#but mortal enemies in the way of like. they can rely on each other to be bitches to each other.

[quietwingsinthesky]

a fact of this au to me is that Ruby is a lesbian and her interest is in Anna and Sam exclusively and she puts up with Dean and Cas for their sake. especially Dean.

[see-arcane]

The Harkers have got me fucked up. Not just from how much they're going through. Not just from how well they know each other.

But in how much is not being said. How much that appears to have been missed.

Mina has just made their friends swear to euthanize her. In front of Jonathan, who she knows cannot/will not make said promise aloud, though she tries to fish it out. A funeral service, yes, but no more than that. She takes the wins she can, relying on the others for the sacrificial slaughter while she pries what she thinks is some mote of acceptance of the Worst Case Scenario in Potentia from Jonathan. Perhaps she's read the vampiric vow of his journal by now. Perhaps not. Perhaps she already suspects either way and wants desperately not to see him damn himself, damn both of them, to avoid raising a killing hand to her.

She is going into the dark. What kind, she does not know yet. But she knows--thinks she knows--she has taken some measure to save her soul and Jonathan's. God's will be done. (Piety trembles in her heart, a fear trying frantically to still look like faith.)

Jonathan, meanwhile, is in Hell.

As it was in the castle, there are some miseries too deep to dwell on for him to stomach writing them down. Hence his tapping Jack to record it all. But the silence from him here, bar the dodge of the promise that goes against his private vow, bar the reading of the burial service, sinks deeper than any horror he suffered from the Count in person. What can he be thinking now?

I made this all possible. I opened the door to England for him. Showed him how to spread his poison. Failed to strike a killing blow when I had the chance. Slept frozen and useless beside her as he drank and made her drink. Lost him by inches in Piccadilly. Now I am here, listening to her claim so sunnily that any man of old would murder his woman to save her from the enemy's touch, as if asking for a trifle. All the while I sit contemplating a hellish betrayal, holding my heart over her wishes, over sanity, humanity, Heaven and Hell. Contemplating worse.

(The kukri is very sharp by now. In time it will have so fine an edge that no one would feel its cut before their head toppled off. Be they in a coffin or a friend with their back turned. Sickly, he finds the thought cold and placid in his mind. Is he not already damned for what he's allowed? Is he not already slated for the Count's collection? He knows whose blood it was on the monster's lips on that final dawn in Transylvania. And when he dies...)

I imagine he has to stop himself from making a mirrored request to the others right there. Has to stop himself from handing Mina the Bible and asking her to read it out for him. If she is lost, he is lost. It is not merely undeath that he would follow her into--whatever she is, wherever she goes, so must he be, so must he go.

Read it for me now, darling. You laid it all out so eloquently. I am already lost but for the wait for the grave. Come everyone, while we're here. Two funerals. Two sets of oaths. I can perhaps save you half the work, if I fall neatly enough on the kukri. Pry it from my heart and take my head when the time comes.

But he bites his tongue. Does not touch his pen. Does not risk heaping another weight on his love who is already crushed beneath existential terrors that are being thrust on her by the actions of others. She does not know what he is planning, even if she suspects it by half.

What she knows: Jonathan cannot raise a hand to her. (He would have me as a monster than not exist at all.)

What he prays she never will: Jonathan will be anything she is. (Mortal. Monster. Dead.)

One last secret to keep.

All the way to the grave.

[yandere-fics]

after seeing the height chart, I’m shorter than all the ladies. How would they behave with a short reader? Would it be more infantizing? Would they flaunt it and use their height to make their darling dependent on them like putting dishes or the TV remote up high?

(Sawyer is excluded because she would never do that even if she really wants to at times, I might do one for the kingdom if you guys ask but the only tall people within the kingdom are Ainsley and Veronia. I will not do one for the Anderson sisters as they are actually quite short, excluding Darla who is roughly 5'8, the other sisters are all around 5'3-5'5.)

♡ How They Treat A Darling Who Is Much Shorter Than Them ♡

♡ Miriel would never do that to you... at least that's what she thinks at first, it's what she says but subconsciously she's accidentally putting things out of reach from you and jumping with joy when you ask for her help. Then it just becomes habit to set things up really high unless you explicitly ask her not to, then she'll obey your orders and be sort of sulky that you won't have to ask for her help but she's nothing if not obedient so she obliges. ♡

♡ The step ladder is her mortal enemy. Do not buy a step ladder unless you are prepared for Miriel to cry all day long about how you don't need her anymore. Except then Miriel realizes she's not actually that tall and so she sort of also needs the step ladder on occasion. Then she's just mad she can't do everything for you because of her stupid height. Guess who's never taking her heels off in the house again! ♡

♡ If she's still trying to be sneaky with you and hiding her true self then she's going to try to be subtle about the reason why she places everything so high. Though most of the time this won't be a concern because as soon as you even mention getting up to grab something she'll already be up to grab it for you, this is just for those rare moments when you decide to fetch something for yourself so that way you'll realize at this point you should really just ask her instead since you never seem to be able to grab anything on your own. ♡

♡ If she has shown her true colors with you then she'll let you get up to grab something so that way you have to whine for her to come get it. While she does enjoy taking care of you, she also needs to make it abundantly clear that you need to just ask her instead. If you say you're going to get a plate, all the plates will be super high until you learn to just ask her to grab you a plate. ♡

♡ Why would she do something like that? If she wants you to rely on her then she'll just force you to be. She doesn't need to go through the added effort of making everything high up just so she can make you dependent on her, you're already dependent on her. Putting everything up high isn't for you to rely on her, it's for punishment. ♡

♡ Nikki is not tall, however she can fly with very minimal effort and if she uses her bottom smaller wings then it's safe to do so in the apartment. Putting everything up high so you have to ask for help is a chance for her to strike fear into your heart by showing off her wings, this way you know just how fast she could fly after you and catch you if need be. Normally she just puts everything where it belongs, she only puts things up high when she feels you need to be reminded that she is in fact a high rank demon. ♡

♡ She has no shame about what she's doing, the first time you come to her apartment you struggle to reach things because she's tall so naturally most things are high up, after that she decides she rather enjoyed the feeling for you asking her to grab things for you so she starts putting things even higher up and eventually you can't reach a single thing in her apartment without help. ♡

♡ This behavior is easily remedied as long as you call her out on it when it first starts. The first time things are still reachable if you stand on your tippy toes, it slowly and progressively gets worse and worse each time you visit though. If you continue to allow her to get away with it eventually you won't be able to reach anything. If you get a step ladder then she had no shame about throwing it away when she thinks you aren't paying attention. you could buy several step ladders and each one will vanish without a trace though she'll probably put some money in your wallet cause she does feel a bit bad. Eventually you'll get the message and just have her grab things instead though, right? ♡

♡ Rudie is not home all of the time which means everything is placed within your reach so that way you can be a very comfortable captive. She wouldn't want to set everything high and then come home to find out you injured yourself trying to grab something that she mistakenly set out of reach. Which means when something is out of reach, it's extremely clear that she set it there on purpose. She's not at all subtle about it on the nights that she's not out killing. You'll know right away that she's antsy for you to get up for something and realize you need her help. ♡

♡ Except Rudie is not tall, so when you ask her to grab the thing she will usually go into her locked closet where she puts murder weapons usually, and pull out a step ladder which will get locked away again as soon as she has grabbed your item. ♡

[blackbloodedisabel]

rysa and ophelia 23 24 25 GO

idk who rysa is but I will answer this question for rsya and ophelia. what a crazy combo.

23 (do they have any mutual friends/mutual enemies?) this is so interesting since the relationships between all the majaerajji is rich and deep and billions of years old and it's hard to distinguish familial platonic psychosexual romantic enemy stuff. BUT since rsya was such a loser she really only had one friend (they were toeing the line between friends and family and romantic partners kinda. call them soulmates) and fifi was such a weirdo she only had like two friends (actually just like a sex throuple). post stability epoch rsya loses her one friend (adrascia) and they become sort of enemies which I suppose makes adrascia a mutual enemy of theirs since adrascia really really hates fifi on account of all the murder and tortue and she really hates rsya on account of being friends with ery.

