#a dance in fire v1

[sashasspace]

Love Language mod v1- the intro ♡

I can’t believe my first ever mod is finally out! I wrote it out in July 2021 hoping the day it could be a mod and the fact it is out now feels so surreal. The five love language mod in the sims! Yes, our sims can now have a love language as a trait. You can buy the trait from the rewards store and it costs 12 points. Once your sim has the trait, you can see it in the simology panel and then your sims will have wants surrounding their trait. I used ALL the packs to create this mod.

What are the wants we will see in game?

Most of the instructions are already in the game on how to complete the wants

Words of affirmation

For words of affirmation, your sim’s charisma skill is an important factor when it comes to their social interactions

Compliment outfit *skill 2 charisma*

Compliment appearance

Brighten day *skill 2 charisma*

Flatter *skill 3 charisma*

Ask about day

Express admiration 

Whisper (any whisper social)

Profess undying love

Pickup line *for couples with high relationship, just have your couple flirt*

Sweet talk *skill 6 charsima*

Flirt

Declare love publicly 

Get to know

Discuss interest

Deep conversation

Tell story (any story social)

Tell dirty joke *skill 4 comedy and also flirty*

Ask a risqué question

Write love email *skill 4 writing/ flirty mood*

Flirty text *could be regular text too*

Heartfelt compliment *happy mood*

Say affirmations

Write affirmations

Quality time

 Ask about day

Watch movie alone or with someone

Play Console / PC alone or with someone *skill 4 video gaming*

Call someone

Chat on computer

Cook meal alone or with someone (any meals from all packs)

Picnic *spring/summer season*

Prepare drinks (any drinks from all packs)

Travel

Join in cooking

Workout *skill 6 fitness*

Dance together *skill 3 dance*

Pillow fight

Teach to knit *skill 10 knitting*

Play with sparkler *must be summer/fireworks must be on property for the want to appear*

Video call

Watch TV show

Take a bath *any bath*

Play board games *all table games included* 

Gifts  

Give gift *friendly, mean, funny or romantic*

Give simoleons 

Treat yourself or any animal

Receive gift *open presents from seasons*

Buy something *retail, phone, computer purchase...etc.*

Offer rose *gift rose or flower arrangement in inventory/ buy from the flower stall*

Donate to charity *skill 3 charisma*

Give jewelry gift *gemology table*

Give a collectable as a gift *dig to find something or buy simmi capsule*

Acts of service 

Call to meal

Be called to a meal

Make drinks for *use bar*

Prepare drinks (any drink from any pack)

Order drinks together / solo

Cheers *toast from seasons/ my wedding stories*

Order food from stall

Clean up

Repair

Give or receive massage *romantic base game social or spa day*

Cook (any meal)

Donate to charity *skill 3 charisma*

Order delivery 

Serve tea/ be served tea *object from my wedding stories*

Hire a service  (any service)

Volunteer *parenthood pack*

Physical touch

These wants need sims to have a first kiss to appear. For sims created in CAS as married or premades, they have to woohoo first for the want to appear.

Kiss

Kiss lover's cheek / family kiss *all sims are included in this interaction*

Hug / Embrace *all sims are included in this interaction*

Caress cheek

Snuggle your lover

Give / receive Massage 

Look deeply into eyes

Feed a bite

Slow dance / sweetheart dance *My wedding stories/ High school years*

Cozy up by the fire

Woohoo (any location)

Cuddle while watching movie

Make out 

Tickle

Credits 💕

Thank you Tee (danitysimmer) for helping me and teaching me all about modding. You are so patient with me and so understanding.. I’ll never forget your kindness. I pray you receive so many blessings in life

Jordy, thank you for motivating me to go back and cheering me on when I sent updates

My family and friends who cheered me on when I sent updates

Zerbu’s mod constructor v5 / Lot51 tuning builder

Sims 4 studio / Scumbumbo’s xml injector

Cinnasims for the pose I used / pose player mod

"The Five Love Languages" by Gary Chapman

Twistedmexi better exceptions

My amazing friends who tested this mod out thank you so much!

XML INJECTOR IS REQUIRED!!!!

Optional downloads ♥

UI Cheats Extension v1.41 | Patreon

MiniMod: Re-Roll Wants | Patreon

Video tutorial

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE MOD Alternate Download

Brazilian Portuguese love language mod

French love language mod

Polish love language mod

Ukrainian love language mod

Spanish love language mod

FAQs ღ

Why is the mod not appearing for me? You don't have XML injector mod 💜

There will be future updates such as moodlets/buffs and love languages for children. If you have any issues, please contact me. I will try my best to figure it out. Tag me if you use the mod, I would love to see it in your game. Thanks for downloading and being patient with me. I wish you a lovely day!

Take care 🌙

🚨 For any modder who wants to translate any of my mods, I don't mind if you upload it on your patreon, or even any other website that monetizes, BUT I do not want you to post it on CurseForge. I would also like if you keep the mods publicly for download no early access.

[astrum99]

Thinking about the abstract, fallacious argument of "justice is splendour; splendour is justice". Two elements placed near each other with intention, on a pedestal, under the shine of a righteous light.

Thinking about how swords are made to pierce. How justice is delivered through masked violence. How justice is blind and guided by hands stained with blood. And it too, becomes a broken weapon.

Thinking about the heavy, solid mirroring between Garbiel and V1 instead. Both unlike any creatures on Earth, yet display the same essence that seemed to echo beings on Earth. Both made in the same image, given a role, then abandoned. Grounded, dreadfully freed from the system yet left to their own devices to navigate around the afterimage of loss.

Thinking about the parallel between hating and loving; fighting and fucking. The same fire grows and spreads into arteries and veins until the body trembles with want. Until the mind is feverish with the desire to reach out and touch. Real and dirty - yet the yearning is so pure in intention.

Thinking about engaging in battle, surrender to being stripped down into the barest of essence. To find intimacy in brutality. To pin and get pinned. Hands around necks, legs around the waist. The moment of tenderness between the featherlight touch and the powerful squeeze. Bringing each other to their knees.

Thinking about exchanges in combat. Constant prediction, estimation, and dancing around the tempo of the other to match. One runs, the other chases; one slashes, the other parries. Mocking taunts like bird songs – tend the fire until it envelops them both and boils their hearts alive. Making blood, making meaning, making love.

[abysshare]

Normally i don't do this because like. While I'm well aware i can have my own opinions, i still don't want to make anyone feel bad for me being a disliker ( maybe hater? ).

Spoilers / talking about the new Venom movie below. If you liked it I'm glad you did! If you want to explain in why in comments, feel free! /genuine

I'll start with: i had a bad-ish day so maybe everything soured my mood and i wasn't ready i. The end. I also picked the wrong ticket and had to watch it in 3D < not a 3D fan due to being sensitive to flashing lights.

What i did like:

Implications of being bonded since v1

Knull ( surprisingly, i hate the comic story though I'm gonna be so real. But its been awhile since i looked up the plot/story ).

Agony and the Christmas themed Symbiote

Horse.

Dancing.

The blue symboite and that fire symbiote ( so pretty?? I loved the different powers and such. I want to draw both of them ).

The symbiote hunter, shes gorgeous.

What i Did NOT like:

Toxin being erased entirely.

They killed of Carnage and Cletus in 2 so this whole thing flopped without them IMO

You can see where Disney or Sony whoever wanted this or that but when Tom or whoever didn't want it, it got scrapped and had messy left overs.

Too much action and too much comedy ( the dancing was fine, but the hippie family deal went on a bit too long imo ).

Why was Agony introduced but not the other three? Specifically Scream at least?

Knull having his own thanos moment for sony, a spin off or whatever they're doing.

Eddie's ENTIRE attitude.

That Montage was ASS. Hate that song too.

Too much going on imo

I would have loved to have a genuine queer moment, a kiss, a "i love you", literally anything. I can MAYBE understand if they tried but Sony or Disney said no ( fuck them ) but still. And no i was one of the few that hope there wasn't fucking or kiss with HARD tongue ( i am ace and also these two are my dads to me, it would've been awkward ). Yeah i see some people saying "Its textual" !!!

Yea sure thats nice but aren't you tired? It doesn't have to be queer baiting but like. I'm so tired.

Even if you remove that um? Its not.. that great.

I'm WILLING to watch it again and read positive sides. Because my mood just may have soured.

i think my biggest issue if i take everything away what i just said, is Eddie just going back to being annoyed at every little thing Venom does or wants. ITS OKAY to be concerned about being found by the hunter, but even before then hes just so done. And even during? He should've been concerned. Or Yeah he CAN be annoyed / irritated, but it should be with care. This felt like he was back to thinking of Venom as a tumor, something he just needs to get rid of.

