#Isekai Legacy

[roostersup]

A Friend for Leander Prewett

OKAY- so a few days ago I asked what Leander fans saw as the character's redeemable qualities, because honestly I couldn't see any but was curious. The responses I got were so great; I feel like I am totally seeing him a new light. So thank you @cuffmeinblack, @blueraineshadows, @imagrindylow, and @peppermintpolly362 for helping me see from another perspective!

SO, I decided I would try to write him with more of those redeemable qualities that I missed, in hopes in the future I give his character some more credit. I have had a few one shots already to my finished book 1 of my fanfic and added one about Leander. I call it:

A Friend for my Friend

word count: 6591

I'll put the full story below, but here are the links if you'd rather read it on the other sites (or if you wanna just read the whole fanfic because ya know that'd be cool too.)

Wattpad // Fanfic // A03

I know I am still not doing Leander the justice he deserves, but I think I am at least moving in the right direction (that I want to move in I might add). So I hope you guys enjoy!!

“I swear Leander, if you sigh one more time I am going to knock you upside the head with this textbook.”

The redhead with his face down on the table turned it so he was now looking at her. He had his lips pouted out and his forehead was as red as his hair from laying directly on the table. He had been like that for at least 5 minutes, giving a huge sigh every 30 seconds or so. Jane had ignored it for a while, but she was about to lose it.

“You’re supposed to ask me why I’m upset.” He said dramatically. 

“And you’re supposed to be helping me with Herbology!”

She shot him a glare, which usually scared him into stopping whatever annoying behavior he was doing, but it didn’t work today. Instead he just turned his face back to the table, letting out another sigh.

Jane closed her textbook; she wasn’t going to get any more work done when he was like that. And as annoyed as she felt, he seemed to be serious about whatever it was.

“Fine, I’ll bite. What’s wrong?”

“I’m lonely.” His voice was muffled because he was still face down on the table. 

“Lonely? What are you talking about? You’ve literally been following me around all afternoon leading up to our this study session.”

“Exactly. I’ve been with you because I’ve been lonely.” he turned towards her again. “Ever since you and Garreth got together I feel like I am all on my own.”

“All on your own? You mean for the three days Garreth and I have been together?”

It was just last Saturday that she had confessed to the other red head, leaving Sunday and now Monday that they had officially been dating. You could technically even call that two days if you really timed it out. On top of that, Jane hadn’t even really seen Garreth yet today since they didn’t share any classes- so how were things different?

“Leander, are you trying to tell me you are lonely because you don’t have a girlfriend?”

“YES!” He said loudly, finally sitting up. “And also no. I mean a girlfriend would be nice, but I just wish I had someone that I could pair off with. Up until this year it had been Garreth, but now I have to share my time with you.”

“Mmmm yeah splitting custody is rough,” Jane said with a smile, knowing only she would get her little joke. “But you know things aren’t going to be that different, I mean, we don’t really have the opportunity to be together all of the time.”

“Yeah but now that you aren’t spending time with Sallow that leaves lots of time for Garreth and we both know that he’s going to choose you over me.”

Jane didn’t answer, she felt like if she agreed with him she would just make things worse- and she didn’t want to lie. It may not be like this forever, but they would probably spend lots of time together since their change in relationship was so new.

“So, you’re feeling lonely now that Garreth and I will be spending more time together and want to find someone that you can spend time with as well.”

“Yes.” he said with a nod. 

“And you want my help with that?”

“Well I’ve been trying to do that for years now, and Garreth is all I have to show for it. Since you came along though suddenly Sweeting, Onai, and even Gaunt will actually talk to me. Surely with your help I’ll be able to get another friend.”

Jane thought it over. Sure she had issues with Leander in the past, but that was mostly behind them at this point. He could be pretty annoying, but now most of the time it was endearing. She knew a lot of people seemed to avoid him though because of the things that he would say. He had basically no filter and shared his opinion very freely, with basically as little tact as possible.

He really wasn’t as bad as his reputation made him out to be though. For example, Jane saw some good in the way that Leander spoke to others. Sure he had a hard time reading the room, but you could always trust what he said to be his honest opinion. You never had to worry that he would lie or hide things from you. What he said is what he meant and there was comfort in that. If she put forth some effort to help him it probably wouldn’t be too hard for others to see the same- right?

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

“Really???” Leander asked, perking up even more.

“Yes, but if we are doing this- we are doing it my way.”

--

Jane pulled the chalkboard closer to the desk and started writing. Some education was in order for phase one of: Get Leander a Friend.

“Is this really necessary?” The gryffindor boy asked, looking up at her impatiently as he sat at the desk just in front of her.

“Yes, now shush.” She continued writing, then moved to the back side and wrote some more.

“Okay!” Jane said loudly as she moved back to the front, making Leander jump. “Let’s begin.”

She reached out with her wand and pointed to the words she had just written.

“Rule number one in making friends. Always be yourself.”

Leander started scribbling furiously down on his paper.

“There is no point in trying to be someone that you aren’t when finding a friend. If you just put on a mask to get them to like you, then they were never really friends with you- just who you pretended to be. That’s not fair to them and it's not fair to you. Sure some people may not like you when you are genuinely yourself, but you shouldn’t be friends with those people anyway.”

Jane folded her arms, pausing to let Leander catch up. He didn’t need to take notes, but honestly she thought it was kinda cute so she didn’t stop him. When he finished writing she continued. 

“Now, rule number two-” Jane flipped the board showing the other side. “Be yourself with a grain of salt.”

“Wait but you just said-”

“Shush.” Jane said to the confused looking boy. “Keep writing.”

He rolled his eyes, but moved back down to the paper.

“Everyone has good and bad qualities- that’s what makes us human. When you are making a new friend though, it’s easiest to showcase the good qualities first, while giving them time to adjust to the not so nice ones.”

She started pacing back and forth at the front of the room, true lecture teacher style.

“Take my friendship with Poppy. In the beginning she was drawn to me because I was nice and helpful, two good qualities about myself. We started out as acquaintances but over time as we were together more she saw more than just the good sides of me. She saw me frantic, loud, and anxious- but it didn’t drive her away. Because we had built a foundation of friendship already, it was easier for her to see me as more than just my less endearing qualities.”

“Is that how all friendships are made?” Leander asked, still writing away.

“Well no, technically a friendship can start from anything- but there’s not much strategy to those, you just sorta get lucky. Like with Ominis; he literally only saw the worst of me for like, a decent amount of time but he still chose to be my friend.”

She stopped pacing.

“Actually, I’m pretty lucky that we are friends at all. I made it really really hard for him to be my friend, and still he gave me a chance in the end. Theoretically, he should hate me at this point, but instead I’d say he’s my best friend.”

“Wow, that does sound lucky.” He commented, not looking up from his writing. “But I think you’re a pretty great person. Even if all he saw was bad stuff I’m sure it wasn’t hard to see the good eventually.”

Jane was a little thrown off by his compliment. “Uh, thanks Leander.”

“Sure. Anyway, was there really nothing else that you did?”

She shrugged. “I mean, I guess I just never stopped trying. He would push me away, but I would come back anyway. It was kind of a stupid strategy though because everytime I came back I just did something that pushed him away more. And then in the end it was just up to him to look past all my mistakes.” Damn, he really is the best.

“ANYWAY,”  Jane continued, pulling her thoughts away from Ominis. “We want to try to find you a friend by putting your best qualities out there first. So, what are your good qualities?”

“I’m great at quidditch!” The boy responded enthusiastically. 

“That's…. debatable,” Jane said hesitantly, starting her pace again.  “Also not something we can really showcase at school. What else?”

Leander tapped his chin thoughtfully. “I’m great at Herbology,”

“Okay yeah, we can work with that.” 

She moved back over to the board and erased her second rule. Then she wrote out great at herbology at the top. Below she listed some of the things she had thought of before such as; honest and genuine. When she turned back towards him he was making a weird face up at her.

“Awe, you think I’m honest and genuine?”

She krinkled her nose. “Well they were better words than blunt and crude. Now what else you got?”

In the end they only added two more things to the list, which was pretty sad, but it wasn’t without effort. Leander’s self awareness was very strong in that he was aware that there weren’t tons of likable qualities about him…. At least not ones that were easily discernible. But they did put down passionate and fun. Even if it wasn’t a big list though, it was still enough for them to work with. 

Now onto phase two- picking out the target or um, potential friend. 

--

“Oh look, they’re carrying a huge stack of books- go now!” Jane said excitedly, pointing at the student who had just come out of the library. 

“What now???”

“Yes, now.” She gave Leander a shove and sent him sprawling out towards their first victim.. 

They had spent the last half hour scouting out random students coming to and from the library and heading to their classes. Jane had decided that now the easiest way for the Gryffindor boy to spark up a conversation would be to help his soon to be friend with some sort of task. Then when he helped them with their books, for example, he could continue talking to them wherever they needed to go.

