#Phoenix resistance project

[booksandabeer]

Steve-Centric Stucky Fics: 5 Recs + 1 TBR

As promised, here is the rec list for Steve/Bucky fics with a focus on Steve-centric stories—all of them not EG-compliant, as requested. It's not quite as long as my usual rec lists for two reasons:

(1) I'm still sick and I can barely sit up straight, so please forgive the brevity of the list, and

(2) I deliberately wanted to include exclusively fics that were written in 2022 and 2023 to shine a spotlight on a few of the many wonderful writers and artists who are still creating absolutely fantastic works for the Stucky ship and who deserve to be read just as widely and passionately as older works in the fandom. Recency bias, but make it positive!

So without further ado, here are five Steve-centric Stucky recs and one more fic that I can't wait to get to:

1. say it soft and it's almost like praying by Somanywords | 41K, M

Author's summary: Natasha says, “Look, whatever the truth is about you, we have no way of really knowing the Winter Soldier's intentions. He’s not all there, he’s not who you remember. He’s a hot mess, Steve.”

“Why does everyone think that?” Steve says, and he’s nearly yelling, but not quite, because he doesn’t need to, not when they’re so close. “Why does everyone keep saying he’s a mess—have you seen me?" 

Post-CA:TWS canon divergent. I literally finished this fic about 15 minutes ago, so I haven't even left a comment yet. I'm still processing, you could say. The author tagged this with "just another post catws fic (but by me)"—and yes, that's what you get. All the usual ingredients are here, but the joy of TWS canon divergence is of course in the endless possibilities of how these well-known ingredients are used, re-arranged, and re-imagined as something new, exciting, and often much more satisfying than in canon. This fic excels at all three and is an absolute joy from start to finish.

2. Daybreak by BonkyBornes, art by PottersPink | 9K, NR

Author's summary: They called it project Rebirth because the person was supposed to be reborn, like a phoenix from the ashes. Steve was supposed to be the phoenix. He was supposed to rise from the ashes of his old body, he was supposed to leave behind his deafness and his limp and the scoliosis that bent his entire body to the left. He was supposed to leave behind everything that held him back.

In the end, the only thing that left was the only thing that mattered.

Shrinkyclinks canon-divergent AU. What if Project Rebirth didn't go right...but it didn't go entirely wrong either? A story about ghosts but not a ghost story. Or maybe something else entirely? Steve fights his body and time and the memories that keep haunting him. Beautifully written, with gorgeous art by PottersPink that perfectly complements the story.

3. Exhale by seapigeon, art by dudewhereismypie | 15K, M

Author's summary: After the Chitauri invasion, Steve parts ways with SHIELD, unsure if he can trust an agency that tried to deceive him and built weapons from the Tesseract.

He finds himself alone in an unfamiliar future, penniless, not even legally alive. Fortunately, he knows how to survive. Steve Rogers is used to getting by on his own.

The thing is, he doesn't have to.

Shrunkyclunks. Post-Avengers canon divergent. A fic that asks the question: What if, after the battle of New York, Steve had told SHIELD a polite but firm 'No'? Follow him as he strikes out on his own, finds an apartment, a job, and friends, figures out life in the 21st century...and of course falls in love!

4. Preberseeschießen by Ginny_Potter | 6K, T

Author's summary: Bucky breathes out and shoots. The bullet hits water… and there it is, the zapping sound of paper tearing.

The light turns on and off three times. Third circle. Just a lick out of bullseye. The Howlies explode in cheers.

Or, the Howling Commandos play a shooting game with the Austrian Resistance and Steve has lots of unresolved feelings about himself, his new body, and his changing relationship with Bucky. In other words, comrades are comrades, angst looms, and Steve feels.

Wartime fic. Would you like to read some excellent gay angst full of yearning and unresolved tension, peppered with interesting and wonderfully specific historical details and Howlies camaraderie? Would you like to get your heart crushed a little? Yes? Here you go. And if this makes you feel too sad by the end of it and you crave a bit of a happier resolution, just jump straight into a fistfull of dollars (5K, E) by the same author, which is not intended as a companion piece or even set in the same universe, but it works just as if it were. (Look at me sneaking in extra recs.)

5. Not In The Answer But The Question by aimmyarrowshigh, art by PottersPink | 27K, T

Author's summary: It rankles that his drink was made before he even got a chance to order it. What if he wanted a change? What if he were adventurous and bold? What if he tried something new?

---

Or, Steve Rogers shakes up his gray daily routine in 2014 by going back home to Vinegar Hill. To his surprise, the Jewish deli he used to frequent with Arnie is still standing.

And Steve's whole life changes again.

Shrunkyclunks. Post-Avengers canon divergent. A lost and lonely Steve tries to figure out who he was, is and most importantly, wants to be in this new century he's found himself in that is both terrifying and full of possibilities. Told in vignettes (I did not count, but I believe all of them are exactly 100 word drabbles) that perfectly illustrate the fragmented mind and life of its protagonist and his experience of constantly shifting and adjusting between past and present. A story about identity, memory, self-acceptance, and finding the courage to love and let yourself be loved. And food. So much amazing food!

+ 1 TBR: Operation: Gros Michel by SquadOfCats | 358K, E

Author's summary: “It starts with bananas. Of course, it's not really about the bananas. Just like a camel isn't bothered by one single straw, just like a dam doesn't break because of one extra drop. Obviously, Steve's mental breakdown isn't about bananas.”

Steve is overwhelmed and hanging by a thread, doing his best to take care of Bucky while still deeply traumatized himself. He finally has a breakdown over the stupidest of things: bananas. So Bucky takes care of him.

In which Steve learns to surf, Bucky becomes a gardener, and they both begin to heal.

Post-CA:TWS canon divergent. No, I did not make a mistake, the word count for this story really does come in at an impressive (or intimidating, you decide) 358,225 words! Which is the only reason why I haven't read it yet. I do want to make time for this asap because the snippets I've read so far were very intriguing and everything I've heard about it from people who have finished it, sounds absolutely amazing. So, this is the wild card pick!

Happy reading! <3

[saintsenara]

if you are still doing ship game, thoughts on jily?

thank you very much, anon - i am always taking questions both on romantic ships and on characters' platonic vibes, the more unhinged the better.

although jily can't really be described in those terms, not least because their narrative purpose in canon is to be little more than blank canvases onto which harry can project as he goes through his series-long character arc, shedding his initial hero worship of james when confronted with the reality of his father's behaviour in order of the phoenix and starting both to fully appreciate lily's centrality to the course his life is taking and to see his dad with nuance as a real and fully-rounded person, flaws and all.

this narrative role means that the glimpses we get of them in canon feel kind of superficial - their bantering during snape's worst memory is basically high-school-teen-movie level, the snapshots of their life under lockdown in deathly hallows lovely and bittersweet but also just colour to a storyline which is already all of those things.

and this is not to say that i find jily uninteresting as a ship - i completely reject the common anti-jily position that they didn't really like each other, that they had nothing in common, or that their backgrounds made them incompatible [i'll expand on this below, but while i do think that their respective blood statuses and the impact of these on their relationship are worth thinking about, i loathe fics which portray james as chafing against his marriage because, as a pureblood, he'd be more comfortable with someone 'of his own kind'. this is bullshit, and there's far, far too much of it in this fandom]. my views on one of james' most frequent non-lily partnerships are well known, and i share the outrage many jily fans have for the way lily in particular is treated in a subfandom increasingly dominated by rigid fanon which prioritises giving depth to male characters [even if those characters are, in essence, oc's] and slash relationships over exploring the canon female characters, partnered or not.

