#bones is a much fun character

[ratchet-toesniffer]

Optimus all over that old dusty ass poonany bro. Can't even say anything, I’d be all up on it, too.

More art I did of my beautiful wife 😍😍 I got into Transformers bc of TFA Ratchet, so he holds a special place in my heart.

[stealingyourbones]

Watching Loki. I’m on episode 4 and I’m trying to see what the hype was about

[bonebrokebuddy]

I get that this is due to people not read comics but, if you want a fun lighthearted batfam dynamic, I cannot recommend enough putting your story and characters in the Silver Ages. I see so much fanon material that would fit in this setting perfectly and it pains me that it’s not more popular or well known.

If you don’t know what the silver age of comics is, I’d recommend checking out this article!

And here for the 1956 Comics Code Authority.

It might not be in continuity anymore but the silver ages were such a large era of comics that defined the characters. And the format & restrictions of the silver ages allows you to easily bypass several common issues folks have with plots. In modern comics, there’s constant interpersonal drama because there has to be, if you resolve all those issues then you can’t sell more comics & they lose a lot of tension.

But due to the Comic Code Authority that is no longer an issue!

Randomly ignoring a dark past that makes connection between characters difficult [the poor aging of Jason’s bag of heads making it difficult for him to reunite with the rest of the batfam, for example] because it doesn’t fit with the theme you want?:

Comics are episodic in this era. Think of it like a early 2000s TV show. Things that happened in past comics/episodes often won’t affect the current story at all as the setting resets to default at the start of every comic. Additionally, literally all gore, torture, or explicit descriptions of murder is banned due to CCA restrictions, so you can choose to have it simply never have happened!

Characters that don’t fit at all in a story but you want a crossover for?:

The Silver Ages had SO MANY crossovers of heroes solely bc it sold comics. How compatible they are doesn’t matter in the slightest. The thinnest of reasons why they met works perfectly. You can even just have the characters know each other already and go “I know who can help me with this case! [Insert character you want here]! I met them in my last trip to Antarctica!” You only need maybe one sentence, two if you’re feeling frisky, to explain why they met and then you’re free to run wild.

Want a character to randomly acquire a superpower or meet a long lost cousin they have for one comic and then it’s never mentioned again?

I cannot state how frequently this happens. Silver Age comics were pretty much written cover first. Meaning the cover was made and the story was written after with the philosophy of “if my comic cover is more bizzare and eye catching then kids will buy it!” Like, there are multiple comics where Superman’s head got turned into an ant and Batman gets powers practically every other World’s Finest issue. Like it’s not even an “au” to do these things. That’s just what the Silver Ages were like.

Comic science and comic physics run rampant as well as bizarre villains! You can have so much fun with this!! Heroes often play the straight-man in bizarre scenarios with over-the-top villains in this era, making that aspect shine brightly can make for an inherently funny plot. You could either keep it fun and light or turn it into a psychological horror as the characters realize they can’t disobey the CCA code and have to follow a specific plot.

Also the restrictions of the CCA at the time would also help create some fun and unique plots if you wanted to keep the plot time-period accurate.

There’s a lot of restrictions but there are still many ways to create conflict in your fic! Plenty can come from the CCA directly!

Canon or HC LGBT+ characters could be pressured to not come out or face tremendous backlash. Time accurate homophobia, essentially.

McCarthyism and paranoia ran wild. Oh no someone suspected your blorbo of being a communist/socialist and now it’s ruining their life!

Characters dealing with how the CCA’s restrictions/their reality is inherently bigoted and can’t be themselves. (See: comics on topics of racial & religious prejudice aren’t allowed, characters can’t speak in “slang” or “vulgar language” and “good grammar” is emphasized (often targeting minorities), and the sanctity of family must be respected (no divorce, no queer people).

Also! Crazy over-the-top villains with deadly stakes are played with a lighthearted tone. Play it straight and suddenly your comic changed genre into horror if you think about it for more than a second.

Characters that used to be antihero’s are just straight up villains now or suddenly wake up with massive gaps in their memory and no one else can tell them why. There is no grey with the CCA. Just good and evil. Because that would make the villains sympathetic and we can’t have that!

If you want to just have a fun, campy and lighthearted tone however, that’s the Silver Age’s bread and butter. While keeping the CCA’s code in mind is good to keep a Silver Age story feeling time accurate and Silver Age-y, it’s definitely not necessary to follow each and every rule.

Here’s some more links to free silver age comics and places you can go to find information on silver age comics if you want to learn more that aren’t fandom wikis but rather made by nerds with a passion to catalogue and share their interest to others.

Your local library has a decent chance of having an omnibus of 50s-70s comics or you can order one from a nearby library if your local one doesn’t carry them.

A local comic shop or bookstore. Silver age omnibuses & “50 year anniversary/best of” type collections are usually present and have a good variety of silver age comics.

Jenny Blake Isabella (the creator of Black Lightning) has delightful reviews of the Batman Silver Age Omnibus on her blog that add context, critiques, and overall are a delight to read

Takes some hunting but this Silver Age Comic blog has a bunch of single issue reviews of Silver Age Batman comics.

Want a specific issue to read? Here’s super brief summaries of soso many issues curtesy of The Comics Archives blog.

The Internet Archive also has a few:

Batman & Superman world's finest. The Silver Age. Volume one

Justice League of America, the Silver Ages volume 1

Batman: the dynamic duo archives. vol 2 (I cannot find volume 1)

A good tip to find legal and free comics decently intact is to search [comic run title/character hero name & issue number if you have it] + “blog” + “review”.

There are so many in-depth reviews of comics in blogs by comic fans out there that practically share most of the comic panels in the post while giving context to past issues while the poster adds personal insight and opinions on the comic. Is it going to give you the whole issue unfiltered? No. But it allows newbies to get insight from old fans and old fans to get a new perspective on a comic they’ve already read. Blog reviews are such an underrated way to get new fans into comics considering how great of a resource they are! Don’t know if you’ll like a comic run? Read a bunch of reviews on it from different blogs! It’s truly so underrated.