Well this was actually plan B, since their first had fallen through. Initially Jane had just taken Leander to other 5th years that she knew were friendly and tried to facilitate a conversation. It didn't go well though because apparently within his last five years in school the friendless redhead had said and done A LOT to piss off most of the kids in his year.

She had started with Amit, seeing as the three of them shared astronomy together. Apparently outside of being polite when she was around, the Ravenclaw didn’t want much to do with Leander. In their second year he had said something to Amit that he meant as a joke, but ended up being kinda racist towards his families’ heritage. At that moment there didn’t seem to be much in a way of coming back from that one.

They went down the list of almost all the 5th years that Jane knew, and Leander had somehow managed to offend them all. Jane wanted to start him out on more of a clean slate, but it was hard to do when everyone already had so many prejudices towards him. So she switched tactics and went for new faces rather than old ones.

Now as she watched him nervously talk to the random person behind their stack of books Jane felt a little nervous. This was actually getting to be a lot harder than she thought. The struggle that he had gone through was starting to be much more evident to her. It made her feel for him more, and how lonely his time here probably was. It also made her even more grateful that Garreth was such a good guy and that they had found companionship together.

“Hello love!” Came the voice she had apparently summoned.

Garreth moved in quickly next to her, wrapping his arms around her and holding her close. Jane smiled as he placed multiple kisses around her face, planting the last on her lips. It gave her butterflies and made her want to pull him back in for more.

“I’ve missed you! I hate that I was so busy this afternoon, but I’m done with all my things now!” He moved back in close to her face, nuzzling his nose up close to her ear. Then he whispered; “Want to go find an empty classroom?”

Jane felt her face flush and was about to quickly agree when she realized what she had already been doing. So instead she grabbed his face, pushing it away and sliding out of his reach.

“No, no I can’t. I’m helping Leander with something right now.” She looked at him seriously, but melted a little when she saw the sad puppy dog face. “But I did miss you too.”

She reached over and grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze. Almost immediately he broke into another grin and scooted back over to her.

“You’re helping Lea? With what?”

Jane pointed over to where the other redhead was still standing. “I’m helping him make a new friend.”

“A new friend?”

“Yeah. I thought it would be a good idea to try finding someone he could help first. That way he can naturally get his foot in the door and hopefully off to a good start.”

“That sounds good, but I think you might have chosen wrong with this one.”

“What?” Jane said, turning back to her boyfriend. “Why?”

Garreth had a grimace on his face as he looked over at his friend. 

“Because you just sent him to talk to Zenobia Noke.”

Jane heard a loud thud and turned quickly back to the pair. Zenobia, who was now visible since her books had been dropped on the floor, was currently tearing Leander a new one. The girl whipped out her wand and brandished it at the Gryffindor who looked totally stricken, unable to move let alone defend himself. It seemed she wasn’t going to let the person responsible for her missing gobstones get away as easily this time.

Both Garreth and Jane ran over to them, hoping to stop anything from getting worse. Garreth started to try to appease the younger girl, while Jane just grabbed Leander’s hand and started to run. She figured the best plan was to run away, since she couldn’t really fault the girl for wanting to get even…. It was better they just get out of there.

--

“This is hopeless!” Leander said, back into his wallowing position; face down on the table.

They were in the Gryffindor common room now, a safe place from feral young Ravenclaws. After escaping Zenobia Jane had convinced Leander to try a few more times to make a friend, but none had worked out. The failed attempts were less dramatic, but still just as disheartening.

“Hey don’t worry about it mate,” Garreth said, patting his friend on the back. “We can always have you try again tomorrow.”

“Yeah, and we have herbology, so maybe we could find someone in there you can connect with.” Jane added, trying to sound reassuring. 

“I’m going to bed.” He replied sullenly, and wallowed off to his dorm.

“Poor guy.” Garreth said as he watched his friend go. Once he was gone though he turned quickly back to Jane. “Well now that we’re alone-”

He moved in to try to kiss her again, but Jane held her hand out to his face, meeting his lips to her palm. She stared out towards the fire, totally unfazed by him.

“There has got to be someone in this school who Leander can be friends with. I mean, I think if anyone gave him a chance they would see he’s a great guy, but no one seems to want to do that.”

“Yeah that seems to be the problem,” Garreth said, his mouth still up against her hand. “No one seems to be desperate enough to want to give him a go after all this time.”

“It's true.” Jane tapped her chin with her fingers from her free hand. “So then maybe we need to just look for someone who is as desperate for friends as Leander is.”

“And probably someone who likes Herbology.” Garreth replied, finally giving up and scooting back.

“Yeah, desperate and herbology….”

Then it hit her, like a message from above. She knew the perfect victim. 

--

After Herbology class the next day Jane had invited Leander to play a round of Summoners Court with her, which he happily agreed to. He had still been pretty sulky most of the morning, but seemed to come out of it once they started playing.

Summoners Court for sure was not her favorite thing to play in the original game, mostly because she always lost, but here it wasn’t so bad. Leander was so animated when he played; cheering excitedly when he got points and acting devastated if the ball rolled off. It was kind of hilarious and Jane ended up laughing most of the time.

She ended up losing the first round, so she took the bait when he challenged her for another. When she won the second round they had to play a third to see who broke the tie, and before she knew it they had missed lunch entirely. Jane didn’t mind though, it had been a lot of fun- even if she had lost overall. All his gloating didn’t help though, dude was a sore winner.

When they were done Jane tried to casually bring up the idea of trying at the friend thing again. The boy was in such a good mood she didn’t really want to spoil it, but she also didn’t want him to give up. To her surprise though he agreed, although it came with a bit of complaining. She had noticed that was also kind of his thing. He whined a lot, but never gave up, which to Jane was worth being put in the “good qualities” list.

With his approval to try again though, Jane led them towards a part of the castle where she knew she would find their next potential friend candidate. She prayed inwardly that this was going to go a lot better than the last attempt.

When they got to where they were going though Leander suddenly stopped, throwing himself off to the side.

“Jane no, please anyone but him.” he said, hiding behind a pillar in the hallway.

“You want a friend, he wants a friend, I can’t imagine anything better.” 

She grabbed his arm and attempted to pull him away from his hiding spot. She knew Leander had spotted the other person and that was why he was hiding, but she would be damned if she let him give up now.

“But does it really have to be Puffskien Dunkein??”

“Well this isn’t going to work at all if you call him that!” 

She let go of his arm and put her hands on her hips, trying to look as much like an authority figure as she could.

“Come on Leander, you have got to give him a chance. He might be the only person left in our year who would be willing to see past your previous mistakes. You’re a great guy, you just need someone to give you a chance!”

She ended her little speech by trying to mimic Garreth’s signature puppy dog eyes. Normally she didn’t think she could pull them off but Leander seemed pretty soft so she hoped it would do the trick. He seemed to go back and forth about it in his head, his face mimicking his thoughts. Then finally he let out a sigh and nodded his head. 

“Okay okay, I’ll go talk to Puff- uh I mean, Duncan Hobhouse.”

“Good luck!” She said brightly, watching him turn and walk away. She really REALLY hoped that this would go well.

--

“I cannot believe you set him up with Puffskein Dunkein” Ominis said, chuckling to himself at the library table.

It was Friday now, and the two of them had just finished their History of Magic class and were now studying charms. It had been three days that Leander and Duncan had been talking, three days of their blossoming friendship. A friendship that, for some reason, Ominis Gaunt had heard about.

“I didn’t set him up, I just nudged him in the right direction.” Jane replied, a smile growing on her face. “How did you find out anyway?”

“It seems to be a popular topic for some reason, I’ve heard more than one person in my classes mention it.”

“Really? Why? Kind of a boring thing to talk about; people making friends.”

“Who knows; people will find anything to gossip about these days. Although it has made the talk about you and Garreth being together lessen quite a bit. Everyone seems to have deemed that old news.”

Jane felt her face get hot, and she was glad Ominis wouldn’t be able to see her flush. She had told him initially that she was going to try things out with Garreth, but it was still weird to hear him talk about it.

“Ah well that’s good to hear. Anyway, I think things are going well between the two of them, Leander and Duncan I mean. I haven’t had much time to ask Leander about it but I’ve seen them chatting together more than once.”

Jane thought about the pairing some more, feeling happy with how things worked out.

“They’re a pretty good match if you think about it. Duncan is great at Charms, which is where Leander struggles, but does well enough with the summoning charm that they can play Summoners Court together. And I don’t know how he does in class but I’ve heard Hobhouse has an interest in herbology so there's something that they can talk about as well. Plus they're both kind of misfits so hopefully that can bring them together.” 

Ominis chuckled again, seemingly amused with Jane’s musings. 

