#but i don't want to mix up my future character vision with this...

[llutik]

this shit shouldn't have come further than my telegram channel but here we are

i love jons adwd chapters he is so cringe

[couch-house]

Fleebay Beepo playlist! [youtube link] [zip link]

it's been foreverrr since i finished a character playlist--i missed doing this! tracklist and director's commentary under the cut teehee :)

if you disagree with any of my choices, just remember: 1) this is my playlist for me to listen to made of songs I like for me 2) you just don't see my vision 3) you don't know him like i do 4) make your own so i can disagree with yours too.

WDKYWMYAK -- Rabbit junk

This is a Killing Game After All -- Gadgetor

chance bought this cd from the comic store. i think the album is Doom-inspired? pretty cool! check it out! anyway this first section is pretty obviously all violence killing and maiming etc

we're coming down out of the chaotic songs into some confusion for the amnesia arc, starting with ministry and boards of canada. 7 references an unwilling change of the self, and just fits the vibe right now. 8... should be obvious lol.

3. All Futures -- The Armed

4. Bears -- Mass of the Fermenting Dregs

5. You Know What You Are -- Ministry

6. 1969 -- Boards of Canada

sorry i heard a psychedelic rock song that starts with a big cat meow and blacked out. EBONY MOMENT!!! this and the next couple songs are again more about contributing to the Feeling of the groovy train than a direct relation to the lyrics. though 10 can be justified by the fact he's british.

7. Long Road Home -- Oneohtrix Point Never

8. I Don't Remember -- Peter Gabriel

9. Come Back June -- Pussy

i didn't think i would end up keeping this song when i threw it on here but it just... works really well structurally. sigh... okay well it kind of works thematically. we're moving into some merger au territory at this point, which is my way as a fan to give fleet more of a self-actualization arc. establish his own identity, make friends, accept his existence a bit more. 13 is again more focused on the caring environment of groovy train (and the idea that this won't last forever) but we'll come back around to merger in a second.

10. Hey, Mister Sun -- Bobby Sherman

11. Baby All the Time -- Julien Love (NOTE: NOT IN YT PLAYLIST)

12. Handlebars -- Flobots

i'm so obsessed with this as a song from fleet to sonic. esp focused on the idea of fleet being the trauma dump that everyone wants dead and sonic being the one who gets to keep their friends. another lucky cd find--this time thrifted. this band still has their old website up--you can contact them if you'd like to get ahold of your own copy!

13. Cursis Melodías -- Natalia Lafourcade

14. Flagiolletes -- Billy Mahonie

15. Wake Up To Be You -- The Aesthetics

16. Every Home a Prison ft. Jello Biafra -- DJ Coldcut (Inevitable Alien Nation mix)

i'm in love with this song. we're back in merger au btw. fleet is now a goddamn hooligan in the street (teenager socializing outside with his friends).

17. Default -- Django Django

we're getting to the end of his life! canon, not au. once again on the idea of fleet (dying, cringe) being a comparative failure. the next two songs are our big explosive end! 18 is another band i found from a thrifted cd. lucky!

the end! thanks for listening! ^_^ as a treat, YOU get to see the special bonus track: The Adventures of Little White Baby -- No Soap, Radio.

18. Werewolf -- Progger

19. light speed drift ft Kasane Teto + Adachi Rei -- frog96

[asherashedwings]

FNF CONNECTED UNIVERSE LINE UP Part 2: The Girlfriends

Yippee, new line up. Didn't have as much trouble on this one either.

Idk how much yapping I'll be doing, since I don't really know how much I have to talk about.

But still

Close ups and yapping under the cut

Alternate Universe Girlfriends

So just like with the Boyfriends, all these Girlfriends are technically all the same person, just from different universes. So I tried some elements of their designs consistent between them all, which stem from my base game Girlfriend design.

Unlike BF, there's a good bit more to talk about with GF since I draw her pretty different compared to her in-game design. The main thing is her more apparent demonic traits, like her horns, tail, and purple splotches. The explanation for this, in universe, is that she doesn't have the full power to cloak herself yet. See, her and her family are "music demons", which gain their power by leeching from music, usually a particular genre. GF hasn't really decided what genre to leech from yet, so she isn't as powerful as she could be. She also has a coat cuz uhhh. Silly. Things like her demonic traits and her coat (Or something of similar shape like a feather boa) would be the things to connect all the AU GFs.

Moving on, we have Herself, who I was looking forward to drawing the moment I started this line up cuz I had just. Such a clear vision of her in my head. Although it was a struggle to put that vision on paper.

It's hard to put the exact vision into words, but it's like having her form become less defined as it goes downwards, until it's just the wispy silhouette of her hair. There's a certain balance you have to strike with the wispy nature of her form and the trademark Girlfriend hair shapes, and that's what ended up being the biggest struggle. Once I figured that out though, it was pretty simple. Shapes were the most important thing since her coloring is pretty monochromatic. Not counting the black, this design only utilizes two different colors, both being shades of red. Her design includes a feather boa instead of a jacket, mainly cuz I completely forgot about that rule when I got to her and the boa was a lot easier to add than a jacket. It also makes an interesting shape I think.

Next is Funkadelix, and she really wasn't too hard. The main thing was giving her traits from my main GF design, which wasn't hard at all. For her horns I referenced her Halloween attire. Her tail too, sorta, but I mainly just referenced the thinness of it.

There isn't all too much to say about MDM. There wasn't a lot to change or add. Main addition was the boa, which was admittedly kinda fun to draw in my style for that AU.

Now onto Mix. If you saw my post yesterday about the doodle/sketch pile for this line up, you might've seen a design concept I did for Mommy Mearest, and that was literally just for Mix's design. Except it was virtually pointless cuz I didn't really include any aspects of my MMM into my Mix design. It's fine though, I think she turned out fine. Might take another pass at her in the future when I ACTUALLY have my MMM design figured out.

Lastly for this section, HD. I actually had quite a bit of fun drawing her. Don't really got much to say about her though. I'm pretty sure she was the first AU GF I gave a boa, so she's the one that started that. It was originally going to be all white, but my good good friend @minxtheeenby suggested it fading into black, and I really like how it turned out.

"Side" GFs

So first is Belladonn (B-Side). I know I wanted her to appear more sophisticated. That's just always how I imagined her, even back well the mod was still a simple recolor remix mod. There's also something so fun about classy characters that are also dangerous. We need more regal women that carry around bats full of nails. I had a lot of trouble nailing (pun not intended) her hair. The main thing that sets it apart from the traditional GF cut is her side bang (idk hair terms, I think that's what it is), but besides that, not much else. So I had to mess with it a bunch to get something I liked.

Amelia's (D-Side) design was pretty straight forward. The main thing was just adding a few more details to spice it up a bit. Which just happened to be buttons on her jacket and lil heart patterns on her knees. I also wanted her to be short. Cuz idk, she gives short vibes. A lil idea for her that isn't showcased here is that I imagine her pigtail buns actually turn into her horns when she is in her demon form. (Bad doodle, but just to show the concept:)

Lizzy (G-Side) was kinda fun to come up with ideas for. Most of her design is taken from the fake teasers for the mod, cuz silly. But because her mom is some sort of light spirit.. thing, I wanted to mix that in somehow too. So that's where the white highlights on her horns, hair, and tail come from, but that's not all it added.

She also has pretty funky eyes, that are somewhat inspired by Shara Ishvalda's eyes

Also, in that doodle, I imagine all of her hair is floating, I just. Didn't feel like drawing her pigtails cuz I mainly wanted to highlight the eye thing.

The New Yorkers

With Shaya, I mainly added a bit of stuff to her outfit, since the original is too simple with my design style. I basically just added a bat wing shape motif to her design. Cuz. Cuz vampire. This is also present in her ear shape cuz I didn't want them to JUST be pointed, cuz I wanted her to stand out a bit more from the demon girls. So different ear shape.

I don't really know how much Azalea (Neo) changed. I know I changed her hair a bit (to further differentiate her from GF) and I altered her top a bit but I THINK that's it. I did change her and her family's lore a bit though. Cuz I made them robots. THATS RIGHT, THIS IS WHO I WAS TALKING ABOUT WHEN I WAS TALKING ABOUT MAKING ONE OF THE GIRLFRIENDS A ROBOT. Azalea's pretty android-esc, but I imagine her parents are just full on robots. I can't wait to design them. But yeah, I imagine Azalea is much more human looking because she just wants to be part of human society and her parents love her so they got her the more human looking body so she could live out her dream. We love supportive parents *explosion emoji* *explosion emoji* *explosion emoji*

Not much to say about Grace. I just gave her a bit of melanin cuz apparently she's mixed. That's all I really changed tho.

I don't think I changed Judith MUCH. Her face is a bit more. Wolf-like? Idk. I also TOTALLY didn't reference Clawdeen Wolf's hair when designing her. Totally not.

Vikki (Minus) is grouped with the New Yorkers cuz. There's only one of her. Unlike the Minus BFs. I just made her a lil more goth, since people literally call her "Goth GF". Also made her hair a bit more blocky. cuz. cuz the minus symbol. Shape *sparkle emoji*

Who the Fuck Knows (Miscellaneous)

So starting with Cherry (Swappin'), in this AU she's actually GF's younger sister. She also already has a music genre to leech from (rap), so she's better at concealing herself. Not much else to say, I did not change her design much.

Nothing much to say about Barbara either, I barely changed her.

Now Astra (Starcatcher) was fun. While I was initially sketching her, I realized that both her alien species and the Alien Hominids have the same style of classic antennae. So I decided "Huh, what if their species are related." So I did that. Not much else to touch on besides that.

Tootsie belongs to @minxtheeenby and is part of their Sunday Night Snackin' AU. I drew her with her wings and tail out, which aren't usually out, but uh. Silly.

Belletrix didn't really change as much as I was expecting her too. The main thing was just. Making her an imp that could exist in the Hellaverse. Which was pretty easy. And then I just made shit up when it came to her outfit cuz it was kinda hard what was going on with that in the first place.

Next is Gabriella, YIPPEE. So she's the GF from Plants vs. Rappers. Vastly different appearance wise though, cuz, yknow. Can't have her look too similar to GF. And just like I did with Dennis, I decided to base her on another zombie from Neon Mixtape Tour: The Glitter Zombie

Idk, I thought it'd be cutie patootie. And it was. I really like how she turned out. I got lazy when it came to her flag, I did not feel like drawing that shit.

Last but not least is Ashley, the GF from my own AU. Which does not have a name. Idk, it's mainly just an excuse for me to draw anthro Monster Hunter monsters. But yeah, she's an intersex Leostra (Gender neutral term for the Teostra/Lunastra species that @sleepymushrxxm came up with) and I love her.

That's all I got. Gonna hopefully start working on the Pico's here soon.

[cirusthecitrus]

People of the Galactic Horde (the OGs)

Since I'm working on a Horde Prime origin story, it was inevitable that one day I would have to come up with designs for his species aka the original spacebats. And well, it was a fun challenge!

(click/tap to have a better look!) My first attempt at drawing other bats was with the High Priests of the Four Temples - the most influential and powerful people on the planet, also known as Anillis'/Prime's teachers :)

See that last guy? That's the emperor of the original Galactic Horde! Though after his unexpected early death his wife had to become the new Prime. Gladly, Horde World was not left without a future heir to the throne^^

Fun thing is, I never planned on making designs for Anillis' parents, since they never appear in the actual story + even the twins don't remember what they looked like. But idc making fanparents is fun! (In my vision Horde Prime inherited the death stare from his mother and the sly misleading smile from his father >:} )

(I talk more about the characters and worldbuliding in my fic "Violent Youth". U can find the link in my pinned post)

I also had to design tons, and I mean tons of episodic characters of all ages, genders and backgrounds. Now after all this training I'm ready to fill the backgrounds with bats :3

Some general notes on the people of the Horde under the cut

Every spacebat is born with a white face. Any deviations were rare and considered a type of skin condition

Facial markings slowly appear once baby bats hit puberty. When spacebats' white faces were seen as blank canvases, the facial markings were their life journey drawn on said canvases. The markings were seen as the real window to the soul. Having no marks as an adult was simply outlandish, people of Krytis even had a belief that such bats "had nothing behind their soul" and thus could not be trustworthy

Facial markings (as well as ears) came in many forms. In ancient times one could tell in which of the four original provinces a person was born by simply looking at their faces. Nowadays it became nearly impossible to guess someone's homeland this way (mostly everyone are people of mixed descent), but to those curious this is how bats used to distinguish one another by their markings:

North - straight lines across/all over the face (e.g. the emperor)

South - wavy lines across/all over the face e.g. (the High Priestess of the Southern temple)

West - straight minimalistic lines (e.g. horde clones)

East - wavy minimalistic lines (e.g. the empress)

Hair never held much cultural significance on Krytis, so the styling was only a question of one's personal preference and fashion trends. Some bats (mainly from the south) saw no point in having hair whatsoever - those would choose to go bald or shave parts of the head to better show off their markings

Everyone had one set of eyes. Only local deities were sometimes depicted having 3 and more eyes. And yes, their eyes and teeth do glow in the dark

I wanted to make colorful bats to futher emphasise their whimsical and peaceful nature :) Well, if u think about it many poisonous creatures are colorful too...

