#and she deserved more than to die like this. die basically three fucking times over still helping in the end

[helpimstuckinafandom]

JUSTICE FOR DAVINA CLAIRE I'M SO FUCKING SERIOUS FUCK OFF OH MY FUCKING GOD

[observerblock23]

Ok, Miraculous Soulmate AU, set in college, and they never met. Twist is, Adrien is perfectly well adjusted. However, through a combination of anxiety, Trauma, and paranoia, Marinette is existentially terrified of falling in love, period.

I’m talking heavy panic attacks, dread, throwing up (or general loss of control over bodily functions) at even a fleeting feeling of butterflies. Literally just going through all of it.

And yet, now matter how far she runs, no matter how she resists, she can’t escape falling in love with the “perfect”, dorky, pun-loving nerd. And she is tearing through her skin every step of this journey her soul has chained her to.

Naturally, this is Angst.

Hawkmoth is optional, as is whether or not either of them have their miraculous.

I’m imagining that most of her trauma comes from her parents, who she saw die, probably due to a disaster that they refused to abandon each other too, accidentally leaving Marinette behind. Maybe one of them got trapped under a collapsed building, and they only had time to get Marinette out.

The secondary aspect would come from Chloe and Lila existing. Chloe might grow out of using the death of Mari’s parents as Ammo, but Lila wouldn’t. Lila would only make it worse.

Three options for Adrien:

1: He’s just vibing, an eternal ball of sunshine that refuses to die after learning his father’s a super villain and came out stronger for it. He’s happy he met his soulmate, and he wants to keep her safe. (It’s the one trait he’s glad his dad gave him)

2: similar personality as above, but he can feel Marinette’s inhuman terror of love, and he’s worried that he’s the source, especially if whenever he sends or receives a feeling of love her fear increases

3: It’s an act. His Fathers situation deeply affected him, maybe even broke him in a way. He tries to be happy, but it’s hard. Then he finds his soulmate, thinks that while he doesn’t want to be a burden, maybe he can feel like more than nothing. Except all he gets in response is terror. It’s all his fault. But hey, what can he do but try.

Loosely Inspired by What Ifs by Kane Brown featuring Lauren Alaina

Also I’m aware that this would make more sense backstory wise, but honestly I think Adrien deserves to be put together sometimes. Not all the time, that child is a trauma bundle.

Also I have a concerning level of interest in Depressed Marinette. Maybe I read one too many fics about how she has to constantly hold in her emotions and she has the right to be sad. Might be some kind of self projection that I haven’t found the reason for (except all my problems are self inflicted) but whatever.

Like, Depressed Marinette who Finally snapped? That’s Just Feralnette, and that’s fucking lit.

Depressed Marinette, and Adrien/Luka/Kagami/Chloe show up and make those who hurt her regret existing? Fucking lit

Depressed Marinette gets akumatized and people realize the consequences of their actions? Be it a good end or bad, that’s still Fucking Lit.

Basically, I thought angst induced by terror of a happy ending is a specific kind of suffering

[robotslenderman]

Aside from Sullivan, are any of your other vampires from the Sabbat/Formerly Sabbat?

LET ME INTRODUCE YOU TO THE VYKOSOVICHES~!

Introducing: Grigori Verenich. As a Russian scholar in Oxford he was Embraced by Sascha Vykos for his research skills, and discarded when no longer useful. Needless to say, he was one of the lucky ones, but his experiences with them fucked him up nonetheless. He poured his time into learning blood magic and was often mistaken for Tremere, which he delighted in because he knew it'd piss off Sascha, but also not enough for them to actually destroy him over it.

I don't know much about his time between then and meeting Norman, but he met Norm in the roaring twenties in Boston. Norm was almost ready to graduate medical school to become a doctor, and he was also a boxer. When Grigori Embraced him Norm took one look at the Sabbat and went "holy shit fuck THIS" and noped out. Grigori stalked him for a few decades because he didn't really know what else to do with this kid that actually has morals, and their relationship was pretty tense. Norm basically divorced himself as much from his Tzimisce heritage as he could. Much like how Grisha was frequently mistaken for Tremere, Norm was usually assumed to be a Gangrel.

Their relationship was healed by having a baby, believe it or not -- in 1980s New York City Grigori met Anastasia Petrova Sokolova, who was an exceptional artist and sculptor at an art school. Grigori went to Norm "hey, you're a good anatomist but you're shit at Vicissitude, check out who I met who'd be awesome at it" and introduced them. Norm quickly realised that no matter what his opinion was over the matter that Grisha was going to Embrace her, so he agreed to stick around to watch over her, at least for a while, and ended up agreeing to do the deed himself.

Nastasya ended up being the counterbalance in the relationship and Norm and Grigori got along a lot better with her influence. She was, however, largely sheltered from the majority of the Sabbat, and is shit at playing politics. They do take her to Sabbat events but keep her away from the edgelordy stuff; Grisha knows that Norm wouldn't stand for it, and thinks they're a bunch of tryhards anyway.

The three of them lived together long after Nastasya was supposed to be released. They do not have a vinculum, but do not need to. They mostly see themselves as Noddists who are "true Sabbat" and haven't lost sight of the underlying founding principles of the Sabbat that eventually got taken over by edgelords and sadists -- they adhere to the main beliefs of being anti-establishment and anti-Antediluvians, and also varying levels of vampire supremacy.

These nights they live in Staten Island in New York City. They mostly ignored the Battle of New York (though Grisha did participate a bit). They have a treaty with the local Camarilla (which Hellene would sooner die than admit the existence of) and a good relationship with the local Anarchs, too. In exchange for certain stipulations, including Nastasya's services as a Vicissitudist, the Camarilla don't kick them out of NYC. The Anarchs also leave them alone because Grisha has played the three of them up as being the only thing holding the Camarilla back, and absolutely leans hard on the "childe of Vykos" thing, using his blood magic skills and Nastasya's Vicissitude to give the three of them a far more terrifying reputation than they deserve. They had no idea Callihan was blood bound, but when he gets replaced by someone who seems to have the exact same ideas they definitely do get suspicious about it...

Despite their reputation, these nights the three of them are super chill and laid back and tend to just fuck around in their house leeching off Nastasya, lmao. Grigori breaks into the Tremere Chantry for fun to borrow their books (it's not stealing if he gives them back), which drives Aisling Sturbridge apeshit. Norm, on the other hand, spends most of his time in his Gangrel identity hanging out with Anarchs. Nastasya is the only one of the three of them who is actually actively working, lmao. Norm and Grigori just stuck their money in investments decades ago; the three of them are "don't have to keep track of how much money I have" kind of wealthy. They have friends in all sects. After a while, post-Dracon, Sascha even starts mentoring Nastasya in Vicissitude.

[charmixpower]

From best to worst individually, how good are the Trix at commanding, channeling and harmonising?

Thank you for the lore questions!! Fun fact I'm making a lore bible with now with some major rewrites and somethings that are exactly the same, and that will be out... Before next year XD

The notes are about 7,000 words right now and I can say with complete certainty that it will be over 10,000 by the time I'm done XD I've already broken it down by part to make it easier to explain. Focused, thriving, moisturized, in my lane, ect ect. Excited for that, I'll rewrite this when I finish my lore

Icy: Commanding, Harmonizing, Channeling

Icy is a straight up prodigy at commanding magic. She uses cold air and water in the air to make her ice and throw it at people. That takes an insane amount of control!! Stormy is also really good at it, making lighting is hard, but she gets to start with air and wind being already present. Icy has to MacGyver that shit. Icy is theeee baddest bitch. As for harmonizing if she had literally any other domain she'd suck massive dick at it, I mean she'd be TERRIBLE. Icy just really REALLY vibes with ice in particular, both physically and metaphorically, making it extremely easy for her to harmonize with ice/cold. She kinda views the cold as an extension of herself, so it's almost second nature to her. Adding Bloom's power to her massively fucked up her ability to do that btw bc there was something foreign was in her. As for channeling magic she's still really good at it! Remember in s2 where she nearly killed Sky in RF by, I think it's implied that she kinda internally freezes him??? Yeah but she's good at that too. It requires more thought than the first two that she's a genius in and she can do by instinct but that only makes a difference of a couple seconds. Icy is EXTREMELY good at magic

Stormy: Harmonizing, Commanding, Channeling

It's really funny to say Stormy "chaos reigns" is good at harmonizing but that's exactly why she's good at it. Baby girl IS the storms. She's like the concept lightning tornados were a person, and said storm magic reacts to her back like that. They GET each other. Relating to that, Stormy is obviously far less controlled about her magic. Stormy intuits her magic, the only thing she's really intentionally controlling is her lighting bolts, otherwise she's just pulling at the magic and letting it do what it wants while pointing it in the direction of whatever she wants dead. On that note, channeling, channeling a large wild source of magic into a little box is literally the worst thing in the world for Stormy. She sucks ass at it. Like. Barely passing her requirements sucks at it. She's all like, fuck OFF storms are not meant to be contained in tiny little magic stones, immediately die about it. And then the teacher tells her to stop being insubordinate and just do the assignment

Darcy: Channeling, Commanding, Harmonizing

I feel like Darcy is at her best in combat when she's not a powerhouse. Icy and Stormy are already power houses, we don't need all three of them to be. Darcy's commanding and channeling magic are at the same level. She's not Icy levels of good at either but still extremely good. She uses her commanding magic to throw things around and attack from multiple directions and basically uses it to influence her environment physically, and channeling magic to use things inner darkness to cause havoc. She deserves a unique fighting style her magic is so cool. As for harmonizing. You remember in s1 where she pretended to be Stella and was SO TERRIBLE AT IT??? Remember in s2 when only Icy was any good at pretending to be a normal CT witch??? Darcy is good with physical darkness, she's great with messing with internal darkness, she's TERRIBLE at the trickster parts of darkness. Like. Blowing up Riven and gaslighting him into falling in love with her wasn't even HER idea, IT WAS ICYS!! She sucks at harmonizing, she's much better at it than Stormy is at channeling, she can mostly do it but it's not very good. It's passable. High C, low B grade

[rex101111]

I promise this isn't dickriding I genuinely think that Ch'io will forever be a more satisfying and narratively-consistent conclusion to Xrd's story than strive was. Every once in a while I think I've overblowing my dislike for canon but then I go back and rewatch it and feel my insides curdling. 'When have I ever called you Aria' DUDE you've made it explicitly clear to her that you've spent a century pining and trying to get her back if anything it's even more a disservice to Jack-o that she's basically being treated like sloppy seconds because you suddenly stopped caring for whatever arbitrary reason. The girl isn't stupid do you think she can't put two and two together. Do you name a single thing or reason that you like about Jack-o as a person aside from the fact that she looks like your dead girlfriend

To reiterate another point i made back in my story watch live blog: It's been three damn weeks. Three. WEEKS. Three weeks since the end of Rev2, and during Rev2 their only real interactions are...what? A couple of scenes in her Arcade mode where she's being mysterious and confusing? A fucking century of mourning, of yearning, of being consumed by grief and anger and...it just fuckin' poofs out of existence because you have a replacement red head for less than a month?? Mr. Badguy sincerely what in the Absolute, Utter, and Complete fuck are you on about???

