#as maxon always

[elvishdemigod]

So remember this thing I posted, that both MacCready's and Nora's VA's were in Blood Of Zeus?

I realized I recognized Heron's voice. And oh my gods-

Maxon is the main character and a demigod-

He and MacCready as half-brothers is...

Y'know what? That gives me ideas. Would be interesting since both joined something that's military adjacent. And both are only 2-years-apart in age, and were in the same area as kids. So like...MacCready doesn't know he's a Maxon? Maybe Jonathan Maxon had deviated a little in his late teens, got frisky with a woman, accidentally got her pregnant? But it was a curious one-and-done thing, and had no idea he had a kid before Arthur.

I'm cookin here because of a show based on greek myth and a same voice actor thing, dammit!

[queenunderthatmountain]

i feel like in love triangles blonde boys are usual superior to dark haired boys cuz the writers just know have have to make up for it in personality

[wr1tten]

@unfaes liked for a lyric starter

❝      the  worst  thing  that  i  ever  did,    was  what  i  did  to  ʸᵒᵘ.      ❞

[mllemaenad]

Why so anti-Brotherhood?

At their best (Roger Maxon, Elder Lyons, Paladin Danse) they're massively effective humanitarians; even at their worst (Father Elijah, Paladin Casdin) they posess admirable traits (valour and determination); and most of the tine they are somewhere in the middle (Arthur Maxon, Knight Maximus): flawed but ultimately well-intentioned men and women trying to stop humanity from repeating its biggest mistakes.

They helped out in the early days of California, and when the NCR began to start following in the doomed footsteps of the old world, the Brotherhood tried (unsuccessfully to stop them). On the East Coast, they helped to save the Capital Wasteland from drought, and they stood up to the reckless experimentation of the Institute. In Filly, Lucy Maclean would probably have died without Maximus's intervention.

They can be unsubtle, and heavy-handed, and sometimes almost arrogant, but they ARE good people.

Hi, Anonymous person.

It feels like ... maybe you have the wrong end of the stick here? It sounds like you think I've got some kind of specific grudge against every individual member of the Brotherhood. And I ... don't. That would be silly and unfair. The Brotherhood has existed for a couple of centuries now. People are born into it, or indoctrinated as children. That's ... sort of the point Fallout: New Vegas is making with Arcade and Veronica – the forward-thinking children who have to contend with the mistakes of their very backward parents.

My issue is with the institution, not some random guy in power armour.

I'm not going to go through that whole list, because that's a lot. But – well, Maximus, since the TV show is going to be the hot topic.

Maximus is a refugee from a recently fallen civilisation who joined up with the Brotherhood of Steel because he was briefly impressed by the image of a knight in very literal shining armour, whom he saw breezing safely through the destruction of his home.

Then he found out that they are a group of militant cultists who use brutal beatings and ritual humiliation to "condition" their recruits (and possibly force them to take on new identities, as Maximus seems to be a name they "gave" him). His friend Dane is so frightened of going out on a mission with one of these knights that they actively injure themselves to avoid it, and Thaddeus's experience confirms that Maximus's treatment is completely normal.

When he is assigned to a knight, he quickly discovers that literally all of Titus's dignity comes from wearing a helmet that makes his voice sound deep and commanding, and underneath all that armour he is a bully and a coward. Not just a bully and a coward, but the kind of bully and coward who can't figure out that specifically bullying the only guy who might be able to save his life is a really fucking stupid move.

Nothing in that series made me think "Wow! The Brotherhood are good guys!" It made me think ... "Get out now, kid. Run as far and as fast as you can."

It is true that Maximus steps in to protect Lucy. It is equally true that Maximus would have very much died of dead-battery-in-soldier-suit had Lucy not intervened to help him. I'm not sitting here wishing ill on Maximus. But this ain't a story about how the Brotherhood are worthy saviours of the wasteland; it's the story about two lost kids (and one embittered pre-war Ghoul) finding their way together through hard won trust and understanding, which are pretty much always presented as the hopeful counterpoint to Fallout's grim "war never changes" theme.

I mean ... Maximus also falls uncritically in love with Vault 4 because they give him oysters and slippers. This is his standard for joining up with anywhere. He is a starving refugee whom the Brotherhood exploited.

I have no patience for The Brotherhood of Steel because they are violent, bigoted, technology hoarding isolationists whose defining trait is their extreme arrogance. They treat every problem as a nail and themselves as the hammer, and even when individuals in the organisation are actively trying to do good it's astonishing how ineffectual they are. I'm not sure they've had a relationship with another organisation they haven't poisoned.

They are actively genocidal towards Ghouls, Super Mutants and Synths. Owyn Lyons is undoubtedly one of the more open minded members, but a) one of the reasons they are able to appear as "the good guys" in Fallout 3 is because the particular nature of the FEV disaster going on in the Capital Wasteland means that there are virtually no non-hostile Super Mutants b) even Lyons' people still just shoot indiscriminately at Ghouls, an attitude that is simultaneously so morally bankrupt and tactically stupid that it makes me tear my hair out every time I think about it.

Also: The Brotherhood of Steel kills Danse. I don't think you can reasonably put Danse on your list of reasons why they're worthwhile without also noting that they, you know, send you out to murder him because he's a Synth.

And ohhhhhh they are so very bad at everything. It's actually quite difficult for me to think of things they've done that don't piss me off.

In the original Fallout they're sending aspirants off to die in The Glow because they think it's funny.

Lyons may be the (relatively) benevolent protector of the wasteland in Fallout 3, but he's also responsible for The Scourge: the wanton slaughter of half the population of the Pitt, the looting of their technology, and the kidnapping of their children. Undeniably conditions in the Pitt were awful, but this was no mercy mission: it was more of their mutants-aren't-people-and-all-your-stuff-is-ours bullshit. And they leave a guy behind who starts a raider gang and is basically the reason slavery exists in any large scale form in the Capital Wasteland. I'm not sure it's possible to fuck up worse than that.

Even in Fallout 3 ... they are not what you'd call an inspiration. Half of Lyons' forces threw a hissy fit and went off to sulk in Fort Independence because apparently obsessively hoarding laser riles is infinitely more important than helping people. By 2277 no one's even looking at the water purifier. That situation gets resolved because James finally decides to get off his arse and finish the project (I respect the man's commitment to procrastination). They don't manage to deal with the source of the Super Mutants. They basically spend a couple of decades mostly adequately guarding GNR – while places like Big Town get overrun – and tinkering with their stupid robot. They don't even fix the stupid robot. You know what the answer to fixing the stupid robot was? "Hey, did anybody think to ask Madison how the power supply works?" Useless.

In Fallout 4 they roll in and start extorting the settlers, like those people don't have enough to deal with, and the things they say if you bring Nick or Hancock with you to visit them are appalling.

I've recently been reminded of them threatening their allies at gunpoint in Fallout 76 because they think they have the right to steal everyone's research.

Okay. Enough ranting.

What's my problem with The Brotherhood of Steel? They are the walking definition of "following the doomed footsteps of the old world". They are just about Vault-Tec: military edition.

So we have to grab every schematic, every holotape, every book, and every goddamned note that holds the building blocks of the Old World before it's too late. Our Scribes will hold onto them, preserve them, perhaps even progress beyond them. And the Knights will protect them. Like a hard shell around a precious seed. One day, when the time is right, that seed will grow. And a new civilization will be born. – Fallout 76: Preservation of Technology

They think that somehow they are the true last bastion of civilisation, and that they have the right to decide when the world will begin anew. They can't even deal with the idea that there are different kinds of people in the world these days that your standard homo sapiens. They hoard, and they look backwards, and for all their self-righteous we-are-protecting-the-world propaganda, in practice all that means is that they get to keep all the big guns and threaten everyone else with them.

