#and i have no idea how many scars hector has

[arsbones-kw]

Old gays in love, that's what i like to draw

[johaerys-writes]

Where Blood Roses Bloom

Fandom: Castlevania  Pairing: Alucard/Trevor Belmont/Sypha Belnades

Summary:

After Trevor gets grievously injured by a night creature, he and Sypha return to Dracula's castle to seek Alucard's help. The man they find there, however, is but a shadow of the friend they left behind.

Meanwhile, in far Styria, Hector does his best to survive in the vampires' court, a lamb amidst wolves. Little do the wolves know, the lamb has fangs of its own.

Chapter 6: Wolf, is up! Where Alucard is SAD, and Trevor and Sypha are just trying to be good friends.

Read on AO3! Or read the story from the beginning

As soon as the door of his study closes firmly behind him, Adrian lets out a slow, shaky breath. The knuckles of the hand that is clutching his coat closed have gone white, and he forces himself to release it.

Belmont’s eyes on him. The horror that dawned on his face, when his gaze fell on the scars on Adrian’s skin. The worry.

The image keeps playing in his mind in a loop, and it makes Adrian’s stomach turn. Whatever satisfaction he gained from winning their duel now tastes like ash in his mouth. His eyes burn, his throat clenches with something that he can’t put to words. It is shame, and anger, and pain all wrapped into one; it is deep and visceral, woven in his bones. He detests that he feels so helpless and lost in its wake. He loathes that his scars are out there for everyone to see, branded on his skin. But most of all, he absolutely bloody hates the look of sympathy and care that flashed in Belmont’s eyes when he saw them.

He didn’t mean for Belmont to see… that. He didn’t even intend to see him, to speak with him, let alone spar with him. He tried to get away from him, but the man’s persistence is legendary. There’s something about him, something… that makes Adrian feel subjected to his will. Like there’s something drawing him. That makes him want to be around him.

It makes no sense. None, considering that it’s Belmont he’s thinking about, who never wastes an opportunity to get under his skin. That always teases and nettles and insults him, even when he’s trying to thank him for saving his life.

But the look in his eyes, when he saw the scars…

Adrian clenches his jaw and rubs his eyes, just to brush the memories away, those that seem to be burnt behind his eyelids. There’s no use thinking about them, not anymore. He wearily pushes off the door and makes his way to the window. The room is exactly as he left it, the book he was reading left open on the table, and the embers still crackling in the hearth, but there’s nothing comforting about it now. Even this space, the only place in the entire castle that he has managed to make his own, feels foreign to him now, like it’s slipping out of his grasp.

Like everything else, he thinks before he can stop himself, and the thought stings.

He takes his coat off and tosses it over the back of the sofa. As he does that, his wrists are exposed, and the scars on them, and Adrian jerkily pushes the fabric down. He reaches for the bottle of rich brandy on the table and pours himself a drink to calm his nerves. It burns as it glides down his throat, but Adrian welcomes the burn. His heart that stops banging against his chest as if it wants to claw out of it is a welcome change. He leans back on the sofa, and stares at the ceiling.

So what if Belmont saw, what if he knows, what if he cares? It matters not. Nothing does. His past is a burden that only he is meant to carry.

~

The sun is dipping lazily towards the west, painting the frozen winter sky golden and pink. Fluffy white snowflakes are falling languidly, swirling with the wind beyond Adrian’s window. The winter is almost over, yet the last of the storms have not died out just yet.

The crackling of the fire and the soft whisper of the charcoal on the paper are the only sounds in the room as Adrian is drawing in his sketchbook, perched on the windowsill. Drawing has always been a way for him to pass the time, something to take his mind off anything that troubled him. The glass of the window is cool against his skin. He presses himself closer against it, and lets out a slow exhale.

No matter how hard he tries, no matter how many hours he spends sketching, that deep, uneasy feeling refuses to go away.

Ever since walking away from that training room, leaving Belmont behind, his stomach has been twisted in a knot. Every second of their duel keeps playing in his mind, over and over, even when he tries to stop it. It’s like a thorn, sharp and insistent, burrowing deeper the more he tries to pluck it out. The deeper it sinks... the more persistent other thoughts become.

Belmont, teasing him, sneering at him. Following him around like an annoying, buzzing fly.

Belmont, laughing as he slashes at him with his sword, his dark bangs falling over his eyes. The fluidity of his movements, the power. A man this big should not be so agile, god damn him.

Belmont, hovering over him. His body, so close to his. The weight of him, holding him down. His fingers, firmly gripping his wrist. The scent of him, that deep musky scent, filling Adrian’s nostrils. The thrum of his pulse right under his skin, so warm, so near that he could almost smell it, taste it.

His lips, on his own.

“God," he whispers, wincing, "what was I thinking." He lets out a groan and lets his head fall back against the stone wall behind him.

In truth, he isn’t sure he was thinking. There are a million different ways he could have escaped Belmont’s grip, a million excuses he can conjure to justify doing what he did, but none of them seem good enough.

He could have pushed him off him by force. Belmont wasn’t even holding him that tightly. He could have used his free hand to punch him back, and in his condition, Belmont would have been lifted easily.

But what if Adrian hurt him, made his injury worse?

He could have teleported, then, as he threatened he would do. He could have disappeared and reappeared behind him, pressed his blade against his vulnerable throat and win the match in the blink of an eye.

But wouldn’t that have meant cheating, as Belmont said? If there’s one thing Adrian would never do, is lower himself to Belmont’s level. In battle, everything’s allowed, but certain things he still refuses to do. The simple distraction he used is far better than attempting to stab someone in the back, even if it's a friendly bout.

So, really, that was his only option. Wasn’t it?

Adrian closes his eyes with a sigh. He doesn’t want to think about it anymore. He doesn’t want to think about Belmont’s lips. He doesn’t want to think about how soft they were against his own, just a little chapped. He doesn’t want to think that, for a moment, for a breath, even though he did it purely to distract him, it felt good. The danger of the blade against his heart only made it better.

And if that isn’t a clear indication that he has finally lost his mind, then Adrian doesn’t know what is.

He lets out an exasperated groan when he looks down at his sketchbook, and realises that the abstract shape that he has been doodling on the page is starting to sport familiar dark bangs, a chiseled jaw and a strong chin, and that same infuriating, obnoxious smirk that he last saw only a few hours before.

Adrian clicks his tongue and snaps the sketchbook shut, leaving it beside him on the windowsill. There won’t be anymore drawing for him that day, that much is certain.

He pushes himself to his feet, and for a long moment, gazes at the wide room that has become his study, his bedroom, and his workspace, all wrapped into one. It is bare save for the many bookcases that line the walls, and for his mother’s portrait. Her warm and gentle eyes meet his own, and, not for the first time, Adrian feels thoroughly, devastatingly alone.

A pile of her old journals is waiting for him by her old desk. He walks to it with slow and heavy strides, brushes his fingers over their leather covers. Some of the notebooks he has placed on the bookshelf have toppled over, and he reaches out to tenderly set them upright again.

This, perhaps, might be enough to take his mind off… everything.

Adrian pushes his sleeves up, and gets to work. ~

He doesn't leave his study for two days.

He hasn’t even gone to the kitchen to cook, for fear of seeing Belmont and Sypha. He’s not sure if he can face either of them again, but another day is slowly waning, the sun tilting towards the west, and Adrian knows that he can’t hide in his study forever. The pitcher of water he brought in a couple days before, and the sweet and chewy fruit cake he made are long gone now. It is hunger, and thirst, more than anything, that finally pushes him to put on his coat, and venture out into the cold and damp corridors of the castle.

The castle is thoroughly quiet at this time of day; then again, it always is. He walks down the stairs, half-dreading, half-hoping that he will hear Sypha and Belmont’s footsteps, turning the corner. Yet, even as he crosses the long corridor, even as he passes by the section of the castle where their room is, Adrian sees no one, hears no one.

Perhaps they have really gone away.

He pushes away the sinking feeling in his gut, and takes a deep breath to steel himself as he walks to the kitchen. He wonders if they ever even noticed that he has been cooking for them, and not just making extra servings for himself. Yet, judging by the fact that someone has been washing the dishes and cooking utensils after Adrian is done using them, leaves no doubt as to whether they understood his intention.

The truth is, he isn’t exactly sure why he started cooking for them. It makes no sense, even to him. When he started doing it, he had justified it to himself by thinking that, the more food and medicine he provided, the sooner Belmont’s injury would heal, and the sooner they would both leave. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, a perfectly reasonable one. Now, he wonders at how good he has become at lying to himself.

The smell of fresh, cooking food reaches him before he opens the kitchen door.

“What am I even supposed to do with that?” he hears Belmont saying amidst sounds of boiling water, and the rhythmic sound of something being chopped upon a wooden board, followed by Sypha’s exasperated sigh.

“Just slice it in the middle, like I showed you. See? If you do that, then you’ll be able to get the peas out more easily. No, I said the middle, the middle— ”

“This is the middle.”

“I meant lengthwise. This is— oh, just leave it to me.”

Belmont laughs. “What are you going to do? Burn it into submission? It looks rather intimidated to me already.”

“Never you mind what I’ll do with it. Stir the pot, please, I think the stew’s just about ready.”

“On it, chief,” Belmont says, and his words are followed by another one of Sypha's exasperated sighs.

Adrian should leave. He should simply turn around and walk away, the way he came. Go back to his study, and remain there until nightfall.

He somehow cannot bring himself to do that. Besides, his growling stomach doesn’t make things any easier, either.

“Alucard!” Sypha’s eyes light up as soon as she sees him crossing the threshold. There are several pots bubbling merrily on the stove, and her cheeks are flushed from the heat. She pushes a stray lock of hair behind her ear and wipes her hand on a napkin before walking up to him. “Come. Sit. You’re right on time.” She takes his hands in hers and drags him into the room without preamble.

Adrian blinks at her, then at Belmont, who is standing by the stove, stirring the contents of a bubbling pot. He inclines his head to him in greeting, but Adrian is simply far too surprised to respond— or to do anything else other than let Sypha guide him to a chair by the table, for that matter. She smiles brightly at him when he sits down and glances up at her in confusion.

“I hope you like rabbit stew. Trevor and I went out hunting today. There really wasn’t much game, so it’s more like a vegetable stew with a bit of rabbit, but I think it’ll do. Oh, and wine! I went to your wine cellar yesterday and managed to fish out a couple bottles— or, well, Trevor did. He picked them, and I think they’re quite nice. Would you like a glass? I’ll pour you a glass.”

Adrian can only gape at the torrent of words leaves her mouth. She opens a cupboard without error and picks out a glass, as if she’s in her own kitchen and he is just a guest. The wine they have chosen is a deep, vibrant red, and it is strong and aromatic, the scent of berries and honeysuckle filling the room as soon as she pours it in the glass.

“Try it,” she says, and beams when Adrian carefully plucks the glass from her fingers. “I think you’ll like it.”

“You’d better,” Belmont says wryly. “Finding a bottle intact in that mess was a feat in and of itself. Half the bottles were broken, and the rest were something close to two centuries old.” He turns to face them, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his broad chest. There is a hint of a smile curling the edges of his lips, but he is still watching Adrian carefully. A sharp spike of... something rushes through him when those keen, inquisitive eyes stay on him. Adrian looks away.

“The general consensus seems to be that the older the wine, the better it is,” Adrian muses with feigned disinterest, in an attempt to mask his unease. He turns away from Belmont as he tips the glass over his lips and takes a small sip. It is, indeed, very good. He would have thought that Belmont can’t tell the difference between good wine and stale piss, but it seems the man has a keen nose for alcoholic beverages after all.

“That’s true, generally speaking. It still doesn’t change the fact that drinking wine which was bottled before my grandfather was born is… not exactly my cup of tea,” Belmont says with a smirk. “Now. Anyone else bloody starving, or is it just me?”

“Yes,” Sypha says, pushing up her sleeves and walking to the stove, “I’ll serve the stew, you put some butter in the beans. You’ll have stew, won’t you, Alucard?”

Adrian finds himself nodding slowly, before he can stop himself. He watches them both move about in his kitchen, his pantry, his space, with so much ease as if they have been doing it for years. The worst thing about it is… they don’t seem unnatural or awkward in that space. It’s as if… as if they fit right in.

A steaming bowl of stew is placed before him. It is only after they have both sat down, and Belmont tops up his glass again that Adrian works up the courage to ask, “What is all this about, exactly?”

His question, he realises belatedly, is slightly more abrupt than he would have liked. Frankly, he is far too taken aback by it all to mind his manners.

“Dinner,” Belmont replies, gesturing at the table. “What does it look like?”

“Yes, I can see that, Belmont. I possess eyes. But…” Adrian hesitates for a moment, and Sypha cocks her head to the side in question. “Why are you doing this?”

“We wanted to do something for you,” she says readily. “To repay you for your help. Your hospitality. You’ve been cooking for us ever since we came here, and we haven’t had the chance to thank you properly… or even see you, for that matter.”

“You didn’t have to go to all this trouble. I am not expecting any form of repayment.”

“I know. Yet, we’re still grateful, and we wanted to do this for you.” She gives him a small, warm smile. “It isn’t much but… I hope it is a start.”

“A start?” Adrian asks, and his throat feels somewhat dry.

“Yes. A start. A chance for us to catch up. We’ve been away for so long, and…” She reaches out tentatively, and places her hand on Adrian’s. Her touch is soft and gentle, her skin warm against his own. “We missed you.”

Adrian’s breath catches. Something warm and hopeful rises up within him, swelling in his lungs as he glances first at her, then at Belmont. Belmont is watching him too, and there’s no mockery in his gaze. A moment passes, then another, and no scathing remark leaves his lips, nor does he make an attempt to contradict Sypha’s words, and that alone makes Adrian think that perhaps they were spoken in earnest.

“You… you did?” he asks quietly.

“Of course, we did.” Sypha doesn’t take her hand away. She holds his gaze, the trembling light of the candles they have lit reflecting in her eyes. “You’re our friend, Alucard.”

Adrian can do nothing but stare. He tries for words, but words don’t come.

Friends. God. The very term has been twisted so much inside him, that he doesn’t know where it ends now, where it begins. Part of him wants to disregard it like an empty string of sounds, nothing to be taken seriously. He has been burned too many times before, far too many to still believe that there is any hope, any room for anyone else other than himself in his life. He almost brushes the statement away as inconsequential, when another lonely, desperate, broken part of him stretches for it, tries to hold it even as it disperses before his fingers, like mist.

Friends. Could it be that he still has them?

“I… thank you,” he forces himself to say. The bright and hopeful feeling that had spread through him before is squeezing his stomach hard, making it impossible to speak, to breathe. He turns away from Sypha’s bright, warm, welcoming gaze, and stares down at his food. “Let’s eat before this gets cold.”

Read the rest on Ao3!

[castlevania-afterdark-imagines]

Gotta go a tiny bit dark for a moment, how would trevor, godbrand, sypha, drac, and the forgemasters handle an s/o who's libido fluctuates wildly and struggles a lot with her body image? I'm sorry if that's too many characters, I just really really love them..

Gonna lean more into the body image part of this ask. Bonus Alucard cause I mean, we got the rest of the crew, might as well.

Trevor

General attitude about it is - Why though? (Trevor, please)

Is very much the sort of person who stands by if your body works then there's nothing wrong with it, so it's a bit hard for him to understand.

Okay, maybe he's a little self conscious about the sheer number of scars he has, but that's just because they bring up a lot of questions.

But he likes your body, and what you do to him with said body. So when you have moments where you pull away and look at yourself with disappointment he just can't quite wrap his head around it.

He'll try to be more careful with his comments towards the parts you don't like, cause god knows he'll fuck up trying to compliment them in a way that doesn't sound overbaked.

But when he's making love to you he makes sure to touch everywhere.

Words are hard, but he knows how to work with his hands.

He tries to utter soft praises, but most of it comes out as single word grunts like “perfect” and “ god-yes”

Oh, he'll also remove the eyes of anyone who makes a jab at what you're sensitive about.

Alucard

A bit of genuine confusion about it.

He just genuinely thinks you're the most sublime creature on the Earth so how could you not see that in yourself?

He certainly won't stop you from working on things you want to change, he will train with you if you want to change your body composition or he'll offer to research skin treatments if you have complexion concerns.

But only if you ask, he's never the one to suggest it. As far as he sees it he's just helping you achieve something you want to accomplish, not "improving" you.

However he does know that change doesn't happen overnight, so he gets sad when you express frustration over not being there yet because he can't really fix time.

So he stays close, lets you vent while he gently traces your face with his fingers.

He gets a bit drapey with his affection when you're down. Never pressing sexually, he just sort of stimulates a cocoon of limbs wanting to hold all of you close.

You might also notice more little gifts showing up where you can find them. Flowers by your bedside, pastries by your favorite chair, tokens of affection to assure you he is just as enamored with you when you aren't feeling your best.

Sypha

Is visibly upset when she sees you mentally tearing into yourself,  but that's just because she couldn't hide an expression if she tried.

Wants to talk with you about it, to find out if it was something somebody said or a result of something someone did.

If it's something that is changeable, she'll offer to help you with your goals, keep you motivated while also insisting you do NOT have to do any of this for her.

If it's not something that can be changed she'll try her best to listen, let you vent when you feel frustrated.

She gets conflicted between either wanting to give the parts of yourself that you don’t like *more* attention or trying to make sure to compliment the other parts of your body she loves (aka, the rest)

She might admit to you some of the spots she doesn’t like much either, like the scars on her shoulder, or the stretch marks around her knees.

