#I know harry doesn’t know martial arts or anything so it’s not really possible i just thought that would be really awesome | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

irresistiibles · 4 years ago

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so uh, this is a whole monstrosity, but beneath the cut is a plotting call for the event! i have included all of my characters, sorted by location, with blurbs about what they will be doing and possible plots for them. they are just some ideas i came up with and are absolutely not limited to what i put down! anyway, toss this a like and i will hit you up to plot!

washington dc

asami sato / legend of korra / aware

recently aware and lowkey thankful cause she has more fighting memories from her real life. not actively running out and looking for a fight against these ridiculous creatures but she’s got a taser, real decent martial arts training, and a history of handling herself against much stronger enemies. she’ll be fine, probably looking for a place to bunker down and grabbing anyone who seems like they’re in danger as she goes. worried about korra cause she doesn’t have her memories so she doesn’t know if she can defend herself

plots: could help people. could bunker down with people. could fight monsters with people. could try and build some quick tnt to throw at monsters with people. could try and steal and hotwire a car to get away from monsters with people. lots of opportunities here it’s a party.

blue sargent / the raven cycle / aware

trying to keep out of the way. she doesn’t know if her powers will make the monsters more powerful, but she knows there’s a pretty solid chance and though she is feral enough to fight she doesn’t want to risk it. has a pocket knife and spite for defense but she is under five feet tall and absolutely should not try to take anything on. probably using the chaos as an excuse to steal convenience store tea

plots: someone trying to keep her out of fights. someone she’s bunkered down with. maybe someone with powers she can enhance who’s fighting or something that she helps.

ciel phantomhive / black butler / aware

he’s tiny and has asthma this is not an ideal situation for him. he does also have a gun but ciel isn’t stupid (most of the time) and definitely knows how to pick his battles. intelligence battles he can handle on his own but strength? absolutely not. will be trying to run and bunker down and potentially find someone who looks bigger and stronger than him to play the pity card of ‘i’m young and tiny and only have one eye’ to try and get some protection.

plots: we aren’t built for fighting so we’re running and bunkering down crew. ciel will be faking some kindness in this event because there’s powers in numbers and if it comes down to it he can trip someone else while running from a monster. someone protecting him like mentioned above. maybe someone who comes and saves his ungrateful ass. legit anything

donna benviento / resident evil / aware

girl is not a fighter. in the game she relies on illusions to fight ethan, which she will be using with any of the monsters possible in order to create escape routes for herself. will be searching for someone familiar since all the people she knows here can be fighters and she hopes like her enough to help her out.

plots: not the type to necessarily help anyone since she’s focused on helping herself, but could give some encouragement to someone else struggling. maybe someone who gets caught in a hallucination she intended for a monster just cause that would be wild.

entrapta / she-ra / unaware

she’s doing fine. this is the sort of woman who can make explosives on the go. not actively trying to fight monsters but not actively hiding either. she’s curious to an extreme fault and will be interested in all the weird things running around washington. though she knows it isn’t safe she desperately wants a sample and will be trying to find monster corpses or even something she can sneak up on to get one.

plots: someone trying to get her away from danger. someone hanging around her because even though she isn’t hiding she can blow up the monsters and seem safe. someone fighting monsters she’s latched onto planning to get a sample after they kill something

jaskier / the witcher / unaware

lmao he is not doing fine. even if he had his memories mans was a bard and though i think jaskier has a feral side that’s more for like bar fights than monsters. he’ll be working on hiding though he’s a little shit and won’t be able to stop himself from peaking out to try and get a story for a song from all of this. lowkey think he’ll run into a monster from the witcher and trigger some memories because i am ready to know some stuff if not everything.

plots: if anyone wants to offer this man any defense that would be cool. anyone he bunkers down with. someone stuck hearing his song ideas because he’ll probably be composing as he goes like an absolute fool. anyone who witnesses him get caught by a monster and have to stick with the defense of attempting to punch it in the face and run lol. i’m cool with whatever

karolina dean / marvel’s runaways / unaware

though she is unaware karolina is luckily aware of her powers and will be using them to get herself through this. her powers aren’t reallysomething she uses often and they do cause her to become exhausted after extended use so that’s definitely a possible problem.

plots: asdfaldsfkj

lavender brown / harry potter / aware

just thinking about the last time monsters came to life in the city and is very unhappy about it. mostly trying to hide she did not fuck with this the last time it happened and she does not fuck with it now. knows a little bit of fighting magic if it really comes down to it. will follow people to where they bunker down

plots: someone she gets stuck fighting a monster with despite wanting to dip (could develop into reluctant fighting pals). hiding buddies. someone who helps her if she panics and just trying to hide in a dark street. legit whatever

lily evans / harry potter / unaware

she is without magic or a wand or memories and doing her best with pepper spray and a decent chunk of anger. will be trying to help people despite her lack of defenses cause she’s foolish. very well may be dying in this because i want her memories back and this feels like an opportunity (considering the other ideas i have had are all awful)

plots: anyone she helps. anyone who helps her/drags her away from danger when she attempts to run right in. if anyone wants something big she could die trying to protect someone i’m open to options

river song / doctor who / semi-aware

let’s be real this is not the most dangerous situation river has ever been in. i would love to say she’s using her competence to help people but unfortunately she’s probably using the chaos as an excuse to rob high end stores. may help someone in a real casual aloof way where she’s passing by and shoots and monster but it’s not really a moral obligation thing rip. a little worried about where her mom is cause she just found out she definitely has a mom, so she can’t just lose her.

plots: someone she casually helps and then tries to dip from immediately. anyone interested in theft. may go to some fighting for the fun of it so if anyone wants to join she will be down

michiru kaioh / sailor moon / aware

very unhappy about the situation. mostly wants to find haruka considering the last real bad situation in washington had her seeing her dead body so. may provide a little protection along the way but she’s definitely on the colder side and is not meant to be a full time protector for anyone. will probably be transformed in her sailor neptune form to be able to handle the situation as best as possible

plots: someone she helps but tries to ditch. someone who asks her for help who she refuses. maybe someone who sees her fighting and comes by to join only for her to be like ‘oh you got this? i’m out then thanks for handling it.’

pansy parkinson / harry potter / aware

planning on following her successful plan that she carried out during jumanji, raiding a liquor store and finding a place to hide. will not be as easy as it was during the storm of course, but i think she’ll still kinda manage it. may get in a fight or two on the way there but that’s about it. maybe she could get injured or something lol whatever works

plots: drinking assholes buddies baby! if she does get a little injured someone for that thread (where she would probably be stupid enough to try and clean out an injury with her drinks). could save someone by accident. someone who witnesses theft lmao and has whatever reaction you want.

quinn fabray / glee / aware

uuuh quinn has many skills but none of them are made for this situation. i guess she can run kinda fast from cheerleading so that’s her best hope. it’s her one and only plan and she will be attempting to just run and hide. is not making an attempt to fight because she’s not stupid and knows anything out there could snap her in half.

plots: someone who offers some protection/saves her from a monster. bunker buddies. some regular human she’s camping out hiding with where they’re both like ‘what the actual fuck is going on in this city???’

tessa gray / the infernal devices / unaware

so she technically has magic but does she know how to use it? absolutely the fuck not. might use a tiny bit in self defense because she’s understandably very freaked out by all of this. like she knows there’s some supernatural stuff but she’s never prepared for this level of things. kinda stuck between wanting to save herself and feeling like she should help people but not knowing how so she does neither as a result. her main plan of defense is stabbing someone despite having no idea how to do so

plots: some sort of help for this victorian woman trying to survive. someone around if she accidentally uses magic to defend herself with no idea how. someone she helps get to safety.

toph beifong / avatar the last airbender / aware

lets be real she’s having a blast. loves to fight and loves fighting in a situation where she doesn’t have to worry about morals and wow should you hurt this person?? obviously monsters can be hurt so she’s in the clear and will be throwing boulders without any hesitation. lowkey thriving and running into chaos headfirst.

plots: though it wouldn’t be out of kindness she could help people or shield them or whatever. fighting buddies. someone who decides to stick by her cause she can clearly take out monsters. anything.

zagreus / hades / aware

honestly has spent the most recent part of his life fighting his way out of the underworld so this is not too crazy for him. he’s also died a lot so his concern for his own life is minimum. will be fighting and trying to help because he is a well meaning boy who doesn’t think people should be involved in this stuff if they don’t want to be. though earth was supposed to be better than this and is kinda thrown off and maybe a little sad.

plots: anyone he helps by saving from a monster or leading to safety. could steal a weapon off of someone lol. someone he starts questioning mid battle about whether or not this a common thing on earth

zhongli / genshin impact / aware

this man is very difficult to kill. he can summon meteors and shield himself from damage lmao. probably trying to take out as many monsters as possible but like in a for the greater good to save the people sort of way. reasons killing things is more helpful in the long term than slowly saving on person after another.

plots: could shield someone from an attack last minute. battle buddies. someone he accidentally frightens by calling down a whole ass meteor and handling that. will save people if they get stuck in combat just not helping people to safety or anything, so there’s options.

the island

albedo / genshin impact / aware

not gonna lie albedo is not nearly as worried as he should be. the man is bad at having emotional reactions to anything. if anything he’s really intrigued to be on a new location and will be trying to get plant and soil samples despite everything else going on.

plots: someone trying to get him to safety would be funny since it would be a very difficult task. maybe someone also just vibing with him. a research partner who he just pulls in by accident because he’s like ‘hey get me some of those flowers over there’ and they’re thrown off or whatever to the point where they just do it.

alec lightwood / shadowhunters / aware

a nervous man trying not to come off as nervous. will mostly be looking for magnus/issy, and turn out to subsequently be very unhappy when he realizes they aren’t there/are in washington (if one of them texts him). from there it’ll be about helping people and trying to keep people safe. this isn’t the sort of dangerous situation he’s used to dealing with (turns out you can’t fight the weather with a bow and arrow) but he’s heavily trained and will manage well enough himself and feels semi obligated to help regular humans survive

plots: any people he’s helping try to keep out of danger. someone aware of his concerns about his people back in washington. uuh literally anything he will be working real hard to play it cool but it’s hard when the people you care about are who knows how far aware and cell service is hard to get in a monsoon or lightning storm (he may try and find the tallest areas to scale just to try and get a text out so if anyone wants to join him they’re welcome to)

esther mckinnon / harry potter / aware

mentally cursing magic and all of the nonsense that comes with it that refuses to leave her alone so she can chill. luckily, though she’s not amazing with much magic she was always slightly better with defensive stuff or charms rather than straight up attack battle magic. luckily she’s been keeping her wand on her more often than usual cause dying will do that to a person. trying to find/contact her family and survive

plots: sort of survival crew sort of deal. she’s probably half tempted to see if she can swim back to washington so someone should talk her down

gerry keay / the magnus archives / aware

similar to esther is real tired of magic stuff or cult stuff or whatever it is and is kinda pissed to still be a part of it. he’s kinda concerned this has something to do with the entities and will be running around a bit looking for answers at the start before deciding that isn’t happening and just being tired of it. also pretty sure he’s survived worse so don’t be surprised to see him smoking a cigarette through a storm somehow acting like things are chill. is nice and wants to help people even if he doesn’t seem like it so will probably move into action the second he sees anyone struggling.

plots: if your character is tired of this shit and wants to share a cigarette they are more than welcome. he will help people in whatever way he can. someone needs to tell him you can’t fight the weather with arson because that’s the only move he’s got.

glinda upland / wicked / aware

lowkey a little pissed she was not given a warning about all of this so she could at least show up in a proper beach outfit. real tempted to just hide in her bubble and float in that until this is over but isn’t sure if that would actually help. also has bad memories when it comes to extreme weather conditions. can use some magic to try and help herself with but glinda is not built for thinking under pressure so big rip

plots: someone offering her some help she needs it. someone who witnesses her attempting to keep her hair styled throughout all of this. literally whatever.

haruhi fujioka / ouran high school host club / aware

a little too confident and bad at accepting help. will be doing their best to get through this on their own, and probably semi managing but not as good as they could with some help, especially considering they are human and so many others are not. will offer others help even though their biggest and best plan is to hide however possible

plots: reluctantly accepted help. maybe the opposite of someone trying to offer help and haruhi adamantly refusing. a hiding crew of sort, where haruhi would stick with someone else under the assumption that more eyes in better and she’s still mostly handling herself.

jin ling / the untamed / unaware

stubborn like haruhi, but will recognize his limits much faster. kinda overconfident with a habbit of running headfirst into things and them directly going to shit. lowkey thinking he could get injured and get some flashes of his memories back but not become completely aware, just a sense of things. hoping his dog is safe back home

plots: please someone help this boy dear god. if i do go with an injury maybe someone pulling him out of whatever shit he gets himself into. any sort of group safety or help that can deal with him being a little mean because that’s just how he is unfortunately.

kyoshi / avatar the last airbender / unaware

‘let kyoshi bend a meteor’ an admin said to me as a joke but you know what? she could so why not! will be attempting to utilize the bending she barely understands to get through the weather and will probably be semi successful considering she’s best at bending giant amounts of elements rather than precise bending. will be keeping herself safe but nervous about anyone being near her due to not feeling in control

plots: someone she saves with her bending. someone that could get hurt from her bending something into them accidentally (though probably not too seriously). someone hanging around her to stay safe but it’s just making her nervous but she doesn’t want to tell them to leave her alone so it’s a struggle all around

namaari / and the last dragon / aware

is used to surviving in difficult weather situations. not this bad but like, it’s not so far out of her comfort zone that she’s absolutely screwed. probably has a good instinct for it. doesn’t trust super easily so will not be super jazzed about joining a group but could go with a person or two.

plots: someone she impulsively helps. someone who helps her and she gets stuck feeling like she has to thank them and hangs around till she gets a chance to repay them (or she ditches them to save her own skin). working together but she’s clearly hesitant with them

pearl / steven universe / aware

she’ll be good. i mean very confused and concerned about how she got out of the city, but interested in finding out how it all works. will be trying to do some research around the horrible weather. is also a very fast builder and could probably manage some shelter. if she decides there’s nothing to find may try and establish a place to just stay at and deal with the weather. does have a moral compass and will attempt to help people.

plots: someone she helps/saves. any people interested in looking for answers with her that don’t have enough concern about the weather situation. can try and build some protection structures for people.

rita skeeter / harry potter / aware

real tempted to turn into a bug and just bury in the dirt until this is all over. may start that way even until earthquake kicks in and that doesn’t feel safe either. will be a beetle for some of it though. luckily most of her magic skill is in defense (she has always prepared for the day someone snaps and tries to punch her) so she’ll kinda manage, but is a selfish bitch only out for herself so do not expect much from her in terms of help. will try and start doing interviews on the island despite the craziness to prep for the article she’s gonna write after

plots: someone she starts trying to interview mid chaos. someone who pulls her out of danger while she’s filming something. lmao if someone wants to see her turn out of a bug for the laughs (or discovering she’s an illegal animagus) that could happen i’m down for whatever

victor nikiforov / yuri on ice / aware

sir is absolutely not built for this. nothing in his career has built him for this, it’s just made him a charismatic egomaniac with bad knees and ankles. probably makes a snapchat story along the lines of ‘someone come save me i’m a national treasure.’

plots: will cling onto people for help so anyone stuck with him. could offer money in return for people with any form of protection/support. making unfortunate snapchat stories/instagram posts as it goes. let him pull some people into the wildest selfies ever.

#gun tw #knife tw #death tw #hw: plot call #hwevent12 #what was i thinking with this truly #i feel like i owe a public apology for it #will probably wait a day or two to work on plotting and then put out a starter call

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kawaiijellymonster · 4 years ago

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So I’ve got a note in my notes app called “Fanfic lines that should be in a hall of fame” and it’s gotten pretty long so I figure I’ll toss it on here so yall can enjoy it, most of them are: mha, zukka, miraculous ladybug, harry potter, and I think one is from a comment on a hannibal amv, But here you go:

Stain sold papers because he just had an aura about him that drew people in, like people who slow down to look at car crashes.

“The Rumor Come Out: Does Todoroki Shoto is Gay?”

Izuku spent the next week going to his normal martial arts classes, studying, and drinking gallons of coffee. Not healthy but he could deal with it. His body was never meant to be permanent.

So no one was watching when Mei placed her forehead against his, breath fanning across his face as she spoke. "Wake up Loki… the world needs you."

“No probs ‘lil listener!” Hizashi said, striking a dramatic pose. “I’ll be your DJ all through the night, bringin’ you such rockin’ hits as safety, security and sweet dreams!”

“This is stupid! Screw the waiting and screw these stupid butterflies. They're not paying rent, the little shits--”

Experimenting with unstable genetic mutant abominations is more of an art than a science, really."

Several looks pass across both their faces. “No flying for a month,” Sirius declares. That sucks, actually. But he’s also a hundred percent certain he can get them to cave on that in two weeks tops. “Okay. Is that for the breaking into the Ministry, destroying the Department of Mysteries, making a bargain with Voldemort, or bringing all my friends with me?” “It’s for recklessly endangering your own life again,” Remus says, “and while the punishment very much doesn’t fit the crime, we’re a bit at a loss for what else to do.” “It wasn’t reckless!” he protests. “We had a plan and everything, and we even brought an adult! An adult Order member! Also what else were we supposed to do, let Snape die?” Sirius takes a deep breath, but Remus steps on his foot before he can put it in his mouth. “Which is why you’re only getting flying privileges taken away and not thrown in a cell in Azkaban for our sanity and your safety.” As if any cell could hold him. “I accept your terms.”

