#and i don't like... hate tower for killing us when we tried to kill her. she has every right to murder us again

[pareidolla]

// tw abuse rant (nothing angry just moreso exasperated)

i'm going to admit that while i'm enthusiastic for the pristine cut, i'm also a little concerned canon will politely dismiss the tower's abusive elements, and if that happens then i might?? scream????

[space-blue]

A Radical Messmer Theory

OKAY so hear me out.

I think we're all on top of things regarding how much Marika used to care for Messmer despite the embivalence of their relationship.

On one hand you have the OP healing vials she created for him and him only. You have his love and dedication to her. You have her taking his eye and giving her a seal that both locks the serpent but also hides the fact that he is GRACELESS.

Then you'll have things like how he hates his flame and tried to be rid of it, yet was clearly made to fight with it, in her name. How he wishes for hate and resentment to come to him and not her, yet she seems to have abandoned him.

BUT CONSIDER THIS!!

What if Marika sealed him away to keep him safe?

Because... If you are of the opinion that Marika has orchestrated the entire thing. That she exiled Godfrey and his people asking them to come back stronger because she was laying out a plan... That she hooked Ranni up with numen warriors to engineer Godwyn's death, then broke the Elden Ring purposefully...

And then took her punishment and set out to *wait* for the Tarnished to return and free her from the control of the Elden Beast...

Then it's possible that she veiled Messmer and exiled him to protect him FROM US. From the Shattering War.

After all, we can completely skip the DLC. Killing Mogh is completely optional. And the only reason we enter the shadow realm is because Miquella has discovered something of the gate of divinity and has been cooking up a plan for ages as well.

Miquella got thwarted and has been forced to wait in stasis until someone killed Radahn AND Mogh for ages. The moment he does, we have the opportunity to enter and follow, and because of that we have to kill Messmer.

But Marika's grace leads the way! you argue. Not until a certain point though, and most importantly: once Miquella is on his way to become a god (partially through your actions freeing the tower from shadows) then he becomes someone you need to kill because he's threatening the old order.

Marika is gambling on us, and when Miquella rises, she leads the way towards us defeating him and his consort, and then back to the main purpose.

But there's no reason to go kill Messmer. And if we don't, we can easily stipulate that Miquella's happy go lucky band of misfits also wouldn't have managed to bring him down, trapping Miquella's soul in the of shadows, once more in stasis waiting for a hurdle to be overcome for him.

It makes sense then, that the land of shadows, all considered, is the safest place for one of Marika's children to be. Out of the way. Without a great rune. He protects something she wants to keep secret, but maybe the secret itself protects him.

She sent him on that crusade around the time she married Radagon. Everyone theorises she wanted him out of the way to either have his true nature hidden out of shame or to protect him from backlash at the time, but imo she sent him to seal him away because :

1- she knows he's endlessly loyal and devoted

2- it gets her revenge underway and keeps her secrets

3- it gets Messmer out of the public eye in the moment

4- it keeps Messmer SAFE from the dark shit she's got planned that will wreck the lands between.

The Messmer most beloved son theory! The good Tarnished doesn't play the DLC, or does just long enough to run around but leaves Messmer alive and Miquella forever blue balled.

[born-in-neverland03]

I need to talk about Yen and Sabrina and I need to talk about them now.

Because they're so sister coded. And I know especially in the end of season 3 it seems like they can't really stand eachother but I really like the idea of them having this love/hate relationship where they secretly know they care for eachother but they would rather die than admit it. You can already see it in 1x08 after the tower explode.

Little reminder; Sabrina has stabbed Yennefer five seconds before this. She had literally an arrow in her stomach before she was blown up. And yet she still didn't hesitated to go to check on Sabrina immediately and see if she was alright. And seriously, the way she carefully runs her thumb over her cheek? You don't do that with just anyone. And especially not with someone you hate. And Sabrina?

She apologizes. She broke god knows how many bones during that fall and she still apologizes. She's hurt and barely conscious. And she still wants to tell Yennefer that she's sorry. And Yennefer (also hurt and bleeding) tries to calm her down and tell her that it's okay before she went to get help (to get her wife cough cough) It's the last time Sabrina saw her until 4 weeks later. And I honestly don't want to know what her thoughts were. She probably felt already guilty about the explosions and the way she maybe even killed some of their own people... But the fact that she physically attacked and injured Yennefer during that time before she went missing...

And then we have the reunion of them. Both of them seem a bit cold towards eachother but I think Sabrina is just testing the water, were they are right now after she almost could've killed her and Yen just went with it bc this is just how they work. They are not known for exchanging affections. At least not with each other. They joke in a caustic way, they always have. This is how they show their own kind of love.

I also think you can also see it in the faces of Triss and the other mage (does anybody know she is??). They look like they're used to it and don't even try to stop them. But Sabrina still seemed to be kinda tense during that scene, like she's waiting for Yennefer to doing the first step.

And this is my most favourite part. The way both start laughing and all the tension falls from Sabrina's shoulders before this beautiful moment happened🥹

This hug!!!

Again, you don't hug someone like that when you hate/ don't care for them. It's everything in that scene that let me think they're actually really close with eachother. Because Yen lets her guards down while Sabrina who is a very closed person shows so much joy in that moment. They're just relaxed. This hug is so real. The jokes, the laughs. Then they way they both totally lean into this hug and against eachother. You can clearly see that they're totally comfortable with it and there is no bad blood between them.

[spidernuggets]

Jason Todd x Reader

"Where are you going? Look, the Titans needs us-"

"Fuck them, Rose. Fuck all of you"

"Jason, please! Where are you gonna go?? We can figure something out!"

When Jason left with Rose out of Gotham City, you were heartbroken. You kept a one-sided love hidden, thinking it would be too selfish to confess your feelings to him while he's in an unstable state of self hatred. But when Dick revealed that he killed Deathstroke's son just moments after you managed to get Jason to step away from the ledge, you almost let your secret slip when Jason was swiftly packing his things as you begged him to stay.

"Figure what out, Y/N? Huh? Why are you even staying? Almost everyone is leaving anyway, and Dick is just a liar," Jason argued, stuffing his duffle bag with whatever clothes he could find.

"Because the Titans are the only family I have! At least Gar is staying. But you don't have to leave, Jay"

"And why shouldn't I? There's nothing for me here. Everyone hates me, hell, even you probably hate me. You only got me off the roof out of pity"

"That's not true, Jason."

"Then why else would you?!"

"Because I-" You quickly stop yourself, knowing things would only become worse if your feelings were revealed. So you took a deep breath and took a second to calmed down.

"Because you're my friend, Jay. One of the best friends I ever had. And I don't want you to leave," you say quietly.

Jason stared at you for a couple of seconds before taking your hand in his. "Then come with us. You don't have to do everything Dick tells you to anymore, no more lies, no more half truths."

You sighed, "I can't."

"Why not?"

"Yeah, I don't think I like the idea of third wheeling you and Rose," you try to joke, but your heart actually aching at the thought. "But seriously, I don't think leaving is a good idea, especially with Deathstroke around. And being alone with his daughter, I mean-"

"Wait, what you don't trust her or something?" Jason interrupts you, taking slight offence.

"I'm just saying to be cautious, Jason. I mean, Deathstroke already kidnapped you once and-"

"And what? You think Rose is working with him? Jesus Christ, and I thought I was fucked up," He scoffs. "Y'know, Rose admired that I made it out alive from her dad. I managed to make it out alive, and you still think I'm weak?"

"Jason, I never said that!-"

"Nah, fuck this, you're just like everyone else here," Jason says, zipping his bag close and storming out the room.

"Jason!" You tried calling out, just for him to ignore.

-

"What, was it part of Daddy's training to fuck me this whole time?!" Jason yells at Rose. "I'm done with this shit," he says, grabbing his bag, starting to leave the home the two raided.

Rose quickly grabbed onto his arm to prevent him from leaving.

"Look, none of this was supposed to happen. It just did," she tries to tell him, but he ignores her, tearing his arm away from her grip.

"Get the fuck off me." He cries, and as if by reflex, Rose strikes a punch at him, blood quickly falling down his now broken nose.

"C'mon! Fight me! You know you want to!" She says in desperation.

Jason sends a cold stare. "Are we done?" She doesn't reply, tears building up in her eye. "We're done," he says, walking towards the door as Rose cries.

"Where are you going? Look the Titans needs us!" She calls out to him as he reaches the door.

"Fuck them, Rose. Fuck all of you," he replies, finally walking out the door with only one thing on his mind.

You.

He hailed the first cab he could find, telling the driver to head back to Gotham City.

All he could think about was how stupid he was to you. You were right, and he just left you like you were nothing. You saved him, and he treated you like dirt. You said he was your friend, and he abandoned you.

He rushed out the taxi after paying the driver, running up to the small apartment you were living at. You spent most of your time in Titan's Tower, but went back to your place when you wanted to be fully alone.

Your apartment was only big enough for one person, granted there were ants here and there, and a little mould growing in some places, but you saw it as your own place.

Jason knocked on your door three times, followed by a call of your name. He knocked again, a little louder, and a little more desperate. What if you weren't home? He couldn't go back to Titans Tower, he wasn't ready to see everyone else.

When no one answered, his shoulders slumped, and was about to walk away.

But your door opened, and you appeared on the other side, rubbing your red eyes with a fluffy blanket draped over your shoulders and your hair running wild as it was tangled and bunched all over the place.

"Jesus, who died," you say groggily, having not registered who knocked on your door.

Jason's eyes brightened as he returned to the front of your door.

"Y/n.." He softly called out. You stopped rubbing your eyes as you looked up at him, eyes widening as you couldn't believe Jason was standing right in front of you.

"Jason.." You replied, not knowing what to say. "How have you- uhm.. D'you wanna come in?" You awkwardly offered, Jason nodding as you stepped aside for him to walk in.

You directed him towards the couch. "Uh.. do you want something to drink or..."

"No." Jason quickly replies. "I- I just needa talk to you."

You nod, walking over to sit beside him on the couch.

"So.."

"I'm sorry," he says, looking at you with those glassy eyes. "You were right. Rose was spying on me, working with Deathstroke, you were right. I should've listened to you, I should've stayed. Just- just say I told you so and-"

You interrupted Jason by lunging towards him, blanket falling off as you wrapped your arms around him. "I'm so glad you're back," you said, your voice muffled.

Jason sits there in shock, slowly wrapping his arms around your middle. "You- You're not mad?"

You pull away, "Why would I be mad?" You ask, hands boldly reaching up to hold his face.

"Why wouldn't you be! I treated you like shit! I didn't listen to you, then I just left! How could not hate me?" He says in an outburst.

All you do is sigh and look away.

"What? What is it?" Jason asks.

"It's because I love you, Jay," you finally confess. Jason's eyes widened and was left speechless. All he could do was lean closer as his gaze shift down to your lips.

You lightly chuckle as you olace a hand against his chest to stop him.

"Stop. You're only doing that because of guilt," You say.

But Jason shakes his head. "No. No, I don't believe I am," he replies. "You've no idea how much I wanted this. Ever since you joined the team, I promise you."

You sighed. "Listen, you just parted ways with Rose, I don't actually think you-"

"A chance," he interrupts. "Give me a chance to show you how much I care for you. How much I feel the same for you. Take you out on dates, give you flowers, whatever. Just a chance, and if you still don't believe it, fine, I leave you be. But a chance is all I beg for."

You look down at your fiddling fingers, eyebrows furrowed, wondering whether or not he's telling the truth.

"One chance," you say. "One chance and one chance only. If you screw this up, then that's that."