But civilisation has always just been people choosing to collaborate and help each other. And they have zero right to interfere with that.

Also: I think power armour is stupid and no fun at all to play in, and I am sitting here judging the Brotherhood for their obsession with the stuff. :)

[reyreadersblog]

Why do blonde book character always have daddy issues? First Maxon, Then Aaron and now Grayson..

[hyacinthoideshispanica]

Fictional Blond Men Who are the Exception to the "The Dark Haired Guy is Always Better" Rule

(in no particular order)

- Peeta Mellark

- Gabriel Oak (I can't remember if he's blond in the book, but he is in the 2015 film)

- Matthias Helvar

- Nikolai Lanstov

- Maxon Schreave

[countrymusiclover]

7 - Not So Peaceful Afternoon

Part 8

Dr. Redheaded Neighbor

If y'all have any ideas my ask box is always open Tag list - send an ask to be added @annieradcliff @watermeezer @zaidatorcuatomorgado

“I don’t think it’s that big of a deal. He’s my brother and you’re my best friend who hasn’t met you in the entire time we’ve been friends.” Will had been trying to convince me to go meet his brother for the past few weeks after the ED shooting.

I had been living in his apartment and been keeping my most important valuables from my apartment even though I would still go back and forth to take showers and get new clothes. But in all honesty the whole situation hadn’t been as bad as I figured it would be. I didn’t want to feel like I was invading his personal space.

Currently there was a thunderstorm going on outside of apartment building. Maxon was laying beside me on the couch and Will was sitting up on the other side of me. “Will, I know you want me to meet him and I do want to meet him. But I feel like he’s going to take our current relationship the wrong way.”

“I mean he’s my brother and he’s always joked with me about different things. But if you’re worried about what he will think of you then I can say you shouldn’t be. From where I stand you’re amazing in my eyes.” Will sat down one of his favorite Irish author books he was reading shifting his body to slightly face me.

I lightly blushed turning my head away from his gaze. “Will, stop it.”

“You’d rather I lie?” He asked me.

I shake my head no correcting him. “That’s not what I’m saying.”

“Then tell me how you really feel.” He pressed on with those puppy dog eyes he could give me and I’d cave in a matter of seconds.

I run my fingers through my hair feeling myself getting embarrassed since we don’t really have conversations like this with each other. “I don’t know what to feel. I haven’t exactly ever talked about having a serious relationship with someone. I just don’t want to embarrass myself when I might not have an answer back or be able to correct him without getting embarrassed.”

“If you’re worried about making a good first impression, don’t be.” Will scooted closer to me on the couch raising his hand and brushing some fallen hair out of my face. “I’ll be there and just pretend that you’re talking to me.”

My eyes fixated onto his that hadn’t moved away from mine the second he said the world to me. “Will.” I mumbled lightly under my breath.

I knew that if Raegan could see our current position right now she would say for us to just kiss right. It was something I had got myself wishing for a time or two but I’d never be so reckless or brave to make the first move. “Mallory – ah crap sorry I should take this.” I swore he was about to lean in and maybe kiss me until his phone suddenly started ringing.

Will got up from the couch going into his bedroom to take the phone call and be the considerate roommate he has been. My phone vibrates next to me where I had to answer it seeing my other best friends name pop up on the screen. “Hey Raegan, what’s new with you?”

“What’s new with me. Absolutely nothing. Now let’s switch the subject to the person who’s moved in with her very attractive ED doctor who she has been living with for the past couple of months.” She instantly turned the call into a video one.

Covering my face with my hand I threw my head back on the couch. “Rae, are we really going to talk about this again?”

“It’s the only thing interesting of our lives. So yes. Now spill I’m begging you.” She gave me the puppy dog eyes on the video call.

I sat up with Maxon coming to snuggle up into my lap. “Look I’ll just come over to your apartment and explain everything that is really going on between us rather than tell you over the phone.”

“Sounds like a plan.” Raegan hung up the phone.

The bedroom door cracked open for me to see Will coming back into the room. “Hey Mal, I’ve got to go to the ED. We’ve got multiple so I’ve got to leave you for a few hours.”

“Don’t worry, Will. I’m going to hang with Raegan for a little while anyway. How does some deep dish pizza sound for dinner.”

He shrugged his jacket and grabbed his keys before we made our way into the hallway and walked down the stairs since the elevator was currently getting maintenance on for the afternoon. “You know how I love that pizza. I’ll never turn it down.” Will held the door open for me and Maxon walked ahead of us.

“Get in and I’ll drive you two.” Will reached his car where we all got into the car driving to her apartment building.

Getting out of his car I waved bye to him heading up the stairs outside the building. “I’ll come home with pizza, promise.” I held up my pinky and he looped his with mine before letting me leave.

Maxon made his way down the second floor hallway that she lived on sniffing the carpet until he lifted his head up and bolted past her door to the door at the end of the happy. He began scratching it with his paws so I went to see what he had found. “Find something, boy. We can ask Rae about it. Come on let’s go – woah Maxon!” I tugged on his dog collar and he snapped his head back going back to trying to get through the door.

“Hey there you guys are. I was being to get worried.” My friend popped her head outside of her door a few doors down the hall.

I pointed my thumb over my shoulder asking her. “Sorry. Maxon thinks he’s found something. Do you know who lives here?”

“Wish I could say yes. But no I only know whoever it is keeps to themselves like all the time. I’ll see if I can get them to answer.” She came to us and started knocking on the door getting no response. “Hey! Is anyone in there?”

Sniffing the air lightly I swore I was smelling smoke coming out of that apartment room. “I’m calling 911.” Drawing out my phone I dialed the number hearing an operating machine.

“911, what is your emergency?”

I explained to the operator hearing a scream come from the hall. “I can smell smoke in a locked up apartment room in the Royal Eastwood apartment complex – get help here immediately.”

Spinning around on my feet I saw the apartment door and Raegan went to step inside before a sudden explosion went off and launched her into the wall. Maxon began barking and leaped inside the room hearing a baby crying. “Help is on the way.” The phone operator informed me.

“Rae, hey look at me.” I bent down to my friend who was barely keeping her eyes opened. I scanned over her body seeing that she was bleeding from her lower stomach. “I need you to put pressure on the wound okay. Help is coming.”

She gulped doing her best of what I said before I got to my feet leaving her. “Go find Maxon – uh.”

Slowly walking into the room I wished I had grabbed my gun from Will’s safe before I left so I had it in this moment. “Maxon!” I called his name with my hands up to my mouth not seeing him in the living room.

Entering the small kitchen area I finally found my dog by the nearest window and he was laid down in front of a crying baby. Bending down on a knee I picked the infant uo in my arms seeing another body laying a few feet from us who was a guy who must have been the father. Yet now he looked to be dead from the gash coming down his chest with blood caused by the explosion. “What do you think caused this explosion , boy?’ He got up from the carpet floor heading over to a stove top showing me a pack of cigarettes and I could smell some gas still inside the stove.

“We’ve gotta get out of here.” I told him seeing some smoke building up in the burner and a tiny flame forming. Maxon barked and we ran out of the room with flames blowing up behind us causing our bodies to both collapse onto the floor.

Lifting my head up I saw the baby was still in my arms thankfully and began crying loudly. “I hear a baby crying in this room!” A male voice met my ears before I saw a guy covered in firefighter gear coming over to me and another behind him.

“I’ve got a baby and my dog should be beside me.” I coughed out a response seeing some black smoke slowly filling the air making it hard to breathe.

The other firefighter spoke helping me up to stand where I nearly stumbled. “Don’t worry, ma’am. We’ll find your dog.” We went into the hallway and I saw where Raegan was now only had some blood but she must have already been taken outside.

The firefighter opened thr window in the hallway and one of his teammates handed him two harness sets. “Give me the baby then I’ll come back and take uou down.”