I wouldn't be myself if I didn't say anything about local fashion. I don't have my own concepts at hand sadly, just references, but my main inspiration for the fashion of Krytis are late 90s-early 00s futurism and cyber aesthetic. Here and there u will also see smth similar to mall goth or streetwear style, but it's mostly something what young blood were into

Some bats like the royal family and council members would wear more classy and regal clothes but still more or less modern looking. Such choice of attire was espeically important to the empress, who, unlike her late husband, stayed far away from religion and magic and made it the main goal of her campaign to weaken the influence of the religious community and push for scientific and socio-cultural progress

If you have any questions about the people of the Horde/Krytis, feel free to ask! I'm always happy to talk more about this AU!

[kentobb]

PRESAGE | CHAPTER FOUR

Characters: Ushijima Wakatoshi x Female Reader

Genre: Angst

Warning: I don’t think there is one.

Author’s note: This one is a little shorter. Because the next one is LONG.

The early morning light cast a gentle glow over the empty street as Ushijima stood outside the restaurant, his heart pounding in his chest. The world was quiet, still waking up from its slumber, but he had been awake for hours, restless and consumed by the thoughts of his son. Determination fueled his steps as he paced back and forth, waiting for you to arrive.

Finally, he saw you. You walked down the street, posture slightly tense, eyes wary. As you approached the restaurant, you caught sight of him standing there. Steps faltered, a mixture of surprise and apprehension flashing across your face.

"Ushijima," you said, voice a mix of surprise and resignation. "What are you doing here again?”

He took a step forward, his expression resolute. "I need to talk to you. About the boy.”

Your eyes widened, and you shook your head vigorously. "No, I told you. We have nothing to talk about. That kid isn't yours."

Ushijima's jaw tightened, disbelief clear in his eyes. "Don't lie to me, Y/N. He looks exactly like me.”

You looked away, hands trembling as you fumbled with the keys. "There’s nothing to talk about.”

He took another step closer, his voice low and intense. "Then I want a DNA test.”

You turned to face him, eyes filled with a mixture of anger and pain. "You’re not serious.”

"I am" Ushijima replied, his voice breaking. "Because I know that kid is mine.”

Your facade crumbled, tears streaming down your cheeks. "He doesn’t need you.”

Ushijima's heart ached at your words, but he remained steadfast. "That kid needs his father.”

You took a step back, hands covering your face as you sobbed. "You don't understand... I've had to do this alone. Every single day, I've had to be both his mother and father. And now you want to come in and change everything?"

Ushijima felt a lump in his throat as he reached out, his hands gently resting on your shoulders. "If I would have known, I would have stayed.”

You looked up at him, eyes filled with a mixture of hope and despair. "You wouldn’t have.”

"I would have.” he whispered, his voice raw with emotion.

You hesitated, the weight of your decision heavy in the air. Finally, you nodded, shoulders sagging in defeat. "Yes," you murmured. "Yes, he's your son."

Ushijima felt his world tilt, his vision swimming as relief and disbelief washed over him. He pulled you into a tight embrace, muffling your sobs against his chest. "Thank you," he whispered, his own voice breaking. "Thank you for telling me."

Both of you stood there for a moment, clinging to each other as the gravity of the situation settled in. Finally, You pulled back, wiping your eyes and taking a deep breath. "We need to talk. Properly. About everything."

Ushijima nodded, his grip on her hands firm. "I agree. When can we do that?"

You glanced at the restaurant, then back at him. "Come to my apartment tonight. We can talk after Asahi goes to bed."

"Asahi," Ushijima repeated softly, tasting the name of his son. "I understand. But shouldn't I meet him?"

You shook her head, her eyes pleading. "Not yet. I don't think he's ready. And neither am I. Please, just give me some time."

Ushijima's heart ached, but he nodded in understanding. "Alright. I'll wait. But I want to know him, Y/N. I want to be part of his life."

"You will," you promised, her voice steadying. "But let's take it one step at a time."

You gave him a small, tentative smile as you looked for a slip of paper and wrote your address. "I'll see you tonight."

He nodded, clutching the paper tightly. "I'll be there. And thank you, Y/N. For everything."

As you parted ways, Ushijima felt a new sense of purpose. He was determined to make things right, to build a future for himself and his son. And as he walked away from the restaurant, he whispered his son's name to himself, letting the sound of it fill him with hope.

"Asahi," he murmured, a small smile playing on his lips. "My son."

I have seen your comments <3 I really appreciate them. They inspire me to continue this series. I promise to reply to them <3 But I am on my way to Japan :’)

[gigabyte-flare]

Follow the Stars | Part 1

Summary: Pixel is a Proxy with a rather unconventional way of entering the Hollows: a battle android that she controls with her H.D.D.. When her best friend goes missing, seemingly lost in a Hollow, Pixel jumps at the chance to rescue her, but not before meeting a mysterious wolf Thiren that catches her eye.

Word Count: 4.3k

Pairing: Von Lycaon x Original Character

Disclaimer: This story is a work of fiction. You are responsible for your own content consumption. If any of the following warnings trigger you, please read at your own risk. Minors do not interact, this story is 18+ only.

Warnings: Strong language, graphic depictions of violence, depictions of PTSD, domestic violence and emotional abuse (not perpetrated by Lycaon), masterbation, unprotected p in v, oral (m and f receiving), size kink, knotting, creampie

More warnings may be added in future entries

A/N: I had originally planned for this to be a reader fic, but the more I was plotting it out in my head, the more I realized that New Eridu is the perfect place for my OC, Pixel. This is very likely going to flop but I don't care; I'm very excited about this series. Based loosely on Chapter 3, Lycaon's Agent story and his trust events, I will be trying my best to not write the existing dialogue word for word, but in some instances, it can't be helped. This will be my first time introducing Pixel to you all and I hope you all love her as much as I do!

Title inspired by Come Alive by San-Z and Hoyo-Mix

Divider by cafekitsune

Pixel: Hey Rain it's me. Is everything ok I haven't heard from you

Pixel: Rain it's Pixel again, call me when you get this

Pixel: K Rain, this isn't funny please call me

After reading through my chat history from the last few days with Rain, I put my phone to my ear; Rain's phone just rings and rings and goes to voicemail, "Rain, it's Pixel. Please call me, I'm worried about you."

I hang up, gently tossing my phone aside as I put my feet up on my coffee table. I knew in my gut something was wrong. Rain and I have been best friends for years now, she would never just blow me off like this without telling me why. A part of me wanted to get PubSec involved but where she is one of the best hackers in the Proxy business, it wasn't worth the risk. That's not even mentioning that I, too, am a Proxy. That's just asking to get burned.

I turn on the TV to the news only to find that the trial against the Vision Corporation is just about to begin. Supposedly they had cut cost in the Metro expansion project by failing to relocate the residents of Canvas Street, leaving them to the mercy of their explosives and the Dead End Hollow.

Fucking money hungry pricks.

The camera pans over to the individual that is representing the residents of Canvas Street and my mouth unconsciously hangs agape. I'd recognize the pinked haired loud mouth anywhere: Nicole Demara of the Cunning Hares.

"What kind of mess did you get yourself into this time, Nicole?" I ask myself as I take a sip of the can of soda in my right hand.

Just as I set the soda can down on the coffee table, I hear my phone vibrate next to me. I reach to grab it, my stomach dropping upon seeing Rain's name in my Knock Knock notifications. I couldn't open it fast enough, however the wave of relief that had been rushing through me is cut short when I am greeted by what appears to be a completely blank message.

"… the hell…?"

Before I can even process what I'm looking at, another message from her comes through; blank just like the previous one. Followed shortly by another. Then another.

Then another.

Knowing Rain's skillset, I take my phone over to my computer desk, plugging my phone into it to inspect the messages. I was expecting to find encrypted messages, but to my surprise, the messages were truly blank. Just as I unplug my phone from the computer, another message comes through, only this time, it's not from Rain. It's from the last person I would ever expect to get a message from:

Phaethon: I need to call you

I scoff as I stare at the message in disbelief. I'm a decent enough Proxy, but Phaethon is legendary. They were one of the first Proxies to master being able to directly sync to their Bangboo to communicate to their agents in the Hollows; although if they saw what I'm running with these days, they'd likely shit themselves. Regardless, I'm friendly with Phaethon. For me, we have a friendly rivalry.

Still, I'm puzzled as to why they want to call me; I need to be cautious, this very well could be a PubSec trap. Unfortunately for me, my curiosity gets the better of me.

Pixel: Go ahead

Immediately after sending the message, Phaethon calls. I accept the call and put the phone to my ear.

"Phaethon, for what do I owe the pleasure?" I ask as I walk over to the sliding glass door to the balcony of my apartment.

"Listen, I need to make this short. I need your help."

I raise an eyebrow at the man's voice on the other end as I open the sliding glass door to step out on my balcony, "… go on."

"You know the Cunning Hares, right? We need you to meet up with them outside the--"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold on," I cut him off as I shut the door behind me, "do you have any idea how many Dennies they owe me? I'm not doing jack shit for the Cunning Hares!"

"Pixel please. Phaethon will pay you, now let me finish. We need you to meet up with them outside of a Hollow. Can you do that?"

I fold one of my arms across my chest, using my hand to rest my elbow on as my other hand continues to hold my phone up to my ear, "what's this about?"

"We've been trying to track down a hacker named Rain to decrypt a flash drive for us--"

"Wait a minute! Did you say Rain?! I've been trying to get a hold of her for days, do you know where she is?!" I frantically ask.

"That's what we're trying to figure out. Nicole's been getting these weird blank messages from her."

"I've been getting them, too," I reply, turning around and leaning against the balcony railing, "I tried to see if they were encrypted or something, but they're truly just blank."

"That's what we found out, too. We were able to trace them back to the Ballet Twin Towers."

"The Ballet Twins?" I once again raise an eyebrow, "that's impossible, they were engulfed by the Hollow years ago. She wouldn't be able to send any messages out if she's there."

"That's the thing, the top of one of the towers is coming out of the Hollow because it shrank at some point. We believe she's there."

"So where do I come into this? Isn't Phaethon perfectly capable of handling an operation like this?"

"Normally yes, but currently, PubSec is at my place."

Flashes of red and blue catch my attention from the corner of my right eye and I turn my head to look. I live in one of the apartment buildings just outside of Sixth Street, giving me a clear view of it and I can clearly see several PubSec vehicles in front of the Random Play video store.

"They're there right now?" I ask.

"Yeah… we helped a couple of PubSec officers in a Hollow not too long ago and somehow they were able to trace our Bangboo to our place."

Well, son of a bitch… the owner of Random Play is none other than the legendary Phaethon.

I can't help but let out a short chuckle, "well that was certainly a rookie move, Phaethon."

"Shut it. We should be able to throw off their trail, but we won't be able to meet with Anby and the others outside of the Ballet Twins Hollow in time. Hence, why I'm calling you, Pixel. Can you meet them over there at 9:00pm?"

I look at my watch, it's just past seven, that should be plenty of time to prepare.

"Yeah I can do that. Listen, Phaethon. I'm only doing this because of Rain, got it?" I reply, my voice firm as I stand up straight and walk back into my apartment.

"Thank you, Pixel. Anby has the flash drive we need Rain to decrypt once you find her. I gotta go. We owe you big time."

Before I could even reply, Phaethon ends the call. I slip my phone into the back pocket of my jeans as I reach down to the remote on the coffee table, turning the TV off before setting it back down.

"You sure as hell owe me, Phaethon," I say to myself as I walk into my bathroom.

I stand in front of my bathroom mirror, scrutinizing myself for a moment until I run one of my hands through my short hair. I'm nothing remarkable; brown hair, blue eyes, average height and unfortunately on the overweight side, tactfully hidden by my baggy t-shirt, complete with a faded print of the Starlight Knights. I honestly hate how I look, so I try really hard not to focus too much looking at myself in mirrors.

Knowing I'm going to have a headset strapped to my face for several hours, I lather soap into my hands and rub it onto my face before rinsing it off. I finish my business in the bathroom and walk back out towards my computer. Standing next to my computer is a large form that has a white sheet covering it. Phaethon has their special Bangboo they use to dive into Hollows, I use this.

I pull the sheet off, revealing what's beneath it. This is Pixel and she is an android. Having found her in a Hollow a couple of years ago, I believe she was dumped there by the Marcel Group. With her human appearance, synthetic skin and internal hydraulic fluid that even looks like blood, whoever made her wanted her to look as human as possible. I dressed her in trendy techwear with a neon blue jacket with hot pink accents and dyed her short white hair into a brilliant neon blue. Her eyes are blue as well, however that's hard to see with her eyes being closed.

The only clue to her true identity that I have is the barcode on the back of her neck and beneath that is either a model number or serial number: P1X3L. And that is where my Proxy alias came from. I had used a Bangboo like most other Proxies right up until I found Pixel and after Rain helped me program her to assist me in diving into Hollows, I took up the name of Pixel and never looked back. As far as anyone is concerned, this is Pixel, not my sad excuse of a human husk. Although, now that I think about it, I don't even remember what I was going by before I started going by Pixel; must not have been that cool if I can't remember it.

In addition to Pixel's hyper realistic features, both her arms are equipped with mantis blades. She's loaded to the brim with sensors and data regarding most of the nearby Hollows, although the data I have on the Ballet Twins Hollow is severely out of date; not a lot of Proxies go there. This will give me an excuse to collect updated Carrot data. Strapped to her thighs are two Ether pistols for when I can't use the mantis blades.

Placing my hand onto her shoulder, I give it a gentle squeeze, "ready to get to work, Pixel?"

I sit down in front of my computer, booting up my HDD system. I grab a series of wires with nodes on the end that I then proceed to stick all on my forehead, temples and behind my ears; these are neutral transmitters that I use to control Pixel remotely. I then grab my headset along with my headphones, putting them on.

