 

Until this week. (minor spoilers below cut).

The Divine: an agent of a higher power, with a mission to fulfill. The Divine is very tough and has been granted holy powers. E.g. Castiel from Supernatural; Michael Carpenter from The Dresden Files.

When Travis asked, “Who’s side are Muffy and Winthrop on?” in the recent episode, Griffin – seemingly jokingly – responded “God’s.” Simple throwaway joke? Or hint that these two are secretly based off The Divine? We don’t know a lot about these guys (except that they’re assholes) but this might give us more of a hint. Maybe they act holier-than-thou because they’re actually…. Holy? (gets booed off stage for the worst joke I’ve ever written)

So. If all of this is true, what does this mean going forward? One or two things.

The first is that the extra playbooks may give us a key to certain latent twists and turns Griffin has up his sleeve. Does Muffy and Winthrop being on God’s Side mean that as-of-yet unseen divine forces may come into play? Could Agent Stern actually be an unused resource rather than a threat?

The second is a little more nebulous. What’s unique about MotW (when compared to DND) is that unlike a player’s Class in DND – which is just kind of a fancy way to say their “profession” – the playbooks are all meant to represent character archetypes. In fact, the MotW handbook stresses the archetype thing so much that it says only one hunter of each type is allowed at the same time in any game.

They don’t just have certain abilities because their job dictates they should be able to. They have Moves that are based on their role in the story. (The Chosen’s Plot Armor is a perfect example of this). We already know from Balance and the post-Balance TTAZZ that Griffin likes the idea of playing with the fourth wall and the nature of stories. What if he’s doing that again? Maybe the reason all these archetypes seem to be represented is because the actual plot of Amnesty ties into what it means to LIVE in the Monster of the Week genre?

Or maybe we just figured out a neat way that Griffin comes up with new characters.

[oveliagirlhaditright]

Hi, I'm also a huge fan of both BTVS and Dark Angel, as well as a hardcore shipper of both Buffy/Angel and Max/Logan (even if they both did completely rip my heart out at times). I actually agree completely that BTVS should have ended after season 5 (as I truly believe the show reached it's creative apex that year), while I'm still torned if Dark Angel would have been better off if it was canceled a year sooner or not.

Oh, hey! It’s so nice to meet you:) It’s so rare to meet people who still care about Dark Angel... let alone someone who’s a Max and Logan shipper! And how cool it is, that you also love Buffy and Bangel like I do. ^_^

And... while I do think “The Gift” was kind of perfect as the ending for Buffy, I’m okay with “Chosen” (and the seasons between “The Gift” and “Chosen”). I think “Chosen” still worked as a really good ending for the show. Probably not as good as “The Gift” was, but it was still more than enough... and this may be kind of sappy, but I’m glad Buffy got to end the series alive and smiling after everything that poor girl went through.

Dark Angel... is a tricky one for me. For so many years, I absolutely despised season two and pretended it never happened (I literally blocked a lot of it from my mind), and had only watched it once. Then probably more than a decade later, I rewatched season one for the first time in forever and was still on a Dark Angel high after it and was like, “You know what? I’m going to give season two another chance, just because I want to see more footage of my babies.” And I came away from it still not really liking it. At all. But thinking it wasn’t as bad as I’d remembered it being... I’ve watched it again a few times since then, and each time I do I like it more. So much so, that I’d say I probably like it now. At least some of it. At least ideas from it. But I don’t love it... but even then... 

IDK. I still think season one wrapped up the series well enough (even if it would have been tragic, though maybe that’s sort of fitting with a show called “Dark Angel”); and season two was so different that it almost felt like an entirely different show... I don’t know if I needed it. For me, the only things season two really had going for it were the anti-Transgenic plot and Max becoming a leader. The rest of it, at least how it was handled, was kind of silly, imo. I’m even okay with the idea of Manticore coming from selective breeding now... but the fact that they made that selective breeding group a snake cult is... weird to me? 

Like, I love some of the ideas this season had, but I don’t know if I, personally, need them. If that makes sense. So I think I’m still willing to say Dark Angel should have ended with season one, and if you feel differently that’s completely okay and I get it. 

