#and then i finally got kicked out after telling them i was transitioning

[trans-ralsei]

when i say ‘i was in the army’ please imagine me as laios touden suffering through it… conscription sucks

typical transfem post-conscription transition timeline

[charliemwrites]

Part 7

Content: sparring and injury

Sparring is one of your favorite activities. With your team, it’s a chance to learn and improve, to keep from falling into old habits. And yes, okay, it’s also become something of foreplay. Especially with your captain, who seems to delight in tossing you around and pinning you with his bulk.

(And Keegan, who came in his pants once when you had him in a chokehold, one your thighs between his. But no, no, now is not the time to think about that…)

You’re not the best hand-to-hand operator on the team, sure. That title belongs to Nikto, who hits so hard and fast you’re down before you even realize he’s swinging. But you’re certainly a force to be reckoned with.

Not this much though.

If you were in the mood to give them credit for anything — and you’re really not — they’re at least subtle. You don’t catch on during the first round with Soap. Your brain has completely transitioned into the comfortable rhythm of practice combat. Something to be taken seriously, but not the high-stress of victory or death in a mission.

No, Soap gets away with it in the moment. You only notice as you’re taking your water break, rotated out with the uneven numbers between your teams. You’re surveying the pairs and notice him sparring with Keegan.

There’s something decidedly more intense about it. Like… like he’s putting real effort into trying to beat Keegan. An effort he did not put into fighting you.

Rage burns through you, hot and thick, buzzing in your head.

Does he think you’re not worth any real effort? Does he think you can’t handle a proper fight, that this is just playtime? Is he really treating you like some fresh-faced recruit that needs to be babied after all this time?

When you captain finishes wiping the floor with Gaz, you go to his side. One look at your face and he knows.

“Whose head is rolling?” He asks, plucking your bottle from your hand for a sip.

“Soap threw our match.”

His eyes flare before he closes them, swallows the water in his mouth and sighs.

“How do you want to handle it?” He asks.

“Wait, wait,” Gaz interrupts. And the look your captain gives him… Christ. To his credit, he doesn’t back down though. “He probably just thought it would be good, yeah? To… let you get some anger out.”

You run your tongue over your teeth, a mean laugh slipping out. The captain arches his eyebrows in what could almost be sympathy. Or arousal, hard to tell when he’s got such a good poker face. (Mix of both, you figure)

“Oh, he wants me to get some anger out?” You roll your shoulders. “Sounds like a great idea.”

Ghost is your last match before reset — before you’ll get a chance to show Soap just how much steam you need to let off.

Except now that you’re looking for it, you recognize almost immediately that he’s throwing the match. Probably especially because it’s Ghost. You never stood a chance against him before leaving, even now you didn’t have optimistic expectations for a fight with him. So the fact that it doesn’t feel like you’re working for every inch you gain…

The final straw is when you try a move from before. Something he never fell for once and always reprimanded you for using. He “falls” for it this time. You don’t pull your punch when it goes directly into his face.

Know immediately that he’s feeling it, that wicked hook Keegan always whistles over. Blinking past his mask. And you don’t let up, pressing and pressing the advantage. Take him down to the ground using all your built strength, twisting into a vicious arm bar and pulling, pulling, pulling—

“Bloody hell, I yield!” He snarls, palm slamming against your thigh.

You release him, but not without one last nasty kick to the soft spot beneath his ribs.

The gym has gone silent. You don’t care, pushing to your feet with hands still balled into tight, angry fists.

“You ever throw a fight with me again, I’ll break your fucking jaw, Riley,” you snarl.

Price, expression stormy, takes a step forward.

“He threw the fight?” He asks.

You scoff, “Either that or the 141’s quality is lacking nowadays.”

You step off the mat to join the rest of your team, exchange a frustrated look with your captain. Nova comes to your side, curling a finger into your belt loop in solidarity.

“Gotta say, Price, I’m disappointed,” your captain says. “This is getting out of control. I won’t have my team put at risk because yours can’t keep it professional. I’d rather just tell Laswell to get you a different support team.”

You’re almost surprised to see how the 141 jolts, four pairs of eyes flicking to you in panic. What in the actual hell?

“Take it easy,” Price says, eyes flashing. “I’ll have a word with them.”

You glance up at your captain, see from the twitch in his jaw and the tightness around his eyes that his patience for this is wearing gossamer thin.

“See to it. In the meantime, we’ve got work to do.”

He turns his back on the 141, and you’re all too happy to follow suit, pressing a kiss to Nova’s cheek when she sends you a worried look. Whatever weird issue the 141 is having, they need to stop making it your issue.

“Keegan, with me,” your captain says. “Nikto, you’re up against the girls.”

Nikto tilts his head in a nod, then jolts as you and Nova take either side of him.

“Gonna show us a good time, Nik?” You coo.

“Always love a tag-team,” Nova purrs.

The captain grins. “Have fun you three.”

First | Previous | Next

Masterlist

[guywrestlingaddiction]

Frot Fighters: Carter Collins v Jesse Zane (muscleboywrestling.com)  

Sometimes experience matters less than sheer drive. In this case, Carter was determined to make Jesse his plaything and there was no amount of wrestling skill that was going to stop him.  

Carter Collins v Jesse Zane (muscleboywrestling.com)

SPOILER ALERT: I highly recommend viewing this match in its entirety before reading this post.

So let's begin with the "Fight": 

We start with Carter coming straight away at Jesse.  The guy practically lunges at him and mounts him before lightly pounding his mid-section.  And that means we are off to the "fight".

Carter: I didn't say this was going to be easy ... 

Then of course we transition to Jesse face deep in Carter's pit because where else would he be 1 minute into the match.  

Now at this point we can forgive Jesse for wanting to stay down and prolong all the attention he's getting from Carter.  

Carter: Now you're going to worship this body ... you're going to worship this chest, then you're going to worship my pits and you're going to love it. 

Carter: You're so willing.  I didn't have to tell you twice.  Jesse: MMMMMPHHHHH *GAG*

You'd think this would be the entire frot but you would be wrong because this is just the beginning...

Next after faithfully serving the better man, Jesse pleads for his own worship.  You can practically hear the hope in his voice when he begs for reciprocation.  

Jesse: *Gulp* Will you worship me now? [pleading]

Nope, sorry Jesse - you have been taken advantage of.  Men like Carter just use you to worship them.  

Nope, sorry Jesse - you have been taken advantage of.  Men like Carter just use you to worship them.  

But then again, you know Jesse is not going down that easy.  He crawls up Carter's lean body only to bash those sexy abs.

I love this move on so many levels.  Jesse slams his smaller body to top his opponent while Carter moans his regrets. 

Jesse: That's where you belong. Carter: *GAG*

Then we'll get to the Frot: 

Just when it looks like a comeback, our man Jesse is severely distracted by Carter's slim body and is overcome with lust.  The guy can barely think straight and so close to victory, pinning his opponent becomes an after thought.

Sexy Carter helpless on the mat; It's not hard to see why Jesse let his guard down around something as beautiful as that. 

But let his guard down he did and Jesse paid the price for following his lust instead of winning the match. 

Now we have arrived at our frot finale.  A triple crossed Jesse is made to please his dominator and Carter is given free reign to live out his fantasy of turning a seasoned pro into a submissive jobber.  

Now we have arrived at our frot finale.  A triple crossed Jesse is made to please his dominator and Carter is given free reign to live out his fantasy of turning a seasoned pro into a submissive jobber.  

------- So there you have it.  It's a tale as old as time.  Seasoned pro thinks he can have a sexy rookie for a plaything only to have the newbie turn the tables on him.  Jesse's got over a decade of pro ass kicking on his opponent but what Carter lacks in experience, he more than makes up for in seduction.  This was Jesse's match to lose and lose he does with an ultimate humiliation by first getting beat and second getting off to the superior man.  

I mean check out that look Jesse gives Carter at the end.  Seconds from passing out under his pit, Jesse still gives him those doe eyes that says he'll do anything for a taste of a real man. 

[vax-merstappen]

keep coming back (mv1)

hi y'all, my first attempt at writing angst!! i feel like max verstappen angst hits different so i wanted to give writing some a try. lmk if you enjoy this and feel free to send fic ideas to my inbox!

summary: you forced max out of your life a few months ago. but when he keeps coming back into it, why can't you get him out of your head?

warning: swearing, alcohol, breakup, angst

Max Verstappen. 3 time world champion. One of the greatest Formula 1 drivers of all time. Red Bull Racing's star. Your ex boyfriend.

With his fame, you found that Max was becoming more and more insufferable to be around. Everything about his life focused at becoming a better driver, fine tuning himself to be even greater than great, a legend in the making. That usually meant that he wouldn't have time for you. Between long hours at the factory, various press appearances around the globe, and spending every spare moment on a simulator, you were in his life but not really in it.

The final straw was when he forgot about your birthday dinner and instead went out with the CEO of one of his sponsors, getting wasted on the company money. You had called him in tears, shouting that you never wanted to see his face again.

You had woken up the next morning to 32 missed calls from Max and a long string of drunken text messages telling you that he would do better. You responded by telling him that you were blocking his number and to stop trying to contact you.

You were done with Max Verstappen.

---

But of course life never goes to plan.

You had a life to live and you weren't going to let the breakup stop you from moving forward. You gathered all your girls to go out to the clubs in Monaco and forget about everything bad that had happened in your lives. You picked out a stunning, sparkly dress and a matching pair of heels, knowing that looking your best would help you feel your best.

Your best friend got an Uber to take you to her favorite club, the one where you all had spent her last birthday dancing until the manager kicked you out. The second you walked through the door, the loud music rushed through you like a breath of fresh air. This was what you needed to forget him.

After a round of shots, you and your friends rushed onto the dance floor. You swayed to the beat, your hands in the air. You screamed the lyrics to the song at your best friend and she screamed them back at you. Eventually, you two were holding hands and spinning in circles laughing, as if nobody could see you.

When the song ended, the group walked back over to the bar to get more drinks. Before you could order, one of your friends suggested you try another one of the other Monaco clubs that she heard celebrities liked to frequent. You happily agreed. What better way to rub it in to your ex than to meet up with a different celebrity?

It was a short trip to the next club and your friend got you in the door so quick that you didn't even bother to see which one it was. The music was just as good as the last one, and you quickly found your best friend whisking you out onto the dance floor again. Your heels were starting to hurt, but that didn't stop you from moving your hips to the rhythm and continuing to scream along to the songs with your best friend.

It was only when the DJ transitioned to a song you didn't know, that you excused yourself from the dance floor and went to grab another drink at the bar. You were having a good time, but you knew more alcohol would make it better.

That was when you saw him.

Of course Max would show up to the same club that you did. You averted your gaze and started trying to blend in with the crowd, but it was too late. He had seen you and was making his way over to where you were standing. You made a move to try to bolt away, but you felt a hand grab your arm.

"Fuck off, Max!" you shouted, trying to push away his arm.

"You're the one who came to my favorite club," he responded. You looked down at the napkin in your hand and mentally cursed when you saw his cat's name on it.

"Didn't mean I wanted to find you here."

You thought you could see him sigh, but the music was too loud for you to know for sure. "Look, when you told me you wanted me out of your life..."

"I meant it," you said, interrupting him before he could get any further. "So go away and let's act like I never saw you here."

The look in his eyes saddened and he let go of your arm. "If that's what you really want."

You peeled away from him before you could change your mind and you beelined for where your friends were standing.

"Let's go. He's here so I don't want to be. here"

Getting the message, your best friend began to lead the group back out of the club. As you walked, you couldn't help but look over your shoulder. He was still standing at the bar staring into an empty glass, the typical confident look that he always had seemingly gone. He looked as handsome as ever, though you wouldn't accept that your thoughts had wandered in that direction.

Fuck him for being so hard to forget.

---

A week later, you had decided to go on a date with a guy who you had met on a dating app. Your heart wasn't really in it, and maybe that wasn't fair to the guy you were meeting, but you needed to get Max out of your head.

Marcel was nice enough, but he had a tendency to ramble on about things you weren't interested in. And worse, he was a Formula 1 fan. You had been pretty private about your relationship with Max, so you knew he wasn't on a date with you to get with Max Verstappen's ex-girlfriend, but it was awkward to hear him go on about how if Charles Leclerc was given a great car, he could rival Max.

The fancy restaurant was the only thing keeping you there. Marcel had told you he would pay and there was no way you were passing up on dessert. Just as your Creme Brulee came out to the table, you happened to see the absolute last person you wanted to see walk into the restaurant and towards the private room at the back.

How did Max keep appearing? Monaco was a small country, sure, but not small enough that you should keep running into him like this.

But as Marcel began to talk about what DRS meant and how it could impact a race, you realized anything would be better than hearing him mansplain a sport you had watched for most of your life. You had deleted his contact from your phone, but his number was still in your call history. You excused yourself from the table and pressed tne call button.

