#but it's for the greater good :D

[jaybirdscoffee]

i don’t think i’ll ever get over the way optimus’ voice breaks just slightly when he says “and you betrayed me.” optimus felt the need to make a distinction, because yes, d-16 betrayed cybertron, but somehow worse than that, he betrayed orion. and never in a million years would orion have thought his best friend would go that far. cybertron be damned, how could d-16 betray him? optimus reserved a small piece of selfish anger, just for them. he’s mourning his best friend, himself, and the life that they could have had.

[sky-kiss]

A/N: Blatant Asmodeus propaganda. After betraying Raphael in the HoH to save Baldur's Gate, they steal his corpse back from Meph and entreat Asmodeus. Also. A Dracula gif. To push my agenda.

Raph x GN!Tav: A Pact Struck, A Contract Sealed

Ages have passed, and empires have risen and fallen since a mortal last attempted to bind his Aspect. Asmodeus feels a tickling in the back of his psyche, barely a drag at his near-infinite energy. His awareness fragments and then shifts, searching for the source of the petition. The words come second, the feelings first. 

Desperation. Pain. A soul-deep grief. Physical hurt, too, but it's a stinging afterthought. The Lord of the Nine Hells cocks his head to the side, eyes closed. They are petitioning his avatar. They whisper in the darkness. A chill winter breeze howls around them, bowing the branches of dead trees. How fitting, he thinks, that this little creature should surround itself with such things. They wear death like a shroud. 

He is not in the habit of entertaining such low-hanging fruit…but there is a touch of something in their desperation, a sweetness Asmodeus has not sampled in many years. It amuses him. And he is not above indulging his amusement—the Archdevil motions with his right hand, passing a fraction of his awareness to the Aspect. The darkness of his throne room fades in favor of a moonlit night—the sickly sweet tang of blood colors the air. 

Ah, and there is his petitioner. They sit with their back pressed to an ancient white birch, skin badly frostbitten. Cania's stink lingers across their skin, brimstone and hellfire marrying together. They curl around their prize, clutching a badly mangled figure to their chest. Asmodeus hums, kneeling. Its wings are broken. So many bones shattered. 

"Tell me, child." His voice is low and pleasant in the chill air, a warmth chasing along the baritone. "Do you know whose name you have called? The attention you would court?" 

They nod, grip tightening on their prince. Tears cut through the mess of dirt on their skin. Crying, he thinks, and what a charming little oddity. Who shed tears for a devil? How curious. How delightful. "Lord Asmodeus, Prince of the Darkness. Lord of Lies." 

"Indeed, I am. Pretty titles, aren't they?" 

"I thought…" they catch themselves. Asmodeus notes the tremor in their right hand and the way they struggle to stay upright. His presence is overpowering at the best of times; the wounded little creature is fighting valiantly not to succumb to darkness, mind breaking under the weight of his Aspect's attention.

"My apologies, little one. It has been some since I treated with your kind. Allow me." He reaches out with one clawed hand, tapping his nail to the center of their forehead. The ward will protect them from the worst of it. They blink at him. "Continue, please." 

Their right hand tightens in the corpse's dark hair. "My Lord, I had hoped to make a deal with you. I know…I am beneath your attention…"

"Most are. The benefit of being a god, I suppose. But it has never stopped me in the past." 

Despite themself, they smile. Shuffling, the adventurer turns their burden outwards. Though badly burned, cheekbones shattered, he recognizes the features—so much of the father in the son, an agony to both parties. Mephistopheles' boy stares blankly forward—a hollow shell of himself, a waste of potential.  

It pains the Prince to see so promising a resource wasted. 

"I made a mistake. I…" they swallow. "There was something that had to be done. And it came at a cost. Raphael…” 

"The boy is known to me, child. If I may?" They hesitate. Asmodeus forces his temper down, the air around them heating. He is a god and not in the habit of being denied. But the Hero of Baldur's Gate relents, shifting their burden into his arms. The Lord of the Ninth cups his hand over the pretender-king's mouth, his forehead. Asmodeus shuts his eyes. "Such a waste." 

"Can you help him?"

"Do you doubt me, little one?" They shift back, dropping their eyes at the sharpness of his tone—a warning, barely veiled. "Mephistopheles has devoured that which he gave—the infernal. The mortal soul…is uncontested. Lost somewhere in Avernus. It could be located…for a price."

"Anything." 

Asmodeus chuckles. He is not ignorant of the sudden rush of color in the little creature's cheeks or how the sound makes them avert their eyes. This guise is pleasant, after all, tall and angular and dark. The wind catches in the blackness of his hair, the long strands falling well below his shoulders. "How dearly naive. I've half a mind to take advantage of such generosity." They shiver under the force of his stare, reality undoubtedly going dark around the edges. He hums. "But…the alternative could prove a more pleasurable distraction still." 

The Lord of the Ninth stands, holding out his hand. The hero, Tav, sets their palm in his. He helps them to their feet, settling his other hand on their shoulders. So close, he can feel the weight of their exhaustion and desperation rolling off them, an ambrosia. The depth of their affection for the boy-king. Interesting and useful. Asmodeus touches their cheek. 

"I will treat with you, little one, and more fairly than I ought. Your dear one's potential: a few more centuries, a stern hand, and Raphael might have made a powerful piece on the board. His sire is…" Asmodeus tapped his chin. "Increasingly irrelevant. Immutable and tiresome." 

Tav stares up at him, such a little thing. And there is potential there, too, the ability to warp and mold this boy-king into something suitable to his grand design. He touches their cheek with a claw. "I will give the means to locate Raphael's soul. In retrieving it, you will prove your worth and dedication. I have no use for the faint of heart. Is this clear?" 

"Yes, my Lord." 

"Clever pet, very clever." He smiles, chucking them under the chin. "You bring the boy to my court in Nessus, where he shall be given the means to decide his fate. Is that clear?" 

"Yes."

What an amusing twist of fate. He bends, collecting the Prince's mangled body in his arms. Tav looks ready to protest, to fight for their dear one (and again, how delightful; Asmodeus cannot help but feel charmed), only to remember what precisely stands before them: a god in truth, the Lord of all the Nine Hells. Asmodeus smiles at them, bowing his head. "I shall keep him for you, little one. You have my oath. Collect his soul, and we will meet again." 