“Well hopefully it stays that way. Although I’m not Prewett’s biggest fan, I still would hate to know he had to struggle because of that coward.”

“You know, I still don’t know why it is you hate Duncan so much.”

“Yes but Hobhouse knows, and that’s enough.”

When they finished studying they made their way towards the great hall for lunch, talking happily as they went. It seemed things would just play out as a normal day, until they made it up to the doors, in which everything turned upside down.

“You mean to tell us you got that entire thing all by yourself?”

It was Everett’s high pitched voice that rang in around the hallway. Jane turned to see a group of what mostly looked like Ravenclaw students, but there was some red and yellow in there as well. At the center of the group was Duncan Hobhouse, holding a big ass leaf.

“Of course I did- traversed through the hidden herbology corridor all on my own. Plucked the leaf off, and made it back out.”

There were murmuring throughout the crowd, most of them looking pretty amazed. It seemed the only ones who weren’t convinced was Everett- along with the pair listening off to the side. As she listened, Jane got a horrible sinking feeling in her gut. From what she understood about Duncan in the game, there was no way he got in there all on his own. 

She put two and two together quickly; figuring Leander was actually the one responsible for getting the Venomous Tentacula leaf. She personally had avoided the side quest, but it seemed her interference between the two found the task completed anyway. But with what intentions had he convinced Leadner to do it…. She needed to figure the truth out quickly.

“Ominis I need you to go over there,” Jane whispered, leaning close into his ear. 

“What? To talk to Hobhouse?”

“Yes. I need you to ask in front of everyone if Leander was actually the reason for the leaf.”

“Ah yes, okay-” Ominis immediately pointed his red blinking wand towards the group and started to walk over. Jane took a step back and tried to hide herself around the corner so she was out of sight.

“I still say it's fake.” Jane heard Everett say annoyed. 

“We can go take it to Professor Garlick to confirm if you like, but it will just make you look worse.” Was the other boy’s retort.

She could imagine the smug look on Duncan’s face and suddenly her sinking feeling was turning into a bit of range. She tried to calm herself- nothing had been confirmed yet. There was a possibility that if Leander did get it for him that their friendship was still genuine.

“Are you sure your sudden emergence with the leaf isn’t due to your new friendship with Prewett?” Ominis’ voice called out over the crowd. “Seems a bit out of character for a coward such as yourself to traverse such a place on your own.”

Even from her distance, Jane could feel the shift in the crowd. Suddenly things felt a lot more tense, which made her nervous. 

“Well Gaunt-” The other boy replied with pointed rage. “That is exactly my point. This proves that the narrative of me being a coward is false. If I can do this then surely a mere Puffskein is nothing.”

“You didn’t answer my question though,” said Ominis, and Jane peaked from her hiding place to see a sly grin cross her friend’s face. “Was it really even you who acquired the leaf, or rather did you use your new friend, who we all know excels within the subject of Herbology, to do the dirty work for you?”

“You’re daft Gaunt, of course it was me.” Duncan responded coldly.

“Well then maybe it was just excellent timing that the two of you became friends right when you got up the courage to get to leaf. But as far as I can tell, this just proves you’re more of a coward than I had initially thought Puffskein Dunkein.”

There were more murmurs in the crowd, and then Everett started going off on confirming Ominis’ points. He talked about how everyone knew Duncan had just started up a friendship with the Gryffindor boy, and that Herbology really was Leander’s best class. It seemed everyone was piecing the truth together.

“WE ARE NOT FRIENDS!” Duncan called out over the crowd, and everyone stopped. Jane felt her heart drop.

“Just because that pratt has been following me around for the last few days doesn’t mean that we are friends. He probably just realized I was the only one who might have been desperate enough to willingly talk to him.”

“So, you’re not friends?” Ominis asked.

“Of course not-” He called back. “Actually having him around has been motivation enough to go and get the plant to prove to you all I’m not as ridiculous as you might have thought. That way I can make sure that he knows he isn’t worth my time, or anybody’s for that matter.”

The smug look on the bastard’s face dropped slightly when he caught sight of Jane walking up to the group. Maybe it was because he thought she might know the real story, or possibly it was the rage that burned within her glare towards him. Either way, he knew he was fucked.

“Where does the Herbology Corridor lead out to?” Jane asked over the crowd, drawing everyone’s attention to her.

“What?” His voice was shaky. 

“The hidden corridor, where does the other exit lead you?” She continued walking towards him, the crowd parting for her as she passed by them.

“Uhh, the other exit?”

“Well, I can’t believe you would trek all the way back through the corridor after getting the leaf, when the ladder was just right there next to the plant leading up to the trap door.”

Now that he had made his feelings towards Leander clear, Jane was ready to expose this little bug for the pest that he really was. She may not generally agree with the statement; once a coward always a coward, but in this case it fit.

“Oh well, it comes out in one of the green houses of course.” He tried to look confident as he said it, but Jane knew it was a bluff. It had been a good one though, seeing as it was right, but he didn’t know that.

“Mmm nice try, but the trap door is hidden under the tree by the astronomy table back in the same courtyard. The corridor does a switch back, which you would have known- if you actually went inside.”

“Ah did I say in the greenhouse? What I meant was right outside of the green house.”

“You are a pathetic excuse for a Ravenclaw.” Jane said, now looming in towards him. She could feel her magic start to bubble through her as her rage started to climb, but she kept it at bay- for now. The group was quiet around her, everyone watching the show they expected to see.

“All those brains and you didn’t even come up with a decent lie to tell us all. You could have had Leander come and corroborate your story, to tell everyone that it “really” was you who got the leaf. And he would have done it too, because he is one of the most genuine and committed people I have ever met. But you were too thick headed to see beyond your own ego.”

She held her wand out towards him, and watched as all the blood drained from his face.

“He wanted nothing more than to be your friend, and was probably willing to do whatever it took- and yet you abused him. You dragged him through the mud along with your own shitty reputation, and what do you have to show for it? Well, other than the ass handing you're about to get; you also lost the only person who would have ever willingly called you a friend.”

Jane took another step forward, placing her wand at the boy’s neck. Her anger was almost totally out of control, despite the even level that she kept her voice at. Of course she wasn’t going to do anything too crazy, but he was really going to regret using her friend like he did.

“You really are such a coward-” 

She was about to yell out a spell; maybe pull a James Potter and hang him upside down for some total humiliation, but then there was a hand on her shoulder. With a pulse of magic at the contact she turned to see Ominis standing next to her.

“He’s not worth it Jane,” He said quietly, pulling her gently away. “We’re right outside the great hall- as soon as he screams a teacher will be out here in a moment. Your time is much too valuable to waste in detention for Puffskein Dunkein.”

At his words, and touch, Jane started to deflate. Ominis was right, as much as she hated to admit it. It was hard to think of any reasoning against him though so she lowered her wand. At her movement Duncan let out a breath like he was going to pass out and Jane smirked.  

“If I ever hear you say anything about my friend again, you wont get off as easily.”

He nodded quickly, looking more than a little relieved. Jane turned to go, Ominis’ hand still on her shoulder.

“You made the right choice.” He said, walking a few steps beside her.

“Only because you asked.” She replied flatly, suddenly feeling a bit annoyed she was walking away. “That bug deserved to be squashed.”

“Oh I quite agree,” Ominis said with a smile and before Jane knew it he had left her and turned back to the group. He pointed his wand towards Duncan and yelled out Entomorphis. Then suddenly Puffskein Dunkein was on all fours with an antenna sprouting out of his head, his face distorting.

The group shrieked, drawing the attention from people heading towards the great hall. Jane watched with wide eyes as Ominis casted Aresto Momentum to stop the now scrambling Duncan from scurrying away. Then the blind boy magicked him up into the air so that anyone in the corridor would be able to see him.

People were laughing and pointing at the spectacle that was Duncan Hobhouse as a bug. Peeves also happened to float by and was left in a giggle fit at the show that was before him. And even though she was enjoying it, Jane ran over to where Ominis was now, a smirk on his face as he held the bug boy in the air.

“I thought you said he wasn't worth it!” She yelled out through the noise of the crowd.

“For you, not for me.” He replied, turning his head towards her. “But this way you’ll stay out of detention, and Hobhouse will learn not to mess with anyone important to you ever again.”

Jane wasn’t able to reply, because Professor Ronan had come out of the great hall, and looked less than pleased with what he saw before him. With a quick wave of his wand he turned Duncan back into a human and brought him down to the ground. As soon as the coward touched down he sprinted away, not even caring that his beloved professor was calling out after him.

--

“Did Gaunt really turn him into a bug??” Leander asked, his eyes shining bright.

Jane smiled weakly as she nodded. “Well bug like, I think the spell just gives you some bug qualities.”