"Hello?"

"I'm in the same restaurant as you. Would you take me home?

"I thought you never wanted to see my face again."

"Maybe that was a bit extreme. I need to get out of here and you're the only one I knew would say yes."

"Who says I am going to say yes?"

"Look, I know you. I know I hurt you when I broke up with you that night. And I know you aren't over it yet."

There was a moment of silence.

"Alright."

You went back to the table and told Marcel it had been great but that you didn't think this was going to go anywhere and that you needed to leave. He began to spew a long string of angry words at you, but halfway through he sputtered to a stop and his eyes went wide.

You felt an arm around your shoulders and you turned to see Max standing there. You couldn't help but smirk at the way he had silenced Marcel.

"Let's go," Max stated, pulling you towards the door. You waved at Marcel and followed your ex out of the restaurant.

"Thank you," you whispered.

"He was so bad that you called me?"

"If I had to listen to him talk about how Lewis Hamilton was robbed of his eighth world championship for much longer, I was going to lose it."

Max snorted. "I must have really surprised him then."

"He didn't know what to do with himself."

You spent the rest of the walk to his car in silence. There were no words that could repair what you had said to Max and what he had done to you. You still were mad at him, but you couldn't help but feel drawn back to him. After all, he was still the only person you knew would answer every time you called and would drop everything to make sure you were safe.

When you sat down in the passenger's seat, you took a deep breath. "Look, about what I said..."

"Don't."

"I just want you to know..."

"I said don't. I've been a dead man since you left. Don't give me hope of living now."

"Just let me at least apologize. It was too harsh."

"And I should have been there for you. I was so focused on myself that I forgot about you. I'm sorry."

A moment of silence passed as he pulled into the parking space for his apartment.

"You can't apologize, Max. I'm supposed to hate you."

"And you're supposed to be the one that got away."

You held back a sob that you had been keeping in ever since you broke up. "I don't want to get away."

"And I don't want to be the one you hate."

You pulled yourself together and opened the door to the car, grabbing your purse and stepping onto the street.

"Goodnight, Max."

"Goodnight."

---

Another week went by and you couldn't help but keep thinking about what had happened that night. He regretted not making more time for you. And he had felt dead ever since you had left his life. It was hard to hate him when he said things like that.

In one final effort to get Max out of your mind, you decided to get out of Monaco altogether, take a trip to London to visit some family who lived there. You booked a ticket on the first flight out, eager to get out of the place that reminded you of Max as quick as possible.

But fate wouldn't let you go.

Engine issues on the plane was what the woman at the counter told you when you saw your flight was cancelled. No other flights for London were leaving that day and so you were stranded at the airport, unable to get to your destination.

Annoyed at the situation, you posted on your close friends story about what was happening. You got a message from your best friend, commiserating with you about the situation. You saw a text message from an unknown number and you clicked on it.

Max.

Of course you had forgotten to remove him from your close friends. And of course he was flying to London today for some meetings at Red Bull's headquarters. And why wouldn't he have had room on his private jet for you if you wanted it.

It was either wait until the next day to fly out in a cramped economy seat or get on your ex-boyfriend's private jet. The choice was easy.

He had someone escort you to the private terminal of the airport and you soon boarded his jet. As you walked through the plane, he was nowhere in sight. The man who had brought you here had told you to take whatever seat you wanted, and so you picked one that looked unoccupied near the back. You put on your headphones and looked out the window.

A minute later, you felt a tap on your shoulder and looked over to see none other than Max. You knew he would be here because of course it was his jet, but you hadn't expected him to appear so suddenly. You took off your headphones to hear him.

"I was sitting in this one," he said, a look of slight embarrassment on his face.

You mentally screamed. Of course you would accidentally take the seat he was sitting in.

"I'm sorry, I'll just move..." you mumbled, grabbing your bag and starting to walk towards the exact opposite end of the plane.

"Wait!" Max exclaimed. You turned around. "Would you sit across from me? I would like that a lot."

You almost blurted out no, but something in your mind stopped you. This was Max, the man who would drive you home, who missed you, and who cared about you whether he showed it or not.

"Sure," you whispered and slid into the seat across from him. You put your headphones back on and watched as the plane took off and the city grew smaller and smaller beneath you.

The flight was awkward. He was avoiding eye contact with you and you were avoiding it with him. Every once in a while, you both would glance at the person across from you at the same time and lock eyes before immediately looking the other way.

Eventually, you couldn't take it anymore. You pulled off your headphones for the second time. "Max, we need to talk about it. I can't take not having closure anymore. Not after that night a few weeks ago."

"I haven't stopped thinking about it," Max admitted. "The truth is, I want you back so bad. I can't take seeing you live your life without me because of what I did. I fucked it up so bad and I hate myself for it every moment."

"Max..."

"Watching you pull away from me at the club, seeing you on a date with another guy, that killed me. You always used to call me baby and now you just call me Max. I've never hated hearing my own name so much. The fact that you are doing fine without me is so hard to accept."

"Max, I haven't been doing fine without you. I can't get you out of my head no matter how hard I try. I was going to leave the fucking country to get away from you and somehow I end up on your damn plane. Why are you so hard to leave behind? And why does it feel like I don't really want to leave you behind?"

He leaned closer and dropped his voice. "For the record, I hated every time I had to leave you behind for work. It might have seemed like I wanted to go, but I promise it hurt every time."

Tears began to prick your eyes. "You can't tell me that. Then I can't hate you anymore."

"Do you really want to hate me?"

"No," you whispered. "I don't want to hate you, Max."

"I still love you, if you still have anything left in your heart for me."

"I do. But I can't just get back together with you like nothing happened. Like our relationship wasn't falling apart."

Max nodded. "I understand. But I'll be here if you want to try again. I'll always be here for you, even if you don't want to try again."

"Thank you, Max."

And just like that, the man who you wanted nothing to do with ever again had made his way back into your life. And you knew he would keep coming back as long as you would let him do so.

[thelemonsofpink]

random modern newsies head cannons (with absolutely no evidence or reason) pt. 2

more bc i can!!

Race:

The most aggressive, reckless driver, but is dangerously good at it. Will cut across multiple lanes but has never even scratched a car.

Lied to everyone in his first week of college about his entire life (different lie per person) just for fun. He finally started telling the truth but nobody believes him.

Started a school poker club and promptly got kicked out of it for betting too much, and then winning it every time. (He just wanted a way to make money. The school did not like that).

STEM major. His work is impossible but he never complains about it. Also a dancer (not my hc). He complains about that a lot.

Has worked almost every retail job under the sun. Also complains about that.

Carries around cigarettes for the vibe but rarely smokes them. Just in case anyone else wants one. Has made friends with many random people this way.

Spot:

Brooklyn baby. Cannot drive. Is terrified of it but, when Race tried to teach him, he yelled at everyone and blamed other people for what was definitely his fault. Refuses to admit that.

Played football but seriously injured his knee (explanation for the cane) but doesn't talk about it much. Always comes up with a new reason for the injury that is entirely ridiculous, but since he delivers it with a straight face everybody believes him.

Absolutely no rhythm. Never goes to parties, even though he is in a fraternity (a very chill one, thank you very much). If he's ever at a party, it's because he's a sober contact, and he is the most unsympathetic person when it comes to taking care of drunk people unless it's Race.

Insists on sitting alone in the back of the lecture hall, even if he has friends in his class.

Crutchie:

Also an incredibly reckless driver but HAS gotten into accidents before. (Only twice, both times because he was racing a friend on the highway. Never serious but always stupid).

Very fidgety and usually making noises under his breath/drumming on shit. Drives everybody around him crazy.

The kind of guy to argue with a professor in a lecture, but only when he's sure he's right (which is always).

So many illegal things in his dorm: candles, toaster, air fryer, multiple animals.

Double majoring in a STEM and humanities field, always references one when in classes for the other and confuses everybody, but he sees a connection between them.

I like the idea that he goes to the gym with Albert a lot. (U wld never catch me taking away his disability so in my head he loveeees to bench and is so buff).

Albert:

(a lot of driving hcs. i wrote this in a car). gets so violently carsick. everyone thought he was saying that so he could ride shotgun; they made him ride in the back once and he made them pull over after ten minutes cause he almost hurled. safe to say he is now always shotgun and always playing the worst music.

Played too many sports, got too many concussions, and now is a crazy gym bro.

Peanut allergy. Would rather die than admit this. Has almost died because he forgets to tell servers at restaurants.

Finch:

his shoes are never tied. he never trips over them and refuses to tie them.

has a million weird, artsy minors that sound and should be fake.

floor sitter. is never in a chair.

JoJo:

his shoes are also never tied. he ALWAYS trips over them.

drank coffee, had a panic attack, thought it was a heart attack, and spent an hour in the ER.

also had the same reaction when trying weed for the first time.

Mush:

RIPPING up the dance floor at a party, fully sober too

Everybody's favorite frat bro; super great energy and incredibly respectful

Volunteers at local elementary schools; talks to young children like they're frat bros too.

Blink:

Dorm recluse. His suite mates have called Mush many times just to check that he's still alive in there.

Has no license and hates public transit, so he walks literally everywhere.

[adventuringblind]

Drive with you Forever

Chapter Ten: a monster or a hero?

Max Verstappen x Charles Leclerc x Lando Norris X reader

Chapter summary: things come to a climatic peak at Abu Dhabi

Warnings: GORE, depictions of abuse, minor character death, description of injuries and blood, panic attacks, annoying first responders, gun and knife violence

Notes: wow I enjoyed this chapter. It was so much fun to write. I think going from action to intimate with the transition actually worked better then I thought it would. Not something I can say about my other work 😒😂

Previous <-

Masterlist

She’s aware of the drops of blood running down her fingers onto the tarmac of the track. The lighta of Abu Dhabi illuminates her skin as she stands with shaky knees. She can smell the rage falling of the man in waves. His movements were clumsier in his anger.

He’d made a mistake in thinking he could touch them.

He’d been wrong to assume she would give in so easily.

Now, with a grin on her face and crimson cover face, she proves he created the killer he always claimed her to be.

~

Aside from Jos and his odd interactions with her, paddock like was peaceful.

She’d gone back to analyzing data and tinkering with the cars. Using the rest of the season to simply heal. She was here because she wanted to be. She was here supporting her loves. She was here because this is her passion.

Redbull had been on fire since she got back to working with data and strategy. She loves driving, but this felt more like her. She’d made peace that her body would never be the same. Christian respects her choice and appreciates her for everything she’s done. Hence why she will always have a place in the Redbull garage, according to him.

Nights with her boys have been calm (for the most part). They are on a high after their tedious streak of lows. They’d spoiled her relentlessly after they almost lost her.

Max has finally managed to learn how to get his feelings across. It took him almost losing all of his partners to figure it out. He has Seb to thank for that.

She walked in in the German gently explaining to Max that he needs to tell them how he feels because bottling it up isn’t healthy and despite one of his partners being superhuman, she isn’t a mind reader.

Boy did he sob. They all did really. They pulled together as a unit after that. Not just being there for each other, but a team that works together to overcome the challenges and difficulties that life throws at them.

They are together. They are a family. They are bonded together by something deeper then love.

~

She’d found a way to help her confidence in being independent. How you ask? Getting one step closer to being a superhero.

Her martial arts had been coming along amazingly. Her trainer was impressed with how quick she progressed. It’s definitely helps that her visions had gotten better and she could see the possible outcome of a fight before it even happened. Sometimes while she was sparring, she’d be able to control her visions enough to just get a glimpse of her opponents next move.

She’d practiced with a few firearms and knew how to pull them apart and put them together with the wave of a finger. She could help guide bullets to their intended destinations with hardly any aim.

It’s safe to say she feels like she could take on the world. She just hopes she doesn’t have to.

It’s a funny thing to her, that even though she could kick someone’s ass into next year, her three partners still baby her.

Lando has found that his favorite place is having her in his arms. He claims if he lets go she might disappear.

Charles is always talking to her. Her tells her every reason why he loves her daily because he almost didn’t get a chance to tell her at all.

Max is vulnerable with her. The work of racing paints him to be cold-hearted and a villain, his father not helping much in that regard. Now he shows her every emotion he kept hidden away. He cries and laughs and lets the three of you see a side of him the cameras don't.

Everything was falling into place. The peace and happiness she wanted so bad was finally within reach.

But is seems nothing ever goes to plan.

~

The energy she worked so hard to keep in control was taking over for her. The locked box she didn't want to open had now exploded. A urge of something she'd never experienced before flying out.

It didn't help he was holding Lando by the throat. The Brit had been through enough already. His eyes are pleading with anyone. If he could just free himself from whatever was holding him there then maybe he could help her.

But she didn't need help.

Two sets of hands on his shoulders became one. The man on his left projecting something at his lover.