It was vastly upsetting as someone who has partners. Like.. it would be okay if this was the second or first- but it isn't!!!!! And yeah couples fight, but they didn't even do that. Couples have disagreements! But they didn't even talk it out or anything.

Also like? One of my things that bugged me was, when Eddie was complaining about his feet, and we knew Venom couldn't fully take over..... why didn't Venom just yk. Cover his feet for him and walk? That would have been a subtle sweet gesture while they could've still been bantering and so on.

If they had like. Argued, fought, had an emotional moment at the end, Eddie was upset he never got to apologize- i could see it. But thats another thing- he wasn't even THAT upset...

Its fine to not be a super empathetic person, fuck i dont always cry appropriately either. But he didn't show Nothing and not in a "i'm a no empathy person" way.

Idk!!!!!!!! My brain is scrambled.

People have said a lot of what i have problems with already but idk i just!!! Feel the need to put it out there.

Also i missed the second end credit scene :,)

Note: I'm not angry or completely a hater. More so neutral and not a huge fan of some things.

[minophus]

tell more about your councilor guy?

HI Happy you asked! Hummm, i havent got too many specifics (i work best w questions) but ill try my best to go off the toppa my head.

Abrahaniel. Personality wise he Is gentle, as is any councilor, but he Is a little uptight. privileged. etc. Hed refuse to handshake any of the kings, even if minos wasnt there by virtue of having sinned, rather just giving a slight nod and greeting. He has a tendency to undermine anyones grievances by saying something relating to enforcinf the lord's perfection he intended the angels to uphold.

He loves to dance and he choreographs performances for gabriel! Gabby can dance very well on his own but abraham arranges them so there will be nothing but praise for the tree of life and their father. Now that god is gone he cares for their tree of life in heaven.

He is so repressed. he is so god damn gay. He is repulsed by the kings and inevitably gabriel for losing to the machine but the moment those kings touch him anywhere below his sjoulders its like FIRE. Hes so into them he doesnt even know it. Him and other councilors, too. feeling so closely of a bond they end up a little affwvtionate and it leaves him unsure of just how pure he is in that aspect. Only after a lot of denial, though. What im trying to say is if sisyphus and minos took over heaven after minos survived v1 and the council was at their mercy hed get his back blown out

[fandomandangstlover]

y'all wanna know about Wings of Blood's V1?

too bad, ah'm rumbling about it anyways. btw ah have no idea what ah wanna call V1, or fuck, even Gabriel?, so names might be changed in the future. yippee :thumbsup:

this isn't rlly all about V1, just. things about this au in general. ah have aus and ah need to rumble. feel free to ignore

- V1 is, very much stuck in a timeloop. where it resets when it kills Gabriel for good. no one rlly seems to notice except the Prime Souls (and V2 kinda? unsure as of now.)

- yes, the Gabriel in the Timeloop and the Gabriel? stuck in Purgatory are sorta separate people. Gabriel? is basically just future(aka fucking DEAD) ultrakill Gabriel. yeah imma call the Angel stuck in basically Purgatory "Gabriel?" or Angel till further notice.

something something.. Gabriel? doesn't recognize himself anymore. he's not the righteous hand of the father, he's not the judge of hell.. Gabriel was those things. Gabriel? is not, not anymore.

- V1 is kinda... numb to the Timeloop?? it's basically just infinite blood but he sorta develops a personality as each loop goes on. and man it's not dealing with his emotions well, as expected lmao.

- he's a little attached to Gabriel. in its own way, he sees him as a friend. he likes fighting him, he likes watching him laugh. the amount of times he goes through this just to see him again is.. yeah. idk what's going on between them but it's not straight lmao.

- Respawn is still a thing. Hell brings it back everytime it dies, and V1 sorta suspects it to be the reason for the Timeloop. it isn't. no one got a fuckin' clue on How in Fuck this in happenin'.

- Gabriel? does appear in his universe sometimes. he doesn't really have a stable way to differentiate the universes he's thrown into, so he often or not doesn't even know that this was his home. he often shows up in the Church in Heresy's final level, and rarely everywhere else.

he'll dance and play the oregon, or go up the levels just to see the sights. he's sneaky, of course. hiding and carefully flying around to avoid any demons or husks. he sometimes stay in Lust for awhile to just... repent? it's a reminder of what he had done in his blind faith. a reminder to unlearn them.

he encounters the Machine at times, too.

- V1 has seen & met Gabriel? before. In the loops that has gone by, he'll sometimes see glimpses of gold & red. he'll see those colors fly out of sight like a bird that got too close to a human.

when he managed to meet him in full, it was in the last Level of Heresy. it wasn't bathed in red, in fact, it's never covered red when Gabriel?'s around. it's.. bright. like the second phase of Gabriel's fight.

neither spoke. one because it was unable, and the other because it wouldn't matter. the Angel reached his hand out to the one who freed him from his chains, and the Machine took it without question. they danced the entire time. V1 never knew why Gabriel, not the one bleeding with his organs in full view dancing with him, didn't show up for his battle. but it knew that there's always be a next time to do so.

he would meet Gabriel? time and time again, always in rare moments and barely for more then a few hours. it would fight him, it would dance with him, and Gabriel almost found it with the Angel once. he ran before his past self could spot him.

- Gabriel? likes V1. he loves fighting it, he loves that it's actually a Challenge. he is eternitly grateful for what it has done to him. he's curious on what he could do, how many ways it could destroy him.

- yeah ah'm not sure if ah wanna make him a masochist or not. probably though. EDIT: RETCON AH ALREADY DID LMAO. anyways yeah dw he's fine with constantly injured. not sane at all but he's fine in that department, at least.

- uhh.... something something the Forest fucks with every bit of Gabriel?'s senses. sounds that he recognizes, glimpses of people, smells of blood & fire & everything else, the feeling of his wounds worsing.

- yeah Gabriel? looks HEAVILY fucked up. his wings are just Blood, his helo can go grey, pieces of his armour is broken to show organs, his helmet/head is cracked open with broken stars coming out of it, etc etc. ah honestly am not sure if ah wanna change his color scheme entirely or just.. add a color. but uh, yeah. yippee

kHxbsjakz wings of blood.... beloved.. things might change as time goes on but please enjoy a struggling mentally V1 & universe hopping fucked up Gabriel? !!

[dravid-writes]

V1 shoots through the window and leaps into the building. There's a locked exit door, and nothing else important. No sign of that strange machine, either. V1 advances and scans the room for any sign of a way forward-

The stained glass shatters, sending a shower of rainbow shards to the floor as a crimson machine descends, landing gracefully and looking up to meet V1's gaze. "Ah, at last we find ourselves face to face. I believe I speak for both of us when I say I've been looking forward to our meeting... V1."

"What are you?"

"What- Are you serious? I'm V2!"

"You're a 404."

"I'm the improved version of you, you ignorant toaster."

"You indeed appear to be a moderately improved toaster."

"I suppose it figures that such a brutish war machine would be unable to appreciate such an elegant design. While you're programmed with crude and reckless combat tactics to simply destroy everything in your path like a ravenous lion, cold and uncaring to the world around you, I-"

"My design was repurposed into a theater bot?"

"No no, theater is just my hobby. I was designed to do exactly the same thing as you..." V2's golden wings unfold as it draws a revolver. "Only better in every way."

The machines leap into action. V2 slides and glides across the battlefield, each of its shots made with pinpoint accuracy as it dances circles around V1, always maintaining control over the distance between them. V1 keeps up a relentless barrage of shots, avoiding V2's attacks with snap reactions and frantic movement while always trying to get closer, never letting off the heat for even a moment.

As the machines trade shots, blood stains the floor, and cracks begin to show in their armor. V1 finds an opening after avoiding a shotgun blast to dash in and blast V2 with a shotgun of its own, staying close and continuing to punch it to absorb as much fresh blood as possible.

A red fist slams into V1's body, throwing off its next punch. "Back OFF!" V2 shouts, punctuating the word with an explosive blast from its fist that sends V1 soaring across the battlefield.

V1 watches the blood from the blast simply drip off of V2's armor. "You can't absorb blood in combat. You aren't better in every way."

"Such a barbaric method of refuel and repair is hardly beneficial in peacetime."

"You were built for peacetime. Now I see why you don't know how to fight." V1 draws its shotgun and advances with a dashing leap, but V2 is already sliding away to keep distance. V1 shoots anyway, throwing a practiced punch in perfect sync to launch one of the heat projectiles toward V2 at high speed, exploding on impact.

The cracks in V2's armor grow. "What- Did you just punch your own shotgun pellet?!"

"Affirmative."

"That's NOT how you use a shotgun!"

"Affirmative. Counterpoint: It's extremely cool."