Y'know, Jack-O was an interesting concept and character in Xrd, honestly, genuinely. A self-professed empty shell in the shape of a person explicitly made to bring back someone from the dead. And she knows. And while a part of her is a bit sad about it, she's accepted it. She's not really a person, not exactly, she's a step on a process, a rung on a ladder that's been built for a century. She muses about the nature of existence, like plenty of other characters do in these games, but her stand out scene is, and I will treasure this forever, when she asks Raven, honestly and plainly, when was the last time he just talked to someone with no real purpose being just talking to them. A being who's life has no meaning beyond the goal she's meant to facilitate, asking about the last time someone did something essentially meaningless, because doing something like that is important. It was great, she was great, like if Happy Chaos had some actual depth to his character and wasn't just a empty headed hurricane of a person who would just refused to shut the fuck up HOMESTUCK.

And, in concept, the direction they decided to take with her in Strive had potential, so close to accomplishing her goal, actually about to step over the threshold and vanish...what if this empty shell suddenly got filled with something? What if that something was existential dread?

Everyone around her says that Aria shouldn't have died, that Aria deserves a second chance at life, and everything she hears about Aria from Sol and Asuka sounds...like they're right, like her giving up her life would be a noble thing. But, given some time to actually walk the earth, see life, meet people...what if that knowledge clashed with her sudden and simple impulse of I want to live. I don't want to die either.

And Sol's side of this could have been so juicy! The plot could have been "oh sure you can have the love of your life back after a century of grief, but first you have to let this other person throw themselves into a fire. think you can manage that, Badguy?" Imagine a Strive where Sol and Jack-O had a chance to actually, like, interact, get to know each other, and Sol actually points out all the ways she's different from how Aria was. Which would have told us so much about both Aria and Jack-O! And it would make it more convincing that Sol sees her as her own person. If they kept the possibility of Aria coming back open, another way, harder, but maybe, someday, there would be some room for an actual character moment. Where Jack-O is just on the edge of valuing her own life more then being Aria back, but still feels like she has a duty to uphold, until Sol pulls her back and says something like, "much as I miss Aria...she'd give me hell for killing someone who didn't do anything to deserve it just to bring her back." Because Sol Badguy gives a shit about people! He does! He's wounded and angry and covered in armor he's built out of a century of trauma and spite and cynicism BUT DEEP DOWN HE'S STILL GOT A DAMN HEART! I could have bought him being conflicted once he actually thinks about the implications of Jack-O dying for Aria's sake if she herself wasn't 100% on board with it. And that could have sparked conflict with Asuka!! He would have been so pissed because he spent so much time and spilt so much blood for this exact moment only for Frederick to suddenly grow a moral center out of nowhere. He is too far deep in the shit he's done and the people he's hurt to even entertain the idea, and if Sol gets in his way it will get bloody. And BOOM! FINAL CLIMACTIC BATTLE! FOUGHT BETWEEN TWO CHARACTERS WE ARE ACTUALLY INVESTED IN! NOT SOME OUT OF NOWHERE D-GRADE ANIME VILLAIN WE DON'T GIVE A DAMN ABOUT! IT WOULD HAVE BEEN GREAT! Could have been great. But nooooo instead we had to deal with Happy and his body paint stinking ass letting Asuka more or less off the hook, we had to deal with Sol just tossing the idea of bringing Aria back over his shoulder like trash, like every single game that came before didn't matter. We got Jack-O having tea with Ky while talking about Sol and nothing about herself, and then talking with I-No about fucking nothing and her being a glorified "eh, better than nothing" trophy for Sol to cap up his adventure with and GAAAAAAAAAAAAH STRIVE MAKES ME SO FUCKIN MAD!!! grrraag, yeah yeah every time I think "eh maybe im overreacting here" I actually stop to remember the bullshit and go "Actually no I should be MADDER about this actually". Gah. ...at least we got Another Story and Delilah out of this mess, so its not all bad...

[aprillikesthings]

OKay gotta distract myself from constantly refreshing my fic and staring at numbers, by continuing my spop rewatch

If you're new here: I'm rewatching all of She-Ra for fic writing purposes, and live-blogging it, with too many screenshots. None of this is spoiler-free. I make a lot of jokes and talk about my life and make references to other shit.

Also, I find Catra's villainy to be kinda hot (okay more than just kinda hot)

s4 ep1 the coronation

"April did you rewatch the Portal scene again"

Yes, because that's where I left it paused, mind your own business

OKAY so I remember this from the first time I watched it, like, four years ago--that of all the emotional stuff this show gets 100% correct, I'm not sure Glimmer's grief over her mother is all that accurately portrayed. She just seems to "get over it" too fast?

By which I mean: yes, it's the focus of this episode, but that's basically it.

When my dad died--and keep in mind I'd been no contact for six months, I'd already done most of my grieving for him!--I was so out of it I couldn't even read anything longer than a few paragraphs for multiple months. All my writing basically screeched to a halt. And Glimmer likes her mom!

BUT tbh I keep remembering someone pointing out that each season covers WAY more time than I originally assumed. Because the first time I watched this I assumed we were like, literally a week or two after the events at the end of s3. It's probably closer to several months. And that makes way more sense.

Also who else is confused as to what "princess" and "queen" even mean in this universe, like there are several princesses who are clearly in charge of their kingdoms? is just when their parents DIE that they become queens? if so wtf is wrong with Frosta's parents "lol you're eight now, time for you to be in charge of literally everything, and you'll never see us again"??

okay but literally did they only ask Mermista to do the flowers as a joke bc I am literally sad for her now :(

There she is!!! 😍

Also I read some (old) commentary from Nate about why her hair is flatter this season and nooooooo

oh hey remember that you tied up Adora

okay do you remember this specific time you tied up Adora lolol

"Don't talk about my ex-girlfriend!!! it's a very sensitive topic *sobs*"

Glimmer's coronation robe is so great. I wonder if, like IRL ones, it's made out some insanely hard-to-get fur and weighs approximately five tons.

The line delivery of "BOW! CALM DOWN!" made me laugh so hard I had to play it for other people and then watch it again.

"Power changes people"

Not everyone is like you!!! >:(

(if anything, responsibility is more likely to change Glimmer)

poor bb

it's Entrapta's little naked mole rat robot!! which is also somehow also a squeaky toy??

Scorpia wants SO BAD to find a way to see Catra as not a terrible person

the robot didn't deserve that

"Don't talk about my ex-girlfriend!!! it's a very sensitive topic *sobs*" (pt 2)

Scorpia is such a cinnamon roll

Adora literally only owns like three outfits. And this is her "nice dress."

Bow's dad's!!

Also this is framed so much like a wedding, even the music is wedding-ish

I'M NOT SAYING A DAMN THING ABOUT THIS

A FRIEND

okay maybe not

I'm sticking with my theory that this is several months after the end of s3 which means she's been like this (unable to teleport) for a while

Yeah, people have discussed this a great deal, re: grief: most people want to talk about the people they've lost, if you give them a safe time/place to do it. You don't have to avoid the subject.

;_;

I once again ask myself: where were you keeping the sword this whole time lolol

NICE (Glimmer put the fancy lantern into the little niche for it)

Aziraphale? Is that you?

IT'S SO CUTE

I wonder when Angella recorded this

YEAH!

where did you get the new outfit 2. isn't your other arm cold 3. she's fucking purring

She says this the exact same way she says "Hey, Adora" and I went "EUGGGH" out loud

Some people were like, "oh, her redemption arc in s5 was so rushed" and meanwhile I'm like, "I wish they'd made her deranged and mean a little longer, actually. For Reasons."

Anyway I've run out of images unless I reblog the post, SO: she yanks the little crystal thing Entrapta made out of Hordak's suit so he collapses and then taunts him with the knowledge that Horde Prime is not gonna be happy to find out he can't even subdue the Rebellion, basically puts herself in charge, end of episode

WOOOOO

[child-of-thedarknight]

Hate Fuck Azriel x OC!Reader

I stormed through the front doors of the House of Wind, making my way to Rhys’s office. I knocked impatiently and stood there tapping my toe before I heard his voice. “Come in.” Rhys spoke as I rolled my eyes. I opened the doors and walked in, shutting them before walking over and standing in front of his desk. “You. Are an absolute asshole and you deserve to be tortured by the damn Bone Carver. I feel like visiting him and asking him to carve your death for me so I can imagine how it would feel to watch you die.” I growled as he smirked up at me from his place behind his desk. “And why would that be?” He asked, raising his eyebrows as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. “You really expected me to be able to stand a month in the godsdamned Illyrian war camps with Azriel and Cassian as well as all of the other assholes and not expect me to lose my shit and break more bones than necessary? I’ve known you for five and a half centuries Rhys. I’m fucking mad.” I replied as I slumped down in the chair across from him, the house immediately supplying me with a glass of bourbon. I smiled a little and silently thanked the house before taking a sip, feeling the liquid burn my throat before looking up at Rhys. “I do apologize. But the Illyrians needed to be kicked into line, and you three are the best to do it when I can’t. For Cauldron’s sake Althea, you’re one of the most powerful High Fae apart from Feyre in all of Prythian. They won’t admit it because they don’t want to hurt their stupid pride, but they are scared of you. You breaking their bones is exactly what needed to happen to them. It makes them realise that you are powerful. You’re stronger than them. This is why I send you, Althea. It’s also a better and safer way for you to let your powers loose a little.” Rhysand reasoned with me as I sipped my bourbon. I sighed and looked up at him. “I suppose you’re right. But sending me with Azriel when you know he gets under my skin just pisses me off even more.” I grumbled as the house refilled my glass. “Yes I know but I need him there to help with the bastards that are causing all this tension and uproar. His shadows are useful.” He replied as I nodded my head and took another sip. I gave him my mission report before I headed out, bidding Rhysand good night and then making my way to my room.

“I know you literally only just got back but please tell me you’ll come with me to Rita’s tonight?” Mor asked as she basically tackled me in a hug. “For Cauldron’s sake Mor! You scared the shit out of me.” I said as she released me from her grip, wincing as she looked down and noticed I’d spilled my drink. “I’m sorry. It’s just that it’s been a month since I’ve seen you and even longer than that since you last came out. I’m worried about you.” Mor spoke, shifting about from one foot to the other as she stared me down, waiting for my reply. I sighed and looked at her before a small smile made it’s way onto my face. “Sure, why not?” I shrugged as Mor let out a squeal, hugging me again but carefully this time. “I’ll come get you when we’re ready to leave.” She giggled before walking away and letting me continue to my room. I opened my door and walked in before shutting it behind me and walking over to my bathroom. The tub began filling up as I placed my glass on the tray beside the tub and began taking off my boots and my leathers. I hadn’t had a proper bath in Mother knows how long and I was desperately wanting to feel clean. Once I’d stripped myself clean, I stepped into the tub, moaning at how good the heat felt on my skin. I soaked in the water for a while before scrubbing at my skin and shaving. I then took my hair out of the bun it was in and began shampooing it before running conditioner through it with a brush.

I soaked in the water until it was cold, sipping my bourbon and reading a book the House had suggested for me about anything that could help me understand my powers a little more. See, when I was born, it was from a lineage of High Fae and witches, a weird one but it meant my powers were more enhanced. I was considered one of the most powerful High Fae in all of Prythian by many. I hated the title but I guess it came with it’s perks. As did the High Fae genetics. I was gifted with long, muscular, slender legs, a toned stomach, long arms that were muscular due to the training. My eyes were cerulian blue, accented by long, dark lashes and evenly shaped eyebrows. My lips were full and a natural pale pink colour. I had long brown hair that came down to my waist and my skin was fair. Even I had to admit that I was hot. Eventually the water got cold and I got out, Drying off as I walked into my room, seeing that the House had moved my glass and the book to my bedside table. “Thank you. I was going to do that after I had gotten dressed.” I said as the fire started in my room. I smiled and thanked the house again, walking over to my dresser and pulling out a pair of satin sleep shorts and a matching lingerie top I had bought in Velaris one year. It was by far my favourite. I got dressed before drying my hair and putting my towel on the railing in the bathroom. I brushed my hair and then walked back into my room and over to my bed, settling down with my back against the headboard. I reached over and picked up the glass and the book before getting comfy and beginning to read again. I still had a few hours at least before I had to start getting ready.

