#We Should've Been Enemies

[soot-and-salt]

What does the hotel know? Lucifer isn't sure but he's starting to suspect something might be going on. If only he could focus and figure it out.

Meanwhile, time spent trapped together in an elevator muddles the already confusing thing he has going on with Alastor, something both of them refuse to confront.

They may have to though, sooner or later. Something seems to be wrong with the Radio Demon and Lucifer isn't so sure blood will cure it this time.

(A continuation of my radioapple gothic horror/romance series)

The 5th installment of We Should've Been Enemies is here! I'm sorry it took me a month! I hope it was worth the wait.

And don't worry, the next few installments should come even faster.

Please let me know how you liked it, I'm so nervous.

[soot-and-salt]

I hope I've done this in WSBE. One or two comments have figured out some of the twists so that gives me hope.

I'm so worried though hahaha 🫠

REMINDER

THE POINT OF A PLOT TWIST IS TO ENRICH YOUR STORY, NOT OUTSMART YOUR READERS!!!! SPRINKLE IN YOUR FORESHADOWING!!!! LEAVE CLUES!!!

(im not saying to spell it out/make your plot twist cliche or boring. we are going for a "how did I not see that coming" vibe)

[tlgtw]

Man that DLC's final boss has got me feeling kinda fucked. I'm kinda depressed about it now that I'm done. Everything else is, was, so good. But I do not like that plot development. I honestly think it is bad. Why did they choose not to foreshadow this in literally any way? Why did Miquella attempt to resurrect Godwyn at all in the first place, then? Practice? Was this really what was originally planned? There's no actual evidence to the contrary so you gotta assume it must've been.

So yeowch...

[spotaus]

Thinking about Orchid and her connection to my take on Gender (because this was meant to be about her and the Crew but it just devolved into a character analysis kinda??? More trauma-dumping maybe???) This is very much an oc/personal rant so feel free to ignore it 🫡

So, Orchid started off as a character I didn't really think much of (hear me out this is going to be relevant) because I wanted to add a 'girl' character but didn't know what to *do* with her, y'know? She was always going to be the strongest one there, she had the odds stacked in her favor with her parents. She was always going to be the gloomy side-character to match Reset's energy. But I think she's gone through every stage of Generic Woman I could possibly find.

At first she was angry and abrasive (think Fell!Sans) where every other word was a curse and she was likely to throw the first punch then laugh as she kicks her enemy while they're down. This was when Reset was a cartoonishly self-centered villain whose goal was simply to prove others wrong. Then Orchid became a sort of sisterly figure. This was short-lived, but she was the one comforting people who Reset would torment, but would ultimately follow his orders, because at this point he was actually a danger and sadistic. And then there was the phase where the story mellowed out and she became the token Goth Girl who, yes she was strong, but was heavy on the 'whatever' energy. Then there was her Era of deep self-loathing and anxiety about her worth that held her back and made her a much more timid and meek character who would only lash out on occasion.

Now, Orchid is the best of those iterations I've written yet. She's calm, level-headed, and a natural leader. Her father raised those traits into her. But she's very reactive, and can be silly, and when she's comfortable it's likely that air of importance transforms into something more comfortable and familiar. She laughs loudly and grins wide, she likes loud video-games but loves to read in the quiet. She's extremely disciplined, and normally no one can get through her tough exterior besides her best friend, Reset. She does what she does for her own enjoyment, sure, but she's thought of every angle and makes her choice to help Reset and control the others with her whole chest. She still worries she won't live up to her invisible expectations, and that and her loyalty are her two driving forces.

I know that Orchid is important to me because she's the longest-running female oc I've had. I have a rough relationship with womanhood/girlhood and I know looking back that Orchid recieved every ounce of my distaste for being a woman that I could shovel into her. That never made her less of a character, she was actually always one of my favorites, and rarely was she a 'punching bag oc'. I just... projected onto her a lot. And she's a good sign of how I've learned who I am. I've decided that my own femininity is something I could live without. I'd rather not associate myself with it, and I'd like to leave it in my past, focusing on a future where I'm not tied down with any gender roles or expectations. That won't happen, but I've come to terms with it myself. Orchid though? I figured out through her that I don't have to hate women characters. My own distaste for my circumstances doesn't mean I have to push it onto my characters (on God I've never expressed anything rude to actual people, that'd be rude as hell and uncalled for, but I have a bad habit of disliking fictional women in media). So, Orchid is a well-roubded character finally. She has motivations abd goals and a *lot* more depth than I ever expected her to. She's happy with being a woman, she's content. She's not treated differently for it in unfair ways by those she cares about, so she doesn't mind it. She likes to wear pretty outfits and lets Reset add bows to her ribbons. She doesn't let being a woman hold her back in the slightest.