“Who’s Theophania?” Sirius asks. Harry hesitates. Perhaps bringing her up was his smartest decision, strategically speaking. “If I tell you you’re not allowed to throw me in Azkaban. Or ground me.” “This isn’t a negotiation,” Sirius repeats. If Blaise has taught him anything, it’s that everything is a negotiation. “She’s a friend.” “And?” Sirius repeats. Remus suddenly grabs onto Sirius’s shoulder, “Wait. Petrifying - during your second year - is Theophania - she’s not the basilisk.” “No, they killed it,” Sirius says automatically. Harry remains silent. “Harry!” He rubs his nose. “It turns out I’m not that good at killing things. Unkilling things, however? My specialty.”

“It’s okay,” Nanaia says, “you don’t know. What do you do when you don’t know something?” “Try something you do know and hope it doesn’t make everything worse?” For some reason, Horace looks sad at that answer, and Dumbledore shifts from one foot to the other. “No,” she says, “you ask for help.” Oh.

“It’ll piss off your son,” he answers bluntly. “Fuck that kid,” Riddle Sr. says

“You played me!” “Like a cheap kazoo”

Batman sighed, before speaking in a voice that was so unlike his usual growl that most of the other League members almost fell out of their chairs. Diana and Clark seemed to be used to it. “Damian,” he started. His voice was still deep, but a regular-deep, instead of I-just-swallowed-six-buckets-of-gravel deep.

“She loved James too,” she assures, and the confidence she says that with allows him to breathe, like someone has let go of his lungs. “It is possible to love more than one person at the same time. She loved your father with the type of love that’s – that was like a shooting star, burning and bright and touching everyone around them. Her love for Severus was different, and in the end it wasn’t the type of love either of them could handle.”

You’re better at it now then many people are after leaving a full apprenticeship, and you’ve only had a year of lessons a couple of times a week instead of years of intensive study. Do you know why that is?” “Luck?” he offers weakly. For some reason, he doesn’t like the direction this is going in. “No,” she says. “To be good at healing, the way you are, the way I am, you need a certain combination of things. Intelligence, power, control, but more than that. Stubbornness, a tricky balance of flexibility and inflexibility, and a constant, brutal assessment over your own skills. And something else.” “A propensity towards poor life choices?” he suggests. Poppy shakes her head, not taking the bait. “No. You have to care. You have to care about everyone, even people you dislike, and you have to care so much that if feels like it’s killing you, you have to care and that care has to hurt, until the only thing that hurts worse than caring is not caring. To be good at this, you have to let it hurt you.”

“You two shouldn’t have bothered dressing formally for Albus, he’s a bitch.” Harry doesn’t have any idea what’s going on, but he’s loving it.

“It was on the syllabus,” Zuko whispered conspiratorially to his mother. Sokka gasped. “You know I don’t read those!” “This is your own fault then.” “I like to be surprised. The procrastination keeps me humble.”

sometimes you remind me of the stars youre gorgeous and happy and can always brighten me on the darkest days and even when youre dampened you can guide me home

“imagine you are the only person who loves to play chess more than anything but nobody else in the world has ever heard about chess. and then you see a person holding a chessboard. it’s like your whole world was reborn”

"I wanted to be a stripper in middle school," Izuku said. Yup, that's a good cover.

What you’re asking for isn’t fair or right. You can’t ask a person for more than they’re willing to give

In Mei’s words, “You have about five minutes of ‘fuck that one thing in particular.’ Make them count.”

“Mei, let me introduce your new best friend. This is Momo. She has a Quirk that lets her make anything as long as she knows its composition inside and out. All you have to do is buy her dinner,“ Izuku said,

The cameras were looped. The bots were hacked. It was a good day to be a villain.

“None. The alarm never left the building.” “Really? Why is that?” “Mei finished first and decided to do you a favor. However, you've got the fire alarm just starting to go off and that's on a different circuit. Take a fast way down.” “Understood,” Hitoshi drawled. A moment later he was looking back at the crew. “Ladies and Frenchman. We take the express.”

Quinn is talking like that actually answers his question when it really, really doesn’t. “If you don’t start making sense, I’ll cry.”

“You’re one of my best students,” ze says. “You should understand the importance of timing. Speaking of, you’re late for your next class.”

Fuck, he totally is. “Thank you for that very confusing answer. I’ll think of you while crying myself to sleep.”

He’d wondered if that was what bravery was, to be quiet even when you were hurting so much you wanted to scream.

maybe bravery was also running screaming at the thing that nearly killed you, to keep it from killing someone else.

“Apologies are not difficult. Good apologies revolve around three basic points. One, I acknowledge what I did was wrong. Two, I regret that you were harmed. Three, this is how I plan to make sure it does not happen again. That’s all. Apologies are easy.” Then she’d glanced at them all again, evaluating. “And if you become very, very good at your job... they will be the absolute hardest thing you ever do.”

“Even though we’re a bunch of migraine-inducing hellions who are smart enough to know when something is a bad idea and stupid enough to still do it?”

“You’re like the nice china that Al only brings out for Christmas. Except Bruce just realised that I stole it, and chipped it. Maybe it’s time I give it back before I shatter all the pieces.”

she won’t co-parent my perfectly reasonable and well-behaved children.” Clark snorts. “Damian’s trying to stab Tim, right now.”

"Oh, my knight in shining armour. What would I do without you?" the teen droned, placing a dramatic hand on her head.

"I think you mean 'knight in shining leather', M'Lady. And without me, you would be left alone in this kingdom of lies.”

"It's a kingdom, alright. It'll topple sooner or later." "That's the spirit!" Adrien laughed.

Here’s something that a harbinger of tragedy would never find the courage to admit: there are moments in between the bitter self-hatred and the visceral, tangible consequences of your sins in which you almost think you’re worthy of forgiveness; of second chances; of a life beyond your greatest regrets. It’s a unique brand of pain,

“Go directly to horny jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.”

“You can’t wait around for him to be sorry,” Izuku says. He’s quiet now. This isn’t something that’s meant to be shouted. “Maybe he’ll never be sorry. Maybe he doesn’t know he did anything wrong, or he doesn’t care. It doesn’t matter.” Cautiously he takes a step forward. “You can’t depend on the people who hurt you to be the ones to make it better, or it’s never going to get better. They’ll only disappoint you, or hurt you even worse, and then they’ll be gone and you’ll be waiting forever.”

Midoriya may be strong as hell, but that just means looking out for him has to be a team effort.

How would his new adoring fans react if they knew he raised a villain? He's no All-Might. His pillar's made of toothpicks, and it's not gonna take much to crack it.”

Tensei approaches Rei, “Okay, this plan is childish, unprofessional, and a discourtesy to this school's reputation. That being said, when do we nail the little twat?

Hinata is dead. Deceased. Passed away, laid to rest with a headstone that reads Here Lies Hinata Shouyou, Killed By A Wink And A Blown Kiss.

It’s dangerous to be a bad father when you have life insurance

#long post #fanfic lines that deserve to be in a hall of fame #fanfic #rambles #lol

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kjack89 · 6 years ago

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The Liberator, Vol III: Hero of Sacrifice

Well, it’s only been two and a half years since I wrote Vol II of this AU. #mybad

There will be a Volume IV because I promised a happy ending and I’ll be damned if, some three years later, I disappoint anyone, though I endeavor to have the fourth part done sooner than two and half years from now.

ExR, modern, superhero AU, developing relationship.

Read Vol I here and Vol II here.

Before Grantaire could even open his eyes, he knew something was wrong.

It wasn’t the fact that his entire body felt like he’d been run over by a semi-truck, or that he had bruises in places he generally wasn’t sure it was possible to be bruised. It wasn’t even the dull throb that he knew from too many close calls came from a gunshot wound.

It was the fact that he could hear yelling echoing through the halls of his normally silent base of operations.

Which could only mean that, in addition to bringing him back here, Combeferre had brought Enjolras back as well. And Grantaire wasn’t entirely sure that he was ready to face him. Or the secret he’d never intended on Enjolras learning.

With a groan, he pulled himself into a sitting position, making as if to run his fingers through his hair and wincing at the flash of pain when he tried to move. “Fuck,” he hissed, debating if he wanted to try getting up or just texting Combeferre begging him to bring coffee. And alcohol. And probably some percocet.

He was saved from having to make even that tiny movement by Combeferre appearing in his doorway, coffee in hand and a particularly harried look on his face. “Good, you’re up,” he said curtly. “Enjolras wants to talk to you.”

Grantaire groaned again. “Dare I ask why you brought him back here?” he managed, reaching up to accept the mug of coffee.

“He saw your face,” Combeferre said shortly, as if it was an answer.

And in some ways, it was, but it wasn’t the answer Grantaire wanted to hear.

“And if I don’t want to talk to him?” Grantaire asked instead.

Combeferre sighed. “You owe him a conversation, at the very least,” he said, sounding as tired as Grantaire felt. “Whatever explanation you want to give — if any — is entirely up to you beyond that.”

Grantaire made a face before draining the rest of the coffee in one long gulp. He ran a hand over his face and debated whether he felt human enough for the conversation that awaited him. “Fine,” he said. “But I can’t promise Enjolras is going to like what I have to say.”

Combeferre cracked a smile. “Of that certainty, I was never in doubt.” His brow furrowed as he gave Grantaire a once over. “When you’re doing talking to Enjolras, I want to check the stitches on that GSW. You took it an odd angle and I want to make sure the stitches are holding.”

“I’m pretty sure the lack of blood gushing down my leg is probably as good an indication as anything,” Grantaire grumbled. “But fine.”

He stood with another groan, stretching cautiously and wincing as every movement sent twinges of pain through his body. But it was nothing he couldn’t handle, or nothing he hadn’t handled before, at the very least, and after a long moment, he nodded decisively. “Right,” he said. “Better go face the firing squad.”

He didn’t wait for Combeferre’s response, padding barefoot down the hallway towards the kitchen the second cup of coffee he needed to face both the day and an irate Enjolras. He realized belatedly that Combeferre must’ve changed him out of his suit, and he paused in his step, blushing a mottled shade of red at the thought of Enjolras seeing him stripped down to practically nothing.

Then again, that also gave him the tantalizing thought of Enjolras perched next to his bed while Combeferre did his level best to sew his bullet wound back together without having to call Joly in as backup.

Would Enjolras have been stoic, watching it? Or had he, maybe, though Grantaire could barely imagine it, grasped Grantaire’s hand, held it tightly even though the other man was unconscious and past feeling the pain?

Well, at the very least, that thought was going to keep him up at night.

Grantaire wasn’t surprised to see Enjolras in the kitchen, mug of coffee in front of him, and he ignored the sharp way that Enjolras looked up at him, instead heading directly to the coffeepot and pouring himself a second cup.

Only after he had drained half of it did he finally turn around to meet Enjolras’s eyes. “Morning,” he said, with somewhat false cheer.

Enjolras didn’t smile. “Were you ever going to tell me?”

“Not if I could get away with not,” Grantaire answered honestly. Enjolras recoiled, something like hurt flashing across his face before being replaced by steely resolve, and Grantaire sighed. “C’mon,” he said, jerking his head away from the kitchen. “Let’s take this elsewhere.”

He led Enjolras to main room, ignoring the images flashing across the screen of Combeferre’s computer and instead sinking down on the couch, letting out a sigh of relief as he did. Enjolras glanced around, cradling his mug of coffee in both hands. “You know, I expected more for a secret lair,” he said after a long moment.

Grantaire snorted. “Yeah, well, not all of us have trust funds to pay for swanky digs. Besides, the place is rent-controlled and the landlord didn’t seem care about the, uh, modifications I needed to do in order to make the place functional.”

“If you don’t have a trust fund, how do you pay for your equipment?” Enjolras asked mildly, picking Grantaire’s grappling hook gun off Combeferre’s desk and looking at it with a critical eye.

“Military contracts, and will you put that down before you hurt yourself?”

Enjolras scowled but nonetheless set it down before moving to sit across from Grantaire. “Now can I ask you what I really want to know?”

“You can ask,” Grantaire said, after a long moment. “But I reserve the right to not answer.”

Enjolras’s eyes narrowed. “Why?”

“Self-incrimination and the fact that I don’t have my attorney present, for starters,” Grantaire said evenly. “The fact that there are some secrets even you don’t need to know, for another.”

For a moment, it looked like Enjolras wanted to press the issue further, but then he shook his head before taking a deep breath. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Grantaire took a sip of coffee. “Is that honestly your number one concern?” he asked mildly. “Not my tragic backstory or why I’m doing this?”

Enjolras rolled his eyes. “I already know why you’re doing this,” he said impatiently. “You care about justice, and—”

Grantaire snorted. “Justice?” he repeated, incredulous. “Enjolras, this is me we’re talking about, not you. In what world do I give enough of a fuck about justice to do all this?”

“And here I thought we were talking about the Liberator,” Enjolras shot back.

“Sure,” Grantaire said tiredly. “That too.”

Enjolras glared at him. “Fine,” he said, biting off the word. “Then why are you doing this?”

“Do you really want to know?”

Enjolras looked exasperated. “Of course I want to—”

“No, I mean it,” Grantaire interrupted, struggling to keep his expression and his tone as neutral as possible. “Do you really, truly want to know? Even if the answer isn’t what you want to hear?” Enjolras stared at him, and Grantaire added, a little desperately, “Even if the answer changes how you feel about the Liberator?”

“Grantaire—”

Enjolras broke off, his expression unreadable. Then, after a long moment, he jerked a nod. “Yes,” he said. “I really want to know.”

Grantaire jerked his head in a nod and stared down into his coffee mug, now wishing he was drinking something stronger. “My dad used to beat me,” he said abruptly. “Well, he mainly beat my mom, but that’s just because I don’t think he ever thought I was important enough to merit a beating.”

“I’m sorry,” Enjolras offered, a little tentatively, but Grantaire waved him off.

“It was a long time ago,” he said dismissively. “But once I started school, it wasn’t just my dad — the kids there used to beat me up, too, so my mom did the only thing she could and enrolled me in every martial arts class she could.” He shrugged. “The kids at school learned their lesson, but my dad—”

He broke off, his expression twisting. “He was a CPA by day and book cooker for the mob by night, and to top it off, he was a mean drunk with a meaner right hook. And one day, when he hit me, I hit back.”

A beat of silence, then—

“He died four days later. He never woke up from the coma I put him in.”

Enjolras was staring at him, but Grantaire couldn’t bring himself to look at him, couldn’t bring himself to see the expression on his face, the disappointment, or the fear, or—

“My mom and I lied to the police about one happened, said he’d gotten in a drunk driving accident. His BAC was twice the legal limit when we got him to the hospital so it’s not like the cops asked a lot of questions.” Grantaire’s voice turned bitter, and he had to swallow against the bile that rose in the back of his throat. “But for weeks after, I lay awake at nighttime wondering if this made me a murderer.”

“It didn’t,” Enjolras said fiercely, and now Grantaire did glance up, unsurprised if a little gratified at the fury radiating from Enjolras. “It doesn’t. It was self-defense.”

Grantaire shrugged again. “Maybe,” he said, as if he didn’t quite believe it. “But that didn’t stop me from wondering if I would wind up killing someone again.”

Enjolras didn’t seem to have anything to say to that, and Grantaire took a deep breath before continuing, “Then I went off to college, and I met you, and Les Amis. And when I learned about all your plans to change things without violence — I mean, I don’t really care about the whole change part, but the nonviolence part — I wanted to believe that.”

He sighed heavily and shook his head, something between a smile and a grimace twisting his lips. “And maybe I would’ve even managed it, if it weren’t for one day…”

Grantaire trailed off, and Enjolras leaned forward, just slightly. “One day what?” he asked softly.

“One day, you were attacked.” Enjolras blinked, surprise and something like confusion mingled in his expression. “You were still in law school, clerkin for one of the more liberal judges, and someone attacked you outside the courthouse with a knife.”

“I remember,” Enjolras said, his voice low. “But I didn’t think you would. I was barely scratched.”

“How could I not remember?” Grantaire whispered, trying not to sound as pained as he felt, his heart beating a painful rhythm in his chest as much at the memory as it had that day all those years ago. “I tossed and turned for weeks thinking about you being attacked. Trying to think of ways to keep you safe.”

Enjolras shook his head. “But—”

“I swear to God, Enjolras, if you ask why, you’re stupider than anyone has ever given you credit for.” Enjolras closed his mouth and managed a glare that Grantaire mostly ignored. “I had to keep you safe, but I didn’t know how. I couldn’t do it myself in broad daylight, you’d never let me—” Enjolras made a small noise of what might have been protest but Grantaire again ignored him. “—so I had to come up with some kind of secret identity. And so the Liberator was born to keep you safe from the perps you couldn’t keep behind bars, the ones who would have no hesitation killing you.”

Grantaire shrugged as if his simple shrug could diminish everything he’d done over the past few years. “I got the only person I knew cared as much about your safety as I did to help with the tech, and it was Combeferre’s idea to arrange for some military contracts to pay the start up cash and then — well, you know the rest.”

He finished a bit lamely and busied himself with draining the rest of his coffee, again not wanting to look at Enjolras’s face for fear of what he might see there. “So you did all of this — for me?” Enjolras asked slowly.

Grantaire shrugged again. “Well, uh, it started that way, at least,” he muttered. “Then it sort of turned into trying to protect the whole damn city.”

“Why?”

“Because you love this city,” Grantaire said simply. “And if you’re willing to fight to keep it safe, how could I not?”

The words were barely out of his mouth before Enjolras had crossed to him, leaning down and kissing him, something just as fierce as was in his tone earlier coming through in the kiss. For one long moment, Grantaire kissed him back, holding onto him with a desperate grip, unwilling or unable to end the moment too soon.

Then he pulled away. “Enjolras, stop,” he ordered softly.

“What—” Enjolras started, and Grantaire shook his head.

“I can’t be who you want me to be,” he said, echoing the words he had said to Enjolras once before, every word hurting more than the bullet wound he’d taken the night before.

Enjolras frowned slightly. “What are you talking about?” he asked, somewhat impatiently. “You’re exactly who I’ve always thought you were—”

“Oh yeah?” Grantaire scoffed. “And who is that, exactly? Because last time I checked, you thought I was a useless waste of space.”