but i do also find that a lot of jily falls into the same trap as much of the hinny i dislike - that is, a tendency to present as a sunshine-and-roses fairytale a relationship which is much more interesting if the things which canon implies [and which can be reasonably inferred outside of canon scenes from a canon coherent engagement with the text] might have introduced an element of dysfunction into james and lily's partnership are taken into account.

the shadow of the war is obviously one of these things. what role lily actually plays in the resistance is something which preoccupies me [she is never mentioned in canon to have taken a combat role - and i find it considerably more plausible that any attempt voldemort made to recruit her was at snape's request and connected to her potions prowess] particularly because, as we see in the way her death is memorialised in deathly hallows, the series regards the defence of the integrity of the nuclear family as a key aim for the good guys. how does she interact with james and his wartime role when she's pregnant, nursing, or in hiding for the vast majority of her time in the order? how does she feel about her husband being a soldier if she's behind the scenes?

indeed, what role james [and sirius] plays in the order is also something i'm obsessed with thinking about - not least because so much of the inherent tragedy of the marauders' storyline is caused by the fact that james and sirius think they're fucking invincible and that their plans to keep the potters safe are foolproof. it's entirely reasonable to read james and sirius as being pretty gung-ho about being paramilitaries - and my headcanon is absolutely that more battled-hardened order members didn't like them very much [moody does not, after all, seem massively fond of sirius] - and lily seems affected by this too [she's not holding her wand either!], and what they thought they were doing as 1981 rolls around is compelling to me.

james and lily's divergent backgrounds is also something i'd like to see explored more in fandom - not, as i've said, in the dull 'james should have married a pureblood' way, but in a way which deals with the fact that their relationship follows wizarding norms. molly weasley can blame the war all she likes, but [although i doubt this was jkr's intention] the evidence of canon is that witches and wizards marry and have children extremely young as a social standard, that couples generally don't live together before marriage, that divorce doesn't seem to be common, and that married women tend not to work. lily - a mother at twenty and, therefore, presumably married at nineteen - is coming of age, then, in a magical world which thinks about gender very differently from the muggle world of the 1970s, and i think that tension is worth exploring.

[similarly, the way in which her marriage is self-protective - lily gains a pureblood name and the social cachet which comes with it at a time when she's in rising danger on account of her birth - is something i think it's worth looking at when considering the pairing.]

there are other flashes of dysfuntion which i adore thinking about in relation to jily - lily's relationship with the other marauders [you can pry the reading that sirius resents her for stealing the love of his life - and i certainly don't mean lupin - away from him from my cold, dead hands]; how much of his misbehaviour at school james conceals from her; the fact that lily becoming more overtly interested in james from her sixth year onward must have a little bit of attempting to make snape jealous mixed into it - and whenever i stumble upon them in fics i say oh ho like horace slughorn and kick my little feet in the air.

i care rather less about 'we're so hot and flawless and not doomed' as a trope.

but i do stan james for beefing with vernon dursley even though lily told him to behave. the man really is just that annoying.

[aloneatpeace]

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐂𝐀𝐑𝐋𝐄𝐓 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐗

The scarlet Phoenix is being that is powerful beyond any creature in Multivers. Scarlet Phoenix is rare nexu being capable of creating new life form and change the world in large scale as well as destroy it. Not only one but two empowered vibrant power source in one host, which make this being far more dangerous and superior than any life form. The scarlet witch and Phoenix force are two unfathomable force with unmatched powers .these two repal eachother making the co existing harder but with a powerful compatible host who can make these both co exist without creating destruction is what a scarlet phoenix .the phoenix force is the most feared being as it possess extinction level threat. this will intensify with power of scarlet witch who is the harbour of Chaos magic a being capable of spontaneous creation .the scarlet witch has no coven ,no need for incantation the power exceeds that of the sorcerers suprime .the scarlet witch ment to rule everything .

Telepathy , Telepathic defence, Telepathic cloak, Cloak mind , Telepathic illusion, Telepathic camouflage, Telepathic manipulation, Telekinesis, Telekinesis aura , Telekinesis sensitivity, Tactical Telekinesis , Temporal manipulation , Transmutation

Mind control, Mind possession, Mind Transferal , Mind link , Mental detection, Mental paralysis Matter mutation , Memory alliteration , Metal manipulation , Magic resistance,

Psychic sheild , Psychic blast ,Pyrokinesis , psionic energy manipulation ,psychic firebirds, phoenix force avatar , probability Alteration, Psychometry , Physical resistance , Personality alteration,

Astral projection, Atmokinesis, Interstellar travel cosmic , cosmic teleportation , Concussive force blast , Immortality, Dilate power, Durability , Resurrection, Reality warping Energy absorbation , Emotion manipulation , Existence mastery , Life force control .

Next chapter may take a while so be patient . Sence the readers power is released I thought this might help to understand more about who and what is the reader power is .

as shown in the previous info the change of eye colour will be based on the first info. I just thought adding this pictures would aesthetically pleasing so example the psonic blast could be any colour not just blue it's based readers emotions.

[cocoabubbelle-newblog]

SCOGUE-Tember (2024)

Day “3”: Ship Bingo

They are EVERYTHING to me: I think I mentioned in last year’s Scogue-tember prompt list that Scott/Cyclops x Rogue/Anna Marie was the first couple I ever genuinely shipped at a young age (before that, it was mainly _insert random fav chara_ x oc in my head I made up just for them). And X-Men:Evolution was the first Marvel show I watched that made me genuinely interested in exploring the original comics to find more of Cyclops x Rogue (which to my surprise, never was a thing) and watch the movies. My love of comics and lore (especially the concept of the multiverse) is largely in part thanks to how X-Men:Evolution was such a great show and how strong the chemistry was between Scott x Rogue.

They drive me crazy insane/positive: The fact that my final art portfolio project was a mock-proposal of an X-Men:Evolution sequel + spin-off that consisted of them and their kids speaks for itself.

The aesthetic is impeccable: C’mon. Relatively Popular Preppy Guy x Loner Goth Girl? It’s so cliché, but it’s SO good!!! What makes it even better is that their personalities work so, SO well together. While this could have gone the route of the BST/Slap-Slap-Kiss/Uptight loves Wild that usually accompanies tropes similar to this, what I love is that this DOESN’T. Their personalities only clashed in the beginning because of the initial misunderstanding and frustration of them being on opposite sides, and even then they were drawn to each other. And even though Scott was distracted by his crush on Jean after the events of ‘The Cauldron - Pt. 1 & 2’, his moments of interacting and bonding with Rogue before and since then still spoke VOLUMES.

Relationship Goals: I think three of SCOGUE’s best characteristics are communication, understanding/empathy, and connection. Are they perfect? OBVIOUSLY not, but the episodes demonstrating these traits are still pretty significant. One of my favorite moments is during ‘On Angel’s Wings,’ when Scott is confiding to Rogue about his belief in angels or at least in the possibility of them existing. Rogue had laughed, had realized Scott meant what he said, recognized how insensitive she had unintentionally been, immediately and sincerely apologized, then listened to him with more compassion, while Scott immediately understood that she had not intended to make him feel awkward/embarrassed, silently forgave her, and continued to confide in her because he felt comfortable with her. This might have been a small thing compared to other moments they had, but it still stood out to me how close they felt to each other on that level.

