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probably-haven · 3 years ago

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Hey dude?

First of all, I love your headcanons! And If ya don’t mind, would ya be interested in doing more Archon War Era Venti headcanons? I loved reading the ones you’ve written and I would love to read some more! If you want to that it, your choice.

God, I feel so awkward writing this like I’m not trying to be rude and demanding but it feels like I am and I’m not trying to but if it seems like that, just know that it’s not my intention and I’m just going to stop here beforeIembarrassmyselfokbye

thanks so much for the ask bestie! And don't worry about it, it was actually phrased really considerately, and even if it wasn't I'd still be happy because 1) human interaction and 2) archon war era venti ihjrgfvskerudhjfh But seriously you and the ask give off really good vibes, so i get the feeling ur kinda the type of person who deserves to let themselves be rude or demanding every once in awhile- don’t know why i felt the need to make that comment, but i did, so make of it what you will <3

anyway! enough good vibes, lets talk about war!!!!

but seriously, I’m always always happy to talk more about Archon War Era Venti, like- im literally making a playlist for it cuz inspiration. Like sure, I may run out of ideas eventually, but that just means i get to think of more! which is fun af too!

spoilers for Venti’s backstory

first i want to clear something up from my last post. I mentioned the four winds in one or two of my points, but upon doing more research, I've discovered that the four winds weren't a thing until Vanessa's time, which was after Venti's 1000 year sleep so i'd like to adjust the imagery

this small pitiful looking wind sprite, newly having become a god, so small that no other god would possibly even consider it a threat, most having massive forms to display their power. But as opposed to physical strength, Venti is a being of raw elemental power.

In the first part of the war there would come whispers of great storms, hurricanes, tornados, blades of wind that scourged the land, picking up flames, turning waters, channeling lightning, carrying freezing cold, turning the elements of the gods against them. And these storms happened completely by themselves. And they grew wary. Decarabian never left Mondstadt so could he have gotten strong enough to attack from even within it’s barrier. And then came the rumors, songs carried on the wind of a revolution, and a new name begun to be feared “Barbatos.”

An unknown god, conquerer of Decarabian, known now for attacking those Divine beings who used their power to oppress others, all from within the walls of Mond, for as he had never been seen then surely his power was so great he didn’t even need to show up in person.

It was said that when you heard his song that was your final chance- to run, to escape before the winds caught you in their current, erasing all that ever was to your memory except the song on the wind. Sure, running would separate you from the civilization that gave you your strength, but for some unknown reason, Barbatos never target the vulnerable mortals left behind, so for a time, you could keep your power.

There were multiple records from mortals of their (weaker by comparison) gods being caught in the winds, swept up high into the sky where the one sided battle between god and nature raged on, until ultimately they would see it, the unmistakable wave of destructive force that came with the death of a god, far enough away so as to not reach the people below. And when a god was too strong, the city would be encased in a wind barrier, shielding them from the explosion of divine misery

And when all was said and done, a boy in green would enter the city, singing songs of the battle on his Lyre. He came to be recognized as a herald to Barbatos of sorts, and the people would often times attempt to shower him with offerings, but the people had suffered and did not have much. “I am just a bard,” he would insist as they asked for his name in reverance. “But if you have apples and wine, then gather them and the people in the center of town. Freedom is something to be celebrated after all, is it not?”

And the people would relish in their newfound freedom, the ‘nameless bard’ celebrating with them as his friend never got to, and he would play one final song before vanishing into the night, retreating to mondstadt “Fly, fly away. Like a bird in the sky. See the world on my behalf. To the heavens may you fly”

Rarely was Venti ever actually in the city of Mondstadt though. He had seen first hand the destruction that the death of a god could cause, and if he were to be ambushed, he would prefer that it happened on the outskirts, where his people would not be harmed by the destruction left in the battle’s wake.

However, he would be upfront with the people of Mond, explain to them of the archon war, what he was doing to other tyrant gods, and the danger of ambush- and only with their agreement, when he went out to fight, to liberate, he would raise a protective wind barrier until he returned. It pained him to do so- but he had already lost his closest friend, and he knew it would pain him more to return and see his friend’s legacy destroyed. If the people of Mond didn’t agree- then... well shit, i guess he got lucky. But I think that Venti would be close enough with them for them to see the difference between these wind barriers and those of the old god of storms.

actually- im leaving that there, but let me revise that-

Venti- being one of the very first to give out visions. Not caging his people for their protection as Decarabian had done before, but instead arming them with the ability to defend themselves. He would set up the basis of the wind barriers to aid in their protective power, but only Barbatos’s chosen could raise and lower them as they please, and they were a force to be reckoned with. It’s one of the main reason’s Venti became so fond of the “riptide of mortal blood” saying because of the alternate meaning it had when applied to his own people.

But there were times when a god was too strong- could not be separated from their people- and there would be nothing he could do to spare them. So he would remain on the battlefield, enter as the unknown bard, and make his way to the center, playing his song as he walked- and he would stay until the wind had freed every one of their chained spirits(think stanley), until he was sure that the song would not be lost, however long it took. He was one of the very few gods who actually had any remorse for the mortal lives lost, and he would mourn their lost life, the things that they could have done had he not failed them. And this was all he could do, so insignificant, but he knew it was necessary, for if he did not do this for them, no-one else would because unlike the others, he had seen the potential of mortals first hand and often couldn’t help but think- had his friend survived, perhaps the people of this society’s song could have been saved. It was during one such song where he was discovered by the yaksha Alatus.

More Archon War Era venti headcanons: one two four

#genshin impact #genshin headcanons #genshin venti #genshin barbatos #nameless bard #genshin xiao #genshin alatus #archon war #archon war era venti #angst #genshin angst #genshin theory #genshin lore #venti angst #venti headcanons #spoilers #genshin spoilers

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robininthelabyrinth · 5 years ago

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If you’re still taking prompts, how about an AU where Wei Wuxian is also one of Jin Guangshan’s illegitimate sons

Wei Wuxian’s life might have been different if his mother had gone onwards to visit the Jiang sect, following a glimpse of that handsome young man she’d met so briefly early on, but in the end she’d decided to go a different way – she ended up in Yunmeng after all, but that young man, a servant, had already gotten another woman to be his wife and Cangse Sanren was nobody’s mistress.

She’d made that clear once already.

The Jiang sect leader’s wife liked her on the spot – “Madame Jin conveys her thanks to you for putting her husband in her place, although regretfully that the doctors say his vital root will eventually recover from your well-placed kicks” – and the sect leader liked her, too; she made him laugh, and he liked the child she’d brought with her, a baby as vivacious as she was.

She stayed there a few years, until the sect leader stopped merely looking a little too long and started looking at her instead of looking at his wife. That was unacceptable: it was clear that she wouldn’t be able to stay much longer without tearing them apart. Still, she wasn’t one to leave without making an impact: she took both the sect leader and his wife to bed for a tumble that lasted a week, and left while they were still stunned speechless.

Her only regret was how her little A-Ying cried for his shijie and his Jiang Cheng, who he’d grown close to, but she told him that he’d see them again one day and soon enough he found his smile again.

That was her baby boy, forgetting pain once it’d healed - just like her.

She refused to give his name to her precious son, but she was reluctant to give her own, having learned to her sorrow that this world of men was unkind to women and even less kind to the fatherless. In the end, she kept the courtesy name the Jiang sect leader had given him and stolen the surname of the handsome man who’d once offered it to her – she rather liked the idea of stealing someone’s name because of a rashly made promise.

As she’d expected, it made it easier to pretend she was a widow rather than a silly girl who’d been deceived; an irritating pretense, but a necessary one, in this ridiculous world of men.

And so her A-Ying became Wei Wuxian.

She traveled around, aimless, knowing there was something out there for her to do but not entirely sure what, and it gnawed at her right up until the day her little Wei Wuxian ran over to her, shouting, “A-niang! A-niang! I found a brother!”

She’d assumed he was joking – he often tried to play tricks on her, and she played tricks on him right back – but in fact he wasn’t: little Meng Yao, a few years older than her son, had just enough of the same features to make the blood connection obvious.

Cangse Sanren sighed for the stupidity of her past self – so many good suitors, and she’d just had to pick the worst of the lot, hadn’t she? – and crouched down with a smile.

“Where do you live?” she asked. “Where’s your mother?”

Meng Yao refused to tell her at first, no matter how many sweets and toys she plied him with. She didn’t want to embarrass him by following him home, so she rented a small house and waited; in the end, Wei Wuxian tried to beat up a passing boy for calling Meng Yao the son of a whore and Meng Yao had only been able to stop him by confessing that it was true.

“Well, that won’t do,” Cangse Sanren said, feeling rather cross about the whole thing. “Come on, lead me to her, or else I’ll go around knocking at every brothel in town asking for a girl surnamed ‘Meng’.”

Meng Shi was pretty as a peony and graceful as an orchid, and upon meeting her for the first time Cangse Sanren, who was quite used to beauties, blurted out, “He’s not only a dog but a fool.”

Sadly, Meng Shi preferred men, disappointing previous experiences or no, but she was nevertheless amenable to Cangse Sanren’s proposal of living together – night-hunting being more than profitable enough to buy Meng Shi’s life contract from the brothel within a few months – if it meant that Meng Yao would have the chance to learn to cultivate at the foot of a proper master.

In that way, Cangse Sanren got herself a friend and Wei Wuxian a brother, and felt quite pleased with it.

“We don’t need him,” she declared, full of wine and good company, arm around Meng Shi’s shoulders as the other woman rolled her eyes at her. “A-Yao, forget everything you’ve ever heard about him – he’s a waste of space, a wretch, a dog! Like a purebred horse, he’s fit only for breeding, which means your mother and I got the best part of him already.”

Meng Yao covered his eyes and groaned dramatically, and then went back to arguing with Wei Wuxian as to which one of them deserved to be called gege; Meng Yao took the position that he was older, with Wei Wuxian arguing that he’d become a disciple first.

Not that two small children who were also brothers made for much of a sect.

The thought caught something in Cangse Sanren’s brain, and the next morning she grinned at Meng Shi and said, full of mischief, “I wonder how many others there are out there.”

“No,” Meng Shi said firmly. “Night-hunting alone is dangerous enough, and barely enough to pay for our expenses –”

“It’d stretch a bit further if Mistress Meng were a little less accustomed to silk!”

“– and anyway who even knows how many there might be?”

“There can’t be that many,” Cangse Sanren said. “For all that he’s a scum, he’s also lazy – look at both our boys trying to get up in the morning –”

“Your boy can’t get up in the morning,” Meng Shi said. “Mine likes to have some time to himself. There’s a difference. Also, you can’t blame everything you dislike on him when it’s obviously a trait inherited from you.”

“Can’t I? I think I can. Anyway, as I was saying, he’s lazy: he stayed with me nearly two years and would have stayed longer if I hadn’t cottoned onto him, and you nearly four; and of course he doesn’t have any at home for fear of his wife…no, I’m telling you, a dozen at most.”

“You’re only counting the women he supported,” Meng Shi pointed out. “What about the ones that only happened once, or the married wives?”

Cangse Sanren dismissed these issues with a wave of her hand. “Let’s start with the ones like us. There’s got to be some other young would-be cultivators out there.”

There were, although little Mo Xuanyu, their next find, had been so terrified and tormented by all his relatives until he’d had the personality of a bowl of quivering steamed pudding – he wouldn’t make for much of a cultivator, Cangse Sanren divined at once, but even Meng Shi had to admit that taking him with them was better than leaving him back in the Mo household.

His own mother had sold him to them for a gold coin, calling him a disappointment as she did, and Cangse Sanren had muttered for the next shichen about some people deserving the scum they hooked up with until Meng Shi started making sad noises just to make her shut up.

Damn that woman was good.

The next few they found were quite happy at home – it seemed that Jin Guangshan threw girls more often than boys, and that girls were able to live quite well on the promise of their children having a cultivator grandfather, so they didn’t need much help – and Cangse Sanren had just given up on bothering to find any more, three children with three very different personalities being rather a lot to deal with on top of night-hunting and keeping Meng Shi in her silks, when the Jiang sect finally caught up with her.

Apparently they’d been looking. Who’d have guessed?

“You had that and turned it down?!” Meng Shi hissed, her eyes full of the (admittedly rather handsome) Jiang Sect leader. “What is wrong with you?”

“Many things, probably,” Cangse Sanren admitted, and under the circumstances let herself be seduced back to Yunmeng with the promise of free housing, childcare, and all expenses paid, plus Wei Wuxian screaming “Shijie! Jiang Cheng!” at the top of his lungs at the first sight of a lotus flower sigil.

They’d stayed first at the Lotus Pier, but in the end got their own house: they’d gotten used to it the past few years, and anyway living with a friend was better than living with a lover - fighting over mundane things like laundry and did-you-remember-to-dust-behind-the-shelf was a lot easier when you didn’t have to think about being sexy at some future date.

Meng Shi never did get the hang of having a real job, teaching music and flirting to all the local children in equal measure, and perhaps most importantly she watched the children whenever Cangse Sanren went out night-hunting along with the Jiangs – along with the other things she did with the two of them while they were temporarily unburdened by the presence of nearly a dozen small, prying eyes.

At first Cangse Sanren was concerned about a repeat of last time, but it turned out Meng Shi was good for that, too; Madame Yu wasn’t as bothered about her husband sharing a bed with the witty, charming, pretty-as-a-flower Meng Shi when it meant she got to have Cangse Sanren to herself in her own.

As life went, it was pretty good, Cangse Sanren was willing to admit, especially when the discussion conference came around and she was finally able to rid Meng Shi of her remaining illusions. It was a good life, a happy life, and it was something she’d forged with her own two hands; she was very pleased about it.

Meng Yao never quite stopped wearing a smiling face that hid daggers, but it was a little easier to forgive his vindictive viciousness once he’d started doing it to defend his younger brothers as well as himself – it was good for him to spend time with Jiang Yanli, whose friendliness and innate goodness routinely caused him to question everything he thought he knew about human nature.

They played a great deal of chess, which Jiang Yanli routinely lost with a smile, and in return he reminded her that she was still at the age to be adopted, not do the adopting herself – which she sometimes forgot.

Wei Wuxian finally agreed to Meng Yao’s seniority now that he had both Mo Xuanyu and Jiang Cheng to bully and lead around by the nose; he remained as high-spirited and vivacious as he’d ever been, but – and it was probably for the best – his reckless arrogance was tempered by constantly being outsmarted in the first instance by a well-prepared Meng Yao.

Mo Xuanyu, the family baby, spent a great deal of time clinging to Jiang Cheng; no one entirely understood why or how their quiet, shy wallflower had gotten attached to someone so abrasive and easily angered, but somehow Jiang Cheng routinely cursing him as an idiot and a useless good-for-nothing did more to wash away the scars left over from the Mo household than anything else anyone had ever done.

It was – good.

So when the Wens came to tear it all down, well.

None of them were going to put up with that.

#mdzs #cangse sanren #wei wuxian #meng shi #meng yao #mo xuanyu #jiang fengmian #yu ziyuan #jiang cheng #jiang yanli #my fic #my fics #it'd be boring if everything stayed the same but for his parentage #so I went wildly AU #and I rather like it #Anonymous

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gossip-girl-of-middleearth · 3 years ago

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Hello! I hope this doesn’t make you uncomfy but I was wondering if I could get a bit of advice? From your recent posts, you said you left your home from toxicity and just bad things in general.

I’m in a similar situation, but my dad will be taking me away from my mom. And I just know it’ll be a shit show. And I’m absolutely terrified when we tell her and what the backlash will be afterwards towards my brothers and me and dad in general

How did you do it? How did you take the leap? Do you possibly have any advice on how to deal ?

Hello, friend!! ☀️

Thank you so much for reaching out, it means a lot that you value my advice <3

Hmm, okay from what I can tell of your situation, that is indeed a tricky one, but nothing can’t be overcome!

It’s important to remember, though, I was 19 when I left (now 20), so the way I handled things is going to be a lot different than how a minor can handle things (legally at least, feel free to replicate my insane stunts lmao)

Advice below the cut! (family violence trigger warning, I suppose?)

My entire family was and is extremely volatile, and I don’t speak to any of them anymore except for my older brother, but I’ll be cutting him off in 3 weeks too when I move.

Fortunately, my dad and brother were both kicked out of the house years ago due to violence, which left me with my mother, who’s quite insidious herself (just watch any Conjuring movie and that’ll give a good idea of what it was like living in that house lol)

I get the same feeling watching this scene as when I was around her in that house. Granted she didn’t try to change my gender, but the hatred for my father getting taken out on me is pretty accurate lol, paired with the immediate “motherly love” afterwards (she never hit me though, pleased to say — she wasn’t physically violent, just emotionally, financially, mentally and verbally. She did try to run my dad over once though, so, there’s that too)

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Yikes…yeahh the same eerie feeling for sure, still makes all my hairs stand upright in memory.

(For further context this clip reminds me of my father and this one of my brother)

In the clip about my father, he definitely reminds me of Frank Gallagher, except he despises my mother instead of revering her. He’s a workaholic instead of a drug addict, too. But the mannerisms are the same. I always handled him in the way Fiona does.