The glint of metal from the knife left his hands and landed itself in her shoulder. He could hear her skin ripping open. The blood starting to pool around the new wound.

She'd already killed three of them. The ones who had initially grabbed the three boys.

Their throats had all been sliced open on the track.

These men had been shouting the names they know her by. Killer. Betrayer. Monster.

Don't they know they made her this way?

The knife that had found its way into her skin is pulled out with a vile squelch. She looks down and smiles. The pain only encouraging her to keep going.

The laugh that falls from her mouth is terrifying.

She throws the knife back at its original owner. Her hand still outstretched and guiding the thin weapon. It sticks in a place he won't recover from. His body crumbles to the ground. Blood leaking from the gaping hold in his chest.

Originally, Lando thought he might die here. These stupid people holding him captive on the empty track had talked about ways they wanted to end him.

He was scared and shaking for fifteen minutes before she came to his rescue. He was still shaking as the other man pinning him in his place took off running.

She just watched him go. If he wasn't going to fight her and run away like a coward instead, then it's a waste of her energy to go after him.

She was on her knees in front of Lando in an instant. Her eyes rake over his body to look for any signs of injury. Satisfied, she unties all the ropes that had made his escape impossible.

His turn now to assess her. Lando's hand flying up to put pressure on the slit on her shoulder.

"What the hell is going on?" The waiver in his voice is not even trying to hide itself.

"My father has decided to use a different means to get to me.”

He's shocked at how steady her voice is. He can see the murky fear in her eyes, but also something he can't pinpoint.

"Are you alright?"

"Shaken up, obviously, but alive."

Her tears of relief are mixed with the blood on her cheeks.

Neither knew how this was going to end, but they couldn't spend much more time thinking about it.

"Do you know where he's keeping Charles and Max?"

He nods slowly, impressed at her composire. Then he's taking her hand and leading her onwards.

~

Jos was dejected at the sight of the four of them celebrating together. He hated that his son didn't listen to him or want anything to do with him, for that matter.

He knew what he was doing was wrong. But he'd made a deal.

He gets his son back, and the maniacal genius gets his daughter back. It's a win-win aside from the British boy and Anoying Monegasque having to lose out on life. But it was a risk he was willing to take.

The man he’d been working with found him. Knew him even. It was creepy, but he was willing to work with it. The mad man wanted his daughter back for something he couldn’t explain and Jos wanted his son back.

If only Jos had known Max would fight tooth and nail for her- for them.

~

Charles had a flight and fight response. First, he tried flight. He tried to run to the safety of Max but was foiled instantly. He wanted to check on Lando, but they had dragged the Brit away so long ago.

Now he's alone and struggling. They've been trying to pin him down, but he's been masterfully landing kicks on any place he could to their bodies.

He wasn't going down without a fight.

It was when they started talking about her that his body went lax. The things they said just morally sounded terrible.

"I hope this is worth it."

"Pretty sure is she can bring back the dead.”

"To bad she can’t have her own kids. This would be easier for all of us if she could.” Charles had no clue what they were talking about. None of it was making sense. He did understand that the intent was to bring her back to wherever the devil is living.

Oh, how he wanted to scream. How he wanted to yell at her to stay away, that they would be fine. But it was too late.

He could see her silhouette walking towards him. She looked calm. Her presence helping his mind to think rationally.

Though it was no longer rational as every person around him started clawing at their throats. Coughing, rasping, and pleading for whatever had them to stop.

Charles knew it wouldn't.

She stood there barely moving her hands. He could see the lights reflecting of her sweat. Then Lando was behind him, pulling out of the restraints. Reassuring him that everything was going to be okay now.

He couldn't help but relax into the brits hold.

He didn't know if they died as they fell. And frankly, he didn't care in this moment.

She crouched down to his level, cupping his face with her hands. He’s glad to see them both okay but the word takes hold as he notices the holes littering her body.

“Are you okay Did they hurt you?” They both ask him. Though one is more frantic than the other. He nods his head, really flooding his body at the sight of the two.

~

 Abu Dhabi was an interesting race this year. Max had already won the world drivers championship. Regardless, the race was still good and fun and he put himself being able to relax even while he was driving.

The group had gone out to celebrate. He had won. Redbull had won. Obviously, there was going to be a party.

The quartet, however, did not plan on staying long. It had been a long year for all of them, filled with many highs and lows. They all wanted to celebrate with each other in peace.

They had escaped a moment and decided to walk along the track just the four of them. The stars were out and the moon is bright. The lights from the track are still turned on. It felt peaceful, like nothing could take this moment away from them.

Then it was gone.

In the blink of an eye, Max was being dragged away from his lovers. Unknown hands and foreign voice is coming in every direction. He screamed, and he thrashed in an attempt to escape. But the hold on him was too much those. The people holding him there came prepared. So much for being a high performance athlete.

It felt like hours, even though it was probably just minutes. He hadn’t necessarily given up on fighting, but it felt pointless, and he was running out of energy. He needed to conserve what he had left to come up with a plan.

Then his father came out of the haze. He lectured him about why he was doing this for his own good.

Oh, how Max was seething.  His father had once again managed to get in the middle of his personal life. Claiming of what he was doing was for his benefit.

Max yelled in anger. He didn’t know all what he was saying just thought it felt good to get it out of his system.

Then a new voice. One he’d never heard before.

“Relax, you can have him to yourself soon enough.” The voice said.

His father was mumbling in Dutch as he walked away obediently. It was shocking for Max to see. Jos didn’t normally walk away from a fight.

They kept him on his knees but they had barely touched him. If he had to guess, Max would say his father struck a deal. The thought makes him want to throw up.

Everything in him wants to fight. He wants to scream out to see if his partners respond.

But he didn’t need to.

It’s blurry. He didn’t realize he was crying. The flash of his lovers comforting eyes the only thing pulling him back from his increasing panic.

Two of them. Where’s the third?

He can hear the sound of crushing bones and shrill screams.

The three of the, are huddled together. Lando has his buried in Max’s chest and Charles’ arms are wrapped tightly around his midsection.

Then the sickening calm of silence.

He can hear her heavy pants. He can smell the carnage around him.

Slowly he gets up and approaches the female like a wild animal.

She looks psychotic in a way. Her skin is slick with sweat. Her body is stitching itself together but her wounds have drenched her clothes in a dark red.

Blood seems to cover most of her.

She looks exhausted. Her visible skin has lost its color. She looks like she’s on edge, scanning her surroundings for more threats.

Max doesn’t touch her when he gets close. He can see the tears pulling in her eyes, taking in what she’s done.

She sinks to her knees. The weight of it all pulls her to the ground. “Are you hurt?”

Max looks at her with love. She’d always made sure everyone else came first. She’s bleeding out before his eyes and yet she’s asking if he’s okay.

He sets himself in front of her.

“Why aren’t you scared? I’m everything he said I am.” Her voice breaks. She’d killed them but Max knew it wasn’t out of any good feelings. She wasn’t satisfied with herself. She had done it to protect them.

Lando and Charles are next to him now. Charles is the first to reach for her hand. She flinched away at first but then relaxes at the touch, letting the warmth of his skin remind her that everyone is alive.

“We could never be scared of you, mon amour. You were protecting us.”

“But I killed them.” She sobs. Her mouth falling open in a silent scream. Her arms close around herself as she pushes herself as close to the ground as possible.

Max knows they need to get out of there. People are going to be here soon and they’ll ask to many questions.

But they aren’t at fault, so why is he scared?

Screw it, he’s calling Seb.

The four of them pile into each other. The female wails have not slowed and their doing her best to get her to breath. Her blood pools onto the tarmac even though her wounds are closing slowly before their eyes.

Max manages to get his cell to work. The screen shattered and he can barely see what’s on it because of the static, but it works.

He fails Sebs number. He feels guilt about spoiling his retirement party but he doesn’t know what else to do.

“Hello? Max?”

“Help.”

~

She wasn’t sure what was happening. There are sirens and police surrounding the area now. People are asking her questions that she can’t respond too. Her skin is on fire and she can’t feel her limbs. She just wants to go home.

Seb hasn’t left her. She’s clutching his hand like a child. The fear of being left alone with strangers and her thought to much to handle right now.

The other three are answering questions. Mostly about how she looks like she went to hell and back and they have some scraped knees and bruises.

“Y/N is trained in martial arts and self-defence.” Explains the Dutch for the thousandth time. “They came after us. Majority of them ran away. And do you blame her for fighting? Shes been kidnapped before for fucks sake!”

Max stomps away from the first responders and back to her. He sits down next to her in the ambulance and huffs. “They aren’t listening.”

“Patience. They are trying to get all the information.” Seb continues wiping blood off her exposed body. Her clothes are decimated and her hair is a crusty tangled mess.

“I know. It’s just frustrating. I want the to catch the people who organized this.”

“Your dad one of them?”

Max turns his head away in shame. “I highly doubt he’ll come back to any races after he exposed himself like this.”

“One can hope.” Seb sighs and Max nods his head in agreement. Seb runs to rag over the wound in her shoulder, the sting causing her to let out a hiss of pain through her teeth. “Sorry, Love.”

The adrenaline that had once been fueling her had dwindled away into nothing now. Everything hurts and she’s tired, but Seb said she needs to stay awake for now.

Lando peeks his head into the vehicle. “They want to ask you questions, love. If you aren’t up to it I’ll let them know.” Lando patiently awaits her response. Wordless, she stumbles out of the bed and into Lando’s arms. He helps her out of the ambulance, and they take slow steps back onto the tarmac. Her breathing gets more uneven with each step.

Lando keeps his arm around her waist to help her to her destination. "You don't have to do this yes, we can wait until you're stronger." She smiles at him with appreciation, but she knows it's better to do it now.

The officer meets her halfway, and Charles jogs to catch up with them.

"Did you recognize any of the attackers?"

"No."

"Did you kill the seven that were on the track when we arrived."

"Yes."

"Why is that?"

"They wanted to kill us."

"How do you know?"

"They said so. They held knives to throats and huns to heads."

Charles had never heard her sound so robotic. Like every answer had been preprogrammed into her.

"We're they the ones who hurt you?"

"Yes."

"What happened with Max, Charles, and Lando?"

Her breath hitches, and the tears start again. Lando increases the pressure of his hold as her knees go to buckle.

"They almost died. They got them by surprise and tried to kill them to get to me." She can't stop the cries that sake her body again.

Charles is at her other side. The two are trying to keep her upright. Her dry heaving not helping them.

They decided they heard enough. So they dragged the group down to the police station to test them for every possible mind altering substance on the planet.

She cried every time they touched her. The medical equipment is not helping her state if mind.

The four males sit and wait for her. They weren't allowed to go with. She fought, tooth and nail, because she didn't want to leave them. They begged to let at least one of them go with her, but we're ultimately denied.

The look of panic on her face when she was being hauled away broke all of them.

An hour later, an officer came to give them an update. "We're holding her overnight."

"Absolutely not." States sebastian in protest. "The girl is traumatized. Her family almost died tonight, and she's been dealing with strangers keeping her away from them. You might want to rethink."

The man in front of them gives seb an exasperated look. "She killed seven people. We have no witnesses that can give an outsiders perspective. And we're waiting on security footage. Her blood work is anything but normal, and you seem dead set on leaving." The man explains. "I will have someone call you with an update tomorrow."

The boys left. Sullen. Tired. Broken.

They slept on sebastians' floor that night. Hanna watched as they passed out as soon as they got in the door. Seb just hugged her. His distress clear to her.

She deserves better. She was a child who had her innocence stolen.

~

The holding cell is cold and metallic. The air smells musty. The colors contrast her own appearance.

They didn't even give her new clothes or a hairbrush.

After hours of waiting, someone came in with a laptop. The image of her on the track is already on the screen.

The play button is pressed.

It's what happened but from an outsiders perspective.

She panics. Her whole body trying to not relive these moments.

They come over the gate with knives and guns drawn. Three of them immediately going for her.

You can't see it, but she’s using her powers. It looks like a mere glitch on the screen.

She disarms the first and takes a knife to the hip from the second. A knife she promptly pulls out of her and slams into his throat.

The first bullets came from the one behind. The one in front keeping her sandwiched innetween them.

They talked at this point, but the video doesn't have sound.

The first throws her to the ground, her head snapping from impact on the tarmac.

She reachches for the knife in the second man's throat. The now slick metal makes a gorey sound as it slides out of his next. She launches at the third before he can get another shot of. His finger never makes it to the trigger.

The third is a lot stronger than her. She coaxed her visions into guiding her, showing her how to get him on the ground. Her leg hooks into the back of his knee to pull him to the earth.

She waits now. Holding up her hands in surrender. Pleading with him to stop.

He dosents. His knife is now aimed at her. Me manages to lodge it into her stomach. Again, she pulls it out and slits the last man's throat.