“No. It - we don’t have enough time before another explosion goes off again.” I cut in eyeing the harness he had in his hands until I yanked one of them from his hands.

He went to interrupt. “Ma’am, you can’t do down by yourself-“

“Make sure your partner gets my dog out. He is the most important thing to me.” I snapped back wrapping the first rope around my waist and then the two over my shoulders and connecting them together in the middle of my chest. “I am a retired Army veteran so show me some respect. Now help me get set up to go down last or I’ll figure it out myself.”

He nodded climbing through the window with the baby and clipping my clip on the rope then sliding down to the trucks and ground. The other guy came in shortly with Maxon in his arms. I couldn’t see his tail wagging and he had some ash sticking into his fur so he was clearly not in good shape. “We found him, ma’am.”

“Take him down immediately. I’ll follow afterwards.” The first guy that found us in the room didn’t fight against me. He hooked himself up and slides down the rope. I sit down on the window sill placing my hook on the rope line before I gripped the rope with the gloves they had given me to put on so I didn’t burn my hands. Climbing fully outside I didn’t dare look at the ground and just counted to three before jumping. “One – two – three ahhh!”

While I was sliding down the rope line the building window suddenly had another explosion going off behind me. A blonde woman ran towards me catching my body against her chest and unclipped the straps from around my body. “Are you hurt anywhere?” She asked me.

“No. I’m okay, I just need to know if my friend and dog are going to make it.” I responded to her.

She leads me by the arm towards the ambulance and she helped me inside where I saw Reagan passed out on the bed hooked up to some liquids. “Casey, bring over the dog!” She called before a firefighter with blonde hair and blue eyes came over to us carrying Maxon in his hands.

“He should be fine once he gets rest and some fluid in him. Nothing seems to be broken or bruised on him.” The firefighter laid Maxon down in my lap. “He’s a brave dog.”

“And you are probably one of the most reckless people I have ever met. What you did took guts that you clearly have. If I ever see something come up I might find you. What’s your name?” Her blue eyes focused on mine while she smiled. “I’m Sylvie Brett. Brett with two T’s. Nice to meet you.”

“Mallory, Mallory Easton. Me and my dog Maxon are retired Army veterans.” I asked seeing she was about to close the ambulance door and got inside the back with the three of us. “Could you do me a favor and take us to Gaffney Chicago Medical Center. I know one of the doctors there.”

She nodded checking on my friend. “Thank you for your service. Both of you.” The ambulance began driving off to the hospital.

Comments really appreciated ❤️

[divinemare]

Cruel Cauldron

✎ᝰ┆azriel x oc

ᝰ┆part one

part two

this has been literally on my mind FOREVER, to give you a little introduction, an arrange marriage between an oc princess and our lovely shadowsinger, where they ofc hate each others guts.

disclaimer: english is not my first language, so i apologize for any mistakes in advance!

—— —͙ – -

When her feet touched the ground, Karina felt the racing urge to throw up overcome her.

“Don’t disappoint me any further, Karina,” her mother’s words echoed in her mind, making her stand extra tall and keep her chin up even tho the female could not see her now.

“I’m gonna make you pay for this, mother,” she thought to herself, feeling her blood run hot and her breath catching as she took in the whole situation of what her life had become in the last weeks.

And all for a stupid, Cauldron-fucking-damned bond.

៚ ·

Three weeks ago…

Anthra was one of the mightiest kingdoms in all the Continent, yet not the mightiest. And that had always been a bother to her mother, Queen Verena Basdearg of Anthra. A ruthless female who had always been jealous of the mighty Hybern and Prythian realms.

Anthra, her homeland, consistent of three principal lands:

The Black Land, was where the finest clothes, and the most delicious crops would come from.

The Silver Land; it was known for its concentration of mines: the rarest, most precious jewels came from there, as well as the gold and silver and bronze.

And finally, the Red Land. Where all the most terrible, brutal soldiers where forged in, hence the name; red as the blood staining its floors.

And all three of them answered to the Imperial Queen. 

Which, also happened to be her mother, one of the most feared females in the Continent.

Princess Karina Basdearg of Anthra, Second Daughter, Princess of the Valley and the Silver Land. Was anything but what a princess was expected to be if only when…: gracious —if only while her mother stared her way—, polite —whenever she actually liked the person she had to treat with, or her mother was in ears length. Not to mention that breathtakingly gorgeous as well —that she always was—, or so the lords and nobles always loved to tell her whenever they were so desperately trying to get her favor.

Now she was getting ready to humor them again, in her mother’s monthly grand dinner with the lords of the three lands. Brushing her brown black hair and testing which color of tint would best suit her dark olive skin tone.

Two soft knocks on the oak doors of her room made her stare into its direction from her mirror, and so she only bothered to mutter a ‘come in’, before a female poked her head into the room.

“Are you ready?” Her sister asked in the soft cool tone of her voice.

Before her was Princess Arisa Basdearg of Anthra, First Daughter and Heir to the Imperial Throne, Crown Princess.

They shared several physical aspects; like their hair and their skin and their button noses. Yet Arisa’s features were sharper, more grown, either for 200 years of difference between the two of them, of the burdens it carried that Karina would never understand. As well as the gemstone green eyes that had once belonged to their father, unlike the honey amber eyes Karina had inherited from their mother.

And then there was also the fact that, Arisa was everything Karina was not; actually polite, actually gracious, actually fit for a Queen.

Arisa was the success, while she was always meant to be the disappointment. But that never actually bothered her tho, it took one look at her big sister to know she never wanted to carry the burdens Arisa did.

“Not yet,” she replied with a sigh, brushing her thick eyebrows with a little brush.

Arisa smiled playfully through the mirror, and Karina lifted one of her now perfectly brushed eyebrows at her sister.

“Maxon came to visit.”

Karina’s eyes instantly sparkled at the mention of the name, but keeping her best composure in front of her sister, she left the brush calmly on the table and turned to look at the female with an unbothered eyebrow up.

“Did he, now?”

Arisa nodded, and with a smile, added: “So did Bastian and Fiona,” at that, Karina didn’t have it in her not to smile, and she jumped out of her sit and ran out of her bedchamber, and into the long halls of the palace. “Karina, wait, don’t run!” Her sister’s voice echoed behind her.

She only stoped running once she was at the entrance of the dinning hall, where every month the grand dinners were held. Karina gathered some air and fixed her dress just in case her mother was already inside. She gave a look to the guards, and they, ever so discreetly, nodded their approval before opening the doors.

The oak cracked as the dinning hall’s chandelier lights greeted her entrance, and all heads already present turned to look at the Princess who had just arrived.

Karina’s eyes, tho, only looked for three specific pairs once it was obvious her mother was still not there, and when hers found the browns she had been looking for, her smile stretched and she ever so gracefully nodded to the lords that made a curtsy for her, then walked as fast as she could without looking too un-mannered towards the already opened arms and bright smile of Maxon Hatchett.

“Your Highness,” the male inclined his head, and as soon as he was up, Karina threw her arms around his neck in a hug.

She had missed his brown eyes and dirty blond curly hair, his dimpled smile, his sun-kissed skin, his strong arms and wide shoulders. Maxon Hatchett was truly a male that attracted looks everywhere he went. But mostly, she had missed her best friend, and the only guy that made her heart jump with excitement.

Maxon laugh lowly, the sound brushing Karina’s shoulder, and then murmured, in a soft, low voice:

“I’ve missed you too.”

“Liar,” she said in a whisper. “You would’ve written if that were true.”

“I’m afraid that was my fault, cousin, I kept him rather busy,” when Karina parted from Maxon’s hug, her smile immediately grew at the sight of Bastian Basdearg.