Yeah I didn't really know how to finish it off, like I had the idea for the start but didn't know how to make the rest of the story so its pretty shit, but at the same time, its 2am so whatevah

Jason smiles, bringing you in for a tight embrace. "You won't regret it, I promise you, mama."

[superman86to99]

Action Comics #702 (August 1994)

Bloodsport (not the black one, the anti-black one) returns, which means this is gonna be another distressingly violent issue, but hey, at least we get to see Superman hit a Nazi! Right off the bat, we start with Bloodsport mowing down a nice black family because he wants to, as he puts it, "Keep Metropolis Clean." After the "Fall of Metropolis" storyline, the place is pretty messy, so I guess what he actually wants to do is Make It Clean Again, but I digress.

Meanwhile, Ron Troupe, who helped get rid of Bloodsport the last time he popped up, is working on an article in Lois Lane's borrowed laptop, which is apparently the only working computer in Metropolis right now. When they hear about Bloodsport shooting people up on a bridge, Lois and Ron rush there and arrive right in time to watch Superman get owned by pink goo. Racist pink goo.

(New writer David Michelinie sure loves covering guys in goo, huh?)

Bloodsport recognizes Ron (so he can tell black people apart), who once again has a chance to shoot him but can't bring himself to do it. Bloodsport is like "thanks, now I'll kill you anyway" and shoots at Ron but ends up killing a police officer instead. She looked Latina, though, so I guess that's still a win for him.

By the time Superman has freed himself from The Nazi Goo™, Bloodsport has left for "the largest African-American neighborhood in Metropolis," and not precisely to experience the rich culture and cuisine. Once Superman gets there, Bloodsport teleports a bunch of automated guns all around him, which don't look terribly intimidating to someone with bulletproof skin... until Bloodsport points them outwards, targeting random people in the neighborhood to keep Supes distracted while he goes off to do more hate crimes. I regret to inform you that this makes this racist asshole smarter than 90% of criminals Superman has fought.

While Superman deals with that, Ron, feeling guilty because that cop lady died due to his inability shoot guns, decides to fight Bloodsport through something he's actually good at: journalism. And also by logging into Lois' notebook without permission, but I'm pretty sure she'd understand (you'd think she would have gotten stronger passwords after Lex Luthor hacked her, though). Ron uses his own reporting and the dirt Lois recently dug up on Luthor to find out that all those guns Bloodsport can teleport on demand are currently being stored at the LexCorp tower. Luckily, it's much easier to sneak in there since half the place got blown to shit.

The next time Bloodsport tries to teleport a gun to his hand, he gets something else: a handful of molten metal, courtesy of Ron. Turns out Ron can't pull a trigger, but he's perfectly capable of pulling the pin on a grenade.

Without his teleporting guns, Bloodsport is just a regular bigot in a silly costume. Superman doesn't even deign himself to punch this worthless scum with his whole hand, since a finger will do.

Later, Clark compliments Ron on his bravery, but Ron says the real hero is everyone who goes through their day not being a racist asshole. Pretty low bar, Ron, but a nice sentiment.

NEXT: Zero Hour! Finally!

Creator-Watch:

As mentioned, this is the first issue written by Roger Stern's replacement, David Michelinie, fresh off his long run in Spider-Man comics where, among other things, he co-created Venom, the character who still keeps him infrequently employed at Marvel. This is a bit more violent and darker than I like my Superman comics to be (not surprising from the guy who introduced Iron Man's alcoholism and killed Aquaman's Aquababy) -- I'm not sure I like Clark smiling at the end when so many people died in the issue, including a little girl. At least he didn't wink this time!

But, other than that, I think this is a solid done-in-one story and I appreciate having Ron actually contribute to the plot in a meaningful way. Michelinie clearly did his homework in regards to the continuity and seems to have a good handle on the characters, particularly Lois and Clark. Their interaction in this issue is kinda hokey, but come on, it's Lois and Clark. They're allowed to be hokey.

However, I do remember having one serious complaint about Michelinie's run the first time I read it: an almost complete lack of Bibbo, which is unforgivable. We'll see how accurate that impression is.

Plotline-Watch:

Bloodsport says he survived the explosion in his last appearance because the circuitry in his weapon teleporter got "jangled" and teleported him away. Wait, so he suffered a teleporter malfunction in a comic and didn't become fused with his guns or something? Missed opportunity, if you ask me. At the very least he could have gained the ability to teleport at will, like a racist Nightcrawler. Maybe he could have inexplicably gained a German accent too.

Jimmy Olsen, who's apparently been looking for Lucy Lane since he ditched her with some wannabe rocker girls during the Massacre storyline (that had to be days ago, right?), finally finds her with those same girls, but it's okay because they're friends now. Lucy tells tells Jimmy that the Riot Grrrls invited her to that charity concert for rebuilding Metropolis we've been hearing about lately, the mere mention of which seems to offend Jimmy. Don Sparrow says: "I want to believe Jimmy’s 'whatchoo talkin' bout Willis' expression is due to his shared (with me) hatred of Jeb Friedman, the concern organizer." That, or he remembered that the concert headliner, his old friend Babe, owes him $5.

I've been reading several DC comics published in August 1994 and this is one of the few that didn't include any teasers for Zero Hour whatsoever (stuff like the future city in Green Lantern #54 or the dinosaurs in the latest issues of Guy Gardner: Warrior). At the time, some might have thought that having a full-on Nazi running around in the present could count as an anachronism but, uh, I think we've established by now that that's sadly not the case...

Plug-Watch:

On the subject of Superman punching Nazis, I fully recommend our old pal Patrick Ryall's "Superman vs. Bigots" column at The Avocado, where he goes over instances of Superman Family characters facing bigots across the ages, from the time Supes arrested Hitler in the '40s to the "Perry White vs. the Ku Klux Klan" issue from this era (which we haven't covered yet, so spoilers). Good stuff!

Now a self-plug: as mentioned in our post for the time-displaced Action #642, I've been putting together a sort of Superman '86 to '99 reading guide at my fav'rit current social media site (sorry, BlueSky), League of Comic Geeks, where I'm writing a short blurb about every issue from this era mentioning what's special, noteworthy, or weird/funny about it. At first I was just copying a paragraph or two from our old posts and throwing in a "read more" link, hoping to drive more readers to the newsletter, but I've started rewriting them to be more like something you'd see in an episode guide or a book about the '86-'99 period... which is an intriguing idea. Anyway, here's that reading guide link again, because this paragraph doesn't have enough clickable words in it already: https://leagueofcomicgeeks.com/profile/mrmxy/lists/58097/superman-86-to-99-checklist-wip

Shouts Outs-Watch:

Nazi-punching shout outs to our supporters, Aaron, Chris “Ace” Hendrix, britneyspearsatemyshorts, Patrick D. Ryall, Bheki Latha, Mark Syp, Ryan Bush, Raphael Fischer, Kit, Sam, Bol, Dave Shevlin, and Dave Blosser! Join them (and get extra non-continuity articles; we've got some cartoon-related ones lined up) via Patreon or our newsletter's "pay what you want" mode!

To see more of Don's take on this issue, including his thoughts on Jimmy's physique, keep reading!

Art-Watch (by @donsparrow):

We start with the cover, and it keeps the tradition of other Bloodsport covers where Bloodsport is firing a ridiculously high-calibre weapon.  I know the cover text (which generally I dislike) is ironic in this context, but it still bugs me slightly—Bloodsport’s views are so poisonous, even as a villain I hate seeing them represented. But buckle up, because there’s a whoooooole lot of that in this issue.

Lucky for me I’m mostly here to focus on the art, and it’s good throughout, as upsetting and violent as some of the visuals are.  The doomed, completely innocent family who are mowed down by gunfire on page 3 are very well drawn—and coloured—I love rim-lighting, and it’s rarely rendered in orange.

An odd thing happens on page 5, which you sometimes see—artists get so used to drawing everyone with superheroic proportions that even civilians get He-Man action figure physiques—this happens with Jimmy Olsen in that first panel (yes, another Superman song reference on a Jimmy Olsen t-shirt, this time it’s Crash Test Dummies being given a shout-out) looking pretty ‘roided out complete with obliques visible through his shirt.  Not to say that I don’t think Jimmy’s in good shape, but typically he’s a bit more average in build, or so it seems in this suggestive pin-up by Jerry Ordway in 1988…

[Max: You have no idea the amount of research Don did to find that pin-up, which both of us remembered but couldn't place (it turned out to be in the incredible Modern Masters: Jerry Ordway book by TwoMorrows), but it was 100% worth the effort.]

Moving on, the upside down takeoff on page 13 is well done.  Jackson Guice’s Superman always seems to have slightly longer hair than how the other artists draw him, but it’s a consistent thing, so I can’t complain too much.  There’s an unfortunately Michael Jackson-looking Superman grimace on page 18 (shamone), but by the end of the story, Superman’s extremely ticked face is a great panel.

SPEEDING BULLETS:

The Daily Planet offices are, apparently, very near Boring Plaza, named after longtime Superman great, Wayne Boring.

GODWATCH: Dig the beat cop, Marcy, characterizing Superman as an answer to prayer on page 8.  As things go wrong in other places in the book, both Ron Troupe and Superman invoke the almighty in frustration or despair.  Lastly, as Clark and Ron bond in their agreement that racism is gross and wrong, and share an amen.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Bloodsport does not support the then-current Democratic President, Bill Clinton. 

Same as the last time this Alexander Trent version of Bloodsport popped up, I find this an extremely troubling issue.  I get that Bloodsport is a villain, and a dastardly one at that. But even so, I hate some of the words and views he’s sharing—words I don’t even want to type to repeat here—appearing in a Superman comic at all.  With characters this heinous, we almost need an editorial box disclaiming Trent’s statements, as they go unchallenged in the narrative as the character monologues to himself.  Similar to the last issue with Bloodsport, there’s an awful lot of carnage and innocent death for a comics code book, and it’s something I think the better Superman stories steer away from.  It’s hard not to be bothered by the juxtaposition of a black family being gunned down discriminately against Lois and Clark comfortably flirting.

Kudos to Ron for figuring out where Bloodsport’s weapons cache was, but, like in the last appearance of this Bloodsport, I can’t help but wonder why Superman doesn’t try to ionize the air around Bloodsport using his heat vision, since it was so effective the first time he faced this kind of teleporter tactic.  A single line of dialogue could have hand-waved it away, but it seems like a missed opportunity. [Max: True. I would have even taken a "Drat, can't do that since I already did it in another issue! Gotta mix it up!"]

Some small irony that it was a clone war that reduced Metropolis to rubble in this issue, in the first issue from new Action Comics writer David Michelinie, who slinked away after kicking off the wildly controversial Clone Saga over in Spider-Man before joining DC Comics.

Any serviceman’s death in the line of duty is a tragedy, but this Carroll O’Connor looking sergeant must have been pretty close to his pension as it was, no? [Max: I think Bloodsport spared him, though... probably because he loves Archie Bunker so much.]

Missed an issue? Looking for an old storyline? Check out our new chronological issue index!