Then she's sprinting.

She had heard the shots of protest from the boys. They were going to use them as leverage. She had to run. She had to heal. So she did both, managing to weave some things back together before she found Lando. Using her visions to guide her.

She was going to overdue it but she didn't care.

Lando had been forced to his knees. He had a gun passed to his head. Tears had glistened his cheeks as he mumbled words of forgiveness.

Then another stupid knife found its way into her shoulder. She returned the favor after that.

The man with the gun took off back over the fence. She didn't care, though. Lando was her priority at that moment.

Then she's untying him, making sure he's okay and running off to hopefully find the other two.

The camera angle switch’s again.

Charles is trying to kick away his captives, landing him a punch to his ribs and an elbow to his knees. They put all their weight on him to hold him steady.

Then their clawing at their throats. Her and Lando just standing and watching.

The video pauses. She didn't even realize she had been crying and shaking til she's brought back to the present.

"They have no fingerprints on them. No signs they poisoned themselves. You admitted to killing seven. How did you do it?"

She shrugs. How is she supposed to respond to this? "I guess I assumed I killed them. Me and Lando didn't know what was happening. We just stood there trying to assess the situation."

She feels like she might believe her own lie. There is no way to explain that. Her and Lando both just stare at what's happening.

Then the video turns back on.

Her and Lando are running to Charles, untying him, checking for injuries, then running off to find Max.

The last stint is something she wants to forget.

The group around Max and Jos had been massive. But they saw her walking towards them and fled the scene. All except one.

They'd fought for a ridiculous amount of time. She'd felt his bones snap underneath her. He'd pummeled her to a pulp. He pulled her hair. Her visions were no help as she was exhausted. They had each other in a headlock. She couldn't breathe. It didn't help he was stronger.

But her powers helped in that are as she used them to snap his neck. The sound of cracking the only think filling her ears for thirty seconds.

Then it shows them all together. It shows her on the ground screaming, crying, throwing up.

Then it's done.

She can't move. She can't breathe. Every moment now fresh in her brain once again.

"Technically speaking, this was all self-defense. They hit you first in every scenario."

She glared at whoever this man was that made her relive this.

But she didn't say anything because his next words were 'free to go.'

It's late and dark. She's still covered in blood. But her phone is broken.

So she walks.

She walks, and she cries.

She wants it all to end. The little girl wanted to be with her family. With sebastian and Hanna and her siblings. She needs to know her boys are okay.

She spaces out, lost in her own head as she arrives at the hotel. At Sebs door. Praying he's awake or at least will wake up.

She knocks. Fully expecting that she will be spending the night outside the door. To her shock, it opens.

Seb pulls her inside where she's tackled in hugs and kisses.

"They let you go?!"

"They had no reason to keep me."

She's aware of how awful she looks. She needs new clothes which she doesn't have here but their hotel room is farther than sebs.

And at 6 in the morning, they are in their own room. Seb, having driven back himself.

The boys are getting things together to help her clean up.

She stares at the wall. Blank and empty. Just how she feels.

Max and Lando are out at the store. They have nothing they need to help take care of her. They were expecting to leave this morning, but the benefit of flying private is that Max can change when they leave.

Charles is running a bath for her. She's a mess of litteral blood, sweat, and tears.

He croutches down next to her and pulls one of her hands into his own. "What do you say we get cleaned up, hm?"

She lets him help her to her feel. The warmth of the steam from the bath hitting her skin makes her feel something close to alive again.

Charles helps her out of her trashed clothing and then holds her hand while she gets in. "Do you want a moment to yourself, Chéri?"

She almost panics for a second. "Don't leave me- please."

"Do you want me on their with you or next to you?"

She likes when he asks with easy words. "With."

Then Charles is stripping of his own clothes and climbing in behind her.

He takes his time rinsing her skin. Careful not to mess with her new stitches that the paramedics gave her.

He spent time untangling her hair with nimble fingers and washing out every last bit of grime.

She relaxed into his hold. The safety of his arms reminding that he's alive, so is Max and Lando.

They're still in the bath when the other two come back. Lando and Max take the opportunity to get the food ready and set out their clothes for her to wear when she comes back.

“I know where both enjoying this, but I think if we stay in any longer we may become one with the water.” Charles laughs.

He gets out first and wraps a towel around his waist. He lays a spare on the floor so they don’t slide around anthem helps her to the ledge. He takes a towel and dries her off with it, taking extra care of her wounds and double checking that her stitches look okay still. He wraps her towel around her and slips his clothes back on. He wasn’t going to put her trashed clothing back on her.

Charles guides her out of the bathroom into the dimly lit suite. Max and Lando help her into their clothes; Max’s shirt and Lando’s sweats. Then they crawl into bed together.

Her cries shatter their hearts. The broken sobs of overwhelming feelings finally getting to her. “I don’t deserve this after what I did.”

“What you did was save us geliefde. We could ask for anything more then that.”

“But I killed people. He was right. I’m a fucking killer. A monster.”

“You killed them because you had too. It sucks and I can’t say I understand how your feeling, but if you didn’t do it then we would be dead. So no matter where your thoughts go, the three of us are grateful for what you did out there.”

“We love you Chére. Our superhero.”

~

Next ->

Tags: @styles-sunflower @purplephantomwolf @boiohboii @reblog-princess-blog @jjsprobablywrong @jayda12 @faithm120601 @eugene-emt-roe @lpab @yaaadii @80sloverry @spongebeck3101 @eviethetheatrefreak

[the1northlanderprincess]

And in the Darkness, bind them...ep 8 meta analysis, pt 1

**I decided to split this up because otherwise it'd get way too long. I've seen insanely lengthy meta before and it can be very hard on the brain.

It's go time, people!

Ok, I have finally (hah) watched the finale, so I could get some better context from the source as opposed to looking at soundless gifs (I'm weird like that). I'll be using screenshots to go over what I thought were the most important aspects of Haladriel's fight. I'll talk about the dialogue, the intonation, and even the music (which does include some critique of it).

The beginning:

Galadriel sees an opportunity right away to strike Sauron, as he has his back turned while kneeling by a very dead Adar. She sneaks up behind him, but, since he's Sauron, he senses her, and catches her sword with his crown. He has such intense eyes on her before turning his attention to the ring.

Upon seeing it, he says it's even more beautiful than Brimby described it. However, I feel there's more to it; a double meaning. Let's break it down. He hasn't seen her in goodness knows how long. Now that she's in front of him, Sauron is hinting at how attractive he finds Gal as if he's never seen her before, and has only heard rumors of her beauty.

Soon after, she frees herself from him and immediately goes on the offense, brought on by him demanding the ring. He parries her attack, in no rush to do much of anything. It's just as we suspected: he's playing with her. He's like, eh, I'll humor her. He goes as far as to tell her he "does not wish to harm her". But, much like a petulant five year old, she doesn't seem to care what she's told, and she is a little more forceful. Sauron's reaction is hilarious; he's like, seriously, woman?! I can't believe she's making me do this.

Later on, they move up to the ruins. Sauron has trapped her sword yet again, and he gives her the 'darkness' line again. When he says her name, it's in a chastising way, but there was something really attractive about it. He continues to press into her, pushing her against a boulder. A couple minutes later, this happens.

She talks about his illusions as Halbrand, but he tells her that "not all of it" was....in a completely breathless way, mind you. And, their faces are so close together! His expression is so vulnerable, likes he's mere seconds from getting on his knees and pleading for forgiveness. Anyway, some of you guys pointed out that he said it in his Halbrand voice. I'd like to think that he did it subconsciously; that, somewhere, deep down, a part of him is still present, which brings me to....

So, Gal gains the upper hand on Sauron and kicks him over the edge. When she creeps down the stairs, she's stopped in her tracks by the appearance of Halbrand in his armor. He repeats what he said to her on Their Log. I've read some posts saying he was mocking her. On the contrary, he sounded more melancholic and kinda sad. Meanwhile, she has this expression. Look at the poor girl; she's darn near ready to sob. I think I even noticed her lip quiver ever so subtly. He keeps his eyes on her as he walks back up, and she follows him as if she's in a daze. He has a hold on her, and I like that.

Now, while this was a lovely moment, I'm torn about the editing. So, the BTS vid shows him tilted his head up at her. The version we got is, like, BAM, he's right there. Also, Halbrand's theme here is a lot more subdued than it was in the released OST, and the music when we first see Halbrand is dark, then it cuts right to his theme. It's too stark. I like the chimes from the transition to the theme in the OST. Also, the underlying strings would add a more emotionally charged layer to the moment.

That does it for part one. Stay tuned for part two later on!

[cptn-m]

One Piece chapter 1138 review and mural analysis

I'm going to put it out there. This is the best One Piece chapter since the Reverie kicked off in mid-2018. The Emperors' bounties and Roger laughing in Wano came close, but this is the first thing to truly make me feel like I did back at that last big reveal. While I don't think that the post-arc lore dump of Wano and Vegapunk's broadcast are quite the failures some sections of the fanbase make them out to be, this is definitely puts in perspective the kind of blow-it-wide-open reveal the naysayers wanted them to be. But would this reveal really have been as big as it is without the little push of extra anticipation and context we got from waiting another couple of arcs?

We open by tying up some lingering questions about last week's big finale. Twins, not clones or anything crazy like that, and Shamrock is the elder. I'm curious about Shanks's return to Marie Geoise - would bet anything it happened right after the Roger Pirates disbanded, after learning about the One Piece. Seems a safe guess the scene where he asks a bunch of questions of Roger and cries about the answers was a precursor.

It's also really, really apparent now that Loki can see despite the blindfold. Sensing attacks coming is one thing, but picking out facial features is another entirely. A big point was made in Dressrosa of Issho not being able to know what Luffy's face looked like, and him being a literally blind admiral would probably be top of the list for Observation Haki, so there may be some kind of special trick to Loki's ability to see. And on the topic of Observation, Shamrock tells Gunko to extinguish her presence. We've long suspected there was a way to hide from powers of Observation, but I think is the first time anyone's actually talked about using it.

Happy to see another Devil Fruit-fused weapon show up as well. I was starting to think Oda had forgotten his SBS promise to get Vegapunk to explain that, but this makes it feel like it's still on the cards. Shamrock's Cerberus behaves a little differently from ones we've seen previously though: it's able to manifest the animal fully separate from the sword. Could this have to do with the wreath of black smoke that suggests an Awakening for the power? There's a lot about Zoan Awakenings that are still mysterious, given that Luffy's still acts more like a Paramecia. Still, I really enjoy the three heads flying around on spiked collar propellers; it's a very creative visual. Alongside Gunko's arrows, I'm feeling pretty good about this arc's fights.

Shamrock plans to take Elbaph's children hostage as he departs, and I think that's where we're getting our main plot for the arc. There's a random three panel scene of the Walrus School used as a scene transition later in the chapter, seemingly just to show the kids are apart from the adults and vulnerable. This would give Oda the chance to elaborate on the ideas of the new generation being "soft" that he's been building up, and to give Collun his hero moment. And on the topic of kids, I think we get a little more on the reason the next generation is being raised peaceful and where Oda wants to take that toward the end of the chapter. Ripley says the image of racial cooperation in the mural seems like a "child's dream." Kids may be chaotic and raise hell at the best of times, but there is an optimism in them, and an ability to dream of the impossible in a way adults can't. Elbaph is nurturing their kids' ability to hope and giving them the tools to make social ties with outsiders so that the plainly childlike dream of a world that works together can be realised. And there's no way that's going to end up being a bad thing.

It's nice that Luffy kinda knows who Belle-mere is now, similar to his deference to Saul. He's not the type to ask about tragic backstories, and we know he struggles to listen to a long-winded tale, but once he's heard about someone important to someone important to him, he's not going to forget it.

And man, the mysterious hat guy is on his way up too so we can have another bombshell reveal next week. I've been waiting for this guy since the cover story. It's nice attention to detail that he talks up the slope beside the main path - of course the giants' stairs wouldn't really work for anyone human-sized.

The rest of the chapter builds into the text of the Harley and the reveal of the Harley and its accompanying mural. And man, this is huge. It looks like everything we've been waiting to find out put on display at once, but in a vague enough form that we can't be totally sure of what part of it is which big, exciting thing. I can't wait to spend years looking back at these last two pages as the details finally unravel. it's crazy. And it gives me arcs I want to reread over the coming weeks to look for clues in the details. Anything with giants - Little Garden and Ennies Lobby, maybe Thriller Bark for Oars - and all the ancient mythology of Skypiea seem like good starting points.