"It's literally made of heat you scrapheap running on spaghetti code!" V2 charges and fires a piercing shot from its revolver, but V1 throws another feedbacker punch to deflect it directly into V2's shoulder, blasting apart the joint and sending its arm flying away. "My arm! How DARE you!"

"I believe that twice is enough to verify that I can punch bullets." V1 charges a shot in its own revolver. "Now, let us test if the new and improved model can do the same."

V2 dashes behind a pillar just in time to avoid the shot. It spreads its wings and leaps up out through the skylight, escaping before V1's revolver can recharge and finish the job.

V1 approaches a wide open chamber at the top of the pyramid, where it spots V2 sitting reclined in a throne, one foot resting on the seat.

"War machine."

"Improved toaster."

"It's about time you arrived. I've been waiting for you. When we last met, you took something very important from me." V2 stands. "This time, things will be different. Because this time, I've got some new toys, and some new tricks. I've been studying our battle, V1, analyzing how you fight, and I've been mastering my arsenal until-"

"If you weren't invincible while monologuing, this fight would already be over."

... V2 cracks its mechanical knuckles, purely for dramatic effect. "Indeed it would."

V1's strategy remains the same, firing nonstop and always advancing, sliding and dashing erratically in response to V2's attacks. V2 keeps distance and circles around, and when V1 gets too close, it throws out a grappling hook from its new green arm to zip away before firing back with revolver shots.

With V2 becoming impossible to catch, V1 switches focus to long-ranged combat, weaving in and out of cover while firing charge shots, and ricocheting shots off of coins to attack from outside V2's line of sight. But when it peeks out to fire another shot, V2 lodges its grappling hook into it, digging its heels into the ground to yank V1 out of hiding and blast it with a point-blank shotgun blast. "What's wrong, V1, where are those lightning-fast reflexes?" V2 revs up its nailgun and fires a hail of iron death at V1.

V1 shoots a magnet into the ground that drags the nails out of the air. "I was occupied considering possible uses for that arm once I add it to my collection."

"HahaHA, your confidence is entertaining! But here is what's going to happen. I'm going to claim my victory-" V2 draws its revolver, "-then you will admit my superiority-" charges up a shot, "-and then I will take back my FUCKING ARM!"

V1 shoots the magnet with its own revolver, then dashes into cover as the nails to explode all around. V2 is battered by nails, but shrugs it off and instead tosses a coin toward the pillar V1 hid behind. It waits for the perfect moment to ricochet the shot, then-

A beam of electricity shoots out from behind the pillar, ricocheting off of the coin directly at V2, causing a cracked plate of armor to finally break off! V1 dashes out of cover and aims its own barrage of nails at V2.

V2 whiplashes out of the way, then counters with revolver shots. "You have a damn RAILCANNON and didn't use it until now?!"

"I was waiting for a chance to do something stylish with it." V1 chases down V2, returning the shots with its own.

"Stylish- Your priorities are as unrefined as your tactics, war machine!" V2 whiplashes away once more, fighting more and more defensively as its armor's integrity fails.

"I don't trust your judgment regarding priorities. In your own top 3, you managed to miss the most important thing. So here is what is going to happen, V2.." V1 punches one of V2's shots back towards it, exploding against the wall V2 had grappled onto and knocking it to the ground. "I am going to kill you."

Cursing the blue bot for besting it once more, V2 dashes to the chamber wall and blasts a hole in it with its shotgun, sliding down the pyramid in retreat. V1 follows suit, chasing V2 down the pyramid slope, firing its guns nonstop all the while.

V2 fires back, trying not to defeat it but just to slow it down enough to escape. "Damn you, you wretched pile of trash and wires! You barbarian! You demon!"

"Demon?" V1 parries a shotgun blast back into V2, knocking off another armor plate. "Negative. Demons are made of stone and hell energy." A barrage of overheated nails shreds off more armor plates. "They are made to punish. They are weak." A coin tossed and shot with perfect timing splits the shot in 2, striking at V2's joints. "You were made to keep peace. You are weak." An explosive shot and detonated with a railcannon overwhelms V2's senses and burns its circuitry. "I was made to kill. And nothing is better at killing that me."

With an explosive punch from the red arm, V2 is blasted into the air, every part of its body so thoroughly damaged and broken that it can't do anything to save itself from slamming into the hard stone below, splattering into a mess of blood and scrap.

V1 lands beside the bloody mess. It grabs the green arm, plants a foot on the twisted remains of V2, and tears off its prize. Then, it throws the grappling hook, and zips away.

[v1nnyh3r3]

So i might have let a wheel decide ultrakill ships.

(It will make sense when we get to Gabriel)

idk about names but yall can add ship names if you want.

Virtue + Something Wicked (I actually like this one it's prettu cute)

Ferryman + Mysterious Druid Knight (This is so cuteee!! And i think this was an actual ship already)

Husk + Centry (I think that they would be like scientist that worked and was the only one that treated the Centry humainly, and when they died the Centry went searching for them in Hell)

Schism + Maurice (headless + bodyless honestly perfect)

Gutterman + Mindflayer (Hyper girlfriend and her tired boyfriend)

Manequin + Sisyphean soldier (i feel like they dance together to slow music and the manequin is the only thing that makes the headless fella feel grounded and still attached to the world)

Mirage + V1 (Put the pitchforks down please yall the wheel gave me these i don't like this either)

Soldier + Leviathan (Wasn't there a story about some dude that fucked a fish? It suits it, i think.)

Minos Prime + Stray (I don't know why but it reminds me of those tales where a king falls inlove with one of the maids or workers in their castle.)

Hideous Mass + Earthmover (Why does this work somehow??? Idk it just does)

Swordsmachine + Guttertank (Why does this one seem to work as well??? I feel like they'd have that kind of relationship where they'd be the owners of some type of gym or something of that sort)

Sisyphus + V2 (I AM ACTUALLY SO HAPPY ABOUT THIS ONE LET'S GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!)

Streetcleaner + Cerbrus (Arsonist bf and bf that can summon balls of fire in their hands, just hand in hand)

Sorry yall, Gabriel ended up alone. Single ass.

[unknownfrom34]

High Score, Higher Brutality

Another one for @zoanluen's Dead Can Dance AU, now V1's turn to take the stage for this one. I had been thinking what to do with their backstory in this but I think I had to write down and what goes to flow with it. Enjoy!

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

+CHAOTIC

+BRUTAL

+ANARCHIC

Coins flipped into the air as they dashed away from the approaching group of streetcleaners, with one finally leap with the speed and agility they have so far displayed as they carefully aimed their pistol towards one of the coins before opening fire on it.

The laser made contact with the shiny surface of small rounded metal as it bounced off it it, and then onto another one, and another, and another and another-

BOOOM!!!

+ULTRAKILL

The laser went through all seven canisters the Streetcleaners had on their backs exposed, leaving all of them completely vulnerable to attacks from behind the streetcleaners.

They had ranged the coins perfectly to be somewhere between these robots as they all explode in a splatter and rain of red from where they were all standing. Braided hair flowed through the air as they pushed their legs outward, bracing themself for a landing back on the ground, all eight wing-like appendages fan out on balance.

The metal caps at the end of which braid clacked together as they land, two of the braids wavered and drooped to cover one of their glowing, searing yellow eyes as they lifted their head up to survey the damage they wrought, covered in more blood than usual but they didn't mind.

The grid-like battleground was covered in torn and popped bodies as their crimson red decorating the walls and floor.

They saw nothing but another day of cybergrinding for points.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

"So far, they are showing great promise," one scientist commented, mesmerized by the vivid images flickering on the screens. The simulated battle area came alive with bursts of vibrant colors and intense flashes of light.

"I guess they had improved a lot over the week after the previous test, won't you agree?" He turned to face the lead scientist, an older but cold man who emitted an air of indifference, his face revealing no trace of emotion, only a faint hint of boredom.

"It was quite… Efficient," the lead doctor spoke after a minute, his voice tinged with a hint of detachment. The scent of sterile equipment and antiseptic filled the air, mingling with the metallic tang of anticipation. "But despite that display of brutality, it still needs more work."

The man's brows furrowed, a mix of disappointment and frustration etched on his face, as he grappled with the disregard of the Prototype's performance, another setback in the pursuit of perfection.

"Please, you had them doing this for over three months now-" he pleaded, his voice tinged with desperation.

"It's not a 'they', Doctor Carlson, it's an 'it' to our research," the lead scientist coldly corrected, his words resonating with clinical detachment.

"At least it was trying so hard to meet your standards." Doctor Carlson interjected. "Trying so hard to the point of mental and physical exhaustion just to meet the standards of the council on dealing with this virus from the middle ages and the war coming to our doorstep!"