SPEAKING OF ERY let me twist this into talking abt ery and rsya. on the surface ery and rsya are just weird sisters and friends and then you look a bit closer and it's this crazy cesspit of emotional manipulation abuse and support and resentment and pity kinda. so rsya sees ery as her friend but you know. they SHOULD be enemies. they used to be enemies. rsya still resents ery for what she's done (more murder and torture) and for being the reason she lost her only friend (adrascia) and for manipulating her into helping creating klle which means most of her other sisters want nothing to do with her and she's just kinda. forced to rely on ery for emotional support bc ery won't judge her. there are a lot of parallels to erygora in that way. sigh. ophelia also hates ery a little bit but not much since you can't be friends (read: dark mentorship) with gora and hate ery. ophelia regards ery with the same detached disdain she views most ppl with. ery however really really hates fifi so this makes erykwana a really really fucked up mutual enemy. kind of.

they also have a lot of interaction with mortals especially a really fucked up history with chastity!! now fifi has a little less detachment towards chastity after pretending to be her daughter for nearly 4 months and she gets a real kick out of tormenting her ("don't be silly chastity I would never hurt you you're like family to me") but she still feels a lot of. general derision towards her. so fifi and chastity are enemies. chastity and rsya is a lot more complex but mainly you have rsya trying to support her and chastity really really resenting rsya on account of all the lying and faking suicide and what happened to her daughter. so you could call chastity a mutual enemy too. it's funny bc if you look at the 4 months fifi was pretending to be chastity's daughter and chastity was still grieving nicola (rsya) as a friend ('friend') you could almost consider chastity a mutual friend. haha

24 (How do these two interact with each other in public versus in private?) THIS IS SO INCHRESTING thank you. they would only really interact with each other in public if fifi is threatening a mortal and that's when rsya gets quite angry and defensive. especially depending on the mortal (cough chastity cough grace cough lynnie). but in private when nobody's life/sanity is at stake?? (I would say rsya's emotional stability is at stake but she never fucking had any) rsya just becomes sad and scared and yk. think of her as a curled up woodlouse. fifi also drops the 'nice' act in private since it isn't going to fool rsya but she'll keep it up in public to make the mortals trust her and stuff.

25 (If a stranger saw them together, how would they describe their relationship?) hmm. see in public they'd think 'why is the blue hair one being so mean to the strawberry blonde one' and assume it was kinda a bullying kind of relationship (they'd be right. just have the wrong bully) and it would be very hard to spy on them in private since a) they can read your mind and know you're there and b) most of their private discussions take place in the universe of the gods which is basically impossible to get to lol

[ridl]

Gen question what made u ship ganqing so much?

Great question! Prepare for an essay tho hhhh

I played Genshin at launch but got bored quickly and stopped before I even met Keqing or Ganyu. I learned abt their existence thru fanfics, while looking for some wlw fiction to read. “Cornerstone” in particular is a fantastic fic that was being updated at the time. The author put a lot of care and effort into treating those characters seriously, and fleshing them and their dynamic out, which the game generally fails at.

Their dynamic just instantly captivated me. The way they went from being at odds, with their clashing beliefs, to reaching a mutual understanding. To caring abt each other. And it was never just pure hate, but something much more complicated and nuanced.

Back then it was just voicelines abt each other, and both characters had barely any screentime in general, but it was interesting enough of a basis. I started playing again, missed Ganyu's og banner but was lucky to win my 50/50 on Keqing's once-in-a-lifetime limited banner lmao. And the more I learned about them, the more I liked them.

I not only love ganqing, but I also love both characters individually, their personality, story, design, gameplay, they somehow just have everything that’s interesting and appeals to me.

Keqing is the Yuheng of the Qixing, meaning one of the leaders of the country, approved by Rex Lapis. She’s very pro humanity and believes that humans should fare for themselves, rather than rely on the archon. Not many ppl dare to think this, much less say it to Morax's dragon-adeptus face during the rite of descension. So she’s seen as controversial and disrespectful, and Ganyu as a devoted follower who worked closely with Rex Lapis for thousands of years just doesn’t understand Keqing. Rex Lapis absolutely approves of Keqing’s belief, and Ganyu cannot comprehend it no matter how much she respects and trusts him. It’s a very interesting conflict, that eventually gets resolved, giving us the basis of their potential romantic relationship.

Keqing and Ganyu are both very devoted to Liyue, so they’re both similar but also different. They complement each other. Keqing with her modern approach, quick and efficient, straightforward and bold. Ganyu with her old approach, with her opinions and strength hidden, not very straightforward. A confident human who knows what she’s about, and half-qilin that feels lost between the two worlds. But after Morax’s passing, they manage to find understanding, they go thru character development now just in terms of their relationship, but also them individually, and in relation to Morax. They can change each other too. They can learn so much together, from each other. Keqing how to be more patient and deal with uncertainities, while Ganyu how to be bolder, voice her opinions more and just live more for herself.

Ganyu is no longer bound by her contract, but she remains with the humans. She’s working alongside Keqing, in this new human era of Liyue. And while their limited screentime is locked behind time-limited events, it really shows that change, it shows how they care about each other. It shows Keqing’s relations with the adepti and how interesting it is considering her beliefs, and especially with Ganyu’s mother figure.

You could technically just sum them up in popular tropes like “enemies to friends to lovers”, "mortal x immortal" or “opposites attract”, but I think it’s so much deeper than that. I find ganqing's relationship very interesting and unique bc of their personalities, relations with each other and other ppl as well as their country, the setting, their stories, their identities, the conflict and character development they go through.

The game only gives us crumbs, but it also gives so much space and potential for this pairing. It’s never fully explained how it all changed between Ganyu’s voiceline how she started understanding Keqing a little, and their interactions in moonchase/lantern rites, where they’re clearly on very good terms. But I think that’s fine. It gives us freedom to truly flesh them out. Genshin’s storytelling is pretty crappy in the first place lol, so I think it’s cool to just take the interesting ideas, and make something much greater out of it.

And if you’re interested, ganqing related links:

Some fic recs (limited to canon setting): - (Chuminder has written 4 fics that are technically seperate, but they work very well as a series so i recommend this order) Blue the Color of a Goodnight, Cornerstone, Taproot, Passage - Heartbeat of the world - In the wake of - She, with the scent of flowers and lightning - A Better, Brighter Light

My chaotic compilation of bigger and smaller crumbs, including some stuff abt those characters individually:

It’s just things I find interesting, or that could be used in describing their dynamic and relationship, or just official images. They’re underrated characters, both by the fandom and the game itself imo.

Also an excellent thread, with similar idea and better screenshots (lol) i saw on twitter: https://twitter.com/gqlovebot/status/1672183539973111808

[sweetescapeartist]

Hello there! Those are good in-depth character and ability examinations and explanations! I'm very happy to get to look into them!

I have a question regarding the Wolf Fang Fist. It's been a while since I've looked back to see it, but you said it functions similarly to the Kaio-ken technique, in that it increases Yamcha's strength, reaction time, and senses. Is there a particular source you're using for reference on this info, or is it an observation you made? I tried looking at the Dragon Ball Wiki, but I can't find anything about that bit of info.

Hey! And thank you!

To answer your question... There is no particular source that states what I claim. The similarity between the Wolf Fang Fist & Kaio-Ken is just an observation I made. However, what's said and shown in the manga is what lead me to the conclusion that the two techniques are similar.

A similar example is Instant Transmission. The Yardrats created the Instant Transmission technique that Goku knows, while the Supreme Kai have a similar teleportation technique that is far more advanced & doesn't rely on pinpointing the energy of someone you know.

Another instance is from the DBS manga continuity where Vegeta learns Forced Spirit Fission which is a technique similar to the Genki Dama/Spirit Bomb. There are other techniques that are similar to each other despite being developed separately & at different times. The Wolf Fang Fist & Kaio-Ken appear to be one of many instances of techniques being similar.

Both the Wolf Fang Fist & Kaio-Ken are techniques where the user enhances their battle power and physical abilities without becoming super buff like Roshi's Full Power form or SSJ Grade 3 & losing speed. The Kaio-Ken & Wolf Fang Fist share a similar principle to that, but they are techniques that not only increase strength but also speed.

WOLF FANG FIST:

The Wolf Fang Fist technique is shown in Dragon Ball chapter 8 & 37. The Neo Wolf Fang Fist is in 117. Yamcha channels a wolf spirit and his physical abilities are enhanced. We have never seen him use the technique combined with a ki blast. Yamcha becomes faster and stronger & reacts quicker. But as for how great of an increas this is? That is unknown.

KAI-O-KEN:

Similarly, the Kaio-Ken technique enhances the physical abilities, but also energy attacks. It is performed by controlling the ki in the body for a burst of energy.

The regular Kaio-Ken is like an advanced version of Wolf Fang Fist that can be multiplied. This is why I at times call the Wolf Fang Fist the "mortal Kaio-Ken." Same principles, but the technique King Kai taught is much more advanced.