I blorboed so hard that now they’re basically my OCs: IN MY DEFENSE, the multiverse is a thing, and since the actual series + the films and even the ‘92 animated series already took several liberties with the casts’ age range, relationships, dynamics, backgrounds, etc, I didn’t see the harm in altering/adding some things for my personal headcanon aus for SCOGUE (ex. Rogue’s biological parents, Scott’s relationship with the ladies vs 616!s, Rogue’s surprise connection with other Marvel characters and the eventual status of her relationship with her foster/adopted parents, Scott’s view on a personal life vs duty to the X-men, etc)

I need a 30k hurt/comfort fic on my desk by Monday: more specifically, I need to actually write or draw out the pages of 1) Scott’s and/or Rogue’s relationships with Jean and Remy starting to go in a direction neither of them are sure about and them confining in each other as friends; 2) Rogue meeting a dangerous mind-controlled mutant who can actually RESIST the negative effects of her powers and unwittingly holds the key to her actively learning about her past and the fate of her biological parents before she was ‘taken in’ by Mystique and Destiny while Scott accompanies her; 3) The trauma of Jean’s death and/or her eventual transformation into the Dark Phoenix + subsequent final/near-deaths of SCOGUE and everyone else involved; 4) SCOGUE dealing with the aftermath of the Dark Phoenix + their growing/rekindling/not-quite-smothered feelings for each other; 5) All the fun stuff involved with the struggles of finally getting together, staying together despite all odds, marriage, children!, and trying to balance marriage, family, and X-Men life…instead of, y’know, letting it remain in my head.

They’re going to be the death of me: I literally cannot find a way right now to work on any other personal projects alongside SCOGUE content until I find a good balance/am sufficiently satisfied with what I churn out (and/or until more people are able to be more inspired/have time to create more SCOGUE stuff too xD)

They kimss, they holde handsss,…: Yes. Yes they do. (Be it via gloves, the mutant suppression collar, or my most favorite being that over time, Rogue is able to successfully control her abilities gradually so that intimate contact between her and Scott —plus normal contact with others— can last more than 10 secs/min/hours/etc)

Original

[laidee-flegman]

Shadow work prompts for dealing with anger

The Blaze Within: Reflect on a recent moment when anger flared up within you. What triggered it, and how did you express or suppress it?

The Roots of Rage: Explore your earliest memories of anger. How was anger expressed in your family, and how did it shape your current relationship with this emotion?

The Volcano Effect: Describe a time when your anger erupted unexpectedly. What were the consequences, and what deeper emotions were fueling the eruption?

The Mask of Calm: Identify situations where you tend to mask your anger with a calm exterior. What fears or judgments are you avoiding by doing this?

The Inferno of Injustice: Recall a situation where you felt a strong sense of injustice. How did this injustice trigger your anger, and what actions can you take to address it constructively?

The Fire and Relationships: Reflect on how anger influences your relationships. How do you express anger with loved ones, and how can you improve communication during heated moments?

The Ember of Self-Anger: Explore instances where you directed anger inward. What self-judgments or criticisms trigger this self-directed anger, and how can you practice self-compassion instead?

The Thunderstorm Release: Consider healthy outlets for releasing anger, such as physical activity or creative expression. How can you incorporate these outlets into your routine to prevent emotional buildup?

The Tsunami of Triggers: Identify recurring triggers that consistently ignite your anger. How can you address or reframe these triggers to diffuse their power?

The Echoes of Childhood Wrath: Reflect on how anger was expressed in your childhood home. What patterns have you carried into adulthood, and how can you break or transform them?

The Shadow Self: Explore the aspects of your personality or desires that you suppress or deny. How does acknowledging and integrating these shadow aspects influence your experience of anger?

The Smoke Screen: Consider moments when you used anger as a distraction from addressing deeper issues. What emotions or truths were you avoiding, and how can you confront them directly?

The Inferiority Flame: Examine situations where anger arises from feelings of inadequacy. How can you work on building self-esteem and addressing the root cause of these feelings?

The Blaze of Betrayal: Reflect on a time when you felt betrayed. How did anger manifest, and what steps can you take to heal from the betrayal without letting anger consume you?

The Phoenix of Forgiveness: Explore your resistance to forgiveness. What beliefs or fears prevent you from letting go of anger, and how can forgiveness liberate you?

The Heat of Expectations: Identify situations where unmet expectations trigger your anger. How can you adjust your expectations or communicate them more effectively to avoid unnecessary rage?

The Infernal Internal Dialogue: Examine the way you talk to yourself when angry. What critical or harsh words arise, and how can you reframe your internal dialogue to be more compassionate?

The Wildfire of Projection: Reflect on times when you projected your anger onto others. What insecurities or unresolved issues were you avoiding, and how can you address them directly?

The Flashback Flames: Explore whether past traumas contribute to the intensity of your anger. How can acknowledging and addressing these traumas help you manage anger in the present?

The Avalanche of Accumulation: Consider the impact of suppressing anger over time. How does accumulated anger manifest in your life, and what steps can you take to release it in a healthy way?

The Cooling Waters: Imagine a scenario where you navigate anger with calmness and clarity. What tools or strategies can you implement to achieve this state in real-life situations?

The Smoke Signals of Boundaries: Reflect on your relationship with boundaries. How does setting and enforcing healthy boundaries contribute to managing anger?

The Firewalk of Acceptance: Explore the concept of accepting anger as a natural emotion. How can acknowledging and accepting anger without judgment transform your relationship with it?

The Firefighter's Compassion: Consider how you respond when others express anger. How can you cultivate empathy and understanding instead of reacting defensively?

The Ember of Grudges: Examine any lingering grudges you hold. How do these grudges fuel your anger, and what steps can you take to release them for your own well-being?

The Quenching Rain: Identify activities or practices that soothe and calm your anger. How can you integrate these into your routine as preventive measures?

The Inferno of Control: Reflect on situations where a lack of control triggers anger. How can you embrace uncertainty and release the need for control to manage anger more effectively?

The Lighthouse of Reflection: Consider journaling as a tool for reflecting on your anger. How can regular journaling help you gain insights, track patterns, and manage your emotions?

The Cauldron of Creativity: Explore creative outlets as a means of expressing and transforming anger. How can engaging in artistic or expressive activities help channel your emotions constructively?

The Bonfire of Release: Imagine a ritual for releasing pent-up anger. What symbolic actions or ceremonies can you create to release and let go of anger in a transformative way?

[xenosaurus]

I have a page for my worldbuilding projects that’s a huge WIP, but in the mean time, here’s a list of the ones I can remember off the top of my head!  I’ve done my best to split these by genre, although some obviously fit in multiple categories. You can also browse through my "original stuff" tag for things that haven't made it as far as a concrete project, if you can tolerate the mess.

UPDATE: Tumblr changed their tag system, so I had to fix the links.  They SHOULD be working, but chronological links don’t cooperate with mobile, so I’ve made them general links.  Please add /chrono to the url if you can, a few of these are very weird out of order (looking at you, Boar’s Blood).

