#but pocket dimension type wings that only appear when the person wants them to

[highabovethecloudssomewhere]

too close to the sun

[birdsareblooming]

Infinite is connected to Solaris

This is gonna be a long one, strap in.

Infinite, Infinite, Infinite. The most recent in-game villain, and the most powerful in recent history as well. Despite being only around 3 years old, he’s become extremely popular. and half of that is because of the song.

Mephiles, Iblis, and Solaris. Villains over 10 years old that haven’t been used since their original game appearance in Sonic the Hedgehog (2006)

Or... have they?

Now I want to say before all of this, this all could be coincidences, me being delusional, or something otherwise. It is ONLY a theory, but for something as crazy as I’m claiming I need to preface with this for my own sanity. 

But i’m gonna cut the bullshit. You’re here to see how I am going to bs my way to saying that Infinite the Jackal is connected to a dead god from what is regarded as the worst Sonic game. 

And, like most of these, I need to start with some house cleaning, some things you need to understand.

1. Time Eater is Mephiles

You might have seen me meme about this before...

...But yeah that’s exactly the situation.

I had theorized this before I knew Ian Flynn thought the same thing. Their identical color-schemes, almost identical aesthetic, and completely identical power-set. 

Even the name Time-Eater, that was Mephiles, and Solaris’s goal. To eat time. 

2. Ifrit is Iblis

Now i’m going to assume you have two questions

If Time Eater is Mephiles, than where’s his counterpart, Iblis?

Who the fuck is Ifrit

Long and Short, 

But, more importantly, 

Ifrit is what caused Silver’s Future post Sonic 06.

Ifirit was their retcon for keeping Silver’s future the way it is (even though they defeat it at the end of sonic rivals 2, causing the future to not be that way, hence why Silver was 3 conflicting backstories. Thanks guys.)

So, when it comes to fire demon that destroys the world and causes the future that Silver the hedgehog lives in, that’s a good amount of evidence already, especially with the preface that Mephiles is alive in the form of Time-Eater. If Mephiles was reborn, why wouldn’t also Iblis? and Ifirit is so uncannily similar theres no other candidate. 

also, might I add:

(thanks @zorloser​)

For you who don’t know, Ifrit’s story ended being re-trapped in it’s pocket dimension with Eggman Nega. 

3. The Phantom Ruby

The Phantom Ruby... Oh, the Phantom Ruby.

A very new addition to Sonic, and yet very important. It was the leading mcguffin of two games, and is made out to be very powerful. 

yes I know that’s a lot up there, but you need to understand the Phantom Ruby to fully understand this theory. 

It’s also very important that Eggman didn’t create the Phantom Ruby as he claims. He created Infinite, not the stone attached to him. Despite there being prototypes, which does confuse me, but from what info we’re given from the wiki the Phantom Ruby seems to have come from Classic Sonic’s universe, even retreating there after the events of Forces. This is also confirmed in Episode Shadow:

Although, Eggman did name it, seemingly on a whim.

~Tangent Time~

Despite being CALLED a Ruby by Eggman, the Phantom Ruby doesn't LOOK like a ruby, despite being magenta.

Rubies CAN be dark even to the point of being Black, but never connected. They’re usually just one shade.

(And don’t you dare say “The chaos emeralds don’t look like emeralds bc they’re not green. They’re all TECHNICALLY emeralds, they’re part of the beryl family, and even if only green beryls are called emeralds, they are all the exact shades of beryl.)

But what the Phantom Ruby DOES look like, is obsidian. 

note this for later.

4. Infinite

For those who don’t fully know Infinite’s backstory, it’s expanded upon on the wiki and Rise of Infinite 

Now that we’re all on the same page, lets continue to him now. 

Lovingly referred to as the “Masked Clown.” Infinite goes about the entirety of Sonic Forces revealing nothing of himself, the only things we know about him are from Episode Shadow and Rise of Infinite. We don’t even see his real face in-game. 

Although we have enough to know that his personality changed post Phantom Ruby, it’s even mentioned on the Wiki. Although how much of that change was spurred on by being beat up by a 15 year old, we’ll probably never know. 

Although his goal has always been the same. Starting the planet over as a desolate wasteland. What a fun dude to be around. Probably the life of the party.

5. Connections

(i’m using Mephiles and Time-Eater intermittently, same with Iblis and Ifrit.) 

Alright, now we’re all on the same page. Let’s move on.

I’m going to play a game we’ve played before. I’m going to name something about Infinite or the Phantom Ruby, and add something that’s eerily simmilar to Solaris (Mephiles + Iblis)

All of this Info can be found on the Sonic Wiki

Phantom Ruby: -It is an interdimensional gemstone of incredible power- Ifrit: It is an interdimensional, demonic fire-creature of incredible power- (wow those are, the same description huh)

Infinite: -After Infinite's fusion with the finalized Phantom Ruby prototype, he acquired the ability to generate, destroy, and manipulate virtual realities, which he could turn into virtual reality projections to interact with reality.[32] Said virtual realities are illusions, which Infinite creates by exercising control of one's visual and depth perception by feeding the brain false information- Ifrit: -Described as capable of binding one's soul, the Ifrit can enslave others with powerful mind control powers.- -Ifrit, which manages to use some kind of mind control on Sonic and/or Tails (or Knuckles and/or Rouge, depending on which team the player is controlling), but is defeated by the other teams, and is destroyed.-

Infinite: -Infinite's newfound strength proved so great that he was able to effortlessly defeat figures like E-123 Omega and Silver the Hedgehog, and ultimately best even Sonic the Hedgehog twice. He was even able to single-handedly overwhelm the entire Resistance army during Operation Big Wave. His power was such that not even the Miles Electric was able to give an accurate reading of his capabilities.[31] Time Eater: -the Time Eater has demonstrated immense super strength; even in its incomplete form, it easily knocked Modern Sonic and Classic Sonic unconscious with a single hit. After being completed, the Time Eater was able to effortlessly repel both Classic and Modern Sonic's and knock them out using brute force alone-

Phantom Ruby:  Its powers can also warp the fabric of space-time,[1] allowing it to create pocket dimensions such as Egg Reverie Zone and Null Space, as well as teleport entities from place to place. When used alongside the Chaos Emeralds' time-space powers, it transported Classic Sonic and itself to another dimension, and later sucked Dr. Eggman into a rift- Time Eater: Its signature skill however, is creating "Time Holes",[8] spacial rifts that lead to any point across time and space, including alternate timelines and across different dimensions.

Infinite: When everything you know has come and gone (You are at your lowest, I am rising higher) Only scars remain of who I was (What I find in the ashes, you lose in the fire) When there's no one left to carry on (This is an illusion, open up your eyes and...) This pain persists, I can't resist But that's what it takes to be infinite Solaris: -Much like his two halves, Iblis and Mephiles, Solaris is immortal and virtually indestructible.- -As a transcendent life form, Solaris possesses a unique state of existence that lets him exist in the past, present and future simultaneously, making him omnipresent throughout time and virtually impossible to defeat unless he is attacked simultaneously in all eras-

Possible reach:

Phantom Ruby:

Solaris:

(I’m refering to the odd red-stone in the middle, also that the wings somewhat resemble Infinite’s sword.)

~Tangent Time~

remember the first tangent? Where I meantioned that the Phantom “Ruby” looked more like obsidian than a ruby?

Well someone else looks like a certain type of obsidian, Snowflake Obsidian to be exact:

Alright Reaching time over. 

Now you might have noticed that the Ifrit-Infinite connections seemed to fit just a bit more-Maybe it was just me- even down to the Phantom Ruby and Ifrit’s OPENING DESCRIPTION being almost copy/paste, which i’m still amazed at.

This get’s to the next part of my theory.

6. Where are they (Mephiles/Iblis) now?

Welcome to~ where are they now!

Mephiles, or Time-Eater, So far is undocumented. It’s said they were “Destoryed” at the end of Sonic Generations, but for all we know it was just the machine additions, and Mephiles was “destoryed” over 10 years ago and he started kicking again.

Iblis, or Ifrit, was locked in it’s own pocket dimention along with Nega, and hasn’t been seen since...or have they?

haha that’s a callback! Do you remember the beginning of this post or is it too mindbogglingly long for your brain to comprehend in one sitting? 

7. The Phantom Ruby is Iblis/Ifrit

let’s talk about the power set of the Phantom Ruby. Interdimentional, very powerful, capable of some kind of mind fuckery.

Ifrit is, Interdimentional, very powerful, capable of some kind of mind fuckery, immortal and is constantly on fire,

You may be wondering about this “Fire” thing. “Solaris was a sun god and infinite has no connection-” WRONG! 

sorry that was forceful.

Infinite used a very specific and strange method to destroy the planet. He made an illusion of the sun, and set it on the planet. Out of all the methods, and interesting choice to be sure. But not for a sun god.

also: “What I find in the ashes, you lose in the fire”

“What are you saying you dumb bitch?” You might be thinking. First of all, rude, second of all, I’m saying that the power inside the Phantom Ruby IS Iblis/Ifrit, hence their connection.

Before I get to timeline and other stuff, some minor things:

The decision to have Infinite take on specifically Silver, and showing Silver being able to withstand a fight against him for a good amount of time, as well as giving them a minor repertoire, which no other seemingly “unconnected” Resistance Fighters get. 

the name “Infinite” fitting the naming scheme if “Iblis and Ifrit” and you know how this franchise is about naming schemes.

Now, where we last left Ifrit he was trapped in a pocket dimension with Nega. 

Where we first find the Phantom Ruby is “In Sonic Mania, the Phantom Ruby appeared on Angel Island after a dimensional breach occurred in the atmosphere.” (via sonic wiki)

Now, it is kinda hard to connect those two lines, but the dimensional causation is there. 

(I could add an ENTIRE subsection of me trying to connected Mephiles to the time-traveling nature of Little Planet, therefore connecting Solaris to Classic Sonic’s world ((and “fun is infinite)) but this theory doesn’t need to be any longer and I cannot physically do any more research.) 

it’s possible Ifrit would be trapped, Mephiles was trapped in the Scepter of Darkness, so it’s more possible than impossible. 

But, Imma be fully honest with you guys, Most of this is because of the song.

If you haven’t heard “Infinite”, What is wrong with you. Go listen to it. Oh my god. 

But, some of the lyrics, don’t totally make sense knowing Infinite’s backstory. But it makes more sense seeing through the lens of the added Ifrit influence.

“And after all this time you're back for more“ (If talking about Shadow, it wasn’t a “long time” inbetween Infinite’s defeat and his rise. And Infinite has no stated relationship with Sonic. However, Solaris and subsequently, Iblis, do.) “When everything you know has come and gone“ “But that's what it takes to be infinite“

Even the name “Infinite.”

He chose that name after fusing to the Phantom Ruby and “ABAndoNiNg hIS pAsT SeLf” 

But, the Phantom Ruby has no connotations of immortality. None specified. it’s possible it’s power could be used to trick the user into immortality, but it’s never specified. You’d think he’d be called “Phantom” or, even, “Zero” (his working-and possibly true-name) But no. Infinite.

Now, think back to the connections earlier, and the info I took from Solaris’s wiki.

“Omnipresent throughout time and space”

Sounds pretty “Infinite” to me.

Am I saying Infinite is the new Iblis Trigger? Yes.

Ok my fingers hurt from writing this sorry it’s so long 

bye

[zlatadelion]

Winx Club Witch OC - Adrienne Fogos 🌈💗

Name: Adrienne Fogos.

Nicknames/alias: Addie, Adri, Ren, Adriana, Rainbow.

Age: 16.

Birthday: March 17th.

Affiliation: Cloud Tower.

Origin: Domino.

Astrological Sign: Phoenix | Pisces.

Species: Witch.

Powers: Fireworks 🎇🎆

Likes: Fireworks. Her friends. Reading books of spells, learning the planets and histories of Magix. Feeling quiet and calm. The sense of achievement that hard work gives her, she isn't afraid of manual labour.

Dislikes: Aggression, fights, or having to fight. Being scared of something (which she is 85% the time). Girls who are horrible to other girls for no reason. Boys who tease. Losing the book she was reading. Worst for her is feeling alone and helpless.

Dream: Read all books in the Magic Universe.

Appearance: Light skin tone, tall and slender frame, long and straight brown hair with blond streaks, blue eyes. Adrienne often clips her front hair streaks on the back of her head, so they won’t be disturbing her. She also wears coral lipstick and white eyeshadow. Her attire consists of a white shirt with opened shoulders combined with raffles and colorful stripes all along it + Blue jeans with pockets. Her shoes are white sneakers on wide heels. Accessories: golden choker with pearls, large white sleeves with golden raffles, the buffs are bound to her wrists by brown pearls, light blue belt - every accessory sparkles.

Personality: Adrienne is naturally hard-working and wishes to discover all secrets and mysteries that Cloud Tower holds. She is not super-intelligent but she is studious and loves to read anything and everything. Once she understands something she doesn't forget easily. She is questioning and curious about all sorts of things, which can get her in trouble. She tries to be tactful and honest at all times as she doesn't like to get in trouble. When it comes to other people Adrienne can be different, depending on how she's feeling, although she is still at heart that timid girl and always strives to be polite. Back at home she felt intimidated by everything and stayed away from people. Once she gets to Cloud Tower, she chooses to make a change and tries her hardest to make friends. So far she has been delighted to find the girls there, that are so friendly and kind. She forms a strong, loyal attachment to her closest friends after not having any for so long. She is afraid of a lot of things but has learnt to hide her fear, mostly. If someone does wrong by her, she won't forget it for a long time, but she has a tendency to get sad instead of angry over things. She's not a total doormat and does have a stubborn streak somewhere, but when someone starts pushing her around, Adrienne is the type of girl to quietly disappear rather than begin pushing back.