He leaves them without another word, a touch of the dramatic, a hint of mystery to whet their palette. Asmodeus inspects the corpse in his arm. 

Sweet Prince, broken and bloodied. 

Asmodeus will make him whole again. 

[mlady-magnolia]

Behold, Acheron the Storm Serpent, priestess of a Guardian Naga, Circle of Storms Druid, and also minor domestic terrorist

I’m not sorry @i-am-a-fan for blowing up that building.

[lizardinkart]

So I’m living up to my username now I guess-

Lizardfolk NPC from this new campaign! Woo!

[yuhi-san]

I’m really looking forward to see what milly is like in season tow of stampede. Especially this too will be a younger version than the one in tristamp or 98 and also she is ‘behind’ Wolfwood and even meryl in terms of knowledge so that will be fun.

And with the overall shorter seasons these days and the darker tone of stampede, I’m afraid we aren’t going to get a lot of shenanigans. But man milly and Wolfwood should get up to some mischief. Like when in 98 they did the whole smuggling a girl out of the city pretending to be a couple expecting octuplets. (I looove how the two joke about that later)

Let them be chaotic together. Let them commit some kind of fraud, it would be so funny.

Actually they should commit a form of insurance fraud specifically.

[thesixthchaosgod]

Little Kroot pupper!

[kingofanemptyworld]

you put a character that can mimic other people into a story and you’ve already got me hooked, no more effort necessary

[kingpains]

i don’t know where to find other people who were disappointed in Geekish Celibacy Advocates Gotta Go to commiserate with. don’t wanna clog up the main tag with negativity because people just browsing abojt a musical they like don’t need that. but holy shit was this show a letdown for me and i cant find one other comment or review anywhere that acknowledges Any flaws :(

edit: censored the name of the show and didn’t tag @ all w/ the show’s name, but this’ll still pop up in searches for starkid and the effort required to edit tags on tumblr is INSANE, so i’m adding Starkid Negativity to the front of the post for blocking purposes of anypony doesn’t want this in their search!

[faislittlewhiteraven]

Fai's Fic Ramble: The GorseTale AU (bare basics)

Ever since roughly... 2017 I think, there been a single Undertale fanfic I've been tapping away at and though it's nowhere near done or even organised enough for me to think about posting chapter 1 on A03, I recently posted a spinoff fic related to it called Eight Coloured Picture about the deaths of all the fallen humans and how some monsters each time were effected by their passing, and well.

I wanna ramble about the main story that fic comes from for a bit!

So.

Working Title: 'Gorse, Blackthorn and Buttercups' I also call it GorseTale in my head for short since Gaijin Goombah's rather fun video on why Undertale's Golden Flowers are most likely Gorse was a HUGE inspiration for the fic back when I started out (it's er changed quiet a bit since then but I'm keeping the flower vibes because Chara likes them and I did way too much research into both practical and symbolic uses for plants in the Underground for this fic not to use at least some of it at some point XD).

Core premise: Story is a Slice of Life/Drama AU set around Frisk being born in the Underground and taken in by Toriel right around the time of 'Undertale canon' (for Undertale Yellow fans, roughly a year or so after Clover's death), and through a series of domino effects stemming from that, various monsters of the Underground are confronted with the flaws of both themselves and their kingdom, and as a result start putting in effort to try fixing things so the little human child they've become so attached to can actually live their life to the fullest without fear of being murdered just for being born a non monster.

Aka: Toriel and Sans experience the joys and terror of co-parenting a child who only survives past the age of 3 because they have phenomenal cosmic power. Papyrus discovers the Royal Guard is NOT in fact something he wants to join (and accidentally becomes politically active in an effort to right by his new nibbling). Undyne takes some time to really rethink her career path and motives. Alphys somehow manages to turn former mistakes into miracles (oh and cures death maybe). Mettaton learns to take time off and share the spotlight, and finally King Asgore gets a surprising amount of hope in encouraging peaceful rebellion against his own accidental dictatorship.

Main cast: Rotates a bit since every major monster (and Flowey) matters in this and who's most in focus depends on the exact arc but Toriel, Sans, Papyrus, Chara and Frisk are the ones who I have the most planned scenes for since well, they're where the 'domino effect' starts.

Ships: Fic is pretty gen for the most part but leaning Undyne/Alphys, Papyrus/Mettaton (who knew all Paps needed to become popular was to openly try convincing monster kind that killing all the humans is wrong in front of a very specific underground star XD), and some very very very slowburn Sans/Toriel (is teased throughout the story because Sans IS Frisk's other parent Sans just means 'Dad' in Frisk speak and I find various Monsters' "Wait Sans has a kid- Wait Sans is married?!" reactions hilarious (Paps giving 'context' to why he suddenly has a nibbling to Undyne especially) but actual, real Soriel doesn't happen until near the very end because Toriel is Not Ok, Sans leans AroAce/Demi and both agree that while the odd kiss, hug or 'real talk' is fine neither up for anything more than that right now. Also Toriel has yet to get a formal divorce and er, she can't even think of him for much of the fic without wanting to set him on fire so... Yeah). Also considering Mad Mewmew/Asgore (because funny but also oddly sweet), and Mettaton trying to get over a crush on Alphys at the start (due to Mettaton's Winter Alarmclock dialogue reframing all of Mettaton's actions in canon in a whole newlight for me), but for the most part romance really isn't a focus.

Things to set it apart from every other 'Frisk grows up in the Underground' fanfic:

A LOT of worldbuilding focus on stuff how monsters get food and materials.

Toriel teaching everyone how Monster society was before the War vs now (aka lots of cultural trauma themes here).

More emphasis on how little Monster society these days really knows about things they really should given their Kingdom's plans.

Sans 'timeline trauma' getting tossed out the window for joining Toriel in 'worried parent' stress (hard to be upset about LOADS when they're specifically stopping a toddler you love from getting murdered).

Papyrus accidentally making everything better just because for the sake of his nibblet he can't back down.

FLOWER SYMBOLISM AND DISCUSSING THE UNDERGROUND'S VERY IMPORTANT PLANT LIFE!

Undyne having a character growth arc triggered by Papyrus.

Mettaton having a character growth arc triggered by Papyrus (and a passing mention of Napstablook).