Regarding my brother, I think everything about our family hit him the hardest, despite being the oldest. He developed a very violent streak, and has very poor impulse control. I love him dearly but he’s a snake in the grass, and has thrown me under the bus multiple times to get ahead in life. I mostly just pity him, since I know what our life was like growing up. But still, I can’t defend him forever, especially not at the cost of myself. Literally yesterday I woke up to a text from him asking me to come pick him up because he got arrested for starting a fight at a bar and smashing their windows.

When things started getting pretty bad with my mother earlier this year, I started to realise in my heart that there was no way I could go forth in life with her in it. I focused on the future relationships I would have one day when far away from this town — romantic partner, children, friends etc

I sort of realised one day I’d care about them a lot more than I care about my mother, because those future people would care about me. That in turn got me realising that I do deserve love, despite how my mother made me feel, and that I don’t want her to deprive another second of that in my life.

Something very unique that triggered this too was going to go visit an old family psychic, who’s basically just the Gandalf to my Frodo (ily, Chris <3). He very accurately predicted my birth years ago after my mother was told she was infertile — he got the date, year and time right three years in advance, and even knew ahead of time what my personality would be like, which he was spot-on about.

Well, I went and visited him a few months ago because I was lost with my direction, and he ended up pausing and had a sudden feeling, which led to him telling me that he’d just found out I would be having twin boys one day.

Normally I don’t buy into that stuff, but this Gandalf dude…well I knew he was right.

Knowing I’d have sons of my own one day took me from a scared daughter mindset and into a maternal mother bear in an instant, and I knew I didn’t want any children of mine around my mother or the rest of my family, for their safety alone, which made me realise, “Well, if I wouldn’t allow my own children near them, why do I allow myself?”

I started grey-rocking her in the lead-up to me leaving, which of course frustrated her (she’s a malignant narcissist), but it was a necessary step to start emotionally detaching myself from her.

It all bottled over one night after a pretty distressing argument (I had locked myself in my room to avoid it, but she was still at my door carrying on).

My cat, who’s been my best friend for years, was sitting on the floor next to me, and sort of looked up and I swear he spoke with his eyes, saying, “You know we can’t keep doing this, right? You know this abuse has an expiry date?”

I agreed with my cat and knew right then and there that I’d be leaving that night after my mother fell asleep.

Well, when she was finally done (with threats that there’d be more in stock in the morning, mind you) I went to bed early and set my alarm to 3am (was a little inside joke with myself, since that’s biblically the “witching devil hour”)

I started quietly packing my quilt and cat up (I’d already been secretly packing the boot of my car up with all sentimental and important items weeks in advance, except she caught on and took all my baby albums and more to her boyfriend’s house, so I don’t have any baby photos or information on me when I was a baby anymore, like first words, size and just general things I’d have liked to compare to my own kids one day, rip)

Once that was all in my car, I quietly said goodbye to the old family dog and cat (they weren’t mine to take, not that I could’ve anyways, since it was troubling enough taking Buddy, who’s actually my pet and not the family one). That was pretty heartbreaking, as I knew that’d be the last time I’d see them (I grew up with them and was the only one who took care of them — mother neglects kids and pets alike lmao).

Once that was over, I looked around my house with my hand on the front door and was very melancholy, but knew Buddy was right: it had all reached its expiry date.

I left very quietly and drove to McDonalds for a coffee, as I had a long drive ahead (I had organised to be a nanny in this rich family’s house far away in the city — two hours drive). Luckily they were away on their country farm 4 hours away, so I had time to sneak Buddy in.

The nanny thing recently backfired horribly because they discovered Buddy, which led to more AM escapes with my car, but I’m staying with my older brother and his gf for 3 more weeks only. Something I’ve been working towards for months now is moving to a wilderness island to live in my country’s equivalent of Bag End — a beautiful country cottage, amazing job and fantastic study opportunities.

Best feature yet: it’s 60 hours away from my hometown by car, and then you’d have to take a boat for 10 more hours!! They shall never find me hahaha

One of my friends has also told me recently that my mother has started spreading horrible, defamatory rumours about me around town, but I don’t care anymore because I’m almost out.

So, although I can’t offer any practical advice (idk if you’re a minor or not, but regardless it’s great your dad is helping you!) this is the best advice I can offer:

Find a dream and hold onto it, one that doesn’t involve your immediate family. For me it’s moving to that island and enjoying all the fresh air. It’ll push you forwards and remind you of what you’re fighting for when at your lowest.

Remind yourself there will be other people in your life, whether a spouse, friends, children or even a dog! (I’m getting a golden retriever next year 🐾) And then remember that you deserve all of them and the unconditional love they offer you.

Remember that if you don’t want your mother/family screwing those people over by proxy of her/their relationship to you, then there’s no way in hell you alone should put up with it either, as I guarantee those future people only want good things for you ☀️

There is a good life after abuse, I’ve seen it, and I know you can achieve it, too!

Be prepared for tons of backlash and bullshit — it’s inescapable when dealing with people like this, but I recommend educating yourself on narcissistic parents and tactics to deal with them.

Finding a good therapist who deals in PTSD regarding childhood abuse is important, too. I found an amazing one in the town I’m moving to, who had nearly the same upbringing as me!

So while I’m still struggling with a lot of fear (scared my mother will find where I’m working and living one day) and guilt (I feel horrible about leaving the family dog and cat behind, especially when they need veterinary help, only to then go and get myself another puppy) I understand I’ve done the best I can in a very abnormal situation, and that I can only do better from here.

Also, this song has been a saving grace when going all angsty over wanting to leave your current situation:

It’s from my favourite Broadway Musical, “Newsies”, and lemme tell you — discovering this as a 17-year-old when I was just starting to realise the severity of my situation was pure divinity.

Jeremy Jordan, my beloved Broadway Bard <3

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When I finally get my cottage, I’m getting a wooden plaque with the name “Santa Fe” engraved on it, and am hanging it on my front door.

I wish you much luck and love, my little anonymous friend! And please know my inbox is open any time you need anything — vent, advice, a laugh or something else, ANYTHING, it feels good to know my past can maybe help someone else’s present ☀️

Please update me, too! I’m following your story along ardently now! (Also, be sure to take your sentimental items and store them somewhere safe away from your mother — ie baby albums, birth certificates, other paraphernalia/memorabilia etc).

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must hit the road. DESTINY AWAITS!

#ahh yes #Newsies my beloved <3 #and bless my family Gandalf #I’m gonna send him a gift next year from the small country town I’m moving to for his birthday as a thanks #also I’m torn between naming the golden retriever ‘Jaskier/Dandelion’ or ‘Glorfindel/Glorfy’ now #so happy that’ll soon be my only dilemma in life <33

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carminite-wyrm · 3 years ago

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Hero-of-Kvatch!Nyx AU, Part 2!

aka, Nyx continues to not have a great time in the tunnels beneath the Imperial Prison.

Again, story under the cut.

Part 1

The most ridiculous part of this whole matter, Nyx decided, was not the not-daemons (the creatures had certainly looked the part, but they hadn’t disappeared into a cloud of miasma after he’d killed them) he had encountered in the tunnels as he made his way out of the prison. It was the fact that no one had commented on both his injuries, or his tattered uniform that was very much not fitting the ‘high fantasy novel’ aesthetic he was also wrapping his head around.

Even as the brisk pace that the elderly man – who was apparently Uriel Septim VII, the Emperor of the nation Nyx now found himself in – and his entourage set through the tunnels did wonders for working out the lingering stiffness in his body, (as did the vaguely nightmarish path earlier full of the largest rats Nyx had ever seen), Nyx found his mind starting to spiral off into multiple tangents, trying to process the wealth of information he had already managed to gather.

He had died, that was almost an undeniable fact. And then he had awoken in what he was now absolutely certain was a different universe, to find himself in a cell that he was shortly released from by the Emperor of the land of Tamriel, who was fleeing cultist-assassins who had most likely already claimed the lives of his heirs. On top of all of that, the Emperor (and Nyx, apparently), were mixed up in some sort of shared fate or prophecy, that likely had to do with the gods of this realm if Nyx was understanding things correctly.

Nyx was fervently doing his best to try and ignore how the situation was rather similar to what he had just lived in his own world. It had been almost too easy for him to slip back into the role of a bodyguard and defender of a King, to the point that one of the guards, Baurus, had given him several suspicious looks when he had found their group once again, and introduced himself as Nyx.

He silently cursed the lack of his kukris, the weight of the short sword he had found in the tunnels slightly awkward in his hand, as he fended off one of the strange assassins that were chasing their group, the blade nevertheless good enough to sink through a chink in his opponent’s armour. Even the slightest drop of magic to blast some of them away faster would have been useful, but he was fairly certain that the magic he once had was now gone. Dead and gone, vanished when Regis’ body had-

He grit his teeth, shoving that thought away along with the dead body that slid off his blade.

Even if this Emperor Uriel was supposedly meant to die at some point in the coming future, Nyx would do his best to help him avoid that ‘fate’. Quite frankly, he’d had enough of talks of fate and destiny, and the fact that the Emperor looked about as resigned to his fate as Regis had been-

The group halted as they found the way to the sewers to be barred, and Nyx suddenly had a sinking feeling. He readied his sword, just in time for one of the guards– Blades, the Emperor had called them –to call out that it was a trap. He followed them as they tried a side passage, only to find that it was a dead end.

“Wait here with the Emperor,” One of the Blades ordered, as the sound of assassins entering the previous chamber grew louder. “Guard him with your life!”

And before Nyx could even muster up a shred of disagreement, that perhaps leaving their Emperor with a man who they had previously thought to be a criminal, and also visibly injured even if he wasn’t actively bleeding or burning to death was a terrible idea, the two Blades had rushed off to engage the assassins.

“Well, at least this room is somewhat defensible,” Nyx sighed, readying his sword as he briefly gave the room a once-over to see if there was something he could use to barricade the entrance. Finding nothing, he instead took up a post by the doorway, readying his sword. Once confident that he’d be able to see any danger that would appear, he turned his attention back to the Emperor, only to find an amulet with a bright red gem being held out to him.

“…Isn’t that yours?” Nyx asked, a sinking feeling starting to settle into his stomach. This was starting to look very, very, familiar. “Why-“

The Emperor’s eyes were startlingly clear, and kind, as he explained that this would be where he was to die, and that he wished for Nyx to not only take his amulet, but find his last son, a secret son that only another man named Jauffre knew the location of.

“This amulet…it isn’t just some family heirloom, is it?”

The Emperor shook his head. “It is the Amulet of Kings, and must pass to the last of the Dragon’s Blood.”

“…Don’t tell me this contains some sort of great power that only someone blood-related to you can wield, a power that was granted to you by a dragon god. And that it will help to end a world-ending calamity.”

“That…is exactly it.” The Emperor gave him a curious look. “That is not common knowledge.”

“I…I’m not quite sure how to explain it.” Nyx admitted. “It’s…a long story.”

“Take the Amulet, and then in the little time we have left, I would hear what you can tell of your story. Your fate lies past the moment of my death, I do not worry that you will fall with the Amulet.”

Nyx glanced around the room, finding it still clear of danger for the time being, even if the sounds of fighting had moved ever so slightly closer to them. He slowly took the Amulet, tucking it away in one of the pockets in his uniform.

“So…Would you believe me if I said that I’m not from this world? Or universe, probably.” Nyx began. “And that I had died, then woken up in that cell, and then a few minutes later you and your guards showed up.”

The Emperor’s eyebrows creased in thought, before he nodded slowly. “The ways of the Divines are mysterious indeed. But you are here, as I have foreseen. Your origins, or your past deeds, do not concern me.”

“I’ve already lived through this!” Nyx blurted out, before he realised that probably wouldn’t make sense without some level of explanation. “I mean, the events leading up to my death, are startlingly similar to what’s happening right now!”

He agitatedly twisted one of his braids in his free hand, decidedly not looking in the direction of the Emperor.

“You are afraid.” Nyx snapped around to stare at the other man.

“I-“

“Even though we have only just met, and yet you still care enough to fear the consequences my death will bring.”

“I just. Don’t want to fail to protect another person. I don’t want your guards, your Blades, to also fail to protect someone they swore to keep safe.” Nyx muttered.

“Oh.” The Emperor sighed, and briefly closed his eyes. There was a sudden presence in the room, ever so slight and yet Nyx could sense it, almost vibrating through the vein-like scars on his arm, the feeling similar to the rush of power that he had felt when confronting the old Kings of Lucis when he had put on the Ring.

The Emperor opened his eyes once again as the moment passed, and looked straight at Nyx, his gaze this time almost as piercing as Regis’ had been when he had spoken up for Nyx in front of the old Kings.

“Your kindness, and dedication, is a gift in these dark times. I am honoured to have met you, Nyx Ulric, and to have been granted the knowledge of the weight you bore before you were brought here. I regret the fate that has been passed onto you, so soon after your sacrifice in your old world, but, I have faith that you will not only face it, but also surpass the expectations laid upon you by the Gods. After all, this new life you have gained will not be without its blessings.”

“Wait, what do you mean-“

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a now-familiar flare of red magic, and broke off as he spun around to meet the assassin, the enemy’s mace rattling against the blade he just managed to bring up in time. The two traded blows furiously, moving across the room as Nyx attempted to use his free arm to gesture or herd the Emperor back away from danger.

Nyx hissed in pain as the mace briefly slid past his guard, the sharp edges of the weapon slicing sharp lines through the side of his uniform. The enchantments that had once been imbued into the fabric clearly had not survived his appearance in this world, though that was not surprising, given how they had hinged on Lucis Caelum magic anyways. He stumbled back a few steps from the impact, and ducked as the mace came down at his head once again. This assassin was clearly a cut above the others they had encountered earlier, Nyx thought, briefly eyeing the cracked stone where the mace had hit.

The assassin cackled, and moved to attack again, when Nyx heard the sound of stone grinding against stone. He looked around for the source of the noise, and spotted, in that half-second, a figure in red robes, wearing an even-more ornate set of black armour, a wickedly-long dagger in his hand. And that figure was stepping out of a passage that had just opened up, right next to where the Emperor was standing.

Instinctively, he flung his sword at the assassin, bracing himself for the pulling sensation of a warp. And then he remembered.

He no longer had the ability to warp.

“Shit!” He yelled, now scrambling under the first assassin as he tried to reach the new assassin in time, trying to reach the Emperor before– and why was he just standing there?! – the new assassin struck.

His fingers had just skimmed the edges of the hilt of his sword, other hand outstretched to try and push the Emperor or the assassin out of the way, when he saw the knife sink into the Emperor’s heart.

He watched as the Emperor toppled to the ground, the assassin’s knife dripping blood onto the stones. He heard, more than saw, as one of the guards appeared in the doorway and gave an anguished cry.

And then the assassins were attacking them again, and he had no time to further process the situation as he and the guard – Baurus – ended up fighting back-to-back, a grieving desperation in Baurus’ attacks as together, they managed to kill those last two assassins.

There was silence, finally, as the last assassin slowly bled out on the ground, and Nyx watched with blurry eyes as Baurus fell to his knees next to the corpse of his Emperor.

#ffxv #tes oblivion #nyx ulric #uriel septim #hok!nyx au #ficlet #carminite writes #can we get an f in the chat for baurus #and yes this will be a fixit its just that there is angst first

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trashcankitty12 · 4 years ago

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Nabu Headcanons

Meet Prince Nabu Wayne of Tides. (The realm closest in proximity to Andros.)

He’s a second born child, laid back, and relatively insightful. (At least, that’s what his friends tell him.)

Nabu had a bit of a sheltered upbringing, but he managed to have some fun adventures anyway, becoming a strong wizard and a great (future) king.

(All headcanons are mostly for my Left and New Company of Light verse. If you have any you’d like to borrow, feel free. :) )

-Nabu, the second born of the Tidese Royal Family, and the only son of the King and Queen of Tides.

-He has an older sister named Talia, who is the future Queen of Tides.

-Nabu had a fairly normal life for a royal kid, or at least, he wasn’t quite as sheltered as some of the royals…

-At least, he wasn’t until the attempts against Layla and Sky by remnants of the Ancestral Coven. After that, he was kept closer to the palace. (Unless under protective custody.)

-Before the attempts, Nabu was allowed to roam the palace and the outskirts of the palace with his sister.

-They admittedly would get into trouble, the two were pranksters against the guards and their parents and just… They love to laugh and they laugh together.

-When Nabu discovered his powers (and his sister discovered hers), their parents employed the best magic tutors/magic teachers they could find.

-Their teachers would often take them out of Tides and into other realms to learn how to adapt their magic and how to push the boundaries of their powers.

-(Yes, those field trips would continue after the attempts were made, but they were done with body guards and soldiers as chaperones.)

-Nabu is fluent in up to seven languages, but he seldom gets a chance to really speak most of them. (He did his best to find friends from other realms to speak with after Timmy unblocked his phone from the rest of the Magical Dimension’s internet.)

-He fell in love with airy/loose fitting clothes at a young age. It made him feel like he was the character from his favorite book series and he found it helps him be more agile when he’s doing his training. (And his parents found that it worked well with the Tidese Royal Robes. So win-win.)