Enjolras’s eyes flashed. “I’ve never once said that,” he said, his voice low.

“Maybe not, but it doesn’t change the fact that prior to knowing I was a masked vigilante, you thought I was good for nothing.” Enjolras recoiled but said nothing in response to that, and Grantaire barked a dry, humorless laugh. “Exactly my point.”

“Fine, but I know better now, and I’m allowed to take recently discovered exculpatory evidence into account,” Enjolras shot back.

Grantaire snorted. “Didn’t realize this was suddenly a trial, Counselor.”

“Well, if it is, you’re the one trying your damnedest to condemn yourself.”

Grantaire threw his hands up in frustration. “Because I am condemned!” he half-shouted. “Have you not been paying attention, Enjolras? I’m a murderer!”

“It’s not murder,” Enjolras said firmly. “It’s justice.”

Grantaire bit back the hysterical laughter he could feel bubbling in his chest. “That’s a helluva position to take as someone who’s spent his entire career arguing against the death penalty.” He ran a tired hand across his face, all the fight seeping out of him and just leaving him feeling exhausted and defeated. “I’ve annointed myself judge, jury, and executioner. Who gave me that right?”

Enjolras shook his head. “When the system is broken, what other choice is there?” he demanded.

“Fixing the system instead of tearing it down, for starters,” Grantaire returned evenly.

Enjolras rolled his eyes. “And if no one will fix the system?”

“That’s why the city needs you, Enjolras,” Grantaire told him softly. “They need someone who understands the system and its brokenness, someone who knows what needs to be done and is willing to do everything to fix it.”

Enjolras’s brow furrowed. “What do you think I’ve been trying to do?”

Grantaire arched an eyebrow at him. “Well at least recently, you’ve been pretty content to let criminals walk and face the Liberator instead of facing justice.” Enjolras shook his head but Grantaire didn’t let him interrupt. “You are losing the parts of you that I believe in most, and I can’t just watch that happen.”

“What are you saying?” Enjolras asked quietly.

“I’m saying…” Grantaire trailed off, closing his eyes for a brief moment and swallowing hard before continuing. “I’m saying that I always thought there would be a day, when the city no longer needed the Liberator, and maybe then, you and I—”

He broke off as if he couldn’t quite bear to actually say the words, couldn’t bear to admit to a dream that he knew in his heart could never be. “And what, you think the city will always need the Liberator?” Enjolras asked.

“No.” Grantaire met his glare evenly. “My fear is that if you keep going down this path, you will always need the Liberator.”

Enjolras shook his head. “Grantaire—”

“Go home, Enjolras,” Grantaire ordered.

“But—”

“Go home,” Grantaire repeated. “I have work to do.”

For a moment, it looked like Enjolras might argue further, but then his expression hardened and he turned, storming away back down the hallway toward the kitchen and Combeferre.

Grantaire closed his eyes for a brief moment, struggling against the tears he could feel pricking in the corners of his eyes. “Ow,” he whispered, rubbing the bullet wound in his thigh, but the pain he felt had absolutely nothing to do with his battle wounds, and everything to do with the work he had to do, and the work he feared now more than ever would never be done.

The Liberator will return in Vol IV: A Heroic Resolve

#enjolras x grantaire #exr #enjoltaire #enjolras #grantaire #combeferre #fanfiction #les miserables #modern au #superhero au #secret identity #injury cw #referenced violence #child abuse mentions

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theincompetentgenius · 5 years ago

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Hiya ★

Can I get matchups for A3 and ikevamp ? ( And maybe ikerev ? Hehe~)

I’m an only child who’s a virgo and INTP-T who like to draw traditionally (but only with pencil & pen tho) and loves basically all kinds of music. I like seeing people playing games, and I play some games a bit myself too. I draw and read novels/story books / comics in my free time ♥ ( I’m not into Harry Potter but apparently I’m a Slytherin according to a test I take ).

I have many kind people surrounding me, but I have a hard time expressing what I want or what’s on my mind, so I kinda keep to myself from other people, except a few people that are very close to me, and I also keep a distance between myself and new people, thinking that all the people that I know now are enough. This also makes it easy for me to be treated badly ( thank God I only have good people around me ), but don’t worry, I know my limits and I will fight back to those who mistreated me if I’m super pissed. HARD.

Although I’m like that, I’m always open to people who just want somebody to lend an ear to their problem. I’m probably the mom friend because of that. Though I don’t always properly “listen” to their rants, as sometimes they go into one ear and go immediately out the other ^^

I treasure people who are close to me, so once you get to know me, and if you’re a decent person, I’ll stay loyal to you. And maybe because of my nature in the paragraph before, I may not show it if I love/care for you even tho deep down I really feel that way, but I will express it in any way I can ( though I can be shy doing so sometimes >//////<)

With friends, that’s my age or close to my age, I’m VERY wild around them 😅. I talk endlessly, I joke around, I get mischievous and play pranks with or towards them. Because I can adapt to other people’s personalities ( except the ones that are being mean for no reason ), I have many types of friends, from the nerds to the bad kids and popular ones, and that means my personality being influenced by all of them.

I don’t know if it’s a good or a bad thing, but I kinda regret it a lil bit from being influenced by the bad kids, since I curse a lot and getting into fights as a grade-schooler. But aside from that, I don’t really have regrets, since I think a lot about my life but I don’t let it sink an impression on me, so I can easily move on from a bad experience and treasure the good ones.

I act pretty much the same around other people, but how I act still depends on which friend group is I hanging with, since my mom is outgoing, and therefore I have many friends/connections/acquaintances through her. It makes it easier to get what I want because of her ( but I’ve been less spoiled than how I was before, tho )

I don’t really do any kind of physical activity, whether it’s martial arts or just plain sports. The only thing I enjoy is dancing, swimming, and badminton, as I’m pretty good at the latter ( though I rarely swim and been playing less badminton since I came to america). I don’t have good stamina, and just by walking pretty far, or by plain running got me feeling like I’m on the verge of dying TT.

I’m quite open to experiencing new stuff, and I’ll be able to adapt to the new environments pretty easily ( at least that’s what I think judging by how I’m doing in America for four months since I went away for school ).

I’m more of a “behind the scenes” person rather than the one who’s in the spotlight, just because I don’t like all the troubles that go with being the center of attention. So when there are a group project and all that kind of stuff, I’ll be the one who tells everyone what to do (but not the leader), and people sometimes rely on me if there no one else available. Even though I’m heavily involved in things, if something goes wrong, I’ll never take the blame first and try to blame it on something else lol, even if all fingers point to me. ( I’ll try to make excuses for myself )

I have a straight, shoulder-length black hair with dark brown eyes, and I’m pretty annoyed that I’m around 5'0 ( I wish I can get taller ). You can say that I’m chubby, with a few acne here and there decorating my face, and when I’m hot, my whole body turns red ( my friends even joke about it saying my skin is like tomato or boiled crab every summer ). Because of this, I don’t like extreme temperatures, whether it’s very hot or very cold.

I’m bilingual, and also know a bit of vocabulary in some other languages. I know quite some stuff, anything from what we learn in school, to useless fun facts, and it’s because I like to learn about new stuff ( not studying, they’re two completely different things ). I’m not big on practicing the knowledge that I have thought, I’m only big in the theory department.

So, I think that’s all for the description of myself. I’m sorry if it’s too long or too short, as this is my first time requesting longer matchups ^^ thank you again in advance ★

Thanks for the request and I hope you enjoy the matchup! Also, the length is totally fine because the more info, the more I get to use for your matchup. (I just cut the post at the very beginning because it would be a long scroll for everyone else lol).

A3!

I’d pair you with…………………… Citron!

Now matchups for A3! can be difficult because I have 20 different options, so there are way too many possibilities in my head. There were a few contenders for this one, but I ended up choosing Kazunari as your runner-up. Kazunari is an energetic fireball, so the two of you would have so much fun together! He loves your mischevious side and appreciates how much you contribute to the company with your “mom friend” attitude. He can’t help but shower you with affection.

However, I ended up choosing Citron as your match! He’d really appreciate the fact that you’re one of the few people who don’t roll your eyes or ignore him when he makes mistakes while speaking. In fact, the two of you would spend time together to improve his English. You’d make some fun games to help him to understand the right words with the right definitions. He does fairly well at first, but he seems to forget all of it after a day or two.

In return, Citron helps you with your mischevious shenanigans. He usually distracts the victim with his bright smile or confusing words, giving you more than enough time to lay your traps before the victim can notice. The only issue is that Citron gets very close to blowing your cover, but he manages to compensate for it in other ways.

Citron loves that you’re open-minded. With that mentality, he can show you all his favorite foods, clothes, and customs from his culture. The two of you have a great time as you’re introduced to new flavors, try on beautiful cultural clothing, and experience a different way of life. Every time he shows you something about his culture, it makes him feel closer to home.

As for your listening habits, Citron doesn’t really mind! Although he has a lot to say, he understands that it’s very easy to get lost with his vocabulary. Every time you find yourself zoning out, he assumes you got confused by his wording and simply moves on. There’s no arguments or squabbles here.

Citron is also amazed that you’re really good at leading despite being a behind-the-scenes person. Since the director is always busy, he often comes to you to see if there’s anything he can do to help improve the quality of the plays or improve his acting. After having a one-on-one session with you, he always walks out feeling like a new and improved man.

Another Possibility: Kazunari Miyoshi

Ikemen Vampire

I’d pair you with………………… Napoleon Bonaparte!

I was really getting Napoleon vibes from your description, but I also thought about Comte! He’d love how you care for everyone in the mansion, especially since he has worked quite a bit to keep them all together. Also, you’d be the mom friend while he’d be the dad friend, so that’s automatically an amazing ship. However, I ended up going with Napolean instead.

Now Napoleon is the easiest to trust (besides Comte) because he’s more human than anyone else in the mansion (so he’s not out to suck all the blood out of your body). He constantly keeps an eye on you, making sure that none of the other vampires harm you. It’s really hard to keep you from harm, however, since you easily make friends with almost all the residents. Luckily, he’s caught Arthot creeping almost three times now.

Napoleon is the perfect muse for your art! You have him sit down in various poses so you can draw the perfect portrait. Although the French leader doesn’t understand why you chose him out of everyone in the mansion. Every time he asks, you look up from your painting board and ask, “Would you like me to paint a nude Arthur instead?” Napolean laughs and doesn’t ask any more questions during the rest of your painting.

Napoleon is the first person to tease you about your red skin during extreme climates. Whenever it’s freezing outside, he’ll look to you with a hearty laugh and ask whether his presence is causing your entire body to blush. All you can do is glare at him because your teeth are too busy chattering against each other to form a response. So Napoleon takes off his jacket and slides it onto your shoulder.

He’s also amazed that you don’t have any major regrets in your life, so Napoleon always encourages you to live your best life. Even if he doesn’t see the point of some of the things you do, Napoleon is always by your side. He’s always willing to participate in your shenanigans for that reason, no matter how crazy they might be.

You also introduce Napoleon to some of your favorite novels and comic collection. As he picks up a book, you begin to explain the synopsis of the story. After flipping through a few pages, he decides that he’ll take a look into it. A few days later, he’s read the entire novel and unfortunately ships your least favorite pairing. The two of you squabble over it all the time.

Another Possibility: Comte de Saint-Germain

Dangerous Fellows

I’d pair you with……………….. Eugene!

Originally, I was going to go with Harry. Similar to what would have gone down with Comte, the two of you would be in charge of keeping the morale high within the group. Also, Harry is drawn to the fact that you’re willing to listen to his problems, especially when he needs a shoulder to cry on. However, I ended up going with Eugene.

Now Eugene is quite some trouble because of his less-than-friendly attitude. However, your friendly nature would slowly bring him closer to you. Although he tries to hide it, it’s very clear the Eugene likes your motherly attitude towards him. No one else gives him that much attention or affection (besides Harry).

Also, Eugene’s personality blends perfectly with your’s. He’d a loud child who needs lots of attention without a sense of direction, while you prefer to stay on the sidelines while assigning roles to others. You give him purpose and love, which allows him to let his guard down around you.

The two of you bond because of your shared interest in music. While Eugene was more involved in music than you were, he’s glad that there’s someone else who understands his passion for the subject. Sometimes, the two of you sneak away to hear Eugene play the piano in the music room. When he does, you close your eyes and forget about all the bloodshed around you. When he’s finished, you quietly applaud him and praise his skills. It reminds him of how much he used to love this feeling.

He declares his love for you by giving you a bag of his favorite chips. It’s not a lot, but he really likes his chips. The fact that he gave you his chips means that he likes you more than his chips, which means he likes you a lot.

Additionally, both of you try to flake out from missions as much as possible. Neither one of you are great at running or other physical activity, so you guys try to convince Lawrence not to let you guys out. Unfortunately, everyone has to do their part and the two of you are shipped out together (Lawrence was trying to kill two bird with one stone), but y’all managed to come back without too much damage.

Another Possibility: Harry

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makeste · 6 years ago

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BnHA Chapter 183: The Rest of the Cultural Festival

Previously on BnHA: Class 1-A brought the fucking house down. The band played their hearts out and the act literally opened with a bang thanks to the resident human incendiary device on drums. The dancers did their thing, and Aoyama played the role of both fireworks and disco ball. Sero, Mineta, and Todoroki combined their quirks to create paths of ice over the audience’s heads. Momo then shot out a bunch of confetti, and Ochako dove into the crowd and floated a bunch of people to have a dance party in mid-air. Iida doing the robot was the highlight of the chapter and indeed the whole manga, but Jirou was a close second, with an adorable flashback to when she first told her parents she wanted to be a hero instead of a musician, and they were the most supportive EVER, and it was amazing. Even the surly upperclassmen were won over by class A’s general vibe of awesomeness, and everyone danced their hearts out, and Eri was THRILLED and her smile was brighter than the sun and Mirio cried and oh my gosh you guys. I just feel bad for the rest of the classes that have to follow this act now lmao.

Today on BnHA: Class 1-B puts on the most audacious fanfiction-turned-stage-play since Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. All Might informs Deku that he has 47 missed calls and next time would it kill him to PICK UP HIS GODDAMN CELL PHONE jesus christ. Hounddog rips Deku a new one and tells him to be more careful in the future and throws him 20 feet into the air and tells him to go have fun. Eri is so fucking cute that I almost burst into tears just from how cute she is. The surly upperclassmen apologize for their shit attitudes and vow to spread the word of how class 1-A is actually really fucking cool. Kendou, Kenranzaki, and Hadou battle it out for the Miss Con title and Hadou finally wins the title after three years. The kids enjoy the rest of the festival, and Deku gives Eri a homemade candy apple before bidding her farewell. Down at the station, a nice gorilla man sits with with the detailed Gentle and Aiba. Gentle explains that Aiba was never directly involved in any crimes and accepts responsibility for his misdeeds, thus taking his first steps towards rehabilitation.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 207 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

okeedoke, I’m back and ready to finish up this arc and enter the next one which has been much-hyped thus far!

but first, class 1-B’s copyright-infringing play!

I really didn’t think chapter 182 could be topped, but somehow 183 has managed to do it in a single page. I’m speechless

also, the fact that they’ve literally done the “I am your father scene” here kind of makes the Dad for One theory slightly less likely

-- OR DOES IT. maybe this is just meant to throw us off our guard! I won’t give up!!

and now everyone’s walking out afterwards and either critiquing it or talking about how awesome and funny it was

Kaminari is sad because class A didn’t get to see it because they were cleaning everything up from their program. awww

and meanwhile Deku is getting chewed out by his dad

“is he getting scolded?” YES

and he really has no excuse. he could have called, but he made a conscious decision not to. sure, it all worked out in the end, but he didn’t know that ahead of time! DEKU YOU’RE SO IRRESPONSIBLE

(ETA: apparently he forgot his phone. supposedly. I missed that line the first time around, but I have my suspicions as to whether or not that’s true though. phones these days are practically an extension of your body. I don’t care how much of a hurry you’re in, how do you just forget it?? you’d feel that it’s not in your pocket! I practically have a freaking anxiety attack if I so much as go downstairs to my building’s laundry room without my own phone. like holy shit what if I miss a text during the two and a half minutes it will take me to move my clothes from the washer to the dryer fffff.

anyway my point is that whether he forgot it or not, he’s still irresponsible. DEKU)

by the way is Shouto burning something in the background here? and Katsuki too. you guys were looking forward to this cleanup huh

so now Deku’s apologizing, and the sad thing is he probably is truly sorry. and yet you know that the very next time a situation like this comes along, he’s going to do the exact same thing

really, All Might just needs to not sign any more of those permission slips. he’s grounded. you’re grounded, Deku

and now Hounddog and Ecto are walking over

HAHAHAHA

gotta make sure all the kids are still terrified of you, huh

good lord this man has no concept of personal space

All Might is always lucking out, having other teachers nearby who are actually willing to be the bad cop. at least someone out here is laying down the law

anyway, Hounddog is of course 100% right and he’s the one Deku should really be apologizing to

hoLY SHIT

I need to do some rearranging of my favorite U.A. faculty list

truly, no one is safe

lmao Sero says he’s gonna call Deku “My First Errand” from now on omggggg. if y’all want to see some cute shit go google “hajimete no otsukai.” there’s a whole tv show about it. you can usually find a few subbed episodes on Dailymotion if nothing else (for instance here’s one). this is the show that makes you realize that four-year-old Katsuki and Izuku wandering in the woods with their friends really isn’t anything out of the ordinary. and it’s filled with adorable crybabies and also some really precocious kids who make me feel incompetent somehow despite being more than 30 years older than them

anyways HERE’S ERI

is someone videotaping this. please tell me someone’s videotaping this. these are precious childhood memories

also LOOK AT MIRIO COPYING HER HAND GESTURES I CAN’T. I’M GOING TO DIE. OF CUTENESS

my god I want to make it my icon so bad but it’s a giant spoiler so I can’t ;______; [reaches out longingly to the two of them]

waaaaaah anyways

Deku is wiping his eyes because OF COURSE he started crying but he doesn’t want her to see lol

and he says he’s glad she enjoyed it

[folds chin in hands] I’m just going to enjoy this for as long as possible. life is good. in this moment, everything is perfect

aaaaaand now Mineta is running over and screaming at Deku for not helping them clean up