But in some alternate universe where those ideas were written a bit better--or if the show ever gets rebooted, or a sequel where they’re handled it’d be better--I’d definitely be here for it.

Thanks for the ask:)

Edit: And, yes... Bangel and Lomax does rip one’s heart out, don’t they? Why do we have to love them so? Let’s sob about them together! :D

[seraph-novak]

31 Days of Andi Mack ~ Day 17

If you could create an Original Character to be put into the Andi Mack universe, who would they be?

I’d really like to see some siblings... I find it hard to believe that every single kid on this show is an only child. I don’t know if this is just based on personal experience (in my school, being an only child was a rarity) but I think it’s pretty unrealistic. Of all the younger characters, I think it would be really interesting to see Jonah have some siblings, especially seeing as we don’t know much (if anything) about his family.

P.S. I also love the Kippen siblings head canon, but I know that’s pretty unlikely to happen on the show.

31 Days of Andi Mack ~ Day 18

Favourite crack ship?

I don’t really have a crack ship (in any show, not just Andi Mack) but if I had to choose, I’d say Wonah is pretty cute. I also think Ambris is a sweet idea, but I definitely prefer Ambi.

31 Days of Andi Mack ~ Day 19

If the characters were dogs what breed would they be?

Andi ~ A Chihuahua, because she’s small and cute, prefers to stay inside, has a playful side, loves to be around her friends and family, and is easily upset/agitated.

Buffy ~ A Poodle, because she’s smart, intelligent, kind, protective, and has big, beautiful hair.

Cyrus ~ A Maltese, because he’s adorable, hyper (but not overly energetic), friendly, loves people, and is the perfect companion.

Jonah ~ A Golden Retriever, because he’s kind, loyal, loves to exercise and play games, and always tries his best to cheer up his friends.

TJ ~ A German Shepherd, because he’s loyal, protective, full of energy, great with kids, fairly sensitive, and intimidating on the outside, but extremely soft on the inside.

31 Days of Andi Mack ~ Day 20

If you could couple up characters from Andi Mack with characters from shows that have ended or are still on air, who would you couple them with?

I honestly don’t know... Andi Mack is one of the only shows I watch about Middle Schoolers, so most of the characters I know from other shows wouldn’t be age appropriate. I’m gonna have to pass on this one.

31 Days of Andi Mack ~ Day 21

What type of music do you think each character likes to listen to?

All I know for certain is that TJ is 100% a Hamilton stan. He listens to it on repeat, and his favourite song is a tie between ‘Wait for It’ and ‘My Shot’. Cyrus bought them tickets for TJ’s birthday one year, and now they both have matching Hamilton shirts.

31 Days of Andi Mack ~ Day 22

What are the characters going to be when they grow up?

Andi ~ A fashion designer.

Buffy ~ An engineer.

Cyrus ~ A school counsellor.

Jonah ~ An ultimate frisbee coach (duh).

TJ ~ A teacher.

[toomanysurveys9]

oHave you ever driven an electric car? i have not.

Do you live in an area that is prone to tornadoes? i mean. we get quite a few tornado watches but rarely see them where i live. my friends and i joke that our city is in some sort of protective shield because we never get the severe weather we’re told we’re getting. lol.

How many closets does your house have? actual closets... three.

When was the last time you saw someone you went to high school with? jacob is sitting beside me. we went to high school together.

Have you ever eaten moussaka? nope. no idea what that is.

What breed was the last dog you saw? buffy is a mix of blue heeler and black lab.

How long have your parents been together? (or how long were they together, if they no longer are) they just celebrated twenty-six years together this past november.

What has been your most epic cooking failure? i’m honestly not sure. i’ve burned things a little but can’t think of anything all that epic to talk about.

Do you read other people’s survey answers on here? yeah. i read them as i go for the most part, but if i see a survey by @lovemesomesurveys and @inchoate-surveys i do read their answers, whether i’m doing surveys or not.

What’s your bedtime routine? besides the obvious brushing teeth and maybe going bathroom, i change my babies’ diapers and brush wy’s teeth. then we go up to bed and they nurse until they fall asleep.