[uhohwhathaveidone]

Nah cause what if Sebastian x slytherin reader right where your helping in him in his quests but you get attacked and reader gets knocked out and he’s mad n protective

"I've only had reader for a few day bit if anything happens to them i will curse everyone in this room and then myself"

My Knight (S.S)

I hate spiders. That's a lie, I just don't like them if they're too close. Love peacock spiders though. So cute. Based off that alone, we're dealing with that one quest with the spiders. So, there's a warning for you, also I haven't been able to play the game still, my pc is still refusing, so do I know what's going on? No. Did I call the giant spider the BroodMother while only thinking about that horrible darkspawn from Dragon Age? Yes. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, I'm posting rather early so I might start on another request tonight. <3

     You sucked in a breath as you shouted another spell at the spiders that surrounded you, desperate to keep them away. You glanced over to Sebastian, who was shouting his own spells at the spiders. You quickly cast a protection spell as you sprinted over, kicking a smaller spider away from Sebastian’s legs. “They keep coming! What are we supposed to do?” You shouted, throwing Stupefy at a spider that jumped at you. Sebastian shouted, bumping into your back, causing you to stumble. You turned to him, trying to see what had happened, when your eyes widened.

     A giant spider crawled from a hole in the side of the cave, its long legs towering over you while causing the ground to tremble beneath you. Its eyes shined red as it slowly crawled over to you, letting out a screech that made your eardrums rattle. “It’s the Brood Mother! I think that’s what they call her?” Sebastian shouted, grabbing onto your arm, and pulling you towards him. You watched as the smaller spiders scurried away, afraid of their giant counterpart. You readied your wand as you watched her, narrowing your gaze as you looked for a weak point. Without warning she ran at you, nearly knocking you into a wall with her leg. You threw spell after spell at her, a mix of red and yellow emitting from your wand. Sebastian had gotten separated from you, attacking the giant spider from the other side of the cave.

     You didn’t have many spells at your disposal, so you turned to using spells to throw the giant rocks around you, knocking out one of her legs. You watched as she spun around, trying to pick a target, and you quickly shouted to Sebastian as you dodged an attack. “Go for her legs!�� “Got it!” You continued to dodge attacks and cast spells at the spider, quietly begging for her to go down, as your arms got tired. You watched as Sebastian threw a decent-sized rock with his wand, hitting her in the head and sending hundreds of broken stones into her eyes, causing her to flail and spin in panic. You felt victory hover in the air as you sent another stone flying, hitting her in the head once again. She let out a final screech as she tumbled to the ground, legs going limp around her as she hit the stone.

     You breathed a sigh of relief as you looked over to Sebastian, who let out a triumphant cheer as he tried to catch his breath. You put your wand into your robe as you made your way over to him, stepping over rocks that broke off in your fight. You smiled as you reached him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Are you alright?” Sebastian nodded, running a hand through his hair. “Yeah, yeah. But I think spiders just made it to the top of the Bugs I Hate list.” You chuckled as you shook your head. “Spiders aren’t technically bugs, though. They’re like their own species.” You joked, watching as Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Whatever they are, I don’t like them in the slightest anymore.”

     “Does this mean that next time you see a spider, you’re going to ask me to kill it for you?” Sebastian scoffed, crossing his arms as he turned away from you, looking at some of the rocks that surrounded him. “Of course not. Just, don’t ask me to take care of one if its bigger than a Sovereign.” You laughed, noting the fact and looking around the cave. “Come look at this,” Sebastian said, waving his hand to you as you walked over. He held one of the stones in his hand, its surface shining in the soft light of a nearby torch. You leaned closer, examining the stone, as Sebastian watched you, a light blush creeping to his cheeks at the closeness. “It looks like quartz. Could this have been an old mine?” You asked, looking up at Sebastian as you leaned away, fixing your posture. Sebastian shrugged as he began to explain just how quartz mines worked to you. You listened, of course, no longer paying attention to your surroundings.

     Behind you, the giant legs of the spider twitched, slowly retracting to her body as she regained consciousness. Slowly, she used her front legs to move some rocks away from her eyes, rolling onto the ground. Your ears perked as you heard the rocks make contact with the ground, the hair on the back of your neck standing up and making you uneasy. You watched Sebastian as he continued to talk, glancing around you. The spider, now free of sharp stones, stood up, looking where the two of you stood. “It’s a wonder why so many old works of art weren’t taken down and recycled, could have used them, pity.” Sebastian said, tossing the stone back onto the ground. Alerted, the spider trained her eyes on you, preparing an attack. You looked over your shoulder to where you had left the spider, eyes widening as you realized your mistake. “What do you think about it all? Would it still-“ You cut Sebastian off as you grabbed the collar of his robe, yelling for him to move as you used the remaining strength you had left to pull him from where he was standing, sending him to the ground behind you as you watched the spider slam into the wall, right where he was originally standing.

     Sebastian let out a shriek as he watched the spider, one that he thought was dead, shake its head as it retracted from the wall. You quickly reached for your wand, casting a shield charm as a leg slammed down in front of you. “I thought we killed the thing?” Sebastian shouted, scrambling to his feet and pulling out his own wand. You shook your head, sending off a spell at its eyes. “Stupid! How did I not realize!” You shouted at yourself as you spun and grabbed Sebastian, running. “It was so obvious!” You continued, “She didn’t die like the other spiders, remember?” Sebastian nodded, trying to cast another spell at the spider. “This time, we fight until she’s on her back and curled up!”

     You gasped for air as you kept up your attack, throwing rock after rock at the spider as Sebastian unleashed his own onslaught. You struck one of its eyes with another rock, running to Sebastian as the spider spun once again. You ran faster as you saw one of its legs rise, beginning to bring it down, its target Sebastian. You yelled his name as you reached for him, casting a spell to push him back as the spider’s leg made contact, sending you flying back. Sebastian shouted your name, watching as you tumbled across the stones and finally coming to halt, your wand tossed beside you. There was no way to reach you as the spider continued its own attack, its sharp legs making dents in the stone below it. Sebastian was hit with an idea, and he quickly shouted at the spider, running around it. He found a boulder that had been split in half, and he raised his wand and sent it flying at the spider, slicing through one of its legs.

     “Accio!” Sebastian brought the leg towards him as he shouted for the spider’s attention. Both him and the spider were angered beyond reasoning, and the spider let out another screech as it stood taller, ready to tear into Sebastian, who only stood there. He smiled, watching as the spider straightened its legs, exposing the underside of its abdomen. Without hesitation, Sebastian launched the leg back to its owner, its sharp tip burrowing into the stiff exoskeleton, sending the spider to rear up as it screeched in pain, eventually falling backwards and twitching. Sebastian watched as it slowly died, making sure that it stayed dead, before turning to where you still laid, unmoving.

     “Y/n!” He breathed as he dropped to your side, turning you onto your back. His eyes widened as he held your head up, blood slowly trickling down into the small puddle that had formed under you. “No, come on! You can’t let a bug take you out!” He shouted, his shaking hands reaching for his wand as he racked his brain for a spell to heal your wound. The faint sound of scurrying legs sounded from the hall you walked through to get to where you were now, a small group of spiders quickly making their way over. “Not now, not now.” Sebastian whispered, tapping the wand to his head. Quickly, his eyes widened as a spell came to mind, and he quickly flipped his want and whispered “Episkey”. The gash on your head began to heal itself, the blood vanishing from your face and the ground. You were still out, however, and Sebastian lifted you from the group and brought you to the side of the cave, leaning you against its wall and standing in front of you, wand raised as the small spiders moved into the room.

     A few moments later the final spider rolled over, legs curling in as it died. Sebastian let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair as he looked around in case there were any more hiding around. You squinted, glancing around. Your head throbbed slightly as you brought your hand up, brushing against where the gash had been. You squinted as you looked at Sebastian’s silhouette, his shoulders raising and dropping quickly as he sucked in air. You smiled, looking around at the dead spiders. “Keep breathing like that,” you started, sitting yourself up more, “You’ll probably drop like those spiders.” Sebastian turned to you, a sigh of relief leaving him as he dropped his knee to take a look at you. “You’d find that funny, wouldn’t you?” You nodded, smiling. Sebastian grabbed your face, turning it to check your head. His calloused hand rested under your chin, gently moving your head around. “How’s your head, then?” He asked, letting you go. You shrugged, feeling the dull throb as it slowly faded. “I’m fine, thanks to you I suppose?” Sebastian smiled as he nodded, standing up and offering his hand.

     You looked over to where the mother laid, her legs retracted to her body as rigor mortis set in. You raised your eyebrows in surprise as you noticed one of its legs missing, finding it protruding from her body. You looked at Sebastian, surprised yet impressed as he shrugged. “Couldn’t let her take you out before I did.” You scoffed, slowly walking towards the spider. Sebastian quickly grabbed your sleeve as he pulled you away, shaking his head. “Look, I’m sure I can kill a giant bug. No need to double check.” You chuckled as you shook your head, opening your mouth. “No, don’t even! I’m going to call it a bug if I want to.” You closed your mouth, choosing to smile instead. You looked around for your wand, realizing that it wasn’t in your hand. Sebastian cleared his throat to get your attention, and you turned to see him holding your wand in his hand. You sighed, walking over and reaching for the wand, only for Sebastian to hold it above your head and out of reach. You frowned, narrowing your gaze as you glared at Sebastian. “I do believe I deserve something in return?” You shook your head as you leaned closer to Sebastian, placing a small kiss on his cheek and then snatching your wand from his hand.

     Sebastian stood there, shocked, as you fixed your robes. “Whatever would I do without you, my dear Knight?” Sebastian stuttered, quickly fixing his hair as his cheeks heated up. “Probably not get attacked by giant spiders, for one.” You nodded, placing your wand into your pocket. “Although,” Sebastian started, slowly walking over to you. “I don’t think a cheeky kiss is enough for the trauma I went through to protect you.” You chuckled, pretending to be deep in thought. “Of course, a killer of spiders should be given a better reward.” With that, you quickly leaned against Sebastian again, this time placing a soft kiss to his lips and walking towards the hall, turning back and waiting for Sebastian. He quickly followed you, slightly whining. “Are you even going to ask me how I did it?” “I figured you’d tell me on the walk back, you can never stay quiet about these things.” “I find that rude, but I suppose I’ll tell you.”

[suzukiblu]

YJ core four polycule? [eyes emoji]

"So, like, polyamory," Cassie says, and Kon nearly falls off the couch.

"What?" he says.

"Polyamory," Tim repeats patiently. "Cassie and I have been discussing it. We both figured we were going to be the complicated ones here so we were just getting the 'complicated' out of the way in advance."

"You–discussing it?!" Kon chokes as Bart visibly brightens next to him. They're both sitting on the couch in the Titans Tower rec room. Tim and Cassie are standing side by side in front of them in their combined version of leader-mode, which Kon sort of hates and sort of loves and sort of wants to run away and die over.

"Oh thank god, I was worried you guys' socialization was gonna be weird about this," Bart says in obvious relief, clapping his hands together. "Like holy crap but literally everyone in this time period is just such total prudes. Uh. No offense. And like, no lie, the subjective time wait on you all finally figuring out that the four of us should all be kissing each other has been absolutely killing me."

"Sorry for the delay," Tim says with a faint smile that makes Kon's guts want to turn inside out in a good way, assuming that there's any possible "good way" to do something like that. And also, unfortunately, makes him want to throw up. "Cassie and I have been negotiating. And establishing some boundaries."

"Also working on a plan of attack to get us all on a date together," Cassie says. "Tim wanted to do a power point presentation, which I immediately vetoed. So like, there's absolutely a secret power point presentation that he thinks I don't know about if you two wanna see it."

"Yesplease!" Bart blurts immediately, sitting bolt-upright in his seat and looking delighted.

"Sure?" Kon tries, because maybe the power point thing will buy him enough time to stop freaking out.

It does not.

Tim has slides. And graphs. And pictures. And even a little speech prepared, too. He lists all sorts of absolutely dumb and totally weird reasons that they all obviously like each other and how they might all work well in a romantic relationship together and smiles again like four more times and the whole thing is like stupidly adorable and even color-coded and Kon's entire fucking heart breaks in his chest watching it.