I think it would've been cool to see Yamcha create a Wolf Fang Fist with multipliers after he trained under King Kai. Less stress on the body than the Kaio-Ken, but still gives an increase in power. But since enemies became so strong, not even techniques like the Kaio-Ken would have been much help for any character. Is it really worth it to damage yourself while fighting an enemy who is far stronger than Super Saiyans? The risk is way higher than the reward.

EXTRA:

Could Yamcha have possibly used a his Wolf Fang Fist technique or a twist on it after the Freeza Saga? Yes. Because most techniques don't have to be said in order to activate them. So, it is possible that Yamcha used an advanced version of the Wolf Fang Fist technique on the Cell Jr. he fought. But the Cell Jrs. can defeat Super Saiyans so... Using it against an opponent that strong doesnt add up to much.

The next time Yamcha used something like the Wolf Fang Fist was in "Yo! Son Goku & His Friends Return!" where a wolf spirit appeared behind him when he used the Spirit Ball technique to save Bulma, Puar, & Oolong. So lukely a mixture of the Wolf Fang Fist & Spirit Ball. Sadly, Yamcha doesn't fight in DBS even though he has regained his fighting spirit was shown in the OVA "Yo! Son Goku & His Friends Return!" & in the Tournament of Power Saga of the DBS anime (which was frustratingly played up for mediocre comedy). But we do get a scene in DBS EP 70 when Yamcha uses the "Wolf Fang Pitch."

I hope we see him use the Wolf Fang Fist again in the main series and that he has advanced it by learning how to multiply it or something.

[paperanddice]

Inevitables are intelligent, self-driven constructs that attempt to police the order of the world, descending from the Overworld to watch for chaos and ensure balance. Each inevitable has its own duty and structure, many acting independently and seeking to resolve the situation it encounters on its own. When it encounters a source of chaos outside of its own jurisdiction, it will report back to the greater structure of law within the Overworld, and the issue will be added to the queue, an appropriate inevitable assigned to the case when one is available.

Arbiters are scouts for the greater inevitable structure. Many patrol sections of the world, using their small size and great stealth to avoid attention and track sources of increasing chaos. Approximately one foot in diameter, they look like clockwork eyes with two small arms and two small wings, flying more by magic than mechanical capability. Arbiters rarely fight, but will come to battle against creatures of true chaos (as registered by their system), mostly consisting of demons and some types of aberrations. Weak combatants on their own, they rely on allies when fighting anything but the smallest of threats, but in dire situations an arbiter can utilize the electrical systems within it for a powerful, overload attack. This attack is a last ditch effort, as after using it the construct shuts down completely, a scenario that they seem to almost be scared of.

Arbiters can also be assigned to specific individuals who the inevitables have classified as allies of order, becoming advisors and counsellors to these mortals while gaining access to a larger network of resources to catch growing chaos. Arbiters always know the direction to the nearest higher ranked inevitable, and when they encounter a situation that they cannot resolve themselves or with the aid of their assigned mortals, they will report the issue to their higher ups for further processing.

Arbiter Weakling 3rd level troop [construct] Initiative: +8 Small Blade +9 vs. AC – 5 damage. [Group Ability] C: Electrical Burst +9 vs. PD (1d4 nearby enemies) – 5 lightning damage. Effect: The arbiter is stunned for 24 hours after using this attack (remove it from the battle). Group Ability: For every four arbiters in the battle (round up), one of them can use electrical burst during the battle. Flight. Mechanical Reconstruction 2: When the arbiter has been damaged, its mechanical body self-repairs 2 hit points at the start of the arbiter’s turn. It can repair 5 times per battle. If it heals to its maximum hit points, then that use of mechanical reconstruction doesn’t count against the five-use limit. When the arbiter is hit by an attack that deals lightning damage, it loses one use of its mechanical reconstruction and it can’t regenerate during its next turn. Dropping the arbiter to 0 hp doesn’t kill it if it has any uses of mechanical reconstruction left. AC 20 PD 15 MD 16 HP 20

Kolyarut are the size and shape of humans, but the resemblance ends there naturally. Constructed of metal and stone, they look like a statue augmented with gears and machine parts, though all kolyarut have the ability to disguise themselves by magic to look human. They enforce contracts and bargains, descending from the Overworld when a particularly significant contract has been broken to bring the culprit to heel. The exact terms and conditions of these contracts do not matter to the kolyarut; morality gives way to legality in their machine minds, and so even unfair or downright cruel judgments will be enforced. This often puts the inevitable at odds with mortals who oppose such dogmatic and single minded order, a most vexing scenario for the construct.

The nature of enforcing contracts requires more social interaction with the signatories than many other inevitables' work, and so kolyarut are more social and prone to interacting with other beings to ensure their mission is successful. They will even team up with mortals (or let them tag along with the inevitable's mission), though such partnerships are destined to be short lived as the kolyarut has no compunctions about taking advantage of such aid, abandoning or sacrificing these companions if it will help advance the mission successfully.

Kolyarut Triple-strength 6th level blocker [construct] Initiative: +9 Blade of Law +11 vs. AC (3 attacks) – 20 damage. Natural Even Hit: The target takes a -5 penalty on disengage checks, and the kolyarut gains a +4 bonus to attacks of opportunity against the target (save ends both). Vampiric Touch +11 vs. PD – 40 negative energy damage and the kolyarut regains 1 use of mechanical reconstruction. Limited Use: 2/battle. Mechanical Reconstruction 25: When the kolyarut has been damaged, its mechanical body self-repairs 25 hit points at the start of the arbiter’s turn. It can repair 5 times per battle. If it heals to its maximum hit points, then that use of mechanical reconstruction doesn’t count against the five-use limit. When the kolyarut is hit by an attack that deals lightning damage, it loses one use of its mechanical reconstruction and it can’t regenerate during its next turn. Dropping the kolyarut to 0 hp doesn’t kill it if it has any uses of mechanical reconstruction left. AC 22 PD 18 MD 17 HP 280

Inspired by the Pathfinder 1e Bestiary 2. This post came out a week ago on my Patreon. If you want to get access to all my monster conversions early, as well as access to my premade adventures and other material I’m working on, consider backing me there!

[enbyleighlines]

I’m so sorry you’re having a bad week! Hopefully things will improve soon 😞🙏

For the headcanon prompt: maybe something about their fighting styles and how they’d work together on the battlefield?

I am hoping so! Thanks for the prompt!

Ike, Soren, and Ranulf all have very different fighting styles, obviously.

Ike is the kind of man who rushes headlong into a fight, and his movements are both quick and powerful. Engage made Ike into a defensive powerhouse, but I really don’t think that’s where his talent lies. In his original games, he had decent defense, true, but that almost didn’t even matter, because Ike was a dodge tank. So I think Ike’s fighting style is borderline impulsive; there are a lot of large, sweeping movements, and instead of focusing on tanking blows, he focuses on dodging them. He becomes skilled at anticipating when/how an opponent is going to attack, and is quick and nimble enough to avoid most attacks headed his way. This is especially impressive because he fights in close combat.

However, when Ike does get hit, he doesn’t allow it to disrupt the flow of the fight. Petrine once said that Greil fights like a demon, and I think the same can be said for Ike. He’s so pumped full of adrenaline that he barely even registers any damage he takes. His fighting style is rather reckless, in that way. It isn’t until the fighting is over that Ike notices the pain.

Soren definitely works best at long range, because spell-casting is delicate work! And Soren has such a heavy focus on accuracy that he tends to suffer from tunnel-vision. That means that while he fixates on a target, he leaves himself a little defenseless. And unlike Ike, Soren doesn’t have the fortitude to walk off a mortal wound. So he does his best work while standing at the back at the army. Or rather, he does his second best work there.

Soren does his very best work when he has Ike by his side. I think it’s great that, in game, Ike’s support gives Soren an insane boost to his avoidance, while also nullifying any critical attacks aimed at him. And I imagine it plays out like this: both Ike and Soren focus more on dealing damage than the possibility of taking damage, but since they prioritize each other’s safety more than their own, they have perfected the art of warning each other of incoming attacks. They don’t even need to say much. Just a simple “Soren!” and a glance to the right, and Soren will effortlessly dance out of the way of a thrown javelin.

As a cat laguz, Ranulf is very speedy and acrobatic, but not the most sturdy. He is the most vulnerable fighting close combat, but that’s also how he deals any damage, so his method of fighting involves a lot of darting close to deal damage, then fleeing a safe distance before he can take damage in return. This way he can chip away at his enemies.