Urban Fantasy

Witchmouth General; comedy about a hospital in a city that is mostly monsters and aliens

Freedom Over Gold; a comedy-drama about a trio of homunculi killing their masters

Immortality and Tax Fraud; a comedy about gods who possess people and the hosts that are still resisting them (slightly NSFW)

Mundane Motherhood; a slice of life/recovery story about a woman who adopts a kid who was being raised to fight demons

The Empty City; a drama about a limbo world entered in dreams by people who compete for “days”, which give them another day of life in the real world

The Mortal Forge; an adventure story about a group of cursed people putting together an expedition to find a legendary cure

Tethered; a slice of life story in a setting where everyone has a familiar, starring two teenagers who are “tethering” their familiars, allowing them to become more physical and sentient

Fallen Angels in YOUR Area!; a comedy about a group of angels who are banished to earth for gaining too much individuality

Arlan Kingslayer; a comedy about classic high fantasy book characters being brought to the real world and not wanting to leave

High Fantasy

Boar’s Blood; an adventure story about a magical society built on the grave of an undead dragon that is rapidly falling apart (NSFW)

The Phoenix Bride; an adventure story/romance about a woman exploring an ever-expanding magical tower to confess her feelings to the woman who created it

God Hunters; technically closer to magical steampunk, an all-women drama about monster hunters (NSFW)

Scales and Bonedust; in a setting where some humans live in dwellings draped over the backs of dragons, a man and a dragonling try to find their way home after their whole community is killed

Rabbitheart; a fairy tale of sorts about a young jester (and would-be sorceress) trying to reclaim her familiar to earn a princess' hand in marriage, with a large section of backstory about the setting's version of Arthurian lore

The Mayfly; a dark fantasy about a mortal half-elf prince learning the truth of elven immortality

Whalefall; merfolk dark fantasy about a "bloodsalt knight" (a soldier who bites themselves to draw attacking predators to the blood and away from their school) who is separated from her people

Mark the End; trope manipulation on 'everyone grows up and has babies' endings where the children are the reborn god-monsters their guardians fought as teenagers. heavy on monster lore and character drama

Vampire Prince Walter; a romantic comedy about childhood sweethearts (who have since become a vampire and a werewolf) being arranged to marry each other... as long as their fathers don't find out they like each other too much to spy on the other.

Science Fiction

New Apocalyptia; a comedy about a world where all movie apocalypses happened at once (slightly NSFW)

Salt Water; an adventure story about a group trying to reach the bottom of their world’s incredibly deadly oceans, also mermaids and surfing as a death sport

Peppermint Circuits; a gay love story set in a world where everyone has a chip in their brain to influence their behavior (slightly NSFW)

Spycaller; a murder mystery about humans who interact with the intergalactic community from within mech suits

Superheroes

Superfish; a traditional coming of age superhero story about an LGBT group for college-aged sidekicks

Isaac is Okay; a very gentle story about a timetraveling superhero that traps himself in the past to raise his younger self away from their abusive father

Villain Risk; a superhero drama about an illegal hero team being arrested, told after the fact by a social worker, a kid in juvenile detention, and a shapeshifter who killed a cop and stole his life

Fate and Switch; a soulmate au fakeout about psychically linked superheroes who have been brainwashed, and their partners’ attempts to find them

Tooth and Nail; a superhero/kaiju mashup about bioengineered superheroes fighting monsters, and the protagonist’s attempts to protect his new apprentice from the horrors of their work

You Can Keep the Mask On; a superhero story intended to be told through sexual encounters between characters, obviously (very NSFW)

Overpowered; a comedy about a city's extremely, well, overpowered supervillains

Abelsons; a superhero story focusing on the "support" members, such as the people who make costumes and the medics

Bonus Individual Posts

that one about the destiny orphanage that one about the silkworm aliens

[multiplerpmuses]

(New Character)

- [ ] Biological information

- [ ] Name: Jean Elaine Grey-Maximoff

- [ ] Aliases: Phoenix, Dr. Jean Grey

- [ ] Nicknames: Princess, Jeanie, Wanda’s girl

- [ ] Gender: female

- [ ] Place of birth: America

- [ ] DOB: 1967

- [ ] Star sign: Unknown

- [ ] Species/Race: mutant

- [ ] Moral alignment: lawful good, chaotic good

- [ ] Occupation: Xmen

- [ ] Afflictions: N/A

- [ ] Living Status: alive (revised timeline) deceased (original timeline)

- [ ] -physical description-

- [ ] Height: 5’5

- [ ] Weight: 140

- [ ] Eye color: brown

- [ ] Hair color : brown

- [ ] Distinctive features: N/A

- [ ] -known relatives-

- [ ] Biological Father: John Grey

- [ ] Biological Mother: Elaine Grey

- [ ] Siblings: N/A

- [ ] Children: N/A

- [ ] Other known relatives: N/A

- [ ] Grandparents: N/A

- [ ] -Romantic-

- [ ] Sexual orientation: lesbian

- [ ] Status: married

- [ ] Love interest: Wanda Maximoff @multimuseroleplays

- [ ] Position: Sub

- [ ] Personality

Jean’s mutant abilities of Telekinesis and Telepathy manifested when she a young girl, she is classified as a Class Five Mutant.

Flight: she can use her Telekinesis to project herself through the air

Force-Field protection: Jean can generate telekinesis shields or barriers to block, contain, and impede targets.

Telekinetic Blast: Jean can prophecy waves of telekinetic energy to impulse, hit, and destroy multiple object/people

Molecular manipulation: She can manipulate matter at a molecular level at will

Disintegration: Jean is able to atomise nearly anything within her surroundings at will.

Telepathy: Jean has the ability to read, communicate with, and control other people’s minds.

Illusion projection: Jean has the ability to project realistic mental, and sensory illusions through telepathic means, able to simulate invisibility for herself and other people.

Telepathic resistance: Jean has the ability to resist the telepathic intrusion of other psionics.

- [ ] Miscellaneous-

- [ ] Faceclaim: Sophie Turner

- [ ] Fandom: any

- [ ] PenName: Ellen

- [ ] Writing experience: 2+ years

[m00ny-0]

‘Tabitha Lupin-Black returns for her seventh and final year at Hogwarts amidst the looming threat of Voldemort's return. Alongside her closest companions - Fred, George, and Lee - Tabitha finds herself torn between the desire to fight alongside the Order of the Phoenix and the restrictions placed upon her by those who seek to shield her from danger.

As she navigates the challenges of her last year at Hogwarts, Tabitha must balance her academic pursuits with the growing tensions surrounding Voldemort's resurgence. While preparing for her N.E.W.T.S., she finds solace in the familiarity of her friendships and the thrill of late-night adventures around the castle.

But amidst the chaos, Tabitha discovers a new sense of purpose as she becomes involved in a secret group dedicated to resisting Voldemort's influence from within the school walls. With her bravery and unwavering determination, Tabitha takes on an important role in the fight against darkness, even as her heart is pulled in unexpected directions by the allure of a certain someone.’

Bear with me as I re learn how to write well lmao

Fred Weasley x female oc written by a queer person from the marauders side of the fandom

[docgold13]

365 Marvel Comics Paper Cut-Out SuperHeroes - One Hero, Every Day, All Year…

Supporting Character Supplemental - The Stepford Cuckoos

After the confrontation with Trevor Fitzroy, Emma Frost was plunged into a coma for a year. During her unconscious state, Dr. John Sublime harvested over a thousand embryonic eggs from her ovaries for him to experiment upon.