The Harley text presents three worlds separated by apocalyptic events, none of which truly end the world, but instead reorder and remake it, much like the Norse Ragnarok. It provides a prophecy - the end of the Third World in which the characters now live - as well as two pasts. A version of the Void Century was always a given, but another set of mythologies for a world before the Void Century. I really didn't think we'd get much of that in the story - vague hints of how utopian things were before the World Government overthrew the Ancient Kingdom, sure, but not a whole detailed end of the world story for them. It's not clear either how long before the events we know of this is all meant to have taken place as well. The Second World could just be the Void Century, with the First covering everything before it. Or it could be further and further into the past.

I'm taking the mural to depict just the first and second worlds. Some will say the right side is the future final battle of the series - and while I think there will be some parallels to it, we won't see it fully recreated. It's primarily an image of the past.

The First World, represented by the right side of the mural, seems to have been some kind of dystopia. There are slaves praying for salvation, forbidden from reaching for the sun (sound familiar?), but enslaved by who? The Earth God and the Hellfire Serpent? Other humans, such as the king figure in the mural? The images seem to depict the people of this era descending into the earth via an enormous elevator and returning with a glowing energy source. There are complicated mechanisms underground and very modern cities above. My read would that be people were enslaved to mine a power source compared to the sun from the core of the earth - and led by the arisen (or created) god Nika, they took control of this power source for themselves in a massive uprising. While the Earth God and the Serpent are said to wreak destruction across the world, I think the former slaves ultimately won this conflict, even if it was a pyrrhic victory. The serpent, whether literal or metaphorical, lies dead as the Red Line (possibly called the Red Wall at the time) dividing the world so they "will never meet."

The use of the Forbidden Sun is curious too. We see a chain of slaves lugging pieces of it from the lift over to a boat going into the city, but the dark section that the ark rides on seems to be spreading outward from a piece of it that's been let go by its slave. Is the sun making the ocean down there, as well as powering the city? A couple more sit below, with the people lining up to descend into the earth, possibly to power the lift and provide light. Maybe there were multiple uses, or multiple parties exploiting humans to mine the Sun before the uprising.

The big unknowns to me in the First World are mostly on its rightmost side. We have the ark Noah, seemingly being used for the same biblical purpose as its namesake, even guided by an angelic (Lunarian?) figure. Perhaps even in the First World, there was knowledge of the rising sea levels that are spelling doom in the Second and Third Worlds, or at least knowledge of the means to do so. I wonder if part of the motive for raising the seas was to fill in the mines of the Forbidden Sun so no more of it could be acquired by anyone. There's a king with two oars. And there's a craft not unlike Enel's Maxim, but also not unlike the impression we have so far of Uranus, throwing down a bolt of lightning. The dragonlike creature breathing fire at the Serpent also doesn't seem to be represented by the text. Did the humans offer the Sun to a literal Celestial Dragon in exchange for its power to face the Serpent? And what's with the other celestial bodies behind the moon, mostly obscured by the text boxes? Could my old pet theory that the world of One Piece used to have multiple moons finally be paying off?

The right hand side of the mural then depicts the climactic battle of the Void Century, in which an alliance of twenty kingdoms claimed victory and rearranged the world with themselves on top. The text talks about "breath in the void," which makes me think the Second World was a very empty place at its start. The Celestial Dragon that fought the Serpent departed, but left a powerful impression. And to fit with what we already know of this era, the humans remaining used the Forbidden Sun they now have control over to build the futuristic society Vegapunk researched. But for whatever reason, be it envy of the Ancient Kingdom doing this, or power lust, or a hope to recall the original Celestial Dragon by worshiping its image, or being a slaveowner from the First World who wanted to turn things back to how they were, Imu rallied twenty kingdoms to oppose the Ancient Kingdom and killed that First World Forbidden Sun they were still using, rendering all the technology it powered inert.

A Forest God taming demons might speak to the advent of Devil Fruits in this era. The talk of the Sea God's storms gives us an interesting point to compare with the other gods though. Consider: we know the Second World drowned in a massive sea level rise, leaving only mountains uncovered. That sounds pretty good for the wrath of a Sea God. But we also already know what caused the sea levels to rise, and it's technology from the Ancient Kingdom. A machine only named for a god. Do we then take the First World's Earth God as a terraforming machine rather than a literal entity that summoned a big, living snake? The Forest God may be simply an attempt to explain Devil Fruits, just as many real world ancient gods were made to put a face to natural phenomena.

Most of this image is a battle. A multinational group tries to stop a figure who brings to mind Imu's monster silhouette in the throne room and a group of guys in spacesuits. Joyboy leads, and his alliance includes giants, minks, fishmen, sea kings, ancient giants, tontatta and Lunarians. There's a second minklike figure in white, which has me thinking Sulongs may once have been a separate species who've passed all their traits to regular minks via interbreeding. The whale is a real mystery, but recalls Laboon, the culturally significant Whale Tree on Zou and the scarred up gam of whales the crew saw on the way to Punk Hazard. Whales that were oddly receptive to Brook's song. Hmmmm. There are also two identifiable nations in Joyboy's group - Alabasta and Wano. Alabasta is a strange one, given that it will end up a World Government nation. Maybe Lily was caught between two worlds, extorted in some way by Imu. If she was forced to betray Joyboy, it may have been the reason his alliance failed; but even so she ensures a way for his will to be inherited making her "great mistake" and scattering the Poneglyphs and preventing Imu from claiming a total victory.

Once again, we have the line that they will never meet. The first thought for this one is the Grand Line, building on the Red Line of the previous era. But it's worth considering what Vegapunk pointed out in his speech - the ocean alone serves this purpose. Most people never meet cultures outside their own because travel is so difficult and dangerous.

And the Third World passage is honestly pretty straightforward. The new era has made an empty space in the chaos of history. People of the D - increasingly likely to be an image of a half moon - lurk in wait and the remnants of the people who fought with Joyboy anticipate the dawn. This ultimate Forbidden Sun power that was valuable enough to enslave people to mine it in the First World and powerful enough to create futuristic tech in the Second World will be rediscovered. The restrictions of the Red Line and the Grand Line over the world will be ended, and people will meet and mix cultures and assimilate again.

One of the cool things across the whole text is that is answers the question from a couple of chapters ago about the three versions of Nika. We actually have a liberator, a warfighter and a dancing, laughing man across the eras. All are true!

That's about as far as I can go in interpreting and analysis this behemoth of a reveal without going some rereads. It's so dense with info and we clearly don't have the full story yet. There's so much that has to tie in - the city Enel found on the moon, the reason the Celestial Dragons are so obsessed with genetically engineering giants (we can make so safe guesses about why they love dragons so much now), sky islander peoples, the longarm/longleg/snakeneck/three-eye tribes, whatever the heck Blackbeard has going on and so much more. We're gonna be going back to this for years, and in the spirit of its in-universe presentation, I doubt we'll be able to agree on the best possible translation for the Harley text until the end of the series, where the things it references are all revealed.

Elbaph has been on a crazy run of hits so far: Robin and Saul's reunion, the Shamrock reveal, and now this. Emotional payoffs, confirmed theories and building the bigger mysteries. We know this is an arc Oda's been waiting to do for a looooooong time and it feels like he's going all out to make it worthwhile. Can't wait to see what's in store for next week.

[i-am-a-l0st-gh0st]

Ftm reader being anxious about their top surgery scars, trying to hide them from lyney (boyfriend lyney)

Lyney X transmasc!reader- I'll Hide My Chest...

And i'll figure out a way to get us out of here

t/w- Y/n is trans, dysphoria, comfort. slight angst, mainly comfort

Summary- as shown above

Navigation

Taglist form!

Staring in the mirror probably wasn’t the best idea in your situation. In this case, it only made things worse. Staring at the marks on your chest, reminding you what you’d been through. Lyney didn’t know you were trans and you hoped he never did. You were scared he’d leave you. He was a very open person, but then again you thought your parents were too. They kicked you out when you told them you were trans.

It did have its bonuses though, you were able to transition and soon met Lyney after you finished. As you two got closer it became harder to hide it, he started to get a bit more cuddly. Sometimes running his hands under your shirt. However, he did stop if you ask. He did assume you were just shy.

The front door opened and Lyney’s voice rang through the house. His sweet tone trapping you in a trance for a minute. You quickly were brought back to the moment though and realised you were still shirtless. Quickly scavenging around the room, you rushed through your drawers to try and find a shirt.

However, Lyney walked in before you could put it on.

“Hey honey- Oh sweetie why are you crying!”

You couldn’t bring yourself to turn around and face him. Sniffles still escaped your mouth. You held tightly against your chest, praying to the archons that he didn’t move any closer.

“Lyney… Please don’t come closer.”

“Hon, did you hurt yourself… Let me see.”

“No no, I’m fine, just leave.”

“Sweetie your crying..”

Despite him always respecting your boundaries he always made sure to stay when you cried. It wasn’t that he was purposefully ignoring you, it’s just that he was worried about you. He didn’t dare take another step closer. You were ripping through the dressing table, trying to find a decently sized shirt of yours. As soon as you slipped it on you turned around to face him. Quickly forcing a smile and wiping the tears away.

“See. Lyney I’m fine!”

His face showed so much concern, “No you’re not. Please tell me what's wrong.”

Maybe it was time to tell him, tell him that you felt like a fake half the time. That you’d had surgery just to become a boy. To finally show him the scars on your chest. To show him that you were happy being you.

“I have something I have to tell you.”

“Mon amour what is it.”

“I- I’m trans…”

“Oh sweetie why didn’t you tell me? So you feel like a girl now?”

“No no, I used to be a girl…”

“Oh! So is that why you always hide your chest… Your scars.”

You nodded along with his words. Right on point… as always.

He opened his arms, almost begging for you to cuddle him. You quickly wrapped your arms around him as he whispered in your ear.

“I love you, nothing ever gonna change that..”

Taglist

@pandragonsoul @atsukawolfcat, @keeyisbored

[cephalonserotonin]

Devstream 180 Notes

This is a long one, folks.

brought to you by creative lead Rebb Executive Producer Dick Wolf

New dojo contest to kick off a transition to cross-save dojo world… see forum post

Pride Campaign 2024

is active now until the end of June! a new glyph, display, and wings in lovely rainbows!

Jade Shadows update coming June 18!

features a new cinematic quest: Jade Shadows. It picks up after The New War (so it's got TNW as a prerequisite) where the storyline of the Stalker left off. Rebb and the crew request that folks not spoil the quest for others after playing it. Use spoiler tags if possible! Quest runtime ~ 25 min There's a teaser for the story quest, featuring the Stalker hanging upside down like a bat:

New Warframe: Jade!

Pablo describes her as a support frame. Her passive is two aura mod slots which is kind of crazy ngl

Her kit briefly summarized:

1: throws a little mote with an AOE effect of healing for allies and increasing damage taken to enemies

2: cycle through various squad buffs. The UI art for these is really gorgeous

3: a debuff: enemies in her sight are slowed and lose armor. You also revive any dead allies in your vision.

4: floating and a zappy exalted weapon. It's kind of like Hildryn's four but basically better in every way because you can actually set off large amounts of damage and fly higher and faster. The exalted weapon has synergy with her 1 and 2.

As Pablo mentioned, Jade's abilities provide a lot of combo potential, good for any "min maxers" in the audience.

Jade's three signature weapons: the Cantare throwing knives, the Harmony scythe, and the Evensong bow (a variant on the Dread).

The Ascension game mode: "what if Warframe but up?"

Non-endless There's a giant elevator you have to feed with energy. The team's video crashed so Rebb gave what I'd call an excited 12 year old's description of the game mode instead which I loved:

There's this giant elevator that needs energy to go up. So you have to keep feeding it ionic charges so you rise out of the depths. And as you're feeding, the Corpus are there! *excitable machine gun noises* And then you're like, oh god! And then you have to, like, jump around-- but if you fall out of the elevator, you better hope you're good at parkour, and that you can read the level to get back up! and back up! and back up! And then: you have to make it to the top. But that's not all. Once you get to the top of the elevator, you gotta escape. You gotta make a run for it before the Corpus hold you back! Aahhh! Aah! Ah! …and that's Ascension. :)

Once we finally watch the video preview of the game mode later I think it looks fun. The level looks really neat; I love the graphics of the inside of the elevator. There's a new Jade Light eximus enemy here but I can't really tell any details about it quite yet.

ORDIS IN LARUNDA RELAY!

He's hosting the clan operation Belly of the Beast (featuring above Ascension game mode). In his shop is the Asteria ephemera, which evolves with community participation. Also some arcanes… and a beautiful skin for the Hate.

"If you're a hater, this is for you." Hilariously the arcanes are capped at 42 each because apparently in Gargoyle's Cry certain players went crazy burning themselves out to stock up on arcanes, and the team is trying to prevent that (and players blaming them for their own bad choices, as always). Two full sets each is more than enough, frankly.

Status Rework!

Blast now does a secondary detonation, or if hitting 10 blast procs, creates an AOE explosion. This is exactly what I have been wanting for ages so I, personally, am thrilled.