History: Adrienne was always a very timid, needy child and all she wanted was her mother to love her. Unfortunately her mother had never been able to respond to other people's emotions and the reason is unknown to her, yet she still seeks to discover. Adrienne somehow got the idea that the problem must be her and that her mother was cold to her because she hated her for her failings. Always alone and with no close friends to balance her, her focus on it became too strong and she became terrified of her fierce, cold mother; but still the only thing she wanted was her love. Not being able to please her began to turn into an actual fear of her as Adrienne started interpreting her mother’s every indifferent move as displaying disgust at her failings. Her life boiled down to this vicious circle, nothing else mattered to her. This constant sense of fear never left her alone. Her witch powers came to her out of nowhere while she was setting a petard on fire by protecting herself from the dangerous flames. Her first reaction was that these powers must not be hers, but they didn't go away. This happened almost in the midnight time, her mother was celebrating New Year with her friends, while Adrienne wanted to impress her mother, she discovered something more interesting by creating a magical shield that got her protected. The shield was bright and its small particles were exploding and crumbling into shiny ash. Since then she started to be interested in her magic and everything that connected to it. This encouraged her to go to Cloud Tower - the best school for witches in all of the Magic Dimension, without her mother knowing. The place, where she can discover everything and recieve answers on all of her questions. Despite her bright appearance, she doesn’t care about anything what other students may say about it. She loves her look, that’s what matters. For now, she feels safe, but her fear never let her go.

Love Interest: Doesn’t have one yet.

Family: Mother.

Best friend(s): Katie, Tiffany - her roommates (witches), Imani - her best friend (fairy).

Favourite Song: Hot Wings - I Wanna Party.

Favourite Meal: Lamingtons.

Favourite Colour: White, Gold, Blue, Magenta, Orange.

Favourite Hobby: Reading about spells and the planets of Magix, spending time with her new friends. She also enjoys dancing and singing, it is one of the few things she's confident in doing.

Pet: Ferret.

Favourite Movies: She finds documentaries very useful, but usually enjoys Sci-Fi movies.

Favourite Subject: Every one of them fascinates her.

P.S.: Yes, Adrienne is my second Winx Club OC, but that time she’s a witch! 🔮 I hope you like her as much as I do 💗

[zippityzap]

As promised, here is the re-upload of my list of characters and their quirks for the Sonic/mha au idea I have. The list is fairly big so it’ll be under the cut!

Any characters that aren’t on this list are absent because I haven’t thought of a quirk for them yet. But I’ll add them to the list whenever I do come up with them!

Sonic

Quirk: Supersonic Speed. He can run at speeds exceeding the sound barrier. However his daily calorie intake needs to be very high to maintain his energy. He eventually figures out that his quirk works through subtle wind manipulation- he’s just been using it subconsciously his whole life. This better understanding of his quirk later allows him to develop abilities such as the homing attack and insta-shield.

Miles ‘Tails’ Prower

Quirk: Kitsune. He has two fox tails and an above-average intelligence. (As well some other minor fox attributes) He has learned to use his tails to fly but he can only manage very short distances. He wants to be a hero but also enjoys making support items!

Knuckles

Quirk: Treasure Hunter. He has the ability to sense the approximate location of any (inanimate) object he’s looking for. He also has spiked knuckles, a mutation inherited from one of his parents. His knuckles are great for punching, but are also useful for digging beneath the ground to find buried objects.

Amy

Quirk: Hammerspace. Can store objects in a pocket dimension and can retrieve them at any time- very useful for storing weapons such as a hammer! However there is a limit to the size and amount of objects she can store.

Shadow

Quirk: Energy manipulation. His body stockpiles energy which he can then convert into other forms of energy that can be used as attacks. [Basically his chaos powers] However some of these abilities drain his stamina very, very quickly, which can take quite the toll on his body.

Rouge

Quirk: Bat. She has the physical traits of a bat, including large ears and wings on her arms. She can fly and use echolocation. However she is extremely sensitive to sunlight and loud noises.

Blaze

Quirk: Pyrokinesis. She has the ability to produce fire and flames and manipulate them. What she lacks in raw firepower (pun not intended) she makes up for it with the preciseness and elegance of her control over fire.

Silver

Quirk: Psychokinesis. Can lift objects with the power of the his mind. He has a fairly large weight limit but lifting bigger objects tends to give him severe migraines. He can also lift himself but this requires a lot of concentration and is easy to lose control over.

Espio

Quirk: Chameleon. He can stick to walls and change the colour of his body to match his surrounding. He also has a long tongue (very similar to Tsuyu’s) but rarely uses it as it makes him feel self-conscious

Charmy

Quirk: Bee. He can fly and sting like a bee. Although his stinger will grow back eventually after using it, using his stinger will inflict pain on himself. It’s still an very useful attack though, as his venom is much more potent than a regular bee’s. He can also encourage the growth rate of plants- this power is especially effective on flowers.

Sonia

Quirk: Smokescreen. She can emit a non-harmful gas that can obscure her or any person or object she wishes. She can emit enough gas to fill a school gymnasium but often lesser amounts will suffice. Sonia can see through her smoke better than other people can. The gas will not be affected by low winds or small breezes but bigger gusts can disperse it.

Manic

Quirk: Out of sight. Manic is completely invisible in people’s peripheral vision, he needs to be looked at directly to be seen. However he’s not completely undetectable, as he can still be heard if he makes noise.

Uncle Chuck

Quirk: Technological Ghost. He is undetectable by a large variety of technology. He doesn’t show up on video footage or web cams, can’t set off automatic alarms or motion sensors etc. He won’t even appear on certain types of cameras! (Which, as you can imagine would make getting a family photo frustrating)

Dr Robotnik

Quirk: Reverse engineer. He is able to immediately know the exact components of a machine and how it works just from looking at it. This quirk has allowed him to have a great understanding of engineering.

Infinite

Quirk: Phantom. He can create multiple illusionary copies of himself. There are a few tells to his quirk though. If he creates a large amount of copies at the same time, the copies have a small glitch effect to them. Additionally, his hetrochromia is switched on the copies- he combats this by wearing a mask that hides his eyes.

Dr Starline.

Quirk: Poison Spurs. Although many mistakenly believe his quirk to be his intelligence, he’s actually just smart on his own merits. His actual quirk is poisonous spurs on the back of his heels, similar to platypuses. He doesn’t use this quirk often as he doesn’t tend to fight on the frontlines but it’s useful when he’s been cornered by heroes.

[pigl4t1]

Bored so I’m going to write about one of the main group members of the fantasy WIP I have (definitely the most powerful). I might do this for all of them eventually.

Name: Xerus Blackwing Nike (he was adopted into noble family of angels and his adoptive mother is the champion of the goddess of light)

Age: about 500 yrs

Race: Black Angel (half angel, half devil)

description: At 10ft tall (10′6″ if you include his horns) Xerus stands taller than almost all others (not including giants). He has Rust coloured skin (combining the typical bronze skin of the angels with the red skin of the devils) and red eyes. He has a strong jaw and his hair is made out of black flames which give off almost no light at all. His body is highly muscular. His lower body is very much demonic looking with goat like legs ending in hooves and a long tail which ends in a point. Finally he has a pair of black, feathered wings which are large enough and strong enough to allow him to fly with his armour on. 

His armour is plate mail made out of Infernal-steel. An expensive material which does not degrade over time or with wear as it simply flows back together when damaged. Infernal steel typically looks like it has just come out of the smelter but it is completely solid once molded.

He wears 10 rings all made of enchantium. Enchantium is a metal which has a very difficult forging process but enhances magic channeled through it. It is very popular for making weapons and rings due to the types of enchantments that are possible. Each ring has a different enchantment (and one is his wedding ring which burns when his wife is in danger and hers does the same for when he’s in danger) with varying usefulness.

He often wears a cloak to conceal himself due to looking quite intimidating and the discrimination he faces due to his race.

Combat abilities: Xerus is what is known as a battle mage. Basically he is a fighter with mastery over 3 or more schools of magic. He is able to use 4 schools of magic: enhancement (the ability to enhance your own body, used by almost all adventurers), Evocation (elemental magic like pyromancy and hydromancy, he uses a lot of fire and wind magic), Illusion (playing tricks on the mind), and dimension magic (the ability to create a small pocket dimension to use)

His main weapon is a pair of enchantium twin swords. These are usually used in tandem with wind magic to extend their reach, and they also act as a “staff” which is technically not needed for spell casting but makes the spells stronger. He also uses an enchantium glaive which is used similarly to his twin swords just if he needs more reach.

Large scale battles with many allies are a problem for him due to most of his attacks having an area of effect.

Occupation: adventurer no.1, Co-Owner of Blackwing lumber. 

Personality: He acts quickly and decisively and works well under pressure. He is a loyal friend, ally and lover once you get to know him. He will help train new members of the guild and often gets attached to them (like what will happen with the main character) treating them like his own children. He wants to go down in history for a great deed and not just be remembered as his race and appearance.

As for flaws he often comes off as rude and abrasive to those who he doesn’t know well preferring to keep a tight knit group of people he likes. He is very quick to anger and has little empathy for people who can’t help themselves sometimes to the point of just abandoning “weaklings”. He does however, have a soft spot for children. His stubborness does get him into trouble occasionally too. His biggest character flaw is his deep rooted fear that everyone hates him because of what he is even his close friends and family. Basically he is insecure about his appearance.

History: He grew up in Balanceria a city state which is the holy city of both the god of darkness and goddess of light. The city is well known for it’s diversity and lack of discrimination between races. At school however, he found that he didn’t fit in with any group and only had one or 2 friends. He eventually took up a position as a guard which is where he learned the glaive and was trained in magic by his adoptive mother. He spent 282 years in that city fending off multiple raids and eventually being placed as the head guard. After all those years he decided that he should move on to greener pastures and left to join the adventurer’s guild. He was hailed as a guardian deity of Balanceria and had statues constructed of him in the city after his departure. 

In the adventurer’s guild he quickly climbed the ranks and picked up the twin swords as a weapon and slowly transitioned into using them more than his glaive. He met Clavicus Faller early on in his adventuring career and they became very close. They later took young Amana Nightingale under their wing and became close with her. 

This is where the story begins. There is much more that I have on Xerus but a lot of it is spoilers.

[darkwingdragon]

Rumeminus The Trickster King

Rumeminus The Trickster King (Aka The Arch Demon of Madness and Chaos.

This is a fan character for the animated series “The Hazbin Hotel” made by @vivziepop​.

Name: Rumeminus (Room-min-us)

Canon voice actor: Rowan Atkinson

Age: Nobody Knows

Gender: Male

Type of Demon: Arch Demon but nobody knows what he’s supposed to be

Friends: Charlie,The King of Hell,Vaggie,Angel,Husk,Alastor,Katia,Skully,Bucky,Nifty,Serina,Gnat the imp and everyone else at the hotel.

Enemies: Anyone that endangers the princess’s life and her friends is considered an enemy,the exterminators and Lilith but its more like a rivalry 

Nicknames: Rumey (referred by his lover),Trickster,The Trickster King (referred by everyone who has heard of him),The Demon Of Madness, Uncle Rumeminus (by Charlie)

Abilities: Flight, Shape shifting,Opening portals,Travelling between worlds,Transforms into his enraged form (only if he lose control), Can create Pocket dimensions and has access to them,Can manipulate Chaos and Reality without and without his cane,Inventor,master prankster,Can understand all languages,has knowledge of all ancient history in Hell,loyal adviser to the royal family, very informative about whats going on in Hell and the Human world. 

Personality: Rumeminus is a mischievous, smart, eccentric, sophisticated, flamboyant demon that’s always full of life and bursting with energy.Though he is one of the most powerful demons in Hell next to the King, Rumeminus is a fun loving, comical, easygoing, wacky prankster so much so, that he primarily uses his abilities as a means to amuse both himself and those around him but mostly to himself. Unusually Rumeminus unlike most demons in Hell is shown to be quite friendly and well mannered much like Charlie because of this he often likes to hang around with her whenever he’s visiting.  But even though he is mostly friendly to those he cares about he is still a demon and if he feels that any of his friends or family are in danger he will instantly change his personality to be more serious and sometimes frightening and will use his abilities to protect his friends and fight against the apposing threat.

Rumeminus often is shown to have a good sense of dark humour because of this he is really good friends with the King and why he is always telling jokes to the King to make him laugh. For he believes that the Kings life is boring so he goes to great lengths to make sure that the ruler of Hell is entertained by pranking some of the servants or guards whether they are turned into furniture or their limbs been put on backwards as long as he can get a chuckle from his best friend he is happy.

However if there is one thing about Rumeminus’s personality that can be troublesome is that he is prone to having mood swings and can get over dramatic over any little thing that can be wrong in his books whether its him screaming in terror after losing his cane Skully or  either him going ecstatic Charlie gaining a customer he will most certainly make a big scene about it.

Another thing that makes him often unpredictable is when he has mood swings is that his powers is effected by his emotions very often when he’s angry his chaotic aura can cause glass to break, walls to crack and objects thrown in different directions.Due to this whenever he is in a bad mood he often warps inside of his hat so he can lose off steam due to his hat being housing a pocket dimension and also has his actual house within the dimension.

Background: Rumeminus worked at the castle as a loyal adviser and entertainer to the King life was pretty fine until due to a mishap with one of his pranks that angered the queen she demanded to her husband for him to get fired this causes both Rumeminus and the queen to get into an argument while giving the King a headache.After deciding enough was enough the King commanded Rumeminus to go and work with his Daughter Charlie at The Happy Hotel and help advise her with her project, Rumeminus whom was already supportive of princess’s endeavours gladly accepts stating to the King before he left “It’s about time something new came to hell it starting to get really boring around here”.

As well as working as an adviser for the King of hell he has a jokes and gags shop in both in Hell and the Human world where he frequently visits though it has been a slow business for him and although like most demons who steal souls from humans he does not take part in soul stealing as much as the other do stating “Where’s the fun in stealing souls? they’re just going to end up in Hell anyway so why bother?” because of this he rarely steals the souls of a human he’d rather pull a prank on them instead.

Appearance: Rumeminus has a bit of a Willy Wonka style thing going on with his purple jacket and top hat but he also has a pair of steam punk googles that he uses for various different things such as using them to see things others can’t see.He is also seen holding a cane with a sentient skull on the end named Skully which he uses to keep his powers under control and to use them at will.