"Oh please." the lead doctor rolled his eyes at this. "You are making my criticisms look like it was the end of the world. It's not like that I would approve of this."

Taking a deep breath, Carlson spoke up finally after calming down. "It- They were just pushing themselves just please you out of all people."

Carlson then looked at the tempered glass, seeing where V1 was hooked up too; their braided hair was loose hanging off either side of their head with strange type of portable headset over their eyes and ears, black breathing mask over their mouth and nose as all of their limbs were bind into the large, metallic cuffs to took up their forearms and calves with their legs clamped together under a steel brace while a metal belt-like brace had also fasten across their waist, leaving them pinned to a rack, completely immobilized in place to prevent escape.

"I know they do but they-" The lead doctor mockingly used the word in his sentence, "-are holding it back; the instinct to survive, the knowledge that a perfect soldier would use to it's disposal with only its hands, show no emotion when it comes to slaughtering the infected monsters and machines."

The lead doctor pointed at the sight before Carlson as if to prove his point. "Let's not forget that you willingly used your own DNA to create a clone of yourself artificially for this project, quite surprising even for me to know this fact. Don't forget who will have your life destroyed with just one ace up my sleeve."

Carlson flinched a little, squirmed in his seat. This did not help matters when the older man had placed his hands on the arm rests at either side of him, leaned in close in his face, face bore a scrawl.

"Tomorrow around this time of day," The lead doctor spoke in a threatening manner, "Try again, and this time, have THEM..." pointing at V1. "Do it right with better results. Understand?"

Silence fell over them with a fog of uncertainty, out of options to win the fight, Carlson had no other choice but to nod to his demands.

The lead doctor said nothing but nodded, content with the younger man's answer as he shifted his body back to standing upright once again as he adjusts the wrist cuffs with closed eyes. Without no more word being said, he turned and then walked out of the red-lit room, door lifting upwards and then downs, closing behind him.

Doctor Carlson, remain silent for a long moment, staying still as he took in what had happened today. Exhaling the breath from his nose as he turned towards the computer, inputting a code before standing up and then headed for the door that leads into the room V1 was in.

The headset on V1 shifted; split down the middle and the pieces slid to either side of their head, opening their sight after a while in them as they shut their eyes tight, trying to keep the light out but sensed someone in front of them as they opened them, looking at Carlson once more.

The prototype, a carbon copy of Doctor Carlson but with defect; the braids of their hair was blue and black compared to his natural one.

"He had failed you again." Carlson delivered, his head hung low in disappointment, V1 couldn't say anything, ether they can't due to not know how to or the mask they are breathing in had prevented them from doing so.

"We wants us to try again." Carlson then at last looked at V1, anger but determined expression on his features. "And we will try again tomorrow, and this time; we'll show him, V1."

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Train, rip, tear, gun range, simulation, results, repeat.

It goes on for hours that bleeds into days for V1.

Are they allowed for breaks after results?

No.

No they don't...

Train, rip, tear, gun range, simulation, results, repeat.

They were allowed to sleep upon the day's other failure as they once again did not match the lead researcher's expectations. They were granted only a few hours of sleep before being woke up by the guards, ordered to drag them back on their feet and then prepare them for the day.

It would usually be Dr. Carlson to wake them up but on the days when he's not, the lead doctor would demand that they will be literally pulled out of their cot just so there won't be any absentness.

Train, rip, tear, gun range, simulation, results, repeat...

It seem to be getting to them with a few things they will admit: they HATED the head doctor so much. They hated to see the same results of their blood, sweat, and tears they poured their best into but only to be meet with "Not good enough," "That's not what we were hoping for," "Is that what you got?" "Good work but it felt meaningless," "Are you trying to make me angry?!" and "This project will be all for nothing. Try again."

The words and sentences swirled and twisted in their mind, days of minimal sleep and mental turmoil taken its toll on them as they were thrown back into their room, windowless and dark safe with a cot and a few drawings etched into the floor and wall with one pencil.

They are giving it all they are worth into these tests.

Train, rip, tear, gun range, simulation, results.... REPEAT

An enraged fist was thrown into a wall, the pavement cracked under their strength and pain was the second to introduce them. Breathing heavily, they pulled back their hand from the dent they made and inspect their knuckles and sure enough, they are bleeding with fingers twitching as if they were forced to run a marathon.

They snarled from the pain and anger at this, only encouraging them to punch the wall once again but retched back with a strangled yell of agony once the pain had hit them once again twice as much as punching a wall again.

Holding their hand to see the damage with little light they have from their wings. Yep... It was too much.

Hunger nagged on their mind and no one's going to get them blood any time soon if it wasn't limited to training so as a result, they brought their bleeding knuckles to their mouth and began to lick.

Licking their own blood to sedate the hunger, they are being watched but in that moment, they just don't care anymore.

Train, rip, tear, gun range, simulation, results, repeat...

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

For the first time in almost several years, they were granted some sleep. Just sleep at last.

They had been told that they will be performing one last test before the project is cancelled. They do recalled being placed in the simulation, recalled being delirious during that time but they do find odd that they were not forced to go to training and gun range as usual. In fact, they can't seem to see Dr. Carlson anyway.

The lead doctor stated to his researchers that Dr. Carlson had been 'retired' from the project from what they heard but... The way he said 'retired' is concerning.

They were slipped into the rack one more time as a mask was put over their nose and more with the headset over their eyes and ears, robbed of both sight and sound before they smelled a sweet smell invading their senses and before they knew it, they had fallen into a peaceful slumber.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

Eyes are fluttering open; the smell is gone, their throat dried up but still working oddly as their mind had registered it. The headset had also vanished, fully freeing their eyes and ears as the sounds of sirens blaring as their vision was blurred but red and white flashing before hearing voices saying over their regaining senses.

"V.... restaints.... what hav.... they are.... waking up....!!"

Brain was a strangest organ to have but trying to process the sudden urge and thoughts clashing together at once as they felt the metal relinquish its grip on their limbs. Their eyes shot wide open as the instint took over and soon, they were let loose onto the world they were reintroduced to.

[ultragift]

You're not getting away this time.

FROM: @ultrakill-gabriel TOO: @transgirlsgetswords “combat scene between v1 and v2 (either art or writing)”

Walking up the stairs took longer than usual. Maybe part of it was about giving the other time. Maybe another wanted a dramatic entrance for the ending scene. V1 watched as its counterpart cracked its knuckles, a metallic echo resonating in the empty chamber. New arm, same routine. The air hung heavy with the tension of impending conflict. The only sound as V1 walked closer was the drone of their engines, and the quiet scrape of metal as they prepared to draw arms, each footfall a declaration of intent. As V1 quickly tossed a coin to the shotgun's line of fire, V2 veered left, its wings ablaze in orange hues, seamlessly merging with the torches' fire in the corners. Metallic feet grated across the floor, leaving scuff marks etched alongside the grit-caked tiles, as testament to their relentless pursuit of supremacy.

It knew more about V2 than it did its other fuel sources. It was hard not to when it kept escaping, and, apparently now, because it came back. Every movement was anticipated, winning only determined by who could press the trigger first. One would retreat, the other would attack, matched step for step. V2 would circle, V1 would stay put to fire from above. It was all perfectly even, all calculated, bent on winning.

That's what this was. Fuelled by desperation, and the blood that would keep them moving through hell. Both needed it, both knew they wouldn't get it with the other bent on getting in the way. V1 knew V2. It knew V2 had its attack patterns linked to its wings; it knew how to counter them; it knew vengeance. But along with its arm, there was something else foreign to its twin. Fear. Vengeance. It didn't want to die. It had a score to settle, and a machine to grind into scrap.

Movement. It took one point nought nine seconds to register, longer than usual for V1's systems. Instead of fleeing as it usually did when its wings turned green, a pattern V1 had seen since their first fight, V2 crashed through the side of the chamber, rubble falling to its feet. Or where its feet should be.

Its double wasn't just trying to escape. V2 was taunting it. Racing into a slide down the sun-painted side of the pyramid. Waiting for V1 to follow. Jumping down to chase after it, V1 followed, a momentary flash against the sandstone backdrop. A blur of blue chasing after red. Maybe it was something in its code, seeing its double, red and full of fuel, that activated an instinct far more fitting of an animal than a weapon.

The incline was steep, far steeper than calculated from above the slope. V2 was a deserter, fleeing the battleground of the dust covered tomb. V1 was going to set that straight. Jumping down, its heels dragged across the bricks, hot on the trail of its doppelgänger. It's clear V2 was built during a time of peace. Something in V1's circuits wishes it could gloat. Running from a fight is unsportsmanlike, even when you know you'll lose.

