#also love the idea of villager pets soo much that is so cute

[elftwink]

Some other ideas I had on the villagers:

Some sort of detection for how big the room their bed is in and whether or not it has a door. They might also be happier if they have a light source.

Less willing to trade if they are currently inside a minecart

Cannot have certain trades if their happiness is too low (maybe that enchanted sword is a family heirloom and they don't want to sell it to someone they don't like)

A method of donating resources either to the village or to individual villagers in order to make them more friendly toward you.

Villagers can punch you for a little bit of damage either in self defense or if they just hate you enough.

If a villager is happy enough and you've donated some stuff they'll give you certain low-value items for free. It could be funny if they just walk up to you and throw the item at you, and refuse to elaborate.

Some villagers prefer the nighttime and will prefer to sleep during the day.

Some villagers will be introverted and will prefer to stay inside. They might actually get less happy when other villagers talk to them too much.

Some villagers have pets. You cannot tame them yourself. If you kill a pet the villager who owns it permanently hates you.

Some villagers don't like each other. I have no idea what this could entail. Maybe they just won't ever breed.

This is probably outside the scope of your idea, but it would be cool if some types of villagers did things other than trading. Imagine if some villagers wore armor and guarded the village at night. This could extend to more interesting interactions, like if a village has guards and is attacked by raiders, the villagers could bribe the raiders in order to avoid a fight.

these are so fun!!

wrt villagers not liking each other maybe they also get annoyed if you trade with someone they dislike? although i probably wouldn't want that to affect trade prices just because then you have to keep track of like lines of sight and where everyone is at all times (& ofc the easiest way to do this is a minecart which is kinda antithetical to the point of the rest of the ideas imo)

but maybe they could like, avoid you for a short window of time after they see you trade with a villager they dislike (which would be noticeable but not really punishing since catching up with villagers walking away from you is pretty easy)? or some other such thing

also something kind of related to your last point is that it's already possible for villagers to wear armour if you dispense it on them in vanilla (i'm pretty sure?? and the enchantments also work for them??) so i feel like making that armour visible isn't a super big stretch!! ideally you wouldn't have to dispense it and you could just give it to them and they would put it on. honestly maybe just the way you already do with piglins or zombies or skeletons, with the same rules that they'll take better armour and drop what they're wearing.

although maybe with villagers you'd want a way to ask for it back in case you accidentally give them like your only netherite chestplate (obvs with the hostile mobs you just kill them to get items back but we're trying to avoid player incentives to kill villagers here). probably the easiest way to do this is just be able to access it in the trade menu, but also maybe depending on other factors (or just as a randomly determined trait only some villagers get) the villager will ask for emeralds (to cover the loss) or raise prices temporarily (because you took back a gift and that's rude)

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - Beauty Within the Fallen ch.V

Summary: Two misfit twins come across an enchanted castle, home of a mysterious beast, and slowly begin to form a strong bond that just might survive through anything. Even evil demons.

AU and artwork belong to the beautiful and very talented @artsycrapfromsai​. Go give her some love, guys!!!