Karina hugged the male with the shoulder-length black hair, the one with whom she shared their olive dark skin and honey amber eyes, who towered her for over a foot for how tall that motherfucker was, her cousin Bastian, as tightly as she had hugged the male before him, and then pushed him away to eagerly look for the auburn hair of…

“There’s no way you’ve grown this much,” she laughed at the sight of the little Fiona Basdearg already not so…little.

Both females smiled and hugged each other, while Karina complimented her other cousin over and over again.

“What are you all doing here, I thought you two were busy in the Red Land.”

As part of the Imperial family, and the only other one in the line of success since her father died leaving her mother with no more heirs, Bastian had inherited the Red Land from his mother: her mother’s only living sister. While Fiona, even tho she was still too young to formally become Princess according to their laws, was to inherit the Black Lands from her father: her mother’s only living brother.

There had been 6 siblings in her mother’s line, now there were only three. Karina had heard of one of them, the other two; she hadn’t even bothered to ask.

“Well, we were, but…” Bastian started, but the words got cut off from him when the oak doors of the dinning hall opened again with their loud creak, and inside came Queen Verena Basdearg.

Everyone instantly curtsied, and Karina couldn’t help but raise her eyes to meet her mother’s cold stare.

That’s why she hated to have her mother’s eyes; while honey amber was supposed to be such a warm color, Verena Basdearg made sure to turn it colder than any icy blue.

Arisa came trailing their mother’s back like the good Crown Princess she was, and Karina gave her sister a questioning look when the room filled in with more tension than usual, only for Arisa to advert her gaze from her, telling Karina she —and, mercifully, Fiona too—, seemed to be the only one left in oblivion there.

But when her mother opened her mouth, when the venomous tongue rolled to spat sharp words, Karina fell in absolute shock with each and every sentence.

“I hope someone here is ready to tell me why has Prythian declared war, and what are we gonna do to wipe them off of this Continent if it so happens to be the case.”

៚ ·

Karina almost dropped the glass liquor cup she had just grabbed when she heard her mother’s statement.

Prythian had what? And they were going to do what?

On a normal setting, Karina would’ve struggled not to laugh, because even tho they had one of the most powerful armies in the Continent, that their soldiers were known for their brutality and efficiency, and they counted with a large amount of wealth and powerful people, they had always been some steps behind Prythian, behind the powerful High Lords and the great Seven Courts.

But now, after they had gone into a war with not other than Hybern…

The repercussions of a war could leave the strongest of kingdoms in vulnerability and danger, and Prythian, as of right now, wouldn’t survive another war with another powerful and healthy enemy.

“What, in the name of the Mother, is going on,” she asked in a low whisper to Maxon when everyone else was sitting at the table, discussing the supposed offense Prythian had committed against Anthra, while they stayed in a corner watching everything unfold. Fiona sat at their feet with a bored look on her freckled face, and the curls of her red hair falling in her soft olive skin.

Maxon was the second son of the Red Land Lord, she was the second princess, and Fiona was not even a princess yet, they weren’t needed in the big discussions yet, leaving them at the sideways at all times.

It had been why Maxon and Karina had gotten along so quickly centuries ago, they both understood each other, as they both lived under their siblings shadows.

“You can thank this all to my wonderful cousin,” he sighed, shaking his head, while Karina furrowed her eyebrows together.

“What does Yvett have to do with this?”

“She got killed,” he said it so nonchalantly that it took Karina a moment to actually process the words, and almost spit out the liquor in her mouth when she did.

“What?!” She murmured loudly, cleaning the few drops that fell on her chin with her wrist.

“Remember that guy I told you she ran away with?” Of course she remembered, it had been the biggest scandal in court for months.

“Yeah, what about him?”

“Well he was just as awful as her. The son of an apparently really importar member of the Court of Nightmares. She got in deep shit trouble and got what she deserved at the end.”

“That’s…” Karina stared at the male with a frown. “The most vague explanation I’ve ever heard.”

“I didn’t asked for much detail,” Maxon lifted an uninterested shoulder, and Karina rolled her eyes.

The death of Yvett wouldn’t have presented such a big conflict if she didn’t happen to also be the daughter of the Queen’s Alhara; a group of the five most rewarded and trusted soldiers of the Imperial Guard. And her mother’s oldest —and only— friend.

“Fucking hell,” she exhaled a long breath, and Maxon nodded with a sigh of his own.

“Fucking hell indeed.”

៚ ·

“Please tell me mother is not going to do something outrageous,” once dinner was over and everyone was sent to their chambers to rest, the Basdearg sisters instead made their way to the palace gardens for a late night walk under the beautiful moon.

Arisa sighed, giving Karina a bad impression already.

“It’s…complicated.”

“Complicated? It’s not, really. You and I both knew Yvette, outside this lands that protected her for her mother’s rank, sooner or later she was going to get herself killed, that bitch was despicable.”

“Karina!” Her sister reprimanded, but did not corrected her, as she knew her words were true.

“What? It’s the truth.”

“You know mother,” Arisa said with another sigh, and Karina clicked her tongue in response.

“Mother has been looking for an excuse to put a spike on half of Prythian High Lords to put us above them.”

When Karina finished spitting her words, she looked at her sister and noticed the tiredness and wariness in her eyes, and sighed putting her arm around the female’s. Her sister was constantly working, constantly worrying, and Karina hated to see her so worked up.

“How’s Taj? Haven’t seen him today.”

Taj was her sister’s husband, they had been together for already 400 years, and were one of the only marriages in the history of their family that had been actually out of love.

They had been lucky when they met centuries ago in one of her sisters political trips around the Continent, he was a noble from another kingdom, and they had fallen madly and annoyingly in love.

In other words, they could be described as the perfect royal love fantasy, a happy, thriving couple. Now that Karina did envied.

Their mother had been so proud Arisa had secured a strong alliance, yet another thing she did unintentionally perfect. While the only person Karina had ever wanted had been never enough to please her mother. Even if Maxon was the son of a Lord, he wouldn’t give her mother more power, and that was enough for the Queen to disapprove of any kind of affection her daughter felt for the male.

“He’s…busy, organizing a trip,” Arisa said without looking at her.

Karina lifted an eyebrow, noticing the faint shimmer in her sister’s green eyes and smiling sideways.

“Aha…”

“And…” The Crown Princess sighed.

“And…” Her younger sister repeated.

Arisa stoped walking and took a deep breath, when they were face to face, Karina noticed the actual glow on the other princess’ eyes that spoke loudly with hope and excitement.

“We want to try to have a baby again.”

They had been trying to produce an heir for 300 hundred years now. And a century ago her sister had finally gotten pregnant, only to soon after have a miscarriage and lose the baby. They had stoped trying since then, recovering from the heartbreak.

“Correct me if I’m wrong, sis, but doesn’t your husband have to be, you know, here, to try for that baby?” Arisa laughed melodiously, and grabbed her sister’s arm again to resume their walk.

“He’s been busy finding Emeraya, have you heard of her?”

Emeraya was a very, very ancient healer who dedicated her life to helping fae females to have babies, since for them it was more easy to live 500 years than to have a baby in that time.

“Oh, Ari,” Karina hugged her sister tightly, while her heart murmured a prayer to the Mother and Cauldron to give her sister what she so much deserved. “You’ll have a family soon, I know it.”

“Can I ask you a favor?”

“Anything,” Karina smiled, leaving her sister’s embrace to look her in the eyes.

“We want to leave in three days time. But mother wanted me to go to Prythian to reunite with the High Lord of the Night Court. Apparently he requested an audience, maybe to try and make peace with our mother.”

“What a fool,” Karina snorted a laugh.

Of course she knew Rhysand. And some other High Lords of Prythian. But, as Rhysand was her mother’s least favorite of all seven of them, Karina had made him her favorite.

“You want me to go in your place?” She sighed, lifting a knowing eyebrow.

“Please?”