Regardless she’ll always match your mood, throwing herself at you with gusto when the lust strikes, or being very gentle and soothing when you aren’t feeling up for it.

Gets up in the face of anybody who might make a rude remark, even if it might risk escalating the argument to melting the offender’s face off.

Dracula

Has seen many many many bodies in his lifetime (won't tell you how many of those were no longer living), he sees the variety as a staple of humanity.

So yeah, it distresses him to see you dislike anything about yourself.

But he also knows that’s not something he can just tell you you’re incorrect over and be done with. It’s not something he can actually control.

So he simply makes himself available, however you need him.

You in the mood to get dicked down? Yup, he can do that and mend the bedframe afterwards.

You need a few slow days with minimal touching? Okay, he’s got all the time in the world. He’ll stay within earshot until you call him, then he’ll cater to whatever you need.

He’s not super keen on trying to use any sort of magic to alter your body, even if you ask. Unless it’s life threatening of course.

He also makes it a mental note to be exceedingly clear that each time he has you bare before him he regards you like a devout cardinal would his holy texts.

Divine.

Godbrand

(Why, why ya’ll gotta pick the hard one for sensitive topics)

He thinks you’re hot, all the time, any time of day. So when he notices you going from a sexual high to a sexual dry, he honestly thinks it’s his fault.

Starts apologizing about whatever the fuck pops into his head (though this is a Godbrand apology so it’s stuff like “I’m sorry I dropped your favorite mug three months ago but I told you not to leave it on the edge of the counter like that”)

When you first explained to him what was actually up he’s...confused.

To behonest probably first went to his favored huntsmen and asked them what the fuck to do

Which was met with equally confused shrugs and panicked “Why the fuck would we know better?”

In the end he sort of resorts to brute forcing through it.

He sees you take a little too long in the mirror looking at yourself. Nope, no, nu uh, he hauls you up and finds something to distract you with.

He’ll try to offer ideas of how to help if it’s something you can change, if not he’ll just be six times as loud when he’s boasting about how perfect his partner is to the village.

Hector

Oh nooooooooo this gentle man, he’s so concern

He can pick up on your mood shifts as if he could hear them announce their presence.

He’s just as good at silently reading into what you want him to do next.

Sometimes it’s just to lie with you, touching your hair and face, murmuring sweet nothings into the space between you two. How lovely he finds you, how happy you make him.

He knows how cruel the world can be, especially over something as fickle as appearance. He hates that anyone could ever have instilled in you a disliking of your own body.

He’s never pushy about his more carnal wants, and never makes it about your attraction towards him. He trusts that you’re still interested, you just need time here and there.

Sometimes he will get a little flare of adoration when he sees you, when he remembers the areas you told him you aren’t fond of, and will absent mindedly want to touch them. Gentle brushes of fingertips, a soft smile resting on his lips until you bring him back to reality.

He might not be verbose in his support, but you’ll never shake him from it.

Isaac

Is honestly the one mostly likely to get frustrated over what in his mind is a baseless insecurity. Never shows it, but internally has trouble understanding it.

He gets the social troubles, humans being vain and cruel creatures, but to him a body is like a well-worn tool. What you don’t like you work to either change or adapt to.

But he also knows that mindset does not arrive overnight, and though internally he might feel a tug of irritation when he can feel you pull away he is very careful to not show it.

He’s never going to convince you of his adoration for the temple that is your body if he gives in to his temper and tries to force the change for you.

So he will be patient, offer you guidance when you ask for it, remain silent when you don’t and you simply need to speak your insecurities.

Though you might see a flash of bewilderment in his eyes when you mention something new that upsets you about your body he is quick to bury it and return to attending you.

He’s always delighted when your mood lifts again and he can resume touching you as he likes, fingertips digging into your skin and humming softly with satisfaction.

Carnal pleasure might be a more primal vice, but he doesn’t mind giving in to it when he can use it to show you exactly how much he likes the “tools” you were given.

-Mod Soviet

[smallestclowninthecircus]

Tma season 2 notes baybeee

I made myself take several breaks so I could give my frie d who is listening to it at the same time as me a chance to catch up. Honestly just posting them so I have them saved somewhere but whatever.

ep 41: real graham wrote keep watching before he was replaced. Jon feels like he's being watched. But they werent replaced by things related to the eye. It's the web that's on the box that replaces them. Endless hallways and doors to nowhere. I bet nicholas will have ideas what entity this relates to. If it even does. They're like the tunnels in the one with the builder guy. Tunnels closing in etc. Also like the cave diving one. He's assuming it's just one

ep 42: so 100 gecs? (IM SORRY I LIKE 100 GECS BUT LMAO) so there's some entity related to music right? There's the piper episode and the 27 w/ the calliope. Ah yes, this season is gonna be the season of Paranoid!Jon

ep 43: section 31? fucking books. god no. smashed lights? cult lady did that. covered the lights too. she mentioned a spooky clown doll. thats not random.

ep 44: is this that same circus that got mentioned before? it is! the pipe organ! pop off organ! pipe off! mouth on the stomach! yes! mouths in unusual places my beloved!

ep 45: antiques! like that one ep!

ep 46: every time books get mentioned i sigh. hhh sus smells. it got brighter. I get the vibes occasionally that the dark and the eye are sorta at odds with eachother. GRRR BARK BARK LEITNER. ayyy ex altiora. entity go brr. which entity do we thing it is? my guess is The Dark. The book buyer's name is Mike. He has scars? Electricity? The childhood friend of the guy who got it later on perhaps? The Vast? its formatted like an entity idk. This happened before the other one. He got trapped in the wood carving. a win for the web lol spiders go brr

ep 47: did i hear spiral? ITS THE NOT THING FROM THE EPISODE WITH NOT GRAHAM "it didnt move, it shifted" is like the exact same sentence as before. ay john's starting to remember. the laughing woah thats weird. is "michael" one of the entities? "you make it seem like theres a war" supports my theory that theres a struggle between a couple of the entities. I said i thought it was the eye and the dark i believe but im not sure. its whatever entity michael is vs the worms? what did nicholas say the worms were again? The Corruption? still dont know which one michael is tho.

Had to take a break after that episode. smth about the quality of michael's voice makes me feel like im gonna slip into one of those states where it feels like nothing is real, so i got a nice cold glass of water.

ep 48: jesus ok this one's kidna corny. you're telling me love made the crowd go away come on now. Ur losing it big J. also shouldnt it be more sus that "sasha" is so unaffected by the worm incident/ finding of gertrude's body

ep 49: haven't we heard hector's name before? oh is he the crime guy? fucking jared... so it's a throat? chompa chompa. (it's just a little bit hot) the good part about these episodes is that we know whoever's telling the story isn't gonna die. even if it's a close call, they're not dead. hotworth? ok not jared keay. it bothers me how theres so many repeated names, can they not come up with other names? "sasha"'s computer is breaking... sus. Elias our favorite weed man! jon ur so paranoid lmao

ep 50: robert smirk, at it again. this is like that one episode with the old dude who locked his door. who said idle beforehand? was it smirk? fingertips. thats so weird lmao. bahahah tim

ep 51: simon fairchild. im sure jon will mention the name at the end i cant remember where we've heard it. this is just like the cavediving episode. a hand? there was a hand in the last one right? the scalpel! and an eye thing. she's trying to throw them off.

ep 52: thats the guy from before! with the hearts! god i hate this guy writing the statement hh. lights blowing, and brackish water. we know how this ends but its still tense. rainer? reigner? rain man. we've seen him before

ep 53: pls not a leitner. oh boy mans scratched out his eyes. rip skelly. why would gertrude have had this statement off the books? jon stabbed himself?? bruh im? big man are you okay

ep 54: cockney boys! ayy its our favorite delivery men. she cut out their eyes. she knew that the eye was a thing?

ep 55: oily residue like the retirement home!

ep 56: worms? no. spiders?? bruhh. aaah yelling :(( aww martin anyways yeah i called it about paranoid!jon he needs to take a nap and drink some hot chocolate and calm down for once please

ep 57: just remembered, i think theres an entity called The Lonely?? This feels pretty lonely idk. fairchild, lukas/ lucas, some spooky place in norway idk. "sasha" knew he was recordinig hmm suspicious cmon jon figure it out. Sasha and tom. hm sus. for records sake i feel liek i should note here that I did have it spoiled to me simply that that's not sasha, but thats really all. i assumed it was like the thing that happened to graham in S1

ep 58: i feel like i recognize the name eustice (?) wick. someone please tell me im not just watching jon's descent into madness over the course of this podcast. im hoping it isnt so but, (and pardon the dsmp reference) im getting real wilbur vibes from this one.

ep 59: oh dear ok account from the fielding house. swirling designs? Spiral time? oh boyy. oh wait! 6 inch hole in the middle! is it not a spiderweb type design on the table? thats what i had assumed but that description sounds more like a spiral thing. cobwebs is a Web thing. ayy nicholas was right! the box goes in the table! the place that she kissed him was burning. Raymond is an avatar of The Web and agnes is the burning one. Lightless Flame! Why did she save him? i guess she was against this guy eating ppl or wtvr but why was she at the halfway house then? I think she's like michael.

ep 60: the eye go brr

ep 61: breacon and hope once again. tom. sasha's boyfriend. vampires sleep in coffins. the guy just walking in seems similar to the mind control of the vampires

ep 62: bones! its that one leitner. is this mother keay? the mom of gerard? this is what happened to her right? her skin was found on hooks? oh yeah thats what i thought the pages are made of skin. yeesh. The End!! sounds like an entity. phrased like one, and i think i remember it. are the people trapped in the pages? or... kept?

ep 63: eaten by the darkness! cavediving episode! (just like eaten by the sky) did my brain make up one called The Vast? it feels like it should be one, and all these episodes have some similar description about their feelings when they do whatever chosen hobby they have. ok now this one kinda feels like the dark. lights going out and all that. ok so not really a The Vast thing, its more of a Dark thing. feckin smirk gah.

ep 64: dice! the death guy! the death game thing! the person tricked somebody else into becoming death and then they were immortal? but if the egyptians wanted to kill him or punish him or whatever couldnt they just kill him? it worked in the end when he had the person giving the statement stab him, that did the job and actually killed him

ep 65: finally jon is actually acknowledging something is wrong.

So we know Mary Keay was revived most likely with the book by gerard.

Gertrude was way more aware of the entities than Jon. mary keay referenced The End openly and she cut the eyes out of her magazines and all that which makes me think she was aware of The Eye

ep 66: please not buried alive pleeaase not buried alive. lukas of the tundra? didnt we hear the name lukas before? she wanted it to be difficult to find important files because that way bad people couldnt find them?

ep 67: agnes... the girl in the hilltop house? agnes poppin off!! he's really not gonna question how she knew where he lived?? oh no D: the tree. were they the ones working on the house? aww they kissi- OH DEAR. why did she kiss him? it seemed like she cared about him? also she could kiss that other dude on the cheek and he was fine, but maybe it was cuz she was younger? lightless flame go brrrrr.

ep 68: oh god books. yup its bitchboy leitner. mans said "this seems supernatural, its a werd book!" bruuh.

ep 69: heh nice. aw cmon jon listen to martin. gahhh spiders. is that the class we heard about in the other doctor one with the teeth apple? some kind of psych class? oh dear. fucking spiders. aaaah. web do be goin brr. it's like the girl in the homeless shelter! who made the guy leave and she took his bed.

ep 70: is this gonna be the book that mary keay had? Most likely a leitner no matter what. Oh boy latin. Why did it start in latin then become old English? I'm guessing people put them in the book? He cant burn it. Phrophecies go brr. He says eh it's a decade in the future it's fine. Its gonna have changed. Ayy called it. Just accept it, it's a magic book. His death is getting closer. Leitner didnt make them but just collected them? Gertrude burned the book! She burned them down there so no one would know.

ep 71: oh boy tunnels. Our favorite thing /s. is The Buried a thing? Idk this seems pretty buried. Oh dear he's trapped here isnt he. "Not enough space to move, never enough to breathe" is that from the computer episode? With the guy who uploaded his consciousness? Somebody living down there. Hmmmm. Guesses: tom, sasha's boyfriend. Gertrude herself? (Though I doubt it)

ep 72: sweeney todd moment. Meat. The slaughter? Idk we'll see what the supernatural part is. Meat is meat. Similar to the slaughterhouse episode. Is it fucking Jared I swear to God it better not be. Hooligan teenagers, you know how it is. Meat is me lmao. Is the kid gonna be in the freezer. Ok that's good. OWW. Oddly textured candles. Made from people? Human fat or smth? Tom from the meat processing plant!

ep 73: outer bay shipping. Bet it's a subset of breacon and hope delivery. The Dark go brrr. Uh oh mans is gonna die. Leo or whatever. Cult ppl go brr. The people's church of the divine host. Who is the divine host? Is it reigner or whatever his name is? I dont think Jon can quit tbh. Probably an anonymous tip but from who?? One of the entities?

ep 74: fucking teeth hhh. I dont know which entity is related to teeth. Spiral. Isnt the spiral an entity. It feels like it could be related to many things idk. Yeah this sounds like the spiral. Heart attack at 29? Jesus... michael! That's kinda what I was thinking. Sasha goin in the tunnels. Hmm sus. They move the floor. Wack. Bet its tom.

ep 75: Man with a lightning scar. Has one of the leitner books. The childhood friend of the one who first introduced us to leitner. Oh my god that sounds terrifying. Michael crew.

ep 76: scalpel? Hmm spooky. NotSasha... think jon think.

ep 77: another double! NotThem, The Stranger. Not related to the table?

ep 78: what was that at the beginning? Question mark?? Oh boy more NotThem. Decker... what is the deal with the table. Does it contain the creature? Fucking Michael. Bitchboi himself.

ep 79: yes pop off martin. Ugh fucking Michael just leave man. I hate that dude. New person. Hmm. No idea who it is.

ep 80: shitener himself! Ok sir tell us the entities. Ayy The Spiral. Ok we know what that one is. The Eye is the beholding! Oooh. The Stranger. Did elias just kill leitner? Popping off honestly.

[jettingtothemoon]

Save You; chapter 3

➳ pairing: hector x witch|reader ➳ genre: fantasy, angst, fluff ➳ warnings: violence, swearing, smut, mentions of rape, past slavery, spoilers for seasons 1 thorough 3. ➳ word count: 3076 ➳ rating: 18+ ➳ summary: In which y/n and Hector continue to flee from the council of sisters, finding refuge among an unlikely acquaintance with fresh scars and a cold personality. ➳ Part two of, ’Rescue You’.

Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09,

Awkward

When you returned after washing and changing into clean clothes, Alucard was quietly sitting alone. He hadn't seemed to notice your presence in the doorway as he rolled up his sleeve, inspecting something on his arm. He seemed out of it, deep in thought as his fingers gently ran over what you could now see was scarred skin.

You knew of the scar his father gave him, there was much gossip around the castle about how Dracula had wounded his son so bad it left a nasty scar across his chest. The scar on his arm, however, you hadn't heard about so you assumed it must have happened after the attack on the castle.

Clearing your throat caught his attention and he quickly pulled the sleeve back down to cover up the scar before snapping his head to you.

"Where are Hector and the boy?"

You avoided the topic of his scar, sensing that he didn't want you to know about it, let alone to talk about it. When he registered that you were not asking about what he was doing, he assumed that you hadn't been standing there for that long and hoped that you hadn't caught a glimpse of his scars.

"I sent them to feed the horses. They'll be back soon."

You hummed and walked further into the room, "Alucard."

The half-vampire had since turned his attention away from you but you found him flinching slightly at the mention of his name before he turned back to you with a hum.

"I know we never really knew each other that well but... well, I... What happened to you?" You began tiptoeing around the subject before simply blurting it out which surprised even yourself.

Alucard's eyes widened for a split second before they grew dark and he turned his head away from you, hiding behind the veil of his golden hair, "Nothing. Nothing happened to me. Well, I had to murder my own father but-"

"After that? What happened to the speaker and the Belmont? Where did they go?"

"They left. They needed to go their own way and I needed to remain here to watch over the castle." His voice was monotonous but there was a hint of sadness that he couldn't quite hide.

You were hesitant but reached out to place your hand on his shoulder, only the half-vampire quickly turned and grabbed your wrist before you could. His eyes met yours, although they were still half-hidden behind a few strands of his hair. What should be bright golden irises looked almost dull. It was a look you had seen on him many times before back when you briefly knew each other before but something was different about it now. It looked duller, if that was even possible.

"Don't."

When his grip on your arm softened and he let go, you stepped backwards knowing that you had overstepped, "Sorry."

It was quiet for a moment and you could both feel the awkwardness filling the room but, no matter how awkward it grew, it was clear that Alucard was not angry with you. No, just uncomfortable.

When you spoke his name once again, cutting into the evermore uncomfortable silence, his gaze turned towards you once again and he hummed.

"Why are you letting us stay here? Not that I am not grateful for your kindness but, well, it seems as though you were hoping to be left alone."

Although you could tell that Alucard didn't really want to be alone, you could tell that he was clearly trying to drive people away. That was evident from the impaled bodies at the front door. You just didn't understand why. What had happened to him for him to embrace a life of solitude when it was clearly not what he really wanted?

The half-vampire sighed, "I don't really know myself. I was going to send you all away but, well, I know you. I suppose. You're not a stranger, that's what I mean and although it has been a long time since we last saw each other, it was just nice to see a familiar face. I still don't trust you, nor do I trust the forgemaster you travel with but I won't let my guard down. I won't let that happen ever again."