I see a lot of dc fans that don’t read the comics because they don’t like the violence and dark tone of modern comics or don’t know where to start. Simple solution: Why are you reading reading modern comics then? Give the Silver Ages a try! They’re utterly corny and campy & I love them dearly.

They fit all of those bills with the CCA. Plus, with the episodic stories of that era, you can just pick up an omnibus, open it at a random issue and start reading. Hell, you can toss a stack of silver age issues in the air 52-pickup style and read them that way and you’re still be fine. You rarely, if ever, need knowledge from previous comics as they’ll often directly explain what happened to you. If you really need previous context, just like modern comics, they’ll directly tell you which issue(s) to read first.

Lastly.

It’s good to keep in mind the “By it’s time. For its time. Of its time” rule of comic analysis when reading old runs. Comics are: relevant during their time of publishing, for its intended audience (in this era, young american boys with a non-nuanced worldview) & with little care of how it’ll age, just that it’ll sell.

How history ties itself to comics is fascinating but also it’s good to be a little “👀👀 uh zoinks scoob that was a bad narrative or character decision that didn’t age well” and not dismiss it because that poor interpretation does have historical value as how it shows the moral, social, and political conflicts of the time in a neat little bow. Even if that bow is like, puke green.

Writers of comics will follow the misogynistic and racist ideals along the historical & social conflicts and ideals during the time of the comic’s publishing date. It’s uh, just kinda something ya gotta deal with when reading a lot of old comics runs. Most collections of silver age Batman/best ofs don’t often have comics that aged super badly but if you end up encountering any, it’s good to keep this in mind.

If anyone is inspired to write something based off of this, please tag me so I can read it!

[siriuslyobsessedwithfiction]

People, people, I've figured it out. It's the show Mal the fandom likes and automatically associates him with Book Mal. That's where the rise in defending Malina comes from. No one really liked book Mal in ye olden days and now no one really remembers what he was actually like. Show Mal is ''the ordinary boy trying to keep up" the book was failing trying to portray. Book Mal is a textbook abusive man who actually reminded readers of their shitty exes. With severe alcoholism, anger issues and gambling problems he never addressed, who admitted he preferred Alina sick and isolated and constantly shamed her. Not to mention the emotional manipulation by always making it about himself, weaponized incompetence, sleeping around and ignoring Alina when she needed his support the most.

[ahollowgrave]

PIGEON’S GPOSE WRAPPED 2024

one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve

Gpose Wrapped 2023

WHEW! Here it is! My favorite shots from over the year, one for each month (or... close enough!) I love putting these together it's such a fun way to look back and I'm always stunned at what I was up to at the start of the year. Odette started the year surrounded by friends and she ended the year surrounded by friends! How lucky is she. I almost had enough Skeleton shots for the first six months of the year, but then I got to March and actually gasped when I remembered how we all played Mermaids together! That was such a fun time!! Man, I have so much fun taking my little screenshots!!! It has led me to some of my favorite people!! I'm so grateful I still love this hobby and screenshots.

Thank you guys for being here, thanks for making stuff, and thanks for sharing it!

(down here is a second, secret gpose wrapped)

one / two / three / four / five / six / seven / eight / nine / ten / eleven / twelve / thirteen / fourteen

This year I had more than enough shots to do a second Gpose Wrapped (and then some) featuring my friends' OCs! That's wild!! These aren't in any particular order and one of them never made it to Tumblr. But I had so much fun making these and sharing them with my friends!! Thank you to the people who reached out and traded with me! Next year I want to be brave enough to do more shots with friends. Brave enough to ask, brave enough to brainstorm them, braver!!! There are people I gotta catch up with, too!

[thestarfishface]

are there any wrong theories you think are funny and can you share one if its about a part of the story thats already out

So, so many people thought Frankie was a mermaid.

So many.

Also all the "who is purple" theories were a ton of fun before Sage finally showed up. I have fond memories of the #purpleconfirmed era.

[a-most-beloved-fool]

If Spock and Jim merged into one being (no euphemism here lol) like Tuvix, what do you think the personality of the new being would be like? What impact do you think that would have had on the lives of both of them after they separated again? I love your headcanons, thanks for the answers!

thanks for the question!! <3

Hmmm... I think they would work pretty well as one being, actually. I'm thinking about all of those quotes from Roddenberry about how Kirk and Spock were supposed to represent two halves of a whole person, so I have to assume that they would be quite content. Though, disclaimer as I continue: I have not yet seen any of Voyager - there might be aspects of Tuvix's combination that I don't take into account because I don't know they exist. If so, uh, sorry. My bad.

For the sake of avoiding confusion, I'll call the merge Kirok (after the name Kirk chose when he lost his memories in The Paradise Syndrome). (Also, I fear that calling him "Kock" would have... deleterious effects on the readability of this post... for no reason at all...)

I do think that Kirok would, overall, have the best parts of Kirk and Spock. Combined, they are tactically fearsome. With Kirk's intuition and understanding of people and Spock's knowledge of statistics and science, Kirok is brilliant. However, I do think that Kirok would be a worse captain in practice than if Kirk and Spock simply had a mental bond. Part of the brilliance of Kirk and Spock as a command team is that, while they very much respect one another and take the other's opinion into account, they do also. regularly ignore each other's advice. And this is usually to their benefit! They each take risks that the other wouldn't, and, often, it saves them (in part because they always back each other up, even when doing things they don't agree with. Spock will be like "this is unwise" and Kirk will say "maybe, but I'm doing it anyways" and Spock will just... go with it.). But, if they were one person, I think that impulsiveness would be tempered. The Kirk part would have a brilliant idea, the Spock part would say "wait, there is too much risk, we can make a better plan," and then Kirok would lose his chance to act. When they're separate people Spock is ride-or-die for all of Kirk's decisions, but when they're one person, the Spock half won't always allow those decisions to be made at all (and also won't necessarily be able to tell when he does need to rein things in a bit). (Also Kirk and Spock both tend to be reckless, and then rely on the other to save them - as Kirok, who would back him up when he needed it? Bones would, but he's a medical officer. He simply can't do everything they would have. And, no matter how good of a first officer Kirok got (probably Sulu?), they couldn't be that good.)