Rumeminus is a grey skinned reptile like creature with four arms, large bat like wings and a long whip like tail.he has black spines going from the back of his head down to his back and long ears with one of his ears having a notch in it.His eyes are bright green and red with black pupils however the colours are reversed when he’s enraged meaning that they will be red green a black pupils,His teeth are lights green and his tongue is yellow.

Relations: His relationship with the princess was strong from the day he met her as a child shouting to her father while holding her “I WILL PROTECT THIS LITTLE CHARLIE BEAN WITH MY LIFE!”from that day on he has acted like an second father to Charlie and had always made nothing sure nothing and no one tried to harm his adopted niece because god help them if anyone tried to lay a finger or claw on the princess they will be hunted down and sent to the Mire if he catches them.

His relations with the other Hazbins is a bit varied Vaggie he’s okay with he’s happy that Charlie has a protective and supportive friend in Vaggie that he get along with her great, Alastor is another demon he gets along great, in fact they used to work together at some point when Rumeminus wanted to pull the biggest prank on everyone with the public radio which Alastor gladly accepted joined in on the scheme although that being said he knows the radio demon is dangerous and he knows he’s up to something so he makes sure to keep an eye on him just to be safe.

As for Angel dust well at first he was happy to see a fellow multi armed demon but over time Rumeminus has started to get annoyed with the spider demon’s flirtatious attitude and sexual advances towards him so much so that at one point he nearly threw Angel dust into a portal that would’ve sent him to the Mire if Charlie and Vaggie hadn’t got to him in time.After that Angel doesn’t bother him at all.

As for the other Hazbins he gets along great with him although they all had to get used to his eccentric and wacky behaviour and his occasional mood swings.

Bucky is his taxidermy living jackalope that he made and had brought to life with his powers to be a companion.He plays the role of being Rumeminus’s own personal house keeper and keeps his masters house clean while he’s gone.

Skully is Rumeminus’s beloved sentient talking skull on the end of his walking cane. He is one of the Trickster King’s most closest friends and possessions that he has with him all the time.Despite Skully unable to move around he is actually very helpful at being Rumeminus’s moral adviser. 

NOTE!!          

There my fan character for the Hazbin Hotel is done will do some updates on his bio once i’ve seen more of the show.Also the characters that were mentioned on his bio named Serina,Gnat the imp ,Bucky,Skully and Katia are my other Fan characters that i need to work on. Also the Mire is a part of hell  that isn’t canon to the show i don’t know but its something i’ve been working on. 

Hazbin Hotel Characters belong to @vivziepop                         

[cb-ernest]

Okarin: The Awakening

Prologue

A long time ago, there was a powerful race of warriors that named themselves  Exousiars. These warriors had the power to transform into dragons at will by a god, but this transformation came at a cost. If the form was not controlled, they lose themselves to the beast and their personalities are forever changed. unless they are able to find the perfect balance they will never be the same. Among these warriors was an exceptionally strong being, who became their king, named Zenith. Zenith was a benevolent leader he had immense power and was able to control space and time itself, he wanted to guide races to become civilized and advanced. In order to do so, he had to banish evil and savage races to another world. So with the powers bestowed upon him he created, Okarin. The world of Okarin exists in a pocket dimension outside our reality. It cannot be seen or entered by our world unless given the power to. This world is seven times bigger than earth and orbits two suns and has two moons. Okarin is filled with wonders and environments able to house many different kinds of creatures. Once Zenith disappeared galaxies blossomed with life, traces of civilizations started to form, even in Okarin itself. Okarin has not been opened ever since Zenith’s disappearance and has remained closed for thousands of years, until now.

Act I

Chapter 1

Emory is on his knees with blood on his hands; holding a lifeless body impaled by a sword. He stares shocked, unable to process what he has done. It has been over thirty-minutes and Emory still hasn’t moved. It’s as if the world can drift away and end at this very moment and he wouldn’t care. There’s absolutely nothing he could do and deeply wishes he could change so many things that happened. How everything would be so much better if he had done just a few things differently or maybe if just one or two things didn’t happen to him. It would be so much better for everyone else's lives. He recollects his memory tracing every point that led him here, about how his rather ordinary and mundane life brought him here.

“Ughhhh, just two more pages and I’m done," Emory says exhaustingly while rustling his papers together. It’s late at night and Emory is up working on a five-page English assignment that’s due tomorrow. Even though he constantly procrastinates, he is top of his class at a prestigious university. Tired and bored from typing his essay he yawns and leans back in his chair stretching his arms out.

He sighs, “I need a break,” he says.

He looks at his watch 1:19 hmm maybe I can go to the vending machine and get a quick snack, he thinks. He quickly puts on his flip-flops, steps out of his dorm, and goes to the vending machine.

Emory heads down the path to the cafeteria building where the vending machine is at. The night is quiet with lit up street lamps placed throughout the campus giving a pleasant and peaceful, yet ominous feeling. Emory distracts himself by looking at his phone and sees the text exchange between him and Elizabeth. I still can’t believe I actually got a date with the cutest girl in class, Emory thought with a smile, at least I think it is a date. All of a sudden, in the serene ambiance, he hears a whooshing sound like wings flapping but something big. He stops and looks around but sees nothing, just still buildings and quiet street lamps. He quickly gives up and gives a slight shrug and keeps walking; convincing himself he’s just hearing things. He thought, It’s probably just a machine or something. After all, this is a renowned university there must be some technology they have that I’m not aware of, he gets back to his phone and his thoughts about Elizabeth.

He gets to the vending machine outside the cafeteria building and gets his favorite snack, Chex doodles. He gets his snack and immediately looks back, he feels as if someone or something is watching him. He can’t shake this feeling, he grabs his snack and quickly walks back to his dorm.

On his way back he hears the whooshing noise again, but this time louder and closer. His eyes open up when he realizes it’s right behind him! He turns his head and sees a strange dark figure with huge wings coming towards him. He instantly starts to run away, but it’s futile the strange figure quickly catches up to him and flings him to the ground forward. Emory’s white shirt is ripped and his back is bleeding from the attack.

The dark strange figure lands in front of him. With his phone and his Pex Mix all over the ground, he looks up while face front to the ground and sees two feet. They look like they have some type armor on but they don’t look like any type of metal. He tries to get up but is quickly kicked back down on the stomach. Emory is now on his side now clinging his stomach, he hears wings fluttering and slightly opens his eyes to see the outline of a cape behind the strange figure. He looks up and sees this tall and terrifying man with a wine red scale-like armor similar to a knight; he has an intricate red colored sword on his right hand, his sharp red reptilian eyes glowing through his armor like a flashlight staring at you in a dark lonely cave.

Emory with a petrified look gives out a screech and turns around to run away in the opposite direction, but the armored man reappears out of nowhere in front of him. Emory bumps into him and stumbles back. Before Emory can do anything the armored man grabs Emory by his neck and lifts him up. Emory is raised at eye level with this goliath and he sees his piercing gaze go right through him. His red eyes seem to glow brighter and they seem to emit flakes of fire. Emory’s vision tunnels and seems to blur with a blue aura around the edges. Emory is hypnotized by these powerful eyes and does not realize that his own eyes have changed color from hazel brown to a radiant light blue with a reptile shaped iris.

The red knight hears a noise coming behind him he breaks the gaze and throws Emory to the side. Two curved blades come towards the red knight out of nowhere. He quickly raises his sword and blocks the incoming attack.

Another strange knight comes from the sky and stands to face the red knight. Emory now on his back feeling weary and completely drained of any energy struggles to keep his head up to see what’s going on. The two daggers that attacked the red knight go back to her like magnets.

The other knight has a similar armor to the red knight, but this one is silver with a midnight blue color around the edges and eyes shimmering with the same blue color. This knight is much more slender and appears to be more agile; it has two slim blue capes coming from its shoulder with a silver outline.

Emory with all his effort tries to keep his head up. The silver knight stands against the red knight with two long curved daggers in hand. They’re saying something, are they speaking with each other? Whatever they’re saying Emory can’t understand them or what language they’re speaking. It sounds completely foreign and not from this world.

Emory closes his eyes and is finally giving in to the fatigue he feels himself drifting away. When a thunderous noise all of sudden brings him back but only slightly. Swords clash and the air moves ferociously. The only thing he is capable of doing is opening only one eye. He sees flashes of colors and hears powerful roars, windows breaking, and the ground cracking. Emory feels completely helpless. He knows he should run away somewhere safe, but his body just won’t move. His heart would normally be racing and he would be terrified but right now he lets the world around him fade as roars and sword strikes turn into echoes and light turns to dark.

Once the fight is over the one left standing is the crimson knight, he looks at Emory and walks up to him. He puts his sword on Emory’s chest and chants something from its strange language. Small dwindling wisps of light begin to forms in a spiral, surrounding the knight and Emory. As the red knight continues to chant the light becomes stronger and brighter. It soon begins to take a multitude of colors shooting all the way to the sky. The air around them flows strongly from the power of the light. The light becomes so intense and bright that it starts to engulf them and they can’t be seen from the outside.

The silver knight strains to get up, it kneels on one knee and looks up to the immense light. Its eyes shine brighter and a blue aura surrounds them as its two shoulder capes turn to great blue and silver wings. The knight propels itself forward with its wings and charges towards the spiraling light. The silver knight goes through the light and tackles the red knight. When they collide they’re both knocked up and the sheer power of the light flings them around.

They have no control while in the air and as soon as they touch the sides of the spiral they are buried by the light and disappear. When the red knight disappears the spiral light closes in a flash as if it was never there. In the process of its closing, it took Emory with it and now there’s nothing but silence. The wind stops flowing and the only thing left is a phone with an open bag of Chex doodles on the floor surrounded by shards of glass.

[welcometojoelsvoid]

My ocs explained: Voidverse

A friend of mine asked me to tell about my ocs, and since there a lot of them and this will be long and tumblr messages won't let me send the whole thing, so I decided to make a post dedicated to it.

This post won't have pictures of my ocs because I'm lazy, but if you're interested there's a tab on my blog called "My characters", which has their pictures and their tags.

So, to get the more complicated things cleared out, I have this group of characters I call the "alts", basically, they're alternate versions of myself. One is always based on an aspect of my personality, which I then turn into said alt. A new one is usually born whenever I make one for a new fandom or universe.