ch.IV - ch.VI

~~~~~~~~~~

When the children arrived back with the master of the castle and a pig, Soos was a horrid mess and Wendy took charge. The servants of the castle helped to bring the old beast up to the West Wing and back into his bedroom. The journal watched, uncovered by glass, and listened to the children working together to take care of Stan. Mabel was soft, Dipper was strong, and they were both kind. Once Mabel made sure Stan was comfortable in his bed, Dipper accepted the large supply of bandages and washcloths with hot water and began to work on his injuries. It turned out that Stan had several bad scratches and bites on his back as well as his arm; one bite on his right shoulder was particularly nasty and probably hurt a lot.

All while the boy cleaned the wounds, the beast growled in his throat, almost like purring from an angry cat. He tried to mask his pain, but Mabel sat by his head and held his claw, telling him that if he wanted he could squeeze her hand when he was hurt. Stan gave her a funny look as Mabel petted the back of his paw, feeling the soft texture of his gray fur and smiling. “I can take care of myself.” He growled. “I’ve been doing it this long.” “We know.” Dipper said firmly, free to roll his eyes since Stan’s back was to him. “But we kinda owe you.” “You’re darn right you do.” Stan sneered. “I’ve got a long list of disgusting chores that’ll give my face a run for its money, and it’s got your names on it.” He sighed and added in a softer tone. “Guess it’s not all your fault, though.” Mabel shook her head. “It’s okay, Monsieur Stan, we shouldn’t have come into your room. We’re sorry.” Dipper nodded. “I’ll admit, I suck at knowing when to quit.” Stan snorted a laugh. “Wanna call it even?” “Deal.” Mabel accepted happily and squeezed his paw. As Dipper continued to work, Stan’s tired old body, comforted by the girl’s petting and the boy’s care, started to lose its strength again and he soon fell asleep. Mabel giggled, listening to his deep breathing, and turned to look at the journal. It was closed, so Monsieur Ford had no way to talk if he wanted to. Pitying him, Mabel got down from Stan’s bed and went to the journal. She opened it and sat it on the table, touching as little as she could. Dipper paused bandaging an injury and watched with a skeptical look. “There you go, Monsieur Ford.” Mabel said kindly. Words soon appeared on the page. Thank you, my dear. Thank you so very much for bringing my brother home. “You’re brother?!” Mabel gasped, but then covered her mouth with both hands, afraid of waking Stan, but he was too exhausted to be stirred right now. Yes. The master of this castle, my brother Stanley. “Monsieur Ford,” Dipper said, finished helping Stan, and he walked towards the journal and his sister. “You weren’t always a journal, and Stan wasn’t always a beast, right?” And he looked back at the portrait of the twin boys. That is correct. We were once human, like you, but we were cursed. “S'il vous plaît, Monsieur.” Mabel pleaded. “Will you tell us what happened?” Since you two seem to enjoy stories, I shall. You will have to help me along, reading. Ford’s tone seemed to be warm and inviting. Despite this, Mabel’s face turned red and she rubbed an arm nervously. “I don’t read very good.” “That’s not true, Mabel.” Dipper said quickly and side-hugged her. “Don’t worry, I’ll read out-loud.” I am sure a bright girl like yourself is a fine reader, Mabel. The journal wrote. </i>You remind me so much of Stanley; he too often thought little of his intelligence, but he is way smarter than others (and he) gave him credit for.</i> Mabel smiled, still red, and sat on her knees, looking up at the book. An armchair scurried up to the kids and spoke. “AH! Mi precioso, do not sit on the cold floor! Come, come! Have a seat, both of you, and relax.” Kids, this is Abuelita, as she prefers to be called by everyone. Soos’ grandmother. Ford explained as Mabel sat in the cozy chair. “Thanks!” She said to Abuelita. Dipper joined her with the journal in his hands. He laid the book on their laps and said, “We’re ready, Monsieur Ford.” Very well. Thirty years ago, shortly after our parents’ death, we became entangled in something we shouldn’t have. It was my fault. While Stanley was as strong as five men and more witty than any professor, I excelled academically and held a lot of promise. Father and so many others unfairly showed favor in me and I was ignorant to how it must have hurt my twin. I also felt out of place, alone. Notice the six-fingered hand on the cover; as a human I have six fingers on each hand. As a child I was bullied and made fun of, but Stanley was always there and told me it made me special. It became my mark as I began to investigate the strange mysteries of the woods and the wonders of the world. Intrigued, I soon met a golden triangle with one eye and formal attire. When the words slowly disappeared, they were replaced with a drawing. The kids looked to indeed find a triangle with a top hat and a bowtie and a cane, having only one eye and two stick arms and two stick legs. Bill Cipher. A dangerous demon of nightmares and a master of the mind. Ford went on. I was a fool, blinded by his flattery and games. I was falling down a very deep hole, but I was lucky to have Stanley there, like always, and he managed to con the ultimate conman. This angered Bill, and as revenge he cursed us. “How?” Dipper asked. “What exactly did he do to you?” He turned Stanley into a beast and me into a journal, and all of the servants turned as well, as we are now. I cannot walk or talk like the staff can, only communicate through writing, and I slowly lose my pages. With each page, I lose part of my memory and a part of myself. When the last page falls, I will be nothing more than an empty shell, and everyone will remain cursed forever. “This story's so sad!” Mabel exclaimed. “There’s gotta be a way to get a happy ending!” “Mabel’s right,” Dipper said. “Is there a way to undo the curse?” The journal was blank for a moment, but then these words seeped onto the page: After he cursed us, Bill only said that when Stanley loves someone and earns their love in return can the curse be undone. Mabel lit up. “Love? We can help! There’s tons of cute single ladies in our village who would love to go out with a nice, smart, strong guy like Stan!” “I dunno, Mabel,” Dipper said hesitantly. “Everyone in our town thinks we’re weirdos and make fun of us. How do you think they’ll react to Stan?” “But once they got to know him…” Your people think you are weird? The journal wrote. How come? Dipper crossed his arms over his chest. “They think we’re ‘odd’ because Mabel’s learning how to read, I don’t wanna join the army, and we like to invent things.” They make fun of you over that? I’m sorry. I think reading and inventing is no reason to be made fun of, nor is a lack in desire to fight. “Oh, I still wanna learn how to fight, I just don’t wanna be anyone’s tool.” Dipper then suddenly turned bright red. “No offense.” Ford, however, quivered ever so slightly and big capital letters spilled over the page. HAHAHAHAHA! No offense taken, my boy! Holy Moses, I haven’t… well, I wouldn’t call that laughing, but thank you for making me almost laugh for the first time in thirty years. “Thirty years.” Mabel repeated with a small moan. “Don’t you worry, Monsieur Ford, we’ll help Stan fall in love so everyone will be free.” It is not for you to worry about. “Yes it is!” Mabel insisted. “You’re our friends. We wanna help you.” “Yeah, man,” Dipper said, actually gradually siding with Mabel on this one. “Once Fiddleford finds this place we’ll go home and help find someone for Stan.” “He’s a great guy,” Mabel said. “And I’m the best matchmaker in the world! I bet together we can end this curse and kick Bill’s butt!” “Mabel,” Dipper hushed as she became overly passionate and was a bit too loud. Your enthusiasm is greatly appreciated and valued, kids, but do not fret over it. We have time. “How much time?” Dipper asked, eyeing how many pages Ford had. If I absolutely had to make a guess of how long we have left… ten years. “Oh.” Dipper said, freed from the sense of urgency. He yawned into his hand. “Still, we’ll do what we can for you guys.” The journal was blank again, like he was doing some thinking, but then he wrote, Thank you, again, but now is not the time to worry about all that. You two should get to bed. It’s late. Mabel shook her head. “Nuh, uh. What if Stan needs our help with his boo-boos? We’ll just have a sleepover right here, won’t