He wants that. He wants the others to be right. Wants what Tim is currently pitching to the group of them in the middle of the tower rec room like this is a mission briefing or a battle plan or some stupid high school science class project. He's wanted exactly this for a genuinely fucking embarrassing amount of time, in fact.

But he can't give them that.

He's not . . .

Kon swallows. It hurts. Bart vibrates with glee beside him and Cassie hides a little grin behind her hand and Tim smiles at all of them again as he switches slides. They're all being so cute. All being so sweet. All being so perfect.

Kon wants to kiss all three of them and wrap his arms all the way around them all at once and never, ever let go of a single fucking one of them, not for anything.

But he can't give them what they're asking him for.

Which was fine, before they actually went and asked him for it. It was fine when it was just him pretending to himself, just him being greedy and weird and thinking stupid little secret thoughts that would never see the light of day or actually amount to anything. That never could've actually amounted to anything.

It's not fine anymore.

It's not fine anymore, and Kon can't be okay with that anymore.

[imawreck]

Innocent

Pairing: Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier x Original Character

Summary: A truth is revealed too late, and a rat amongst the Avengers makes itself known.

Author's Note: I barely edited this so I apologize if there's any mistakes!

Warnings: Cursing, feral Max, gore and descriptions of wounds/violence

Word Count: 6,016

Bucky-

Max's eyes didn't stay in one spot for more than a millisecond, always moving and analyzing our surroundings. I had joined her against the side of the tent to keep out of sight. The knife still swiveled in time around her finger as she mumbled lowly in my direction. "I don't think they know we're here, which means that Rogers and the other's have done their jobs right. Or they're captured, Hydra wouldn't kill them without an audience."

I flexed my hand, "If they're caught we can't leave without them." Not like last time.

Her reply was said through gritted teeth, "I am aware."

Thunder still rolled overhead, and the air had grown cooler with the moisture. At least her God of Thunder was still around. "Do you have a plan?"

She shrugged, "Kill the enemy and don't die."

I grimaced and scanned around us once more. "If they don't know we're here, then it should be easy enough to get out."

She shook her head slowly, "Not if they find that body or the bodies of their watchmen. Hydra shifts their lookouts frequently; we have no idea when they'll do it next. I've got a very bad feeling it will be soon. I can hear them moving more."

I tried to hear what she did, but the only thing that met my ears was the breeze and the rustle of the trees. That, and the sound of someone breathing inside the tent we leaned against.

"Shit!" I launched to the side just as a knife tore through the fabric of the tent, a soldier tearing his way through behind it. I tried to find Max through the tattered remains of the tent, but she had vanished.

I didn't have much time before the soldier was barreling towards me. I scraped at the dirt, finding my footing just in time to dodge him once more. I was ready to fight, lifting my fists and gritting my teeth, but I didn't get the chance to before his body was tackled to the ground. Bones crunched, and his scream was cut into a cacophony of gurgles before I had the opportunity to blink. Max hovered over his body, blood coating her clawed fingers.

I couldn't take my gaze off of the mangled flesh of his throat and the deflated shape of his shoulder where her hand still rested. Four distinct holes littered his jugular, bloodied and oozing. It was enough to make me sick.

I didn't have the time to think about it before her hands were gripping the front of my uniform and hauling me into the brush. I shoved her away, wrapping my metal hand around her wrist and squeezing until she hissed in pain. "Don't fucking touch me."

She sneered in my face, teeth bared. "If you die, this mission is a failure. So, unless you're going to grow a pair of fucking balls, I'm going to continue to drag your ass to safety whether I like you or not."

Harsh words of Russian left her lips faster than I could comprehend as she leaned over into the dirt and began smearing it through her hair, "I'm going to kill anyone who gets in our way in whatever way I see fit to ensure that we make it out alive. You can bitch and complain about it when we're all back at the tower sipping bourbon and coddling our wounds." When she stood again, her hair was the color of the tall grass swaying around us. "Find Tony or one of the others and tell them what's going on. I'm going to take out everyone in this camp, so make sure they're all cleared out."

There was no room for discussion. By the time I had mustered something snarky and hateful to send her way she was already gone, nothing but the downed grass to show where she had disappeared. I clutched my gun, yanking it out of my holster and moving back towards the jet. Most of the soldiers were situated in the camp, most likely settling in for dinner. It was late afternoon, and the sun had turned orange as it descended through the sky.

Behind me, shouts began erupting through the camp. Crashes echoed across the space between myself and the camp, and I knew it had everything to do with Max. Gunfire was quick to follow the uproar, bullets whizzing past just close enough to have me hunkering a little closer to the ground as I hustled back to the team.

A body hurled into me as I cleared the grass, a knife raised before I threw my hand up to block their assault. I twisted away and raised my gun only to be met with another drawn to my eye level.

"What the hell, Barnes!" Natasha's exasperated voice let out a breath as she dropped her gun. "I could've blown a hole straight through you!"

I lowered my own, "Says you."

Natasha swiveled her head around behind me, "Where's Lover Girl? Did you ditch her?"

I couldn't help but notice the hint of a smile on her face, but I brushed it off. "No, Max is-." Someone screamed somewhere behind me, and I pursed my lips as it came to an abrupt stop. "She's cleaning up the camp."

Natasha's brows rose, "Why are you back then?"

"Coms are down. Max said it was a trap and we fell right into it. We searched the whole area and didn't find any sign of the scepter. It was a setup." I holstered my gun and ducked as another stray bullet fired. The shots had died down significantly in the last ten minutes, a sure sign Max was making quick work of the place. "We need to regroup with the rest of the team."

Natasha nodded but tilted her head back towards the camp. "What about her?"

Max's words rung in my head, 'I don't need you.' Like she'd meant every word of it. I shrugged, stalking away. "She can handle herself. She doesn't need me."

Natasha, surprisingly, didn't push any more about it as we both rushed back towards the jet. Rain had begun to fall against the ground, adding onto the chorus of agony growing louder behind us. The angry shouts had molded themselves into desperate screams, pleas for mercy. I knew there wouldn't be any. Max was an executioner, and there was no mercy for people like Hydra.

Natasha and I finally made it back to the jet to find Tony tinkering with a hologram and arguing dramatically with his AI. His helmet sat on one of the seats of the Quinnjet and his arms waved around, swiping through the multiple displays and pressing his finger to his com. "Dammnit!" Tony swiped up on his hologram and ran a frustrated hand through his hair before he turned to find the two of us. Relief swept over his face, "Thank God you two are alright. Comms went down fifteen minutes in, and I haven't been able to get ahold of anyone. I think we will have to get up in the air-- where's Max?" He swiveled his head behind us as he asked, searching for her.

I grit my teeth, "Max found out that Comms went down, and she sent me back to regroup. The camp and signal were a trap, the scepter wasn't there. We checked everywhere."

Tony just stared at me for a long moment, letting the sound of distant gunfire and screams envelope us. His lip curled in a frown when he finally spoke, "You just left her?"

"She said she didn't need me." It was a poor excuse, but it was true.

Rage flickered in his eyes as he stepped forward, but before he could spew any accusations he was interrupted by the jarringly kind voice of Friday. "Mr. Stark, Max's vitals are showing signs of severe injury."

All of us froze and Tony whipped around to snag his helmet off the chair. "What injury? What happened?"

Just as the AI was about to answer, an explosion blasted from behind us and sent us all ducking for the grass. I watched as pillars of black smoke rose into the air, listening to the rush of fire in the distance. There were no more screams. An awful, vile scent filled the air, and we all slapped a hand over our noses. I knew that smell. I had smelled it all those weeks ago on that mission with her when the flames had raged and torn over flesh and water alike. Flames rose higher, and I watched Tony jog closer to get a better view of the damage.

I followed him, flinching as the strength of the smell increased as we got closer. A shining shield caught my eye as Steve appeared from the other side of the camp, Clint not far behind him. Thunder clapped and lightning followed a speck falling from the sky before Thor whipped around and landed smoothly against the dirt a few feet from the rest of us. The team's faces all resembled some variations of shock, worry, and caution. Tony looked desperate for the most part, his eyes frantically searching the flames.

From somewhere in the blaze, someone shouted. It was Russian from what I could hear, and another voice replied in a tone much more desperate. A shadow moved within the fire, and we all gripped our weapons. Something was chucked out of the flames, falling hard to the dirt and shouting again. A person.

They scrambled in the dirt before another silhouette stepped through the wall of fire that had wrapped itself around the camp in an angry red. The person on the dirt nearly got to their feet before the second one stepped on their leg while they patted out the flames threatening to set them alight.

The person on the ground screamed, deep and guttural. "You bitch!" The words fell from his lips in a heavy accent.

Max's mask hung from her belt and dirt and blood smeared her face. In one of her hands hung a bottle of liquor with the cork missing. Her eyes stayed solely on the man before her. "You should watch your tongue, or I might just lose my patience."

The man laughed bitterly, "You won't kill me, I am valuable."

Her leg sank deeper into his flesh, and he yelled out again. "I think you overestimate your value. I'll find what you're hiding with or without some measly, low-level agent. Having you tell me would just make my job much easier."

I watched the man's eyes widen at the sincerity in her tone and the broad, animalistic smile she wore. I shivered at the sight of it too.

His voice seemed to have raised an octave as he dug his elbows into the dirt in order to try and further the distance between them, "You're not as strong as you once were, you even bleed now." He nodded towards the blood leaking from a gash on her forehead.

This didn't seem to bother Max much as she ran a bloodied hand through her hair to push it out of her face. "Still strong enough to take down your little camp and steal you away though, aren't I? Still the biggest threat Hydra has to face." She bent down and gripped his collar as she began dragging him towards the jet. "I'll heal. Anything I do to you, won't. Not in the short amount of time you have left to live, anyways."

His hands clawed at her arms as she trudged through the grass, growing closer to us all with every step. She winced with each breath she took and drank several swigs from the bottle she clutched in her hand. Max only dropped the man once she cleared the grass, making sure to shove him between her and the rest of us so there was no easy escape route.

She took in every one of us with cold eyes, "Glad you're all in one piece." Her gaze snapped to the man clutching his mangled leg between us, observing him like prey. The bottle in her hand swung from side to side. "Found their stash and used it to destroy the camp. This one hinted at knowledge of the scepter's whereabouts while I was hard at work so I figured we could interrogate him. He could be lying, but it's worth a shot." She took another swig from the bottle, turning to Tony. "Your call Stark, say the words and I'll make it clean."

Tony's eyes flickered between her and the hostage, tugging his lip between his teeth in concentration. I raised a brow at him, because of course he couldn't be considering her request. Of course not, because that wouldn't make us much better than them. We maim and kill now, thanks to Max, and with every mission she was assigned we bloodied the Avengers name a little more.

"Tony," Steve warned.

Tony held up his hand, "Cuff him and strap him in next to you, Max."

She followed his orders immediately, tossing the bottle away and hauling the man up the platform and into the Quinnjet as he kicked and spewed insults at her.

The minute she was gone, Steve dove into an argument with Tony. "Are you going to let her burn everyone she wants, whenever she wants, like a psychopath, or are you going to have her put in a cell where she belongs?"

Stark's eyes blew wide in anger as he marched right up to Steve's face. "She got us intel that we need in order to keep people safe. Those people down there were Hydra, in case you've forgotten, and I'd be happy to let her burn however many of them she wants. Max is not a psychopath, she's one of us."