I really want to be mad at him for ruining the moment and also just for being Mineta in general. but there’s nothing worse than someone who just sits around goofing off while everyone else is working hard, so I can begrudgingly relate. STOP HANGING OUT WITH THE CUTE KID AND HELP US. you can hang out with the cute kid later Deku

a bunch of kids are walking by (I guess on their way back from the play) and waving at class A and saying their program was awesome and they loved it

Kirishima is thrilled and he’s grinning and thanking them

well LOOK WHO IT IS

DO YOU TWO HAVE ANYTHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SAY

oh shit

lmao they made Kacchan’s day

YES THERE FUCKING WAS. THEY PURPOSELY GOT WITHIN KATSUKI’S HEARING RANGE TO TRASH HIM AND HIS CLASS ALL PASSIVE AGGRESSIVELY FOR NO REASON. THEY KNOW WHAT THEY DID

it’s good that they apologized for it. although we may need to watch out now and make sure that it hasn’t gone to this one’s head lol

Kiri’s turning to Iida and asking if those were the stressed out people Aizawa was talking about

oh my god Iida why are you so cute

sometimes I forget how much I love Iida and then he makes this face and my heart belongs to him

now Iida is saying that some people didn’t get a chance to see their performance and thus might still be stressed and so they need to continue to do their best or whatever

but the random bystanders are saying that they understand class A’s feelings and what their intention was when planning all this, and now that spirit has been passed on to them

and so they’re going to pass those sentiments along to others! hooray. pay it forward

and also surely someone got the performance on video too?? I NEED THERE TO BE VIDEOS OF EVERYTHING OKAY

Mina is happily elbowing Jirou and saying she must be pleased

and now Iida is bowing at a full 90-degree angle and saying they are forever grateful. lol this guy

Bakugou says he’s not grateful, and it seems he wants to give whoever didn’t bother to come to their performance a piece of his mind. lol this kid

now Mineta is screaming at people again to help him finish up cleaning

and it turns out it’s because he doesn’t want to miss the Miss Con

and now we’re at Miss Con! I guess

YESSSS GO KENDOU

IT’S SO STUPID TO DO THAT IN A FUCKING BALLGOWN BUT GODDAMN SHE’S SO BADASS THOUGH

but now Lashes is riding in on a giant tank in the shape of her face

have to say this is one of the more surreal things that’s happened in this manga thus far

(ETA: nothing to see here guys. just normal beauty pageant stuff. martial arts and tanks)

AHHHHHHHH

IS ERI SITTING ON DEKU’S LAP I CAN’T OMG I’M DYING AGAIN. MY SOUL IS LEAVING MY BODY. I’M SO CONTENT. I FEEL AT PEACE

Monoma’s watching everything with a weird face, and meanwhile Kirishima is congratulating him and Tetsu on how their play went. and Tetsu’s congratulating him on the concert. nothin’ but good vibes here

here comes Hadou!

her classmates are rooting for her and Tamaki is folded over about to be consumed by nerves lol

deep breaths, Tamaki. deep breaths

I guess this is Tamaki thinking now? or the General Narrator? or possibly Hadou’s other friend?

well whoever it is, the thought bubbles are saying that Hadou lost last year because she tried to take on Kenranzaki in flashiness, which is where Kenranzaki shines. but Hadou has her own strengths

lol she’s floating around like Tinkerbell and everyone is mesmerized

gurllll you got this gurlll

now she’s landing and everyone’s applauding

and voting has been opened and results will be announced at the end of the day at 5 p.m.

LOOK AT CLASS A HAVING FUN

I CROPPED OUT MINETA SO WE CAN ENJOY THIS TO THE FULLEST

LOOK AT THIS MONTAGE OF GOOD TIMES!!!

I WANT TO SEE BAKUGOU COMPETE ON A FULL SCALE NINJA WARRIOR COURSE. HE’S HAVING A BLAST

WTF IS THIS RAT PRINCIPAL/TODOROKI HYBRID. I’M SO CONFUSED AND TERRIFIED

CREPESSSSSS

THEY GAVE ERI ONE! I HOPE SHE LOVED IT!! BUT REMEMBER, APPLES ARE HER FAVORITE!! CANDY APPLES, YOU PROMISED MIRIO

IS THAT SHINSOU IN THE HAUNTED MAZE?? LOL

IS THIS THE FIRST TIME WE’VE EVER SEEN MEI IN HER UNIFORM? SHE ACTUALLY DID CLEAN UP, HOW ABOUT THAT

IS THAT A CEMENTOSS JUICE BOX

I HAD TO POST THIS PANEL SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE LESBIANS!! AND JUICE BOX!!

HADOU WON THE COMPETITION YAYYYYYY

MEI GOT TO SLEEP YAYYYY

EVERYONE IS SO HAPPY!! TO THINK GENTLE ALMOST RUINED THIS. BUT ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL

and now it’s the end of the day and Deku’s saying goodbye to Eri

awwww she looks glum again. it was such a fun day she probably doesn’t want it to end :(

Deku’s telling her to look up at him!

AHHHHHHHHHH

HE REMEMBEREDDDD

at least someone did. Mirio

YOU SHOULD HAVE LOOKED HARDER!

oh lol actually Deku says he realized they might not have any after he looked at the program, so he bought the ingredients when he went shopping earlier

ohhh so that’s what was up with that panel of him in the kitchen in the midst of all the festival happenings. I was wondering about that

LOOK AT DADZAWA

YOU DID ADOPT HER RIGHT. RIGHT. RIGHT???

(ETA: GOD BLESS YOU AIZAWA SHOUTA)

she’s eating the apple!

she loves it!! she says it’s sweeter than a regular apple. that’s cuz it’s LITERALLY DIPPED IN MELTED SUGAR, ERI

so she’s leaving and it’s a much happier farewell now! awwwww

and Deku’s turning back and reaching toward the gate

and then he’s stopping and shaking out his right hand

oh that’s right. it’s probably sore from earlier

and now we’re cutting back to the police station and the cops are interrogating La Brava

lollll

“NO” :|

she says she only wants to be useful to Gentle

well Gentle’s gonna be in prison for a while so you might want to think of some backup options kiddo

now a literal gorilla is interrogating Gentle and he says they’ll be able to tell if La Brava really was brainwashed

but even though the jig is up, Gentle’s still trying to protect her

well yeah. and also even if she wasn’t brainwashed by a quirk, it doesn’t mean she wasn’t actually brainwashed. she was in a vulnerable state of mind and he took advantage of that. even if there was mutual affection on both sides

now Kerchak here is looking at his records. “a high school drop-out, previously in the hero department, and now a producer of criminal videos, huh?”

Gentle says he remembered his dream and he just started running towards it

Kerchak says if that’s the case, it’s a good thing they stopped him today

awww. possible redemption on the horizon, perhaps? these cops are pretty nice huh

now Kerchak is asking if Gentle drinks tea

and Gentle’s asking for black tea, and Kerchak says they only have instant. aww. lol

and the text is all “even here, someone was saved”

and that’s the end!

what a wholesome fucking arc. oh my goodness

BONUS: here’s Hadou’s school friend, Yuuyu!

she’s Hadou’s best friend! I love her!

and she’s not wrong about her being the cutest thing in the galaxy tbh. also this line makes me think “best friend” ought to be crossed out and replaced with “girlfriend” if we’re being honest here

lol at the explanation for why dyed hair and piercings are allowed even though they wouldn’t be in a real life school as prestigious as U.A. listen. we got that. look at Midnight. look at Aizawa. clearly U.A. is not particularly hung up on dress codes. I’m just saying

#bnha #boku no hero academia #midoriya izuku #hounddog (bnha)#eri (bnha)#hadou nejire #gentle (bnha)#bnha spoilers #mha spoilers #makeste reads bnha #y'all know I have headcanons about mitsuki and inko sending katsuki and izuku on their first errand together when they were like two #katsuki is incredibly proud and boasts to everyone he sees about how they're on an errand all by themselves!#meanwhile izuku starts bawling the minute their moms are out of visual range #and he keeps on crying until katsuki gets fed up and tells him he needs to stop!#because he's not a little baby anymore!#and he needs to be tough like all might!#all might wouldn't cry!!#and izuku is all :O and spends the rest of the errand following katsuki in silent awe #this is probably when his crush first really develops tbh #wow~ kacchan is so cool~~#in the end the errand is mostly successful except that kacchan buys his favorite type of curry instead of the one his mom told him to buy #but no one died or anything so hey #I'd call that a win

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shcpcrsistcd · 6 years ago

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Helloooo! I’m Bell and I’m super excited to be here and bring some of my favorite children out to play! If you would like to plot or chat or both, PUNCH that heart button and I’ll come sliding into your dms! Below the cut, you’ll find my babies! the intros are short because I wanted to get them all out, but I’ll probably post longer, more detailed ones later on when I’m not feeling quite so lazy!

nina dobrev, she/her, straight. forget what you know about ELENA GILBERT, the ( canon ) one from THE VAMPIRE DIARIES ! they’ve been a 18 y/o high school student since arriving six months ago. you could call them the town FREE SPIRIT ; they’ve got a rep for being ALTRUISITIC & INTELLIGENT yet INDECISIVE & JUDGEMENTAL, but are associated w/ [ flannels, daylight rings, brown locks, holding on to hope, doing everything for family ]. they remember matt driving them off the bridge.

set literally RIGHT before she turned into a vampire because as much as I enjoyed the idea of vampire elena, I hated the way they went about it on the show. So if and when that time comes, I want to completely rewrite it and move forward. Plus about the time that it happened, tvd’s writing quality REALLY went down so of course the storylines surrounding her turning sucked. (am i a little bitter? nooo not at all, why do you ask?)

sydney park, she/her, pansexual. forget what you know about DORCAS MEADOWES, the ( canon ) one from HARRY POTTER ! they’ve been a 20 y/o auror since arriving one year ago. you could call them the town THE CAUTIOUS SNAKE ; they’ve got a rep for being SOPHISTICATED & PROTECTIVE yet PERFECTIONIST & PRETENTIOUS, but are associated w/ [ long hair, green clothing, never giving up, a slytherin's determination ]. they remember receiving the news that marlene mckinnon and her family was killed.

okay so literally ALL that’s canon about doe is that voldemort killed her personally, which says to me one of a few possibilities there... she was a spy, she knew important information that he wanted, important to the wizarding community in some way or she was exceptionally gifted as a witch... OR maybe more than one of those three even. I’m going with the third one for now. i have a longggg backstory for her that i’ll get more into later through plots and writing simply because it IS long and complicated. for now, I’ll mention that she was in slytherin and was in the same year as the marauders, graduating to become an auror. she also works part time as a chef, but her primary focus is being an auror and ensuring that everyone is protected.

freya mavor, she/her, straight. forget what you know about MYRCELLA BARATHEON, the ( canon ) one from GAME OF THRONES ! they’ve been a 19 y/o art student since arriving six months ago ago. you could call them the town THE LITTLE LIONESS ; they’ve got a rep for being MERCIFUL & KIND-HEARTED yet DELICATE & NAIVE, but are associated w/ [ soft melodic giggles, flowers in long blonde hair, the colour yellow ]. they remember dying in jaime’s arms on the way back to westeros.

myrcella never cared much about the politics and war between the families back home, she’d be equally as kind to a stark and a member of her own family regardless because she looks past all of it, though she’d be wary of anyone from dorne because of the fact that she died because of them. here, she’s an art student at a local college and lives in a shoebox apartment with her two cats.

daisy ridley, she/her, straight. forget what you know about REY, the ( canon ) one from STAR WARS ! they’ve been a 19 y/o mechanic since arriving two months ago. call them the town THE SPITFIRE ; they’ve got a rep for being RESOURCEFUL & MATURE yet SNEAKY & HOT-TEMPERED, but are associated w/ [ buns, light clothing, lightsabers, wanting to know the truth at all cost, determination, a diamond in the rough ]. maybe one day they’ll remember going to find luke skywalker.

rey works as a mechanic at a garage in town with no memory of her real past just yet. of all of my characters without their memories, she’ll probably the one to end up getting her memories back first.

lindsey morgan, she/her, pansexual. forget what you know about LAURIE STRODE, the ( canon ) one from HALLOWEEN ! they’ve been a 27 y/o krav maga instructor since arriving three years ago ago. call them the town THE SURVIVOR ; they’ve got a rep for being STRONG & CAUTIOUS yet - OBSESSIVE & PARANOID, but are associated w/ [ a will to survive, military clothing, various types of weapons, dark hair, refusing to give up ]. maybe one day they’ll remember killing michael myers in her basement trap.

laurie doesn’t know why she feels like she needs to train and train hard, but she follows her instincts. she’s not only a krav maga teacher, she’s a student, learning multiple forms of martial arts, goes to the gun range at least five times a week. she’s not sure why she feels the need to push herself and keep learning how to protect herself, but she’s sure she’ll remember the reason eventually.

scarlett johannsen, she/her, pansexual. forget what you know about NATASHA ROMANOFF, the ( canon ) one from MARVEL ! they’ve been a 35 y/o dance teacher since arriving three years ago ago. call them the town BLACK WIDOW ; they’ve got a rep for being WITTY & PERCEPTIVE yet - CYNICAL & HARSH, but are associated w/ [ perfectly painted nails, guns, red and blonde hair, a heart of gold, staying up late, spending the night in a rooftop ]. maybe one day they’ll remember her death at vormir.

my girl who deserved... SO much better. after sacrificing herself in vormir, she ended up here with no memory of her death or anything before that. she’s a dance teacher and owns her own studio in town and believes she’s married to loki odinson.

sophie turner, she/her, bisexual. forget what you know about SANSA STARK, the ( canon ) one from GAME OF THRONES ! they’ve been a 20 y/o law student since arriving a year ago. you could call them the town THE WOLF QUEEN ; they’ve got a rep for being DIPLOMATIC & STRONG yet CLOSED OFF & SUSPICIOUS, but are associated w/ [ red hair, wolf pups, warm sweaters, putting your family first, learning to survive ]. they remember becoming queen of the north.

honestly, sansa being crowned queen of the north was one of the few good things about the final season, let’s be real. she’s a law student here and has somewhat accepted by now that she can’t go back to winterfell. she has reunited with her direwolf

#requiem:intro #intros

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surveyhoursss · 4 years ago

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150.

Character survey:

Your name is unusual where you live.

People often say you are attractive.

You tend to deny compliments that you get.

Other people of your same gender are jealous of your looks.

Your natural hair color is unusual or rare.

Your natural eye color is unusual or rare.

You strongly resemble a certain famous person.

Despite poor eating and/or exercise habits, you are still thin.

Sometimes people worry that you're anorexic, but you're not.

You are cross-cultural. (your parents are from two different countries).

You are half- or part -Oriental.

Even after getting dirty or sweaty, you still look good.

You smell good without cologne, perfume, et cetera.

You have at least one scar with an interesting story behind how you got it.

You have at least one scar or birthmark that is plainly, obviously visible, but doesn't make you look ugly.

When you stare at people or off into space, they almost always (A) feel like you're staring into their soul or reading their mind, (B) think you're up to something, or (C) feel like you know something they either don't know or don't want you to tell.

You don't often get sick.

You often dress impractically (i.e. show up looking gorgeous to a charity event or marathon, somewhere you'd usually dress sloppy and casual).

You stand up for others, even if it means risking your own well-being.

You are brave or daring to the point of recklessness.

Your beliefs are extremely, radically liberal.

You are sarcastic and witty.

You are disrespectful to authority, but only when they deserve it.

You are punished more harshly than others.

You have Antisocial Personality Disorder.

You have ADD (Attention Deficit Disorder) or ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder).

You are SELF-DIAGNOSED with ADD or ADHD.

Animals love you.

You have a pet cat.

You consider yourself above average intelligence.

You have a glamorous occupation (i.e. lawyer, executive, anything artistic or theatrical, et cetera).

You are a legal adult, have not reached retirement age, and don't have to work for a living.

You fit a certain stereotype (nerd, goth, hipster, "popular" person, et cetera).

You have a very good singing voice.

You play at least one musical instrument.

You have exceptional artistic talent.

Sometimes it seems like you're psychic or telepathic.

You are fluent or near-fluent in more than one language.

You succeed at almost anything you put your mind to.

Your Plan A usually works.

Most everyone underestimates you.

People are jealous of your abilities. (only linguistic skills, I'm not the talented goddess that my close friends are lol)

You have learned martial arts (any kind).

Your parent(s) or guardian(s) aren't (or weren't) very strict.

You possess an important family heirloom.

Your parents trust you, for the most part.

You have a lot of friends and/or are "popular.”

You are angsty.

Certain circumstances of your childhood were strange or unusual.

You suffer "rebellious princess syndrome" (feminism, extreme tomboyishness, et cetera).

You have lied, exaggerated, or de-exaggerated in some of your answers in this quiz to avoid seeming like you're bragging.

TOTAL: 24/50

~ ~ ~

RESULTS

1-9: CAMEO

You're not the sort of person who could be the protagonist of a book or movie, but you're certainly the sort of down-to-earth, matter-of-fact person I'd like to be friends with. You're the "filler characters" who make books and movies possible and probably have their own cool stories going on in the background that we don't know about (but we sure would like to!). Unless you answered "yes" to the bonus question, in which case, you liar, go take the quiz again.