I was just getting onto something quite interesting when there was a knock on my door. I glanced up and put the glass and book down on the bedside table before walking over to the door. I opened it to see a grinning Cassian standing there. “May I help you?” I asked before poking my tongue out at him. “I just wanted to come help you pick out your outfit.” He said before poking his tongue back out at me. I sighed and opened the door wider for him. He grinned even wider and walked in. I shut the door and he walked over to my bed as I walked over to my closet. “How long until Mor gets here?” I asked as I opened it and began looking through my outfits. “T - minus one hour.” He said before thanking the House for the glass of bourbon it got him. I threw several dresses onto the bed before walking back over. I held up a black one and Cassian immediately shook his head no. I threw it to the side and picked up and deep purple one. He shook his head no. I threw it to the side and he got up. “Sit. I’ll find you an outfit.” He said, lightly pushing me down  on the end of the bed before putting my glass in my hand. I sighed before I looked up at him. “I’m trusting you Cass. I mean it.” I said as he rolled his eyes and walked over to my closet. I waved my hand and my book floated over to my. I began reading, using my powers to hold up the book and flip the pages. I took a sip of my drink and glanced over at my closet to see Cass still rummaging through my closet. I rolled my eyes and went back to reading.

Three chapters and three glasses later, Cassian cleared his throat. I closed the book after putting my bookmark back and sent it back over to the table before looking up at Cassian. In his hands was a cobalt blue dress with a split right up to the thigh. The mid section on both the front and back was a piece of cloth about the width of my hand connecting the top and bottom. The fabric covered my breasts and that was about it. It had sapphires sewn into the hems of the skirt. I gasped and ran over to hug Cass. “I haven’t seen this dress in years!” I exclaimed as I kissed his cheek. “You wore it on the first Starfall you attended as an official member of the IC. I figured you’d missed it.” He shrugged as I thanked him profusely as he chuckled and sat down on my bed. I rushed into the bathroom and got changed, loving how the dress showed off my figure perfectly. I decided to leave my hair as it was and walked back out to my bedroom, going over to my makeup desk and getting started. I decided I really wanted to bring out my eyes and the dress so I went with a dark blue eyeshadow and Baby blue eyeliner before I turned to face Cassian. He let out a whistle at my look and grinned. “Still look as beautiful as you did the first time you wore that dress.” Cass smiled before downing his drink. “Now grab your shoes and let’s go.” He said as we heard a knock on the front door. I Grabbed a pair of silver heels from my closet along with my silver clutch and threw on my shoes. I waved my hands and the rest of my tattoos appeared. I threw in a pair of diamond earrings Feyre had gotten me one year and then downed the rest of my drink, walking out the door and then shutting it behind me before following Cassian down the hall.

We arrived in the front room to see Mor, Rhys, Feyre, Nesta and Azriel waiting for us. “Finally you two! We’ve been waiting forever!” Mor exclaimed as I laughed. “Oh hush. You have not.” I replied as she looked me up and down before pulling me into a hug. “You look gorgeous.” She said as she twirled me. I grinned and thanked her as the others agreed. “She looks like a downright whore.” Azriel mumbled from where he was leaning against the wall. “Excuse me?!” I rounded on him, raising my eyebrows and crossing my arms. “What makes you think you have the right to say that?” I asked as Azriel rolled his eyes, standing up properly and slightly flaring his wings. “That doesn’t scare me Shadowsinger. In case you need reminding, it’s mainly because of me that those Illyrian war camps aren’t in fucking pieces by now. So by all means, if you wanna fight, then let’s fucking go.” I said as I stared him down. He crossed his arms and looked me up and down before smirking. “I have the right to say that because it’s the truth. You look like a godsdamned whore and nothing changes that.” He growled before taking off to god knows where. I rolled my eyes before turning back to face the others. “I apologize Althea. Normally he isn’t this bad.” Rhys said as we started to walk out the door. “Rhys, it’s been five and a half centuries. I’m used to it by now. I just wanna go and have a good time with my friends.” I said as we walked out the door and winnowed to Rita’s.

We walked in and immediately went to our table in the back. I walked up to the bar with the others and we all ordered two shots each and a drink to get us started. I threw back the shots with ease before downing most of my drink. I ordered another one before walking over to the table, the others soon joining me. I was sat in the middle of Feyre and Mor as we all got settled and started drinking. “Who’s up for cards?” Mor asked as we all grinned. “But you guys always kick my ass!” Cassian howled, pouting and stomping his foot as we all laughed. “Giant Illyrian babies. Every single one of you.” Feyre giggled as I laughed before downing the rest of my drink and starting on my next. “Why is Cassian a giant Illyrian baby now?” A voice from behind me said. I didn’t need to turn around to know it was Azriel. I knew by his scent, the sound of his voice, and the way one of his shadows was currently tickling my ankle. “Hey!” Cass called out in protest as Azriel walked over and sat next to Rhys, a drink already in his hand. “Mor wants to play cards and Cass doesn’t want to because he always loses.” Feyre explained as Mor giggled. “Fair enough.” He said as I got up and went over to the bar, ordering two more shots and the strongest drink they have. Nesta appeared at my side moments later, the bartender making her a fruity drink. “What happened up at the war camps?” She asked as we watched the bartender. I downed one of the shots before answering her. “He got under my skin. Said the wrong things about my parents and how I was raised. I didn’t realise it but by the time Cassian got me to calm down enough, I’d killed four Illyrians and injured seven others.” I threw back the other shot just as the bartender placed Nesta’s drink in front of her. “Shit. I’m so sorry Thea. I had no idea.” She said as she ordered four shots. She passed me two of them as she kept two for herself. “So we drink. We have fun tonight. We get fucked up. We deal with the hangover tomorrow. I want you to have fun. In the half century I’ve known you. I haven’t seen you properly let your hair down. I wanna see that from you tonight. You deserve it. Fuck Azriel and what he says.” Nesta spoke before downing the two shots. I did the same and ordered another drink so I wouldn’t have to get up for the next two drinks. We walked back over and sat back down. Mor had dealt out the cards and we were all set up.

Two hours and quite a few drinks later, Cassian had lost a considerable amount and Azriel and I were tied with feyre coming in close behind us. “Little tip, Cassian. Azriel’s shadows always lean more towards the left when he has a winning hand and they buzz around slightly more.” I said as I organised my cards before getting up to go back to the bar. “Fucking bitch.” Azriel growled as everyone laughed. “She knows your tell brother.” Rhys grinned as he slapped Azriel on the back. I rolled my eyes and ordered my usual two shots and two drinks. I threw the shots back before downing one of the drinks and walked back over to the table. I placed my drink down after taking another sip and then turned to more. “I’m gonna go outside for some fresh air.” I told her as I grabbed my purse. “You sure?” She asked, squeezing my hand and raising an eyebrow at me. “I’ll be ok Mor.” I said as I squeezed her hand back. I walked out from our private area and through the people on the dance floor. I got to the front door and walked out, Going to the alley around the back and leaning against the wall. I took in a deep breath before I opened my purse, pulling out the pipe, lighter and small container with chopped up mirthroot in it. I carefully opened the container and packed the pipe before closing it and putting it back in my purse. I brought the pipe to my lips and lit it, inhaling deeply before I took the pipe away, exhaling as I willed the mirthroot to hurry up and take over. I sighed before taking another hit. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw one of Azriel’s shadows keeping an eye one me. I rolled my eyes and carefully packed the pipe again and took another hit. “You can stop hiding Azriel. I know you’re there. At this point it’s classed as stalking.” I said before he stepped out of the shadows, the one I spotted coming to curl around my ankle before he called it back. he stared me down as I took another hit and I exhaled, purposefully blowing it his way. “What do you want Azriel? I’m really not in the mood tonight.” I groaned as he stepped closer. “Why is it, that every time we go out, you manage to have every guy in the place drooling over you?Why is it, that every time we go out, I find myself getting mad when I see others with their hands all over you, and I can’t seem to find a reason why. I hate you, yet I can’t understand these feelings. one part of me wants to fuck the shit out of you against the wall and the other part of me wants to tear you to pieces.” He explained, slowly getting closer to me as I took another hit before putting the pipe and lighter back in my bag. “You expect me to know the answer to that Azriel? You’ve fucking hated my guts since the minute you met me and for Mother knows what reason. I have tried everything I can to get you to like me but no matter what I do, you detest me. I’ve given up. You wanna hate me, then go right ahead. And for your information, I dress however the fuck I want to. It’s my body. If I’m comfortable in it, then I’ll damn well wear it, regardless of what anyone else thinks. I dress for me and me only. So fuck right off with that shit.” I growled as he put his arms on either side of my head, caging me in as he towered over me. I looked up at him and found an unrecognizable emotion in his eyes. His eyes kept darting between mine and my lips, as if trying to make a decision. I sighed and moved forward, connecting our lips for a second. 

As I went to pull away, one of his hands went to the back of my neck and the other to my waist, pulling me closer to him. I wrapped my arms around his neck, my fingers tangling in his hair as he pulled me impossibly closer. It was a mix of tounges and teeth as we kissed, both of us battling for dominance before he bit down on my lip, eliciting a moan from inside me which allowed him to gain dominance. He picked me up and pushed me right up against the wall. I wrapped my legs around his waist as we continued kissing. It was frantic and needy, just like we were. Azriel kissed me like he was starving and I was his first source of food in days. His lips moved to my neck and he began leaving marks in his wake. I moaned particularly loud as he lightly bit one spot on the side of my neck below my ear before running his tongue over it. “We should probably get back inside before they notice we’ve both been gone for too long.” Azriel mumbled in between placing kisses on my neck and lips. “Way to ruin it.” I grumbled as he smirked. “Didn’t say we couldn’t finish this later did I?” He asked as I unwrapped my legs from his waist and he set me down. I smoothed out my dress and he smoothed out his shirt. We both fixed our hair and then headed back inside, going in seperately. I went back to the bar and ordered more drinks before joining the others at the table again.

Yeah I’m gonna leave it like this for now because writers block just hit majorly.

[8bitsupervillain]

8bit Reviews: Euphoria (the game, not the show)

I wish my memory was a more reliable thing at times. Often times it can remember some really obscure happenstance that happened when I was ten or twelve. Of course it also has its moments where it struggles to remember things that happened earlier in the week. Perils of aging I suppose, anyway I wish it were more reliable because I truly want to know what exactly it was that set me on the trail of this visual novel. I cannot for the life of me recall what it was that brought it even tangentially into my notice, or the force that spurred me into action so quickly. It was only when I was about three quarters of the way through the second to last route that I became aware of the notoriety around Euphoria. For good or ill, it is certainly a well-deserved notoriety. This is without a doubt simultaneously one of the foulest things I've ever experienced, but also surprisingly one of the tamest as well. I don't really know how trigger/content warnings go, but be aware there is some heavy stuff beyond the jump.