Pixel is activated by my voice, so I say the command loud and clear, "Pixel, engage."

The headset on my face whirls to life, going through it's start up sequence before the words "Welcome back, Pixel" come onto the screen. Pixel opens her eyes and I can see the inside of my apartment through her eyes, including me sitting at my desk. Seeing myself used to really freak me out, but I've gotten used to it. I also used to get really motion sick when controlling Pixel, but thankfully that's no longer a problem.

I take a couple of steps forward, lifting my harms and flexing my hands, making sure my synchronization with Pixel is completed before I really start moving around. Once I'm confident I'm synced up, I ball my fists, grinning.

"Let's Rock!" Pixel and I exclaim in unison.

"UgggggghhhhhaaaAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Billy cries out, throwing his hands into the air, "Anby, where's the Manager?! Didn't Nicole say he'd be here by now?!"

Anby glances down at the clock on her phone before looking back up at Billy, "yeah. It's not like him to make us wait like this."

Did something happen? Anby thinks while pacing back and forth.

Nekomata seems completely unbothered by the situation as she's currently grooming her cat ears, her two tails twirling absentmindedly. Anby lets out a deep sigh and continues to pace. She surely hoped that nothing happened to Wise; recently a soft spot had begun to form for him, their mutual passion for movies often bringing them together. His sister, Belle, is equally as nice; always full of energy and positivity. Her thoughts are suddenly interrupted by the sound of someone's voice, a female voice.

"Hey, sorry I'm late!"

Anby turns around, unable to hide her shock upon seeing Pixel approach them, her asymmetrical neon blue hair and unique clothes unmistakable. Didn't the Cunning Hares owe her an exorbitant amount of money?

"Don't worry, Phaethon is covering your fee this time around," Pixel says, seemingly reading Anby's mind.

"PIXEL!" Billy shouts, running over and wrapping his arms around her, "It's good to see you but… where's the manag--"

Anby quickly shoots Billy a glare.

Realizing his slip up he corrects himself, "I mean Phaethon, are they alright?"

Prying herself from Billy's grasp, Pixel brushes herself off before answering, "Phaethon should be fine. They found themselves in the crosshairs of PubSec so they sent me over in their stead."

A lump forms in Anby's throat at the mention of PubSec, but she recomposes herself, "we appreciate you coming, Pixel, even if Phaethon is paying you."

Pixel gives Anby a nod before walking towards the railing overlooking the Ballet Twins Hollow placing her hands onto the railing and leaning forward, "so, what's the situation?"

"We're looking for a hacker named Rain inside the Hollow. We believe she's in there somewhere. Most likely on the piece of the roof sticking out of the Hollow," Anby explains, gesturing towards the Hollow.

Pixel nods in acknowledgement, "I have a personal stake in this as well. Rain is my best friend. Do you have any Carrot data on the Hollow?"

"No. The one we have is severely out of date," Anby replies as she stands next to Pixel, crossing her arms.

"Same here… we'll make due. It's better than nothing; I can try to record new data while we're in there."

Pixel pushes herself away from the railing, turning around and putting her hands on her hips. Her gaze shifts to Nekomata, raising an eyebrow.

"Who's she?" Pixel asks, her gaze scrutinizing.

Nekomata stands at attention but approaches Pixel cautiously, "Nyah! I'm the newest member of the Cunning Hares. The name's Nekomiya Mana, but you can call me Nekomata!"

"Nice to meet you, I'm Pixel," Pixel replies before turning back around to gaze up at the Hollow, "now that introductions are out of the way. let's get this show on the road, shall we?"

I never envy the Agents that risk their lives in the Hollows. Even through Pixel's android body, I can feel the pressure of the Ether inside the Hollow. Just as we enter the Ballet Twins Hollow, I bring my right hand up and press a hidden button that's behind my ear, engaging my holographic glasses. They tell me a wide range of information; including etheric levels, heat signatures and Carrot data for the Hollow I'm in.

"So… where is your Bangboo? I've never heard of a Proxy entering the Hollow themselves," Nekomata asks me as she bounces to my side.

"These glasses are my Bangboo," I reply, the lie coming out smoothly has it has so many times in the past, "I reverse engineered them from bangboo technology."

That part isn't entirely a lie. When I found Pixel in Hollow Zero, it was Rain that helped me equip her with Bangboo technology so that I could use her to dive into Hollows. In truth, there wasn't a lot of work that had to be done; most of it was programming the glasses. Pixel was already corruption resistant and had a ton of Carrot data in her system. Pixel remains a huge mystery. With a few keystrokes at my H.D.D. back at the apartment, I begin recording new Carrot data.

"Do you think the rumor about the Ballet Twins is true?" Nekomata asks, moving in front of me and walking backwards.

My gaze shifts up to her, "what rumor?"

"That this place is haunted."

"Don't be ridiculous," I immediately rebut, walking around her to follow behind Anby and Billy, "there's no such thing as ghosts."

"Aww come on, meow! You have to admit it's a really interesting rumor!"

In that moment, one of my sensors goes off for a split second: an unknown heat signature coming from behind us. I stop in my tracks, turning around. Nekomata dramatically skids to a stop upon seeing me stop and turn around. She follows my gaze before darting and cowering behind me.

"What is it?!" she whimpers.

I don't see anyone and my sensors aren't picking up any other heat signatures. Despite this, I feel the hairs on the back of my neck and arms stand on end, suddenly very thankful that Pixel can't portray that. Anby and Billy quickly join our side, looking around.

"I don't want to alarm you all," I begin before turning on my heel and continuing forward, "but we're not alone."

"Is it a person or an Ethereal?" Anby asks, walking beside me with her sword at the ready.

"Hard to say, whatever it is tripped my sensor for only a second. Still, we need to stay alert."

We make our way through the Ballet Twins building, taking out an Ethereal or two along the way. That random heat signature from earlier is still fresh in my mind, making me uneasy. I can tell it's making the others uneasy, too. Eventually we come upon a large room, our steps echoing the expansive space.

"Does anyone else find it odd that we haven't run into that many Ethereals? You'd think a place where the Carrot data is so out of date would be crawling with them." I ask, stopping in the center of the room.

"I was thinking the same," Anby replies as she stops and addresses me.

Billy and Nekomata stop and turn to me as well. Billy scratches the top of his head and glances around while Nekomata takes a moment to groom her hair. I'm startled when one of my sensors goes off again; another heat signature. Same as before, it only popped up for a moment. I glance around myself, but I don't see anyone.

"We're being watched. Stay sharp guys," I say, rolling up the sleeves on my jacket.

Billy, Anby and Nekomata nod at me in unison, all of them taking out their weapons and looking around the room. A flash of movement catches my right eye and I immediately turn to it, deploying the mantis blades in my arms.

"We've got company! Ethereals!" I shout, charging at the Ethereal, leaping into the air and coming down onto them; one of my mantis blades coming down and piercing its core.

Despite my annoyance about the Cunning Hares not paying what they owe me, we fight together in perfect harmony; even with their newest member, Nekomata. We make very short work of the Ethereals, rendering the large room silent once more.

"That presence you felt before…" Billy begins, turning back to look at me, the anxiety in his voice heightening, "that was the Ethereals, right?!"

I shake my head as I approach them, "I'm not sure, something doesn't feel right. Don't let your guard down."

Standing in front of me, Nekomata looks down at both of my arms, the mantis blades still deployed, "are your arms fake?!"

"They're prosthetics, yes. I lost them in a Hollow years ago," I reply, another lie rolling easily off my tongue.

"Neat!" she says as she once again starts to groom her hair and her ears.

A flash of light from behind Nekomata catches my attention and I quickly realize something is hurtling towards her.

"Nekomata look out!" I shout, shoving her aside and bringing my right arm up to deflect whatever it was that was flying at us with my mantis blade.

A large spear-like weapon makes contact with my blade, however there is so much force behind the weapon, as I move my arm to deflect it, the various components of my mantis blade immediately shatter. The weapon spins in the air, impaling itself into the ground behind us. My arm sparks and makes whirling sounds as I try to move it.

"Shit!" I curse to myself as I look down at my busted arm, dark red hydraulic fluid dripping from it.

"It's a giant pair of scissors," Anby points out, pulling her sword out and taking up a defensive stance.

A loud clanging noise begins to reverberate through the large room, causing my breath to hitch. Anby and I spin around, my left arm returning to its normal state as I pull out one of my Ether pistols, pointing it at the source of the sound; a set of stairs leading into the darkness. As Billy and Nekomata cower behind us, I see someone come out from the darkness, stopping at the top of the stairs. From where we stand, I can tell he's a Thiren, admittedly a handsome one; his large bushy white tail swinging behind him. He's wearing a vest with a white shirt rolled up at his elbows, black dress pants, fingerless gloves and a mask that covers one of his eyes, his other exposed eye seemingly glowing a bright crimson in the darkness. What really catches my attention are his powerful looking mechanical legs. This is not someone to mess with.

"A wolf Thiren?" Nekomata whispers from behind me.

I tighten my grip on my pistol narrowing my eyes at him.

"You're all quite skilled. It's no surprise you were able to get through the building unhindered. However, I must ask you to leave. This is private property."

"Who are you?" I ask, my stance unwavering despite his smooth voice giving me chills.

"You are not in any position to ask such questions. I'll give you thirty seconds to explain your presence here before I--"

"WAAAAHHHH OH NO!" a female voice cries out before the sound of something crashing is heard.

A circular saw blade rolls out from the darkness behind the wolf Thiren, rolling down the stairs. All of us watch as the saw blade rolls before tipping over in front of us. There's a moment of awkward silence before our attention is back on the wolf Thiren.

He clears his throat before continuing, "in summery, the Ballet Twins are not open to the public and--"

More crashing sounds cut him off again, causing one of his erect ears to twitch towards the direction of the sound. He closes his eye and groans as a young girl steps out from the darkness, holding what appears to be a staff in her hands. Her green hair is in pigtails and she's wearing a maid outfit.

"How many times do I have to stress that the floors and one's weapon are to be kept in pristine condition," he growls, looking over at the young girl.

"I'm sorry Mr. Lycaon, I'm so sorry!" the girl whimpers, giving the Thiren and apologetic bow.

Lycaon… why have I not heard of him? I think to myself; I make a mental note to look him up later.

"Ugh… I'm so tired…" I hear another female voice from behind the Thiren.

"Ellen," he snaps, turning his head slightly to the left, "some professionalism, please!"

"Okay, okay…" she says as she walks up to his side; she's a shark Thiren with black hair with touches of red, also wearing a maid outfit; the giant scissors must be hers.

"Wait a second…" Nekomata suddenly says, stepping out from behind me and looking at the green haired girl, "Corin? Is that you?!"

"Nekomata! Anby! Billy! It's so good to see you!"

"Do you know them, Corin?" Lycaon asks.

"I don't know the blue haired lady, but I know the other three! They're the ones that saved me from the Hollow that I told you about!"

"This blue haired lady is our Proxy, her name is Pixel!" Nekomata exclaims as she gently places her hands onto my arm that's pointing my pistol, "it's ok, they're friends!"

I glance over at her, furrowing my brows before hesitantly lowering my weapon and putting it back into its holster.

"The Proxy that enters the Hollows herself. Your reputation proceeds you, Master Proxy," Lycaon says, his crimson gaze locked onto me; causing my heart to race.

He knows me? I swallow hard.

His gaze shifts from me to just behind me, "Rina, you may stand down."

My gaze follows his and I turn around slightly to be met with a woman that's floating in the air with long dirty blonde hair. Unsurprisingly, she's also wearing a maid outfit. She's accompanied by two floating Bangboos.

"Holy shit!" I cry out as I jump away from her.

She giggles, floating away from me, "your powers of perception are impressive, Master Proxy, you almost saw me!"

"She means you weren't even close!" one of the floating Bangboos follows up before both laugh wildly as they follow behind the woman who is now floating towards Lycaon and the others.

"Since you're not trespassers, that makes things easier," Lycaon says, descending the stairs, "allow me to introduce ourselves."

Rina joins them and they all stand at attention, facing us. Even through my headset, I can feel the immense regal aura coming from them. Lycaon clears his throat once more.

"We are Victoria Housekeeping."

Part 2

[betustamorla]

(Updated 01-07) Arkham Batman Beta reader/editor/consultant wanted

Genre: Drama, family, romance, hurt/comfort, action, slight canon divergence (in ages of the characters mainly)

Main characters: Jason and Helena

Pairings: Jason Todd/Helena Wayne (past/future), Dick Grayson/Koriand'r, Tim Drake/Barbara Gordon, Bruce Wayne/Selina Kyle (past)

Summary: Batman left Gotham to his proteges, no one knows if he is still alive. It's up to them to pick up the pieces, help each other, and sort their lives before big trouble threatens Earth.

Estimated length: 90,000< words.

Progress: 60,000< words.

Plan of finishing the first draft: End of July. First chapter release plan date: 31 of October

First scene sample:

This Arkham Knight was very troublesome, he was as dangerous as Batman, no, he was more dangerous than Batman, he was ready to kill, even eager to. Huntress touched her side, and a stinging pain answered her, but nothing to worry about for now. Her breathing was accelerated, her senses wired thin, her gaze fixed on the man in front of her ready to respond at his slightest movement.

"Move aside." His modified voice seemed to hiss.

"Sorry, but I don't feel like it." Of course, she had to goad him more, as if things weren't hard enough already.