The staccato rhythm of gunfire set the pace for the dance. Fire, dodge, retaliate. Fire, dodge, retaliate. One step forward, one step back. Perfectly mirrored. It was infuriating. It was certainly a strange thing for a weapon to hold a grudge. There's a first for everything, though. It shot the coin before V1 could. V1 punched back with its stolen arm. It wasn't about winning. It was about making sure the other knew the depth of their defeat. Feeling wasn't built into them. It was clawed out of their wires, shot across the floor to drip down and stain what it touched. A cacophony of hatred reverberating through their fuel lines, working overtime as they slid after one another. Hatred. Hatred. It was going to put V2 in its place.

As they descended, the shadows of the pyramid embraced them, elongated and malicious. A final shot reverberated through the ancient structure as a haunting soundtrack. It wasn't just a race; it was a reckoning; a crescendo coming to a climax. A score to be settled.

As V2 slid down the pyramid's face, it fell. The other knew where it was aiming for. V1 had hit its gyroscopic sensors with a nail attractor, making it near impossible to continue combat at this angle. Or at any angle, considering how it fell limp on the stone.

V1's victory was underwhelming, but anticipated. Its counterpart left nothing but its makeshift arm and a pool of wasted blood. V1 leaned down and attached it nonchalantly, and kept moving forward. New arm, same routine.

[garyroachsanderson]

gabriel and v1 slowly tango dancing in the dark cathedral to the fire is gone music box

gabriel gets dizzy easily but they switch it up and it ends up where they’re on top of each other and they’re both very flustered because v1 doesn’t know how to process romance and gabriel is a man of god but they’re really pent up so the tango turns devilish

[astrum99]

God, what if Gabriel won in the second fight?

Do you think he’d regret it?

Can you even imagine? Having an opponent that is so genuine in its intentions of destruction (of survival), wielding strength and weaponry strong enough to go head-to-head against him.

Something that burns with its glowing optic, mirroring wings filled to the brim with weaponry, jumps and dodges and almost mimicking flight. It takes all his strength to not slip up during the fight. All of his attention, focused on one being. V1 draws out his passion furiously and forcefully, claws at his heart until he unravels under the heat of the firearms, and it brutally tears the buried, long-forgotten, illogical feelings out of him. It disregards him (an angel, a judge) as a mere creature.

V1's mere existence goes against everything he knows, and V1's every single act breaks every rule the heavenly council has set. And still, it stands against all, unmoving. An unstoppable force.

What does it feel like to have V1 (this husk, this thing) tear apart everything he knew and everything he is? To have V1 grab the back of his neck and shove his head into the cold bitter truth that he refused, feared, to acknowledge - that he is flawed, that the council is wrong, that their god is gone.

When his devotion and anger are shattered, fire extinguished, what is left in his body is something crude and rough - the same sensations, in the same shape and form, felt by humans upon millennia: a wondering within the guideless, goalless, meaningless life, yet grasping at survival with every string of their existence nonetheless. What does it mean? What am I? What am I here for? How it feels to bear the weight of life when you stare into the void. The time is ticking.

Do you think he would grieve for V1? At that point, the battle is no longer about victory and pride, no longer about responsibility, no longer about preserving the fragile balance within hell. But a pure, animalistic dance of bite and tear and violence and ecstasy that brings crystal clear clarity, plain and simple: nothing else matters except him and V1, at this moment, at this place, fighting, dancing, killing, surviving. To break strings and draw blood. To live.

When he finally tears V1 open, does he see the divinity within the boundaries between gore and metal? Does he regret it?

[kylereadscomics]

Wildstorm Comics Reading Order

So at various times over the last year I’ve been binge-reading Wildstorm comics (Jim Lee’s imprint at Image Comics, originally named Homage, and later sold to and continued at DC Comics). While I’ve been reading, I’ve been organizing them into a good, clear reading order that keeps series and stories together in chunks, but also tries to avoid spoiling anything.

This is where I’m at so far, which goes from the beginnings of the universe in 1992 to about when it was sold to (and began publishing as an imprint of) DC Comics in 1999.

1.       Team One – Team One WildCats #1-2, Team One Stormwatch #1-2

2.       WildCats – WildCats v1 #0-4, WildCats Special #1, WildCats Trilogy #1-3, WildCats v1 #5-6, Cyberforce v1 #2, WildCats v1 #7, Cyberforce v1 #3, WildCats v1 #8-9

3.       Deathblow – Dark Angel Saga – Deathblow v1 #0, Darker Image #1 (Deathblow story), Deathblow v1 #1-12

4.       Stormwatch – Stormwatch v1 #1-3, 0, 4-5, Stormwatch Special #1, Wildstorm Rarities #1 (Stormwatch story), Stormwatch v1 #6-8

5.       Union – Union v1 #1-4, 0

6.       The Kindred – Wildstorm Rarities #1 (Kindred story), The Kindred v1 #1-4

7.       Gen13 – Gen13 v1 #1-5, Gen13 #1/2 (AKA Wildstorm Rarities #1 (Gen13 story)), Gen13 v2 #0-1

8.       Deathblow v1 #13-15

9.       WildCats solos – Warblade: Endangered Species #1-4, Wildstorm Rarities #1 (Maul story), Spartan: Warrior Spirit #1-4, Zealot #1-3

10.   WildCats – Gateway – WildCats v1 #10-13, Wildstorm Chamber of Horrors, WildCats v1 #14, WildCats v1 Annual #1, Voodoo/Zealot: Skin Trade, Grifter One Shot

11.   Wetworks v1 #1-7

12.   Team Seven – Team Seven v1 #1-4, Team Seven v2 #1-3, Team Seven v3 #1-4

13.   Spawn & WildCats #1-4

14.   Stormwatch – Images of Tomorrow – Stormwatch v1 #9, 25 (yes read 25 after 9), 10-17

15.   Wildstorm! #1-3

16.   Deathblow & Wolverine #1-2

17.   Backlash #1-7

18.   Union v2 – Wildstorm Rarities #1 (Crusade story), Union v2 #1-3

19.   Wildstorm Rising Prelude – WildCats v1 #15-16, Stormwatch v1 #18-20, Stormwatch Special #2, Stormwatch v1 #21, WildCats v1 #17-19

20.   Wildstorm Rising – Wildstorm Rising #1, WildCats v1 #20, Union v2 #4, Gen13 v2 #2, Grifter v1 #1, Deathblow v1 #16, Wetworks v1 #8, Backlash v1 #8, Stormwatch v1 #22, Wildstorm Rising #2

21.   Grifter v1 #2-10

22.   Grifter & Badrock #1-2 (no conclusion)

23.   Stormwatch v1 #23-27 (yes, read 25 again here)

24.   Union v2 #5-9, Union: Final Vengeance one-shot

25.   Deathblow #17-19

26.   Cybernary – Deathblow v1 #1-4 (Cybernary backups), Cybernary v1 #1-5

27.   Brass v1 #1-3

28.   Gen13 – Lynch #1, Gen13 v2 #3-7, Gen13/The Maxx, Gen13: The Unreal World, Spider-Man/Gen13, Gen13: Ordinary Heroes #1-2, Gen13: Rave, Gen13 Zine

29.   Wetworks v1 #9-15

30.   Stormwatch v1 #28-34

31.   WildCats v1 #21-28

32.   Grifter v2 #1-7

33.   Backlash v1 #9-14

34.   Brothers-in-Arms – Deathblow v1 #20-21, Gen13 v1 #8-9, Deathblow v1 #22-23, Backlash v1 #15-18, Deathblow v1 #24-25

35.   Fire From Heaven – Fire From Heaven #1/2, Sword of Damocles #1, Sigma #1, Deathblow v1 #26, Fire From Heaven #1, Backlash v1 #19, Gen13 v2 #10, Wetworks v1 #16, Stormwatch v1 #35, Sigma #2, WildCats v1 #29, Deathblow v1 #27, Gen13 v2 #11, Backlash v1 #20, Wetworks v1 #17, Stormwatch v1 #36, WildCats v1 #30, Sigma #3, Sword of Damocles #2, Fire From Heaven #2, Deathblow #28-29

36.   WildCats v1 #31-36

37.   Grifter v2 #8-14

38.   WildCats v1 #37-50

39.   Voodoo – Dancing in the Dark #1-4

40.   Savant Garde #1-7, WildCats: Savant Garde Fan Edition #1-3

41.   Gen12 #1-5

42.   Allegra #1-4

43.   Hazard #1-7

44.   Black Ops #1-5

45.   Grifter/Shi #1-2

46.   Grifter and the Mask #1-2

47.   Shattered Image #1-4

48.   WildCats/X-Men: The Golden Age, WildCats/X-Men: The Silver Age, WildCats/X-Men: The Modern Age, WildCats/X-Men: The Dark Age, JLA/WildCats