-Nabu has no qualms or ill-will toward his sister for being the one next in line for the throne. In fact, he’s glad about it. It means less he has to worry about and less stress on his plate.

-He was also the first one to realize his sister had a secret-girlfriend and that she wasn’t a royal. And the one who did his best to bridge the gap between Talia and Anne and his parents.

-When he was 14, Nabu managed to talk his parents into letting him attend Coventry Academy for Wizards and Witches.

-This gave him more opportunities to learn about magic and the rest of the Magical Dimension.

-(Also, his roommate? Diaspro’s older brother, Jasper. And honestly, they actually got along pretty well.)

-Nabu found out just a month before Layla did about their engagement. He wasn’t happy and even brought up how his sister was allowed to choose her future spouse, why couldn’t he?

-He was so angry he ditched Coventry. (With some help from Jasper to keep his disappearance on the down-low, on the promise that he would come back after he had more information about Layla.)

-He tried really hard not to like Layla when he finally found her. He did. He wanted to hate her and despise her and find a way to terminate their arranged marriage… But he couldn’t.

-Nabu fell in love with her almost immediately. Her strong will, her independent nature, the strength with which she carried herself… How big her heart was for her friends and how quick she was to defend her home… He couldn’t have asked for a better match.

-(Yeah, they had a shit-ton to work through after they found out about each other… But in the end, they had both fallen in the deep end for one another and were more than willing to see how their relationship would go.)

-Meeting the guys and getting to know them was the reason why Nabu wanted to, and managed to after a long talk with his dad, transfer to Red Fountain.

-He ended up being roommates with Timmy. (Which doesn’t bother him quite so much… He just wishes Timmy would have a normal sleep schedule…)

-At Red Fountain, his best classes were magical defense and beast taming. His worst? Whenever he had to use a blaster or fly a ship… (Or use a compass… Nabu is good at a lot of things, but without his magic, he has a shit sense of direction.)

-Nabu actually enjoyed the camping trips Red Fountain took them on. It let him feel closer to nature and to his squad mates.

-At Coventry, Nabu was the best at illusion magic and divination. His worst here was anything that had to do with curses. He can’t summon enough negative energy for curses.

-(Not to say he doesn’t have negative feelings or that he hasn’t been extremely angry or upset before… But Nabu is just a naturally jolly person. And a logical one when things seem to be going downhill. He just feels that with his friends and Layla, he can handle anything.)

-(Also at Coventry, he and Jasper tended to get into trouble of their own. Pranks against fellow students and some of the teachers, nothing malicious. Though he did have Jasper keep him away from Diaspro. She had, at one point, attempted to pursue him in an attempt to show her parents she could secure a throne somehow. Which was not on Nabu’s list of things to do.)

-Nabu and Jasper are still friends, though more long distance these days since Jasper has really had to step up as the future King of Isis. (Especially since Diaspro got into trouble. Again.)

-Nabu got his tattoos when he was about 16. He completed a ritual on Tides that basically meant he had become one with the ocean and had the waters moving within him.

-(His sister has similar tattoos on her arms, though more bubble foam/like.)

-Nabu loves to surf and to swim and scuba diving. Honestly he just loves being near the water and having sand between his toes.

-He loves dance and often has Layla teaching him new moves. Sometimes, if your lucky, you’ll see them dancing in the kitchen while trying to get snacks for movie nights.

-Nabu is big on healthy eating and yoga. His mother just ingrained both into him at a young age.

-At least with yoga, he has friends who enjoy participating with him. And with the healthy eating, he’s great at making healthy alternative snacks. (Which Flora absolutely loves him for.)

-Riven and Nabu became unlikely friends rather quickly. Neither of them is quite sure how it happened, but both are quite fine with their arrangement. Riven shares things with Nabu he has issues sharing with others and Nabu gets to vent out some of his frustrations with Riven that he’s more nervous to voice with others.

-(They also get into competitive surfing competitions. But the kind where they can laugh at each other afterward.)

-Nabu loves animals and hopes to have pets in the future. (He couldn’t have any pets other than fish at home because his parents weren’t… Pet people. But he knows Layla has a soft-side for dogs, so he’s hoping they can find one they both love.)

-Once he officially joined the team, it kind of shocked him how often they got into trouble. Like he was pretty sure that the whole Valtor thing was a one-time instance.

-Like when he found out about the group’s freshman year, he nearly lost his mind. (“You guys fought a battle that nearly ended the entire Magical Dimension? At 15?! You out of your minds?”)

-And then when he heard about the sophomore year shenanigans. (“Layla, you went to ShadowHaunt, on your own, when Darkar was still in charge?!” “I had to save the pixies.” “And then everyone went after Darkar?” “Well yeah. Couldn’t let him have ultimate power.” “How are any of you still alive?”)

-When the Mandragora thing happens during their senior year, he just sort of accepts it. (“Oh look. Someone else who wants to kill us.”)

-And then the Black Circle shit… (“Can… Can we not have a single break? At all?”)

-Poor Nabu, he’d went to having a relatively quiet life of royalty to always having to try and save the world because if he doesn’t help, Layla will be doing it on her own anyway.

-He loves swapping royalty horror stories (and gossip, not that he’ll admit that part) with Stella and Sky. (Layla isn’t as big on it. She just doesn’t care at all who’s doing what. Though she does participate from time to time.)

-While he’s not a fan of video games, Nabu does like to cheer on Timmy and Tecna when they have a tournament going on. (And he even supplies them with snacks. Nutritional ones. They don’t seem to notice the difference.)

-Nabu and Flora tend to go on tangents together about nature conservation. He’s big on ocean protection, just like she is on forest preservation and together it’s just… Wow.

-(They have even been to a few protests together. Sometimes heated ones. Thankfully, due to Nabu’s status, they haven’t gotten into too much trouble.)

-After his near-death experience, Nabu tends to have nightmares. Strong ones. Ones where he does actually die and he can see Layla and his friends just losing themselves in morning.

-He wakes up crying and Layla just holds him tight.

-(She has nightmares too, about losing him after she had been so close to doing so.)

-(Which is why they pushed their wedding date up a bit. So they can be married before something does take them away from each other.)

-One somewhat good thing came from the whole experience… Nabu’s magic evolved a bit.

-He’s better at divination than he’d ever been before. With his abilities, he can sometimes get visions of things in the past or of things to come. (And sometimes, if concentrates, he can bring up the visions in pools of water so he can share them with others.)

-(When he gets the hang of it, he’s sure he’ll be able to do better once he understands how this part of his powers work.)

-Nabu hopes that with everything he and Layla have been through and survived, it’ll give them the experience and knowledge necessary to become the best rulers Andros has ever had. (Or at least, rulers as amazing as his parents and Layla’s parents are.)

#winx club headcanons #winx club #winx club au #winx headcanons #winx club nabu #winx club nabu headcanons #prince nabu of tides #surfing king

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halothenthehorns · 3 years ago

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All in the Family

Chapter 44: Flight of the Fat Lady

It was an, interesting space, to say the least. They all recognized they were still in Hogwarts, a quick peek out the window confirmed it was a windy day on the schools grounds. None of them automatically recognized the room they were in though.

There was a tank sitting in the corner filled with murky water, though nothing discernible inside it. Remus went over anyways to peer in, Sirius following along so he could eye the books on a nearby shelf, all titled after Dark creatures. Frank went over to riffle through the desk, and found assignments already marked for DA lessons.

"Wow," Peter was turning slowly on the spot, taking it all in. The worn briefcase still sitting pleasantly on the edge of the desk, a chipped teapot and an empty goblet still steaming off to the side. "I think we're actually in Professor Lupin's office."

"Eerie," James muttered agreement. "Somewhere Moony's going to be one day, that we never are." They both shivered and went over to where their friends were for a distraction. Remus had found the book amongst the others and was continuing the tale. "Flight of the Fat Lady? How odd, where do you suppose she's going?"

"Don't know, she's never been known to dodder off before," Sirius said without concern.

"You've always threatened to chase her off when she pretends the password has been changed," James reminded with a laugh. "Maybe you finally go through with it." He had taken great comfort so far Sirius hadn't been mentioned anywhere near the castle, clearly whatever he was up to had nothing to do with Harry.

Sirius laughed in agreement, and to everyone else it looked like they hadn't a care in the world.

Alice tried to catch Lily's eye and see what she thought of this newest place, but she still seemed distant, playing with strands of her hair and looking everywhere, and no where. The narrative certainly wasn't helping this along, if anything it was making it all worse. The Marauders were yukking it up, hearing one of their own made such a great teacher that the students all loved. Alice was honestly quite pleased with Lupin and wished she could find some way to thank him for how he'd treated Neville, giving him a way to stand up to Snape, even a fake one.

"We don't have to talk about him," Alice said quietly as more of his bitter personality was highlighted. The red-head pulled even tighter into herself, as if trying to shield herself from the words. "It seems a little hard to get away from this though." She finished with as much sympathy as she could, admittedly it wasn't much, she didn't know anyone who was being such an arse to everyone around him.

"It's not him though!" Lily said at once with passion. "That's not my friend, never how I've known him!"

Alice bit her lip rather than respond, but then Potter whirled on the spot and snapped, "well it's high time you see the side of him everyone else has!"

Frank couldn't help but wince and step away from the lot, out of the line of fire.

This was understandable, as Evans predictably shot back at once, "just because you lot feel the need to curse-"

"No!" Potter snapped back, and there was none of his jovial tone, the light in his face showing how much he enjoyed her attention now. "You don't get to accuse my best mate of being a murderer never even knowing him, but still defend the biggest bully in this school! I've been trying to get you to see that for long enough!"

Lily just stood there, looking far more stunned than any spell could accomplish. Finally she flipped her hair and stalked away, but not before snapping, "good! Good riddance! It's what I've been hoping you'd do for the past five bloody years!"

Potter looked genuinely surprised at such a reaction, rocking back on his heels and turning to face his friends again in confusion. "For one second, I actually thought I'd gotten through to her."

"Shouldn't have made it sound so final mate," Sirius offered helpfully. "Now she might actually not be expecting you to start up again."

"Plan for a sneak attack," Remus offered quietly, causing the four to laugh again. The book thankfully took a turn with their mood, talk of Quidditch and Wood's even more persistent attempts at a winning year.

It was depressing Harry would be missing the first Hogsmeade trip, but Peter very, very quietly whispered, "hope he, ah, winds up there anyways," with a promising look at James. He nodded to himself, quite agreeing his son deserved to get in there no matter what means. It would make his day for a son of his to find a certain secret passage.

Arguments were lighting up everywhere, even in the book now as Ron and Hermione's problems with their pets was highlighted through a romp around the common room with Crookshanks and Scabbers. Peter in particular shivered for that, it had happened a few times by accident and wasn't something he'd wish repeated.

Hermione wasn't winning points back with any of the Marauders as the day went on and she was so callous about hearing of another kid losing her pet rabbit back home.

"I swear, Hermione seems like more of a self-centered prick than that Lockhart!" Sirius scowled in frustration for the sobbing kid. "Who picks now of all times to hammer her point home, can't she offer a bit of sympathy!"

"That's rich coming from you," Frank raised a mock surprised brow. "Considering the only emotion I've ever found in you was contempt, or juvenile euphoria."

Sirius scowled, his hand twitching for his wand, until, "just because you and that Muggleborn agree on the flimsy premise of Divination doesn't give you a pass to start acting like her Longbottom," Regulus called from the window, slumped down so far in the shadows he was nearly invisible. "I know for a fact you and Smith thought she was being too harsh a whole book ago, no need to over stew yourself and come out warped," he finished with a smug expression.

Frank rolled his eyes, unimpressed, while Sirius was beaming at him. Regulus was no longer looking at either of them, eyes back out the window and completely uninterested as Lupin stuttered Harry's way through an attempt to get McGonagall to allow him to go anywhere without a permission slip. Everyone knew how that was going to turn out.

The mood only grew worse about the room as Harry was left to himself as his friends departed. No one envied those who were alone, and Frank pushed past the group of four roughly so that he could join Alice giving a comforting chat to Lily. The two began sharing their favorite spots out in Hogsmeade, and after a little cajoling Lily finally opened up as well and joined in with a half-decent smile, effectively not bringing up Snape's name.

Sirius only hesitated for a few moments before waving Regulus over as well. His little brother looked pleasantly surprised, hesitated a few moments himself, before coming over to join them.

"So, I've been thinking about this from how you would Sirius, and perhaps what happened-"

"Oh can we not!" Sirius said at once, his tone cracking with well disguised strain. To anyone outside of this circle, it wasn't even noticeable. "I wanted to have a laugh about Filch! Come, please tell me you've some stories about snubbing him!"

Regulus rolled his eyes and already looked like he was regretting coming over here. Lupin coming into the story again and offering Harry to come into this very room only marginally improved his mood, he was hoping Harry would find some detail in here he'd missed about what was going on this year.

"Oh, it's a grindylow!" James said in surprise, turning back to the tank and now tapping it enthusiastically. "You've hid him too well Moony, I can't see him back behind all that seaweed."

"I'm sure I'm just letting the little thing be comfortable till class, then I'll likely take that out," Remus offered.

James smiled with ease that conversation between Harry and Remus flowed so smoothly. Well of course it would, any kids of his would get along with his friends! He was surprised he hadn't heard more about this! Why hadn't Moony gone and sought out Harry? Well, the same reason he hadn't for the past thirteen years...which James had no good reason for. Her pursed his lips tight and fought off the urge, again, to bring this up. He shook it off and instead enjoyed what transpired between Harry and Remus, until Snape came in.

"Gah! Can't go one bloody hour without wanting to hex him lately," Sirius scowled.

"Sadly, I'll have to agree with Black on this one," Frank muttered quietly. The guy had some rotten timing, Lily had instantly gone back to her reserved and stand offish self. She flared a bit at hearing Frank's mutter, but wavered at the look on his face. Clearly he didn't regret saying it, at all. She couldn't help but think, were they the ones missing something here, or was she?

They all stiffened and looked around the room suspiciously, until Peter nudged his friends and gestured to the goblet he'd previously noted. He no longer thought it housed tea.

Sirius licked his lips nervously, taking a step closer to Remus. "He, wouldn't really poison Moony with a witness about, would he?"

"I mean, who would believe Harry if he did?" James muttered. "Dumbledore already hired him knowing what he's capable of."

Lily's eyes grew wide in disgust at their minds, then narrowed in horror as her own mind trailed off in wonder. What on Earth had caused Lupin and Severus to become cordial? Possibly just time, the two actually growing up and maturity rendering civility? She could hope, but she wondered if it wasn't something else. Just last week Sev had once again been going on about the Marauders and how they were hiding something. Had he finally discovered what? Her friend clearly still hated Potter in this time though, why not Lupin? Then her mind again went to the rest of his friends, to Black. Who was now on the run for murder.

Her mouth went dry, she almost screamed but stopped herself at the last second. She'd previously suspected the two old friends could be in on something together but had tried to brush it off for one of them being at school, but how could Sev have been roped into it? Was he still just trying to know, or had he done more and figured it all out?

They were all left with more questions than answers as Snape departed as mysteriously as he'd come, and the fact that Lupin seemed even grateful as he drank what he himself described as a 'disgusting,' potion clued in no one. The Marauders knew something, the other four were all positive of this, but clearly not enough for an answer judging by all of their worried expressions.

Lupin was the most distracted of all, he kept glancing out the window so frequently it was as if he didn't even realize he were reading about the Gryffindor portrait being attacked until Peeves arrived, and then they were all wired with attention and worry until the name was given. Sirius Black had struck again.

#Harry Potter #fanfiction #Marauders #PoA #reading the books #Wolfstar #Jilly #Regulus Black #Sirius Black #James Potter #Peter Pettigrew #Remus Lupin #Alice Smith #Frank Longbottom

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mercdoesfanfic · 3 years ago

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The Last of the American Girls (Chapter 1)

Hello! I’m not sure if I’m gonna keep posting fics on tumblr, but I figured I’d give it a try. I guess let me know if you like this fic and I’ll be more likely to keep going. Anyways, it’s going to be kind of a songfic using The Last of the American Girls by Green Day. The first chapter is set up and beyond that, they’ll be memories. WARNINGS: angst, vague references to doing the nasty.

xxx

“Well, she’s the last of the American Girls.”

xxx

In the grand scheme of things, there wasn’t much that Daryl Dixon needed to survive. While some of his companions in the apocalypse yearned for a warm bath or a movie to watch, Daryl was used to living rough and tumble. He knew how to hunt, how to turn animal meat into an edible meal, and how to fend for himself. After all, the world had only just decided it didn’t want the rest of humanity there, but it had despised him since the day he was born.

However, he had to admit he was thrilled when he found out that the Greene’s farmhouse had electricity. It gave him one last opportunity to use the last item he had held onto from the past, to experience the only thing that had mattered to him before the world went to hell.

It took some uncomfortable explaining to one of Hershel’s daughters- the older one who had taken a shine to Glenn- to get him in the door and into the guest room. She left him for a moment with a curious expression, quickly returning with the only item he had asked for.

Daryl took the iPod charger and thanked her quietly, refusing to make eye contact. It didn’t take long for the woman to take her leave.