we, Abuelita?” “Si, niña.” The armchair said and used her unusual arms to throw a blanket over the twins. Dipper took off his hat, finding Abuelita quite comfortable, and he wrapped an arm around his sister. After the scare he had earlier, he had to admit he liked the idea of sleeping by her side tonight. “Good idea, sis.” “I’m full of good ideas.” Mabel joked. “G’night, Monsieur Ford.” Goodnight, Dipper and Mabel. Sweet dreams. Mabel hugged Dipper around his waist, his arm still around her, and she smiled as she closed her eyes. She could hear his heartbeat. It was faster than it should be for sleep. Knowing just what to do, she began to quietly sing a lullaby. “Days in the sun, though your life has barely begun, not until my own life is done will I ever leave you.” Dipper chuckled, remembering the song Fiddleford and Shermie used to sing, and he muttered sleepily, “Oh, I’ll tremble again to my dear one's gorgeous refrain. You will not forever remain out of reach of my arms.” His eyes, which had been open, found Ford’s open pages spilling a poem missing it’s tune. All those days in the sun, What I'd give to give you them all, All to my love, And sing out my call. “You know that song?” Dipper asked and Mabel opened her eyes to find it on Ford’s pages. Our mother used to sing it to us when we were children, every night. Please, continue and ignore me. “You should sleep, too, Monsieur Ford.” Mabel said sleepily. She took the journal in her arms, hugged the closed book, and held him as she leaned on her brother. Ford didn’t get a chance to explain that he did not sleep, but as he could ghostly feel the girl’s warmth, he was beyond happy to be in her embrace for the night. Dipper smiled, gave Mabel a squeeze, and closed his eyes for sleep as he uttered under his breath. “Days in the sun will return, we must believe. As lovers do, that days in the sun will come shining through.” ~~~~~~~~~~ Despite the wolves, despite the darkness, despite the freezing cold and the falling snow, Fiddleford trudged on. He held his casted, broken arm close to his chest for warmth, crushing a few inches of snow with his boots. The snow was coming down hard, blinding him and making it feel like a hundred tiny knives were cutting his face, but he forced himself to keep going. The idea of his children somewhere in this snow terrified him. “Dipper!” He called out. “Mabel!” Fiddleford brought his scarf up to his nose so his breath would warm the bottom-half of his face. The familiar scents of family and love came to his schnoz. Mabel had knitted him this green scarf. In fact, she knitted him his sweater and gloves, too, but this scarf, tangled and elementary, had been Mabel’s first scarf and once Shermie’s, but when he died and left it back to Mabel, she insisted that Fiddleford have it. Every time Fiddleford went to Paris to sell the clocks and music boxes in the past, he always asked the twins what they wanted, as a way to help handle his absence better. Every time, Dipper asked for a book everyone would want to hear him read and Mabel hesitantly asked for yarn. Yarn was usually very expensive, and she knew that, but she had a raw talent for knitting and sewing. No one had taught her how to knit or sew, but the minute the materials were in her hands, as young as four, she knew what to do. She was amazing like that. Better yet, with her gift of yarn, if lucky enough to have some, she always made clothes for others before herself, knitting Dipper, Fiddleford, and Shermie sweaters and gloves and scarfs and hats to keep them warm during long winters. The first time she surprised Fiddleford with a blue sweater, she smiled at him and said, “Now you can have me wherever you go.” Fiddleford wiped his eyes dry; he couldn’t afford to cry, his tears would freeze on his face. Mabel needed him, Dipper needed him, so he continued to call out their names as the rest of the village searched behind him, much slower than the old man. ~~~~~~~~~~ Stan woke up to the sound of giggling. He opened his eyes, facing the window and Ford’s table, and he found Mabel standing there with a quill in her hand and playing tic-tac-toe with Ford. She was Xs and Ford was Os. Most of the time Mabel won, but occasionally (whether to keep her humble or because Brainiac couldn’t help himself) Ford would win, but Mabel seemed just as delighted by Ford’s wins as her own. “Yay! Good job, Monsieur Ford! Okay, you go first.” Stan smiled and slowly sat up. Dipper was by his side and smiled. “Morning, Stan. How are you feeling?” “M’fine, kid.” Stan said, popping his old back and stretching his arms. He ruffled his fur loose and gave the boy an impressed smile. “Good job fixin’ me up, I feel good as new.” “Thanks.” Dipper said. “Monsieur Stan!” Mabel called, turning away from her game with Ford for a moment. “Did you see?! IT SNOWED! We should all play outside!” “C’mon, Mabel,” Dipper said easily. “Stan’s just a hurt old man, he should take it easy.” And he gave the beast a smirk. “Old man?!” Stan barked and stood tall and strong. “That’s it, you just earned yourself a huge snowball to the face!” “And don’t worry, Monsieur Ford,” Mabel said, setting her quill down and scooting the table with Ford on it closer to the window. “This way you can watch us. If you want to.” Thank you, Mabel. The words read. Waddles oinked happily and showed his belly to Stan, lying on the floor. He glared at the animal. “And what is that?” “That’s my pet pig, Waddles!” Mabel joyfully introduced. “He found us in the woods last night.” “No,” Stan said firmly and shook his head. “No pigs allowed in this castle. They’re nothing but fat, naked jerks.” “Aw, come on,” The girl cooed and hugged her pig with big brown eyes. “Just for a few days?” Stan winced. Sacrebleu, that girl was just very manipulated. He ignored the painful reminder that the kids were only here for a little while and growled, “Fine, just make sure he doesn’t eat any of Sixer’s pages or I’m eating him for lunch.” “Don’t worry, we keep books around him all the time.” Dipper said as he petted the pig’s head. “He knows not to bother them.” Dipper and Mabel dragged Stan out by his paws and for the outdoors. Waddles climbed up on Abuelita the armchair and curled up for a nap. The kids admired the beautiful garden covered in the late autumn snow. A soft blanket coated the whole world, fluffy but not delicate. Everyone was warmly dressed and ready to play. The twins took in deep breaths and then slowly counted to three. On three, they simultaneously jumped off the short balcony and landed on their faces. Stan watched, confused, but then they both rolled on their fronts and laughed, their breath visible, and they began to make snowangels on the ground. “Come on, Stan!” Mabel called. “Yeah, c’mon, man!” Dipper shouted happily. Stan smiled mischievously, took a step back, and then launched himself into the air. He landed with his beefy arms over each kid and his head in the middle, and when he turned on his back with the kids in his hold, all three were laughing like mad. Mabel swiftly made a snowball and threw it at Dipper’s face. He scrambled up after his running sister and threw one at her. Stan sat in the snow, watching the kids play, throwing snowballs at each other and running around the yard. His tail wagged against the sparkling snow. Dipper threw one and Mabel ran around Stan, resorting to the ball hitting him right in the face. Stan shook the snow out of his eyes as Mabel laughed and Dipper paled, but wearing a kind smirk on his face, Stan gathered a snowball in his paw and threw it at Dipper, who was hit in the chest and ran. Stan scurried to his feet and ran around with the kids, throwing slightly bigger snowballs that the kids enjoyed. Stan soon made a huge snowball with his strong arms, the ball almost as big as one child, but when Mabel threw one at Stan’s face he accidentally dropped the huge ball that was held over his head and he was covered in snow. Dipper and Mabel laughed so hard they had no choice but to stop running, leaning on each other for support. Stan found their laugh more contagious than the plague and roared with joy as he shook off the snow like a dog on all fours. Mabel ran into his arms and Dipper soon followed, hugging him to warm him up and apologize without words for winning the war. Stan was surprised by their desire to hug him, but he hugged them back gently and rubbed their backs, finding their clothes soaked. “Alright, gremlins, let’s get you dry and warm.” Stan said and picked them up to go back into the castle. “We can play again later.” “Okay,” Mabel