Ps. This isn't all of them, there are a few minor characters and wips that I left out because this would become waaayyyy longer than needed. These characters belong in a group I call the "Voidverse", which are the characters that I consider to be the main characters of this storyline (some of my ocs live in different realms and realities, etc). I might make another oc megapost about the other verses if you guys want.

~~~~~~~

Classic the Demon (he/him), 24

My "main" alt, who is also my persona on the internet is called Classic the Demon (they all have nicknames since most of them usually share my name). Classic is kinda the leader of the alts, he's the one who usually gets to join a new verse if I haven't made a new alt specifically for that verse.

Classic's powers include telekinesis, teleportation, offensive spells and the summoning of a weapon (in this case; a sword) and a pair of wings. Classic has this so-called "pocket dimension" that he accesses via his magic. This dimension is where he stores a bunch of random stuff from clothing to food to sketchbooks. Also, because he's so extra, whenever he summons his sword he kinda swipes his right hand from left to right once while his sword materializes from dark energy, just for dramatic flair.

Like most demons, Classic is also capable of collecting souls through contracts, though Classic had "retired" from doing said contracts.

Classic was born in a Renaissance-era like time period in a small hidden village of demons. The village was very small with only a few houses and a post office. Classic's family consisted of Classic himself, his mother and father. Although his father had left when Classic was an infant for an unknown reason. Therefore Classic was solely raised by his mother.

Classic's only friends in the village was another boy his age named Eemeli and a person called "the Guard". The Guard lived at the edge of the small town, whose job was to protect it from the dangers of the grand forest right next to them. Classic looked up to the Guard, for she was one of the strongest people he knew. His favourite memory of her was when she fought a bear with her bare hands.

Eemeli, on the other hand, was an adventures child much like Classic, though not as reckless. He had a family of two (2) parents and four (4) siblings.

(But of course, because this is a character made by yours truly, there is a lot of edge and angst)

At the age of 13, Classic's village was attacked by a troupe of human soldiers. They burned the houses and slaughtered the people. With the help of his mother, he had survived. Classic had passed out during the attack and once he woke up he couldn't believe his eyes. Everything was destroyed and burnt to the ground, including the people he held so near and dear to his heart. Classic didn't know what to do, so he wandered aimlessly until he reached a town of humans. Traumatised and blinded by hate, he killed everyone and anyone he saw and when he reached the castle he stabbed the king to death with a dagger that had appeared in his hands, which would later on, as he got older, form into the dark sword that it is today.

Classic was "rescued" by a group of angels and was brought into their home in the sky. No, not heaven, but a floating island. He hadn't told them exactly what happened, not that he was all that able to because of the shock of it all. Though the angels did not press on the subject, clearly aware of his discomfort.

The family he was living with had one (1) child, Ale, a pink haired angel with greenish eyes. The two of them instantly became close friends and through that friendship considered each other siblings. Growing up in a community of angels as a demon was tough, but most of them were very accepting of Classic.

Though, with time he became restless. He wanted to go somewhere, do something. But he didn't know where nor what.

At the age of 19, Classic and Ale packed their bags and went to see the world. And through this adventure, they became face to face with Death, literally. On their adventure, Ale had been hurt severally and Classic in desperation tried with all his might to help them. He turned to soul stealing harvesting and contract work to earn currency, souls paid well with witches and faeries. Unfortunately, he couldn't earn enough in time or get any help. Ale had died of sickness and Classic ever since blamed himself.

His journey alone took him to many places, but he was always alone. Until he met a certain someone, but more about that later.

Classic himself is a cocky yet charming personality, not really in love with himself but absolutely adores praise and loves being in the spotlight (when he wants to, otherwise attention from a lot of people make him anxious). He's the one I made the most like myself, so ultimately he has the same issues; depression, anxiety, ADD and sociopathic tendencies. Of course, pretty much every alt have more or less these traits, some show them more, some don't.

He's a loyal friend and cares for his loved ones, good with a sword and has good problem-solving skills and critical thinking, but he lacks the sense of responsibility sometimes and gets very paranoid about not being good enough. He's very forgetful and has a hard time understanding complex things like math, geology and physics but has a talent for arts, language and philosophy. He's not in touch with his owns feelings but can tell when someone else is upset, anxious or lying. He's very unused to affection and compliments, often deeming himself not worthy of them but tries his best to stay positive.

Jojo (he/they), 23

Jojo is an easily excitable and reckless half-dead demon living in a post-apocalyptic setting. Jojo doesn't have magical abilities, though, they lost them alongside his horns and tail after committing suicide before he was brought back to life.

He likes brights colours, stuffed animals, motorcycles and most importantly; explosives.

Jojo had lost a part of their hearing and vision to a malfunctioning bomb, had been lucky that in a tight spot the last of his magical ability had protected all but a small portion of the side of his head, face and neck.

His left leg was lost in a fight. Jojo had seen a young girl being kidnapped, followed the kidnappers and fought them, rescuing the kidnapped children and losing his leg to an axe. This had happened before the war.

Even in crude conditions, Jojo believes that positivity can get you through anything. His blatant naïtivity can often cause him to trust the wrong people but make no mistake, Jojo is no fool and can quickly regain his composure and build up his walls. Jojo is a very social person and can easily get along with anyone, although can sometimes get a tad too excited and accidentally say and do something rather awkward. They always try to make up for hurt feeling, tough. Jojo is also big on taking risks and can often put themselves in dangerous situations.

As mentioned previously Jojo is a bomb fanatic and loves explosives and explosions. He taught himself to make his own bombs and frag launcher, many of which malfunctioned in various ways.

He doesn't remember much about his childhood, his memory fading alongside the scars on his body. He just remembers having a good family and he's fine with that. Jojo is also one of the only alts who drinks and smokes (they smoke pot, don't like cigarettes much). He's overall a pretty chill dude when he's not jumping from place to place and blowing stuff up.

He's also the one who shows the most clearly symptoms of ADHD.

He's a smart boy who's a bit clumsy sometimes.

A wholesome boy. A very sweet boy.

Invite him to every party because he's never been to one but really wants to. Good with kids, animals and knows how to make broccoli taste good. (Not good with elders and other fragile things that break easily)

10/10

282-J aka J/Jay (they/them), 22

282-J, the one that is actually not even a demon. 

J's power is "teleportation" via light. They can turn themselves into light particles and move a few meters to the direction of their choosing. So J cannot use this power in places without some kind of light source, though the illumination of a phone or TV, etc, is not enough. J also cannot move through solid matter, like walls and doors.

 J was born into "captivity" in a science lab (Oh, yes, it's "science labs are evil" trope time!). This science lab was fixated on mutants and mutation, so I relate J to the Marvel universe (because X-Men).

From birth J had lived in that facility, being experimented on every single day. Some weren't bad, like seeing how long of a distance J can teleport for example, but some are excruciating, as when J would go days without being fed or being locked in a dark and tight room for weeks, even months! It all took its toll on J's fragile body.

Once the lab crew injected an adrenaline type drug into J's bloodstream and locked him in a small room for three (3) days straight, when a staff member was sent to retrieve J's seemingly passed out body, they had bitten into the man's arm and in response got an elbow to the chest. J coughed up blood and couldn't breathe, actually passing out this time. When J woke up they were in their own room; padded, white walls and the one-way glass in front. J felt their own breath on their face and when J reached to touch their own face, they felt what seemed like a gas mask of sorts and tried to fumble with it to take it off. The voice from the speakers told that the gas mask had two (2) benefits; it restrained J from biting the staff again and it kept J, themselves, alive. Apparently one of J's lungs had received a lot of damage from the incident and the lab crew could not entirely fix it, so a special gas mask would have to do.

J is very timid and does not speak often nor raise their voice. They're very awkward in social situations and get overwhelmed by large groups of people and loud noises. Though J can be brave and courageous when they want to and they're also a quick thinker and rather clever.

Cappy the Capricorn (she/her), 300+

Ah, yes, Cappy the Capricorn- or Cappy the Zodiac demon. The one person you wouldn't invite to your family gatherings.

She is a Zodiac demon and her powers focus mostly on controlling the water element. Another skill of her's is knowing how to cut her own hair using seashells and other sharp objects found on the seafloor. She's a very calm person with a professional-seeming personality, but she can be a bit "inappropriate", so to say.

She's a siren-like creature and when underwater her legs turn into a fishtail. She very much enjoys tricking unsuspecting men into their tombs and seducing women into sleeping with her, though to the fair lass she shall do no harm (In other words; she's a lesbian). Her magic is very powerful, but she isn't a fighter- she doesn't want to waste her time on petty brawling. Although if not left alone when asked, she won't hesitate to use violence as her saviour.

Unfortunately, there isn't much to tell about her background, for it does not exist because I am a lazy sonovabitch who doesn't think through their characters' backstories.

But Cappy is not really that much of a "macho sex object with no personality" (I hope), for in actuality she's a real softy. She's all smooth and clever in seduction and all that sexy stuff, but when a cute girl compliments her, she blushes like crazy and gets all flustered. If she ever would develop a crush on some poor soul, that poor soul would have to deal with a very nervous and stuttering mountain sea goat.

From 1 to 10 I'd rate Cappy a 5/10 on the friendship scale. Not that she's an evil person or whatever, she just doesn't know how to properly act around people (living at the bottom of the sea for hundreds of years will do that to ya, I suppose...). She, however, is very supportive and helpful whenever the people she considers her friends are having a hard time (especially about their own appearance, she ain't having none of it).

The Voidkeeper (she/they), ???

The Voidkeeper, the eldest one- mostly because their age cannot be comprehended for it simultaneously does and does not exist.

The Voidkeeper is half-blind, half-death and selectively mute. She is also a sociopath and does not feel empathy nor sympathy (or feelings, at all).

And most important, they are dead. I mean no heartbeat, rotten insides, dried out blood kind of dead.

She was banished to what is called the Void when she committed suicide. See, demons cannot be killed, only trapped in artefacts or returned to the Underworld, but a demon has the ability to take their own life, but it is not without punishment. When a demon commits suicide they are banished and assigned to a task which they will carry out for the rest of eternity. This one was assigned to look after the Void, a fruitless task for it is empty and barren. The only thing that happens is that every millennia a new book appears in the Void to give some sort of entertainment to the Voidkeeper.

On very rare occasion a poor soul might accidentally either wander or be sent to the Void and it is the Voidkeeper's duty then forward to guide the wanderer where they were supposed to go. Every time something, or someone, appears in the Void the Voidkeeper is alerted by the soul stone they carry. This stone, as prompted by the name, is in a way the Voidkeeper's soul, which they cannot ever regain. It is their life source and their source of power. The Voidkeeper is not allowed to ever be violent, so the soul stone only grants them defensive powers. In this case the ability to heal and create protective forcefields.

The Voidkeeper cannot physically ever enter the realm of the living, but with the aide of someone very powerful, they are granted to walk amongst the living as a ghost of sorts. They, however, cannot be touched by the living.

The Voidkeeper is very silent and intelligent. They know more than you'd expect, but will never tell you what you want to know. Only what you need to know, which in itself is not much. She prefers to observe others as they go about their life whenever she isn't reading, other than that there isn't much to her.

Inquisitor Lotus Draqon (he/him), 23.5

The alt for the da:i fandom and my most recent alt.

He's very peculiar in the sense that he was born from the merged souls of Classic and a dragon called Jupiter. No one is sure how this happened but one-day Classic had disappeared. It took a long time to find where he was and the answer was very surprising.

Now with his soul living in as in another person's body, Classic was trapped in a frozen state in another pocket dimension with Jupiter. This meant that as long as Lotus was intact or alive, Classic would not himself be present and neither would Jupiter.

Classic's soul gave Lotus many of the abilities that he himself has, telekinesis, illusion magic, weapon and wing summoning, etc. And Lotus as a person is fairly similar to Classic, some of the differences being Lotus' dragon attributes; his scales, tail, the sword is rather different, bigger horns and bigger wings (and a bigger appetite).

Lotus is also more innocent leaning and shyer. And unlike Classic, isn't such a good swordsman (he gets better with time tho).

Similarly to Classic, Lotus isn't very independent and often depends a lot on the people around him for help and advice. They both also have a giant sweet tooth and love animals. And they both stutter, have trouble pronouncing some words and have motor and verbal ticks (whenever Lotus yawns, burps, gets excited, happy or is frightened he goes "woof!", Classic just makes weird demon noises. Their motor ticks are pretty much the same, twitchy hands, neck and whole damn body).

Though Lotus is more prone to seek out simulation, tapping his claws against a table, playing with his hair and tail and pressing his toe beans. Classic mostly plays with his hair and his shirt sometimes. Also because of dyslexia, they both often have jumbled words when speaking, though with Lotus it's stronger and for him, reading is harder. Lotus is more willing to take risks and go out on an adventure, he has very strong legs and wings that can carry him for hours. And in general Lotus' health is better than Classic's, he's learned to cope with his problems better and cares for himself more.

Also, laser pointers totally work on him.

~~~~~~~

Now, let's get to the other characters in my verse.

Katy Huerta (she/her), 38-41

A retired Special Task Force agent called back on the field after suspicious and unknown signals had started appearing out of nowhere. They were most likely of a supernatural origin and agent Huerta was assigned on the job. Katy is a skilled and headstrong woman with experience with supernatural forces. As a young child, her body is shared by her and a power fire spirit. She can control fire and use it as a weapon, as well as turn into fire herself.

Turns out that classic had been causing waves of magic which turned to signals as he made his way to this world and travelled around it. At the time he was 19 years old. Katy wasn't sure how to approach him as she found him walking around abandoned buildings but she knew she couldn't kill or arrest him, he hadn't done anything wrong. So she took him in. Taught him, mentored him, took care of him. Katy doesn't have much knowledge about magic but she taught him how to use his sword, how to use his mind and how to use his heart. Classic would follow her around like a puppy, mostly because HQ didn't fully trust a demon to walk around by himself. They respected Katy a great deal, but we're very unsure of this decision. Katy didn't care, though, she was sure. Katy's heart is as big as her muscles and just as strong, she never gave up on that boy and she's glad she didn't. She found a lifelong friend and a trusted partner. She was like a mother to him.

Katy is what I like to call the "bridger", she's usually the bridge between the different universes and dimensions. I gave her full knowledge of the different alts, what they are and what they mean. Whenever there's a new alt, she informs the others and looks over the new one, deciding whether or not they should be cautious and stay away or if they can be invited to the "inner circle".

The day when Classic had his soul transferred and himself trapped was something Katy wasn't sure how to take action, she had no idea who "Lotus" was and what kind of alt they were (you can never know, even the nice sounding ones can be mean and the world they live in might not be able to handle Katy's presence). She took a risk and bridged into the world of Thedas to handle the situation.

Coraline Daniel (she/her), 65.5

The pretty typical vampire oc, I'd say.

Coraline is a carefree soul who enjoys being a mysterious shadow in the back of people's minds. One day she's here, another day she's gone. She doesn't burn in the sunlight but her powers weaken a lot, which includes mind control, teleportation and flight.

A true lady and a primadonna; never settles for second best, Coraline is a beauty and rarity and uses it to her advantage. Many people are slow to notice she's already sucking the blood out of their veins, her victims helplessly falling into her traps and under her spell. 

All except one.

Agent Katy Huerta; the STF's favourite puppet; a saviour; a righteous knight; a woman of high regard and the only one to catch Coraline's eye. She had been assigned to search for the reason behind recent murders (Coraline's doing, of course) and had successfully tracked the culprit down. Coraline was surprised that her normal tactics hadn't worked and this piqued her interest. Ever since their first meeting, they seemed to bump into each other quite often. It was a classic game of cat and mouse, with a lot more flirting though. And they both seemed to enjoy it.

Coraline could never trap her and she could never catch Coraline in return. Neither of them wanted to. Or did, but the meaning behind it had changed.

Katy would track the vampire to her next destination, catch her red-handed, they'd fight, steal kisses in between and Katy would watch her disappear into the night. It became routine, tradition. Routine was broken when Katy asked her for a date before she could run off again, caught by surprise but regaining composure Coraline accepted. Katy brought her a silver ring as a gift to their date, it was a simple gesture that meant something more to them both.

Akachi (they/them), 12

Akachi was found in Western-Africa, alone and unconscious in a cryochamber at an old hospital. The child was in a deep coma and appeared to have lizard-like attributes. Files showed that they were there because of an illness that threatened to take their life, but nothing else could be recovered.

The STF team took them back to America to take care of them, but no one was sure what should be done. Should they be given up for adoption? Surely that couldn't be safe for the child. Luckily STF's golden girl Katy Huerta stepped up to take care of the child, adopting them. The child's name is Akachi, was what she was told, they were found abandoned and appear to be intersex. And so the child was given in to her care. Once home, Classic had been very curious about the child. They decided to take care of Akachi together.

Back then Akachi had been just 4 years old and they didn't appear to have any memories before the hospital, so adapting wasn't the most difficult thing. Akachi is a gentle soul and a very curious child, very imaginative. Akachi was placed in a special program when starting school, normal school being a distant thought but they got there eventually.

Akachi is very excited about new things, very excited to learn and experience things. Although Katy tries to keep them away from tough adventures, sometimes by accident a certain demon cannot resist the puppy-eyes. Akachi is all too happy to meet new people, they always dream of having a big family and they do consider the alts to be family.

Elizabeth Hart aka Wolfy Heart (she/her), 27

Quite literally my oldest oc, I'm fairly sure that Wolfy was the first oc that I ever made and she's come such a long way since then.

Wolfy is the daughter of a rich German family, not that it matters but I'm just laying down random facts at this point, she grew up fairly similarly to everyone else though, she wasn't spoiled and her parents were very good at parenting and were decent people.

Wolfy is a very motherly person and takes care of her friends a lot, she loves socialising and cooking and is very good at playing the harp. She's very curious and blushes easily, she's very modest. She likes spending time with animals and children and is very creative and fashionable. She's compassionate and wants what's best for everyone, she's a little naïve in that sense.