I also think that Kirok wouldn't be quite as at ease with his position on the ship as Spock and Kirk individually were. The Spock part of him loves science far too much to just abandon it. He wants to spend time in the labs! He wants to make discoveries! Likewise the Kirk part of him can't truly be anything but a Captain. So, Kirok stays a captain, but he's less passionate about it (or, rather, more passionate about things that aren't it). This doesn't actually affect Kirok's satisfaction - it just affects his performance and relationships with others. He might spend off-duty time working on science experiments (which he can no longer do during shift, due to captaining) and neglect forming bonds with his crew, and he might place more focus than usual on scientific discovery missions.

As for the crew... Well, it's not as weird of a change as they expected. As expected, Kirok is less outwardly friendly than Kirk, and more outwardly friendly than Spock, but he's - cohesive. He still feels like their commanding officers. His humor tends to be a bit drier than Kirk's was, but he's a very compassionate and reasonable captain. (Tbh I tend to think that Kirk is actually more of a hardass than Spock (people just assume Spock is worse due to being Vulcan), so some crewmembers are surprised when Kirok is more lenient about certain things than Kirk would have been. Not lenient about cruelty or anything genuinely important to the safety of the ship, but about other things.) But, he's still not as good at making personal connections as Kirk was, and he's still inclined to spend too much time in the labs, so things aren't perfect.

Really, I think that the person having the worst time of things would be Bones, lmao. He'd have to deal with his Best Friend suddenly being the same person as The Guy He Affectionately Antagonizes (totally not a friend no how could you even think that). I think he'd be more lost than anyone else about how to address Kirok. Is this Kirk, his old friend, who he can be truly comfortable with, or is this Spock, who he snipes at and who snipes at him in turn? Who can he turn to, when the man he normally approaches for comfort is now the same being as one he doesn't want to seem too weak in front of? Does he turn to anyone else, in the meantime, or does he weather it alone?

Kirok himself, though, is actually pretty okay with the change. The different parts of himself simply - mesh well together. It's very satisfying for him, if not for his career and those around him. There's some minor bits of tension, especially regarding changes in biology and telepathic status, but, for the most part, he's doing well. The things you might expect to be major points of tension somehow... aren't. They compromise remarkably easily. (No meat, yes logic, no emotional suppression, yes casual touching, no casual relationships, yes meditation, etc.) And the Kirk and Spock parts of him both enjoy the closeness, the sense of knowing they now have for one another. They're one person, and know themself completely as they've always longed to know each other completely. (he does miss playing chess against someone who could beat him, though!)

Now, because I am Spirk-brained, I also think there's potential for Kirok to have Very Confused Feelings about discovering that the two parts of himself each had secret feelings for the other prior to the merge. There could be this odd sense of loss - like, yes, they are now technically one with one another, but they also completely missed out on their shot at a romantic relationship. They mourn what they could have had. The Spock part, especially, mourns the potentially for a telepathic bond (because with how smoothly they've integrated with one another, it surely would have been a strong one). So, as much as Kirok does enjoy existing as Kirok, I think he might be more willing to attempt separating back into two parts than I believe Tuvix was.

And, when they're two separate people again, they both feel like they're missing some part of themself, even once they've begun their new romantic relationship - but quickly discover that a mental link between them fills that hole. (And then, of course, because they are hopeless and in love, the "medicinal mental link" very quickly just becomes a marriage bond. They're like "well, we've already been one person and liked that well enough... a marriage bond is hardly anything different!" To Spock's endless pleasure, they are highly compatible and have a remarkably strong bond.) The mental link also allows them to have the same quick reaction times and combined brilliance of Kirok without the negative side effects of their own individual strengths being tempered. (they're also like. annoyingly codependent for a bit after Kirok's separation. oh boy are they always touching. "it gives them emotional security." bones looks at them in disgust (he loves it).)

Or, if we wanted to be McSpirk-brained... I'm enjoying the imagery of Kirok (who both had crushes on Bones as well as on one another) just directing all of that missed romantic potential onto Bones, who is... like, he's not not into it (Kirk was hot, Spock was hot, ergo Kirok is hot), but he also misses and loved his Original friends, and so he is very torn between accepting Kirok's advances and trying to find a way to split them apart again. (Flustered Bones, flustered Bones!! I do love flustered Bones!! He is blushing and stammering and having multiple ethical crises all at once. They never covered this in Starfleet Medical...) He also doesn't quite know whether Kirok's feelings truly belonged to both Kirk and Spock or not, and doesn't think that Kirk or Spock would truly act on it if they were in their normal state, so a small selfish part of him wonders if that's the only chance he has to be with them (even if it's not quite the same 'them' he fell in love with). And then, of course, there's the fear that trying to get back the original Kirk and Spock will actually just kill them! Yeah, poor Bones has a rough time of things. But, when everything is fixed, he does still wind up getting two boyfriends out of it. It all works out in the end?

[littencloud9]

bsd fandom has always mischaracterised kunikida to hell and back but the fact that i am seeing SO MUCH hate for his character right after his 'death' is insane

[isbruniii]

◇ Would that be fair trought ? ◇

[stealingyourbones]

[bonefall]

So, since BB!Ivypool will use her newfound deputy status to force a confrontation with Dovewing- how would she react if Dovewing snaps and told her to her face that she never, EVER wanted to speak with her again after everything? Like, would it click for her that even if she deeply regrets the way she treated her sister, no matter how sorry she is its up to Dovewing if she's ever forgiven? Or does she blame Heartstar thinking she turned her sister against her?