cooed as she snuggled against Stan’s chest, holding onto his gray fur. “Hm, you’re so warm.” Stan’s own face suddenly felt a little warmer. “Yeah, well, there’s some benefits to being a big ugly monster, I guess.” That didn’t sit right with the twins. From each of his arms, they exchanged looks, but an idea came to Dipper that distracted him from Stan’s comment. “Hey, can we read with Ford while we dry off? He says he’s got lots of great stories to tell.” Stan smiled down at him. “You like him, don’t you?” “Yeah, he’s pretty cool.” Dipper said, glancing away. “I thought you would. You’re both nerds.” Stan teased. Dipper shrugged in a whatcha-gonna-do-about-it style. Mabel hopped down and said, “I’ll go get him so we can read together!” And she ran up the stairs. Dipper got down from Stan’s hold, too, and was about to go to the living room, but Stan spoke and stopped him in his tracks. “Kid, wait. You really like books, right?” Dipper turned and responded with a dip of his head. “Yeah, I do. I was pretty much the only one that read the library in town, and by library I mean one bookshelf.” Stan waved a paw towards himself. “Follow me. I got something for you.” Dipper casually followed Stan down a hallway and they stopped at the double doors. The beast turned to the boy and gave him a cunning smile. “Ah, ah. Close your eyes.” Dipper crossed his arms over his chest and sneered at him with a smile. “Is this a prank?” “No, just do it.” Stan chuckled. “It’s a surprise.” Dipper gave in and closed his eyes. After testing that he truly was blind by waving a paw in front of his face, Stan opened the doors and put a hand on his back to help him walk. “Okay, okay, here we go… okay, stop.” “Can I see?” “Hold it, squirt, gimme a sec.” Stan hurried to pull back curtains and brighten the room. Candles magically came to life. “Okay, okay… open ‘em up!” Dipper opened his eyes, blinked to adjust to the newfound light, and then his jaw dropped. Towering over him, a room arguably bigger than the ballroom held thousands if not hundreds of thousands of books. Rich mahogany desks sat filled with parchment and quills and ink, globes and atlas took up some desk space, but Dipper couldn’t tear his eyes away from all of the books. Stairways and ladders could reach the books up at the very top and giant windows seeped in beautiful sunlight to ease the eyes. “Shut. Up.” Dipper said hoarsely. “I’ve never seen so many books! Look at this place!” He went to a bookshelf and gently ran a hand over the dozens of spines exposed to him. “You like it?” Stan asked, leaning by the door with his arms crossed over his chest. “I love it!” “Then it’s all yours.” Dipper’s jaw was nearly on the floor when he turned to look at the master of the castle. “You really mean it?” “Sure do, Smart Guy.” Stan smiled at him. “Go nuts.” Dipper, trembling, ran to a shelf and began to pick books to read. Mabel came in, carrying Ford carefully like he was a baby, and she gasped joyfully. “Wowie, zowie! A whole library!” She gave Ford to Stan to hold and joined her brother, helping him by holding his stack of books. Stan smiled and opened Ford to talk to him. Immediately words appeared before him. That was ingenious, Stanley. Dipper will surely make good use out of the library. “Thanks, Sixer.” Stan watched the kids from across the vast room, his smile dropping. As a twin, he knew that it was rare to have something done only for you and not you and your twin. He wanted to do something special for each of them, but each of them separately. The library was Dipper’s, though Mabel was free to use it since she obviously liked stories (Stan noticed that Dipper liked “books” and Mabel liked “stories”), but she needed something of her own. “I wanna do something for Mabel.” He whispered. “But I know nothing about what girls like. Make-up? Dolls?” My knowledge on girls is also very limited. Ford admitted. But I do know that you should consider something that sparks her interests and not something exclusively femanine. You didn’t give Dipper a gun or a sword. Stan shrugged. “Okay, good point. So, what? What does Mabel like?” Well, I can recall her saying this morning that she loves sweaters. When I asked her about it, she said she loves to knit but could rarely afford the yarn. “That’s it!” Stan closed Ford gently and held him against his chest one-armed. “Mabel, sweetie, can you come with me? I got something for you, too.” Mabel shoved the twenty-plus books in her brother’s arms and ran up to Stan. He smiled at her huge grin and walked with her down the hall. He led her to a single door. Mabel instantly took off her pink headband and tied it over her eyes so she wouldn’t be tempted to peek. “I wanna be surprised!” She squealed. Stan chuckled. “Give me your hand, kid.” Mabel did and Stan led her into the room. He opened a curtain and let go of the girl’s little hand. “Alright, you can look now.” Mabel pulled her blindfold down onto her neck and she gasped so big her lungs filled quickly. It was like a grand supply closet. There was a wall full of rolls of different patterns of fabric and silk, figurines to make clothes on, drawers full of supplies, desks full of paints and canvases and brushes, and an odd shelf of some kind, squares that held bundles of yarn, all in rainbow order. What was better yet, this room may have been only twenty feet wide, but it was forty feet tall, like a tower, and a rolling ladder helped to reach the higher fabrics and yarns. A window as tall as the room let in bright sunlight to make crafting easy. “OH MY GOSH!” Mabel cried out and looked around the room. “It’s like arts-n’-crafts heaven!” “It was Ma’s room.” Stan shared as he chuckled over Mabel’s joy. “She used to come down here and spend hours painting and drawing and making clothes. Pa used to get on her case about it. Said she didn't give the seamstresses enough to do.” “Your dad sounds like a stupid jerk.” Mabel added quickly before resuming her cheerful attitude. “This is wonderful! I love it! LOOK at all the COLORS!” “If you like it so much, then it’s yours.” Stan said. Mabel turned and Stan was clutched to find her crying. Well, not really crying, but there were tears in her eyes and one escaped each eye, rolling down her cheeks. “THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU!” Mabel cheered and ran to him. One arm busy holding Ford, Stan fell on his butt by the impact of the girl and she hugged him around his big neck, nuzzling her face into his fur. He stared ahead in astonishment and wrapped an arm around her, petting her soft brown hair and admiring her warmth. Too soon she skipped away and climbed up the ladder for some red yarn. “I’m gonna make you a sweater first! Then I’ll make Ford one, a little book-holder to keep him warm.” “I don’t think he really gets cold anymore.” Stan said as he stood again. “Well then, I’ll go ahead and make him a sweater to wear when he’s human again.” Mabel reasoned. Stan was distracted by that statement. When he was human again. When they were human again. He had lost all hope for so long of someone ever loving him that it seemed foolish to think of the curse ever being broken, but Mabel and Dipper seemed to like him, and Ford probably loved him (for some odd reason) so maybe it was possible for him to find a beautiful mademoiselle to love and have her love him back. Stan shook his train of thought away as Dipper now joined them, six books stacked in his arms and making his limbs quiver, but he didn’t seem to care. “Mabel, what’s… whoa-oh!” Dipper awed at the room. “No way! Cool art supplies.” “Thanks!” Mabel said and climbed down with red and orange yarn in her arms and she opened a drawer full of different size knitting needles and pulled out a pair she liked. “Wanna read to us by the fire?” “Sure.” In the lounge, Stan sat in front of the huge fireplace, making plenty of room for Ford to be safe. Dipper and Mabel sat in his lap, the boy at his left and the girl at his right, and Dipper opened Ford and the journal began to tell a story. Dipper read the words out-loud, occasionally having Mabel give reading a try, only needing assistance a handful of times for bigger words, but Ford seemed to purposely use smaller words when it was her turn to read. Stan, without realizing it, was purring. The children noticed, but said nothing. Mabel nuzzled closer to him, grateful for his large body and fluffy gray fur. She thought he was wonderful in every aspect and Dipper full-heartedly agreed. The biggest mystery of them all was how Dipper didn’t see this all before.