So, yeah. Orchid is one of my babies. If I ever leave this Fandom behind for good, she's one that's coming with (Ichor, Orchid, and Pretender all have human designs I can use elsewhere lol-) but in the meantime I'll just rotate her around in my brain for a while longer.

If I'm right, she's been with me for nearly 5-6 years and I went through a *lot* with her as an outlet. So, she's kinda just like an old stuffed animal. A lil ripped, matted fur, maybe a stain or two, but there's a story there and that makes it important beyond belief.

[sapphyreblayze]

The J'onnMax toxic yaoi in Booster Gold 2007 #9 was crazy. Love loses 💔

[soot-and-salt]

I am OVERWHELMED!!!!!! Henchy, it's PERFECT!!!! It looks like a vinyl record cover!!!! Oh my god I could cry. Henchy, you are a WONDER. THANK YOU!!!

EDIT: OH MY GOD IT'S THE COVER OF THE HEALTH ALBUM THE SERIES TITLE IS FROM!!!!! I just realized!!!! HENCHY YOU FUCKING GLORIOUS GENIUS!!!!!

I am on the FLOOR

It occured to me

@soot-and-salt you need a titlecard for your series We Should've Been Enemies

[depresseddepot]

finally FINALLY finished watching the legend of korra. it only took me LITERALLY ten years

[primordialchoice]

From everything I've been reading, it does seem like Adam and Lilith are two parts of a singular thing. It seems she represents his darkness, his sensuality and his rebellious nature, while he represents her sense of order, her light and her sense of righteousness. These are opposites that should be integrated within each other, but due to the very nature of them contradicting each other, they've never truly gotten to that grey area in which they both could indulge in what the other represented and brought to the table. He needed someone like him, and Lilith refused to reject who she is to be that. She tried to make him see she was an equal, but he refused because he thought himself above her while she saw him as her opposite and therefore her equal. Hence why, she was removed and he was given Eve. He was closer to what Heaven represented and that's why Lilith was so easily discarded... Her legends state she married either Satan, Samael, Leviathan, Asmodeus or Lucifer. I guess they both chose the path of least resistance rather than humbling each other to try to make things work. The fault lies in both of them, but unfortunately... Lilith is still the victim. She was made to draw the short end of the stick. It was inevitable to lose.

[emostudent]

nothing is more sobering than the realisation you, in fact, hate one of your friends

[soot-and-salt]

I'm speechless. Legitimately speechless. Look at this absolute fucking MASTERPIECE. I am besides myself that something so absurdly stunning came from a few sentences in a fic I wrote. Look at this, this is museum quality. Someone call the Louvre and tell them to throw the original painting in the trash, this is a goddamn master work and it deserves to be hung there instead.

I'm overcome. Holy shit. I can't stop looking at it. The details are insane. The French in the newspaper, the box, EVERYTHING. I'm on my knees. I'm sobbing.

THANK YOU @elkaseltzer. You are so fucking talented and I am beyond grateful.

"Was Jacques-Louis David in Hell? Could he be commissioned to paint 'The Death of the Radio Demon' in place of Marat?"

maybe he cant BUT I CAN!!!!!!!!!

jk this is a gift not a com

based off of part 8 of We Should've Been Enemies by @soot-and-salt

[fazcinatingblog]

My boss couldn't put the seek ad for the receptionist on last week because it was a full moon and she "doesn't like doing things on a full moon" yeah same

[soot-and-salt]

Every time Alastor wakes up is worse than the last.

His dreams are full of Lucifer, glorious and beautiful and terrible, and no matter what he does he can't escape them.

The hotel is trying to kill him. The hotel is driving him insane. What other course of action does he have left other than to run?

(lays down on the floor) WSBE 8 is out. Finally. Oh my god, finally.

It's Alastor POV and it should serve to fill in some of his experiences with the sentient Hazbin Hotel, while also hopefully opening up some of the mystery.

I can not believe this is almost complete. I am in shock. I never expected this to become a series but here we are at the penultimate installment. There's just one left now...

[thekitsunesiren]

Dc x Dp #46

"I'm transferring you all to another branch to focus on your teamwork." Batman announced to the Young Justice League out of nowhere.

The news surprised the whole group. They've been together for quite sometime and had gotten alone just fine. Sure, they had disagreements here and there, but that wasn't enough for them to need more training, was it?

"We've been officially working together for a long time. Why do we need teamwork training now?" Robin asked, being brave enough to talk to the well feared vigilante that many were fearful to speak against.