Euphoria starts with our protagonist Keisuke Takatou waking up in a white room. Shortly after his awakening he is informed by a robotic voice to leave the room, or die. Heading to the next room he finds himself with a handful of his classmates and a teacher. The same voice then informs the group that they're "going to play a game" to determine if the group gets their freedom. Keisuke is designated the "unlocker" and his female classmates, and teacher are the "key holes." The game is simple, Keisuke is to take one of the keyholes into a room and perform a specific sex act to the satisfaction of whoever is holding them hostage. Basically the group is put into a Saw situation, only instead of violent gory mutilation it's rape. Naturally one of the students is mortified beyond belief and screams at the voice/hostage takers that she refuses to participate. To illustrate the situation they're in, the girl is taken to a different room, and when the rest of the group finds her she is brutally electrocuted to death in front of them.

There's a scene in this older horror film called The Green Inferno, in which out protagonists are captured by a village of cannibals deep in the amazon jungle. During the scene one of their number is selected by the villagers to be killed. So you get the scene where a college-aged woman is killed and dismembered by the cannibals, and the camera pans to the shocked and horrified reactions of the group. Then it shows the leader of the group held captive who is masturbating to the preceding events. Naturally the rest of the group calls him out on this fucked up behavior, but he insists it's not bad because you need to keep calm and not be stressed during times like these. Like in The Green Inferno, Keisuke is just incredibly turned on by the sight of the dead body and has a massive erection. One of the group, Nemu Manaka, finds Keisuke in this state and teases him over his dark desires to inflict pain and torment on girls as well as his apparent lust to rape the girls. What follows is a prolonged series of almost literal misery porn, because in addition to the mental strain of being put in such a situation the game is at its heart pornography. Just extreme fetish porn, including asphyxiation and literal shit eating.

What I find most odd about this is the fact that over the course of the VN you have these various depraved acts including murder by electrocution and literal shit eating, but for some reason it's the menstrual blood that gets censored. There's also implied taxidermy of a human in one of the games bad endings. In fact, except for one scene the game is largely restrained when it comes to bloody content. This isn't a complaint, of all the degenerate types of hentai out there I find guro to be the worst of the lot. It's just that given the games themes of depravity and subjugating those weaker than you there's very little violence. Straightforward, physical violence anyway, the novel is filled to the brim with sexual violence. I don't mean to imply that Euphoria is any the lesser due to its lack of women getting the shit knocked out of em, or that it would be better if you could see their innards in a way that could only be described as lovingly rendered. I just had thought since punishing those weaker than you is a pretty major part of the story that it would come up more than hardly at all.

As I was approaching the end of the story the idea sprouted in my head that this novel seems to have been censored rather heavily. I have no reason why this occurred to me given the very many rapes, and multiple times characters had been forced to eat other characters shit. Never the less thought sprung up, imagine my surprise after finishing the game when reading an interview with one of the authors they mentioned that they did indeed have to lighten up some of the darker themes so as not to upset one of the visual novel rating boards in Japan. Apparently there's two of them, one has a pretty lax approach towards violence and extreme themes in pornographic VNs, and one that's stricter. Clockup sent it off to the stricter of the two.

When it comes to the story I don't really have very much positive to say about it. I don't like basically any of the characters, I found the plot to be hard to get invested in, and as it continued towards its ending I found myself getting more and more impatient with the frankly ludicrous explanations for the things that occur. I won't go into too much detail about it, but I just think that if you're going to introduce an element that fundamentally and completely changes character motivations at the drop of a hat via bullshit science you have to handle it very delicately. Also I just find it funny when there are characters themselves who just disappear from the narrative, almost as if they too got fed up with the story's shit and decided to just peace out.

The hell of it is, I don't even really hate the story, there are times where I found it was very well-written. Specifically villain characters and not just the simpering whining schoolgirl who is somehow miles worse than characters who are making others take part in a death game, or running a rapist murder cult, or just a bizarre evil religious cult. The problem I have with the story is that it just has a hard time measuring up to the heights of extremity that I thought it was going for. I thought it was going to just be sexual violence that keeps turning the knob higher and higher until people were basically just fucking clumps of meat. I don't know how it would go from there, what sort of resolution it would have, but instead the game keeps it just shy of guro snuff porn. Maybe that says more about me, but a very short time into this I thought the game was going to be reaching the levels of A Serbian Film, or a Hostel, but instead it kept it at a level more akin to an All Night Long. Please know, that I'm aware that the other novel by ClockUp Maggot Baits is probably closer to what I thought Euphoria would wind up as.

The story's all well and good, but what about the porn 8bit, I'm sure you're asking. It doesn't matter how fucked up or irritating the story is if the sexy sexy porn is good right? I won't really talk about the fetish stuff, because I think that's up to the user more than anything. What I like, and what you like can be entirely different things. From an art stand point I don't particularly like the look of most of the cast. It's probably just an age thing, but I don't have very strong feelings to the moeblob art style of roughly ten years ago, it just stands out as fairly generic. The majority of the cast just has a general "cute" feeling to them, that I'm sure it is meant to make the inevitable filth and depravity supposed to be just that much more spicy. The main love interest character Kanae for instance just feels like the generic love interest character from a slice of life or romantic comedy anime of the time. They're played more realistically than the wildly divergent designs you would get in a harem anime. But again, I can't really shake the feeling that they were designed somewhat generically on purpose. So when it pulls the rug out from under you, and a more extreme personality reveals itself you'll have a harder time reconciling it with the moe uguu~ face they had earlier on. Except for Rika, she remains a constant shrill nuisance who is largely unchanged for the entire runtime. But again, art is subjective, and maybe I'm just bringing my own baggage from my readings of slice of life, and romance mangas to the table. The main girl Nemu stands out in this regard because she doesn't really fall into the same "generally cute" area that the rest of the cast lives in.

But yes, the porn. It'll probably get you there depending on your personal tolerance for sadistic sex. To its credit, unlike some other porn VNs I've played this one actually has motion to some of the sex scenes. A large portion of it is still images, but there is some that has actual motion to it. None of the more extreme scenes, there's no motion in the scenes of coprophagia or branding. On a personal level I didn't find the game particularly enticing, but that's owing more to the art style than my distaste for the types of sex on display. Also, credit to the writers I wasn't recoiling from reading their sentences about fucking, so it has that going for it. It has the usual porn dialogue problem that all porn has, but nothing too egregious. There are some extremely stupid lines, but they are relatively few and far between, but again, all porn has some extremely dumb lines now and then. Goes with the territory.

There's really not much for me to recommend Euphoria for. The premise might be a bit off-putting but honestly it's not the worst I've seen. The music is fine for the most part, a lot of ambient piano and percussion instruments, nothing super porny during the sex scenes, just a lot of somber slow piano to try to keep a low atmosphere of dread. I wouldn't even really recommend it from a story perspective because the plot really loses itself towards the final hours of it. It's just more or less roughly thirty hours of misery porn, quite literally.

[daisychainsandbowties]

how did you figure out that you’re nonbinary and that you specifically use they/them pronouns? /genq

oh okay so figuring out gender was a ‘casper is stupid for 17 entire years’ situation.

i basically came out of the cradle insisting that it was cringe and terrible of my parents to think of me as a girl. i was, emphatically, a Pokémon obsessed little guy since i could form entire sentences. but it was 2002, and frankly i was more concerned with how far i could spit and collecting spiders off the bushes to be worried about it. my parents (bless) were 100% cool with getting my clothes in the boys section & letting me do whatever i wanted (except get ice cream from the ice cream van every day. their one and only instance of homophobia 😔) so i didn’t really suffer, especially, beyond scowling at people in school when they dared to refer to me. 

it was pretty clear to me when i was 11 that having a cursed body was, indeed, going to be a curse. not worth mentioning how terrible and evil 11-14 was for me physically, tho to be fair i also took up swordfighting then so swings and roundabouts.

but yeah, around when i was 9 i knew there was a huge massive problem but then my mom got cancer (multiple myeloma) and… yeah gender crisis took a backseat while we watched her almost die about three times (pulmonory embolism, stem-cell transplant, getting shingles with no immune system bc chemo). my grandmother looked after me while Hospital.

unhelpful to the anti-trans-kids-existing demons bc she was also like intensely indulgent of my refusal to wear anything but my brazil football jersey. she let me eat nothing but artificial cheese slices put on a single slice of white bread and then microwaved because i had the massive trump card of not being allowed to see my mother for almost six months. i think she was grateful that i seemed to find the whole situation too serious to cry over. my best friend was a boy & he was pretty willing to be like ‘ok cool. ur not a girl. can we go on the trampoline?’ 

& then, when things calmed down & i was about 16/17, i had come out as gay (good for me) about two years before & then i realised i was oh fuck A Bit More Complicated than that i spent a while agonising over it. really a long walks on the beach pondering my gay ass type deal.

but then, just when i was kind of starting to vibe with being enby, I got really really sick, which lasted aboooout 5/6 years where it was just an old school platforming game but titled ‘casper tries not to die while trying to get a degree & two masters’). very do not pass go do not collect 200 of the universe to Do That. but hey. 

so it was around Pandemic when i finally got the brainspace to actually think, & i realised that i was definitely trans, probably nonbinary. i experimented for a while with different pronouns. realised my ‘dumbass nickname everyone has to call me’ was my ACTUAL NAME (never underestimate my stupidity and ignorance) & yeah at first i was thinking of going the hormones path (do not ever please god don’t get me started on how hard that is in this stupid bastard country. 5 years waiting period, on average. have to get diagnosed formally by a team of psychiatrists with what is characterised as a ‘mental illness’. have to ‘live’ - as Some Fucker sees it - as your ‘chosen’ gender for like two years AND be out to basically everybody - realistic and safe i say sarcastically i say while looking into the camera like i'm on the office - oh look i got started. anyway. bullshittery)

but eventually i realised huh nope i just wanted top surgery (same fucking deal with the health service tho) & for people to use they/them generally (i am not too fussed w/ pronouns for myself tho. like, a lot of my friends use he/him because frankly i deserve it most of the time with the himbo behaviour. professionally i insist on they/them for consistency. i get congnitive dissonance with she/her as in i get a weird shock & want to laugh & wonder who the fuck they’re talking about for a sec before i realise it’s me. but like, miffed too much i am not).

also gender is a big pendulum for me it’s an elliptic orbit sometimes for a few weeks i’m like a feminine guy and other times i feel like a masculine gay & sometimes i feel like the autism creature (bc i AM an autism creature, always). 

but i have, essentially, felt nonbinary always. trust me i have a pic of blue-eyed blond 5y/o me sitting on my bed in my Pokemon-themed room wearing a Manchester United jersey and holding my PS2 controller in my hands with a profoundly vacant and himboish expression on my face. it did fully take me 17 whole years to have my ‘oh’ moment about it, but a lot of that was profoundly indulgent parents who were you can’t even imagine how determined to not raise me the way they were raised - which meant, apparently, that if i wanted to be a spider-collecting, bug obsessed pokémon-fixated little guy who kept snapping branches off the bamboo and fashioning makeshift swords out of them - well then that was the creature they’d send to school every day. 

i think the tldr here is: casper stupid. gender a concept. 

[swageta]

I was going to reblog with no comment but fuck it. As a peanut allergy havver—who was very often the first person anyone ever heard of with such a severe allergy because I was growing up in the late 80s/90s—I can attest to having pretty much these exact experiences. To add to it: Kids would go “look at me, I’m (my name)!”, take a bite of something with peanuts in it, and then writhe around and pretend to die. They’d offer me stuff with peanuts in it as a joke. One boy took a bite of his pb&j, swished a mouthful of water around and spat it in my face, knowing it would make me have a reaction. It nearly sent me to the hospital and he didn’t even get a talking to. (I got to watch my mother nearly fight a middle schooler when she came to pick me up, so I chalk this up as a win.)