~~~~~~~~~~

Author’s Note: This… this is where, in my humble opinion, the story actually becomes worth reading. I feel like the patience we, the audience, must have with the BatB story - seeing the Beast as he is before his change of heart, seeing Belle run away and all the obstacles before them both - make the bonding scenes even better. Gives a FINALLY sort of feeling. I wanted to carry that over here, making the beginning a little slow (though I probably lost some readers that way), but making it even more rewarding for those who read on. Or maybe I’m just making an excuse for a suck-ish beginning. Who knows. Okay, so Waddles NOT being a footstool is so that it ties in more to the canon GF storyline. I didn’t want Waddles to be some pet Stan didn’t like and only tolerated for someone else’s sake or a farm-animal that was at the wrong place at the wrong time. Rather, I had him always be Mabel’s and I also left him at home in the beginning to better parallel the show’s canon (even though Waddles is in the intro, he isn’t introduced until S1E9). I also, mainly, just really wanted Stan to only allow Waddles in the castle to make Mabel happy, cuz Imma sap that’s why. Moving on, I put both Days in the Sun and a hint of Something There at the end. When writing the snow scene, I listened to Wolf Children’s Snow soundtrack; I personally thought it fit so well. Not much else to say except Mabel’s craft-room is my idea and I love love LOVE the library scene (both in this fic and in the animated BatB movie; the live-action movie RUINED the scene!) Thank you so much for reading, and I hope y’all enjoy it!

[moonshroooms]

I feel like rambling about Animal Crossing (so let’s do that!)

So my town is a humble little place called Appalon, which I love that name so, so much because I came up with it myself, AND it sounds like an actual town name!

Oh, and if anyone would like to see my town my dream address is: 

4D00-00AB-2785 as of November 20, 2017

I remember when I was younger my very first Animal Crossing town (in Animal Crossing: Wild World), was called Hawaii. I was a creative 11 year old.

But Appalon is perfect! Not only does it sound like a town name, but it also alludes to my favorite town fruit, which are apples. So I’m simultaneously creative and obvious at the same time – beautiful. I like the circle grass and tree trunks, and apple fruit best.

I’ve been getting ideas from perusing Dream Towns and also stalking tumblr for pathway patterns. I finally found one (technically 4), I absolutely love! They’re stones, but they come in four colors, which I intend to switch out with the change of seasons so the pathway always matches the trees and grass!

(The pattern is found here by the way)

 Right now my villagers are…

Margie: A super-cute white china-looking (china like the glassy material, not the country), elephant

Julian: The only unicorn in the entire game. I love him he’s so nice and he’s blue. He’s also really weeby in my game XD

Lopez: He’s a gazelle and he’s cute. He’s a big fat nerd

Matilda: A black kangaroo who I h a t e. Everyone’s got that one villager they hate, y’know? Not that I hate her super personally. She hasn’t been very nice to me, and her house is parked right where I want to put paths and a bridge and things and she must leave.

Zucker: He’s an octopus!! There are only 3 in all of animal crossing!! HE LOOKS LIKE A DANGO OR A GLAZED DONUTHOLE OR SOMETHING AND I LOVE HIM! And he’s a foodie (which is my favorite personality, though I try to not think of villagers as their present personalities, just because it makes the game more fun if you don’t).

Del: He’s a black and red crocodile and meh. He a’ight. The only reason I’m not itching for him to leave is because I’m itching for Matilda to leave first.

Katt: She’s a tabby cat and she’s pretty meh too. She’s my first uchi villager though, and I love the personality type so far! We’re okay friends, I don’t talk to her much.

Wolf Link (W. Link): IT’S FRICKEN WOLF LINK!!! When I saw the option “you should move here” after scanning my wolf Link amiibo I was like, “that’s cruel, they’re just gonna say some extra dialogue like ‘I’ve got too much world saving to do’” but NO. DEAR GOD THEY WERE SERIOUS AND NOW I HAVE WOLF LINK IN MY TOWN. He’s beautiful and his house looks like a Zelda dungeon. If I didn’t already have my heart set on an old dreamy he’d be it.

Look at him

Lucky: He’s a mummy dog and he’s my best friend! I love him so much. In my town I tend to refer to things as though I were in a matriarchal country (with me as the beloved and also eternal ruler >:P). When I was trying to send a bear named Bluebear into the V O I D of time travel, I used Lucky as my scout to alert me to people trying to move. Lucky is therefore my top scout and best villager, I love him. I have an entire background for him that I’m going to tell you about RITE NOW. Warning though, it gets dark for a cool minute for literally no reason other than putting dark things in animal crossing is hilarious.

So during Halloween you find out Lucky’s scare weakness is the mummy mast. He’s a dog wrapped in mummy bandages named Lucky, and his house default is an Egyptian tomb looking room. He has also told me how much he loves adventure. My headcanon is that Lucky was the dog of a brave adventurer, but together they ran into some bad luck (ironically), in some cursed Egyptian tombs. There they were both mummified and buried alive. Lucky escaped the sarcophagus, but could find no way to free his friend. He couldn’t bear the thought of leaving his owner to die alone so Lucky, still wrapped in the bandages, sat with his owner until he died from lack of oxygen. Once he was gone, Lucky knew his owner would want him to go on and live a happy life, so he dug his way out of the tomb, where he was confronted with Anubis: god of embalming and the dead (I believe). Anubis praised Lucky for refusing to abandon his friend, despite the doom they both faced, and rewarded him. Lucky was now eternal, free to explore the world on as many adventures as he wished, and his good friend would also gain in eternal soul in a different fashion: reincarnation. One day his owner would reincarnate, though without their memories, many times throughout his life. They could go on adventures forever through time.