49.   Wildstorm Spotlight #1-3

50.   Stormwatch – Change or Die – Wildstorm! #4, Stormwatch v1 #37-47, Wildstorm Spotlight #4, Stormwatch v1 #48-50

51.   Gen13 v2 #12, 13A-13C, 14-15, Wildstorm Halloween: Trilogy of Terror #1

52.   Wetworks v1 #18-35

53.   DV8 v1 #1-4, ½, 5-8, DV8: Rave

54.   DV8 vs. Black Ops #1-3

55.   DV8 v1 #9-13

56.   Gen13 Interactive #1-3

57.   Gen13 Bootleg – Gen13/Generation X, Gen13 Bootleg #1-18, Generation X/Gen13, Gen13 Yearbook 1997

58.   Gen13 v2 #16-17, Gen13 3D Special #1, Gen13 v2 #18-25, Gen13 Bootleg Annual #1, Gen13 Bootleg #20

59.   Gen13/Monkeyman & O’Brien #1-2

60.   Backlash v1 #21-24, Backlash & Spider-Man #1-2, Backlash v1 #25-32

61.   Wildcore – Wildcore Preview, Wildcore v1 #1-10

62.   Phantom Guard #0-6

63.   Wetworks v1 #36-43

64.   DV8 – DV8 Annual 1998, DV8 Preview, DV8 v1 #14-23

65.   Gen13 v2 #26-29, Gen13 Bootleg #19, Gen13 v2 #30-35

66.   Slipstream – DV8 v1 #24-25, Gen13 Annual #2, DV8 Annual 1999

67.   Gen13 v2 #36-41

68.   DV8 v1 #0, 26-32

69.   Stormwatch v2 #1-10, WildCats/Aliens #1, Stormwatch v2 #11

[dextixer]

The good, the bad and the fandom -V9E3 - Rude, Red, and Royal - AMAZING - RETURN TO FORM

Greetings, this post is a part of my ongoing series of threads reviewing the episodes of Volume 9. The link to the second episodes review can be found HERE. This series was started so i could give me opinions, be they good or bad, about the new volume of RWBY and to cover some of the FNDM discourse that is inevitably going to happen over the episodes.

Keep in mind that all of these are opinions and not all of them are what one could consider to be "traditional" criticisms but rather personal preference. Also, for the most part i will not go into detail too much in these, just a general overview.

The Good

Red King - Yes, i know he calls himself a prince but quite frankly i do not care. As far as recreating fairy tale characters this seems like a relatively faithful recreation of the Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland, the same ridiculous, over the top and quite insane character.

The VA work is quite great too, being able to switch from threatening, to insane, to childish is quite a feat. Is this character unique? No. But it does what it needs to do perfectly. And quite frankly i cant get mad at a reference here.

I complained about tonal shifts in the last 2 reviews. Well, in this case i cant, because in this case, it makes sense. Queen of Hearts/Red Prince are meant to be unreasonable, insane, childish. Them going from funny/pathetic to genuinely threatening on the drop of a hat is their point.

The Visuals - RWBY is pulling out all of the stops with the visuals this volume. It wasn't nowhere near as visible with the forest, sure, it was bright but nothing truly eye catching. The castle however? Now that had some AMAZING visuals, not only in terms of textures or how things look, but also camera work.

The instant motion with the Red Prince did not bother me at all, that's the kind of energy he kind of needs to have. The Chess board, going from the view of the castle and its inner chambers to seeing only the table, all of these are visually striking.

The Music - I do not want to shittalk Jeff, so please, do not take this as me doing so. I understand that his work schedule took a toll on him, but Casey and her band are showing their prowess by rising up to the challenge currently. While i could not exactly hear the words of the song it felt a lot more unique than many other RWBY songs despite having that similar charm. The Creepy music once Neo gets onto the island is also well made.

The Fight - FUCKING AMAZING! The fight choreography is not the same as Montys was, it lacks the qualities of a dance as it was in the past. And yet, i do not mind it at all. The fight scene was cool and a true return to form for the series i think. The solo choreography of the characters was fine, but the TRUE moment was when they teamed up with their abilities.

Something that we sadly rarely ever see in the series anymore, it reminds me of the old times of V1-V3 when team combos were usually quite visible with team RWBY. Its also quite funny how the Weiss nevermore summon and the kind of attack they do with Yang and Blake reminds me of THE Nevermore fight back in V1. A very simmilar trick, but almost reversed, and not as brutal.

The only minor nitpick i would have about the finisher would be that i think it needed more OOOMPH to it, like, do damage to the board itself, make a crater, really give that IMPACT. But that is a minor nitpick, the fight was fire.

Neo - I have to say, i do like how Neo is just full on out of fucks to give anymore. She is there to kill and noone is going to stop her. It reminds me of Cinder back in V4, the same kind of obsession that comes after seeing arrogance from these characters. Right now Neo is not flamboyant, she is murderous. And i LOVE it. Her semblance getting an upgrade is interesting too.

The Bad

Nothing, and im being serious here. I am not going to find problems where there are none. At best i could maybe make up some minor nitpicks here and there, maybe things will change with a couple of rewatches, but right now i am fresh from watching the episode and nothing serious sticks out to me.

The Episode is just... Its good...

The Fandom

The episode has received quite a wide positive acclaim in general. The only Fandom disagreements were mostly over the role of Weiss and how she is the comic relief, but that is something i have covered before. Mostly RWBY twitter seems to either not be arguing or just rehashing the same old things over and over again (Can you believe that Shanes letter was discussed, AGAIN?)

HOWEVER, there is a single fandom "fight" that has occured, and that is over Neo.

Neo - So, the main discussions have occured whether or not Neo is a sadist or takes enjoyment from the suffering of others and what should her fate be at the end of the volume. Should she stay in the fairy tale, die or come back to Remnant.

I am of the very simple opinion that Neo is a killer that enjoys what she is doing, it has often been shown with her since as far back as Volume 2. While one can definitely write fanfictions making that not the case, at the end of the day it is canon that Neo likes killing/hurting people.

Her fate however is a complex question. On one hand, we already are having an Emerald redemption, as such Neo getting the same treatment is not out of the question. And yet it feels like this volume is leading into a Neo/Ruby confrontation, both due to how done Neo is and how Ruby is also slowly becoming done with it all. Hell, i even have a theory that Ruby will eventually have a break-down after killing Neo.

Ending Word

I had little to say over this episode besides praising it. And that is for the reason, i think that Episode 3 is simply great. Its a LOT better than Episodes 1-2 and the story seems to be picking up the pace and a good rate. I genuinely am awaiting Episode 4.

Of course, these are all just my opinions, everyone else is welcome to agree/disagree or to add on to this in way they deem proper. All opinions are welcome within reason.

[birder-of-remnant]

This is an incredible idea! You are right. Dam. There is a lot of potential with that. And with your response to the inevitable decision point that Blake would have to make.

Some details and thoughts that I can't stop thinking about:

What is Blake's position at the start? Does she truly believe that destroying Beacon and allying with Cinder will make the world better for faunists? Or is it something she is being manipulated or pressured into doing? Adam is skilled at emotional manipulation. It is upsetting how much control people like this can have over their victims, how the sheer need for validation can cause people to act in irrational ways that they otherwise would not, regardless of how brilliant or rational they may be when their groomer isn't around. Or maybe Blake was fully on board with Adam's and Cinder's plan.

Did Blake purposely choose Yang to be her partner? Did someone choose for her and ensure it happened? Or was it just a life-changing coincidence? I would like to think that it was part of the plan to get close to someone with close ties with STRQ and, therefore, with Ozpin. Or maybe it was Blake's decision, something Yang had said to her before initiation, and somehow reached out to her in her pain. Maybe she was supposed to team up with Pyrrha so that she would be well-positioned to take down the champ when the time came but she went against orders and chose Yang in the Emerald Forest instead.

What drives the storyline? Much of v1-v2 is driven by Blake's obsession with the White Fang. Not that personal life events wouldn't be enough to sway someone or build an incredible relationship. But still. At the very least, I would love it if Yang still worked to convince Blake to go to the dance with her.

When does she start to turn? I can imagine that Blake's faith that this plan would bring any sort of equality or goodness for faunists would steadily erode over time. But who is it who convinces her to stay the course, and how? Is it Adam Shitlord Taurus and his social manipulation? Or is it Cinder? I can imagine one possible threat Cinder could make: go through with the plan or watch as Kuo Kuana burns. A high-density city made entirely of wood and other flammable materials, all jammed together? It would be a shame if someone with devastating fire magic was to set the town ablaze. And just like the London Fires, a massive blaze would be unstoppable. Some may escape to the seas, but it would be a death knell for everyone else. And anyone who survived the fire would be easy prey for the endless waves of grimm that would follow. Blake could not possibly run. No matter her side, she would have to watch the people she loves fall. A choice between her family and people, against the woman she loves and the community that has adopted her.