Rhysand was fun to be with, other members of his Court? Not so much. That male named Kier was one of those males you couldn’t help but want to throw up just thinking about him. And that Shadowsinger? Mother above, what a total waste of that much beauty.

“Ok. I’ll go,” she smiled tightly, but her wariness wore off when she saw Arisa’s bright smile.

“Thank you so much, Karina,” the oldest hugged her little sister, and Karina swallowed her sigh.

“Oh don’t think this is free, sis, this is going to cost you. Big time. I expect retribution after all this, in pretty dresses and shoes,” Arisa laughed, and took Karina’s hand to guide them both back to the palace.

[deepdreamnights]

TyrannoMax

Real name: Tyrannodus Maximus (translation) Known Aliases: Ty Maxon, the Dinoman of Wisconsin, Shellbreaker Occupation: Champion of Core City, adventurer Identity: Public Legal status: Citizen of Core City. Legal resident of the United States with a criminal record (pardoned), escaped felon in Ultramerica. Species: Dinoid Tyrannosaurus Rex Place of Hatching: Core City Martial Status: Single, betrothed. Known Relatives: TyrannoLucian (father), MegaloDiana (mother), TyrannoMaxine (grandmother, deceased), TyrannoCass (brother), TyrannoJulia (sister), Lady StegoJune (fiance), DeinoSteve (blood brother), Tyler Wrex (second cousin). Known affiliations: Warriors of the Core (member, current), Sevenfold Guardians (member, reserve), Wally Manmoth (ally), Johannes Factotum (ally), WoMinotaur (ally), Dr. Underfang (nemesis), Department of Inhuman Affairs (contractor). Base of operations: Soapstone, Wisconsin, Core City in the Fossilized World. First appearance: Tyrannomax #1 (1975)

From the Coctus Catalog, it's TyrannoMax!

His power/ability box is under the fold.

Physical Strength: TyrannoMax’s strength is exceptional, even for a dinoid. He can lift (press) 10 tons with his arms or tail. Known Powers & Abilities: Like all diniods, TryannoMax’s muscles and bone tissues are more dense and durable than human analogues, resulting in vast strength and resistance to physical damage. His scales can deflect an armor-piercing .50 caliber machine gun fire at 30 feet. TyrannoMax’s bite force is sufficient to bend a 5” diameter titanium rod. His teeth and claws are both sharp and strong enough to rend metal, and he’s able to leap up to sixty feet forward or twenty feet straight up from a standing position. Like all dinoids, TyrannoMax possesses a high degree of psychic affinity, which he can access through his psychic roar. This unique psychic talent allows TyrannoMax to imbue his roars with psionic power. He can attune the pitch of his roar to deliver physical psychokinetic force, stun the minds of those in its path, or induce fear and panic in enemies. Known Weaknesses: Dinoid physiology is only partially warmblooded and is vulnerable to cold. Temperatures below 56 degrees Fahrenheiht reduce TyrannoMax’s speed, strength and concentration in direct proportion to his body temperature. If lowered to the freezing point gradually, he will involuntarily enter a state of hibernation. Rapid freezing is deadly to dinoids.

-

TyrannoMax's art was made in the same fashion as the Wally Manmoth comic, with his body being composited out of several Midjourney attempts and his head coming from Dall-E 3, since MJ's rexes are always too modern for the 70s throwback of Tmax.

From there the colors were removed entirely, and the new lineart touched up and then re-colored using the classic comic colors from the DC 1981 style guide. And then "vintaged" in the process.

[nixisglitched]

(hiii I don't do assk often so I dont know what to say but uh- I love your art a lot <3 )

but yeah so- what would Z-16 think of my oc?? :D

(you don't have to do this ask if ya don't want-)

"Ain't you supposed to be blind??"

"Ain't you supposed to be quiet?"

Silly little interaction ehehe all for fun's ofc I hope I did em well aaaaa

I feel like they would have a little game of Maxon trying to sneak up on Ness but the pipes always betray XD

[nuclear-winter-blog]

"Why do people make such a big deal of Maxon fightin' a deathclaw with just a knife? Ain't that just a regular Tuesday?" -Junda

I mean, there's a reason I've got the Glowing Sea fully mapped out. I also got one of Danse's affinity talks in the underground bunker full of gen 2 synths in the Glowing Sea. For some reason, it felt more personal with just the two of us hunkered down in this forgotten building, and him still telling me to keep it "Off the record" as he told me about his past in the Capital wastes. It's one I still remember.

That was completely unrelated but, doing redraws every few years is always fun. 2019-2023.

Also original 2019 piece for a fun reference.

[rosemaryreaper]

“Are we the baddies?”

Another post-Blind Betrayal snip! Set earlier in the timeline than the last one I posted. At Listening Post Bravo, Haylen has a sleep-deprived identity crisis. Danse hasn’t completely worked out the finer points of this whole “emotional support” thing, but he’s trying.

Overall not too dark, but CW for death mention and a brief implied reference to a suicide attempt related to the canon events of Blind Betrayal. So with that, uh, enjoy?

* * * *

Obviously choosing his words carefully, Danse said, “You look tired.”

“Shift change,” Haylen said, deliberately not looking up from her task. “Half the station’s knights got sent to the front. It was supposed to be temporary. Just until we ‘won’.” She made air quotes over her shoulder. “Naturally most of them got shot. Or blown up. Not Cal. He got stabbed in the neck with a flag pole, for variety. I saw his body later. Points for creativity.”

Danse made an unintelligible noise in his throat. She knew she sounded unhinged. She didn’t care.

“Of course Rhys has been going on and on about how we’ll avenge them. We’ll make sure their deaths mean something. Like that’s even possible. Like that’s supposed to make me feel better.” She wrenched the plate off the suit’s arm with more force than necessary. It hit the concrete floor with a harsh clang. “Such a waste,” she muttered, driving the screwdriver between the exposed struts. “Such a waste. Who are we even fighting? Because it’s definitely not the Institute anymore. Maxon makes it out like we’re against some great enemy of the Commonwealth, and I would almost believe that—if they weren’t farmers. Not ferals or mutants or mad scientists—honest to God farmers. We’re fighting the people of the Commonwealth to protect the people of the Commonwealth. What kind of rad-addled nonsense—”

The screw refused to budge. She hit the screwdriver against it for no reason other than to make a sound. In the corner of her eye, Danse held a hand out in offering. She ignored him and tried again.

“I’m sure there’s more to it than that,” he said.

She exhaled through her nose. “There is. Of course there is. The Minutemen helped the Railroad. The Railroad helps synths. All synths are bad. That makes the Minutemen bad. End of story. Except, I don’t know how I’m supposed to believe even that anymore when you—”

She didn’t complete her train of thought. She didn’t need to when she met his gaze on a whim, just in time to see his raised brows lower and knit together. His hand was still outstretched.

She didn’t know how close she had come to losing him, when Delaney had tracked him to this bunker. I got there in time, Delaney had said. In time. How many seconds had been left in that time? Had the gun already been in his hand, the barrel already tucked beneath his chin? The example, not the exception, he’d said. All threats had to be eliminated, even if their only crime was simply existing.

But he was Danse. He had always been, pure and simple, Danse.

“I’m rambling,” she said, unnecessarily.

He stepped into her space, pulling the screwdriver out of her grip as he did so. By virtue of being a foot shorter and half his weight, she had no choice but to move out of the way. He took over the battle with the stubborn screw, which gave way bit by bit.

“You should rest,” he said. “When you’re tired, your work has a tendency to become…” The screw twisted free. He pinched it between his thumb and forefinger. “…uh, inefficient.”

She would have preferred he’d stabbed her with the screwdriver.

Her silence must’ve registered, because he looked up from his progress with the next screw. “You know better than to take offense to that.”