The younger Dixon could almost hear his older brother’s mocking, despite their estrangement. It didn’t matter where in the world Merle Dixon was, he always got himself the last word when it came to his brother’s choices. And, as Daryl could imagine, he would be getting mocked endlessly for what he was about to do. However, with little else to do as the small black device charged, all he could do was listen to the disappointed guffaws of his elder brother.

“Christ Almighty, Darylina. Not even the end of the fucking world could force you to grow a pair. Sittin’ around in some saintly man’s house, waiting on a useless brick of metal. And for what? All over some bitch that’s dead and gone.”

Daryl almost winced at the imagined scrutiny, his brother’s words cutting worse than when he had thought the things himself. This was remarkably stupid, even by his standards. There was nothing left for him in this. Everything on the little device covered in various, cartoon stickers charging in front of him was based purely on memory, on emotion. Even on a good day, Daryl found the routine, the desire to look through the iPod ridiculous. And he couldn’t help but assume that there weren’t going to be many good days left.

The world seemed to halt when the screen came to life, the usual playlist displayed in dark mode taking over for the first time in months.

His mind, as it always did, clouded at the sight of his name at the top of the track list. Dixon. He could almost hear her voice, the lilt that snuck into her tone every time she greeted him from behind the bar. He thought he had moved past this, that the end of the world had washed away what had come before. That he would be done with the emotional strain that the world had placed on his shoulders from a young age. The good, the bad, and the ugly, all rinsed away for the simple chaos that the walkers left in their wake. But now, sat in front of this stupid fucking box like a teenager looking at a love note, he knew that would never be the case.

xxx

She had been on her tiptoes, cursing as she stretched over the counter to wipe down a spilled drink when he had entered the dimly lit dive bar. It was a chilly evening in Atlanta, but the woman still wore a simple black tank top and grey jean shorts that hardly came halfway down her thighs. Her long, dark brown hair was pulled up in a high ponytail, clearly for practicality as opposed to preference, keeping it off of her face and neck as she worked. This, however, only served to draw attention to the work of art that adorned her body, a tattoo consisting of barbed wire wrapped around her neck that slithered down over the rest of her body, ending somewhere below her ankles. She didn’t seem too imposing, but her presence seemed to demand respect from those around her. In shitholes like this, men could hardly keep their drunken mouths shut around women, saying filthy things and copping feels. But the place was in order. People kept themselves in check and a single glare from her created a silence far more imposing than anything Daryl had ever seen.

He had come in looking for an alibi, an excuse to keep himself out of Merle’s illicit activities for the evening and a dose of plausible deniability should the Atlanta PD come knocking. Instead, he had found something else. Usually, he couldn’t give two fucks about what someone thought about him. But her? He wanted her to notice him…

xxx

Doors opening and closing on the floor below him brought him back to the present, the memory’s clarity fading almost as quickly as it came. The first time he had been able to see her in his mind’s eye in a long time. It had been a year since he had seen her, since he had left the city with his brother like the idiot he was. She had offered him a place in the world, a life of his own, and he had turned it down for Merle fucking Dixon. There wasn’t a day that he wondered if the choice was worth it… But since Merle had fled that rooftop in Atlanta, he knew that he had thrown in with the wrong person.

Everyone he cared for always left him. But not her. She had asked him to stay.

And he had left her in return.

Fucking. Moron.

A parting gift, in the form of her treasured iPod containing a playlist for him, was all he had left of her. He had no doubt in his mind that she was long gone, either fleeing from the dead or part of the dead herself. After all, happy endings and good fortune were never in the cards for any of the Dixons, least of all Daryl.

With unsteady hands, Daryl plugged in the pair of earbuds she had sent along, pushing one into his ear in order to keep himself sharp enough to respond to any possible threats. It was second nature, it always had been. As he stared at the unmoving screen before him, he asked himself whether he deserved this. The memory of Gloria alone overwhelmed him with a sense of bliss, one he wasn’t sure he deserved. It all came back in short bursts. The good, the bad, and the ugly of one of the best people he’d met in his entire life.

xxx

“Oh, eat shit, Dixon!” she cried, laughing through her words as she curled up in the passenger seat of his pick-up truck. “I was NOT that drunk!”

“Ya tripped over the curb, then curled up on the sidewalk screamin’ ‘bout how ya were sure to die any minute. I had t’ carry ya home and put a frozen bag of blueberries on ya elbow.”

“I was just… very concerned about gettin’ a bruise.” she defended adamantly.

“You didn’t even hit that elbow, Glory.”

“Like I said, eat shit!” Her smile was practically contagious.

xxx

“You’re such a fuckin’ prick, Dixon!” she screamed, stalking up the stairs of the empty bar towards her apartment above. “I can’t fuckin’ believe it!”

“Glory, I’ve got no goddamn clue what you are talkin’ about!”

“So I’m just not good enough for a little fuckin’ honesty, that it?!” she demanded, stopping short at the door and turning to face him. Daryl could see the tears hidden behind the rage, but knew that they wouldn’t fall, not in front of him. “Am I jus’ not worth the fuckin’ time?! If you don’ wanna take this anywhere, that’s fuckin’ fine! But don’ lead me on like I’m some idiot.”

“I-... I don’t wanna…-”

“But you are, asshole! I have been jerked around enough damn times to know what it looks like. And to think I thought you gave a fuck.”

“I do! I jus’ ain’t ever done this before!!”

She quieted down almost immediately, her demeanor eerily timid in comparison to her typical fire.

“You-You’ve never… never what? Like… any of it…?”

“No! I haven’t!” Daryl was still pissed, but he couldn’t quite tell if it was at her or himself.

“Oh fuck…. I am… Jesus, I’m so sorry, I’m such a bitch.” she murmured, burying her face in her hands. “Christ, I’m sorry.” she turned around to unlock her door, fumbling with the keys as Daryl fumed. As she opened the door with a creak of rusty hinges, she turned to face him. “You deserve a better first, Dixon. Don’t waste it on me, okay?” the words were filled with kindness, with a sort of compassion he rarely saw from her.

As the door shut, he understood one fact more clearly than he had ever understood about the retreating woman. He was stupidly in love with her.

xxx

Her scars were so different from his. While his were big, ragged gashes, hers were small, smooth indentations in otherwise perfect skin. But, like his, they were everywhere.

He discovered each and every one, his calloused hands tracing ever so lightly over her skin. She leaned up to do the same with her lips, letting them ghost over his neck as he held back a satisfied groan at her efforts. It didn’t take long for him to reach his destination, his nimble fingers pulling melodies from her lips that he was so sure proved the existence of a god. Only the divine could create something so heavenly.

Once she had her fill, he took what he so desperately needed, murmuring praises the entire way. Her nails dug into his arms as she clung to him, begging for more, to be closer to him. To say that having this unwavering force of a woman beneath him crying out in ecstasy was anything short of magical would have been a goddamn crime.

For the first time in his entire life, Daryl Dixon found peace in baring himself to another person, falling soundly asleep with Gloria tangled in a gentle embrace.

xxx

Daryl Dixon refocused his gaze on the screen in front of him and pressed play.

#the walking dead #twd #twd fanfiction #the walking dead daryl #daryl fanfiction #daryl dixon/oc #daryl dixon x oc #oc #songfic #last of the american girls #green day #fanfiction #mercdoesfanfic

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ikuzeminna · 4 years ago

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Scene analysis - Treize’s suicide

I was going to do a scene analysis about Wufei. But Treize makes me so angry, I’m gonna talk about him instead.

Fair warning, I hate his guts.

The scene in question is his final one in the series. White Fang and the World Nation are fighting in a huge battle and Wufei leaves the other pilots attempting to smash the mobile doll control system to pieces to confront Treize.

They start fighting and Wufei accuses Treize of toying with people’s lives, asking him if he even knows how many people have died for the wars he wanted to fight. Treize gives him the exact number, which makes Wufei even angrier as he apparently knows, yet doesn’t care, while Treize asks Lady Une to pass on the list of names of today’s fallen so that he can remember them, too.

And this is where I get angry because his entire dialogue is just so self-serving.

Let’s start with this line. Treize, who is in love with the idea of a noble death on the battlefield and romanticizes war and the reason people fight without apparently giving a thought to the horrors of it, tells Wufei that he remembers everyone who sacrificed their lives in battle.

And then he starts listing the names of those noble warriors who oh so gallantly made that sacrifice.

Except, most of the people he lists here didn’t “sacrifice their lives”, they were killed by this jackass, just because he wanted to start a war and a new era. Darlian wasn’t even military.

Does he even know who Bundt is? Anyway.

This line makes everything worse. He is basically saying that he is fully aware of how many people he has killed. Again, his reason to start a year full of wars, as we learn in the beginning of the series that there was peace at the time, was akin to boredom. He didn’t care about Romefeller that much, he just wanted to stir things up because the Alliance was getting too complacent during peace and because he is a romantic in the literary sense and digs noble deaths.

Oh, heck no. Your hypocritical derrière did not just say that to the guy who is actually grieving the loss of his wife and entire colony. Which you are responsible for.

Now, this is something I can agree with. Treize is basically saying here that all this needed to happen in order for the outcome to be what they were hoping for now: peace. And after this, people do indeed all agree that they never want to see such a thing again. Which made Mariemaia’s takeover so easy.

Except, when did Treize start caring about peace? Did he get his fill of blood in this year? Or did the mobile dolls sour the experience for him? Honest question.

If anyone argues that this was his aim from the beginning then haha, no. That’s not how you go about it.

“My death will not be in vain either!”

And then he kills himself. And it’s so self-serving, it’s amazing.

With this death, Treize goes down in history as a hero having fallen honorably in the last great battle of his era, nobly defending Earth against the evil White Fang after a long and vicious fight where he was gallantly leading his troops himself.

(While Zechs, who is an actual decent guy, gets stuck with the title of crazy warmonger who needed to go down.)

This was Treize’s aim from the very beginning, which is why he wasn’t wearing a space suit. Or why he challenged Zechs to a duel. He knew this would be the last war in his lifetime and being Treize, he wanted to go out like a noble warrior and not die of something lame like old age.

The guy must’ve been beside himself when Wufei showed up because getting killed by mindless mobile dolls would put such a massive damper on his noble death. But then he gets a Gundam pilot as an opponent. Now, that is a death worth dying!

He probably also took this as his divine punishment for all the carnage he caused, so double win. I just hope he didn’t think he made up for anything with his kicking the bucket.

So yeah.

Treize?

No, sir. Don’t like him.

#gundam wing #treize khushrenada #analysis #rant #episode 48

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color-me-malfoy · 4 years ago

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TEN DUEL COMANDMENTS: CHAPTER II

SUMMARY:

After the rumor spreads that The Dark Lord has returned, a tyrant woman called Dolores Umbridge takes over Headmaster Dumbledore’s position to run the school in a way where no one can speak against the Ministry. In the middle of all the chaos, Harry Potter approaches you saying that he wants you to help him in a secret mission to teach the students how to defend themselves in case The Dark Lord infiltrates the school. However, a certain platinum-haired boy from the Inquisitorial Squad is seeking every way to win you over to his side. So you’re stranded between what you believe in and what you think is right. And right now, you aren’t willing to wait for it.

CHAPTER 2: WE ARE A POWDER KEG ABOUT TO EXPLODE, I NEED SOMEONE LIKE YOU TO LIGHTEN THE LOAD

You scrambled up and around the Changing Staircases and nearly fell off if you hadn't held on to the handle. You had asked five different people where Harry was, and none of them bloody knew where he went after Divination. You let out a puff of breath and sat down, then looked at the mark the coin had left on your hand. It was a bright red circle in the middle of your palm.

You looked up as the stairs started to change, which led you to the seventh floor. You stood up and staggered up the staircase and into the hall, then stopped as you saw Harry.

“Finally,” you mumbled, and ran towards him. “Harry!”

He turned around and pointed his wand at you, but let out a sigh- of relief? You didn’t know- as he realized it was just you.

“Oh, hi, Y/N,” he smiled. “What-What are you doing here by the R- seventh floor?”

“I was wondering if you still had a little of that Wound-Cleansing Potion I gave you yesterday, I have a little wound on my palm,” you tugged on the sleeves of your robes.

“Actually, I do, yeah,” he stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled out the half-full vial. “Got detention?”

“No, that’s not it,” you quipped. “I got burned by a coin.”

Harry turned pale, and his eyes widened. “Wha-”

“The coin you gave me, specifically. And,” you showed him your palm as you spoke, “The coin showed today’s date for 12:50pm, right?”

“How did you find out?” He asked, his eyes growing serious.

“It doesn’t take a genius to notice that the dates on a coin change,” you poured the liquid on your palm, silently wincing at the sting.

Harry ran his hand through his hair. “What are you saying?”

“What I’m saying is,” you sighed. “You can either tell me or Umbridge.”

Harry groaned. "I'm confused."

"Well, it’s pretty obvious you’re doing something secretly, so you can tell me, and there's only a less than twenty-five percent probability that Umbridge finds out," you explained, "or you could tell Umbridge and that'll be a one-hundred percent chance of her finding out. But, if I were you," you tossed him back the empty vial, "I'd tell Umbridge because I am a horrible person to trust."

Harry looked at you and sighed.

"I'm only telling you this because you're one of the smartest people I know and you're just using reverse psychology on me," he whispered. "I've started a club called the Dumbledore's Army where we train ourselves to fight off Death Eaters in case You-Know-Who breaks in the school."

"What?" you asked, "I just meant the coin-"

"Well, I might as well tell you everything because I'm having a nervous breakdown!" he flailed his hands. "We use this to tell the members when the next club meeting is. Every member has one of these."

You looked back at the coin, "That was a great idea, Harry!"

"Well, not much of a secure idea, because you found it out," he laughed. "Anyway, we teach the members how to make their Patronuses, how to disarm the enemy, and how to duel, but we've only come so far, a-and we need a little help," he looked up at you and played with his fingers.

"Harry, why are you telling me this?"

"I'm being honest, I'm working with less than a third of the school and we're still not enough to fight against the Dark Lord. We don't have enough people to teach the first-years, and-"

"You're asking me to join you?" you cut him off.

"Well, yes."

"Harry, I don't believe in doing all this so secretly. Why be so clandestine if Dumbledore supports you?"

"Y/N, we only named this after Dumbledore, he's not the one heading us."

"Then who is? You?"

"Yes."

There was an uncomfortable silence between you two. Harry was anticipating your answer, and you knew you wanted to fight, but Harry's strategy had so many flaws.

You buried your face in your hands and turned back to him with a sigh.

"Harry, don’t worry, I'm going to keep this a secret regardless if I join Dumbledore's Army or not," you assured him. "But I'm going to need some time to weigh the consequences. I-I'll let you know by tomorrow after Potions."

Harry bit his lip and nodded. The two of you turned and walked away until…

"Attention, Y/N L/N, please proceed to the office of Professor Umbridge after lunch."

"Wh-What?" You stammered. "Oh, no."

Harry ran back to you. "Hey, don't worry, if she knew about the D.A. then she would've called me too, wouldn't she?"

You calmed yourself down. “Yeah, yeah, I know.”

Harry rubbed your back sympathetically. “See you around.”

He left, and you practically ran down the stairs. You burst into the Great Hall, not stopping when you heard Ruth calling after you, until she grabbed you by the shoulders.

"Merlin, Ruth, you scared me!" You cried.

"I scared you?! Y/N, Draco Malfoy has been looking for you everywhere!"

You froze. "Wh-what?"

Ruth suddenly smiled. "He actually talked to me! He asked me where you were, and I said I didn't know, and then he actually told me to have a nice day!" she giggled.

"Ruth, what, why was he looking for me?"

"I don't know, but he actually wanted to talk to you!" she squealed.

"Ruth, what else did he say?"

"I don't know, it doesn't matter-"

"It does matter, Ruth, I'm being called to Umbridge's office!"

She closed her mouth in shock. That was the moment you realized tears were flowing down your face.

"Hey, ssh," she cooed, pulling you into her arms, "don't be scared."

"I-I don't know w-why she-"

"Hey," she pulled back to look at you, "she's not as bad as everyone says. She’s just a teacher, she doesn’t have enough power to do anything!"

"You sure?" you sniffled.

"Yes, I’m sure! She can’t hurt you, she’s not the bloody Headmaster." she wiped some tears off your cheeks. “Besides, she’ll only get mad if you’re doing something wrong. Now, go eat something before you faint from anxiety.”

You went to sit down before somebody grabbed your other arm.

“Hey- Lester!” You smiled as you saw the familiar freckled face, then realized you had practically left him at the library. “Oh, Merlin, Lester, I’m sorry I left you there-”

“No, don’t mention it, I wasn’t there for a long time anyway,” he brushed it off, then leaned in to whisper. “I just wanted to tell you that the date on the coin changed to tomorrow and the time changed to 14-30.”

“That means two-thirty in the afternoon tomorrow,” you mumbled. “Thanks, Lester.”

He turned around to leave but you stopped him.

“Hey, Lester, Why don’t you sit with me and Ruth?” you offered.

“Oh,” he giddily sat next to Ruth. “Thanks. You must be Ruth Solari.”

“You must be Lester Lawrence,” she smiled, then offered her hand to shake. However, he surprised both of you by bringing the back of her hand to his lips.