Alphys not being fired post Amalgamite reveal making her realize she has in fact actually kinda created the cure for death (by 'Falling Down') or at the very least is only maybe three steps away from that and actually works on that alongside a bunch of other stuff with other scientists because working alone sucked.

Lots of focus on the humans who fell before Frisk because their lives mattered! and also the Blue Soul was Kris because damn if I don't feel the need to really hammer in Toriel's trauma caused by Asgore here

NarraChara and Napstablook being ghost buddies =D they suck at it but Chara will take literally anyone who can hear them for company and Napstablook feels bad about that

Snowdin being secretly a hub of human sympathisers! (None of them knew they weren't the only ones).

MONSTER RADIO and ANIME/WESTERNS ON TV!

Tems and the Riverperson mattering while still being true to their very weird selves!!!

Asgore learning that he DOES in fact have a lot of influence and that maybe, juuust maybe, that his screw ups were worse for his Kingdom than he already thought (don't worry Asgore fans, despite my having to write a lot of Asgore grr due to Toriel being a major character, saving him and showing how much he loves his people is a major goal of mine <3). He still f%cked up majorly though XD

Frisk dealing with, well, the stress of growing up in a place that says their death would make everyone (except their immediate loved ones) happy and constantly having to live in hiding/disguise...

Flowey being a murderous little shit but also not having reset power and both Frisk and Chara in his life again.

Undertale Yellow and Deltarune characters! Who probably won't be in focus a lot but they've helped me out a ton for fleshing the out my setting so I will 100% be giving them at least a little screen time to make up for that (like Amalgamate Kanako playing with Frisk, and Martlet and Noelle being VERY interesting in Papyrus's 'Lets not kill the humans' movement for reasons our main characters will eventually learn <3).

Oh and a huge amount of 'Unseen in game' areas I made for the Underground which include:

SnowDen: a 'town' of Dog and Rabbit made tunnels underneath the ENTIRE Snowdin region (connects to every dog sentry post, the 'Toby Fox secret area' and the 'very efficiently laid out' travel tunnels seen in canon Undertale). Generally requires those living there to get through given how winding and confusing the tunnels can get (all guideposts are puzzles made with scent markers...).

TooHot: basically a 'lethal lava land' housing district for fire monsters below general Hotland. Predates the Wat and is too hot for most non fire monsters to go anywhere near (the current name was given by Asgore though).

Cliffstop: a 'thin' vertical crevice monsters in New Home unearthed a while back that goes from from all the way to the very top of Mt Ebott down to the dark of the Abyss below (locals there call the top of the area Clifftop and the lowest safe for travel Cliffdrop). Gets a fair bit of sun and has flying room so it's popular with plant and flying monsters but the cliffs are very unstable so the bottom is covered in rope nets to prevent accidents. Most puzzles about the place are moving rope bridges, loading up vertical conveyer belts with the correct weights and 'light and mirror' puzzles.

Riverfolk Waterway and True Tem Village: settlements hidden deep within Waterfall's 'unreachable in canon' winding waterways. The former is a small inlet where 'Riverfolk' monsters like the Riverperson have a small collection of boathouses they dock at, and the later is exactly what is sounds like, with the 'Temmie Village' we see in canon being merely a Temmie trading outpost. Can accessed only by Riverperson boat or the Temmie's secret tunnels and is home to all sorts of cool things like the Temmie 'Colleg' and 'DEEP HISTORY mUSEEum'~ XD

WebbInn 'the Spider district': Mostly a giant communal spider web hanging Hotland's ceiling but also connected to a tunnel that goes up near Mt Ebbot's peak (the spiders have been digging upwards in hopes of getting a 'sunspot' they can use to advertise their 'sweet little town' to tourists). Has a... Very distinctive culture compared to the rest of the Underground and the 'puzzles' there tend towards being 'social' in nature (aka fey logic games where how you speak and act gets you directed every which way).

Starlite Strip: A little connecting area right underneath the path/cliff Monster Kid and Frisk see the castle while travelling through Waterfall in Undertale Canon. Not a big settlement on its own but something of a trading hub for monsters from New Home and the surrounding areas in Waterfall to buy and sell goods (also has a LOT of Royal Guard presence which is why absolutely no one in Undertale recommends it to the very human Frisk). Very sparkly but in a gentle 'crystals, glowing water and fire flies' kinda way.

And... Yeah. Wanna post a full script of what I've got planned so far but this post is already massive so will do that in a bit.

Will say though that the general ending plan for this fic arguably goes full fix fic with:

12-14 year old Frisk comes out as human publicly and goes through the entire Underground arguing their case (something the Underground has been publicly debating for the last 10 years or so thanks to a very motivated Papyrus and a wanting more ratings + genuinely interested Mettaton).

Undyne attempts to kill them but well, she's only going all out because she and Paps had a deal about this (he vowed that he'd defend any innocent human from her killing them so she could still go all out at her job) and Frisk knows that.

Mettaton gets to do THE biggest and most historically important interview in the Underground's history.

Asgore declares that the Underground will try out this whole 'everyone in the kingdom votes' thing on both the upcoming war and how they will treat humans living here because he wants to make sure he's doing what his people want (Mettaton asks what Asgore will vote but Asgore, finally realizing his own influence, refuses to say).

Asgore and Frisk spend a nice, if slightly nervously time together drinking tea and talking about the future while the votes are being counted. (Toriel and others may join them but mostly this is Asgore getting to know... the last of Toriel's adopted children she told him about the others when she asked for a divorce).

Monsters choose wisely because for all this fic is 'Monsters are flawed too!' they are good people and I want to make that clear <3

Cue Frisk publically trying to help break the barrier while being very alive...

Flowey pulling a 'God of Hyper Death' except well, he, Frisk and Chara maaay have discussed a bit of this beforehand (Flowey did want the souls and this would get him them), so er, the fight might be a touch more mixed with genuine anger and playfulness. Note: Still working out the exacts.