How long would it take you to walk to the nearest store? five minutes or so. depends also on how fast i’m walking and who, if anyone, is walking with me.

What 5 words best describe your mother’s personality? caretaker, loving, sad, trustworthy, and loyal.

How old were you when you got your first smartphone? i wasn’t allowed until i was eighteen.

What’s the weather like right now? cold i would imagine. i haven’t been outside for awhile though.

Do you like The Rolling Stones? i don’t think i even know any music by them..

What was the last single item you spent over $100 on? water bill.

What’s something you’ve been struggling with lately? body. 

[majingojira]

Introducing Recent Supernatural Fauna into the Dresden Files

As time goes on, new supernatural monsters are added to the bestiaries of fantasy lore when there was no folklore or belief around them.  Some spawned from famous stories (Tolkein being the obvious influence), others from recently developed folklore (cryptids, the Slender Man), and others just because they’re “Weird Ideas Some Nerds had in the 70s for D&D” (The Gelatinous Cube, Beholder, & Mind Flayer). 

Here are four such creatures of the first kind and how I’d think they’d work were they incorporated into the Dresden Files mythology.

I may do more if asked (or if I can) because I like cross-pollinating like this.

Slayers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Slayers in the Dresden Files were created by Ancient Sorcerers, a group of them even older than the White Council, but still similar to them.  They called themselves the Shadow Men.  They wished to create a guardian for humanity against the various supernatural predators out there.  What they performed was similar to an ascension rite, and similar to the creature of a spirit of intellect like the Archive.  This time, it created an atypical supernatural lineage.  Over time, the Slayer mostly came under the purview of the Venatori Umbromum and was known as a “Verum Venator” or “True Venator” after regular use of Latin fell out of favor.  After the turn of the millennium, as there was a spike in supernatural activities, so to was there an uptick in Slayers.  So much so that for the first time in about 2000 years there was a significant number of them to form their own organization and rebel against the Venatori.

Slayers are empowered by a connection to what can only be called a Goddess.  What it is, is unknown, but many have claimed they draw their strength from many deities.  While it is claimed the Amazons were descendants of Ares, aspects of their abilities tie them more to the Egyptian Goddess of Justice: Ammit the Devourer. 

Through the empowerment, they first receive knowledge – the most potent power of all.  Parts of past slayers lives and experiences are transferred into them.  Not directly or fully, but instinctively.  Like the difference between muscle memory and knowledge memory. Their bodies, in effect, remember how to fight, how to train, and where to strike all sorts of nasties.  And with what.  They may not be able to put it into words easily, but it’s there

The second gift is more mystical.  All that knowledge helps them in practising the craft, but their talents seem to be limited.  They can perform a ritual as anyone can, but they show aptitude in Kinetomancy.  They incorporate this into their martial arts and make the stronger ones truly potent.  They also have a gift of prophecy.  This comes to them in the form of dreams.  Some take the shape of the memories of past Slayers should an old threat return.  Mostly, however, it comes in the form of annoyingly vague dreams that often do little more than simply alert them to something happening.  This works similar to Cassandra’s Tears, but instead of no one believing them few people can decipher their meaning until after the fact beyond “Keep an eye on this person” or “Something bad is coming, and it’s probably a demon/vampire/fae/demigod/dragon.”

The next gift they receive is to their senses.  Slayer senses are sharper than those of normal humans.  While still within the range of mortal animals, they are impressive nonetheless when compared to a normal human.  Most potent of these is their vision and hearing, both very important for beings that hunt at night.  They also receive an extra sense against danger or ‘violent intent’, a true “Spider-Sense” as Harry would put it.  This allows them to detect predatory or aggressive acts against them, even while blind or in complete darkness.  Being aware and reacting in time is, of course, two different things, but if a Slayer is attentive, they cannot be fooled easily.