Batman said nothing as he scrolled through the tablet in hand, obviously searching for something.

"Because you still have problems with your teamwork. You need the help of another team your age to get a better view point of what you're doing wrong. And hopefully you'll be able to learn about the different type of enemies

"Wait, wait, wait! Our age? You mean there's another team that we didn't know about?" Kid Flash asked, the news obviously being a surprise to him.

This news was a surprise to everyone in the group. All of them thought that they were the only young heroes that worked under the Justice League.

Finding what he was looking for, Batman opened a file and the team looked at the large photo that appeared on the screen. The photo contained four teens, just around their age if not older or younger.

One was a black teen with a red beanie, and Robin was surprised to see the bulky tech in his hands that he was using. What kind of outdated tech was this team using?

Next to him was a goth looking girl with raven black hair wearing a black short with a black and green plaid skirt. Her face was concentrated into a stern glare that gave Wally the shivers. The gun that she held in her hand didn't help either.

There was another girl as well. Her black hair down and resting against her shoulders. Said shoulders and the rest of her body covered by a black and red suit with a hoverboard against her feet and another strange weapon in her hand. A gun maybe? Red Arrow was curious to see her aim when moving on that board.

And the last kid wasn't standing. He was floating. With snow white hair and green eyes that seemed to glow everytime they looked at the photo. He looked to be around the same age as the other three, but he wore a black jumpsuit with white boots, gloves, and belt. On his belt rested a thermos? Superboy didn't see how such a scrawny thing could be of any threat.

One thing was similar was that how all of the humans eyes seemed to glow. Almost as bright as the- metas'? Aliens? -did.

"These are the members of Young Justice: Dark. They have been under the Leagues employment for three months, but they've been working on their own for almost two years and managed to stop several world ending disasters dealing with the supernatural."

The statement from Batman shocked the team. Them? On their own for two years fighting against the supernatural? Surely he was joking?!

"But-how? We've never heard of them, and they were world ending, we should've known about it." Robin argued.

"Because they've never left the threats leave their town." Came Batmans clipped reply. "There have been a few close calls, but all of them have been handled. As for why the League wasn't aware, there was interference that stopped the League from knowing about Amity Park. This is the team that took our place."

This was the team? Two years unsupervised against supernatural threats that they didn't know about and they still remained uncovered? Just how strong was this team?

"I'm assigning your next mission to work under them. For the time being they will be your superiors and you will follow their instructions if you come into contact with any enemy. Do not go against their orders or else it will be dire. With this, you will learn about threats stronger than you have faced and better yourselves as a team. Do not mess this up."

[soot-and-salt]

I continue to be absolutely bowled over by this artwork. I can not wait to add it to WSBE.

Continuation of THIS post.

I decided to lean a little further into the Vinyl cover aesthetic. This is now a little more aged.

Almost like this is one of those copies of an album that just sits in a record store. Never actually for sale but rather to be enjoyed by whoever happened to stumble into the store and sample the offerings. Well loved by both the owner and the regulars.

(Actually I just fell in love with the look of ageing record covers/posters and I wanted to try it out, so here you go)

Also I can only reiterate that you go and check out the series for yourself:

[jinngerleaf]

people coming into the pjo fandom need to understand that we multi ship like there's no tmr. Of course we love percabeth but also we love piperbeth and ofc jiper was nice while it lasted but there's piper and shel and oh jercys cute too and valgrace should've been cannon oh but valangelo is fun but yk you can't forget about solangelo, and frazel is so wholesome but so is the enemies to lovers valzhang and and-

[merrinla]

Portrait spamming

Recent discovery. If you click on the portraits of the characters like crazy, they will react to it. And the developers had a lot of fun coding these reactions xD

Tav / Dark Urge

normal - I'm awake! Mostly. - I'm starting to get a headache. - Must be the tadpole. - Quit knocking around in there! - A thousand needlepricks in my rotten skull.

combat -Ahhhhhhhh! Okay, I feel better. - I have an itch in the worst place. - Is being a mind flayer so bad? - Just waiting to venture forth here. - I'm maiming as fast as I can!

stealth - What's that ticking? - Is it me? Am I ticking? - Bomb in my head about to go off. Great. - Ah, well. I had a good run.

Astarion

normal - Why do beautiful people taste better? It hardly seems fair on the ugly - they have such wonderful personalities. - Ugh. Strahd wouldn't put up with this shit. - More like Drizzt Don't'Urden - no. No that's not funny. - Villains! Dissemble no more, I admit the deed! Tear up the floor - here, here! It is the beating of his hideous hea- oh, no, that's his brain. Where did I leave that heart?

combat: - I'm trying to focus on murder. - *Humming.* - I shot a svirfneblin in Menzoberranzan just to watch him die. - I should've been a drow. They have such stylish armour.

stealth - Shhh. Just think sneaky thoughts. - Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP. - Be very, very quiet - I'm hunting idiots. - I've got a brand new torture chamber, so come and play with me.