Wolfy had been good friends with Katy (through a mutual friend) even before Classic came around. And Wolfy was more than happy to welcome him with open arms and warm cupcakes! Wolfy's also like an aunt to Akachi who she also welcomed with open arms and warm cupcakes.

Idk dudes I love Wolfy, she's been there for me through many years and seen some shit, she's amazing, she sometimes makes her own clothes and really likes turtles.

Quality werewolf, would bark again

Katja Storm aka Kstorm (mostly she/they but he is also fine), 30

Kstorm is also a very old character of mine (like Wolfy and Katy), she's been through many changes and I'm finally happy with where she is!

Kstorm is the oldest of (3) three children, she's half Spanish half Korean and she's a DJ and quite enjoys making music. I imagine her style is similar to Porter Robinson but maybe a bit more bass heavy (I just love Porter Robinson y'all)

She's dating a girl named Kayna (Kstorm calls her Kaykay uwu), who's best friends with Wolfy and by correlation, she got invited to the Cool Kids club B)

Kstorm herself is a witch and when Classic came around she got pretty excited (but like low-key, cuz she's cool like that), tbh Kstorm was a big help with assisting Classic to handle and control his magic. While Katy is very agitated about spreading the knowledge about bridging and the alts, but she trusts this group of people.

Kstorm doesn't go on adventures or jump through dimensions much, too busy working but she asks to get herbs and cool artefacts and talismans whenever the others do go.

Kstorm is a cool and collected person, she doesn't like drama and doesn't want to make a big deal out of things, especially if it isn't. She went to medical school to become a nurse before turning into a fulltime DJ and she often puts together charity events at the club she performs at. She's generally loved by her community, though there has been drama and people trying to ruin her name. She lost some of her fans after coming out as genderfluid and pansexual but regained a large following of very supportive followers and fans.

Taika (they/them), ???

Taika is a tall, cat-like forest spirit who came from a very monochrome and old realm, they came to the human realm to experience colour, loudness and life for what it could be.

They don't have a mouth (or nose) so they can't speak and when they were born their limbs were deformed so now they have prosthetic arms and legs (luckily the forest spirits are pretty handy).

Taika is a very innocent and optimistic creature, very curious about humans and other beings.

Taika especially loves a lot of what humans have created and relishes in their culture with loud music, dyed hair, ripped jeans and technology.

Now, Taika doesn't really belong in the Voidverse, but I love them so much that I had to mention them cuz they're literally so precious.

[forestwater87]

John Dies at the End -- David Wong

So okay this is literally the best book I’ve ever read, but there’s really no way to explain “drug that lets you see into other dimensions turns two assholes into the worst exorcists ever” that doesn’t make it sound a little lame, so fuck it. I’m typing up the entire goddamn prologue.

If you need something to read, just . . . try it. It’s amazing. Try the book that the author calls a “convoluted NyQuil fever dream of a horror story,” “a Class II biohazard,” “the unholy thing I was growing in my brain’s murky cloning vat,” a “gruesome hyperactive chain of absurd non sequiturs,” “a crash between two semi trucks hauling napalm and vibrators,” “400 pages of undiagnosed personality disorder,” a “150,000-word cry for help,” “a hallucinogenic cacophonous Mardi Gras of fart monsters,” and “a 400-page tour through my misfiring synapses.”

Seriously, everyone. A work of fucking genius.

Prologue

SOLVING THE FOLLOWING riddle will reveal the awful secret behind the universe, assuming you do not go utterly mad in the attempt. If you already happen to know the awful secret behind the universe, feel free to skip ahead.

Let’s say you have an ax. Just a cheap one, from Home Depot. On one bitter winter day, you use said ax to behead a man. Don’t worry, the man was already dead. Or maybe you should worry, because you’re the one who shot him.

He had been a big, twitchy guy with veiny skin stretched over swollen biceps, a tattoo of a swastika on his tongue. Teeth filed into razor-sharp fangs—you know the type. And you’re chopping off his head because, even with eight bullet holes in him, you’re pretty sure he’s about to spring back to his feet and eat the look of terror right off your face. On the follow-through of the last swing, though, the handle of the ax snaps in a spray of splinters. You now have a broken ax. So, after a long night of looking for a place to dump the man and his head, you take a trip into town with your ax. You go to the hardware store, explaining away the dark reddish stains on the broken handle as barbecue sauce. You walk out with a brand-new handle for your ax. The repaired ax sits undisturbed in your garage until the spring when, on one rainy morning, you find in your kitchen a creature that appears to be a foot-long slug with a bulging egg sac on its tail. Its jaws bite one of your forks in half with what seems like very little effort. You grab your trusty ax and chop the thing into several pieces. On the last blow, however, the ax strikes a metal leg of the overturned kitchen table and chips out a notch right in the middle of the blade. Of course, a chipped head means yet another trip to the hardware store. They sell you a brand-new head for your ax. As soon as you get home, you meet the reanimated body of the guy you beheaded earlier. He’s also got a new head, stitched on with what looks like plastic weed-trimmer line, and it’s wearing that unique expression of “you’re the man who killed me last winter” resentment that one so rarely encounters in everyday life. You brandish your ax. The guy takes a long look at the weapon with his squishy, rotting eyes and in a gargly voice he screams, “That’s the same ax that beheaded me!” IS HE RIGHT?

I WAS PONDERING that riddle as I reclined on my porch at 3:00 A.M., a chilled breeze numbing my cheeks and earlobes and flicking tickly hairs across my forehead. I had my feet up on the railing, leaning back in one of those cheap plastic lawn chairs, the kind that blow out onto the lawn during every thunderstorm. It would have been a good occasion to smoke a pipe had I owned one and had I been forty years older. It was one of those rare moments of mental peace I get these days, the kind you don’t appreciate until they’re ov— My cell phone screeched, the sound like a sonic bee sting. I dug the slim little phone from my jacket pocket, glanced at the number and felt a sickening little twinge of fear. I disconnected the call without answering. The world was silent again, save for the faint applause of trees rustling in the wind and crumbly dead leaves scraping lightly down the pavement. That, and the scuffle of a mentally challenged dog trying to climb onto the chair next to me. After two attempts to mount the thing, Molly managed to send the chair clattering onto its side. She stared at the toppled chair for several seconds and then started barking at it. The phone again. Molly growled at the chair. I closed my eyes, said an angry five-word prayer and answered the call. “Hello?” “Dave? This is John. Your pimp says bring the heroin shipment tonight, or he’ll be forced to stick you. Meet him where we buried the Korean whore. The one without the goatee.” That was code. It meant “Come to my place as soon as you can, it’s important.” Code, you know, in case the phone was bugged. “John, it’s three in the—” “Oh, and don’t forget, tomorrow is the day we kill the president.” Click. He was gone. That last part was code for, “Stop and pick me up some cigarettes on the way.” Actually, the phone probably was bugged, but I was confident the people doing it could just as easily do some kind of remote intercept of our brain waves if they wanted, so it was moot. Two minutes and one very long sigh later, I was humming through the night in my truck, waiting for the heater to blow warm air and trying not to think of Frank Campo. I clicked on the radio, hoping to keep the fear at bay via distraction. I got a local right-wing talk radio program. “I’m here to tell ya, immigration, it’s like rats on a ship. America is the ship and allllll these rats are comin’ on board, y’all. And you know what happens when a ship gets too many rats on board? It sinks. That’s what.” I wondered if a ship had ever really sunk that way. I wondered what was giving my truck that rotten-egg smell. I wondered if the gun was still under the driver’s seat. I wondered. Was there something moving back there, in the darkness? I glanced in my rearview mirror. No, a trick of the shadows. I thought of Frank Campo. Frank was an attorney, heading home from the office one evening in his black Lexus. The car’s wax job gleaming in the night like a shell of black ice, Frank feeling weightless and invincible behind the greenish glow of his dashboard lights. He senses a tingling on his legs. He flips on the dome light. Spiders. Thousands of them.

Each the size of a hand.

They’re spilling over his knees, pushing up inside his pant legs. The things look like they’re bred for war, jagged black bodies with yellow stripes, long spiny legs like needle points.

He freaks, cranks the wheel, flips down an embankment.

After they pried him out of the wreckage and after he stopped ranting, the cops assured him there wasn’t a sign of even one spider inside the car.

If it had ended there, you could write it off as a bad night, a trick of the eyes, one of Scrooge’s bad potatoes. But it didn’t end there. Frank kept seeing things—awful things—and over the months all the king’s doctors and all the king’s pills couldn’t make Frank’s waking nightmares go away.

And yet, other than that, the guy was fine. Lucid. As sane as a sunset. He’d write a brilliant legal brief on Wednesday, and on Thursday he’d swear he saw tentacles writhing under the judge’s robes.

So? Who do you go to in a situation like that?

I pulled up to John’s building, felt the old dread coming back, churning like a sour stomach. The brisk wind chased me to the door, carrying a faint sulfur smell blown from a plant outside town that brewed drain cleaner. That and the pair of hills in the distance gave the impression of living downwind from a sleeping, farty giant.

John opened the door to his third-floor apartment and immediately gestured toward a very cute and very frightened-looking woman on his sofa. “Dave, this is Shelly. She needs our help.”

Our help.

That dread, like a punch in the stomach. You see, people like Frank Campo, and this girl, they never came for “our help” when they needed a carburetor rebuilt.

We had a specialty.

Shelly was probably nineteen, with powder-blue eyes and the kind of crystal clear pale skin that gave her a china doll look, chestnut curls bundled behind her head in a ponytail. She wore a long, flowing skirt that her fingers kept messing with, an outfit that only emphasized how small she was. She had the kind of self-conscious, pleading helplessness some guys go crazy for. Girl in distress. Makes you want to rescue her, take her home, curl up with her, tell her everything is gonna be okay.

She had a white bandage on her temple.

John stepped into the corner of his tiny apartment that served as the kitchen and smoothly returned to place a cup of coffee in her hands. I struggled to keep my eyes from rolling; John’s almost therapist-like professionalism was ridiculous in a room dominated by a huge plasma-screen TV with four video game systems wired to it. John had his hair pulled back into a neat job-interview ponytail and was wearing a button-up shirt. He could look like a grown-up from time to time.

I was about to warn the girl about John’s coffee, which tasted like a cup of battery acid someone had pissed in and then cursed at for several hours, but John turned to her and in a lawyerly voice said, “Shelly, tell us your story.”

She raised timid eyes to me. “It’s my boyfriend. He . . . he won’t leave me alone. He’s been harassing me for about a week. My parents are gone, on vacation and I’m . . . I’m terrified to go home.”

She shook her head, apparently out of words. She sipped the coffee, then grimaced as if it had bit her.

“Miss—”

“Morris,” she said, barely audible.

“Ms. Morris, I strongly recommend a women’s shelter. They can help you get a restraining order, keep you safe, whatever. There are three in this city, and I’ll be happy to make the call—”

“He—my boyfriend, I mean—he’s been dead for two months.”

John cast a little gleeful glance my way, as if to say, “See how I deliver for you, Dave?” I hated that look. She went on.

“I—I didn’t know where else to go. I heard, you know, through a friend of mine that you handle, um, unusual problems.” She nudged aside a stack of DVD cases on an end table and sat the mug down, glancing at it distrustfully as if to remind herself not to accidentally drink from it again, lest it betray her anew. She turned back to me.

“They say you’re the best.”

I didn’t inform her that whoever called us “the best” had pretty low standards. I guess we were the best in town at this, but who would you brag to about that? It’s not like this shit has its own section of the phone book.

I walked over to a cushioned chair and scooped out its contents (four worn guitar magazines, a sketch pad, and a leather-bound King James Version of the Holy Bible). As I tried to settle in, a leg broke off and the whole chair slumped over at a thirty-degree angle. I leaned over nonchalantly, trying to look like that’s exactly what I had expected to happen.

“Okay. When he comes, you can see him?”

“Yes. I can hear him, too. And he, uh . . .”

She brushed the bandage on the side of her skull. I looked at her in bewilderment. Was she serious?

“He hits you?”

“Yes.”

“With his fist?”

“Yes.”

John looked up from his coffee indignantly. “Man, what a dick!”

I did roll my eyes this time and glared at John once they stopped. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a ghost, but I’m guessing that if you did, the thing didn’t run over and punch you in the face. I’m guessing that’s never happened to any of your friends, either.

“When it first happened,” Shelly said, “I thought I was going crazy. Up until now, I’ve never bel—”

“Believed in ghosts,” I finished. “Right.” That line was obligatory, everybody wanting to come off as the credible skeptic. “Look, Miss, I don’t want to—”

“I told her we would look into it tonight,” John said, heading me off before I accidentally introduced some rational thought into this thing. “He’s haunting her house, out in [town name removed for privacy]. I thought you and I could head over there, get out of the city for a night, show this bastard what’s what.”

I felt a burst of irritation, mostly because John knew the story was bullshit. But then it suddenly clicked in my mind that, yes, John knew, and he had called me because he was trying to set me up with this girl. Button-cute, dead boyfriend, chance to be her hero. As usual, I didn’t know whether to thank him or punch him in the balls.

Sixteen different objections rose up in my mind at once and somehow they all canceled each other out. Maybe if there had been an odd number. . . .

WE HEADED OUT, in my Bronco. We had told Shelly not to drive herself, in case she had a concussion, but the reality was that, whether or not her story was true, we still had vivid memories of Mr. Campo and his unusually spidery car. You see, Frank found out the hard way that the dark things lurking in the night don’t haunt old houses or abandoned ships. They haunt minds.

Shelly was in the passenger seat, hugging herself, looking blankly out the windshield. She said, “So, do you guys, like, do this a lot?”

“Off and on,” said John. “Been doing it for a few years.”

“How does somebody get into this?”

“There was an incident,” he said. “A series of incidents, I guess. A dead guy, another dead guy. Some drugs. It’s kind of a long story. Now we can see things. Sometimes. I have a dead cat that follows me around, wondering why I never feed it. Oh, and I had one hamburger that started mooing when I ate it.” He glanced at me. “You remember that?”