Alucard seemed to say more than he intended to, or maybe he simply didn't care that he was rambling a little. You were going to ask about it again but by the time you got over your hesitation, the conversation was already over because the others had returned.

"y/n?" Hector's voice met your ears and, once you turned around, he smiled.

The boy was, as usual, holding Hector's hand. He was probably afraid that he would get lost in the castle otherwise. Cezar also came with the two of them, following by their feet.

"You look nice." He spoke unconsciously but his words still meant a lot to you.

"It's not much, just a dress that was left behind by of Dracula's other generals. Alucard fetched it for me since there are not so many clothes my size lying about."

Alucard sighed once again and stood from his chair, "I should get started on dinner."

Without another word, he walked past Hector and out of the room.

"Is he... okay?" Hector asked, glancing back one last time to check that Alucard was really gone.

"I- I don't know." You admitted.

There was no reason for your or Hector to feel concerned for Alucard. Neither of you knew him all that well and it was clear he didn't trust either of you in the slightest. And yet, you were both at least curious as to what was going on with him. You even felt somewhat worried. Maybe it was simply because an unstable half-vampire could pose a threat to you but something was telling you that wasn't why you were worried.

Hector went to speak again but the boy tugged gently on his hand to gain his attention. When Hector glanced down at the boy, he pointed in the direction Alucard had walked off in.

"You want to go help him with dinner?" Hector asked, discovering that his deduction was correct when the boy nodded.

You smiled at the sweet boy, "Can you go on your own or do you need us to take you to the kitchen?"

The child shook his head and slipped his hand from Hectors, waving at the two of you before running off towards the kitchen with Cezar in tow.

Hector chuckled softly as they ran off after the half-vampire and honestly, it was so nice to see him happy.

"Do you want to go for a walk?"

The man only smiled wider and nodded, "I think I would."

Just like that, you had left the castle and were walking through the forest outside. You had barely made it past the first few trees when you walked closer to Hector in order to hold his arm as you walked. One of your arms stayed wrapped around his, your free hand then soon found it's place in his own hand. It was cosy, just how it was supposed to be.

You didn't talk as you walked but it wasn't an awkward or uncomfortable silence like the one you had encountered earlier while talking with Alucard. This silence was comforting and warm. Just being by his side brought a smile to your face.

"We should probably head back, I'm sure Alucard will be wondering where we wandered off to. It's probably better we don't give him a reason to get angry or distrust us any more than he already does." You suggested, resting your head against Hector's shoulder as you walked.

Hector hummed, "I suppose you're right. It's probably not a great idea to leave the boy alone with him for too long either."

Your walk seemed to come to an end almost as soon as it had begun but both of you were content with your short walk nonetheless. Not to mention, you were hungry and, from the sound his stomach just made, Hector was too.

When you returned to the castle, the two of you headed for the kitchen as you knew that Alucard and the boy would likely still be there. As you had expected, they were indeed still in the kitchen but what you found when you reached the room was not what you had expected.

Alucard seemed to be laughing.

"You did great. We'll make a renowned chef out of you yet!"

You and Hector watched on almost in shock as the half-vampire ruffled the child's hair with a smile and looked upon the plates of delicious food they had made together.

When the two of them picked the plates up and turned only to find you and Hector watching from the doorway, Alucard's face seemed to drop. Not to something sad or anything like that, no. He just suddenly didn't look as happy anymore. That indifferent expression he normally sported had returned at a mere glance of you and Hector.

"You're back. Good, dinner is ready."

It was so clear how the entire atmosphere had dropped since Alucard laid his eyes on you. You were sure it was because of you rather than Hector. It was probably because of that awkward conversation you had with him earlier. Maybe you really had overstepped and now he was even more uncomfortable with you than before or maybe it was simply because he knew that the conversation wasn't over yet. Not for you, at least. You wanted to ask him about things, you wanted to help him vent at least. You were still unsure of why Alucard was more closed off than usual but even without knowing the reason why, you wanted to ease his pain however you could.

He didn't have to let you stay here. He could have turned you all away or killed you before you reached the front door. But he didn't. You were grateful and you owed him. Surely he should get something out of letting you stay here and, at the very least, you wanted to offer him an ear. At the most, a friend. The two of you could have been friends before. You had tried to befriend him all those years ago but Alucard was never the most sociable of people, even back then.

"This is really good, thank you."

Alucard glanced up from his food to glance at Hector and, after seeing the sincerity of his words, even offered him a faint smile before turning his attention back to his own food once again.

It was so very clear to you that Alucard was still weary of both you and Hector but at least it seemed as though he and Hector were getting along somewhat. As for you, well, you still weren't sure. Alucard hasn't been the same since you spoke earlier. Was it because of something you said or was it because of something you had done?

What you didn't know was that it wasn't really your fault at all. Alucard was being so strange because your conversation earlier had brought back some memories the half-vampire wasn't fond of. In fact, it was those very memories that had forced him into isolation not too long before you turned up with one of Dracula's forgemasters in tow. A great betrayal followed by both pain and death. You had reminded Alucard of the one thing that pained him as much as, if not more than, the death of his parents.

Dinner was an awkward endeavour and by the time it was over, Alucard was already piling the dishes in the sink. He didn't bother to clean them, not now. He wasn't in the mood and so, he simply bid you all goodnight and left.

The child yawned as he climbed down from his chair, causing Hector to yawn in return.

"Come on, let's get you to bed." Hector spoke so softly to the child, as he always did, and collected his tired form up into his arms.

The boy allowed his legs to hang slightly as he leaned his head on Hector's shoulder and closed his eyes. He was already asleep by the time Hector left the room and began heading up the stairs.

You smiled at the sweetness of it. Hector had been like this with him since you fled Carmilla's castle together. Maybe he, like you, thought of looking after the boy as a way to begin atoning for his sins. Once the warm feeling in your chest subsided and that heavy weight, which you had barely noticed was there until now, returned, you turned to the sink. Alucard wasn't going to wash up but that didn't mean that you couldn't. If trying to befriend the half-vampire was only going to be harder than it was before, then you would need to try and prove to him that you only had good intentions through your actions rather than your words. If that meant you would need to do a little housework here and there to help him out, then that is exactly what you would do.

It didn't take too long to finish cleaning as there was only the four of you eating, well, not including Cezar but the little puppy had a nice little bowl laid out for him which Alucard had filled up this morning and clearly once again this evening. The dog was undead, sure, but he still had to eat.

When you were finished, you headed up to your room only to find that Hector wasn't there. It couldn't have taken him this long to tuck the boy into bed so you began wondering where he was. After a moment of contemplation, you knew where to look for him and so, you headed back out into the hallway.

"Hector?" Your voice was quiet, it was getting late after all.

The forgemaster turned to you with a sigh, "It's so weird to be back here. I left all of this so suddenly and now-"

"I know. It's weird for me too." You smiled and walked further into Hector's old forge.

When you reached Hector, you ran your hand over his back and stood with him to look over the room.

"It's almost exactly how I left it. Although it does look a little cleaner than before."

You hummed although you couldn't tell whether it was cleaner or not. You hadn't been in this room that many times while you worked for Dracula as his witch. You wished you had had more time with Hector and Issac back then. Maybe you could have formed a bond with them, maybe you could have saved Hector before Carmilla deceived him or prevented Issac from being forced out into the world on his own, not that you doubted he would be fine. There was no doubt that Issac was on his journey back here, most likely in search of Carmilla or Hector. Hopefully, the former. If Issac were to come back and deal with Carmilla for you it would make things a lot easier but there was always the chance that Issac most likely wanted Hector dead too. You would never let that happen though.

"Let's go to bed." You suggested, entwining your hand with his own.

He hummed and walked by your side as you headed to bed, not caring much for the forge he left behind. When the bedroom door was closed behind you, Hector was the one to send a flame to the fireplace, lighting it with the magic you had taught him. You smiled warmly and collected a clean nightgown, changing into yours as Hector changed on the other side of the room. He didn't even glance your way as you undressed and, although he finished before you, he did not turn around until he was certain you were clothed once again.

You were the first to climb into bed, although you had a feeling neither of you were ready to sleep just yet. You sat with your back against the headboard and reached out to Hector, who only furrowed his brows in reply.

"I wanna cuddle."

He chuckled at your blunt words and obediently climbed onto the bed and over towards you. You needn't say a word more as he lied down, resting his head in your lap. Your fingers instantly went to his hair as you began to softly run them through the wavy locks. Hector let out a sound of content and closed his eyes for a moment.

"I saw something earlier." You confessed.

Out of curiosity, Hector rolled onto his back so that he could look up at you from where he lied on your lap.

Your fingers continued to glide through his hair as you continued, "Alucard has scars. Scars I think he received recently. He was looking at them and he looked... sad."

"Did you ask him about it?" Hector inquired, reaching up to take one of your hands in his own.

"No. He- He didn't look like he wanted anyone to know about them. He pulled his sleeve down in such a rush when he realised I was there. I don't think he knows I saw them though."

Hector gently played with your fingers in thought before commenting, "You're worried about him."

"A little. I mean- well, he isn't the same as he was before. He's still Alucard, that's for sure but, well, he's different. You've noticed it too haven't you, the way he just kind of zones out at times. His thoughts seem to plague him." You explained, voicing your concern for the half-vampire you really shouldn't have been worrying about.

There was a sigh and then Hector sat up before pressing a kiss to your forehead, "You're too kindhearted. You care about everyone too much. You cared about me too much and, well, you saved me because you cared too much. If you want to help Alucard with whatever he's dealing with I won't stop you. I don't think he is a bad person and he is certainly right to doubt our intentions but maybe if we can show him that we can be trusted-"

"Maybe he won't be so sad all of the time. Maybe he'll look as happy as he did earlier when he was cooking with the boy." You finished Hector's sentence for him.

Hector hummed again and lied down, pulling you with him as he encased you in his arms, "You really are too pure for this world."

Now it was Hector who played with your hair while unconsciously pulling you closer to him.

You looked up at him for a moment and he looked down at you, smiling sweetly as he continued to run his hands through your hair. Your hand reached up to his cheek, fingers gently ghosting over his skin and, before you knew it, your lips were on his.

Chapters: 01, 02, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07, 08, 09,

[fancyemowolfbat]

Thoughts on Castlevania S3: Taka and Sumi’s abuse of Adrian

Season three spoilers below: and yes, this is plot heavy. So if you haven’t seen yet, read at your own risk.

But the TL;DR: I love Castlevania and this scene only made me love it more.

To start: This is entirely an opinion post. I don’t have enough energy to make it into a full analysis with resources and other things. So don’t take this as an essay with some deep meaning. This is entirely just an impressions post.

I love this scene. I love the writing and the visuals. And I love that it was handled in a very real manner. And I love that it represented abuse correctly, because make no mistake-- this scene was abuse--at the very least, and rape at worst. But I’m not saying that for the reasons others have given. But I’m going to get back to that in a moment.

I’m going to leave out the controversy that’s been spat about this scene, because honestly, I don’t feel like talking about it. Like I said, I’m tired. And I’m not gonna harass someone else over their opinions just because they’re different than mine. If you didn’t like this, that’s totally fine. Please don’t ask me to debate, I’m not interested in . I’m simply enjoying this show in my own little corner, and am sharing my own opinions and observations for those who might be curious.

1.) Adrian is confirmed canonically (as far as the Netflix series goes) Bisexual.

While the events that follow the scene absolutely make this scene abuse and manipulation, at the start, Adrian does consent to the sex initially (INITIALLY, I’m not forgetting what happens after). He willingly makes out with both Sumi and Taka, and he’s very obviously anally penetrated when Taka puts Adrian’s legs over his shoulders. It’s not subtle. This is probably the smallest thing to mention given what happens, but this did make me happy. Adrian is only the second character in my favorites list to be confirmed LGBTQIA+ (the other being Damien Bloodmarch from Dream Daddy: a Dad Dating Simulator). And I won’t lie, I cried for both instances.

This is a popular show, and Adrian is one of the main characters. This season had so many good examples of LGBT+ relationships-- including a very healthy partnership between two of the female villains which was openly discussed by them on screen. It’s treated as normal but not made the focus of the story, though it’s very obvious and not hidden. This was very impressive and respectful, showing a range of different orientations, and showing both healthy and unhealthy relationships.

I won’t address the games, because I haven’t finished playing them. I’ve heard some saying he’s always been bi, some saying it was never confirmed, and some saying he was confirmed straight. So I don’t know. I am of the opinion that a character’s sexuality does not affect the overall lore any more than their skin color or religion does. BUT, that is all I can say. I don’t know the games. And this scene certainly does include lore, as I will touch on in a bit...

2.) This scene was abuse, and the writing vilifies it as such.

As I said above, Adrian does seem to initially consent to the sex. He returns their kisses, he grips onto Sumi’s ass, and holds Taka’s shoulder as they make out. These are actions that imply he was enjoying this at the beginning. Although, it is possible he may have felt somewhat pressured to go further, as when they initially push him down, he does seem taken back, although that may have been mostly surprise.

However, as the scene goes on, it becomes clear that these two are attempting to make Adrian vulnerable. They continue with him until he is exhausted-- there are two of them and one of him. And given Adrian’s reactions, it’s very possible this may have been his first time. And I’m also not going to gloss over the fact that Adrian himself has said that he aged quickly. It is entirely possible that Adrian may still mentally be a child, in which case, this is also two young adults taking advantage of a younger teenager.

However, when this clearly becomes abuse and possibly rape is why they were having sex with him in the first place-- they wanted to make him vulnerable enough to kill him. They grew impatient with Adrian, wanting him to do things he could not do and teach them things he had not yet had the chance to. He gave them all he could, but their urge to return to Japan and free their people grew into a desire to kick out and replace the authority that abused them, to “make their own empire.” I also like that this makes this very real and tangible-- the abusers are not cartoonishly evil. They are real people with real motives who experienced abuse themselves. This hits a really sensitive topic many people aren’t willing to address-- that anyone is capable of abuse, villains aren’t alien, and people who may be otherwise trustworthy may commit grievous acts which can deeply hurt people.

What solidifies the idea in my mind is Adrian’s reaction after he kills them both and frees himself. We see him, having dragged himself to his childhood bedroom, laying on the floor in the spot where he killed his father, shaking and crying. He was violated. He was betrayed. The first time he’d been living a somewhat normal life in over a year, and the only two friends he had after Sypha and Trevor left stabbed him in the back. These humans, whom he killed his father to protect, took advantage of him and almost killed him, forcing him to kill them first.

I’m going to link to this post by @fandomwanderer​ and this post by @mega-ringsandthings-world��, because the sum up the idea better than I ever could. But this sets up Adrian’s character superbly. I will say, my wish for the next season is a bit different.

I hope that, eventually, Sypha and Trevor do come back, expecting Adrian to be waiting for them with open arms. And instead they find a very cold, very detached Adrian who is not acting like himself. I want tension between these three characters who used to be friends, until it builds up and eventually leads to a clash, possibly in the form of a physical fight. I want it to escalate until something happens and causes pause enough for Sypha and Trevor to talk Adrian down, at which point we finally see him start to crack, and eventually break down in his friends arms. I want them to ask about the scars, and prod and push until he snaps and attacks them, only to lead to him revealing everything that happened and clinging to them for comfort, while they wish they could’ve been the ones to kill the bastards. I truly do hope this happens. It’s been Three Seasons. Two of them have ended with Adrian sobbing. I want him to finally get some relief. But, even with this, I’m sure whatever the writers decide to do, it will be amazing. They’re in a very precarious place right now, but I’m excited to see where they go with it.

3.) Adrian’s reaction is perfectly justified.

This may just be an extension of point two, but Sumi and Taka’s abuse is not excused by the writing. All too often in fiction, rape and abuse are written off as not being that bad or even being desirable. What happens to Adrian is not painted as positive. It affects him extremely negatively, and it is not treated as his fault in any way. Even though he initially consented, these two betrayed his trust and hurt him. That is never treated as something he should be responsible for. Granted, with this being at the end of the series, there wasn’t much time for this to digest. I expect to see some characters see how he reacted by killing and spitting them, and initially assume that he did so because “he’s Dracula's son and of course.” But these characters will likely be doing so without context. The abuse also isn’t blamed on Adrian’s apparent orientation. Hector is abused in the same way by Lenore, in a heterosexual female-on-male abuse scene. And as stated above, there are healthy LGBT+ relationships in the show, as well.

Also, as the above linked post states, this also leads to us seeing Adrian slip slowly into the mindset his father once held-- perhaps not completely, but it is beginning. And all I’m left to think is, how much must this hurt? How much must Adrian hate seeing himself this way after everything he did for humans? But he’s so hurt by this betrayal that he can’t see things any other way right now. He is in pain, and he has had no real rest from that pain since his mother was killed.

“I gave you everything.” Adrian opened his home to Sumi and Taka, and he opened his heart to them, as well. He gave them his home, his weapons, his knowledge, his body. He is very young and very trusting, despite everything he’s been through. And that trust was taken and shoved right back in his face with insult and humiliation. He gave his all, not just for Sumi and Taka, but for humanity as a whole. He killed people, he killed his own kind, and he killed his own father-- his only remaining parent-- after his own mother was killed by the very people he was trying to protect. He gave everything, and humanity took it all and then shat on him in return. Adrian has every. right to feel betrayed. I don’t think he’ll be the new villain solely because I believe they will stick a bit closer to game lore, and may rather have him simply put himself to rest until the next major disaster hits humanity. But I do think this event caused his view of humanity to be less rose-tinted. He was forced to grow up fast, and much more painfully than he should’ve.