EXAMPLE: Luna Lovegood from Harry Potter, Mai or Ty Lee from Avatar: The Last Airbender

10-19: PROTAGONIST'S BEST FRIEND OR ANTAGONIST'S RIGHT-HAND (WO)MAN

You're more the "protagonist's best friend" than the "protagonist." But that's okay, because the "protagonist's best friend" usually ends up being everyone's favorite character anyways. Why? Because you're the guy everyone can relate to - and, more importantly, you're often the comic relief AND, at times, you're what keeps the plot chugging forward. This category also contains the heroes who have to try extra hard to save the day, like, harder than the average hero (an offhand example of this is Megamind).

EXAMPLES: Hermione Granger or Ron Weasley from Harry Potter, Jack Harkness from Doctor Who

20-29: PROTAGONIST OR ANTAGONIST

You're a good, healthy medium. In a nutshell, you're worth paying attention to: dramatic, but not melodramatic, and different, but not overwhelmingly so. I...should really write a longer description for this, but I'm really tired, so I won't. Just...skip to the examples.

EXAMPLES: Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, Dan Phantom from Danny Phantom

30-39: EPIC HERO

An "epic hero" is the protagonist of a story that fits the general "hero's journey cycle.” Epic heroes tend to act a tad more on the unrealistic side (maybe melodramatic, perhaps not always reacting to situations like a normal human being, doing arguably stupid things for the sake of a good cause and in the name of courage / honor / love / family / friendship), but they make up the bulk of really good stories out there. Why? Because epic heroes are interesting, they're dynamic - epic heroes are who we wish we could be, but never actually could be.

EXAMPLES: Harry Potter from Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker from Star Wars, any protagonist who falls into an obvious trap in order to save someone they love

40-51: MARY SUE

Congratulations - you are a perfect (or near-perfect) specimen of human being. Can I have your autograph? But really. Mary Sues are annoying as hell in fiction BECAUSE they're perfect - they're that person you'd give anything to switch lives with. You know. THAT person. There's only one person in existence who generates more jealousy than a Mary Sue, and that is Batman. Because he's Batman!

EXAMPLES: Lily Evans from Harry Potter, Astrid from How to Train Your Dragon, Annabeth from Percy Jackson & the Olympians

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marigoldbaker · 7 years ago

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direct, but not unwelcome

ao3

“You’re very thoughtful,” says Giles, soft and a bit shy.

“You’re very cute,” says Jenny, looking directly up at him with a flirtatious smile. “I’ve got more than a few ulterior motives.”

for @phcenixgirl!! thanks for being so unceasingly patient with how damn long it took me to write such a simple thing. set in the dunder mifflin girls ‘verse, centered around the beginning-ish of giles & jenny’s relationship (spoilers: they eventually get very happily married and dispense useful advice to faith & tara)

Not that Giles has any problems with his job. On paper, the salary is lovely and the job is fairly simple.

On paper.

“You know,” says Buffy, who’s sitting on Giles’s desk and eating a good portion of his lunch, “you should maybe consider the fact that you’d do better off in, like, a library. That or you could just not try at this job, because I’m pretty sure Michael would like you a lot better if you didn’t try.”

“Ah, yes,” says Giles, who has had a particularly stressful run-in with Michael. Honestly, the man was trying to spend his entire work day finding out the home address of a model in a chair catalogue, and somehow Giles is the one treated like the office pariah. “Because not trying would make things so much easier for me with corporate.”

Buffy gives him this long look. Then she says, “I’m really serious, though, Giles. Maybe working somewhere else would be good! I think there’s an opening at the public library—”

Giles really doesn’t want to talk to Buffy about why he chose the job that he did, so he says loudly, “How’s Kendra?” and this very neatly changes the subject to the very pretty girl Buffy had met on a coffee run. Buffy loves talking about her love life, and Giles loves listening to Buffy talk—which is sort of the problem.

Buffy isn’t in any way related to Giles, but he was very close to her mother; close enough that, when Joyce died, guardianship of Buffy and Dawn got somehow shifted to him instead of their father. This turned out to be for the better, because Hank Summers very clearly had no interest in being a full-time father, but it did mean that Giles had had to move to America and take care of two very upset teenage girls (a story that, looking back, seems the sort of distastefully sitcom-esque plot that someone like Xander Harris might enjoy watching).

Giles very much dislikes America, particularly Scranton. There aren’t any libraries in their neighborhood, and the commute to and from his home gives him little to no free time. But moving anywhere else would mean seeing his girls much, much less, and—he’s not ready to do that. Not quite yet.

“You are totally zoned out!” Buffy teases Giles, and throws a cherry tomato at his face. He dodges it, laughing in surprise.

“Throwing stuff at Giles?” Michael’s voice comes from around the corner. Giles feels a headache beginning. “Good plan. We should make that the office policy.”

“Wow,” says Willow. “Friendly.” She hands Giles a small, neatly folded note. “Upset coworker is upset about me bringing my girlfriend to the office picnic,” she says, making a face at Buffy. “Not to name names, but hers starts with an Angela.”

Giles sighs. In his opinion, the HR department of this office is thoroughly understaffed; there are at least seven complaints every day, if not more. “And why is Michael here?” he asks Willow.

“I’m here because there’s a meeting in five minutes, Giles,” says Michael, glowering at him, “and if you have something to say, just say it to my face.”

“Thank you, I’ll take that into account,” says Giles thinly, turning back to his desk.

“Thank you, I’ll take that into account,” Michael mocks in what seems to be a bad approximation of a British accent.

Giles feels Buffy’s fingers curl protectively around the cuff of his jacket, hand resting on his wrist. “We’re kinda busy back here, Michael,” she informs him, her voice saccharine-sweet. “Why don’t you go check in on Tara?”

Michael seems to consider this, then stomps away. More often than not, when Giles sees Michael, he’s reminded of a resentful eight-year-old Dawn who had just been told that she couldn’t stay up until one in the morning. This more than takes the edge off of the fact that his boss has a personal vendetta against him.

Buffy lets go of Giles’s wrist. Giles is somewhat grateful for this; Buffy has a rather tight grip. “He’s going to fire you someday, Giles,” she says quietly. “You need a backup plan.”

“Thank you, I’ll take that into account,” Giles quips lightly, squeezing Buffy’s shoulder.

“It’s not a joke,” Buffy informs him, smiling a little reluctantly. “Michael’s a total jerk, and he doesn’t like hearing you say no when he wants to, I don’t know, build a hamster nation in the office.”

“Good lord, don’t remind me,” says Giles with some exhaustion.

Buffy leans down and gives Giles a small, awkward hug, resting her cheek against his before she pulls away. “I just want you to be happy,” she says.

More often than not, Giles has to wonder how on earth Hank Summers walked away from a daughter like Buffy without looking back. Granted, Giles didn’t exactly choose to be Buffy’s father figure, but he wouldn’t change anything about his situation for the world. The only problem with that is the fact that Buffy wants Giles to change, without realizing what those changes might mean for him.

Reluctantly, Giles says, “I’ll consider—”

“Yes!” Buffy beams, sunshine-bright.

“This isn’t a promise, Buffy, I’ll merely begin to look in the newspapers for alternative employment,” says Giles carefully. “That doesn’t mean that I will take any of those opportunities.”

“I’ll take what I can get!” Buffy hops off the desk, tugging on Giles’s sleeve. “Meeting in two minutes,” she reminds him, skipping out of the office to meet Willow at the door.

Giles hesitates at his desk for a moment, looking over at the one framed photo next to his computer. It’s a picture of him with Buffy and Dawn, taken at Buffy’s high school graduation. There was a gas leak that day, one that led to what Dawn calls “the school blowing up” and what Giles calls “a brief fire in the back of the auditorium.” Buffy’s diploma is a little singed, and she’s a little rumpled, but she’s thrown her arms around Giles’s neck and is giving him an impromptu kiss on the cheek. Dawn’s giggling, looking up at them both with her hands over her mouth.

Sometimes, Giles worries that he can’t possibly be enough of a parent to Buffy and Dawn. He keeps the picture on his desk to remind him that he can.

Giles gets a call from Dawn’s school in the middle of Michael’s meeting.

“God, Giles, who’s even calling you?” Michael demands as Giles hurries outside. “You don’t even have a life outside this office, who would you think—”

Ignoring this, Giles flips open his phone, heart pounding. Dawn’s school never calls, not ever. When Buffy was in high school, Giles got an alarming amount of phone calls about her starting fights with particularly unsavory football players, but Buffy took martial arts in high school and Dawn’s such a small thing—

“Hello, is this Rupert Giles?”

“Is Dawn all right?” Giles demands anxiously.

There’s a startled silence, and then the man on the other end of the line says, “She’s fine, it’s just that it’s parent-teacher conference week, and Dawn put down your number for a meeting with her computer science teacher tonight, so I’m calling to—”

“Oh,” says Giles, horribly embarrassed. He supposes that this is what he gets for not checking the family calendar. “Yes, of course. My apologies. It’s been a rather stressful day at work.”

The man laughs. “I can definitely relate,” he says. “This secretary job isn’t a cakewalk. I’ll tell Ms. Calendar that you’ll be in tonight?”

“Thank you, yes,” Giles agrees with some exhaustion, and hangs up, steeling himself for a moment before he walks back into the meeting.

Faith and Tara are having their own private conversation via eye contact, smiles, and what might be blinking in Morse Code. This is actually a very smart call on their part, because Michael has a tendency to ask leading questions about “gal pals” and honestly, generally, he’s sort of just awful about everything personal in this office. Giles thinks longingly, sometimes, about his non-paper-company job in the British Museum, where he had colleagues he respected and some measure of a social life and everyone knew what emotional boundaries were.

“Who was that?” Michael asks, looking ready to mock Giles.

Giles doesn’t mind, really; he gets the sense that Michael mocks anyone who tells him no, and he doesn’t take Michael’s opinion all that seriously anyway. It is a bit bothersome to be called out in front of his colleagues, though, and he’s still coming down from the rush of worry about Dawn, so he says irritably, “The woman I slept with last night was calling to tell me how good it was, Michael, who do you think it was?”

Faith and Xander both start laughing. Next to Giles, Buffy taps his shoulder and mouths Dawn? Giles nods, and Buffy grins a little, then settles back into her seat to watch the rest of the meeting. In this office, meetings are more like spectator sports.

As usual, Giles walks down to his car with a small gaggle of people. Buffy seems to have made friends with nearly everyone in the office, and it’s a bit much for Giles, but he’s comforted by the eventual feeling of driving away from that building with only Buffy in the car.

“I kinda think you should quit,” says Buffy, which is what she says almost every day as they’re leaving work. “I mean, I know you say it doesn’t bother you, but Giles, this kind of work could drive someone crazy.”

“You seem to be doing fine,” says Giles, gentle but pointed. “And besides which, the pros of staying here far outweigh the cons.”

“You could move—”

“I’m not uprooting Dawn in her senior year.”

“We could all move, then,” Buffy persists.

“Everything quite all right?”

Buffy shrugs, then says with some effort, “Maybe it’s not getting to you, Giles, having Michael ragging on you all the time, holding the office together with lots of behind-the-scenes busy work, but it’s getting to me. You could do so much better than this dumb office in this dumb town, and no one in that office appreciates it.”

Giles considers this. “If you like,” he says finally, “I’ll start looking for alternative employment. Will that make you feel a bit better?”

“Yes,” says Buffy. “Look, Giles, I-I get it, okay? You want us all to stick together. I want that too. But I’m super bendy—”

“Flexible?”

“Yeah, that. I can find a job somewhere else.”

“All your friends are here,” Giles reminds her.

Buffy smiles a little. “Yeah,” she says, “but your friends need to make it into the equation too, Giles. And if you don’t have any right now, I’d say that your cons are the ones that are starting to outweigh your pros.”

This is a frustratingly good point. Giles doesn’t want to let her know this, though, so he says instead, “I might have to drop you off at home, I’ve a meeting with Ms. Calendar.”

Buffy’s eyes widen. “Hold on,” she says, “Ms. Calendar? You and Ms. Calendar are meeting tonight?”

Giles blinks, then stares, very abruptly putting two and two together. “Ms. Calendar,” he says slowly, “as in Jenny Calendar?”

“As in Jenny Calendar, Willow’s old computer teacher, the one she brought as a special guest to last year’s Dundies?” Buffy’s grinning hugely. “You have a date with Ms. Calendar, Giles?”

“It’s not—” Giles is fairly certain that he’s smiling too, and is somewhat annoyed with himself for doing so. “She’s apparently Dawn’s teacher,” he says. “She wants to meet with me tonight for parent-teacher conference week—”

“Oh my god, that’s such a cover-up,” says Buffy with an amazed laugh. “Dawn’s getting, like, an A plus plus in computer sciences. Ms. Calendar figured out that Dawn’s your kid and she wants to say hi and ask you out.”

“Buffy,” Giles begins, hoping he isn’t blushing.

“I’d bet you an exorbitant amount of money that I’m right,” Buffy finishes, and leans back in her seat, looking extremely pleased with herself.

“Thirty dollars,” says Giles without thinking.

Buffy blinks, then laughs again. “You’re on,” she says, and holds up her hand. Giles high-fives her a bit clumsily as they drive.

Dawn’s sitting on the front steps when they pull into the driveway, and she hops up with clear relief. “I left my keys at home,” she says, skipping over to pull Buffy and Giles into a three-person hug. “How was work?”

“I’m still trying to get Giles to quit,” says Buffy, draping an arm over her little sister’s shoulder as they walk towards the house. “Also, did you know Ms. Calendar wants to meet Giles tonight?”

Dawn immediately starts giggling.

“You okay?” says Buffy bemusedly.

Barely managing to hold back further laughter, Dawn wheezes, “I know! She saw a picture of Giles in my binder—you know, that awful one we took on Lake Michigan—and she was immediately like Is he your dad? And I was like yeah, he is, and she was like wow, and then she got all blushy, and then she wanted to know the next day if he could come in to see her for teacher reasons.”

“Pay up, Giles,” says Buffy, grinning.

“The awful one on Lake Michigan?” says Giles, horrified.

“She liked it!” Dawn reassures him. “She said you looked sweet.”

“There’s a difference between sweet and hot, though,” Buffy’s saying to Dawn as they enter the house. Over her shoulder, she tosses a bright, happy smile at Giles, then makes a little motion with her hand towards the car.

Giles stands there for a moment, still smiling a little, then belatedly remembers that he has to drive to the meeting. Running a hand through his hair, he hurries to the car, wishing he wasn’t still in his work clothes but deciding that there isn’t much he can do about it at this juncture.

Giles has seen Jenny Calendar approximately three-and-a-half times.

The half time was the first one, chronologically speaking, during a field trip that he’d somehow been roped into chaperoning. As the class had been leaving the school for the bus parked outside, Giles had happened to look over his shoulder and catch sight of her teaching in a poorly-lit classroom, a beautiful smile on her face. He’d thought about her for a bit longer than acceptable on the bus ride over. She radiated joy, he remembered thinking, and it wasn’t common for a Scranton teacher to look so at home in their job.

The first time, of course, the one that really counted as the first, was the Dundies, where they had a philosophical debate about the merits of technology that ended with Jenny saying, “You know, you’re the first person I’ve met in a while where I really like disagreeing with you.” Giles still very much understands what she meant by that. There’s something in Jenny that matches something in him; some sort of mutual frustration at their mutual loneliness. Jenny was at home in her job, very clearly so, but to Giles, it seems a bit like she doesn’t know how to be at home anywhere else.

The second time was an accidental encounter at a public library. Jenny was with someone else, and Giles wasn’t, so the whole thing was a bit awkward and stilted with the third person there. But then Jenny shooed that person away (tactfully and subtly, but it was still fairly noticeable to Giles) and told Giles that she’d looked into a few of the books he’d recommended at the Dundies, and she’d really liked the first two but the third was truly awful, and this ended up sparking a whispered argument that went on until Jenny’s friend came back over. Giles remembers feeling happy for the rest of the day after that.

The third time—well. The third time was actually at the office Christmas party. Jenny had come as a guest, and spent most of the time in the break room with Willow due to Michael’s immediate interest and subsequent horrible flirting. Giles is of the mind that Jenny has very good instincts, though it doesn’t take much to know that Michael is someone to be avoided. He didn’t actually see Jenny all that much then, but he knew she was there, and a mixture of shyness and apprehension at attracting Michael’s attention kept him from going to the break room to say hello.

Giles is thinking about those meetings as he parks his car, chest full of a dizzy apprehension. It could be said that, in a way, this is the first time he’s seeing her where it feels like something’s possible.

He stops by the front office to nod at the man behind the front desk. “I’m Rupert Giles,” he says. “By any chance do you know—”

“Ms. Calendar’s office is down the hall.” The man gives him a small smile. “And I’m Riley. Good luck in there—she doesn’t call a lot of parent-teacher conferences.” He goes back to his paperwork, leaving Giles to digest this new information, smile a bit to himself, and exit the office, hurrying down the hall.

There’s only one classroom with a light on, the door propped open. Tentatively, Giles pauses in the doorway.

Jenny Calendar is putting on lipstick in the reflection of a small compact mirror. She doesn’t notice he’s there until he clears his throat, at which point she jumps and the lipstick zags across her face. She yelps, turning, and then groans. “Oh, no,” she says.

Giles tries not to laugh. “You’ve, um,” he motions to his face, “got a, a bit of lipstick there.”

Jenny presses her lips together and nods, looking resigned to her new fashion choice. “Yeah, I figured,” she says. “It’s just been that kind of day.”

Giles digs in his pocket and finds a small, white handkerchief, crossing the room to hand it to Jenny. She looks down at it, then back up at him with an amused smile. “Thanks,” she says. “Sweet of you.”

“Of course,” says Giles, inclining his head. Then, belatedly, “I’m, I’m here about Dawn, if that wasn’t evident?”

Looking sheepish, Jenny ducks her head. “Uh, Dawn’s doing great,” she says. “I kinda pulled the teacher card ‘cause I wanted to see you.”