"My business is with the Bat." 

She felt slightly confused at his seeming reluctance to fight her, but she squashed it to the back of her mind until she could be in a safe environment to ruminate. "You're endangering a lot of people with this... business of yours. So no, I won't be moving any time soon." She said flatly.

"That's too bad." It seemed like she had reached the limit of his patience. He lunged again at her. She dodged and threw a kick to his abdomen, he blocked it with his elbow, by instinct she flipped back, it was the right thing for his fist to fly inches from her face.

Still, she knew she wouldn't win this fight, her strength lay in the careful preparation of traps and sigil of her prey, even if she was a good fighter she wasn't, well, Batman. Now that there was some distance between them she started shooting bolts towards his legs, he dodged those easily and shot his grappling gun toward the nearest building and pulled upwards.

"Oh no, you won't!" She quickly changed her bolt to an explosive one and shot to where the grappling gun had hooked. He fell again into the roof they were on, rolling to minimize the impact.

"Now you really pissed me off," He growled and charged towards her.

Again they danced in a mix of punches, kicks, and dodges before he finally gained the upper hand and slammed her against the floor, stars danced in her vision, and his hand wrapped around her neck, cutting her air supply. Helena struggled, but to no avail, as he was at least fifty pounds heavier than her, but she had tricks up her sleeve, in fact, very literally. When pulling her wrist upwards a high voltage discharge would shoot on whoever was the unfortunate recipient of its full power would end up knocked out, which in this case was the Arkham Knight. She wasn't surprised when after receiving the electrical hit, he backed off but did not faint, the armor probably was designed as hers; to withstand the worst of such dangers.

"You have some tricks don't you?" He laughed, and she didn't like the sound of it. "But I think you won't have one for this." He gripped her by the neck again and pulled out a vial, unluckily, Helena wasn't fast enough to move out of his reach. The glass shattered between his fingers, and the contents immediately volatilized and turned into a gas. She didn't have any other option but to breathe at least a little, but guessing what it was, she knew it was more than enough to make its nasty effect kick into work.

She was shoved back, falling into her back, coughing at the acrid taste the fear gas left, her heartbeat quickened when the faint blurred sound of a familiar melody started to ring in her ears followed by a voice she thought she would never hear again.

“Here again my dear Angel?” The honied voice seemed to whisper against her ear, then a chuckle, and there, looming over her was the white-masked figure with amber eyes.

“You’re dead.” She breathed and gritted her teeth.

“Of course. You killed me. Remember?” Then his hand reached for her chin and turned her face towards one side and her heart stopped and seemed to come to the back of her throat at the same time. There in a chair tied with barber wire was Jason.

“Help me!” 

“Stop. Stop. Stop.” 

“Just kill me already.”

“Jason!”

She nearly choked. Get a grip, Helena, this is a hallucination! She felt her suit starting to slow down her increasingly accelerating heart, she knew that the fear gas she had inhaled was but a small dose, and yet it was messing this much with her head even with the Bíos pumping through her system already. This new formula was very, very dangerous, the whispers of Jason still lingered in the background, sometimes interrupted by the explosion that was imprinted like a hot iron in her body and mind. 

Then she felt the burning sensation of electrical currents run through her body to counter the other poison in her veins, the burning sensation of it made her gasp. But now she was able to take a coherent look at her opponent, he hadn't taken this opening to attack her, to end her, making her believe again that he didn't want to kill her. He was just standing there, looking at her. The knight was tense as if waiting for something, she was completely clueless at what it could be but she would use this to her advantage.

~•~•~•~

Jason watched as the gas kicked into action and she crawled away, then her breath hitched and she shook her head. Whatever it was, she didn't want to hear, she clapped her hands to her ears and closed her eyes, it would be so easy to kill her now… To put the broken body of his daughter in front of him, would break him like nothing else, he was sure. But he couldn't even bring himself to lift his gun and point at her, he didn't want to kill her, she had been- What?

It didn't matter, he had better things to do. He turned and started to walk away when he heard her breath his name.

“Jason!”

He clenched his fists, they had abandoned him to that fucking clown, they had replaced him and she had left, forgotten completely about him. But something was pulling in him to go and shake her, to tell her he was right here, that he wasn't a damned nightmarish apparition. He took in a shaky breath and cocked his head to one side, stretching his neck; an anxious tick he had developed. That was enough to strengthen his resolve to keep going on, she was just a part of his past that would disappear along the Bat. Bringing her to Scarecrow and making Bruce see his only daughter be tortured by her worst fears would be even worse than death for him.

Jason turned to her again, she was silent now but her respiration was agitated, she was very still, which was odd for someone with fear gas in their system. He walked closer, pulling his gun out. Maybe he should just blow her head up and throw her dead body in front of her father. The echoing of laughter surged in the back of his mind and the scar on his face burned like the same day the hot iron had sizzled against his skin.

The illusion broke when Helena launched herself at him, he was so unprepared that he tripped and fell on his back with her on top of him.

“Don't you ever dare to do something like that again asshole!” She hissed and punched his helmet hard enough to make his vision rattle a little. How she had fought off the effects of the gas he had no idea nor was interested to know right now, he curled his arms and then threw her off him. She rolled like a fucking cat and pulled her whip out.

“Oh fuck.” He muttered as he rolled out of the way of the crackling weapon. Maybe she was tougher to get than he had originally believed, at least she was more so than his replacement. Jason knew that whip wasn't just any normal leather thing, it seemed to be made of some metallic alignment, as if on queue the whip came down again, he dodged again though not fast enough as it graced his armor over his shoulder and the fucking plate had been sliced a piece off. Fuck, if that thing could slice off part of his armor it probably could slice his arm off as well, no wonder she hadn't used it until now. The no-killing rule was just as strictly embedded in her as her father. That thought made his anger burst.

Why? Why did they refuse to do what was needed to protect? To save people from fuckers like the Joker? If only Batman had killed the Joker the first chance he got he wouldn't had-!

He snapped and lunged at her quick enough to avoid the arch of the crackling shit and barrelled into her, she flew back at least a couple of meters landing painfully on her back. Disoriented enough to become too slow to react in time to make space between them to gain the advantage of her weapons, which were long-ranged tools, up close Jason was completely in control. He took full advantage of it, he punched her in the gut making her double over even with the armor mitigating some of the power from the hit, he didn’t pause, consumed by the red haze that felt so good to let loose. He pulled her head down to connect with his rising knee, she probably would have passed out if not for the face-guard over her forehead and eyes, Jason hit her back with his elbow making her go down. 

She was wheezing for air.

“Is it hard to breathe? Don’t you feel like you’re drowning? Like some cold hand is closing around you and pulling every last bit of life in you?” He remembered how it felt, to be hit over and over again until you couldn’t even seem to make your lungs work.

She coughed and choked- No, she was laughing. She was laughing.

Had she gone mad?

“It’s not so bad, you know.” She gasped and spat at his feet.

All the burning anger seemed to die out, leaving an empty cold feeling. His arm seemed to move on its own, grasping her by the nape of her neck, he started to lift her and she struggled uselessly as she still was too winded to gather her strength or wits. They were at the edge of the ten-story department building, it was at least a 30-meter drop from there to the cold concrete below. Time seemed to freeze, he took in her smaller frame, she seemed so small and frail compared to him, she always had…

Jason! Will you wait for me?

Then he pushed her, the back of her legs hit the small barrier of the edge and then she was gone. He stood there a moment then he heard the sound of crashing metal meters underneath. His heart felt like it stopped for a second.

~•~•~•~

DM if interested/curious or repost/share if you think someone else might.

:)

Check some of my previous works

[baldwinivmybeloved]

𖥔 ۪ܺׄ Charper Twenty Five ۪۪ ❤︎ ⊹ Xica X Baldwin IV

The days passed, and Xica's pregnancy progressed normally. The palace was filled with a mix of excitement and preparation for the arrival of the twins. Baldwin, despite his own physical limitations, was determined to be a constant support for Xica, who faced each day with courage and joy.

The morning sun filtered through the windows of the royal bedroom. Xica, with one hand resting on her growing belly, woke up with a smile. Baldwin was beside her, watching her tenderly.

"Good morning, my love," Baldwin said, leaning in to kiss her gently on the forehead.

"Good morning, Baldwin." Xica returned his smile. "Our little ones seem very active this morning."

Baldwin chuckled softly. "They’re already showing their character. I'm sure they'll be as strong and brave as their mother."

Later that day, as Xica rested in the palace garden, Jacobino approached with his usual air of mystery and wisdom.

"My dear child, today I have something important to share with you," Jacobino said, sitting down beside her.

"What is it, Jacobino?" Xica asked, curious.

Jacobino closed his eyes for a moment, as if tuning into an invisible force. Then, he opened them and spoke with a deep, assured voice.

"I have had a vision about your twins. Both will lead full and successful lives, but their personalities will be completely different. One will be a natural leader, charismatic and brave. The other, though more reserved, will possess a wisdom and empathy that will touch many hearts."

Xica listened intently, with a mix of hope and excitement. "Thank you, Jacobino. Your words fill me with peace and joy."

In the main hall, Xavier and Baldwin were busy discussing the preparations for the arrival of the twins. Xica entered the room and couldn't help but laugh when she saw Baldwin trying to make sense of the baby supplies list.

"Do we really need so many things?" Baldwin asked, puzzled.

Xavier nodded firmly. "Yes, my lord. Babies require a lot of care. And besides, there will be two." Xavier turned to Xica and winked. "Don't worry, my lady, we'll make sure everything is perfect."

Xica laughed, feeling relieved by her friends' support. "Thank you both. I know that with your help, everything will be fine."

As Baldwin and Xica were in the library, going through books on raising twins, Xica began to feel a sudden craving.

"Baldwin, I'd love something sweet to eat. Could you bring me some fruit?" Xica asked with a playful smile.

Baldwin, always eager to please her, quickly went to fetch the fruit. When he returned, he found Xica laughing to herself.

"What's so funny, love?" Baldwin asked, handing her the tray of fruit.

"I was thinking about how our children will probably tease us someday for being so protective," Xica replied, still laughing.

Baldwin joined in her laughter. "I'm sure they will. But that will only mean we've raised them well, with love and care."

In the privacy of their room, Baldwin couldn't help but express his concerns to Xica.

"Xica, I'm worried about my health. I don't want our children to see me weak or sick." His voice was filled with anguish.

Xica hugged him tightly, caressing his face tenderly. "Baldwin, you are a brave king and a wonderful husband. Our children will see you as the strong and loving man you are, no matter what."

Baldwin looked at her with gratitude, finding comfort in her words. "You always know how to calm my heart."

In the palace courtyard, Baldwin, Xica, Xavier, and Jacobino sat together, enjoying a peaceful afternoon.

"Let’s promise to always stay together, supporting each other," Xica said, looking at the three men who meant so much to her.

"Promise," Baldwin, Xavier, and Jacobino said in unison.

The afternoon was filled with laughter, stories, and plans for the future, as the four prepared for the arrival of the twins with hearts full of love and hope.

That night, as Baldwin and Xica prepared for bed, Baldwin gently caressed Xica's belly.

"Our children will be very lucky to have you as their mother," Baldwin murmured.

"And they will be lucky to have you as their father," Xica replied, kissing him softly.

They embraced, feeling the deep connection and love that united them, confident that together, they could face any challenge life presented them.

The night was calm. Baldwin and Xica, embraced under the sheets, stared at the ceiling as their thoughts drifted towards the future. Baldwin broke the silence with a voice full of worry.

"Xica, I can't stop thinking about how much time I have left. I don't know if I'll live long enough to see our children grow up," Baldwin confessed, his tone laden with sadness.

Xica looked at him intently, gently caressing his face. "Baldwin, don't think about that now. You have to have faith that you'll be here to see them grow. I believe in you, and I know you'll be an incredible father."

Baldwin sighed, trying to find comfort in her words. "It's just that… I fear I won't have the vitality needed to take care of them. Children need energy and strength, and I…"

Xica interrupted him softly, placing her finger over his lips. "Baldwin, you have the greatest strength of all: your love for us. That's the strength our children will need, and you will have it in abundance. Besides, you're not alone in this. We will have Xavier, Jacobino, and all our friends to help us."

Baldwin nodded, trying to let go of his fears. "You're right, my love. I'm grateful to have you by my side. Together, we can overcome any obstacle."

After a moment of silence, Baldwin changed the subject, attempting to bring some lightness to the conversation. "We've talked a lot about our children, but we still haven't decided on their names."

Xica smiled, grateful for the change in topic. "You're right. Do you have any names in mind?"

Baldwin thought for a moment. "If they are boys, I've always liked the name Philippe or Sehin. It's strong and noble."

Xica nodded, liking the choice. "It's a good name. And for girls, I've always loved the name Isabelle or Ayesha. It's elegant and full of grace."

Baldwin smiled, imagining their children with those names. "I love those names. Our children will bear names worthy of their nobility and strength."

Hours passed, and Baldwin and Xica continued talking about their future, their hopes, and dreams for their children. They imagined their first words, their laughter, and the moments they would share as a family.

"Baldwin, it doesn't matter how much time we have together. What matters is that each moment is filled with love and happiness," Xica said, snuggling closer to him.

"You're right, Xica. Each day with you is a gift, and I promise to make every moment count," Baldwin replied, kissing her forehead tenderly.

As Baldwin fell asleep, Xica stayed awake for a while, her thoughts filled with love and concern. She watched her husband, observing the internal battle he fought against his illness. Her heart swelled with a deep desire to protect him and care for their future family.