I grunted, said nothing.

It wasn’t mooing, John. It was screaming.

Shelly didn’t look like she was listening anymore.

“I call it Dante’s Syndrome,” John said. I had never heard him call it any such thing. “Meaning, I think Dave and I gained the ability to peer into Hell. Only it turns out Hell is right here, it’s all through us and around us and in us like the microbes that swarm through your lungs and guts and veins. Hey, look! An owl!”

We all looked. It was an owl, all right.

“Anyway,” I broke in, “we just did a couple of favors for people, eventually word got around.”

I felt like that was enough background and I wanted to stop John before he got to the part where he says he kept eating that screaming hamburger, down to the last bite.

I left the truck running as I jumped out at my place for supplies. I bypassed the house for the weatherworn toolshed in the backyard, opened the padlocked door and swept over the dark shelves with my flashlight:

A Winnie the Pooh toy with dried blood around its eyes;

A stuffed and mounted badgerconda (a cross between a badger and an anaconda);

A large Mason jar filled with cloudy formaldehyde, where inside floated a six-inch clump of cockroaches arranged roughly in the shape of a human hand.

I grabbed a medieval-style torch John had stolen from the wall of a theme restaurant. I picked up a clear squeeze bottle filled with a thick green liquid that immediately turned bloodred as soon as I touched it. I reconsidered, sat it back on the shelf and grabbed my vintage 1987 ghetto blaster instead.

I went into the house and called to Molly. I opened a small plastic tub in the kitchen cabinet filled with little pink, rubbery chunks, like erasers. I put a handful in my pocket and rushed back out the door, the dog following on my heels.

Shelly lived in a simple two-story farmhouse, black shutters on white siding. It sat on an island of turf in a sea of harvest-flattened cornfields. We walked past a mailbox shaped like a cow and saw a hand-painted sign on the front door that read THE MORRISON’S—ESTABLISHED 1962. John and I had a long debate at the door about whether or not that apostrophe belonged there.

I know, I know. If I had a brain, I would have walked away right then.

John stepped up, pushed open the front door and ducked aside. I dug in my pocket and pulled out one of the pink chunks. They were steak-shaped dog treats, complete with little brown grill lines. I realized at that moment that no dog would know what those grill lines were and that they were purely for my benefit.

“Molly!”

I shook the treat in front of her and then tossed it through the door. The dog ran in after it.

We waited for the sound of, say, dog flesh splattering across a wall, but heard only the padding of Molly’s paws. Eventually she came back to the door, grinning stupidly. We decided it was safe to go in.

Shelly opened her mouth as if to express some kind of disapproval, but apparently decided against it. We stepped into the dark living room. Shelly moved to flip on a light, but I stopped her with a hand motion.

Instead, John hefted the torch and touched his lighter to it. A foot-tall flame erupted from the head and we slowly crept through the house by its flickering light. I noticed John had brought along a thermos of his coffee, this “favor” already qualifying as an all-nighter. I admit, the horrific burning sensation really did keep you awake.

I asked, “Where do you see him, mostly?”

Shelly’s fingers started twisting at her skirt again. “The basement. And once I saw him in the bathroom. His hand, it, uh, came up through the toilet while I—”

“Okay. Show us the basement door.”

“It’s in the kitchen, but I—guys, I don’t wanna go down there.”

“It’s cool,” John said. “Stay here with the dog, we’ll go down and check it out.”

I glanced at John, figuring that should have been my line as her handsome new knightly protector. We clomped down the stairs, torchlight pooling down the stairwell. Shelly waited behind us, crouching next to Molly and stroking her back.

A nice, modern basement.

Washer and dryer.

A hot-water heater making a soft ticking sound.

One of those waist-deep floor freezers.

John said, “He’s not here.”

“Big surprise.”

John used the torch to light a cigarette.

“She seems like a nice girl, doesn’t she?” John said softly and with a kind of smarmy wink in his voice. “You know, she reminds me of Amber. Jennifer’s friend. When she came to my door, for a second I actually thought it was her. By the way, I wanna thank you for comin’ along, Dave, sort of being my wingman on this. I’m not saying I’m going to take advantage of her distress or anything, but . . .”

I had tuned John out. Something was off, I knew right then. Lingering in the back of my mind, like a kid in the last row of the classroom with his hand up. John was acting all detectivey now, leaning over a large sink with a bundle of white cloth draped over the side.

“Oh, yeah,” said John, pulling up a length of cloth. “Take a look at this shit.” The garment was white, a single piece with straps, like an apron. Well, it had been white. Once. Now it was mostly smudges of faded-blood pink at the center, like a kindergarten kid’s rendering of the Japanese flag.

I turned to the large floor freezer. That freaking dread again, cold and hard and heavy. I strode over and opened the lid.

“Oh, geez.”

It was a tongue. That’s the first thing I saw, rubbery and purplish and not quite human. It was longer, animal-like, twisted inside a ziplock bag and coated in frost. And it wasn’t alone; the freezer was filled with hunks of flesh, some in clear bags, some bigger chunks in pink-stained white paper.

Butcher paper. White apron.

“Well, I think it’s obvious,” said John. “Those stories of UFOs that go around mutilating cows? I think we just solved it, my friend.”

I sighed.

“It’s a deer, you jackass. Her dad hunts, apparently. They keep the meat.”

I nudged around and found a frozen turkey, some sausages. I closed the lid to the fridge, feeling stupid, though not for the reason I should have felt stupid. I wasn’t thinking. Too late at night, too little sleep.

John started poking around in cabinets. I glanced around for the boom box, realizing now that we hadn’t brought it down here. Why did that bother me? It was upstairs with Shelly, right?

“Hey, Dave. You remember that guy whose basement got flooded, then called us and swore he had a fifteen-foot great white shark swimmin’ down there?”

I did remember but didn’t answer, afraid of losing that thread of thought that kept floating just out of reach like a wayward balloon on a windy day. Besides, when we got there, it wasn’t a great white at all. Just a garden-variety eight-foot tiger shark. We told the guy to wait until the basement dried out and call us back. When the water left, so did the shark, as if it evaporated or seeped out the tiny cracks in the concrete.

Think. Damned attention span. Something is wrong here.

I tried to pull myself back from my tangent, thinking of the boom box again. John had found it at a garage sale. There’s a story in the Old Testament, a young David driving away an evil spirit by playing pretty music on his harp—

Wait a second.

“John, did I hear you say you thought she looked like Amber?”

“Yeah.”

“John, Amber’s almost as tall as me. Blond hair, kind of top-heavy, right?”

“Yeah, cute as hell. I mean—”

“And you think Shelly looks like her? The girl sitting upstairs?”

“Yeah.” John turned to face me, already getting it.

“John, Shelly is short. Short with dark hair. Blue eyes.”

—They haunt minds—

John sighed, plucked out his cigarette and flung it to the floor. “Fuck.”

We turned toward the stairs, took a step up, and froze. Shelly was there, sitting halfway up the stairs, one arm curled around Molly’s neck. Innocent, wary eyes. Playing the part.

I stepped slowly onto the third stair, said, “Tell me something, Miss, uh, I’m sorry, I’ve forgotten your last name—”

“Shelly is fine.”

“Yeah, remind me anyway. I hate forgetting things.”

“Morris.”

I took another step toward her.

“That’s what I thought.”

Another step. I heard John step up behind me.

“So,” I said, “whose house is this?”

“What?”

“The sign out front says Morrison. Morris-son. Not Morris. Now would you describe your own appearance for me?”

“I don’t—”

“You see, because John and I have this thing where we’re both seeing completely different versions of you. Now, John has eyesight problems because of his constant masturbation, but I don’t think—”

She burst into snakes.

That’s right. Her body sort of spilled out of itself, falling into a dark, writhing puddle on the ground. It was a tangle of long, black serpents, rolling over each other and down the steps. We kicked at them as they slithered past, John warding them off with the torch.

Some, I saw, had patches of color on their scales, like flesh or the flowered pattern of Shelly’s dress. I caught a glimpse of one snake with a writhing human eyeball still embedded in its side, the iris powder blue.

Molly jumped back and barked—a little too late, I thought—and made a show of snapping at one of the snakes as it wound its way down the stairs. She bounded to the top of the stairs and disappeared through the doorway. We kicked through the slithering things and stomped up after the dog, just as the stairwell door banged shut on its own.

I reached for the knob. At the same moment it began to melt and transform, turning pink and finally taking the shape of a flaccid penis. It flopped softly against the door, like a man was cramming it through the knob hole from the other side.

I turned back to John and said, “That door cannot be opened.”

We stumbled back down the stairs, John jumping the last five, shoes smacking on the concrete. The snakes fled from the firelight and disappeared under shelves and between cardboard boxes.

That’s when the basement started filling with shit.

The brown sludge oozed up from the floor drain, an unmistakable stench rising above it. I looked around for a window we could crawl out of, found none. The sewage bloomed out from the center of the floor, swirling around the soles of my shoes.

John shouted, “There!”

I whipped my head in his direction, saw him grab a little plastic crate from a shelf and set it on the floor. He climbed up on it, then just stood there with the muck rising below. Finally he looked at me and said, “What are you doing? Go find us a way outta here!”

I was ankle-deep now in a pool that was disturbingly warm. I sloshed around, looking above me until I found the large, square duct feeding into the first floor from the furnace. The return air vent. I went to a pegboard on the wall and grabbed a foot-long screwdriver. I jabbed it into the crease between the metal of the duct and the floor, prying down the apparatus with a squeal of pulled nails.

I finally got a hold on the edge of the metal duct and felt it cut into my fingers. I pulled it down to reveal the dark living room above me, blocked by a metal grid. I jumped and knocked the grate aside with my hands. I leapt again and grabbed floor with both hands, feeling carpet under my fingers. With a series of frantic, awkward movements I managed to pull my limbs up until I could roll over on the floor of the living room.

I looked back at the square hole and saw a flicker of flame emerge, followed by the torch and then John’s hand. In a few seconds we were both standing in the living room, glancing around, breathing heavily.

Nothing.

A low, pulsing sound emerged from the air around us. A laugh. A dry, humorless cough of a noise, as if the house itself was expelling the air with giant lungs of wood and plaster.

John said, “Asshole.”

“John, I’m changing my cell number tomorrow. And I’m not giving you the new one. Now let’s get this over with.”

We both knew the drill. We had to draw the thing out somehow. John handed me his lighter.

“You light some candles. I’ll go stand in the shower naked.”

Molly followed me as I went back to where we left the boom box and the other supplies. I lit a few candles around the house—just enough to make it spooky. John showered, I found another bathroom and washed the sludge off my shoes and feet.

“Oh, no!” I heard John shout over the running water. “It’s dark in here and here I am in the shower! Alone! I’m so naked and vulnerable!”

Out of things to do, I walked around for a bit and eventually found a bedroom. I glanced at my watch, sighed, then lay down over the covers. It was almost four in the morning.

This could go on for hours, or days. Time. That’s all they have. I heard Molly plop down on the floor below. I reached down to pet her and she licked my hand the way dogs do. I wondered why in the world they felt the need to do that. I’ve often thought about trying it the next time somebody got their fingers close to my mouth, like at the dentist.

John came back twenty minutes later, wearing what must have been the smallest towel he could find. He lowered his voice. “I think I saw a hatch for an attic earlier. I’m gonna see if there’s room to crawl around up there, see if maybe there’s a big scary-looking footlocker it can pop out of or somethin’.”

I nodded. John raised his voice theatrically and said, “Oh, no. We are trapped here all alone. I will go see if I can find help.”

“Yes,” I answered, loudly. “Perhaps we should split up.”

John left the room. I tried to relax, hoping even to doze off. Ghosts love to sneak up on you when you’re sleeping. I scratched Molly’s head and—

SLEEP. LICKING. A soft splashing sound from another room. I dreamed I saw a shadow peel itself off the far wall and float toward me. Most of my dreams are like that, always based on something that really happened.

My eyes snapped open, my right arm still hanging over the edge of the mattress, the rough tongue still flapping away at my ring finger. How long had I been out? Thirty seconds? Two hours?

I sat up, trying to adjust to the darkness. A faint glow pulsed from the hall where the nearest candle burned away in the bathroom.

I quietly stepped off the foot of the bed and headed across the room into the hallway. Down the hall now, toward the sound and the light. I ran my hand along the textured plaster of the wall until I reached the bathroom, the source of the gentle splashing. Not splashing. Slurping. I peered in.

Molly, drinking from the toilet. She turned to look at me with an almost catlike “can I help you?” stare. I thought absently that she was drinking the poowater with the same mouth she used to lick my hand. . . .

If she’s in here, then that wasn’t her by the bed.

I picked the candle off the counter and headed back to the bedroom. I stepped in, the candle casting an uneven halo of light around me, rustling the shadows aside. I moved toward the bed and saw . . .

Meat. Dozens of the wrapped and now partially unwrapped hunks from the freezer, laying neatly on the floor next to the bed in an almost ceremonial fashion, the objects arranged in the rough shape of a man.

I moved the light toward the head area, where I found a frozen turkey still in the Butterball wrapper. Under it, wedged between turkey and torso, was the disembodied deer tongue, flapping around of its own accord.

Hmmmm. That was different.

I jumped back as the turkey, the tongue, and a slab of ribs levitated off the floor.

The man-shaped arrangement of meat rose up, as if functioning as one body. It pushed itself up on two arms made of game hens and country bacon, planting two hands with sausage-link fingers on the floor. The phrase “sodomized by a bratwurst poltergeist” suddenly flew through my mind. Finally it stood fully upright, looking like the mascot for a butcher shop whose profits went entirely to support the owner’s acid habit.

“John! We got, uh, something here.”

It was about seven feet tall, its turkey head swiveling side to side to survey the room, the tongue swaying uselessly below. It extended a sausage to me.

“You.”

It was an accusation. Had we dealt with this thing before? I didn’t remember it, but I was bad with faces.

“You have tormented me six times. Now prepare to meat your doom!”

I have no way of knowing that it actually said “meat” instead of “meet” but I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. I ran.