I repeatedly had to use PTO for my last job because I kept having reactions because whenever there was an event, it was inevitably catered by a Thai place that put chopped peanuts in EVERYTHING. I got Reese’s and Butterfingers for every holiday. I had a coworker tell me “The world is not but free. If you’re really that bad, you should be on disability” and was shocked—shocked, I tell you!—when I told her that it would mean living a life of poverty and instability because it wouldn’t give me enough to live on or allow me to save money. People will tell me that I’ve just eaten something with peanuts in it as a prank. They will make fun of me when I have an allergic reaction. They have jokingly-not-jokingly threatened to put them in my food if I piss them off. “I’ll bet it’d be easy to murder you and get away with it,” a bartender once mused. “Anyone can be easy to kill if you aren’t a coward,” I said. He didn’t think my comment was as funny as his.

That’s another thing. People are reeeeaaaal fucking comfortable basically telling you “if you have this medical condition, you shouldn’t be alive” when it’s a severe allergy. You know how many times I’ve had a comparative stranger tell me something along the lines of “I just think that if you can go down from an M&M, maybe you shouldn’t be here”? How about all the “natural selection would have taken care of you a looooong time ago!” jokes? If I had a nickel for every time someone who’s name I JUST learned referenced that canceled pervert’s “Of Course, But Maybe” bit I’d have enough money to tell Sally Mae to kick rocks. “Haha you wouldn’t survive the apocalypse!” Bitch, would you?

It’s crazy to me that people have called me weak to my face over my allergy, too. They act like I’m some delicate thing with the startle response of a panicked gazelle who will burst into tears if I even so much as look at a packet of Goobers. Like I’m some Giga Karen for politely requesting an accommodation. As if the height of fragility isn’t the person who is bitching loudly and throwing a fit because they don’t want to go without a single peanut product for a few hours. I have personally handed death his bony ass at least three times. Your inability to accept that you shouldn’t consume a Payday around me is nothing to me, Jimothy.

The biggest kick in the teeth is that you go through all this over and over again and again and people expect you to be NICE about. More than that, they expect to accept it. I’m expected to “have a sense of humor” when they make those jokes or pull those pranks. I’m supposed to be okay with them saying people like me “shouldn’t make it” in earnest. If I keep pressing for accommodation, clap back at someone making fun of me, or otherwise call out asshole behavior, I’M the problem. I was “the problem” to them from the start, but they like to pretend that isn’t true. It is a constant song and dance of treating people with more grace and respect than they’re treating me, of showing them more patience and understanding than they deserve and it is EXHAUSTING. So I quit doing it.

It’s why I was totally unsurprised at the attitudes of anti-maskers during the pandemic. There’s always been people like that.

I wasn’t going to derail the disability pride month post for people with peanut allergies but in relation to that topic

I have never seen another allergy that has been so viscerally hated and mocked by people working in education like nut allergies. I’ve seen fellow teachers cringe that their classroom was the “nut free” classroom that year. Support staff that are trained and willfully don’t follow cross contamination protocol in the lunchroom because it’s too “tedious” or “time-consuming”. Full preschools + childcare centers that refuse to accommodate nut allergies. Schools where the only free lunch is a PB&J. Before/after school programs and summer programs whose food curriculum has nuts and doesn’t provide an alternative activity.

Allergy discrimination is so so insidious and prevalent. It’s happening behind their back and it is everything from the exposure joke to possibly causing someone to go into anaphylaxis from willful ignorance.

Also other parents in the classroom are guilty too. The “not my child not my problem” brain rot means that those lunchboxes are like bombs for airborne exposure allergies

[percontaion-points]

Fearless (HMA 4) chapters 25 & 26

Click to see the rest of the snark & image descriptions

Click here for the rest of the series!

Chapter 25

“I’m all for mixing bloodlines, but you’ll find the other pack leaders aren’t as civilized. Trust me, the safest place for you is in my collection.”

A man whose goal is to mix all of the shifters and refers to these women as “his collection” is in fact the opposite of “civilised” and “safe”. 

I didn’t try to hide my smile; the helicopter was bumping and whining as it clawed through the sky and we were clearly in the hands of the wild night now.

It’s all well and good until that thing fucking crashes because the pilot lost control somehow. 

“Vail, it’s Trey. There’s too many…” He pointed to the sky, where Theo circled in his half-shift, his pale face staring down into the trees. “Sweet Pea, I don’t think he’s going to make it.”

Full offence, but I don’t think too many people are going to shed a single tear over that prick’s death. 

But before Jasper could answer him, his eyes softened to a golden glow, and with a heart-wrenching snap, the Devil of the Horn was gone.

Chapter 25 summary: Things go from bad to worse when two of Chrysler’s men start to fight… inside the goddamned helicopter. And then straight from a Hitchcock movie, a bunch of were-birds descend and also begin to attack. This reminds Vail of the message her father keeps sending her way: look to the sky. He then appears, being carried by one of the birds, and lands on the copter. This is enough for Vail to fight her way free from Chrysler’s grasp, and she jumps from the helicopter (which is now fairly close to the ground, because it’s being attacked so much). 

Michael tells her that the only thing Jasper would want would be for her to be safe. But her cat is having none of this, and quickly jumps in and kills several of the wolves who are intent on attacking Jasper. The others hurry up to join her side.

After a moment, Michael tells her that Trey is dying, and he’s not going to make it. Despite how Vail feels, her cat apparently has a different opinion, and rushes to his side. She tells him to keep fighting, but it’s obviously too late. Trey tells Jasper to protect Vail. Then Trey dies.

Chapter 26

Turning her away was almost as bad as remembering the look on my brothers’ faces when I told them about our mom. If they were human, they would have been too young to know what it meant, but the most basic fact in the shifter world was that everything that’s born must die. 

I think the stupidest part about Gwen’s actions is that she did have those young children to think about. And she INTENTIONALLY dragged them into this shitstorm. And even after Pearl stole them away, Gwen continued to stay there… Which obviously resulted in her death. 

Maybe the boys would be better off without her as their mother. But holy cow, she was still their MOTHER. 

“Look after my little girl, Jasper. She’s strong, but she’s seen more sorrow than she deserves.”

Chapter 26 summary: Jasper deals with the aftermath of that war. Mostly, he can feel the pain that Vail is in. Regardless of her shit-ass relationship with Trey, the two of them were still mated. And he knows that some wounds can’t be healed with a band-aid. She basically mopes around in their shared room in the caves for three days. 

Ada keeps showing up to try and talk to Vail, but Vail refuses anybody and anything. So Jasper has to keep sending her away. 

Jasper is also dealing with the fact that his baby brothers are now orphans. But not a whole lot of time is spent on that for now. 

Eventually, Michael shows up, and is basically like “You need to get her away from the caves. Not to the places where she has bad memories, TF is wrong with you? Here’s my actual address, so you should take her there.” He’s also going to go speak with a werewolf council in London about finally reuniting all of the families once again. 

Chrysler is still out there, but won’t be for long if Michael has anything to say about it. 

So is Jonathan, but his enforcer, Cyril, is chasing after him. So again, it’s only a matter of time. Iris Marrow broke the bond between her and her husband. And while he somehow survived it, she didn’t. 

[thrushppelt]

glad you enjoyed!!! tbh!! i kind of feel like it was a wasted opportunity to not have blue hold grudges against three cats: stormtail, goosefeather, and pinestar. stormtail was a piece of shit and cheated on her mom if i remember right. goosefeather interpreted an omen wronf which led to her mom's death. and pinestar allowed the battle to happen n later abandoned his clan.

like!! imagine snowfur tryna comfort goosefeather over what happened that day and the loss of moonflower. but bluefur blames him. shes angry. snowfur tries to explain but bluefur drags her away. he lte his own sister die. she won't let him influence her dearest into following that same fate

then if snowfur tries to be close to the dad who never was around... just imagine the duality!! bluefur keeps confusing her mom and snowfur because both of them kept giving that unworthy tom a glance. the only father figure she'll ever accept in her life is sunfall but even then... he's messed up and hurt her too

as for pinestar... i can see bluefur just being bitter. she's upset. she hates and blames him too. i think it would be fun if in this au she caught him sneaking off to the twoleg place. she keep searching for all his flaws and she finds one! she finds one. resentful, she spreads a rumor... and pinestr eventually leaves thunderclan for a kittypet life. yet rather than grasp that she somewhat pushed him there, she bitterly watches on

i like my bluestars like my americanos. bitter ugly resentment and trauma that never is solved. i feel like snowfur fails at talking to bluefur properly cause blue sees snow like her baby. she can't tell her baby how things are going wrong. her baby must remain untainted. she must remain a pure darling.

and that's where thrushpelt comes in. i think his relationship with this ball of distrust and self-loathing could be what allows her to get a bit more of a grip. cause he isn't her dearest darling who she must protect. he... he's kind of a friend? she can confide the darkest and bitterest things in him.

also love the idea that sunstar unknowingly taught bluefur to bottle her emotions. she doesn't always succeed in doing so but she has forgotten how to be happy without snowfur. if snowfur isn't around, life is meaningless. she feels nothing whenever her relief isn't around

uhmm this was long but!! yeah these are my headcanons

GOD snow trying to find something to do. She knows blue is inconsolable and saves her energy from spiraling down herself. Somehow dealing with goose is easier even though he’s half mumbling to himself……. Except any time she steps away from blue she WAILS and basically begs snow to stay by her, she’s HURT can’t you see?? You wouldn’t trust that starclan forsaken cat would you?

I’ll be honest and say I never paid much attention to any father figure they had

GOD she’s always, everyone’s always been made to believe kittypet life is absolutely resentful and horrible and— and someone she’s looked up to and trusted.. that image broken in an instant. I think it’d make her very determined to become leader more than ever just so she can ensure nothing like that happens again

Oughhh….. snow being slightly bigger than blue (only noticeable if you see them side by side. Or cuddling. Or fucking) and yet blue treats her like her own kit. AND like her mother. How is that possible. And when snows able to snap out of her undying affection for her sister she gets so frustrated because blue is SO headstrong. It’s easier to just….. let blue be blue and work around her

YES. please. They deserved to be at least friends. Truly a “tfw you’ve had a male best friend and they suddenly text you ‘I gotta tell you something’” way. He Knows how to work through the cracks in her mind, kindly. Knows how to say that goose wasn’t… right in the head. That he was doing as good as he could. That being a leader is stressful and sometimes cats just choose to not want that life. That sometimes fathers just suck. That life sucks. It doesn’t fix blue but it sheds a little light in her dark and stormy mind

Why WOULDNT she bottle her emotions!! There’s no TIME for emotions! Except in battle and if it’s Anger and Determination. Or the few moments in the day where they share tongues (even then…) or before their duties begin. I think even if she’s seemed hot headed in a moment, there’s still So Much that she’s not showing

[beantothemax]

No, no.

It wasn’t supposed to end like this.

Why was Lyblac laughing? She had no reason to laugh.

Alfyn knelt at Therion’s side. “Wake up!” He screamed, but he made no noise. He shook the man frantically, sobbing. Begging for him to wake up already, please, but there was no response.

Therion was still warm as Alfyn staggered to his feet, axe gripped tightly in his hand. He wasn’t one for violence, but violence for violence was the rule of nature.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!”

His voice rang out, agonized and broken, and Lyblac turned her gaze to him.