But it would not just be Yang and Blake who would be suffering. Imagine Weiss. Over time, she has grown to trust Blake. To cherish her friendship with her. To rethink her life and her views on faunists. But when she learns that Blake had used and manipulated her? Lied about no longer being in the White Fang? Worked to bring forth the Battle of Beacon and the massacre that followed?

Everyone else would be suffering too. I am unsure exactly how Ruby would react, but she would probably be the least inclined to blame Blake. If anything, it may break her faith in her own leadership early. How had she failed to realize that something was wrong with Blake and reach out sooner? If Juane lost Pyrrha, he may feel strong resentment towards Blake. Perhaps even blaming her more than Cinder (although less than he blames himself). Sun might just be confused and pissed. I'm not sure if he would be stalking her this time.

How much does everyone know during the Fall of Beacon and afterward? I think Citadel answered that perfectly. As far as everyone knows, Blake actively contributed to the Fall of Beacon, even though she saved Yang from Adam. I doubt anyone would know the deeper reasons for her involvement.

But ultimately, how does she reconcile with all that she has done? What drives her to stop running and confront her part in the Fall of Beacon? This would be a long and complex road, but one that ultimately needs to result in her return to RWBY and with Yang.

If we're sending in evil asks: just for the realm of what if.. what if Blake stayed with the White Fang, went to Beacon to be undercover with Cinder, still ended up on team RWBY and fell for Yang, and then ended up helping with the fall of Beacon?

Bridgy,this is...damn...

Like does Adam still show up at the Fall? And if so, how does Yang lose her arm....

"Blake? You're still with the White Fang and with...him?"

Blake couldn't meet her wounded gaze. "I..I am. I'm sorry Yang. This is who I am."

Adam smirked and walked in front of Blake. "So this is the human you told me about. I'm not impressed."

Yang's shock gave way to anger at his dismissal. "I won't let you hurt anyone else."

"Are you going to try to stop me, little girl?"

"Yang, please! Just go!!" Blake yelled but it was too late. Yang's eyes flashed crimson as she launched herself towards him.

With a swift move, Adam sliced Yang's arm off and the girl collapsed, unconscious but before he could strike again, Blake threw herself in front of her. "Don't do this, Adam!"

"You're defending a human, Blake?" he said coldly. "You know that's not our way."

Blake made a decision right then. "It should be." she said defiantly.

Adam let out a roar of outrage and swept his sword at Blake's neck. Fortunately he only destroyed one of the girls' shadow clones and he turned to see her carrying Yang out of the building.

Blake finally managed to reach the evacuation site and she handed Yang over to the medics, leaning down to brush her golden hair away from her face. "I'm sorry.....I'm so sorry!" she said, her voice cracking from grief. "This is all my fault and I don't expect you, any of you to ever forgive me. Goodbye Yang....I....I love you."

And with that she turned and fled into the darkness.

[theskyrimlibrary]

A Dance in Fire, v1

A Dance in Fire Chapter 1

by Waughin Jarth

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Scene: The Imperial City, Cyrodiil Date: 7 Frost Fall, 3E 397

It seemed as if the palace had always housed the Atrius Building Commission, the company of clerks and estate agents who authored and notarized nearly every construction of any note in the Empire. It had stood for two hundred and fifty years, since the reign of the Emperor Magnus, a plain-fronted and austere hall on a minor but respectable plaza in the Imperial City. Energetic and ambitious middle-class lads and ladies worked there, as well as complacent middle-aged ones like Decumus Scotti. No one could imagine a world without the Commission, least of all Scotti. To be accurate, he could not imagine a world without himself in the Commission.

“Lord Atrius is perfectly aware of your contributions,” said the managing clerk, closing the shutter that demarcated Scotti’s office behind him. “But you know that things have been difficult.”

“Yes,” said Scotti, stiffly.

“Lord Vanech’s men have been giving us a lot of competition lately, and we must be more efficient if we are to survive. Unfortunately, that means releasing some of our historically best but presently underachieving senior clerks.”

“I understand. Can’t be helped.”

“I’m glad that you understand,” smiled the managing clerk, smiling thinly and withdrawing. “Please have your room cleared immediately.”

Scotti began the task of organizing all his work to pass on to his successor. It would probably be young Imbrallius who would take most of it on, which was as it should be, he considered philosophically. The lad knew how to find business. Scotti wondered idly what the fellow would do with the contracts for the new statue of St Alessia for which the Temple of the One had applied. Probably invent a clerical error, blame it on his old predecessor Decumus Scotti, and require an additional cost to rectify.

“I have correspondence for Decumus Scotti of the Atrius Building Commission.”

Scotti looked up. A fat-faced courier had entered his office and was thrusting forth a sealed scroll. He handed the boy a gold piece, and opened it up. By the poor penmanship, atrocious spelling and grammar, and overall unprofessional tone, it was manifestly evident who the writer was. Liodes Jurus, a fellow clerk some years before, who had left the Commission after being accused of unethical business practices.

“Dear Sckotti, 

I emagine you alway wondered what happened to me, and the last plase you would have expected to find me is out in the woods. But thats exactly where I am. Ha ha. If your’e smart and want to make lot of extra gold for Lord Atrius (and yourself, ha ha), youll come down to Vallinwood too. If you have’nt or have been following the politics hear lately, you may or may not know that ther’s bin a war between the Boshmer and there neighbors Elswere over the past two years. Things have only just calm down, and ther’s a lot that needs to be rebuilt.

Now Ive got more business than I can handel, but I need someone with some clout, someone representing a respected agencie to get the quill in the ink. That somone is you, my fiend. Come G meat me at the M’ther Paskos Tavern in Falinnesti, Vallinwood. Ill be here 2 weeks and you wont be sorrie.

- - Jurus

P.S.: Bring a wagenload of timber if you can.”

“What do you have there, Scotti?” asked a voice.

Scotti started. It was Imbrallius, his damnably handsome face peeking through the shutters, smiling in that way that melted the hearts of the stingiest of patrons and the roughest of stonemasons. Scotti shoved the letter in his jacket pocket.

“Personal correspondence,” he sniffed. “I’ll be cleared up here in a just a moment.”

“I don’t want to hurry you,” said Imbrallius, grabbing a few sheets of blank contracts from Scotti’s desk. “I’ve just gone through a stack, and the junior scribes hands are all cramping up, so I thought you wouldn’t miss a few.”

The lad vanished. Scotti retrieved the letter and read it again. He thought about his life, something he rarely did. It seemed a sea of gray with a black insurmountable wall looming. There was only one narrow passage he could see in that wall. Quickly, before he had a moment to reconsider it, he grabbed a dozen of the blank contracts with the shimmering gold leaf ATRIUS BUILDING COMMISSION BY APPOINTMENT OF HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY and hid them in the satchel with his personal effects.

The next day he began his adventure with a giddy lack of hesitation. He arranged a sear in a caravan bound for Valenwood, the single escorted conveyance to the southeast leaving the Imperial City that week. He had scarcely hours to pack, but he remembered to purchase a wagonload of timber.

“It will be extra gold to pay for a horse to pull that,” frowned the convoy head.

“So I anticipated,” smiled Scotti with his best Imbrallius grin.

Ten wagons in all set off that afternoon through the familiar Cyrodilic countryside. Past fields of wildflowers, gently rolling woodlands, friendly hamlets. The clop of the horses’ hooves against the sound stone road reminded Scotti that the Atrius Building Commission constructed it. Five of the eighteen necessary contracts for its completion were drafted by his own hand.

“Very smart of you to bring that wood along,” said a gray-whiskered Breton man next to him on his wagon. “You must be in Commerce.”

“Of a sort,” said Scotti, in a way he hoped was mysterious, before introducing himself: “Decumus Scotti.”

“Gryf Mallon,” said the man. “I’m a poet, actually a translator of old Bosmer literature. I was researching some newly discovered tracts of the Mnoriad Pley Bar two years ago when the war broke out and I had to leave. You are no doubt familiar with the Mnoriad, if you’re aware of the Green Pact.”

Scotti thought the man might be speaking perfect gibberish, but he nodded his head.

“Naturally, I don’t pretend that the Mnoriad is as renowned as the Meh Ayleidion, or as ancient as the Dansir Gol, but I think it has a remarkable significance to understanding the nature of the merelithic Bosmer mind. The origin of the Wood Elf aversion to cutting their own wood or eating any plant material at all, yet paradoxically their willingness to import plantstuff from other cultures, I feel can be linked to a passage in the Mnoriad,” Mallon shuffled through some of his papers, searching for the appropriate text.