The boy seemed impressed and more than a little giddy, but Jane couldn’t help but still feel worried about him. She had come to find him after she had given her witness statement to Professor Ronan, and then also Professor Weasley. Even though Ronan was head of Slytherin, she still had to retell what she witnessed to the Deputy Headmistress (since the headmaster didn’t care about things like this). 

She had shared her story, along with Everrett, since they had been there when everything happened. They both shared that Ominis had technically good intentions with his actions, but of course he still got in trouble. Five weeks detention actually, which sucked, but it could have been worse. 

Duncan also received detention though, once all of the story was told. Apparently Leander going into the hidden herbology corridor for him had landed him in the hospital wing when the giant Venomous Tentacula had taken a bite out of him after he pulled out the leaf. Since the Ravenclaw was the one to persuade the Gryffindor, Professor Weasley thought he should also face more consequences than what Ominis had dealt out. 

That’s where Jane was now though- in the hospital wing with Leander. As soon as she finally finished with her teachers she had raced right over. She felt terrible, but for some reason her friend didn’t seem too upset about things. Actually he wasn’t surprised to see her that at, all of which was a little too weird.

“Leander, I’m really sorry about all of this.” Even if he seemed fine, Jane knew she still had to try to make things right.

“Why are you sorry??” He asked, looking really surprised.

“Because if I hadn’t pushed you to go and talk to Duncan you wouldn’t have ended up in here, and wouldn’t have had to deal with such an ass of a person.”

“But you were only helping me out like I asked you to. I mean, you didn’t know that Puffskein Dunkein was this terrible. And in the end, it really worked out for the best.”

“What do you mean?” She asked, an eyebrow raised.

“Well during the whole debacle it turns out you said some stuff about me that made some of the other kids in our year have a change of heart. Amit Thakkar, Samantha Dale, and Arthur Plummly all came by to see me before you came, and said they wanted to give me another go at being friends. Honestly I don’t know much about Dale or Plummly, but I am really excited about Thakkar- I even got a chance to properly apologize about what I said about his family a few years ago.”

“Wow really?? Leander, that's great!” Jane said excitedly, feeling a huge weight lift off her shoulders. “So does that mean you and Amit will be friends?”

“Well I hope so, but for now I’ll just keep trying my best. Who knows though, since he’s already seen my less endearing qualities, maybe our friendship will grow as strong as yours and Gaunts!”

Jane smiled broadly, thinking about the Slytherin. “I truly hope so.”

“So don’t be sorry. I’m grateful for all you’ve done for me- you’re a pretty good friend Moore.”

“Well so are you Prewett, and I’m glad that now more people will be able to see that.”

Leander brought his hands up to his head, sticking his elbows out. It looked a little bit awkward with the bandage wrapped around his arm.

“Goodness, I don’t know what I’m going to do with myself now that I’m so popular. Seems like having too many friends will be my next battle. How will I manage them all??”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh what will you do? And Garreth; gosh he’ll be so devastated when he realizes you no longer have time for him-”

Loud footsteps sounded from outside the hospital wing and suddenly a mess of red hair bursted through the door. As per the norm, Jane seemed to have summoned him by saying his name. 

“Leander!” He called out, rushing towards his friend, nurse Blainey scolding him as he ran. “I just got back from Hogsmeade and heard what happened- are you okay??”

Leander reached out towards the other boy, looking at him very seriously dead in the eyes and holding tight to his shoulder.

“Garreth. I want you to know that no matter what happens you will always be my best friend.”

“Are you dying?????” The other boy asked, his face going white. He jumped forward and threw his arms around the other boy. Leander hugged him right back, the fervor of their friendship evident in their embrace.

Jane burst out into laughter at the madness of these two friends. Leander had been worried that because they were dating Garreth would not be there as much for him, but Jane didn’t think that was going to be the case. No matter what happened, there was no parting these guys- and history would see that their families would one day be united forever (xoxo Molly Prewett and Arthur Weasley). 

Thanks for reading <3

[featheredcrowbones]

obey me unironically is the only game that i ever felt comfortable enough to play tbh so that sucks considering i dont really feel like i have alternatives

[twstunes]

AU where the real reason the Great Seven are interpreted so differently from how they really are is bc they were the result of people getting isekai'd into Twisted Wonderland as those characters. Like in a "they existed as they were in canon before abruptly getting hit w/ memories from a past life" sorta way.

They all keep their original memories that shaped them into the classic villains we know, but gaining a whole extra lifetime worth of memories causes more than a bit of an unavoidable personality shift…and, save for the Queen of Hearts, they all want to avoid their scripted deaths. (Or fate worse than death, in Hades' case.)

Most of them choose to play it safe, simply live out their lives without making the same disastrous power bids as in their canon stories. If they happen to be a little nicer too, well, maybe they just happened to have a change of heart as of late. It's really no big deal if Ursula does some simpler requests pro-bono, or if the Queen of Hearts is just a smidgen less trigger-happy about punishments, right? No one's complaining about the changes, that's for sure. Scar and Jafar are both more ambitious, successfully accomplishing their goals without falling prey to their original characters' flaws; Scar is more present as a political entity, Jafar reigns in his hunger for ultimate power.

This started off as a joke but man. Even with all of them dodging their respective fates, Maleficent and Hades would still outlive the rest by a long shot. Idk what would be worse: watching the few people who remember your old world slowly die off one by one, only learning they had memories of your old world after their deaths, or never knowing you weren't so alone. Personally I'm leaning towards the first one—save for Ursula, they're all political figures who have reason to come into contact with each other at some point. (And for Ursula, well, maybe the Sea Witch misses walking around on land every now and then. Who knew she'd run into an important so-and-so while on a jog one day?)

But yeah I'm just picturing Maleficent hearing about how her grandson has befriended a student from another world and immediately calling up Hades like "homeboy you're not gonna BELIEVE this." Both of them brainstorm how to go meet this kid without drawing unnecessary attention in the process. Yuu winds up with the two remaining members of the Great Seven as quasi-guardian figures bc Yuu is the only one that gets their other-world pop culture references.

Everyone's already shocked to see the Thorn Fairy and King of the Underworld strolling the town streets of Sage's Island, but…who's that kid with them? And what's that cat-like thing the kid is carrying…? (They're having their biweekly hangout. Their schedules simply don't match up well enough to hang out more often, unfortunately. Grim demanded to come with his hench-human, and is having fun even if he doesn't really understand what the other 3 are talking about.)

[honeyspotpie]

"Oh dndads season 2 is like an isekai anime haha!" "No it's like a reverse-isekai anime!!" *extremely loud incorrect buzzer sound* WRONG. IT'S LIKE A MAGICAL GIRL ANIME. prove me wrong

[seabirdtxt]

Event batch 4

a little later than i anticipated, but the next batch is here!! only two batches left 🤗🩵 thank you to all my requesters!! and apologies if i deviated from your original prompt these things really take on a mind of their own when i write 🫡

🩵 Check out my other event requests! 🩵

for Anon || Scaramouche x Reader - Modern AU, urban fantasy, monster hunters (not main characters), rivals to friends (implied potential for more)

for @resident-cryptid || Foul Legacy x Reader - SAGAU, imposter hunt

for Anon || Tighnari x Reader - Canon setting, Tighnari x reader, Life & Death trope, reader is a mortician, mention/discussion of deaths

----- ⚘ -----

Of the Night

You clutch your side as you dart down the nearest alleyway, foot splashing into a murky puddle. You haul yourself up the fire escape with one arm, doing your best to move quickly. Once you reach the roof, it’s just a matter of speed.

You jump from building to building, hoping beyond hope that your pursuers aren’t parkour experts. There’s only one place that you can think of, the only place nobody will look for you. Your chances of survival either way seem slim.

You find the building you’re looking for, sliding as quietly as you can off the roof and onto the tiny balcony you hope belongs to the correct apartment. Keeping your fingers crossed, you knock on the window of the sliding glass door.

There’s a shuffle of movement inside, and then the blackout curtains move to the side just enough to let a blade of light hit the corner of your eye. You squint into the brightness, offering an apologetic smile around your elongated canines.

The door slides open and a pale hand reaches through to grab you, yanking you inside. You stumble over the door track, whimpering as the movement jostles the arm that’s holding your wound.

“What the hell happened to you?” Scaramouche hisses, his nose wrinkling at the stench of wolf blood.

“... Hunters afoot,” is all you can say before you collapse from exhaustion.

---

You awake some time later, probably not all that long, with a thick padding of bandages around your torso. You sit up, ignoring the screaming pain from your injury, to take in your surroundings. The room is dark, hardly any decorations on the wall, and the bed you’re stretched out on is plain and uncomfortable, as if it’s never been used.

Scaramouche sits at the end of the bed, wiping blood from his hands with a wet cloth. You snort, drawing his attention. His eyes are electric in the low light.

“I’m surprised you didn’t sneak a little taste, leech,” you taunt. The vampire’s expression darkens and he throws the soiled rag in your face.