I owe Buffy thirty dollars, thinks Giles, who’s suddenly blushing a bit himself. “Oh?” he says.

“Yeah.” Jenny’s grinning. “I’m definitely glad I didn’t have to wait an entire year to see you at next year’s Dundies, but I never got the chance to give you my number.” Her smile turns a little self-conscious. “Too direct?”

“No!” says Giles with immediate vehemence, and grins at Jenny’s startled, delighted expression. Awkwardly, he adds, “It’s—quite direct, but, but certainly not unwelcome.”

Jenny smiles and steps a little closer. “Good to hear,” she says.

“You missed a bit of lipstick,” says Giles, feeling daring, and takes the handkerchief from Jenny, pressing it gently to her cheek. He feels her smile a second before he sees it.

“You’re going to tell me about the date, right?” Buffy demands as soon as he gets home. Over her shoulder, Giles sees Dawn perk up on the couch.

“Frankly, Buffy, it is none of your business,” says Giles with as much dignity as he can muster. As an afterthought, “And it wasn’t a date.”

“Whatever you want to call it,” says Dawn, climbing off the couch to face Giles, “you’ve got that same blushy look you got while you were dating Olivia, and that definitely means something.”

Giles tells them both to go to bed (it’s nearly midnight, honestly, why on earth are they still up) and heads in the direction of his bedroom himself. He’s halfway to taking off his jacket when his phone buzzes in his pocket. Pulling it out, he sees a text from Jenny.

is it too soon to wish u gnite?

not at all, Giles texts back, suddenly very grateful for the crash course on texting lingo that Cordelia had roped him into.

The next day is, as always, spectacularly awful. Michael has taken it upon himself to prove to everyone that he’s twelve times more capable than some poor soul he met at a gym the other night, and is attempting to lift reams of paper over his head while challenging others to do the same. Faith seems to be openly stealing office supplies while Michael is distracted, but Giles can’t bring himself to really care, even though it’s technically his job to.

It’s halfway to lunch when the office door opens and Jenny steps in, waving to a startled-looking Willow. Pausing by reception, she says to Tara, “Hey, I’m here to—”

“Jenny!” Michael turns, grinning. “Jenny Jenny, who can I turn to—you know that song, right?” Jenny looks at Michael in a flat, deliberately disinterested sort of way that very clearly catches him off guard. “What brings you to our humble abode?” he flounders, but it’s clear he’s lost his touch.

“Rupert left his handkerchief,” says Jenny, and looks past Michael to smile warmly at Giles. “Kinda wanted to bring it back to him, in case he, y’know, needed it.”

Giles is somewhat unused to being the center of attention in the office, particularly when it’s related to a lovely woman showing up under flimsy pretenses just to see him again. He smiles awkwardly back. “Thanks,” he says softly.

“No prob.” Jenny tries to side-step Michael, but this doesn’t really work. “Excuse me,” she says, sounding mildly annoyed.

“Him?” Michael sounds seriously affronted. “He’s—British! And, no offense, but Jenny, you could do so much better than him. You know he’s got kids, right?”

“Yeah, I teach his daughter,” says Jenny smoothly, finally managing to mostly get around Michael. But Michael sticks his foot out—almost definitely an attempt to step in front of Jenny again—which ends up inadvertently knocking Jenny into Giles. She laughs, grabbing his shoulder to steady herself. “Wow, sorry!”

“No, ah, prob,” says Giles, trying to sound cool. It doesn’t work, but Jenny grins anyway. “Would you like to—”

“Let’s step outside,” Jenny agrees before he’s even finished, and her fingers grasp the corner of Giles’s sleeve, steering him around a still-indignant Michael and out the door. “So,” she says, as soon as they’re out in the hallway, “this is very clearly just a ruse for me to ask you out on a date. Think anyone picked up on it?”

“Oh, no, you were very suave,” says Giles, grinning ridiculously. It feels odd, being this happy on company time. He feels like he’s cheating the system. “You can keep the handkerchief, it’s a spare.”

“I’m more of a Kleenex girl myself,” says Jenny, pressing the handkerchief into his hand. “Besides which, what if you meet some other lovely computer teacher with lipstick on her cheek?”

“I’m positively certain that there’s just the one,” Giles answers, looking down at the handkerchief. “Did you—wash this?”

Jenny grins. “Yeah,” she says. “Hopefully I did it right? I googled a lot of information about handkerchiefs and then I gave up and took it to a Laundromat.”

“You’re very thoughtful,” says Giles, soft and a bit shy.

“You’re very cute,” says Jenny, looking directly up at him with a flirtatious smile. “I’ve got more than a few ulterior motives.”

This is when Giles becomes somewhat aware of the fact that Michael is standing in the doorway, staring daggers at them both. “Ah,” he says, more exasperated than genuinely upset. “Hello, Michael.”

“Get back to work, Giles,” says Michael, “we’re not paying you to bother everyone who shows up in this office.” He motions towards the door, then gives Jenny a winning smile. “Jenny,” he begins.

“Oh, no, I’m bothering him,” says Jenny, her hand moving to a startled Giles’s shoulder. As an afterthought, she adds, “Decisively not you.”

Michael seems somewhat taken aback by this. Then he says, “Well—I’m his boss, and, and he has to come back in right now or he’s fired!”

“Pretty sure you can’t do that,” says Faith from behind Michael, and is immediately waved off.

Jenny gently taps Giles’s shoulder. “How’s tonight?” she asks. “I get off at about four pm, if you want to drive by and pick me up from work.”

“I’d like that quite a lot,” says Giles, feeling a rush of butterflies.

“Cool.” Jenny squeezes Giles’s shoulder, blushing ever so slightly, and lets her hand drop, turning on her heel and walking down to the elevators. Michael looks a mixture of furious and hopelessly confused. Over his shoulder, Giles sees Buffy giving him a very visible thumbs-up and mouthing You totally owe me thirty bucks.

“Right,” he says, feeling lighter than he has in a very long time. “I’ll get back to work.”

“You can’t put that picture up,” Michael says about three weeks later, indignant and scowling next to a thoroughly amused Tara.

“And why on earth not?” says Giles calmly. The picture is of Jenny, taken on her phone at her request. She’s wearing a floppy sun hat she’d wanted to try on, beaming at the camera from the doorway of the small store she and Giles had been exploring.

“It’s creepy,” says Michael. “Why would you put up a picture of a lady you don’t even know? Where did you even get that, Giles? Are you stalking her? You probably would, knowing you—”

“Jenny’s my girlfriend,” explains Giles, who has had this conversation about three times in the last few days and hasn’t yet gotten tired of witnessing Michael’s determined denial. “The picture is from our date two days ago, and seeing her in my workspace makes me happy. Any other questions?”

Michael glowers. “I’m calling David Wallace,” he says finally, storming off.

“You do that,” Giles calls after him, then nods to Tara.

“Jenny seems nice,” says Tara, giving him a sweet, shy smile. “It was n-nice to see her at the Dundies with you, even if Michael doesn’t seem too happy about it.”

“She’s lovely,” says Giles, and means it. “Very thoughtful, and it of course doesn’t hurt that Michael is quite bothered by the fact that his love life is now the least functional in the office.” He doesn’t say anything about the Tara-Roy-Faith thing that seems to be unfolding; it’s not his place, and he gets the sense that Tara doesn’t really want to think about her own love life at the moment.

Tara giggles. “Definitely a side benefit,” she agrees, and hurries back to reception. Giles turns back to his desk, gently adjusting Buffy and Dawn’s picture until there’s room on his desktop to place Jenny’s as well.

Scranton, as it happens, is a bit different when there’s someone to lend a handkerchief to. So to speak.

#fic #calendiles #rupert giles #jenny calendar #jksdklsfd this took A While and i still am not sure how i feel about it #but i hope you enjoy it!

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dlamp-dictator · 7 years ago

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Allen’s Rambling: The Four Dreaded Questions of World Building

Y’know, I was going to write this Rambling on my RP blog about why trying to mix world-building and RPing can make things confusing and difficult for your RP partners, but as of editing this I’m going to make this a bit more general.

For a lot us that want to make an epic fantasy or sci-fi world I’m sure we all took a few days or weeks to sit down and draft a bunch of notes on how we want to things to go down in that world. How people live, how they dress, how they talk, what kind of environments they have, and so on. Just... create a living, breathing world to get yourself and your readers lost in. I know the feeling, I’ve wanted to do that myself for awhile now. The issue is... how to exactly do that. Making a bunch of notes about a faction here or a faucet there can have building that world take forever. I’ve done a lot of thinking on this topic of the past few months, ultimately decided to not bother with it anymore due to my own... weaknesses as a writer. While I’ve personally decided to change how I write my original stories so I don’t have to worry about world building, I think I’d try and do a little good and try to share the system I made for world building before deciding to scrap it.

In short, world building can basically be boiled down to answering three to four questions:

Where/How does this group of people get their food?

What do these people do after they get their food?

Is there magic?

If yes, how does that magic effect how these people get their food?

You think I’m kidding, but that’s really it. Answering those 4 questions will lead to so many, many others. “But why the focus on food?” I hear some of you ask. A simple answer.

If there is no food, there is no world.

If there is no grass for cows to graze, there are no cows. If there are no cows, there is no beef. If there is no beef, there is no meat for humans and predators to eat. You see my point? A few years ago I took a college course on ancient history as an elective, and that class went into great detail about how many great civilizations got started by the blessing of merely being formed by a river of large source of fresh water to grow crops. That history of Japan video that was floating around awhile back was a great example of my point, research ancient history in general is a great way to learn world building, but moving on.

Just to show I’m not all talk I’ll use one of my own worlds/societies that I’ve been trying to make. Awhile ago in one of my RP Ramblings I said that I had a group of female forest ninja that I was writing a story for. I’ve since then deleted that story due to... issues I was having, but I’ll answer those questions about that group here.

Where/How does this group of people get their food?

The forest ninja get their food by hunting and gathering in the forest they live in, eating while plants and forest animals like deer and bears. Most are vegetarians and only eat plants, but hunting and the consumption of meat isn’t forbidden.

What do these people do after they get their food?

Before actually eating, most will prayer in thanks of the meal. In terms of general activities most go through religious rituals. Prayer, dance, training in either martial arts or religious studies.

Is there magic?

No. At least not in this society.

See? Pretty easy right?

WRONG.

Now here comes the hard part. Answer those questions leads to so many others. Why do the forest ninja only hunt and gather? Do they grow their own food? Why don’t they if not? What kind of plants do they eat? If most are vegetarians why isn’t hunting and eating meat outlawed in their religion? Why do their leisure activities focused on religion? What is their religion? What are the tenets? What kind of god do they follow? Is it just one god or many? Are all members of these forest ninja religious? Why is there no magic? The list goes on, and on, and on. And even answering all of those questions will lead to others, and you just keep going, and going, and going until you run out of questions and every faucet of that civilizations daily life and existence is answered.

Sounds fun, right?

“No Allen, that sounds like a lot of work.”

Oh, you poor child, we aren’t even if at the fun part yet. There’s a fifth question in this I didn’t mention:

5. Do other groups/civilizations interact with your main character’s society? If so, how?

And this is the question that leads you asking the previous four at least 1 more time.

You see what I mean? You understand why this is a pain to do properly? And don’t even get me started on magic and superpowers. I’ll spare you all 5 paragraphs and just link these two great videos on Hard and Soft Magic and how they relate to world-building made by a Hello Future Me. The long and short of it that magic changes everything about your world.

If your characters can spawn fire out of their hands to cook food it means harvesting firewood isn’t a thing that people need to do as frequent, which changes how much wood is gathered in your society, which changes how wood is viewed in your society as a resource. If your characters can shoot out lightning it means industrial-level uses of electricity works very differently, which my lead to certain jobs not existing and your economy running in a completely different way than our own. If you characters can spawn and control water it means that water distribution and droughts are probably not a thing, which mean there is likely a huge population boom due to the abundance or clean drinking water, which means a high disparity between rich and poor and large city areas in general, which mea-

You see my point, right? World Building is complicated.

Thankfully, there’s a nice way to get around, which is to explain literally nothing about it. This was covered in that soft magic video, but a tumblr post I reblog a while back explains it much quicker than that video does, and I’ll just quote it here for those that don’t don’t want to be view several tabs.

Either explain it or don’t.

When authors include things that don’t fit within the real world–magic, time travel, anachronisms–there is an impulse to explain how it works. Which can be fantastic for worldbuilding, but if you don’t know what you’re talking about, it can make more problems than it solves.

Stephenie Meyer tried to explain some bizarre thing about chromosomes, and it made the biology of vampires and werewolves make no sense. Suspending disbelief worked better in that case before she tried to ground it in the real world.

Lemony Snicket, on the other hand, just has random anachronisms that are never explained, but because there’s nothing even close to resembling an attempt at an explanation, we can just shrug and go, okay, that’s how it works. The magic in Harry Potter seems to basically not be grounded in anything, but we can believe it within the context of the story because she doesn’t try to ground it in anything.

In Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera, on the other hand, he goes into a lot of magic theory, and it gives us a strong feeling of worldbuilding. There’s enough logically coherent explanation for it to feel grounded within itself.

It is possible to go too far (see: Orson Scott Card’s Xenocide and Children of the Mind) where the plot ends up so tied in the reader understanding intricately detailed scientific and pseudo-scientific minutiae that the story is incomprehensible without it.

Generally, though, if you’re going to make something up, either say it exists and leave it at that, or entirely figure out how it works. Halfway is always less believable than nothing at all.

So, while I could go through all the effort of explaining how the forest ninja live their lives, I could also just say forest ninja exist and show off all the cooler more interest parts I want to show off and not worry about explaining any of it. The major flaw in doing this however is the lack of immersion and the risk of losing a reader’s suspension of disbelief by having something really nonsensical happen.

So... why write about this?

Honestly, I just... wanted to get my thoughts out on this topic before redoing my forest ninja story. I plan on moving to writing more short stories and little vignettes with my original pieces as opposed to writing longer, chapter-based stories since trying to do something longer will always lead me to writing myself in a corner. That’s a topic for another day, but for now... I suppose that’s it. Thanks for bearing with me folks. Feel free to reblog with your own tips about world building. I’ll be playing Under Night In-Birth in the meanwhile getting my butt handed to me by Merkava and Gordeau mains.

#your dictator is speaking #world building #writing #writing advice

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sprinklig-kindness-podcast · 5 years ago

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Lucifer

What’s up guys? Hello, how are you? Welcome to your favorite podcast?

Today we're going to talk about Lucifer, two weeks ago I started to watch in my free time the TV show Lucifer because a year ago on Facebook I saw the trailer of the fourth season and I really wanted to see it.

I think everyone has heard about the devil and god, good and evil, many people also know the story of Adam and Eve and about the apple, it's general culture to know those stories. I don't identify myself as a religious person, I like to be very open about theories about the origin of time.

Since it's October and sadly I have no ghost stories for you that have happened to me.

Now that I look at that series about how the devil solves crimes which for me is the craziest and most original concept, it's very strange because I never imagined that that series was about crimes, I thought it was going to be like "Chilling Adventures of Sabrina" which is more about the problems of witches and not so much about problems in everyday life as a crime.

According to history, it is said that seduced by his own pride, he dragged a great part of the angels that worshipped God, causing a rebellion whose ultimate consequences are the existence of pain, evil, and death in the world, that is why Lucifer is considered since then as the ideologue of evil.

When I hear these stories about the devil, angels, demons, and god I really wish they were true. I'm not sure if there is a god or the devil, heaven or hell, nothing has ever happened to me that makes me believe that it exists, however, I do not rule out the possibility.

Something that I find very controversial is the fact that some people blame everything on God when it's credit like "thank God" I don't give a shit because you can give thanks to a piece of paper if you want, but when it's a guilt I hate it, I hate it when people don't take responsibility for their actions.

i really believe more in the human conspiracy than in god's will, the same with opportunities and success, i believe that everything is built by you and only you, everything good or bad that happens or will happen to you is because of you and it' s one hundred percent your fault.

I believe that the only evil that exists is the human being, the selfishness that was born from an attempt at survival.

and now some strange questions that I asked myself when I was watching the series before saying the questions I want to say that my answers do not mean that they are 100 real

the first is would you date the devil?

My answer is yes why not, I think it would be something different and interesting all the same depending on what is true or not. Because in the series sometimes this character appears as good and other times as bad.

second question

In the series I looked at selling souls and how one woman sold it to become thinner. Would you sell your soul? What would you ask for?

Depending on the matter of the existence of the souls and how my life conditions are and also benefits and disadvantages but I really don't know, I don't know what is my biggest wish, I don't know what I want more in life, I don't consider anything important and at the same time I consider everything important.

Many people ask for money but even if I don't have it doesn't matter because I know that hard work can give me the life that I want a simple and normal life, I don't want to be rich but if I became I wouldn't complain, other people live forever, dude I don't want to live forever and it's not because of watching everyone die and that, the reason is because at some point nothing impresses me and it would end up being a punishment to live forever boring and miserable.

My third question is

If you could choose between being an angel (I open space for specifications, the devil counts as an angel) or being a demon, what would you be?

If demons are like in the Lucifer series I would like to be a demon and punish the bad guys, being an angel would be boring.

Fourth question

If you could choose where you would go to hell or heaven?

I find the glory and eternal joy a bit boring but I find hell interesting, I'd like to know what I'm most afraid of, really if hell exists I don't think I'm going, I don't think I've done anything too bad to deserve eternal condemnation, although there are many things that don't make sense about what's right or wrong, like drinking alcohol which is a sin, not going to church on Sundays and stuff like that. For me the real sins are like killing, maybe manipulating, hurting children, stealing and those things.

I feel like I'm not a bad person but I'm not like super good worthy of heaven either, but I would like to go to hell I don't know why but I don't know if being the person who is being punished, I don't know maybe being an average person can help me choose where I want to be even if it's boring.