Ranulf also has the advantage of being able to cover a lot of distance in a short amount of time, and he uses this ability to sew chaos and confusion on the battlefield. Soren and Ranulf are a dangerous duo because of this. Together they can devise brilliant strategies to best make use of Ranulf’s feline athleticism. For example, Ranulf is great at luring enemies into a trap.

Ike and Ranulf don’t always get a lot of chances to fight side-by-side, as Ike is generally at the front lines, whereas Ranulf is darting to and fro, relaying messages and putting Soren’s various strategies into motion. However, when they do, they are a sight to behold. Ranulf keeps the enemy distracted while Ike ruthlessly takes them down one by one. Like Ike and Soren, Ike and Ranulf learn to read each other’s body language to predict incoming attacks coming in from their blind spots.

While Soren and Ranulf are great at strategizing together, they don’t always pair the best on the battlefield. Soren finds Ranulf’s quick, erratic movements to be distracting, making it difficult for him to focus on his spell-casting. However, Soren does sometimes rely on Ranulf to get him from point A to point B, or to relay important messages for him mid-battle.

Thank you again for the ask! This was a fun thought exercise. I hope you enjoy my headcanons.

[monstersdownthepath]

Scourge Spotlight: Joyful Thing

CR 6

Lawful Evil Medium Outsider

Nidal: Land of Shadows, pg. 57

It would be a crime against the Midnight Lord to talk about velstrac without first mentioning their cocoons. While far from the only way to create one, the Joymaking ritual is seemingly one of the most reliable methods of transforming a willing mortal being directly into a velstrac, the rules and laws of this ritual a secret closely guarded by the church of Zon-Kuthon, said Midnight Lord (though this hasn’t stopped the Demagogue Sugroz from finding her own methods that work on unwilling targets). Joyful Things are exactly what they sound like: things that are joyful. These once-mortals were subjected to unspeakable tortures and vile magics, removing all of their unnecessary extremities and organs to leave nothing but a vessel for pain and madness, acting as something of a divine font for Zon-Kuthon’s power and interpreters of his alien will.

These wriggling grubs represent the middle stage of the velstrac lifecycle, the twisting essence of the Shadow Plane keeping them alive and in constant, ecstatic agony from which they draw strange magical powers. Able to freely use Levitate and Mage Hand, their loss of limb isn’t much of an impediment for them... and, in fact, despite very explicitly having most of their sensory organs removed, they’ve experienced no sensory loss, having no immunities to incoming visual or audio stimulus or disadvantages usually given to creatures that cannot see, hear, or smell. If anything their senses are sharper, gaining darkvision, the ability to see into the future 1/day via Augury, and the power to taste thoughts. 

Any creature they manage to pin down in a grapple (more on how they do that in a moment), their repulsive tongue engulfs the victim’s head and afflicts them with an irresistible version of Detect Thoughts that lasts as long as the grapple does. While the Joyful Things care little for what other creatures are thinking unless it’s “oof ouch owie that hurts,” their caretakers and associates may be very curious to see what‘s rattling around in their victim’s heads, and can use the horrors as methods of interrogation as much as they can be used for religious ceremonies and, in a pinch, as assistants in combat.

Looking at them you wouldn’t think they were combat capable... and you’re largely correct. Fragile as a moth’s chrysalis, Joyful Things possess none of the defensive power of the fiends they will eventually become, protected only by 17 Spell Resistance and their (honestly quite potent) Blessing of Pain, a gift from their god that grants them a bonus to their AC, saving throws, and attack AND damage rolls equal to their Charisma modifier (usually +3). Without backup, a Joyful Thing largely relies on its inborn spell-likes like Darkness (at-will) and Mirror Image (3/day) to give it time to confound and debuff its enemies. It’s actually quite the potent support unit, able to use Bane, Cause Fear, and Command at will to control the party’s actions, and possessing Crushing Despair, Hold Person, and Bestow Curse available 3/day to cut them off entirely.

Once the group has been sufficiently crumpled or manages to get too close for comfort, the Things have a surprise for anyone in melee with them. The chain that binds their form is as much a part of them as their han-- as their fee-- as their skin and tongue, animate and lashing like a tendril. It’s able to strike twice in a round for 2d4+3 damage each and threatens to Grab any creature it strikes, which is how it can further move to embrace the victim with its tongue. Their bursts of emotional magic also allows them to Exploit Pain, granting them a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls versus any creature suffering from a fear or pain effect, which followers of Zon-Kuthon are noted for regularly throwing around.

Joyful Things may be the vesltrac equivalent of Demon Larva, but they’re far more than just helpless cocoons. That being said, bereft of caretakers to give them time to buffet the party with spells, even WITH their bolstered saves they tend go down quickly... and may even enjoy doing so, squealing with hideous delight as the party carves into them and exposes them to entirely new forms of pain. That, perhaps, is their greatest and most repulsive defense.

You can read more about them here.

[kariachi]

Random: The religion Kwarrel grew up with doesn’t really have a concept of an immortal soul, traditionally- there’s offshoots with their own thing going on but he’s not from one of them. The general idea is that all living beings were created equally to serve their own purposed in forming a whole and dynamic world, and so all living beings must be equal in these sorts of things. When you’re going off that concept there’s really only two directions you can go, which are ‘all living beings have immortal souls’ and ‘no living beings have immortal souls’.

You reach a point in development where you can survive and function on your own, at which point you are alive, you live however long, then you die, that’s it. There is no afterlife, there is no reincarnation, this is what you’ve got. As a result this particular religion and cultures around it don’t have psychopomps, though they do have goddesses over death and over decay (fun fact: separate people).

A few results of all this-

While in the modern day it’s mostly accepted that more extreme forms of parasites that truly rely on their hosts to survive and function still count as living beings, under the argument that they show all signs of life otherwise and were made like this as all other parts of the world were made, in the distant past this wasn’t the case. At least one dead language even specifically separates creatures into living beings, non-living objects, and non-living beings- a category that contained things like tapeworms, but also things like fetuses that couldn’t survive outside the womb yet

It used to be, in cultures that followed this religion and it’s offshoots, that any wanton taking of life- from burning down a tree on an enemy’s property to murder- was considered sort of a combination of murder, destruction of property, and blasphemy. Again, all things are considered to exist for their deities and functionally belong to them. Even your crops you don’t technically own, you just have the right to use as is needed. Wasting it is, again, blasphemous**. As a result, destroying someone’s crops in these areas has traditionally been subject to much harsher punishments than in other regions.

Following on that, wanton destruction of things like rocks- objects not made by mortal effort- has historically been treated as a combination of destruction of property and blasphemy. You can tell areas that have or used to have large populations of this religion by inspecting their mines, roads, and the like. If they seem to go out of their way, even being more inconvenient, in going around or over boulders, hills, mountains, or clearly started out as natural caves? Odds are good.

Rituals surrounding butchering and harvest show similarities to funeral practices. Not enough to be funerals when it comes to most creatures- the general belief is that if something would grant you as much a funeral as it could you do the same (yes this has been used as an excuse to give shit funerals to fallen enemies in war)- but facets of things like proper handling of the dead, proper mourning periods, can be seen in them. Even songs and dances associated with harvest festivals will normally share things like movements or note progressions with those associated with funerals.

In a mirror of this, the songs, dances, and rituals surrounding planting crops, sprouting crops, the arrival of Spring, the birth of livestock, etc? All tend to bear similarities to those celebrating new pregnancies and babies. (Kwarrel probably could’ve sung you seven different songs to welcome new life, depending on what species you were talking about, just off the top of his head)

On the other hand, there’s a whole different and unique category of songs and dances and such surrounding the harvest of things that don’t require death. Fruits, leaves, flowers, milk, eggs, xaa fur, and more. All have their own separate songs and dances, and all tend to share similarities with each other. (Again, just off the top of his head-)

These fuckers uh, lot of music, lot of dancing, whole lot of categories where things resonate with each other, it’s a whole thing

**Fun Fact: This actually led to a holy war at one point in Perison history. A region consisting of mostly followers of this religion (which really needs a name) was taken over by more powerful region that didn’t. As part of subjugating the populace the invaders would often lay claim to harvests, and more importantly leave whatever they couldn’t use themselves or sell for their own profit to rot, harshly punishing anyone who tried to ‘steal’ their scraps. The invaded region had originally been left weak by war with it’s neighbors, and didn’t have much in the way of alliances to call upon, but once news arrived that they were being forced into acts of blasphemy... Well. Their neighbors struck back with a vengeance against the insult- starting shit with the neighbors they don’t like is one thing, forcing the neighbors to go along with insulting their shared deities like that? Didn’t sit well. The region was freed from foreign rule by that war, though it was required to make payments to its neighbors to account some for the resources lost. A few hundred years later the ruling herd collapsed and the region ended divided amongst it’s neighbors, but that’s an entirely different story.