I truly hope, more than anything else, in future seasons Adrian does get some form of relief. Though, I doubt the world is done kinking him while he’s down. Hopefully, sooner rather than later, something truly good and unbastardized will come his way. Until then, I’ll be waiting with baited breath. I couldn’t be happier that this series is continuing.

P.S.: Please let me hug Adrian.

[silyabeeodess]

Tangled: The Series Analysis, Cassandra's Betrayal

Before I begin, I feel like I have to set this announcement, as it’ll be a big part over both why I’m making this analysis and why it’s necessary for those of us watching the show. I don’t often say much regarding this kind of stuff, but I’ve noticed there’s starting to become a repeating problem in cartoons (especially recent Disney ones, a lot of which are trying to mimic the Gravity Falls formula and can’t quite hit the mark).  That problem is when a show creates a “big reveal” and then caters to that point so much that it deteriorates other aspects of the show or the characters that reveal involves.  Sometimes, it’s on the fault of the fandoms for banking too much on them, but the shows themselves can be in the wrong too by sweeping other things under the rug in the name of those reveals.  When Cass took the Moonstone and announced herself as Mother Gothel’s daughter--as much as it was expected by a lot of people--this very thing happened.  Furthermore, this isn’t to make up excuses for Cass’ actions, just to give some logic that seems to be disregarded in the overview. Expect this post not to agree with a lot of mainstream thoughts and feelings among the fanbase, or at least the ones more-often vocally expressed. I’m calling out the elephant in the room, but I’m just not invested enough to join in a long debate either.  

For this analysis, I’ll largely be covering S2 for references.  While we do see Cass and Rapunzel’s friendship with its problems as early as S1 (like in Challenge of the Brave), S2 focuses more on the gradual decline of their friendship.  More than that though, it’s also important because both of those two were at high points of their lives at the start of the season.  Rapunzel was finally leaving to go out and discover a world beyond Corona, along with searching for answers to the mystery of the black rocks, while Cass had garnered enough respect from both her father and the rest of the guard at the end of S1 to be entrusted to lead the battle against Varian and rescue the queen.  She can’t called a simple lady-in-waiting anymore.  For all the talk lately of Cass playing “second fiddle” and being jealous of Rapunzel because of it, this meant that Cass had an opportunity to stay in Corona and continue to focus on her own goals.  Except she didn't.  She followed Rapunzel along on her journey because she was her friend and she felt it was her duty.  We can tell how much more respect she’s gained because, above the others in the group, it was Cass that Rapunzel’s father entrusted her safety to: 

“Not that I don't think you can handle yourself,  but I promised your dad I'd keep you safe, and I'd hate to lose you less than a week on the road.” -Cassandra, in Beyond the Corona Walls

There’s also already some tension with Cass and Rapunzel right from the start:

“Not that you shouldn’t trust the endorsement of three lifetime criminals, Raps, but maybe you should trust me too.  I just wanna make sure that we’re not losing sight of what we’re doing out here.” 

Cass had a goal and was on-route to fulfilling it, but placed a greater value in Rapunzel’s safety and mission over that. This idea would later fall in line with the following verse from “Waiting in the Wings,” which indicates that it’s not just people or circumstances holding Cass back, but some of the personal choices she’s made that have set her own wants on the sidelines.

“I hear my cue and yet I’m kept there waiting,  Know what to do, and still I stand there waiting.”

Even Rapunzel would confirm later in Season Three that Cassandra stayed with her for her by choice. 

“She could've had everything she wanted.  She had the chance to become a warrior,  but she chose our friendship instead.” -Rapunzel, in Beginnings

Here comes the glaring issue though, and some of you are not gonna like me for saying it.  Rapunzel’s not that great a friend to Cass or--at times--even in general.  Before you come at me with torches and pitchforks, let’s go over some points in the show that indicate this:

Despite all of her attempts at hosting a festival in Vardaros falling flat because her personal interests/tastes don’t fall in line with the people while clearly Cass’ tastes do, she gets petty over it.  Rapunzel may have thought she was being delicate, but she dismissed all of Cass’ ideas even though other people like Vex had already shown approval toward Cass’ ways of doing things. On top of that, Rapunzel was the one to suggest they split up instead of trying to work things out together. Yes, Cass stayed angry until the end of the episode, but she sure didn’t start it. 

Rapunzel’s always running off to do her own thing despite how many warnings Cass tries to give her in order to keep her safe, such as in Freebird, where she trusts two total strangers over her best friend because “it’ll be fun!” 

She often trusts people over Cass, who she’s known longer than many and was loyal to her. This issue of trust goes especially for Adira who--while being a good person in the end--does attack them during their initial meeting and for all they know could’ve been leading them to use as human sacrifices or toward any other dangers because she refused to be honest with them.  She doesn’t really start listening to Cass until after it’s already too late because she’d already shown she doesn’t have faith in her decisions several times over.

In Rapunzel and the Dark Tree, Raps uses a dark magic spell she knows she can’t control to defeat Hector despite the fact that she could’ve ended up killing her friends and herself as a result because she nearly did earlier. Cass warned her against this too, but remained by her side to protect her still when she didn’t listen. Sure enough, she burns Cass’ arm.

The point above is made worse in the episode, Rapunzel: Day One, because then Raps decides to blame Cass for getting injured and draws her looking like a monster as if she herself has a right to be angry.  (In contrast, Raps is shown to feel some--at least buried--guilt based on the events in Rapunzeltopia, but she never acts on it in a positive or healthy way.)  She also gets mad at Cass for not talking about what happened despite the fact that sometimes people need space before they can, constantly pushing what she wants and thinks Cass needs over Cass’ own choices until she loses her memory later in the episode.  Cass didn’t talk because she was ready: Cass talked to Raps because she felt guilty.  And why would she feel like she can talk to Raps anyway if Raps practically ignores everything she says? 

“But if she had just listened to me and stayed out of it,  this all could have been avoided!  And I feel like we could work things out,  but she refuses to talk about it!  Wow. Ugh, I didn't mean to make her look that angry.”

Last point that connects to the one above as well, Rapunzel is then made a total hypocrite for trying to force Cass to talk when she also needs time to sort out her feelings over Cass’ betrayal at the start of Season Three and does her own thing despite Eugene trying to be there for her--listening to no one, getting herself in trouble, and forcing people to come to her rescue as always.  

One point that I want to make clear is that I’m not saying these are bad character choices for Rapunzel: She’s been locked in a tower all her life, so it’s not reasonable to expect her to have the best social skills.  She hasn’t had friends until this series beyond Pascal and Eugene, so she doesn’t know how to handle a lot of situations. However, it should also be recognized that her behavior is often selfish and reactionary, and she hardly gets anything more than a slap on the wrist whenever she has to face the consequences of her actions--rarely growing from them and repeating the same mistakes time and time again. (Granted, this can also be pinned on bad writing.) She often pushes her values onto the people around her as well--with good intentions, sure, but good intentions aren’t synonymous with good choices.  By doing this, she’d taken advantage of Cass’ friendship and dismissed all of the sacrifices Cass has made for her sake.

“But I’m not that naïve girl in the tower anymore.” “I can take care of myself.”

Yes you are and no you can’t, you dimwit. You’ve still got a lot to learn, so get off your high horse and actually listen to someone instead of running off to dance over a cliff and picking up dark magic you were already warned about several times over. 

All of this can also sum up a great deal of why Cass feels the way she does.  She absolutely has a reason to be angry, but she still tries to do right by Rapunzel by staying at her side and continuing to warn her no matter how often she’s dismissed.  At that point though, even if she wanted go, she can’t because of her duty. Because of the promise she made to the king to protect Raps and because that’ll be her job still as a member of the guard. She can’t let her feelings get in the way or everything she’s done to be a part of the guard would crumble--not to mention she’d be working for Raps after she took the crown, so she’s effectively stuck.

I want you to imagine this in a smaller, slice-of-life scenario: You’re in your group of friends, but they never listen to you.  Whatever you want to do is set aside and whatever you say is ignored.  When they need help you go to them, but they rarely, if ever, return the favor.  You’re expected to give things up for them, but not the other way around.  You’re trying to push them forward while their dismissal of your thoughts and feelings only seems to hold you back.

You can’t constantly treat someone so poorly without them eventually getting sick of it.  Cass had Rapunzel’s largely one-sided “friendship,” a scarred beyond repair limb, people mocking her, and a future that seemed to repeat more of the same with no one ever taking her side.  The issue with Gothel being Cass’ mother and leaving her wasn’t strictly the cause of Cass’ betrayal: It was the straw that broke the camel’s back.  

Now, Cass taking the Moonstone isn’t justified. Just because she’s been wronged doesn’t mean it’s ok for her to do the same and act reckless.  However, we can tell so far in Season Three that Cass and her emotions--pain, rage, and insecurity--are being manipulated.  She’s not outright malicious or evil as she doesn’t want to follow the “destiny” she’s been told to face by destroying Rapunzel, but now she thinks she’s got someone putting her first and giving her a chance to shine through the Enchanted Girl.  Maybe she even thinks that there’s no going back--the Moonstone does look like it’s now physically a part of her, again she’s being manipulated, and it would follow an arc similar to what Varian experienced.  

I’m not gonna make any guesses on if or how Cass could be redeemed: I just hope that, if she is, she’s not the only one apologizing like in Rapunzel: Day One. Cass’ actions are wrong, but there was a lot leading up to them.

[izabellwit]

Tagged by @mithrilwren!! thank you for tagging me! 😄

Post the last line of your most recent wip and tag as many authors as words in the line (obviously, you don’t have to do this if you don’t want to).

I’ve been jumping between quite a few wips, so here’s some lines from all of them! (One’s the next FotM chapter, another a rwby fic, and the last two are from requests!)

“Do you know how I got these?” Rapunzel asks, and the room is so, so quiet. “Do you know how I got these scars?”

-

“I—I know.” Oscar burns in his mind, reproachful. “No. No, I didn’t know if—I don’t know.” Oz is so tired. “I’m sorry.”

-

He has no idea what’s going on, but Oscar is sure he’ll find out eventually. He’d come back from today’s training to find all their blankets already on the floor, and Nora creating a whirlwind of pillows, and at this point he’s just content to watch the chaos.

-

And there is but one answer to that—there has always been but one answer to that—and so Hector curls his hand around the hilt of his blade, and rises to his feet with a smile curling bloodthirsty and sure at his lips.

tagging @faeriexqueen, @aquaquadrant, @yarrayora, @a-missing-ache @blaizekit, and anyone else who might be interested!! 💖

[thewarriorandtheking]

Farewell to Erebor

Excerpt from the last chapter of The Warrior and The King...still some of the best writing I have done, imo

Read the rest of the story: MasterList

*****************************************

Late one night Thorin and Kaylea lay together on his bed, the sweat drying on their bodies. Kaylea lay on her side against him, her head on Thorin’s chest, his arm was around her shoulders. It had been nearly three fortnights since the Battle of the Five Armies.

“I must leave tomorrow morning,” she said quietly. Thorin drew a deep breath, he was not ready for this.

“There are many things I could say,” he said. “But I fear they would change nothing.” He absently drew circles on her shoulder with his fingers. “If you had a choice, if you were not answerable to this lord, would you stay?” Thorin waited for her to answer. She was silent so long he began to wonder if she had heard him.

“No,” Kaylea said finally. “I love you, but I will not give up the life I lead to be just a queen.”

Thorin looked at her, astonished. “Just a queen? You make it sound like a prison sentence!”

Kaylea drew a deep breath. “So it would be to me, my love. I have trained long and hard to live the life I want. What is it that queens do? Host dinner parties and shop for dresses?” She shook her head. “That could never be my life.”

“A queen’s role is not so narrow,” Thorin replied. “She assists her king in running his kingdom, counsels him, helps to ease his burdens. A queen has many roles.”

Kaylea moved to look up at him, propping her chin on her hand. “A queen’s first and most important duty is to provide her king with an heir to ensure the succession of his line. This is not something I can do for you.”

Thorin looked at her skeptically. “My heir does not have to come from my body, I can name another. There is Fili, he has a wife.”

Kaylea lay her head back down on his chest, hugging him with her arm. “Fili would make a good king, but a king’s first choice should always be his own son. I am done arguing this with you.”

Thorin opened his mouth to reply, then closed it. What a queen Kaylea would make! He knew he would not convince her to change her mind in the next day. Perhaps when she returned he would be able to sway her.

“If you are to leave on the morrow I have a present for you,” Thorin said. Kaylea moved so he could get up, he went to his desk and took out a small black box. When he handed it to her Kaylea looked at him quizzically.

“This looks like a proposal,” she said.

Thorin smiled. “I have already proposed, you may remember. This is my gift to you for saving my life, in memory of all that has passed between us. All I ask is that you wear it often and think of me,” he looked up at her. “And promise to come back to me.”

Kaylea opened the box and gasped involuntarily. Inside was the ring she had admired that first day when Thorin had taken her on a tour of his kingdom. It had been reworked so on the other side of the wolf who held the stone in his mouth was a raven, mouth open to embrace the other side. The white stone had been changed for one of the moon sapphires, gleaming like a star in it’s deep setting. It was the most beautiful piece of jewelry Kaylea had ever seen. She looked from it to Thorin and back, not sure how to respond. Thorin was watching her closely, he had been hoping to impress her. Kral’s silverwork was flawless and he had cut and set the stone himself. To see her actually speechless made his heart soar.

Kaylea took the ring out of its box and put it on her right hand, the stone flashed in the firelight. “Thank you. It is beautiful,” she said. “I do not know how often I will have occasion to wear it.” Thorin smiled and lifted the cushion out of the box. Underneath was a silver chain.

“I planned for that, my love,” he said. The chain was mithril, and finely made. Kaylea chuckled.

“You know me too well, my king.” She drew him to her and kissed him, Thorin held her close wishing he could just stay in this bed with her forever.

After a few minutes Kaylea drew back to look at him. “I must give you something in return,” she said. Thorin shook his head.

“That is not necessary,” he replied. “A promise from you to return is all I desire, my love.” Kaylea had already rolled off the bed and walked over to her things. She picked up her sword and brought it over to Thorin, offering it to him.

“I give you this, as a token of my promise to return to Erebor,” she said gravely. Thorin stared at her.

“You are giving me your sword?”

Kaylea smiled. “I have other weapons. This one has served me well for many years, may it do the same for you.” Thorin took the sword from her carefully, he could not deny he did covet it. He had seen it in battle, no armor or shield could stop it. He had watched Kaylea cut through the leg of a cave troll like a knife through butter. He drew it from it’s sheath, admiring the blade. The edge was so keen he was sure it could split hairs. It was sharpened only on one side and had a slight curve to it, the handle was covered in some kind of braided leather, with a simple round guard. It was beautifully balanced, looking closely he could see the metal of the blade had many layers to it.

“What kind of steel is this made of?” He asked, it was like nothing he had ever seen.  

Kaylea uttered an unfamiliar word, it sounded almost like “hullmetal”. “The metal is folded over hundreds of times, that is how it holds its edge.”

Thorin nodded. He resheathed the sword and leaned it against the wall. “I suppose you will not give me another look at that other weapon.”

Kaylea gave him an innocent look. “I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about, my king.”

Thorin smiled at her. He had given it much thought and had an idea how the weapon might work, but he needed to see it again. It seemed Kaylea was not going to give him the chance, he decided not to push her.  

“Thank you for the sword, my love,” he said. “I will treasure it.” Thorin got back into bed, throwing the covers back for Kaylea. She slipped in beside him, time was short now and neither wanted to waste it.

 Kaylea and Thorin stayed in bed late. Thorin had breakfast brought up to his chambers.

“You must have a long ride, to reach your ship,” Thorin said, pouring them each more coffee. “I could ride with you.”

Kaylea smiled at him. “That would only be prolonging the inevitable.”

“That is the idea, my love.”

“I have already tarried here longer than I should,” said Kaylea. “I will need to ride hard to make my rendezvous, perhaps for several days straight.” She met his gaze across the table. “It is better to say goodbye here.”

Thorin sighed, wishing he could find a way to make her stay but knowing it was impossible. “You know you will take my heart with you when you leave.”

Kaylea nodded gravely. “And I will leave mine behind,” she said. Thorin looked up to meet her gaze, she so rarely spoke of her own feelings. “When I return things may be different,” Kaylea said.

Thorin shook his head. “Some things might, but other things will not change. A Dwarf’s love is not such a fickle thing.”

“That may be true, but none can know the future,” Kaylea replied.

Thorin leaned back in his chair. “You speak as if you wish things to be different.”

“I wish you only happiness, my king,” Kaylea drew a long breath. “There is no way we can have a life together, you should not let your feelings for me keep you from building a new life with another.”

Thorin’s face went suddenly grave. He reached and took both her hands in his. “I say this to you: my heart will always be yours. Nothing will change that. Not time, not an arranged marriage, nothing. It does not matter how long you are gone, or what may happen in that time. I am yours body and soul forever.”

Kaylea looked at his hands, strong and scarred from many years at the forges. In all her years no man had ever spoken thus to her, but what really surprised her was to examine her own heart and realize she felt the same. She looked up to meet his eyes. “When I take my leave, my heart will stay here with you,” she said. “I know it will be safe in your keeping.” She shook her head slowly, speaking almost to herself. “I have lived a long time but I have never felt about another soul the way I feel for you, my king.”

Thorin smiled ruefully at her. “And yet you will not stay.”

Kaylea smiled back at him. “It is not in my nature to be a queen,” she said. “But I love you and I will return. I do not know how soon, but I will come back.”