There was a dull thunk as his axe made contact with her ribs, followed by a scream of pain. Tressa stabbed the witch with her harpoon, and Alfyn aimed higher.

In a twist of bitter irony, the head of the witch tumbled, and Alfyn couldn’t find it in himself to be sick. Instead, all he felt was bitter rage- and hollow emptiness. Like the warmth of a fire in his heart had extinguished, leaving him cold and shivering. He remembered the feel of a well-work scarf around his neck, a warm hand entwining their fingers, a wrist healed with homemade salve.

Alfyn dropped his blood-speckled axe, stumbled over to Therion’s body, and screamed. He screamed until everything hurt, until he felt as though he might pass out. He clutched Therion close, one last time, barely able to draw a breath.

Tressa shook with silent sobs as she knelt by the two. It made sense- those two were almost closer than he and Therion had been. They’d seen the most together, the three of them.

Tressa punched the ground, cutting her knuckles, but she didn’t seem to even notice. She sobbed, ragged breaths echoing. She clutched Therion’s shawl, murmuring pleas to the gods to bring him back, dammit, he didn’t deserve to die, bring him back... But there was no response. Only silence, broken by her desperate begging and quiet crying.

Nobody wanted to continue. Nobody wanted to move forward, to press on. It seemed like their world had come to a stop. But the rest of the world still needed their help, so Olberic remorsefully pried Alfyn away with the heartfelt promise to retrieve his body when everything was done.

Tressa needed more convincing. It took H’aanit and Alfyn both to tear her away, with her screaming not to touch her, to put her down. She struggled against them, and it wasn’t until Alfyn threatened to force a Silencing Serum down her throat that she calmed down- or at least stopped fighting.

They pressed on, with the solemn oath to bring Therion home to keep them going.

I am. going to cry

MAV. MAV WHY DO YOU KEEP DOING THIS TO THEM. ALFYN AND THERION ARE THE PUREST BOYS IMAGINABLE WHY MUST YOU HURT THEM SO.

tressa needing to be fucking pried away from therion and alfyn basically threatening her… that hurt my heart.

and……. they swore that they would bring therion gome. but what home does therion have…?

[sweetnsour1]

11:13:03

Fluff, Bakugou x female reader, 3/4

Truth or Dare with aged up Class A

Go read part 1 and part 2

Part of the Cute as hell Collection

"Okay okay, truth or dare! BUT if they give an answer to “truth” that would match your answer you get to drink!"

"Okay so like never have I ever? but not?" Hagakure's hoodie nodded back at Shoji.

"Ughhh, sounds confusing."

"Only if you're dumb." Kaminari pouted as Jirou hid her laugh behind her hand.

"Does everyone already have a beverage? Should I get more? Let me grab more bottles. Are we good on snacks?"

You smiled at the way they all seemed to have reverted back to their high school selves. Then again, maybe none of you had really changed that much. Maybe if you removed all the responsibilities and duty, this was who everyone still was. You had all crowded into the larger of the three living rooms, pulling chairs from various spots nearby. You frowned as you scanned the room.

"Lookin' for someone?"

You hummed and leaned back on the sofa, reclining enough to look up into his face. He still looked tense around his neck and shoulders, but the tension around his red eyes had relaxed. He leaned toward you and...you watched as a pillow nailed him in the face. Yea, all the tension was back, and he wasted no time flinging the pillow back at Sero, knocking him from his chair across the room...or maybe his laughter was already the reason for that.

Warm palms pressed against your ears. You tilted your head back again to see that he was shouting something creative, but his hands prevented you from catching much of anything. You ran your fingers across his wrist and he removed his hands, basically growling as he settled into the barstool he had dragged behind your spot on the couch. You passed him a bottle and he took a long sip before letting his arm fall around your shoulder.

"Everyone stop being annoying and listen to me instead. Sero! Truth or dare?" Mina tilted her head, while she waited for his answer.

"Dare."

"I dare you to wrap up Mineta, so he can't play."

You watched the quick struggle play out with Tsu's assistance. The maneuvering looked so planned that it was kind of hard to not feel bad for the very angry mummy hanging from the ceiling. However, the girls all looked relieved so the creep must've deserved losing his game privilege.

"Okay, good job! Now it's your turn."

"Bakugou...truth or dare?"

"Dare, idiot."

"Okay, I dare you to whisper somethin' dirty to the person on your right."

The room burst into laughter around you. You turned your head to see the green haired number one hero looking more scared than he ever had as Bakugou moved toward him...looking more predatory than playful. He lingered by his ear for a moment. Deku looked confused as Bakugou pulled away.

"Well?? Was it dirty?"

"Um...yea? Ancient Egyptians used dried crocodile dung as a contraceptive for spermicidal properties."

"Ewwww."

"That's gross!"

"God dammit, you know what I meant."

"You said dirty." He shrugged and glanced around the room. "Hey, icy hot! Truth or dare!"

"Hmmm...truth."

"Who'd you have a crush on second semester of our third year?"

"Y/n."

"I fucking knew-" His mouth fell open as several others took a drink. "The fuck?"

"Dude, it was hard not to have a crush on her with you two making out all over the place."

"Agreed."

"Fuckin' creeps." He took the longest drink of them all like it was another contest, sliding his arms around you afterwards. Your hand was covering your very hot face as you tried to decide whether to die or laugh. You felt him kiss the back of your head, mumbling something about you being his.

"My turn then? Bakugou..."

"The fuck? I just went."

"Is that against the rules?"

"I'll allow it!" Mina slammed her hand on the coffee table like a gavel.

"Fine, dare then."

"Read out the last sext you received and your reply." The room went wild. You groaned into the pillow you had grabbed to cover your face with.

"Todoroki, you've gotten so much better at this!"

"Yea, you totally sucked last time."

"I researched popular questions and saved them in case we played again." He raised his phone screen, showing an article. Bakugou huffed, but was scrolling through his own phone. You tried to remember what the last thing you sent him was...had you sent him something before his assignment? Please let it not have been a longer one.

"She sent, 'The marks faded. Get your ass home, so you can give me some new ones.' and I sent back, 'Yes ma'am.'" Your shoulders relaxed. You hoped no one would ask to see the screen because he had definitely scrolled higher up than the last sext. You hid in the pillow, remembering the text he would've read if he hadn't cheated.

"That's kinda' boring."

"Yea, nice try though Todoroki. It was still a good question."

"Shitty hair, truth or dare!"

"Dare."

"Finish off that bottle."

"No problem!" Kirishima downed it all quickly and then took a sip from a new one.

"Boooo!" "That was way too easy!"

"Then stop makin' me play, idiots."

"Y/n...truth or dare, princess." You laughed. Kiri was definitely drunk.

"Truth?"

"When's the last time you had sex where someone nearly caught you...but didn't?" You glared at him over the pillow you still held tightly. Had he heard you two?

"Ummm...two weeks ago? Maybe?" He jumped up from his chair, knocking it over. He pointed at Bakugou.

"Man, I fucking knew your camera wasn't broken! And you were in wayyyy too good of a mood for a conference call!" Bakugou shrugged, but took a drink.

"You two did it during that zoom meeting??!!!!"

"The one on the 13th?"

The screams got louder as Ochako and Midoriya drank as well.

"Oh my...you guys too? What kind of call was this?"

"Was I the only one not getting some? So not cool." You rolled your eyes at Kaminari, turning your gaze to the one on the floor in front of him. You raised your voice to cut through the noise.

"Jirou! Truth or dare?"

"Truth."

"Which woman here would you pick to date?"

"Momo." She didn't hesitate and every girl in the room drank as well, including you.

"Aww, you guys. That's so sweet." Momo wiped away a tear from her eye as she grabbed the empty bottles and took them to the kitchen. Jirou winked at you as she turned to Kaminari.

"Truth or dare?"

"Ugh, you sound so scary...truth."

"Which man here would you pick to date?"

"Shinso's not here...so...Sero I guess."

"You dick. Why am I your second choice?"

"Because I actually had a crush on Shinso when we were at school."

"He's not even here."

"Wish he was."

"You...are such a bitch when you drink."

You looked up at Bakugou's face. He was watching your friends act like dumb idiots for the first time in a long time. He looked annoyed, but the corner of his mouth was raised just enough for you to be satisfied. He couldn't completely hide the affection he had for them. You hummed and nuzzled against his arm, feeling so glad you had dragged his grumpy ass here.

Go read through Cute as hell

Go read Part 4

Masterlist

[fanficimagery]

Guns, Claws & Teeth pt. 2

On the way back from running an errand for your brother, you stop by an auto garage for a tune-up for your car. Once there, you run into a bit of trouble but it's nothing you can't handle. Unfortunately, the humans you've made friends with are dragged into the mess.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE

Words: 4.1K Author's Note: Violence. Some good 'ol fashion wolf vs. wolf action.

The parking lot of Teller-Morrow Automotive is tense.

Gemma and the men had taken your words seriously, pulling out weapons from their hiding spots and arming themselves. Though they do keep a respectable distance from you as you angrily pace back and forth, texting your brother every now and then.

"So.. werewolves, huh?" Juice wonders. You glance at him, eyes narrowing as you try to determine whether he's actually curious or what.

And seeing that he actually does look curious, even as his brothers nudge him to shut him up, you grin. "Yeah. There's so much you don't know about the supernatural world, man. I'll tell you about it later if I live through this night."

That stops everyone short. "You don't think you're gonna make it?"

"M'not sure," you answer distractedly. "Alphas are more powerful than a beta or omega, but it is possible for them to fall to a less powerful wolf."

"So your family," Gemma says, arms crossed and foot tapping as she stares you down, "was that all bullshit or..?"

"Definitely not bullshit. I just left out a few key details."

"Such as?" She asks.

"Such as the fact that the bitch who targeted my family came from a family of werewolf hunters. They had a code to only hunt wolves who hunted humans, but she defected. She killed all wolves, no matter if they were good or bad, and who better to take out than the one wolf family who was highly respected in the werewolf community."

"And the relationship with your brother? That true too?"

"Yeah. She needed to know the ins and outs of our home, and when a majority of the Hales would be in the same place at the same time. I had family who were human, including the ten month old, and she didn't care. As long as they bore the name Hale, she thought they deserved to die."

"You said your uncle got justice for the family. He kill her?" Opie asks.

You glance at him and give him a nod. "He ripped her throat out. And then my brother ripped his out."

Everyone frowns, but it's Jax who mutters, "What the fuck."

You chuckle, scenting the air real quick to make sure no one is approaching, and then explain. "When they pulled my uncle from the fire, his body had trouble healing. He was basically trapped in his mind, slowly going crazy. Fast forward years later when my sister gets lured back to Beacon Hills and my mostly healed uncle kills his own niece for her alpha power." The men and Gemma all stare at you in shock. "He wanted her alpha power to start his own pack and hunt down those responsible for the fire. So when me and my brother came back, and figured everything out, we let him get his revenge before my brother tore his throat out and became the next Hale alpha."

"So what, you both just picked right back up in the place your family was burned alive?" Jax asks.

"Yes. We rebuilt our home and opened the garage. Those kids I told you about, the ones who work in the garage? My brother gave them the option to take the bite since it was fifty-fifty it would take. A bite from an alpha can either kill you or turn you. It cured Erica of her epilepsy, let Isaac be strong enough to stand up to his father, and gave Boyd a new family. It's our job to protect Beacon Hills and it's people from supernatural threats."

Everyone goes quiet as your words sink in.

Eventually, Juice snorts. "So do you like get furry on the night of the full moon?"

Opie, Jax and Chibs all start to laugh.