The human SOULs get brought back to life as monsters while Flowey gets a SOUL of his own and Chara gets enough magical matter to be visible to people other than Frisk (it required less waste of the accumulated magic, the soul of an additional human another girl falling into the Ruins was what got Frisk deciding to come out actually, the kids using a bunch of Alphys' furthered research on the interplay between Determination, matter and Dust, and breaking down the dead humans' bodies for enough 'compatible matter' to work with, and the destruction and repurposing of the Barrier but hey! Back to life! Or arguably Chara's case an upgrade to proper ghost-hood). Oh and the Amalgamates that want it are safely separated but not sure if that's a 'before no' thing or a 'here in this big finale' thing~ XD

And yeah. That's all of my 'extra happy ending just because I can' stuff the entire fic eventually builds towards. Will post all my planned scenes/'domino effect planning' some other time but for now I'm done.

If you liked any ideas in this feel free to use them please (I'm a slow ass writer and I write what I want to see more of in the world XD) and er, hope this was a fun ramble to read <3

[aparticularbandit]

"It seems the Sovreign are trying to evolve to get more powerful so that they can defeat something they won't be able to defeat without it."

"What would the Sovreign be scared of?"

D-REAPER INTRODUCTION.

[nehswritesstuffs]

banish every gaslight; let clarity shine - Part 16

I've had part of this written up for, like, ages. I'll let you guess which part. :)

Part 1 [FFN/AO3] - Part 2 [FFN/AO3] - Part 3 [FFN/AO3] - Part 4 [FFN/AO3] - Part 5 [FFN/AO3] - Part 6 [FFN/AO3] - Part 7 [FFN/AO3] - Part 8 [FFN/AO3] - Part 9 [FFN/AO3] - Part 10 [FFN/AO3] - Part 11 [FFN/AO3] - Part 12 [FFN/AO3] - Part 13 [FFN/AO3] - Part 14 [FFN/AO3] - Part 15 [FFN/AO3]

The siblings are threatened and something happens that puts all of Dressrosa in peril. [2407 words; AU where there is a Third Corazón, whose existence makes Law’s life hell]

It was a good thing that Lami (more or less) remembered everything from when she was Antonia, Law decided, thanks to the insane amount of information she had been privy to over the prior decade. Her position as one of the Suite Executives ensured she knew about the varied alternate paths into the castle and plateau, she was well-acquainted with the functions of the underground port, and she even knew how Sugar’s Devil Fruit powers worked. Between her and Baby 5, they were able to go into detail about everything that Law asked once the mob of other gladiator combatants were released onto the varied soldiers, Donquixote supporters, and wild animals that were roaming about.

“You catch all that, Strawhat-ya?” he asked, looking at their alliance partner. Luffy was merely standing there, picking his nose in boredom while the others who had been with him were drawing off the Donquixote Pirates.

“When comes the part where I can kick Mingo’s ass?” he asked.

“Not so fast,” Lami said. “You’re never going to be able to get that close to him, let alone hit him where it needs to land. I’m going to kick that loser’s ass myself.”

“You’re going to need to get in line, Lami-chan,” Baby 5 frowned. “I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve wanted to castrate him.”

“…and take away the chance I have at finally defending my sisters after all these years?” Law scoffed. “Not a chance.”

“Ah, this is boring—I’m just gonna go.” Luffy tried to walk off, only for Law to grab him by the scruff of his collar.

“Most of the original plan is still in place,” he said. “Don’t think that’s out the window.”

“Then why even ask for our advice?” Lami wondered sourly.

“I need confirmation of some things, ideas for alternate plans; things like that.”

“Yup—Law-nii and his bazillion plans,” Lami frowned, “of course nothing’s changed there.”

“…and what is that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re bossy,” Baby 5 said. Law stared at his sisters in what felt like disbelief—after all this time, they were still ganging up on him. “You’ve been bossy since I first met you.”

“She’s not wrong,” Lami defended.

“Ah, that’s just how Torao is,” Luffy grinned.

“Okay, now about this ‘Torao’ business,” Lami began. She opened her mouth to question why in the hell he couldn’t just say their family name when something behind Luffy caught her eye and she pushed him to the ground. She could feel something wrap around her forearm as the perpetrator came into view.

“Doflamingo!” she shouted. The man in question came into view, seemingly floating down from the top of a nearby building. Luffy crabwalked away from Lami and stood by where Law and Baby 5 were ready to fight. “Why don’t you go find where your hairline went?”

“Hmm, a sad insult; I taught you better,” he replied. He raised another hand and released strings, wrapping around Lami’s free arm, pulling so that she lifted off the ground and towards him.

“Let her go!” Law snarled. He began to open a Room, only for Doflamingo to shake his head.

“Now, now,” he tutted, “do you really think you can catch me off-guard like that? You know my Haki is powerful enough to counteract your silly tricks.” Doflamingo grinned manically as he held Lami aloft with his strings, moving closer so that his hands were outstretched on either side of her as though about to reach out and grab her arms. She squeaked as the strings tightened, threatening to cut into her skin.

“Put her down!” Baby 5 demanded.

“I don’t take orders from you,” he replied. “No one gives me orders.”

“Then maybe it’s about time someone starts,” Law growled. “Let our sister go.” Going with a different tactic, he used his thumb to slightly ease Kikoku out of its sheath, the sword positively singing in delight.

Quench my thirst, boy, and our goals shall finally align.

“You had to go and betray me, the Family,” Doflamingo tutted. “I gave you three brats everything. Had you stayed loyal, I could have made you a prince and princesses without all this… this… needless pain.”

“To hell with that,” Lami croaked out. Her captor tightened her bonds and she felt string cut into her skin. “As though you would truly let us be free that way.”

“I would have, but I guess now we’ll never know for certain,” Doflamingo replied. He leaned down so as to be cheek-to-cheek with Lami. “Queen Donquixote Lami, Regent of Dressrosa, Empress of the Underground, Joker of the Suits, a Celestial Dragon… just say the word and you shall be my heir again.”

“You really think that I want all that now that I know what it almost cost me?!” she spat. Red dripped down a few strings as blood was drawn from her arm. “Whoever has that Devil Fruit now… they’re never taking my family from me again!”

“All those years I was a loving uncle, and now I’m not family?”

“Not when it was built on a lie.”

“Pity. Here you could have gone where Baby never could… where Law refused to go… and instead you will make me kill my beloved niece… oh how much this will make me suffer…”

“Cut the crap you tacky scarecrow,” she replied, louder this time, only to be met with a tightening of the strings that was truly threatening to make her choke. Luffy chuckled as a grin crossed his face.