[aquietweirdo]

This is just me rambling and I haven’t seen the Laudna, Orym, Ashton episodes yet. Just been thinking about the gods.

Do you think the gods get scared? When a child is scared they have their parents to protect them. When an adult is scared or fallen on hard times they might cling to their faith for a source of comfort. But who do the gods have to protect them? The gods in Exandria are immensely powerful so they probably don’t run into this issue often. They’ve always been at the top of the food chain. For the longest time their strongest enemies were each other. But because of Ludinus both the prime deities and the betrayer gods are at risk. Idk which would be more terrifying. Realizing you have no one to protect you? Or relying on the fragile beings that you’ve protected to now protect you in turn?

Spoilers for campaign 1 and calamity but how do the gods feel about ascension? From campaign 1 and calamity we can assume that most if not all the gods hate the idea of mortals ascending to godhood. But the only type of ascension we’ve heard of involves a person taking the place of a god and totally erasing the previous one from existence. If there was a way for mortals to ascend to godhood without killing any of the existing gods do you think any of them would welcome it?

Godhood must be an isolating experience. There were roughly 20ish gods, not counting the ones who ascended to their position. Imagine if in this vast world there were only 20 people. Imagine if half of those people hated you and the other half you rarely interacted with at all. I’m sure that the kinder gods “love” their creations the same way someone might love their pet or their newborn child. But how much can you really relate to an animal or a baby? Could there ever be true understanding and connection between a god and a mortal?

The gods in Exandria are far more human then we give them credit for. I’d like to see more of it. Are they really as otherworldly as they present themselves? If they knew about the destruction that would befall them and their creations would they have done anything different?

[i-dreamed-i-had-a-son]

Gems from the second half of S1:

Megatron is trapped and Jack refuses to kill him, so he goes "I will be sure to tell all about our little conversation to Optimus, on the day I extinguish his spark!!" Bro you're literally being crushed by a mountain rn why are you STILL thinking about him

Also the way any time Megatron shows up to fight the Autobots the FIRST word out of his mouth is "Optimus" (with the certain reply "Megatron!")

A doom prophecy has come almost to fruition and Optimus immediately is like "yeah Megatron's gonna think this is all about him"

So he busts into Megatron's ship and CALLS HIM saying "Megatron! I am here, on your ship. Come and face me!!"

...And of course Megatron immediately radios his ship and says "Any Deception who lays a hand on Optimus Prime will answer to me!" 🙄🙄

"Soundwave, lock onto my coordinates--and lead my opponent to his destiny!" ...do I even need to comment?

THEY LITERALLY FINISH EACH OTHER'S SENTENCES!! "One shall stand..." "And one shall fall!" SHUT UPPP

Megatron knocks out literal Satan (Unicron) to save Optimus AGAIN. Deliberately Saving Optimus's Life Counter: 3

And then he dramatically aims his blaster at Optimus--before giving him a hand to help hiM UP I'M CRYING

"I have a proposal" + threat-flirting two inches from each other's face

"You know me all too well, Optimus." Losing my mind

They team up after EONS and they can still do the "long wordless glances that communicate everything"

"You can always be relied upon to listen to reason, Optimus!" Bro at this point I could make a whole post just of the compliments Megatron gives him

Ratchet saying "But with Optimus and Megatron together again--" with his whole chest

They literally fight back to back,,,, they have each other's backs I am sobbing,,,,,,

"Don't you remember, old friend?" + "Our mortal enemies! We're outnumbered--go!" *puts his hand on Optimus's shoulder* "I'll cover you!" MEGATRON I HATE YOU SO MUCH FOR THAT

So I'm fully in a Transformers Prime binge rewatch and holy SMOKES I did not remember how gay this show was. Like obviously Starscream is twinktown central and Knockout is very flamboyant, yes--but Megatron is so obsessed with Optimus (and vice versa) it's not even funny! Here's a compilation of the best moments from *just the first half of S1*:

Megatron returns after who knows how long and one of the first things out of his mouth is "No one rids me of Optimus Prime except me!!"

Megatron "dies" and Optimus is immediately depressed to the point where Ratchet asks about it and unlocks Sad Reminiscing

The Autobots are trying to figure out what the Decepticons are up to and Optimus starts with "Starscream is no Megatron, but--" just say you miss him

Megatron is literally comatose and his coma dream is him and Optimus fighting over and over again. Optimus just keeps respawning. Bro is LITERALLY living in his head rent free

In fact when Bumblebee gets inside Megatron's head Optimus is literally the First Thing he sees

Why is Bee in there? Because Optimus is deathly sick! And one of the only things that rouses Optimus from his nearly catatonic state? Learning Megatron is alive!

Megatron is also the only one who has the knowledge to save him so now they're both on their deathbeds together and their fates are linked etc. etc.

Bumblebee gets the info he needs by telling Megatron that if he doesn't give them the cure, Optimus will die (and Megatron will therefore not get to kill him)

Megatron (who had figured out this was all about Optimus before Bee even told him): "After our deep history together, to NOT watch the spark ebb from his eyes with my very own...well played, Scout." And then he gives him the cure

Starscream is about to kill Optimus and Megatron--as the FIRST thing he does after getting out of his coma--literally knocks him out of the sky, saves Optimus's life (priorities), and completely lets Optimus go. Which brings the Deliberately Saving Optimus's Life count up to 2!

Will add on as the show continues, but this is just like. 14 episodes in. At this point, forget allegations, they've been fully tried and convicted lol

[mk1ps5game]

MK 1: A Masterpiece of Fighting Game Excellence

Mortal Kombat 1 is the most complete package they have ever seen in a fighting game. It is an excellent new chapter for returning fans and a great jumping-on point for new players. In this new golden era of fighting games, where more people are playing them than ever before, Mortal Kombat 1 is exactly what is needed. A fighting game for everyone, and a beautiful reminder of why people play, especially when they're looking to buy PS5 games.

The choreography of each cut-scene battle is straight out of Hollywood, and there are so many. Practically every cut scene is dominated by two iconic figures battling it out using a mix of martial arts and their otherworldly powers and abilities. There are times when they just wanted to watch; they didn't care much for the fighting elements, but that's more a credit to the excellent storytelling and cut-scene work than a disservice to the combat system itself. Accompanying the dark, gritty, and immersive main narrative is the near-perfect execution of just about every storytelling tool one can hope for in a beat ’em-up game. The voice acting is of the highest quality, and the facial animations are among the best seen in a very long time. As I'm watching Shang Tsung's plans come to fruition, I feel his arrogance with every line delivered, every lift of the lip, it's delivered to such a degree that one falls for practically every character, good or bad. Shang Tsung is an evil, smug asshole, and even if you removed every element of audio, the facial expressions alone sell that point. It's like trying to resist the urge to 'buy PS5 games' when you see a tempting sale.

Exploring Mortal Kombat 1: A Tribute to the 3D Era

The fighting itself is a lot of fun, even for an inexperienced layman. They won't lie, they relied almost exclusively on launching across the screen with Liu Kang's flying kicks before uppercutting the opponent into submission, but it never gets old. It's slower and more methodical than other games in the genre, but the brutality and gore on display, one of Mortal Kombat's most iconic elements, is worth the price of admission alone. The Kameo system, one of the game's new features, adds a lot of options on both the defensive and offensive fronts, even for slower players. It allows them to call in an ally to use one of their abilities or aid in one of their combo attacks. With 15 different characters to choose from, they spent several hours in practice trying to find characters that complimented their abilities.

Invasion Mode is the new standout game mode of Mortal Kombat 1, and although it's not quite the Shaolin Monk remake they're looking for, it's a rewarding adventure for those looking to enjoy MK1 outside of the competitive multiplayer components. Invasion Mode takes place over several different Mesas. From the luscious greenery of The Living Forest to the barren wastes of the Tarkatan Colony, each offers players the chance to dive deeper into the areas featured in the main story. It's a board-game-style approach; multiple pathways lead to different areas of the map as they fight their way through near-endless combatants. Each node typically holds a challenge of sorts, including everything from basic fights to the series' popular Test Your Might; it's a strong mix of activities, but at its core, they will be fighting over and over again. They'd usually find themselves suffering some level of fatigue, especially after spending about 6 hours to complete the mode, but the mixing up of environmental effects and enemy types kept it interesting throughout.

Mortal Kombat 1 is a true love letter to the 3D era of the saga. This is the Mortal Kombat 9 of this generation, and it must be valued as such. Although it is not sold as a celebration of legacy.