Magnetic now scales with overguard and shields the same way, and also does a secondary punch of damage (and an electric proc!) once the shield is broken.

Cold should freeze enemies more often now… and came with a free Frost rework! Now Frost's abilities give proper cold procs, thus freezing enemies, which is now standardized across his abilities. His 1 has been buffed and his 3 snowglobe has been modified (to allow shooting from in to out but not out to in). He has a new passive: his armor scales with the number of cold procs enemies have (like the defensive version of Ember).

There's a lot of testing going on right now on the interaction between ragdolling and freezing enemies.

There's a change to damage vulnerability mechanics which I didn't quite follow; seems to be mostly a simplification of the system.

Armor damage attenuation scaling, as mentioned in the last devstream, now has a cap, meaning corrosive procs should be more effective.

Yareli Deluxe

...looks like eldritch coral?

Next round of TennoGen

…finally comes with a Lavos skin, which is plague doctor themed.

Some augments (Protea's is probably OP), decrees (list shown below is incomplete), and arcanes

UI improvements!

In the upgrade screen: duplicate mod config button, indicator for substats, increased mod polarity

Augment list viewer in the abilities screen

Community customization table where you can copy others' fashions. Great news for gamers too unoriginal to make their own fashions, I guess. Coming at first for just Excalibur, Mag, Volt, and Jade.

Quick Access (fast travel wheel) for more areas like the dormizone.

UI autoscaling with resolution (to prevent tiny UI bars for people with huge resolutions), also coming with ability to scale the UI back down.

"Donut numbers" for damage view that do not cover the enemy you are shooting (old way can still be switched back to, called "cloud.")

Awakening quest has a lil fashion preview now!

Loadout hot swaps conveniently directly from the starchart!

QOL!

Cap on adversaries (liches and sisters) at 150. For the sake of database health. The programmer in me is mildly concerned that there was no limit before this.

Semi auto becoming full auto (see last devstream for more detailed description).

Automatic selection of last relic during endless relic cracks.

Streamlining necramech acquisition.

Unifying melee finishers and mercy kills (both with mechanics and appearance).

The return of Heirloom skins: starting with community art this time

First major change (from last year's disastrous heirloom launch) is the heirloom collections will now be released one warframe at a time.

Ember Heirloom is also a purchased fanartist concept!

Two paths to acquire it: a temporary paid path (for money, comes with some plat) and a plat path that will be available until next heirloom launch (and you can purchase the cosmetics individually!)

This is much better than last year's Heirloom launch, which, as aforementioned, caused a lot of community strife.

molten booty

And finally, the TennoCon 2024 schedule:

[callsign-relic]

relic i can see why u were so excited for me to watch the next few episodes and i also see why season 1 was WAY less memorable than this season because holy FUCK. i was NOT PREPARED !!!! for any of this!

episodes 9, 10 and 11 here!!

S2 EP9 (36)

Code of Hero... who is this ep going to be focusing on 👀

typing while the dramatics of earth animals go on: probably not SB, because. he had last ep. MAYBE introducing new character but also..... HEY WAIT WE NEVER SAW WHAT DINOBOT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE DOING LAST EP... 

yesssSSSS!! DINOBOT EPISODE!!

oh!! OH!!!! THIS IS IT theres the Dinoclone pelt on his wall!!! WOW that was a LONG time ago. anyway you told me to tell u when it happened! here :]

its also kinda thematically appropriate if the ep is focused on "code of hero" because his righteousness/code of conduct was smth that came up in the fight w Dinobot and his clone... 

I really love how cinematic these shots are holy shiiiit

what was he doing... because uhhhhh that. looked a while lot like the pose in which you would uh... commit seppuku.

THE EXPLOSION IS MOVING INTO THE FUTURE...? 

AND THATS HOW CYBERTRON WILL FIND THEM?!?!?!

Rattrap :( 

ohhhhhhhhhhh....... Rattrap is lashing out because he was hurt by dinobots betrayal.... AUGH

OH NO DINOBOT MONOLOGUE AGAIN (/lh) 

AHAHSHRBRNNGKRNGMEBFKGBGEL i love his monologues BUT ALSO ITS EXTREMELY UNDERMINED BY THE IMAGE OF "AN ELEVATOR DESCENDING, REVEALING A DINOSAUR HOLDING A GUN" Hrjtkfhdkfndk

Dinobot is going after Rampage and Megatron!!!

oh i like the transition being the antelope/pronghorn. hanging about near Dinobot then next u see one in the web...

"ahhhh~ Dinner is served! [nasty noises]" i love Tarantulas so much hes such a freak.

OAUAIIKRHFJF DINOBOT SURPRISE!!!!!! im even more appreciative of that transition now <3 

there goes dinner :C

AHRKFOEKMWBFKENFKE HES RIDING?? TARANTULAS?????

genuinely this is such an underused thing in tf media. let them ride each other around more its fucking hilarious

shdjfkdjekfnfkdjsk BIG DINOSAUR MEGS SCARING ALL THE. uh. i assume these are what will become humans.

oh the Lore................ 

Rampage :( 

MOUNTAIN GONE!!!!!!! OH

*oh...* the future CAN be changed 👀👀 ohohoho hoooooOOOO

IS HE PLANNING ON TRYING TO WIPE OUT HUMANITY BEFORE IT CAN EVEN BEGIN...

oh my god !!!

YES get squarshed Tarantulas!!!! LMAO

i have favs where im like I NEED NOTHING BAD TO EVER HAPPEN TO YOU AND FOR LIFE TO BE GREAT ALL THE TIME (Silverbolt) and others where im like YESSSS CRUSH THEM Again !! (Tarantulas) 

"my choices are my own... and how ironic, for now i find... i have no choice at all"

ITS SO CINEMATIC IM GONNA CRY /pos

its so cool. FUCK THATS COOL

oughhhh,,, Dinobot gets to be SO so so cool this ep

hey we also get an interior cannon shot from rampage like the one we got w Megatrons mouth. also really good.

AHRKFOFJSKSB HE STUFFED WASPINATOR INTO RAMPAGES CANNON HEHEJEKFG

the musical beats are so so so delightful

worst weirdo has arrived. (QS) "dont bother gettin up, ill just ah, kick you while you're down :)"

OUGHHGH... DINOBOT,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

DINOBOT,,,!!!!!!!!!! YOUR WARNINGS!!!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOO DONT TELL ME DIES THIS EP NOOOO

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

"you were weakened before you started, dinobot. weakened by... compassion." fucking sick as hell

FINAL WARNING,, AOAIUUGH

HE GOT THE DISC- 

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHB

Fuck hold on i gotta take a sec i cant fuxking see through my TEARS EXCUSE ME

AUGHGHHGDHHHHFHH,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

rattrap and dinobot are still bantering,, ahhhrhhhhrhh

HEYM. HEY. EHY DINOBOT YOU DONT GET TO HAMLET ON ME AGAIN. I RECOGNISE THAT FUCKUNG LINE YOU CANT DOOOO THIS TO ME

"and the rest is silence" THATS THE LAST WORDS HAMLET SPEAKS BEFORE DYING DINOBOT NO

his spark...................

AUUUUUUUUAUIUHHAHHHHHGBFBBBVDB IM CRYINGGGGG

oh my god. he gave humans tools/weapons.

dinobot :((((((((((

I HAD TI TAKE A DAY TO RECOVER BUT RWADING MY NOTES AGAIN MAKES ME SO SADDD i wasnt prepared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

S2 EP10 (37)

Episode title... Transmutate :0

I started properly paying attention to the episode titles and now i can't stop its so fun i love trying to piece things together 

what. the fuck is Megatron splicing into his veins while hes sleepin.

Rampage's spark!!

OHO hes gonna try for it!!!

OH GOD I JUST REALISED THAT THE THING HOLDIN HIS SPARK HAS SPIKES IN IT. that's even worse and really good what the fuck

earthquake...

silverbolt not findinf rattraps puns funny is fantastic shfjfbsj,, does he just not think theyr funny or does he Not Get It.

?!?!? Cheetor saved rattrap but WHAT happened 

OH NO THEYVE BEEN BURIED(

Pod!!!!!!!!!!! POD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! UAIDOFKFJDK POD...

RAMPAGE!!!

fuuuuuuuuuuuck fuck his voice is so good i love it ohuuikkwjkgmmnngmmfnm,,, im,, hjrnmnrejh,,

OHH?!?! silverbolts almost outta commissio-

GREAT AUNT ARCEE? RATTRAP?

:000000000 NEW CHARACTER...

Oohhahhhh??? Transmutate....!!

Rampage... hes so soft w them... even though he wants them to follow in his footsteps (violence) hes so. hrgh,,,

Megatrons floating head again.

oughh THE WAY THEY ANIMATE TRANSMUTATE... so cool. they look so unnatural and janky but its really really good

:000 🥺 :(( dont be mean to them... 

Transmutate cannot transform...

HRJSKAHFKS??? HE GAVE THEM AN IMPOSSIBLE TASK

Rampage,, hes cunning,,,, and smart,,, and cool,,,,,,,,,,

SILVERBOLLLT NOOO

:00000... this is so fascinating... 

transmutate ily,,

awwwh..... silverbolt standing up for them 🥺🥺🥺

rampage!!!!!! AHH

i!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BURSTS INTO TEARS A SECOND TIME!!

TRANSMUTATEEEEEEE NOOO

rampage and silverbolt,, in this moment we are brothers... hhhrhhgrgh......

I DONT HAVE WORDSSS FOR THIS EP TJEY MADE ME GET SO ATTACHED TO A CHARACTER THAT SHOWS UP FOR LIKE 10 MINUTES THEN DIES IM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHHH

i was not prepared x2!!!! AHH,, doubly devastated.

S2 EP11 (38)

AOUGH this ones a multiparter... The Agenda :0

OHH theyll be detecting the explosion soon!!

WHERED RHINOX GET A PARTY BLOWER

rattrap???? "the servin bots are walkin around minus their torso plates if you know what i mean" HEKAHFKFHE?? whyd he look towards Cheetor and lower his voice. is Cheetor too young for this???????? HOW OLD IS CHEETOR. 

RHDJDKDJSK OKAY NVM HES BABY. SIX LASERS. is this the mech equivalent of Six Flags... he just wants to go to an amusement park

Blackarachnia on screen! GAMBLE? what is Megatron gambling on...

ARE SILVERBOLT AND BLACKARACHNIA GOING TO HAVE A DATE

!!!!! they ARE??!?

"you could be reprogrammed" oh yeah how romantic.

OH THEY KISSING????!?!?!

>:0 the blast hit a Predacon outpost...

who the fuck. are these

THAT RENEGADE... Megatron...........

FASCINATING lore. also RIP the Predacon Alliance still wants to take over and they aren't alerting the Maximals...

who is on their way!! who are they sending !!

RATTRAP. AGSKSDKHDSKDHK???? "scoutin the enemy... find any new positions?"

they really could say anything in cartoons back tgen <3 

FUCK!! battle time again!!

everyone is so MEAN to rattrap. stinkyyy man

!!!!!!

whos THIS!!

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER 

OHHHHHHH???? theyre undetectable...

FORMER DECEPTICON...

im trying to think of characters that exist that have this power 

WAIT. 

IS THIS RAVAGE????

IT IS ?????????????????????????

genuinely more surprised that i got this right than surprised by the reveal itself

BUT SERIOUSLY RAVAGE ????

WHYS HE RUSSIAN

whats BA doing...

tarantulas .... hes shootin off somewhere too...

AW POOR CHEETOR

Gasp.... silverbolt cant shoot his gf :(

awhhhh.......

OHHHHHH?!!!?! Ravage ARRESTED Megatron

i'll send the next 2 when i wake up tmr hopefully this isnt too long lol. I FINISHED THE SEASON (!!!) and im YELLING the entire time!! i thought i knew cliffhangers BUT THESE ARE CLIFFHANGERS.

- init

AAAHHHHFHFJF YEEESSS!!!!!! These are some of my all time favorite episodes in the whole series so I’m so excited to have read your thoughts on them finally :D

AUGHH CODE OF HERO….. Dinobot :( fun fact— the reason this episode looks so cinematic is because it is the only episode in the entire series to actually have proper storyboards made before animation started. Normally when they make an episode the animators just got the scripts/recorded lines and could animate the characters however they wanted (given the direction of the story ofc), but they actually did proper storyboards this time because they knew this was a very important episode, and they wanted to do it justice.