“So… you want my help kicking Mingo’s ass?” he asked. “You gotta say it.”

“Please!” Lami gasped. “Please help us defeat Doflamingo! I never want to forget Law-nii and Bee-nee ever again!”

“All right,” Luffy nodded. He cracked his knuckles and began to stretch his legs. “You’re gonna regret that, Mingo.”

“You really think you children can take me?” Doflamingo spat. “You need power to ever think of touching where I am.”

“What’s the point of power if the people around you aren’t free?” Luffy mused. “You hurt Torao and Gun Lady and Lami—siblings should be able to stay together if that’s what they want.”

“You’d know all about that, wouldn’t you?” Doflamingo sneered. “That’s why you were there two years ago when Fire-Fist died. If you wanted to join him, all you have to do is ask.”

“Big brothers protect their little siblings until the end,” Luffy said. “Ace knew that, and I know that, and our other brother knows that, and I know that if I were Lami, I’d never want to forget my older siblings as long as I’m alive.”

“A third brother…?” Doflamingo’s brow furrowed in thought before he shook his head. “Doesn’t matter; I’m going to kill all four of you and watch you suffer the entire time.”

“Stick to what we agreed to, Strawhat-ya, and we might be able to get through this,” Law warned. He glanced over at the teen and saw that he was already beginning to fidget in a sign he was already straying from the plan. “Now focus!”

“Tch.” Doflamingo extended his hand and strings came out. While Luffy and Baby 5 were able to block the ones that came towards them, Law tried to open a Room while drawing his sword and was caught up in Doflamingo’s strings, first his Room hand, then the sword hand. His wrists came together and he dropped Kikoku.

“Shit, Law-nii!” Lami gasped. “Let him go!”

“Hmm… no,” Doflamingo replied idly. He watched as Luffy began to panic and pull on the strings holding Law’s hands together, more amused than anything. “I need to punish all the bad children and there’s plenty of them here.”

“Let Torao go!” Luffy insisted. “I’m the one who’s gonna beat your ass, not him!”

“Ow! Strawhat-ya! Stop pulling!”

“I can’t beat him up while he’s got you like this!”

“Fufufu… yes… how are you going to worm your way out of this one?”

Suddenly, Doflamingo stopped. He tilted his head back towards the King’s Plateau and let out a burst of Conqueror’s Haki that made everyone’s hair stand on-end. Turning back to Lami, he held her face with one hand as he forced her to look at him.

“What did you brats do?!” he hissed. “What did you tell them!?”

“They figured it out without me,” Lami marveled. “Someone else figured out that Sugar was your lynchpin! Looks like your plan wasn’t so foolproof after all.”

“Oh, shit,” Baby 5 realized quietly. “This… is going to be a time.”

Doflamingo sneered in contempt. “Stay here like a good girl and maybe I will be merciful.” At that he conjured some strings and swung away, headed back to the plateau.

“Okay, shit, get me down get me down!” Lami panicked. “Haki! Use Haki!” Luffy did, snapping the strings with Armament-infused hands, while Baby 5 turned her hand into a knife to free Law’s hands.

“I know he felt the strings go slack,” she said, “so let’s get as far away from here as possible.”

“Shit, what do you think happened?” Law wondered. Baby 5 furrowed her brow at him.

“What do you mean?”

“Whatever it was, it helped us out, so I’m not worried,” Luffy shrugged. He gave the siblings a bright smile and a giggle. “Shishishishi… I’m glad you finally asked for help—I was hoping you would.”

“I’m glad you agreed to help, but Bee-nee’s right: we’ve got to go,” Lami said. Her gaze was fixed upon the King’s Plateau, not liking how abruptly their encounter with Doflamingo had been. “Shit’s about to go down.”

“Lami, Bee, what are you two not telling me?” Law asked. His sisters both grimaced before the youngest decided to bite the bullet.

“You know all those toys that are wandering around? How some of them are also supposed to be animals just to boost numbers and confuse people?”

“Yeah…?”

“There were more of them than I remember; whatever happened to Sugar just now should have released the last of them.”

“You what…?”

“…and the ones that she remembered doesn’t include the loyal members of Doflamingo’s crew that we all forgot about because they signed up to be made into toys so they could cause chaos if something like this happened,” Baby 5 added. Law stared at his sisters, while Luffy…? Luffy just laughed.

“Sounds like fun,” the teen grinned. “Where do we start first?”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Doflamingo did not like what he saw when he arrived at the King’s Plateau. Sugar was laying unconscious on the ground, surrounded by panicking guards. Trebol and Diamante were both there, with the former having a mental breakdown while the latter was deeply disturbed.

“This is what I get for trusting you all!” Trebol snapped at the guards. “You were supposed to keep her out of danger not bring her towards it!”

“What the fuck happened?” Doflamingo growled. He noticed the grotesque drawing plastered on the wall and knew what had happened. “She was terrified into unconsciousness?! This drawing ruined our ace in the hole?! She could have wiped out those shits and no one would have known the difference!”

“Ten years gone in an instant and now this,” Diamante observed. “It was one thing when that brat reverted the toy soldier, but someone else did this to her and no one even saw it coming.”

“Find out who did this!” Doflamingo ordered. One of the guards jumped in surprise and scurried off. “Fuck… if only that child behaved.”

“You need to make them pay, don’t you Doffy?!” Trebol cried.

“Yes, I am going to make them regret fucking with me,” Doflamingo spat. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he spread his arms wide. Strings materialized around him and went upwards into the sky, eventually spreading outwards until they created a dome shape in the sky, the strings anchoring themselves in the ground. He could feel people try to break through them with no results—as long as there were more attempts on the inside than the out, he was satisfied.

“If I might pick your brain for a moment,” Diamante frowned, “why break out the Birdcage so early?”

“I can’t let them get the upper hand,” Doflamingo replied. He looked down at the citizenry, his Haki allowing him to feel they were more confused than anything. “It’s time to even the playing field and provide some… distractions.”

“You can’t mean…?”

“Oh, yes.” Doflamingo’s grin returned as he went to grab a video transponder snail. “It’s finally time for shit to get interesting.”