“John! John! We got a Situation Fifty-three here!”

The thing gave chase, its shaved-ham feet slapping the floor behind me. My candle went out. I tossed it aside. I saw a closed door to my right, so I skidded to a stop, threw it open, and flung myself in.

Linen shelves smacked me in the face and I fell back out of the closet, dazed. The meat man wrapped its cold links around my neck and lifted me up. It pinned me against the wall.

“You disappoint me. All those times we have dueled. In the desert. In the city. You thought you had vanquished me in Venice, didn’t you?”

I was so impressed by this thing’s ability to articulate words using that flapping deer tongue and a frozen turkey that I almost lost track of what it was saying.

Venice? Did he say Venice? What?

Molly came by just then, trotting along like everything was just A-OK in Dogland.

Then she noticed some meat standing nearby and started happily chewing on a six-inch-wide tube of bologna serving as the thing’s ankle.

“AARRRRRGHHHH!!!!”

It dropped me to the floor. I scrambled to my feet and ran downstairs. The meat man followed.

At the foot of the stairs, John was waiting.

He was holding the stereo.

The monster stopped halfway down the staircase, its eyeless turkey head staring down the device in John’s hands, as if recognizing the danger.

Oh, how that Old Testament demon must have howled and shrieked at the sight of young David’s harp, seeing at work a form of ancient magic that can pierce any darkness. The walking meat horror knew what was coming, that the same power was about to be tapped.

John nodded, as if to say, “Checkmate.”

He pushed the “play” button.

Sound filled the room, a crystal melody that could lift any human heart and turn away any devil.

It was “Here I Go Again” by Whitesnake.

The monster grabbed the spots on the turkey where its ears would be and fell to its knees. John wielded the stereo before him like a holy talisman, stepping up the stairs, driving the sound closer to the beast. Every inch of its fat-marbled skin and gristle writhed in agony.

“Take it!” John screamed, suddenly emboldened. “It looks like you should have taken time to beef up your defenses!”

The beast grabbed its abdomen; in pain, I thought.

Instead it pried loose a canned ham and, before John could react, hurled it at the stereo, the can whizzing through the air like a Randy Johnson fastball.

Direct hit. Sparks and bits of plastic flew. The stereo tumbled out of John’s hands and fell heavily to the stairs.

Disarmed, John hopped down to the floor as the beast rose to its feet and pursued. It grabbed John by the neck. It snatched at me, but I dodged and grabbed the coffee thermos from the table. I ran back with the thermos, spun off the top and dashed the contents at the meaty arm that held John.

The meatstrocity screamed. The arm smoked and bubbled, then burst into flame. The limb then blackened and peeled off from the socket, falling to the hardwood below. John was free, falling to his knees and gasping for air.

The beast howled, collapsing to the floor meatily. With its only remaining arm, it pointed at me.

“You’ll never defeat me, Marconi! I have sealed this house with my powers. You cannot escape!”

I stopped, put my hands on my hips and strode up to it. “Marconi? As in, Doctor-slash-Father Albert Marconi? The guy who hosts Magical Mysteries on the Discovery Channel?”

John stepped over and glared at the wounded thing. “You dumbass. Marconi is fifty years old. He has white hair. Dave and I aren’t that old combined. Your nemesis is probably off giving some seminar, standing waist-deep in a pile of his own money.”

The thing turned its turkey at me.

“Tell ya what,” I offered. “If I can get you in touch with Marconi so you two can work out your little differences, will you release us?”

“You lie!”

“Well, I can’t get him down here, but surely a being as superhumanly powerful as you can destroy him at a distance, right? Here.”

It watched me as I fished out my cell phone and dialed. After talking to a secretary, a press agent, a bodyguard, an operator, the secretary again and finally a personal assistant, I got through.

“This is Marconi. My secretary says you have some kind of a meat monster there?”

“Yeah. Hold on.”

I offered the phone to Meaty. “Do we have a deal?”

The thing stood up, hesitated, then finally nodded its turkey up and down. I held out the phone, while giving John a dark look that I hoped conveyed the fact that Plan B involved me letting the monster beat the shit out of him while I tried to escape out of a window somewhere. Fucking girl and her “ghost boyfriend.” Marconi would have seen this shit coming a mile away.

A bundle of sausage fingers took the phone from my hand.

“So!” it boomed into the receiver. “We meat again, Marconi. You thought you had vanquished me but I—”

The beast spontaneously combusted into a ball of unholy blue light. With a shriek that pierced my ears, it left our world. The lifeless meat slapped to the floor piece by piece, the cell phone clattering next to the pile.

Silence.

“Damn, he’s good,” said John. I walked over and picked up the cell phone. I put it to my ear to ask the doctor what he had done, but it was the secretary again. I switched it off. The doctor hadn’t even hung around long enough to say hello.

John made a casual hand-dusting motion. “Well. That was pretty stupid.”

I tried the front door and it opened easily. Who knows, maybe it had never been sealed. We took time to straighten up the place, not finding any Morrisons restrained or dismembered and figuring that “Shelly” was at least telling the truth when she said the real family was on vacation. The shit had vanished from the basement, but I couldn’t fix the heating duct I had messed up earlier. We packed the meat back into the freezer as best we could, with one exception.

The sun was already dissolving the night sky by the time I got home. I opened up the toolshed and set the broken boom box inside. I found an empty jar, filled it from a square can of formaldehyde and dropped the deer tongue in. I placed it on the shelf next to a stuffed monkey paw, lying lifeless with two fingers extended. I locked up and went to bed.

—from the journal of David Wong

[january-summers]

Winx Alternative Cannon: Transformations

I've been considering an Alternate take on Winx Club cannon lately, rewatching the show and working on some alterations as a frame work for a alternative telling of the show, not quite a full blown AU, but just some slight differences, like the fandom approved ability for Fairies to access any transformation they've acquired rather than being stuck using the latest one they 'earned.'

And Speaking of the Fairy Transformations: lets talk about them in the Alternative Canon.

Please note the Alternative Canon is more than just: they can swap between transformations they already have whenever they want, some of the requirements, properties and meanings are different and also require universal alterations.

I've also been thinking of making a side blog just for my Winx stuff but I don't know if it would be worth it. All I've really got is the head cannons for the AltCan Winx Club, and the Astr'ix AU that started off as a AltCan Original Transformation....

Where was I? Oh right!

...How do I put things 'under the cut?' cause this a long ass post and I'm so sorry for putting it all over your Dash.

Lets start with the first fairy form:

The 4Kids dub referred to it (and fairy magic as a whole) as Winx, Rai called it Charmix. In AC universe there is no name for it, as the most basic for of fairy, all fairies will achieve this form, so it is typically just referred to as 'fairy transformation.'

In some circles it is (jokingly) nicknamed Basix, these circles are typically multi-formed fairies. E.g. the Winx Club by season seven.

The basic most form of a fairy, the only requirement is to be a 'fairy' and connect with your power. The resulting costume is a combination of a fairy's personal style, and the manifestation of their magic.

Enchantix:

The second (and typically last) form fairies gain, Enchantix is achieved not through the act of sacrifice, but that single instant of clarity when a fairy realises how far she is prepared to go to protect or save others. Though this does typically happen in a moment of actual risk, thus beginning the rumour a fairy had to sacrifice herself for a person from their planet.

Part of the manifestation of this Will to Protect is Fairy Dust, the manifestation of a fairy's magic and their desire to help people, it enables a fairy to dispel dark magic, and in some cases, heal people.

The Enchantix also grants fairies the ability to miniaturise.

Charmix:

At Alfea, many fairies gain their Charmix before their Enchantix, leading to some confusion on the proper progression of transformations. The Charmix is earned by facing yourself and recognising your own weaknesses, accepting yourself and your preparation to change.

The Charmix boosts a Fairies powers when in use and (passively) also allows a fairy to 'collect' transformations and use them at will, rather than being stuck using only the latest transformation a fairy has acquired. (This ability has led to the transformation being called 'A Fairy's favourite type of Charm Bracelet.')

++++

These three are some of the only fairy forms that require personal reflection, understanding and/or growth, this is also why they have the most deviation in appearance between fairies.

Most other forms are created for specific purposes and tend to be both gifted and some what uniform in appearance.

++++

Speedix, Tracix, Zoomix:

Another Alfea speciality, the 'Three Wings of Clariel' are gifts given to students of Alfea who have earned both their Enchantix, their Charmix and proven themselves to be potential Guardian Fairies. The Three Wings can, once obtained, be used from any fairy form. They grant the fairy the power to fly faster than any other known wings, to see recent events or past moments of intense emotional impact, and to teleport. The exact range of teleportation differs between fairies but the Zoomix allows instantaneous transport between two worlds, only the more powerful fairies can transport from one end of the known universe to the other in one shot.

The Wings were crafted by Clariel, one of the Founding Fairies of Alfea.

(Alternative Cannon Backstory required:

The wizards of the Black Circle are Fairy Hunters, who rip the wings off of Fairies to steal their powers for themselves. They managed to figure out how to nullify the effects Fairy magic had against them, and so, managed to terrorise the magical universe, until the Earth Fairies figured out how to combat their nullification spell, by altering the fabric of their own magic just enough to get around it. Realising the danger, and unable to create a patch for the spell, the Black Circle waged war on the Earth Fairies, culminating in both sides being imprisoned in time dilation fields.)

Believix:

Believix is the manifestation of the Earth Fairy ability that allows them to over come the Black Circles 'immunity' to Fairy Magic, it is gained by receiving the Blessing of an Earth Fairy. The Winx Club received their Blessing by accident when Earth's Fairy Princess Roxy placed her trust in the Winx Club.

Roxy herself cannot obtain a Believix form because the Believix power already exists with in her, regardless of the transformation she wears. This is why Roxy's basic fairy form and the Winx Club's Believix forms bear a resemblance, in addition to the Believix form taking some of its style cues from Roxy's 'fairy style.'

Lovix/Sophix:

The Lovix and the Sophix are gifts from the Earth Fairies Aurora and Diana, and so contain a trace of Believix, which is why the three outfits appear to be variations of each other.

The Lovix protects the user from freezing temperatures, natural or otherwise, and grants a minor ability of ice while in use. (It should be noted all Fairy Forms protect the Fairy from Cold and Low/Poor Atmosphere to a certain extent, but the Cold Protection of the Lovix is Infinitely Superior.)

Like wise the Sophix protects against humidity and heat, as well a bugs, it gives the wearer an improved connection with the Voice of Nature.

These two forms are two of several Gifts of Magic that exist, several forms of the Lovix and Sophix exist and merely require the Blessing of a Major Fairy of the correct power type.

**Harmonix:

The Harmonix is an underwater form which can be obtained by bonding with a selkie from the fairy's home world. Capable of transitioning between air, land and water, the Harmonix allows fairies to operate at otherwise impossible ocean depths.

When a fairy needs to travel at great speeds, the long train of the skirt and leg ribbons, instantaneously transform into a mermaid tail that can propel the fairy and otherwise unobtainable underwater speeds. (it should also be noted: as an underwater based Form, the Harmonix does not have soled shoes, just pretty leg ribbons.)

**Sirenix:

A transformation that is Exclusive to the Infinite ocean, it enables fairies to swim as fast as their tailed Harmonix forms, and grants them a deeper connection to the oceans of the universe. It requires the Harmonix form and access to the Infinite Ocean to achieve.

Bloomix:

A modern rendition of a more Primal Fairy Form, the Bloomix is granted by receiving a small spark of the Dragon Flame. This form has a higher attack power than any other, but a fairy's healing abilities can be lessened as a result, it is the Warrior form of fairies. The users of this form were, in Daphne's prime, referred to as Nymphs.

Mythix:

The second 'world exclusive' form, It requires a Wand from the Legendarium world to manifest, and can only be used within the world of the Legendarium. It protects users from the Fugue of the Legendrium, a curse which steals Fairy Magic if a Fairy remains in the Legendarium too long.

*Butteflix:

The Blessing of Wild Magic, this form is acquired when a fairy manages to obtain a compatible form of Wild Magic. (Compatible in this case meaning freely given, not stolen for selfish purposes, fairies who have received the Blessing of a Major fairy of Nature are more likely to prove compatible with Wild Magic.)

*Tynix:

'Pocket Dimension' gear, allows a fairy to access world inside pocket dimensions with out suffering the effects of 'pocket distortion,' a magical cousin of the bends which occurs when moving to, from and around in Pocket Dimensions during the initial 24 to 36 hours.

(Granted by a friend of Daphne's who lives in a tiny clam in lack Roccaluce and specialises in dimensional magic. Technically one of the Gifts of Magic.)

Dreamix: ***

Allows Fairies to enter the Dream World, and fight in it. Originally gifted by Morpheus*** (early ssn2) as a one use transformation, recharged and earned ssn8.

Additional notes:

* I must at this point admit I have not finished season seven, I had trouble tracking down the episodes and I just.... oh my goodness.... this season... I have however watch WoW, and enjoyed it as a back to basics, but some of the season was a bit... yeah... (they fairy animal thing was really forced and weird okay, and none/very few of the transformation terms are the same as cannon, why did they even need to visit the mini worlds? I don't know! I'm so confused... I spent most of Nex's screen time yelling 'Who. Are. You?' at the screen even though I know who he is...)

** see Suiseix entry below/right at the end

***(Morpheus was a character in the comics in an alternate introduction to Aisha story, he opened the door for the Winx to enter the world of Dreams to free Aisha from Darkar's nightmare curse thingy.) There are several occasions where a Fairy may use a Transformation she has not yet Earned, or should not be able to wield, by gaining Authorisation from Higher Powers like Morpheus, or The First Fairy Arcadia and her group.

Powers like Fairy Dust and Miniaturisation can be used in forms other than Enchantix but they're less potent/harder to use/require more magic

It should also be noted that 'new' does NOT mean 'more powerful,' but it does mean 'more power.'

Each new transformation increases a Fairies over all power, passively, but the transformations are not inherently more powerful than one or the other.

Presented as Game stats:

Winx Fairy lvl ??