OTHER FUN FACT! I have a physical copy of said storyboards :3c the very first originals were auctioned away years ago, but someone on eBay somehow got a copy and made a physical version that they sold and I purchased :D it includes wonderful faces such as. These

TRANSMUTATEEEE…. MY BABY. I LOVE THEM SO MUCH. Lemme just share this bit from tfwiki:

So I personally like to refer to Transmutate as “she” but ofc anyone can do whatever they want :D Transmutate she/it icon (/hj /silly)

And YES…. THE AGENDA!!! This arc is crazy I can’t wait to see your thoughts on it. RAVAGE!!! I LOVE how they bring back “older” characters. I know you already finished the season by the time you sent this in but I wanna say more when I actually see the things you said for the next episodes HEHEHE

[tjodity]

Loose Transfem C!Tommy thoughts:

@maigetheplatypus57

transcript below cut:

I think Tommy would be fine still going by Tommy and it's easier to remember but she would get so so much gender euphoria from being called Clementine I think when she's younger she doesn't feel any attachment to being a guy and really really wants to look like the girls she hangs out with but doesn't have any context for those feelings and just assumes it's kinda normal and tries to make a joke out of it. Hence "Manly man ulimate man tommyinnit" and "I love women" being running bits. She really idolizes Schlatt just from commercials and interviews and stuff she sees as this guy who seems to just. nail being a man so flawlessly. When Tubbo transitions she's like wow that's so cool I wish I could do that. Anyways. but that's kind of the first even incling that she'd like to be a girl but she doesn't think about it again for a while. Then everything with Manberg happens and she gets to see Schlatt and realizes 'oh this guy is so fucked up. oh this guy was an insecure wreck who ended up destroying everything around him and himself while pretending so hard that he was fine. huh' and the feeling that something is wrong with how she's going about things gets a bit stronger. But she keeps putting it off because of everything happening. BUT THEN WE GOT EXILE. nothing can force you to think about your own identity like being kicked out by your best friend and completely isolated on an island for a few weeks and grappling with suicidal ideation. At this point she's kinda like fuck I don't wanna be me but is having a hard time sorting out what's gender and what's depression and what's escapism. I think her habit of trying to ignore it and overcorrect flares up really badly when she's living with Techno. Cuts her hair short and tries to put on this very cold, violent exterior-

because she's just very scared and feels completely betrayed and alone and deeply uncomfortable in her own skin. Post Disc Finale she spends a lot of time trying to grapple with herself. She finds some of Niki's old clothes that she abandoned somewhere and tries them on in private and gets really freaked out by the fact that she likes wearing them and puts them away. She's not really on speaking terms with Eret and Tubbo at this point she's friends with but he's not always very approachable. Ironically I think the first time he voices any of her thoughts about gender is when she's trapped in prison because Dream won't tell anyone and she doesn't really care about what he thinks of her. And cDream is. a very bad person. But he's also not transphobic, and he also cares about Tommy in his own horrible fucked up way, and he can kind of relate just based on wanting to be someone else and weeks spent in different performances and disliking parts of how he looks. He comes across as dismissive but also tells Tommy that she can just be a girl if she wants, and that she's stupid for stressing out over something like gender. Then a few days later he beats her to death but yknow. I think the first person she'd properly like. come out to would be Sam Nook. Basically saying like hey could you act like i was a girl for a little while pleaseplease please and Sam Nook's just like Okay ^_^ I think she might come out to like. Ranboo next. She doesn't know him suuper well but she just finds them easy to talk to and it ends up slipping out

It would take her a whiiiile to tell Tubbo because she has a hard time talking to him and doesn't want to mess with anything that could upset their friendship but after they start making an effort to hang out more and Tommy starts living in Snowchester she would try to mention it very very casually just when they're doing chores one day. Then Tubbo is hit with like several years of memories of Tommy being arguably very clockable as an egg and him just. not realizing and he has a crisis about not noticing something like that. But when he calms down he becomes #1 Tommy girl supporter. He calls her pretty and cute and Miss and Ma'am and drags her out to go shopping so that they can get dresses and makeup and things for her. Tubbo vaguely remembers how to do makeup and Ranboo wants to learn with Tommy so they have a fun time with that. I think Tommy would love love love wearing dresses and doing her makeup and stuff but would not give any fucks about being traditionally pretty or presentable. She'd run around with very cute dresses wearing a t-shirt and cargo shorts below it with very assymetrical makeup having the time of her life

also she'd grow her hair out and loooove braiding it. Her transition also comes with a lot of relief because for a loong time she's enjoyed things that are traditionally feminine (sewing, domestic chores and upkeep, etc) but wasn't letting herself enjoy them and just letting go is so nice.

I also think with cTubbo #1 Tommy being a girl supporter and also Tommy living in Snowchester with him and Ranboo and them being so close Tubbo would absolutely accidentally call Tommy his wife at some point in conversation. And then there's a beat and then he's like ohmygod im so sorry i didnt mean to say that and Tommy's just like no I'm that from now on. Husband<3 and Tubbo's just completely dumbfounded

[gabessquishytum]

Sorry in advance if this is weird, but pregnant omega warprize!Hob just won't leave me alone. I just can't stop thinking about him giving birth. What would their society dictate? Is just like any other medieval royal mechanism and Dream is expected to stay away? Because then I have the image of Dream sitting somewhere farthest of it as possible, because he knows, he KNOWS he's not supposed to, but the whole castle is flooded with Hob's distress pheromones and he's just whiteknuckling his way through it, biting his cheek, and it has been a whole day already and he's so worried... He is king, he should have better self control, but he's an absolute mess.

But then. But then one of the nurses comes running and excuses herself a thousand times, and she knows it's unusual, and never drive before, but could he please come right the fuck now?

Because it turns out that Hob is in transition and they desperately need to check him, but Hob just... won't let them. He bites or kicks anyone that comes near and he's so deep in it mentally that all he can manage between animal screams of pressure and pain is Dream's name.

So of course he goes (runs, the castle staff swears he flew) and there's Hob on all fours, the doctor all terrified, standing around the bed. And then Dream's smell hits Hob and he just starts crying from relief, he was so scared and so alone and now his mate is here thank god, and he's so glad that his body relaxes and starts pushing on his own.

And Dream might not have been there to see him through the worst, but he's here to see his child come into the world and reassure Hob at the end.

Alternatively Dream wanders the castle aimlessly and at the first whiff of a strained grunt (nothing bad yet, it's still early) from Hob he kicks down the door and orders everyone to shut up about it. Maybe get him some coffee. What do you mean he needs to rest, does HOB get to rest?! No?! Then chop chop, be quick about it.

Dream massaging Hob's back between contractions. Dream praising Hob at every turn even if he curses him. The head of the kingdom offering his forearm as a chewtoy for the first few contractions during pushing because the staff wasn't quick enough to bring something else. Dream ordering the Doctors to tell him what to do unless it's an emergency, because Hob is fucking HIS and nobody's allowed to touch him except him when he's this distressed and vulnerable. Yeah.

(again, apologies if this is too weird for you.)

(is 🦒 already taken?)

I'm always up for a horny birth scenario! Welcome to the family, 🦒 anon!

Love the idea of Hob going a lil bit feral when he's in labour, because Holy Shit why wouldn't he? It hurts so much and he's totally overwhelmed with hormones, he doesn't want to be touched by anyone ever again... and then in comes Dream and for a moment, everything is better. Hob still wants to BITE and SCRATCH but only a little bit. Dream can touch him, if he doesn't mind being sworn at.

The doctors have attempted to tell Hob how he ought to be positioning himself but he tells them to fuck right off, he's seen plenty of pups delivered back in his home country and he knows what he's doing. He moves around a LOT and Dream just follows him and tries to provide as much comfort as he can in the circumstances. He really just wishes that he could be the one doing the labour for Hob. It's his dick that got them into all this trouble, after all.

Hob eventually delivers their beautiful daughter right into Dream’s arms, somewhere around midnight. She takes over the screaming duties and the servants finally try to get Dream out of the room, but he's going nowhere. He gets Hob all nice and cleaned up and makes sure that their pup is resting on his chest as soon as possible.

Hob’s pheromones are going crazy and he hardly even feels the pain of the birth as he lies in Dream’s arms. He's a little embarrassed that Dream saw him Like That - and mortified by the big bite mark on the king’s pale wrist. Hob doesn't even remember doing that, oops. Still he's snuggled up to Dream now, instinct making him gently lick Dream’s neck, while their pup gurgles happily after her very first feed.

Is Dream already thinking about the next pup? Of course. He wants to give Hob as much time as possible to recover but God he's gonna miss seeing his mate good and pregnant. Plus, Hob’s postpartum body is about to drive him absolutely wild with lust... it's going to be very hard to resist his omega in the next few months <3

[void-botanist]

🪄 🪄 🪄

Partytown by Glenn Frey

This is not about who you think it's about, I promise (but please tell me who you thought of before you went through the cut).

I got sick of my job, sick of my wife Sick of my future and sick of my life I packed up my car and I got some gas And told everybody they could kiss my ass I'm goin' to Partytown

Yeah so this one is about post-funeral Pirianus. After a few weeks of widowhood he decides to take a trip to the seaside, and then he just sort of vanishes. Thade eventually finds him on a different coast altogether kicking back and pretending that his life at the palace didn't exist. This goes about as well as you would expect, with such exchanges as

Thade: excuse me, what the fuck dude Pirianus: I'm done with you people. I have wasted 40 years of my life in the palace, and I'm not going to waste any more of it. bye [closes door] Thade: again, excuse me, what the fuck, you are still married to us people Pirianus: just tell them I died at sea and go away Thade: [banging on door] YOU TELL THEM

Breakfast At Tiffany's by Deep Blue Something

I see you - the only one who knew me And now your eyes see through me I guess I was wrong So what now? It's plain to see we're over And I hate when things are over When so much is left undone

The way the plot of this song goes, it's unclear what actually happens. But it ends on this note of "well, maybe we can build back from the one thing we have in common" (which could also be "here's the one tiny comfort of breaking up with someone who seems completely different now" and they still break up). And I think that's really the story of Avis and Sorian. As far as Avis is concerned, Sorian is the only person who has ever really known her. But now everything is so different and she can't decide if she hates him or hates losing him more.

Feels Like Rain by Buddy Guy ft. Bonnie Raitt

The flow of this song is incredible. The transition into the chorus? Gets me every time.

Down here the river, meets the sea And in the sticky heat, I feel you open up to me Love comes out of nowhere, baby, just like a hurricane And it feels like rain And it feels like rain

This is an Anni and Zel song, both for all of the comparisons to and mentions of water (when are they not near water, first of all, and second of all, Zel's religion uses a lot of water imagery and her connection with that is important) AND the idea of the relief and refreshingness of finally opening up. Zel is keeping a lot of secrets and a lot of feelings that slowly trickle (pun somewhat intended) into Anni's knowledge over the course of TFA and its sequel.

Send a 🪄 get a song I am unnormal about

Soravis taglist: @vacantgodling @athenswrites @kk7-rbs

Music taglist: @outpost51 @kk7-rbs

[jehanne-gaudet]

Authentic Louisiana Gumbo

Cooking time: 90 minutes

Growing up in South Louisiana I always heard about my family's older generations living in New Orleans. My mom moved to Baton Rouge in her 20s, but we're New Orleanian through and through– we have our roots traced back to Acadia, Gaudet is our family name. In highschool my mom taught me how she and her mom and her nana made their gumbo, but a few conversations will tell you that there's more "right ways" to make Gumbo than there are creole people. Here's my right way.

GATHER YOUR INGREDIENTS: I always heard that your mom was my mom's midwife when I was born, but we didn't know each other really until highschool because you lived in Lafayette. I changed my name to Johanna Gaudet during my transition, which I guess you learned through Facebook. You also chose your name when you transitioned: Marcus. Marcus Gaston. (Not like the Disney villain, it's pronounced like "GA-stun", not "ga-STAWN".) When you transitioned at 17 your parents kicked you out of their house. I transitioned while I was away for college but I guess that was around the same time, me being older.

PREP THE INGREDIENTS: In February I got a call from you. You were crying in the parking lot of the Rouse's because you'd bought some random things hoping to make gumbo based on the Emeril Legasse cookbook, but the more you grabbed the more you realized it wasn't right. You couldn't even articulate what was wrong, because your mom never taught you her gumbo recipe before she kicked you out and stopped talking to you. You tell me you feel like your whole childhood was taken from you. You tell me you hate this fucking state and can't wait to move out to Seattle. All words I've said or thought before. My dad is from Texas, he used to forbid my mom from cooking Creole food or even taking us to New Orleans where she grew up. He wanted us to grow up as his perfect white American status symbol children, and our actual heritage would have made us dirty. Joke's on him, he never expected gay and transgender kids. My mom taught me how to make gumbo after the divorce, and after I stopped talking to him. And talking about my mom's recipe some, we decide I'll come over to teach it to you. It's not your childhood or your family, but at least it's a childhood to make up for what was taken from you, the way it made up for what was taken from me.