Steve scoffed, "Open your eyes, Tony! She's a murderer!"

Tony's arm snapped up to point at me, "So is he! We let him walk around without chains or a muzzle, so why should we make her? He was waltzing around claiming she was innocent months ago, what changed? And now the two of you are gunning for her." Silence sank its claws into all of us as he held us both with a condescending stare. "Get in the jet, we can duke it out like children back at the tower." With that, he stalked away and left the two of us simmering in anger.

"I can't believe him!" Steve muttered, "He was all for locking her up the second you brought her to that tower and now he can't see anything clearly."

I nodded silently, feeling a simper of anger roiling in my veins. Steve was right, he couldn't see what she was. He couldn't see the way she looked at people, how she hunted them and mauled them like an animal. Genetically modified or not, she was still a person, and she should act like one.

I lead the charge back to the Quinnjet where the others had already taken their seats. Max had strapped the man up two seats away from her and clamped thick metal cuffs around his wrist. She had left his leg mangled and sticking to the side, not bothering to fix it. With each shake and tremble of the jet the man groaned and whimpered. Still, she sat there, face as blank as the mask at her hip.

I took in her bloodied face, the smears of fingerprints like someone had grabbed at her neck and cheeks. The gash on her head still trickled blood and she pressed a firm hand on it to try and prevent what she could from slipping between her fingers. The other hand held her side where the red fabric had darkened a shade or two from the blood seeping through from the inside. Tony came out of the cockpit moments after takeoff to examine her wounds.

He wrapped a bandage around her head, securing it behind her ear as best he could. He ordered her to remove the top of her suit next, and she grumbled something under her breath that earned her a harsh glare. She didn't say too much after that and did as he asked. I watched as she tugged the fabric down her arms, my eyes widening at the bruises littering her skin. Max never had bruises. They couldn't last, not with her healing. Which meant that...

"Shit, you're not healing." Tony's voice echoed my thoughts as he leaned over to examine the obvious angry skin. "Why aren't you healing?"

She attempted to shrug but halted with a wince as she clutched her side once more. "'M’tired is all."

"Max." Tony gave her a sharp look to which she just shrugged again, further frustrating him. His chest heaved in a breath, and he pressed a hand to his brow, smoothing out the wrinkles forming on his forehead. "Show me your side."

"It's nothing." Her tone was unusually defensive. "It will heal."

"If it hasn't already, something is wrong so let me see it." The bite in Tony's words was rearing its head and Max heard it too, I could see it in the way her mouth thinned, and her brows tugged together. She knew it was a losing battle.

Slowly, she continued to unzip her uniform until the fabric pooled around her waist and the wound was exposed for us all to see.

Infection was the first word I thought as I took in the yellow tinted scabs that had pulled away from the skin around her ribs. It was bruised there too, the hues of purple and green adding to the irritated red lining the wound. Every time she breathed, she winced, and the scabs stretched and cracked further. It was ugly, and it should have been treated the moment she noticed it.

But she hadn't.

Tony threw his arms up. "What the hell were you thinking coming on a mission with a wound like that? You should be seeing our medical team! They said it was healed!"

Max's features schooled themselves into a calm indifference. "I am just healing slower than normal, it's nothing to worry about."

Tony threw a pointed finger towards her, and his voice dripped in anger, "That's bullshit and you know it. Why the hell aren't you healing?"

Her eyes burned in warning as she held his eyes, "I've been dealing with a lot."

A loaded answer if I had ever heard one. But I knew... I knew what she had meant. I tried to keep her out of my head, tried to forget her and force her away from me. But the harder I tried, the more I was aware of her. The few times I glimpsed her in the hallway and noted the hint of bruises under her eyes, the way her figure didn't fill out her uniform the way it once had, or the way her smile hid from everyone no matter how many jokes they cracked.

Tony didn't press any more, but he did turn to retrieve the small med kit stored under the pilot's chair and fished out the supplies to fix what he could. "You're grounded until you've healed, and I want you to visit Banner down on the cell level the second we touch base. He might be able to figure something out with your healing."

Max gaped at him, "I am perfectly capable of attending missions, I proved it today."

"You are not capable, and you won't step foot on another mission until you've had a full physical under observation." The tone of finality bounced off the walls of the jet as we all avoided the burning look she held him with.

No one dared to talk, and I finally was able to tear my gaze from their spat to stare at the floor instead. My mind wandered back to the way he had defended her, how he had asked what had happened even though I had filed a clear and detailed report to him the following afternoon. I wondered if he had even deemed it worth reading. I knew Tony still held me accountable for his parents' death, and he had every right too, but that didn't give him the right to ignore the facts we were presenting him with especially if it has anything to do with the teams' safety. He had said so many times himself.

I made a note to discuss the matters with him as soon as we landed. Until then, I leaned myself back against the backrest of the chair and kept quiet like the rest of the team. Even the man Max had dragged aboard didn't dare break the silence.

_____

The distinct scent of New York air entered my senses the moment the jet hanger hit the landing pad, finally back at the tower after the agonizingly quiet ride in a cramped jet. The tension had held the whole way back. Steve was livid, and Natasha and Clint actively avoided anyone's eyes to avoid setting anyone off. I hardly glanced at Max as I stared at the floor all the way home. The only noise other than the silence was the man's whimpering and Max's low, quiet curses with each jostle of the jet.

Tony had practically shoved her in the direction of the medical bay, demanding that she gets attention before she goes down to see Banner. She went with nothing more than a weak nod. The others gathered their gear and stumbled tiredly to the hanger. We all needed sleep, but few of us would get any either because of the mission or the paperwork that was sure to follow.

I watched as Steve took the liberty of ushering the Hydra Agent to the cell floor, giving me a nod in goodbye as I gathered my own things and headed out not long after him. Tony stood not far from the jet discussing something with Thor who kept looking over at the med wing. I ground my teeth, trying to shake off the dark feeling that always rippled through me at the looks he cast towards... towards her. Tony finished whatever he was saying to Thor and let him leave, and I wasn't surprised at all when he hustled off towards Max.

Tony folded his arms over his chest and turned towards me with a long sigh. "What do you want, Barnes?"

I dropped my bag, "I want to talk to you about the last mission Max and I were on with Natasha. Did you read my report?"

"I read both of your reports." He turned his shoulder and began walking away. "What is this about?"

I hustled after him, frustrated by his nonchalance, "It's about the safety of this team and the risk you're putting us all in by keeping Max here. Especially concerning the safety of the public."

Tony scoffed, the sound bouncing off the glass walls and rattling in my ears. I flexed my hands to keep my anger at bay as he slipped into the elevator and he turned to reply, "There isn't a risk. I wouldn't put her on the team if there was. I'm insulted you and Captain Ass-merica think that I would do that to this team."

I shoved through the closing doors to stand beside him. "Are you that blind?" I threw a hand wide, "She burned a whole town, Tony! I watched her do it! She fried the innocents just so she could kill a squadron of Hydra Agents! You don't think that's dangerous? That's mass murder! We went to war for that, and now you're just going to let her do the same thing with no repercussions?" My chest rose and fell rapidly as the anger trembled inside of me, lashing out.

Tony stormed out of the elevator into the floor it had stopped on. I recognized it as his main lab from the main computers and displays of his suits lining the wall. I followed him, staying right at his heels. He shoved a chair out of the way and yelled out to the AI.

"Yes Mr. Stark?"

He gripped the counter where holograms danced above his head, "Bring up the surveillance footage."

Immediately, the holograms warped to display a large screen panning over the valley where I had been only weeks prior. I remembered the damage clearly, the downed tower, the bodies littering the ground and the burnt grass and houses all flooded in the events of the mission. On the screen though, people were bustling around with repair equipment and trucks hauling boxes and trucks labeled with 'Stark Industries' across the side in bold black letters. I watched as it flipped to show from a body cam, a man helping out a family repaint the side of their house and laughing merrily about something he said.

Tony spoke quietly from beside the picture. "She really didn't tell you?" When I didn't reply, Tony kept going. "Max came to me late the same day of the mission and begged me to send help to the valley. She told me what happened on the mission, but she left out the spat you two had. She told me that she got everyone she could out of that valley before she brought that tower down. She went into those people's houses and demanded that they called everyone they knew and tell them to get as far out of town as they could and avoid the water. She got them out, and not a single casualty was civilian."

I felt my heart still, every word he said hit my heart like sharp shards of glass. "What?"

His voice was low and tired, but sincere. "Max made sure the people were safe before she brought down the tower. The only people she killed were the ones trying to hurt them."

She hadn't killed civilians.

I planted my hand on the counter, mirroring Tony as my body wavered at his statement. I had accused her of killing those people. I had called her a killer, a heartless murderer that didn't care about anyone but herself and her stupid missions. She had let me too, let me yell and curse and spit at her in disgust. I remember her trying to cut in, to tell me something.

"Of course not, Bucky, no. I care about so much more and I-"

But I had cut her off, not allowing her to tell me any more lies. She hadn't been lying. The image of her crestfallen face plastered itself on the back of my eyelids as I clamped them shut to recall the memory.

She had tried to explain herself, but I was too selfish, too scared and betrayed to let her fill my head with anything other than what I believed to be true. She had my file; the one Hydra had compiled from all those years of my torture. Those were my worst days, and she had kept them. Probably read them too. I was so concerned about what she might know, too afraid that she would use what was in that file against me, that I hadn't let her explain what had happened just an hour before.

I let out a shaky breath as my chest threatened to suffocate me, "I called her a monster worse than me." I gasped, realization of what I had done to her sinking like a stone into my chest. I had hurt her. I had hurt her over and over because of my fear. I let myself insult and belittle her, to beat her on the sparring mats, because of my fear and my anger.

And she was innocent.

Tony couldn't fully understand the damage that single sentence had done to her, but the fact that I had said something so awful to her set his eyes ablaze in anger. "Fucking hell, Barnes. She's been tearing herself apart because of you."

He was right, I realized. It was like all the pieces clicked together in my head. She had stopped eating, I knew as much. I did it when I spiraled, it was a trauma response. Her healing relies on the intake of energy she gets, and without it she can't heal properly. I had heard Thor talking about her nightmares with Tony once, heard Natasha complaining about being woken up by her screams. Lack of sleep made sense too. Max took those missions recklessly because she was spiraling.

My eyes caught the swift movement of Tony's hand dragging through his hair, "Do you have any idea how much she cared about you? She talked to me when she would come in and work in the labs with me. She told me that she was so glad that you had lived, that you had gotten out even if it was without her. She had been planning an escape for you, did you know that?"

I didn't, and it hit like a hammer to my gut.

"All she ever wanted for you was happiness. That's what she told me." His grip on the counter turned his knuckles white. "Once, she told me about the things they did to her. It was awful to listen to, but I wanted to listen because she had never opened up before. Not like that, anyways. Max told me that you had defended her in there as the Soldier. Even after they wiped your mind, you would defend her over and over. You were the first person to ever show her an ounce of kindness. She grew up in that hell hole, and the first person to ever show her kindness was the Winter Soldier. What does that say?" He shook his head, and my eyes began to burn.

I was so sick with myself I thought I would hurl right then and there. The hatred I had for myself clawed at my mind, tearing me apart from the inside. What had I done? Panic clawed at my throat, threatening to choke the life out of my lungs but I forced myself to breath.

In the distance, the elevator chimed, and someone joined us. I couldn't focus on anything other than the feelings crashing around in my mind, couldn't escape the images of what I had done to her, and the pain written on her face. Someone as kind as her, who had only ever experienced harsh unrelenting hatred until an emotionless killer showed her kindness, didn't deserve anything but happiness for the rest of her life.