She did. She hadn’t—not to anything he’d said out loud, anyway. It didn’t change the fact that she wanted to scream at the top of her lungs. Or vomit. Whatever would get rid of the hot, sick feeling that writhed all the way from the pit of her stomach up to the base of her throat.

“I don’t want to be a scribe right now,” she said quietly, before her brain had the chance to manually approve the words.

Too late, she realized they wouldn’t have passed peer review—because Danse looked at her like she’d grown two extra heads. But she couldn’t take them back now.

“Is it too much to ask for a single minute as, I don’t know…just a person?”

With a rare touch of wryness, he said, “You’re asking the wrong nonhuman.”

“You’re a person.”

“Not the same way you are.”

“I’m a soldier. Lately, it hasn’t felt compatible with much else.” Less and less so each day this pointless war went on.

“What do you want me to say, Haylen?”

She wished she knew. She had the horrible suspicion words didn’t exist to describe the horrible sick feeling, never mind to ease it. So, she did what she did best: she backpedaled, and she pretended like it didn’t matter.

“Nothing. I’m exhausted and angry and grieving. I’m not thinking clearly. Forget I ever said anything.”

“No.”

“No?”

“No.” He hooked the screwdriver on his belt, giving her his full attention. “I’m concerned.”

She fiddled with her glove, not trusting the wrong words to stay put if she opened her mouth too wide. “Sorry.”

“Are you thinking of quitting? Leaving the Brotherhood?”

“No.” She said it too sharply. Danse’s brows raised, even as she softened her tone. “Of course not. The Brotherhood’s family. Where would I even go?”

[captainsophiestark]

Fictober 2024!

The prompts are officially out! Woohoo!!!

I've picked up quite a few new followers since last year, so here's how this works! Below the cut is a list of the Fictober prompts, and until each of them has been claimed/assigned to a character, requests are open! Send me the number corresponding to one prompt and the name of the character you want to see it with, and I'll add it to the list! My goal, as always, is to write a fic for every day in Fictober, and October 1st is super close, so come help me fill out the prompts with some ideas! I'll update the list below as prompts get taken, so be sure to check back!

Prompts and fandoms below the cut!

Requests are open for the following fandoms: Agent Carter, Agents of SHIELD, Bridgerton, A Court of Thorns and Roses, Crescent City, DC, Marvel, Percy Jackson, The Selection Series, Star Trek, Star Wars, Top Gun, Twisters, The Vampire Diaires/The Originals

You are welcome to request characters from these fandoms I haven't written before!

Disclaimers: I haven't really kept up with the MCU since Multiverse of Madness, I haven't actually seen the PJO TV show, and I've only seen the first season of The Originals

Without further ado, the prompts:

"That was good work." - Luke Castellan

"It's been a long time." - Javi Rivera

"I know you better." - Anthony Bridgerton

"No, we're not doing that." - Jason Todd

"It's a new day, let's go." - Stefan Salvatore

"I'm not giving up." - Grant Ward

"Follow me if you want to live." - Peggy Carter

"Are we happy?" - Stephen Strange

"Don't listen to me, listen to them." - Dick Grayson

"Is this normal?" - Daniel Sousa

"Well, that worked out great." - Han Solo

"Did you hear that?" - Klaus Mikaelson

"That's not the point." - Maxon Schreave

"Did you stick to the plan?" - Anakin Skywalker

"Let's try this." - Angie Martinelli

"No, I'm not okay." - Colin Bridgerton

"Strangest thing I ever heard." - Jack Thompson

"You always have a plan." - Bones McCoy

"This is getting ridiculous." - Wanda Maximoff

"I saw your eyes light up." - Jack Thompson

"We've done worse." - Tristan Flynn

"Why are we doing this again?" - Kol Mikaelson

"We can fix this, I know we can." - Bradley "Rooster" Bradshaw

"You didn't do anything wrong." - Jimmy Woo

"It consumes me." - Daisy Johnson

"You were the first." - Anakin Skywalker

"Let me remind you." - Dick Grayson

"Just say what you want." - Jason Todd

"How did this happen?" - Platonic!Ahsoka Tano

"I won't let you down." - Grant Ward

"It's always been you." - Damon Salvatore

[zirawrites]

So faction leaders (including DLC) have their voices crack while they talk

How would they react to SS having heard their voice crack?

SS is trying real hard to keep a straight face.

I’m sorry but I haven’t played the DLC recently so I don’t feel comfortable doing Nuka World, Far Harbor, etc. But I can do the base game! Hope you still enjoy the reaction :)

Desdemona: Deacon always spoke about the infamous “Des” like she was ice cold vengeance personified. Sole had seen her partner stand tall against bigots and coursers, but the moment Desdemona lowered her voice he was all putty and puddle. So when Desdemona’s voice cracked during a debrief -- and one on a mission Sole and Deacon had botched -- the two couldn’t bite back their smiles. Desdemona scowled and asked them if something was funny. “No, ma’am,” Sole snickered. Then Deacon suggested Desdemona do exercises to warm up her throat before meetings, and she assigned them both nightshift guard duty for a week.

Maxon: As soon as Maxon’s voice cracked, so did his stoic façade. Some of the younger scribes giggled, while the elder soldiers went rigid, as if standing still meant they weren’t in the room at all. Sole’s lips quivered, barely holding back their laugh. “That will be all,” Maxon said lowly, overcompensating for the pathetic noise he just made. When Sole was the last to leave, they cast a knowing look over their shoulder, one that let him know if it happened again they wouldn’t spare his pride.

Preston: Preston blushed a deep crimson, stammering over his words. “Oh gosh, haven’t done that since I was a teenager.” Sole feigned innocence and said they didn’t know he was a teenager the last run they went on. “That mirelurk was huge, Sole. I’m allowed to crack my voice out of fear.”

Shaun: Sole didn’t care that Shaun was a senior citizen and leader of humanity’s high-tech future; he was their son, and therefore fair game for teasing. Shaun rolled his eyes as if he were fifteen, not pushing geriatrics. “I won’t let you sit in meetings if you’re going to be immature,” Shaun warned. Sole leaned across the table to pinch his cheek, and every scientist and courser beside them recoiled in their seats.

[mllemaenad]

You know what? That's fair. You never ssid you condemned individual Brotherhood members, I'm sorry I assumed that.

Addressing them as an institution, however...

I think they might still be a morr admirable group than you give them credit for. Yes, they have rather brutal hazing rituals for aspirants. At best, this ensures the unqualified won't go into danger, at worst, it's abuse. Bullying is absolutely wrong, I won't defend that.

However, on the charge of bigotry, I don't think it's entirely fair. Based on comments by Knight Rhys and others, I don't think tgey hate nonhumans simply for being nonhumans, rather they see it as a quasi-religious duty to remove the consequences of technological abuse. Ghouls, Synths, Super-Mutants... they didn't arise naturally. They are permanent (un-ageing) reminders of "technology that's gone too far". Think on Arthur Maxon's words in "Blind Betrayal". Danse's existence is intolerable to him because it is symbolic of a perversion of technology. Whether it's radiation, FEV, or whatever else, the Brotherhood is committed to opposing technological abuse.

In that context, their hoarding of technology is understandable. In 2077, mankind demonstrated that it wasn't capable of using technology in a responsible manner. Heck, given what Ulysses tried to do at the Divide, and what Hank did at Shady Sands, mankind arguably STILL isn't capable.

So what alternative is there but to keep that technology safe, away from the reckless hands that would abuse it, until humanity develops the maturity and restraint to show technology its peoper reverence?

The Brotherhood is also not without its reformers. This is explicitly why Maximus chooses to return to them! He speaks with Cleric Quintus about improving the Brotherhood, making it match the idealised image he once held. He no longer holds illusions about what the Brotherhood is, but he still believes in its mission, in what it could become.