I think that the fact of just disappearing is better since eternity is a long time, that's why I like the story of Disney more, you don't last long but you don't last forever either.

But even if I could decide I would like to help bad people make sure they stay in a place like this, that's why I don't feel that hell is so bad, it gives bad people what they deserve and the devil is only the jailer.

But I don't know if it exists or not, it's just a crazy theory.

Watching this really crazy series I contradicted myself many times because if the devil came out of hell why the hell was he helping the police? playing at being a cop, but maybe if you're the devil and you've seen everything you dude why not? it's something different and completely unexpected.

Talking about the production of this series I loved the special effects like the wings, the editing work is amazing, I think it really looks realistic also the fantastic martial arts work, a clean job and this is said by someone who has no previous knowledge of anything and is exactly the audience that wants to catch the show.

But this series is produced by warner bros and the effects are just what you would expect because they produced harry potter, dc comics series, rick, and Morty that means great quality.

I would really like to work with Warner Bros someday but I don't have any skills or talent to work in that company but maybe someday, I don't lose hope, I can do a little something in that company.

I'm not a series person, I don't like long series but I really enjoyed this series absolutely everything because it is something different, besides it made me cry I'm not going to make spoilers but one of the last episodes of the third season I want to say that I cried like a baby and just a good update that makes me believe that it is really happening, a good script and good direction can make me cry and that is something that very rarely happens.

And I'm deeply grateful for that because it's been a long time since I've cried over something silly, it's nice and I'm grateful because we can't all do it.

Also, because the concept that God and the Devil have nothing to do with the decisions we make, I like it very much, just as the real danger is the human being.

Also I stayed in suspense the sixth season of Lucifer comes out in February according to the internet because the first thing I did after seeing this series was to find all the actors in instagram and follow them and also when the sixth season comes out and I have to wait almost 6 months but it's okay I can with this, it's worth it. It tastes better a season like this.

I also really liked the character of Eva because I understood her and the actress is beautiful, unrequited love sucks, especially when it is sincere. But life sucks.

To finish this episode I want to say that I liked the series of Lucifer, I think it's worth watching and I think it's a series to do things and I mean you can do as your task and put it in the background, paint, write, do some crafts, cooking and stuff like that because you don't need to put 100 percent of your attention to it to understand it all the time and I think that's how great you can do two things at once and you're going to enjoy it, each episode has a little teaching, not everything is about one problem because in some series when it's only a problem and that one is solved it gets boring and in this one it doesn't,

Also leaving the series aside I want to say that maybe life is simpler than we would like and more boring but make sure you enjoy it, do good things so you can decide if you want to go to hell or to heaven and I also wonder if there is anyone who does not want to go to heaven and has had the opportunity and has not wanted, because I do not know, I find it interesting, but well I hope you have a beautiful day, warner bros if anyone hears this I want to say that I am 100 percent available and I can leave my life to give my best and work with you. For my part it is all hugs and kisses goodbye.

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xxbyimm · 8 years ago

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Enya’s Unexpected Journey

Hi guys!

This story is also on AO3, but I wanted to share it here as well. :) It’s about a girl from our world, who suddenly ends up in middle earth. She bumps into a very sexy and stubborn dwarf prince, who takes her with him, until she is safe. Will she end up in the company that is heading towards the lonely mountain? Will Thorin Oakenshield fall for our cute-looking tiny lady with her razor-sharp tongue and witty remarks?

Enjoy. xoxo

Chapter 1

The Journey Begins... Her long dark chestnut hair was tied in a messy ponytail. She put her iPhone in the sweatband that was clinging on her upper arm. Her running shoes were bright new and had never been with her on the long and filthy track she run every day. Slowly she stood up from her bed and looked in the mirror that was hanging on the wall in front of her. She frowned as she studied herself. Her pale blue eyes stared back at her. She sighed. She looked tired. Maybe she should abandon her running routine just this once. The shit Jason put her through the last few weeks had been devastating for her health. And her sanity. She gave her mirror image a quick shake of her head. 'What the hell, maybe the forest will give me back my sanity' she muttered before turning away. Before she could change her mind, she quickly stumbled through her house. When she got to the back door and saw the pile of dishes in her kitchen, she reminded herself that she really needed to get her shit together. It was one thing to mourn for the loss off her first love, but she could not tolerate to completely lose her mind once again. She had been there five years ago and nearly died. When Jason finally got back to her, a place where he belonged (so he said), she got back on her feet as quick as she could. Because after all, he needed her. She would have been no use for him if she was a broken little mess of grief. That's at least what she told herself all those years ago. But last month… She shrugged, opened the back door and slipped through. She paced at the woods that were surrounding her house and hoped that the trees really could comfort her as they once had done. They had to.

She breathed heavily as she ran on the well-known track. Her iPhone played her favorite playlist, a mix between pop music and metal. She smiled when she thought about the surprise she got from people upon her when they discussed topics like favorite music genres. Although she thought these reactions should never stop amusing her, she lately found herself getting a bit annoyed by it. She grew tired of explaining how a little, cute-looking female like herself could possibly like metal artists like the agonist and nightwish. Like being 150 centimeters tall was equivalent in liking gentle music. She swallowed and pushed herself to run a bit harder. No one should ever tell someone how to live their life. Just like Jason… She grunted and tried to push the thought away, but it lingered in the back of her mind. She shrugged and concentrated on the music her phone was playing. ‘Yes!’ she cheered when her iPhone started playing ‘Engine 45’ from the band the ghost inside and took a sprint. ‘IT’S SO HARD FOR ME, SEEING LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL!’ she screamed along with the singer. The beat drummed in the air as the trees rushed by. She smiled when she realized her new shoes fit her feet perfectly. This made running a hell of a lot easier!

Because she was day-dreaming about her new fantastic shoes, she was caught of guard by the enormous tree root she stumbled on. ‘Oh god damn it!’ she cursed when she found herself flying toward the hard soil. She readied herself for the hard smack she was about to make. She screamed as she kept falling through darkness. She was not reaching the ground. It was gone. What was happening? Did she fall asleep in her bed and never started running in the first space? Was this a dream? She screamed again when the darkness suddenly changed in a very bright light. Was she dying? She groaned as she felt a fierce pain in her back. The green grass beneath her was soft to the touch. Slowly she scrambled herself together and ignored the pain that was protesting against her movements. She looked around and found herself in a completely different surrounding. Well... it was still a forest, but the dark green pines she was passing just a few minutes ago, were replaced by a bright open spot in the middle of a thick forest. She frowned when she realized she had no idea where she was. She must have run off her usual track. ‘Shit’ she muttered. What should she do now? She gasped when she noticed that this forest was blooming and the air smelled like it smells on an early spring day. No. This couldn’t be. It had been autumn when she left her house. She braced herself when she heard branches cracking on the other side of the open spot. She shuffled herself behind a bush and watched curiously as two figures appeared. She gulped as her mind almost immediately identified them.

Orcs.

They had a somewhat green ill-looking skin and bright blue fishy eyes. Their clothes were filthy, but it didn't seem to bother them. She could detect the foul odor they carried with them. ‘I’m sure I heard screams’ said the smallest of the two. He was bald and had his lip pierced a few times. ‘I don’t see anything’ the other one growled. An enormous bulge around his waist nearly made the belt, which was holding together his clothing, burst. ‘We should return to our master, before he makes us dinner for the wargs’ He turned around and disappeared behind the trees. The small orc stood still and sniffed with his filthy nose in the air. ‘I don’t recall this scent’ he said and walked right at the bush where she sat. ‘Come on!’ bellowed the fat orc from the forest. She could not see him anymore, but the smallest orc was far too close for her liking. She tried to keep as still as she could. The orc looked around and shrugged. She held her breath as he turned around and too disappeared on the other side of the forest. ‘Thank god for that’ she whispered and she just wanted to get up when one strong arm locked itself around her abdomen while the hand from the other arm kept her mouth firmly shut. She wanted to kick and scream for help, but her assailant was much more stronger than she was. Well, this makes all the martial arts classes I took useless, she thought unhappily. She gasped with surprise when her assailant finally let her go and pushed her against a tree. She wanted to scream, but when she looked in his eyes, she went numb. ‘What the hell were you doing?’ he whispered furiously. ‘Gundabad orcs are NO joke. They would have killed you in an instant.’ ‘I…’ she said, helplessly searching for words. This could not be. It could not be him. But the piercing blue eyes, characteristic nose, rough long dark brown locks and bushy beard could hardly belong to any other man she visualized whilst reading. Was she dreaming? ‘And what are you wearing?’ he asked, as he was regarding her with curiosity. ‘It hardly seems fit for traveling. That is, if a lady like you is really traveling.’ ‘Oh, for fuck’s sake’ she muttered. ‘What?’ he said. She gave him a little smile while she was trying to process what was happening to her. This had to be him. She decided she should give her theory a try. ‘This, sir Oakenshield, is my running outfit. I was running to clear my head, not to encounter some LARPing event where suddenly I am threatened by some orcs and the son of Thraín, son of Thrór.’ He frowned and looked at her, clearly puzzled. ‘How do you know who I am?’ ‘Well… doesn’t everyone know you?’ she answered. He smiled. ‘I supposed not in these lands.’ ‘Well… maybe if you were in let’s say… Africa or something. But here in America you are quite known.’ She shivered and sighed as she realized that the running short was hardly covering her bottom. And wherever she was, it was cold here. ‘Can you guide me out of this bloody forest?’ she asked ‘I really want to go home.’ He didn’t answer and just stared at her. After a few moments he seemed to regain his consciousness and he asked: ‘America?’ She groaned. ‘This is hardly funny anymore. I told you, I had no intention running into a LARPing event! So could you please just break character for a moment and tell me where-’ ‘Larping?’ he interrupted while he let the sound of the word rolling on his tongue. ‘It is an event where you engage in a fantasy play and reenact stories from lord of the rings, or harry potter, whatever you like’ she answered irritated. ‘Fantasy play…’ he repeated and then chuckled. ‘I have no idea what you are talking about.’ ‘Oh dear god!’ she screamed. ‘Never mind. Just tell me where I am.’ ‘The shire.’ He said and studied her face for a reaction. ‘You serious.’ She narrowed her eyes and looked intently at his face to see if he mocked her. But she only saw genuine concern. ‘Yes. We are on the border of the shire. It worries me that orcs dare to venture in this land.’ She sat down at the root of the tree and watched her shoes as she spoke. ‘Tell me this isn’t a cruel joke. One moment I am running and-’ She suddenly remembered her phone, which was still on her arm. She grabbed it and stared at the screen. No reception. ‘Where am I?’ she muttered. ‘What are you?’ asked Thorin Oakenshield as he watched her tuck her phone away in the tiny pocket in her short. She chuckled. ‘Human.’ ‘You are quite short for a human.’ ‘And you are a bit too tall to be a dwarf, aren’t you?’ Thorin Oakenshield smiled. ‘You seem to know much about me, yet I have no idea who you are. What’s your name, human?’ She tilted her head and calculated if this man really was the Thorin Oakenshield she imaged him to be. Indeed, he was somewhat tall for a dwarf. Yet, he had the broad masculine body that dwarves supposed to have. He looked very masculine, with strong muscles on his arms and big sturdy hands. She wondered what he would look like without all the heavy armor he was wearing. She bit her lip and tried not to blush. ‘Enya’ she said. ‘And where are you from, Enya?’ he asked softly. ‘You would not believe it if I told you.’ She laughed. ‘I think I come from some alternate universe. I went out for a run and I ended up here, in middle earth I suppose?’ He nodded shortly and regarded her with suspicion. ‘You obviously dress…’ He didn’t finish his sentence. Enya shrugged. ‘I suppose in this world you could call it inappropriately short. But believe me, in my world this is normal.’ She sighed. ‘I guess I should find some suitable clothes for this environment then.’ She stood up and started walking, with actually no idea where she should go. ‘Well,’ she said out loud. ‘I can firmly say I am screwed.’ ‘You are what?’ she heard behind her. Enya giggled. ‘I’m trying to say I have nowhere to go. AND I have no idea what I should do next.’ Thorin grinned. ‘Then you should come with me.’ ‘And where were you going?’ she asked. He didn’t answer and made a sign that she should follow him. Enya sighted. All right. She went from taking a long run in the forest to a field trip with Thorin Oakenshield himself. Not that she was complaining. She smiled. As she had no idea why she ended up in middle earth and how she was able to go home, she decided that she should make the most out of this experience. Besides, she really wanted to know more about this man. She chuckled. She might even get to know his nephews. If they existed in this reality. ‘Hurry up!’ Thorin’s husky voice startled her and she took a sprint to catch up. ‘Now I can see why so few clothes would come in handy’ he mused. Enya laughed. ‘May I remind you that I am a woman from an alternate universe that is not afraid of telling you the truth when you say or do anything inappropriate? I will slap you.’ Thorin turned around to face her. ‘You are quite bold.’ ‘Are you not used to that?’ she purred. Thorin smirked at her before he walked further. ‘I might. If you were from my kin, I would-’ ‘Good thing I am not then’ Enya winked. She chuckled when she heard him laughing while he walked away. This could be interesting.

#thorin oakenshield #thorin x oc #thorin x reader #the hobbit #thorin #thorin imagine #adventure #fluff and smut #eventual smut #romance #magic

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zcyleeta-blog · 8 years ago

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hello buggies!! really sad bc my computer just crashed and I lost what I had already typed of this but second times the charm hopefully. I’m naomi (( she/her || twenty || est )) and these are my characters. I have zaylee zatara, daughter of zatanna zatara, and I also have gunner logan son of garfield logan aka beast boy. yes I gave them names with the same first initial it just felt right. I don’t have their entire backstories down yet but I’ve listed what I do have and some possible connections below. I’d really love to get some connections before we start, so pumped for this.

(zaylee zatara)

No way, is that MAIA MITCHELL? Oh, wait, no, that’s just ZAYLEE ZATARA. They’re about TWENTY years old, and came here from GOTHAM CITY. They’re the daughter of ZATANNA ZATARA. From what i’ve heard, she DID know who their parent was. I don’t know what exactly they’re capable of, but I wouldn’t mess with them, I hear they’re pretty UNPREDICTABLE, MORBID, & IMPETUOUS. Even so, I’ve also heard that they’re CHARMING, WITTY, & INTREPID.

personality; zaylee is a very headstrong and driven girl. she has been raised to be independent and never take no for an answer. she’s extremely smart and almost puts too much effort into achieving her goals. ever since she was young zaylee wanted to be a police officer, getting older and developing powers she realized how useless the profession is in a world full of superheros and how they only dealt with the petty stuff... like parking tickets. none the less her determination kept her going with that court of study and is currently getting her bachelors in criminal justice in gothem as well as a minor in french and latin... like I said, over achiever. zaylee is somewhat of a negative human, she’s certainly a pessimist. she’s the type of girl that loves horror films and wants to ride the biggest roller coaster. she doesn’t particularly like or trust most people, so the ones she does trust she keeps very close.

background; zaylee is gothem city born and raised. she has lived at shadowcrest manor the majority of her life, up until college when she got an apartment in the city. shadow crest manor is the ancestral moving home of the zatara family. it has been just outside the city of gothem since john zatara’s ownership. the building is a very magical building and can move on it’s own and is not visible to most. zaylee has been learning magic at the manor since the age of seven, post her police officer goal phase. zantana has taught her when she has the time but a lot of the studying has been done on her own. part of the reason for zaylee’s un-trusting nature is probably due to the large amounts of time she spent at the manor alone. she had homeschooling until high school. zaylee has never know who her father is and zatanna has made it clear that she doesn’t want her asking. for now she doesn’t quite frankly care who he is.

abilities; zaylee isn’t nearly as powerful as her mother but she does hope to be someday, and with her dedication there’s no doubt to most that she will be.

telepathy: zaylee works on her telepathy but it’s a very difficult ability to master. for now she can erase memories and strongly persuade someone to do something, however the persuasion can be broken quite easily with intervening.

telekinesis: she can move and obtain objects that are various distances from her using spells.

deflection: she can deflect oncoming attacks to her, if she has enough time, to eliminate or reduce the attack.

eldritch blast: zaylee can blast enemies with mystical energy. this ability is the one her mother has worked with her most on and she’s quite good at it.

phasing: zaylee can make herself into her "phantom form" and become intangible. this is another ability zatanna has worked with her on. however she’s not particularly strong at it and can only hold the form for a certain amount of time before returning.

healing: zaylee has some healing powers which she just discovered. however it take a ton of energy and she can only do it to herself.

reflection: this is a new power she’s been working on and therefore doesn’t get it correct every time. she can reverse physical trauma so that attacks that come her way will deflect and hit the opponent instead.

possible connections:

- GOTHEM CITY: if your character is form or has been in gothem hmu because zaylee has lived there (( just outside of there )) practically her whole life. - RIVAL/FRENEMY: zaylee is very competitive in nature, so it’s natural that she would feel a rivalry to others. - EX: i have a headcannon for zaylee’s past love life. she had an exboyfriend who was the only guy she ever truly loved, however rumor spread that he was cheating on her. humiliated, because zaylee hates feelings and even letting herself get that close with someone was extreme, she broke up with him on the spot without even hearing him all the way out. he actually wasn’t cheating on her. - BEST FRIENDS: she’s got a bit of an icy exterior but I swear she’s one of the most loyal and loving people to those she holds close. - FAMILY FRIENDS: aye oh justice league children of any kind I’m sure we’ve meet at the work family picnic right justice league probs has those right?? sorry I think I’m funny. also maybe if your parent is a magic user of some sort zatanna is like queen of magic so she probably knows most.

THIS IS WHAT IM THINKING UP OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD BUT ID LOVE TO JUST TALK AND PLOT IF YOURE INTERESTED IN SOMETHING BESIDES THESE PLOTS.