[edenmemes]

ghost of tsushima starters

❝ promise you’ll remain the good man i know. ❞   ❝ only fools have no fear of death. ❞   ❝ i am very much alive. but my patience is dying. ❞   ❝ i’ll make sure you are remembered. as a great warrior...a wise leader. ❞   ❝ the strength we need is all around us. ❞   ❝ the past cannot hurt you. ❞   ❝ this whole journey, and i never asked your name. ❞   ❝ fear drives you to be stronger. fight harder. ❞ ❝ sometimes...our only choice is to walk away from everything we know ❞ ❝ we do what we must. that is why you and i are both survivors. ❞ ❝ i can do good! i just...need practice. ❞ ❝ may your next life be more peaceful than this one. ❞ ❝ i knew it was too good to be true. ❞ ❝ i'll see what i can do. but if you’re lying to me... ❞ ❝ you’re too comfortable with that power. ❞ ❝ don’t ever try to kill me again. ❞ ❝ turn your back on a foe...and you will die with a sword stuck in it. ❞ ❝ youre not slipping away that easily. ❞ ❝ just stay closed. keep your sword sheathed. and let me do the talking. ❞ ❝ the things i saw still haunt my nightmares. ❞ ❝ i dont even know if you're real. ❞ ❝ victories don’t have to feel good. ❞   ❝ killing your own family...it’s harder than you could ever imagine. ❞   ❝ it’s safer for everyone if i just disappear. ❞   ❝ next time, leave some glory for the rest of us. ❞   ❝ peace doesn’t always come quietly. ❞   ❝ some people respond to kindness. others require a glimpse of steel. ❞ ❝ i am nothing if not honest. ❞ ❝ stop using people, and start thinking about how you can help them. ❞ ❝ you’ve had your vengeance. don’t stand in the way of mine. ❞ ❝ you don’t have to do it alone. ❞ ❝ not all words need to be spoken. ❞   ❝ there is time yet for revenge. i will savour their cries of pain when that time comes. ❞ ❝ i have learned to love the cool, damp dark. ❞ ❝ the last thing i saw was faces filled with hatred, rage... ❞ ❝ you didn’t think you'd get rid of me that easily, did you? ❞ ❝ we will celebrate when this is all over. ❞ ❝ what’s wrong with you? one moment we stand shoulder-to-shoulder, the next you’re ready to cross blades. ❞ ❝ a warrior learns from their mistakes, or they are buried by them. ❞ ❝ remember your training...and never leave my side. ❞ ❝ well...i guess this is goodbye. ❞ ❝ your visions will grow worse, driving you to madness and death. ❞ ❝ i can only pretend for so much longer. i’m not like these people and never will be. ❞ ❝ i loved you all my life, but i could never work up the courage to tell you. ❞ ❝ the proud do not last, and the mightiest of us perish like dust before the wind. ❞ ❝ you’re a vision of mercy. ❞ ❝ not bad, but only half-good. ❞ ❝ we make a good team, don’t we? ❞ ❝ an archer’s aim relies not on eyes...but on body, mind, and spirit. ❞ ❝ this is my fight. i don’t need your weapon. ❞ ❝ being right doesn’t always make things better. ❞ ❝ there is nothing easier than to prey upon the vanity of ambitious men. ❞ ❝ you weren’t looking so good. i let you rest. ❞ ❝ your intentions this time were...better than usual. ❞ ❝ what are you not telling me? ❞ ❝ trouble sticks to you like shit on rice. ❞ ❝ it’s strange being back after so many years...everywhere i look brings back memories. ❞ ❝ only a child expects perfection of their elders. ❞ ❝ when this is all over, what will you do? ❞ ❝ you are ruled by your emotion. ❞ ❝ is this how you want to be remembered? ❞ ❝ perhaps great men share all the aspects of their lessers, but more. great wisdom, but even greater cruelty. ❞ ❝ i cannot imagine the burden a leader like you must bear. ❞ ❝ our greatest enemies are the greatest teachers. ❞ ❝ death’s shadow embraces me. hand in hand we walk. ❞ ❝ breathe. you can’t fight if you hold your breath. ❞ ❝ i know you well enough by now, my friend. ❞ ❝ i can’t go back...to what i was. before this. ❞ ❝ i hope you one day forgive me for the choice i made. ❞ ❝ the wounds you dealt my spirit will never heal. ❞ ❝ why did you turn away from me? ❞ ❝ if you can keep moving forward, so can i. ❞ ❝ it’s a bad idea to sneak up on me. ❞ ❝ promise me something. don’t become like me. ❞ ❝ let me undo the damage i’ve done. ❞ ❝ ...and you want me to clean up your mess. ❞ ❝ the path ahead may take a lifetime, but i will walk it with you. always. ❞ ❝ whatever you believe i’ve become, i will always be your family. ❞ ❝ i wouldn’t be here without you. ❞ ❝ i’ll hunt you past the horizon if i must. ❞ ❝ can i count on you to do what needs to be done? ❞ ❝ that’s over now. you’re here. with me. ❞ ❝ i thought i’d lost you, i should’ve known you’d never give up. ❞ ❝ you can’t continue down this path. ❞ ❝ be careful. demons are everywhere and they fear nothing. ❞ ❝ corpses can’t answer questions. ❞ ❝ you deserve greater respect than this. ❞ ❝ it’s just like the stories my father told me. ❞ ❝ what you become tomorrow is your choice. ❞ ❝ just ask the last man who questioned my sincerity. you’ll find his head covered in flies out back. ❞ ❝ you shouldn’t have lied. i still would have helped you. ❞ ❝ we came this far. we’re not turning back now. ❞ ❝ how do we survive if we don’t trust each other? ❞ ❝ without my help, the fear and pain will overwhelm you. ❞ ❝ whatever happens, we don’t retreat. ❞ ❝ the stories are true. i’ve never seen anyone fight like you. ❞ ❝ see how the enemy fear you? you are a true warrior. ❞ ❝ you want to share a drink...with me? ❞ ❝ maybe you should’ve just ran away. like you always do. ❞ ❝ good people have nothing to fear from me. ❞ ❝ your promises are just like you. worthless. ❞ ❝ as you wish, since you asked so sweetly. ❞ ❝ i know better than to argue. ❞ ❝ i hope i can find quiet places like this one, untouched by war. ❞ ❝ we grew up together, but you threw it all away. ❞ ❝ it was so chaotic. i felt you grip my wrist and then nothing. ❞ ❝ desperation can bring out the demon in the best of men. ❞ ❝ i don’t want to leave without you, but...i can’t stay. i hope you understand. ❞ ❝ a grown man, and you still can barely sit still. ❞ ❝ and i heard you had no sense of humor! ❞ ❝ knowing and doing are different. ❞ ❝ trouble follows me everywhere. ❞ ❝ indulging violence weakens the warrior...like too much food or drink. ❞ ❝ i can always tell when you want to ask me something. out with it. ❞ ❝ i am proud to fight beside you. ❞ ❝ i didn’t nurse you back to health to watch you throw your life away. ❞ ❝ all i want...all i need is to start a new life. ❞ ❝ look twice and shoot once. ❞ ❝ i think they’re afraid of you. you can be...intimidating.. ❞ ❝ you don’t even try to hear me. it’s like talking to a stone. ❞ ❝ so you try to kill me? have you lost your mind? ❞ ❝ you’ve sacrificed everything. for revenge. ❞ ❝ we can’t let anger consume us. or blind us to our friends. ❞ ❝ there is only one way this ends. ❞ ❝ i gave you everything. and you threw it away. ❞ ❝ do not question my integrity again. ❞ ❝ your father would be proud. ❞ ❝ the worst one can do is take advantage of their own people. ❞ ❝ you follow trouble. you should ask yourself why.  ❞ ❝ some of my favourite memories happened at this place. ❞ ❝ i told you this was a bad idea! ❞ ❝ keep fighting. we need people like you. ❞ ❝ are you the one who finally kills me? ❞ ❝ a warrior’s most important weapon is themself. lose control, and you risk defeat. ❞ ❝ first, get some rest. this is killing you. ❞ ❝ see that? i told you. there’s always hope. ❞ ❝ i hope the skills i gained through hardship can be of use to the people here. ❞ ❝ you have skill...but you nearly died rushing into battle. ❞ ❝ in the midst of battle, true leaders must stay rooted, stand firm. ❞ ❝ every time i get in a mess like this, i’m as scared as the time before. ❞ ❝ don’t be the next to disappoint me. ❞ ❝ save what we can, but know that everything passes away. ❞ ❝ i hope you understand, this is just a job. ❞ ❝ that’s a sad way to look at the world. ❞ ❝ seeing you like that...i’m still shaken up. ❞ ❝ sit with me a moment. ❞ ❝ doubt and indecision have destroyed armies. ❞ ❝ it’s so painful to...see you weighed down by sadness. ❞ ❝ on the slim chance some good comes of this...lead the way. ❞ ❝ you fought well, but we’re finished. ❞ ❝ the warrior’s mind is quiet but alive, like rustling bamboo. ❞ ❝ i’ve trained with a blade since i could walk. ❞ ❝ the visions...they’re still happening. ❞ ❝ in our world, being intimidating isn’t a bad thing. ❞ ❝ you have a talent. it’s time you use it, for the sake of our land. ❞ ❝ i've tried to teach you all i know...but you act more like a poet than a warrior. ❞ ❝ your path leads to madness and death. ❞ ❝ that’s twice you saved my life. ❞ ❝ these people stay because they believe in you. ❞ ❝ i didn’t choose this life. it was my only option. ❞ ❝ you came at me like i was your mortal enemy. almost broke my arm! ❞ ❝ i could use your help...in the fight ahead. ❞ ❝ you can be a little rough, but you have a good heart. ❞ ❝ i don’t want to kill you, stop! ❞ ❝ what’s wrong? afraid i’ll get more famous than you? ❞ ❝ war brings out who we truly are. ❞ ❝ take care where you place your faith. ❞ ❝ you seem lost in thought. ❞ ❝ i was getting tired of waiting for you. ❞ ❝ without my wisdom, you will lose your soul to madness. ❞ ❝ peace is an unattainable dream...but a dream worth fighting for. ❞ ❝ i’ve killed a thousand men. every death was sweet. ❞ ❝ what is the point of prayer when we are doomed? ❞ ❝ you’re like your father in more ways than you know. ❞ ❝ if you want my respect, earn it. ❞ ❝ and how many wars have you fought? ❞ ❝ you’re quite the butcher with that sword. ❞ ❝ people who sow chaos must be punished. ❞ ❝ i can’t help but wonder if you enjoy the violence. ❞ ❝ i kill only to protect our people. i think about that every time i reach for my sword. ❞ ❝ i'm sorry if my lack of skill offends. ❞ ❝ it’s the first time in days i haven’t felt like i was about to die. ❞ ❝ you fought like an animal...or a demon! ❞ ❝ there’s nothing more painful to me than a perfect bow...ineptly used. ❞ ❝ victory is won by warriors, not weapons. ❞ ❝ i couldn’t leave you to die. ❞ ❝ i made my choices. even knowing what they’ve cost me, i’d make them again. ❞ ❝ when’s the last time you slept or ate? ❞ ❝ you don’t get to give up. this land needs you. ❞ ❝ oh you pretend we are different, but we fight for the same thing. ❞ ❝ there are still places of beauty to remind us of what truly matters. ❞ ❝ true mastery begins where individual ego ends. ❞ ❝ a warrior faces danger with courage and resolve. this is how they endure. ❞ ❝ those stories...they're not entirely true. ❞ ❝ even the youngest warrior needs a full belly and a rested sword-arm. ❞ ❝ bad men are good at hiding their true natures. ❞ ❝ there is nothing left for me here. my hope is lost. ❞ ❝ i did what i had to. for you. ❞ ❝ forgive my manners. i spent all my time alone. ❞ ❝ is that any way to greet a visitor? ❞ ❝ if you continue down this path...you’ll be no better than the enemy. ❞ ❝ i am grateful for the times we share...but, i always want more. ❞ ❝ you lived your life in a castle. it made you soft. ❞ ❝ i used to know what i fought for... ❞ ❝ face them as a warrior with honour. not a monster. ❞ ❝ i don’t take lives, but i am not a coward. ❞ ❝ i wonder if i’ve crossed a line. ❞ ❝ you can’t expect everyone to understand what you’re doing, or why. ❞ ❝ your methods were brutal...impulsive...without honour. ❞ ❝ there’s plenty to fear without worrying about folktales. ❞ ❝ i hope you’ll find peace again soon. ❞ ❝ you do what you need to survive. and yet you despise others for doing the same. ❞ ❝ is that your excuse? your reason to kill? ❞ ❝ we have to keep pushing. even if it costs us our lives. ❞ ❝ cowards without honour deserve no mercy. ❞ ❝ i’ll fight beside you until the end. ❞ ❝ whatever happens, your forgiveness won’t change who i am. ❞ ❝ why should we settle for scraps when we deserve to be legends? ❞ ❝ only cowards strike from the shadows. ❞ ❝ the proud do not endure. the greatest of us fall in the end. ❞ ❝ perhaps some good will come of this. ❞   ❝ you will see nothing but death to the end of your days. ❞ ❝ legacy is more than a name. ❞ ❝ im sorry. i know what it means to lose family. ❞ ❝ one day we'll escape the endless wheel of suffering. ❞ ❝ is that a 'thank you'? ❞ ❝ i know what it means to be hunted. ❞ ❝ you personify fury and regret. ❞ ❝ that's all right. i want to hear you dig your own grave. ❞ ❝ either way, we’ve got nothing to lose. ❞ ❝ i’ve done what i can. the rest is up to you. ❞ ❝ forgive me, but you look fatigued. have you endured much hardship? ❞    ❝ i hope you find true honour in your next life. ❞ ❝ you deserve nothing less than death. ❞ ❝ this is foolish. surrender, and you can live. ❞ ❝ i too have pride in family. and i know what it’s like to live in their shadow. ❞ ❝ you were gone so long, i knew you were in trouble. ❞ ❝ so many of us here owe you our lives. ❞ ❝ what's wrong? what did they do to you? ❞   ❝ you’re lucky to be alive. ❞ ❝ i know your language. your traditions. your beliefs. which village to tame and which to burn. ❞   ❝ i cannot lose you again. ❞   ❝ i don’t seek revenge. but i will fight for peace. ❞   ❝ we will meet again soon. until then...travel safely. ❞   ❝ this is war --- not a test. ❞ ❝ we can save our home together. it doesn’t have to be like this. ❞ ❝ fear is a weapon. don’t let them use it against you. ❞