Even when they have disagreed with one another, the Brotherhood has always shared a common (noble) goal. Christine Royce and Father Elijah didn't see eye to eye on how the technologies of Big MT and the Sierra Madre should be used, but they both shared the same ultimate vision; Rodger Maxon's vision, a vision of a world where mankind worshipped technology rather than misusing it. A better world.

Hi Anonymous person.

I mean, look. I'm not the Thought Police. You're free to like any Fallout faction you like, and I'm not going to hunt you down and bother you about it. But ... I mean, you've asked, and I'm really confused about what you're saying here.

However, on the charge of bigotry, I don't think it's entirely fair. Based on comments by Knight Rhys and others, I don't think tgey hate nonhumans simply for being nonhumans, rather they see it as a quasi-religious duty to remove the consequences of technological abuse. Ghouls, Synths, Super-Mutants… they didn't arise naturally. They are permanent (un-ageing) reminders of "technology that's gone too far".

I ... don't understand why you're putting this forward as a defence? This is kind of my whole point. If some individuals in the Brotherhood were bigoted, that might reasonably make them terrible – or at least misguided – people, but it might not say anything about the institution itself.

But the genocidal impulses are built into Brotherhood doctrine. Wanting to murder groups of people because they don't fit into your vision (religious or otherwise) of a perfect world is ... bad. I mean it's very bad. It's one of the worst things you can want to do. It's very much a despairing "war never changes" thing.

I know what Arthur Maxson says. I'm not disputing that the Brotherhood really, truly believes that mass murder is a good thing. It's just that my response to that is "Go fuck yourself, Arthur."

I genuinely do not understand why you're calling my assertion of bigotry unfair. I noted that I do not like the Brotherhood because they are genocidal toward mutants and Synths, and you have agreed that they very much are, and not only that but that this is a core part of their belief system. So ... that's that.

The Brotherhood is also not without its reformers. This is explicitly why Maximus chooses to return to them! He speaks with Cleric Quintus about improving the Brotherhood, making it match the idealised image he once held. He no longer holds illusions about what the Brotherhood is, but he still believes in its mission, in what it could become.

Huh? No he doesn't. Maximus very definitely does not do that.

For much of the show, Maximus lies to other people about his name and status in order to protect himself. He also lies to himself, somewhat, about what he wants out of life.

The fact that Maximus shows little investment in the Brotherhood's ideals is one of the things that keeps him sympathetic, even when he's stomping around in power armour (he calls the Brotherhood's mission "weird" when Lucy points out the inherent contradictions).

His time in Vault 4, combined with his exposure to Lucy, allows him the space to grow as a person, and to start telling the truth. Truth works with her in a way that it did not with Thaddeus, who was never going to side with Maximus against Brotherhood guns. What Maximus really wants is Shady Sands back: specifically a world where Shady Sands was never destroyed, and he could have eaten well and gone to school and lived a completely different life. Failing that, what he wants is peace. This is what he says "explicitly": that he wants to live in peace and not go to war.

Maximus returns to the Brotherhood with a decoy head to allow Lucy to complete her mission. He does this because one of the things he has to admit to himself is that the deal he made with her was bullshit. He simply doesn't have the clout to force the issue, and the Brotherhood isn't going to help out a vault dweller having a rough week for moral reasons.

Lucy is confused by this sudden change of plans: she only knows Maximus, so she thinks the Brotherhood must be "the good guys". Both Maximus and Thaddeus know better: they've lived through Brotherhood brutality.

One key problem that both Lucy and Maximus have is that they've never really delved into what the head is for, so whether it's safe or good to deliver it anywhere in particular doesn't factor into their plans. It's just a MacGuffin to them: Lucy needs it to rescue her dad; Maximus needs it so the Brotherhood doesn't murder him.

Consequently, Maximus is at least initially fine with using his knowledge of the head's location to save his own arse – moreover, leading the Brotherhood to the head will also take him back to Lucy. He confides to his friend Dane that he intends to flee with Lucy at the first opportunity; Dane laments that they don't believe there is a way to escape. I don't know where this "Maximus enthusiastically reforms the Brotherhood" idea is coming from. In his head, Maximus is already deep underground, wearing Vault 33's fluffiest dressing gown, and never hearing about any of this crap ever again.

However, The Beginning is largely about disillusionment. For Norm and Cooper, this means engaging in some espionage to uncover Vault-Tec's evil plans – and their loved ones' complicity in those plans. For Lucy and Maximus, it means recontextualising the childhood memories that shaped them.

As Lucy listens to Moldaver's story, she reflects on her childhood memory of standing in a cornfield with her mother. She realises that she really did stand beneath the sun in a rebuilt civilisation, and that her father's insistence that she was in the vault the whole time is a lie intended to conceal his own crimes.

As Maximus listens to Quintus's horrifying little speech about conquering the wasteland, he reflects on his childhood image of the Brotherhood as heroes and saviours. In the present, the Brotherhood has just forcibly occupied the town of Filly (this is bad!), has come very close to summarily executing him (also not what you'd call good!) and is about to force him to go to war against a group of people who have not at any point in the series threatened them, purely because they have some tech the Brotherhood wants (really fucking awful, if you think about it!).

If Maximus has any mission at this point beyond getting the hell out of there and finding Lucy – it is wresting control of the cold fusion technology from the Brotherhood's hands. Because Moldaver bequeaths her cause to him with her dying breath.

What do you suppose your Brotherhood would do with infinite power? Maybe you can stop them. Maybe you can't. Maybe all you can do is try. – Lee Moldaver, Fallout: The Beginning

Maximus is a child of Shady Sands. He's a citizen of the NCR. The expression on his face when the Brotherhood vertibirds open fire on the people fleeing across the compound is understandably appalled. He attacks Hank when he learns what he did to his home. Moldaver knows none of this. She just knows the expression on Maximus's face when the lights go on across the city – and she reaches out to him because that's enough to hope.

So ... no? Really no. Maximus does not explicitly return to the Brotherhood to embrace Quintus's bullshit.

Even when they have disagreed with one another, the Brotherhood has always shared a common (noble) goal. Christine Royce and Father Elijah didn't see eye to eye on how the technologies of Big MT and the Sierra Madre should be used, but they both shared the same ultimate vision; Rodger Maxon's vision, a vision of a world where mankind worshipped technology rather than misusing it. A better world.

I mean ... Dead Money is not a story about rational people making good choices. I don't think the "unhealthy obsession DLC" is a great example of anything but what not to do. Christine is a tragic figure. Her absolute best ending leaves her as something that is almost literally the ghost of an old-world film star, forever haunting the Sierra Madre. She's also clearly paralleling the fate of her lost love, Veronica: Veronica is keenly aware that the Brotherhood's ideology leads to an ugly dead end, but she can neither change them nor escape them and becomes a kind of ghost herself.

These are not pro-Brotherhood stories.

But I mean ... I'm not trying to somehow dispute that many Brotherhood members believe to some extent in Brotherhood ideals. I know how indoctrination works.

You're assuming the "noble" part. What I am saying is that I don't believe the Brotherhood's goals are noble, good, or helpful. I think they should stop doing what they're doing. I think the hoarding and the dogmatism and the genocide are ... well, wrong. I don't think Roger Maxson has a "better world". I think he and his men couldn't handle the guilt of being involved in unethical experiments themselves, and the Brotherhood has just been reacting badly to their collective trauma across generations.

It's not that I think the Brotherhood of Steel is absolutely incapable of change: in theory they could stop hoarding and murdering and generally being arseholes. But then they would not really be the Brotherhood of Steel anymore. And I think it is unlikely that that will happen, because the kinds of problems they cause are useful for the sorts of stories the Fallout series wants to tell.

So I'm probably stuck with them for the foreseeable future. And I still have no time for any of them.