“If it takes fighting a war for us to meet, it will have been worth it.” He winked at Ruth, who turned cherry-red at his words.

"W-well, let's eat! I'm starving!" she sputtered out as she became more flustered by the moment.

You bid goodbye to Ruth and Lester, who became fast friends over the span of forty minutes and decided to have a walk around Hogwarts while conversing.

Which left you in the Hall, eating more fish fillet, dreading the pink room awaiting you.

Lester had given you the coin, and you anxiously fiddled with it as more students left the Hall.

"Okay," you whispered. "Heads, I go to Umbridge now and get it over with. Tails, I wait until the very last moment to go there."

You flipped it in the air, watched as it stopped for a moment and turned back, falling onto the table. You peered at it and-

"L/N," Draco called from the entrance. "Professor Umbridge requests you in her office."

You sighed. You slid the coin back into your pocket and staggered over to him, taking a double glance at the empty hall. He took your arm and the two of you headed for the third floor.

“What’d you do, huh, L/N?” He asked as the two of you waited for the stairs to change.

“I don’t understand,” you shook your head. “Is she mad?”

Draco laughed. “No, she’s in a sprightly mood. It’s just that I had my whole day to myself until she had me pick you up. I’m just wondering why you had to mess up my schedule.” He shrugged. “Maybe because you let me copy off your potion.”

“That was one time, Malfoy, I don’t think I’ll do it again,” you mumbled.

“That’s what the cheaters usually say,” Malfoy laughed.

He swung the classroom door open, then ushered you through the chairs and desks on the way to the door that led to Umbridge’s office.

You were a little relaxed by this time, because you realized that she probably didn’t know a thing about your earlier conversation with Harry. Maybe she just wanted to talk.

As you neared the office, Draco gestured to the door, where Livina was standing with her hands at her side, staring you down with a neutral expression.

However, as you walked ahead of Draco, Livina suddenly grabbed your arm, and leaned in to whisper hoarsely in your ear.

“Don’t drink it.”

You were a little confused until she let you go and as the office door opened, with a grinning Umbridge standing behind the desk, pouring a steamy liquid into a cup.

“Would you like some tea, dear?”

A/N:

TAGLIST: @slytherin-chaser

#draco malfoy #draco malfoy oneshots #draco malfoy x reader #draco malfoy imagines #draco x y/n #order of the phoenix #harry potter x hamilton #harry potter fanfic #harry potter #harry potter oneshots

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kathyprior4200 · 4 years ago

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Wanna make a Deal?

Inspired by MrMautz’s “Wanna make a deal” animation and “Alastor’s Game” by the Living Tombstone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1BFaW4h-l8

A silhouette of a tall man with furry deer ears and antlers hummed happily as he walked down the cobblestone path to the Hazbin Hotel. There was a sway in his steps, like he was walking and dancing at the same time. The entrance awning was covered with a tattered pink circus tent, decorated with yellow eyes along the border. The ground was solid dark gray asphalt and dead gnarled trees stretched up toward the crimson sky. The building was pink, gold and reddish in color. A Titanic looking ship and a carousel were attached to the structure. The sign on the roof changed from Happy Hotel to Hazbin Hotel.

The stained glass windows in the double doors and off to the sides consisted of apples and circus tent designs. The doors burst open and the silhouette walked in from the burst of light. Large red eyes and a big yellow smile appeared on his face.

It was Alastor, the Radio Demon.

“I’ve got a game I want to show you.”

He spoke the words in a radio sing song voice, wearing his tattered red dress coat with a big black bow tie, his hair red and black. His under shirt was light red with a black upside down cross on it. He wore wine colored pants and black tap dancing shoes with red deer tracks on the soles. A monocle was under his right eye. He walked over toward Charlie and Vaggie in the lobby. Gray-skinned Vaggie wore her usual gray tank top and stripped leggings, plus her pink bow tie in her hair white. Charlie had her fluffy blonde hair and a pale face with blushes on her cheeks. She had her salmon pink suit on with a bow tie, a white undershirt, dark pants and shoes. Angel Dust, the white spider, was sitting on the couch in his pink and white striped suit and high heeled pink boots.

Charlie was disheartened. After having several new clients at the hotel including Angel Dust, Mimzy, Crymini, Baxter, Cherri Bomb, Arackniss, and Molly…Angel Dust was the first one to break his bad habits and almost achieve redemption. But the elite angels in Heaven weren’t accepting of sinners without them going through harsh punishment to prove themselves. Indeed, going to Heaven was near impossible.

And with Vox, Valentino, Velvet and the other Overlords up to no good, things weren’t looking very bright.

“If I give you advice, you’ll have to play, too.”

Charlie nodded, eager for advice on how to continue with her project. Vaggie held her wrist and shook her head, warning her not to accept anything from the Overlord. But the desperate princess looked at Alastor, wanting answers.

“I’ve been here for years bidding my time, waiting and primed, until I could find you.”

His partially shadowed face briefly moved closer to theirs, causing the young women to flinch. He smiled and held up a scroll of paper that read “contact,” on it. A small red and black feather pen appeared next to it. With magic, the paper was pushed toward Charlie. At the bottom of the page were several lines for other people to sign.

“Just sign on the line and we can be friends. I’ll be here for you until your world ends.”

Suspicious as Charlie was, his words also tugged at her heartstrings. Alastor had done a lot to help promote the hotel in the past several weeks on his radio show. Plus he was quick to defend Charlie, her friends and the hotel, against outsider intruders like Sir Pentious, Seviathan, and the snobby Helsa.

Charlie saw a vision in front of her from Alastor’s hand, showing her and Alastor dancing while demons lined up to the hotel, each one developing better habits. Vaggie was staring at Charlie with pride in her eyes. Both her parents hugged her and apologized for not believing in her idea to redeem sinners. The vision faded away, Charlie wondering why it had gone. Taking a deep breath Charlie took the pen and signed the contract, Vaggie staring in disbelief. Charlie looked slightly downcast, believing it was the only other option.

Alastor walked over to Angel Dust, the spider demon happy to see the attractive deer demon near him. From Alastor’s hand, light shone from it, creating another vision for Angel. In this one, Alastor was hugging Angel after the spider demon had been freed from Valentino’s clutches. Angel was now free to do what he wanted with Cherri Bomb and his friends. Angel even saw himself reuniting with his brother Arackniss, his sister Molly, his father Henroin and his mother Aranea. Alastor handed him a bag of money and wished him luck before blowing a kiss and giving him his number.

Angel’s eyes dilated as he, too, scribbled his name on the contact. With a smug look on his face, Alastor walked over to Vaggie, holding the paper in front of her. Vaggie growled and shook her head. Alastor shrugged, almost looking like he was about to walk away. But then he presented a vision to her before she could close her visible eye: Vaggie and Charlie sitting together on the roof of the hotel, smiling under a starry sky. Alastor and Angel were nowhere to be seen. Best of all, her father Valentino was in prison where he belonged. No more catering to men and being a prostitute like she did in her human life. The message in Alastor’s eyes was clear: sign this and I’ll leave you be.

With a reluctant sigh of defeat, Vaggie pressed the pen down and wrote her name. The contract vanished and Alastor stood in front of the girls with a look of triumph, the microphone staff in his right hand. He twirled it.

“Enjoy all your toys I will supply. You only live once…or twice.”

He then spoke in a low voice that no one else could hear: “And you’ll be mine.”

Alastor grinned and clenched his fist, as astrological symbols appeared in the swirling fiery light.

“The day you die, I’ll have my payment. Your eternal soul’s enslavement. Did you divine our dark arrangement?”

The light vanished and he turned back to his friends. “You were lovely entertainment.”

He pulled Charlie and Vaggie close to him, both of them with stunned looks on their faces.

“The dark desires you’ve been serving.”

He briefly hung upside down, pointing at them…

“You can bet that you’re deserving.”

He stood back up in front of them.

“No regret for who you’re hurting. Why it’s almost like you’re flirting.”

Alastor stood straight with a smirk on his face as he looked down at them. He was now wearing a matching red top hat. Everyone stared at him with suspicion and concern in their looks.

“Sorry, I don’t mean to alarm you,” he said. “If you ask me to stay, I would be charmed to.”

Charlie and Angel nodded their heads, while Vaggie crossed her arms. Charlie wanted him to stay at the hotel longer. She needed all the help she could get. She needed to convince her stern but protective father that her plan could still work. Lucifer had refused Charlie and her friends from going up to Heaven for good reason.

Alastor picked up a picture and looked at it. It was an old one of Charlie and Vaggie in the 666 News Room studio. It was back when Charlie was about to make her speech about the Happy Hotel. Vaggie had told her not to sing, but she did anyway. Charlie playfully poked Vaggie’s nose in the picture, while an On Air sign was in the background.

“You all have such cozy little lives. How do you survive like that?”

Alastor, being a being of chaos and having experienced past trauma, was not one to know what a normal life was…especially in Hell.

“I wish I knew,” Alastor said sarcastically as he tossed the picture behind him, hitting the moth demon in the head. Vaggie rubbed her head in frustration and pain. Charlie stared down at the lopsided picture, the cracked frame and the broken glass.

Angel came over and stared down at the mess as well. Alastor turned around to the three of them. “But you got a lovely little secret. You’re tired of feeling awful small. So you…”

Alastor roared, sending a scrambling Angel toward the couch. Angel sat on the couch where an old black rotary phone sat on a nearby table.

“…gave Mister Alastor a call, to make a deal. Because you’re hungry, for all the sights. You want to see them.”

The contract floated in front of Angel as a reminder. Alastor’s microphone staff glowed and an angry red eye appeared.

Appearing from Alastor’s hat was a floating dollar sign and a heart. Angel stood up from the couch and stared at both.

“Earthly delights, you feel you need them.”

Alastor appeared in front of Charlie and Vaggie.

“Your appetites, I’ll help you feed them.”

A large bag of money appeared, Alastor laying down on a couch in front of it, cupping his face.

“I’ll be your sweet Radio Demon.”

For a brief second, Alastor’s eyes turned into red radio dials, the surrounding areas black. Sitting on top of the couch was a little Alastor plush doll, the eyes black with red circles, wearing the same outfit. Angel gleefully picked up a pile of dollar bills from the bag and stuffed it in his shirt. Vaggie narrowed her eyes. Hell used souls, not dollars.

Charlie’s cheeks blushed at the sight of Alastor and the plushie. How cute would it be to have little Alastor in her arms. Charlie reached out for the figure, but Vaggie held her arm down with a glare.

“And once your hunger has abated, don’t forget your friend who waited. Watched as you indulged your thirst and…”

Alastor walked over in front of the trio. He then spoke in a bone-chilling whisper holding up a long finger, “Did I mention that you’re cursed?”

Realization hit Charlie like a ton of bricks, just as a horde of shadow demons and tentacles burst into the room. The floorboards broke and collapsed as a hole formed in the middle of the lobby, tentacles bursting forth like upright serpents. Angel Dust took out his guns and fired several rounds, but they were immediately knocked away by the shrieking spirits. The money in Angel’s shirt and the bag disappeared, replaced by a large dark portal with long tendrils emerging from it.

Charlie remembered how she had ordered Alastor to help her out with the hotel for as long as he desired. Alastor’s look told her he had done just that like he promised.

But now, he didn’t have that desire anymore.

Tears welled up in Charlie’s eyes at how foolish she had been. Fire raged in her eyes at his betrayal. A thick tentacle wrapped around her waist and started to pull her toward the portal. Charlie yelled out, her horns sprouting from the skin of her head. Angel latched onto the floorboards with all six arms, more tentacles gripping onto his many wrists and limbs. Angel strained as he tried to hold himself against the forceful tentacles. His mouth was full of sharp teeth, his arms trying to snatch at Alastor’s legs. The smiling Radio Demon merely shook his head and stepped out of his reach. Angel’s pink webs from his fingers flew against the wall as Alastor avoided them.

Vaggie grew moth wings with many eyes and sprouted out several more limbs that held weapons. With a roaring screech and a flap of her wings, Vaggie threw a horde of daggers and spears at him. Alastor’s shadow quickly flew in front of Alastor, taking the blows and protecting his master. Alastor snapped his fingers and more shadow monsters came to his aid. Alastor grew in size, dark antlers branching out from his head, his eyes becoming red radio dials. A prominent red x was on his forehead. All the demons were now in their full forms. Charlie blasted away several shadows with her flames, but more kept coming.

In one last effort, Vaggie aimed her spear at Alastor’s forehead, her wings briefly pushing back the shadow spirits. She used all her strength to move her arm among the tendrils, desperate to hit that mark. Angel also helped briefly held them back with more gunshots from summoned weapons. Alastor moved his microphone off to the side, but he wasn’t pointing it at Vaggie or Angel.

Vaggie, spear in hand, glanced out of the corner of her eye…and saw an unnerving sight. Charlie’s eyes were red radio dials, her smile unnaturally wide. She had been staring right at the microphone and listening to the soft jazz music that played from the speaker. She stared up at Alastor with utmost adoration. Vaggie felt sick to her stomach, her heart and gut crushed with anger and hopelessness. Alastor winked at Charlie and kissed her on top of her head. Charlie let go of the floor, letting herself be dragged backwards. Her eyes and form soon returned to normal, however. Realizing what she had done, she screamed in fear as the tentacles carried the princess into the gaping hole.

Vaggie screamed her girlfriend’s name as her spear was promptly knocked out of her hands by Alastor’s shadow. The microphone was then positioned in front of Vaggie and Angel. An ear-piercing shriek came from the staff, causing screams and convulsions from Vaggie and Angel. Vaggie squeezed her eyes shut and frantically covered her ears in desperation. Both Vaggie and Angel returned to their normal forms. The spirits and tentacles grabbed hold of Vaggie and Angel, pulling them helplessly toward the portal. The radio waves from the staff helped push them further back. Vaggie and Angel held hands for comfort and yelled out as they both fell through the dark hole, which soon closed.

The three fell separately through the darkness. The world soon filled with fire, symbols and static. Hell was already burning and swarming with Alastor’s minions who looted stores and feasted on the carcasses of demons and deer. The world spun around before two swirling portals appeared, one red, one dark pink. Alastor towered over the trio in his demon form, his antlers almost touching their faces. More astrological and voodoo symbols floated and moved around Alastor. His eyes were pure black with small red irises, the monocle by his right eye. His microphone staff was in his left hand, the staff appearing taller and more dimensional.

The world spun again. Charlie and Vaggie found themselves standing on the balcony of the hotel. Both of them trembled in fear. They glanced at the city below, getting a clear view of the cloudless blood red sky. Hovering in the sky was Hell’s moon, a dark sphere with a glowing red pentagram engraved on it.

Just then, the pentagram on the moon’s surface moved away, and was replaced with Alastor’s eyes and wide yellow smile. His monocle was red. The moon appeared to be inching closer towards them.

Charlie closed her eyes, calling upon four ancient beings to come forth. She opened her eyes, which briefly glowed in flames before returning to their normal yellow. The ground shook as footsteps approached. The stomping giant figures arrived from different directions, raising their claws in the air.

They were the four demonic Horsemen, each of them having the heads of horses with fangs and tall humanoid bodies. War had a red coat and flaming hair. Conquest was strong and had white fur and hair. Famine had a black horse head and a mane of wild black hair. The final Horseman, Plague was skeletal in appearance. All four giant Horsemen wore leather jackets and ripped jeans, their eyes glowing red. All four of them held the moon in place with their claws, but it wasn’t going to last long.

Charlie shot Vaggie a look, telling her to go and find a safe spot. But Vaggie stayed with her, refusing to leave her side. What Alastor said next after a few minutes paralyzed Charlie and Vaggie in fear.

“I shall consume…consume everything…”

More powerful radio waves spread through the air. They were so powerful that they knocked all four Horsemen backwards to the ground with violent crashes. The men vanished back to the ether before the shadows could finish them off.

A long black limb extended from the Alastor moon, picking up Charlie and Vaggie. The two females were lifted from the balcony in his palm. The two of them were soon moved right in front of his mouth. Given his cannibalistic nature, he knew they were going to taste delicious.

Alastor’s teeth chomped down hard into both of their heads and necks. All Charlie and Vaggie could feel was searing pain and an unpleasant crushing sensation. They let out sounds between screams and gags, the coughed up blood adding to the gushing red life force flowing from their craniums. Vaggie had gotten the brunt of the damage, her skin already pale and cold. More yellow teeth impaled her in the stomach, chest and upper thighs, whimpers and strained gasps of breath coming from her mouth. Her gray head severed from her neck and fell into the mouth opening, her body soon following. Charlie weakly tried to hold onto her friend’s hand, before she, too fell limp. Charlie weakly croaked out for her parents, her brain and thoughts going fuzzy. The last thing she saw before she was pushed in was Alastor’s dark maw and the outline of a long lavender tongue.

Charlie woke a few hours later on the ground, her body intact the way it was before. Vaggie and Angel helped her up, both of them unscathed. The three of them watched as Alastor danced by a telephone booth, the background flames illuminating the outlines of dead trees. He held a telephone in one hand then reappeared higher in the sky. In his left hand was his microphone staff, a light shining from the single eye. From his right hand, green fire sparked to life along with a green pentagram. He threw cards into the air as outlined eyes and grins of Exterminators leered in every direction. No doubt he was broadcasting his carnage and showing off.