[faeriekit]

For DP persons: this makes reference to canon DC lore. I still haven’t seen this arc, so...something something something someone takes on the job to infiltrate evil org, fake betraying people all the way. People die for fake. People die for real? The JL uses the kids as their covert ops team, as usual, but this one goes south real quick.

For everyone else: last chapter.

*

Missions come. Missions—

There’s a mole. Someone here is a liar. There’s a mole, and it could be anyone—

People vanish. Kaldur’s mind gets wiped. M’gann wiped Kaldur’s mind to the point of instability, because he was the mole, except no he wasn’t, it was all a plan on behalf of the larger league to get a man inside an enemy organization. One with Luthor funding it. And none of the team—none of their covert ops team could be trusted with knowledge on the plan. Apparently.

They were skilled enough to be covert ops but not enough to be in on the wider operation—one clearly known to the Justice League members who designed this plot. Their team was sliced down the middle by hands not their own, by people they should have been able to trust, and following orders pit them against each other when they could have been on the same side—

Conner is so tired.

The fight is over, and he’s not any less tired. He kind of just wants to. Sit here. On his bed.

Conner came back to the base for his team. Conner has been here, for his team, on this bed, returning to spend weeknights in the base to support his best friends only friends comrades in arms in their battles.

And yet. Snapping them apart was so easy.

Anyone could do it, apparently. Even his teammates. They’re all just kids, some more than others—and what has been the point of it all? Training them? Using them?

Conner…tries not to be as hasty as he used to be. Tries not to do things out of anger. But the more he sits here, thinking about how easy it was to shatter the last of his mortal connection like prop glass...

…The more Conner envies his sister.

Well.

What does Conner owe his loyalty to, anyway?

Conner’s relied on the League for housing, for clothing, for schooling and for training, all because he was born in a tube. But now he has a family waiting for him outside of this base that used to be his only domain, and the world outside is beckoning to him. The teammates he stayed for are loyal to their mentors, but they’re his teammates’ family. Their parents, their relatives, their legacy-originators. All Conner has stayed for is his team and the work. Conner wants to help the world, and he wants wants wants to be good and to rescue people, but does he have to do it here?

There’s a world outside of the league.

Has Conner really even gotten an apology? Sure, things are better now, but sweeping things under the rug isn’t exactly making amends. The blood blossoms are gone. So what? Superman got a time out. So what? Nothing was designed to hurt him, he gets that. Fine. But isn’t there something better than just fixing the problem as if nothing ever happened?