-_-_-_-_-_-_-

Transponder snails flickered to attention throughout Dressrosa. Citizens of all life and visitors of all sorts stopped what they were doing and wondered what was going on—surely the tournament wasn’t back on…

“Good afternoon, Citizens of Dressrosa,” Doflamingo said, coming into view ominously. “I’m sure by now most of you have noticed the little addition to our lovely skyline. Don’t try to break it, or dig under it, or squeeze through it—none of that will work. Calling off-island won’t work either.

“Why, do you ask? It’s simple: I’m about to play a little game and every man, woman, child, and person otherwise in this nation is a participant. We have Dressrosans and visitors! Marines and pirates! A struggle between light and dark and everything in between. Our own little Birdcage where we have to fight our way to victory without any help from the outside world…

“Pay close attention! These are the fourteen targets! I shall pay a hundred million beri for each star on their in-game bounty, dead or alive!” His face vanished from the screens and twelve photos and bounties began to display instead.

Four one-star targets: Gladiator Rebecca, Samurai of Wano Foxfire Kin’emon, Devil Child Nico Robin, Cyborg Franky

Three two-star targets: former Dressrosan Army Captain Kyros, former Dressrosan Princess Riku Viola, and Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro.

Five three-star targets: Chief of Staff of the Revolutionary Army Sabo, Straw Hat Monkey D. Luffy, Arms Master Baby 5, Surgeon of Death Trafalgar Law, and former King of Dressrosa Riku Doldo III.

“Aside from these pests are two who have angered me above all others,” Doflamingo continued, “the reasons behind this little game, if you will.” The screen cleared again to show two faces, both of whom gasped when they saw themselves.

False Princess Trafalgar Lami. God Usopp.

Five stars.

Each.

“Happy hunting.”

The screens went dark and the screaming began.

[yeoldenews]

A Guide to Historically Accurate Regency-Era Names

I recently received a message from a historical romance writer asking if I knew any good resources for finding historically accurate Regency-era names for their characters.

Not knowing any off the top of my head, I dug around online a bit and found there really isn’t much out there. The vast majority of search results were Buzzfeed-style listicles which range from accurate-adjacent to really, really, really bad.

I did find a few blog posts with fairly decent name lists, but noticed that even these have very little indication as to each name’s relative popularity as those statistical breakdowns really don't exist.

I began writing up a response with this information, but then I (being a research addict who was currently snowed in after a blizzard) thought hey - if there aren’t any good resources out there why not make one myself?

As I lacked any compiled data to work from, I had to do my own data wrangling on this project. Due to this fact, I limited the scope to what I thought would be the most useful for writers who focus on this era, namely - people of a marriageable age living in the wealthiest areas of London.

So with this in mind - I went through period records and compiled the names of 25,000 couples who were married in the City of Westminster (which includes Mayfair, St. James and Hyde Park) between 1804 to 1821.

So let’s see what all that data tells us…

To begin - I think it’s hard for us in the modern world with our wide and varied abundance of first names to conceive of just how POPULAR popular names of the past were.

If you were to take a modern sample of 25-year-old (born in 1998) American women, the most common name would be Emily with 1.35% of the total population. If you were to add the next four most popular names (Hannah, Samantha, Sarah and Ashley) these top five names would bring you to 5.5% of the total population. (source: Social Security Administration)

If you were to do the same survey in Regency London - the most common name would be Mary with 19.2% of the population. Add the next four most popular names (Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah and Jane) and with just 5 names you would have covered 62% of all women.

To hit 62% of the population in the modern survey it would take the top 400 names.

The top five Regency men’s names (John, William, Thomas, James and George) have nearly identical statistics as the women’s names.

I struggled for the better part of a week with how to present my findings, as a big list in alphabetical order really fails to get across the popularity factor and also isn’t the most tumblr-compatible format. And then my YouTube homepage recommended a random video of someone ranking all the books they’d read last year - and so I present…

The Regency Name Popularity Tier List

The Tiers

S+ - 10% of the population or greater. There is no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. 52% of the population had one of these 7 names.

S - 2-10%. There is still no modern equivalent to this level of popularity. Names in this percentage range in the past have included Mary and William in the 1880s and Jennifer in the late 1970s (topped out at 4%).

A - 1-2%. The top five modern names usually fall in this range. Kids with these names would probably include their last initial in class to avoid confusion. (1998 examples: Emily, Sarah, Ashley, Michael, Christopher, Brandon.)

B - .3-1%. Very common names. Would fall in the top 50 modern names. You would most likely know at least 1 person with these names. (1998 examples: Jessica, Megan, Allison, Justin, Ryan, Eric)

C - .17-.3%. Common names. Would fall in the modern top 100. You would probably know someone with these names, or at least know of them. (1998 examples: Chloe, Grace, Vanessa, Sean, Spencer, Seth)

D - .06-.17%. Less common names. In the modern top 250. You may not personally know someone with these names, but you’re aware of them. (1998 examples: Faith, Cassidy, Summer, Griffin, Dustin, Colby)

E - .02-.06%. Uncommon names. You’re aware these are names, but they are not common. Unusual enough they may be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Calista, Skye, Precious, Fabian, Justice, Lorenzo)

F - .01-.02%. Rare names. You may have heard of these names, but you probably don’t know anyone with one. Extremely unusual, and would likely be remarked upon. (1998 examples: Emerald, Lourdes, Serenity, Dario, Tavian, Adonis)

G - Very rare names. There are only a handful of people with these names in the entire country. You’ve never met anyone with this name.

H - Virtually non-existent. Names that theoretically could have existed in the Regency period (their original source pre-dates the early 19th century) but I found fewer than five (and often no) period examples of them being used in Regency England. (Example names taken from romance novels and online Regency name lists.)

Just to once again reinforce how POPULAR popular names were before we get to the tier lists - statistically, in a ballroom of 100 people in Regency London: 80 would have names from tiers S+/S. An additional 15 people would have names from tiers A/B and C. 4 of the remaining 5 would have names from D/E. Only one would have a name from below tier E.