I stood on unsteady legs, turning to take the elevator down to the cell level when the lights shut off and swathed the lab in darkness. My eyes snapped to Tony, adjusting to the dark. "What's going on?"

Tony spun around just as the security bars slammed down over the windows to the outside of the building. They clicked into place a moment later. I found Tony's form again as another voice spoke in the dark, "Is this some kind of test run, Stark?"

I recognized the voice from the night at the themed dance, his voice sending tremors of distaste through me. "What are you doing here, Rumlow?"

I caught the shrug of his shoulders out of the corner of my eye, "It's my job to keep tabs on the Avengers while Hydra operations are running high. I'm in for a report on today's mission."

Tony called out to Friday, but the AI didn't reply. He tried once more, but it still resulted in silence. My nerves began to rattle as he cursed under his breath, "Something's wrong."

"What do you mean something's wrong?" Rumlow turned around in a circle, "The electricity went out, why is it such a big deal?"

Tony shot him a distasteful look, "My AI system operates on a separate power source, and she shouldn't go out with the rest of the building. I made sure of it." He marched towards the computer at the table and tapped it a few times. "Computers are down too. This was intentional. We need to contact the rest of the team before-“

A voice crackled overhead, and we all reeled around in a circle to locate the source, only to have it crackle again. "-rk! Mr. St-k! Hy- trated th- ding! Hydra!"

I felt my heart drop to the bottom floor as my brain processed her garbled words. Alarm bells were ringing then, loud enough to send me hunkering with my hands clamped over my ears.

Rumlow bellowed over them, "What the hell is going on?"

"We're under attack!" Tony threw out his arm, his suit crashing out of its container and flying through the air from across the room to clamp around his body. "Hydra is in the building and I bet they've hacked the system." He viciously attacked a keypad on one of his arms before a display popped up with the tower levels labeled. The cell level was red. "They're on the cell floor."

Something wild awoke inside of me, "Max is on the cell floor."

I shoved past Rumlow as my body moved on its own, slamming my fingers into the elevator doors and prying them apart with all my strength. The elevator was nowhere in sight, and the elevator shaft was dark and cold. I reached out to snag one of the suspension wires and clung to it, taking it as far down as it went before my legs hit the top of the elevator. I pried the doors open, sending a silent thanks up to whoever watched us as I realized it had a stairway. The hum of Tony's jets followed down the elevator shaft as he made his way after me. The alarms still blared throughout the building, but I could only hear the roar of the pulse in my ears as I stormed the stairwell.

Tony flew down the center as I took them four at a time, launching myself over the railing when I was close enough to the bottom. Shouts echoed from the cell floor and the scrape of metal on metal grated through the air.

The second my feet hit the ground, I was gunning for the door where Stark was firing up his cannon and aiming it at the door. The lock kept us from entering, but the panic threatening to consume me drove me into violence. I slammed my boot into the door over and over until the locking mechanism snapped with a sharp crack. I rushed into the room to catch the scene unfolding just across the room, Tony quick on my heels.

Our prisoner had escaped, his mangled leg rested on the floor as he clutched a gun in his hand and a radio in the other. He let the gun fall back to his side as he whipped his head around, a sickening smile spread over his face and his eyes wild. My attention snapped to Max, scanning her for any injuries other than those she had from the mission. No blood, so I moved to Natasha who stood a few feet towards her who stood stock still with her eyes latched onto Bruce. I dragged my eyes over him too and found the source of their attention. A dart stuck out of his side as a silver liquid drained into him.

He stared at it in horror, his brows pinching and his hands shaking as he hastily pulled it out of himself and let it clatter to the floor before he looked back up. Our eyes met, and the fear he held on his face was the same mirrored in my own when I knew something I couldn't control was about to happen. When my body would betray me and there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it.

It took me seconds too long to move, to shout, before the brown of his eyes flickered green and his ferocious, rattling roar tore through the room.

And the cell slammed shut to cage Natasha and Max in with him.

Tags<3

@calwitch / @blackbirdwitch22 / @hzdhrtss / @imdoingathingmom / @cjand10

[frostwing213]

I keep getting a lot of Elain stuff popping up on my dash. Mostly about shipping, and I'm like:

How'd this girl end up in a love triangle????

People are very opiniated too, fighting over and making essays about it. There's Elain/Az and Elain/Lucien (There's also Az and Gwen, but I understand how Az got in a love triangle.)

I'm just, struggling to care. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate Elain, I just find her kinda boring. She doesn't do much. She feels like that classic fairytale princess that looks pretty and sad in a tower.

Off the top of my head, these are things that define her (Without being linked to men, becase I'm not there yet. Plus, a female character should be able to stand on her own without the men in her life)

She gardens and is primiarily associaed with flowers

Pretty

Nice

Weak

She kinda killed the king of Hyburn

Didn't want to be a fae

kinda wishy washy

Achreon sister

Quiet

Her sisters want to protect her

Future seeing powers

And I'm out of ideas. From my point of view, she doesn't have any discernable personality. Her three major defining things when people think of her are: Pretty, flowers, soft.

She doesn't act for herself, she doesn't speak up. She goes with what happens and gets sad when she doesn't like it. (Becoming a fae was traumatic, and I understand her reaction, but I don't really like it. AND I HAVEN'T EVeN TOUCHED ON THE GREYSON[was that the human dude's name???]THING YET!)

So, when the books start, early ACOTAR. Archeron sisters are in the woods. Feyre is the only one doing something to support the family. Who is Elain in this book? Pretty gardener. Delicate. She isn't doing anything. Some can argue Nesta isn't either, and as a Nesta Supremist, I have to say she was willing to get married to someone cruel to make it easier on her family, and although that isn't much, it's still something. What does Elain do in this book? Be pretty. Please, someone give me an example of Elain doing something constructive and I will edit it in. Please.

Moving on. Next book. She... hosts the house along with Nesta. Oh! She's engaged to a fae hating guy (Who i think is named Greyson. I can't remember and I'm currently loaning out my 2nd and 3rd book, so I can't check rn). Uh.... I don't remember if she does anything else until the end, where she is captured and dumped in the caldron. We find out Lucien is her mate. EDIT!: As @devi1sange1 pointed out to me, Elain did stand up to Nesta about using their house as a meeting spot for the queens. She also takes responisblty for how they treated Feyre. 2 points for Elain. I give her those

She shows up more after that, so I'm not doing book by book, but she gets dumped fast by her fiancé and hangs out in the house of wind, being very sad. I almost wanna describe her as floaty, because she's acting like a ghost, just existing and mourning what is gone. This is a vaild response, and I understand why she responds this way, it just annoys me because she has not shown any autonomy so far. Anything. I think I remember her asking her ex-fiance to take in humans, but that was after being pushed by the inner circle. Uh... she gives a few prophecies, yay that. When the fighting starts, she stays on the sidelines, which I don't blame her for. She kinda kills the king of Hyburn. I think that's all she does in that.

After that. What does she do? Other than hang around??? I DON'T KNOW!

Elain shows no real drive! She exists and sometimes does stuff to push the plot!

Now onto the (possible) romantic interests she has.

Greyson: Uhhhhh, they like each other. She likes her because she's sweet and pretty. I didn't catch anything else between these two. Uh, he dumps her as soon as she's fae and she gets depressed over it

Lucien: Mating bond. She doesn't like him, I get it. He tries to back off. I think Lucien acts responsibly in this situation. Elain is at no fault in this situation either. Mating bonds don't always pair up the most romantic pair, and it doesn't always work out well. Honestly, I never saw much chemistry between these two, and if not for the bond, they likely would have forever ignored each other.

Azriel: (Random, but I searched him up on tumblr because I couldn't remember how to spell his name, and WOW, there's a lot of Azriel x reader. Yall really 'like' him) How, just how did this become such a popular ship? I never even caught this on my read through. Yeah, Az is nice to her, but he's nice to anyone considered friendly. He's just as nice to Feyre and I don't see anyone shipping those two. I just... don't get it. Is it because we want the sisters paired up with the bat boys? Is that it?? I don't understand. I see no chemistry. It's just two people being nice to one another guys.

I think those are the major ones. I don't understand any of them. Lucien and Az are such powerful charters, while Elain is... 'pretty flower girl'.

I don't hate her, but she kinda annoys me with how much crazines she's getting with people shipping her. Wanna know what i think would be great? She ends up with no one romantically. She has friends, just no romantic partner and that is perfectly fine. Lucien will live. If there's nothing between Az and Gwen, then Az will live.

To wrap up, I find Elain to be a pretty boring charter, I just feel indifferent towards her. I love the other two siblings, but I feel like Elaine could have been improved.

Feel free to talk to me about this! Throw out your own opinions! Give me edvince that supports or opposes any of my points! Correct me on stuff and ignore my spelling!

I love a good debate! Give me one! Please.

Interact with me.

Edit!: Thanks for interacting! I swear I'm reading everything! I just didn't expect this to blow up so fast!

Another edit: Thanks yall for interacting! I'm really enjoying reading the responses and what people hope to see coming from Elaine in the future!

[rorywritesjunk]

There's no race, no ending in sight

(because I fixate on things. pg-13 rating. title comes from "two of us on the run" by lucius)

pt 1 + pt 2 + p3 + p4 + pt 5 + p6 + pt 7 +Pt 8 + Pt 9 + Pt 10 + Pt 11 + Pt 12 + Pt 13 + Pt 14 + Pt 15 + pt 16 + Pt 17 (End)

Pt 1

"If your way doesn't work then we sell the clown."

Sunny could only shrug as she looked up at her husband towering over her, cigar between his teeth, the smoke lingering in the air with each puff. She hated the smoking and he knew that, but she always found ways to get the smell out of their clothes.

"I don't really care either way." Was her response as she reached up to adjust his cravat. There was never anything wrong with it when she did this, it just became a nervous habit after being married to him for so long. "I don't even know who he is. He may kill me if I speak to him."

Crocodile chuckled softly, removing the cigar from his mouth long enough to give her a smoky kiss which has her flinching. She hated that he did that. She could taste it. Once she tried one of his cigars early into the marriage but made the mistake of inhaling it. She was sick all night but he at least held her hair back and brought her water.

It was... A marriage. For Sunny it wasn't happy or horrible, just neutral. They met when she was a young apprentice, not even twenty yet, and he wanted a wife. A promise to let her see the world, a gentle threat to her livelihood should she deny him. She was young and scared but she went along with him, not wanting anyone to get hurt.

While he never raised a hand or his voice to her, Sunny had been terrified of him until he went to prison. She knew what he was capable of, saw it plenty of times in how he treated others.

"He knows to expect you." Crocodile continued as he raised his hook up to her face, stroking it against her cheek. The cold metal caused her to shudder and she closed her eyes for a moment. There was always a moment of concern when he did that, what if it slipped and cut her? "Why aren't you wearing the clothes I bought you? He'd be sure to listen to you then."

"They're too tight." Sunny told him as she opened her eyes. Her choice of clothes were overalls and a T-shirt with a cute bunny on it. Comfortable and practical. "And Mihawk talked about starting up a garden and I asked if I could help. I couldn't wear a form fitting dress to dig a hole."

"My wife shouldn't be getting her hands dirty like that." He sighed as he took hold of her hand in his, raising it up to press a kiss to the back of it. "There are others who could do that work."

"That may be, but I like to do it." She replied firmly. "Besides, you don't want to deny your wife her happiness, do you?"