Charlie almost wished that the Exterminators had invaded instead.

Alastor effortlessly slid down a randomly appearing flight of stairs in the sky. After going down some more, Alastor jumped from the stairs and onto the pentagram moon. His body lowered and morphed into a black spring as he shoved the moon toward the ground…

…Right where the trio were standing. In a panic, Vaggie pulled Charlie out of the way just as the moon crashed into the ground next to them.

The Radio Demon was going to destroy all of Hell!

Alastor’s body returned to normal and he glanced delightfully at the trio’s stunned frightened faces. Alastor laughed and held out one of his bloodstained business cards. It showed his smiling face in the lower right hand corner.

It read:

“Alastor, a.k.a. your sweet radio demon. :3

Wanna make a deal? Call me: 069 666 42.

After all the world is a stage and the stage is a world of entertainment. So just sell your soul to me and I provide all you need to fulfill your desires. You wonder why I make you this special offer?

Why does anyone do anything?

Sheer absolute boredom!

(Eternal suffering and punishment in hell guaranteed!)”

Alastor danced as giant cards appeared in the background, the flames adding to the chaotic dystopian Inferno. He snapped his fingers and the trio were transported into a neon colored bar. “Alastor’s Game” was displayed in purple and light blue neon letters attached to a brick wall. Angel Dust, Vaggie, and Charlie sat at a wooden table, Alastor arriving at the head of the table to throw chips on the table to start. A gamble of life and death.

After half an hour, the table was filled with piles of playing cards, chips with bold numbers on them and a stack of dollar bills toward the left. A few of the chips had the character’s icons on it. Off to the right were beer bottles.

As they gambled, two other figures walked into the room. One of them was the gambling cat Husk and the other was a small cleaning cyclops demon named Niffty. Husk crossed his arms with a scowl, already mad that he wasn’t included in the game. Alastor suddenly grinned and held up four aces in his hand, no doubt he had cheated. Husk was furious but found himself unable to move and pounce at the man. Niffty just stood and watched eagerly on a step stool. Husk was able to grab a nearby bottle of booze and drink several gulps before putting it down. Husk and Niffty’s eyes turned into red radio dials, rooting them in place. They had already given their souls to Alastor.

Husk stared at the winning deck in Alastor’s hand and suddenly shook with fear. He remembered Alastor saying to oblivious souls in the past, “You laid your chips on the table now. When you gamble souls, the house will always win. I’m double dealing in betrayal and I’m here to cash my payout.”

Indeed, Alastor was saying the same thing now, lounging in a tall spinning chair shaped like a throne.

Husk tried to yell in warning, but no sound came out. Images of the contracts that the trio had signed appeared in front of them. Charlie, Angel and Vaggie found themselves unable to move. Neon Exterminator grins hovered in the background. Charlie and Vaggie stood by the table on Alastor’s right side, Angel on the left side.

Alastor raised his hands and two glowing pentagrams rotated behind him. He appeared to be chanting some ancient spell. Husk’s eyes grew wide as an instant feeling of dread shook him to his core. The cat demon saw flashes of metal flying from all directions in the dark. Alastor lowered his arms, his hands crossed over each other, his fingers pointing downwards. Husk was able to move and cry out just as he heard a series of sickening squelching thuds. More unsettling was the girlish giggles from Niffty beside him as the two of them witnessed the horrific result.

Charlie, Vaggie and Angel Dust were slumped motionless onto the table, knives embedded in their backs and heads. Angel’s white furry head had been chopped clean off, the blank faced head now on the floor surrounded by blood. Several knives were lodged into Vaggie’s back, staining her clothes deep red. One knife had gotten Charlie in a fatal part of her head. Their glazed eyes and expressions were frozen in terror.

“I hope it was worth the life of sin,” Alastor finished with a dark chuckle.

Husk swore several times with audible gasps, holding in a gag reflex. Alastor moved his hands behind him and strolled along toward the exit, mentioning for Niffty and Husk to follow, no doubt going back in later to feast. Niffty eagerly scurried after him in love struck admiration for everything he did. As Husk passed by and examined the bloodstained knives, his heart stopped for a second time since he died as a human decades ago.

The knives were fatal angelic blades.

Alastor later posed and danced in front of a large wrought iron gate made of bones by the Goon Salon. He turned his head all the way around as he turned to face a crowd of terrified demons.

“You’re in my world now. Take a look around. Inside your nightmare beyond the mortal veil.”

Several horned shadow spirits with different colored triangular eyes peered at the demons before mercilessly attacking them. Alastor snapped his fingers and the “Welcome to Pentagram City” sign changed into one that read “Welcome to New Horror-leans!” Vox, Lucifer, Lilith and several Overlords were dragged into separate portals to be consumed by powerful spirits. Alastor made sure to smash and burn Vox’s TV head before sending him away. The Magne apple themed mansion quickly became a deer-themed headquarters for Alastor and those under his control.

Alastor stood by a brick wall, flames harmlessly surrounding him. His shadow turned into its beast-like wendigo form, a monstrous skeletal deer of shadow. The shadow had gigantic antlers on its head and fiery colored eyes that matched Alastor’s. The wendigo shadow raced and rampaged through town after town. Shadows stalked and spied on hiding demons, crawling through small spaces to hunt them down. The choice was simple: surrender or die. It was easy for Alastor to play music from his microphone, possessing any denizen who stared and listened too intently. The ones who were killed and tortured immediately where the primarily powerful snotty males.

No one was spared from the radio waves. Not even the imps and hellhounds could escape the Al-pocalypse.

Alastor posed back and forth at a sign that read Heaven on one side and Hell on the other. Papa Legba’s veves were drawn nearby. “You made a wrong turn at the crossroads.”

An old fashioned boxy TV showed Alastor’s neon face in orange, teal, white and black.

“Now you’re at the final episode. Eternity with me in Hell!”

Through a pentagram portal, humans from a city on Earth watched as a towering figure stomped through, carrying fire, demons and chaos with him. Alastor was in full demon form, with sharp teeth, claws, and a full head of branching antlers. He held his staff in his right hand. Voodoo imps and shadows rode on bony horses and creatures, one creature being a dragon. They carried skulls and heads on pikes. The red eyed denizen demons carried red and black banners with Alastor’s symbol: a microphone with a dialed eye in between clawed hands. Deer antlers branched out toward the bottom in an upward curve. Kalfu’s diamond-like symbols were in the design as well. The humans ran and screamed for their lives as the glowing white eyed demon roared, showing a mouth of sharp teeth. Buildings caught on fire and chaos spread everywhere.

With enough human and demon souls on his side, Alastor could go for Heaven next.

Later on, Alastor sat comfortably in a red velvet chair in a room of the Hazbin Hotel. The wallpaper was red and had the apple family crests on it. Alastor’s eyes were red radio dials. Alastor sipped coffee from an orange plaid tea cup and set it down on the table in front of him. Off to the side was a bookshelf lined with old leather bound books, vases, a white plate and a globe. On the small round table was a brown old fashioned radio, a white jug, a few white candles and a skull. A deer skull hung from the wall nearby. A picture on the wall showed a figure of Angel Dust in indigo, with the words “Addict VIP” on it. Another picture showed a furry female from Valentino’s group of clients. There was also a grandfather clock against the wall. To the right of the clock was a black grand piano.

“Pleasure to play, how I enjoyed you. Suffice to say when I play I don’t lose.”

Alastor appeared to be talking to someone nearby.

“Collecting on the debts that you accrued. It was such a gas. I really am amused.”

Just then, a black cat with large orange eyes jumped up on the table beside Alastor. Alastor leaned his face close to the feline familiar.

“Have a dark thought, I’m right beside you. A casual whisper just to guide you.”

The cat revealed a strange toothy grin. Alastor moved away. “Look over your shoulder and I gone.” The cat looked around then played with the empty tea cup, looking inside. Indeed, the animals in Hell had been spared, save for Fat Nuggets whom Alastor had for breakfast many days before.

“Remember this song…”

Alastor then stood up and waved goodbye to his audience he was talking to: floating heads in separate jars suspended in liquid on a large shelf.

They were the heads of Charlie, Vaggie, Angel Dust, Katie Killjoy, Sir Pentious, Baxter and countless others.

“And I bid you adieu!”

#alastors game #wanna make a deal #alastor #hazbin hotel

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oneiriad · 5 years ago

Note

For MDZS promt; There is something much worse than ferocious corpses and resentful energy in the Burial Mounds, it is hopefully the last resting place of a tainted and hurting divine creature. When WWX is dropped to the BM it makes a note of him and when WWX comes back it makes itself known. The creature is old and jaded but it also likes WWX and the Wens and appreciate their efforts to purify the land. What do you think would happen if Jin other sects attacked BM in this au? Thanks ☺️

A/N: Probably not what you were looking for, but have a crossover with a bit of Chinese lovecraftiana, Oobmab’s “The Flock of Ba-Hui”, because I’ve been reading a certain short story collection.

******

It’s Wen Yuan who finds the crack.

It’s deep within the cave that Wei Wuxian has named the Demon Slaughtering Cave, hidden in a shadow and halfway behind a large rock. It really is the sort of thing a small, curious child is far more likely to find than an adult.

It’s Wei Wuxian who finds that while the crack itself is barely large enough for a somewhat thin adult to squeeze through, behind it is far more space, as it opens into what appears to be a somewhat rough-hewn tunnel sloping downwards.

Well, technically Wen Yuan is the one to find it, except Wei Wuxian is the one to bring a light talisman along when he goes to fetch a crying A-Yuan who can’t find his way back and has sat down inside the tunnel.

Of course, once his Xian-gege is with him, Yuan is soon comforted and not at all inclined to go back. He wants to explore, and so does Wei Wuxian. Perhaps bringing a small child along is a choice Wen Qing will stab him with her needles for later, but - he’s got his flute and all the resentful energies of the Burial Mounds. What could go wrong?

So they walk together down the sloping tunnel, followes it as it meanders first to the right, then to the left, then right again, undulating their way deeper under the mountains.

At the end of the tunnel is a cave, and in that cave is an altar. The walls are covered in half-faded murals of fantastical things, that seem almost and yet not quite human - too large, too feral, too - wrong in sundry, subtle ways.

Wei Wuxian does not spare them much notice, though, because there are things on the altar - a bowl of rice and one of fruit as vividly coloured as gems and a single, burning incense stick.

If he’s any judge, it was probably lit - a very short while ago.

Worryingly short.

He tells Yuan to stand behind him, backs the both of them back to the tunnel they came from, and lifts Chenqing to his lips, but nothing stirs.

“Xian-gege,” Yuan whines, having gotten bored fast. “I’m hungry!”

The fruit is clearly a sacrifice to whichever ancestor or god this cave is dedicated to, but - well. Wei Wuxian bows to the altar and apologizes, putting two of his finest talismans on the altar and takes the bowl of fruit to share with Yuan. They settle down by the tunnel and lose track of time for a bit.

They smell it first - a musty smell, though not unpleasant. Then they hear it, a faint noise of something scratching, of small stones being disturbed by something’s passing.

Finally, they see it as it rises behind the altar.

At first Wei Wuxian thinks it’s just a snake. Perhaps a measuring snake, like those the Peacock had thought to impress his shijie with back on Phoenix Mountain. Some form of yao, anyway.

Then he sees the arms. The hands, thin, long fingers tipped with claws, holding a handful of unlit incense sticks.

The snake, in turn, sees him. Sees them.

For a moment all is frozen except the snake-person’s flickering purple tongue. Then - as Wei Wuxian watches, Yuan clinging to the back of his leg and breath ready to blow a tune - it puts down the incense sticks, lifts its arms and bows in polite greeting.

***

“I don’t trust them!” Wen Qing states, firmly.

Wei Wuxian doesn’t argue. He did that days ago, when he and Yuan came out of the Demon Slaughtering Cave laden with baskets of fruits they could not name, bearing the news of their strange, but very polite neighbours.

The snake people have so far proven to be excellent neighbours indeed. They’ve brought gifts - cloth, farming tools, and of course food. Fruits, mushrooms, even dried meat - some form of pork, Wei Wuxian thinks.

They haven’t been to visit, though. The crack that connects their tunnel with the Demon Slaughtering Cave is too narrow for their serpentine bodies. But that’s alright. Wei Wuxian is happy to spend hours in the temple cave, listening as they tell their stories - of an ancient god, Ba-Hui, who sleeps deep beneath the mountain, about pilgrimages slithering through tunnels that a human would find all but impossible to journey through.

In sibilant voices, they tell him of a human kingdom long past, of sharing their alchemical secrets and their worship with people from the surface. Of having come together as something greater than their parts, and of how it ended, in blood and tears and flight deep, deep underground, as the neighbouring kingdoms took up arms and brought war and fire to their homes.

Wei Wuxian dreams of Lotus Pier that night, of the Cloud Recesses, of faceless armies of Wen cultivators.

And still, Wen Qing speaks against them, their kind neighbours. Several of the Uncles have gone into the caves to light incense in the temple cave and say prayers of thanks to the great Ba-Hui, and barely a day goes by without Yuan talking either Wei Wuxian or his uncle Wen Ning into letting him go below. He is endlessly fascinated by the snake people, and they in turn seem fascinated by him, letting him climb all over them as they carry on sibilant conversations, as they offer him more of those gem-like fruits and pinch his cheeks as he laughs.

Wei Wuxian almost gets a little jealous, sometimes.

But only almost.

“We do not have children, not like humans do,” they explain. “Our new brethren are fully formed upon their first shed, as Ba-Hui wills it.”

***

When the invitation to Jin Ling’s one-month celebration comes, they are delighted for him. They bring him jade from their home in the depths for him to make a suitable present, and they encourage him to bring the child back to the Burial Mounds for a visit.

They offer to take him to Lanling along their paths, deep beneath the world, but he refuses. He walks in the sunlight with Wen Ning by his side and his world begins to fall apart.

***

He hears them as he lies paralyzed in the cave.

If he could turn his head, he thinks he might see a grey-green arm trying to reach through the crack at the back of the cave.

He hears them scratching, claws against rock.

He doesn’t look back once as the third day comes and he runs out of the cave, barely takes the moments to reassure Yuan, safe in Granny’s care, that he’ll be back, before he leaves the Burial Mounds, far too late.

***

Lan Wangji brings him back to the Demon Slaughtering Cave, because where else would he bring him? He tells a weeping Wen Yuan to hide, and then he walks out, Bichen and Wangji at the ready, to defend the two of them.

The snake person, the old priest with the scales gone greyer than any of the others, slides out of the crack, enlarged by sheer tenacity, large enough to let a snake person through.

It rises above where Wei Wuxian sits, ignoring his furious shouts at everything and nothing in favour of wrapping its arms around the scared Yuan.

Then it starts to sway, raising its voice in something a bit like a hiss and a bit like a song and perhaps most of all like the whistling of a flute, and Wei Wuxian finds himself grow calm.

Grow cold.

“Come,” the snake person says and Wei Wuxian does, without a glance towards the cave opening and beyond, without pause for the sounds of ringing blades and screams that he cannot hear.

Once they are past the temple cave they carry him.

The tunnels are dark, and undulating. They’d be impossible to climb or crawl through, for a man, but the snake people move fast and sure, and Wei Wuxian and Wen Yuan are safe in their arms.

Far below the world they are taken.

The old priest sings to him as they travel, sings to him of the god Ba-Hui, of the rites of his priesthood, of the great gift. Sings the names of those who have been on this pilgrimage before him, and somewhere in the dark he hears the voices of his brothers-soon-to-be answer to the names.

Eventually they reach their destination and it is a cave of enormous proportions, strange crystals reflecting light to let him and see, and oh, he sees.

The snake is gigantic. The Xuanwu, horror that it had been, was like nothing compared to the snake.

Compared to Ba-Hui.

They carry him to the god and he watches as the jaws open, and somewhere he can hear Yuan crying. He’d like to turn around, like to reassure the boy that all is well, that this is right, but finds that he cannot.

The jaws shut around him, down here at the deepest part of the world.

And he is reborn.

***

Lan Wangji returns to the Burial Mounds for the second time when the three years of his seclusion comes to an end.

He knows there’s nothing to find. He knows that - others have searched, covered every inch of the Burial Mounds to find the hated Yiling Patriarch. He himself searched the caves and the area around the settlement, searched every nook and cranny, but found nothing.

No sign of Wei Ying and no sign of the child he’d left with him,

He does not expect today to be different.

He’s carrying two tablets, carefully carved in the finest wood. He’s carrying incense, and paper money, and jars of Emperor’s Smile.

He’s carrying a toy butterfly.

He’s making his bows, offering his prayers for the dead when he hears a noise behind him, like many stones sent tumbling, and he jumps to his feet, Bichen unsheathed as he turns to face - a snake.

Or perhaps not.

The thing emerging from an opening in the back of the Demon Slaughtering Cave, an opening that must have been covered by many rocks when last he was here, searching, is certainly akin to a snake, but also not, a pair of arms at its sides as it pushes itself upright, swaying slightly as if not entirely accustomed to the position.

It is naked, the snake thing, except a red ribbon wrapped tightly around its wrist.