Women's Names

S+ Mary, Elizabeth, Ann, Sarah      

S - Jane, Mary Ann+, Hannah, Susannah, Margaret, Catherine, Martha, Charlotte, Maria

A - Frances, Harriet, Sophia, Eleanor, Rebecca

B - Alice, Amelia, Bridget~, Caroline, Eliza, Esther, Isabella, Louisa, Lucy, Lydia, Phoebe, Rachel, Susan

C - Ellen, Fanny*, Grace, Henrietta, Hester, Jemima, Matilda, Priscilla

D - Abigail, Agnes, Amy, Augusta, Barbara, Betsy*, Betty*, Cecilia, Christiana, Clarissa, Deborah, Diana, Dinah, Dorothy, Emily, Emma, Georgiana, Helen, Janet^, Joanna, Johanna, Judith, Julia, Kezia, Kitty*, Letitia, Nancy*, Ruth, Winifred>

E - Arabella, Celia, Charity, Clara, Cordelia, Dorcas, Eve, Georgina, Honor, Honora, Jennet^, Jessie*^, Joan, Joyce, Juliana, Juliet, Lavinia, Leah, Margery, Marian, Marianne, Marie, Mercy, Miriam, Naomi, Patience, Penelope, Philadelphia, Phillis, Prudence, Rhoda, Rosanna, Rose, Rosetta, Rosina, Sabina, Selina, Sylvia, Theodosia, Theresa

F - (selected) Alicia, Bethia, Euphemia, Frederica, Helena, Leonora, Mariana, Millicent, Mirah, Olivia, Philippa, Rosamund, Sybella, Tabitha, Temperance, Theophila, Thomasin, Tryphena, Ursula, Virtue, Wilhelmina

G - (selected) Adelaide, Alethia, Angelina, Cassandra, Cherry, Constance, Delilah, Dorinda, Drusilla, Eva, Happy, Jessica, Josephine, Laura, Minerva, Octavia, Parthenia, Theodora, Violet, Zipporah

H - Alberta, Alexandra, Amber, Ashley, Calliope, Calpurnia, Chloe, Cressida, Cynthia, Daisy, Daphne, Elaine, Eloise, Estella, Lilian, Lilias, Francesca, Gabriella, Genevieve, Gwendoline, Hermione, Hyacinth, Inez, Iris, Kathleen, Madeline, Maude, Melody, Portia, Seabright, Seraphina, Sienna, Verity

Men's Names

S+ John, William, Thomas

S - James, George, Joseph, Richard, Robert, Charles, Henry, Edward, Samuel

A - Benjamin, (Mother’s/Grandmother’s maiden name used as first name)#

B - Alexander^, Andrew, Daniel, David>, Edmund, Francis, Frederick, Isaac, Matthew, Michael, Patrick~, Peter, Philip, Stephen, Timothy

C - Abraham, Anthony, Christopher, Hugh>, Jeremiah, Jonathan, Nathaniel, Walter

D - Adam, Arthur, Bartholomew, Cornelius, Dennis, Evan>, Jacob, Job, Josiah, Joshua, Lawrence, Lewis, Luke, Mark, Martin, Moses, Nicholas, Owen>, Paul, Ralph, Simon

E - Aaron, Alfred, Allen, Ambrose, Amos, Archibald, Augustin, Augustus, Barnard, Barney, Bernard, Bryan, Caleb, Christian, Clement, Colin, Duncan^, Ebenezer, Edwin, Emanuel, Felix, Gabriel, Gerard, Gilbert, Giles, Griffith, Harry*, Herbert, Humphrey, Israel, Jabez, Jesse, Joel, Jonas, Lancelot, Matthias, Maurice, Miles, Oliver, Rees, Reuben, Roger, Rowland, Solomon, Theophilus, Valentine, Zachariah

F - (selected) Abel, Barnabus, Benedict, Connor, Elijah, Ernest, Gideon, Godfrey, Gregory, Hector, Horace, Horatio, Isaiah, Jasper, Levi, Marmaduke, Noah, Percival, Shadrach, Vincent

G - (selected) Albion, Darius, Christmas, Cleophas, Enoch, Ethelbert, Gavin, Griffin, Hercules, Hugo, Innocent, Justin, Maximilian, Methuselah, Peregrine, Phineas, Roland, Sebastian, Sylvester, Theodore, Titus, Zephaniah

H - Albinus, Americus, Cassian, Dominic, Eric, Milo, Rollo, Trevor, Tristan, Waldo, Xavier

# Men were sometimes given a family surname (most often their mother's or grandmother's maiden name) as their first name - the most famous example of this being Fitzwilliam Darcy. If you were to combine all surname-based first names as a single 'name' this is where the practice would rank.

*Rank as a given name, not a nickname

+If you count Mary Ann as a separate name from Mary - Mary would remain in S+ even without the Mary Anns included

~Primarily used by people of Irish descent

^Primarily used by people of Scottish descent

>Primarily used by people of Welsh descent

I was going to continue on and write about why Regency-era first names were so uniform, discuss historically accurate surnames, nicknames, and include a little guide to finding 'unique' names that are still historically accurate - but this post is already very, very long, so that will have to wait for a later date.

If anyone has any questions/comments/clarifications in the meantime feel free to message me.

Methodology notes: All data is from marriage records covering six parishes in the City of Westminster between 1804 and 1821. The total sample size was 50,950 individuals.

I chose marriage records rather than births/baptisms as I wanted to focus on individuals who were adults during the Regency era rather than newborns. I think many people make the mistake when researching historical names by using baby name data for the year their story takes place rather than 20 to 30 years prior, and I wanted to avoid that. If you are writing a story that takes place in 1930 you don’t want to research the top names for 1930, you need to be looking at 1910 or earlier if you are naming adult characters.

I combined (for my own sanity) names that are pronounced identically but have minor spelling differences: i.e. the data for Catherine also includes Catharines and Katherines, Susannah includes Susannas, Phoebe includes Phebes, etc.

The compound 'Mother's/Grandmother's maiden name used as first name' designation is an educated guesstimate based on what I recognized as known surnames, as I do not hate myself enough to go through 25,000+ individuals and confirm their mother's maiden names. So if the tally includes any individuals who just happened to be named Fitzroy/Hastings/Townsend/etc. because their parents liked the sound of it and not due to any familial relations - my bad.

I did a small comparative survey of 5,000 individuals in several rural communities in Rutland and Staffordshire (chosen because they had the cleanest data I could find and I was lazy) to see if there were any significant differences between urban and rural naming practices and found the results to be very similar. The most noticeable difference I observed was that the S+ tier names were even MORE popular in rural areas than in London. In Rutland between 1810 and 1820 Elizabeths comprised 21.4% of all brides vs. 15.3% in the London survey. All other S+ names also saw increases of between 1% and 6%. I also observed that the rural communities I surveyed saw a small, but noticeable and fairly consistent, increase in the use of names with Biblical origins.