Let's pop open the hood of BB!Ivypool and her fucked up little life, and every person she's been leading up to the end of BB!TBC.

All of this starts with her father, Lionblaze, raising her with this axiom; That you are given strength to serve your Clan.

While he used Dovepaw and her powers in service of ThunderClan (often fighting with her mentor, Birchfall), Lionblaze encouraged his daughter to involve herself in Dark Forest training. Ivypaw felt like this was how she "earned" affection from her Ba, with hard work.

Just as Lionblaze believed that his physical abuse at the paw of Ashfur made him stronger, Ivypool also came to believe that growing up thrown to the wolves made her stronger too.

So when Dovewing first started to... not even REJECT the idea, just display any resentment towards it at all, it's like a personal slight.

No one ever fucking listens to Dovewing. No one cares what she wants. Just what she can do for them.

And Ivypool was super part of that. Her mentor is Brightheart, who often overexerts herself as an expression of PTSD. She saw Hawkfrost "die" turning against Tigerstar for the greater good. She sees Bumblestripe "working so hard" to "help Dovewing adjust" while she's losing her hearing.

In her eyes, Dovewing was being selfish. Look at all these people who give EVERYTHING to their Clans-- how dare you try and make it about yourself?

Tigerheart, in and out of their life constantly, gets blamed because it's a lot easier to pin it all on the Evil Codebreaking Foreigner than admit that maybe Dovewing has a point. Ah HA! THERE is the villain responsible for making my sister act weird! I knew it all along!

(Plus Tigerheart and Ivypool got pitted against each other a LOT in DF training because Ivy was Hawkfrost's apprentice and Tigerheart was Tigerstar's, for some incredibly fucked up projection reasons you'd expect of Tunnelbunstar. Ivypool will nonsensically blame Tigerheart like she's a Dinkleberg.)

(Also tbf tigerheart would 100% let her believe it, 1. Because it's funny, and 2. Because it takes the heat off Dovewing)

And Ivypool was VICIOUS about this. AVoS is still getting shuffled but if anything vindictive she did towards Dove in that arc gets removed, I will replace it with something just as bad. She would actively sabotauge ShadowClan if it meant keeping Tigerheart away from Dovewing.

She can't handle the thought of losing Dovewing. At some point, it became about control. It's her insecurity towards herself, towards her family, towards all of her losses, and even towards service of her very Clan.

And then Dovewing booked it. Couldn't handle this shit and panicked and BAILED.

And THEN it's about getting Dovewing BACK. She's even dragged Fernsong into this and tried to leverage his friendship with Dovewing to this end. She'll even support Bumblestripe when he tries to argue for an invalidation of Queen’s Rights on technicality.

Ivypool: "Those kits are Bumblestripe's! He has a claim! They even have HIS MANE"

Heartstar: "Hmm. No, it is very clearly MY mane."

Ivypool: "You can't-- wait what?"

Heartstar: "Lightkit even has my beautiful smile <3 so fuck off, maybe?"

For a long time that's where Ivypool was. She was the awful, vindictive sister-in-law constantly trying to weasel in to make Dovewing feel bad. When she had kittens of her own, she was still in this mindset.

It didn't end well. In BB!TBC, Bristlefrost needed her. Ivypool stepped in to prevent her from being the impostor's pawn, but refused to do anything when she was caught and imprisoned for being in a HalfClan relationship. She needed to be punished as a codebreaker.

Brought to the next Gathering, the impostor reiterated the need to enforce the code, and desperate times calling for desperate measures. He called for SkyClan to punish their own warrior. They refused to make this a public spectacle.

So he sliced open her throat, right on the branch beside him.

Ivypool didn't imagine she would be KILLED. Suddenly her whole world shattered. The moon stayed clear and bright. Her daughter was dead before she hit the ground and she had HERSELF to blame.

Dovewing and Ivypool served in the rebellion together, and eventually Ivy went into the Dark Forest as a Light in the Mist. She watched Bristlefrost die, AGAIN, knocking Ashfur out of the sky and burning them both up in orbit, and how brave Shadowsight had been in pinning him in place.

Ivypool NEEDS Dovewing to know now that she's different. She's learned a lot. She understands so, so much more now...

But DOES she? She still hates Heartstar's guts. She still feels abandoned. How different ARE you now, Ivypool, with your renewed interest in finding some petty reason to skirt around Dovewing's direct wishes? When you're still here getting into blowout arguments with Heartstar?

So to answer the question, if Dovewing told her directly, "I WANT NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR DESPERATION. IM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR FEELINGS. PISS OFF"

Ivypool would not be able to accept that.

It just wouldn't stick, ever. It really is desperation. Dovewing NEEDS to know that Ivypool loves her and misses her, and that she understands, but also that Heartstar is delusional, and this is still kind of Dovewing's fault. And Ivypool will do anything to make her know this.

But I also DO want to say; this is a very unique weakness. It is Dovewing Derangement Syndrome. Ivypool is a competent deputy, and she is a devoted and respected warrior of ThunderClan. It will be no surprise she's being picked for deputy, especially considering (god willing) Squirrelstar is seeking war with ShadowClan.

She is a good friend, mate, and leader. But BB!Ivypool is so, so fucked in the head about Dovewing. This family can fit so much trauma in it

[vibragarlic]

spoilers for big city greens season 4 ep 14 (the newest one)!

[floriealis]

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗜𝗧𝗘 𝗢𝗙 𝗡𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 — 𝗬𝗩𝗘𝗟𝗟𝗔 𝗩𝗔𝗟𝗘́𝗥𝗬’𝗦 𝗩𝗘𝗥𝗦𝗜𝗢𝗡 “        What’s left of me dreams backwards.        ” — Yvella Valéry

WHAT IS THE RITE OF NINES?