Is there?

This is something to ask Aunt Jazz. Or a therapist. Maybe he should actually ask her to get him a therapist, for once.

But why is he here?

…That’s a great question. Maybe Conner can find the answer to that. Somewhere else.

The thought is barely formed in his head before Conner finds himself reaching for his school bag, dumping all the crap in it on the floor. He has a feeling he’s going to have to transfer schools illegally rather than legally, but if he needs to have Conner Fenton enrolled in some public school with paper records somewhere, maybe his stepmother will be kind enough to do a little overshadowing somewhere.

Conner dumps her dead things and his fathers’ video games into his school bag. There’s a duffle in the closet Conner’s never used, and his space-themed sheets and some spare clothing fit in there. Nothing with the ‘S’ logo, of course.

His hands are shaking. Conner feels giddy. Is that normal? To feel giddy and sick and anxious and thrilled all at once? The adrenaline is killing him.

So maybe he’s feeling a little dramatic. Conner’s got his backpack on but he hurls his duffle through the window, jumping intangible through the wall to catch it midair.

Superman didn’t teach Conner to fly. Dani did.

His league communicator is always on his belt. Conner crushes it in his fist.

His stepparents and father always seem to know how to get in touch with him no matter what, so Conner shoots a quick ‘bye, see you if the world ends’ text to Martian Manhunter and Black Canary and crushes his cheap cell too.

Conner is midair, light as a feather and ready to go. He takes both hands on his duffle, turns invisible, and figures that today is the day to find out how fast he can go.

He’s never flown so far so fast. He feels like he’s racing his father in the vast emptiness of the Zone.

It takes a few hours of invisible flight, but Conner finds Danielle in a 24/7 internet café in Japan. When he makes his presence known to mortals again, he finds that she’s playing Doomed with their stepfather, even hundreds of miles away from his apartment in Gotham.

“Conner!” Danielle greets with a grin. His sister is never anything but delighted to see him. Her blue eyes are so bright. “I thought you would be busy! How are you? You alright?”

Conner is alright. Conner is more than alright.

“Do you mind having company for a couple days? I want to try the traveling thing out before I crash on Aunt Jazz’s couch.”

“Of course!” Dani beams. “Is this…it? Are you home for good?”

Conner has no idea. “I don’t know, but...I want to try it first.”

The relief on Dani’s face outmatches her joy. “Good. I’m really glad to hear that, Con. Now, c’mere; we can get a second controller for the PC at the desk.”

Superboy might never have been wanted by anyone but the megalomaniac billionaire that cooked him up in a test tube, but in the end, the Phantoms are exactly where they want to be.

That will always be what matters most.

*

The End

I saw one of your Short DPXDC Prompts and was inspired by this….

I understand that cloning a Kryptonian was not easy for Luthor's people, so they added human DNA…

but I remember that it has been mentioned in some places that treatments/conditions are needed to mix the DNA of the two species and that they are mostly only accessible in Superman's fortress…

So I got to this madness…Somehow, (possibly GIW or even Vlad) Danny's ectoplasm gets to Luthor Corp. and some scientist had the bright idea to use it as a stabilizer, it wasn't enough to stabilize a Kryptonian Clone, but for a Human/Kryptonian hybrid. ..

And of course, nobody knew that said chemical substance was DNA of the new King of the Infinite Realms…

Mikami your MIND-

This is just beautiful. What would that make Connor? 1/4 ghost? 1/8th ghost? Idk but using halfa DNA to bind the two different species DNA together is SO GOOD dude.

Looks like Connor has another Dad and he’ll do anything to find him and get some answers

[syven-siren]

Penance

Summary: There is a balance between pain and pleasure, between life and death. Michael loves that you willingly walk that line with him. But when you both veer off into the harsh darkness, it is you that brings everything back into focus.

Warnings: 18+ / Smut / Corruption Kink / Breath Play / Accidental Suffering / Hurt & Comfort

Forgiveness is a fickle thing. Elusive, yet frequently desired. Always needed but rarely gained. If there is one thing Michael was certain of before this point, never would he seek forgiveness. It is for the weak-willed, those that don’t have the strength to step on and over the bodies of their allies and enemies. It’s designed for those that hold hope close and humanity even closer.

No, forgiveness is not for Michael.

Power, on the other hand, was something he craves desperately. Much like the oxygen he relies on to keep his mortal body alive, it is the required element that he can not live without. He was born of it: the obsidian rage. And can now feel it vibrating, almost with an aching rattle, in his bones.

More and more he yearns for it. He finds tethers of it in the fear washing over those at Hawthorne. Michael finds that power looms heavy in the eyes of the waning Supreme and it drips from her word. Though she does her best to use it, each time they meet, it flows from her and seeps into his every pore. It’s everywhere he looks and he salivates over it like a rabid beast after its next meal.

“Michael.”

And even you, the sacrificial lamb before him, offer a source to the power that he seeks. Your moans and pleas spark desire, causing his nerves to crackle with electricity. The pain of your nails breaking the skin of his forearms as he pounds into you leaves him in exhilaration.

He’s dipped his cock into your fountain of power frequently and each time he becomes bathed in the liquid of your innocence. Soon that pool will be tainted completely, becoming a power of a different way. And for that, he waits in excited anticipation.

His fingers trace along the angles of your shoulders, slipping over the joints and following the muscles leading up to your throat. The back of your head presses into the mattress, tipping your chin upward, and exposing more of your neck to him. So open and vulnerable you are beneath him. You offer him more power, more control than any one person should have.

“Would you give up anything for me, (Y/N)?”

The pads of his fingers dip into the column of your throat. Just as quickly as his hand found a home there, it disappears. It is a test of your willingness, of your obedience. You purr in desperation, an attempt to draw him back.

“Yes.”

Michael stutters out a pleased groan when your hips roll back in time to meet his thrusts. How your back arches is sinful. Your movement provides a glimpse of your future endeavors, the ones where you have finally given in, body, mind, and soul, to the darkness. You may be washed clean of sin, but Michael knows for certain that the corruption of you won’t take long.

He rocks back onto his knees and then drives forward, making your back arch again at the harsh pleasure. Each thrust of his cock pulls at the hot cords coiling in your lower belly. The large hand settled on your throat begins to cut off your air supply. Your lungs constrict and the muscles of your chest jerk with your desperate attempts to suck in air.

The forward snap of his hips coincides with the flexion of his fingers. The pressure he applies continuously deepens.

In. Squeeze. Out.  

There’s no relief and a heavy fog begins to close in on your mind. Michael watches as your pupils dilate; only a thin ring of color visible. Leaning down, his soft lips find your own, successfully sealing off any chance of oxygen sneaking through.

In. Harder. Out.

Your pussy flutters around his cock, squeezing him just as his hand does to your neck. It forces a satisfied chuckle from Michael and in playful retaliation, your airway is pinched off to the point of bruising. The cartilage and soft spongy tissues grate against each other with forceful friction.  

Michael watches with peaked fascination as your mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. Pride wells somewhere in the darkness of his heart. Willingly, you have put your pleasure, your pain, your life into the hands of the devil’s kin. His cock twitches within you. The thought of owning your life makes the beast within him snarl and snap for release.

Mer...

A jumbled whisper sounds in the distance. It’s soft and low, too difficult to understand over the sounds of sex and the thundering of his heartbeat in his ears.

...cy.

He breaks his concentration to listen closer but finds the word is echoing in his mind. It’s spoken only to him.

Mercy. Michael, please. Mercy.

It is you reaching out, forcing your way into his mind. His body pauses, stopping mid-stroke, and observes your features. Your eyelids are slid shut, lips slightly parted with a tinge of blue around the outer edges, and your fingers once anchored to his body lay limply at your sides.

“Fuck! (Y/N)!”

A rushing train of panic barrels into him and seizes control of his body. Your name spills from his lips with frantic pleas. Smooth hands cup your jaw with a softness that strikingly contrasts their previous hold.

The room grows eerily still, only his rushed panting and your rasped breathing fill the space.

“Mi..Michael,” you smile at him. Like the gentle creature you are, you hold no animosity for him. Instead, you cradle him close to your chest as your hand smooths over the expanse of his back. Shudders escape his spine and snake along the entirety of his body. His lips move against your sternum, forming words that don’t reach your ears until he picks his head to stare you in the eyes.

“(Y/N), forgive me.”  

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Requested by Anon: “...if you don’t mind doing the innocent reader x corrupt kink with Micheal Langdon, she had to use the safe word on him…”