It wasn't often she said those words, your wife, because after losing him to prison she felt free, no matter how short of a time it has been. She managed to convince the ones who arrested him that she had been innocent, unaware of what he had been up to this entire time. There were so many tears, claims that she was just the wife, she spent her days doing very little and was completely unaware of what he had been up to and what his plans were!

It worked. She got away, seeking refuge on a ship to be dropped off elsewhere. She had a little money to get by, starting up her own shop for special clothing orders and alters. It worked out for her until Crocodile hunted her down.

"I would never." He assured her, pressing another kiss to her hand. "Take your time with that clown. If he doesn't agree then let me so so I can take care of him."

"Agreed." Sunny replied as she stepped back. "Don't do anything to him until I say, however. If he's as pathetic as you say it may take me a while."

"I trust you to get the job done."

"I know you do." She managed a smile. "I'll come back when I'm done."

He knew she would come back. Where else on the island would she go? He pulled her back over to him, cupping her face with his hand before giving her a kiss. She managed not to pull away or make a face, returning the gesture even before pulling back.

"I'll be back."

~

An actual circus tent greeted her. It... It was nice to see. Sunny remembered going to a circus as a child with her parents. They saved up to take her and it was magical. The animals, the performers, everything! She remembered feeling the heat from the fire breathing and how loud the lion roared.

It didn't disappoint when she went in. There was a lion, fat and scruffy as he helped himself to some food. There were some performers, cleaning the area up. Middle of the day there wasn't much to expect but Sunny still thought it was neat to see.

"Hey! We aren't open!" Someone shouted from the arena. Blue hair, red nose, wearing turquoise pants and a striped shirt. That had to be the clown that owed her husband money.

"You're open for me." She shot back as she made her way over to him. His jaw dropped. Who would speak to him in such a way?

"Listen, baby, I don't know who you are but you can't walk into the tent like this."

"Baby?" Sunny repeated, amused by this. "I don't know, my husband lets me do what I want."

"Yea? Who's your husband?" He asked, making a face as he looked her over. "Listen, baby, sweetheart, whoever you are, I don't have time to entertain some looky-loo. I'm waiting for someone, okay?"

"Oh, and who are you waiting for?" She asked curiously. "Someone important, I imagine?"

Buggy looked her over with a sneer. "Not that it concerns you, but I'm meeting some wife of Sir Crocodile. You're distracting me so go away."

"Oh, you're the one I'm supposed to talk to?" Sunny feigned innocence. "I didn't think you'd be so mean to me..."

"The one..."

Buggy's eyes bugged out, his body split into pieces before coming back together. He actually stood there, trading barbs with Crocodile's wife. He didn't know it was her! She looked nothing like he expected! He expected someone covered in jewels, shimmering outfits, expensive shoes! Not someone in pigtails wearing overalls. She looked like a farmer, not the wife of one of the most dangerous criminals in the world.

He... He was going to die.

[keepsmagnetoaway]

Marvel Team-Up 100 (December 1980)

Chris Claremont/Frank Miller & John Byrne

We've read a fair few issues of the long-running Marvel Team-Up and it's always an interesting time: now, for its 100th issue, we have the treat of it featuring X-Men (or, at least, X-Men-related characters) in both its main story and its back-up, both of which are striking and important stories.

In the first of them, the featured team-up is actually Spider-Man (yay!) and the Fantastic Four (boo!), but the story also introduces the silhouetted figure you can see here, initially seemingly as a villain.

If you're thinking "fuck, these layouts are good," then you're right: it's Frank Fucking Miller! We don't have time for Miller Discourse - I will literally never have time for Miller Discourse - but Miller here was at the beginning of his imperial phase, having just started drawind Daredevil and being on the point of taking over writing on it too, and his distinctively moody take on New York City is on display in this issue. This nightmare Deco tower, at a wildly expressionist angle, is purest Miller.

Anyway, I'm skipping over most of the action here because it's Reed Richards bullshit and I hate it, but I do want to talk about that mysterious new character: it's Karma, and she's got Issues.

A beautiful panel filled with politics: that's good comics, baby. It's important to say that there is also a fair amount of tone-deaf stuff about Asians in this issue - Karma's wider family feature and they're not exactly subtly depicted, especially the villainous members, who include Karma's evil twin brother.

And yet...this is 1980, the Vietnam War is a recent memory in the US, and along comes a complex, traumatized Vietnamese character, who evolves from villain to anti-hero to something like a full-on hero in the space of this single comic when - in a moment that's genuinely shocking, coming as it does in the middle of a fight in which Peter Parker and Ben Grimm seem to be competing to make the most wise-cracks - she kills and psychically absorbs her brother. This, I repeat, is our introduction to this character, her very first issue. Fucking hell.

And that's Karma! The story ends just after this, with her tentatively established as some kind of hero, but the reader is none the wiser about what's coming next for her: which was, as you probably know, an integration into the X-Men world and a gradual emergence as one of the most interesting and popular characters of that world (helped by the fact that she also eventually turns out to be gay, hell yeah). It's a hell of an introduction and a fascinatingly political story about the shadow of American imperialism, and it's then followed by this issue's back-up story, which is also powerfully political.

This is a Claremont/Byrne story, a little chaser after our farewell to him in the main book, and (despite the team behind it...) it's about Blackness. It's The One Where Storm and Black Panther Meet, And Also Apartheid South Africa Tries To Kill Ororo.

It's actually largely told, after the initial sequence, in a flashback to their first meeting, and I have tried and failed to work out how it's supposed to fit in with the backstory also depicted in the 2006 Storm series - I don't think they exactly line up, but the 2006 series does sort of reference and expand on this story, in particular by reusing Andreas 'The Bull' de Ruyter, the enjoyably repulsive Afrikaner villain.

In the present, it turns out, de Ruyter is still trying to kill them, and they get to defeat him all over again, and part ways in a bittersweet, ship-teasy moment (again, no idea how this fits into subsequent canon with them getting married and so forth, but, who cares).

This is a really remarkable issue, all told, and though it's all created by white men, and as ever there are some, shall we say, heavy-handed moments, but its use nevertheless of a Vietnamese heroine, her life ruined by American warfare, and of two Black heroes fighting an explicitly apartheid-supporting villain is pretty striking: on top of which, the art is outstanding. Great stuff! This is also the start of a run of half a dozen guest appearances and the like from this era that we're about to read, so let's hope the rest of them are this interesting.

[aita-blorbos]

AITA for trying to kill my evil(ish) symbiote?

For context, I (19F) am an adventurer. I come from a small town, but I really like to travel and fight and explore. Also for context, one of the gods in our continent's pantheon doesn't really exist anymore— they used to be a sentient entity like all the other gods, but wanted to become 'more' than that, so they gave up all of their conscious thought, emotions, stuff like that, and locked all that stuff away in a tower to basically become more of an omniscient force of nature, like a law of physics. That tower was in my small town, and a few years back, something messed up broke out and escaped from it. We've just been calling it the shadow.

So, my best friend (19F) and I had been adventuring around our town for a few years, and a couple times now, we'd been accosted by this shadow monster. It started two years ago. It had basically been jumping from body to body, surviving in the bodies of animals and random people and corrupting them to attack us. After a particularly dangerous mission out of town, I fought with it, and it promised to kill everyone I love before immediately darting away. I panicked and we raced back home, but it got there before we did, and it had attacked my dad and injured him really badly. A really powerful family friend at the time managed to fight it off, and as I got back, the shadow realized I had some pretty powerful associates and became interested in me, and decided it wanted me to be its host. So it jumped into one of my tattoos and, essentially, became a symbiote. For the most part, it just talked to me (it was a real asshole), but it also gave me powers that could make me fight better, and even brought me back up from the brink of death a few times. But it also used magic to charm me once when I didn't do what it said, and even took control of my body to help us win a really brutal fight. I learned that what it wanted was to build itself a body of its own. Since it was basically made up of all the parts of a god that it didn't want and was imprisoned in a tower for what felt like eternity, it had been through a lot and only really knew being cast off. We learned more about each other and were times it felt like we were even starting to bond. But it still hated me and I still hated it.

After we managed to save our town, both of us decided this arrangement couldn't work anymore, so the shadow offered two options: we could wait several years as it started to build a new body as the body incubated, or we could go on a trip to try and find it a new host. I did not want to wait that long, so we started to travel together. It took about a year, and to tell you the truth we sort of bonded a bit along the way! There were times when we would laugh and joke together, it saved me a couple times, I learned more about it. It seems like it just wanted to have a real body and be able to interact with the world more than anything else. But it still attacked my dad and hurt my friend and charmed me before. It's hard to forget that stuff. After months of traveling, I stowed away on a pirate airship, where I learned the captain was a witch who was going to die soon. This is where it gets a bit iffy: I knew she was going to die. Like, soon. So I tried to offer her as a host to the shadow, because I figured if she died, the shadow would probably die too. It turns out, it was listening in, and it knew she was dying too, so it got really hurt and offended that I was trying to kill it. It found a different host instead, and now things are really awkward between us. On one hand, I did try to deceive and kill it while it was in a very vulnerable position, and also tried to foist a malevolent shadow monster off on a dying woman. That's sort of bad. On the other, like, it is (was?) evil! And did all that bad stuff! And maybe it's better for the world that it's not alive? I don't know. I feel a bit guilty. AITA?

[aroaceleovaldez]

Hi, I recently read your post about the Tri/Nero kids and it was very interesting and I was wondering if it would be okay if I asked you about you headcanons/aus/lore about the Tri/Nero: Poseidon kid, Hephaestus kid and Cassius?? If that's not too much to ask about, no problem if it is.

[Post being referenced]

Of course! I'm hoping to eventually feature all these guys on @deadangelos, but it'd definitely be a ways away (cause there's gonna be like, at least 4 more major arcs before we get to Tower of Nero stuff there) and I don't know how much detail I'll be able to get into with these guys when I do get to start featuring them.

Anyways, just going in order:

The one labeled Poseidon I imagine is a particularly powerful son of Thetis, cause Nero probably wouldn't be able to get his hands on an actual Poseidon kid. He's probably like 10 or 11 or something - one of the younger Nero kids. As a Thetis kid he as mild hydrokinesis powers - probably not nearly as much as someone like Percy, but definitely enough to be impressive. He also might have the Curse of Achilles, just cause I think it's fun if that's a super common thing for Thetis kids. It's just Thetis' default - dunk your newborns in the Styx for extra security. Out of the Nero kids, he's probably closest to the one labeled Artemis (cause moon & tides) and is like, one of two of the Nero kids who is able to calm her down at all or that she's willing to hang out with much (the other being the Apollo kid). That's his big sis and she would probably kill and maim for him lots and lots.

Hephaestus kid is probably an actual Hephaestus kid, and one of the oldest Nero kids. He's definitely bffs with the Aphrodite kid and Nero just goes "Thematically appropriate! Continue as you were." I imagine Nero mostly leaves him alone/very intentionally pays him little mind and just kind of holes him up in his own little section of the building and the Heph kid is A-Okay With That. The less attention from Nero, the better. He probably narrowly avoided Nero considering throwing him off a building for mythological accuracy. Because he has a bit more freedom than some of the other Nero kids he definitely uses that to prepare machinations and is only like, one or two steps away from staging a coup at any moment (which is also definitely at least a little mythologically inspired - he dreams of getting Nero ensnared in his own throne and convincing all the kids to beat him up). He cares a lot about the other Nero kids and wants to help keep them safe.