The Rite of Nines is one of the most forbidden and devastating magical rituals in witchcraft. Ancient, pre-colonial, and suppressed by nearly every known coven, it grants the practitioner immense sacrificial and ancestral power — a permanent connection to the Ancestral Plane, and the ability to channel magic from the dead without needing a living conduit.

To complete the ritual, a witch must sacrifice nine witches, each from a different coven, and mark their deaths with the sacred Emblem of Nothingness — a rhombus crowned by an “X” carved into the forehead, symbolizing severance, death, and reclamation.

The best-known failed attempt was Eva Sinclair, who planned to use nine children, one from each New Orleans coven, linked together so their deaths would occur simultaneously during the final spell. But before she could complete the ritual, she was stopped — imprisoned, silenced, and eventually possessed by Rebekah Mikaelson.

But what most witches never knew is this: the ritual did not require linking. It required intention, sacrifice, and symbolic completion. And Yvella Valéry was the first — and only — witch to complete it without error.

YVELLA’S VERSION — THE BLOODY MIRACLE

Yvella Valéry, the Sacrificial Witch, completed her version of the Rite of Nines in 1914 — just before the events at the Dowager Fauline Cottage. Unlike Eva Sinclair, Yvella required no children, no chains, no wards of containment. She did not link her victims. She hunted them. One by one. Quickly, cleanly, and with meticulous efficiency. Where Eva relied on theory and desperation, Yvella relied on design.

THE ORIGIN OF HER RITE:

The seed was planted long before 1914. When Yvella was still a girl, curious and ambitious, she found a hidden trunk in the attic of her family's Tremé home. It belonged to her aunt, Eloise Dupont — a vanished Valéry whose name was spoken rarely and with unease. The trunk was filled with grimoires written in ash-black ink, stitched in human hair and sealed with tallow. In them, Yvella found her first mention of “Le Rite des Neuf.” At the time, it was only a myth. Nine sacrifices, one from each coven. Great power. Forbidden. Suppressed. The pages were incomplete — some burned, others scratched out. But the idea remained, like a worm in the root of her mind. It wasn't until more than a decade later, under the reluctant mentorship of Kol Mikaelson, that the rite transformed from fantasy to possibility.

WHY SHE CHOSE TO DO IT:

Kol had brought her into his circle when he sought to make a weapon to use against his brother, dabbling in Kemiya to reach this goal — a blend of alchemy, dark Egyptian sorcery, and old witchcraft. Together, they pursued dangerous knowledge. Yvella learned quickly, reveled in it. But it was the Mikaelsons as a whole, especially Klaus, who showed her the stark truth of the world: witches were vulnerable. Disposable. Tools or threats. Klaus spoke of witches as parasites. Disposable when no longer useful. He did not realize she was listening — or how deeply his words took root. Yvella realized that if witches were to survive the likes of him, they needed more than magic. They needed supremacy. Power not granted by ancestral bone or collective consensus — but power taken, stolen, built on blood. The Rite of Nines would give her that.

THE PREPARATION:

By the time she committed to the Rite in late 1914, she had already spent months rebuilding the pieces. The grimoires of Eloise provided the outline. But it was Ione Leclair — her on-again, off-again mentor and ritual historian from Marigny — who unwittingly taught her how to fill in the blanks. Ione spoke often of the ancient rites, including the Emblem of Nothingness — L'Emblème du Néant — a sigil carved only into the heads of the damned. She dismissed the Rite of Nines as myth, but her notes confirmed it had once been attempted centuries ago, with catastrophic failure. Yvella studied failures as blueprints. Over the course of six months, she charted every major coven. Not just names, but weaknesses. Leaders. Internal politics. Her face was known, her bloodline unmistakable, so she couldn’t hide behind a mask. So instead, she slipped between the cracks: bribed gatekeepers, forged invitations, exploited old favors, preyed on chaos. She moved like a shadow wearing her own skin. She kept notebooks inside other books, stitched into the lining of her coat. She tested poisons on pigs. Practiced carving sigils on dolls. And all the while, she kept Kol and the others none the wiser.

SECRECY AND STRATEGY:

Yvella never performed magic where it could be traced. She used ancestral routes, crumbling backroads of Tremé magic few even remembered. She hid in plain sight, played the charming prodigy, the gifted pupil. To Kol, she was merely clever. To others, another pawn in his games. But Yvella was already building her own kingdom. Quietly. Precisely. She left no bodies behind — not right away. She used glamours, misdirection, and in at least one case, pinned the murder on a vampire attack. She kept her tokens locked in a consecrated altar under her family’s crypt, where no coven could sense the convergence. She worked fast. Nine kills in nine weeks. Never hesitated. Well — except with the last.

THE RULES SHE FOLLOWED

To complete the Rite of Nines, Yvella had to:

Kill one powerful witch from each of the nine major covens — with no overlap or mercy.

Carve the Emblem of Nothingness — an ancient rhombus-and-cross sigil — into the forehead of each at the time of death.

Take a personal token from each victim — a piece of bone, blood, or magically-bound object — to bind to her ritual altar.

Complete all nine sacrifices within nine weeks, or the convergence would collapse.

Finish the ritual in a Neutral Ground — a sacred space unclaimed by any coven, where no ancestral spirit could interfere.

Offer a piece of herself — blood, magic, and something irrevocable, to seal the rite. Yvella gave all three.

It became known among those few who knew of it as The Bloody Miracle — not just for the speed and success, but because no one believed it was possible. Witches do not kill witches. Not this many. Not with such surgical grace.

But Yvella did. Because she believed witches deserved to be feared. And if fear was the price of freedom, she would be its collector.