That night after they made love Thorin held Kaylea as she fell asleep. He lay there for a long time listening to her breathing, wondering when he would be with her again. She said they could not know what the future would bring, his only wish was that the future would bring her back to him. With these thoughts filling his mind, he drifted off to sleep.

 Thorin felt something ice cold touch his shoulder and nearly jumped out of his skin, sitting straight up in bed. It was the grey hour before dawn, Hector was standing beside the bed regarding him calmly with his yellow eyes. Kaylea was gone, Thorin looked for her gear that had been packed near the door, it was also missing. He looked again at the big wolf.

“If you are here, she has not left yet,” he said, rising and grabbing his clothes. Hector sat down and watched him. Not for the first time Thorin expected the animal to say something, but the wolf remained silent. He felt very irritated with Kaylea that she had snuck out and not let him wake up beside her, but at the same time he understood. They would have just had the same conversation again, prolonging the inevitable she would say. As he was pulling on his clothes a piece of paper on the dresser caught his eye. Thinking Kaylea would not have left a note if she had sent Hector to fetch him he picked it up. She had left him her portrait, extraordinarily lifelike. It was just her head and shoulders but he could see a cliff and the sea behind her. Her hair was down and she was looking off to one side, the slight smile he knew so well on her lips. He carefully tucked it into his tunic, thinking he must make a proper frame for it and quickly finished dressing. He then hurried out to the main hall, the wolf trailing behind. As Thorin approached the gate he saw Kaylea leading her horse up from the stables, she gave him a wide smile. The guards were just opening the gate, admitting a cold winter breeze. It was just starting to snow, the flakes swirled in through the gate.

Kaylea stopped before Thorin and dropped down on one knee. “My king,” she said, bowing her head. Thorin stepped forward and put a hand under her chin, tilting her head up to face him.

“My love,” he said softly. Kaylea rose and Thorin took her in his arms and kissed her. The kiss lasted a long time, as neither wanted it to end. Each wanted to sear the taste and feel of the other into their memory, it was a moment they would each relive many times over the ensuing years. When they separated at last Thorin held her forehead to his, closing his eyes. “Come back to me,” he said.

“I will return,” Kaylea replied. “Take care, my king.” She stepped back then, picked up the reins and swung up onto her horse. The big horse trotted out into the pale dawn, following the wolf. Thorin walked out onto the bridge, watching her ride away through the falling snow. He felt a great heavy emptiness in his heart, as if all joy had deserted him, the winter weather mirroring his mood. He watched her to see if Kaylea would look back at him, she had not the last time when she left him beside the Bruinen. She had gone some distance when Thorin saw her horse slow and stop, he could make out Kaylea turning in her saddle, her horse pivoting back towards Erebor. She stayed there for a moment, then turned her horse and took off at a near gallop. A few moments later she was gone.

END OF BOOK ONE

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Most of my stories are too long for Tumblr...read the complete adventures of The Warrior and The King on AO3 & FanFiction (links on my homepage), a few stories are also on Wattpad, author is AKDogDriver.

@fizzyxcustard  @sdavid09 @theelvenvalkyrie

[sciencenewsforstudents]

A week after two large earthquakes rattled southern California, scientists are scrambling to understand the sequence of events that led to the temblors and what it might tell us about future quakes.

A magnitude 6.4 quake struck July 4 near Ridgecrest — about 194 kilometers northeast of Los Angeles — followed by a magnitude 7.1 quake in the same region on July 5. Both quakes occurred not along the famous San Andreas Fault but in a region of crisscrossing faults in the state’s high desert area, known as the Eastern California Shear Zone.

The San Andreas Fault system, which stretches nearly 1,300 kilometers, generally takes center stage when it comes to California’s earthquake activity.  That’s where, as the Pacific tectonic plate and the North American tectonic plate slowly grind past each other, sections of ground can lock together for a time, slowly building up strain until they suddenly release, producing powerful quakes.

For the last few tens of millions of years, the San Andreas has been the primary origin of massive earthquakes in the region. Now overdue for a massive earthquake, based on historical precedent, many people fear it’s only a matter of time before the “Big One” strikes.

But as the July 4 and July 5 quakes — and their many aftershocks — show, the San Andreas Fault system isn’t the only source of concern. The state is riddled with faults, says geophysicist Susan Hough of the U.S. Geological Survey in Pasadena, Calif. That’s because almost all of California is part of the general boundary between the plates. The Eastern California Shear Zone alone has been the source of several large quakes in the last few decades, including the magnitude 7.1 Hector Mine quake in 1999, the magnitude 6.7 Northridge quake in 1994 and the magnitude 7.3 Landers quake in 1992 (SN Online: 8/29/18).

Here are three questions scientists are trying to answer in the wake of the most recent quakes.

Which faults ruptured, and how?

The quakes appear to have occurred along previously unmapped faults within a part of the Eastern California Shear Zone known as the Little Lake Fault Zone, a broad bunch of cracks difficult to map, Hough says. “It’s not like the San Andreas, where you can go out and put your hand on a single fault,” she says. And, she adds, the zone also lies within a U.S. Navy base that isn’t generally accessible to geologists for mapping.

But preliminary data do offer some clues. The data suggest that the first rupture may actually have been a twofer: Instead of one fault rupturing, two connected faults, called conjugate faults, may have ruptured nearly simultaneously, producing the initial magnitude 6.4 quake.

It’s possible that the first quake didn’t fully release the strain on that fault, but the second, larger quake did. “My guess is that they will turn out to be complementary,” Hough says.

The jury is still out, though, says Wendy Bohon, a geologist at the Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology in Washington, D.C. “What parts of the fault broke, and whether a part of the fault broke twice … I’m waiting to see what the scientific consensus is on that.”

And whether a simultaneous rupture of a conjugate fault is surprising, or may actually be common, isn’t yet clear, she says. “In nature, we see a lot of conjugate fault pairs. I don’t think they normally rupture at the same time — or maybe they do, and we haven’t had enough data to see that.”

Is the center of tectonic action moving away from the San Andreas Fault?

GPS data have revealed exactly how the ground is shifting in California as the giant tectonic plates slide past one another. The San Andreas Fault system bears the brunt of the strain, about 70 percent, those data show. But the Eastern California Shear Zone bears the other 30 percent. And the large quakes witnessed in that region over the last few decades raise a tantalizing possibility, Hough says: We may be witnessing the birth pangs of a new boundary.

“The plate boundary system has been evolving for a long time already,” Hough says. For the last 30 million years or so, the San Andreas Fault system has been the primary locus of action. But just north of Santa Barbara lies the “big bend,” a kink that separates the northern from the southern portion of the fault system. Where the fault bends, the Pacific and North American plates aren’t sliding sideways past one another but colliding.

“The plates are trying to move, but the San Andreas is actually not well aligned with that motion,” she says. But the Eastern California Shear Zone is. And, Hough says, there’s some speculation that it’s a new plate boundary in the making. “But it would happen over millions of years,” she adds. “It’s not going to be in anyone’s lifetime.”

Will these quakes trigger the Big One on the San Andreas?

Such large quakes inevitably raise these fears. Historically, the San Andreas Fault system has produced a massive quake about every 150 years ago. But “for whatever reason, it has been pretty quiet in the San Andreas since 1906,” when an estimated magnitude 7.9 quake along the northern portion of the fault devastated San Francisco, Hough says. And the southern portion of San Andreas is even more overdue for a massive quake; its last major event was the estimated magnitude 7.9 Fort Tejon quake in 1857, she says.

The recent quakes aren’t likely to change that situation. Subsurface shifting from a large earthquake can affect strain on nearby faults. But it’s unlikely that the quakes either relieved stress or will ultimately trigger another earthquake along the San Andreas Fault system, essentially because they were too far away, Hough says. “The disruption [from one earthquake] of other faults decreases really quickly with distance,” she says (SN Online: 3/28/11).

Some preliminary data do suggest that the magnitude 7.1 earthquake produced some slippage, also known as creep, along at least one shallow fault in the southern part of the San Andreas system. But such slow, shallow slips don’t produce earthquakes, Hough says.

However, the quakes could have more significantly perturbed much closer faults, such as the Garlock Fault, which runs roughly west to east along the northern edge of the Mojave Desert. That’s not unprecedented: The 1992 Landers quake may have triggered a magnitude 5.7 quake two weeks later along the Garlock Fault.

“Generations of graduate students are going to be studying these events — the geometry of the faults, how the ground moved,” even how the visible evidence of the rupture, scarring the land surface, erodes over time and obscures its traces, Bohon says.

At the moment, scientists are eagerly trading ideas on social media sites. “It’s the equivalent of listening in on scientists shouting down the hallway: ‘Here’s my data — what do you have?’ ” she says. Those preliminary ideas and explanations will almost certainly evolve as more information comes in, she adds. “It’s early days yet.”

[thecomicsnexus]

2020 VISIONS #4-6 AUGUST - OCTOBER 1997 BY JAMIE DELANO, WARREN PLEECE, JAMES SINCLAIR AND DIGITAL CHAMELEON

SYNOPSIS

Jack Atlanta (daughter of Alex, from the previous arc), is a private dick in Nueva Florida.

During one of her virtual sex sessions, she is taken out by Greasy Claude, who doesn’t want to continue providing the service for her until she pays, but could work it out with a favor. She has to find his sister, Collette, who disappeared a couple of weeks before.

She goes to the morgue to investigate if her body showed up, and she finds something even worse, a body of a victim that has been completely altered by surgery. She is one of the victims of “El escultor”, the serial killer that operates on his victims.

She gets in trouble with Hector Cunoz (probably meant to be Cuñoz), the “inquisidor”, who is already in the case of “el escultor”.

Jack follows the trail of Collette through Loretta, a charitable organization helping runaway girls. Apparently, a philanthropist named Helena gave her a nice dress and sent her to a club (el jalapeño), no one heard from her since then.

She goes home and shaves her mustache, and proceeds to put on some protection (Snake Biter, an intra-vaginal rape defense system). Because you never know.

At the club, she meets Raoul Vargos (possibly meant Vargas), a suggestion from the club owner, Señora Resnick. She takes advantage of a moment of distraction (an orgy) to steal security footage.

Back at home, she goes through the footage and finds out that Collette and Raoul had a thing, and he gave her a piece of paper. She calls him to meet and give him news about Collette. Not knowing that Hector, el inquisidor, has been listening to her conversations.

When she meets with him, they go to a motel, but they are interrupted by Hector who starts “la tortura” on him. It turns out that Raoul, having a high sperm count, was part of a baby farm scheme, where women are kidnapped, impregnated and then, after giving birth, thrown out to the swamps as alligator food. He dies during the torture.

Jack starts investigating “La medica” Resnick, who used to be a plastic surgeon specialized in using parts on humans to make their bodies really unique. It didn’t end well, as these parts would often fall off and she went out of business. She calls her and tells her that she knows everything that happened, and she can keep quiet if she gives her a baby.

She finally meets with La Medica (with Hector as backup). While talking to her, she finds out that fetuses are actually taking early to grow them in vitro, but they keep the mothers for a while in a coma, to milk them. La Medica then tells her that they have Hector and proceeds to paralyze her. Now with both on the surgeon table, she asks them how they want to be changed (as she was very obviously “el escultor”). Hector says he wants to be a girl, and he wants to feel defenseless while she does that. Jack is not happy at all, so La Medica decides for fer, to make her impenetrable, and put shark teeth in her vagina.

While she operates on Hector, Jack can hear him say something she only heard during her virtual sex sessions, and realizes she has been having sex with him all along (virtually). When La Medica starts operating on Jack, the “snake biter” works as a charm, chopping off one of her fingers, and also poisoning her at the same time. The serial killer slowly dies and Jack’s paralysis fades out.

With the case resolved, she finally breaks into poor Hector that they had sex before.

REVIEW

So, Alex was a boomer and I have to conclude that Jack was a Millennial. It isn’t that clear in this saga, because one of the covers says she was born in 1990, but that wouldn’t have worked very well. She has been living 20 years in Nueva Florida and she had kids before that. Furthermore, in the previous episode, Alex says he had a daughter in the eighties, so she has to be a Millennial. And the first clue for this is how she is happy with just being able to please her desires. You know, as long as she gets some benefits from her job, it really doesn’t matter.

But I don’t think this story is so linked to that generation as the previous one. In fact, in many circumstances, this rebellion and identity-challenge, this desire to not be what society chose her to be, places her more into the Generation X. In any case, she kind of represents both generations. She fights for it, and she is able to live it (as we have been told before, generation X had to fight many battles for us to have what we want).

But no, I find this “crime” story to be more around the idea of pro-creation. I the futuristic year of 2020, not all men can make babies, and most women will give you diseases, so having kids became some kind of luxury. This wasn’t a perfect prediction as you can imagine, the world is very overpopulated and it is not stopping. But some other predictions did come true. Florida is losing land because of the seas rising, and yes, Fidel Castro died eventually, but Cuba is still its own country.

Beyond the idea of pro-creation, this woman has been scarred by her experience with pregnancy and then she had to give her kids away. She even has an aversion for having kids. Which makes sense, once you give babies away (because you cannot keep them), you will probably not think about having new babies. Maybe this trauma shaped her personality this way, making her want to be more like a man (who cannot get pregnant), and be very involved in virtual sex with a little bit of virtual torture (to others). She is a very complex character.

The one thing that annoys me is the mix of broken Spanish into everything. Do people in Florida speak like that? It is quite annoying. The choice of words that are spoken in Spanish are not always practical (in my mind, I will generally use words in English as they are shorter, but will switch to Spanish when I have a shorter version of the word in my own language). Again, it is possible that people do this in Florida. Or maybe they will in the next year?

Other than that, the identity of the killer here became pretty obvious in the last episode. Before that, there were some clues that suggested that the killer was a woman, but not enough evidence to be sure. It is a good crime story. Of course, not for everyone, like most Vertigo books, it can be a bit disturbing.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[parasite-core]

I answered all of these for Draven because I lack basic self control.

BASICS

* What’s their full name?

Draven Imani (now Sir Draven Imani)

* What does their name mean? Why were they named that?

By itself Draven means “Of the Raven”, taken together Draven Imani means “Hunter/Avenger of Faith”. His family had a ‘D’ theme going and divine based names for the men.

* Do they have any nicknames?

Not yet. Unless the title ‘The One-Eyed Knight’ counts but that’s not really a nickname.

* How old are they?

He’s 21. He’s baby. He shouldn’t be leading an army fighting demons.

* When’s their birthday?

Rova 22, which is equivalent to September 22 on the Earth calendar. The Autumnal equinox. Also 3 days after one of Iomedae’s holidays, The Day of the Inheritor. Also the day, albeit 300 years in the future, that a portal to hell opened in Westcrown and the soon to be King of Cheliax slayed Liebdaga the Twin with his friends and absorbed his mythic power.

* What’s their zodiac sign/element/birthstone/etc.? Do they believe that holds any significance?

No idea in this universe. He wouldn’t believe it held any significance even if he knew it.

* What’s their species/subspecies? Do they have any special/magical abilities?

Half-elf. The only magic he gets from it is aging a little slower, seeing a little better in the dark, good hearing, and being a little more resistant to some magic. All the rest of his magic come from faith in his goddess.

* What “class” do they belong to (for fantasy characters)? If none, what weapon do they favor?

Warpriest, and his favored weapon is the longsword, the holy weapon of Iomedae, paired with a buckler shield.

APPEARANCE

* What do they look like?

Medium dark skin, black hair except for a streak of white in hair bangs, a thin face with sharp features, one honey brown eye, his other eye is blind and fogged over so it appears grey-white, and he has three claw scars over said blind eye. He looks like his human heritage is Garundi, which would be the Pathfinder equivalent of Indian or generally Middle-Eastern.

* Do they have a face claim?

I based his facial shape, skin tone, and hair texture off of Hector from Castlevania, but he otherwise doesn’t have a one for one face claim.

* What’s their style like? Clothes, hair, makeup?

He’s crusading against demons, so armor generally. Recently a magic breastplate with Iomedae’s holy symbol on it. He does wear some golden eyeshadow and eyeliner to make himself look a little nicer though. Sometimes red and gold sherwani and a matching eyepatch over his blind eye on formal occasions.

* How do they carry themselves? What’s their default expression?

He carries himself with a lot of energy and dry humor, and always has a smile that doesn’t quite reach his eyes.

* Do they have any physical ailments or disabilities?

He’s blind in his left eye, and he has chronic pain from the severe scarring on his arms and shoulders.

PERSONALITY

* What’s their alignment?

Neutral Good, bordering lawful good.

* Which one of the 16 Personality Types do they fit into?

ISTP-T

* What are their hobbies and interests? Do they have any particular “favorites” (food, books, and so on)?

He plays the fiddle and enjoys puzzles. He isn’t GOOD at puzzles, but he enjoys them.

* What are they bad at?

A lot lol. Self care for one.

* What kind of things do they dislike/hate?

Demons. Cultists. People who spread rumors in spite to smear a good people’s name. The feeling of cloth on his face. (One of these things is not like the others, one of these things doesn’t belong~)

* Do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses?

Mental illness: PTSD and probably some other comobid things but the PTSD is the only thing I know for certain. Vices…the worst he does is the occasional tavern visit, but he doesn’t typically overdo it.

* What are their goals and motivations?

He wants to kill as many demons as possible, to stop them from harming as many people as possible. No more victims. He wants to protect the innocent. He wants to personify the aspect of Iomedae being a shield-maiden, and be a shield for the weak himself.