"Only those with great power can turn into an actual wolf. I only have a-" Your ears perk up at the sound of slowly approaching vehicles and you tense. You glance over your shoulder, scent the air, and let loose a low growl. "Enough about me. We've got incoming."

"How many?" Jax is immediately at your side as you face the gates.

"Four."

He scoffs. "Easy."

"Four wolves against one wolf and five humans? I don't know, Jax." Two vehicles park outside of the opened gates, but only one man gets off. "Stay behind me," you mumble.

You're not surprised to have these bikers spread out on either side of you, but you are surprised when Gemma joins them. Red eyes flare, which causes an automatic warning growl to reverberate through your throat, and a smirk spreads across the man's lips as he steps under a street lamp. "It appears we've brought claws to a gun fight," the alpha muses. "Let me rectify that real quick."

Three more wolves get off the vehicles, joining their alpha with weapons in hand.

"You don't want to do this," you tell him. "You're gonna start a war you have no hope of winning the moment alpha Hale catches wind of your scent."

"You're trespassing on my land, beta."

"You didn't claim it with the alpha in charge, pup." The alpha's smile falls and you raise an eyebrow at him. "What? Didn't think I could smell the difference," you say. "You're not a born wolf. You're newly bitten and in way over your head. You start this fight right now and alpha Hale's gonna rip your head off."

He stares at you before a cruel smirk forms. "I'll take my chances."

The wolves open fire, causing the humans to duck and take cover before they can fire back. Your instincts are telling you to take cover as well, but you quickly realize they're not firing at you or the humans. They're firing at the shops and vehicles.

The sound of glass shattering has you whirling around and your eyes widen at the sight of the back windshield of your car having been shot out. You face the wolves once more, eyes glowing and teeth elongating as you let out a heart stopping roar of rage.

"WHAT THE FUCK!?"

You rush forward, meeting one beta head on as the gun fire ceases. You deflect a punch, raising a hand full of claws and slashing the wolf across his torso. Another beta approaches, but you're quick to kick out and catch them in their gut. A gunshot rings out, too close for comfort, and you roar as you feel your right shoulder jerk back upon impact. Someone wraps their arms around you from behind and you're quick to throw your head back, grinning viciously at the snap of bone you hear before dropping and sweeping their feet from underneath them.

The gunfire picks up once more and you feel a searing pain in your thigh, but you ignore it. You take claws across the chest before the beta attacking you takes a bullet to the side of his head, and you glance back at the men you'd gotten to know earlier who are clearly watching your back now. The alpha roars something awful, which makes you flinch, but your focus is still on the other two betas.

More searing pain erupts in your side as you throw yourself at another beta, slashing claws across their throat before falling into a crouch before launching yourself at the third beta. The fight with a third beta is a struggle and you can feel your control slowly slipping. And when you feel yourself losing the upper hand, you growl before sinking your fangs into the side of their throat and ripping out a chunk of flesh.

"BEHIND YOU!"

More gunshots ring out and you whirl around just in time to see the last wolf stumble in surprise at all the gunshots now littering his chest. And in your blood lust, you lunge up and dig your claws into his throat before yanking out his trachea.

As quiet takes over the parking lot, you become aware of your heavy breathing. You're still on high alert as you glance around at the bodies littering the lot and you let loose a warning growl when you hear a pebble skip across asphalt. The five humans freeze, two of them halfheartedly raising guns in your direction.

"Hey, weren't your eyes blue before?"

Those words knock the angry haze from your mind and you blink in confusion at Juice. "What? They are blue."

"Nah, they're red now."

"What?" Your heart stops and you glance around at the bodies littering the ground, bile rising in the back of your throat when you see the then-alpha staring blankly up at the sky. "No, no, no."

"Honey, I don't know what you're freaking out about, but we really need to remove those bullets from you," Gemma says, though she keeps her distance.

You look at her, brow furrowing. "What?"

"You've been shot three times. You need to get those bullets out."

Gemma's words slowly sink in and you glance down at yourself. Sure enough, there's a wound on your right shoulder, your right side, and your left thigh. "Oh."

"So come on. Come join us in the clubhouse while Chibs dig those out for you."

"Y-Yeah. Okay."

You're in a bit of a daze as someone leads you into what they call the clubhouse, then over to a table where everything is swiped off before you're told to lay down.

"Shirt's gonna have to come off, lass."

Without a care, you strip off your shirt which leaves you in just your bra and shorts. Before you lay down, your eyes land on a bar and the liquor shelf behind it. "Can someone grab me a bottle? I don't care what it is, I just need something stronger than beer."

Juice jogs over behind the bar, picking up a random bottle of liquor and running it back to you. You twist off the lid and take a long pull from it, only stopping when Jax puts his hand on the bottle to push it down. "Hey, take it slow."

Your nose wrinkles at the brief burn of alcohol. "Don't need to. I can't get drunk unless it's a special mix." You take another long pull of the liquor before setting the bottle aside, and lay down. "Okay. I'm ready."

Chibs dig into your shoulder first and you can't help the flare of your eyes or the elongation of your teeth. But you don't snarl or glare, instead you grit your fangs and bear it.

The moment the first bullet comes out, Juice is there with a dish towel to press against the wound. You wave him off before he can ruin it. "Don't bother. It's already closing." Everyone freezes and glances at your shoulder wound, and you tiredly smile at their awe. "Perks of being a werewolf. We heal quickly."

As Chibs works on the other two bullets, you dig your phone out of shorts. You unlock it and scroll down to your brother's contact, tapping on it and then placing the phone on speaker before letting it clatter to the table top.

It rings and rings, and then, "What happened?"

"The pack attacked." You grunt as the bullet in your thigh gives Chibs a bit of trouble. "I'm currently laid out on the table as a friend digs out a bullet from my thigh."

"Shit. Did any get away?"

"Only four came- three betas and the alpha. M'not sure if there's more to his pack, but-" You trail off, unsure how to say what you have to next.

"But what, YN?"

"I killed the alpha." Your brother goes quiet and tears slowly fill your eyes. "I didn't mean to, Der. It just happened. I was so caught up in the fight and-"

"We'll figure it out, little sister. Just sit tight. We'll be there soon."

"Okay."

The phone beeps, signifying that Derek's hung up and you sigh. "Are cops going to be an issue?"

"Nah," Jax says. "We have them in our pocket."

Just as Chibs tells you you're all done, numerous sounds of roaring engines fill the air.

"Shit." Jax cusses.

"Don't worry. I'll hold them off," Gemma says. "But they will want an explanation."

You sit up and gratefully accept a shirt Opie holds out for you. "That's fine. So long as they can keep this between us, they can know." The shirt is black with the words SAMCRO stamped across the front and you grip it one hand. "Is there a bathroom I can wash all the blood off in?"

"Yeah. Ope, get her a shower," Jax says.

Opie nods and gestures for you to follow. "Thank you." Staring at Jax once more, you ask, "Do you think some of the boys can get the bodies in the vehicles and park them out back? I'll have my brother get rid of it all later."

"Sure."

You follow Opie further into the clubhouse just as there's a bit of a commotion outside, but you don't pay it any mind. Opie opens the door to what appears to be a dorm room and he points to another door inside. "There's the bathroom. My wife has some leggings here if you want a pair."

"Yes, please."

The tall biker turns towards the dresser, pulling open a drawer and pulling out a pair of dark gray leggings. You flash him a smile as you accept them and then head into the bathroom.

A quick rinse off and some fresh clothes later, you're stepping out into the room where Opie is still waiting. Upon seeing you, he chuckles. "You're so unassuming. If I hadn't seen what you did earlier, I wouldn't believe whatever Gem and Jax are telling the boys outside."

You shift nervously in front of him. "That's what's scary about the supernatural world. You never know who is human and who is not." He hums in agreement. "So, uh, is there a place I can burn my bloody clothes?"

"Yeah. I'll tell a Prospect to get a fire going."

"Thanks. And if you can have someone catalog the damage those assholes did to the garage and club, I'll pay for all damages."

Opie looks at you in surprise. "I'll let Gemma know."

Walking back out into the club, you grab up your bloody shirt and follow Opie. Outside in the lot, it seems like Jax is holding court to a bunch of bikers that are listening intently to everything he's telling them about the fight that took place and werewolves. The scent of bleach assaults your nose, and you watch as one individual pours bleach on the now body-free parking lot and another washes it away with a water hose.

Opie pulls someone aside, murmuring something in his ear, and the man glances at you with wide eyes. He nods and hesitantly makes his way towards you, holding his hands out for your bloodied clothes that you readily hand over. As he scampers off, you glance back up to see several people staring at you.

One individual with a head of curly dark hair and receding hairline scoffs. "She's a werewolf? I don't know what you've been smoking, kid, but werewolves don't-"

You snarl, flashing red eyes and very sharp teeth at him.

Nearly everyone pulls a weapon, but you stand your ground and don't say a word. Instead, you let your supernatural features fade away as Jax yells at his people. "ENOUGH! I didn't tell you about werewolves so you can shoot the one we're on friendly terms with as of right now. YN came here as a client to the garage- nothing more, nothing less. She didn't know she was bringing a fight to the club, but she made damn sure to eliminate the threat. Show her an ounce of respect."

There are several unhappy grumbles, but everyone listens. Weapons are holstered and everyone eyes you warily as Opie leads you to the picnic tables. You sigh, stepping up onto the bench so you can sit on the edge of the table itself. You're surprised as Jax joins you, and Opie and Juice sit near your feet on the bench. The other picnic table is brought in front of the one you're sitting on, and Gemma takes a seat along with Chibs and two other individuals.

"YN, this is Clay and Happy." Jax introduces you to a white-haired man who still looks like he has a lot of fight in him and another individual whose stoic expression unsettles you. Both nod in greeting.

"Hi." You fold your arms in your lap, looking at Gemma head on. "I already told Opie, but since you're here.." She perks up, listening. "If you can have someone catalog the damages to your garage and club, I'll pay for it all."

Jax nudges you. "You don't have to do that."

"I do." You look at him, smiling faintly. "These wolves came because of me, so I'll pay for any and all damages."

Gemma slowly smiles. "Thanks, baby."

"Don't even mention it."

Gemma yells for someone and tells them to start logging the damage and it's worth. Then after they run to get started on the job they were assigned, Chibs looks up at you.

"I got a question for 'ya, lass."

"Shoot."

"Why were 'ya so freaked to have red eyes instead of blue?"

You exhale tiredly. "Because red eyes signify alpha status. No pack can have more than one alpha unless they want to constantly butt heads, which means I'll have to leave my pack and start anew elsewhere."

"I have a question too," Clay suddenly speaks up. "Why tell us all of this? If you creatures are dead set on keeping the secret of your existence, why tell my family?"

It takes you a moment to think about it.

"Have you ever met someone and just instantly clicked with them?" You ask. "Someone you met that you just felt at ease with even though they were a complete stranger?" Clay shrugs. "Well when I met Chibs, Jax, Juice and Gemma, that's exactly how I felt. Like I knew them for years and was reuniting with an old friend."

Jax coos next to you and you immediately nudge him, chuckling as you shake your head at him. Clay has a few more questions for you and, though he's not the one in charge, you feel like you should answer anything they throw at you.

A couple hours later, after all the remnants of a gunfight having taken place have been discarded and beers have been passed around to those sitting around you, three vehicles pull up to the lot. Everyone tenses, but when seeing the Camaro that's nearly identical to yours out front, you tell them it's okay.