There’s something thin and black cradled in its claws and Lan Wangji gasps at the sight, before letting his cold fury rise and Bichen with it. He does not care what this thing is, he does not care whence it came, all that matters is that it dares to be here and now and waving Chenqing around like some perverse trophy.

Except - except then the snake swallows its flickering purple tongue and hisses.

Hisses words.

“Lan Zhan?”

#mo dao zu shi #my fanfiction #the flock of ba-hui #aka the short story of the snake people and the cannibalistic monster humans and their giant snake god

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romansrgn · 5 years ago

Text

ch. 6

taglist: @queenofthearchitect @calicina @never-sawft-princess @5dsinyourdirection @fancybarbii @aria725 @lustyromantic @kai1996en @angelbaby908 @rebellious-desires @romans-empire-baby

"I got everything you asked for including the extra lawn chairs. How many people are you expecting anyway?"

Braelin stirred the baked beans before putting them back in the oven "Thirty give or take."

"Thirty?"

"Look, obviously it's getting harder to hide my pregnancy. I'm gaining two pounds a day and I haven't even entered my third trimester. So I figured I get it over with and let everyone know before they hear it from someone else."

Briyanna nodded "Is Roman coming?"

"Yea, he's coming."

"Do you think that's a good idea?"

Braelin laughed almost nervously "No, but I extended the invitation to him a while ago so it would be weird if I went back on it. Besides, his mom and sisters are flying in as well."

Briyanna knew that Braelin didn't always have the best judgment when it came to anything pertaining to Roman and inviting Roman and his family to this barbecue has proven to be no different. Her first instinct as the big sister was to intervene but at the same time, she knew what stress could do to a pregnant woman so she decided it was probably best not to add to it.

Braelin peeked over her shoulder at her big sister who was noticeably quiet "I know what you're thinking."

"I'm sure you do but in the event of full disclosure, I think this could get hella messy. But I want you to know that this is a celebration for your and you're—"

"Twins, I'm having twins."

Briyanna's eyes widen "What?"

Braelin nodded rubbing her belly "There's two growing in here."

"I'm— I don't. Are you ok with this?"

Braelin shrugged "I'm ok with it now that I've had time to process it. One was a lot but two almost seemed like too much to handle. But I'm grateful for this journey. I feel like I have a purpose outside of wrestling now that my career is basically over."

"I still think you're giving it too much. Your career is far from over."

"It's definitely shortened thanks to my knee injury but I'm ok. I want to raise my kids."

Briyanna smiled at hearing that. It's only been a few short months and it's obvious that this pregnancy is doing wonders for her sister's maturity. "Well, whatever you decide I'm here for you and" she jumped off the counter to place kisses all over her sisters baby bump "my little munchkins."

Keyon took a moment to assist the scene between his little sisters "Did I miss something?"

Braelin sighed "Nothing, outside the fact that I'm pregnant with twins."

Keyon practically threw the grocery bags on the table before swinging Braelin around in his arms "Baby sister! Are you good? I mean are you aight? You need me to get you something?"

Braelin laughed because Keyon reacted just like this after finding out about all three of Briyanna's kids "I'm tired and hungry all of the time but other than that I'm ok."

"I'm assuming Mama and Daddy don't know yet?"

Braelin shook her head walking over to retrieve the bags from the table "No, that's why I'm having this barbecue so please don't say anything."

Keyon held up his hands "I won't. But I do want y'all to know that mama finna look at me sideways since y'all have given her grandbabies and I didn't."

Briyanna rolled her eyes "I'm sure there are probably six or seven different mini Keyon's running around here somewhere. You hoe."

Braelin threw her head back and laughed. Keyon, on the other hand, look almost affronted "First of all, I don't dip my—"

Briyanna held up her hand "Don't even go there."

Keyon winked "So how does Big D feel about being a father."

Braelin's eyes widen "He's—"

"Surprised." Dante said wrapping both arms around his girl's waist "It's almost as if it's happening to someone else. But the best thing about this is, is that I've got our future mapped out so I couldn't be more excited about this new journey." he said looking down at his baby girl "I'm not going anywhere."

Braelin smiled before kissing him on the lips. Could this man be any more perfect?

"I'm happy for yall. For real." Keyon said before giving Dante a bro hug "Welcome to the family."

"We're not engaged."

"Y'all created a life together that bond is more divine than any marriage in my opinion."

Briyanna who noticed how tense Braelin had suddenly gotten thought it was time to change the subject "Keyon, Zayden will be here soon so I think you and Dante should get started on the grill."

Keyon rolled his eyes "Damn, just say you want us to leave and we'll leave."

Briyanna balled up a piece of aluminum foil and tossed it at her big brother's head.

Dante laughed, grabbing the rack of ribs and seasoning following Keyon outside the door.

"Thank you," Braelin mumbled.

"No problem. Was that always the plan?"

Braelin ran a hand through her hair "No, but I mean people are going to assume, right? I mean since Dante and I are together—"

"No one would expect the alternative and if you're not ready to come clean this is probably what's best."

Braelin nibbled on her bottom lip. There was no way Roman was going to go along with this especially since he has every intention of telling the truth when the time was right. But what about her? was she really willing to take on that kind of stress? She was never one to back down but this was something she couldn't defend or was willing to do so.

"I think this is for the best. I'll talk to them both tonight before making the announcement."

Briyanna wrapped her arms around her baby sister. She knew this wasn't going to be easy on anyone but it had to be done.

Janelle was always a person who thought of herself as a woman who was sought after. She was a strong, beautiful, intelligent, hardworking and self-made career woman. She was the total package. Any man in their right mind would kill to have a woman like her carrying their last name. So you can imagine her surprise that her husband and college sweetheart cheated on her not once but twice with the same woman. Hearing that kind of shit opened a door full of insecurities that she never knew existed. Roman claimed that the other woman didn't mean anything to him. Apparently, they had a few drinks at a bar a few months ago after a house show and one thing led to another. That, of course, didn't give him a pass especially since he somehow managed to fuck the same woman while she was away in Seattle. But she prayed on it and left it to god to determine what was next for her and Roman and right now he was telling her not to give up on her marriage.

"I forgive you."

Roman looked over at her in the passenger seat "What?"

"I hate what you did and there's a part of me that wants to hurt you the way you hurt me, but— I can't. I know It's going to take me a while to trust you but I think what we have is worth fighting for."

"We'll talk about it after the party."

Janelle frowned "That's all you have to say to me?"

Roman shook his head "I'm not trying to upset you and that's why I think we should discuss this later. Now it is about having a good time with our friends and family, Can we do that?"

Janelle didn't look at all placated but she nodded anyway. The rest of the drive to Braelin's house was filled with silence.

"I brought chips and your favorite dessert."

Braelin beamed "Upside down Pineapple cheesecake! What did I do to deserve this?"

Patricia wrapped the small woman in a hug "Consider this a gift for a woman who has everything."

"I don't have everything. At least not everything I want."

Sika walked before walking into the kitchen "Well, isn't that a loaded statement."

"I'm just saying that a girl can have more if she wants. All she has to do is—"

"Work a little harder."

Braelin smiled at the new guest "Hi, daddy!"

Richard placed the large bowl potato salad down on the counter before kissing the young woman on the forehead "I was wondering when you were finally going to throw a cookout in this big ole palace you call a house."

Braelin rolled her eyes "Daddy, please. This is no palace, you and mama are living larger than I am."

"Well, when you're mama finally retires we'll be living somewhere in the Bahamas like we planned on after you kids graduated from college."

"We told you to say the word and we can have you and mama living on a yacht in no time."

Richard grinned at Roman "You've always been a good man" he said pulling Roman into a hug. "How are you doing, son?"

"I'm good, Pop. What about you?"

Richard shrugged "I don't have to cook so I'm doing great."

Carol cut her eye at her husband "And who said you weren't going to cook Richard?"

Richard gave Sika a look who laughed "Well, a man can dream. Come on Sika. Let's go see what theses boys are out here burning up."

Patricia shook her head "How are you doing sweetheart?"

Roman kissed his mother on the cheek "I'm fine mom."

Braelin looked between Roman and Patricia and thought it was best to leave them alone "Mama can you help me finish setting up outside?" Carol nodded before following her daughter outside.

Patricia grabbed her son's face when his eyes remained trained on Braelins retreating frame "Is that what's bothering you?"

"No, Janelle and I are having a hard time getting this family thing started. That's all."

"Well, these things don't happen overnight for some people but I'm sure it'll happen soon enough."

Roman wanted nothing more than to tell his mother the truth about his impending fatherhood but it wasn't the right time. Not until he talked to Braelin about their next steps. "Maybe you're right."

"You haven't realized by now that mama always knows best."

Roman smiled pulling his mother into a hug.

Janelle made a plate of fruit salad before sitting down at the long table. Naomi, who joined the party along with Jimmy, Jey, Jey's wife Tamika and Rikishi about an hour ago sat down next to her.

"A penny for your thoughts?"

Janelle smiled sadly "I'm just—do you ever feel like you're in a battle you can't win. Even when you didn't know it was a battle, to begin with?"

Naomi sat back in her chair "It depends on the situation. I feel like that all-time in my career. As gifted as I know I am, I'm always overlooked. I start thinking maybe I'm not as good as I think I am or that maybe someone else has that something I don't. But doubting myself does more for the people who want to see me lose than myself. I know what I'm worth and my goal is to make sure everyone else sees it and not forgets it."

Janelle soaked up Naomi's words "Thank you. That really helped."

Naomi squeezed Janelle's hand "I'm glad I can help."

Naomi knew Janelle was feeling unsure of herself at the moment. She also knew that Janelle was a smart woman. Janelle knew there was something off with her husband and despite how accurate she might be Janelle keeping Roman is what was best for everyone and she may not realize it now but it's definitely what's best for Braelin.

Dante walked into the kitchen with an empty bowl of barbecue sauce. "Everyone looks like they're having a good time."

Braelin smiled up at him "I'm glad. With everything that's happening I'm glad I can make this happen."

Dante kissed her lips "You taste like peaches."

Braelin pushed him playfully "Behave. My parents are outside."

Dante smirked down at his little beauty "Is that a challenge?"

Braelin squealed attempting to run away from her boyfriend but was quickly caught and pulled into his arms "I'm going to tell everyone about the babies."

"Are you?"

Braelin nodded "and I think we should tell everyone you're the father of my babies."

Dante raised a brow "What did Roman say?"

"What did Roman say about what?"

Braelin practically jumped at the sound of his voice "Damn it, Roman. Where the hell did you come from?"

Roman ignored her question instead of looking in between Dante and Braelin "Do I know what?"

Braelin sighed "I'm telling everyone tonight that I'm pregnant and I think— I think it's best if we tell them Dante is the father."

Roman's jaw clenched "There's no way that's fucking happening."

"It's probably what's best for every—"

"You're trying to have another man replace me as the father my fucking kids. Mine." he hissed.

"Their not fucking toys, Rome." Dante hissed back.

Braelin looked at Dante who was getting angry himself. She thought it was time to intervene "Ok, listen. I know this isn't ideal and it feels like I'm hitting you guys with bullshit after bullshit but what else can we do that wouldn't make this harder for everyone else?"

Roman ran a hand across his beard "This isn't about everyone else this is about our family."

"And whether or not you want to admit it I'm a part of the family and in case you need further calcification I'm not going anywhere." Dante chimed.

Roman only laughed taking a step towards the couple "That's your plan, big D. You think you can replace me in her life?"

Dante shook his head stepping around Braelin "I'm not the biological father of her kids. You hold that honor but she's my girlfriend and whether you like it or not that's my honor playboy."

Braelin went to intervene "Guys—"

Keyon stepped in the kitchen "Y'all good?"

Braelin sighed in relief "Are the ribs done?"

Keyon looked between Dante and Roman and back again at Braelin "You ok baby sis?"

"I'm fine. I'm just hella hungry right now. " She said leaving the kitchen to join the party that seemed oblivious to the tension that was happening inside the kitchen.

Dante went to follow Braelin but Keyon stopped him "Listen, I don't know what's going on between y'all three but whatever it is y'all need figure out a way to deal with it. Braelin is pregnant and the last thing she needs is all this extra bullshit between y'all stressing her out."

Roman knew Keyon was doing what any big brother did and that was protecting his sister and for that, he couldn't be more thankful to Keyon as a man and as a father. Roman looked over at Dante who was clearly having similar thoughts. "You don't have to worry about that. We all want what's best for Brae and I think I can speak for everyone when I say we'll do damn near anything to ensure she's getting the best. Now if you don't excuse me those ribs are calling me."

"What was that about?"

Dante picked up a new bowl of barbecue sauce before heading outside "You heard what Rome said. We all just want the best for Braelin."

Keyon didn't know what the hell was going on but he was definitely going to find out.

"Why are you so quiet?"

Braelin added more fruit to the already thinning fruit salad "What are you talking about? I haven't stopped talking since the party started."

"Well, you haven't said much to your mama."

Braelin smiled "I'm sorry. I'm just trying to make sure things are perfect. With all the craziness I think we all deserve it."

Mama Carol took the bowl of fruit out of her daughter's hand "I'm sure the fruit salad will remain a crowd favorite. I know somethings going on with you and I want—"

"Mama, I'm fine. But there is something going on with me and before you ask I will let you know everything soon, I promise." She kissed her mother on the cheek before scanning the area for Roman who was talking to Janelle.

Naomi and Briyanna noticed and decided now was the perfect time to make the big announcement. "Are you ready?" Briyanna asked standing beside her baby sister.

No, she wasn't ready. Braelin knew Dante was willing to go along with the plan if that was what she wanted to do. But Roman was completely against it and rightfully so. "I can't go along with this if Roman isn't ok with it and before you say anything I owe it to him as the father of my babies to get his approval. It wouldn't be right otherwise."

Briyanna nodded in understanding she knew what it would cost Roman to have another man claim responsibility and although it would be the best option for everyone it would further complicate things when the truth finally comes out. "I think you need to do what's best for you and the babies. Don't worry about Roman, Janelle and Dante. Worry about you and the babies."

"But I thought you said—"

Briyanna nodded "I know what I said and I was wrong. It was terrible big sister advice and I think you should completely ignore me."

Braelin laughed "This didn't help me at all."

"I know and I'm sorry."

Both girls laughed.

"I think I'm going to tell them the news and I'll deal with the rest later."

Briyanna grabbed Braelin's hand to give a reassuring squeeze "I like your idea better."

Braelin turned off the music which prompted everyone to look in her direction "First of all, I want to thank everyone for attending my first cook out. We all work so hard with working, traveling and whatnot and we don't really have time to spend moments like this together so I just wanted to thank you all for coming and I love you all dearly for it."

"Yeet! We love you too, Brae." Jey yelled.

"Yea, take that beer away from him, Tamika." Seth added, causing everyone to laugh.

"If he says yeet one more time I'm going to bury him in your backyard, Braelin." That was Dean.

Renee smacked Dean upside the head "Will you guys shut up. You're ruining Braelin's speech."

"The floor is yours queen, B."

Braelin smirked "Thank you, Becky and Renee. But, I did bring you all here for another reason. My decision to retire due to my knee injury was sudden but it wasn't the only reason for my retirement."

Jimmy looked over at Naomi who didn't seem at all surprised by this announcement "What's going on, Bug?"

Braelin looked over at Roman across the yard and at Dante who was standing next to her "I retired because four months ago I found out I was pregnant" She said revealing her baby bump "with twins. I'm having a boy and a girl."

Silence

More silence until Braelin was engulfed in two sets of arms that belonged to her parents.

Congratulations, cheers, and tears were shared between her friends and family. Everyone but one. Janelle was a smart woman and after remembering what Roman had told her knew that his first time cheating on her was a few months ago. Maybe even four months ago after a house show and considering the timing, it was more than possible that her husband was the father of Braelin's unborn babies and if that's the case:

Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

AN: I'm sorry it took so long but the muse works when it wants to and due to this Pandemic I have more than enough to brainstorm and put together a chapter for you all. I hope you're all taking care of yourself during this time. Don't forget to wash your hands, don't touch your face and remain indoors. Stay safe and Happy Reading!

#wwe fanfiction #wwe smut #roman reigns #roman reigns fanfiction #roman reigns fan fic #kat graham #fan fiction #ghostin #key writes

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askaceattorney · 5 years ago

Text

Dear askrikkaiandhyotei,

Thanks for waiting, first of all. I’m finally finished with all the essay requests that came before yours. As Nahyuta might say...

So, an essay about the Last Rites Prosecutor? Let us begin our journey down the path of enlightenment.

In order to properly talk about this prosecutor monk, I first have to talk briefly about the concept of religion -- not any specific one, but religion as a whole. Throughout history, religion has been described a thousand different ways -- something necessary for life and society, something needless or even harmful for life and society, and just about everything in between. The reason I bring this up is that Nahyuta does a great job of portraying both the positive and negative sides of religion through the use of a fictitious one called Khura’inism -- a pretty bold move on Capcom’s part, but if you ask me, it paid off pretty well.

We first meet him in his natural habitat, as peaceful as anyone could be.