* What are their manners like? Any habits?

He’s not always good at manners. He tries when around people who he feels deserves his respect, but he does slip up and act informally more often than not. He doesn’t feel shame so he has difficulty regulating himself sometimes.

* What are they most afraid of?

The people around him dying. Again.

BACKGROUND

* Where were they born? What was their childhood like?

He was born in a small village in Mendev called Veilshore by the Lake of Mists and Veils. His family were originally farmers, which isn’t exactly a lucrative business in Mendev where the ground has mostly gone fallow due to the Worldwound, so they were fairly poor. But they lived in a tight knit community that supported one another, and his father was well liked for helping others in the village with various tasks that needed doing, so they got by. Then when he was eight, he family were all killed by demons from the Worldwound, and he spent the rest of his childhood in the Light-Oath Orphanage raised by Iomedae’s faithful. He spent much of the rest of his childhood blinded by rumors that he was in some way responsible for his family’s deaths, as the only survivor, due to the mark of Deskari left behind on his arm by the attack.

* What’s their family like?

He doesn’t remember them clearly, the trauma of their deaths is what he remembers most clearly. He remembers bits and pieces of each of his family members. Chaaya Imani, his mother, he remembers was kind, but always a bit tired. He remembers a pale blue dress, the smell of baking cakes on birthdays, and the spice of homemade curry. Devansh Imani, his father, he remembers was quiet, and dutiful. He was liked by the other men in the village, and when he wasn’t working on the farm, he was often out helping others in the village with fixing roofs, mending tools, or having an evening drink at the tavern in celebration of a job well done. Draven doesn’t remember his face, but remembers a deep soothing voice that only spoke when words would have the most impact. Umbriel Imani, his oldest sister, he remembers he didn’t have much in common with her, and that she always seemed a bit annoyed with him. He tended to purposely get on her nerves to get a rise out of her, because it was easy and funny. He thought her make up was pretty, but never would have told her, and he remembers her face the clearest because of it. It’s the reason he started wearing his eye makeup. Devanna Imani, his other other sister, was the second oldest. He remembers she liked pressing flowers in books, and drawing the stray cats that lived around their farm. He and Divraj tried to get a rise out of her, but she was more patient than Umbriel. She also was very good at remembering when one of her siblings deserved a little pay back. Divraj Imani, his younger brother was the youngest child, a year younger than Draven. He remembers they were close, and didn’t fight often, more likely to team up against the older girls than to bicker themselves. Draven remembers he was usually the ringleader, with Divraj going along with his choices. He’s pretty sure Divraj looked up to him as his older brother, although he wouldn’t have thought about it at the time. Draven feels like he failed him, more than anyone else, as his older brother, even though he knows logically as an 8-year-old kid there was nothing he could have done to protect him.

* What factions or organizations are they a part of? What ranks and titles do they hold?

Haha okay so this just got interesting recently.

So Draven is a member of the Mendevian Crusaders, a group who fights back against the demon scourge from a portal into the Abyss called the Worldwound. For the last year he was a member of their lowest and least prestigious wing, The Raven Corps, in which his duties mainly involves guard duty, walking the walls, and patrolling the town. The Raven Corps are where the people seen as too weak or too debilitated to be of use on the battlefield. Due to Draven’s missing eye and the assumption he couldn’t keep up with his able bodied peers as a result, he ended up relegated to the Raven Corps, much to his displeasure. And there he remained for a year, until the day the Wardstone was destroyed, and he and a small group of fellow adventurers and crusaders ended up discovering the conspiracy that had led to the Wardstone’s destruction, and helped to stop the remaining shard from being corrupted by the Demon Lord Deskari’s forces. After this, and gaining a boon from both the wardstone’s power and Iomedae herself, Draven was recognized by the Queen of Mendev herself and was both knighted and promoted to Commander of his own legion within the crusades: the Adamant Shield Legion. A legion to defend the people from the demon hordes with the strength of an adamantine shield.

* How do they fit into their “story”?

He saw himself as an unfortunate soul whipped around by the whims of fate, and bringing a curse along to anyone with the misfortune of coming into contact with him. He actually seems to be fitting into the story as an unwilling protagonist, always at the wrong place at the right time. The accidental wielder of the holy sword when the chosen one died. Accidentally impressed his goddess and the Queen of Mendev. Accidentally helped break fate. Just always exactly where he needs to be to do what needs to be done whether he wants to or not and whether he should or not.

* Where do they currently live? What’s their place like?

They did live in the barracks, but considering the city is in ruins I don’t know if those are even still there.

* How do they eventually die?

No idea. Hope I don’t find out. The joy of ttrpgs.

RELATIONSHIPS

* Do they have any friends? Would they consider anyone to be their best friend?

His best friend and brother from his time at the Light-Oath Orphanage is the tiefling Leto. He would want to say his only friend normally, but the rest of the group did something recently that meant a lot to him so he’s trying to suppress that urge a little bit. Luna, Melody, and Hiskaria are also his friends. They broke fate together. If anyone else can survive him, it’ll be them. And they made sure he could protect Leto. That meant a lot to him. He’s going to find a way to express that.

* What’s their friend group like? What role do they play in it?

He’d normally say the albatross around their necks, but again, he’s trying to be better about that. He’s been trying to keep them at arm’s length. We’ll see now that he’s starting to accept that maybe these three are safe to keep around what he’ll do.

* What’s their love life like? (See also: ship question meme.) Do they have any kids?

Nonexistent. Not that he’s aroace, he is interested eventually, he just has a lot going on. And trauma. Lots of trauma he should work on. And his friends apparently shipping him and Leto. He did find Lann a little attractive but no one but his journal’s ever hearing about that thought crossing his mind.

* Who do they look up to? Who do they trust?

He looks up to Irabeth Tirabade, the Commander of the Eagle Watch. He’s kind of fallen into following in her footsteps accidentally. It’s been a lot. He doesn’t like the idea of having so many people’s lives in his hands. But he also doesn’t want to let her or them down. As for who he trusts…Leto, obviously. And Irabeth. And Luna, after observing her she’s ironically the most trustworthy of the party in Draven’s perspective.

* Who do they hate? Do they have any enemies?

Deskari, the demon lord whose symbol is branded on his arm. Baphomet, the demon lord whose cultist murdered Auriel. Demons in general, really.

* Do they have any pets?

No. He wouldn’t be opposed. He likes Leto’s horse, although his name upsets him.

* Are they good with kids? Animals?

He’s good with kids. Animals so far seem to think he tastes good.

FUN FACTS

* Which tropes do they fit? Which archetypes?

The Orphan. Stepford Smiler. Deadpan Snarker. Hunter of Monsters. Reluctant Hero.

* Do they play any instruments? Sports?

He plays the violin, and can sword fight.

* What are some items they always carry?

His holy symbol, his shield, and the holy sword Radiance.

* Do they collect anything?

No, but he’s not opposed to the idea

* What position do they sleep in?

On his back, hands under head, or on his side, still hands under his head.

* Which emoji would they use the most?

🙂

* What languages do they speak?

Common and elven, and as of this most recent level and absorbing a bunch of holy energy, celestial. He doesn’t know he speaks celestial yet. It’ll be a surprise to him too the first time it happens.

* What’s their favorite expletive?

He wants to use dammit soooooo often, then remembers he’s a holy man and probably shouldn’t use dammit lightly, and uses ‘blast it all’ instead (or ‘blasted’ in the place of ‘damned’).

* What’s their favorite candle scent?

Something floral or fruity, but subtle, not overpowering. Something summery. Dragonfruit maybe.

* What songs remind you of them?

He has a two hour long playlist. I have a problem. A few samples…The Raven by Karliene, Goodnight Demonslayer by Aurelio Voltaire (who is also my headcanon for his singing voice), Those Were the Days by Mary Hopkins, Bad Luck Charm by Jeff Williams, and Go Get Your Gun by The Dear Hunter

* Which animal would you say represents them?

A Raven, of course

* What stereotypical high school clique would they fit into?

The loner or the church kid

* What would their favorite ride at an amusement park be?

He would go on any ride put in front of him, he’d have fun, but I don’t think thrill seeking is really his thing so none of the rollercoasters or towers of terror or any of those would be his favorites or his first choices. I think he’d like that the ferris wheel or the carousel give a breather between the more heart pumping rides.

* Do they believe in aliens? Ghosts? Reincarnation or something else?

These things literally exist in the world he lives in, so yes.

* Do they follow any religions/gods? Do they celebrate holidays?

Yes, he’s a devout worshipper of Iomedae the Inheritor. He celebrates all of her holidays, to whatever extent celebrations were able to be observed in a fairly poor little village.

* Which Deadly Sin do they most correspond to? Which Heavenly Virtue?

Deadly sin: I was originally going to say pride or envy when I first started playing him but after a few sessions, sloth. He wants so badly to avoid his responsibilities and let others be in charge while he just acts as a grunt and does the easy work of taking orders and fighting demons without the responsibility of others’ lives in his hands, but life keeps forcing him forward. As for heavenly virtue…ironically digilence, the opposite of sloth. He just kind of swings between the two. When there’s someone he doesn’t want to let down, or something he wants to do, or something he feels needs to be done, he’ll throw his whole self into it and work incredibly hard, sometimes to his own detriment.

* If you had to choose one tarot card to represent them, which would it be?

He would say the tower

Actually the chariot

— OC QUESTIONS

BASICS

What’s their full name?

What does their name mean? Why were they named that?

Do they have any nicknames?

How old are they?

When’s their birthday?

What’s their zodiac sign/element/birthstone/etc.? Do they believe that holds any significance?

What’s their species/subspecies? Do they have any special/magical abilities?

What “class” do they belong to (for fantasy characters)? If none, what weapon do they favor?

APPEARANCE

What do they look like?

Do they have a face claim?

What’s their style like? Clothes, hair, makeup?

How do they carry themselves? What’s their default expression?

Do they have any physical ailments or disabilities?

PERSONALITY

What’s their alignment?

Which one of the 16 Personality Types do they fit into?

What are their hobbies and interests? Do they have any particular “favorites” (food, books, and so on)?

What are they bad at?

What kind of things do they dislike/hate?

Do they have any vices/addictions/mental illnesses?

What are their goals and motivations?

What are their manners like? Any habits?

What are they most afraid of?

BACKGROUND

Where were they born? What was their childhood like?

What’s their family like?

What factions or organizations are they a part of? What ranks and titles do they hold?

How do they fit into their “story”?

Where do they currently live? What’s their place like?

How do they eventually die?

RELATIONSHIPS

Do they have any friends? Would they consider anyone to be their best friend?

What’s their friend group like? What role do they play in it?

What’s their love life like? (See also: ship question meme.) Do they have any kids?

Who do they look up to? Who do they trust?

Who do they hate? Do they have any enemies?

Do they have any pets?

Are they good with kids? Animals?

FUN FACTS

Which tropes do they fit? Which archetypes?

Do they play any instruments? Sports?

What are some items they always carry?

Do they collect anything?

What position do they sleep in?

Which emoji would they use the most?

What languages do they speak?

What’s their favorite expletive?

What’s their favorite candle scent?

What songs remind you of them?

Which animal would you say represents them?

What stereotypical high school clique would they fit into?

What would their favorite ride at an amusement park be?

Do they believe in aliens? Ghosts? Reincarnation or something else?

Do they follow any religions/gods? Do they celebrate holidays?

Which Deadly Sin do they most correspond to? Which Heavenly Virtue?

If you had to choose one tarot card to represent them, which would it be?

[artisticvicu]

She-wolf

The air rushed passed as the ground came up to meet him. His back collided with the ground first, several things breaking upon impact as the air was ripped from his lungs. He had no time to reorient himself, to even get a breath back in his lungs, before he was rolling out of the way of the incoming attack. Pain rippled down his back, weakening the muscles in his arms and legs as he tried to get distance between him and his assailant. Another dodged attack and another till he misstepped and took a hit to the shoulder followed by a hit to the chest. His back collided with a wall, agitating breaks and breaking a few more things. The pained cry slipped out with the air in his lungs. Words were being spoken as he collapsed to his hands and knees. What had once been beautiful wings looked battered and unkept, draped from his back as useless limbs since far too much was broken now. He looked up through sweaty locks, finding his vision blurred and images duplicating. That wasn't a good sign. A hand suddenly came into clear focus and he flinched back, expecting a hit. Instead, the hand fisted the front of his outfit and hauled him upwards so that the other could scream in his face. What headache he had been managing intensified ten fold, blinding him with pain. He grabbed at his assailant's wrist, snarling but unaware of the words he was uttering, if any. His tongue felt too fat to even utter things properly and the ringing in his ears was helping none. He was dropped. While normally it wouldn't have been an issue - he could have stood up and been taller than the hold had been - there was no strength in his legs to even fathom attempting to support himself with. The impact with the unforgiving ground was crippling and he swore he broke something else. A wrist, probably, with how he had landed. There was too much pain and too much exhaustion to discern anything properly now. Something touched him and he flinched. His head throbbed from the motion and he spat something. Words, he hoped, but at that point, could have been jargon and saliva and he wouldn't even know. Nor did he care but it certainly hadn't stopped whatever had touched him from touching him again. He realized hands were pressing firm into his shoulder and hip, though there was no pain from the touch, like the person wasn't putting any weight behind the gesture. Blessed relief rushed through his body as the pain all but vanished. When he came to, it was to a sore body cushioned in a familiar room. He closed his eyes as he ground out, "Who let you into my home." There was a pause but the shifting of fabric told him he wasn't alone. "We...didn't take you home," came the hesitant reply.

He opened his eyes again. No, that was indeed a very familiar roof and a very familiar set of walls at the edge of his viewing limits. He turned his head, taking in the guests to the left of his bed. The furniture and trinkets were his. "Lies," he spoke but it came out breathy. "This is my room. Those are my things." He watched the surprise and horror wash over the faces he could see. He wondered if there were others in the room mirroring their expressions. The girl sitting beside his bed had her hands over her mouth. She had figured it out faster than the others, it seemed. That or they were new. Wouldn't surprise him at this point. "Alexander," she whispered. One of the boys behind her started, his staring going from her to him in an instant. He would have smirked if he had the energy. He head pounded painfully. "It's been a while since we've been on a first name basis, Rebecca," he replied in kind. His gaze moved to the boy staring at him. "You look well, Marcus. I'm impressed you've lasted so long." "Sir, what's going on?" a voice asked from somewhere he couldn't see. He didn't care to move to look. The other boy behind her looked towards the owner of the question. "In a minute." He blinked and suddenly those kids weren't kids anymore. Heck, they had never been kids despite the ages they bore. Young adults too young and now they were all well into adulthood and looking it. He was certainly feeling it. Rebecca's marred hands closed around his, the scars of countless battles pale on every inch of exposed skin. Marcus behind her had a nasty one on his face. He was certain he had given the other man that particular scar, destroying one of the man's depth-less blue eyes. He still didn't recognize the kid with them. It was probably unfair to call the adult a child but, at this point after all he and the others had seen in the beginning, they were all kids to him. "Alexander," Rebecca spoke again, her voice stronger this time. "Why..." He wasn't surprised she couldn't finish that. He was certain she had so many 'why's to ask that they were all blending in that quick mind of hers. She had always been one to fight against the onslaught of words in her head. "I didn't ask for this roll, Bear," he confided, the old nickname bringing tears to her eyes faster than any speech would. "I didn't even want to take it up but I ended up in it and I had to keep to it or my past was going to take me out and destroy all we had done to hold what remained of the world together." Marcus shook his head. "You could have leaned on us. Spoken to us. We weren't about to abandon you." A tight, tired smile pulled at his lips. "You two might not have, but Tenner certainly would have. Pin too." Marcus shook his head again. "Same with Lolly and Hector, not to mention that you two would have at the time as well. We were too seeped into the black and white views on 'Good and Evil'. It's why I never said anything, why I hid it." "For so long?" Rebecca choked. He sighed, too tired to placate her. "I had no proof you guys had changed. Those you brought on seemed too bound to the old ways for me to try." "But Sasha-" "That she-wolf can go-!" he screamed, the force of his anger actually propelling him upwards till the action registered in his body and sent rolling pain through his body. His words jerked to a stop as Rebecca and Marcus leapt forward, hands outstretched. He curled away trying not to hack up a lung. It just made the sudden coughing fit worse. By the time he was able to breathe again, he was on his back once more, Those that had been on the other side of the bed were closer now and he was surprised to see a few more recognizable faces in among the crowd leaning over his bed. "What did Sasha do?" one of the unnamed familiars asked. He gave a dry chuckle. He lacked the air to support it fully or the words he spoke. "What didn't she do." The breath he took rattled, pain erupting through him at the same time. He winced. "Not that it matters. You guys did more damage than she ever did." "Alexander." He flinched. He was trying to ignore the fact that they were in the room, trying to deny himself the painful joy of even knowing their eyes were on him once more. He denied himself the knowledge that they held nothing more for him in those gorgeous eyes. Their hand burned his skin when they touched him but he had no strength to pull away. "What did Sasha do?" Even after all these years - after all the years of pain and torture he had been through by his own doing and the doing of others - he could not keep himself from giving them what they wanted. He wasn't sure if it was his heart hurting or if it was actual physical damage he was feeling. "Betrayed me as I betrayed you." He couldn't bring himself to specify which 'you' he was referring. "Twisted my mind, my thoughts, till I believed lies and damaging thoughts. Not that it matters. I've overcome it as I do anything else." Their hand tightened on him. He wished they'd let go. "Did she sway you to that side?" "No, I swayed her." He frowned. No, that wasn't quite right, was it? "I think," he added, confused. Odd how he couldn't remember so clearly anymore. "Do you think-" Rebecca started to ask the others but he cut in, annoyed and hopefully two steps ahead of her. "I am not coming back," he cut in. "There is too much at stake, too much that has to change before I come back." "But-" He didn't give them the change, didn't dare look at them as he yanked his arm out from under their touch. He felt unbelievably cold as he slipped out of the bed brushing away Rebecca and Marcus's hands. He was grateful the bed was between them. "Thank you, for your kindness," he offered solemnly, his wings still aching even as he knew they were well healed. Rebecca's healing magic was always so impressive, not to mention she probably had help once he had been brought into his old room if not before. "I will take my leave now." "You won't be able to come back." He stopped in the doorway leading to the balcony he still dreamt about. He turned back, forgetting for a moment how horrible of an idea it was to look at them, to make them real. Their gorgeous eyes held no contempt, no hate. In fact, the love they still held for him made it so much harder and far more painful to even breathe than he would have ever thought possible. He tried to smirk at them but it felt off on his face. He hoped they couldn't tell. "I was never planning to come back." He took off before the pain in their gaze could register in his brain because when it did, when that image seared itself into his mind well after he had looked away, the anguish he felt was devastating.