The Weapon Plus program then used these eggs to create dozens of identical Mutant girls in the hope of developing a powerful weapon capable of killing every Mutant on Earth by combining their telepathic abilities. The project was designated Weapon XIV and the girls were incubated and artificially aged inside the subterranean level of The World. While most of these girls remained dormant, five were sent to infiltrate the Xavier Institute as student sisters to hone their talents for Sublime's purpose. 

After the Xavier Institute went public, the quintuplet sisters (Sophie, Phoebe, Mindee, Celeste, and Esme) were enrolled. So to protect their secret origins, the girls unconsciously placed mental blocks in the minds of the faculty, preventing them from investigating their background.  The sisters themselves were largely unaware of their background nor ulterior  The quintette came to be known as the ‘Stepford Cuckoos’ (a play on the two science fiction novels, The Stepford Wives by Ira Levin and The Midwich Cuckoos by John Wyndham).   

With their significant telepathic powers, The Cuckoos quickly became prized pupils of Emma Frost (who was entirely unaware of their connections to one another).  The sister would go on to become an important part of the student body.  Sophie sacrificed herself to end the threat posed by The Omega Gang and Esme was later killed by Xorn.  The Five-in-One became the Three-in-One and it was not until the Warsong event that the Cuckoos ulterior programming became activated.  

The Phoenix Force had returned to earth, searching for a host as suitable as Jean Grey had once been.  The cosmic entity happened upon the psychic abilities of the Cuckoos and reached out to touch their minds.  This had the effect of activating the Weapons Plus nano-bots that had laid dormant within the girls’ psychology.  They traveled back to The World so to activate the Thousand-Who-Are-One protocol which would create a telepathic surge that kill every Mutant on earth.  With he aide of The X-Men, the Cuckoos were able to resist both Sublime and The Phoenix Force and they destroyed the hive mind, killing the remanning clones.   

Phoebe, Mindee and Celeste returned to the Xavier Institute and now began to show greater independence from one another and more distinct individual personalities.  

Sophie and Esme were resurrected by The Five following the establishment of Krakoa and the sisters were reunited.  They continue to serve the X-Men and Krakoa.  They additionally maintain a sometimes tumultuous mother/daughter relationship with Emma Frost.    

A version of The Stepford Cuckoos featured in the Fox television series, The Gifted, portrayed by actress Skyler Samuels.  The sister first appeared in the pages of New X-Men Vol. 1 #118 (2001). 

[keepsmagnetoaway]

X-Men 129 (January 1980)

Chris Claremont/John Byrne

It's late September in this one-comic-a-day project and the dawn of the 1980s in the actual publication timescale of these comics: it's the moment we've all been waiting for. It is, finally, the Dark Phoenix Saga.

It's good to be back. I'm going to try and resist the temptation to rehash in great detail the plot of all these issues, but this is what so much of the last few years of Claremont has been leading too: a ten-issue run of unparalleled high stakes that changed the X-Men forever and is usually regarded as their finest story ever. We'll see at the end if that's true, I guess. One great thing happens right at the beginning, though: Banshee fucking leaves.

I'm being a bit harsh, but I just never liked Banshee. All the begorrah-bejesus stuff is exhausting, his leprechaun castle backstory is insane, his powers are baffling, and his role in the team was...what? "Older sensible guy"? That's never going to be a particularly interesting position. So, farewell Sean, and hello again to Xavier, who has finally returned from space bullshit and appeared right in a panel with some clashing patterns that are giving me a migraine.

Meanwhile we get our first real look at our antagonists, though they've been lurking around for a while (including in some retroactively inserted stories), and one of them - Jason Wyngarde - has now appeared a couple of times to psychically send Jean back to a Regency romance novel. But now we finally properly see the Hellfire Club.

"Regency-themed sexual deviant Illuminati named for the actual Regency deviants' club and heavily inspired by that one Avengers episode" is a totally fucking bizarre idea for a villainous group, but it works. It's unlike anything we've really seen before for the X-Men and it instantly brings a kind of spooky, literal cloak-and-dagger quality that feels very exciting and mature, even when it's all basically silly. That's not all for introductions this issue, though, as Claremont has another piece to put on the board (this is a very Hellfire Club-inflected metapor, sorry) as this storyline kicks off.

It's Kitty Pryde! She's here! Well, she's in Chicago, as you can see, but still. It's remarkable to realise that, although the revival had been going for five years at this point, Claremont had not yet introduced an actual new character to the team, playing in the sandbox of the existing characters and the ones he created for the initial Giant-Size relaunch. Kitty - though of course we don't know it yet - is here to change that with her instantly recognisable and distinctive features (loosely based, apparently, on Sigourney Weaver) and with her various key differences from existing team members: most notable, she's only thirteen (and also, Jewish - note the necklace). Kitty, as you can see, is being courted by Emma - but the X-Men are also onto her, and she likes them a lot better.

God, I love this panel (uh, slightly insane comment from Kitty about skin colour aside): the layout, the use of colour in the background, the facial expressions. Note Peter and Logan back there: Logan's reading a porn magazine and Peter's eyes are popping over his shoulders. And on the next page, he gets called on it, before things kick off.

Right, anyway, Kitty. I'm well aware that there are Strong Feelings about her and various things that have happened to her since, but this is a banger of an introduction and I adore her. The audacity of droping her in like this and then having the three actual X-Men get owned is brilliant, and this is how the issue ends.

There we go! It feels like whole vistas have suddenly opened up: the Hellfire stuff is suddenly so adult and intriguing, but then we also have plucky teenage Kitty showing up for what seems like a Saturday morning cartoon. It shouldn't all work but it does. And we haven't even gotten to any Jean stuff yet!

[miss--river]

💕 self-love time! talk about which ones of YOUR creations (edits, artworks, fanfics) you like the most then send to other creators to do the same 💕

thank you so much!❤️ sorry this took me so long to answer 😅

i'll start with jori since she's the first one i created! i know it may not seem like it lately but she's the main baby of the other 2 main babies i have! ive projected so much of myself and interests onto her that i became attached quickly lmao! she's also the one who i insert into every piece of media that im consuming and like enough. like, if im playing dead space i totally imagine her in the place of isaac. or if im playing a backrooms game she's the one running around and trying to escape from the monsters lmfao! her story has taken different shapes and changes since i actually brought her over from red dead online. her twin brother, mika, doesnt exist in red dead online and was solely create for cyberpunk purposes. i love the pic on the left because i just think she looks really badass lmao! and i like the one on the right because im not usually patient enough to set up sets and backgrounds but this time i stuck it out and i loved it! it's simple compared to what others can do but im still proud of it!

next is the love of her life, driss! back when i first started getting into modding my game i actually shipped her with river. i was trying to get a cute shot of her and river looking out at the sunset over the ocean, but sine i was so new to modding i didnt know bigger characters like river had a different locomotion type so i couldnt get any poses to work. as a test i replaced an NPC couple with jori and driss and that was when i fell into a hole lmfao! i thought they looked so much better together so i kept them going! their ship name is Broken and Beautiful because both of them have past traumas that still effect them but they found comfort and understanding in each other. i love how soft both of these pics are! especially the fire behind them in the one on the right!