THE SPECIFICS OF HER SACRIFICES

Each victim was chosen not for cruelty, but for significance. Yvella didn’t kill children. She killed the pillars of each coven — the ones whose deaths would shake the bones of the community.

[ #1. ] Colette Rousseau ( Garden District ) — Sigil Archivist Death: Crushed in the archive vault. Books bled ink for hours after her death. Token Taken: The tip of her right index finger, bone and all — the hand she used to draw sigils.

Colette was the first. Cold, brilliant, and aloof — a master of the written word, feared for how precisely she could bend magic with pen alone. She once rejected Yvella’s request for forbidden texts, calling her “half-formed, half-blooded, half-mad.” Yvella smiled and waited. Years later, she rigged the archive vault to collapse as Colette decoded a cursed page. It wasn’t personal. Not yet. But as the ink poured down the walls like blood, Yvella felt something change. The ritual had begun.

[ #2. ] Lucien Duprès ( Gentilly ) — Spellwright Death: Impaled by enchanted iron quills mid-incantation. His tongue was missing when they found him. Token Taken: His severed tongue, wrapped in parchment inked with his unfinished incantation. It dried shriveled, the runes burning through the page beneath.

Lucien was arrogant, brilliant, and deeply petty. He and Yvella had crossed magical swords many times — he stole her spellwork, mocked her innovations, and even tried to have her barred from a symposium of southern spellwrights. She returned the favor with a gift: a false incantation wrapped in gold ribbon. When he began to chant it, the room exploded in shards of ink and quill. She took his tongue to silence him forever. He would have hated how poetic it all was.

[ #3. ] Camila Desrosiers ( Ninth Ward ) — Weather Witch Death: Electrocuted during a ritual storm, her body smoking in the rain. Token Taken: A braid of her singed hair, still crackling faintly with static when wrapped in cloth.

Camila was tempestuous in every sense — volatile magic, sharper moods. But she had once sheltered Yvella during a storm of her own: a political fallout with the Tremé witches. Camila brewed sweet tea, cursed her enemies, and said, “ The world doesn’t care if you drown, but I do.        ” Yvella held that memory even as she summoned the storm that killed her. Camila never saw her face. But the lightning that struck her was inscribed with Yvella’s magic. A mercy, and a betrayal.

[ #4. ] Ettienne Marchand ( Algiers ) — Warlock Death: Heart stopped during spellwork. He died clawing at his own reflection. Token Taken: A shard of his spell mirror, darkened with his dying breath.

Ettienne terrified Yvella when she was young — all booming voice and bladed teeth, a warlock who never bowed to the Ancestors. He taught power through fear, and Yvella never forgot it. Later, he became an obstacle: ancient, revered, and in the way. So she inverted a soul-scrying ritual, turning his own reflection against him. He died screaming, not at her, but at himself. She watched him claw at the mirror, and in the end, he called her name. That part haunts her more than she admits.

[ #5. ] Ione Leclair ( Marigny ) — Ritual Historian Death: Wrist-to-wrist, face-to-face. Yvella carved the sigil while she wept. Token Taken: Ione’s old ribbon, still warm with her body’s final magic.

Ione wasn’t just a mentor — she was the foundation Yvella built her magical identity upon. She offered structure to Yvella’s chaos, reverence to her rage, and a deeper understanding of the sacredness within dark magic. Their bond was one of intellect and intuition, forged over countless hours spent dissecting ritual theory, pouring through forgotten texts, and shaping dangerous ideas into refined practice. When the time came, there was no trickery, no ambush. Just an ending that felt like a beginning gone wrong. Ione didn’t fight, and Yvella didn’t hesitate until it was already done — until her trembling hands were wet with blood and the ribbon she had so often seen tied in Ione’s hair slid from her wrist like silk. The guilt never faded. Not because it was her greatest sin, but because it felt like the closest thing to being seen.

[ #6. ] Anika Beaufort ( French Quarter ) — Bone Reader Death: Poisoned mid-ceremony with monkshood tincture. She predicted her death, but could not stop it. Token Taken: Her bone saw, ironwood-handled and stained with years of rites — still warm when Yvella took it.

Anika saw the worst in people, and delighted in being right. She and Yvella had a long-standing truce built on mutual distaste. Still, Anika was powerful, precise, and uncannily accurate — her readings often struck too deep. She once told Yvella, “        You’ll ruin the world, and convince yourself it was mercy.        ” Yvella didn’t dignify it with a response. She only poured the monkshood and watched the prophecy unfold. She didn’t apologize. Not because Anika didn’t deserve it — but because she would’ve enjoyed it.

[ #7. ] Mireille Gaspar ( Les Flammes Noires ) — Pyresmith Death: Consumed by black flame— her death kindling for the final rite. Token Taken: A vial of ash taken from her pyre, sealed with salt and bone-dust, and a charred sliver of bone, still smoldering.

Mireille was flame incarnate. A creator of magical fire, a keeper of dangerous heat. Yvella admired her, perhaps even feared her — not for her strength, but her detachment. Mireille lived by one rule: “       Fire doesn’t love. Fire destroys.       ” So Yvella turned that truth on her, binding her to a ritual flame that consumed her entirely. Mireille didn’t scream. She smiled faintly as the fire took her — as if she knew what her death was for, and didn’t mind. Yvella saved a single blackened bone. It still burns when she calls on it.

[ #8. ] Soraya Delmont ( Deschamps Circle ) — Dreamwalker Death: Killed in her sleep. Never woke up. A smile frozen on her lips. Token Taken: A silver dreamcatcher pendant soaked in lavender oil.