And just who is Lucky’s reincarnated frien-

Me, it’s me. I had Lucky in my very first Animal Crossing town (and still do! I went to look at it just yesterday for nostalgia’s sake!), as well as my next town in City Folk, it’s destined that we’re gonna be best friends throughout all my reincarnations. He was there even before I had his backstory! It’s fate!

(And somehow, Lucky is still not my Ultimate Dreamy. *A* dreamy for sure, but not The One™) But look at him tho he’s adorbs.

Anyways, my ‘theme’ is just that I want it to be forest themed. But not like, dirt paths and stuff (not since I found those 4 amazing paths anyways). I’m very excited to start actually designing my paths and town and stuff. I just got Yuka to move out (she’s cute and nice and all, but she was parked in the middle of where I want to put stuff), and soon I’ll get Matilda to move too and then I’ll have a clear path to chopping down every single tree in my village and destroying every random public works project so I can map everything out like a crazy person. But first I’m gonna wait to make sure I keep my perfect town rating to get the golden watering can. And a few Jacob’s Ladders, cuz they’re just so cute to look at!

I also found some stone that’s perfect for plot resetting, so that way new villagers only move in the spaces I’ve allotted for them! It’s a moon (and yeah, my town isn’t really “moon-themed,” but my name is Moon, and my town flag is a really pretty cloudy moon I found, so it’s perfect! They’re like, ancient stones put down or something).

(The moon stones can be found here!)

 Ooo, one thing I really want is a tree stump with a Triforce on it. I’ve been visiting the island every day lately and I haven’t seen tail nor whisker of the silver axe. I will one day! I MUST! I need a Triforce stump and so help me I will chop down every tree I have to get it!

 One thing I really hate about AC is all the exclusive items. Either I have to pay real money for an amiibo that happens to have an item I want, or I have to have had the game when they were being given out for free. It’s real sad, cuz I’m not rich (in real life or in-game, lol) and I didn’t get AC:NL until like, a year before the Welcome Amiibo Update. It makes me sad cuz I didn’t have the money at the time it came out, so I missed out on a lot of really cool items. Especially food items cuz, GOD, I can’t ever get enough food items. They’re hands down my favorite decorative item in AC.

Also, region-locked items. I hate that. Cuz a butt-ton of them are food. I want those so much but noooooo. I don’t live in Europe, or Japan, or wherever, so I can only get my region foods. I wish it was that you get items from your region first, but then the next year you get the ones from other regions. Just cuz I’m American doesn’t mean I won’t like Kagamimochi or a Twelve-Grape Plate!

Oh, guess what my town tune is? I made it up my self! It’s Farore’s Silent Realm from Skyward Sword! Of course, it sounds much less haunting coming from my villagers, but I still love that song. Skyward Sword much too hated in my opinion, I really loved it. Yeah, it has it’s problems, but what game doesn’t? The good things were enough to erase the bad things for me at least :3

 Oooh, let’s talk about my houses! I’ll post some pictures too, though it’s a picture of my screen so the quality is awful.

So for my mayor’s/my house, the first room looks like an enchanted forest at night. I managed to get my hands on the leaf bed from that Bug-Off guy’s RV in the campground, as well as the moss path flooring from Saharah! I use the Mush Lamps from the mushroom furniture series, since it’s got a blue color (and gives off blue light!) I changed the stained-glass lamp to the blue or fish one whatever it’s called, and a lotus lamp to a blue color. Then I turned off my main light so the room has a dark blue color everywhere. I have lots of flower and wood furniture to pull together the wood look (and the mush dresser or whatever, the one with blue mushrooms at the bottom!) I also put the moss garden rock and birdbath and Aquarius urn, and some mush chairs too. Oo, I also have plants everywhere, including some Jacob’s Ladders (which is great cuz their flowerpot is blue!) I’m trying to breed some blue roses so I can switch them out with the blue pansies I have. It’s very slow going. Oo! There’s also my pet cricket in there, to give off that nighttime feel. All I need to tie everything together is the music player from the weeding set. Right now the record player is the best I got. One day! The music in the room is Stale Cupcakes, to give it kind of a relaxing feel :)

My left room right now is a big work-in-progress. I’m thinking of doing like a pink, spring forest or a pink greenhouse kind of look. Right now it’s just got a lot of pink and stray hybrid flowers all over.

My upstairs room is kind of fall forest themed. It’s a mix of a lot of classic, alpine, and modern wood furniture. I got a leaf pile just sort of, stuck in the middle of it all, with an elegant mushroom and maple leaf umbrella for decoration! I changed a lot of the alpine furniture designs with the fall-leaf shirt, so it’d feel all autumn-y and whatnot. And I got Majora’s Mask and downloaded a Skull Kid outfit so it’d feel more like the Lost Woods (though Skll Kid’s clothes have disappeared from me replacing the pattern with a pathway payttern. He’ll be clothed again soon enough)! If only I could have Saria’s Song, too.

Right now the back and right rooms are just kinda there. I don’t really have any plans for them right now, except maybe having the right room just be a seasonal room, where I change furniture depending on the nearing holiday. (Spooky Day, Toy Day, Festival, etc). Maybe I might do a winter-type forest in the back, since I’ve got an enchanted forest, autumn room, and possibly a spring-greenhouse, lol.

 In my second player house, it’s based off of my character Cara who happens to be a siren. The main room is sort of a red/black Asian-looking theme, with custom exotic furniture and Gracie’s Elegant set! The main room isn’t Asian cuz my character’s Asian, though. It’s based off of my friend’s character, whom my character is very jealous of, and tries to discreetly mimic her in ways. My friend’s character is Asian, as well as being a kitsune. Anyways, the room looks bomb. I highly recommend red/black exotic custom furniture with the Elegant series. Perfect fit.

The back room is supposed to be her own personal bedroom. It’s gold-nugget custom Cabana furniture (with a couple of the gold series items, I haven’t seen them all yet), with a lot of green and blue fabrics. I used some watery floor, though I can’t remember if it’s from Saharah or Pascal or an Island Escape reward or what. But let me tell you, gold and cerulean blue go very nicely.

The upstairs room is a work-in-progress (mostly cuz it’s still small), and is supposed to just be a basic beach theme. I’m very excited for it to all go together!