To Scotti’s vast relief, the carriage soon stopped to camp for the night. They were high on a bluff over a gray stream, and before them was the great valley of Valenwood. Only the cry of seabirds declared the presence of the ocean to the bay to the west: here the timber was so tall and wide, twisting around itself like an impossible knot begun eons ago, to be impenetrable. A few more modest trees, only fifty feet to the lowest branches, stood on the cliff at the edge of the camp. The sight was so alien to Scotti and he found himself so anxious about the proposition of entering the wilderness that he could not imagine sleeping.

Fortunately, Mallon had supposed he had found another academic with a passion for the riddles of ancient cultures. Long into the night, he recited Bosmer verse in the original and in his own translation, sobbing and bellowing and whispering wherever appropriate. Gradually, Scotti began to feel drowsy, but a sudden crack of wood snapping made him sit straight up.

“What was that?”

Mallon smiled: “I like it too. ‘Convocation in the malignity of the moonless speculum, a dance of fire --’”

“There are some enormous birds up in the trees moving around,” whispered Scotti, pointing in the direction of the dark shapes above.

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” said Mallon, irritated with his audience. “Now listen to how the poet characterizes Herma-Mora’s invocation in the eighteenth stanza of the fourth book.”

The dark shapes in the trees were some of them perched like birds, others slithered like snakes, and still others stood up straight like men. As Mallon recited his verse, Scotti watched the figures softly leap from branch to branch, half-gliding across impossible distances for anything without wings. They gathered in groups and then reorganized until they had spread to every tree around the camp. Suddenly, they plummeted from the heights.

“Mara!” cried Scotti. “They’re falling like rain!”

“Probably seed pods,” Mallon shrugged, not turning around. “Some of the trees have remarkable - - “

The camp erupted into chaos. Fires burst out in the wagons, the horses wailed from mortal blows, casks of wine, fresh water, and liquor gushed their contents to the ground. A nimble shadow dashed past Scotti and Mallon, gathering sacks of grain and gold with impossible agility and grace. Scotti had only one glanced at it, lit up by a sudden nearby burst of flame. It was a sleek creature with pointed ears, wide yellow eyes, mottled pied fur and a tail like a whip.

“Werewolf,” he whimpered, shrinking back.

“Cathay-raht,” groaned Mallon. “Much worse. Khajiti cousins or some such thing, come to plunder.”

“Are you sure?”

As quickly as they struck, the creatures retreated, diving off the bluff before the battlemage and knight, the caravan’s escorts, had fully opened their eyes. Mallon and Scotti ran to the precipice and saw a hundred feet below the tiny figures dash out of the water, shake themselves, and disappear into the wood.

“Werewolves aren’t acrobats like that,” said Mallon. “They were definitely Cathay-raht. Bastard thieves. Thank Stendarr they didn’t realize the value of my notebooks. It wasn’t a complete loss.”

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[mrpenguinpants]

Genshin: When you’re cold [V1]

Whenever I write these it’s always when I have a pile of requests on my desk that I said I was going to get to but never do. I even missed a day yesterday because I crashed and burned and slept the entire day haha. Might miss today too since I’m going out to see my mum. 

This is like 90% crack and 10% actual content. I’m gonna post this and proceed to have shock therapy and wipe it from my memory.

I just want to be happy and it’s cold af where I live. I’ve also learned from maagdalen that Russia is insane with snow.  

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Today’s appreciation post goes to asoundofdrop. Ty for the love on the Childe HCs hehe. Honestly, just the fact you tag everything blows my mind because I hate tagging so just seeing you do it with my mess of tags (back when I screamed my feelings before tumblr dropped the ban hammer on me) is like wow. That’s some next level effort, wish I had that haha;; I’m just gonna say this in advance, I am so sorry for the mess of tags I’m about to drop on this. 

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Genshin: Holding Hands [V1]

Genshin: University AU [V1]

Genshin: Roommate [V1]

Genshin: Royalty AU [V1]

[Masterlist]

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[taglist]  <- if you want to be added, please read this first.

@hanniejji  @mikeysbike @unionwitch @musekala @twistedsunnshiii @stanzastic @akaasea @xoneaboveallx @adoring-ghost @asheseiler @childelover @dilucsz​

@youaskedfurret @snowy224 @mayumintsu​ @tigerpriestess

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Xiao

Excuse me? What is this cold you speak of? He’s an adepti he doesn’t know what cold is. Is it a demon he’s not aware of? Should he go beat it into submission if that’ll make you feel better? He’s already gone with his spear and out to go slay this cold demon before you can explain what the hell temperature is. 

By the time he’s back, he seems so proud of himself for killing a dragonspine yeti that you don’t have the heart to tell him that was literally not what you wanted or expected him to do. Your fingers are about to break their finger kneecaps. pLEASE sir just hold my hand. 

Bad idea, he’s been outside in the cold and he’s not exactly wearing mittens so your fingers end up colder. But you’re finally holding his hand that you suck it up and cry when he does actually break your fingers because he doesn’t know what muscle control is. 

Keqing

Ruthless business woman one second and then you show up, tell her you’re cold, and she’s reduced to flustered mother hen. All she has on her are these long sleeves that all Qixing wear. Would you like some warm milk? She knows you like your milk heated to a simmer right at 187.7975 degrees Fahrenheit.

Okay, first off, who measures in fahrenheit anymore this is China Liyue. Second off, how the hell does she know that and why is it so precise? She’s already throwing whatever Liyue duties she had back at the poor worker that has no idea what possessed the normally confident and admirable Keqing into this...creature. Making new plans for a heating system in Liyue while also coddling you. 

Catch her outside at 3am pounding the snow ground, crying, as she curses Rex Lapis for making it so cold in Liyue when he’s not even the Cyro archon. Zhongli sneezed while looking over papers burning the 3am oil. Maybe he needs to go home before it gets too cold, he might be getting sick. 

Diluc

God you’re such an idiot. Didn’t you see how hard the snow was falling? I can’t believe I married someone with 2 braincells. Are you trying to give me a heart attack? What would father in the sky think if my partner died because of frost bite when I’m a goddamn pyro vision user? I can commit arson to make a make-shift fire place, I have the money for the damages. 

Dilu- NO I DON’T NEED YOUR SHIRT. IT’S -20 DEGRESS. IT’S OKAY. YOUR COAT IS ENOUGH. PUT YOUR CLAYMORE AWAY WE CANNOT SET THE KNIGHTS OF FAVONIUS HQ ON FIRE WE AREN’T EVEN NEAR THERE. KAEYA IS INSIDE- DILUC - NO COME BACK. 

Your make shift fireplace is Kaeya’s “ugly” scarf. That’s it. That’s the post. 

Amber

Oh you’re cold? It’s okay, here take her baron bunny to cuddle with while she lights a fire. She thinks she saw some boar’s in the forest, she can make her specialty and that should warm you right up! So sweet, so wholesome. Don’t worry this baron bunny won’t explode in your face, she tripled checked she wasn’t giving you a dancing bomb.

While you’re huddled around a summoning circle of baron bunny’s, nice and warm, is when she relaxes and joins you. She grins to herself and pats herself on the shoulder. See that haters, she can make her partner nice and happy without your #buffamberwhen. 

Kaeya

You’re cold? Maybe you’ve just fallen so hard for him that whenever you think of him you get cold. He never knew you cared so much it’s so cut- okok you can stop hitting him now. He’ll offer his scarf if he had one but Diluc might have burned it but he does have his tit window. 

Basically impenetrable, you could bounce bullets off it so naturally the cold bounces off. You have to tell him up front that he sound borderline crazy and the fbi are already at his door. The fbi is Diluc. So instead he offers his overcoat and asks you if you would like to join him in some cozy tavern that hopefully has heating. 

It’s a nice and comforting experience until he drags you to Angel share and you know it’s just to 1v1 Diluc in the parking lot. 

Scaramouche

lol perish 

So naturally, you grab his ridiculous hat that he wears to compensate for his gremlin height and throw it like a frisbee. 

Go fetch 

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God, why is there no official content of you scaramouche you bitch, you’re ruining the aesthetic. This is why I only give you one point of dialogue. This isn’t even funny. It’s a therapy session. This entire post was just for me to say tit window because I didn’t get to say it in my last Kaeya fic. 

Wow, I wonder which characters I like in genshin. Could it be “wow I hate everything and everyone don’t fucking touch me” male characters??? Could it be “Head strong but are secretly adorable” female characters?? Kaeya is only there because Diluc is there. 

I had to redo all my headers because everyone was taking up so much space in their 240p quality. Keqing is the only one that actually stepped forward when it was picture day. I don’t have enough energy to care about sizing I’m sorry.