#bones of the past

[shap3shifter-witch]

I leave tumblr for 6 months and Forging Hephaestus has an active fanbase

this is the best thing ever hooooooly shit im sooo hyped

[toririvas]

oh yeah! I wrote a fic finally!

Ellie/Ike, 5.9k, sad. bones of the past spoilers obv

[nonenosome2]

As soon as Faia was out of earshot, Medwind turned her attention back to Nokar. “I can give you almost forever, old man,” she whispered.

He smiled weakly. “Dear love of mine.” He reached out with difficulty and patted her hand. “I wish that were true.”

She leaned closer and stared earnestly into his eyes. “It is true, Nokar. The vha’attaye don’t die.”

“They don’t live, either. If I were vha’attaye, I couldn’t smell—the sweet smell of your hair—or taste your salty kisses—or roll over in the bed at night and—squeeze your very fine breasts.” He gave her another gentle smile. “I’ve lived long, Medwind. Those are—my principle pleasures now.”

“But I don’t want to lose you.”

“Life is like that, Medwind. Eventually, we lose—everything we love. What you must do is—love many things—so the process takes longer.” The old man attempted a wheezy chuckle that became an ugly cough.

She leaned over and kissed him firmly on the lips. Her tears mingled with her kisses. “Get some sleep, old man,” she said. “I don’t want to find someone else to love today.”

-Nokar and Medwind (Bones of the Past)

[zachdefense]

In my latest of book trades with my brother, he's finishing up Mistborn with The Lost Metal while I'm catching up on the Villains' Code series with

Bones of the Past

And not to be a "guy who's only seen Boss Baby" about this but I get some heavy Worm vibes from this series. Girl who gets super powers and ends up working with villains due partly to circumstances outside her control, but mostly due to her own choices. Moral ambiguity asking questions about if the villains are really worse people than the heroes. And hell, they use the term "capes" to refer to powered people, which I haven't seen anywhere else outside of Worm.

This being the second book in the series, it really works to test the lines between hero and villain. Tori, our main character, I don't think she commits a single crime in this book. But what keeps her squarely in the villain camp is her attitude. She kills and orders the deaths of a not-insignificant number of people in self-defense; while on the flip side, the heroes focused on in the book are actively training to tone down the casualties when they're stopping crime. And of course, the final showdown ends with heroes and villains working together to stop a greater threat, as in the previous book. almost like that's a theme or something

This book also does a lot more to play with the idea of secret identities than I've seen elsewhere, which was a lot of fun to read. After the last book Tori had one out-of-costume friend who joined the hero's side. In this book she not only gets to know his team, but is introduced to a new squad of heroes that she meets and befriends. Watching her get to know and care about people that she may have to fight the next day introduced some interesting conflict.

The worldbuilding feels very comic-booky, which took me out of it a bit in the first book (what do you mean one organization controls all super-powered crime in the world???), and I don't really agree with one or two of the larger themes (don't really like what you're saying about punitive justice so far, Mr Hayes), but aside from that it was a really fun read. Feels like the kind of series that should have a much larger fandom than it does (only one result on AO3? Seriously?). Would give it a thumbs up, especially if you're a fan of

large casts of super heroes with unique powers

side characters that are interesting enough that they should have their own novels

unlikely allies who have to work together

Superman being a genuinely nice person to talk to

worldhoppers that know too much, stir shit up, and leave

the kind of villains that would name themselves Johnny Three-Dicks or Captain Bullshit

I might have to pick up some of Drew Hayes's other stories to check out after this. His Super Powereds series sounds like it could be fun while I'm on this superhero kick, but that's his only series that my brother doesn't have in person for me to borrow, thus slightly inconveniencing me.

[drewhayesalyzer]

There is something really nice about the fact that Tori Rivas isn't special. She isn't the most powerful. She exists in various versions in alternate dimensions. She's clever. She chooses between fire and metal and not just one. The people who are special are those in the universe not her. She's just doing the best with the dimension she got. Its a rather refreshing twist.

[a-spectacular-pigeon]

People talking about Chloe's metahuman abilites:

[isaacle97]

so i've been reading the villains code series by drew hayes lately, and i'm currently working through bones of the past

and i couldn't help but toy with the idea of Captain Bullshit and Nexus (i love nexus so much and cap is just as much fun)

specifically,,,the idea of captain bullshit, in love with nexus

not a singular, but unique. in most universes, cap is completely neutral to him. in a few, they're even something like adversaries.

they've only been romantic in one other world, and it led to the destruction of it.

nexus' original world.

two reality bending meta humans, romantically linked, both getting their powers through a confluence together, neither quite having a hold of their abilities. nexus popping in and out of realities, tearing holes without meaning to, cap summoning and screwing with things as he pleased, both bringing about the end of the world together

nexus prefers the realities where cap hates him, they feel safer, but *this* one, who looks at him like a lovesick puppy, reminds him so much of his own cap

"We could make art together," he says, and Nexus knows what that would lead to (still has nightmares, watching his love be torn to shreds by beasts he himself unleashed on the world), and stays cold for everyone's safety.

i'm already working on something for this, ngl

[unconnectedreads]

Excuse me while I go scream about this for the next week.

If I'm understanding correctly, we're getting a collection of Villian short stories in 2023 and he's started writing the third book.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Must be a Sugondese joke.

[forecast0ctopus]

AN-TI-BO-DIES

[sic-vita]

GOOD OMENS + Aziraphale being relatable to me

[toririvas]

a bevaustin for the soul.... did you know they're the dynamic ever? literally will never get over them until the day i die . not to reduce their layered dynamic to a trope but they really are golden retriever/black cat. can't help it. ough to be a villainess slowly falling for the hero who is already chronically down bad for you.

also you yes YOU can see these posts and many more if you join our discord

[nonenosome2]

“Feed the hruning trees little children. I bet they not want talk about that.” Medwind spat into the fire, and it hissed.

“Hruning trees?” Choufa asked.

The woman winced. “That a bad word. Forget it, you understand?”

Choufa grinned at her and said nothing. Hruning, she thought. Hruning… hruning… hruning. “Magic” is a good word, but I bet “hruning” is better. She decided under no circumstances would she forget that word.

-Medwind and Choufa (Bones of the Past)

[alicedusstuff]

J’avais envie de dessiner puisque cela fait un moment, mais j’avais aussi la flemme. Donc, j’ai regardé un peu ce que j’avais fais dans procreate et il y avait quelques vieux croquis de dessins que je comptait finir si j’avais le temps. Donc je les pose là en attendant. ^^

Et tant que j’y suis…

I wanted to draw since it's been a while, but I was also lazy. So, I looked a little at what I had done in procreate and there were some old sketches of drawings that I was going to finish if I had time. So I put them there in the meantime. ^^

[kabukiaku]

GHULEH / ZOMBIE QUEEN. 🧟‍♀️

tribute to one of my favorite tracks from Infestissunam. (let's be honest, every single track on that album goes so hard.) I love this album so much.

bonus silly doodle:

[stealingyourbones]

“Pissing all by yourself handsome?” Red Hood turns with a jerk to look at the person who just entered the 7/11 bathroom on the border of Crime Alley at 3:32am. A sickly grey skinned teenager stood in the bathroom. His nasty oil stained leather coat covering his wrinkled white t and black pants with far too many belts holding it up, leaned against the doorway of the bathroom. His hole ridden biker glove covered hands crossing his chest right below his glowing green skull necklace. The half lidded green eyes looking through his straw blonde hair and smug smirk of the ghastly bastard enforcing Red Hood’s choice to pull out his gun and fire at the fucker.