[thewingcutangel-blog]

Lost in Shadows

Summary: After the Dark War and break out of the Cold Peace amongst the Nephilim and the Faeries, a call for help from the Institute of Seoul, South Korea leads four Shadowhunters to rush to their aid. But soon they realise that the situation is not a common demonic invasion they have dealt with for all their lives, and neither are the inhabitants of the institute similar to any other Shadowhunters that they have met before. 

{A Shadowhunters and BTS members au}

A/N: This is my first tumblr fanfiction. i was really into both BTS and The Mortal Instruments, so I thought getting both of my favourites into one place would not be a bad idea for my first time. So, go ahead with it! Also, if you like the Shadowhunter Chronicles but do not know BTS, reading this fanfic shouldn’t be a problem. Just imagine seven men according to your creativity!

WARNING: This is not a reader pairing. The characters paired with the members are made by me. Please do not mind.

Genre: thrill, romance, adventure, emotional

Word count: 2,697 

Part: 1

Even while walking through the portal, never had the four of them felt so doubtful of what was coming forth. But duty calls like a prank call sometimes. The restlessness among the Shadowhunter race for the last one month had been plenty of trouble already, now there was a new set of things to deal with. “Why did we take up this case in the first place, can someone explain please?” Sarah asked, rather demanded to know. “It’s not our choice, and definitely our consent does not hold important for that matter.” Amelia said calmly, but it was clear from her voice that she too, was irritated. “Let’s go then.” Lisa said, walking toward the portal. “I don’t like this. At all.” Victoria commented. As if it mattered any longer. The four of them advanced to walk through the portal.

Slowly, the other side was visible to their eyes as they arrived. And as they appeared, there were six pairs of eyes gazing at them. Sarah, Amelia, Lisa and Victoria looked around at the six men standing, possibly to welcome them.All of them were tall, with toned muscles. They were standing in a semi circle formation, the kind which wolves made, just before they would kill their prey. All were dressed in black, bathed in the shapes of runes well known to the eyes of the four girls. Everything about them seemed normal, until one’s eyes fell on their faces. Their expression wasn’t a pleasing one. They looked as if they were not expecting them..bit more like they had been waiting for them and as if they had been extremely late.

One of the males walked up to them, introducing himself with a polite but strong aura. “My name is Kim Seokjin. I’m the head of this Institute. I’ll be your host along with Namjoon here.” He said, pointing to a tall, well built man standing to the extreme left of the circle. Seokjin was a noticeably handsome man. His pitched voice, combining with his tall figure and broad shoulders made him seem very attractive to the eyes. But it was very astonishing, since Seokjin was definitely too young to be their eldest, let alone the Head of the Institute. As the guy who was apparently known as Namjoon sidled up beside the four, he only asked one question. “Listen, I’m not judging anyone, but are you experienced enough to handle this?” This came off guard. None of them had been expecting that, especially from a person they’d just been introduced to. “Sir, we may look young and inexperienced, but I believe anyone who has ever fought the Dark War is experienced enough to handle demons. And we can help, but only if you trust us.” Victoria said, taking lead as usual. The grey colored strands in her hair flared up as she introduced herself. “I’m Victoria Whitescar.”

  “A Whitescar?! You guys are fierce I hear. And please, you will have to restrain from calling me ‘sir’” Namjoon said, with an amusing smile curling up his lips. A shorter guy from the group intervened as he announced his introduction. “I am Park Jimin.” he said, stretching his hand out to Amelia. She took his hand. “I’m Amelia Fairfox. I am here to help in any way I can.” Jimin smiled, and turned her hand slowly to look closely at her Parabatai rune. “You have a parabatai ?” he asked.  “Yes…Lisa is my parabatai.” She explained, pointing to the shorter girl next to her. Although her frame was smaller than the others, she looked extremely intelligent and calm, her brown eyes and dark her and her golden brown skin displaying her potential clearly. “Hello. I’m Lisa Penrose.” Sarah looked at the man who walked past the others in the room and went up to her to introduce himself. He had hair too bright a green, Sarah noticed: the color of spring grass. And his eyes were a flaring indigo, like the blue portion of a candle flame. And also, he had skin which was inhumanely pale, like milk. These features were familiar. Warlock.

“I am Min Yoongi, the High Warlock of Seoul city. I have the deepest connections with this Institute, I bear no harmful intentions. I will try to make your stay as comfortable as possible, if I myself can resist falling asleep.” he said, with some unknown charm floating in the air. His voice was not suggestive of vey old age, but eyes could fool easily when it came to warlocks. “I am Sarah Dragonway. It’s nice to meet all of you.”

As she said her family name, all the heads with the three other girls as exception, turned to face her. Another grave voice from the group came floating through the atmosphere, with an amazing male characteristic to it. Sarah noticed that its owner was also a very good looking man, with chiseled jawline, dark brown eyes and light brown hair. His skin was tanned perfectly, and when he held his hand out, it was not hard to observe that his fingers too, were very long and slim. His features were more of a model than a Nephilim, which, along with his height and masculine voice, seemed to be a pleasing view to any feminine eye. “I am Kim Taehyung. And welcome to the Seoul Institute.” Sarah shook his hand politely. “It is a pleasure to meet the last Dragonway.” he mentioned. Sarah could not understand the meaning of this sentence. Although she was the last of her family line, she had no intention of continuing it; despite being the last of her family, there was truly no reason why anyone would still have any pleasure in meeting her. “Why, can you tell me?” she asked. The question could seem rude at first, but the way in which it was asked was rather calm, and more mature. Taehyung explained, “And why not?! Your family’s heroic deeds are very famous all over the shadowhunter community! I still remember the story of Aurelia and Hector Dragonway and how they slayed a thousand demons with the help of three dragons! It still amazes me, to be honest.”

In the small time in which they had known Taehyung, the girls figured out that he was completely opposite of what he had appeared as. Victoria was a very focused and serious person when it came to missions, but even she was moved a bit by the childish character of this new individual. All of them were smiling when he described a mythological story with the interest and wonders of a three year old child. Seokjin suddenly intervened, “Oh, did I mention? Taehyung is also my little brother.” The eyes wandered from Seokjin to Taehyung as he mentioned it. Lisa and Amelia exchanged a confused look, which said He also has a brother? And it was surprising that a man as young as Seokjin had so much responsibility to manage. Everyone looked at them as the elder brother playfully messed the hair of the younger one.

Jimin looked at Amelia and Lisa again, saying “Taehyung is also my parabatai.” He shed his black leather jacket to put his connection rune on display. Scars, common on the bodies of this warrior race, had not left any frame untouched. Not even the figure of Park Jimin. His bicep was decorated by the parabatai rune.

Another person, from behind the group surrounding the girls, emerged to provide his introduction. Quietly, Sarah thought there are so many of them. “I am Jung Hoseok.” He said, with a sweet smile on his face. This time, Lisa held her hand out. “It is nice to meet you.” She said in her soft, musical voice. “A Penrose and a Fairfox, a truly amusing combination is it not?” Hoseok commented. Everyone knew why.

Penrose was a family of wise and intellect. Their blood possessed the skill of writing, and the love for it. They generally were not skilled warriors, and were faced with great disapproval from the Clave. But in recent years, their family had been given the responsibility of the management of the library at Idris. The Fairfox family on the other side, was a family marked with the skill of manipulation, agility and evasive techniques. Some of them were so skilled at manipulating the minds of a human that they could easily gain a fortune by cheating. The contrast was very marked and sharp between the two families, the major reason for the rivalry between them.

After all of the introductions, the girls started to converse with the boys. Amelia and Lisa were discussing something with Jimin, Namjoon and Seokjin. From the corner of her eye, Sarah could see that Taehyung and Victoria had engaged in a conversation which apparently was amusing her friend very much, as her giggles were proving. She talked to Yoongi about the mission.

“What is the actual reason why you called?” she asked. At this point, it was hard to contain any curiosity, since the New York Institute had not supplied them with any information about the case. “Well,” Yoongi began, “last week, we tracked a concentration of major demonic activity in the middle of the city. We tracked the activity for quite some time before we followed it to the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, at 2 AM. There, we were faced with a band of Kuri demons.” Kuri demons were huge spider demons, with pincer tipped arms. “The problem is, these demons can only be summoned with the help of some kind of sacrifice.” Sarah grasped the gravity of the situation. “So you mean, there must be someone in the city who has been killing mundanes?”

“There is a possibility of it, but as per my records, it was not a Downworlder. I have no reports of any vampires or werewolves going rogue, and they anyway would not concern themselves with anything of demonic origin.” The situation was clear. It has to be a mundane, or a Nephilim. Namjoon intervened. “You all must be tired. I will show you to your rooms, and will call you to dinner when it is served.”

The girls followed him and the other boys as they led the way upstairs, while Victoria’s eyes were unusually fixed at Taehyung. “You like him,” Sarah said, sounding casual, “don’t you?”

   Victoria dug her elbow into her ribs, but didn’t answer. Amelia and Lisa smiled, and followed them upstairs to their rooms.

                                    …………………………………

She was back there again. The manor looked old and ancient, the way it always had. There was a small music box in her room, a present from her aunt on her sixteenth birthday. “Sarah!” her brother called from downstairs. “Breakfast is ready, and I’m eating your pancakes!” he shouted. “Try to touch them Andreas, and I’ll slice your hands off!” she threatened, and ran down from her room to the stairs as she did.

 Her parents and her brother were sitting at the table in the dining room. The manor was on the outskirts of Alicante, close to the destroyed Morgenstern manor. Her mother was smiling at her as she brought the pancakes from the kitchen. As her brother proceeded to jump on her plate as well, she warned in an alarming voice, “Don’t you dare.”

 “You are making a fine warrior Sarah.” Her dad complimented. “Yes, but you’re still too short for a Dragonway!” Andreas teased. Outraged, Sarah ran around the table chewing her pancakes chasing her elder sibling as her father laughed and her mother rested her face on her hands, looking at them with amusement.

 Suddenly, she was alone, amidst a flame. Screams of horror, destruction and pain filled the atmosphere as Sarah ran about in the fire, confused and helpless. “Papa! Mom! Andreas!” she kept screaming for her family. Then she recognized her family, laying amidst the fire, unconscious. All her methods of wakinf=g them up were in vain. They just wouldn’t open their eyes.

 Then she woke up.

She was panting, crying and sweating furiously. The room which was given to her was one of the four rooms given to the girls. The rooms lay side by side. Sarah slowly wiped her face and looked at her blade. The Dragonway emblem was carved on the sword by her father, and it had been hers since she could hold a blade. She slowly stroked the sharp blade, careful not to get cut. Then, she heard a voice.

She was cautious and raised her blade as soon as she heard it, but the nature of the voice proved that it did not mean to harm. And it was also a voice she did not recognize at all. Although she was new here, she could not identify it as the voice of any of the six boys, and the voice was not speaking either. The soft sound was of music. Someone was singing.

Sarah followed the sound; the cold marble of the institute lowered the temperature of her feet as she did not care to put on a pair of slippers. Wandering through the unknown place barefoot, she realized that it was coming from the western side of the building. Tip toeing to the direction of the source of sound, she walked to discover an open door. Avoiding any creaking noises to interrupt the beautiful notes, she opened the door enough to peek into the room.

Unsurprisingly, the voice belonged to a boy. He had strawberry blonde hair and a coconut hair cut as Sarah could see. His face was hidden from the view, and his back was completely on display, since he stood shirtless. But the major reason behind that was that he was injured. A bandage covered his right shoulder and his back was painted with a newly drawn iratze. But inspite of his muscular shaoe and frame, Sarah was attracted the most by his voice. The flow of his voice was breathy, but the notes were perfect. He was singing like a well trained singer. Sarah tried to enjoy it as an anonymous listener, but blame her clumsiness, the door fell open as she stumbled on it.

The boy swiftly turned around and the music came to a stop as he did, and looked at the unknown girl standing at the foot of the door of his room, and stared at her with a baffled expression, speechless. Both of them shared a moment of speechlessness, both too stunned to say a word. They stared at each other’s unfamiliar faces as their expressions changed from shock, to anger, to completely expressionless. “What are you doing here?” the boy demanded to know. “I am sorry, I wasn’t thinking. It’s just that I heard you singing and..” but before letting her finish, the boy interrupted her without a warning. “And without thinking that it might be invasion of someone’s privacy, you decided to investigate, being the great Dragonway you are.” Sarah stood there stunned, wondering how an unknown boy knew her family identity. “How do you know who I am?” she asked, although this question was completely irrelevant to the situation at present. “It hardly seems to be a question to ask right now, isn’t it?” he said in a loud, intimidating voice. Refusing to be intimidated by a stranger any longer, Sarah said “Well, it also hardly seems to be fair that you are aware of my identity while I am completely oblivious of yours!” the boy looked amused by this comment, although he looked at her as if she was an object of his loathing.

“Well then. I am Jeon Jungkook. And I do not trust you at all.” Sarah looked at him, wondering what the reason for such a comment might be, when the boy, again without a warning, said “And you are not welcome here.” And with a swift movement of his arms, shut the door with a bang on her face. Too shocked by the recent events, Sarah stood there, facing the closed door, thinking how grave a crime it had been of her to commit when she followed the most beautiful voice she had ever heard in her lifetime.

A/n: That’s the first chapter people! Hope you liked it! I’ll try to post as soon as I can!

[tinypurpleparrot]

Fanfiction Writer Asks

Fuck it, I’ll do it myself, because I know I can’t count on you nerds to actually ask anything. :p

1) How old were you when you first starting writing fanfiction?

I really don’t know. I’ve been writing creatively since I was like 6. I don’t really remember writing for fandom until Pokémon, but I’ve been in fandom since the original Sailor Moon and Ronin Warriors/Samurai Troopers.

 2) What fandoms do you write for and do you have a particular favourite if you write for more than one?

I guess the Yogscast. Except I only really like a few of them, and it sure as shit isn’t the main channel people. I haven’t found a new obsession because I can’t sit still for tv anymore, and I’m a patient gamer/reader. So once I find something I like, it’s probably old and everyone’s already moved on.

3) Do you prefer writing OC’s or reader inserts? Explain your answer.

OCs. I am boring, shy (and thus no fun), and quite good at ruining the moment.

 4) What is your favourite genre to write for?

Action/Adventure. Fight scenes. Getting out of dire as fuck situations. Underdogs.

 5) If you had to choose a favourite out of all of your multi chaptered stories, which would it be and why?

I have so many… XP I guess a story I wrote in called Royal Infamy. It was literally hundreds of pages long, spanned at least 4 different fandoms, and could’ve been a standalone series if I just changed the names. Unfortunately it’s been lost to the ooooolllllddddd (and I mean 2001) internet. I like to think that maybe it’s on some ancient server, saved by those sorts of people who try to archive the entire internet and have literal exabytes of hoarded data. It was also how I met my SO of 13 years.

 6) If you had to delete one of your stories and never speak of it again, which would it be and why?

A Prince of Persia fic. I don’t even like Prince of Persia.

7) When is your preferred time to write?

I never get as much inspiration as when it’s 1am and I’m supposed to be going to bed like a normal person. But never at a normal hour in the evening unless I’m inspired at work and have to rush home before I forget.

 8) Where do you take your inspiration from?

It used to be from all the anime I used to watch, now it’s cobbled together from fantasy books and video games.

 9) In your xxx fic, what’s your favourite scene that you wrote?

Like erotic fic? Eeeh. I’m so terrible at it that I literally only have one, I’m writing it right now, I’m not finished, and I don’t particularly like it because I keep subconsciously writing away from the part where they hold hands because I’m conflicted and discomforted by the whole thing, to be honest. Like, even when I was adolescent and supposed to be thirsty as teenagers are, I just wasn’t and couldn’t. My ex tried to get me to write something for him, and I still couldn’t do it. *shrug* It doesn’t help that I’ve never been big on shipping. …Those characters sure are standing next to each other, yep.

 10) In your xxx fic, why did you decide to end it like that? Did you have an alternative ending in mind?

Hahah… endings. That’s good. (Also see previous question.)

 11) Have you ever amended a story due to criticisms you’ve received after posting it?

Not that I can recall, unless you count ‘stop doing that thing’, ‘okay’ *does it more*

 12) Who is your favourite character to write for? Why?

Rythian. Fuckin’ edgelord. Just everything about him and his OC is *kisses fingers*.