lottie is my second of the main 3! she also started out as a red dead online OC! i usually try to make her come off as a flowery, cottage core, disney princess aesthetic type. she's the softest and shyest of my OCs but she can be fierce too! she smiles at strangers in the street and will lend a hand if they look like they need it but she does it with caution because... its night city lmao! i chose these pictures in particular because i just thought they were the coolest ones. i do have some pics that showcase her as soft and flowery but i just couldnt resist showing these ones instead! the one on the left was made to be a tarot card called The World. the pic on the right was me trying out a greaser AU on her! i really love how they both came out!

the last of the main 3 is phoenix! i made her fully expecting to just leave her to collect dust, just like certain other OCs, (and i feel so bad for them 😔) but i became attached to her very quickly too. i based a chunk of her personality off of vash the stampede from the 1998 anime trigun. after a short while of that i actually ended up shipping her with him lmfao! currently she doesnt have a backstory because nothing has really inspired me yet but at least i know some things about her current life! i think these pics are perfect for show casing her as she currently is. she lives in clutter but not, like, dirty clutter if that makes sense? she just likes having stuff and buying things that interest her. i mean doesnt everyone? haha! she doesnt really save her money for anything other than rent and bills, everything else is purely impulse. her favorite treat is donuts and when she's willing to share one with you thats how you know she likes you! her favorite thing is to make people smile!

onto stuff that i made for other people! i really loves these pics that i took of mishka and claire for @thelonestrider! mishka looks SO GOOD in purple! and claire is chef's kiss! i had a lot of fun taking pics of her! i got such freeing vibes from her so i had to have her enjoying the sun's rays!

i took these ones for @holofishes and i totally consider wren to be one of jori's besties! i think they'd have so much to talk about and i get such warm vibes when i see them together! jori is usually very sweet and kind but when it comes to her friends she'd kick anyone's ass 😉 the sunflowers and butterflies in the first pic took so long to place! but it was totally worth it! they're both rays of sunshine!

[prvtocol]

VARIOUS POST-2170 HEADCANONS

Lodging: Brianne, now in her hybrid body, sleeps where the unlinked avatars rest. Bridgehead has a similar setup as Hell’s Gate did to house avatars. The avatar camp is separate from Project Phoenix’s (the recoms get their own state-of-the-art facility). These grounds also offer a space to stretch their limbs, run obstacle courses, play basketball, and eat (i.e. fruit from the garden).

When with the Resistance, Brianne also sleeps where the unlinked avatars rest since staying indoors requires constant whiffs from a C02 mask. She is also offered the same provisions.

Neither are climate-controlled spaces so she needs to adapt to Pandora’s heat and humidity from day one.

Habits: The erratic nature of the forest Na’vi’s tail is something Brianne, who prides herself on being poised and reserved, finds in need of control. Her height compared to humans also makes her tail liable to knock objects off tables or whack people in the face. She begins consciously curling her tail around her leg, forcing it low, and more often than not, holding it in her hand at her front to manage its movement.

Brianne’s hair texture is as before, susceptible to the exo-moon’s humidity. Due to being in the elements more often (due to her sleeping quarters), it is even wavier than it was in her human form. Rather than style it straight, she embraces her waves and often simplifies it by pulling most of it back in a head scarf with her neural queue in a coiled bun. As with her tail, she doesn't like how this extra appendage gets in the way. 

Wardrobe: Her new body's wardrobe is limited to the stock meant for the scientists’ avatars. These utilitarian clothes are more suited for the field than the office. She selects simple and modest pairings, i.e. t-shirts and trousers. No shorts or crop tops except for sleeping. She hesitates to embrace khaki; it’s not a classy enough neutral for her.

She continues to French tip her nails until she surrenders to the Resistance (thus losing access to her few packed bottles of nail polish).

Work/Life Rebalance: Fully processing her death and changed body is neglected due to pressing work obligations. She is rebirthed at the end of a business quarter. Having fallen behind on the auditing process meant she could not sit idly when SciOps needed to run. Her last month at Bridgehead is also broken up by several research site visits. A major focus is moving the sites in the eastern seaboard where Na’vi Resistance activity picks up after the Skirmish at Three Brother’s Rock. 

Surrendering to the Resistance, thus halting all work for the RDA, finally ushers in that internalization. The obligation to explain herself to her captors makes her confront the reality of being stuck in her alien body (a body that represents the RDA’s dangerous future with the Recom Project becoming known). 

For the first time, she interacts with Na’vi. Many Na’vi are extremely blunt in sharing their opinion (on her demon body, her attire, her unnaturalness, her crimes). Around them, she feels unseemly, ashamed, and regrets her decisions. 

While the war’s precariousness adds to everyone’s uncertain future, Brianne copes by living in the present. When she's given leave to help, she focuses on being useful to the Resistance, again falling into the need to keep busy as is the natural order of her life. Solace is taken in the simplicity of the physical labor expected of her, and she starts to feel lighter with her overwhelming responsibilities to the RDA no more.

[thewritingautisticat]

What is The Lion Academy about? And are you working on it concurrently with your other stories or is it something planned for after you’ve finished your current WIPs? And, if the former, what’s your process for juggling multiple in-process stories?

Thanks for the question!!! 😁😁😁

The Lion Academy is my YA medieval/fantasy series. It's a little hard to sum up the whole series since the stories are somewhat episodic, but overall it's about this academy where young adults of all backgrounds, from princes and princesses to slaves, come together to learn various skills. But each of these characters brings their own stories, and must deal with personal issues along with big-scale dramas such as being kidnapped and taken to a gladiator arena, inter-kingdom wars, a jewel that can turn people into dragons, and particularly the Society of the Twisted Serpents, an ancient order of magicians who are determined to destroy the Academy. It's kinda all-over-the-place but there's a lot of reoccurring characters and connected storylines and stuff.

Right now I'm not actively working on it, because I'm trying to focus on finishing The Flames of Revolution and start on the other books of the Days of Resistance series. But I do write on it a bit here and there, between all of my other WIPs.

Basically my "process" (if you can call it that lol) for doing multiple projects is to have ADHD. Although I try to focus on one project at a time, my brain basically keeps cycling between hyperfixations. So I have a ton of WIPs. Like, probably literally over a hundred if you count individual books and my fanfics. Days of Resistance, The Lion Academy, Phoenix, and a spy series I'm working on are my big ones right now, and so I keep having a week or so where I get really focused on one of them, get a bunch done, and then I completely lose all motivation and switch to something else. But it'll cycle back to that story at some point. Last week I got super focused on a fanfic, but these last couple of days a song I was listening to got me excited about The Lion Academy again.

Would not particularly recommend this writing process but it's just how my brain works lol. My hope is that once I actually get one of these stories finished, I'll already be mostly done with some of my other stuff so I can keep publishing them and it'll look like I'm actually writing stories really fast 😅

[koko-online]

Final Dawntrail Thoughts (Spoiler Free)

This is a long one, don't be afraid to skip it. More of a diary/vent than anything.

FFXIV has always been a weird combination of genres--MMORPG, JRPG, and visual novel. The ratio has varied a lot over the years. This isn't scientific but I'd kind of represent its progression like this.

After 1.0 flopped (largely due to technical concerns, imo, the gameplay issues could have been fixed less drastically), they made a World of Warcraft clone with a JRPG's story. It was clunky, it had a lot of RPG mechanics, still a lot of MMORPG mechanics as well. Beginning with Shadowbringers, they continued dropping MMO mechanics like aggro and buffs and the utility of the trinity, but also started really abandoning RPG mechanics as a whole. Just equip the minimum item level so we can pretend there's progression, then do the dance correctly, you're good. There's nothing else. Honestly by 5.0 you could replace the JRPG label with Rhythm.