The fourth gift is the most obvious, their physical abilities.  The Strength, Speed, Stamina, Recovery, and Durability of Slayers are truly supernatural.  They were made to go toe-to-toe against Vampires primarily, after all, so they were made tough. Weaker slayers (mostly those just starting out) are able to perform on the level of Olympic athletes across the board while being able to fully heal from a stab wound overnight.  Stronger Slayers can bend prison bars, snatch crossbow bolts out of the air at point-blank range, survive multistory falls with little more than a limp afterwards, run at highway speeds, and do that for hours. Recovery wise, they can block a superhuman cleaver strike with their bare arm and . . .  have the bone stop it.  It’s an odd vulnerability.  Against blunt force trauma, they’re extremely tough but introduce a piercing weapon and things become tougher.  Still, the best way to be sure one has been killed is to aim for a spot on a human that would be instantly lethal.  A gutted slayer can recover given time, as can a paralyzed one, or one that has lost a limb would regrow it in a few years.  But it’s hard to recover from a destroyed head, heart, or a properly snapped neck.  Fully draining them of blood also works.  

Their final gift is indeed why they are called Slayers and why Ammit the Devourer is seen as their patron. Slayers absorb ambient mystical energy around them, and when they attack supernatural or spiritual beings, they can rip them apart.  This primarily occurs when they do enough damage to destroy their mortal shell.  As the spirit flees, the ‘devourer’ takes a big bite out of the spirit and the energy used to create or maintain their physical form.  This can be so damaging that the spirit unravels, being effectively destroyed. The bodies of beings like vampires, fae, and demons often burst into dust or melt into ooze after being slain by a slayer as the Devourer takes its fee.  This is, along with the connection to the goddess, allows them to have such supernatural powers without needing to feed on flesh, blood, or other ugliness.

For some reason, this does not work on fully incorporeal spirits such as ghosts.  It is theorized that, unless they manifest, there is nothing for the slayer to ‘grab on’ to. 

Slayers generally appear as attractive young women, few have lived past the age of twenty until recently, so little is know how long their youthful appearance holds, but it matches their M.O.  They appear as helpless young women ripe with vitality to most supernatural predators.  They are in for a rude shock when the prey turns out to be the predator. 

(Demoniac) Vampires (BtVS)

Undead corpses animated by a demonic spirit?  More common than you think.  They are known mostly as the Demon Court.  They are found throughout the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia, but the idea of them being a full ‘court’ is a misnomer as they rarely form large organizations.  Sure, mobs of up to 20 or 30 can form around powerful and charismatic individuals, but there is little to no inter-group activity beyond posturing like packs of wolves. So, mostly, they form gangs of 4 to 10.

A demoniac vampire are born through infection.  A victim is brought to near-death via bloodloss and infected with the Vampiric Spirit.  Once the victim dies, the spirit takes control.  It animates the corpse in a few days and gives it a semblance of life.  The heart doesn’t beat and it doesn’t need the organs to function, but aside from feeling room temperature, it’s hard to tell that they are anything but a normal human.

Until it’s time to feed. Then it shifts the face into a horrible mask and grows out its teeth.  Not just fangs, but premolars and incisors become sharp and biting.

The spirit also grants them superhuman strength and speed.  They have the durability of a corpse but retain a sense of stamina as the spirit needs to be fueled regularly with blood in order to keep going. A Demoniac vampire that hasn’t fed in ages becomes more akin to a Black Court vampire visually, and an old one at that. It debilitates the mind and makes them savage.  Well, more savage than normal and feral to boot.  

The vampiric spirit gains potency over time, but beyond an increase in physical powers, they are usually minor but still noteworthy.  Some can grow claws as well as fangs or turn their hands into bludgeons.  Others display hypnotic, illusion, or enthralling abilities, but these are thankfully rare.  

Like anything bore from humans, it can have the potential abilities of a human: Sorcerers, talents, and other powers can crop up on occasion.  The Vampire Spirit retains the knowledge and experiences of the being whose corpse it now inhabits, exploiting the ‘residue’ of the soul left behind in the corpse.  This also grants the creature the passions the host body had in life, albeit twisted through the ravenous, sadistic carnivore.  

Which means those who are aimless in life and have no wants or desires beyond basic hedonism make for the most horrifyingly inhuman demoniac vampires.  