GETTING STARTED: At your apartment, I do tell you that you won't need the shrimp. It's a chicken and sausage gumbo my mom taught me. There's other kinds, black Creoles brought over Okra gumbo, native Creoles adapted it to Filé gumbo, and my people (the formerly-French Acadian Creoles) adapted it to be made with a roux. Seafood gumbo usually is done with okra, at least in my family. I don't know where we got that recipe from– Creole people have been all mixed together so long– but pairing seafood with okra is how we do it.

PROCESSING THE CHICKEN: You'll want to start with taking out your WHOLE CHICKEN. Not leg quarters or breasts, a WHOLE chicken, WITH giblets. Just from memory, this is how to process it. You'll start by pulling the wings up and cutting along the white line of fat, and then between the bones. Next you'll pop the legs out of their hip sockets by bending the thighs opposite from how they're supposed to sit, and cutting along the fat line between the thigh bone and the hip socket there too. Next is the part I never totally remember, I think you pull the torso as open as it goes and try to cut along the fat lines on the side of the torso, starting opposite the ribs and going forward? But at some point you'll hit ribs, and I always just try to go around them. Maybe there's an easier way, I don't remember. Anyway at some point you'll get to the clavicles at the front of the chicken, and you just have to break those. My mom taught me to do it by setting the knife blade on one and just hitting the back of it with your hand until it breaks. Finally, try to cut the breast meat out of the breast bone. This is a huge pain to do, tbh. I think there's a way to split the chest bone in half and leave some bone and cartilage on there, but I just try to cut out the meat as close to the bone as I can. It's imperfect, whatever.

BROTH: Go ahead and put the breasts and leg quarters aside, but set the rest of it (mostly just wings and bones) in a big pot with the giblets. Cover it all with water and set it to boil on a low heat. By the time you need broth, this will have turned into broth. You can also supplement with even more broth from the store, if that's your inclination. I do it sometimes for no particular reason.

THE HOLY TRINITY: Anyway then we gotta cut the vegetables. Onions, green bell pepper, and celery. This is called the Holy Trinity. Actually, there's a 4th one, and it's garlic? My mom used to say that the Holy Trinity is those 3 vegetables, but the Whole God is Garlic. To me that reads hilariously like the Heresy of Partialism, but it's fine, she converted out of Catholicism as a teenager. She only pretends to be Catholic now. Anyway how much of each of the Trinity veggies? Idk, I always kind of eyeball it. I'd say like equal-ish parts of all 3, but it should be 2 or 3 cups all together? Maybe more onion than the other 2? And you definitely want a lot of veggies, because they can disappear in a gumbo. But again, just eyeball it. This part also takes the longest, it's so annoying. My mom would make me do this part when I was young so that she didn't have to, and I sometimes make my wife do it. But also you can get store-bought trinity that's already cut. As a rule I don't like store-bought stuff when I can do it myself, but I still do it sometimes.

SEASONING THE CHICKEN: Okay assuming that's done, time to season your chicken. The ones you set aside, the breasts and leg quarters. Try to get the seasoning under AND over the skin if you can. Idk if that makes a difference, but I always heard it does. I keep the seasoning here simple. Salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, and cayenne. Eyeball the quantities, but know a lot of this gets cooked off into the roux, so too much won't hurt you at this stage. You'll want to get a big gumbo pot and cook the outside of the seasoned chicken. Oh, you used your only big pot for the broth. No worries I brought mine. I'll get it from my car. It's one of those dark blue pots with the white speckles on it. Dirt cheap, thin metal, but it's big and does the job. Anyway, put some olive oil in there and cook the outsides of the chicken on a high heat. Doesn't need to be cooked all the way through yet, you can take it out after a minute or so.

THE ROUX: Now we get to the actual hard part. Roux is easy to burn, and my family does it dark. Advice online often says not to do it too dark to make sure it can thicken the gumbo more, and that makes sense, I've heard that before. But my family does it dark. Like Dark Chocolate dark. I also do a LOT of roux. Roux tastes good in the final gumbo, so don't skimp. I empty your bottle of olive oil into the pot, and I bring out my bottle from home too to add some more. I brought it because I knew I'd feel bad using all of yours. You want probably like 1/2 an inch of standing olive oil at the bottom of the pot, at med-high heat. Then the flour, we want enough of that to make the roux thick. It's gonna seem too thick at first, but don't worry, it thins out. And you're gonna sit yourself over that pot in the high heat with your bamboo spatula and scrape the bottom of that pot as it gradually gets darker. Keep going until you can barely tell through the steam that it's not totally black, but you're getting afraid you've burned it. I want to be clear though, you are scraping every inch of the bottom of that pot. If you ignore one part too long you'll notice that the flour settles real low in the oil and starts to burn. So you scrape every part off, and you scrape fast. Early on you can scrape slow, but as it gets dark you gotta speed up. Probably wear a mitt too, because the oil is gonna splash and that hurts. As it gets darker I get a little nervous and drop the heat to med.

ADD THE HOLY TRINITY: While you're doing that I'm getting all the Holy Trinity we chopped together in a big bowl. Once it hits dark chocolate brown, I tell you to scooch over in a panicked voice, and then I dump in the holy trinity. Then I ask you to keep mixing it up while I get a glass of water to dump in there to cool it down so the roux doesn't burn in the residual heat. I don't get the glass glass, I get a Mardi Gras glass, obvi. I also lower the heat to med-low. At this step you notice the roux has lightened a lot. It's milk chocolate brown, now that the Trinity is in there. I add another glass or two of water as it cooks down, just to make sure the texture stays like a paste that clings to the vegetables. I tell you to keep mixing it while the Trinity vegetables cook and the onions turn clear. I add a whole mess of minced garlic too.

PUT IT ALL TOGETHER: Anyway now we add that broth. You're really supposed to skim off the foam at the top of it, but I don't always. But you should. I do it in front of you, to set a good example. And then we pour the broth over the trinity and roux trying to keep the chicken scraps from falling into the gumbo. We mix it until the roux disappears into the broth. I realize we forgot to cut up the Andouille. I tell you how annoying it was to try to find Andouille while I was in Alabama for college. There was one brand, Savannah, which was pretty good though if I could find it. People were so weird about Creole stuff in Alabama. I never fully "got" cultural appropriation until I heard rural Alabamians at a crawfish boil talk about my home all while exclusively calling me anti-Creole slurs. We use Kiolbassa's Andouille though, which has a special nostalgia for both of us. I used to wake up at 2am and cook an Andouille sausage to eat as a snack or on bread. It's like the ultimate comfort food. We cut them up into discs and toss them in the gumbo. I've heard that the sausage can soak up some of the extra olive oil from the roux, but I don't really know. Maybe you have to do something special for that to work. We toss the chicken pieces in too. They'll need to cook in the gumbo to soak up the flavor, but also to cook the insides of the chicken. Remember we just cooked the outsides.

SEASON TO TASTE: We also toss in some seasoning. A couple bay leaves, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, cayenne. You add paprika because you're suspicious of ONLY cayenne. Like won't that just have a front of mouth burn? Some paprika would help to push it backwards. Balance it more, you think. It's sound logic, I might have to do that from now on. Then we leave it to cook for a while. It already smells awesome…

RICE: Wait, shit, we forgot the rice!! Okay, we make the rice. You know the trick right? Like about measuring rice? You can measure the correct amount of water by sticking your knuckle into the water down to the top of the rice. The water should cover the entire thickness of the middle section of your finger. Which is all good and well but you have a fancy Japanese rice cooker so you just use the measuring cup that came with it. I tell you my family used to have a rice pot. Like a normal sauce pan, but we used it specifically for making rice and we sometimes left it on the stove (with a lid on it) in case we needed to reheat the rice for something. I have since heard that this was very unsanitary, but it was tradition in my family, and I just think it was cool. Anyway, we start the rice. The wait is fine honestly, this will force us to let the gumbo stew for a bit. One time, during the 3 week power outage after Gustav, my sibling learned how to make rice on a propane stove. They were so good at it, never burned a single pot. Crazy, right?

LET IT STEW: We start talking about this childhood thing. The heritage thing. You should check out Butterfly Soup, it's this queer visual novel by Brianna Lei. Or, specifically the sequel. It's about being Asian American, and like I would never want to try to claim that experience (esp as a white Creole) but there's a lot in there I think you'd like. It's like, y'know our heritage, our culture... it's not just something we're just given and have to accept. How much did we lose when we transitioned, and our families cut us off? It feels sometimes like if we want to be queer the "right way" then we have to move to the PNW, or San Francisco, or New York and work in tech and act like those terminally-online people on Discord. And if we want to be Creole then we have to be cis and straight and conservative, like your Nana who posts Q-Anon shit on Facebook. But the thing is, we don't JUST inherit our heritage. We are active participants in it. We create our culture as much as we experience it. It doesn't need to be transphobic, y'know. It doesn't need to be racist. We don't need to let ourselves become southern Americans and we don't need to accept creoleness as it was. Ain't WE Creole? It's like the gumbo, y'know, like we got our recipe from our families, but it's OUR recipe now. Our parents passed it to us, but it's our culture and our recipe to pass on. We can decide what it means to be "authentic" gumbo. And we can decide what it means to be "authentically" Creole. And that can mean trans, or gay, or whatever. And you can put the tomatoes from your garden in your gumbo if you fucking want to, it's your gumbo. It's our culture, and that's who we are, isn't it? The culture is us. The rice maker starts singing its beeping rendition of twinkle twinkle little star.

ENJOY: God this gumbo really is so fucking good. My mom really knew what she was talking about, like, sometimes.

[warrior-cats-rewritten]

Hello! One 🐈 please! No pressure :)

One 🐈 coming up! Let's see, we gooooot...

Blackwater! (Originally known as Darkwater)

A pure black molly with bright amber eyes, a nicked ear, a scar along her back left leg, and long, thick, glossy fur.

Blackwater is born a pretty famous couple, Tangleburr and Waterfern. Waterfern is Leopardstar's sister who managed to survive birth and thrive. She is a trans molly, transitioned in the middle of her apprenticeship. Tangleburr, Lizardstripe's daughter, was brought to Riverclan during Tigerclan times, and ended up falling in love with Riverclan's ways. She LOVES fish, she loves weaving with reeds, she loves the shell collections.

They, along with a few others, helped free the cats who'd been imprisoned. She has done some crappy things in the past, like being on Brokenstar's side for a while and fleeing Shadowclan with him and others, she feels horrible about it, and works to free the other cats in Riverclan.

Their first litter is Mintwhisker, the renamed Mintfur. Their second litter is Flykit, Whistlekit, and Blackkit. Blackkit was the only survivor, her brothers in that litter being stillborn. She was born during late Long Shadows, and is on the cusp of the Omen Generation. She is a relatively good hunter, specializing in deep water to grab muscles and clams. She has a good interest in cooking, and very romantic dreams of wooing a pretty molly.

Blackpaw was trained by Rainstorm and suffered terribly during the Drought. Her long black fur was NOT doing her any favors. Her new friend Cloudpaw at least had thinner fur and was almost pure white. She began having strange dreams afterwards, a pretty mottled gray molly was offering to teach her to be stronger. It would help her find a mate, like how Mintwhisker had a gorgeous mate in Icewing. She wasn't jealous of her older brother, she wanted to be like him...

She accepted, and was soon training in The Dark Forest under Mistfang. She didn't realize Hawkfrost's daughter Cloudpaw was here too. Blackpaw soon earn the name Blackwater under the new leader, Mistystar, and a while latter, after Russetfur's death, Cloudpaw earned her name too! She... Didn't like it as much.

Fun fact, in Bonefall's Clanmew, Blackwater's name is "Urrnhoeba", meaning Stormy, Abyssal Water. Fitting for a cat that dives into the deepest parts of the river.

Blackwater and Cloudsnap grew close, though Cloudsnap was getting really into her Dark Forest training... She was really starting to believe what Mapleshade had been telling her...

When The Great Battle came, Blackwater fought for the Clans, thankfully convincing Cloudsnap to join her. The two fighting off Dark Forest cats together, even managing to shatter one - an old spirit known as Raggedthorn (when I say old, I mean this guy came from the "Leadership is inherited, not for the deputy" era).

Later on, while trying to keep up with her career and process her trauma and grief, as both Tangleburr and Waterfern died during the Battle, Cloudsnap proposes to become mates with her. Finally, a win for this lesbian.

Then the Kin showed up, and Mintwhisker died. 🥲

Then she and Cloudsnap got exiled by Mistystar at the command of Bramblestar. How easily some could forget that Blackwater was technically half-Shadowclan.

It only gets better when Mistystar finally kicks the bucket. Though she and Cloudsnap aren't in on it, they can finally raise their family in some quiet, both taking care of 2 new kits in the nursery. No one knows who gave birth to them, but they both take time off to care for the babies, Poppykit and Sootykit. Riverclan can sort itself out without us.