Soraya was the kindest of them. That was the tragedy. She lived half in the real world and half in the dreamscape, and never lost her softness in either. Yvella once confessed to her — not the whole ritual, but the weight of darkness pressing on her spirit. And Soraya, in her strange, echoing way, simply said: “      When you cross the line, I’ll meet you on the other side. I don’t judge the ones I love.        ” Yvella killed her in her sleep, not out of cowardice, but reverence. She couldn’t kill Soraya awake. Not when Soraya might offer her a blessing. Not when she might forgive her. The dreamwalker died smiling — not because she was unaware, but because, somehow, she understood. She chose to make her peace with it. Yvella has never touched the pendant since. It remains warm when the rest of the tokens grow cold.

[ #9. ] Lélia Valéry ( Tremé ) — Elder. Yvella’s mother. Death: Slain with a ceremonial blade passed down through their line. She was the last, the most intimate. Yvella sobbed as she carved the sigil into her mother’s brow, whispering, “        You should have been proud.        ” Token Taken: Her wedding band and a lock of Yvella’s childhood hair, bound together.

There was no version of the ritual that didn’t end with Lélia. It was always going to come to that — not because she was the most powerful, but because she was the root. Lélia raised Yvella with rigid faith, pride, and fear braided tightly together. Her love was conditional, measured against tradition and the memory of a daughter already gone. And though Yvella craved her approval, she had long stopped needing it. Killing her wasn’t just sacrifice — it was rebellion incarnate. Patricide not out of hate, but because Lélia had become the last gatekeeper between Yvella and freedom. Her death was not an act of vengeance, but a release. And yet, even now, Yvella carries both the wedding band and the lock of hair — not out of sentiment, but because some pieces of the past must be kept, no matter how sharp their edges.

THE EMBLEM OF NOTHINGNESS

Each body bore the sacred sigil: a rhombus crowned by a sharp, symmetrical “X,” its lines etched clean between the brows, just above the Third Eye. Not drawn, not inked — but carved. Deliberate. Deep enough to scar spirit as well as skin. It bled in ways ink never could.

This mark is known as:

L’Emblème du Néant — the Symbol of Nothingness.

It is not merely a symbol, but a severance. It annihilates mortal lineage, strips the soul of name and inheritance, and binds it instead to ancestral fire. No heaven, no peace — only the weight of magic and memory, forever. The Emblem must be carved in the instant of death, as the soul tears loose from the flesh. Too early, and the bond will not hold. Too late, and the spirit will drift, unclaimed.

The blade used must be obsidian — volcanic glass, consecrated under a new moon, forged in a mixture of oil, ash, and silence. The silence is important. The knife must never hear a name, a whisper, a word. It is an instrument of unmaking. Yvella named her blade “Tranquille.” Not for peace — but for the stillness before ruin.

THE FINAL RITE

Yvella performed the closing rite in the ruins of an orphanage on the outskirts of New Orleans — Neutral Ground, sacred and dead. The things she did:

Constructed a spiraled stone altar with the tokens taken from her victims.

Lit the altar with her own blood and the flames of Mireille’s pyre ash.

Offered a vial of her own tears, a lock of her hair, and the blade that killed her mother.

Spoke the names of all nine victims in reverse, slowly, carefully, as the sigil seared itself into the ritual floor in burning chalk lines.

THE NINTH NAME IN REVERSE:

The night was dead. Not sleeping. Not quiet. Dead. No stars to bear witness. No wind to carry the sins. Just breathless walls, ancient and aching, the orphanage exhaling time as Yvella drifted barefoot over blackened bones of wood. Her blade — a lover’s weight in her grip — hung blood-heavy, whisper-slick with the ghosts of yesterday. Her throat? Ravaged. A ruin of silence. She hadn’t spoken since her last offering. ( What was the point, when the dead already listened? ) She lit the altar with blood. Hers. Of course. Always hers. One by one, the relics. The reliquary of remembrance. Each placed with reverence. Each with its truth.

— Colette’s bone:  feather-light, hollow as a lullaby.   “  You remembered everything.  ”   The memory of a girl who refused to forget.

— Lucien’s tongue:  red-grey, still warm in memory.   “  You spoke too much.  ”  No more lies now. Just stillness.

— Camila’s braid:  singed and frayed, humming rebellion.   “  You danced with storms. Now storms dance for me.  ”  Inheritance, electric.

— Ettienne’s mirror shard:  light bent, fire caught.   “  See yourself.  ”   She turned the truth inward. It cut, as all truth must.

— Ione’s ribbon:  grief-worn and trembling.   “  You taught me how to begin. I’m sorry this is how I end.  ”   Her hand faltered.  ( Grief is a god with no altar, and she had worshipped long. )

— Anika’s saw:  teeth still sharp. No words. No apology.   Some violence needs no name.

— Mireille’s ash:  a circle drawn in grey.   As it fell, the flames rose — they knew her. Fire remembers the ones who fed it.

— Soraya’s pendant:  a silver dreamcatcher, delicate as lace, soaked in lavender oil.   It hung warm from her neck, threaded with sleep. Yvella took it gently.   “  Sleep well, witch of velvet eyes.  ”   She kissed her fingers. A farewell. A blessing.

And then — Lélia. Her wedding band. Yvella’s childhood hair. A daughter’s last tether.

Yvella knelt. The blade beside her. The sigils already hungry. Her voice cracked — shattered — on the name she’d never stop carrying. Her mother’s token, center bowl. Blood tracing sacred maps across old Tremé stone. Tears like ink across spell-lines.   “  This is where I stop being your daughter,  ”   — barely a breath —   “  and become something else.  ” Nine names. Spoken in reverse. An invocation unraveling. The world held its breath. Then— Crack. The veil split. Flames rose like hands. Nine shadows howled their last. The sigil burned,  deep and permanent.

And Yvella Valéry was not a girl anymore. She was the answer to every question they died asking.

WHAT THE RITE GAVE HER

The Rite of Nines was never meant to be completed. The original architects — long-forgotten witches who carved spells into flesh instead of paper — designed it as a trial of impossible sacrifice. The power it offered was immense, but only if every term was fulfilled with perfect cruelty. Yvella did not flinch. And the magic obeyed. Here is what she became.