They can breed fast, but thankfully are easier to kill than the Black Court.  Destroy the brain/decapitate severs the spirit (which nests in the head) from the body.  Jamming a wooden or bone stake forces symbolic life into the un-life of the vampire and destroys it completely.  Sufficient damage through fire also burns away the animating spirit (and they are highly flammable).  And despite being in a body, the animating spirit is still pushed away by sunlight (which also sets the body on fire).  When the creature is truly destroyed, it runs back into the Nevernever with such force it disintegrates the body, rendering it into dust.  

They also show a repulsion to holy symbols, and contact with holy or blessed items causes them to burn.

Gargoyles (Disney’s Gargoyles)

Gargoyles are a name provided to a mortal, but magically influenced species that has gone by many names over the years, and across cultures.  In Japan, they are Tengu, Shisa, and Otoroshi.  In Greece, they are furies, harpies, and Sphinx.  India’s Garuda is one of their number. Babylonian Lamasi.  The hummingbirds of Huitzilopochtli.  China too has its gargoyles, a tribe of which lives at the corners of their known lands and eat mostly fish.  Even in the modern United States, Leeds Devil, and the Mothman are thought to be Gargoyles.  

Gargoyles are mortal, in that they have free will, choice, and thus a ‘soul’ as humans understand it. They are fully sentient, sapient species that happen to have a very variable, monstrous look.  

Physically, Gargoyles are supernaturally strong and durable.  While they can still be cut and bleed, it’s a lot harder to do.  They resist cold and heat better than humans, able to walk around in subzero temperatures with little more than what amounts to shorts and a t-shirt in sub-zero temperatures to no ill effect.  Their strength is great enough to bend steel but is mostly used as a vector for their powerful talons.  They usually claw their way up walls, punching through stone and concrete easily.  They do this in order to fly.  Though they claim they can only glide on their wings, their problem is the initial lift. Once in the air, they have been known to hover, and flap to gain altitude.  Some kinetomancy is suspected to achieve this, but their power is subconscious and unrealized.  They also have a fully prehensile tail.

One truly supernatural ability comes in a form of inspiring fear.  Sure, part of it is the fact that a 300-pound fanged horror is growling at you, but the supernatural element is present in their actively glowing eyes. White in males, red in females. This glow is surprisingly bright, as much as a low flashlight.  While this blinds them temporarily, it is a wonderful threat display.

Gargoyles do not eat much either despite this.  The price for all this power comes from their stone sleep.  When the sun rises, they turn to stone.  Artificial sunlight does not have such an effect, but oddly they can get ‘jet lag’.  The transformation turns them into a stone-like substance (calcium based), and when the sun sets, they change back, but a layer of stone is ejected in a wonderfully cool display.  

Until you learn that’s how they excrete waste.  Then it becomes hilarious.  

This sleep keeps them immobile and vulnerable to anyone wielding a sledgehammer, which is why they usually perch on tall, out of the way places.  It does have three benefits: one, it slows down the aging process (gargoyles age at roughly one half the speed of humans); two, it allows them to heal from many forms of injury overnight; and three, it allows them to absorb solar energy in order to fuel their active lifestyles and supernatural power.

Morlocks/CHUD (The Time Machine, C.H.U.D.)

Little is known about this species.  They are hulking carnivores that live deep underground in both the Nevernever and in parts of the mortal world.  They crave flesh but seem to be able to do without for decades or even centuries without any ill effects.  It’s thought that they hibernate or otherwise go into a state to stave off starvation for long periods and gorge themselves when the opportunity arises.  

Roughly humanoid in shape, Morlocks have powerful claws, supernatural strength, and are slightly more durable than a mortal human, though the same things which can kill a human will end them.  They are, however, almost completely invulnerable to poisons and toxins.  Or, if there are such chemicals that can affect them, they are not found in squalid places or deep underground (which, given what they’ve been found in, might just be chlorophyll).  The only known aversion they have is too bright lights.   Flashes of light can blind and stun them for a time, allowing for escape.  

Unless they get clever, and they are moderately intelligent at least.  They are able to create ambushes and use tools, but are savage and have little hierarchy known.

But because they also smell foul, no one has taken the time to study them.  Until about a hundred years ago, they were thought to be a species of ghoul.  And they might be, but it is clear they are quite distinct from Ghouls.  Same family rather than the same genus.