His peace is interrupted when the police drag a captured member of the Defiant Dragons into the temple. As a prosecutor of high reputation, this rebel could be described as Nahyuta’s mortal enemy, but his attitude toward him, while disdainful, is far from unpleasant; he in fact offers him mercy on behalf of the Holy Mother if he’s willing to submit himself to the court’s judgment. Even knowing how empty of a gesture this is, considering the unfairness of every trial in Khura’in since the enactment of the DC Act, it’s still somewhat refreshing to see him speak so calmly to someone considered to be the lowest of the low in Khura’in. His patience stems from his calm nature, but also from his loyalty to the deity he serves, as evidenced in his words:

“O Holy Mother, as your humble servant, you would have me act to save this wretch’s soul? I suppose this, too, is part of my fate.” This demonstrates one of the nobler sides of religion -- a willingness to leave one’s fate in the hands of a higher power.

The next time we see him, he attempts to stop a potentially brutal fight between the police and a fugitive, who happens to be holding a knife to Maya’s neck. His desire for a peace is admirable, especially in such an intense situation, but what he says next is of questionable virtue:

It’s here that Nahyuta displays one of the less noble parts of religion -- looking down on those who don’t share one’s beliefs. Sure, a guy who’s willing to use an innocent bystander as a shield obviously needs some form of help, but what exactly are those condescending words supposed to do for him (or Maya, for that matter)? Not surprisingly, he refuses to listen, but luckily, Nahyuta has reflexes like Little Mac.

Interestingly enough, immediately after this, we see his compassionate side again. He not only rescues a foreign visitor, but wishes the Holy Mother’s divine favor on her.

As uppity as he’s shown himself to be, it’s hard to dislike someone who treats a stranger so well -- especially one who, as we know, has been through some serious rough spots in her life. This introduction of Nahyuta -- a disdainful yet compassionate man of faith -- leads us to wonder if he’s meant to be a protagonist, antagonist, antihero, or something else.

And we haven’t even gotten into the game proper yet. There’s still a lot to unpack about this guy.

Our next bit of info comes from his unlikely detec- sorry, forensic investigator, Ema Skye:

Like a lot of new characters, he’s shrouded in mystery from the very beginning. We at least learn what his reason is for choosing the prosecutor’s path, and where his courtroom nickname came from:

We’ve seen all manner of bizarre prosecutors up until now, but so far, Nahyuta is the only prosecutor who wears his beliefs on his sleeve, especially in the courtroom. For him, prosecuting is about more than seeking justice for the guilty -- it’s about seeking salvation for their victims. In other words, it’s not only his professional duty, but a religious one. Interestingly enough, his professionalism is no less strong than his religion -- according to Ema, he’s known for solving difficult cases around the world.

But religious, professional, or otherwise, Nahyuta proves to be the same as every other prosecutor, as well as every human being -- capable of making mistakes, both big and small. Before we get to that, though...

Well, what do you know? Looks like we have yet another connection between a new character and a current one. Apollo, just how many people do you know that you never talk about?

The importance of their relationship is put to the side as we learn how Nahyuta operates as a prosecutor. At first, he seems like a “gentle-mannered soul,” as Athena puts it, but that visage disappears in the next moment. Like pretty much every prosecutor we’ve seen, he’s proud, demeaning, and flat-out brutal when he wants to be. He even has a favorite adjective for describing his opponents.

Then there’s the sutra he often chants as a fancy way of telling them to “get real.” And as if that wasn’t enough, he uses his “duty as a monk to punish sinners” as a way of claiming the moral high ground, even going so far as to threaten to cast the defense and defendant “into the pit of hell.” It’s hard to blame anyone for getting upset after hearing that, is it?

But hey, at least there’s no physical abuse this time around, right?

...Oh.

And as fate would have it (or perhaps some divine being who decided to have some fun), his favored forensic detective is a lover of science. Talk about a perfect match, am I right?

At least the clash is more on the hilarious side in this case.

But anyway, on to Nahyuta’s mistakes. Aside from his sickening hypocrisy (which is par the course for most Ace Attorney prosecutors, anyway) and the oversights he makes in court, there’s one blatant sin of his that sticks out: ascribing to a principle that anyone, religious or not, should be able to see problems with -- namely, the DC Act and the persecution of those who defy it. To be fair, his motive for doing so is a humanitarian one -- protecting his family’s honor and safety -- but his willingness to look the other way as his own countrymen are wrongfully imprisoned and executed (not to mention his father having to stay in hiding because of it) is quite the opposite.

This brings us to his signature catchphrase, which could also be called his motto:

There are a lot of situations where this would be good advice, but in Nahyuta’s case, it’s a convenient excuse for him to give up on dealing with the problems of his past and remain loyal to the whims of Ga’ran. More specifically, it’s a mask he uses to hide what he feels inside, which we don’t discover until it’s forced out of him: a lack of faith.

Even as someone as who has no trouble believing in the Holy Mother, Lady Kee’ra, and the Twilight Realm, Nahyuta struggles to believe in change, no matter how much his family, his friends, and his nation need it. And it’s here that we see one of the most beautiful twists in his story -- when it comes to change, his father and surrogate brother have more faith than he does. It takes some persuasion from Apollo to make him realize it, but it turns out he hasn’t quite given up on righting the wrongs of the past.

Nahyuta’s unwillingness to confiscate his father’s badge is all the proof Apollo needs that his faith in Dhurke’s fight for freedom hasn’t disappeared completely. After proving this and Dhurke’s innocence, he finally forces Nahyuta to do something few people have the courage to do -- look at his own sins.

Unlike Claude Frollo, Nahyuta managed to turn his focus inward and realize his own imperfection. It took some push from a close friend for it to happen, but better late than never. And as it turns out, his faith in Dhurke’s creed was as close to him as his right hand all along -- in fact, it was on it.

Much like with Rayfa’s moment of transformation, Capcom was nice enough to give us a voiceover for this pivotal moment.

Nahyuta’s story in SoJ ends with him beginning a journey down his own path of redemption as he attempts to undo the damage caused by Ga’ran and his obedience to her. He’s even bold enough to ask for Apollo’s help in continuing Dhurke’s mission of restoring Khura’in’s legal system.

I love character redemption as much as anyone, but one thing I love even more is when a character takes it a step further by joining the same cause they were once fighting against. Whether it was brought on by the Holy Mother’s will, a love for his family and country, a mixture of the two, or something else, Nahyuta ultimately becomes a changed man. Transformations like this are a sight to behold, especially knowing how much struggle it takes to get there.

So, religion -- is it good overall, evil overall, or somewhere in between? That’s a mystery we probably won’t solve here, but Nahyuta and his religious devotion provide an excellent example of both the good and the evil that can come from it. As both a cliche religious bigot and someone who’s willing to make sacrifices for others, he illustrates the crucial fact that no one is perfect, and that religion doesn’t do much (if anything) to change this, but faith certainly does.

And finally, I have to agree with your analogy of Nahyuta as Apollo’s Edgeworth -- the two of them knew each other from a young age, grew up together, were separated by unfortunate circumstances, and followed very different paths, one being less noble than the other, but eventually undergoing a dramatic change in direction. It makes me wonder what a spin-off game with Nahyuta as the protagonist would look like. It might just be interesting...as long as we don’t have to chant that sutra into a microphone.

-The Co-Mod

#askrikkaiandhyotei #Nahyuta Sahdmadhi #Mod Post #Co Mod #Character Essay

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moonlit-nest · 5 years ago

Text

I got our Wizard a gift

So I play 5E with all of my school friends, right? Quick background of our party makeup: Our DM, of course, and then me, a Paladin (don’t worry, I’m not the “Lawful Stupid” Variety) Sorcerer multiclass named Sunn. Additionally, you’ve got Fib the Rogue, Kepesk the Bloodhunter, Lotë the Druid, Edgar the Fighter and Minthe the Wizard.

So, my character, Sunn, is a pretty nice guy. At least, he tries to be. He thinks about others and likes to handle party talking and social skills, due to Charisma being his primary stat. Not always, but usually. He’s kindhearted, charming, and passionate about the people he cares for. Then you’ve got our Wizard, Minthe... complete 180. A Necromancer who tends to front a cold shoulder, and doesn’t seem to really care about other people. At least, not at first (there were backstory reasons as to why she acted the way she did at times, though that’s for another tale). She raises the dead despite the social stigma behind her specialized magic, and tends to take a no shit attitude, and an all or nothing approach. I guess in a way you could say she and Sunn both took the role of joint “Speakers” for the group, since Sunn was the lighthearted “let’s go, team!” Type of guy who rallies his comrades, and Minthe opposed this by keeping the group on track and focused, and was surprisingly level headed, even during times of crisis. You’d think they wouldn’t really get along, right?

Well, as it turns out, they actually clicked, and surprisingly well! Maybe it was that they were both dedicated and experienced casters, maybe it was that Minthe found my strange character interesting (he’s a Furry, which is almost basically unheard of in our setting by the DM, unless you count established races like Lizardfolk or Arakockra under the furry umbrella term. Buy and large though, Sunn was pretty unique), but they grew to have a slightly antagonistic but genuine friendship the first chance our group got to chill and roleplay in an inn. To get an idea of what their relationship looks like overall, Minthe’s player and I often joke about situations the two could find themselves in, and how, generally speaking, Minthe and Sunn make jabs at the others expense frequently, but always in good fun, as they know each other well enough to not take it so far as to hurt one another’s feelings. In fact, when things get serious, they work surprisingly well together! Admittedly, that may be in part due to the fact that Minthe’s player and I (we’ll call her... Sam, for the sake of privacy 💛) have a pretty good relationship outside of D&D, and we both are very experienced D&D and role players, so we just mesh easily. So, with that context in mind, we come to the story part. Our party had recently traveled underground (long story short, it was a more secret route into the castle of the city we were under, we were rescuing an innocent woman from execution). There was a puzzle we had to get past involving the guard of said underground path (Sam did a great job here, as she had to tell the guard a story that would entertain him in order to pass, and she rolled very high along with her very good roleplaying, which was more than enough to let us pass), and then we were in the stretch towards the underground criminal base that would allow us passage to the castle from the inside. As we make our way through the narrow cavern, which slowly filled with water, insuring we didn’t lag behind too much, we made our way to a... very... peculiar area. The walls seemed to end, and all around us looked like a night sky, even below the semi-opaque stairway that seemed to slowly crawl downwards. We had outpaced the water in this point, so we were free to carefully observe our surroundings in this otherworldly zone... I’m not exactly sure what this was to be honest, but my current theory was, at some point, we failed to perceive a portal of some kind that connected us to this magical hallway, a limbo between the cavern to wherever the underground criminal zone was. Anyway, no point in delaying, we begin proceeding downwards into the abyss, dimly (and I do mean dimly) lit by artificial star lights.

I should mention that, at this point, we concluded this session. A week passed us by, and we were hyped! Unfortunately, Sam was unable to proceed with this week’s session due to family business I believe, so we agreed to proceed with the session and edify her on the events immediately once the session concluded. As for Minthe, we felt it would be wrong to do her the disservice of just pretending she was there but not letting her do anything, so, despite our lack of a character sheet, we agreed to let someone use her character. I took that role, since I had the relative most experience with both 5E and Spellcasting out of the rest of the players at the time.

Now, resuming the in game events, we’re traveling through this odd realm of darkness, faint light, and downward stairs. Eventually, we begin to worry a little, so we all decide we’ll be making perception rolls to keep cautious. The dice were rolled, and every single one of our characters heard a strange series of noises as we listened... it sounded like... chittering...

Naturally, we’re unnerved. This was the first thing we had in this campaign that even felt reminiscent of horror themed, so we weren’t sure what the DM had planned... we get our vigil, and remained stalwart, proceeding further below. Eventually, we see the outline of a massive set of doubled doors, complete with large handles that were probably higher up than Lotë, who I wanna say was the shortest member of the party. However, the doors aren’t all we see. Above, we see multiple lights flicker in the darkness. One, two, four, eight, sixteen, thirty... tens... hundreds. Blinking in quick succession. They were a slightly different color than the stars surrounding us. These, as was obvious, were no stars. From just above the door, an incredible and mortifying sight revealed itself - a monstrous, gargantuan, opalescent Spider, the starlight now reflecting off of its revealed form, its razor sharp fangs, needle pointed legs and gemstone-fortified body sparkling in all of its death-foretelling glory. Then, as if things couldn’t be worse, the seemingly infinite eyes of above closed down towards us - hundreds of smaller twinkling spiders, raining down upon us.

Roll Initiative. Our Bloodhunter Kepesk went first, activating his crimson rite on his weapon and charging for the spider. Then a small group of the swarm attacked everyone in a small enough zone, dealing minimal, but still noteworthy, piercing damage. Keep in mind that the fact that this battle takes place on a stairway limits our mobility, lest we risk falling off of said stairs into who knew where...

The orders continue, Sunn strengthening the party with his magic, Lotë hurling spells and supporting friends when needed, wisely using fire to help ward against the webs that the many abominations sometimes used to keep us in place, Edgar bravely defending his friends with his viscous morning star, Kepesk distracting the leader of the creatures and dealing significant damage with his ice-coated scythe, Fib narrowly dodging and weaving through attacks and cleverly using the darkness to pass checks (presumably for being able to disengage and hide) before returning to the fray with impressive sneak attack damage, and Minthe channeling her most powerful spells at her disposal to decimate the army of spiders. Now, Kepesk, he’s a... cocky son of a bitch. Well, mayhaps not cocky, but I lack a better term. He’s absolutely chaotic, as is his player, though in the best way possible. He only does nonsense when he knows it can benefit the group, or at least himself and not harm the group, and it always makes for a good laugh! This boss fight would be no different, as he evades and disengages from the giant spider, and attempts to use her own weapons against her - by charming one of the spiders. Not, you know, magically charming them or commanding them. Just... you know, trying to tame it. In the middle of the fight. While also dodging the flurry of swipes and jabs from the boss. It may sound ridiculous, but we just thought it was as hilarious as it was badass, and we were dying of laughter, even the DM was into it (despite the fact that she later described never in a million years anticipating it, so good on her for being awesome about improvising shit). Now, he did, admittedly, have to earn it. A check to learn more about the spiders, a check to calm the spider, and then a few other things to make sure it didn’t die, fall, etc etc, since we were trying to kill as many spiders as possible, and he was sandwiched between the horde and the boss. He definitely suffered some hits and had to earn his pet gem spider, but, he did! Now, I see this, and I’m laughing while I think of a way to help. Maybe I have a spell that can make his checks easier, or buy him some time by getting the boss spider’s attention with a Divine Smite from Sunn, as I still had one last spell slot for him. But, I realized, Sunn rolled less than adequate on his initiative, and he was out for more than a few rounds, at least six or so. Minthe, however? She was next.

Now, for whatever reason, my thoughts lingered on Sam. “Man”, I thought, “what would Sam think if she were in this situation with Minthe?” Well, quickly, I had an answer. I smiled to myself, now giggling quietly. “She’d want a pet of her own, right?” I thought to myself. I mean, I wasn’t sure if she had a familiar or not at the time, but I knew the idea was humored by Sam and our DM. Maybe, just maybe, I could actually pull it off! A check to figure out what these things are, how to tame them, just get Sunn or Edgar to protect her from some spiders and boom, should be easy, right? Yes, it was. Just... not as easy as I thought it would be. “DM?” I ask, politely. “Wassup?” She asks in return, awaiting my response. “Minthe notices Kepesk not fighting with one of the spiders, and reasons that she’s away from most of the enemies... can she try to tame a spider as well?” She thinks on it for a second, and asks me to explain my reasoning, which I do. Minthe was known for being a little strange, since she was a Necromancer and didn’t really give a damn what people thought about her, so it’s not like it was out of character. I also add that it would be a nice surprise for Sam, since she had thought about getting Minthe a familiar before, and maybe this would be a way to ease that desire until a real familiar could be obtained (she ended up getting a... raven, or maybe a crow, as her legit familiar. He’s hilarious and can communicate using telepathy, he’s surprisingly eloquent with common, if a bit snarky)! The DM rules that I can certainly try, and to roll an Arcana check to learn more about these creatures. Minthe, being a wizard, had a very high score, and I rolled decently, between 10 and 15, so I was safe, and learned all of the information Kepesk had. Then, I roll another Arcana check to try and tame it (the reason I rolled Arcana and not Animal Handling, as I recall, was that Minthe was using her knowledge and actual facts of how to tame the creatures as opposed to intuitive care for the animal). I pick up my D20, shake it with both hands, and mumble “pleeeeaaase work..” to myself. I let go, and a few clacks ring out. People were curious if I could do it. Natural 20. I was pumped for the rest of the night - not only was the spider okay with chilling with Minthe, it fell in love! With two new allies on our side, we defeated the rest of the pests and took down the Massive Spider herself! Victory was ours, and the session ended as we pushed open the heavy metal gates, greeted with the sight of relatively civilized society. It was full of crooks, but at least there was an inn, so we felt pretty damn good. I eagerly texted Sam the report of the session that night once I was in my car on the way home (wasn’t driving, lol), and told her the tale of how she would have a viscous, dangerous little crystal spider to roleplay with as her character in the next session. To this day, both Minthe and Kepesk still have their spider kids and they honestly love them very, very much. The End! 💛

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