"I promise I will do everything in my power to keep you safe, Baldwin. Our children will grow up with a brave and loving father," she murmured in the darkness, feeling the strength of her determination.

Finally, Xica closed her eyes, letting the tranquility of the night take her. As she slept, she dreamed of a bright future, where their children ran and laughed in the palace gardens, with Baldwin by her side, smiling and full of life.

That night, the worries and fears faded away, replaced by a profound hope and the certainty that, together, they could face any challenge.

[antianakin]

I love your blog so much. There is so much Anakin worship in this fandom and your blog is a breath of fresh air.

Anyway, I have a question: Do you think that Anakin never wanted the twins in the first place? It seems that after he had first nightmare about Padme dying, all thoughts about the unborn baby went flying out the window.

Thank-you, sometimes venting is good for us!

So my personal headcanon is that Anakin never wanted kids in the first place, but I don't think that this is at all canon or necessarily what Lucas or Hayden Christensen intended to get across in ROTS.

I think Anakin is likely INTENDED to seem very overwhelmed by the prospect of having kids and definitely MORE focused on Padme simply because he's in the habit of focusing on her and it's easier maybe. It's possible that we're maybe intended to understand that Anakin hadn't really THOUGHT about wanting kids, but that it didn't mean he wasn't happy enough about having them once they were in the equation. He certainly never SAYS he doesn't want them or anything negative about them at all, obviously.

But my personal headcanon is that Anakin wants the people he's in relationships with to be completely committed to and focused on him. Anakin is selfish with people's time and attention and we see this over and over again.

So when Padme mentions that she's pregnant, it means that there's now a new person (obviously it would actually be two, but neither of them are aware of that throughout ROTS) in this relationship that are going to take Padme's time and attention away from him and I don't think Anakin likes the idea of sharing Padme, even with their children.

I also think that Anakin, like Padme, is fully aware that throwing kids in the mix is 100% going to fuck up the secret part of their secret marriage. When it was just the two of them, they could keep pretending that this would never ever have consequences and that they could have their cake and eat it, too. They can keep their respective careers and their relationship and just take what time they have with each other as a gift or whatever. But kids require a lot more care and time and effort, Padme wants to raise the baby on Naboo rather than on Coruscant, and if Anakin wants to be in this kid's life AS ITS FATHER, then he has to be WAY more open about this relationship than he's ever been before, something that could easily end up costing him his position within the Order (the Jedi likely won't kick him out, but I do think they'd ask him to make a CHOICE between being with Padme and being a Jedi and it seems a lot more in character that he'd choose Padme over the Order). The pregnancy spells the end of their relationship and lives as they know it and I don't think Anakin really relishes what their new lives are going to look like. The kids are consequences for their choices, not a gift.

But Padme clearly wants to SEE IT as a gift and keep pretending like everything's roses and Anakin can tell that she's looking for a positive reaction from him so he gives her one. Because he wants to keep up the fantasy, too, so he just... smiles and says the right words. He changes the subject to something he's more comfortable with whenever she tries to talk about their future with the baby. But I don't really ever think he means it. I believe he mentions protecting their baby all of once after he has the visions, but Palpatine doesn't use saving the babies as his trump card in his office, it's only Padme that he accuses Obi-Wan of trying to steal, and after he gets in the suit, it's only Padme he asks about. And this could easily just be glitches in the script-writing, we all know how many of those there are in the Prequels, but as a headcanon, I think it tells me that Anakin never REALLY cared about the baby, he wasn't doing this for the baby, and he's not honestly all that upset that they're dead along with her.

And of course the natural counter to this is "but look how obsessed he is with Luke and how much he wants Luke to join him and what a massive impact Luke ends up having on him by the end! Of COURSE he loved the kids and wanted a family!"

To which my argument is, "yes, but all of that happens AFTER PADME'S DEAD."

And not only that, but so is Obi-Wan, and at this point he probably assumes Ahsoka is, too (even if he questions her death, she's long disappeared and unavailable to him anymore). Even R2-D2 is working with the Rebels, as is C-3PO, Shmi is long dead, he clearly didn't care much about the Larses or consider them family but even if he did they're also dead, and the Order itself is long gone with most survivors killed off over the last 20 years. So Anakin's got NO ONE LEFT of the people he cared about.

And then Luke walks in and all of the sudden, he has a SON. This piece of Padme, this piece of HIM who is young and reckless and full of anger and fear of his own. Of COURSE he fixates on Luke now that there's NO ONE ELSE to obsess over. But how would he have treated Luke if Padme had lived? Would he have cared so much about Luke's approval if he resented Luke for taking Padme's attention, for being the reason he had to give up his career as a Jedi? They intentionally parallel the offer he makes to Padme with the offer he makes to Luke. He tries to get Padme to rule the Empire with him and that doesn't work, but 20 years later he makes the SAME offer to Luke. Luke is just a replacement for what he had with Padme the same way Padme was always just a replacement for what he had with Shmi. He can have with Luke what he lost with the others, if only he can succeed at convincing Luke to do what the others would not.

It's never really ABOUT Luke, any more than his relationship with Padme was really about Padme. Padme was convenient, he wanted her because he saw her the way he wanted to see her rather than as the person she actually was, and THAT'S what he loved. He sees Luke the same way.

Obviously some of this changes right at the end because he does decide to sacrifice his life to save Luke and all, but he's also been put in a lose-lose situation for the first time. Even with Padme, he always thinks he COULD save her. He has to sacrifice the Order to do it, but he'll have Padme at the end of it so he still wins. Saving Padme doesn't require dying or losing her some other way. But in ROTJ, his choices are now limited. Either he dies to save Luke, or Luke dies. There is no version of this scenario where he gets to keep Luke. He can't win. Which, arguably, makes choosing the selfless thing a lot easier than it was back in ROTS where the option to win was still available at the cost of the entire Jedi Order (and the entire clone army, and the Republic). He still DOES choose the selfless thing and that's important, but it is made WAY easier by making it a lose-lose situation to begin with. He's not sacrificing as much because he's never going to keep Luke now no matter what he does. Whereas if he'd made the choice to help the Jedi and kill Palpatine in ROTS, he would theoretically have been choosing to give up what he believed to be a guarantee that Padme would live. He's choosing to potentially sacrifice Padme's life in favor of protecting the Order and the Republic. Doing the right thing requires giving up something he wants. That's not... really true in ROTJ because Palpatine's made it so he'll never get what he wants anyway so what does he truly have to lose now?

I recognize that that's... an uncharitable take on the end of ROTJ and removes a LOT of the messages of that scene and that choice he makes and nobody's going to like that. Anakin chose to die to save his son and that feels very heroic, I get that. But whatever. Long story short, no, I don't think he wanted kids at all as per my personal headcanon and I think his reactions to Luke don't contradict that because he mostly just sees Luke as an extension of the relationships he's been trying to replicate his entire life and, in many ways, an extension of himself. And when that relationship is taken from him a THIRD time, but the option is open to save Luke anyway, he chooses to take it. Because what does he have left to lose when he's already lost?

[hereforthefunnyguys]

Break down Anzu please 🥺🙏

O 1. How do I feel about this character?

Will not lie to you at first I didn't see all that special about her but still thought she was a fun addition to the friend group. Then I got on the Internet (bad idea wouldn't recommend it) and saw how much hate she got and was like Oh I See. It's my job to defend her forever since apparently nobody else will. Send my ass off to war for her.

I do really appreciate her and I wish people would take a minute to examine her character more (which, to be fair, they removed a lot of for the manga). Like. I especially relate to the way that she both obviously has so much ambition for the future and looks forward to her career as a dancer, but is still scared and sad about having to let go of the friends she's made over the years.

Also people make fun of her for being too wishy washy and "vulnerable" but the fact of the matter is that she's not prone to discussing her emotions with anyone else in the series at all. Like. The only reason people see her as emotional is because we're given a viewpoint into her thoughts. Jonouchi is more openly emotional than her. Honda is more emotional. People should try and learn how to actually read into her character instead of just assigning her the Generic Shonen Girl Personality and calling it a day.

2. All the people I ship romantically with this character:

There is a horrid dearth of proper yuri in yugioh, but! I like pairing her up with Mana (unrealistic and they are separated by 3000 years but! She will Fuck That Mummy (i just got a really really good idea for an au guys trust me)) just because I think they make an interesting hypothetical dynamic - honestly, I'd go the full mile of calling them kind of narrative foils, what with Anzu's responsibility vs. Mana's silliness, Mana being tutored by a mentor vs. Anzu being mostly self-taught and self-propelled, Mana not having much ambition for most of the Millennium World arc despite her position of power and privilege vs. Anzu scraping up from the bottom specifically because she has such an intense vision of what she wants her life to be. Really good potential there. Anyways continuing on

I think her and Miho seem cute but i gonna be real with you i have. Not seen a ton of season zero so I have no real frame of reference for what they'd be like. And manga miho seems a little quiet for anzus personality tbh she needs someone she can argue with lmao

On the het side I like her with Atem but not honestly much of anyone else. I thought her and him had a very sweet dynamic in the manga and I would have liked to see more of his thoughts about her since he seemed to enjoy her company, he just. Is not good at talking to people in general. Don't hit me with that "ackshually atem hates Anzu 🤓" Shit. They are friends. They like each other.

Also I hc that she was crushing on mai kujaku but i don't think she would've been happy if it was a serious relationship. It's just like. One of those crushes teenagers get on attractive adults that show them genuine respect for the first time ever you know?

3. My non-romantic OTP for this character is:

Her and Jonouchi are so funnyyyyyyy lmao. "JOSEPH WHEELER WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU" alright they seem like the perfect mix of stupid and stubborn that im sure can lead to them getting into all kind of dumb shit. Where's my au where they both get lost in the woods because Anzu said she knew where she was going and Jonouchi was too proud to check the map. Silly

4. My unpopular opinion about this character:

SHE! IS! NOT! BLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!! (rips shirt off and screams in rage) AND NO BEING YUGIS LOVE INTEREST IS NOT HER ONLY JOB IN THE STORY!!! SHE HAS A PERSONALITY BEYOND ANOTHER BOY'S CRUSH ON HER THAT SHE MAY OR MAY NOT RECIPROCATE!!!!

Really though she has such a strong personality if you set out to try and figure it out!! And she does play multiple roles beyond love interest and damsel in distress! She did a ton of stuff in the early manga and i still cannot believe people make fun of her for friendship speeches when they are obsessed with everyone else from hit series Yu-Gi-Oh, Friendship is Magic. She didn't even make that many speeches!!!!!

5. One thing I wished happened to this character in canon?

I wish we got to see more of her home life and her background since it feels like it has something going on back there, since she seems to be hustling for money in a way that tells me she mostly relies on herself for funds and support. Also I wish at least at some point she had gotten to tell Atem how she felt about him :( or at least resolved the plot point beyond "well I guess he's going so i have to cope"

anyways I LOVE HER A MILLION KISSES FOR ANZU MAZAKI

[zedxspacess]

My controversial wrestling take tonight is I liked Ospreay v MJF for what it was. Y'all say yall are sickos until its an actual weird/fucked up match up, and for me, I was always morbidly curious at what the hell kind of match their styles clash would create.

This got really long, but tldr; good match that could've used trimming and editing to get the point across.

I'm weirdly invested in a career long rivalry between MJF and Ospreay. I have a VISION, there's so much juicy character/story meat there that I don't think ppl realize (even TK, Ospreay, and Max) but I See It and go in detail in the read more, but that tldr is:

There were def points where the match dragged on, but I didn't notice until like 30-40mins in. Sure, they played to the crowd a bit much and lots of stalling with them rolling on the floor. Both of these guys' previous long matches were aided by the veterans they shared the ring with. So I'd say for a match they called on their own, they did pretty good all things considered--these guys are 28 and 31 years old respectively, like come on. Commentary said it was hot and humid as hell in that arena, so the fact they went that hard for so long is respectable. I also thought they wanted to challenge the idea of "Ospreay can't sell" by making it such a focal point, but imo they over corrected it at times to where it felt less believable the longer he sold the shoulder. If the match was shorter, I think they would've been able to hide it better or Ospreay could've remembered also selling the knee, but it is what it is to make it believable MJF could beat someone as athletic and powerful as Ospreay.

I think the beginning, parts of the middle, and ending wrestling moments were where a lot of the real meat of the story was that got buried in the downsides/all the stalling. I've seen some ppl say the match felt half MJFism, half Ospreayism, and finally a weird mix of both, and I think that's what they were going for: purposefully highlighting their staunch differences, the strengths and weaknesses of their respective styles, then forcing their opponent to dip into the others' style to meet in the middle. It's not just a clash of styles, but and ideological clash of what wrestling can be. Ospreay doing his athletic performance, but MJF being really pragmatic and countering in simple, creative ways. Max then gets too caught up in character, gets cocky, and lets his guard down where Ospreay's skill and power bulldozes him. So it forces Max to wrestle seriously and meet Ospreay on the mat and in athletics, while also forcing Ospreay to understand the way Max wrestles behind the theatrics, psychologically.

Also for Ospreay, its his ongoing story of "am I willing to bring out my darker instincts to win the match?" if MJF is willing to play so blatantly dirty. It's the conundrum with the Tiger Driver, but also with his matches with Kenny Omega and the Dog Pound Steel Cage match where he was pushed to an emotional limit where we saw a viciousness never seen before. I don't think they quite achieved this with Ospreay in AEW yet (minus the Kenny match), but Max as the top heel definitely has the potential to really get Ospreay down to his level in the future.