 13) Who is your least favourite character to write for? Why?

Unfortunately Rythian is usually entangled with other people from the Yogscast. :p

 14) How did you come up with the title for the xxx?

Current project doesn’t even have a title, that’s how non-committed I am to it (she says even though it’s fast approaching a novelette.)

 15) If you write OC’s, how do you decide on their names?

If it’s an OC of a particular universe, there’s probably a naming convention, and I go by many names. If it’s just generic freestanding story, I keysmash and pick through it until it rolls off the tongue.

 16) How did you come up with the idea for xxx?

Classic ‘rivals who hide their sexual tension behind their distaste for one another.’

 17) Post a line from a WIP that you’re working on.

“I haven’t seen your face since when you first came back from The End. And the … incident with trying to rid you of your curse.” He chuckled. “I’ve actually seen a lot more than your scars.”

 18) Do you have any abandoned WIP’s? What made you abandon them?

Like 75% of my work is abandonware. I have ADHD, I get bored, and I usually take so long, the fandom “dies” before I can finish. And the moment is gone.

 19) Are there any stories that you’ve written that you’d really love to do a sequel to?

Royal Infamy. And make it mine this time.

 20) Are there any stories that you wished you’d ended differently?

Probably Royal Infamy.

 21) Tell me about another writer(s) who you admire? What is it about them that you admire?

Ilona Andrews. Her style is exactly what I aim for. …Okay maybe not the monster fucking, but the rest of it. Exciting, tense, a little bit scary.

 22) Do you have a story that you look back on and cringe when you reread it?

The Prince of Persia fic. The first draft of the erofic. The weeb crack.

 23) Do you prefer listening to music when you’re writing or do you need silence?

Silence. My brain goes 100% towards analyzing music and then I can’t focus on anything else.

 24) How do you feel about writing smutty scenes?

Eeeeeeehhhhhh *whines* I don’t wanna…

 25) Have you ever cried whilst writing a story?

Nope. I don’t write that kind of pain.

 26) Which part of your xxx fic was the hardest to write?

The part where these two people who’ve tried to murder each other could even reasonably be in each other’s presence, let alone fuck. Also eternal hatred for evasive genital description brought on by a broken, puritan society.

 27) Do you make a general outline for your stories or do you just go with the flow?

I should start making outlines. My current three projects keep going off the rails.

 28) What is something you wished you’d known before you started posting fanfiction?

To go in with no expectations of people ever responding let alone giving feedback to anything. You’re just tossing shit in a hole and for every ton, one flower might grow.

 29) Do you have a story that you feel doesn’t get as much love as you’d like?

I did a thing about how Lalnable Hector created Echo, and *crickets*.

 30) In contrast to 29 is there a story which gets lots of love which you kinda eye roll at?

Twenty years later, I still get emails about a fic I wrote about Birdy the Mighty (C-tier anime about a dead boy soul-sharing an intergalactic cop’s body.)

 31) Send me a fic recommendation and I’ll post it for my followers to see! (The asker is to send the rec not the answerer)

-

32) Are any of your characters based on real people?

Other than putting slivers of wish fulfillment in, no.

 33) What’s the biggest compliment you’ve gotten?

Someone found a fic I wrote in two weeks in an archive over 20 years old and sent me kudos. Like, that shit should’ve been buried. But they found it.

 34) What’s the harshest criticism you’ve gotten?

Mary Sue. And you’re goddamn right she was. And I’ll fucking do it again.

35) Do you share your story ideas with anyone else or do you keep them close to your chest?

Nope, not for fear or anything, I just don’t think to share before it’s done because I’ll probably abandon it anyway.

 36) Can you give us a spoiler for one of your WIP’s?

You’ll be unsatisfied with the ending.

 37) What’s the funniest story you’ve written?

You fucking made me open one of my old Gundam Wing crack fics to check. Now I don’t know because I’m still cringing.

 38) If you could collab with any other writer on here, who would it be? (Perhaps this question will inspire some collabs!) If you’re shy, don’t tag the blog, just name it.

*shrug* Like… I haven’t done a collab in *checks calendar* 17 years. I don’t have any live fandoms. I’m not big on trying to meld with other people’s styles.

 39) Do you prefer first, second or third person?

Third.

 40) Do people know you write fanfiction?

No.

 41) What’s your favourite minor character you’ve written?

Can’t think of one. I usually don’t have minor/background characters?

 42) Song fic - What made you decide to use the song xxx for xxx.

…Okay, now I seriously can’t tell if xxx means erotic or a particular example. 😐 Anyway, I for some reason lost the ability to link songs to fics/personalities. I just don’t think of any particular person when I hear a song and vice-versa.

 43) Has anyone ever guessed the plot twist of one of your fics before you posted it?

That would imply enough people cared.

 44) What is the last line you wrote?

Despite the queen pushing him, he couldn’t move even if he wanted to (which he didn’t.)

 45) What spurs you on during the writing process?

If I don’t fucking do this it’s going to bother the fuck out of me for weeks, even if I don’t finish. Just get it on paper so it goes away.

 46) I really loved your xxx fic. If you were ever to do a sequel, what do you think might happen in it?

More action and intrigue.

 47) Here’s a fic title - insert a made up title. What would this story be about?

 -

48) What’s your favourite trope to write?

The antagonist finds the protagonist’s berserk button and realizes that maybe they should not have pushed it.

 49) Can you remember the first fic you read? What was it about?

I can’t remember fics I wrote. And shit, that was at least 23 years ago. (She says even though she can perfectly remember her first fantasy novel 30 years ago. (The Gammage Cup))

 50) If you could write only angst, fluff or smut for the rest of your writing life, which would it be and why?

Angst. I think. I’ve gotten good feedback from my more serious stuff.

[franeridart]

I absolutely adore every single KiriBaku thing you draw. They’re so pure and I love them.

;O; !!!!! thank you holy heck!!!!!

Anon said:Fran i missed your hq fanart, it was so good seeing some more from you!

I’m happy you liked them!!!! I missed drawing them too, really !!!!

Anon said:Imagine this - BNHA kids like It kids. Also love your art!

But I haven’t watched It :O and thank you!!!

Anon said: Is it ok if fictionkin people reblog your art and tag it as kin or anything of the sort?

Sure! People are gonna do so anyway whatever I say after all, and this seems like a really silly thing to get bothered over since it’s not like it hurts me in any way haha

Anon said:Who dabs more, Denki or Mina?

If I gotta pick one I’d say Kaminari, but I sure as heck hope dabbing isn’t still a thing in whatever future bnha is set in, anon hahaha

Anon said:yo i love it when you color your sketches, so pretty!!

OH BOY thank you so so much!!!!! :O

Anon said:I love you and your art so much?? like??? you’re so perfect?? just keep doing what you’re doing because you’re doing fucking amazing

I’m the furthest thing from perfect you’re gonna find, anon haha but thank you so much for the compliment!!

Anon said:thank you for always making me smile.

And thank you cause this ask made me smile, anon!!

Anon said:your coloring skills are improving!!! gosh your art is visibly getting better lately (not that it’s even been “bad”, there’s no such thing!! i’ve always loved it). i don’t know if it’s a good idea to tell you this but i mean it as a genuine compliment!

Are they really??? °O° I wouldn’t have said so, honestly haha but I’m super happy to hear that, thank you!!

Anon said:Are any of your OCs romantically involved? Or are they all just good friends?

Yes and no, depending on at which point in their respective story we’re talking about haha Josh and Chris are in love with each other, and so are Max and Leo (well, their situation is a bit… uncommon, but if I were ever to write their story they’d be together in the end) - I once posted about Gabe and Hector, and by the end of their story they’re in a poly relationship with a girl named Erica I’ve never posted about. Luca has a love (?) interest of sort but he’s not been posted about yet hohoho maybe sometime in the near future. Still deciding about Isa and Ana’s relationship, but maybe. Who knows? That’s about it as far as the ones I’ve posted about go :D

Anon said:your ocs are adorable!! esp ana, I want to know EVERYTHING ABOUT HER (and, yeah, having new ocs is super exciting, like you said! just– being able to figure all that stuff out, actually mould a character of your own– it’s a lot of fun!!!)

Anon said: What are Ana and Isa like? From that drawing, I already think I would want to be friends with Isa! She looks like lots of fun!

She is!! She’s sort of a jock, a bit of a dummy and really loud, she’s easy to make laugh and got the type of laughter that makes you wanna laugh with her so when she’s around the mood is always a good one! She’s not exactly a social butterfly, but she’s got no problems with socializing, knows by instinct how to bend her behaviour to fit with all types of people and has the incredible ability to have every and all awkward situations fly right over her head, she just doesn’t notice them, and that makes it hard to be anything but relaxed when she’s around. She’s actually how she and Ana got in the group, since she’s gym buddies with Leo! She also really really likes ball sports :D

Ana’s an introvert all the way through, on the other hand - she’s really witty and sassy when she feels comfortable enough, and sarcasm is her preferred way of communicating, but if she doesn’t know you/ too many people she isn’t 100% comfortable with are around she comes off as timid and closed off, smiles politely and barely utters a word - people assume she’s the subdued and shy type at first so once she starts opening up it’s always sort of a shock haha she’s got a scientific mind and while she isn’t a “gifted kid” like Chris she likes to learn and study a lot, which is why she ended up having a real great relationship with Chris specifically out of everyone in the group (they like to nerd out together) (Josh isn’t particularly happy about it, the jelly idiot) 

Anon said: I love seeing you drawing and getting asks about your OCs. They have so much personality and it makes me super happy. I hope you’ll feel like sharing them with us more often!

Thank you so much!!!! I’m really really happy people seem to like them too!!!! :O

Anon said:you draw the children so long i love it :0

!!!!! :D thank you!!!

Anon said:Did you now that the voice actor of Tenya is also the one of Kageyama ? (I start Haikyuu because of you by the way, thanks for this and for all your great art !)

I did know!!! There’s a lot of hq va’s in bnha, that’s always made me happy haha

Anon said:Love the new Haikyuu art! Although it’s sad that someone made you lose motivation to draw BNHA :/ Daishou is one of my faves, too. He’s such a doof, love it.

OH BOY I love Daishou so much, I’m glad you like him too! Aside from how much fun he is to draw (and color! he’s a green haired boy and that matters lots to me haha) he’s got so much personality and he’s such an interesting character! I honest to god disliked him with a passion during the nekohebi game, actually haha but that’s how it is with most of my hq faves, after all hahaha glad you liked the doodles, by the way!!!

Anon said:DOGS? SHOUTS? LUCA IS MY KINDA GUY

THANK YOU FOR LIKING MY ANGRY SON !!!!!! :D

Anon said:I love Luca! Where did he get his scar?

A fight with some punks back when he was a teen that ended up escalating when knives became a thing that was being used :O he comes off as the dangerous sorta type which makes good people steer clear and bad ones come looking for trouble/ pick fights with him cause they assume he was picking a fight cause of his resting bitch face. Well, he’s an ass so let’s say that at least half the times he had been picking fights, and it’s not like he runs when someone tries to fight him anyway… that’s not the only scar he has, it’s just the most visible one haha

Anon said:I’m kinda freaking out about Luca and the others being italians! It makes me love your OCs even more ahah Btw, don’t know if you’ve already answered this or if it’s too personal but… are you Italian? (Or what nationality?)

Yah I am! :D and I’m super happy to hear you like my kids!!!!!

Anon said:Hello! I just wanted to let you know that you inspire me a lot! Your blog is honestly such a happy, fun place to be. You draw so much stuff, so much cute and sweet stuff regularly and I aspire to be like that! I’m extremely slow at drawing, and I lose motivation or get distracted from drawing easily, but I’m hoping for a day when I can make a blog just like yours; a place where I can regularly draw things that make me happy. I hope you have a wonderful day!

I’m!!!! so happy to hear that!!!!! And yeah I 100% understand the being slow and getting discouraged easily, I used to be (and sort of still am) like that too :O my need to be faster is what had me end up with the style I have now, actually haha I hope you’ll find a comfortable style that’ll let you be as fast as you wish soon too, anon!!!

Anon said:I don’t think you understand how much it means to me that you drew an asahi! He’s my fave and he looks precious and pretty in your style! Thank you for this gift :’)

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m glad you liked him, then!!!!!!! *O* thank you!!!!!

Anon said:Thank you for drawing Noya! Im sorry it was sort of cause of a shitty anon, I also really enjoy your bnha drawings so im not trying to be all “waaaah go back to hq”, but im happy to see my lightning son and also find out hes in your favs? Yay!

YAH HE’S THE BEST ISN’T HE he’s been one of my top 5s since he first appeared, he’s such a good I’m glad you liked him!!!!!!!!

Anon said:FRAN YOUR NEW HQ ART IM IN LOVE!!!!!! YOU DRAW DAISHOU LIKE A LITERAL SNAKE HES SO SMUG ITS SO GOOD!! AND YOUR OCS!! I WOULD HONESTLY READ A BOOK ABOUT THEM. OR A WEB COMIC. BOTH ARE GOOD. SORRY ABOUT THE CAPS IM JUST EXCITED BC HQ!!!! AND AWESOME OCS!!!! (can you tell that i have a weakness for other people’s ocs, esp when done well) (which you certainly have)

THANK YOU FOR THE COMPLIMENTS OH GODS !!!!!!!!!!!! Especially about my ocs, that makes me so happy oh boy ;O; !!! And and and I’m super happy you liked Dai! He’s honestly so much fun to draw, for me hahaha

Anon said:I’m sorry that people are being assholes, sending good vibes! I love all your art, I hope you have a good day

This to you and everyone else who’s sent the same type of ask, thank you SO much! You guys are all so incredibly nice and supportive, bless all of you ;O;

Anon said:Dave!!! :D

Dave indeed!!!!!! :D :D

Anon said:your art is Good

Thank You !!!!!!!!

Anon said:omg i love your ocs so much

SOB thank you?????

Anon said:I love how the collar on Kiri’s coat in the ‘Them boys’ post is reminiscent of his pauldrons

……………………………………………….. that was totally on purpose. Yep. Definitely. Hmhm.

Anon said:Anon from before showed me your stuff today and just wanted to say wow I love your stuff what even your art is so good I fuckin love kiribaku and oh my god I swear I must have gone through your whole kiribaku tag and I’m gone your art just made my day

GOSH I’m glad you liked them???? thank you for such a nice message aaahhhh !!!!!!

Anon said:Im cry omg i just realized ur url is franeridart fjhfhf this whole time i thought it was friend art bddnjx

You’re the second person that tells me that in the span of just a couple of days omfg hahahaha it’s cool tho, I wish that was actually the url, it’d have been such a soft one haha

Anon said:hi Kaminari can skateboard he has a skateboard in his room

Kaminari in his room also has a dart board, a basketball and a dj console, and that’s only the stuff whe can see so actually, considering in his likes there’s “cool things” I think he’s the type of boy that tries to pursue any hobbie he might think would make him look cool, so either he has no clue how to use any of the cool things in his room above a vaguely amatorial level or he’s still pursuing all of those interests! Which would actually be super cool! Incidentally this is my preferred headcanon too so, yeah, as far as I’m concerned he knows how to skate. And play basketball. And darts. And also how to dj. He’s a cool kid haha

Anon said:Bless you and your super cute kiribaku ^_^

Bless you for the super sweet message, anon!!!! ;O;

Anon said:THAT JIROU IS SO TINY AND ADORABLE I’M DYING LOOK AT HER SIDE BY SIDE WITH KAMINARI AND BAKUGOU OH MY GOD

Hahahaha I might have actually accentuated that a bit, but she’s about 20cm shorter than the both of them and in a chibi style that’s hard to keep accurate hahahaha but yeah I love my pocket sized girl she’s the best

Anon said:Im so fucking happy because youve been posting (almost?) daily for a few days now

That was my own poor attempt at something similar to inktober, actually! I’ve had a few days through the month I wasn’t at home at all so I couldn’t draw all 31 days, but I think I got close? Maybe? I’m glad you enjoyed it, tho!!

Anon said:you deserve all the love in the world

I’m f sobbing so do you, friend ;u;

Anon said:do you like as*noya?? or, which are your main pairings for asahi and noya :)

I do ship as*noya, but I prefer Asahi with Daichi and Suga (ot3) or with Kiyoko, actually :O while my fav Noya ship is with Tanaka~

Anon said:I have recently fallen totally in love with kiribaku as a ship, and your art is always my favorite to see in the tags. Thanks for drawing those two nerds, and I hope you have a good rest of your day!

Thank you!!!!! This fandom is super full of incredibly talented people, I hope you’ll enjoy it here hahaha

Anon said: I first found your blog searching the Bokuroo tag.I was very happy because it was one of my all time OTPs,but they didnt have much content.Then there you came,with amazing art.Time passed and you watched BNHA.I was absolutely captivated by BakuShima and then I checked your blog and it had BakuShima!!I told myself “this person cant get any cooler”.But today i found out about TetsuKami and I checked their tag and yoU ALREADY MADE FANART OF THEM!!Officially ,you are the coolest person on Tumblr tbh

We seem to have really really similar tastes in ships, anon!!!! that’s so great omfg !!!!!!! :O and I’m super happy you like my stuff still afer all this time hahaha

Anon said:Could I draw some fan art of your ocs?

Oh my god yeah!!!!! please do link me to it if you do!!!!!

Anon said:BLESS YOUR BEAUTIFUL SOUL FOR MAKING SUCH AMAZING ART

BLESS YOU FOR BEING SO KIND, ANON!!!!!!