The basement is going to be using the mermaid theme, though that’s not because my character’s a siren. (Sirens are originally bird women, and somewhere down the line we got them twisted in with mermaids and depicted them like that instead. My character is in fact the aquatic-version of a siren, but I’ve got lore for why that is. Point is she hates mermaids with a passion). But! The reason my siren who hates mermaids is using the mermaid theme in her house is for her love interest, who is a boy who is incredibly adorable and likes a lot of girly things. The mermaid set is right up his ally, which is why she has it deep in her basement where only she knows it is lol.

I don’t have left and right rooms set up (and I might not, who knows). I know I want one more room for Cara using the fish tourney set with an underwater theme. Can’t have an aquatic siren without an underwater cave!

 My third player house, and one that I super barely have planned, is my werewolf character Kit (who perpetually wears the werewolf mask because duh). The only thing I know I want is a sweets theme, not because it relates to his character, but because I just like the furniture in it. :D It’s suuuper not done though, so like, don’t judge me.

I was thinking of using sloppy furniture for Kit’s room, but I decided he’s not really that messy (and the sloppy series is so. So ugly. I mean, I get that that’s the point, but still). I think Kit’s room is going to be using the blue series someway, since I know in my writing I said his bedsheets were blue or something.

  Hmmm. I’m not sure what else to talk about here. So I think I’ll end off on who my Ultimate Favorite villager is. Who could it be? I have Zucker, the adorable dessert-designed octopus, Lucky, my trustworthy scout, Wolf Link, the protagonist to one of my favorite game series, and even Julian, the most magical unicorn in all the land. Who could it be? What special fantastic creature could possible beat all of these A+ villagers?

  He.

Him.

 This Rock Lee lookin’ motherfudger.

I love him.

 Anchovy was my very first favorite villager in Wild World, I think he was one of the villagers I started with even. I was heartbroken when he moved one day. I swear he was in love with me (though he did move on the account that we didn’t have a 24-hour buffet according to his final letter). Actually, looking back on a lot of his letters, he’s either trying to be funny, or kind of a dick. I’m choosing to believe he’s trying to be funny XD

 Anyways, clearly the only reason he left is because he was so in love with me it scared him and he ran away. One day we’ll be reunited and rule my country with an iron fist.

Unfortunately I don’t have an amazing backstory for Anchovy, other than were totes meant for each other and that’s about it. But one day I’ll have him in my town again, and then I can discover new things to make an adventure about! I’m excited for that!

 Anyways, I think that’s all I really wanted to ramble about. I’m so excited to do things with my town, but as Zero Punctuation points out (funny game review series on youtube. Check it out! I love the animal crossing one), everything in animal crossing happens t o m o r r o w. I can get my perfect town status back tomorrow, I can befriend Sable and use my extra characters to put down paths tomorrow, I can banish Matilda to the void where she belongs tomorrow. Ach. So frustrating. But I will wait, I swear I will.

I really want to make my town all nice and pretty like so many people have theirs. It will be done!

[fox-in-the-stars]

Akayona Magical Girls AU

Inspired by @akayonaladiesweek‘s prompts, I got sucked into worldbuilding a Magical Girls AU (which if the character designs cooperate might also fill the “Girls in Armor” prompt).

Read on for magical girls, rewritten origin legends, love-fueled superpowers, bowdlerized plot points and of course, adorable mascot-pet dragons!

In this version, the founding myth goes like this:

Long ago, five dragons lived under Heaven.  The Red Dragon moved the fiery sun through the sky, the Green Dragon stirred the winds, the Blue Dragon sent the rain, the White Dragon sent dust to make the land, and the Yellow Dragon painted the sky morning and evening.  The other dragons all had times to rest and play when their work was done, but the sun was always moving, and even when it sank below the horizon, the Red Dragon was busy all night moving it from west to east beneath the earth to have it ready for the next day.  So the other four dragons said “Why do you never play with us?  Why can’t the sun stop moving for a while?” and the Red Dragon said “That would be terrible for the ones down below.”

So the other four dragons, when they weren’t at work, looked down below, at the land where humans lived.  They saw people fighting and stealing and lying.  “These creatures are terrible,” they said.  “We should destroy them.  It will be a just punishment for their sins, and then our brother will be free to rest and play with us.”

So the four dragons went down toward the earth, but Heaven saw what they were doing.  “Such merciless arrogance,” Heaven said.  “These dragons must learn compassion.  I will let them go down, but when they arrive they will be no greater than humans — they will lose their memory of heaven, and they will be weak and mortal until they learn to cherish their fellow creatures.”

This happened at noon, when the Red Dragon had pushed the sun up to its highest, and he was so close to heaven that he heard its words, and he was shocked.  “Great Heaven,” he said, “I fear that my brothers’ punishment may only make them more bitter.  Please, let me go to them.”

“But with a god to look after them, what will they learn?” Heaven asked.

“If my brothers are no greater than humans, then I too will be no greater,” said the Red Dragon.  “Let me go down to earth as a human.”

And so it was.  The Red Dragon left the sun and sky, earth and rain and wind in the care of Heaven, and he came down to earth as a human.

(chatty summarizing resumes) When he got there, he saw how much of human suffering was due to misrule and became the Red Dragon King after all and got into trouble like in the original version, but the other dragons couldn’t come down from heaven to save him.  Although they’d lost their memories of heaven, they remembered their love for their brother, so they were drawn to help him, but first they had to learn their lesson — which they did by each bonding with a human girl (except maybe Yellow didn’t yet), Heaven decided to let them have some of their powers back because they were learning to love mortals but made it a shared power with the girls so the dragons wouldn’t get too full of themselves again, and thus the King was rescued by the first magical girls — called Dragon Guardians — and their divine dragon mascot-pets.

Yes, the dragons are the mascot-pets, and dragons who are no stronger than humans are adorable chibis as it turns out, but they’re the power unlockers.  As a Dragon Guardian forms a stronger bond with one or more dragons, it unlocks her powers as well as theirs — so the powers are driven by character development and dynamics, which strikes me as both fun and true to the genre.  At a certain level the dragons become able to transform into humans, and then there’ll be like a final ultimate level where they can appear as awesome godlike full-sized dragons.