Cassius i find very interesting cause I have two different directions I'll go with him - the first is that he's an actual son of Zeus and kind of marks the beginning of Big 3 kids being a semi-regular occurrence again, and no one knows who is mortal parent was. The second concept is that he's not only an actual son of Zeus, but also actually a third Grace sibling, because the entire thing with the Nero kids is that Nero stages their mortal parent(s)' deaths as accidents, which is perfectly in line with how we know Beryl Grace died (and it chronologically works with when we know Beryl Grace died). Plus, Apollo very consistently compares Cassius visually to Jason. Thalia and the quest of "wait how many long lost brothers do I actually have?" Anyways Cassius is just a little guy. Babey. I like to base him thematically around myths of infant/adolescent Zeus, cause that's severely underutilized territory. He's close to Meg and I think he also wants to be friends with the kid labeled Hera but she hates his guts cause Nero keeps trying to encourage them to be a duo but she just wants to do her own thing. He's probably also just generally on good terms with most of the Nero kids (he is babey how can you hate babey. Hera kid only hates babey because she is equally babey), particularly the other "Kronos kids" (besides Hera kid) (Hestia kid, Meg, Poseidon kid).

[magixfairyix]

Winx Club Pokemon AU (Trix's Pokemon)

Background information:

There are 8 gyms as usual, and the gyms/leaders are

Mirta and Lucy: Bug type gym leaders in the Cloud Tower area

Musa: Normal type gym leader

Bloom: Fire type gym leader

Aisha: Water type gym leader

Flora: Grass type gym leader

Tecna: Electric type gym leader

Stella: Flying type gym leader

Daphne: Dragon type gym leader

And...

As the person journeys into the Cloud Tower area there are three main enemies, each very skilled duel-type trainers

Darcy: Psychic and dark

Icy: Ice and steel

Stormy: Electric and ground

Also the Trix all have eveelutions cause they got them when they were children and raised them together while on their Pokemon journey smth smth I just need to excuse to add eeveelutions

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Darcy: Tried to go with an elegant/threatening vibe for her Pokemon

Umbreon (cause eeveelutions slay and I just had to)

2. Espeon (yeah it wasn't even a question of whether or not to give her both Espeon and Umbreon)

3. Malmar (pretty sure this is the only psychic/dark duel type Pokemon, but please correct me if I'm wrong. Also, Malmar has always been a favourite of mind so I had to)

4. Liepard (I was torn between either Liepard or Absol for Darcy, though Absol gives more Icy vibes even though it won't be one of her Pokemon cause Icy is an ice and steel duel-type trainer)

5. Zoroark (Zoroark's ability where it makes itself appear as one of the Pokemon in your party until its attack fits with Darcy's illusion powers in the show and all)

6. Musharna (I just felt like Musharna fits well. As well as that in the Pokemon database in Sword it says that "When dark mists emanate from its body, don’t get too near. If you do, your nightmares will become reality." Dream Pokemon that can make your life hell if you're an idiot? Sure why not)

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Icy: Tried to go with a "looks like could kill you and would kill you vibe"

Glaceon (cause eeveelutions and also ice type and whatnot)

2. Cloyster (this Pokemon as well as Steelix is Icy's attempt to round out her team's weakness for fire types. She'd send out Cloyster and Steelix to get rid of fire types, considering they are dual-type ice/water and steel/ground respectively. Aka, why she likely would hate Bloom in this au. And even though her team has big weakness she is skilled as hell, dedicated, and will fight like it)

3. Steelix (Eh, threatening. Round out some weaknesses)

4. Skarmory (It just seems like she'd have a steel bird)

5. Cryogonal (Pokemon that looks like an eldrich horror? That is Icy right there)

6. Froslas (Let me just quote some of its entries from Bulbagarden? Shall we? "It is thought to display its victims secretly after freezing them. It enjoys preying on handsome men climbing in the mountains," "Its favourite food is frozen souls," "There is a legend that Froslass will place curses on any men that misbehave," "-have been formed when the spirit and lingering regrets of a woman who was lost in the mountains possessed an icicle."

If this isn't Icy in Pokemon form I don't know what is.

°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°•°

Stormy: The vibe for her Pokemon is creatures that look like they shouldn't exist and are spawns of satan, and that gives the vibe of that 20-year-old dog someone in your family that is just begging for mercy.

Also, she likes doggos.

Jolteon (eeeeeevvvveeeluuutttions)

2. Dugtrio (It's cursed. Stormy doesn't know what's under it and doesn't ever want to know)

3. Manectric (Doggo. Looks scraggly as hell)

4. Gliscor (Literal spawn of satan. Uses it as the first Pokemon and most people just run away, like thank's for saving her energy)

5. Eelektross (Weird ass thing but she loves it)

6. Stunfisk (Even weirder thing, but it is her child. Next to Jolteon)

[blodgmonster]

Assassin's Blade reread commentary that no one asked for. Though my ACOTAR reread posts were mildly successful.

-- some people say NOT to start with Assassin's Balde, and yeah, it's not how I started when I read the series for the first time but...whatever?

The Assassin and the Pirate Lord

-- oh, God. She's SIXTEEN. She's a BABY.

-- Celaena getting a whiff of a breeze from Terrasen as she's prepping to free a bunch of slaves. Nice poetic touch.

-- Celaena and Sam freeing slaves and kicking Rolf's ass. We love to see it.

The Assassin and the Healer

-- so Yrene is really pronounced Irene? Wild. Though I shouldn't get started on the pronounations. Manon? Adarlan? Ashryver? I've been pronouncing them all wrong and have a hard time mentally correcting them. I'm attached to my mispronouncations by now.

-- Yrene has "absolutely ordinary brown hair". I thought she had rich, curly hair that was brown and golden??

-- Celaena's self-defense lesson is great. I want her to teach me. "Do NOT let them move you to another loaction."

-- "Celaena...prayed that somehow, years from now, Yrene Towers would return to this continent, and maybe, just maybe, heal their shattered world a bit." Prayer answered, babe

The Assassin and the Desert

-- I wish I had Celaena's confidence, swagger, and beauty.

-- "She was Celaena Sardothien, gods be dammed." Celaena seems to think like that often, sort of repeating her name. Is that, perhaps, because she is trying SO hard to forget her true name?

-- Ruhnn Mountains...Ruhn Danaan...interesting.

-- my inner horse girl LOVES the Asterion horses, which are clearly modeled after my beloved Arabians.

-- "Where do men find it in themselves to do such monstrous things? How do they find it acceptable?" GOOD QUESTION, ANSEL

-- The Master having her study animals is cool as hell.

-- it's kind of cool that Celaena is a stone cold bad ass AND a girly girl who loves shopping and make up and clothes.

-- "Oh, how vain can you BE?" Ansel is low key hilarious even as she tries to kill Celaena.

-- our first look at that bitch, gloriella

The Assassin and the Underworld

--God, Arobynn is such an ASS

-- Hello, Lysandra!!!

-- Celaena's suit is cool as hell. Very Black Widow.

-- Hello, Dorian and Chaol!

-- "Take my body home to Terrasen, Sam." AAAAHHHHH!!!

-- Sam and Celaena are so cute and good together. Chaol could never.

--Arobynn tricking her into aiding a slaver...God, I fucking hate him.

-- noooo, don't sell Kasida to that slaver bitch

-- and then he used her money to buy Lysandra's virginity. SCUM OF THE EARTH.

The Assassin and the Empire. Here we go....

-- the lavender soap....

-- oh, Sam...you poor, poor boy.

-- "Reality opened wide and swallowed her whole. She didn't move from the bed...She hated the world for continuing on." Oh, Celaena. Oh, hon. I've felt that way before.

-- Arobynn setting her up like this. This motherfucker.

-- "Arobynn STILL hadn't rescued her?" Babygirl, he PUT YOU IN THERE.

-- God...having to face the KING on top of all of this. The man who terrified her as a child, who destroyed her family, her home, and her life. God, imagine if he'd taken a closer look at her eyes. Would he have recognized her for who she was?

-- The white stag. THE LORD OF THE NORTH. Come to her in her darkest hour.

-- the breeze of Terrasen giving her the courage to stand. "She would go into Endovier. Go into Hell. And she would not crumble." THAT'S MY GIRL.

-- "My name is Celaena Sardothien...and I will not be afraid." * incoherent screaming *

[shiroandblack]

[TW: infanticide, suicide, mental instability]

I think one of the things that screw me up about Arlene Grace is what Rachel said to Baam about how he's not meant to be a hero, but a monster who will 'devour' everything. I know Rachel lies (as does almost every character in Tower of God, hahaha), however I don't think she's lying about Baam in this case.

Garam specifically told Baam that yes, Arlene was the one who 'brought him to this world', which I personally think refers to the Tower. She also explicitly tells him to never think of her as his mother, which if he is indeed the revived son of Arlene and V, is a very strange thing to say regardless of whatever is inhabiting it because the body that this Outside god (whether it is an artificial soul, or the Outside god themselves) is using is the body of Arlene and V's son.

I'm not defending the murder of a baby here, but I doubt that Zahard's main motivation for killing baby Baam is purely jealousy and rage over Arlene having a child with V. Because the thing is, Zahard let them live after the war. He let them get away, which is a pretty weird thing to do from a political standpoint.

When he finally did pursue them, it was to kill Baam. We don't know how he killed Baam, by that we don't know if there was an altercation between these three people (Arlene and V versus Zahard). But we do know whatever that this confrontation ended up with baby Baam dead and it seems like as soon as he killed Baam, Zahard basically yeeted and left Arlene and V alone. I think Baam's murder was a preventive measure, a 'if I let this kid grow strong and reach his full potential, he might just kill me' sort of situation.

Zahard seems to be a very reactive instead of active sort of ruler, he only really moves until he sees something threatening. He tries to kill Baam when he meets him again on the Hidden Floor, but even that is a pretty half-hearted attempt and he let Baam get away. He also says that he doesn't really understand what Baam is, and it seems like he wants to know what the heck Baam is before he kills him. I think that's obvious from the way he gives Traumerei free reign on what to do with Baam and how he let the other Great Warriors discuss what to do with Baam, and didn't immediately agree with Gustang's suggestion of another round of child murder.

I think everything in Arlene's diary needs to be taken with a pinch of salt, because it's definitely a biased point of view. Arlene strikes me as a pretty stubborn person, I mean she wanted to continue climbing and was willing to go to war with her former friends because they wanted to settle down instead (I do realise that it was probably a lot more complicated than that, but I'm working with the information we currently have). She also founded an organisation dedicated to killing them that still continues to this day. Alongside that, people from FUG consider places sacred because Arlene stayed there which is quite reminiscent to the way the 10 Great Families react to their Family Heads.

The circumstances surrounding V's death were also rather odd. Arlene was said to be mentally unstable by this point, she also tried to commit suicide several times but couldn't because of the immortality contract. Yet V is able to kill himself because 'he didn't make the immortality contract', we don't know enough about this contract to be able to define the limitations but we do know that Irregulars are able to bypass contracts. Coincidentally, Zahard and co are all Irregulars, so them being able to kill each other is a possibility.

Baam has a lot of 'messiah' symbolism attached to his character. Born on the 25th night, which I, like a lot of people think, is an allusion to Christmas. His weapons being the Thorn, like the crown of thorns. Baam being killed and then resurrected. Garam has omitted a crucial part of Arlene's tale, a part which she thinks will make Baam hate her for not telling him in the first place. Rachel is bitter and jealous, that's for sure, but I am inclined to believe her when she says to Baam that he is not meant to be the hero most people think he is. Arlene's intention to kill Zahard is made perfectly clear and Baam acknowledges that. I think Arlene's true end-goal is the very thing that Garam omitted, and it is most likely something heinous. And Baam will most likely be the one to commit the act.