“As if I want to know what dog tastes like. That’s the thanks I get for patching up your clumsy ass, mutt?” he demands, his insult not quite landing with how worried he looks. “How did you even let it get this bad? Why didn’t you, y’know, wolf out or something?”

“You can’t climb fences with paws, dummy,” you tell him, wiggling your thumbs in front of his face. He pushes your hands back down with a look of annoyance, the tip of his fangs peeking out over his lip with the expression.

It’s the city’s favourite public scandal, that senator Ei and her son are creatures of the night. Due to their standing, and some pretty hardworking PR agents, they’ve been working on fixing the reputation of monsters year by year. Despite some of the new anti-discrimination laws in place, nothing will stop a very determined hunter from going after random citizens they decide aren’t human enough.

Beastfolk like Doctor Tighnari, and Ei’s own partner Miko, don’t get nearly the same kind of bad rep as werewolves. People like you are still heavily stereotyped, despite the countless arguments that you all retain your sound mind during the transformation.

That’s why you’re here, in your old highschool rival’s apartment on a full moon night instead of running around in the park like you’d originally planned. Everybody knows of the age-old feud between vampires and werewolves. Plus, it’s been years since you last saw each other, nobody will associate you with him these days. Nobody will think to look for you here.

You look at the curtained window, then at Scaramouche, who’s still sitting on the bed. His back is to you, a little bit broader than he used to be when you kicked his ass at track and field. You don’t resist the urge to extend your hand, shifting your nails just a tiny bit, to touch the sharp angles of his shoulder.

You don’t make it, of course. Little bugger had lighting reflexes in school too, even if you were the faster runner. He turns and grabs your wrist before it even comes close to touching him. With surprising strength, he pulls you close by your arm until your noses are almost touching.

“Paws off,” Scaramouche mocks you, his slit-like pupils barely visible with his narrowed eyes. He gives you a smirk. “Bad doggie.”

You snatch your hand back quickly, growling softly under your breath. You look down and test the bandages, finding them to be holding firmly.

“... So when d’you want me to get out of your hair?” You ask, knowing that you’ve definitely overstayed your welcome by now.

“You can hide here for the rest of the night,” his answer comes, much too quickly to be anything other than impulse. You raise your eyebrow at that, knowing he definitely sees you with his night vision. He rolls his eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Let’s just say you owe me one later, okay?”

You whuff and kick him gently, which earns you a pillow to the face.

Tomorrow morning he’ll make you breakfast, and you’ll probably eat enough to put him out of house and home, and you’ll tell him all about the hunters who chased you down last night, and sometime over the week you’ll hear through the grapevine about some college kids going missing but you won’t think anything of it.

Sometime during the week, you’ll get a text from an unknown number telling you to use the front door next time, and a six digit passcode for an apartment building security system.

But tonight, you let Scaramouche baby you (as much as he denies it) and you fall asleep in his dumb, uncomfortable bed to the sound of him saying you haven’t changed a bit.

----- ⚘ -----

Blood in the Water

You don’t have gold blood, or super strength, or special powers. What you have is the clothes on your back, a pocketful of change for your bus fare, and a dead phone.

And the face of Teyvat’s omnipresent god, apparently. Not that that’s done you any favors since you got here. There’s been an order to bring your head to this Creator person. Preferably on a silver plate. Maybe a spike, if they’re feeling artistic.

That’s how you find yourself being chased by dozens of people who you thought were your favourite videogame characters. You surely regret it now, having upgraded them and kitted them all with best-in-slot weapons and artifacts. You’re not sure you want to test whether or not you’ll revive like the traveler, so you just run.

You’ve accumulated a plethora of wounds, doing your best to keep them clean and wrapped until you can figure out how to get back home. You move only at night, taking care to avoid places you distantly remember being inhabited. You even avoid the monsters, too afraid that they’d cause a ruckus and attract attention.

You find a cave. It’s not much more than a hole between the cliff face and the ground, but it's a shelter at the very least. You tuck yourself into it eagerly, hoping that the unremarkable location will save you from waking up to a knife pointed at your face.

You wish you could say you slept well, but you woke up barely an hour later to the sound of something scraping against the dirt outside. You risk a peek, and immediately shriek and retreat to the back of the cave.

Just outside, trying to dig his way in, is Childe’s Foul Legacy form. You briefly send a thought to whatever powers that be, hoping you can somehow get out of this alive.

The man stops his scratching, face leaning down to peer into your burrow. You can’t see him, but you get the sense that Childe is smiling behind his mask.

“Wakey wakey, little impostor,” he sings, reaching in to claw at the walls of your hideout. “Come on, I wanna play a little before we bring you in!”

Just as he finishes saying that, he gives a strange choked noise and yanks his arm out of the hole, clutching at his head. You don’t question it, taking the opportunity to make a break for it. You hear a frustrated snarl behind you, and the sound of heavy footsteps quickly follows.

You don’t stick around to find out what happened.

You’re not sure which direction you’re going anymore, your sense of direction completely messed up now that you’re seeing Teyvat in person. As a result you’re not paying attention to where you’re going, which is a nice way to say you Wile E Coyote’d yourself straight off a cliff.

You let out an undignified shriek, limbs flailing as you plummet down toward the frothing ocean below. Is it better to drown than to be stabbed, you wonder? You glance over your shoulder and watch in dread as Childe leaps down after you, arms outstretched. You close your eyes, and pray it will be fast.

---

You open your eyes one at a time, mostly surprised you’re still alive to do so. You take quick stock of yourself, and find that you miraculously still have all your limbs and belongings. Next, you look around for-

There he is, sitting on a rock behind you. Childe watches in silence as you check yourself over, which you think is a little bit creepy. You wave hesitantly, offering a wonky smile.

“Your Grace,” a deep, raspy voice emits from Foul Legacy, definitely not Childe’s.

A little stupidly, you look around and behind yourself, before turning back to Foul Legacy and pointing at your own chest. The creature nods.

“We have been waiting.” it rumbles, standing up and walking toward you. It’s much more imposing now that you have a good look at it, and you shrink back instinctively. “Be not afraid, Your Grace. The people of Teyvat are ignorant of your status, but the Dark knows.”

“What… what does that mean?” you squeak as Foul Legacy finally stops in front of you, talons reaching up to gently caress your face. You freeze, unable to will yourself to move when you’re so close to getting your head sliced off.

“You are the true Creator,” Foul Legacy says, surprisingly patient. “It is difficult to tell, as your divine presence is faint, but those who know will recognize it immediately.”

The creature reaches into your pocket with its thumb and forefinger, pulling out your dead phone. It gives the phone to you, so you take it mutely. You watch as Foul Legacy activates Childe’s electro Delusion, tapping the black screen with one claw.

Immediately, your phone blinks to life.

“Woah! That’s useful,” you gasp, unable to help your surprise.

“Your divine focus, Your Grace,” Foul Legacy nods. At its encouragement, you open up the lockscreen.

It loads into the Genshin Impact game immediately, and the first thing you notice is the plethora of new buttons available to you. You look up at Foul Legacy curiously.

“Teyvat is yours to command,” it states, then stiffens and flexes its hands. “I cannot hold him at bay for much longer, this is where I take my leave.”

‘He’ must be Childe, trapped inside the living armor of Foul Legacy. Internally, you wince at how lowkey degrading that must be. You wave as Foul Legacy bounds up the cliff, taking Childe somewhere far away from you.

Once the creature is gone, you open your phone once more and stare at the new UI. Well, you think, might as well give it a shot.

Your thumb presses down on a button.

----- ⚘ -----

Memento Mori

Many people question how Tighnari can stand to be so close to you. He, who’s study in biology brought him into the light, into an affinity with all things life. Meanwhile you, who studied the same Amurta major as he did, delved into the field of sickness and decay and death.

You chuckle and close the icebox, letting the body of a departed grandmother rest before it is her time to be returned to the earth. As one of Sumeru’s few morticians, it’s your job to respect a good death, and to help the family in their time of suffering.

But there is also beauty, and life, in death. You see it every day, when people come to visit their loved ones at their gravesite. There is much love and sadness, yes, but there is blossoming and growth in it as well. They plant bushes and flowers to mark the resting places, and with each new shoot the visitors continue to grow as time passes.

Likewise, Tighnari knows that his job as a forest ranger is not just about preserving life, as much as he tries his best to keep fools on the right path. To preserve life, you must also respect death. The bodies of dead animals will feed their peers for days, and the decomposition of fallen trees will nourish the soil for years to come.

People don’t know how you and Tighnari can coexist so well, and it’s because they don’t realize that the two of you are each other’s perfect mirror. You balance each other out; where Tighnari is strict and hotheaded, you are patient and soothing. When Tighnari laments the decline of a species, you are the one who brings him the skull of their ancestors to show him that these creatures have come a long way and will persist under his care.