"It's my brother." When Derek and the betas get off their vehicles, you're surprised to see Peter trailing after them. You hop off the table to greet your brother, hesitating briefly upon touching him before giving in and hugging him. He chuckles and then you stare at your friends before asking, "Can I?"

After all, you didn't want to trigger your brother's wolf by another alpha getting too close to his betas.

"Of course."

Erica, Isaac and Boyd can immediately tell the difference when you hug them, and you smile faintly when you flash red eyes at them.

"Holy shit," Erica says.

"Yeah." Looking at your brother, you say, "There's two vehicles out back with the bodies. Can they take them far out of the county and stage a scene? I don't wanna bring suspicion to the garage's doorstep."

"What's the scene gonna look like?"

"Shootout and an animal attack." You shrug. "I used claws and teeth, and the humans used guns."

"Okay."

Derek gestures for the betas to do as they're told as Juice tells them where to find the vehicles around back. Boyd mentions he'll follow in one of their cars, and Isaac and Erica jog around the garage to go find the vehicles they need to dispose of.

Left alone with just Derek and Peter, you quickly introduce everyone to each other.

"Hold on," Juice says, frowning. "I thought you said your uncle Peter was dead? That your brother ripped his throat out?"

All gazes dart to Peter and Derek who are only a few feet apart, and Peter chuckles as you roll your eyes. "Uncle Peter has an awful habit of not staying dead. He's a nuisance, but as the Pack Enforcer, he's kind of needed."

"Thank you, darling niece. It's so nice to hear that you only keep me around because of my role in the pack and not because we're family."

"I stopped caring for your well-being the moment we found out you cut Laura, your other darling niece, in half," you deadpan.

Gemma gasps and suddenly the humans are on edge.

From the corner of your eye, you see Happy sit a little straighter at that information as he stares at your uncle. Everyone kind of reshuffles around then so that Peter and Derek are not at anyone's back, and you end up between Jax and Opie once more as they stand close by on either side of you.

"So what's your plan?" Derek asks, arms crossing over his chest.

"I'm not sure." You copy his posture. "I don't want to risk making betas. The bite has a 50/50 chance of taking, and I don't want to risk killing someone."

"You and I both know that it's possible to have a pack with members who are human." His eyes dart to the men standing next to you and you frown. "So long as you bond with these people and treat them as family, they're pack."

"What happens if she doesn't form a pack?" Jax asks.

Derek's gaze darts to him as he answers. "If an alpha remains packless, it'll slowly make them feral to the point they need to be put down."

Every gaze then turns to you and you try not to shrink under their gaze.

"I have a better idea," Peter says. "Why not give the alpha power to another wolf who actually wants it?"

"Yeah? And who would that be?"

Peter smirks as his eyes flare blue, but the moment he takes a step in your direction, Jax and Opie are closing ranks on you and putting you just behind their shoulders. You glance at the backs of both men in surprise, head whipping in the direction of Happy and Juice who now have guns resting casually in their laps.

Peter freezes and scoffs, and Derek smirks. "It seems you might already have that pack of yours without even realizing it." Wide eyes meet the gaze of your brother and he chuckles. "Charming is in need of an alpha now, little sister. And it seems you're a new alpha who unknowingly formed a bond with men permanently attached to the town."

You gape at Derek, your expression not changing as Jax and Opie grin over their shoulders at you. When no one says anything, you sigh. "Does anyone know of a house for rent? I'm gonna need a place to stay while I purchase some land and build a house away from nosy neighbors."

"Juice, get on that," Jax says. "Find a house with a decent landlord and then look for land that can be built on."

"Got it, Prez."

Juice jogs away to get started on his new task and you shake your head at your brother. "Congratulations. Charming and its people are now your responsibility," Derek says. "Problem solved."

Clay clears his throat. "That's pretty much the job of the Sons here. We look out for Charming and the locals."

Derek nods at him. "That's great. But if another pack rolls into town, looking to cause trouble, or a rogue werewolf wanders into town and starts killing people for food, how are you going to take care of that problem? Do you know the signs to look for to determine whether or not it's a supernatural threat?"

Clay frowns. "No."

"Then that's where YN steps in. She's going to be a fountain of knowledge. Tap into it."

"I don't have to be a part of whatever operation you have going on here," you say while gesturing towards the building, "but apparently my wolf has shown interest in these knuckleheads," this time you gesture to Opie and Jax, "and any attack on them is an attack on me. And if a supernatural threat comes to town, you're gonna want me in your corner."

Clay seems to think over that before he subtly nods and tucks Gemma under his arm, accepting whatever may come next. Jax slowly smiles, playfully punching his friend's arm. "Werewolf bodyguard.. sweet."

[marvelandimagine]

I think some people mad about the arm is not necessarily about the fact that Ayo disabling the arm itself, it's more of the fact that it was not necessary and the fact that Bucky had no idea they can do that. If I were to be honest, I think it was not that necessary because Ayo is well capable of taking him down without having to disarm him and she is definitely not threatened by him. I think what some people find upsetting about that scene is the fact that it kinda comes off as Ayo putting Bucky in a position where it would make him feel like he doesn't have full control of his own body after all. The Wakandans, especially Ayo, T'Challa and Shuri had every right to feel betrayed and upset but the point is they should have told Bucky about how the arm can easily be disabled like that, they didn't know Bucky was going to set Zemo free when they gave him the arm and regardless of the things they have done for him and if they were ones who gave him the arm, they should have at least told him about it, because it's connected to him, it's a part of HIS body. It doesn't matter if it was necessary to disarm him or not, the point is they should have told him about it because apart from the fact that it's his body and that it was a bit insensitive given his history, it's also a point of vulnerability, and the fact that she did it in front of Walker (and possibly Zemo) --- people who can easily turn on Bucky, could easily that to their advantage and attempt to disable it themselves. Just my thoughts on it.

Thank you for sharing your perspective, anon!

I’m going to use this long-ass reply to address this stuff with Ayo and also voice some thoughts I’ve had over the past few weeks seeing people paint Bucky into being this complete soft and harmless human that needs 25-7 protection which I don’t jive with — and this is me, a complete Bucky stan.

Many moons ago, I saw a post that compared 1940s Bucky moving with stealth and a loaded gun on the train to the Winter Soldier doing the same thing, essentially discussing the similarities and debating how much of non-brainwashed Bucky was in the Soldier. And I think the fandom forgets or chooses to neglect the following when painting him as this fragile, peace-loving guy:

Bucky was an incredibly skilled sniper in the United States Army. His job is to eliminate threats in the most efficient way possible, and he’s good at it. HYDRA gets their hands on him and + the serum, this gets magnified. It wasn’t like HYDRA turned him into someone with the ability and mental capacity to kill — that was already there. The brainwashing and torture just carved out the rest of him to leave those honed skills and an amplified ruthlessness with no moral issues, no sense of self to contend with. That ruthlessness is part of Bucky, whether people like it or not.

When Bucky is outside of HYDRA for the first time and hiding in Civil War and gets attacked, he’s so brutal in his actions that Steve Rogers, the man who literally was ready to die to save Bucky and free him when no one else believed in the good in him, intervenes because “Buck, you’re going to kill someone.” Bucky responds that he’s not going to kill anyone, but the fact remains: with or without HYDRA control, Bucky has a strong capacity for violence that hovers on brutality — again, what’s the most efficient way to eliminate or neutralize a threat? Like, I don’t want to kill you, but I’ll knock your ass out with cinder blocks to the chest.

Bucky has a good heart, he’s loyal, he’s smart, he’s caring, he’s the longest-standing POW in history and was turned into a slave for decades, put through unimaginable trauma and torture and horror with no escape. Bucky is also a strong and incredibly skilled super soldier who has a bionic arm, is a trained sniper, is unnervingly precise with knives, and self-describes himself as “semi-stable.” Zemo notes in the bar that “it didn’t take Bucky long to get back into form,” and he’s right because the ruthlessness and skill of the Winter Soldier is a part of him and always has been. We see it when he has his hand around Zemo’s neck and tells him he will kill him, when he rips the glass from his hand and throws it across the room.

And I’m sure the Wakandans know all this about Bucky, this light and his ability for hard-to-stop violence, whether from talking to Steve and Bucky or doing their own homework. And they still choose to help him out of the goodness of their hearts because he’s been put through hell and they believe they have the capacity to help him and it’s the right thing to do — they’re betting more on those positive attributes. And they put a failsafe on his arm, a literal weapon, and chose not to tell him. You know why I think that shows how much they did care about him? Because they could’ve blatantly come out and said “Hey, we don’t trust you,” and hurt him outright, but they didn’t because they’re betting on the light in Bucky to outweigh the dark or any future manipulation. That it’s a worst-case scenario function they hope to never have to use — so they’re prepared if shit hits the fan, and if it doesn’t, Bucky doesn’t have to be hurt feeling like he can’t be trusted. I see no issues here, they’re just being cautious.

Now coming to Ayo, my QUEEN Ayo. From that beautiful, beautiful opening scene, we get to see her support, her reassurance, her belief that Bucky will be able to work through this, even when he doesn’t believe it himself. She watches him fight and struggle and cry, and you can feel the hope in her and how moved she is when she gets to tell him it worked, he did it — he’s free. And she says it not once, but twice. And you can hear not just the comfort, but the PRIDE and warmth in her voice directed to him, who I’m sure she’s watched throughout the whole deprogramming process and gotten to know and is happy to see him work through the pain and come out on the other side.

And then she sees that same individual make a decision in freeing Zemo that she perceives as a “fuck you” not just to her country, but to her, someone who was charged with protecting her king. She could’ve just disarmed Bucky the second they met up, but she doesn’t. She takes the time to explain her side and her feelings, her guilt and her shame, and basically implies that she feels betrayed by Bucky because Wakanda helped him and now he’s doing something that’s hurting her country. And still, she doesn’t attack or just go get Zemo. She gives Bucky the benefit of the doubt and a whole 8-hour American workday to do what he has to do because again, she believes in the best of him. And then that time limit runs up, and he chooses to get in her way.

And that’s the final straw. She’s angry, she’s guilty, she’s frustrated, and she feels betrayed hurt by someone I think she did respect and care about, someone whom she worked with and helped and supported when he was his most vulnerable. Did she “need” to disarm the arm to fight Bucky? Probably not. But is she doing it in the heat of battle and adrenaline and a whole bucket ton of emotions, including what she sees as the White Wolf blatantly disrespecting her country and her as a person and even friend and she just says fuck it, I’m done? You hurt us and me, and I’m going to hurt you back? Oh yeah. And Bucky looks shocked, not because he’s a poor fragile baby and “oh no, my arm, how could you?? my TrAumA”, but in the dual realization of “oh shit, how’d you do that?!” and “oh shit, I think I crossed a line here.” And also, I don’t think a single person in that room would be able to recreate the disabling sequence other than Ayo — it’s way too targeted and specific for someone like Walker to pick it up in the whole three seconds it took.

People need to stop reducing characters to these black and white extremes of soft and hard, of good and bad. Doing so completely devalues and ignores the REALITY of the complexity of being human, and Bucky and Ayo are both great examples of that played by stellar actors who portray that range and depth extremely well. End of the day, my thought is that the failsafe in the arm was justified and people need to stop coming for Ayo based on this ridiculous narrative that Bucky is too traumatized and sensitive and too much of a fave to ever be challenged or he’ll explode into dust. Boy deserves a life of freedom and healing and mental health support, but he’s also still a formidable opponent with the capacity for violence and skillset to kill. People are more than one thing.

Thanks for coming to my Ted Talk!!