HP: /500 MP: /1,000 Basix: (Passive) +10% MP, +5%HP Enchantix: (Passive) +10% MP, +5%HP, Fairy Dust, Miniaturisation Charmix: (Passive) +10% MP, +5%HP, (Active) 10% Power Boost (all power related stats gain an additional 10% boost when Charmix is in use)

Speedix: (Passive) +5% MP, +1%HP Tracix: (Passive) +5% MP, +1%HP Zoomix: (Passive) +5% MP, +1%HP Believix: (Passive) +10% MP, +5%HP, (Active) Negates 'Immunity:Fairy Magic' Lovix: (Passive) +5% MP, +1%HP, (Active) Negates 'Immunity:Fairy Magic', Negates: Status Effect Tree: Cold, Enable: Ice Affinity – Minor Sophix: (Passive) +5% MP, +1%HP, (Active) Negates 'Immunity:Fairy Magic', Negates: Status Effect: Humidity, Negates: Status Effect: Heat – minor, Immunity: Bugging Me, Enable: Nature Affinity - Minor Harmonix: (Passive) +10% MP, +5%HP, (Active) Immunity: Waterlogged Sirenix: (Passive) +5% MP, +1%HP, (Active) Immunity: Waterlogged, Access: Infinite Ocean Bloomix: (Passive) +10% MP, +5%HP

Mythix: (Passive) +5% MP, +1%HP, (Active) Immunity: Fugue of the Legendarium, Access: The Worlds of the Legendarium

Bloom Level??

HP: /500 ((+37%=185) /685) MP: /1,000 ((+95%=950) /1,950)

Alternative Canon Original Transformations/Variations.

Suiseix/Mizunix:

The temporary fairy transformation powered by the water stars (Bloom must let go of the Dragon Fire completely for the duration of its use or risk the destruction of the universe.)

The 'Water Stars' the Winx collected from the alternate dimension weren't the Actual Water Stars, they're amulets which allow the girls to channel the power of The Water Stars, from their realm into the realm of the Winx, like Bloom does for the Dragon Fire. (Which is why they just so happen to be thematically linked to the six fairies)

Suiseix > Harmonix

This transformation was authorised only once, but once the power of the Water Stars was withdrawn from the amulets, the Winx were allowed to keep a less powerful echo of the form: The Harmonix.

(Entering the Infinite Ocean requires a bonded Selkie to take you (the first time). Serena, Daphne's bonded Selkie was frozen by her gate on Domino. In her ghost form, Daphne was unable to do anything to help her, unsure if she was even still alive within the ice. Using their sisterly bond to create an empathic link, and aided by the Harmonix power of the Winx, they magically pull Serena into Lake Roccaluce where they manage to thaw her using the Dragon Flame and Fairy Dust, and she bonds with Bloom. (Selkie can form multiple bonds, especially if their Bonded is the magical equivalent of a ghost.))

(Suisei: Japanese – the water star / Mizuno: Japanese – of water)

TL;DR ummm.... Fairy Transformations and stuff that I threw the canon out for cause I though it was OP/BS or just kinda bleh?

[itsfinancethings]

October 25, 2019 at 08:00AM

Pocket-size ultrasound devices that cost 50 times less than the machines in hospitals (and connect to your phone). Virtual reality that speeds healing in rehab. Artificial intelligence that’s better than medical experts at spotting lung tumors. These are just some of the innovations now transforming medicine at a remarkable pace.

No one can predict the future, but it can at least be glimpsed in the dozen inventions and concepts below. Like the people behind them, they stand at the vanguard of health care. Neither exhaustive nor exclusive, the list is, rather, representative of the recasting of public health and medical science likely to come in the 2020s.

David Abney: Drone-delivered medical supplies

Since March, UPS has been conducting a trial program called Flight Forward, using autonomous drone deliveries of critical medical samples including blood or tissue between two branches of a hospital in Raleigh, N.C., located 150 yards apart. A fleet-footed runner could cover the distance almost as fast as the drones, but as a proof-of-concept program, it succeeded, and in October the FAA granted the company approval to expand to 20 hospitals around the U.S. over the next two years. “We expect UPS Flight Forward to one day be a very significant part of our company,” says UPS CEO David Abney of the service, which will deliver urine, blood and tissue samples, and medical essentials like drugs and transfusable blood. UPS is not alone in pioneering air deliveries. Wing, a division of Google’s parent company Alphabet, received similar, but more limited, FAA approval to make deliveries for both Walgreens and FedEx. And in Ghana and Rwanda, drones operated by Silicon Valley startup Zipline are already delivering medical supplies to rural villages. —Jeffrey Kluger

Christine Lemke: The biggest Big Data

There are 7.5 billion humans, and tens of millions of us track our health with wearables like smart watches, as well as with more traditional devices like blood-pressure monitors. If there were a way to aggregate all that data from even a few million of us and make it all anonymous but searchable, medical researchers would have a powerful tool for drug development, lifestyle studies and more. California-based Big Data firm Evidation has developed just such a tool, with information from 3 million volunteers providing trillions of data points. Evidation partners with drug manufacturers like Sanofi and Eli Lilly to parse that data; that work has led to dozens of peer-reviewed studies already, on subjects ranging from sleep and diet to cognitive-health patterns. For founder Christine Lemke, one of Evidation’s ongoing projects, to see if new technologies can effectively measure chronic pain, is personal: Lemke has a rare genetic disease that causes frequent back pain. Evidation is partnering with Brigham and Women’s Hospital on the project.—Jeffrey Kluger

Doug Melton: A stem-cell cure for diabetes

Type 1 diabetes affects 1.25 million Americans, but two in particular got Harvard biologist Doug Melton’s attention: his daughter Emma and son Sam. Treatment can involve a lifetime of careful eating, insulin injections and multiple daily blood-glucose tests. Melton has a different approach: using stem cells to create replacement beta cells that produce insulin. He started the work over 10 years ago, when stem-cell research was raising hopes and controversy. In 2014 he co-founded Semma Therapeutics—the name is derived from Sam and Emma—to develop the technology, and this summer it was acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals for $950 million. The company has created a small, implantable device that holds millions of replacement beta cells, letting glucose and insulin through but keeping immune cells out. “If it works in people as well as it does in animals, it’s possible that people will not be diabetic,” Melton says. “They will eat and drink and play like those of us who are not.”—Don Steinberg

Abasi Ene-Obong: A more diverse global bio bank

A major limitation threatens to hamper the era of personalized medicine: people of Caucasian descent are a minority in the global population yet make up nearly 80% of the subjects in human-genome research, creating blind spots in drug research. Dr. Abasi Ene-Obong, 34, founded 54gene to change that. Named for Africa’s 54 countries, the Nigeria-based startup is sourcing genetic material from volunteers across the continent, to make drug research and development more equitable. 54gene is conscious of the ugly history of colonial exploitation in Africa. If companies are going to profit by developing marketable drugs based on the DNA of African people, Africa should benefit: so, when partnering with companies, 54gene prioritizes those that commit to including African countries in marketing plans for any resulting drugs. “If we are part of the pathway for drug creation, then maybe we can also become part of the pathway to get these drugs into Africa,” Ene-Obong says.—Corinne Purtill

Sean Parker: A disruptive approach to cancer research

One of the original disrupters of the new economy is bringing his approach to medical research. The Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy, established by Napster co-founder and former Facebook president Sean Parker, is a network of top institutions including Memorial Sloan Kettering, Stanford, the MD Anderson Cancer Center and more. Its goal is to identify and remove obstacles to innovation in traditional research. For example, all of its scientists share a single Institutional Review Board, which “allows us to get major clinical trials off the ground in weeks rather than years,” says Parker, and at lower costs. Perhaps most important, Parker wants to infuse the project with his market sensibility: “We follow the discoveries coming from our researchers and then put our money behind commercializing them,” he says, either by licensing a product or spinning it out into a company. Since its founding in 2016, the institute has brought 11 projects to clinical trials and supported some 2,000 research papers.

Thomas Reardon: A watch that can read your mind

A man wearing what looks like a chunky black wristwatch stares at a tiny digital dinosaur leaping over obstacles on a computer screen before him. The man’s hands are motionless, but he’s controlling the -dinosaur—with his brain. The device on his wrist is the CTRL-kit, which detects the electrical impulses that travel from the motor neurons down the arm muscles and to the hand almost as soon as a person thinks about a particular movement. “I want machines to do what we want them to do, and I want us to not be enslaved by the machines,” says Thomas Reardon, CEO and co-founder of CTRL-Labs, the device maker. The hunched-over posture and fumbling keystrokes of the smartphone era represent “a step backward for humanity,” says Reardon, a neuroscientist who, in a past life, led the development of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer. The technology could open up new forms of rehabilitation and access for patients recovering from a stroke or amputation, as well as those with Parkinson’s disease, multiple sclerosis and other neurodegenerative conditions, Reardon says.—Corinne Purtill

Jonathan Rothberg: An ultrasound in your pocket

There are more than 4 billion people globally who don’t have access to medical -imaging—and could benefit from Butterfly iQ, a handheld ultrasound device. Jonathan Rothberg, a Yale genetics researcher and serial entrepreneur, figured out how to put ultrasound technology on a chip, so instead of a $100,000 machine in a hospital, it’s a $2,000 go-anywhere gadget that connects to an iPhone app. It went on sale last year to medical professionals. “Our goal is to sell to 150 countries that can pay for it. And [the Gates Foundation] is distributing it in 53 countries that can’t,” Rothberg says. For example, the foundation is funding a project bringing Butterfly iQ to rural Uganda, to scan children for pneumonia. The device isn’t as good as the big machines are and won’t replace them in prosperous parts of the world. But it could make scanning more routine. “There was a time when the thermometer was only used in a medical setting, when a blood-pressure cuff was only used in a medical center,” Rothberg says. “Democratizing [health] happens on -multiple dimensions.”—Don Steinberg

Shravya Shetty: Cancer-diagnosing artificial intelligence

Symptoms of lung cancer usually don’t appear until its later stages, when it’s difficult to treat. Early screening of high-risk populations with CT scans can reduce the risk of dying, but it comes with risks of its own. The U.S. National Institutes of Health found that 2.5% of patients who received CT scans later endured needlessly invasive -treatments—-sometimes with fatal results—after radiologists erroneously diagnosed false positives. Shravya Shetty believes artificial intelligence may be the solution. Shetty is the research lead of a Google Health team that in the past two years built an AI system that outperforms human radiologists in diagnosing lung cancer. After being trained on more than 45,000 patient CT scans, Google’s algorithm detected 5% more cancer cases and had 11% fewer false positives than a control group of six human radiologists. The early results are promising, but “there’s a pretty big gap between where things are and where they could be,” says Shetty. “It’s that potential impact that keeps me going.”—Corinne Purtill

Joanna Shields: AI to read every science paper

Every year, more than 2 million peer-reviewed research papers are published—far too many for any individual scientist to digest. Machines, however, don’t share this human limitation. BenevolentAI has created algorithms that scour research papers, clinical trial results and other sources of biomedical information in search of previously overlooked relationships between genes, drugs and disease. BenevolentAI CEO Joanna Shields was an executive at companies such as Google and Facebook, and then the U.K.’s Minister for Internet Safety and Security, before joining BenevolentAI. A frequent critic of the tech industry’s lapses in protecting young people from exploitation and abuse online, Shields sees BenevolentAI as an opportunity to harness technology’s power for good. “All of us have family members, friends who are diagnosed with diseases that have no treatment,” she says. “Unless we apply the scaling and the principles of the technology revolution to drug discovery and development, we’re not going to see a change in that outcome anytime soon.” —Corinne Purtill

Sean Slovenski: Walmart-ification of health care

Whenever the world’s biggest retailer aims its gigantic footprint at a new market, the ground shakes. In September, Walmart opened its first Health Center, a medical mall where customers can get primary care, vision tests, dental exams and root canals; lab work, X-rays and EKGs; counseling; even fitness and diet classes. The prices are affordable without insurance ($30 for an annual physical; $45 for a counseling session), and the potential is huge. In any given week, the equivalent of half of America passes through a Walmart. “When I first started here … [I] thought, That can’t be true,” says Sean Slovenski, a former Humana exec who joined Walmart last year to lead its health care push. If the concept spreads, repercussions await in every direction. Like Walmart’s merchandise suppliers, doctors and other medical pros may need to adjust to the retailer’s everyday low prices. Still, cautions Moody’s analyst Charles O’Shea: “Health care is multiple times harder than selling food.”—Don Steinberg

Charles Taylor: 3-D digital hearts

For too many people with suspected heart problems, invasive catheterization is necessary to diagnose blocked or narrowed arteries. Doctors must then choose the best method for improving blood flow from a handful of options, including balloon angioplasty and stenting. Charles Taylor, a former Stanford professor, started HeartFlow to help patients avoid invasive diagnostic procedures and improve treatment outcomes. The company’s system creates personalized 3-D models that can be rotated and zoomed into, so doctors can simulate various approaches on screens. In some cases, it can help avoid invasive procedures entirely. “By adding the HeartFlow … to our available resources for diagnosing stable coronary disease, we are able to provide patients with better care as we evaluate risk,” said Duke University cardiologist Manesh Patel, at the American College of Cardiology’s annual meeting in March. —Jeffrey Kluger

Isabel Van de Keere: Rehab in virtual reality

Isabel Van de Keere was at work one day in 2010 when a steel light fixture pulled loose from the ceiling and fell on her. The accident left Van de Keere, a Belgian-born Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, with a cervical spine injury and severe vertigo that required three years of intense neurological rehabilitation. She practiced the same tedious exercises dozens of times in a row, with progress so slow it seemed undetectable. Now 38, she’s the founder and CEO of Immersive Rehab, a London-based startup whose goal is to change the neurological–rehab experience using virtual reality. By expanding the range and type of exercises patients can try, VR creates more opportunities to harness the brain’s plasticity and repair neural pathways; increases the amount of data caregivers can use to measure progress and adapt programs; and improves the monotonous, frustrating experience of rehab. Feedback from volunteer patients and therapists has been promising; the company is now preparing to run clinical trials in the U.S. and Europe.—Corinne Purtill