I overall liked all the highspots, MJF showing he could keep up with Ospreay's athleticism, Max's heelisms are missed, call backs to Cody/AJ Styles, the Ospreay/Ibushi landing on your feet spot. God, and Cole/Ricochet. Which btw, holy shit the connection between MJF-Ospreay tracing back to Max's friend and Ospreay's friend/mentor's legendary match; if we want to get real crazy, tag match between MJF-Cole vs Ospreay-Ricochet could be something.

Idk, I'm embarrassed to say it, but. I'm just personally super intrigued by the concept of Ospreay and MJF clashing--potentially for the rest of their careers--because of what they represent feels so diametrically opposed, they have to be at odds. But the irony in all of it is, at their cores, they are very similar.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: MJF is a pure acting, soliloquy-giving theater kid; Ospreay is the dance/choreography theater kid--which is a shoot, they legit have done those things irl, but it's also their characters. They care so much about story and emotion and performance. They go 100% in their preferred way of doing it and face heat because they do "too much" in their respective ends of the spectrum. As a result, they are so prideful and defensive about their favorite method. Max as a babyface was so extroverted, super loyal friend, outgoing neurodivergent kid and Ospreay's current character as a genuine, kinda dumb but passionate, golden retriever neurodivergent kid have similar energies. Both have the tendency to speak before thinking too. When you look at their heel characters, Max goes out of his way to embody all the spoiled rich kids of Long Island, while Ospreay tried to embody half chav-half spoiled rich kid culture in England. They're similar kids at hearts, it's just one of them had a diet of 90s Best of the Super Jrs+DragonGate, and the other had a diet of NWA territory+Attitude Era, and thus were sent on different paths.

The other main differences are Ospreay always had the United Empire with him who truly trusted him as brothers. When he left Japan, all the fans showered him in love, and arriving in AEW, fans continued that praise and acceptance. While Max never trusted anyone, even when surrounding himself with people. And the moment he did trust and tasted acceptance by fans, it bit him in the ass, got rejected by the fans, and it all only reassured his worst insecurities. Max is doing a lot of projection onto Ospreay for being accepted so easily, for taking his spot as top dog, for what he represents as his ideological opposite, for having it so easy. But Ospreay wears his heart on his sleeve because it wasn't easy for him, just watch the promo he did against Omega before Wrestle Kingdom. That fighting spirit has tempered him where he can handle the blows, he has the support system with him. He lacks the fear that makes MJF take on such an abrasive persona as a defense mechanism. Ospreay's genuine person, charm, outgoing energy is all what MJF could be or secretly wants to be--as seen on his face run--but was rejected. And he cannot stand it.

Personally, I think they should kiss fight forever about all of this.

[vaalthus]

Convergence Part 2 (spoilers)

Let's get into it.

Honestly, I fell in love with this full synchronization animation alone and I can see from the quality, as well as everything that comes after, is the reason why the release had to be delayed.

Truth be told, prior to this release, I was expecting Jaania's fully synchronized form to be quite the visual abomination. What with her soul being in tatters and the circumstances regarding Hesperrhodos' creation. So imagine my surprise to find a certain level of beauty in this form and it's one that perfectly encapsulates Jaania's character.

The way I see it, if Uaanta's transformation was the last stand of a hero offering up all her devotion and faith to her gods through her body and Remthalas' transformation was that of an eldritch monstrosity puppeteering its slave, then Jaania's transformation is that of a scarred woman, hence her face scar being highlighted in the transition, frantically control the order of the very world itself. Her many hands meant either guide or cut away whatever she deems fit in her eternal era of perfection.

I like how in spite of the noble intentions that's clearly driving her, these few lines really reveal the egotism that's mixed up in her reasoning. It's "her" perfect world we stand in the way in and it's our fault for wanting to stop her from a plan that could doom the very world she wants so desperately to protect. And that is reason enough determine that we don't have a future worth preserving.

I love how Draco tried to pull the same little attack on Jaania that they did to Voyna, but she just doesn't even react to it. Never change little fella.

The entire boss fight that ensues after this is truly something. Very thematically fitting in terms of Jaania's character while also somehow managing to be a step up above even the last one in part one. I'd say in spite of it being elevated to the complexity of the Inn at the Edge of Time, it still felt pretty manageable even as a Chaosweaver, so I get the thrill of kicking Jaania's butt as a weaver twice.

In addition, I feel like a lot of the pop up text and status effects that Jaania has, or gives, really cement my thoughts in that she is rather similar to Notha's character, but unlike Notha, who existed on the side of Doom/Chaos, Jaania is the epitome of Order and Destiny. Which makes her vision for Lore all the more terrifying when she shows us what a world of perfect order looks like to her because it's a complete nightmare for the Hero.

A frozen stagnant world, forever kept in stasis. One that keeps everyone from ever being hurt again but one that also keeps people from growing as they should in this world.

Fortunately, we once again prove we are more than a match for Jaania rejecting her delusion of control.

And honestly, this just as much of the sorry sight I expected to be. All that time and effort she put into the Rose, to trying, in her very misguided way, to protect everyone and everything and it's all down the drain. Her hair is almost completely white now, meaning her soul is on the very brink and the people that were sacrificed along the way have essentially been wasted.

One of these days I would like to take a further look into how the Hero views, well, heroism and how they've struggled with because it's an interesting sight.

I'm not sure what comes next for Jaania at this moment. She didn't die in her fight but it's clear her soul is not in good condition anymore. Even if she survives the trek back to surface, the Magesterium made it pretty clear they wanted her in their custody for judgement. Not only that, the judgement that remains back home in Greenguard for her actions and that of the Rose. Even if she's kept from any harsh punishment, where does she go from here? Will she sit in a wallow in misery? Try to atone for what she's done, provided she can be made to see the error of her ways? Perhaps Kara could help with that but beyond that I'm not sure what lies ahead for Jaania but I'm curious as to what comes next. I am satisfied with this conclusion.

However, there's that one little wrinkle to deal with.

THIS BUTTHEAD IS STILL BREATHING AND ABOUT TO DO THE THING!!!

....AND HE'S JACKED. I mean seriously I know the experiments made him strong as hell but good lord! I suppose it makes sense it would end this way though as our band, and even the hero, has no means of actually subduing or harming Akanthus and so it's a race to ensuring that bomb does not go off in the Mana Core as there is still no telling what it might do to the Core though my guess is still that it might corrupt it with doom energy.

As for Akanthus himself, I'm not sure. It's starting to feel like he might actually just straight up and try and bathe in the core itself to connect with it at this point. Either way, this is ending in a titan fight. >:)

We are soon to reach the end of this saga Loreians. Get ready.

[nullamirrors]

finally an opportunity to write out my side order theories post and stop thinking about writing a side order theories post… here is my side order rambles

main theory: octo expansion was about envy, return of the mammalians was about nostalgia, so side order will be about ambition or something along those lines. it makes sense: you've escaped. you're climbing a tower over and over again trying to reach the top. maybe this is it. maybe after octo you were only ever out of the frying pan and into the fire.

plus, we had a storyline about forgetting the past, then a storyline about rebuilding the past, so it would make sense that this one would be about the future. (is this the future we dreamed of when we stuck in hell?) the trailer shows what might be a factory producing mem cakes - a machine creating memories. now THAT'S an interesting concept. what kind of future do we want to build, and who is selling us our visions of utopia and why? if people can be made to long for a memory they never even had, what might be the extreme outcome of that?

(if it is a simulated world this time, that means anything can happen. I'm not sure they need to up the spectacle again, but they have a track record of succeeding, so… hopefully this gets wacky.)

probably they will not do this since the splatoon series has made a point of only critiquing the status quo indirectly… but if they are committed to completing this story then it should be about the sea creature society having to reckon with their own failings. the fundamental "joke" of the splatoon series is that everything that exists in it only exists because of the extinction of humanity from climate catastrophe, and yet the new dominant lifeforms have built their own hypercapitalist hellscape with presumably no self-awareness of its shortcomings. it's established in mammalians that the new culture is explicitly modelled on human culture, so logically this is what the whole thing has been building to: an environmental crisis that isn't an external threat that can be quashed through violence but something that requires societal change in order to be averted.

of course, they won't do this. (it's good that they don't. it would feel unconvincing from nintendo.) so here is my list of potential villains for side order:

• Marina: this is a popular suggestion given her general absence from the gameplay that's been shown, and while I wouldn't be totally surprised I think it's more likely that marina is kidnapped or something. maybe the spire of order was her project but something went wrong. I'm just not sure what the storyline would be if marina is the villain (unless she is the revolutionary leader from my other idea) also pearl and marina will kiss when they reunite you heard it here first

• A Mark Zuckerberg Type: there's a lot of implication that side order takes place in some sort of virtual world, so it makes sense that this would be splatoon taking on the "metaverse". (were the levels in previous games all meant to be physical spaces?) it's probably most likely that the villain would be a new company and new character, but maybe this will be the director of ancho-v games or something.

• A Revolutionary Group: this would make sense with the idea of the splatoon series always - in its surface text - being about preserving the status quo. I'm not sure how that would connect with the design of the world, though, given that it seems to be very much about ostentatious with an aesthetic that mixes neomodern instagram bland white rigidity with pastelly makeup/fashion styles and old-school gilded art-deco (or is it nouveau) temples of wealth. it basically looks like if a bank was designed for tiktok? that doesn't scream revolutionary to me, but then this could be a case where the skeleton fish things are attacking the tower rather than them being the tower attacking the characters. maybe the bad guys are trying to corrupt the virtual world before the resources required to run it destroys the planet again. maybe they were right all along…

• Acht: well, the skeleton fish do seem like their kind of style. they could easily be a revolutionary as above. I suspect their role will be more limited though - it's not like Harmony is a main character, and even the idols in octo/mammalians have pretty limited story roles in the grand scheme of things. plus, why would they ally with agent 8 while also trying to kill them? for… test data? (well, we don't know the full implications of acht's sanitisation…)

• Commander Tartar He's Back: as great as a villain as Tartar is, I don't think there'd be any value to come from a rematch. just please not a character from the past this time

• A Different AI (ORCA?): would fit with the "metaverse" idea, but like. we already had an AI villain. I guess ORCA is basically the only loose end from mammalians - a lot of focus on a character who essentially has to role in the plot - but I wouldn't be surprised if that's just because they reused so much of octo expansion's structure in mammalians, needed a new character to fill the cq cumber role, and didn't have any greater plans. but there is that ominous gladosy chamber in the main trailer, so..? maybe agent 8 is being tested, in order to simulate their behaviour. maybe agent 8 is the villain - or a virtual clone… (no that will 100% be a boss fight)

• Toni Kensa: this is probably my favourite idea. it's a character who's been around since the first game but afaik has never been visually depicted. there is an interview in the octo expansion artbook that reveals basically nothing? while the white-and-gold aesthetic of the spire of order isn't an exact match for kensa's iconic black-white-red colour scheme, it's still monochrome, and 100% looks like the kind of thing an evil fashion emperor would build. this would also fit with the idea of a threat coming from within the squid society—although kensa could turn out to be a killer whale, which would be visually interesting but a bit annoying to have another mammal villain.

• Agent 4: another loose end, but could just as easily be dealt with in a throwaway line or cutesy reunion. if it is them, hopefully they are not brainwashed and actually have motivations. (kid icarus: uprising 🤝 splatoon 2 octo expansion - ruining an interesting twist with mind control) I don't know what those motivations would be, but they could be involved with any of these other possible groups.

• There Is No Villain: all the bad stuff is just a manifestation of human cephalopod intolerance! I mean maybe, but this is the splatoon series. they like to have you shoot a big thing with paint until it dies. it would be nice to have the conflict be more nuanced (outside of subtext) but I suspect that doesn't really suit the gameplay style of Kill Things

• Craig Cuttlefish: it SHOULD be him. but it won't

like, at the very least I hope it isn't another villain from the past. they just about managed to keep it interesting in return of the mammalians, and I do love that this is basically the only time i can think of where a sci-fi/fantasy story has outright cast humanity as the villain, but it's getting repetitive.

anyway as you can tell I think a lot about splatoon and am very excited for whatever this is going to be although it would be funny if it turns out to be bad

[xbadnews]

MINI CHARACTER PLAYLIST

SHARE AT LEAST FIVE SONGS THAT REMIND YOU OF YOUR MUSE, OR THAT YOU ASSOCIATE WITH YOUR MUSE’S CHARACTER ARC. Including lyrics is optional.

i can hold a grudge like nobody's business - adam jensen

Living just to say goodbye Save me from my selfish pride Can you see the words written on my face?

okay so something i talk about quite a bit is that percy tends to live day to day. it's something he works on with time but it's not a linear process; he's someone who perceives himself as dead before the story started. he lives with the intent of dying, quickly, but not before these impossible string of events he thinks somehow, through his price, he & his friends can achieve. [ killing the briarwoods, r i p l e y , taking on the chroma conclave, stopping vecna ]

but while he feels he's destined for death [ or already dead ] he's b e g g i n g to be seen. i think it was @deathwalkerr that pointed out to me how badly percy wants to be feared, how badly he wants his innate danger to be acknowledged. his pride drives him to be impulsive, which mixes super dangerously with this inability to think about the future.