When the two of you come home after a long day apart, you share stories and gripes about your daily work, smushed together on your too-small couch and watching over Collei as she studies her letters.

“I had to stop a would-be explorer from wandering into the Withering zone again,” Tighnari sighs, his ear flicking down to brush the top of your head.

“Unfortunate,” you muse. “I’m assuming you succeeded, given you’re in a relatively good mood.”

“Oh, of course,” he waves his hand at the notion. “No thanks to the idiot’s lack of compass, or common sense. How about you? You are terribly lucky you don’t have to suffer fools the same way I do.”

“A grandfather who passed last week was visited today,” you tell him. “His family requested that he be cremated, and have given me a pouch of his late wife’s ashes to send with him on his final journey.”

“That’s very kind of them,” Tighnari replies, the pad of his thumb rubbing over the back of your hand. Despite your love and respect for your job, and how many requests and wishes you fulfilled, there is always a vague sense of melancholy that follows you home.

“His granddaughter will be enrolled in school this year,” you continue, holding his hand in yours. “Her father said she seems to take an interest in her grandfather’s old books. She likes the pictures.”

“The cycle keeps moving,” Tighnari nods. The two of you are distracted as Collei exclaims in joy, leaping up from where she’s sitting on the floor (and isn’t that amazing? She regains a bit of her strength every day) running to you to show you the perfect score she’d gotten from her homework.

Yes, many people question how Tighnari can stand to be so close to you, but who else besides you two can perfectly balance life and death?

[theladyofshalott1989]

Chapter 3 ("A Marketing Team, Somewhere in London, the Early 2020s") of my Quidditch Champions fic is up!

And SURPRISE! It's an isekai & transmigration fic :)

[adventures-in-re]

apparently there's a secret description and title for the last legacy prologue that, to my knowledge, isn't used anywhere? at least, I've never seen it. this is stored in the same place as all the titles/descriptions for the character route chapters that you would see in the chapter select lists, so I'm not sure where this would be displayed.

it's certainly not the text that's displayed underneath the play prologue button usually, which is the last legacy synopsis (shown below for comparison)

i'd be interested to know if anyone has seen this anywhere within the actual game itself and if so, where

[twocubes]

the thing with terms like "seggs" and "unalive" is that on the one hand the paranoia that leads people to say stuff like that seems bad socially but on the other hand i find euphemisms very funny and i'd rather people be more creative

causing your own rebirth in a fantasy universe

Sudden-Onset Cerebral Entropy Syndrome

self-induced Wikipedia verb-tense shift event

vehicular Isekai

accelerating the timeline on your estate's legacy process

personal temperature normalization

ghost tf

[duas-faces-de-mim]

Sinopse:

Há 2 meses atrás eu tinha perdido o meu professor favorito, agora estava a lidar com um monte de sonhos que me mantinham acordada, sonhava com um garoto parecido comigo e um mundo completamente novo para mim. Ainda por cima o Sebastian tinha deixado de falar comigo desde a última conversa que tivemos e eu nem sei porque, muitas das vezes tentava falar com o mesmo, mas ele evitava conversas, aquilo sinceramente me deixava triste de mais, era uma dor tão grande, acho que nunca senti isto antes, mesmo com a perda do professor Fig, tinha um novo aluno na escola no que me deixava intrigada, pois não é normal ao meio do ano segundo ouvi falar entrar novos alunos.

(Acompanha Lívia Rauscher numa aventura nova)

Idioma: Português

Categorias Hogwarts Legacy, Shadowhunters

Personagens: Personagens Originais, Sebastian Sallow, Poppy Sweeting, Anne Sallow, Ominis Gaunt,  Leander Prewett, Matilda Weasley, Natsai Onai

Gêneros: Ação, Aventura, Comédia, Drama / Tragédia, Famí­lia, Fantasia, Ficção Adolescente, Musical (Songfic), Romântico / Shoujo, Saga, Sobrenatural

Avisos: Álcool, Linguagem Imprópria, Sexo, Spoilers, Suicídio, Violência

(NÃO RECOMENDADO PARA MENORES DE 18 ANOS)

[unladielike]

@sweptawxy — continued from here ;;

    “D-Don’t get so ahead of yourself! I just figured you would toss that out after a while,” Vivian sharply insists, but considering the words came from a man as handsome as Niles, she couldn’t help but blush. Then again, even if the romantic attraction wasn’t there at the moment, there could be no denying the fact she found him appealing; after all, her type was often white haired individuals... and if they happened to wear an eye-patch, then that was also a bonus.

    Still, considering Elise was way better at making flower crowns than her, she hadn’t expected to find the clumsily made lei made out of blue roses strewn over his head. Granted, she did end up giving it to Niles because she didn’t think such a pretty, feminine thing belonged on her, but the fact he actually kept it a week later was enough to make her do a double take. Regardless, it doesn’t take long for her to let out a small huff as she crosses both arms across her chest.

    “And o-obviously, nobody would say anything because they know I prefer my men fictional! The fact you look beautiful in blue is simply... an unfortunate coincidence. It’s also not my fault you have the best visual aesthetic compared to all the other heroes!”

[roostersup]

Character Sheet for

Hogwarts Legacy fanfic-

Modern day characters gets dropped into Hogwarts Legacy. No family background but lots of personality

Original page created by @kiwiplaetzchen

Links to stories:

Book 1: Wattpad || Fanfic || a03

Book 2: Wattpad || Fanfic || a03

[librarygarten]

#1 Chain x Isekai! Reader - You Play Their Games

Part 1 includes Hyrule, Wind, and Time Part 1 (you are here) ✿ Part 2 ✿ Part 3

When you first met the chain, it had quickly come to everyone’s attention that you already knew them. At first, they thought perhaps you had somehow heard tales of them, passed down through the generations. But you knew things about their adventures they hadn’t told anyone. You knew the names of people and places that surely wouldn’t have survived the thousands of years the stories would have taken to reach you.

You tried your best to explain to them how you knew what you did. Thankfully, you had your Switch, which made explaining what a video game was to them a bit easier.

Hyrule

He wasn’t sure what to think. On one hand, it was upsetting. His adventures were being used to entertain people? His Hyrule was a nightmare to live in, with monsters everywhere. When he had defeated Ganon, it had been a huge deal. To find out it was a game for children was a bit insulting if he was being honest.

On the other hand, his… “games” seemed to be your favorite? You had explained to him that his adventures were the first games ever created, and without them, the rest of the franchise wouldn’t exist. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride in this fact. He had grown up hearing of the Hero of Legend, and even now, traveling with the group, with Legend, it was impossible not to feel like he had to live up to that legacy. But to hear that without him, the others wouldn’t exist? (At least in your universe their stories would never have been created.) It was like the roles had been reversed. The Hero of Legend. The Hero of Time. All of them had to live up to the legacy that was… Hyrule.

He felt a bit guilty. A bit fascinated. A bit resentful. A bit proud. He wasn’t sure what to think. He decided to watch you play his game. Just for a bit, he told himself. Just to see what had started it all.

✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧

“Okay, so, I normally use a guide to help me find the dungeons,” you explained to Hyrule as you booted up a new save file. He was sitting next to you, watching the screen intently. “I’m not sure how far I’ll get without the internet, especially when I have to get through the maze later on.”

Hyrule had no idea what you were talking about. He decided to ignore whatever you just said and instead focus on the game in your hands.

“Is that supposed to be me?” he pointed at the screen, to the mass of pixels in the center vaguely resembling a person wearing a green dress and hat.

“Yeah, sorry. Your games’ graphics aren’t great,” you moved the joystick, making the game Link walk around in a circle. “But that’s just because they’re older. I think my dad was a teenager when this was made.”

There was a moment of silence before you spoke again.

“I miss him.”

Hyrule nodded in understanding. It couldn’t be easy, traveling with the group in a world so unlike your own. How were they going to get you home? Before he could try to comfort you, you turned your attention back to the game, moving the character into a small doorway as you talked.

“He’s the one that first got me into the games. He and I used to play this game on the old NES he had. We even tried to make a map of the different screens so that we would stop getting lost.”

Hyrule closed his eyes, leaning his head against your shoulder as you continued to ramble on about the game. It didn’t sit right with him that his adventure was reduced to entertainment. But you seemed so happy. Surely, it couldn’t be that bad.

Wind

(Pretend his games are on the Switch lol)

He's the least bothered by this. Like, sure, it's a bit weird that his adventures are games, but it's also so cool! It's like you went on his adventure, too! Even though you’ve never met his friends in real life, you seem to show such genuine care about them when playing his game.

He WILL demand to see every Legend of Zelda game you have, not just his own. It lets him experience the rest of the chain's adventures, which he really enjoys. (He likes watching you play Ocarina of Time the most. You have a hunch it has something to do with Wind growing up hearing stories about Time, then being expected to carry on that legacy. Or maybe he just likes to watch you fail at the Water Temple).