Sources of the records I used for my survey: 

Ancestry.com. England & Wales Marriages, 1538-1988 [database on-line].

Ancestry.com. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 [database on-line].

[your-mums-nuts]

Love how Qimir is the opposite of normal every single time he meets or re-meets Osha.

Exhibit A: meeting in the apothecary. Biting lip. Getting in personal space. Literally so fucking horny he blows his own cover.

Exhibit B: “Oshhhhaaaaa.” Kills two of her only other potential romantic interests. “This is your master?” Tries to sound cool and immediately gets negged by giant moths, -10000 aura.

Exhibit C: “what extraordinary beings we are” me when I monologue to myself. Covers her in his cloak and just, like, stares.

And finally, Exhibit D: sluts himself out for the greater good (evil) “haha no don’t pin me against the wall haha I won’t be able to move.” Thumb caress.

[uzurakis]

HERE TO SEND YOU BLUELOCK HEAD CANNONS! >:D

Can you do headcannons of the guys and how they would be like if they were teaching us how to play soccer? Hope this is interesting for you ^^, if you're interested to make them thanks in advance!

TEACHING YOU SOCCER?!

featuring: michael kaiser. itoshi rin. oliver aiku. isagi yoichi. bachira meguru.

n. yees darling, i was invested to write this (it's a challenging one because i don't really play soccer myself). hope i nailed it though, thank you to u too <3

MICHAEL KAISER. "nice shot!" kaiser exclaimed, clapping you on the back. "but don't get too cocky, mein liebling."

"learned from the best, i guess," you teased, nodding toward kaiser. "after all, my boyfriend's the world's number one striker, hmm?"

kaiser's eyes widened in mock surprise, a beam spreading across his face. "well, when you put it that way," he said, puffing out his chest with pride and sliding back his golden locks. "i suppose i am pretty amazing."

"ah, but if i'm the world's number one striker," he continued, trying to tease you with words, "then that must mean you have to kneel before me, right?"

you lifted an eyebrow, unable to stop snickering at his exaggerated claim. "huh, is that so?" playing along with his joke. "i guess i'll have to remember to bow down to the soccer king himself."

the guy grinned, clearly enjoying the playful exchange. "that's more like it," now his voice filled with mock superiority, typical kaiser. "but don't worry, i'll be a generous king."

ITOSHI RIN. "fine, i'll try my best, but just so you know, i'm not really good at teaching," rin confessed, feeling apologetic because he’s not used to teaching others. and now, his girlfriend wants to learn how to play soccer.

rin took a deep breath, trying to muster up some confidence as he began to explain the basics of dribbling. "uh, alright, first, dribbling. just try to keep the ball close to your feet for now," he instructed, a bit hesitant.

"oi, dont look at me, look at the ball," he reminded you. "sorry," you chuckled, truly didn't realize you weren't paying attention. come on, just look at him. "if i’m being honest, you look really hot like this," you teased, but, it’s true though!

rin's cheeks flushed slightly at your comment, but he quickly regained his composure. "focus," he replied. though there was a hint of annoyance, you couldn't help but sneak a glance at rin's face as he continued to give you instructions, his cheeks flushed slightly from your earlier comment.

suddenly, rin's voice broke through your reverie, snapping you back to reality. "i said focus!"

OLIVER AIKU. "keep your eye on the ball and follow through with your kick," aiku instructed while you attempted to pass the ball to him.

even when you struggled or made mistakes, aiku remained patient and supportive, offering gentle guidance to help you improve. "try to angle your foot a bit more next time," he suggested, as you missed the mark with your pass. "you're doing great, sweetie. just keep practicing."

by the end of the session, you were exhausted but thankful for aiku's patience and support. he wrapped his arm around your shoulders, a proud smile on his lips.

"you're making progress, sweetie," he soothed, genuine and affectionate. "with a little more practice, you'll beat me out here."

BACHIRA MEGURU. "okaaay, let's start with some dribbling drills," he said, bachira was overjoyed since this meant he had another friend to play soccer with. "try to keep the ball under control as you move around me, kaay?"

you nodded, determined to give it your best shot. as you began to dribble the ball, you stumbled a bit, but bachira was quick to offer a push. "nice job, baby! you're getting the hang of it," he cheered, clapping his hands in support.

with each effort, you gained confidence and dribbled past bachira with greater ease. bachira congratulated you on your small wins every time you successfully escaped him. "woah, that was awesome! baby, i’m so happy!" he exclaimed, giving you a high-five.

"great effort, babes! keep it up, and you'll get it," he encouraged, his words filling you with determination. “lets keep playing together!”

ISAGI YOICHI. "hey, it's okay," isagi said gently, stepping closer to you. "here, let me show you."

he moved behind you and gently guided your legs into the correct position, his touch firm yet gentle. "see? keep your body low and your touches light," he explained, moving your legs in rhythm with the ball. "you've got this, angel.”

with isagi's guidance, you began to feel more confident, dribbling the ball with increasing control. whenever you made a mistake, your boyfriend always offered gentle correction and encouragement.

"nice try, but try to keep the ball closer to your feet," he would say, his tone encouraging. "like this," demonstrating the correct form before guiding your legs to mimic his movements.

@uzurakis

[kittykatinabag]

Observations of just under a week of not taking vitamin B-12 anymore:

Huh. Guess this shit really was helping my energy levels.

[paperismissing]

What if Stanley was the one who got pulled into the portal?

I saw this post and after reading the comments i couldn't stop thinking about an au with this... Someone must have done it before but here I am!

I participated on an magma today so I did some doodles for this au......

Basically Stan got into the portal instead of Ford, and Ford, wanting to save humanity, made himself believe that Stan was dead and there was no point in trying to open the portal as it would only cause the end of the world...

Deep down, he knows he is not dead, but its for the greater good of humanity for him to believe so

Not sure what to call this au so any suggestions are welcome :D

Update: It's called reverse portal au!! Thanks for who answered me! I think I will do my own interpretation of this au :D