That's something that was pretty heavily criticized by long-time players, but the absolute strength of the visual novel components and, frankly, luck (WoW Exodus, popular streamers coming, covid) pushed XIV to levels of success it hadn't seen before. So they continued the trend in Endwalker, which, despite glaring plot holes still had a strong visual novel attached (ignoring the patch series).

What we're seeing in Dawntrail is half of a decade of intentional neglect shown to the MMO and RPG components of the game when the visual novel cannot stand on its own legs. No one had any hype or excitement left after the abysmal 6.x series to carry them forward. All that's left is a terrible movie I would have to force myself to watch on a plane, set dressing masquerading as an open world, and a litany of buttons that all do the same thing with very little player involvement necessary. It's a minigame within a poor visual novel that we pay a subscription for, and that's been laid bare for our eyes to see.

The first half was horrible, and no one disagrees. The second half is just as bad, if less straight boring. Without giving spoilers, they're really revisiting the well again. It's just Shadowbringers and Endwalker again without the baggage or lore.

I know I'm talking a lot about the story on this blog, but that is because almost no gameplay is required, rather, possible for almost any of the progression. There is simply nothing else to talk about. Putting the first and third trials aside, the most interesting addition to gameplay was actually adding straight visual novel aspects more often. It plays like a bargain bin Phoenix Wright investigation scene more than a few times. The rest is just filler for the story to take place around.

Okay, but Dawntrail has a jam-packed content slate for the next three years, right? Yeah, sure. In about a year, maybe 18 months, there will be something interesting to do besides the story and raiding.

What hurts the most is that the development team seem so bored of their own product that they're begging to be put on other projects. The development team is credited for taking and implementing feedback, but if you've been here long enough you know that's all smoke and mirrors. For how long have we been asking for Kaiten back, for example? For how long have we been asking to roll back the 2 minute meta? I saw a popular forum thread from back in ARR lamenting how boring moment-to-moment gameplay is for healers, and not only did they not change it up, they dug their fucking heels in and made it worse. They look at metrics to make choices, and when all else is equal, they take the path of least resistance.

I'll also say as a somewhat side-tangent that the metrics they use to read these things are so tone-deaf. Monk and Black Mage were two of the most lauded, well-designed jobs in the game. They were frequently held up as examples of how FFXIV can still potentially return to form, that they still have some creative juice left. Because they were some of the least played by the playerbase writ large, they were both lobotomized going into Dawntrail. As if a totally flat distribution of players on jobs is somehow not only desirable, but a virtue.

So, player queues have already dropped significantly one day after release. Do I think they're going to change course?

Frankly, no. They have their dickriders who want a Second Life playground to mod in. The narrative is already spinning, "Yeah it was bad, but it's okay that it was bad, it's the start of a new arc!", "It's a beach episode! What did you expect?????" These are both incorrect. Endwalker was a sequel primarily to Shadowbringers. Shadowbringers was also mostly a new arc. Heavensward was a new arc. Stormblood was a new arc. I didn't skip cutscenes on any of them. And speaking frankly, the dickriders have become such a huge part of the playerbase that they are simply more profitable and easier to please. Path of least resistance.

Given the current state of the industry, and how influential influencers have become for, uh, let's call them the simple-minded, I think for real change, the dickriding influencers would have to start dropping the game vocally. And that's not going to happen, it's their paycheck, it's a job. Who cares if it's kinda boring? Every job is kinda boring.

So where does that leave me? I'm not sure. I'm going to mess around a little bit with the new jobs basically just as an excuse to have contact with my old, old friends that I care about deeply. But this might be my final expansion, especially after getting into GW2. Once the illusion is broken, it's going to take something dramatic for me to see it again.

[steel-and-fire]

Session summaries: (part 1) A Herbalist's Call

After the whole chaos with the undead filled tomb and the killer loose in the city, Hayfalls, the party had a much needed respite, with Ferenir drinking the guard captain under the table and earning the tavern extra party hours through the established night curfew. Good thing she at least honors her promises, although it's sure she will be holding a grudge. Did Ferenir cheat through being resistant to poisons? That's up to debate, but she didn't know either way.

'Plus, fuck her.', in his words. He has some heavy beef with her, ever since she threatened to throw him in prison.

Still, next mission should be easy enough, with the herbalist witch needing them to gather some herbs from the forest(elusive as they might be) for her because she is sick and can't do it herself. Of course, she forgot to mention she was dying, but thank the gods for Fen's high insight.

But even that would still be too simple and easy for this party's luck, right?

Five minutes outside the city, they encountered the leader of their rival adventuring party entangled in a battle with a Cyclops, alone. With a sigh, Ferenir decided to help, admittedly a little too confident in his abilities after the latest victories.

The cyclops's club breaking half his bones in one hit was a strong reality check that brought his attention fully to the battle, and with everyone's help, they managed to take the creature down without casualties. He had a stroke of inspiration, though, and extracted the spine of the giant with the rival's help, taking it back to the blacksmith, who has been working on their biggest project yet.

Leaving the rival barbarian beauty to return to the town, they continued into the forest, and after some weird encounters with some lunatics, they met a familiar face in a dragonborn merchant. Ferenir bought some... spicy books. And also they checked a mirror that showed them as gender bender selves. Apparently, our dm sees fem Ferenir as a tall hot Mommy, hah.

But here is where things got complicated. After resting through the night, an old friend appeared, a dryad that they had encountered in their first adventure. Ferenir in particular had kept a good friendship with her, and so she revealed the reason for her being in the forest. There is a bad curse, and her sister here is dying alongside the forest. Of course, things can never be simple, right?

Ferenir wanted to help her, but he knew he had to persuade Aramil and Horny too. So he offered a deal to hopefully please everyone. They would help the dryad, and in return she would gather the elusive herbs for them. Everyone agreed to that, and she led the party further in, to the giant willow tree that laid in the center of the forest. They met her dryad sister, who was in a very bad shape, pale and colorless, and found out that cursed vines are draining the willow tree's roots and poisoning all the water running through the forest.

Worst of all, these vines are impervious to any attack, because of course they are, right?

The party is presented with two options...

One, make a potion to break the curse themselves, or otherwise, go to the Feywild and ask a really dangerous Archfey for a vial.

Now, the potion needs some crazy stuff like a Phoenix's tail, and no one knows where to find one in the first place....so our dumb heroes, devoid of any sense of self preservation, jump through a portal into the Feywild, without even remembering to ask how to return ...

[sweet-star-cookie]

gimme everything you got about the voidlands!! (without spoilers obv) what kinds of spirits are in the voidlands? how do you get there? what does scorpio do down there? etc. etc.

Ohohoho :D -rubs my hands together- The concept for the Voidlands was a relatively recent addition compared to some of the others for this project, but I'm quite proud of it already so I hope you enjoy :D

The first thing to note about the Voidlands, and how the spirit corruption/restoration cycle works in general, is that it's not always consistent. As in, the level of corruption or restoration can differ per spirit or per encounter, and there are several factors that can determine the outcome either way. Spirits who have been corrupted for longer can often be harder to heal and take on larger and more aggressive forms that are more difficult to fight or calm down. They are also much closer to burning out permanently or, even worse, going supernova and creating a black hole in their wake instead. Spirits who possess more Light magic overall are less prone to being corrupted through exposure to Void magic, or at the very least can fight it off or survive damage from it for longer than others if they end up in the Voidlands itself.