Despite his fascination with the others’ games, Wind is also REALLY proud that you like his the most. He had fun on his adventures with Tetra, and he’s glad he gets to share that with you. He’s also glad he can shove it in the others faces that he’s the favorite.

✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧

You giggled as the cutscene played on the screen. Wind, who was sitting next to you, gave you an inquisitive look. He was watching the cutscene too, and didn’t see what was so funny. Upon seeing his face, you laughed even more.

“Sorry, sorry,” you apologized through giggles, “your facial expressions get me every time.” You gestured to the screen. The game Wind had been placed in a barrel, about to be launched from the pirate boat. His expression changed from wide-eyed terror to a determined glare. “It looks like you went through the five stages of grief in three seconds.”

“I HAD TO ADAPT TO SURVIVE.” Wind puffed out his chest. If he wasn’t a twig-thin pre-teen, it may have made him look manlier.

“I’m sure being yeeted off a boat in a barrel was quite the ordeal. Still doesn’t make your faces any less amusing.” You smiled, playfully poking his cheek. He stuck out his tongue at you.

“I’m sure it’s just the art style of the game.” He rolled his eyes. Surely, his facial expressions couldn’t be that amusing. “Tetra doesn’t look that funny in real life. Neither does Aryll. Everyone on your ‘Switch’ has weird little feet that don’t go with the rest of their body. I wouldn’t trust it to copy my face.”

“Ah, my mistake,” you ruffled his hair. “Surely, no screen can properly capture this adorable visage.”

“HEy!”

“But no, seriously.” you smiled and turned your attention back to the screen, “your funny faces used to crack me up all the time as a kid! Me and my brother tried to copy them, but we could never get them quite right.”

“So, am I your brother’s favorite Link, too?” Wind smirked.

“Hey! I never said you were my favorite. I said your games were my favorite!” You playfully hit his shoulder. “I can’t just choose my favorite of you guys! That wouldn’t be fair.”

“Oh!” Wind cried out and grabbed his chest, “My pride!” He fell over dramatically, as if dying from the grievous injury to his ego. You laughed at the display.

“See, this is what I mean. I don't get this kind of entertainment from the others! Legend’s too grouchy and the captain's worried about messing up his hair.” Wind bolted upright at your comment. Cupping his hands over his mouth in a makeshift megaphone, he yelled across the campsite.

“HEAR THAT LEGEND? Y/N LIKES ME BETTER THAN YOU!”

“SHUT UP! I STILL HAVE MORE GAMES THAN YOU!”

Time

Time is silent the entire time you explain his games. Only two of his adventures seem to have made it to your world. He’s not sure if he should be horrified that his time in Termina is the last story you had of him, or grateful you didn’t see the aftermath of that adventure. (You don’t seem to know much about the Fierce Deity mask besides it “makes boss fights easier”.)

It takes him a while to trust you. He isn't sure how you view the chain now, and he can't risk you thinking they're still a game. There are real stakes. He tries to put you in the back of the group or somewhere you can't possibly mess anything up. Once you prove to him that you genuinely care about the group, though, he relaxes quite a bit. (That's a story for another time tho).

He doesn’t get too worked up over the fact you viewed his adventures as games. He can see how much you care for the chain when interacting with them, so it’s not like you still view them as playthings. From talking to his successors, he’s also grown used to being reduced to a story. He knows that fighting Ganondorf was terrifying, especially considering he was so young when he had to do it. However, to Wind, Twilight, and the others that came after? He was the Hero of Time. The Possessor of the Triforce of Courage. A legendary hero. Not a scared kid.

He watches you play occasionally, usually just a quick glance at the screen when he walks past wherever you were sitting. Wind seemed particularly interested in your device, so you had been showing him almost every game you had. Time mostly seems detached from the events depicted. Maybe it’s how long has passed between his childhood time traveling shenanigans and his present. More likely, he had simply lived through those adventures so many times himself that he couldn’t bring himself to get worked up about watching them again. You couldn’t quite tell.

✧˖°˖☆˖°˖✧

“Ugh! I hate this stupid dungeon!” you groaned, pressing your face closer to the screen of your Switch. Wind was sprawled out next to you, head resting in your lap as he napped. Clearly, you had been at this for a while. Your frustration had also grabbed Time’s attention, and he made his way over to you.

“Is that the Water Temple?” he asked, sitting down on the other side of you. “I remember that place being a bit tedious to get through.”

“Yeah. I’ve been here for almost an hour. I can never get these platforms in the right order.” You furrowed your eyebrows, trying yet again to complete the stupid puzzle. Time watched you move his teen self around the level, pushing down his discomfort. He was slightly amused at how frustrated you were getting. (He’s still a little brat at heart.)

Finally, he decided to be helpful.

“Here,” he held out his hand, and you gave him the Switch. “It’s really obvious once you see the solution.” Time moved the joysticks gently, guiding his game counterpart around the level. He moved the platforms, solving the puzzle in only a few seconds.

“Oh come on!” You stuck out your tongue at the game, and Time couldn’t help but chuckle. He handed the game back to you, and you continued to play, passing through the last few levels before the final boss fight. Time continued to watch, occasionally offering commentary on the puzzles, although it was more to make fun of you than to help you.

Honestly, both of you lost track of time, and before you realized, the final battle was over. Ganondorf was defeated. As the credits rolled, Time was unusually quiet, and for a moment you thought he had fallen asleep. You glanced over, only to find his eyes glued to the screen.

“May I?” He whispered, holding out both of his hands. You placed the Switch in his hands, and he gingerly held the device as the final cutscene played. On the screen, Navi flew up and away. Time turned the device over and placed it on the ground when the words “Presented by Nintendo” appeared. 

“Time, I’m sorry,” you began, gingerly touching his shoulder. He looked lost in thought.

“Don’t be. I think I needed to see that.” He smiled sadly. “I didn’t really understand it back then. I thought she had just flown away. I didn’t really get to… mourn.”

You wrapped your arms around him, and Time gently accepted the hug. Once he was sure you weren’t going anywhere, Link tightened his arms around you.

[paper-mario-wiki]

isekai manga: "now that ive unlocked this incredible power i have to use it to save the world."

isekai manhwa: "now that ive unlocked this incredible power i must look inward and understand myself and the nature of power so it does not corrupt me."

isekai manhua: "now that ive unlocked this incredible power im going to obliterate the legacies and family name of everyone who's ever wronged me and have their descendants ridiculed and hated for generations to come."

[tumblingxelian]

Near Uniquely RWBY - Main Characters

I was chatting with my sibling the other day and we were joking about the fact in 90% of the media I consume I generally don't like the main characters.

Not in the sense I necessarily hate them, but I generally don't find them to be the most interesting, engaging or enjoyable person on screen or page. Instead I tend to gravitate towards secondary or minor characters and even minor antagonists before any of the big names.

Some of this is rooted in my often rooting for what tends to feel more like a real underdog or characters that feel like they got dealt a bad hand by the author unfairly. But its also that in a lot of media the main characters tend to immediately, slowly or quickly go into personality lockdown.

Becoming less a personality and more the embodiment of expected tropes and themes, or they lose their unique edge or circumstances because the plot demands one benefits or personality changes be heaped on them to keep the tone and story going.

Some examples of this would include say:

Ichigo from Bleach, with him and his supporting cast being very unique and super interesting during the initial arc. But as Soul Society came in, he became a much more standard Shounen determinator a the expense of his personality and his supporting casts were largely watered down & left behind.

Or how in Naruto or Dragon Ball the whole underdog/hard worker aspect of the characters felt undercut by legacy power ups and an endless wellspring of natural talent, alien biology, ETC.

I know these are just two examples, but they cover the general gist of what I mean.

So, what makes RWBY different?

Well, off the cuff, is simply that the four main characters are women.

I've often felt simply putting anyone other than a cis-het guy into the main character slot of say, a battle Shounen, or Isekai stands a good chance of making it more interesting by default. Even if the author does nothing with it the audience reaction would be different because the MC would be an exception to the norms.

In that vein, while one can call RWBY some sort of Shounen or adventure fantasy or magical girl show the main four are unique in how they manifest on screen at the very start. From how they participate in action, to how said action is structured and framed and the kind of adventures and topics they tackle.

But being unique alone is not enough, that would simply make it more interesting than the bog standard but what elevates RWBY is the execution and exploration of such elements and its characters.

Going into every aspect would be difficult, but in light of what I said above would be how each of the main four are initially presented as familiar archetypes, only to subvert or deconstruct them.

Ruby is a peppy goth who just wants to be normal but has inborn powers from her mysteriously vanished mother and serves as a beacon of optimism to others.