You got me actin' like the old me But you don't even know me

i like these lines mixed with the sentiment of him holding grudges because there is this bittersweet feeling that comes w him getting close w vox machina. they become the closest thing he has to family, they're the people he feels closest to alive with. but he feels unknown for a long, long time.

so while he starts to engage in more positive/fun things there's still this sentiment of ' you don't know who i was, you only know what i show you ' which kind of hangs over his head for a long time before he can trust himself entirely with vm. this being said, i definitely think keyleth is the first person to draw him out of this mentality. she's the first one to bring his walls down & see percy's fluctuating definition of ' self ' .

Can I get a witness? 'Cause I can hold a grudge like nobody's business Seein' double vision Show me what you got and I'll show what you're missing

this is the chorus!!! a huge part of why it's here. again, playing off of that desire to be seen as dangerous. to be seen as unpredictable. to be handled with the caution he does not have. yes! got a lot of positive traits. he tries to be good but good is not the priority. he's also petty, angry & often unafraid when he should be.

it's also sort of a sentiment of ' well you aren't seeing it so i'll Show You ' but that's a whole nother conversation.

2. arsonist's lullaby - hozier

so first of all before i get into specifics, i have to clarify that this is one of my favorite songs for percy. one of the themes of this blog i like to dig into is utilizing your demons, using the worst parts of yourself to do what you think is necessary.

When I was a child I heard voices Some would sing and Some would scream You soon find you have few choices I learned the voices died with me

this is a sentiment i love. sort of plays off of when percy met the raven queen & asked if he was always broken & she answered yes. there's always been a darkness within him, an urge that couldn't quite be satisfied. i have this headcanon that as a kid, percy was a secret thrill seeker. he'd climb whitestone walls & frame his siblings for pranks & get up to all sorts of trouble.

he rarely got caught because no one was ever looking at him, he's the backup of a backup & what he's doing was always secondary to whatever his older siblings were doing. so there's always been this wildness within him that's manifested in different ways, that he's used in different ways. as a kid, it was just to get a thrill. as an adult it's a stronger beast entirely, but it is the beast the forged his survival.

All you have is your fire And the place you need to reach Don't you ever Tame your demon But always keep 'em on a leash

this plays on that thought of ' that beast forged his survival '. it's like, even in his most desperate times he still had that wild will to live. that rabid, instinctual fire to live. has it burned through his life like a storm? yes!!! in so many places ashes is all that's left. but you can do so much with ash. you can make ink, bricks, compost.

it's this sentiment again of utilizing that fire within him regardless of the consequences because that fire is how he's survived. it's costed so much, but it's always been apart of him. it will never not be. it's just a matter of learning how to manage it in a way that he can still live a life. that he can build whatever fluctuating definition of the future he's trying to work towards, whether or not he's able to view himself as a part of that future.

When I was a man I thought it ended When I knew loves perfect ache But my peace has always depended On all the ashes in my way

again, it's that idea of ' you can do so much with ash ' & as he grows up, he does. he absolutely does. he doesn't put out his fire, but he learns how to manage it. it's like this shift between ' what it's done to him ' to ' what he can do with it'. he learns to love longterm, he cares longterm with time. it's not a linear journey by any means, but it's one he takes. but he still uses his fire to protect his home, his friends, his family. he keeps growing, but never forgets what exists within him. what he can use to make sure he never loses it again.

3. hi ren - ren

so i'm going to clarify before digging into this that i have a lot to say on this song. it is a song based in mental illness but i also have it on percy's playlist because it definitely feels like how i imagine percy's relationship w/ orthax is. but i also love it as a back & forth because one of the things i preach is that percy's healing journey is not linear. some days are harder than others & i feel like this song nails the battle within self.

And I've been making some progress lately And I've learnt some new coping skills So I haven't really needed you much, man I think we need to just step back and chill

there are a few chunks of this song talking about doing a little better, looking at the present in a different light than his usual perception. it's this idea of 'getting better' & trying to leave old habits, old pieces of yourself in the past. which as talked about previously, does not work for percy. he defines survival by the worst, most ferocious pieces of himself & orthax is one of those things.

And when I'm gone, maybe I'll be remembered For doing something special with myself That's why I don't think that we should talk, man 'Cause when you're with me, it never seems to help

again that feeling of ' i am doing better, i will do better ' which is part of like percy;s endgame. he wants to be remembered beyond the weapons he put into this world, he wants to be better than he was previously & thinks that he can be. knows that he can be, eventually. but there is this scar of orthax left in percy's mind that leads to moments like the next lyrics.

You think that you can amputate me? I am you, you are me, you are I, I am we We are one, split in two that makes one, so you see You got to kill you if you wanna kill me I'm not left over dinner, I'm not scraps on the side Oh, your music is thriving? Delusional guy

i like these lyrics because it makes me think not only of orthax targeting ripley as a conduit to get back at percy, but also like the thoughts left from getting rid of orthax. it's like this thought of even if he's gone, it doesn't change the darkness within percy. it doesn't change his capacity for violence. it's this feeling of ' i will never be free from this part of myself & it will always remind me '

Fuck you, I don't need you, I don't need to hear this 'Cause I'm fine by myself, I'ma genius And I will be great, and I will make waves And I'll shake up the whole world beneath us

but percy snaps back. he cultivates this faith in people via vox machina, which leads to faith in self that again is not a linear progression but it's one he treasures. he knows this nastiness is apart of him but it doesn't stop him from wanting to be better, from trying to be better. he has changed the world & wants to continue to do so despite this internal pull away from self-help.

When standing in-front of my solar eclipse My name it is stitched to your lips, so, you see

this is another bit talking about orthax/percy's darkness as being a part of him, regardless of the growth he goes through. it will always exist within him, whether or not he wants it there.

As I got older, I realised that there were no real winners And there were no real losers in physiological warfare But there were victims and there were students

this line specifically i feel like alludes to one of my headcanons abt him absorbing bits of the people around him, absorbing bits of ripley specifically when he was in captivity. just that thought of ' there are victims & there are students ' like percy learned how to survive via his suffering rather than allowing it to kill him.

It was never really a battle for me to win, it was an eternal dance And like a dance, the more rigid I became, the harder it got The more I cursed my clumsy footsteps, the more I struggled So I got older and I learned to relax And I learned to soften and that dance got easier It is this eternal dance that separates human beings From angels, from demons, from gods And I must not forget, we must not forget That we are human beings

this is just here because these lyrics shape how i view percy's state of mind. ' the more i cursed my clumsy footsteps, the more i struggle'. it plays off of the sentiment of the last song, that this darkness, that orthax will always be a part of him. what he's done will always be apart of him. his mental illness will always be apart of him. but it does not define him. it's not all he is. he has fucked up, he will continue to do so, but he will keep going. it really lends to the shift between ' i will die, i am dead ' to ' i want to live, life is too full to miss '

4. this too shall pass - danny schmidt

My friend makes rings She swirls and sings She's a mystic in the sense That she's still mystified by things But scared to ask How can nothing seem to last

these lyrics specifically make me think of how percy views keyleth. their relationship is one of my favorites & i think these lyrics really hit the nail on the head for his view of her. specifically ' She's a mystic in the sense that she's still mystified by things ' because he see's her learning journey firsthand & plays a part in it. but there is this anger within her that burns things up, just like the fire within him.

i also love this song in terms of he & keyleth's relationship because of the sentiments surrounding how temperamental life is. like it passes, quickly. percy's life will be the blink of an eye to keyleth, there will be a day when she forgets his voice, the wrinkles on his forehead, passing details that won't matter in a couple hundred years. does he think she will forget him? sometimes. but he knows in his heart she wont. but that doesn't make life any longer, existence any more permanent.

also i like these lyrics because it sort of sells this idea of the peace they work towards relentlessly being a temporary solution. their work together will one day be undone & all they can do is hope it will last the span of their lives.

So I pray to hands And I pray to needs And I pray to blades of grass To find forgiveness in the weeds

percy is faithless, he doesn't hold much trust in the gods. but he has faith in the people he loves. he believes in his family. so though he doesn't practice religion, love is the closest thing he's got. which is a hard pill to swallow for him when his instinct is anything but love, when the instinct that has driven him to survive for so long. but because of him practicing love ( to the best of his ability ) he tries to practice forgiveness. it's hard, relentlessly so, but he makes that active effort to work towards it. there will always be someone wretched, but he was wretched once too. does that mean he has to trust them??? absolutely not! but that doesn't mean he's going to condemn them either.

I just never did believe And so I never prayed myself Except to those that prayed for me

this plays off of that last idea, that the closest thing to religion he has is love. that the closest thing he has to faith is in people.

5. up the wolves - the mountain goats

There's bound to be a ghost at the back of your closet No matter where you live There'll all ways be a few things, maybe several things That you're gonna find really difficult to forgive

here's that theme of forgiveness/healing not being a linear journey. percy forgives the people who hurt him in theory. it's a means to move past what they did to him, to become more than what happened to him. but that doesn't mean it's an easy process. he decides to forgive ripley right before she kills him & there is a lot of emotional debris from this

also bonus song: i'm not angry anymore plays on this theme. [i'm not angry anymore, well sometimes i am.] it's like this feeling of wanting to be better, wanting to forgive but it's a whole process when that ability for danger & to take a grudge has defined so much of what he's accomplished up until this point. it defines a part of him that he begs to be feared, that he uses as a weapon in survival. but survival doesn't have to be a fight & in order to accept that, he has to let go of a few things. of alot of things. which is not easy, it's one of the hardest things he's ever done. including taking down a literal god. but man, is it worth it.

There's gonna come a day when you'll feel better You'll rise up free and easy on that day And float from branch to branch, lighter than the air Just when that day is coming, who can say? Who can say?

again, it's this feeling of forgiveness not being a linear journey. one day he will feel better, one day things will be better & eventually he is able to see that. but it's not an immediate effect. saying you forgive someone & actually forgiving them are two separate things & it takes a long time to do, but it's something that is eternally worth doing.

he accepts the parts of himself forged by the people who's hurt him, by the people he's hurt. he accepts that they will always be apart of him, but stops holding it against them if that makes sense??? it's a huge weight off of his shoulders, but it's not immediate. it takes time, but one day he does feel better. one day he gets to be better.

tagged by: @mindhallow [ thank you this is my favorite thing to do ] tagging: @delightfalse, @deathwalkerr, @spellwound, @countercharmd , @xavthew0rld , @whalefelled, @heartheaded, @lunarfey, @luxcruor, @chosenpower, @vchloras, @firefurious

[lizzzylovee]

Eywa’s Vision

Chapter 1: Arrival

Summary : “Born with the ability to receive visions of the future, Kani must choose to abandon what she knows to aid in Navi that she's never met.“

MDNI

Authors note: Hello! Just wanted to start off by saying that this the first thing I have ever wrote before lol. I have fallen in love with the Avatar Movies, and after binge reading I realized I wanted to attempt to do it.

Story starts off with the original characters in Home Tree, the sky people haven't returned yet, and all the characters are aged up by 5 years! I will be going more by Navi standards as best as possible. There will be mature contents, but each chapter will be labeled appropriately as possible. There will be a mix of languages, and I will try my best to be as distinctive as possible lol.

*This will most likely be more slow burn than not, I don’t want to rush the story line as much I really want to lol. Eventual smut*** If you see this on Wattpad I have also posted it there under the same tag.

WK: about 3k ish?

CW: cursing, Neteyam being in love struck awe lol, nothing really in this chapter

Chapter 1: Arrival          Chapter 2: Story Time  

Masterlist

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The jungle hummed with life. Through the tall treetops, light seeps through, basking the ground with a peak from the light above. Even with the peaceful feeling, it traps you into a sense of safety.

Crouching down, he looks through the foliage, eyes tracking it's movement. Taking slow breathes, he maneuvers into position, knee bent while kneeling on the ground. Bow grasped tightly in hand, sure movements notches the arrow. With one last inhale, he draws the bow, clenching his core, and with one final glance, he releases.

As the arrow soars, it meets it's final destination, straight into the eyes of the unknowing Yerik.

"Bullseye!"

With a roll of his eyes, he can't help but smirk at the praise of his companion.

"You know bro, one day you too might have a chance of being as good as me."

Spiders smile falls, only to proceed to roll his eyes, and flip off his friends back as he goes to pray over his kill.

"We both know I would kick your ass if I was Navi. Besides, why go hunting if the hunting party already left?"

Lo'ak proceeds to bind his kill, securing the feet together for easier carrying on the way back.

"Because if I show up empty handed, my parents might actually disown me."

"What did you do this time?"

Biting his lip, Lo'ak spares Spider a glance over his shoulder.

"I may or may not have forgotten to watch Tuk, leading her to paint a family portrait on the tent.."

With a baffled look, Spider could only gawk at his friend, watching as he puts the final ties to together.

"And hopefully with my peace offering, my dad might actually rethink the 'life sentence' and take me off cleaning duty."

"Fat chance, but I hope it actually goes well! Kiri's been holed up in the Tsahik tent, last thing I need is my other friend being punished to death." Spider slides down from his watching post, kicking at the grass.

"Other friend, since when did she replace my spot as the best friend?" Lo'ak looks at him, eyebrows furrowed, hand to his chest with mock hurt over his face.

"Oh shut up, let's go home." Spider rolls his eyes, glancing down at the floor, trying his best to get the heat from his face. Lo'ak can only laugh at his friends' inability to admit the truth of his feelings, even though he knows that nothing can come about it. With the raise of his hand cupping the side of his mouth, he makes the sound to call out to his Ikran.

"You know bro, maybe you should go for one of the older scientist." Lo'ak replied with barely hid mirth.