[1-800-c3dr1c]

CHARACTERS I WILL WRITE FOR

requests : open! (will slowly but surely get to them, i have lots of unfinished ones at the moment.)

emoji anons always open! taken ones: none so far <3

if in bold i much prefer to write for these characters more.

if in italics i will only write sfw content of them.

let me know if you’d like to be in any of these character’s tag lists to be tagged whenever i post anything related to them, whether it be in a post with them, under this post, or my inbox asks! <3

also, please ask questions (if you have any) about what i will write below! i will answer them all to the best of my abilities, but currently, i’m obsessed with writing yandere characters. (I DO NOT CONDONE YANDERE ACTIVITIES/TENDENCIES OR ANYTHING ELSE IRL.)

SHADOWHUNTER CHRONICLES :

theresa “tessa” gray. james carstairs. william herondale. magnus bane. cecily herondale. gabriel lightwood. charlotte branwell. henry branwell. jessamine lovelace. gideon lightwood. sophie collins. james herondale. thomas lightwood. cordelia carstairs. lucie herondale. anna lightwood. christopher lightwood. jesse blackthorn. grace blackthorn. matthew fairchild. alastair carstairs. ariadne bridgestock. charles fairchild.

SIX OF CROWS :

kaz brekker. inej ghafa. nina zenik. matthias helvar. jesper fahey. wylan van eck.

SHADOW AND BONE :

adrik zhabin. alina starkov. david kostyk. genya safin. malyen oretsev. nikolai lantsov. tamar kir-bataar. the darkling. tolya yul-bataar. soya nazyalensky.

GENSHIN IMPACT :

aether. albedo. alhaitham. amber. arataki itto. baizhu. barbara. beidou. bennett. candace. collei. cyno. dehya. diluc. diona. dori. eula. faruzan. fischl. freminet. ganyu. gorou. hu tao. jean. kaedehara kazuha. kaeya. kamisato ayaka. kamisato ayato. kaveh. keqing. kirara. klee. kujou sara. kuki shinobu. layla. lisa. lumine. lynette. lyney. mona. nahida. neuvilette. nilou. ningguang. noelle. qiqi. raiden shogun. razor. rosaria. sangonomiya kokomi. sayu. shenhe. shikanoin heizou. sucrose. tartaglia. thoma. tighnari. venti. wanderer. wriothesley. xiangling. xiao. xinqiu. xinyan. yae miko. yanfei. yaoyao. yelan. yoimiya. yun jin. zhongli.

PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS :

percy jackson. luke castellan. annabeth chase. nico di angelo. grover underwood. clarisse la rue. will solace.

HONKAI: STAR RAIL :

arlan. asta. bailu. bronya. clara. dan heng. gepard. herta. himeko. hook. jing yuan. luocha. march 7th. natasha. pela. sampo. seele. serval. stelle. caelus. welt.

NIER AUTOMATA :

9S. 2B. A2.

THE SELECTION :

america singer. maxon schreave. aspen leger. marlee tames. celeste newsome.

THE MAZE RUNNER :

newt. gally. minho. teresa agnes. alby. chuck. thomas. aris jones. brenda. frypan. sonya. zart. winston. harriet. clint. jeff. ben.

HARRY POTTER :

lavender brown. cho chang. fleur delacour. cedric diggory. seamus finnigan. hermione granger. neville longbottom. luna lovegood. draco malfoy. harry potter. dean thomas. bill weasley. charlie weasley. fred weasley. george weasley. ginny weasley. percy weasley. ron weasley. oliver wood.

STRANGER THINGS :

eleven. mike wheeler. will byers. lucas sinclair. erica sinclair. max mayfield. dustin henderson. steve harrington. nancy wheeler. jonathan byers.

MEAN GIRLS :

regina george. karen smith. gretchen wieners. cady heron. aaron samuels. janis ian. damian.

ALICE IN BORDERLAND :

akane heiya. chota segawa. daikichi karube. hikari kuina. kodai tatta. mira kano. morizono aguni. rizuna an. ryohei arisu. shuntaro chishiya. suguru niragi. yuzuha usagi.

DIVERGENT :

beatrice prior. tobias eaton. caleb prior. peter. uriah pedrad. eric coulter. christina. tori wu.

THE HUNGER GAMES :

katniss everdeen. peeta mellark. rue. cato hadley. clove kentwell. gale hawthorne. primrose everdeen. finnick odair. johanna mason. young! coriolanus snow. sejanus plinth. clemensia dovecote.

SQUID GAME :

seong gi-hun. kang sae-byeok. hwang jun-ho. ali abdul.

ALL OF US ARE DEAD :

lee cheong-san. yoon gwi-nam. nam on-jo. lee su-hyeok. lee na-yeon. choi nam-ra.

THE WALKING DEAD :

daryl dixon. rick grimes. carl grimes. michonne. maggie rhee. shane walsh. glenn rhee.

MY HERO ACADEMIA :

shota aizawa. hizashi yamada. nemuri kayama. yuga aoyoma. mina ashido. tsuyu asui. tenya ida. ochako uraraka. mashirao ojiro. denki kaminari. eijiro kirishima. koji koda. rikido sato. mezo shoji. kyoka jiro. hanta sero. fumikage tokoyami. shoto todoroki. toru hagakure. katsuki bakugo. izuku midoriya. momo yaoyorozu. yosetsu awase. sen kaibara. togaru kamakiri. shihai kuroiro. itsuka kendo. yui kodai. kinoko komori. ibara shiozaki. jurota shishida. nirengeki shoda. pony tsunotori. kosei tsuburaba. tetsutetsu tetsutetsu. setsuna tokage. manga fukidashi. juzo honenuki. kojiro bondo. neito monoma. reiko yanagi. hiryu rin. mirio togata. nejire hado. tamaki amajiki. hitoshi shinso. mei hatsume. emi fukukado. camie utsushimi. keigo takami. rumi usagiyama. yu takeyama. tomura shigaraki. dabi. himiko toga. rody soul.

HAIKYUU!! :

kenma kozume. yu nishinoya. toru oikawa. tobio kageyama. tetsurō kuroo. kei tsukishima. shoyo hinata. kiyoko shimizu. kōtarō bokuto. asahi azumane. koshi sugawara. hitoka yachi. tadashi yamaguchi. ryūnosuke tanaka. hajime iwaizumi. daichi sawamura.

DEMON SLAYER :

giyu tomioka. mitsuri kanroji. obanai iguro. sanemi shinazugawa. gyomei himejima. muichiro tokito. shinobu kocho. kyojuro rengoku. kanae kocho. tengen uzui. kanao tsuyuri. tanjiro kamado. zenitsu agatsuma. inosuke hashibira. genya shinazugawa. aoi kanzaki. nezuko kamado. muzan kibutsuji. tamayo. yushiro yamamoto. susumaru. sabito. makomo. senjuro rengoku. hinatsuru uzui. makio uzui. suma uzui. kokushibo. doma. akaza. nakime. hantengu. gyokko. kaigaku. gyutaro. daki. enmu. rui.

THE PROMISED NEVERLAND :

emma. ray. norman. isabella. krone. don. gilda.

OBEY ME! SHALL WE DATE? :

lucifer. mammon. leviathan. satan. asmodeus. beelzebub. belphegor. diavolo. barbatos. luke. simeon. soloman.

YANDERE SIMULATOR :

ayano aishi. ayato aishi. osana najimi. osano najimi. amai odayaka. amao odayaka. kizana sunobu. kizano sunobu. oka ruto. asu rito. aso rito. muja kina. mujo kina. mida rana. mido rana. osoro shidesu. osorō shidesu. hanako yamada. hanakō yamada. megami saikou. megamo saikou. umeji kizuguchi.

TOP GUN :

pete “maverick” mitchell. bradley “rooster” bradshaw. jake “hangman” seresin. natasha “phoenix” trace. robert “bob” floyd. reuben “payback” fitch. mickey “fanboy” garcia.