The one exception to this is Scorpio, as while he has a very limited amount of Light magic compared to the others, he uses what little he does have to defend himself from attacks down there. His inherent connection to Void magic makes him far more resistant to it overall. This did not come without significant amounts of training though, and entities within the Voidlands still pose a great threat to him, which is part of why he's armed with such a large amount of weaponry and why he needed a shield initially.

Not all spirits that are rescued are able to return to the Astral Plane right away, and may end up back in the Voidlands or fall down to Earth again. As mentioned before, the Voidlands exist between the Astral Plane and Earth's atmosphere, so rescued spirits still have to travel through it in some way to get back safely, and require a certain amount of Light magic to do that. It's essentially the reverse of the corruption cycle, where spirits are corrupted by enough Void magic to fall through to the Voidlands and down to Earth, though some don't have enough Light magic remaining to make it all the way and succumb to the corruption entirely, burning out as a result.

Even Cassie herself appears in the Voidlands pretty often when travelling between the worlds, especially at the beginning when her own Light magic and that of Flicker/the zodiac portal is still at a small power level. This is how she first meets Scorpio, actually, as the initial activation of the zodiac portal wasn't powerful enough to send her further up yet. Even when she is sufficiently powerful though, for some reason she seems to end up near Scorpio more often than not.

This discrepancy in power can place otherwise restored spirits right back into the Voidlands, and learning this is one of the reasons why Cassie trains so hard to hone her magic so that it doesn't keep happening. In other words, when she saves them she wants them to stay saved! When a spirit is successfully rescued, they return to whatever their home is or some other place that is of importance to them. Some are also drawn to whatever group of spirits they commonly associate with, if any. For example, if Pavo were corrupted and rescued, he would likely reappear near the spirits of the other members of his group, The Southern Birds (Tucana, Phoenix and Grus).

However, as the destruction of the Astral Plane continues, some of the spirits' homes do not survive, and the remnants of them will often fall into the Voidlands. If a particular spirit's home is destroyed and/or they don't have any remaining ties with other spirits, they can reappear in the Voidlands where their home used to be instead. Draco is one example of this, where he kept reappearing where his apple tree used to be, and he ended up corrupting and returning to Earth repeatedly as a result.

While any spirit can fall into the Voidlands or venture into it willingly, the astral seas pose an additional threat. Unlike the land-based paths or holes that lead into the Voidlands otherwise, the "safe zone" in water is not as clearly defined, so the dangers of the depths can be a lot closer to the surface than you think! Pisces and many of the other constellations based on sea life have experience with this, and this is primarily why Pisces shares her water magic with them. This allows them to "breathe" outside of water and generally live on land to lessen their risk compared to living only in the sea.

One entity that appears all across the Voidlands is, well, someone's hands! Several of them, in fact, appearing equally as wispy and shadowy as anything else down there, but no one can determine who they belong to or where exactly they're coming from.

The only hints seem to be that they are constantly and desperately reaching out for something, and are attracted to Light magic and the Starglass like the other corrupted spirits. Well, that and a voice that only Cassie (and Ophiuchus) can hear. It's one she has heard before, but doesn't recognize. Whatever sentences she can make out are always calling out for a "little star". The deeper into the Voidlands, the louder the voice seems to be. Curiously, this voice can also be heard coming from the inside of black holes. The bigger the black hole, the louder the voice.

When the hands do appear, they will grab onto anything possessing Light magic and pull them deeper in, which is part of why the Voidlands are so dangerous. The deeper in, the darker it is. Sometimes these hands, or more commonly the spirits that have been corrupted in general, crawl out of the various chasms and cracks that have formed over time. Corrupted beings of any kind will hunt after Light magic, and Cassie is targeted the most because of that and the Starglass itself, similar to how the spirits on Earth are naturally drawn to it. The more combat-oriented constellations (Cancer, Sagittarius, etc.) spend a lot of their time fending off these creatures from reaching the surface. It should be noted that even the Sun and Moon spirits themselves fear the Voidlands, though the extent of which is less clear.

Now you may be wondering, why don't they heal them instead of just fending them off? Well they certainly try like they would normally, and depending on the situation they can be successful if the spirit was just returned to the Astral Plane or otherwise isn't too far gone. Scorpio often encounters these during his excursions into the Voidlands, but isn't always able to save them. At first, he gives the impression that he doesn't care to save them, but in reality it's because of his limited Light magic that he'd otherwise need to survive himself. Though he'd be hard pressed to admit it, he feels guilt for those he cannot save. Once Cassie realizes this, she and him team up a lot more so she can help using her own Light magic, whether he wants her to or not. An additional problem comes from constellations of inanimate objects. Since they don't possess any kind of sapience/sentience, these tend to stay stuck in the Voidlands if they fall into it rather than falling to Earth. In addition to preserving the memories of past incarnations, one of the reasons that these kinds of objects on the Astral Plane are kept safe is so that they don't get corrupted or destroyed, or to stop anyone with malicious intent from trying to use/wield that object in its corrupted state. Sometimes objects that aren't officially parts of constellations but are still made of stardust and light energy like the rest (like, say, the weapons in Sagittarius's forge) can still succumb to this. Nothing's worse than encountering an already dangerous being in the Voidlands, only for it to pick up a sword on the ground and start slashing!

This idea escalates when Cassie and Scorpio encounter beings that were once inanimate objects, but seem to have been given artificial life as well somehow. One example of these is Horologium (the clock), and another being Fornax (the furnace), to name two. I currently only have a very rough design for the former at the moment though, sorry ^^'

Once the astral clock in the Solunar Spire, Horologium was destroyed during the rather explosive disappearance of Solaris, the Sun spirit. Without Solaris, the earth and fire signs don't have their elemental magic, and thus the earth signs can't use that magic to repair the damage to the Astral Plane's landscape and buildings.

Since the "life" it has is artificial, Horologium can't really be rescued like the others, and thus must be destroyed or at least kept at bay. This is a lot easier said than done though, as this and many of the other beings in the Voidlands are massive in size and a lot harder to kill as a result.

Though Scorpio does much to keep creatures like these at bay anyway, that's not actually his main "job" while down there. At least, not entirely. One thing he is tasked with doing is gathering Star Fragments, glass-like remnants of dead constellations. This serves the dual purpose of preserving what remains of the dead, but also confirms who actually is dead as opposed to merely lost. These fragments are taken to Aranea to turn them into stained glass portraits for the mausoleum. It is unclear if they can be corrupted as well, but they seem to react to Light magic and glow when near it. The fragments can also move on their own after lighting up. Cassie finds some of these on Earth as well, indicating that some of the corrupted spirits did not make the descent.

But as you might have guessed, the biggest confirmation that everyone is looking for is whether or not Ophiuchus is truly dead, which is why Libra and others insist on the urgency of these excursions. Scorpio has his own reasons for looking for his former mentor though, so doing this "job" is more of a means to an end. As mentioned above, his ability to withstand being in the Voidlands is what makes him one of the few to be able to do it at all, but it's also to make up for his connection to the Voidlands in the first place. Though he did not create it, his arrival was the catalyst for it opening up so much, and that has had quite the ripple effect. Everyone is still reeling from that effect over the course of the main story, but luckily some do eventually see that Scorpio was wrongly blamed for something that was largely out of his control.