"You're fucking disgusting."

With a final laugh, Lo'ak drags his kill to his Ikran, anchoring it around onto it, giving a few tugs to test it's security.

"Come on bro, we gotta head back before dinner, I don't want to wake up dead before tomorrow."

"You do realize you can't wake up dead right?" Spider clamors on, smacking Lo'aks attempt to assist.

"You act like you've never met my mother." Swinging his body over, Lo'ak climbs on behind Spider, and after making tsaheylu, the Ikran takes off with a final screech.

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Growing up, Lo'ak always dreamed of the day of owning his own Ikran. Flying through the sky with no care of living up to expectations and having the ability to pretend to be who he wants. After his first failed attempt, which he tries his best not to think on, flying came so naturally that it allowed his mind to blank.

Flying back to Home Tree, first glances at the kill he was hauling for his family, and then to Spider to make sure he was secure, though he would never admit due to knowing how Spider would get if he felt like he couldn't keep up with the 18 year old Navi male.

With the wind hitting his face, he looks far ahead to watch for Home Tree to come into the horizon line, making the appropriate turns needed to avoid floating mountains around. Closing his eyes for a second while leaning his head back, he mentally prepares for this peace to end when he comes back home. With opening eyes, his breath catches in his throat at the sight before him.

8 Ikrans, all in a variety of colors, flies just left above them, flying in a distinct, formation. With an open mouth, Lo'ak gawks at the sight in front of him, having to make a conscious effort to close his mouth, least he wants something fly into it. With a titled head, he he squints at the sight, attempting to make sense of what he was seeing.

After carefully peering at the Ikrans, he realizes that it isn't the Ikrans that is causing his sudden heart spike and confusion, it is the way the riding Navi the Ikrans are dressed. Wraps of colorful fabric cover them, unlike the clothes adorned from his clan.

Without taking his eyes off the unfamiliar flock in his sights, he reaches for the throat comm, pressing two fingers to the button on the side.

"Devil dog, I have my sights on some Ikran riders."

"Send your traffic."

"It looks like Navi, but they aren't dressed like anything I've seen before. And they seem to be heading to Home Tree."

"Copy, do not engage. Get home as soon a possible, no interacting."

"Copy that Sir."

"I mean it boy, no fucking around."

With a roll of his eyes,  Lo'ak urges his Ikran to fly faster,  as the group above seem to have moved expertly through floating rocks, moving as one unit, leaving Lo'ak and his carriage behind. Having set his mind to the task, Lo'ak locks eyes on his unknown enemy, causing Spider to sputter out curses, in the attempt to hold on.

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Home Tree has always seemed to have a certain buzz to it, with all it's inhabitants busy with village life, doing what it expected to help aid the clan having a sustainable life. Excusing himself from the hunter's party, leaving his subordinates with the task of cleaning and appropriately readying the day's kill for the cooks, Neteyam seeks out his father to report the day's happenings when a sudden comotion causes the clan to become on uproar.

Attempting to make sense of what was going on, Neteyam frantically looks around, trying his hardest to find the source that started the sudden defenses.

"Outsiders!"

"They're at the check points!"

Wide eyed and erect ears, Neteyam tries in the gentlest of ways to make his way through the crowd. Knowing it was of no use to radio his father, at least with the yells from around, all he could do was make his way to the front of the crowd, knowing where the choas orginated,  his father was already there to contain it.

Swinging his bow over his shoulder, he makes way through the crowd, being internally grateful that being the Olo'eyktan's first son made the clan members aware of just who was bypassing them, almost opening a way for him to make his way through the ground level of Home Tree. After passing by higher level Navi in the clan, the sea of bodies opens up to a sight that instantly puts him on guard.

8 Ikrans. 8 Ikrans that  land side by side in the clearing. The animals are restless, screaming and screeching in their language, shifting   around on the ground, irritated by the warriors that surround them, sharp spears and bows drawn. Warriors cry, with mother's clutching onto children that seem to be overly curious at the sight in front of them.

Keeping his eyes on the sight in front of him, with him slowly circling his way to the front, Neteyam was so focused on the unknown sight that he almost missed the sight of his baby brother hastily landing his Ikran a ways away, only to fall face first into the ground due to his uncoordinated pace of trying to get off the beast. With a minute shake of his head, he refocused on the intruders, catching the sight of his fathers back making way, with his mother only a few paces behind. Following in line with his parents, he swiftly takes his bow off, hand reaching for the arrow on his person, absently mindlessly notching the arrow, muscles tense.

With a raised hand, the clan leader calms the uproar cries of the clan, all falling silent, only for whispers to muttered, in respect of the chief's orders. With a glance to the crowd forming around, the leader makes way around the warriors, stopping in the middle of the odd dressed intruders still perched on their rides. With each step closer, the whispers die down, anticipation rising in the air, almost suffocating.

"State your business!"

With the roar only a seasoned leader possessed, it seamed as if it had gotten impossible quieter, with clan moving restless against one another, intently watching for the intruders next move.

With slow, but sure movement, the rider situated towards the middle made movement to descent off the Ikran. Moving with grace that isn't known in such a tense situation, the small form touches down. Clothed with colorful wraps around head, face, and body, with only the ability the see into the intruders eyes through the riders mask, the unknown figure makes way to the leader, in calm, sure footed steps, raising a hand to take off the riders mask.

With unblocked eyes, Jake Sully allows himself to survey the figure in front of him. Keeping mind of his mates hand on his shoulder, he notices a distinct feature on the figure, that while it may put his clan in an defensive state of mind, only cause curiosity to bloom in his chest. Instead of the normal Navi feature of only having 3 fingers, the Navi in front possess the same amount that him and two of his children have. With gears turning in his head, he comes back to present day with said figure gestures their fingertips from their forehead down, signing 'I see you'.

Straightening their back, the figure locks eyes on the clan lead, and with a voice clear in the Navi Language, "I see you, Jake Sully. I apologize for the intrusion, but there are matters that I must speak with you on."

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With a mind and body that seems on autopilot, almost as if he is having an out of body experience, Neteyam brings up the back of the group of foreigners, watching as the strange Navi follow almost single file after his dad, with a couple of them clustered together, limbs clenched together as much as the cloth around the bodies allow. Doing his best to keep a close eye, he ignores the stares and whispers of the passing clan members. Due to his height, which almost passes his father at this point, Neteyam adjust his eyes to look further, able to spot his father leading the group to the large meeting tent, mostly used to gather warriors and to hold meetings. He spots his mother walking tensely by his father, muscles tight and an aura that would let anyone know of her mood.

Walking in almost a daydream like state, a hand clamped down on his shoulder, ripping him from his inner observations. Turning to look at the offender, Neteyam could only shake his head at the sight of his younger brother.

"Bro what the fuck is going on?!" Lo'ak tried as best as possible to keep his volume under control, he did, but when one of the foreigners ears swiveled their way, Neteyam was aware that their conversation was not a quiet as his brother believed, regardless with it being in English.

"You know as much as I do, and still you ask this question? Learn to watch before you speak and you will understand much sooner baby brother." Neteyam hissed back, only giving a spare glance at the human that tried his best to keep up with the longer legged Navi.

Slipping his hand off his brother's shoulder, Lo'ak resigned himself to walk behind Neteyam, knowing that while he may sound rude, he was right in the lack of knowledge.

Coming up on the Warrior's tent, the flap was opened, with his father gesturing the inside. A fire was lit in the middle, casting a more ominous glow. Looking around, Neteyam noticed a handful of his fathers warriors inside, weapons drawn tight in their hands, outline the edge of the tent, barely noticing the glare his father sent to his brother, with the promise of punishment if he acted out of turn. The flap was then closed, closing off the rest of the village, leaving his parents, Lo'ak, and warriors surrounding them, as the foreigners huddled together, kneeling down on the ground, with what it seemed to have their legs tucked under their body.

The one that had spoke with his father prior sat on the front, the rest nestled behind, all stilled wrapped in clothes, with a few holding tight as if the wrap was a form of protection, instead of privacy. With his father turning to look at the group, absentmindedly paying attention to his mother pacing with agitation behind, he takes a last glance and addresses the group.

"Who are you, and where are you from?" Jake spoke in Navi, voice unwavering despite the tension around. After a passing second from the group, the figure in front makes the move to first remove the wrap around their head, causing the cloth from her nose down to fall, revealing their face. Neteyam's eyes widen, not realizing that the cause of so much commotion in his clan, was actually the most stunning woman he has ever seen. Roaming his eyes, he took in every feature.

She had long dark hair, way longer than the women in his clan kept theirs, with half her hair up, secured by what seemed to be a tie with crystals on it. Looking through the hair that framed her face,  he took in her facial features, noticing bright eyes rimmed with black, down to her nose, with a half crescent object hanging from her nose. Her ears were pierced in a similar fashion to his mothers, with feathers looped through and hanging through them. Her neck was adorned with a neck piece, though it was not in a similar fashion found in his clan. It was adorned with crystals, their reflections bouncing from the light caused by the flickering fire in front. His eyes caught the hair above her eyes, similar in the way he has seen on his dad, brother or sisters face. High cheekbones framed and shaped her face, leading to a relaxed facial expression, as if she was unaffected by today's turn of events.

While lost in his thoughts, he was seemingly broken out of his spell when she opened her mouth.

"While I understand the reason for warriors to be present, I do believe this conversation would be best handled with as much privacy as possible."

Everyone in the room froze.

Not for the words actually spoken, but for the language she replied in.

"How the fuck does she know English?"

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Well there’s part one! Hopefully you guys like it! I will try my best to attempt to keep everything organized, but Imma be honest, idk how to tf to put stuff together when it comes to links lol. Once again, there will be eventual smut, just gotta set the mood lmfao. Thank you so everyone that took the time to read! Also if you ever curious about the OC characters and how the family dynamics works, hopefully this guide helps lol.

***Kani*** 

19

Youngest Daughter

Kekunan Clan

***Heatey***

22

Oldest brother

Mate: Tal'i (22)

Kekunan Clan

***Naya'il***

21

Older sister

Mate: Tsuten (21)

Kekunan Clan

***Zernem***

20

Youngest brother

Kekunan Clan

***Mai***

18

Best friend

Kekunan Clan

***Zute***

13

Mai's younger brother

Kekunan Clan

_____Other Characters____

Neteyam- 19

Lo'ak-18

Kiri-18

Tuk-13

Hopefully that answers everything!

[this-is-chaos-magick]

https://www.tumblr.com/this-is-chaos-magick/761040354318368768/httpswwwtumblrcomthis-is-chaos-magick7609472

I agree with all of this pretty whole heartedly (except for the Marvel hates her part, I just think screenwriters for the studio don’t know how to write her because of how much the comics writer truly despise Wanda as a character. House of M sucks and you’ve been dooped lol). But to your point of Wanda trying to find help, and find people who will still accept her (which definitely makes the monumental task of changing easier), and I’ve always thought that the X-Men would be pretty perfect for that part of her story.

I say this because the X-Men are very well known for some of their members having done some extremely awful things (for some of them, worse than what Wanda did in MoM), but the thing about those members is the fact that they’re not only trying to be better and redeem themselves, but in some way have a found a pseudo family or found some form of relationship where they feel seen and aren’t alone. With Wanda, I always think of Rogue, someone who was raised as a rather villainous force, who joined the X-Men, and hasn’t felt like a good person, but she still tries, and is never alone, and I think that’s something Wanda needs at this point. More than reuniting with Vision or finding her kids, it’s finding a good, stable support system, one that’ll encourage her to do better and get therapy, have empathy for her and her past, and just generally give her a safe space to be seen and fuck up.

I’m sorry for the rant, I know it’s also extremely X-Men pilled, so my bad. But I genuinely want Wanda to be treated with empathy from people who will see her for who she is.

Hey sorry again for the late reply,

I was being sarcastic (is that the right word😭) on the mcu hating Wanda thingy, it's like a running joke eversince dsmom... since they keep making her suffer :(

I agree with ur comment about Wanda being with the mcu X-Men but I don't think X-Men is coming to the mcu soon, it seems Feige keep dilly dollying about them (and also....I don't think x men fans would want mcu Wanda's character to be with them...and the discourse would be annoying) mcu writing kind of sucks right now...and let's be realistic .....Wanda is mostly likely gonna come in the next avengers movie as a shock value and probably...oh god probably gonna be captured by RDJ's doom or some annoying shit like that...and I hate the fact that's mostly like is gonna happen...💀[annoyed screaming] Since mcu knows how to disappoint us with always making the worst choice possible

Okay enough with negativity let me be positive, 🙏

With Agatha all along releasing...and her having a coven, if Wanda returns... somewhere in the future I am hoping for her to be with Agatha and her friends...I know Wanda and Agatha have issues with each other, but them both being free of the darkhold influ...maybe they will understand each other, try to forgive each other and then be friends and then mentor her? I want Wanda to learn more about magic I am upset that Wanda literally just got into magic in the mcu and they killed her quickly...:((((( we really need a scarlet witch movie, tbh I don't think Wanda actually died in the dsmom even tho I always makes a post about it (I am dramatic ass hell) you know since the witches road is getting used in Agatha,

you know I have a idea for a scarlet witch movie

its mixing the original writing from mcu writers ( Jac Schaeffer save us) and a bit of Scarlet witch (1994) storyline, trust me I already think this through it could work with the right writer and director [I'll make a separate post why I think so let me just edit it in the drafts if anybody is interested] also gives Wanda a villains to fight that could work with her mcu storyline