SACRIFICIAL MASTERY:

Yvella no longer needed channels or tethers. No ancestral prayers. No bloodlines to beg from. She could draw raw power from any body freshly dead — human, witch, vampire, werewolf — without ritual, without fanfare. A glance, a whisper, and the soul peeled open like wet paper. Where others required offerings, she became the offering. More terrifying still: the magic didn’t just respond. It clung to her. Death became a language she spoke fluently. Her fingers blackened at the tips for weeks after. A stain of death that never quite scrubbed away.

ANCESTRAL AUTHORITY:

Within New Orleans, her magic became supreme. The ancestral plane — that hallowed realm where dead witches whisper judgment — bent to her. Spirits recoiled or bowed. Even the Elders, those titanic forces who governed ancestral spellwork, could not refuse her command. Her rites silenced cemeteries. Her footsteps disrupted séances. Witches who summoned their ancestors found only silence when Yvella stood nearby. Some began to call her the False Matriarch — others, the Witch Queen in Ash.

WITCHLINE ACCESS:

Most witches can only pull power from their own coven. The bloodline is everything. But Yvella’s ritual connected her to all nine. With every sacrifice, she carved a path into their magic — not just their names, but their histories, traditions, and hidden rites. She could wield fire like the Les Flammes Noires,  dreamwalk like Deschamps, fracture bones like the Beaufort line. Even after the covens cast her out, she still felt their echoes. She was a coven of one — but inside her, nine screamed.

RESILIENCE:

Yvella did not seek immortality. But the ritual touched time. From the moment she completed the ninth kill, her body changed. Her heart slowed. Her cells ceased their withering. She did not age, not truly. Wounds closed quicker. Poisons diluted. Mortal disease fled her like prey sensing a predator. She is not unkillable. But she is very, very hard to kill. There are legends that she stood still during a thunderstrike and felt only heat. That a vampire once tried to drink from her and screamed until his throat burned shut. No one knows for certain. But her skin has never wrinkled. Her eyes are still the color of dark molasses. And she has outlived everyone who tried to stop her.

LEGACY:

Her name became legend. Then curse. Then silence. Witches tell their children stories of the Sacrificial Witch — how she moved through the city like a blade, how she fed on the covens, how she vanished before justice could find her. Some say she died. Others say she still walks, watching, waiting. No coven speaks her name aloud. But every child in Tremé knows it. Yvella Valéry. The Bloody Miracle. The Witch Who Ended Nine.

WHAT THE RITE TOOK FROM HER

Power always costs. For Yvella, it cost nearly everything.

HER HOME:

She cannot return. Not truly. Though she was born in Tremé, though her bones are made of New Orleans soil, no coven will welcome her. Witches spit when they speak of her. Mothers clutch their children closer. Altars flare and crack in her presence. She walks her city like a ghost. A myth wrapped in flesh. A whisper behind every ward. Only the dead greet her now — and even they do not love her. They bow because they must. They rise when she calls. But their silence is not peace. It is penance. And when she passes, the cemeteries hold their breath.

HER MOTHER:

Lélia Valéry — her last sacrifice. The woman who taught her candlework, who sang to her in Creole lullabies, who once bound her scraped knee with thyme and salt. The woman who warned her of ambition, of the line between hunger and monstrosity. Yvella crossed it anyway. And Lélia became the ninth. She used a ceremonial blade passed down through their line. She whispered apologies no one heard. She carved the sigil into her mother’s brow with trembling fingers. Now, every year on the anniversary, Yvella dreams of Lélia’s voice in reverse. Like a record spun backward. Like magic dying in her throat.

HER SISTER, ANIELLE:

After the ritual, the covens rose as one. They came with fire, salt, and iron. They meant to kill her. Yvella did not run. She stood in the square and waited, ash-laced and unrepentant. Anielle, younger and kind-hearted, did not know. When the spells flew, she stepped between her sister and death. Took a binding curse meant to stop Yvella’s heart. It stopped hers instead. In the chaos, Yvella vanished. Let them believe she died too. Anielle was buried as a martyr. Yvella never spoke her name again. Except in the dark. Except when she’s drunk, or bleeding, or tired.

HER FULL POWER — OUTSIDE NEW ORLEANS:

The ritual made her a living anomaly — but it also anchored her. Her power, vast and unruly, is built on ancestral bones. It feeds off New Orleans, off the soil, the dead, the history. When she leaves the city, it begins to fade. Not entirely. She remains dangerous. But her spells crack more easily. Her control wavers. It’s as though part of her soul remains behind, buried under the nine she killed. Some say she’s tied to the city like a spirit herself. Others think she likes it that way.

HER SANITY — MAYBE:

Once a year, on the anniversary of the ninth death, Yvella relives them all. She does not mean to. The visions come unbidden. She tastes the ash again. Sees each face. Remembers the heat of Ione’s blood, the smell of Mireille’s flame, the sound of her mother’s final breath. It never gets easier. The memories sharpen with time. She does not scream. She does not run. She locks herself in a room with no candles and no mirrors. And she waits until it passes. And when it does, she smiles like Soraya did. Soft. Sad. Knowing. Because this is the cost of power: To remember. To ache. To survive anyway.

[todayisafridaynight]

Hey speaking of the mine with shadow-the-hedgehog-amnesia tags . i diiiid consider amnesia at one point for my au JFJFJFJ

need mine to have a goku moment and fall really hard on his head and forget 90% of Everything

[stealingyourbones]

There was a bunch of 2000 A.D. magazines on sale at my local comic shop today!! Time to buy some nice frames to use them for wall art after I read them all >:)

[toonyballoony]

Used a scene from our last D&D session to play around with Clip Studio Paint's features. Not 100% satisfied or sure what techniques I'll use moving forward but it was an interesting experiment!