Except Ruby's version of normal still involved fighting death monsters with a sniper rifle scythe and she is actually one of the more ruthless characters. Her peppy persona obscures that she can have a pretty vicious temper when pushed and has displayed strong bloodknight tendencies.

Her unrelenting optimism and desire to fix the world is a complex mix of true beliefs, coping mechanism for trauma and her grappling with positions forced on her against her will. Her inborn power is potentially useful but also not that much of a game breaker outside specific contexts & said power sure as hell didn't save her mom.

Weiss Schnee is the Tsundere heiress of a powerful family, with a haughty attitude that hides her loneliness.

Except the "Tsundere" is more of a defense mechanism born of coming from an abusive home where every member of her family manifested a different trauma response. Freeze (Mother), flight (Sister), Fight (Weiss) Fawn (Brother).

Despite her upbringing & some projected trauma, she's far from ignorant as to the worst excesses of her nation early on, and her journey was more about overcoming the impacts her abuser had on her and finding a family in her team that let her be safe enough to let down her walls. Also despite being "The ice queen" she's actually one of the characters least inclined towards more ruthless actions and is extremely empathic.

Blake Belladonna is a mysterious and silent rougish woman, something of a shrinking violet even, but she carries with her a wounded heart thanks to her old flame, the edgy Adam Taurus.

Or more accurately, Blake is the daughter of activists and politicians who represent the worlds main discriminated against minority. She spent her youth on the road as a protestor and where even her father could be nearly killed by a lynch mob. She was targeted & groomed by a man who claimed to want to fight the same injustice she did but who was only interested in using the movement to grow his own power.

Her initial aloof-ness was a trauma response to having spent years under his thumb and overcoming him and the idea she had to 'save' him was one of the main corner stone so her character. Also, despite the "Revolutionary fighter" backstory she like Weiss is much less inclined towards ruthlessness than her team in large part because her past experience with it.

Yang Xiao Long, introduced as the fun loving big sister of Ruby & boisterous bruiser of the team who loves to party & flirt.

Except no, Yang was parentified as a child and forced to raise her own sister as their family unit fell apart. Her "Party girl" persona was outright framed as judging a book by its cover in her own trailer and something she put on or took off as she needed.

She became disabled over the course of the series run as well as entered a Sapphic romance with her partner Blake. Unlike the stereotype of characters with her design, Yang is actually an excellent student, fighter and engineer/mechanic. Plus much like her sister she tends to be of the more ruthless and pragmatic persuasion despite being from the "Normal" background.

Character Conclusion

So, all the characters break out of their initial archetypes, which already makes them more interesting. What's more, these sorts of characters just being oput together and made the main characters rather than circling a dude is in of itself unique.

But there are other aspects of the writing which endear me to how it handles the main characters and what keeps them interesting.

Anger & Violence

See, while in various media women do express anger at times it is still often far less so than men. What's more, often women's anger tends to be presented in... Less flattering lights.

With the anger obscuring fragility while in a man it conveys strength. Or implying a sort of hysteria rather than an appropriate or controlled response. Or worst of all being demonized in general unless its rooted in or coming from traditionally feminine places.

The same tends to be true when it comes to violence with a lot of media either trying to find some way to make women in battle less... Brutal than their male counterparts. (More more like fanservice) Along with rarely letting women fight men, unless they are a special exception to the norm.

RWBY does not do this.

The main characters, hell, all the women in the series express a multitude of different forms of anger and violence. They battle men, they battle each other, they battle monsters all with no distinction nor fanservice shot in sight.

What's more though is that said anger and violence are not presented as, for lack of better words, wrong. The writers don't draw overt attention to this fact, they don't hang a big sign up saying "Girls can fight & shout too" or the like.

They just present these women with a range of emotions, motives and actions that are treated according to what fits the theme of the show rather than hewing closer to gendered lines.

This isn't to say anger & violence are lionized, but more that the experience and usage of them is not demonized or undermined because of the characters gender.

I suppose what I am saying is that CRWBY by and large lack double standards when it comes to exploring these things that I see so often in other media. The women in the main cast, among the villains, both sides respective allies and beyond can be flawed, or angry or do both good and terrible things.

But the writers are always treating everyone's pain as equally valid regardless of gender or situation. Which means that the situations that cause anger exist within a tone of respect that forms the depiction and framing of anger itself.

Which is just something I really enjoy.

Thanks for reading!

[assortedshrift]

Twst Otome Isekai AU

Reader used to love isekai but became sick of all the terrible ML’s and annoying FL’s. There is nothing worse than getting into a series with an immersive setting only for the author to waste it on terrible main characters.

Eventually you give up on the genre and focus on getting her business degree. A year after graduating things are actually pretty good, you survived the terrible job market and landed a pretty sweet gig with a decent paycheck. Now, on the anniversary of your decision to drop all light novels, manhwa, manga, etc… you decided to celebrate your good fortune with a treat from your favorite cafe. You'll never guess what happened while you were crossing the street…

So yeah, Truck-kun sends you to Twisted Wonderland, which happens to be the last isekai you read. Ugh.

Okay, so it wasn't the worst offender, there were plenty of trashier light novels out there. you were actually pretty invested in the story’s world. The MC Allison (Call me Allie!) is a down on her luck woman from the modern world who died from tripping into traffic, only to wake up in the world of Twisted Wonderland. Through her the audience meets the characters and learns about their lives. The overarching issue is the mysterious condition known as ‘Overblot’ that occurs when someone uses too much magic. Allie is taken in by the Royal Sowards Association (RSA), a multinational group dedicated to helping others. They discover that something about being from another world allows Allei to purify blot, and she saves the ML’s during their adventures.

You honestly liked the novel at first. The worldbuilding was captivating and the characters were interesting. Unfortunately as the story progressed the MC became increasingly disappointing. Allie is first presented as an average, innocent young lady who just wants to do good, but you can't think of her as anything other than a loser. It’s understandable how someone transported to a new world would start off with little agency, but despite many opportunities for character growth the MC only seems to get worse. 

Allie claims to have big dreams but never works towards them. She touts the value of being independent but stays reliant on handouts from the other characters. When faced with the suffering of others Allie cries about the unfairness of life then just… moves on. It was so frustrating for you to be shown glimpses of an interesting world while stuck with the viewpoint of such an agentless character. Considering all this, it would be an understatement to say that you were upset upon waking up in the headquarters of Night Raven Collaborative (NRC), a dark counterpart to RSA. 

If there were a need to describe NRC in one word, that word would be ‘petty’. Some time after RSA’s founding a group of villainous individuals realized that the united heroes were causing all their schemes to fail. The group reluctantly learned to work together which led to the founding of NRC, a secret society dedicated to the destruction of RSA. Now, millennia later, the heirs of these dark legacies are still trying to defeat RSA. 

But that's enough exposition, back to Reader.

You are quickly discovered by Dire Crowley, a dark fae who was tasked by the original founders to take care of the organization as a sort of regent in their absence. In the present day he is the public face of NRC’s leadership. He questions you using magic to determine who you are and why you're here.

Now, at this point it's been years since you last read Twisted Wonderland, and a lot has happened since then, so you have no idea what's going on. This is actually a good thing as your genuine confusion convinces Crowley you aren't some sort of infiltrator. He is quick to focus on the fact that you came from another world, and like Ambrose did with Allison, Crowley suspects that your trans-dimensional travels may have imbued you with special abilities. It's pretty lucky that the man got so caught up in fantasies of exploiting your potential power, because the more he spoke the more you realized exactly where you were. 

Yeah sure, as far as post death situations go it could probably be worse. But seriously? It couldn't have been a story that you actually finished? Isn't the protagonist supposed to be an expert in the fictional world? Well at least there are some secrets that you know about.

Thanks to some quick thinking, you manage to convince Crowley to give you custody of an estate that NRC owns but has mostly forgotten. It's obvious that he intends to keep you close for observation. But thanks to the novel you know that the head of NRC is a lazy penny-pincher who will take any chance to offload work onto others. From his perspective it must have seemed like a deal, you stay close while also taking responsibility for something he considers a waste of resources.

 The Ramshackle estate was originally a neutral ground for the founders to meet in. but once they built a more grandiose HQ the place was abandoned and left in disrepair. The only reason you thought of it was due to a couple chapters where junior members of the RSA  tried to investigate rumors of an evil organization, but had to stop and rescue Allie from the ghosts. There was a short interlude where the shadowy leads of the evil organization had a group call to complain about the heroes and mock them for going after such a useless place. 

Except the joke is on them because later Allie and the juniors return to discover a magic mirror that does… something. You had dropped the story before they revealed that part. The point is that there's something valuable in Ramshackle and it now belongs to you. Initially you intended to pawn the mirror and gtfo. Too bad grim had to go and ruin it. A talking monster who, as far as you remember, never appeared in the novel, but somehow managed to break into the building and worm his way into your heart.

Ugh, whatever. You can improvise.