(gunner logan)

No way, is that HARRY STYLES? Oh, wait, no, that’s just GUNNER LOGAN. They’re about TWENTY-ONE years old, and came here from NEW YORK CITY. They’re the son of BEAST BOY. From what i’ve heard, he DID know who their parent was. I don’t know what exactly they’re capable of, but I wouldn’t mess with them, I hear they’re pretty UNRELIABLE, IMPULSIVE, & CAUSTIC. Even so, I’ve also heard that they’re SANGUINE, COMICAL, & LOYAL.

personality; oh god where to even begin with this kid. gunner is probably one of the cheekiest guys you’ll ever meet. he really takes after his father, despite not really knowing him. gunner can make a joke out of almost anything, whether it’s a good joke or not. he’s quite childish, very unreliable, and honestly a bit airy at times. however, the kid will have your back no matter what, he’s a light ball of energy, and he’ll always have a smile on his face. gunner is very flirtatious and it gets him into trouble sometimes. gunner never knew an enemy, he literally trusts everyone. the kid is very gullible so he kinda needs someone to make sure he’s not like accidentally committing crimes for people. gunner is vegetarian like his father, he’s super passionate about animals.

background; garfield was one of those dads that came around every once in awhile to take his son out to the baseball park. gunner had nothing but fond memories with his father growing up, however the memories were minimal. his mother and garfield had a one night stand that resulted in a pregnancy. his mother wasn’t to keen on her future child growing up around a superhero and violence so she kept visits with garfield to a minimum. gunner has been able to bond with his father more so since moving out and making more of an effort to get to know him, especially since he started developing similar abilities. no gunner didn’t ever turn green, but ever since he was young he had a strange connection with animals. as he got older it developed and he was sort of able to read and communicate with animals. this doesn’t mean that he could fully understand them, just pick up on what they might be thinking. at the age of eleven was when he first actually transformed into one. that was around the time when his mother was considering kicking garfield out of his life for good, gunner was determined to find a way to make that not happen--hence figuring out how to shift. the plot worked since gunner couldn’t figure out how to transform back from being a Pomeranian and garfield had to come and help him out. gunner was born and raised in nyc and is currently attending nyu for film production, however he really wants to get out there and fight the bad guys... but his mom keeps trying to hold him back of course.

abilities; since garfield passed down a mutated gene to gunner it has manifested somewhat differently in him.

metamorph: gunner has the ability to morph into various animals. however unlike garfield this has taken tremendous effort. he can’t simply think of an animal and transform. gunner has to almost meditate and focus to transform into a new animal. some he has mastered but others don’t always morph into the objective animal.

gunner has never mastered dinosaurs like his father.

animal telepathy: gunner has a stronger since of telepathy than his father. he has a sixth since with animals, including humans, and can read extremely well. he can’t read minds thought for thought but he can pick up on a general understanding of how their feeling or thinking. because of this he’s also a vegan like his father... can’t have the animals judging him.

martial arts: since from a young age gunner wanted to be like his father, he begged his mom to put him in martial arts and karate. essentially any sort of fighting class he could get her to let him do. he didn’t think he had any powers back then but its paid off really.

possible connections:

- FRENEMIES: gunner is the type to be friends with the enemy?? idk he sees good in everyone and is probably a bit over trusting. he’s probably accidentally join some evil team of some sort not realizing what it was bc they offered him pizza. - BROTP: amigas cheetahs friends for life. -gunner sings as he transforms into a cheetah- I’m actually losing it getting to the end of this post but please bring me those bff plots. - EXES(??): gunner is super flirtatious but has never had what he thought was a serious relationship. I think it would be interesting to see if someone maybe thought they were dating/committed in some way and gunner didn’t even realize. - FAMILY FRIENDS: teen titans and young justice children wya??

SORRY THESE SUCK BUT LIKE THIS AND ILL COME TO YOU TO PLOT OR SLIDE IN MY DMS.

#¸·*̩̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥✿ witchy woman ¸·͙*̩̩͙˚̩̥̩̥✿ - ooc.#orpheus:intro #GUNNER &&. ZAYLEE #this took way longer than originally planned wow.

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thebibliomancer · 8 years ago

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Essential Avengers: Avengers #114: Night of the Swordsman

August, 1973

When Swordsman and his new ally Mantis get hold of a cache of Pym particles, they shrink the Avengers down to finally enact vengeance upon the team-

Wait. I think this is one of those covers that isn’t actually literal. Whoops.

Well just allow me one joke. THIS IS MANTIS’ BIG DAY!

So we start the comic with Scarlet Witch brooding. Because this is an Avengers comic and someone has to brood. But also because a bunch of jerks that strapped bombs to themselves and took off their pants almost killed the Vision. So she’s in a bad place, emotionally.

Not helped by someone making symbolic shadow puppets right outside her window.

In her moody wanderings, she also contemplates passing privilege and how since she could pass as human she never fully saw herself as different from humanity.

Unlike Pietro with his prematurely white hair and handlebar cowlicks.

Meanwhile, Captain America and Iron Man try to beat up Vision in mock combat in the Not-Danger Room to see how he’s recovered from his injuries.

To summarize:

He is fit.

Captain America agrees. Good thing Vision is an android! If a human had someone explode in their face, they’d still be bedridden, probably.

This sets off Scarlet Witch who was watching the little mock fight. Even their friends keep reminding them that they’re not the same.

She decides to go for a walk. If she hoped to calm down she’s out of luck because she instantly runs into the worst cat-caller.

Lets call him Harry Terribleguy. Harry Terribleguy stands in her way, snidely comments on her getting her jollies from kissing a plastic man (but not Plastic Man), tells her he finds her sexually attractive, and then says that its a shame that Vision didn’t die because then she’d be on the open market.

So Wanda blasts him through a hot dog cart and calls him a stinking human pig.

Which, y’know. They say violence doesn’t solve everything but violence is about to solve this particular situation.

Harry Terribleguy springs right back up from getting blasted through the air with the greatest of ease. He is downright peeved that she called him human like its a dirty word. Can you believe the nerve? So he decides to teach her a slap lesson with slaps.

[Then suddenly, from behind--] a new challenger.

Mantis joins the fray.

Already we see that Mantis is mighty impressive. With one glancing hit to the shoulder, she knocks Harry away from Wanda even though she was clearly punching him toward her. Her punches don’t just break bones, they make a mockery of physics.

Wanda tries to stop Mantis, saying random Harry is too strong. And Harry says that standing up to him is suicide.

And then Mantis punches him in the face... one, two, three... a lot. A lot times.

Mantis is apparently a master of preying mantis style kung fu. I assume. I don’t know enough to know whether the artist knows enough to portray it correctly. Also, Mantis is not a codename. Its her only name. I wonder if she was called Mantis before she mastered preying mantis style or what.

Also, she has antenna. She must have been hiding them in her six previous panels in the last two issues.

Did she learn preying mantis style because she figured ‘well I got the antenna already’? Or does mastering preying mantis style kung fu cause you to grow antenna?

Truly, Mantis is a mysterious character.

Anyway, Harry Terribleguy is gonna want some aspirin and probably ice to put on his face when he wakes up because he is WHOMP!’d. Mantis offers to escort Wanda home.

When they arrive at Avengers Mansion, the Avengers have all been worried about Wanda. She went somewhere without even leaving a note! They were about to go looking for her.

Geez, the Avengers are so clingy.

Anyway, Wanda insists that she can take care of herself (despite these comics going out of their way to spitefully disprove that whenever they can) and besides she made a new friend.

She invites Mantis inside but Cap objects. Unauthorized people in the clubhouse headquarters? THATS AGAINST THE RULES.

Wanda thinks Cap is being ridiculous. What harm could Mantis possibly do to the Avengers Assembled?

Swordsman pipes in to agree with Cap. If, for example, he were planning a sneak attack, their shitty, shitty security would have been no problem for him.

But he claims he’s not here to fight. Despite how reluctantly they accepted his help against Ares in issue #100, when he heard that Hawkeye had ragequit the team, he decided it was time for him to rejoin.

Cap is not quite thrilled. Swordsman is the worst security risk he has ever met. And in case anyone forgot, he runs through a little history of the Swordsman. The first time he conned his way onto the team, he was working to undermine them for the Mandarin.

And even if he claimed Mandarin had duped him into treachery, he then attacked the Avengers several more times for good measure. Remember how he joined Natasha’s Angels?

But Swordsman gives his side of the story. Yeah, no. Everything Cap has said is true. Swordsman has been a shitty person. And guess what he has learned from that? It is a lonely, nasty life. You make zero friends. He is persona non grata across most of the world.

Eventually he stopped caring and let himself sink into the depths of degradation. It was only meeting Mantis that helped him turn his life around. It was her interest in him that made him want to be a better person. It was her that convinced him to rejoin the Avengers and live the right life for once.

Cap doesn’t buy it.

Wanda on the other hand is the only other Avenger on the team from that time. And in her opinion, there’s been too much prejudice involved with them lately.

And the Avengers side with Wanda. Iron Man points out that Wanda and Hawkeye all had criminal records before joining. And they both proved themselves.

Thor argues that at the least, they can offer Swordsman a period of probation. With Thor taking the responsibility of keeping close watch on him.

And Black Panther just says that the name of the team is “Avengers” not “Revengers.” Which sure is an argument.

Cap loves democracy so he bows to the will of the majority. But he’ll also keep a close eye on Swordsman. Distrust but verify, y’know?

With that settled, Iron Man asks if Mantis is also asking to join.

Being an Avenger doesn’t really mean anything to her. She only wants to stay at Swordsman’s side. But screw it, I’m considering her an Avenger anyway. Try and stop me.

Wanda tells Mantis that of course she can stay in the Mansion and come on missions and spend girl time with her! Wanda really, really wants a girl friend to hang out with. Avengers Mansion is such a boys club.

In gratitude Mantis gives Wanda a big ol’ hug and gives the Guyvengers big ol’ kisses. I’ll talk a little about that later.

So, we get some compressed time. Several days and several missions go by with Swordsman on the team in his probationary status. Hmm. I’m reminded that his first time on the team was time skipped through as well.

At least this time we get to see some of it.

They fight sea monsters and robots and presumably other things and all throughout Swordsman acquits himself well. At no point does Thor detect any sign of treachery. Just bravery and skills.

So at the end of the vague number of probation days, Thor recommends Swordsman for full membership into the Avengers. The guy is really good with a sword, you guys. He even rivals any e’er seen in Asgard.

And its not that Vision and Black Panther don’t believe Thor. They just kinda want to see it for themselves. So how about a little friendly suspicious sparring match in the gymnasium?

So Swordsman and Vision shit talk each other a bit. Swordsman is the best blade artist in the world, Vision rarely offers a good target and also shoots solar beams from his forehead, I’ll see your solar beam and match you a sword beam that Mandarin put in my sword.

Black Panther jumps in. Did you mean that Mandarin who is a supervillain maybe?

Swordsman is a bit offended that Black Panther still thinks he’s trying to infiltrate and destroy the team. Black Panther offers a good point that in the middle of mock combat, he could “accidentally” kill of the Avengers with nobody the wiser so no way in hell is Black Panther going to give him the chance.

Plus, mock or no, the point of battle is to win so that’s what Black Panther is going to do.

And then he runs headfirst into Swordsman’s pommel with a TUNK!

Swordsman stands over the prone Black Panther with his sword pointed at Black Panther’s throat.

“You underestimated me, Panther! A lot of dead men made that same mistake, as their final act in life--”

But that’s not him anymore. All-New All-Different Superior Swordsman doesn’t kill anyone anymore. Especially not his teammates.

And apparently this puts to rest most of the suspicion the team has about Swordsman.

Another unknown amount of time passes until one day, Hawkeye is on the evening news. Because, remember, the Avengers get most of their information from television news.

Hawkeye is back in New York, making a name for himself as a solo act in Hulk #166. Swordsman dismisses Hawkeye as a grandstander. Swordsman taught him everything he knows so with him on the team, the Avengers don’t need Hawkeye.

And then he walks out of the fancy television news room with inadequate chairs.

Cap wonders if he should follow him... but decides that would just be neurotic.

Upstairs, Swordsman meets with Mantis. It is time, the hour has arrived. See, studying martial arts gives you limited knowledge of mysticism, obviously.

Which Mantis uses to summon...

THE LION GOD!

I told you he’d be back.

THE LION GOD promises the two traitors will feel the warm glow of his gratitude for preparing a path to victory and then he OH YEAHS through a WALL to attack Black Panther.

The Lion God is very big now. Also just as mean. He mocks the Avengers for believing in wolves wearing lambskins and also for thinking they could destroy a god.

Thor throws Mjolnir at the big Lion God but in the split-second he’s distracted catching it, Mantis punches Thor in a pressure point in the neck, knocking him out.

Meanwhile, Swordsman blasts Vision with an electronic ray that hits him even intangible.

And Mantis puts a death-grip on Captain America to knock him out. So not quite a death grip.

And Lion God finally joins his own murder party and blasts Iron Man with his backup divine weapon, the Lion God Hunting Spear, sold separately.

And then with the rest of the Avengers knocked out, the Lion God just scoops up Black Panther in his big hand.

How tall are the roofs in this place anyway?

Except this time, Lion God doesn’t want Black Panther’s tribal secrets. I think he’s still a little pissed over last time. Instead, he’s going to burn Black Panther at the stake as a sacrifice to the Lion God glory.

Its always human sacrifice with this dude.

Swordsman thinks this sounds A-Okay.

But do you know what goes great with human sacrifice?

Live performances!

Swordsman performs a sword salute traditionally performed to pay homage to a liege. It looks like he’s just spinning the sword around by part of the crossguard but what do I know?

This is evidently a very sparkly salute. The sword catches the light and creates a compelling pattern of spinning flashes.

Not to be left out, Mantis dances a special sensuous dance just for the occasion! It just so happens that she’s dancing in the middle of Swordsman’s sword strobe show.

The Lion God is completely hypnotized by this. I dunnae. Maybe this performance should have come with an epilepsy warning.

My description does not do this justice. Check it out:

But so taken in by the psychedelic sparkle dance that the Lion God doesn’t notice Iron Man coming to. The armored Avenger blasts a button that drops an impenetrable adamantium cylinder right over the Lion God.

Since the Lion God was in his mortal form (begging the question of who he body jacked this time), he should be well and trapped. And Thor can just blast the Lion God into another dimension and keep him off T’Challa’s back for good.

Because that’s what Thor learned from his dad. Just dump your problems into other dimensions where they’ll be someone else’s problem.

Sure was lucky though that the Lion God was standing on the one spot where an inescapable cylinder would drop.

So about that...

IT WAS MANTIS’ PLAN. Her study of martial arts give her empathy with the natural world. After she and Swordsman arrived, she sensed a malignant force hovering over the Mansion.

So she came up with a plan to lure it into a trap by pretending to side with the Lion God. Then they’d use their distraction moves to steal his will to destroy and trap him.

So why didn’t they just tell the Avengers? Well. I mean. They were already suspicious of the Swordsman. What do you think they’d say if he told them he wanted to let the Lion God into Avengers Mansion and pretend to help him destroy the Avengers?

How do you think that would have gone over?

Thor thinks this is rad. Swordsman "played a dangerous game with great daring!” Thor does strike me as a guy with appreciation for doing things in the most awesome way.

Cap still finds himself suspicious. Faking being traitors to help capture the Lion God would be the perfect smokescreen to get away with worse treachery later down the line.

Cap is possibly paranoid. Possibly justly so. Who knooooows!

So! Mantis’ real first appearance for more than three mysterious panels!

Obviously, there are problems. Mantis being an Asian woman (specifically Vietnamese-German) with the power of martial arts. Also vague mysticism. Kind of leaning on stereotypes there.

I said I’d talk about the kissing and here I go. Its not a problem as presented where its just kind of charming. Its a problem as originally envisioned. According to Steve Englehart, "Basically Mantis was supposed to be a hooker who would join the Avengers and cause dissension amongst all the male members by coming onto each of them in turn."

That plan, thankfully, was largely abandoned.

More of a neutral than a problem but this is a densely packed issue. This is the kind of story that modern comics would stretch out to a multi-parter. Chris Claremont would probably unfurl a plot like this over a year of stories.

But despite all that, I love this issue.

There is so much good here! Using a similar-ish plot structure to sow suspicion about the Swordsman’s motives, making it plausible that he really did join the team to betray them to the Lion God. If you discount the mysterious panel appearances leading up to this issue.

That the Avengers still believe in second-chances even with everything that’s been happening in their lives.

Also, Mantis!

Mantis gets a strong introduction, at least in the sense that she gets to show off what she can do quite a bit. At this point she’s a bit of a satellite character to Swordsman, although the narration hints at mysterious dimensions to her.

Also, Mantis instantly becoming Wanda’s best friend because a best friend will break someone’s septum for you. Alas, this will inevitably devolve into love triangles and cattiness but dangit, it could have been one of the great superhero friendships.

(Imagine a Scarlet Witch/Mantis team-up book, for example. ‘She’s magic, she punches people in the throat. Together, they fight crime.’)

And lets never forget that Swordsman and Mantis defeat a god with some flashing lights and a distracting dance.

It was pretty glorious.

So now Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is out and I’m going to go see it. Because I’ve long hoped that my inexplicable fave Avenguardian would someday be in the MCU. She probably won’t save the day with a distraction dance but I hope she gets a cool, charming portrayal. Because that’s how she’ll be in the comics from then on.

Hey, if you like this cool Avengers liveblog, consider following @essential-avengers. One day, the liveblog will live there.

#Avengers #Mantis #Swordsman #the Lion God #these tags are spoilers #Thor thinks Swordsman is cooler than Fandral #disco party maneuver is sadly underused in Avengers tactics #Essential Avengers #Essential marvel liveblogging #when she joins the Silver Surfer book Mantis decides to backpack around space #and that's magical

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