Karlach

normal - NOTE TO ACTOR/DIRECTOR: Blow a raspberry at the player. - Don't. Poke. The Karlach. - Who am I? - My eye!

combat - Eyes on the prize - we need to win this! - Not every soldier should've made it out of training. - Eyes on victory, tummy on dinner. - I ought to just burn this whole thing down.

stealth - My back can't take much more of this. - Not now, I'm being a sneak! - I'm getting too old for this nonsense. - I'm not built to crouch.

Gale

normal - I hope Halaster takes good care of Tara while I'm away. - Sembian wine; Cormyrian boar; Waterdhavian conversation. It's the little things you miss while on the road. - Oh, what a tangled Weave we web! - All the world's my stage and you're just a player in it.

combat - Just go for the Magic Missile and fire away. Never fails. - Don't make me go all Edwin Odesseiron on you. - Get. Out. Of. My. Head. - I really wish I could cast a Hold spell on you.

stealth - You made me hide, don't make me come seek you. - Gods, it's like trying to sleep with a mosquito in the room. - A little privacy please. - Stop it - that tickles.

Wyll

normal - Could do for a brew. - Where there's a 'Wyll', there's a 'y'. - Ever get the sense that someone's watching? - So two halflings walk under a bar...

combat - Can't hear myself think! - Wear your scars proudly. - As my father once told me: 'Can we get on with it?' - I find moderation is key.

stealth - Bad time for an itch. - Could do for a brew. - So two halflings walk under a bar... - Shush. No, really. Shush.

Lae'zel

normal - Must everyone be so exhausting? - Weapons high. Standards higher. - Is perfection too much to ask? - Pride is a virtue.

combat - I will know my queen! - There is no right or wrong, only truth. - What is the point, if not victory? - You are right to fear me.

stealth - Hush already. - There is no wisdom in madness. - Is perfection too much to ask? - There is but one way. Vlaakith.

Shadowheart

all modes - I wonder how I'll feel when I remember everything. - Strange. I've had more freedom this past while than my whole life... - Have to keep focused. Can't afford to get attached - to anyone. - If I succeed, maybe I'll be allowed a pet... ugh, stop being silly.

Halsin / his voice is currently bugged :(

normal - What I would not give for a chunk of fresh honeycomb... - Such attention... I never realised I was so popular. - Are you feeling lonely, perhaps? - Unwise, perhaps, to poke a bear this much...

сombat - Battle is afoot - you can poke me once we are safe. - Perhaps try attacking the enemy? - Admirable stamina, yet terrible priorities. - You are insistent, are you not?

stealth - Most consider it unwise to poke a bear. - My, you are eager, are you not? - Please. I am trying to be stealthy. - Calm yourself. There is plenty of me to go around.

Jaheira

normal - Oh, calm down. I'm happy to see you too. - I would poke you back, but I fear that's what you want. - My, such strong wrists. - Well you certainly have the 'omnipresent' part down, don't you? - Please go poke the ranger instead.

combat - You have my attention - now do something with it. - What? What do you want!? - Do you know, I begin to wish they had never brought me back. - Yes, yes, have your fun. It isn't you they're trying to kill.

stealth - Dry those sweaty palms and let us try this again, shall we? - Argh, my knees! Oh. It was a twig. - Would that I could hide from you, too. - Careful, or I will take your toy away from you.

Minsc

normal - ARGH! My EYE, Boo! They went for my EYE! - Know that if you poke Boo, no higher dimension will keep you safe! - Heehee. Heeheeheehee. - Well, Boo? How do you want to do this?

сombat - Are you perchance a squeaky wheel in need of a kick? - I am armed! Armoured! And entirely sick of your foolishness. - I begin to grow annoyed. It is well for you that Boo does not let me learn the bad words! - Ignore them, Boo. Let them gaze deep into their own abyss, and wonder just what it is they are trying to achieve.

stealth - A little to the left? But not so hard you make me giggle. - Boo...? Are you dancing down there, or...? - Hush! I am surprising Boo for his birthday! He is... uh... eh... how old do hamsters get...? - I am the night. A pity, then, that it is so bright out.

Minthara

all modes - You had my attention, now you have my fury. - Phlar Lolth ssinssrickla. - Your suffering will be spectacular. - Stop, or die.