(For practical purposes, though, I may need some kind of item that can unlock a base level of power, since I want more Guardians than I can supply dragons for.  Current idea: the origin story rescue involves a climactic moment where all the dragons, possibly including red, go into their full-sized dragon god modes, but then they decide to humble themselves to keep living among mortals and they “shed their scales” which they literally did and the scales are the items of power, which are in limited supply but there are way more than four of them, and the priests usually have the job of managing them.  Bonus in that dragon scales could be incorporated into all sorts of magical-girl-y fashion accessories.)

Anyway, moving forward to the present, since the dragons were “made mortal,” we have had generations of them (except for Yellow); being magical girl mascot pets I don’t think they reproduce sexually, a new one just appears, although when they get into human form romantic complications with humans are entirely possible.

On the one hand I want to stay relatively true to the canon story because that approach is more interesting to me personally, but on the other hand I think making this a proper magical girl story does call for some bowdlerizing. So here’s ideas:

No Game of Thrones stuff, firstly.  The big political conflict is that Kai has heard about the Dragon Guardian powers and wants them.  Yuhon hated the Dragon Guardian business and raised Soo-won to hate and disbelieve it.  This will probably be a long-game reveal, but the deal is that Yonhi was actually a Dragon Guardian and is in such poor health after being wounded in battle because the priests gave her a scale and said she was supposed to do this shit, so there’s a grudge (see also kicking out priests — although maybe it was Yuhon who got her into that battle and his lashing out is guilt-driven).  At any rate, Soo-won is very invested in not believing in and certainly not relying on the dragon guardian powers.  In this version Yuhon lost the war and was captured, and when Il went to negotiate, he was also captured (possible brothers’ reconciliation in captivity?), and as a result Soo-won just straight-up inherited the throne at a young age, which I think he could handle honestly, and he and Yona are probably betrothed at this point just to sew it up extra neat and tidy.  What sets off the story this time, I’m thinking an agent from Kai came and tried to kidnap Yona because they’d found out from her father that she was both an incarnation of the Red Dragon and a guardian — ie, the ultimate super-powered magical girl, potentially — and they tried to kidnap her for use as a WMD.  Afterward she and Soo-won had a difference of opinion about how to deal, she made up her own mind to go on this quest, find out if these powers were real, and if so use them to help her people and rescue her Dad and Uncle and stuff, and of course Hak’s gonna go with her.

So the love triangle is going to be less of a foregone conclusion.  Soo-won loses points early with his inability to accept what’s becoming important to her and let her use her own power.  He’s too smart to be a flat-earth atheist when he actually sees the sparkles and mascot pets, which might create some uncertainty, but I’m thinking it’s like a thematic thing where for all his genuine virtues, Soo-won under his father’s influence wants to just protect Yona while Hak wants to support her, and Hak’s still gotta win that one.

Setting out on their quest they probably still meet Ik-su and pick up Yoon, and I’m thinking Ik-su gives Yona a dragon scale to get her started.  And then we gather the dragons!  We’re still going to have secret villages, because people wanting to take the dragons away to utilize their powers is still very much a thing.  I haven’t decided about their canon powers — probably for ease of handling I’ll say those still apply when they become able to take human form, or that unlocking human-form-with-canon-powers is the next level past that.

Kija is still being pampered in his village — without the icky sexual coercion subplot this time (yay bowdlerizing) — and he will still totally fight you.  He bites Hak a lot in the beginning.  (Also having the thought that when we meet him Hak’s like “what is that, a snake?” but he has more moe proportions and a certain amount of fluff and little legs sticking out and Yona thinks he looks more like an ermine actually, so this time Hak ends up giving him the even-worse nickname “White Weasel.”)

Shin-ah is still neglected and alone, although I’m not sure yet how the problem of his power translates.  It could be pretty direct, caused by a previous generation where a blue dragon bonded with a Guardian enough to use the scary canon powers leading to the belief about cursed eyes, but it would be awhile before we could see it in action.  And we could still swing a mask of some sort if desired, like we could find him hooded like a falcon.  I suspect it’ll be extra challenging to get him to turn human even after he should be able to.  On the upside, though, he and little Ao are, like, closer to the same size, so we’re in for some serious cuteness overload with them.

Jae-ha enters a lot like he does in canon — which is possible because Gigan is a guardian.  Because of their bond she can do cool superpowered stuff and he can take human form and use his canon powers.  This also means that him going with Yona means Gigan giving up her powers (well, some of them, we can leave her with a scale — Yona wouldn’t need one anymore at that point — and she’s got a lot of Badass Normal going on too).  It also means Jae-ha accepting being a mascot critter at least for a while, but that was less of a sticking point than his canon issues, which were pretty much same (although as a mascot critter he doesn’t have wrists or ankles to speak of so it was that they’d put a collar on him).  This also adds to he and Gigan’s bits of mentorship toward the other dragons and Yona respectively, since they actually have years of experience with how this whole Guardian thing works.  (Also in the Awa arc I may bowdlerize the human trafficking bit and it’s that Kum-ji is shipping dragon scales out, so more analogous to smuggling WMD.)

And Zeno’s still Zeno, although again bowdlerizing.  Backing up to the origin myth, when the four dragons decided to destroy the humans, actually the Yellow Dragon was like “No, that would be horrible, let’s—” ::the other three all look at him:: “—let’s just hurt ‘em kinda bad.”  So because he went along he shared in their punishment, but because his was a failure not of compassion but of courage, his punishment is somewhat different.  He wasn’t made mortal like the others, and while he can work with a guardian, he can also use more of his power on his own when he shows courage — actually a stricter condition than getting himself grievously hurt, honestly.  And Kaya was totally a guardian.

(In thinking of the mascot critter character designs, I’m imagining each of the chibi dragons having their own style of horns.  Kija’s will be sort of perky upcurved antlers, Shin-ah’s will look like the horns of his mask, Jae-ha’s are more straight and angular antlers, and Zeno’s are curled like a sheep.)

We can also still have a version of the Fire Tribe arc conflict where Soo-jin is basically the “c’mon use the nukes” guy who plots against Soo-won because he does believe in the dragon guardian powers and wants to use them to crush Kouka’s enemies (like did you even get what that origin legend was about?).

And we get to have more of the female cast be guardians/magical girls!  Lili, I’m really thinking so — although I’d prefer to leave Ayura and Tetra as Badass Normals to prove that women don’t need magic to kick ass.  Maybe Tao — which would be a curveball since she’s not from Kouka, but that could be a good thing.  And of course, to get to their full potential powers, they’d have to join up and have character development and form bonds with everybody…

Hmm, anyone else?  Maybe a job for OCs…